mattygs

I think it would be a good idea for the Olympic hymn to always be performed im Greek. It would be a nice touch and honour for the birthplace of the Games - and to be honest, the anthem often sounds quite stupid if performed in various languages. I think they can get away with English, but the Japanese version at Nagano sounded nymph like, not overly Olympian.

Watch some sport. Should keep ya more than entertained prior to Beijing 2008. Kinda has a lil something to do with the Olympics too, so its win win really. hehe.

You're yanking my cock arent ya bro? Or do we really need a jizm clean up in aisle Taichi? haha. I am guessing not all scoreboards are in yet, however I heard most already have got clocks in , in addition to the toilet blocks.

True, but the Olympic world has changed a lil bit since back then. And while BCP will be used alot during the Games for medal ceremonies etc etc, it is still the Olympic cauldron stuck inside.

There is nooooo way in he11 that there should NOT be another cauldron outside the stadium. Im sorry, but what kind of sad ass Olympic host has the cauldron inside for virtually noone to see. It's just dum. lol. Actually, the Sydney 2000 Paralympics used the concept of *the fire within* alot during their ceremonies.

Ne rich families in Vancouver? lol/. Maybe they have someone like the Eckles family out there willing to shove a few Million towards the ceremonies budget. haha. Having falling confetti would be effective as a snow like substitute. They kinda did that during part of the Melbourne 2006 closing ceremony and it looked good, likewise during the Auckland 1990 Closing Ceremony to be honest. Like glitter kinda stuff.

Just a little bit about the Pyrotechnics for Beijing 2008 ceremonies. Seems like the guy designing the pyrotechnics is Cai Guo-Qiang. He will be assisted by *Fireworks by Grucci*, who also did the Salt Lake 2002 Pyro displays. The guy appears to be into pyro-art.

I guess he is. I mean, the recent Winter Games ceremonies have not been all that high tech or expensive, much of the Salt Lake ceremonies budget was provided by donors after all. The Athens ceremonies did cost bucket loads, true, however I don't think that meant that it was a cermony that lacked humanity. I dont want to start another discussion about the value of those ceremonies here, as it has happened here before. But while the means to display the imagery was expensive, the imagery itself - I though, was extremely touching, emotive and simple. (ie: the image of a pregnant woman with a glowing belly walking in water is extremely simple but worked so well). No idea on the Doha budget, I imagine it was big though, it was a pretty complex ceremony.

Haha, David Atkins produced and boasted (not in a bad way though) how technically advanced and fantastical the uber expensive Doha 2006 ceremonies was - he is part of the *problem* (if u see it as a bad thing) that he is talking about here. Maybe he is really disappointed at the underwhelming ceremonies budget (in some peoples eyes). I remember before Doha he was going on about how he will use technology that has never been used before, but he seems to be against all of that here. Strange.

In a way however, this is much the same for each host nation - propaganda. It could also be said that having the likes of *awakening* and a Cathy Freeman lighting the Olympic cauldron in Sydney, was Australian govt propaganda for white/Aboriginal relations. Many Indig. Australians would say that was a load of bs and that their plight was as worse as ever.

Not surprisingly, Ive noticed a number of media outlets internationally totally blowing this out of proportion. All of a sudden he became the *artistic director* of the ceremonies in their reports, not simply an advisor. Never mind the likes of Ric Birch and Yves Pepin, or the expertise of JMWW, who actually know wot they're doing when it comes to stadium theatre and major events.

Yup, that's where I think the Torino similarity comes from. Not so much the shape of the logos, but the way the colours are integrated. As for every 2010 logo being better than the London one. I dont completely agree. While maybe the London logo is a tad strange and controversial, as a logo and symbol, I think this cultural Olympiad logo would be very very weak as an Olympic official logo - whereas the London one does admitedly stand out. The Torino one would be wishy washy. Again, even tho the official V2010 Games logo is controversial and different, unlike these other Vancouver side logos, it does certainly stand out and is quite strong in terms of a mark imo.

It's a nice enough looking graphic, but, it seems to lack the *culture* aspect that past cultural Olympiad logos have had, that being, something to do with cultures. With the logic of their explanation, they could simply draw a bright purple blog on the page and manage to relate it to culture. And yes, that varying shades of a colour is still very Torinoish, much like the torch relay logo.

