mr.bernham

I frankly love the dystopian/sci-fi vibe. Very French.

Lol no he doesn’t lmao

If NBC’s presenters could shut up that would be incredible.

I personally cannot imagine people like LeBron James slumming it in the OV lol. Especially when he can afford to fork out a ton of money on 5-star accommodations.

Figures. Leave it to the press to make life more difficult for closeted gay athletes. I think the western press often forgets just how homophobic a lot of the world still is. Being gay can be a real danger to some athletes.

Someone's posted the full Synchronicite segment's score: According to comments on YouTube, a full album is going to be released soon with everything on it.

I hope it's in Lyon. Would be a lovely full circle for Lyon's Olympic venues, which iirc were originally built in advance of a Lyon bid for the 1968 games.

After sitting with the ceremony for a few days, I've really come around to it. In true French fashion, Paris gave us a grower and not a shower! The highlight for me is still the laser show at the Eiffel Tower. The use of 'Supernature' was genius and perfect for the moment. On that point, @Sir Rols, do we have any idea on when or if an album/soundtrack is going to be released for the ceremony? The music was probably the best of any recent ceremony I can remember. As for the debate around Athens, I think we can all agree that Athens was a perfect traditional ceremony and a highlight in ceremony history. But every host city and host nation has a different relationship with the games, and I appreciate that Paris didn't go the traditional route and really struck out on its own. Personally, I feel like we will remember this ceremony a lot longer than some recent ones. Pretty much every ceremony from the last decade was supremely unmemorable.

All I’m gonna add is that: 1. Paris is notorious for intense and random rainfalls. They aren’t frequent but they aren’t abnormal. 2. Some of the heaviest rainfall occurs in May, July, and August. 3. Rain is one of those factors that can be incredibly destructive and unpredictable… combine that with Paris’ unpredictable climate… boom bam bing bong you get last night. But alas. C’est la Vie. It’s all done now. Paris has given us some memories, some lessons, and some tears (Have watched Celine 7xs now). And really, isn’t that all we want at the end of the day?

Oh I absolutely love that this tradition is still alive and well. I’ll review the submissions and vote.

Wait really? I already considered Rio 2016 one of the worst editions of the post-1984 era. But this fact cements it as truly the worst. This really angers me. The more I think about this ceremony, the more I feel it was designed to primarily appeal to an American/NBC audience rather than anyone else or the world: pre-recorded “live” performances, constant ads and product placement, tons of American celebrities. As I sit w this ceremony the more disappointed I am. Paris and France deserved better. I also take issue w the notion the French loved it. My friends in Paris and Lyon hated it and I’m not seeing much positive said about in the French press or social media this morning.

Paris is notoriously raining this time of year. Having an outdoor ceremony was a super risky gamble. It was more likely than not they’d have rain. In that sense, I think you can absolutely blame the organizers.

Feels a little goalpost moving for me. I remember people being upset in 2016 over Rio’s climate change stuff. I understand that most of us here agree with these political statements, and are not put off by them, but they are political statements. With as fractured as western politics are (both in US and France), this presents a new a difficult challenge for organizers. We need to be sensitive to that, even if we think the complainers are terrible bigots.

Glad you made this point. At least the Paris vision was executed, however ham-fisted it ended up being. Tokyo was doomed games all around. I really hope the IOC throws them an olive branch and awards them 2036.

Please say sike this is so much better lmao.

Exactly what I was trying to get at early. Paris oftentimes felt like a backdrop rather than a true force in the ceremony. I think you also make a really really important point: Paris was doomed if it did doomed if it didn't. Paris, London, New York, and Tokyo are four cities which probably will always have the greatest challenge when it comes to hosting an Olympics, and particularly the ceremony. These are cities, especially Paris, which have such diverse personalities and reputations that no ceremony could ever fully capture what they mean to people around the world. In some sense they all have stereotyped identities *and also* people around the world have their own unique and deeply personal relationship or idea of those cities. No ceremony could ever hope to capture this fully, which makes the mountain of putting on a good ceremony all the harder to climb.

As a resident of Los Angeles, this would be an absolute nightmare. If we thought the segments on the Seine were too long, a parade of athletes from one end of LA to the other would threaten the Olympics' viability as a marketable television spectacle. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ A separate thought which came to me upon further reflection was how prominent the presence of American figures was. I really cannot wrap my head around it. The Americans + the Minions + the not-so-subtle product placement really gave the whole thing an air of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (just wet). Something else I noticed in the NBC Primetime edit is that they both reduced the length of the torch relay and added music for the bit where it's dead silent. Cannot fathom what possessed the organizers to not have spectators present. The more I think about it too, the more I wonder why they didn't just do the whole thing in the Louvre? Hell, could've even have the athletes parade down the Champs Elysee. If the goal/aim of the whole thing was to make Paris the backdrop, and if that's the idea we're to base our judgement off of, then I think Paris left a lot wanting.

