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**spoilers** Opening Ceremony Content **spoilers**


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Does anyone think there'll be some sort of tribute to the victims of the Haitian earthquake, especially since the GG was born in Port-au-Prince? Granted Haiti has never been to the winter games, and hasn't won an Olympic medal in 80 years.

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Does anyone think there'll be some sort of tribute to the victims of the Haitian earthquake, especially since the GG was born in Port-au-Prince? Granted Haiti has never been to the winter games, and hasn't won an Olympic medal in 80 years.

IOC President Jacques Rogge or VANOC CEO John Furlong will likely mention it in their speech. Something similar was done in Beijing for the mainland earthquake.

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IOC President Jacques Rogge or VANOC CEO John Furlong will likely mention it in their speech. Something similar was done in Beijing for the mainland earthquake.

That was a little different though b/c it happened in the host country itself.

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That was a little different though b/c it happened in the host country itself.

In his address at the closing ceremony, Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the IOC, named the Lillehammer games “the best winter games ever”, a characterization that has yet to be repeated concerning any winter games. In his address at the opening ceremony, Samaranch recalled Sarajevo and its 1984 Winter Olympic Games, at the time in the midst of Yugoslav war of 1991-1995, with an emotive message: "Our message is stronger than ever: Please stop the fighting. Stop the killing. Drop your guns." The composition of the Bosnia and Herzegovina four-man bob team was one Croat, two Bosniaks and a Serb, mirroring the ethnic diversity of the country.

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In his address at the closing ceremony, Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the IOC, named the Lillehammer games "the best winter games ever", a characterization that has yet to be repeated concerning any winter games. In his address at the opening ceremony, Samaranch recalled Sarajevo and its 1984 Winter Olympic Games, at the time in the midst of Yugoslav war of 1991-1995, with an emotive message: "Our message is stronger than ever: Please stop the fighting. Stop the killing. Drop your guns." The composition of the Bosnia and Herzegovina four-man bob team was one Croat, two Bosniaks and a Serb, mirroring the ethnic diversity of the country.

I just realized that the OC will be on the one month anniversary of the Haitian eathquake. Given that, they'd probably be insensitive to not say a word in memorium.

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We know that in all of those cities there will be a couple of oaths, some speeches, a flame, a performance of the host national anthem, a tribute to the Olympic Rings, some singers, some dancers, the athletes, and some artistic representation of sport. All things that happen at each Opening Ceremony. And that is about all we know about the Vancouver 2010 ceremony. A few minor details, but nothing like we know a few days out from previous ceremonies.

I don't think there will be any mention of Haiti. It isn't fitting. Commentators on TV may say something when the GG arrives because of her Haitian roots, but I don't see it happening in the actual ceremony.

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Found this at the Slam! Sports blog !

Sing something louder so the whole world can hear

http://blogs.canoe.ca/vancouver2010/general/sing-something-louder-so-the-whole-world-can-hear/

Bob Mackin - February 6th, 2010

The day after the Vancouver 2010 opening ceremony rehearsal was interrupted by a scheduled RCMP security sweep at B.C. Place Stadium, producer David Atkins was back to work fine-tuning the biggest show in Canadian history on Feb. 6.

A source inside the dome spotted a large, white stage in the centre of the floor and heard, several times, a recording of Bryan Adams singing a duet with an unknown female voice. The chorus was “sing something louder so the whole world can hear” and it included aboriginal drumming and chanting.

Among the cast of thousands were groups of aerial performers and native performers, all dressed in white.

An invitation-only dress rehearsal is scheduled for Feb. 10. The real thing goes at 6 p.m. Feb. 12. Live to the world.

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"A source inside the dome spotted a large, white stage in the centre of the floor and heard, several times, a recording of Bryan Adams singing a duet with an unknown female voice. The chorus was “sing something louder so the whole world can hear” and it included aboriginal drumming and chanting"

Are we expecting to see / hear Canadian born Ms Celine Dion perhaps?

I hope so :-)

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Exactly. Everyone who doesn't recognise Celine Dion's voice or might not even know her must have been living under a rock for the last 20 years. I suppose it's rather a young and rather unknown female singer combined with the old routinier Bryan Adams. By the way, German TV network ARD has chosen a new song by Bryan Adams called "One World, One Flame" (does that remind you of one particular Olympic slogan? ;)) as the theme song for its Vancouver broadcasts. But this is most probably not the song he'll be singing in the opening ceremony, since he sings it alone (at least in the ARD version).

