The Opening Ceremony!

[Thumper]

No to the oil on the Tonga guy.  He is hunky, but the oil makes him seem cheap and like a body-builder guy, not an athlete.

[andromeda331]

My favorite part was Tonga. Thank you so much for coming. Please come again.  In fact, they should show him every day. Ah, you know for morale.  My least favorite part was the announcers. You don't have to speak every three seconds.  They never shut up. I'm going to try watching it again on streaming. It would have been so much better if they shut up and let us just watch the event.  The two Koreas walking together didn't warm my cold heart like it did when they did that years ago. I loved the fireworks, the dancing and everything else. 

[Silver Raven]

1 hour ago, mtlchick said:

I want to hug Iran's flagbearer.  

She was my favorite moment of the whole Ceremony.

[dcalley]

11 minutes ago, chitowngirl said:

Just out of curiosity-is the language of North Korea and South Korea the same? Or are there differences?

(Disclaimer: I am no expert at all!) It is the same. However, North Korea has been so isolated for so long that their language has not changed much over the years, whereas it has in South Korea. I believe Korean from North Korea sounds old-fashioned and likely more formal to South Koreans.

5 minutes ago, roamyn said:

That might've been Celsius.

No, the C temp was only about -2. Someone must have mistakenly added a minus sign to the F temp, perhaps confusing below freezing with below 0 F.

[roamyn]

13 minutes ago, andromeda331 said:

My favorite part was Tonga. Thank you so much for coming. Please come again.  In fact, they should show him every day. Ah, you know for morale.  My least favorite part was the announcers. You don't have to speak every three seconds.  They never shut up. I'm going to try watching it again on streaming. It would have been so much better if they shut up and let us just watch the event.  The two Koreas walking together didn't warm my cold heart like it did when they did that years ago. I loved the fireworks, the dancing and everything else. 

I did get a kick out of Katie saying to Mike when Pita came out that "I'll handle this one, Mike!"

[Peace 47]

28 minutes ago, BitterApple said:

hose Team USA gloves? Yeah, it might be time to put Ralph Lauren out to pasture. 

I’m 99% sure Ralph Lauren was already in a pasture when inspiration for the gloves struck.  Cowboy chic.

[Indy]

10 minutes ago, roamyn said:

I did get a kick out of Katie saying to Mike when Pita came out that "I'll handle this one, Mike!"

Until she tripped and fell over his last name. I know it’s long, but as a professional broadcaster if you’re going to publically drool over someone, learn to say their name. 

[Lovecat]

That was an awful lot of pyrotechnics for a country on edge, as we were reminded 92 billion times.

I don’t find the Winter Games’ Parade of Nations as much fun as the Summer Games’, because everyone is wearing some variation on a parka...well, *almost* everyone! Bless you, Tonga!!

[voiceover]

From the comments here, I was expecting much worse of Team USA's handgear.  Eh.  It's obvious that the Broadway revival of Annie Get Your Gun now has the fingerless gloves in redwhite&blue.

[kili]

Quote

 I wonder if any of the North athletes will defect or if that's even possible?

According to this article from CNN, not only are they not given much of an opportunity (constantly being watched), but their families back home would be made to suffer.  North Korea does not mess around.

[MaryMitch]

2 hours ago, absnow54 said:

They have a unified women's hockey team. 

Fun fact - 2 sisters are playing, but for different teams.  Marissa Brandt, who is playing for the unified Korean team, was born Yoon-Jung Park and was adopted by a US family when she was a year old.  Her sister Hannah (not adopted), is playing for the US team.

Here's an article about it: http://www.nbcolympics.com/news/house-divided-brandt-sisters-suit-opposing-teams

(Note that in the article they call her "Melissa" about half the time.)

[emma675]

11 minutes ago, kili said:

According to this article from CNN, not only are they not given much of an opportunity (constantly being watched), but their families back home would be made to suffer.  North Korea does not mess around.

That's what I wondered. Ugh, how depressing.

