BEIJING – Once-reclusive China commandeered the world stage Friday, celebrating its first-time role as Olympic host with a stunning display of pyrotechnics and pageantry — topped by the unworldly sight of a flying gymnast, traversing the heights of the stadium to light the flame and begin the Summer Games.
China opens Olympics with pageantry, pyrotechnics – Yahoo! News.
I noticed this story this morning and went to the TV to see some of the stuff. Unfortnately, with the media blackout that goes on with such things (a level of censorship the Chinese probably admire) we won’t get to see the explosions until this evening during primetime.
I’m really hoping this isn’t indicative of how GE is going to cover the Olympics, as my sleep patterns are more attuned to the Asian sun, but we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt for a day or two.
Our wonderful President was also on site, continuing his tradition of vacationing as much as humanly possible.
President Bush and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin were among the glittering roster of notables who watched China make this bold declaration that it had arrived. Bush, rebuked by China after he raised human-rights concerns this week, is the first U.S. president to attend an Olympics on foreign soil.
I have a wonderful screen-grab taken from CNN yesterday covers the general absurdity of someone who advocates torturing prisoners calling out someone else who does. I’ll get that post up and link to it here. [done -ed]
But politics aside, I’m really looking forward to the Olympics and seeing some wonderful competition. The Beijing Games should be one to remember and I, for one, am looking forward to spending the last two weeks before football season watching the lesser sports in detail.
Robot Pirate Ninja 