Opening ceremony notes
Watched the Olympic's opening ceremony on NBC tonight, narrated by Bob Costas and (inexplicably) Katie Couric.

Dumb line of the evening -- Katie Couric, observing an elevated, slowly rotating model of Athens's Parthenon temple in the Greek national parade during the opening ceremony: "It almost looks like the Wicked Witch's house."

This is rather foolish because The Wizard of Oz has no possible relationship to the Olympics, because it's just a plain silly thing to say, and because the house in the movie she referred to was Dorothy's house, not the Wicked Witch's.

Really, Katie, grow up. It didn't help, either, that Costas hummed a few bars of the Witch's theme music (dum da DUM da dum dum . . .)

Cleverest line of the evening -- Bob Costas, observing a float of Alexander the Great during the same parade, after Katie pointed out that Alexander had been an Olympic sprinter in the ancient games before setting off for conquest. Apparently, she said, he was not impressive as an athlete.

"As an athlete he might have been Alexander the So-So," said Costas drily.

Overall, the thought the Greeks did a splendiferous job. I admit to being a Hellenophile, but I thought the opening ceremony was excellent, displaying great technical skill. The floats of Greek history were simply beautifully, artistically impressive.

And it was heartening to hear the crowd cheer loudly for the American team. Good stuff.

******
Okay, I did think the pseudo-pregant woman at the end, with the internally-glowing belly, was just bizarre. My son and I turned to each other at the same moment and both said, "In a minute the little alien will blast from her belly." Robert Garcia Tagorda psychoanalyzes the ending, and it ain't pretty.

by Donald Sensing, 8/13/2004 08:57:22 PM. Permalink |