Great point. I think if they really wanted to go heavy on the Seine, then they should've leaned more into the Seine's banks than they did, and have the traditional athletes parade at Trocadero. The image of athletes walking through the Eiffel Tower could've been really powerful. I get a sense that the creative process for the ceremony started with someone suggesting they do it in front of the Trocadero and then someone else suggested having the athletes come down the Seine. The two great ideas got merged together, and in the end, neither ended up working well together because they were fighting for attention. I honestly think this would've made for a jaw dropping closing ceremony.

Enough has been said about what was wrong with this ceremony, and I don't think me piling on will help much. I'll stop my deeper criticisms by saying Paris is very fortunate that Rio hosted it in 2016. As we say in America, you'll never be the worst as long as Mississippi exists. The music was spectacular. Based on the Leitmotifs, I'm assuming it was produced mostly by Woodkid. This was quite emotional for me. Paris has been using Woodkid since their Bid back in 2015! Woodkid again produced the handover ceremony's music in 2020. I loved this continuity, and it's something I think almost everyone missed. Instead, I'd like to offer some suggestions for how this ceremony could've been improved. The concept of a ceremony on the Seine was novel, and I think Paris should be commended for breaking the mold. Aside from the rain (which frankly, the organizers should've anticipated...the climate is changing but Paris is notoriously rainy this time of year), I feel the concept fell apart because it failed to take advantage of the backdrop of Paris. Watching the ceremony for a second time during NBC's re-broadcast, it shocked me how little we see of the Seine's banks! So many iconic vistas are completely lost. Perhaps this is due to poor camera angles. But I think it's down to how the show was structured. From my perspective, it seems they tried to fit traditional arena set pieces onto the banks of the Seine rather than letting the Seine's banks themselves be the set pieces. It's almost as if they weren't ready to think outside the box and settled for this weird middle ground that felt too muddled, too off-pace, and not majestic enough. Yes, Athens 2004 was a homecoming, but this was the *true* homecoming for the modern Olympics, and it didn't feel like it all. The ceremony really only came together once everyone made it to the Trocadero. In my opinion, if the organizers wanted to stay wedded to the traditional artistic set pieces while still involving the backdrop of Paris, the temporary arena constructed at the Trocadero should've been the main arena for the artistic pieces. In my idealized version, the ceremony starts on the Champs Elysee and then moves through the Arc de Trimophe into the Trocadero. As the artistic sections are taking place in Trocadero, have the athletes start processing, but only cut to them once they pass under Pont de Alexandre III. Have the torch journey be an ongoing theme of the ceremony as a whole, but once it gets to Trocadero, keep it there. Have the relay take place w/o the international athletes included (why steal LA's thunder??), but lead to the Champ de Mars. Loved the caludron, but lets have that balloon soar above the Eiffel Tower. Feel free to tear this apart, but I just think this concept was good idea but could've been executed better than what we saw tonight. France had a lot of bold ideas, but they didn't form up together right. Shame really, they had 12 years to out-do the English and failed.

Honestly Celine and that cauldron just saved this.

Nobody: Paris: > Brings the Athletes to the Eiffel Tower > Lights the cauldron on the complete opposite side of town

From the beginning I thought this concept would serve a closing ceremony better than an opening one. I’m very disappointed to have been proven correct.

If my political knowledge isn't too rusty, isn't Ayuso in PP? Would be the most on-brand thing in the world for Spain's best shot at the games since the 1980s to be scuttled by internal national political drama.

Thank you, Sir Rols! Good to see some missed faces.

I'm pretty sure they still built it to be able to convert. IIRC, the stadium was designed so that the lower bowl could support an elevated platform for T&F configurations. That is why there's a rounded terrace on either end of the lower bowl. Conversion would reduce seating to 65,000, I believe. Since I don't want to spam, and because it has been a while since I've posted on here, I hope Madrid's bid eventually goes forward. It's ridiculous that it lost all three bids in 2012, 2016, and 2020. By the last bid, Madrid was the strongest technically and financially. I can't help but feel that in the years since 2013's vote, the merits of Madrid's bid have only strengthened. On a selfish note, it would be a nice full-circle moment for me. I joined Gamesbids back in 2013 during that bid race. It would be incredible for Madrid to get the games finally.