mr.x

Fingers crossed.

Well done Sochi! Hands down the best Closing Ceremony yet, if not the best.

Nah, the ballet was entirely different... and ballet is totally expected considering this is Russia.

Mr. X is back momentarily after a long absence from here. Overall, it was a spectacular ceremony - nothing we wouldn't expect from Russia and the most expensive Olympic Games ever. But disappointingly it lacked originality, a lot of the concepts or even the narrative were glaringly 'borrowed' from Vancouver. I don't think we've ever seen Ceremonies that practically use the same concepts. 1. The cultural segment that followed the Parade of Nations began with ice breaking, revealing the ocean and a whale formed by props and performers. Vancouver also began its cultural segment in the same way: ice breaking leading to projected orca whales. This was my biggest beef with Sochi's Opening. 2. Sochi's projected cannon with the smoke effects for firing. Vancouver had that for the orca whale spouts. 3. Vancouver had ceiling suspended constellations. Sochi used the same type of lights to represent winter sport icons just before the lighting of the cauldron. 4. Inline skaters skating in opposing circles concluded Vancouver's cultural segment. Sochi did the same thing towards the end of its Ceremony. Granted, Beijing 2008's Closing Ceremony also had inline skaters but they were doing something completely different. 5. Both Vancouver and Sochi had their malfunctions.

It's the summer equivalent of Vancouver, plain and simple. The world press, include the British, praised how great Vancouver was after the 2010 Games ended, and many went as far as saying it was the best Winter Games ever. LOCOG was also at Vancouver, praised the Games and sought to mimic the same festive and nation-loving mood that was found throughout the streets of Vancouver.

That was an AMAZING Closing Ceremony, much better than the London Opening even. It had the mood and rhythm that was beyond perfection for a Closing Ceremony, and the Closings also usually feel like afterthoughts but this certainly didn't! I also have to emphasize the absolutely brilliant flow of the Closing Ceremony, especially compared to the Opening Ceremony. I also loved how they moved the speeches/cauldron extinguishing/official handover protocol to the end, it flows better for the Closing Ceremony and keeps you watching....whereas in the past, with the big concert segments held only after the handover/speeches/cauldron extinguishing is done, the concerts felt like they were loosely added onto the show program. London's felt otherwise. It was, the best Closing Ceremony ever! I didn't have any issue with the drawn-out musical elements of the show, I thought it was all brilliant. CLOSING CEREMONY RANKINGS: 1) London 2) Beijing 3) Salt Lake 4) Athens 5) Sydney 6) Vancouver 7) Torino

"Happy and Glorious Games," as Rogge put it. It was a summer version of Vancouver. Well done London!

I thought the Russians had sent a armada to Canada when their handover began in Vancouver: what's up with a 6-minute version of your national anthem during someone else's show?

Yup....I'm going to miss CTV Bell Media covering the Olympics for Canada.

I'm really not looking forward to CBC taking the reigns of Canadian Olympic coverage....it simply isn't the network we remember with all the cut backs, despite what they say. Moreover, I personally find coverage on CTV to be a bit more exciting and wider in scope - like you guys have said, more channels to flip through for live coverage and repeats. On the topic of rights changes, the Hudson's Bay Company rights with VANOC/COC began in 2006 and end with 2012. That means the rights to dress our athletes will be up in the air after London. I highly doubt HBC will be bidding for the rights, they did it solely for the build-up to Vancouver 2010 as a means of rebuilding the HBC brand. But that was under the old owner, the current owners are much more attuned to making HBC a luxury retailer. I think Roots will be back 2014 onwards.

Well there are cultural differences between Chinese and British cultures and what they expect and appreciate....if Beijing's Opening had humour in their Ceremony, 1.3-billion Chinese people would be face palming to it. Same goes with the Russians.

I don't know why some people erroneously refer to Olympic medals as Olympic "metals." Like it makes me angry for some reason, I would like to throw a shoe at them. /Rant.

Not looking forward to the Olympics going back to the now-hobo/poverty public broadcaster.

I actually do know quite a few VANOC staff and volunteers that are now working at London!

I think CTV's new "I Believe" theme for Canada's broadcast of the Olympics holds more resonance with Canadians than the old CBC Olympic theme as there's a link to the Vancouver 2010 Games, which Canadians are quite fond of. Either way, CBC is no longer the network it once used to be nor one that I respected.