Olympics Opening Ceremony

Just watching the opening ceremony of the Olympics. As always, quite a spectacle of imagery and symbolism. While there is a lot of hype in the way the Olympics is covered and plenty to make fun of in these kinds of events, it IS an international event. There aren't many of those moments. As host country, China has an opportunity to communicate to the world. And the Chinese have built this event up not just internationally, but also with their own people. Clearly, China is taking the opportunity to tell a story.

The cinematography of this event is worth the moment in time. A truly spectacular visual event. The integration of the architectural design of the physical space with the storytelling befits an event of this scale. And it's important to remember that NBC's coverage of the Olympics is not an NBC News event, it's NBC Sports. What they are doing tonight is exactly what NBC does with the NFL - telling stories. China wants to tell a story, NBC wants to tell a story to sell the ads. NBC met that goal with $1 billion in ad sales. This is big business, in case you forgot during those Visa ads you'll be so sick of in about 2 days.

Oh and Bush is there, camera caught him and Putin sitting next to each other (wonder who is still in charge in Russia?) I said I wonder what they could be talking about and my friend replied, "where to get a beer after!" They should have been talking about the war Russia started with Georgia today.

UPDATE From Joe: NBC is telling stories and I couldn't help falling for the story of the U.S. flag bearer, Lopez Lomong, who is a recently naturalized citizen from Sudan. Lomong was one of the "Lost Boys of Sudan." Hat Tip to Izzy for the link to the video.

And, I have seen two John McCain ads -- both negative against Obama -- already. None for Obama yet.