2024 Summer Olympics in Paris

[Digby]

Also, how about that Closing Ceremony? Tailor-made for the Gen-X/Millennial cusp (except for Billie Eilish, but she wants to be one, so it sort of counts). I could have done without the Chili Peppers at this time or any other time, but an entire mini-concert from Phoenix is better than any halftime show in American sport.

[waltere]

12 hours ago, Digby said:

I could have done without the Chili Peppers at this time or any other time

They managed to make Tom Cruise seem like he was aging with grace and dignity

[Kevin W.]

14 hours ago, Digby said:

I could have done without the Chili Peppers at this time or any other time,

To be fair, their lyrics are as incomprehensible to an English speaker as a song in French is to a non-French speaker, so they fit right in as a transition from one Olympiad to the next.

[Kevin W.]

On 8/12/2024 at 7:13 PM, LMU said:

• Artistic Gymnastics - Crypto.com Arena "Downtown Arena"
• Badminton - Galen Center "USC Sports Center"

I am SO GLAD that they won't be able to use the current name of the arena formerly known as the Staples Center. Also, are they really not going to call it the Galen Center? I thought they only temporarily "renamed" the venues because of sponsorships.

[McCall]

5 hours ago, Kevin W. said:

I am SO GLAD that they won't be able to use the current name of the arena formerly known as the Staples Center. Also, are they really not going to call it the Galen Center? I thought they only temporarily "renamed" the venues because of sponsorships.

I guess they consider the $50 million donation the Galens made to have the arena and training facility named after them no different than a naming rights deal by a corporation?

[TBGKon]

6 hours ago, Kevin W. said:

I am SO GLAD that they won't be able to use the current name of the arena formerly known as the Staples Center. Also, are they really not going to call it the Galen Center? I thought they only temporarily "renamed" the venues because of sponsorships.

I think temporary Olympic venue names usually tend to be location related, whether that be city, county, etc.  For example, Bercy Arena for Paris is based on a neighborhood.  

[SFGiants58]

6 hours ago, Kevin W. said:

To be fair, their lyrics are as incomprehensible to an English speaker as a song in French is to a non-French speaker, so they fit right in as a transition from one Olympiad to the next.

The only RHCP song I understood the lyrics on was Bedrock Anthem, and that’s a parody song.

[Digby]

8 hours ago, Kevin W. said:

To be fair, their lyrics are as incomprehensible to an English speaker as a song in French is to a non-French speaker, so they fit right in as a transition from one Olympiad to the next.

 

I had the thought that -- Phoenix always sings in English despite being a French band, but Thomas Mars has a fluent-but-funny grasp of the language so their lyrics are usually fairly inscrutable. So weirdly the same as the Chili Peppers, just for different reasons. (Also the France vs. California thing showed through in every other contrast between those performances, lolz.)

[PTrudellJr]

On 8/11/2024 at 12:12 PM, See Red said:

I won’t stand for this rhythmic gymnastics slander.   Throwing a baton type thingy 30 ft in the air and catching it between your legs while you do some flip 99% of people couldn’t dream of doing was the most impressive thing I’ve seen in the last two weeks.  The stuff they do in the group competition doesn’t even seem possible. 

 

 The breaking was impressive (at least the men’s was — I wasn’t as impressed by the women’s final, tbh) but I don’t know about Olympic sport. It kind of felt like it was judged on vibes more than anything, where other judged sports have difficulties assigned to certain things and certain deductions, etc. I just don’t see how “musicality”, which is how well the dance fits with the music, can be anything but subjective. 

 

 

Hey, I'm not slandering the Artistic Gymnastics/Swimming.  I tuned into those for fun with images of the old events in my head and was impressed with how much they've changed.  The Women's Artistic Swimming team doin' the freakin' moonwalk upside down in a pool???  amazing!  I caught Spain's Bronze medal winning performance and was stunned.

 

And as you said about tossing a baton 30 ft in the air across the mat to someone else who's positioned themselves in the midst of their own movements to catch the bloody thing... or a woman throwing three rings together behind her back to three teammates NOT next to each other...

 

And yeah, Breaking was more about the flow and the judging reminded me a lot of how it used to be "oooh, and an 8.2 from the East German judge!"  But you have to admit that like the others it was an evocative performance built upon some serious athleticism.  "Musicality" to me would be how well the moves synched with the beat and the song that was playing.... often it didn't, but as it was a "Yea" or "Nay" vote, if one fit the criteria better, it got the point.

[GDAWG]

I heard that Jimmy Fallon was part of the NBC Commentary team for the closing ceremonies.  I didn't see it but I would like to know (for those that did see it) if he was laughing hysterically at unfunny things like he does on his show?

[Kevin W.]

4 hours ago, GDAWG said:

I heard that Jimmy Fallon was part of the NBC Commentary team for the closing ceremonies.  I didn't see it but I would like to know (for those that did see it) if he was laughing hysterically at unfunny things like he does on his show?

He was not.

[GDAWG]

8 hours ago, Kevin W. said:

He was not.

Good to see that as he needs to keep his composure for once.  

[Digby]

Fallon's main contribution was mentioning how he knew everyone performing (except when he didn't even know their name). And also saying "that's how it's done!" after literally every segment. Yes, that IS how it's done, in fact it was just done in precisely that way and we all saw it. Also they cut to commercial for half of the Phoenix set, which is insane.

 

Apart from finally figuring out how to use Peacock correctly to serve these events, NBC's coverage was as terrible as usual, I thought. But I guess good if you're not really a sports fan and more just into celebrity. I'd be thrilled to never see Snoop Dogg at the Olympics again.

[Sport]

1 hour ago, Digby said:

Fallon's main contribution was mentioning how he knew everyone performing (except when he didn't even know their name). And also saying "that's how it's done!" after literally every segment. Yes, that IS how it's done, in fact it was just done in precisely that way and we all saw it. Also they cut to commercial for half of the Phoenix set, which is insane.

 

Apart from finally figuring out how to use Peacock correctly to serve these events, NBC's coverage was as terrible as usual, I thought. But I guess good if you're not really a sports fan and more just into celebrity. I'd be thrilled to never see Snoop Dogg at the Olympics again.

 

They paid Snoop Dogg half a million dollars per day for all his nonsense. Not including his 25k a night hotel or his private jet. 

 

I don't blame Snoop at all, but that feels gross to me. 

[Digby]

22 minutes ago, Sport said:

 

They paid Snoop Dogg half a million dollars per day for all his nonsense. Not including his 25k a night hotel or his private jet. 

 

I don't blame Snoop at all, but that feels gross to me. 

 

I don't either, seems like he had a fun time, but I don't know what he's got left to add to these broadcasts, and if I never hear Savannah Guthrie try to talk in AAVE again it will still have been too soon.

 

Also would have been cool if the California beachfront concert segment didn't consist mostly of artists with sexual assault allegations levied at them. At least we have sweet, innocent Billie Eilish.

[Luigi74]

20 hours ago, Sport said:

 

They paid Snoop Dogg half a million dollars per day for all his nonsense. Not including his 25k a night hotel or his private jet. 

 

I don't blame Snoop at all, but that feels gross to me. 

Snoop was there to promote being a judge on The Voice, I'm sure whatever he got paid was part of that shows promotional budget.