Entries Tagged 'Current Events' ↓

Here’s a bt of a “funny” story - not funny haha but funny strange.

In the evening of 08-08-08 I was having a discussion (bet) with a friend as to how the Beijing Olympic Torch will be lit. In my mind is still fresh the image of archer who shot the burning arrow into the cauldron at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. To be honest, I cannot remember the lighting of the Olympic Cauldron from the last 2 Olympics.

Anyway I said that maybe since it is China and since we all know how kungfu masters in Chinese movies can “fly”, maybe someone will “fly” up and light the torch. We both laughed at that and went home to watch the Opening Ceremony.

So imagine my surprise and delight when Li Ning rose up into the sky and “ran around the stadium roof” and eventually lit the Olympic Torch in the air! The first thing I did was pick up my phone and text this message

“I was right! They flew up to light the torch!”

And for me, this display of the lighting of the torch at the Beijing Olympics sits right up there with Barcelona as one of the most memorable ever. Barcelona edges it just a little for the “wow factor” as my sis calls it but this is still pretty impressive nonetheless.

The rest of the opening was humdrum for me. Then again, most Chinese classical anything is humdrum for me! I was impressed however with the fact that there were so many PEOPLE involved! Then again, this is China - people are no object.

I also noticed one interesting characteristic:-

Smaller countries who came out into the stadium (Malaysia included) were either marching along seriously or walking with serious determination. You could see it on their faces. Contrast that with the sporting power houses - Australia, USA, Great Britain… and their atheletes looked like they were having fun, horsing around and having a good time. Perhaps the smaller countries are overwhelmed by the crowd, or perhaps they feel the pressure of competing… but don’t they all?

I have no comment about Malaysia’s hopes and the contingent uniform except to say that burnt orange does not suit everyone and especially not the dusky skinned!! They should have stuck to the white outfits they wore at the last games with the coloured stripes. The team ended up looking merely dull which I hope is not a reflection of our performance in these games!

Happy 08-08-08 everyone!

This date comes around but once a century so isn’t it pretty awesome that we are seeing it in our lifetime? Little things to be happy about…

… because I was pissed off this morning at the fact that I might have to miss the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics tonight!

Life’s simple when you have Astro. But for someone like me who does not believe in paying for satellite tv when I barely watch terrestrial tv, I am at the mercy of the terrestrial tv stations as to the shows they want to show, and the coverage of the Olympic Games.

I had been looking forward to tonight, to see the Opening Ceremony of the first Olympic Games ever to be held in Asia. (Edit: I’m stupid. I forgot about the Seoul Games) If I know China, we can expect a lot of pomp and ceremony and lots and lots of color - red and gold I bet.

So, imagine my horror when I checked the online TV stations (I always start with NTV7, 8TV then TV3) and found that NONE OF THEM ARE SHOWING THE OPENING CEREMONY OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES!! Panicking, I ran and checked RTM and *gasp* nothing!!!

Calming down a little, I pulled myself together and decided to check the newspapers (online of course) and finally, I had a leeetle bit of good news on The Star:-

Whew! Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games at 8.30pm on RTM1! It is my personal policy never to watch RTM1 - see the programme line up and you’ll know why. But I will make an exception for something as momentous as this… unless by some fluke it appears on the private tv stations later tonight.

I just hope that there will be no unnecessary chatter over the international commentators tonight. I remember one year when our local commentators introduced all the wrong countries during the march past, having to hastily correct himself when he finally saw the sign boards carried. Our local commentators are embarrassing, and ill-informed and they think that incessent chattering makes up for lack of information and inaccurate reporting. But I guess its too much to hope for them to leave the international commentators alone.

Unfortunately, as I’m kiamsiap I will have to live with it. Maybe I’ll just turn down the volume and enjoy the pagentry of the Opening Ceremony. I’m sure it will be exciting!

Have a happy 08-08-08 and enjoy the Opening Ceremony tonight!

Contrary to the title, I haven’t been caught by the Olympic fever yet. Usually I’m all fired up in the lead up to the Olympic Games but this year I’m so ambivalent about it. Maybe its because I haven’t been reading the newspapers so I’ve missed the build up in the sports pages.

Nevertheless, even I can’t make it to the Olympics in Beijing I’m going to make sure I have a momento of it anyway.

I actually ate all this:-

(right before yoga too! :O)

Just to get this:-

Limited Edition Coca Cola glasses with the Beijing 2008 games logo and 2 sporting disciplines embossed - Basketball and Archery.

I’m such a sucker for keepsakes

I’m missing 3 more sporting disciplines - swimming, athletics and volleyball. I can understand why Swimming and Athletics were chosen but the other 3 totally elude me. Who are we sending to the Games this time?

Where will you be on 08-08-08 at 8pm?