My Brain: Games of the XXIX Olympiad

Since I was young, the Olympics has always been a part of my television viewing habits. In particular, the Opening Ceremony to be followed by watching as many of the events as my schedule will allow. I have to admit not being overly excited with the choice of host city for this Olympics. China is not known for having a sparkling human rights record. Just do a Google search of "China human rights". See? I wasn't so in favor of supporting the event at all because of my feelings about the country, but my childhood urge to see the parade of champions got the best of me, and I succumbed. And, I would like to note that although I am fervently supporting our team and watching lots of coverage, China is still China. China is still sorely out of touch with basic human rights and dignity. I still am no fan of China.

That being said, boy, am I glad I watched the Opening Ceremony. It was by far the most stunning, beautiful, well-thought out display of pride and tribute I have ever seen. Absolutely amazing. As a girl who is very much in touch with the fact that I am a geek, and electronics excite me a bit more than they should, I was totally blown over by the technology brought to this event: an LED scroll the length of the field, 15,000 performers in all, footprint-shaped fireworks, horizontal then vertical images in one seamless effort, excellent explanation of Chinese history (sans boredom) culminating with the most spectacular torch lighting event ever, and each presentation bursting with symbolism and metaphor. I Twittered about it, but I will say it again, they may want to retire the ceremony from now on because I don't know if anyone could ever compare. Absolutely stunning.

I could go on and on, but if you didn't see it then I'm just blathering about and your next best bet is to see the great photos the press snapped. Enjoy!