You can hear an excerpt from it in this ARD trailer (I hope that it's not blocked for foreign users so that you can also access it from outside Germany): http://olympia.ard.de/olympia/mediabox/videos/videos102_id-video514_-e36244fd7a1cdf1677a9ffde3b6e128077525bb8.html

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Are we expecting to see / hear Canadian born Ms Celine Dion perhaps?

I hope so :-)

God, I hope not. I don't want the world to think that's all we have to offer.

Diana Krall I'd love to see. Sarah McLachlan would be nice. Or Nelly Furtado. Feist. Arcade Fire. Michael Buble. I'll even settle for Bryan. Just no more Celine, please.

Just saw this article on the CTV page:

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Buble and Walter Gretzky are among the big names who will run with the Olympic torch when it arrives in Vancouver later this week.

Mr. Schwarzenegger - a former movie star who is now Governor of California - will run with the torch just after 7:00 am Friday morning in Stanley Park. He will be followed later in the morning by Mr. Gretzky, whose son Wayne Gretzky is among the top contenders to light the Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremony on Friday; and Rolly Fox, father of Terry Fox. Betty Fox, Terry's mother, is also a favourite to light the Olympic cauldron.

Other torchbearers announced Monday morning include astronaut Julie Payette, singer/songwriter Jann Arden, former B.C. Lions player Luis Passaglia, former Canucks players Richard Brodeur and Stan Smyl, and former Vancouver Whitecaps player and current team president Bob Lenarduzzi.

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God, I hope not. I don't want the world to think that's all we have to offer.

Diana Krall I'd love to see. Sarah McLachlan would be nice. Or Nelly Furtado. Feist. Arcade Fire. Michael Buble. I'll even settle for Bryan. Just no more Celine, please.

Just saw this article on the CTV page:

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Buble and Walter Gretzky are among the big names who will run with the Olympic torch when it arrives in Vancouver later this week.

Mr. Schwarzenegger - a former movie star who is now Governor of California - will run with the torch just after 7:00 am Friday morning in Stanley Park. He will be followed later in the morning by Mr. Gretzky, whose son Wayne Gretzky is among the top contenders to light the Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremony on Friday; and Rolly Fox, father of Terry Fox. Betty Fox, Terry's mother, is also a favourite to light the Olympic cauldron.

Other torchbearers announced Monday morning include astronaut Julie Payette, singer/songwriter Jann Arden, former B.C. Lions player Luis Passaglia, former Canucks players Richard Brodeur and Stan Smyl, and former Vancouver Whitecaps player and current team president Bob Lenarduzzi.

Notice nobody's said anything about David and Jamie Pelletier. Hmmmm....why are they being kept under wraps? :blink:

Also, will there be an ice rink at BC Place to be used in the Ceremonies? Or will it be a 'dry OC' a la Torino (which to my mind, immediately makes it a 2nd rate Winter OC if there is no ice).

Edited by baron-pierreIV
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Also, will there be an ice rink at BC Place to be used in the Ceremonies? Or will it be a 'dry OC' a la Torino (which to my mind, immediately makes it a 2nd rate Winter OC if there is no ice).

Even if it was a dry stage, it wouldn't necessarily degrade the ceremony -- firstly, because there'll possibly be a snow hill from which that "Olympic Ring ski jumper" comes (so there you have your frozen water ;) ) and secondly, because Torino's ceremony wasn't perfect rather out of other reasons than its stage being not made of ice.

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What I'm saying is that I think I am already missing that element of "Winter" -- a true 'ice' stage which separates it and makes it distinct from a 'Summer' show...where obviously they wouldn't have ice. I think using an 'ice' stage really makes the Ceremony a lot more daring and at the same time 'generic to the event it is celebrating. There's nothing like the schussing sounds of those blades on ice...esp not those phony roller skates in Torino. ;)

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Notice nobody's said anything about David and Jamie Pelletier. Hmmmm....why are they being kept under wraps? :blink:

Also, will there be an ice rink at BC Place to be used in the Ceremonies? Or will it be a 'dry OC' a la Torino (which to my mind, immediately makes it a 2nd rate Winter OC if there is no ice).