[twoods]

I love watching the Opening Ceremonies every two years. Learning about different countries and their culture, and then teaching the kids. They got to see what the South Korea flag looks like, and then mentioned which kids in their class were Korean and the importance of different cultures in our community. It went over their heads how poignant it was having both the North and South Korea delegations coming out at the same time, but baby steps. They were also wondering when Psy would come out and sing "Gangnam Style."

The pyrotechnics were pretty awesome, as was the dancing at the end. My favorite part was seeing all those snowboarders flying in the snow, and then the rings lit up in the sky and on the ground. That was pretty badass. I also got misty eyed seeing Yuna Kim skate prior to lighting the cauldron. 

Those gloves were ugly- why couldn't they have been navy blue or white? How much longer do they have to wear Ralph Lauren?

Edited February 10, 2018 by twoods

[Minneapple]

I was much more affected by Iran's flagbearer than I was by the unified Korean team.

One of the reasons I love the Parade of Nations is that I love when the athletes show pure emotion. I love when they look so crazy happy, and the lone athletes who look so proud to be representing their country. You really get to see that in the parade.

[voiceover]

Just watched Iran's entrance, and I bawled. 

Oh, Samaneh-joon!!  You are as fine and fierce a rep as Vida Movahed (arrested for pulling off her hijab during protests).

On my darling dad's behalf: God be with all of you.

[Cherpumple]

I thought the ceremony was fairly dull. I liked the giant animal puppets at the beginning and the opera singer (gorgeous outfit!) and the dancing group Just Jerk (snigger) at the end, but the other stuff felt "meh." I don't think the voices blended well during the rendition of "Imagine" and there were so many pre-taped segments (including the cool drone thing) that I kept imagining the audience in the stadium was sitting there watching giant screens more that actual performers. Oh yeah, I also liked the old man singing Arirang- what a beautiful song!

I was surprised that lime green made an appearance on so many uniforms. That's certainly not a color I associate with winter sports or national flags, but it seemed to be the hot color of the night.

I'm glad that the Koreans all marched in together, but was starting to get annoyed by all the self-congratulatory comments it engendered, by the NBC commentators and during the IOC president's speech. I was actually most intrigued by the comment made by the political analyst interviewed by NBC, who said that this is a very important symbolic moment, but we won't know the significance of it until later- it's either the start of a thaw in relations or the last glimmer of peace before all hell breaks loose. It was a chilling comment.

I was already confused about the Russian/notRussian team, and now I'm confused about the Korean athletes. So, if the joint women's hockey team gets a medal, will the flag they were waving tonight (the Korean peninsula on white) get flown? And what anthem goes along with that? But if an individual competitor from either country wins a medal, does that flag get flown or their national flag? My head hurts.

[MyAimIsTrue]

13 hours ago, AuntieDiane6 said:

Although I DO love that short track skater Maame who is SO EXCITED!!

She's already my favorite of these games. Even if Maame doesn't get very far in her races she's won my heart with her personality and smile.

[blueray]

I thought that was a bit long. I had taped it, so I was fast-forwarding the commercials, but even so I kept looking to see how much was left.  Anyhow, I loved parts of it like them making the symbol out of drones, the scenes with the kids and the light show. I wish NBC aired it better, they kept cutting things out and doing voice overs because nobody is smart enough to simply see what they are doing. I know there's an uncut version somewhere.

As for the countries marching in, good to see. I love how welcoming everyone one was to the countries with one or two athletes. And I didn't find there coverage of the "US team" as annoying as previous years. They at least went back and showed the countries they skipped (because of showing the US team taking selfies).  Seeing the Korea's walk in together was powerful and showed hope for peace. Which who knows how long will last, but it does provide great hope at the start of the games. Anyhow overall, clearly a lot of work went into this and they mostly did pull it off :).

[crimsongrl]

NBC's Opening Ceremony Broadcast Edited Out 23 Minutes Of The Event, So Here's What You Missed

I was wondering what happened to the torch relay! I actually enjoy that part because you get to see different parts of the country and the cheering crowds.

