Hello:

I don't know about you, but I was blown away by the opening ceremony last night. I'm a technical dude too, but they did stuff waaaaay beyond my paygrade.

You?

excon

Yes go along with that ex', fantastic wasn't it, apparently cost in the region of 15 million.

I watched thinking how beautiful the fireworks and everything was but also thought it was all a bit of a farce, considering what else is going on in their country.

Normally you'd have a test run with firework displays, obviously that was so big and expensive that there was only ever going to be one chance of it working. Thankfully for them it did beautifully...

Hello 0:

But beyond that, I was amazed at the football field sized LED screen that people walked on... Plus, I was amazed by the individual print blocks that danced all over the place. I thought for sure it was computer generated... The unison was perfect... Then I found out it was people...

Just blown away... And, not much blows me away these days.

excon

Hey ex, I didn't watch the whole thing but what I did see was quite impressive. The whole drum thing was awesome and the precision on that countdown was amazing.

You wouldn't have expected any less from the Chi-coms though, would you?

Yep saw it . Blew me away. And here I thought the Yankees were building a state of the art stadium!! Loved the human type writer ! Bob Costas said "when it comes to opening ceremonies.....retire the trophy" .It would've been even better if he and his cohost Matt Lauer could've shut their mouths long enough to just enjoy them.

There had to be many hours of practice to iron the little problems usually associated with putting out a flawless production. Kudos to Zhang Yimou (Chinese film maker who produced the event)

The clue about the whole event to me however was that the Chinese organizers had to order the participants to smile.
Also in the transition between ancient China and modern China they skipped the 'Cultural Revolution ' pogroms by Mao (can't say I blame them.. the Olympics are created to celebrate the positive things of a host country).

It is said that the Chinese spent $300 million just on the opening ceremony. I just wonder how Americans would react to that price tag ?

With all the precision, one has to wonder if the blowing of the American national anthem during the award ceremony was intentional after the 400-meter individual medley.. won in record time by Michael Phelps? Clearly there could be no technical glitches... could there be ?

That's logical sitting in a space of 2 by 3 meters...

:D :D :D :D :D

PS : I know you're out !

:p

I HATE COSTAS!! He never shuts up!! But the opening ceremonies were incredible. I couldn't believe that LCD screen. I turned to my fiancée and said we need one of those screens!! I don't care if we have no place to put it or the money to get it but I want one (I'm a tech geek)

Yeah it was brilliant. The Chinese will put on a great show. Wish I was there!

Late response to the event but yeah amazing don't think my City london can even come close to that in 4 years