China's coming-out party now over

So the Beijing Olympics are now over. All the hoopla, the controversies - the pollution, China's policy on Tibet, et al. - that lead to 08.08.08 have finally been put to rest.

China did an excellent job, I must say. The former "sleeping giant" put all the stops to ensure that its coming-out party is a resounding success. No potholes were in sight, trees were planted, cars were off the streets, eye-popping venues were constructed, and the people were heavily oriented on English, hospitality, and more. It even had to pre-record the fireworks at the opening ceremonies just to make sure there won't be any glitches during the live broadcast. More so, it had to commission a ghost singer to make up for that cute kid's lack of vocal prowess. And I thought only designer goods were being bootlegged in China.


Back to the opening ceremonies, it was spectacular as expected - costumes, props, lighting, effects - everything. But I found the torch-lighting a little over-extended. I was kinda bored watching Li Ning make his way around the Bird's Nest in a harness before the climax.

Now the closing ceremonies was a different story. I thought the performers weren't as synchronized in their moves. The formations were glaringly imperfect. Yeah, I understand how hard it is to mount a show like that but watching it reminded me of North Korea's Mass Games, which I thought was executed better. But then again, the Olympics was much grander and more difficult to stage. Oh, well.

So will London be able to top this one in four years time? We'll see. At least they've already started with Heathrow Airport.

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