Edited February 10, 2018 by crimsongrl

[Ohwell]

8 hours ago, Cherpumple said:

I don't think the voices blended well during the rendition of "Imagine"

Ooof.  That was awful, sounded like a bunch of cats in heat.  Bless their hearts.

[blackwing]

Where are people getting the figure that US has over 500 athletes?  I thought the indicator last night said 250 or thereabouts.   It looked to me like most of them were there.  Although I wish there had been more identification of people that were not Lindsey Vonn, Nathan Chen or Shaun White.  I didn't mind the quick cuts to US athletes in the stands mugging for the cameras, but more identification would have been nice.  I did hear identification of Jamie Greubel and Chloe Kim, but why not others?

Katie said something weird about how some of what we saw at home was not viewable to those live in the stadium because it was "augmented reality".  What does that mean?  Was it just the graphics of the animal?  Or did it include the large flags on the round white floor during the Parade of Nations or the names of the countries circling the stands?   Whatever it was, I hope those drones weren't "augmented".

I wish NBC had spent a little more time on some of the prominent Canadians.  They just identified Virtue and Moir and that was it.  Not surprising I suppose but still.

[kalystia1983]

7 minutes ago, blackwing said:

Where are people getting the figure that US has over 500 athletes?  I thought the indicator last night said 250 or thereabouts.   It looked to me like most of them were there.  Although I wish there had been more identification of people that were not Lindsey Vonn, Nathan Chen or Shaun White.  I didn't mind the quick cuts to US athletes in the stands mugging for the cameras, but more identification would have been nice.  I did hear identification of Jamie Greubel and Chloe Kim, but why not others?

I was wondering this to as I thought it was 250, looked it up and it's 244 per team USA here: https://www.teamusa.org/pyeongchang-2018-olympic-winter-games/team-usa/athletes

[fireice13]

2 hours ago, methadonna said:

(like appreciating the “beauty” of fireworks to celebrate July 4, our anthem celebrates how pretty it is when we bomb shit. Kewl)

Actually the US anthem celebrates the US not surrendering to the British when they were bombing Fort McHenry during the War of 1812. Francis Scott Key was being held captive and the "bombs bursting in air" meant that the US hadn't lowered the flag and surrendered. More detailed history.

I did really enjoy the parade of nations and especially the ones with smaller contingents; they were so happy to be there and represent their countries. I liked the drones and the snowboarders going down the hill carrying flares. I was really annoyed with NBC during the singing of the Korean song that was really meaningful to both North and South. They kept talking about how much it meant and the emotion you can hear just listening. I'm sure I could've felt that emotion if they had shut up long enough for me to actually listen! The live streams are so much better without the commentary, even curling (which I don't understand and therefore like the explanations from the commentators) is sometimes better because they have the athletes miked so you can hear strategy. If the commentators are talking over the athletes then you can't hear that part, which I find interesting. 

[galaxygirl76]

19 hours ago, galaxygirl76 said:

It's rampant in track and field. There are so many African runners that compete for mostly European and Asian countries. Especially Qatar is bad because they offer them good money to compete for them.

Quoting myself to clarify that I have no problem with people competing for other countries if it's because of circumstances. For example Sifan Hassan was born in Ethiopia, left the country as a refugee at fifteen, and now is a Dutch citizen and competes for them.

[AuntieDiane6]

Quote

They kept talking about how much it meant and the emotion you can hear just listening. I'm sure I could've felt that emotion if they had shut up long enough for me to actually listen! The live streams are so much better without the commentary, even curling (which I don't understand and therefore like the explanations from the commentators) is sometimes better because they have the athletes miked so you can hear strategy. If the commentators are talking over the athletes then you can't hear that part, which I find interesting. 

