2008 Summer Olympics

Started by MacGuffin, April 16, 2006, 01:18:10 PM

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matt35mm

That was amazing.  We don't get it live on the west coast, but I didn't know what was going to happen.  I can just imagine that everyone watching in America was on their feet and cheering in the final meters of that race!

Ravi

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26139005/

Part of Olympic display altered in broadcast
Some aerial footage of fireworks digitally created months in advance
updated 12:16 p.m. CT, Mon., Aug. 11, 2008

Part of the elaborate Olympics fireworks show broadcast to the world in the opening ceremony was altered, done digitally in 3-D computer graphics, according to several news reports.

While the dramatic display actually happened as portrayed on television, members of the Beijing Olympic Committee said it was necessary to replace live video with computer-generated imagery because the city's hazy, smoggy skies made it too difficult to see, according to The Beijing Times, which first reported the story.

Committee members also said they were concerned that the helicopter pilot who would have flown overhead to film the fireworks would have been "at risk by making him try to follow the firework route," according to a quote from a committee member reported in a Daily Telegraph story.

NBC broadcasters Matt Lauer and Bob Costas made mention of the alteration as it aired.

"You're looking at a cinematic device employed by Zhang Yimou here," Lauer said. "This is actually almost animation. A footstep a second, 29 in all, to signify the 29 Olympiads."

Costas responded, "We said earlier that aspects of this Opening Ceremony are almost like cinema in real time. Well this is quite literally cinematic."

It took planners almost a year to create the 55-second sequence which appeared to be more than two dozen footprints amidst fireworks in the sky, said Gao Xiaolong, head of the visual effects team for the ceremony, in the Daily Telegraph story.

Even those at the city's new Bird's Nest National Stadium, where the Olympics are being held, viewed the computer-generated footage from their seats as they watched on the stadium's giant television screens, said Britain's Sky News in a story.

"Stunned viewers thought they were watching the string of fireworks filmed from above by a helicopter," said SkyNews.com. "But in reality they were watching a 3-D graphics sequence that took almost a year to produce."

There were some real fireworks going on outside the stadium. But the footprint display was "inserted into the coverage electronically at exactly the right moment," the Daily Telegraph said.

"Meticulous efforts were made to ensure the sequence was as unnoticeable as possible," the newspaper reported Xiaolong as saying. "They sought advice from the Beijing meteorological office as to how to recreate the hazy effects of Beijing's smog at night, and inserted a slight camera shake effect to simulate the idea that it was filmed from a helicopter."

"Seeing how it worked out, it was still a bit too bright compared to the actual fireworks," Xiaolong said in comments that appeared in the Daily Telegraph. "But most of the audience thought it was filmed live — so that was mission accomplished."

Because the only organization in control of all Olympics footage is Beijing Olympic Broadcasting, the feed went out to everyone broadcasting the event, including NBC, which has exclusive rights in the United States to show the games. NBC's online coverage is being delivered by the MSN Network, NBCOlympics.com on MSN. (Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal.)

During Friday night's opening ceremony, the network averaged 34.2 million viewers, making it the biggest television event since the Super Bowl, according to the Associated Press.

The network has been criticized itself for the 12-hour tape delay in showing the opening ceremonies, which it did because of the time difference between China and the United States, driving some viewers to other Web sites around the world to see the event live.

Stefen

I've been watching alot of Women's Gymnastics. Not because I'm a pervert, because I'm not.

I have a hard time believing some of these Chinese women are over the age of 16. They look about 10 years old. Also, last night, Alicia Sacramone completely choked.

Michael Phelps is so dreamy.
Falling in love is the greatest joy in life. Followed closely by sneaking into a gated community late at night and firing a gun into the air.

cinemanarchist

Quote from: Stefen on August 13, 2008, 10:37:48 AM
I've been watching alot of Women's Gymnastics. Not because I'm a pervert, because I'm not.

I have a hard time believing some of these Chinese women are over the age of 16. They look about 10 years old. Also, last night, Alicia Sacramone completely choked.

Michael Phelps is so dreamy.

Pervert.
My assholeness knows no bounds.

matt35mm

Hooray Nastia!

She and Shawn Johnson were both stunning to watch.  Johnson seems very reliable, with very tight execution, but Nastia is such a beautiful dancer, and I'm happy she won the gold.

squints

if you would've told me two weeks ago that i'd be sitting in a bar watching the 'lmpics and cheering along with the whole bar while a girl in pink won a gymnastics contest i'd say you're full of shit and you're probably gay.

But....

U.S.A! U.S.A!
"The myth by no means finds its adequate objectification in the spoken word. The structure of the scenes and the visible imagery reveal a deeper wisdom than the poet himself is able to put into words and concepts" – Friedrich Nietzsche

matt35mm

I wanted to tell you that two weeks ago, but I was afraid you were gonna say I was full of shit and probably gay.  I guess I was right.

