I will throw down with anyone who wants to say that those closing ceremonies didn't rock.
Including the giant beavers. Especially the giant beavers. Seriously.
Go to town in the comments. Let's rumble.
And CTV?
You guys did a fucking amazing job on the coverage. I'll fight about that too.
Oh, and Canada? All that pride & fun and stuff? No backsies.
Thread's open.
15 rumbles:
The one and only thing that upset me was that we could have done this at the Opening Ceremonies and spared ourselves the seventeen days of whining.
Sidenote - The Majestic Moose flying with their heads held high was more awesome than the beavers. Both were incredibly awesome though.
AMEN! This was an amazing time!
I have no clue what you mean by 'no backsies'. The beavers were fine, but all the blow-up mounties and hockey players looked pretty fucking white to me. (um, Iginla) The only funny thing about the 'big celebrity in America I am Canadian' bits was Catherine O'Hara yelling 'hard' - other than that they were completely grating. The VANOC guy's speech was so endless and atrocious I had to mute that sap. But Neil Young is a genius and extinguishing the flame(s) on the final chords of "Long may you Run" was inspired, so I'll give them that one. And I was really hoping we would get through all this without an appearance by either:
a) Nickelback
b) Hedley
c) Simple Plan
Alas ...
Here's some more dissent for consideration.
Money quote:
Yes, every host nation cheers lustily for its native Olympians. But never in my experience to the extent that we saw here, where the rest of the world's athletes were little more than drink coasters at the party.
We were so busy celebrating ourselves we kind of forgot the world.
Great hockey tournament though.
And I every time I watched either the snowboard or ski cross I couldn't help thinking of that scene from The Spy who Loved Me with Jaws chasing Bond down the Austrian alps.
Next time they should try it with paintball guns.
Correction(s): the Jaws chase was in Moonraker and was done with parachutes. I'm not sure who those evil ski guys are in 'The Spy Who loved Me' - probably Russian.
And upon closer inspection one of those blow up mounties could probably pass for either an asian or aboriginal woman.
I loved it, but I kept wondering if the rest of the world knew we were poking fun at our national stereotypes...and not just reinforcing them.
Although I rolled my eyes at Nikelback's appearance, (for which my wife tchutched me) I honestly liked all the music. My daughter, who is a huge Avril fan was delighted at seeing her perform (and I was relieved at the lyric rewrite "the one and only princess" in Girlfriend).
The comedy, I wished could've been a little ... funnier?
Yes, every host nation cheers lustily for its native Olympians. But never in my experience to the extent that we saw here, where the rest of the world's athletes were little more than drink coasters at the party.
What really drove this point home was the commercial with Morgan Freeman telling us about the Norwegisn coach who gave the ski pole to the Canadian so she could win the silver.
We used to think that was something a Canadian would do - and frankly, I still do - but this Olympic coverage didn't make me feel that way, it made me feel we've become a, "win at all costs," nation. Win at any cost.
Have we?
At the risk of getting beat up...
Pretty much everything up to Buble and Young was ok with me.
...And then came the suck.
Someone at CTV/VANOC doesn't know how to script an ending. How else to explain all that f***ing lip-synching to songs about cheating/stealing/losing lovers until we get K-os utterly 5 words over and over to be followed by a "dance troupe" in 80s reject outfits as the LAST ACT?! WTF?!
Let's not forget the IN STUDIO lip synching of the "I Believe" song that preceded all this. SERIOUSLY?!
CTV/VANOC heard Canadians wanted gold and thought we meant Solid Gold. Kudos to those who sang live (Avril, Young and Simple Plan, I think). Eff the rest. Brutal.
The tongue-in-cheek stuff? I dug it (LeMay Doan was a nice touch). And the set looked great.
The broadcast should have ended with Young, and the rest of the concert ought to have been in-house for those who no doubt spent hours getting into the building.
Now just give me a second to find some cover...
Actually, about the specifics of the music? I don't really care.
I think putting Neil where they did -- apart was far more meaningful. He was tied to the torch going out, man!
Bringing him back would have been anticlimactic.
What I think is more important, and what I write about above, is that people can bitch about the various musical choices precisely BECAUSE there are so many other Canadian musicans/bands they could have tapped. Because that is a vibrant cultural industry.
