Clarification: There was some confusion about my last post, due to my comment about being tired for a variety of reasons. No, I am not pregnant, if that's what you're wondering. If only wishing could make it so. But I digress...
I am pooped from staying up to watch the dang Olympics. I have a love/hate relationship with them. Love because they remind me of all the hours spent watching them during my childhood and how fun it is to have a reason to veg in front of the TV every night. It is also fun to watch swimming history being made (M.P. and Dara Torres, a.k.a. The Bionic Woman) and to watch the amazing feats of the gymnasts (yes, I think the Chinese women are underage). On the swimming note, I know lots of women who lust after Michael Phelps because of his freakishly toned body. But I think lots of guys have man-crushes on Michael Phelps as well because, to quote Andy: "He's Bad-A**." (No, he didn't swear when he said it, for all you who are gasping in shock right now). So now I tease him that he has another possible career to add to his list if the insurance business doesn't work out. His other option is being Jason Bourne from the Bourne Trilogy. Admit it all you guys out there, you wish you were Jason Bourne as well. But again, I digress...
The hate part of my relationship with the Olympics is that they are broadcast so darn late. We are exactly 12 hours later than Beijing time, so the good stuff doesn't even START until 10:30 p.m. or later. I stayed up until 1 a.m. last Thursday night because I couldn't turn it off until I saw who won the women's all-around final. Note to Nastia: I loved the pink leotard, very chic and gymnast sassy. So now I'm a bit burned out and haven't watched much since Saturday night. Track and field is great so I've got to get back in the groove and watch some of that.
Some musings about the Olympics in general:
1. Do other countries get into the Olympics as much as we Americans do, or is it just because we have so many athletes and know that we'll win lots of medals, plus it's broadcast ad nauseum all of the two weeks of the Games. I know the Chinese, Australians, Russians, etc. are into it, but what about the smaller countries? My little sister is a high school English teacher in AZ, where many of her students are immigrants from Hispanic or African countries. She asked them about watching the Olympics and they looked at her like she was from another planet. She also wondered if it was a middle class American thing, to be more specific.
2. Would American have been able to pull off the Opening Ceremonies spectacle like the Chinese? Particularly the perfectly choreographed drumming and the part in the middle with the boxes undulating up and down that we thought were machine controlled, but really had people inside. Another of my sisters brought this up. We came to the conclusion that Americans wouldn't have put up with endless hours and months of practice to get the routines just so without some form of serious compensation. Whereas I got the impression that the Chinese did it out of national pride and saw the apparent drudgery of practice as an honor.
3. Before the Games started there were tons of articles about the smog in Beijing and how it was so dangerous for the athletes. Since the games have started, I haven't read anything about the smog and how it's affecting them, if at all. Was it just muckraking journalism for the sake of controversey and to tweak China or is it really as bad as they said but we're so caught up in the spirit of the Games that it seems petty to dwell on it?
4. A grammar lesson courtesy of NPR: I learned that apparently NBC commentators have been pronouncing "Beijing" incorrectly. According to the China correspondent, the capital city's name is said "Bei-jing" with a strong "j" like "jump." Not "Bei-shzing" like in "azure." Now you know.
Have you been watching the Olympics? What do you think of it all?
8 comments:
We're hooked here too. As for the smog question, I think they've lucked out most of the time, maybe because of all of the rain. I know the world record holder for the marathon (Gebrselassie) decided back in Feb or March not to run the marathon because of the lethal combination of the poor air and his asthma. (Apparently, he regretted the decision since the day of the marathon was great.)
I also had to stay up till about 2am in San Diego to watch the women's gymnastics all-around. I know little to nothing about the technicalities involved in competing in or judging the sport, but I sat there with sweaty palms, hanging on every word the commentators made as though it was gospel truth. If Bella says the Chinese girls are underage and that the US girls have been wronged several times by judges, then bygum, that's the way it is!
I've enjoyed the olympics quite a bit. Other countries probably have events that they are fanatics about just like the US. By the way, that picture was meant to be disturbing. Aaron says it's like Chip 'n' Dales went to the Shire.
I too learned the correct pronunciation from NPR. I have come a long way from my People/Glamour magazines. I'm so edumacated.
The Olympics are a big deal here in Thailand. Since Thailand doesn't win many golds, it's a huge deal when they do, and everyone is anxious to see how the Thai athlethes will fare.
This year a female Thai weightlifter set a world record in clean-and-jerk, and won the gold. A boxer also won bronze, I think.