Stefen

Falling in love is the greatest joy in life. Followed closely by sneaking into a gated community late at night and firing a gun into the air.

MacGuffin

Trash talk backfires at the Beijing Olympics

BEIJING - Yelena Isinbayeva got the Olympic gold and a world record; American Jenn Stuczynski got the silver and a lesson in humility.

And we now have a new rivalry that should make woman's pole vaulting fun to watch for many more years to come.

Big poles and big mouths don't go together. Stuczynski knows that now. Pole vaulting isn't basketball or boxing. It's far too graceful of a sport for the kind of trash-talk she doled out before the Beijing Games.

"I hope we do some damage," she had said, "and, you know, kick some Russian butt."

Big mistake.

Isinbayeva is Russian but she understands English just fine. The greatest women's pole vaulter of all time heard Stuczynski's challenge loud and clear.

"I am not deaf," she said. "It made me really angry."

Their head-to-head clash turned Monday night at the Bird's Nest stadium in Beijing into a showdown, with long poles instead of Don King.

First, some Cliffs Notes for those who didn't tune into this saga, with its slightly musty Cold War whiff, in the run-up to the Olympics.

_Stuczynski: Tall, wholesome American, natural athlete; took up pole vaulting late, had a gift for it, quickly became second-best woman's vaulter of all time, behind the Russian.

_Isinbayeva: Lithe former gymnast who switched to pole vault when she grew too tall as a teen, hasn't looked back since. In a class of her own.

Like any good fight, the public announcer introduced the combatants first. Isinbayeva was presented last and got the crowd's biggest roar. No mistaking who the Bird's Nest was rooting for.

Isinbayeva is a bit like those supermodels who supposedly don't get out of bed for anything less than a very lucrative photo shoot. Only when the bar has reached dizzying heights that most other vaulters can't clear does Isinbayeva deign to take her first jump.

She's just that good.

Monday night, her first jump was 4 meters 70 (15 feet, 5 inches). She soared right over. Seven of the 11 other vaulters had already dropped out by that point.

And so up the bar went, and up again. It's that exquisite turning of the screw that makes pole vaulting so addictive to watch. Who'll crack first?

Women's pole vault has only been an Olympic sport since the Sydney Games in 2000. It was an instant crowd pleaser. Almost single-handedly thanks to Isinbayeva, the sport has grown by leaps and bounds since then. Stacy Dragila's winning height in Sydney was 4.60 (15-1), which Stuczynski and Isinbayeva now sail over that in their sleep.

On Monday night, the last two hangers on dropped out with the bar at 4.80 (15-9), leaving Isi and Stu to fight it out for the gold alone.

The Russian won by KO. She cleared 4.85 (15-11). Stuczynski vaulted no higher than 4.80. Game over.

Almost.

With the whole stadium now eating out of her hand, Isinbayeva wasn't going to stop there. The crowd had only seen her jump twice _ that was all it had taken for her to defend her Olympic crown.

She wanted to give them more ... and perhaps rub that American nose just a little deeper in the dirt.

It was showtime. Isinbayeva-time. And that meant a world record.

First, she broke the Olympic record _ her own, from Athens four years ago _ as an appetizer.

Then, the bar went to a height it's never been before, 5.05 (16-6 3/4).

She got it on the last of her three tries. She was celebrating even before she had fallen back to earth. She screamed. Clutched her face. Screamed some more. Did a forward somersault. Grabbed a Russian flag from someone in the crowd and set off on a lap of honor.

And that whole time, Stuczynski was made to wait, sitting on a row of plastic chairs, until Isinbayeva had cleared the magic height. It was the 24th time that the Russian had set a world record; she generally likes to eke them out one centimeter at a time.

Afterward, Stuczynski didn't want to talk about her pre-game trash-talk, brushing off a question with an abrupt "OK, next."

It was her first Olympics and her first medal, "I couldn't ask for anything more," she said.

Beaten but not cowed, she said she expects to catch Isinbayeva eventually.

"It's just experience. She's been in the Olympics before, she's been in world championships, she's jumped a decade longer than me, so it's just a matter of time," she said.

Isinbayeva tried not to be smug. She had done what she had set out to do: let her vaulting do the talking.

"I just wanted to prove who is the best at the Olympic Games."

But she couldn't resist one last little dig

"She must respect me and ... know her position," she said.

"Now she knows it."
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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SiliasRuby

Quote from: MacGuffin on August 19, 2008, 10:28:06 AM

Big poles and big mouths don't go together.
My dirty mind thought that was funny.
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Stefen

Falling in love is the greatest joy in life. Followed closely by sneaking into a gated community late at night and firing a gun into the air.

Stefen

Anyone notice how Michael Phelps has dumb face? Alot like Eli Manning.
Falling in love is the greatest joy in life. Followed closely by sneaking into a gated community late at night and firing a gun into the air.