walei

Maybe it's just me but I never got the same feeling from London/Vancouver/Beijing/Torino/Athens/SLC/all other ceremonies I think it's because the two sides are empty and not surrounded by people, and the stage is a bland open area with no shapes or curves. The movement of the show is mainly moving pieces from right to left so I guess the camera work couldn't do much also for the in-between segments.

Watched the OC again over the weekend. I loved the use of music and the props, they were magnificently Russian. One thing I didn't like though was how empty the stage looked in-between... I think it's the way the spectators were seated, the stage floor looked like a huge empty street waiting for the marching parade to come through. The cauldron lighting sucked though... huge disappointment after the best ever from London.

I'm ethnically Chinese but was born in Taiwan so I consider my original nationality Taiwanese or Republic of China, and my family immigrated to Toronto when I was 9. I think Toronto really need to think of a way to play up the multiculturalism and tie it into why this is important to the IOC.

Is a compact game a top priority? Rio won 2016 despite being the least compact bid. That's not to say Toronto shouldn't focus on a compact bid, they absolutely should but this alone won't be THE attraction imho.

Well they were planned that way so I wouldn't call it glitches.

The waterfront concept is great but I don't think it's THE trump card Toronto needs to have in its hands also. Is a scenic waterfront concept more compelling or close to compelling as what other cities can come up with? I really don't know. I feel Toronto needs something along the line of what olympicsfan97 said ON TOP of the technically excellent compact waterfront plan and the legacy of cleaning up the Portlands. The diversity of Toronto, a metropolis where every nationality can be found (I think I read that somewhere), home game for every nation, the living success story of the Olympic ideal that different ethnicity and race come together and building a peaceful community. Make the IOC think coming to Toronto is the same thing as padding themselves on the back... we all know how the IOC likes to do that LOL.

So, if Toronto 2024 bid is a reality what do you think Toronto should do to improve its narrative besides an excellent technical bid to make it compelling? In 2008 it was pretty much a game by athletes for the athletes and it obvious wasn't enough to match the Juggernaut that was Beijing and China. If Toronto go ahead with 2024 our possible opponents will be Durban/South Africa, the last frontier for the IOC; Paris and their Centennial, and USA the biggest market for the IOC. What narrative direction should Toronto go for?

I'm talking about the stadium announcers. They miss the cue after the first runner and the names they called out didn't match whoever was actually holding the torch during the lap run, and finished way behind. World feed commentator was indeed horrible but that's independent from the OC.

I loved London's cauldron lighting segment but the two announcers totally screwed up their cue when announcing the young athletes.

Me too! Tired of looking at that maxipad...hope it contains strong Asian flavours.

Hi Gucci, can you please clear your inbox

Instead of letting athletes roam around the stadium they were compartmentalized for too long. There isn't much they could do so maybe some of them got bored or just left to join other compartments. Still disappointed not seeing a impromptu conga line Spice Girls were amazing, they were also the highlight for me!

I think London's lighting is probably my favorite of all time. LOGOC got everything right with the whole sequence, the music, and the progression. I love Caliban's Dream, probably my favorite original track composed for the Olympics. Sir Redgrave's entrance with 500 park builders cheering as the honor guard was brilliant. I wasn't too sure about the youths lighting the cauldron but London's motto IS "Inspire a Generation". The image of 200+ previous British medalists looking upon them waving and blessing the youth, the hugging embrace from the legends that nominated them, all with that hauntingly beautiful music gave me goosebumps. It's still very unfortunate that the cauldron cannot be seen outside of the stadium and had to be turned off to move it to another location.

Montreal's flame going out wasn't intentional, London's is. In the end I don't think I'm too worked up with the cauldron's flame being distinguished, but the attitude of LOCOG about it is kind of a turn off.

Actually from TV you can see each kid followed the flag up to the Tor and holds up each pedal for display for a moment on the Tor. I thought it was Greek ceremony bowl that I didn't know of until I read it on here that it's part of the cauldron. OSB has news from London program and they just had a report on the status of the Olympic Stadium. They are tearing down everything in prep for the athletics including the Tor. The cauldron is still in the center lit, with all the construction going on. Kind of a sad scene actually, that no one outside the stadium could see it.

From the article LOL I was half joking, and it turned out to be true.

Wouldn't it be cool if the stems from the pedal moves around like a laser light show? I know it's too much work and probably hard to pull off but that would make this cauldron even more spectacular.

Ohhhh I get it now why the organizers needed to ask the PM about the Cauldron. "So we are going to need the government to spend all these money on this cauldron which in the past became monuments from the games, but after these games are over we are going to disassemble it and give the pieces to each competing countries here instead. U cool?"

Here is a way for everyone to see the cauldron outside the stadium, webcam on a jumbotron!! At least, that's what I'm seeing right now on my TV at home...

The cauldron looks great with very good meanings. I like how poetic it is, having it cease to exist after the games. I just with it's taller or bigger...

Or ATR's report on Oswald that he thought that since the cauldron won't be visible outside of the stadium the flame won't be also. I doubt Oswald actually know how tall the flame will be and went outside the stadium to check if it's visible from the outside.

Also if the cauldron is indeed not a massively towering structure and with all the hooplas around the world to see what London will do (especially that getting the PM's consent story), maybe the IOC is wise to hint the contrary to reduce the possible disappointment. But even if it's a visible inside the stadium cauldron, I'm still confident that it'll be beautiful and lit spectacularly.

Ohhh I am really interested to seeing the presentation of the Olympic rings. Athens and Beijing did a terrific job! SLC and Torino were pretty spectacular too. Sadly, Vancouver's sucked. As for the theme of the OC, who said if the OC MUST contain anything historical? I remember there were discussions prior to Vancouver's OC that they hope it's not all Natives this and Natives that but also include the European colonial impacts on Canada. Well guess what, Vancouver's OC completely did away with any historical and instead focused on celebrating Canada's great natural resources spectacularly. Now I'm not familiar with UK's geography so I can't comment on how that can be used, but is there anything London's OC can use besides history (or geography)? (note I am not saying I'm against using history, I actually want to see it as UK was once the most power Empire on the planet and it could be spectacular if done right.)

Some valid arguments but the last Olympic Games in NA is 2002 SLC? Journalism fail especially from a Canadian press.