Oh, yeah, and a couple comments on the pronunciation of Beijing:
The proper sound doesn't exist in English, but 'j' as in Judge Judy is the closest approximation.
The reason it is commonly pronounced with 'zh' as in measure or pleasure is that historically, all words with that sound in English come from French and so that sound still has an exotic, foreign feel to our ears. Thus, we overuse it in an attempt to make words sound exotic and foreign, and it gets stuck where it doesn't belong, in words like Beijing.
And actually, the 'b' in Beijing isn't like English 'b' as in boy, either. It's like a 'p' with no puff of air. This sound only occurs in English following the sound of 's'.
Compare the word 'pit' with the word 'spit' and notice that the 'p' in 'spit' doesn't have the same puff of air that 'p' by itself does.
So if you extract the 'p' in 'spit' and say it by itself sans 's', that's the sound at the beginning of 'Beijing'.
In technical terms, English 'b' is voiced (the vocal cords vibrate) and unaspirated (no puff of air). English 'p' is voiceless (the vocal cords don't vibrate) and aspirated (has a puff of air). The Chinese sound in Beijing is voiceless and unaspirated. So it's kind of a mix of the two.
we are SO addicted here...we even stayed up to watch the trampoline finals the other night..are you kidding me, trampoline?! i am a little irritated with the chinese, though, i must say..sick of the perfection they are trying to portray, with it all being a hoax. (ie. little girl singing at opening ceremony, putting digital effects on opening ceremony for those watching on tv, the 16 (or 10) year old gymnasts who HAVE NOT gone through puberty yet, the seem to be slighted judges in the gymnastics(i know this isn't necessarily the chinese, but it still bugs)...yes, all this a little annoying to me!:) and yet i am still addicted to watching amazing athletes do amazing things!there is nothing like the summer olympics.
Oh my gosh. I am so hooked it's not funny. If there is a single-most factor contributing to my ill-preparedness/sleep schedule adjusting for school, it is definitely the Olympics. But I wouldn't have it any other way (nor would mom allow any other excuse for obscene amounts of tv watching every day).I too stayed up watching the gymnastics all-around final until 1:30 or thereabouts , and I agree on the cuteness of Nastia's pink suit. As for China's underage bit, i think they do look young, but what else is new? Gymnasts' physique usually makes them look like they're 12 and have no boobs. I still like Yang Yilin. Plus, don't you think the Chinese are the best at smiling during their performances? I'd have to say that gymnastics is my favorite to watch, along with swimming and diving but, surprisingly, I love watching the rowers! Harvard is now calling my name, and I've been rediscovered the rowing machine at our local gym. Let's just say that Olympic rowers row 38 beats per minute or so...I can row a steady 32. Translation: 1000 meters in 5 minutes. Watch out. And don't even get me started on Michael Phelps. Love him... and Peirsol... and Grevers. Oh, and for the record, good ol' Bryan Williams says Beijing correctly. He's probably the only one though.
I have been obsessed with the Olympics this year as well. I have to say watching Michael Phelps was amazing - that man is a machine. But I have to say he's not all that attractive to me. I don't think American's could've pulled off an opening ceremony like that, but I also think that it's because we wouldn't be willing to put the money into it and I don't think all the dancer do it out of national pride, I think there's likely some serious obligations or unrealistic expectations going on, but who knows? Also, I love that coat you have on your previous post - so cute!
I listened to a bit on NPR the other day about a girl suffering from Olympics depression (ie: sad about it ending). She said it had everything that good TV is made of: drama, unpredictability, great characters, motivational stories, action, etc... There's really no other show (esp. other reality TV shows) that can compete. She also said she was in a bar when Michael Phelps won his 8th gold and the whole bar exploded in applause... and she just knew why, didn't even have to ask. The country is so bound together during that 2 week span...stuff like that just happens. I don't know that many other nations have that same country-wide cohesion for the Olympics. The best comparison I can think of is the World Cup for South America. I remember sitting in our little flat in La Paz during the World Cup game and wondering why in the heck the whole city seemed to be yelling for no reason :).
Also, based on my 3 years of China-living... it would have taken a HUGE miracle to clean up the air over there. I used to get sick on my jogs in Nanjing sometimes, just b/c the pollution was so bad. I don't know how the athletes did it, but I guess the dirty air dragging them down couldn't compete with biased gymnastics judges or that Brazilian guy getting mowed over by the crazy priest in the last summer Olympics. Bigger and better in the news world, right?
Oh, and I'll miss the Olympics, too. It's a sad kind of end-of-summer-camp type of feeling. :) (or EFY... whatever the case may be :))
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