Oh my God Myles, are you OK?

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Celine was flawless when she sang at Atlanta's opening. I just think it's strange that she wouldn't be involved when we're talking about an Olympic ceremony, be it opening or closing, in her "home" country

Anyhow, not wanting to turn this into a Dion topic, I'm looking forward to Vancouver. Just a shame I'll have to record the opening and then time-shift it to Saturday morning (as it starts about 01:30 Saturday morning UK time) :-(

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I agree with Olympian. Just because the stage is not made of ice or snow, that doesnt means the ceremony will suck. I have the feeling this will be a great show, altough so much secrecy is starting to kill me XD (i believe there's a public rehearsal today right?)

Also..what does Arnold has to do with the torch relay anyway? ._.

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No. Not unless Atkins & surrogates produce a show on ice; or even partial 'ice.'

So would a snow hill be OK as "partial ice" for you? I think already that would make it a wintery ceremony. Additionally, thanks to the projections they are able to use in the indoor venue (and obviously they will extensively use projections), they can create a perfect wintery setting even without an ice rink.

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Also..what does Arnold has to do with the torch relay anyway? ._.

Um...Vancouver's where all those Hollywood pics are actually shot? That's the best I can come up with. Though I thought his recent legislation was aimed precisely at bringing all that British Columbian production back to California - so I don't get it.

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So would a snow hill be OK as "partial ice" for you? I think already that would make it a wintery ceremony. Additionally, thanks to the projections they are able to use in the indoor venue (and obviously they will extensively use projections), they can create a perfect wintery setting even without an ice rink.

Snow hill? That is so Dubai!! And none of those fake snowflakes either. I mean any Ric Birch can produce a 'dry' show on concrete (think Nagano and Albertville with those vast expanses of concrete) but so far, only Don Mischer, the Calgary '88 Closing and Lillehammer have been the only ones of the past 2 decades brave enough to challenge the elements in their shows. There's almost like an unspken challenge to Mother Nature: yeah!! We're putting a show and we dare you to ruin it or cooperate!! And with an indoor environment, I would've hoped Atkins would've taken advantage and produced a show that's even more socko and daring than Salt Lake 2002!! OK, maybe I'm judging prematurely...but the mere non-announcement of an ice rink already has my ceremony funny-bone twitching that all might not be legit in Vancouver. After all, he staged the Doha 2006 Ceremonies without a single sand dune!! At least Rob Marshall used some sand for his movie version of NINE (.e., the indoor BE ITALIAN number where it tried to evoke the seashore scenes).

Edited by baron-pierreIV
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If there really is no ice rink for the ceremony (it very much looks like it, I suppose that the "source" inside BC Place would recognise ice and say it if she/he had seen ice), this is at least no surprise for me. Bearing in mind that (unlike in Calgary's McMahon Stadium and in Salt Lake's Rice-Eccles Stadium) BC Place will also used for the medal ceremonies, it would be rather unpractical so have an ice rink across which the athletes and officials had to walk to the medal podium. OK, they could lay a carpet on the ice or take the ice away and make some new one for the closing ceremony. But as I said, it's not very practical and might not even look good for the medal ceremonies.

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I am just hoping that these ceremonies do not reflect ripe ole' canadian cheese. Somehow I think it may just be teetring on that with what we have heard already. Yes, I can appreciate that we will have to really consider the lighting and all that but ...... "say it a little louder so the world can hear?" Isn't that a bit quirky even for a chorus to a song?

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If there really is no ice rink for the ceremony (it very much looks like it, I suppose that the "source" inside BC Place would recognise ice and say it if she/he had seen ice), this is at least no surprise for me. Bearing in mind that (unlike in Calgary's McMahon Stadium and in Salt Lake's Rice-Eccles Stadium) BC Place will also used for the medal ceremonies, it would be rather unpractical so have an ice rink across which the athletes and officials had to walk to the medal podium. OK, they could lay a carpet on the ice or take the ice away and make some new one for the closing ceremony. But as I said, it's not very practical and might not even look good for the medal ceremonies.

They could easily lay planks over the ice and then lay industrial carpet over the boards. I think that would be a very minor inconvenience for the medal ceremonies to follow.

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