[  Currently: Watching Nihon no Uta–enka, baby! ]
I recorded the live broadcast of the Opening Ceremony of the Vancouver Games and finished watching it this morning, and to the Canadians I say "Good job!" The light effects were amazing, the dance and song and all the theater was just about perfect, and the tone managed to be an excellent balance of defining and expressing Candian-ness without crossing the line into jingoism.

Just a couple of misses: The singing of "Oh Canada" was all popped-up…it’s a personal-taste thing, but I’ve really gotten tired of people doing funky pop versions of national anthems. I’d rather hear them as they’re meant to be sung, especially in an event like this. (The only two exceptions are the Marvin Gaye and Jimmi Hendrix versions of the US national anthem.)

And then there was that big guy with his line of "A to Zed–and yes, we say Zed!" Come on, now, that was just cheap cheer-mongering, and recalled some of the silliest attempts to define Canada as different from its southern neighbor. When the whole rest of the ceremony did such an excellent job of defining Canada’s culture and justified pride, that line really seemed unworthy of inclusion.

And of course there was the technical failure during the torch ceremony. I was wondering why the supporting beams were asymmetrical! One of them didn’t rise out of the floor. Well, that’s too bad, but hey, these things can happen. Overall, the ceremony was technically amazing–I think we can ignore one problem.

By the way Canadians, y’all’s Governor General seems a very cool lady–cool enough that I looked her up. I was quite moved by her emotional appeal for Haiti. She has long list of accomplishments, and it doesn’t hurt that Her Excellency Michaëlle Jean is quite attractive as well. I know it’s mostly a ceremonial post, but I wonder what the Canadian on the street thinks of her.