Olympic thots
I believe it was Pogo who observed it was a good thing the presidential election, the Olypmics, and Leap Year all fell on the same four-year cycle, because we surely need the extra day in years with those other two events going on.
Memories of watching the opening ceremonies (not necessarily in order): It takes some...nerve? to sing "Jerusalem" and then segue straight into celebrating the dark satanic mills. Hooray for "Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises" (never mind that it's Caliban's speech). See, America, nationalized health care can be fun! You can't defeat a 100-foot Voldemort by air-dropping in 007 and the Queen, it takes a hundred air-dropped Mary Poppinses! Hooray "Chariots of Fire"-Olympic running, Rowan Atkinson and another "Jerusalem" reference. The commentators commentate several times about how this is the fastest Parade of Nations they've ever seen, but even so I can't make it past Switzerland, I just take it on faith that everything got started in the end.
And speaking of the 100-foot Voldemort, I was reminded of the four 65-foot giants from the opening of the World Cup in Paris, as recounted by Adam Gopnik in the pages of the New Yorker and also Paris to the Moon. ("The commentators on French television were hard put to find something to say as the big guys inched their way along the boulevards...and at one point were reduced to noting that the technology that had produced the hydraulic giants had military applications, leaving you with the comforting knowledge that if NATO is ever in need of a crack synchronized team of huge, slow-moving inflatable dolls, the French will be the ones to call.")
And speaking of military applications, I only recently learned about the modern pentathlon, the only event specifically invented for the modern Olympic games: fencing, pistol shooting, show jumping (on an unfamiliar horse), swimming, and cross-country running. De Coubertin's idea was that since the classic pentathlon (long jump, stadion run, discus, javelin, and wrestling) represented the skills necessary for the perfect Greek warrior of the time, what the Olympics needed in 1912 was a contest in the skills necessary for a modern officer trapped behind enemy lines and trying to escape. More of the games need to have that kind of narrative: they're not just running 100m as fast as possible, they're running from a pack of wolves! They're not just lifting weights, they're rescuing earthquake victims trapped under boulders! They're not just swimming in synchrony, they're...I don't know what they're doing. The modern pent in London is going to take place the last two days, August 11-12; I know I'll be watching (if I remember), y'all should too.
Memories of watching the opening ceremonies (not necessarily in order): It takes some...nerve? to sing "Jerusalem" and then segue straight into celebrating the dark satanic mills. Hooray for "Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises" (never mind that it's Caliban's speech). See, America, nationalized health care can be fun! You can't defeat a 100-foot Voldemort by air-dropping in 007 and the Queen, it takes a hundred air-dropped Mary Poppinses! Hooray "Chariots of Fire"-Olympic running, Rowan Atkinson and another "Jerusalem" reference. The commentators commentate several times about how this is the fastest Parade of Nations they've ever seen, but even so I can't make it past Switzerland, I just take it on faith that everything got started in the end.
And speaking of the 100-foot Voldemort, I was reminded of the four 65-foot giants from the opening of the World Cup in Paris, as recounted by Adam Gopnik in the pages of the New Yorker and also Paris to the Moon. ("The commentators on French television were hard put to find something to say as the big guys inched their way along the boulevards...and at one point were reduced to noting that the technology that had produced the hydraulic giants had military applications, leaving you with the comforting knowledge that if NATO is ever in need of a crack synchronized team of huge, slow-moving inflatable dolls, the French will be the ones to call.")
And speaking of military applications, I only recently learned about the modern pentathlon, the only event specifically invented for the modern Olympic games: fencing, pistol shooting, show jumping (on an unfamiliar horse), swimming, and cross-country running. De Coubertin's idea was that since the classic pentathlon (long jump, stadion run, discus, javelin, and wrestling) represented the skills necessary for the perfect Greek warrior of the time, what the Olympics needed in 1912 was a contest in the skills necessary for a modern officer trapped behind enemy lines and trying to escape. More of the games need to have that kind of narrative: they're not just running 100m as fast as possible, they're running from a pack of wolves! They're not just lifting weights, they're rescuing earthquake victims trapped under boulders! They're not just swimming in synchrony, they're...I don't know what they're doing. The modern pent in London is going to take place the last two days, August 11-12; I know I'll be watching (if I remember), y'all should too.