Re: Olympics 2008: Beijing

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Sky.com wrote:Olympic Fireworks Faked For TV
Parts of the spectacular Beijing Olympics opening ceremony were faked, it has emerged.

The global television audience of more than three billion people watched in amazement as a series of giant footprints outlined in fireworks proceeded through the night sky from Tiananmen Square to the Bird's Nest stadium - except they were watching a computer animation.

Even the giant television screens within the stadium itself broadcast the fake images.

Stunned viewers thought they were watching the string of fireworks filmed from above by a helicopter.

But in reality they were watching a 3D graphics sequence that took almost a year to produce.

It even included a 'camera shake' to mimic the effect of filming from a helicopter.

The dupe was revealed by China's Beijing Times. Speaking to the paper, the man responsible for the animation said he was pleased with the result.

"Seeing how it worked out, it was still a bit too bright compared to the actual fireworks," Gao Xiaolong told the newspaper.

"But most of the audience thought it was filmed live - so that was mission accomplished."

The designers even added some haziness to simulate the polluted Beijing skyline.

Broadcasters around the world had no choice but to show the footage because it all came from one feed provided by Beijing Olympic Broadcasting - the organisation responsible for filming the games.

The ceremony has also been strongly criticised by architect Ai Weiwei, who helped design the Bird's Nest stadium.

Writing on his blog, Mr Ai described the ceremony as "a recycling of the rubbish of fake classical culture tradition; a sacrilegious visual garbage dump and an insult to the spirit of liberty; low class sound play that's just noise pollution".

He was directly critical of China's ruling communist party, characterising the ceremony as "a showcase of the reincarnation of the Marxist imperialism; the ultimate paragon of an all embracing culture of fascist totalitarianism; an encyclopaedia that encompasses total defeat in intellectual spirit."

Mr Ai helped design the stadium alongside Swiss architect firm, Herzog and de Meuron.

But since then, he has become an outspoken blogger against the Olympics and the Chinese regime. Unusually, he has not been censored by the authorities.

Organiser said that the footprint fireworks were there for real, but thought it unsafe to try to film them - so they recreated them instead.

Re: Olympics 2008: Beijing

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Image
on what planet did this seem like a good idea? i guess he can't run for re-election so what does he care. his PR person took a holiday.

as someone else has said, he must have "do not try to fuck volleyball players" on his palm.

Re: Olympics 2008: Beijing

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Gizmodo wrote:Blue Screen of Death Strikes Bird's Nest During Opening Ceremonies Torch Lighting
bsod_nest_main2[2].jpg
Well this is just perfect. At the exact moment Li Ning was rounding the lip of the Bird's Nest during the amazing torch-lighting climax, someone snapped this photo of our good friend the BSOD nestled amongst the Nest's steel twigs. Perhaps an Opening Cermonies IT dude spit out his coffee on the machines in the server room when Li took to the sky? Another question is what a projection screen is doing inside the Nest at that location, but I think the better question is what wasn't going on inside the Nest's roof—did you see that thing during the ceremonies? Lights! Fireworks! LED screens! Everything! Anyway, if only one image of this perfectness existed we'd be skeptical, but thankfully, someone has grabbed more from a different angle that pretty much seal the deal.

UPDATE: And it's been confirmed on the NBC broadcast by commenter cirby on his DVR.

Click for high-res:
bsod1[1].jpg
bsod4[1].jpg
Ouch! More super-zoomed images for error message decoding here:
[Powerapple Forum (Chinese, original pic), and Rivercool (alternate angle pics) via Dvorak - props to Dvorak commenter Improbus for "Olympic Fail"]
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Re: Olympics 2008: Beijing

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Anyone watching the events? Women's gymnastics team screwed up royally last night in losing to the Chinese although from a brief interview with that old eastern european coach during the events one could get the impression that *gasp* the Chinese were cheating as far as the age limitations on athletes go (16 is supposed to be the minimum age, the Chinese girls all looked to be about 12).
"I'm like a dog chasing cars, I wouldn't know what to do if I caught one. . . . I'm not a schemer. I just do things."

Re: Olympics 2008: Beijing

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i'm watching. missed the final rotations in gymnastics last night though.

was thinking - it's funny. phelps is taking all the swimming events of course. china is taking all the diving events. so, have mastered getting into the water, but once in, aren't sure what to do i guess...

Re: Olympics 2008: Beijing

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darkness wrote:Looks like he's about to spank her.
I saw the video of this today. He actually did spank her, though on her lower back instead of her ass. Maybe he just has poor hand eye coordination.
Just cut them up like regular chickens