ΑΘΗΝΑ 2004
- What better way to close the games than with
Mia Hamm bearing the flagMary Carillo commentating? I kid! Sort of. But seriously, Mia Hamm carrying the flag out. Awwwww. Almost as good as Dawn Staley carrying the flag in, but only because of my personal bias towards basketball. - The Olympic cauldron: Giant doobie or giant erection? I've heard equal evidence for both.
- I liked our athletes wearing the vests better than I liked the jackets they wore during the Open Ceremony. And bucket hats this time around.
- The Opening Ceremony was a tribute to Apollo. The Closing Ceremony is a tribute to Dionysus. Sounds appropriate for a big party.
- People say that American's have no culture. Which is not true. But our culture just isn't that old. Plus, you're gonna have a different kind of culture when your country is an amalgam of a huge variety of other cultures. Point being, it's so different watching "traditional" celebrations from other countries that go back so much farther than ours. We don't have a national dance. If we did, what would it be? The
Electric SlideHustle? That's done at every wedding I've ever been to. And it's sort of hard to look at countries like Australia and New Zealand where the native people have such a strong cultural influence despite whatever difficulty they may have had with the white folks that showed up, and knowing that's not the case in America. - And I know this is Greece, but the whole wedding thing looked like Fiddler on the Roof to me.
- The fake wheat was tripping me out.
- Looking at all these Greeks with their noses and such, I have a much better idea of what "classically beautiful" is. They're gorgeous, but... not. I don't know. It's weird.
- Commercial break: Jane Pauley is bipolar?
- I'm pretty sure the Maori don't shimmy their shoulders when they do the Haka like these Greek soldiers are doing during their war dance.
- I'm impressed by the detail in the choreography. The harvesting of the wheat and the setting of the feast table. People in the stands could hardly see all that. It looked great on camera, though. I guess I was expecting more of a macro marching band formation-type presentation. And as I thought that all the wheat-bearing people lined up in the shape of the Olympic rings.
- Commercial break: Now that I've seen a Shark Tale commercial other than the Coca-Cola/Mary J. Blige one, I might have to go see that. Or rent it someday. Also, I hate to admit it, but I might also be interested in watching Father of the Pride and Scrubs. I never watched Scrubs, but this Heather Graham thing looks interesting.
- How cool would it be to get your medal awarded at the Closing Ceremony? And not to take away from the Brazilian guy that got accosted by that crazy Irish dude, but I don't see how his finishing the race merits this extra-special sportsmanship award.
- It's nice to feel a sense of national pride, and not be worried about how it might be connected to the Bush administration and the Middle East and whether or not it's appropriate to be feeling national pride in the first place.
- I like how Canada had "Canada" written in Greek on their shirts (
ΚΑΝΑΔΙΑΚΑΝΑΔΑΣ). What a neat souvenir. - Gianna Angelopolous-Daskalaki processing in was radiant. Just like she was during the Opening Ceremony. Just like she was talking to Bob Costas, wearing the same shorts and shirt all the volunteers wore. When Bob asked her about the murmur about a possible political office for her, I didn't see how this kind of thing would lead to political office. Maybe a high ranking business opportunity, but not political office. But then I heard her answer to the question, and she sounded like the consummate politician. She's got a serious widow's peak.
- That chick carrying the Olympic flag was the first female mayor of Athens/first female mayor of an Olympic host city I was talking about. She was taller than the mayor of Beijing. Heh.
- Commercial break: Meet the Fockers. Uh, I don't think so. Lawdy, I can't stand Ben Stiller.
- Okay, that was nice with the Chinese girls playing the traditional music on the traditional instruments while the traditional red streamer dance was going on. But I highly doubt the mini-skirts are traditional.
- How cute was that little Chinese girl singing the jasmine song?
- I believe the two women sailors that got to light the lantern from the flame are the ones who kissed (and kissed and kissed and kissed) when they won their gold medal. Not that I'd want to get all that close to that gigantic flame, but the lantern was so obviously not a flame. Very cool with the whole audience flickering their lights. And then the little girl blowing the flame out.
- Looking at these Greek pop stars and wondering who would be onstage in the United States, I wonder who we would have who would be not only popular, but also respected. But also not ancient and played out. (That means you, Aretha Franklin.) I remember nothing about what went on in Atlanta. In fact, what I remember most about Atlanta was the "Always Coca-Cola" series of ads. Very catchy.
- I wish we could have seen/heard that Sakis Rouvas guy a little better. He's like a Greek Ricky Martin. And one of those chicks sounded just like Gloria Estefan. Looked a little like her, too.
- Michael Phelps is gonna grow out of that lisp, right?
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While we're on the subject of athletes' speech impairements, someone please tell Paul Hamm that helium is NOT a performance enhancer! Gawd...
I thought our national dance was some sort of combo chicken dance/YMCA thing?
And I think the Brazilian marathon dude got the special award becasue he didn't raise a stink and start complaining that the crazy Irish dude cost him the gold. And because he made airplane wings when he approached the finish line. Yeah, it was the airplane wings.
That cutesypoo little Chinese girl was TOTALLY doing a Milli Vanilli on the vocals.
C'mon folks, doobie or erection? Whaddya think? I can't decide.
Doobie.
The thought of a flaming erection frightens me.
I just like that, in Greek, Canada is "Canadia." Technically, it should be spelled
"KANANTIA," ecause otherwise it's pronounced, "Canathia," as the letter Delta is actually pronounced as "TH." There's no letter with a "D" sound in Greek, but you can get a D sound if you use Nu and Tau.
I took a semester of Greek back at the U, FYI. And, I'm a dork.
I say doobie.
And I, too, HATE Ben Stiller. He is not funny. Or maybe he would be funnier if hi didn't put out the same movie every 3 months: In Which a Neurotic Guy Keeps Getting Put Into Wild and Crazy Situations Where He Looks Like a Nutcase, But It's Really Just All of the Extraneous Circumstances Surrounding Him! And Boy are Those Circumstances Extraneous!
It's a flaming erection. No reason. I just like saying "flaming erection".
It could've been worse, you know. Instead of flaming, it could've been... oozing...
Oozing is better than seeping. I think.
*shudder*
Yours truly is crying that his darlings from Brazil and Cuba (women's volleyball) didn't make it to the gold medal match!!
Oozing? Seeping? Eeeeewwwwwww.
Yes, us Canadians had great uniforms (especially our divers... woof!). Fashion aside... we sucked on medals. Just goes to show that cute uniforms don't win you medals.
I found a picture of the Canadian t-shirts from the Closing Ceremonies. Spelling has been updated.