I can't imagine they would have a repeat appearance of a giant lake, but I wouldnt rule out water all together. I guess water appearing in a pool of some description could be something that will happen. Of course, this wasnt really unique to Sydney, LA's closing ceremony featured an awesome stage construction in the middle of the field which included pools of water and fountains.

With Jack Morton Worldwide having been appointed advisor production company for the ceremonies, it will surely be a well produced show, not just designed

The *torch bearer* at Hajfell

Perhaps u will. hmmm. Maybe they will use the same logo for both. I dont think Torino copied Athens. It's just that pretty much all past torch relay logos have been based around a figure of someone carrying an Olympic torch. I know that sydney's was pretty much the same A tiny version of it is here sydney 2000 Salt Lake 2002 I know Atlanta and Barcelona also had their logo featuring a figure carrying the torch, and of course we had the amazing *torch bearer* graphic from Lillehammer, which I still think was the best. Awesome how they had it inscribed into the forest above Hajfel

Can't say I like that. And yup, that is so close to the Torino 2006 look its not funny.

Kind of. But at the end of the day, the head of State is the Queen of Canada (who conveniently also has the identity of the queen of nz, australia, gb etc etc). Of course, when not available, the Gov General is her rep on the ground in Canada. But it seems to be a constitutional issue, not so much a VANOC issue. Aside from that, if it was here, I would definetely be wanting the Queen to make the trek to open up a NZ Games , despite the fact that Anand Satyanand (the Gov.General) would do an equally good job.

I remember the GovGen in Calgary made a rite arse of herself when she *tried her hardest* to open them. haha. It was hilarious watching it.

I dunno why, but when I was a bit younger I always used to like the Cadbury tv ad, with the choral kind of music, and the milk filling up a chocolate mould of the Olympic rings like an ocean. haha. It was a pretty basic ad, but was cool. Back in 2000, Air New Zealand also put out a nice variation of their tv ad. Traditionally, it had the little Maori girl dressed in a white dress in different locations around the world, ending in her standing on a beach carrying a piece of driftwood/stick with the Air NZ *pacific wave* blue ribbons tied onto it - with Pokarekare Ana being sung in the background. The variation for Sydney was the stick being replaced with the Sydney Olympic torch (still wif ribbons) at the end. Actually, AIRNZ have had few ads. I remember prior to Sydney 2000 they ran the *everything will be perfect* tv ad. I spose you can't go past the old Maccaz tv ads wif Birdy, Grimmis, Hamburgler and Ronald. And Coca Cola always have good tv campaigns, I remember their one in 1996 (played in NZ at least) was the *Atlanta is Far... Cheer Loud* ads.

Nope, apparenlty it's Auckland - hundreds of thousands of them in Auckland alone. haha Melanesia is more like French Polynesia and New Guinea area.

Not entirely sure about Atlanta aye, i will see if i can find an atlanta 96 tv magazine in my collection. In terms of Pacifica coverage that TVNZ provides, I am not entirely sure how that works to be honest. The only thing I would say, is that whenever there is an achievement of some description from a PI nation, it gets big coverage in NZ< let alone in the islands. Case in point being Tonga's silver medal in boxing in Atlanta. Remember, Auckland has the biggest poly population in the world. j

To be honest, I can only remember Atlanta as my first Olympics I paid much attention to. Ever since then they have made the effort to basically cover a live day in whateva location it is in, highlights always favouring New Zealand. I know that TVNZ has traditionally also been a major player in providing the expertise of host broadcaster for sailing events, I guess helped with the high tech America's Cup coverage they and their fellow NZ companies have pioneered - such as virtual spectator. And yup, TVNZ does provide the coverage for the Pacific Islands.

I have personally always been reasonably happy with the TVNZ coverage of the Olympic Games, especially considering it has only been on the one network. They have only just got up on a digital platform with freeview. I am not entirely sure of their plans for Beijing, but I am guessing they would probably use a channel on that to put some Olympic events on. Of course Sydney was the best coverage, as an Olympic day was esentially the same as a Kiwi day due to Sydney being just a few hours behind us. Generally , TVNZ through TV1, will cover the Olympic day, in woteva time the timezone demands. And then, will have a few hours of highlights at a more *reasonable* viewing hour, such as 3-6pm. That was the case in Athens, with the opening ceremony being on in the early hours of the morning - and the majority of competition taking place over night.