Guy's Olympic Update

The opening ceremony totally blew me away. I can't believe it - I was won over. It managed to avoid too much treacle (little boy excepted), while looking fantastic, and making monumentalism fun. Best bits were when the various statues shattered, and then floated about the stadium; when the lovers were splashing around in the lake (with Eros hovering above them), and then when they lay down to stare up at the constellation; the cool "march through history"; the funky women in "pot" dresses leading each national team, and when the sprinter carrying the flag "stumbled" during WWI and WWII.

And then Bjork popped up. Bjork! That is taste (no Farnham and Olivia), and I suspect she may be friends with the avant garde director guy, cause seriously, I don't think that her appearance would have been a directive from head office. Surely they would have wanted Anna Visi or something? I also didn't know that Bjork had a new album coming out this month, which is very exciting, but not on topic, so I'll save that for later.

There were a few sour notes, particularly the disruptive and incongruous "message from the international space station". Yes, one Russian and one American living in harmony. And what was with that guy's hair? Gianna Angelopoulos' speech was frightening, particularly with all those Evita/Stalin-like hand gestures she's picked up. And how much work has she had done? She can barely smile. But the Olympics is not about plastic surgery - it's about nations coming together etc. And as cynical as I am about the whole thing, I almost shed a tear 'cause it was just so cool. I'm not actually watching the Olympics though. Well not the sports anyway.

And another thing. I'm sick of Jana Pittman and her "destiny" to win gold. The most cringe-worthy moment so far in this whole drama was in a news story about how she was listening to tapes designed for cancer sufferers in order to heal her knee. The footage, however, was of a reclining Jana listening to her ipod, which the camera lingered on obsessively, highlighting the prominent Apple logo. See, this is what shits me about sports. Athletes win one race (or not, as it may be in Jana's case), become heroes, and then remain heroes as they spend the rest of their lives promoting weight-loss centres/ breakfast cereals/ herbal vitamins/ magnetic therapy etc. etc. So, basically, sports bad, opening ceremony good. And I'm done.