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LuigiVercotti

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Everything posted by LuigiVercotti

  1. Actually it's because of the glitch (not failure) in Sydney's cauldron sequence that we all realised instantly that something was up with the mini-fortress of solitude that was Vancouver's cauldron. Plus having the music come to a brief help didn't help matters. So who was it that was left 'legless' as a result of the fourth leg failure? "Now if this part is put in correctly the cauldron should work Mr Rogge..."
  2. Thanks Mikey Hmmm...intrigued that so far no one's heaped scorn on NBC's coverage. Either all our American friends are asleep or...god forbid...maybe the peacock got it right?!
  3. Michael, is that cable...i.e. linked with Foxtel and Sky News? So no free to air coverage in NZ?
  4. Actually I thought the Olympic hymn was one of the lesser performances of the night. The cadence and speed was all wrong...too slow and not energising or inspirational. The best performance bar none was that by Sissel at the Lillehammer OC. By the way, isn't it a tad pretentious that whenever the hymn is played at ceremonies like Olympic OCs the audience has to stand? I'm no protocol expert but usually you stand for a national anthem, not some music composed for a non representative private organisation with some fairly dodgy members. Fair enough it was 'Oh Canada', 'God Save the Queen' etc etc but not for this piece of non-representational music.
  5. Bang on SR! That poem was brilliant, and for the first time ever during an OC I've seen I felt pride for a country that I don't come from. This wasn't arrant American jingoism, Chinese middle kingdom bias or French artsy fartsy BS, this was a Canuck with a sense of humour and of place using his poetry to tell the world what being Canadian was aboot. Okay. maybe its not meant for domestic consumption but that poem made me marvel at our Canuck cousins...good stuff!
  6. I loved how Eddie and his blond twit off sider said 'when the Canadians come out we will tell you about how they haven't won an Olympic gold medal at their home Olympics" about 3 or 4 times before the Canadians did come out, telling us already...fools. Plus whilst they went berko over our team (fair enough to some extent) they ignored 100% Austria who are one of the WOG's powerhouse teams. Still, could be worse. I think it was Ann Sanders during Nagano who said 'there they are, the most recognizable symbol in the world...the 6 Olympic rings'. Plus 'twas a shame no sign of Phil Liggett
  7. Heresy I tells ya! How any home broadcaster can show the OC of their own games with commercial breaks beggars belief. Even Channel 7 didn't do that during Sydney 2000...
  8. What, and continue his gravy train? Nah...he can stay sitting in that sweatshop of his making Izzy mascots for sale to amateur Olympic memorabilia collectors. Now if it was revealed in 'Secrets of the Wily Old Falangist' by J.A.Samaranch I might invest a few shekels...
  9. Oh oh...you're opening Pandora's can of worms with the 'fake Barcelona cauldron ignition' (up there with the second shooter theory for Kennedy freaks). Did Antonio Rebollas land the flaming arrow in the cauldron, did it fly through a gas stream that needed ignition, or was the cauldron lit by another person or persons unknown? Methinks we need to get the RCMP onto this right away
  10. SR...having heard that JC was in training then yes, I do like the idea that Craig Branch should've got the nod. Watching Torah Bright during the parade was a little disconcerting as her teeth were almost illuminating the entire stadium As for Nikki Webster, it's a little disturbing to see 'our Nikki' from Sydney 2000 now like this... I wonder if the lad who did the flying sequence during Vancouver's opening ceremony 10 years form now will be cavorting in a jock strap?
  11. Well if the federation and the other relevant bodies keep doing the same then expect more casualties. The combination of lazy construction with a growing pool of competitors who may not have the technical skill to go down such a track safely (hell, it's even troubled gold medallists) is a recipe for what happened today and what may happen again. This is going to be a hell of a wake up call to all involved....
  12. How about ads/commercials during the ceremony itself (assuming CTV is a commercial network)? Channel Nine down under had only one break once the actual ceremony started and showed the athlete's parade in total (which was a surprise). However some of the commentary was at best amateur and at worst offensive (so-called TV expert Eddie McGuire kept ticking off teams that had no chance of winning medals...obnoxious prat)
  13. So...who wants to pour a bucket over the likes of NBC, CBC, Channel 9 or whomever else has the local TV broadcast rights for Vancouver 2010 in your location? Or perhaps...just perhaps, give a few bouquets?
