Astro ruined the Olympics Closing Ceremony
Aug 24, 2008 Rantings
Update (9.55pm)
They just announced the closing ceremony has concluded, and I suppose the Games too. So nice to see all the Olympians celebrating. They truly deserve it. Kudos to China too. I really enjoyed this year’s Olympics - especially since it’s in the same time zone.
As for Astro - final tally was 11 commercial breaks but I could have missed one or two. Grr …
It’s only been about 30 minutes into the closing ceremony and Astro has already ruined it for me.
The fourth set of commercials have just ended - what’s up with that? It’s not the kind of programme that is conducive for commercials - surely they won’t be peppering the performances later with more? I mean, making money is one thing, but spoiling the show is another I think …
A guy can hope.
8.32pm Malaysian time (+8 GMT)
Tags: Astro, Beijing Olympics, Closing Ceremony
Lee Chong Wei beaten by Lin Dan
Aug 17, 2008 News Breaks
“Near perfection,” the commentator said. Perfect indeed.
Lin Dan was ruthless, and every bit the Olympic champion that he is, during the game as he humiliated our own Lee Chong Wei in the finals of the men’s badminton singles at the Beijing Olympics 2008.
The score?
21-12, 21-8. It was barely a fight.
Lee Chong Wei could do nothing, Lin Dan was just too good. But let’s not take anything away from Chong Wei, I say, after all he is returning with our sole medal (so far).
I hope Chong Wei isn’t the target of bad press after this, after all, many of our other players have done more miserably than him, no?
We’ll just have to wait for the gold a while more another time.
9.50pm Malaysian time (+8 GMT)
Tags: badminton, Beijing Olympics, gold medal, lee chong wei, lin dan
“Racist” Spaniards?
Aug 13, 2008 Events
Update (13-04-08) 11.56pm:
The players respond. I kind of feel for them. Surely can’t be easy for members of a team to react to a sponsor too. Still, I maintain that it was in bad taste - but to call them racists might not be accurate. IMHO, that is.
Yes, more on the Olympics but how can one resist?
Spanish basketball team poses for offensive picture
I’m not particularly over-offended as a Chinese person (my small mind does see some humour in it), but it really does not reflect well on the team at all.
9.58am Malaysian time (+8 GMT)
Tags: Basketball, Beijing Olympics, Racist, Spain
Olympics Opening Ceremony: More deception
Aug 12, 2008 Events
UPDATE (14-08-08) 5.07am:
China responds. Perfect casting? Hrmm…
This is my 101th post - and I was going to celebrate it someway or other but got busy today and only managed to get online for some personal surfing now.
But then I came across this AFP story in Yahoo News! which, well, got me really disappointed. Just a couple of posts ago, I defended China’s decision to use a couple of computer-generated scenes for the live telecast of the Beijing 2008 Olympics opening ceremony because it was 1) a safety issue, and 2) the real fireworks went off anyway.
But this is inexcusable I think.
The article quotes Chinese news website sina.com as reporting that Lin Miaoke - the golden girl in the red dress at the start of the ceremony singing her heart out - was not actually singing. I don’t think I would have minded so much if she was lip-syncing - after all, she is a child - but the article reports that Lin was used because the girl whose voice was used has a “chubby face and uneven teeth”. UPDATE: Photos of both girls available at BBC News.
Oh, the outrage!
Surely, this has gone beyond the question of propriety to an issue of ethics. How will this affect both the girls, and also the self-esteem of other chubby-faced kids with uneven teeth?
To make matters worse, the report also said that sina.com’s article has been wiped out in China. I can’t read Chinese so I couldn’t see if the article is available to those of us outside of China - although it’s not surprising, I also blogged a week or so ago about China’s intention of limiting access to the Internet during the Olympics.
I hope that the “Western” media is reporting accurately, but if they are, then this is indeed dissapointing.
11.31pm Malaysian time (+8 GMT)
Tags: Beijing Olympics, lin miaoke, lip-syncing, Opening ceremony
Jason Lezak keeps Michael Phelp’s Olympic dream alive
Aug 11, 2008 Events
I resisted the urge all day today to blog on this but as I sit here (tired, btw), fighting sleep to watch the replay of the Men’s 4×100 Freestyle Relay (for the third time!), I succumb. I’ve been hessitant on blogging too much about the Olympics - there will be too much to blog about and I probably wouldn’t be able to keep up.
But this morning’s finals would stick in my mind for such a long time.
Context:
1. Michael Phelps is aiming for 8 gold medals to beat Mark Spitz’s oooooooooold record.
2. French swimmer Alain Bernard, the world record holder for the 100m freestyle going into the Olympics, just last week said that the French team will smash the Americans.
“The Americans? We’re going to smash them. That’s what we came here for,” Bernard said.
3. Jason Lezak has been known as the weakest link of the American team when they lost the last two Olympics.
What happened:
Just watch the video below. Jason Lezak, the anchor of the American team, was more than half a body-length behind the Alain Bernard.
And he pips him to touch first.
WHAT AN AMAZING RACE!!! Fantastic, fantastic, fantastic! Arrgghh!!!
A great report on the event here.
11.28pm Malaysian time (+8 GMT)
Tags: 4x100, Alain Bernard, Beijing Olympics, Jason Lezak, Michael Phelps, Olympics, Swimming
