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Oooh! Yes please!

You can thank me later.

I was really wanting to like the cauldron and the new "innovative and groundbreaking" approach. I was excited about the possibility of using light (similar to the pictures that were posted from the opening rehearsal). It is so underwhelming and there is very little that is new about this approach. For example, they have replicated the cauldron outside of the stadium (Vancouver 2010), they have used all the countries that are participating to make up the cauldron (London 2012), they have used snow or frozen water as the influence for the creation of the cauldron (Salt Lake 2002). There was more flame in the small cauldron that was on stage in the Medal's Plaza in SLC in 2002, than if both cauldron's in Beijing were lit. The only thing that I see as remotely new is that they have used very little flame in the cauldron. I don't see that as innovative, but more like a necessity due to the chronic pollution in Beijing. The director would have been better to have said nothing about the cauldron, as he was the one that hyped it so high, that when lit, it created an even bigger let down. There was a real awkward time period between when they slid the lit torch into the snowflake and when the announcer's said that the ceremony was over. I kept waiting for the snowflake to explode or light up on the outside or be raised to light something else. I think everyone was waiting, with baited breath, for the actual lighting to take place, only to realize that it had passed. Another epic cauldron fail that I can't believe that the IOC signed off on when it was presented!

I’ve gotta use that one in my mascots signature!

That’s the problem with selective memory …. It was not just that the particular moderator in question saying he wasn’t going to watch the Opening Ceremony - that’s up to him. If he had stopped at that, no big deal, no skin off anyone’s nose. The big problem was that he took it much further and then began to sledge other Gamesbids ceremony fans in a wave of derogatory, destructive and politically based attacks, and then doubled-down on them. It’s all on the public record. Quite stunning behaviour coming from a well respected Gamesbids moderator.

Commonwealth E-Sports Championships parallel to Birmingham 2022 ….

No it isn't..... Please respect my decision just like i respected your decision to not watch the winter opening - no need to attack me with childish comments - END. @AustralianFan You were right mate

Hmmmm. Admittedly I haven’t seen the ski jumping, which is supposed to be the showpiece venue, but as for the rest, pretty underwhelmed - bland at best, downright ugly at worst (looking at you Big Air). Not to mention the thin tracts of white in between barren swathes of snow-less brown at the alpine venues. I don’t count the Birds Nest - that was the vanity leftover from 2008 and is only the ceremonies venue - which apart from having what I’ve heard was the greatest floor in history didn’t seem to impress many.

Its obvious Bing Dwen Dwen success is being manufactured, as opposed to the genuine love people had for Miraitowa, Someity, Soohorang and Bandabi (i still love the little tiger even 4 years later)

I WANT THAT JOB!

bot47305224?!? Come on guys, you're not even trying!

If you were wondering who was marching at the opening, I saw in an interview this morning that the Australian Team Barista (yes we have one) marched in the opening ceremony!!!

Mt thoughts about the ceremony: - Even when I didn’t have my expectation too high, due to we were facing the second “pandemic ceremony” and having too fresh in mind what Tokyo offered us just few months ago, adding the limited time they had (just 100 minutes) you couldn’t expect a show that could top Vancouver or Sochi. With all those limitations, what Beijing, in its second opening ceremony at the same Bird Nest Stadium, made a ceremony that I can say more than “good”. Also, we couldn’t expect a mass show (despite of what we saw for the China National Games even fewer months ago) since it was going to be carried out according to the Olympic protocol under strict covid rules. Yimou replaced mass for high tech. And really it was HIGH TECH! with a ceremony based on aerials and last generation LED screens with motion sensors… taking the technology for ceremonies to a new level. - The environment seemed a lot more vivid and cheerful than the Tokyo’s mourning-style. We could feel again that it was an Opening Ceremony and not a tribute to everyone and everything that lasted 4 hours (or 2 in this case). - The segments were mixed with the protocol and it may interrupt the anxiety we can feel when we watch an Opening Ceremony. Anyway, the segments were truly lavish! - We are getting used to “videos countdown” since London (despite it had a “stadium” London) and Beijing 2022 was not the exception. Coincidentally, February 4 marks the beginning of the spring according to the 24 solar terms of the Chinese lunar year and the 24th Winter Olympics. - Visually stunning, the first impression of the green brunches (which their colours reminded me “Pindorama” segment from Rio 2016) could lead to the first “wow” factor after Rio, totally absent in Tokyo and PyeonChang. - The Chinese flag welcome was a hint of what we saw in 2008 ceremony, adding modern factors, such the inclusion of “street” people and the children playing the trumpet interpretating a piece of music from an Old Chinese movie. - Then, the high tech started in majesty: the Chinese ink becoming the Yellow river, “flooding” the stadium was another stunning moment. We could appreciate, at that moment, that we were facing a replacement from the classic mass Chinese shows to a High tech show. I loved the ice arising from the floor, following the tradition of the Winter Games of remembering all the previous edition (which was skipped in Sochi) and then breaking the ice to emerge the Olympic rings. This maybe my favourite part of the ceremony. It called my attention that for the 1960 Winter Games, we could red “Lake Tahoe” instead the official name of the games: “Squaw Valley”… why? - The parade was fast, entertaining and cheerful. The snowflakes, as the plaques, was unique but not original. In 2015 we could see LED panels as plaques for the Opening Ceremony of the Pan Am Games in Toronto. - The ceremony continued at Yimou style: cheering people walking through the interactive panel discovering images of people around the world, another hint of what we saw before the torch lighting in 2008 when Li Ning, flying, discovered the route of the flame ass he passed by. - A new version of “imagine” was played. At this point I don’t know if this song belongs to the new Olympic Protocol for ceremonies, such as double flag bearers, joint oaths and the next host country marching next to last. I think that after listening to “imagine” in Torino, London (at least it was the country of the author), PyeongChang and Tokyo we’d had more than enough… What’s next? Someone singing “imagine” in French version on the Seine River? - The peace segment was unified with the Torch Segment. One by one the barely known torch, was approaching to what all of us were expecting: the cauldron that was going to be lit in an “unprecedent” way, while a children song was used as the background. By the way, that was another visually stunning high-tech segment. - Effectively, the flame was “lit” in an unprecedent way: NO CAULDRON AT ALL! Just was the torch which was put in the middle of the giant floating snowflakes, formed by the names of the countries which were the plaques on the parade…. But OK, Yimou thinks in everything: Did the flame from Olympia arrive to the stadium? Yes Is the Olympic Flame present in the ceremony? Yes Is now, what was condemned to be the most infamous Olympic torch of the history, worldwide well-known? Yes OK… Mission accomplished! They appealed to sustainability and no gas emission… what about the fireworks, then? This “lighting” of the cauldron ceremony left in me the feeling of… “it is not over, yet”… An original, but weird, maybe, the weirdest idea for the Olympic Flame. My conclusion: no taking in consideration the “no cauldron” factor (who broke the most important tradition for an opening ceremony, turning it into a sort of “queen’s baton” relay) it was a simple, short, well done and impressive ceremony. A pandemic ceremony, well executed who successfully replaced the (may be ancient) mass segments by stunning technology… OK, Beijing… you didn’t right!!!

