People are raving over the intensity, creativity, symbolism, and general entertainment value of what is the single most watched Olympic opening ceremony (on TV) in history. That's all well and good. It was a sight to see... if you believe what you're seeing. Two new reports have however tarnished the spectacle. First reported is the CGI generated footage of the amazing footprint fireworks, which in reality were in fact real. The footage you saw on your TV was however, fake.
This, to many, isn't much of a big deal. The fireworks on site were real even if the TV footage was faked.
A FAR more offensive act however, was the lip-synced "Hymn to the Motherland." The girl who won the intense competition for the singing part was apparently to UGLY to be seen on camera, so they used her voice and replaced her with a cuter girl who became an idolic sensation overnight.
Beijing Olympic officials apparently did not realize how offensive this sort of action is to a great many people these days. "We're sorry kid, you can sing great... better than anyone your age, but you're too Fugly to be seen in our precious ceremony. What will people think?!"
Well ... they'll think you gypped a 7-year-old out of a dream come true to hand the fame to an actress who is prettier. Well, the good news is that the news crept out and now we know who is who. NOW, it's tragic for the actress who will be unfairly viewed as a fraud. She might not even have known it was not her voice everyone was hearing.
For the record, 7-year-old Yang Peiyi sang.
Cuter actress Lin Miaoke, 9, was seen and got credit.
These two screw-ups aside, this was the most spectacular opening ceremony in Olympic history so praise is due in large measure. It is a shame it could not have been entirely authentic however.
This, to many, isn't much of a big deal. The fireworks on site were real even if the TV footage was faked.
A FAR more offensive act however, was the lip-synced "Hymn to the Motherland." The girl who won the intense competition for the singing part was apparently to UGLY to be seen on camera, so they used her voice and replaced her with a cuter girl who became an idolic sensation overnight.
Beijing Olympic officials apparently did not realize how offensive this sort of action is to a great many people these days. "We're sorry kid, you can sing great... better than anyone your age, but you're too Fugly to be seen in our precious ceremony. What will people think?!"
Well ... they'll think you gypped a 7-year-old out of a dream come true to hand the fame to an actress who is prettier. Well, the good news is that the news crept out and now we know who is who. NOW, it's tragic for the actress who will be unfairly viewed as a fraud. She might not even have known it was not her voice everyone was hearing.
For the record, 7-year-old Yang Peiyi sang.
Cuter actress Lin Miaoke, 9, was seen and got credit.
These two screw-ups aside, this was the most spectacular opening ceremony in Olympic history so praise is due in large measure. It is a shame it could not have been entirely authentic however.
Perfection must be achieved!!!
(nytimes has pictures of both children here; http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/13/sports/olympics/13beijing.html )
This particular instance just gives a glimpse into what China values and how concerned they are about the appearance of their event.
It has nothing to do with their human rights violations. There are plenty of other discussions you can have about that sort of thing.
This particular instance just gives a glimpse into what China values and how concerned they are about the appearance of their event.
American pop stars record their albums with producers and software that augment their voice to sound better then it actually is. Then lip synch performances. This just goes to show you what Americans values are.
The performances were the biggest, the most coordinated, artistically produced ever, involving tens of thousands of people performing. When I watched I expected they prerecorded alot of the performances before hand, its just too big to do live, I mean they had practiced it for 2 years they were not going to give chance any give in.
I think the most ironic thing was the whole theme of Harmony in the ceremony actually, I thought it was funny.
Chinese Harmony = Prosperity and economic growth... but only on the Communist Parties terms...
I question what you are so anoyed at (my own curiosity).
is it that china recognised the shallowness of our nature and catered to it, or that the shallowness exists atall?
You love to contradict me, don't you Farhad.
Am not surprised that is the case, the reason she was passed over is the same reason Milli Vanilli won the Grammys and turns out they didn't actually sing.
I guess I just hold entertainers to a lower standard than I do such as this.
pitch corrector cranked to the max= the Cher effect
Saying that fireworks have poor visibility at night.
WTF isn't strong enough anymore. I'm moving to WTS.
I say their helicopter pilots must suck if they can't pull off following the trail.
Or they lack helicopters.
I guess they didn't want to mount news cameras on the scores of gunships they surely have in the military... or were they busy oppressing Tibetans? (Oh, snap!)
swedish wrestler throws his bronze medal in protest against corrupt referees.