Ruling Czar

I totally disagree with your slaughtering of the OC. I am not Canadian ( as some ppl on this board tend to believe) but I got to understand what it is - especially the stunnning, absolutely stunning segment of the boy flying over wheatfields. I had no idea of the stupendous vastness and beauty o fyour country until for some reason, I noticed this acrobat flying true the air to the most amazing music and then landing perfectly on a field of wheat. Never before has a solo performace of that scale been attempted in an opening ceremony. I couldn't understand the part with the dancers tap dancing but the setting was beautiful.

Firstly, the opening winter scene of the cultural segment was convincing and executed very well. The emergence of the giant bear muppet from the stadium floor glittering against the lights the audience held was magical and breathtaking! The whales were out of this world and I believe they could have employed "Fantasia" music during this segment but nonetheless, it was remarkably vivid! Was there anything as humbly stunning as the climax of the Sarah Mclachlan segment? Only the arresting beauty of this guy flying over wheatfields! I think this segment captured the stupendous vastness of the canadian prairies wonderfully well. But one of the best parts in my opinion, which spoke to the orchestration of the audience participation was actually the transistion segment from the the wheatfield segment to the mountain segment. That indoor storm was so thoroughly convincing and the music was .....WOW! I wondered how the audience members were able to move their lights so that it looked like lightening! Incredible!

Okay..this might appear surreal but here goes (gulp) Two weeks ago I watched the opening ceremony of the Vancouver winter Olympics for the First time on You Tube! Imagine that! I just could not believe that this was the same ceremony that I saw being torn apart on these boards and was left questioning the appreciative artistic capabilities of some of the people who generated these comments. This ceremony was incredibly magnificent. Yes! They were a few faux pas which were indeed downpoints when I juxtaposed them with the high points. The segment with autumn was the poorest! And the malfunctioned culdron piece was tragic.But there was such arresting beauty encapsulated in the ceremony.

And let's not forget the Red Mittens which to date appears to have be the most successful winter olympics merchandise!

Well, let's see how many promises will be broken.

Well, it is clearly evident that all systems ARE go!

London's shaping up rather nicely!

Most innovative medal design ever!

I just don't know what to make of the cauldron.Sometimes it looks great then at other times it looks.....it looks....like angular crap. Nonetheless, Vancouver was spectacular. Two weeks ago (this sounds embarrassing) I watched the full opening ceremony for the FIRST TIME on You Tube.It was lasted as "Opening ceremony Complete Event". Can you believe it? Anyway, I was completely and utterly blown away by the ceremony and was very perplexed about whether or not I was watching the same thing you guys on Gamesbids watched. Now that I saw it myself, I was absolutely stunned at the beauty of the thing. The weakest part would have been the autumn segment for me but there were so many, many exhilarating moments. For sure the emergence of this huge, glittering bear from the stadium floor,the cracking of the ice and emergence of the whales! THE WHALES! The Classical ending to Sarah McLachlan's performance was so stunning. But the ultimate highlight for me, which shall go down in Olympic history as one of the most innovative and emotionally moving performances was the wheat field segment! OMG! I think the unrestrained beauty and superior vastness of the prairies and Canada were majestically captured here! How unequally stunning that was! I also have to give the prize for the best audience participation at an Olympic Opening Ceremony to the audience at Vancouver - especially during the transition segment from the wheat fields to the mountain segment. I still am quite interested in finding out how they got parts of the audience to flick the lights so that the lightening of the storm seem to flash throughout the stadium. Magnificently resplendent! I gave it an 8.5 out of 10

The Games with the most spectacular backdrop scenery ever! That is unquestionable for sure!

Well we already know some of the best facts about vancouver The first city of its size to host an Olympics. The first indoor opening ceremony. The largest crowd ever assembled in the downtown core of a city on the final day of the games (appoximately 500,000) but what else is there?

I wonder if Toront decides to bid for 2020 if his expertise will be used. I wonder if the success of vancouver has made it better for a possible 2020 game in Toronto.

Surprise, surprise, I actually gave the these ceremonies a high rating. The Maple Leaf Forever segment was just stunning and I think the setting was absolutely magical. I also loved the the song that was sung during the extinguishing of the flame. I also loved how canada poked fun at itself. Trust me, teh world was impressed and do I LOVE the entrance of O'hara with the hint to curling. Very, very well done Vancouver.

boron, moron, whatever you are......I'm always vacationing in Barbados. Oh you know, that extravagantly stunning tropical island-eden that you can't visit? yeah...that one. So they don't give two sore thumbs about snow. Now if you tell me where you local Red Cross Outreach Shelter is and I'll only be too happy to send you a postcard and a small barrel of food stuffs. ...K?

Firstly, I have got to say that I am disappointed. However, not for the reasons most of you expect. I am disappointed primarily beacuse the only part of the ceremony I got to see to day was from the start of the mountain segment onwards. I have to say that I was impressed by what I saw to some degree and felt awed that a Olympic ceremony indoors really looked nice on the t.v. Yet, I am also disapoointed that, with the constant +removal of clips from youtube, I will probably never ever see the Vancouver Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony. I think the death of the luge athlete hung over the night's proceedings like smog. It set such a tragic tone to everything that was to follow and, unfortunately, no matter how hard it would have tried, Vancouver just glowed weakly. That being said, they were some highlights. For sure the mountain segment and the majesty of the Opera singer. Anyone who makes the slightest smidge of insult towards her voice and her does not have a clue what they are talking about. I think the grandure of the Olympic hymn wasn't fully captured because there wasn't a choir to complement her stunning singing. I also found KD lang's rendition of Halleluia profoundly beautiful against the backdrop of thousands and thousands of candles. That was stunning. The culdron was crap. Vanoc failed spectacularly where that is concerned.And strangely enough, the people who were involved in carrying the olympic flag and torch during the final moments of the torch relay just didn't seem to be excited. They almost seemed to be asking in their expressions "What the hell am I doing here?" Nonetheless, the stadium was beautiful and was a stunning backdrop. But now that it is over, was all this secrecy necessary? What do you think?