NBC claimed it was delaying the broadcast to provide additional context for viewers.
The real reason, certainly, was to draw as many eyeballs and run as many commercials as possible. Featuring most of the best surfers on earth, the Open of Surfing now is held in Huntington Beach.
So opening ceremony is a feat of endurance for the commentators, forced to find something useful to say for nearly five hours. When the commentators lean heavily on geographical fun facts, the greatest challenge comes throughout the parade of athletes no doubt compiled by an exhausted team of NBC researchers, to liven up what really is a procession of people walking for 2hours. Add to that concerns about questionable construction, filthy water, crime and terrorism, and Friday’s cashstrapped opening ceremony for the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro had the potential to be a disaster. It is Brazil is in the middle of a severe economic recession, an unprecedented political cr and a dangerous Zika outbreak, as had been widely noted in the media.
In an interview with opening ceremonyexecutive producer Marco Balich this week, Reuters reported the Rio budget for the night’s show was about half of the percentagedollarsign 42 million that London spent.
The vast rainforest was ‘re created’ using glowing vinelike ropes, twisted in an array of geometric patterns by dancers dressed in indigenous garb. While beginning with giant bugs crawling across the floor of the Amazon, relying on relatively lowtech innovations, the ceremony traced Brazilian history through the ages. Needless to say, eachdelegationwasled by a cyclistwho looked like a characterout of a trippy children’s cartoon and infused the event with a feeling of whimsy. There was, inevitably, a lame Djibouti pun. There was a regrettable tendency to either dwell on recent strife, or to elide it the way that bordered on tonedeaf.
There was a certain irony to the fact that viewers in the were unable to watch this celebration of global unity and togetherness at identical time as our friends around the globe. In yet the latest decision to fuel the #NBCfail hashag, the network broadcast the ceremony on an one hour delay on the East Coast. Therefore the West Coast was delayed by an additional three hours. Events really like that one often create unexpected social media stars, and on Friday, Pita Nikolas Taufatofua the shirtless, ‘oiledup’ flagbearer from Tonga inspired a collective swoon onlinethough not as many memes as one will hope, as the International Olympic Committee has banned news organizations from turning footage of the Games into GIFs or Vines.
Creative director Fernando Meirelles seemed eager to downplay expectations, particularly following the spectacles staged in London in 2012 and Beijing in 2008.
Any complaints about the ceremony will be leveled at NBC, that stuffed the tape delayed broadcast with commercials and frequently ‘eyeroll inducing’ commentary from Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira and Hoda Kotb, as has become routine in the Olympics. By the way, an event that reportedly cost a mere fraction of what model Gisele Bundchen made last year provided loads of entertainment value, if not the ‘jaw dropping’ mass spectacle of other recent ceremonies.
Show also made use of Brazil’s other great natural resource. With countries like Ghana and Colombia providing the occasional, the ceremony devolved into a strange fashion show, a parade of athletes dressed like Kenneth the Page on 30 Rock, extremely refreshing burst of color. Did you know that the Cayman Islands delegation, outfitted in casual tropical dresses and straw hats, and host team Brazil, in a bright jungle print, looked much cooler by comparison. Team USA once again wore aggressively preppy uniforms by Ralph Lauren, now this time with logos large enough to be visible in space.
Reporter Lindsey Thiry talks with 19yearold Carlos Balderas about his road from his humble beginings in Santa Maria.
Olympic boxing team in Rio. And therefore the parade ended close tomidnight, well past the point at which excitement may have curdled into irritation for many viewers.
Other sequences paid homage to the creativity of the favelas, the slums that dot the hillsides of Rio, and to aviation pioneer Alberto Santos Dumont, who was portrayed flying over the city. Performances by samba queen Elza Soares and 12yearold MC Soffia were almost captivating enough to make you forget Vieira’s unfortunate description of Brazilians as cultural cannibals. In what felt like an important milestone for an event that’s usually a nationalistic pageant, Brazil addressed its complicated racial history in sequences about European colonization and the African slave trade, that Vieira awkwardly described as immigration. Besides, the exuberance of the ceremony was balanced by serious themes. Sounds familiar? The first portion of the night ended with a speech about climate change accompanied by frightening graphics showing the effects of rising sea levels on coastal cities worldwide.
Like the stirring applause for the firstever Olympic team of refugees, still, there were some genuinely moving moments, that includes a Syrian swimmer who pulled a sinking boatful of people to safety.
Olympic style watchers take note. It’s a tried and true ‘allAmerican’ look that, for at least one night, was adopted by delegations from Argentina, the Dominican Republic,.
Still, it was hard not to be moved by the requisite choir of adorable tots singing the Olympic anthem,or by ’72yearold’ former Kenyan marathoner Kip Keino, his Olympic credentials flapping around his neck as he ran to receive the firstever Olympic Laurel Award. NBC commentators were strangely silent, Here’s where a little context actually a totally different kind of adversity, it was a fitting way to end the evening.
Early rumors indicated that Mrs.
Frankly, Bundchen’s ability to walk in stilettos while not tripping on her long, sequined dress was as ‘awe inducing’ as any pyrotechnic display. Later, Bundchen joined revelers in the stands and proved that if this modeling thing peters out, she’s got a bright future as a bar mitzvah motivational dancer. There is some more info about it here. Kotb, making her debut as a Olympics commentator, brought some fourthhour of Today loopiness to the proceedings,while Lauer cracked at least one a groaner joke about Vieira’s age. Instead, the world’s highest paid model strutted across the stadium floor as Daniel Jobim sang the country’s unofficial national anthem, The Girl From Ipanema, tom Brady would appear in a staged mugging.
as Rio ably demonstrated in a vibrant ceremony at Maracana Stadium, only a fool will discount Brazil’s ability to put on a show. As Rio ably demonstrated in a vibrant ceremony at Maracana Stadium, only a fool should discount Brazil’s ability to put on a show. So, what the ceremony lacked in terrifyingly synchronized drummers or parachuting monarchs, it made up for with joyful music and dancing, an earnest celebration of the country’s multicultural heritage and an unapologetic call to action on climate change. What the ceremony lacked in terrifyingly synchronized drummers or parachuting monarchs, it made up for with joyful music and dancing, an earnest celebration of the country’s multicultural heritage and an unapologetic call to action on climate change.
Cowboy fancy dress is as popular today as it ever was, the romance of cowboys continues and probably will for a long time to come. Now let me ask you something. Almost any young boy knows that the baddie wears grey and the goodies are the other ones, strange nobody wore white -I wonder why? It really isn’t a decent checked shirt will just about pass the test.