With the Olympics, I recognize some competitors, but usually only the ones who really make it big and have their faces plastered on EVERYTHING (Michael Phelps and Sean White, for instance). I enjoy watching Olympic sports whenever someone has them on, and I get more excited about the Winter sports than the Summer sports, but I'm not really obsessed with any one event or person.
However, ever since the 2002 Winter Olympics here in Utah, I have NEVER missed watching the Olympics opening ceremonies.
Maybe it's the cultural representation. Maybe it's the thrill of seeing all countries unite as one to cheer on the world's most amazing athletes. Maybe it's the music and costumes. Whatever the reason, I LOVE the opening ceremonies. And so today I'm gonna post my notes from last night's celebration:
* That dream sequence opener was BEAUTIFUL. What a super brave, collected little girl! (Stop talking politics, you stupid commentator. Just let me watch!)
* The ABC film thing at the beginning was way confusing, especially since the Russian speakers/culture enthusiasts I was watching the ceremonies with didn't even get it. If it didn't even make sense in Russian, it probably didn't do much to connect with the non-Russian viewers worldwide. :) It was cool-looking, though, and reminded me of all the amazing contributions Russians have made.
* The costumes are so gorgeous! I love the costumes at these things.
* The national anthem was beautifully done. When the dancers all stood together to form a Russian flag, one of my friends said, "That's cool, but can they make the flag wave?" Immediately after the words left his mouth, guess what they did?? :D
* For some reason I thought that the procession of the athletes came at the end of the show. I was planning to leave after the show ended and the procession began, but it happened so early on that I watched the whole thing. And I realized that I love seeing the outfits and national pride as they all come out together.
* I loved our USA sweaters and hats. I want one! I also loved that we had the second-biggest team, second only to Russia, and followed closely by Canada.
* And that floor map was AWESOME. That whole floor was just incredible. How did they do that?? The 3D floor ships?? The map of St. Petersburg that kept zooming in?? Every time the floor projected something, everyone in the room went, "WHOOOOAAAAAA!!" I think everyone who throws the Olympics from now on is gonna want one of those floor screens.
* There were some really cool commercials, but my favorite was the "Thanks, Mom" commercial. It made me tear up and reminded me that I would be so proud to be a mother.
* I loved the fairytale feel, and the beautiful orchestral music. The gymnastics, ballet, and set pieces were flawless. Russia has some amazing composers! I didn't realize before how much Russian awesomeness has affected my life. It's such a beautiful country and culture.
* My friend said (and I agree) that the Swan Lake "peace dove" sequence with the glow sticks was "like watching live Fantasia."
* The ending sequence with the Tron music and the light-up athletes was so powerful. I wish I could've seen it in person, with the stadium so dark and the whole stadium looking like the milky way, with the athletes as constellations. It looked AMAZING.
* I'm glad the floor rings expanded like they were supposed to at least. :)
* That cauldron is so cool! I love the design of the torches this year. I hear they were supposed to look like firebird feathers, and they totally do. Then the cauldron made me think of a phoenix. I loved it.
I thought the ceremonies were brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. I got goosebumps. I really felt the spirit of unity and human accomplishment.
But I just have to say something really bothered me. Obviously the opening ceremonies happened like 12 hours before I ever saw them, so when I was surfing the net earlier in the afternoon, I saw lots of articles and photos from the opening ceremonies. And you know what they were almost all about/captioned? "Oh my gosh one of the olympic rings didn't open!" "Holy cow can you BELIEVE all the things that went wrong with the torch??" "Their hotels suck!" "They used Tron music?? That's not even Russian! How pathetic!" Even the announcer who started the opening ceremony coverage started out by basically saying that Sochi didn't even deserve to host the Olympics.
I read a National Geographic article during work today that talked about the Olympic torch relay. Towards the end of the article, the International Olympic Committee fact sheet was quoted: "The runners who carry the Olympic flame carry a message of peace on their journey." But what preceded that quote? All the details of what went wrong with the relay this year. Yeah... there were actually a lot of mishaps (the flame went out a few times, one torchbearer set himself on fire accidentally, and one of the torchbearers died of a heart attack right after his stretch of the relay), but I didn't want to go to National Geographic for all the negative things about the olympics. I wanted to see what cool things happened with the relay (like how the torch went to the North Pole for the first time, and even went to the International Space Station). Why is everyone focusing only on the negative?
I get why it's popular lately to hate on Russia, I really do. But that doesn't mean that we should degrade and undermine this, a matter of their national pride. Their government has a long way to go before they match our American ideals, but do we really have to HATE them in the meantime? I don't know a whole lot about history or politics, but I do know something about common courtesy and humanity.
My friend Sarah said it well on her Facebook status yesterday:
I, for one, am just going to have a good time watching my favorite winter events and celebrating the world's most amazing athletes. I'm not going to waste my time and energy nitpicking and criticizing every little thing.
"Could the media stop hatin' on #sochi2014 for like .5 seconds and just revel in the awesome of the Olympics? I worry that all of the overblown criticism is destroying the whole reason for having an Olympics in the first place: bringing mankind together in global equality and peace. We shouldn't keep allowing this "we are way better than them" attitude. Sochi isn't perfect, but neither are we."
Go USA!
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