  14. Having checked my footage SR I can confirm that for Aussie broadcasters. There was nothing on Lillehammer then bang, Atlant a and it becomes all 'IOC expressly prohibits yadda yadda...'. I have actually had a small brush with this policy recently on YouTube when I uloaded the London hand over sequence from Beijing...the grey eminences at YT blocked it because it was 'copyrighted to NBC' which pissed me off considering it was from Channel 7's coverage plus it's nearly 2 years ago. Methinks the Wily Old Falangist's ideas still live on when it comes to the IOC and social networking media.
  15. Haven't seen any video footage and on principle I'm not interested in viewing, however from looking at still photos of the crash my question is how come metal beams have been angled over the lip of the ice wall, which in itself looks to be woefully low? When the inquiry takes place the designers and engineers and those who signed off on the venue from VANOC and the luge federation deserve a big kick up the backside at least. Considering in other high speed sporting events crash barriers and tracks are given as much space from potential accident as possible it just seems ridiculous to have such a paucity of safety at such a point on the track.
  16. I definitely agree about the Sydney 2000 references ard but beg to differ on the overall opening ceremony...this was easily the best WOG opening since 1994. There were sequences in the OC that will remain classic (e.g. the prairie scene, the orca projections, k.d.lang performing 'Hallelujah') and whilst I felt at times it was a rejigging of Ric Birch et al work for Sydney 2000 there was plenty of Canadian flavour. I was particularly taken by Shane Koyczan's poetry, and the use of Donald Sutherland as narrator was also cool. As for the cauldron, well that was probably the only less than satisfactory section. Gretzky was a lock for the last torchbearer but his stature as an athlete overshadowed the technically and I also think artistically flawed cauldron.
  17. I would expect considering the tragedy at the Whistler Sliding Centre the anti-games protesters will have their demonstration swamped in the news, and if they try to exploit the event they'll be seen as heartless bastards. Here's hoping they say what they want to say in a dignified manner then remain an irrelevance for the rest of the games.
  18. Awful news, and undoubtedly one of the biggest shadows over any games. I'm sure all athletes, organisers and fans must feel saddened right now...I know I sure do. Also watched the news conference with Rogge and the VANOC team...I was impressed by the humanity shown by all involved. These guys are high flying officials used to a reasonably good life with the luxury of being sometimes treated as VIPs, but during the press conference they showed that they understood the sadness of this tragedy.
  19. At the risk of chiming in late on a dead subject, and making an observation that has no foundation in fact (as if that stops anyone posting here) who actually believes the Commonwealth Games will actually still be running in 2030? Catering to a small bunch of loosely aligned countries, the CGs have become more and more a sporting irrelevance since the 1970s. All it would take would be for England, Australia or Canada to say enough and the whole house of cards falls down, as no one will want to go see a multi-sport competition where excellence is defined by bugger all world records and where the Norfolk Islands and the Isle of Man are taken seriously. The Aussies should be more engaged with the Asian Games, the Canucks no doubt are already in on the Pan Am Games bandwagon, the various British entities compete in Europe, and SA, NZ and India generally fill in the gaps not taken by the aforementioned CG powerhouses. The glory days of empire and commonwealth are over, and the CGs should come to a gentle dignified stop post Glasgow
  20. "I am feeling very Olympic today"!! Good luck Vancouver...I'm sure these will be great games (and here's to a couple of Aussie golds)
  21. Congrats to Torah but rather disappointed it couldn't have gone to Jacqui Cooper. 5 games, should have won a gold in any of the last 3, and one of the greats of Australian winter sport. I may be a little cynical but I wonder how much the 'good looking, cleaning living blonde gal with Gen Y cred' played a role in her getting the nod?
  22. Methinks someone spent way too much time in the Dublin wind tunnel sans goggles and helmet. Glad to see Eire didn't have their flag bearer knocked out by a IBF stuff-up
  23. Hey Michael...whatever happened to the Kiwi winter Olympic program? I recall some fairly decent results from the bobsledders and of course Coberger's silver in Albertville flagged NZ as the first southern hemisphere nation to win a winter medal. Too many DB Lagers perchance?
  24. Heard that two Sydney 2000 ceremonies vets, David Atkins and Ignatius Jones are involved in Vancouver's Opening...nice to see such continuity from Oz. And just in case you don't know who Ignatius Jones is take a peek at this vid from his 'Jimmy & The Boys' days: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGDakKx4_FY
  25. Poor BA...first they lose out to Melbourne by 1 vote for the 56 games, then get a godawful Andrew Lloyd Weber musical set there, and now the plague of IOC locusts sweep in.
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