Because the will decreed it so, and we didn't let Radio wriggle out of their responsibilities while we could.
Bitching about the musical choices is actually a sign of health. So I'll take it.
well, your friend Bill Brioux seems to have a lot to say on the subject, though not as verbose as you tend to be ...
http://tvfeedsmyfamily.blogspot.com/2010/03/closing-ceremonies-joke.html
and I agree with his assessment.
I agree, Allan, and just don't get your argument here, DMC, it doesn't ring at all true for me. Brioux says, "Lost completely was the usual Olympic closing ceremony notion that we're all one big world." For me, that speaks directly to the core of what was off about last night - signify this moment where the world was together, sharing the biggest stage, for God's sake! It was our time to do that and this was a massive flub, to pass along the torch and tip our hat to THE WORLD, not descend to endless, E-N-D-L-E-S-S, self-parodizing that came off as a third-rate variety show left over from last century. This had nothing whatsoever to do with our true identity. Our class and artistry, so evident in the opening ceremonies, was only present in glimmers, most notably from Mr. Young. If, God forbid, we had lost the game yesterday and then had to sit through last night's ceremonies, our entire would have been on a suicide watch.
The whole Olympic coverage seemed to be CTV trying prove they really are an American network.
In years past the most common complaint from Canadians watching the Olympics on US networks was, "Do they know there are any other countries competing?"
That's how this coverage felt.
Now maybe that's good, maybe that's how, "Canada comes of age," (yet again). I'm sure the only thing that will matter are ratings and they were good.
Years from now this may seen as a turning point - which way we've turned will be interesting to see.
As long as it's not toward the navel with "what does America think" on speed dial -- it'll be an improvement.
There was a break-point for me last night during the closing ceremonies that there wasn't during the opening ceremonies. After the opening bit with the pillar and Catriona, the monologues and speeches - Bublé came out with The Maple Leaf Forever and something happened in my head.
I stopped thinking, "What do I think about this? What will the world think about all this?" and started FEELING something. It was the same thing I'd been feeling the whole Olympics. In the Vancouver crowds. In showing off our country and our games to visitors from the States. In the accomplishments, heartbreaks, and triumphs of Canadian (and foreign) athletes.
I felt a heady, joyous pride in my country and my countrypeople. I stopped thinking about Canada, and began FEELING about Canada. And it felt funny and poignant and AWESOME. Then my brain finally caught up with my heart and said, "Oh, yeah, I get it."
The problem with Canada is we're always THINKING about everything. And not just thinking, but thinking ABOUT THINKING. This quickly becomes reductio ad absurdum, and I think it makes us a bit crazy. The WHEE of the closing ceremonies broke me out of that. I have never FELT more Canadian than I have these last two-and-a-half weeks. And it feels GREAT.
Well unlike others who have posted, I can't pretend to compare this closing ceremony to previous closing ceremonies...because I would normally never watch the opening or closing ceremonies. The little I saw of the opening ceremony (after the fact) did nothing to make me think I should reconsider.
But after that hockey game and 14 gold medals, I didn't want these Olympics to end, so I continued watching. I certainly didn't expect to enjoy them.
As a complete music snob I hated the musical lineup (with the obvious exception on Mr. Young)...but I would have been shocked to not hate the musical offerings. Anytime you are trying to cater to EVERYONE...then the only people who will enjoy the music are the kind of people who enjoy the music on shows that end with the word Idol.
And the "comedy"...embarrassing. More embarrassing since "comedic talent" was supposedly one of the themes of the ceremony. Yes Bill Shatner is often funny, Michael J. Fox is the man, and who doesn't love Catherine O'Hara...but it would have been nice if their routines weren't almost as unfunny as those low budget GM talking car commercials.
Despite all that...the Buble 'Maple Leaf Forever' bit transcended the entire ceremony. Perhaps they should have closed with THAT. But either way, I was sitting there stunned that I was enjoying a closing ceremony so much at that moment. The look and design the whole night was fucking amazing...and just went to a whole new level with the giant beavers, flying moose etc. I may never watch another Olympic opening or closing ceremony, but that is one moment I don't think I will ever forget.
Only Canada can get away with showing beavers on live TV internationally ;) Go Canada!
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