The Olympics

I love the Olympics, especially the opening ceremonies. I could be cynical about the political issues in China, the flagrant Coca Cola consumerism, and on and on, but line up 204 countries worth of young, happy-looking people, add some unbelievable fireworks and insane dancers/drummers/singing schoolchildren and you get one thing from me, and one thing only: Hallmark tears. It's just so happy and hopeful and lovely, even if only lasts until tomorrow morning, I can't help but think some good things must come of it.

Amazing parts of the opening ceremonies: The aforementioned schoolchildren who sang in English and Chinese and were basically the most adorable thing I've seen in a long time. All of the things that appeared to be floating in mid-air: the LED screen with the Olympic rings, this neat mountain/cloud painting that dancers painted with their bodies on the ground, which swooped up into the middle of the stadium, and the final torch-bearer who ran in mid-air all the way around the 91,000 capacity stadium. The countries with one athlete. The country which had women competitors for the first time ever. The little 9-year old earthquake survivor who walked next to Yao Ming (he came up to his shin), just a few months after surviving and rescuing two of his classmates from their crumbled school. The fact that I had zero idea who any of the torch-bearers were; this is the first truly foreign-to-me Olympics I've ever watched. The commentators had to explain the symbolism of things which were clearly obvious to the crowd, if their reactions were any judge. As a cultural voyeur, this is really exciting to me! The drummers, OH, the drummers! Look it up on youtube (although this leads me to the next category).

Less-than-awesome things (Fair and Balanced, people): Well, China has blocked some internet access, so that youtube video might not pop up as quickly. China refused to let Taiwan call themselves Taiwan (Chinese Tapei, instead) or wave their flag (they waved the Olympic flag). There is apparently a lot of smog, causing some athletes to opt out of the ceremonies. LeBron James - listen, I know you're so cool, that it's hard to even be around yourself sometimes, but this is the Olympics. You really could crack a smile when you're standing in a place that only a teeny tiny percentage of people get a chance to stand, doing something most people only dream about, and being cheered on by close to 100,000 fans. I know, I know, smiling isn't cool, because it indicates you might be having fun, but, dude, THAT'S OK. SMILE.

Summary: No, they're not perfect, but I love them, in all of their glorious, schlocky One World, One Dream, Magic Rainbow glory.