This cauldron is just as underwhelming as the opening ceremonies were. Big fat fail from China on all aspects - the medals are uninspired, the cauldron is a joke, the ceremonies were meh, the color palette of the indoor venues is dull.

Double Olympics in the Americas followed by Oceania. I think it'll be Vancouver 2030 and SLC 2034

the sculpture itself is beautiful! beautiful lines, etc. but very underwhelmed but just sticking the torch in there.

Yes but you have done much more than just give your opinion. You’ve dumped on everyone. You don’t seem to realise this. If you’re happy to leave it at that by dumping on everyone and then just stepping back, then that is your choice.

Sir Rols, you continue to throw mud over many Olympic and Ceremony fans here in these threads by not naming any names at all. Why on earth did you not just have your say that you are boycotting the Ceremony and leave it at that ? Why on God’s earth would you then go further and do this without naming anyone nor asking anyone what their opinins are? You’ve created a right mess here now and it all began with your post at the beginjng of this thread. By not naming anyone you have twice now thrown mud over the lot of us. I find this quite astounding especially since you are a moderator. You are literally ridiculing all the fans here by not naming anyone, which I think is a huge mistake you have now twice made. Don’t get all self righteous and throw mud at the fans who frequent these threads. They/we didnt cause the human rights abuses, the Chinese Government did!

Everyone is entitled to respectfully express their opinion on gamesbids.com on the topic of that thread. While I am reluctant to bring up politics in an Olympic fan blog such as gamesbids.com, I do need to respond to your previous post Sir Rols. Firstly, with the world gripped in a once-in-a-100-years pandemic, it is absolutely ok for all of us to lift our spirits by watching Olympics, sports, ceremonies, shows, movies, music or whatever we enjoy doing in our own time. Goodness knows, the mental health of many around the world has taken a hit during these past two years of the pandemic. Our worlds have been turned upside down. Secondly, Gamesbids.com is not a political platform and anyone reading this should not feel guilty watching the Beijing Olympics and Ceremonies. Like many, I personally do not/did not like nor agree with the politics nor the practices of the national government in which several Olympic Games have been held in 2022, 2016, 2014, 2008, 1980 as examples. I still watched the Opening Ceremonies of those Games and the sporting contests which followed. But I am like many as an Olympics and Ceremonies and big shows/events fan am able to separate and recognise that the creative teams of the Opening Ceremonies are not the national governments. The Opening Ceremony creative group including directors, technicians, artists, musicians, volunteers, performers, etc just put together an entertainment and ceremonial show to open or close an Olympics. This is just my opinion but it is entirely possible to watch an Olympics ceremonies and events put together by a creative team while at the same time strongly disagreeing with the policies or practices of the national government of that country, including that of these coming Winter Games. The same goes for big shows or events like the Superbowl for instance. I loved watching the Superbowls and Half-Time Shows from 2017 to 2020. At the same time, I personally separately detested that poor excuse for a human being sitting in the oval office during that period. I’m am sorry that politics of the national government of China have suddenly been linked somehow to Olympic Ceremonies fans on gamesbids.com looking forward to watching the upcoming ceremonies. So I say again, it is absolutely ok to watch Beijing 2022 Ceremonies and the coming sporting contests and achievements. Politics is for a different platform - not Gamesbids.com. That’s how I see it anyway. Sir Rols, how you express your political opinions is respectfully up to you. I would suggest thought that this gamebids thread is not the place for a political protest or making assumptions about the views of others. There are other avenues and platforms for political passion and action. But again, I suggest that gamesbids.com is not one of them.

JFC

Genocide is cool though…

I have decided that i will not watch the Birmingham 2022 opening ceremony in protest at the UK Governments lies and hypocrisy in having parties and large gatherings when the UK was forced into lockdown and families were not able to be with loved ones in their dying moments. I cant watch an event where the compulsive liar Boris Johnson will be attending