Opening Ceremony

When the competition starts I'll hand over the reigns to all the blogging experts, but the opening ceremony falls into showgirl territory. And my question is - where were the figure skaters?

Come on, you're Canada, you have dozens of show skaters willing to rehearse and perform, probably for free. No ice? Come on, your Canada, you have ice coming out the wazoo! You can easily put in a couple strips of ice, clearly dilineated so the athletes know not to step on the slick ice, and the skaters know not to step off. Show skaters can skate on any size ice you give them. We can skate in an elevator, so put down some ice.

Then IMHO you have a more exciting Opening. Take the Sarah McLachlan song that had dancers. Please, no dancers. You could use half the number of performers, they could move twice as fast and jump twice as high and those ordinary folks with seats in the statosphere can see a little more action down below.

I'm just saying. It would have looked so much more "Olympic".

Then they went into Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings, which I associate with the end of the movie Platoon and the futility of war in Viet Nam and it totally bummed me out. I was thinking maybe Mr. Barber was Canadian so they threw in a classical composer, but he came from Pennsylvania. It's beautiful music, but still depressing.

I also think they missed out by not incorporating Cirque du Soleil into the show. They're Canada's most well known export, after maple syrup. Maybe they're too expensive now, maybe they wouldn't agree to being copied. But I hope someone at least asked. Cirque du Soleil are masters at big visuals in theater, perfect for this night. Just go to Vegas and you'll see they've taken over every showgirl (and ice skater) job there was.

Instead they did Riverdance. Why not let Ireland do that when they get the Olympics?

Well, that's my take. Many elements of the ceremony were visually stunning and creative, but I always want more.

But now I'm done with my rant and ready for the competition to begin!