Be sure to TWEET those feelings to NBC and the various announcers.  Be nice and maybe they'll respect their audience and SHUT UP.  I actually started a hashtag #chattytanny and added it to EVERY post I put on the NBC, skating and Olympic twitter page, BEGGING TANITH WHITE TO STOP HER ENDLESS CHATTER.  What makes her REALLY annoying is that you can tell when she's BORED by the skaters because she gets into esoteric conversations with her co-host that have NO relationship to the ACTUAL SKATING.  Then she is completely silent when her favorite skaters do their routines!  And shetalkstoofastandnevertakesabreath.  

Edited February 10, 2018 by AuntieDiane6

[andromeda331]

9 hours ago, crimsongrl said:

NBC's Opening Ceremony Broadcast Edited Out 23 Minutes Of The Event, So Here's What You Missed

I was wondering what happened to the torch relay! I actually enjoy that part because you get to see different parts of the country and the cheering crowds.

Thanks, that would have been nice to watch. NBC  you could have showed the entire thing! 

[mojoween]

23 hours ago, Spunkygal said:

Just tuned in. That opera chick is freaking amazing! 

The amount I know about opera is the same amount I know about cold fusion, so I wasn’t sure if it was just me, because I also thought she sounded beautiful.  And her dress was gorgeous.

The US had 500+ summer Olympians in 2016 so perhaps that was where that figure came from.

[Quiet1ne]

On 2/9/2018 at 7:35 PM, Dots And Stripes said:

Imagine was a really nice touch. Not only is the message appropriate but it was a nice bit of outreach to do a song that would be so familiar to western audiences.

The melody is familiar enough that I wish it was sung in Korean or both Korean and English.   Bridge the east and west a bit.

[xaxat]

NBC Apologizes After Japan Comment Draws Anger in South Korea.

Quote

The analyst, Joshua Cooper Ramo, made the comment while appearing with Katie Couric and Mike Tirico during the opening ceremony on Friday. Noting that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan was in attendance, Mr. Ramo described Japan as “a country which occupied Korea from 1910 to 1945, but every Korean will tell you that Japan is a cultural, technological and economic example that has been so important to their own transformation.”

This, from a guy they hired specifically to provide historical and cultural background? Anyone familiar with the South Korea/Japan relationship knows that it can be quite contentious and that WWII still plays a role in the politics between the two countries. 

[ombelico]

15 minutes ago, xaxat said:

This, from a guy they hired specifically to provide historical and cultural background? Anyone familiar with the North Korea/Japan relationship knows that it can be quite contentious and that WWII still plays a role in the politics between the two countries. 

The same guy also (at least twice, since I saw him make the same comment on two different occasions) said that the two Koreas marching together will be looked back on as an historic moment, but we don't know if it will be historic because it's the start of a thawing in relations between the two countries, or the (paraphrasing) "last time there is peace between them." It struck me as such an odd, apocalyptic tone to take, and he did it twice, so it was intentional!

[xaxat]

7 minutes ago, ombelico said:

It struck me as such an odd, apocalyptic tone to take, and he did it twice, so it was intentional!

The guy does work for Henry Kissinger's consulting agency, so. . . . 

[legaleagle53]

1 hour ago, ombelico said:

The same guy also (at least twice, since I saw him make the same comment on two different occasions) said that the two Koreas marching together will be looked back on as an historic moment, but we don't know if it will be historic because it's the start of a thawing in relations between the two countries, or the (paraphrasing) "last time there is peace between them." It struck me as such an odd, apocalyptic tone to take, and he did it twice, so it was intentional!

Either that, or he's colossally tone-deaf!

[Vermicious Knid]

American media has almost completely ignored it, but Tonga was just devastated by a cyclone, the equivalent of a category 4 hurricane. Pita's family is safe.

[galaxygirl76]

35 minutes ago, Vermicious Knid said:

American media has almost completely ignored it, but Tonga was just devastated by a cyclone, the equivalent of a category 4 hurricane. Pita's family is safe.

Oh no, that's awful :(

[Good Queen Jane]

For those wondering how our favorite Tongan did in his event.

[Ohwell]

Those guys were just happy to be there!

[walnutqueen]

1 hour ago, Ohwell said:

Those guys were just happy to be there!

As every Olympic athlete should be.