The Olympic mode

Berlin 1936
Munich 1972
Beijing 2008
The Olympic Metal count at Yahoo here:
The USA metal count in graph form at Real Clear Sports here.
The Map of the metal count here at Real Clear Sports here.

Listening to Rush this morning I had the same thoughts about the opening ceremonies. The 2008 Chinese drummers/dancers had 5 years to practice being the same. I saw the communist manifesto all over the place. From LAT here:

Yes, there were 2,008 drummers pounding an ancient beat, and gymnasts doing cartwheels across a giant globe and the five Olympic rings rising mysteriously into the sky in the form of tiny lights.

Truly, it was neat to see hundreds of men flickering like Christmas trees, and colorfully dressed women flying through the air on strings, and, of course, 1984 Olympic gymnastics hero Li Ning reminding Los Angeles folks of his greatness by lighting the torch in midair.

But, unlike opening ceremonies of recent years, this show lacked real smiles, true laughter, visible heart.

This is a show that could have used an artistic advisor like, say, Steven Spielberg.

Oh, wait, the director was actually supposed to work on the show until withdrawing his name in protest of the support the country has given the government of Sudan, widely criticized for the crisis in Darfur.