Anyone else hate the way the media is covering the Beijing Olympics? [Archive]

hobielover

08-12-2008, 06:43 PM

Just to make it clear, this thread is not for dislikes about the Olympics! I'm talking about the media's coverage of the Olympics. I'm not against the games themselves.

OK, I'm sure a lot of us really looked forward to the Olympics this year, since they're in China. I don't know about other countries, but I don't like the way the American news stations are covering it. Let's start with the opening ceremonies.

OK, first off, the commentators don't know a whole lot about Chinese culture and just kept blabbing the whole time. They had this one guy on NBC who was supposed to be their "China expert," but he couldn't even pronounce "guqin." He asked, "Is that how you pronounce it?" and I yelled, "NO!" Of course, he couldn't hear me yelling at the TV. He was drowning out the sound of the guqin, too, which also made me mad. Secondly, I didn't like the way they kept randomly shooting the politicians instead of the performances. Who wants to see President Bush when you can be watching the neat dancing and such? Then, for some reason, they had it split into another part when China comes in during the March of Nations. After the raising of the flag, they then say, "We'll be right back to wrap up the opening ceremonies." They start showing commercials, and then the news comes on, and they never do show the rest! They completely cut out the part with Jackie Chan and those other artists singing "Zhan Qi Lai"! :crazy: I'm sure a lot of us wanted that to show on American television, but they never showed it!

The other day, I decided to watch women's gymnastics. You know what they did during the American team's performance? They flip to George W. Bush talking about foreign policy! What's that got to do with women's gymnastics?! So, I didn't get to see all of it because I had to go to bed. :rasp: It wasn't even live footage! It was already the next day in Beijing, and they were showing yesterday's footage!

OK, those are just some of the things that made me mad, but I also think they've blown that murder a bit out of proportion just because it had to do with the US team. Those things, sadly, happen all the time. :oops: What does everyone else dislike about the coverage?

applemac

08-12-2008, 09:34 PM

Well, I'm watching it from Peru right now...the only thing I dislike is the fact that you are watching and they run for commercials anytime! like I want to know the results and I dont get to see them sometimes!
Also, sometimes you are watching for example gymnastics and then they suddenly change to basketball! so in the end...you don't really get to see what happened at the end w/ gymnastics... I was like..ok...who won?
So I always end up going online and checking for the final results by myself u_U

Here's the link just in case: http://en.beijing2008.cn/

hobielover

08-12-2008, 11:02 PM

Really? That's awful! They run too many commercials in the US, too, but that whole deal with not showing the whole event isn't good at all. They have a bunch of patriotic commercials here, as if everyone in America really wants the US team to win, and they flip to the news all the time, or something irrelevant like the Bush speech I mentioned. There are too many people talking about Chinese culture who don't know anything about it, and they criticize China too much for everything that happens during the games and ceremonies.

midori

08-13-2008, 12:29 AM

I feel the same about the opening ceremony in the olympics. I think it was on CNN or FOX, I'm not really sure, they were summarizing the opening ceremony. Finally, they got to the part where the little boy named Lin Hao from the Si Chuan earthquake was walking together and all they said was something like the little boy was a survivor of the earthquake and he's walking next to Yao Ming, a huge Chinese hero...my point is I'm just surprised that they didn't mention the fact that that little boy helped rescued two of his classmates..I think that's just American stubbornness to ever say anything nice about China.

hobielover

08-13-2008, 12:38 AM

I don't think they even talked about the little boy on NBC. I had to look up who he was on the Internet. They said his name, but that was it. So, I had to look on the Internet to realize that he was a hero for saving his classmates. I agree, they don't want to acknowledge that China has heroes. They were all over that little girl lip-syncing to that other girl's voice, though. Like no Americans ever lip-sync.

Pink_89757

08-13-2008, 05:06 AM

but the did talk about the little boy in CBC (Canada)

what i would like is if they seperate POLICTICS from OLYMPICS.
i hate how people are boycotting against the Beijing olympics because of political reasons.

xxf4luvaxx

08-13-2008, 05:45 AM

i agree with you guys. i also heard the little boy's parents had both perished during the earthquake.. and that when he was finally rescued, he thanked the people who helped him.

jay_ed

08-13-2008, 08:30 AM

DUDE...you think that Guqin pronounciation is bad??...

here in New Zealand...it's worse..

- the part where the guy was making the brushes to do the chinese calligraphy..the commentator guy said "oohhh..it looks like they are going to show thing making of fireworks"...and i'm like WHAT ON EARTH???!!!...

and then the part where the astronauts came out "Oh, perhaps this is something futuristic. Something that will happen in the future perhaps"...and i'm like...

DO YOUR HOMEWORK FIRST...:chair:

rainless-868

08-13-2008, 01:41 PM

omgosh!......i totally agree..i'm watching the Olympics in new zealand =.=..and all they do is criticise china!!!...they never report on the good stuff..but they always report things like how bad the pollution is...and how it's gonna affect the performance of the athletes....well HELLO!!...if the pollution is SO BAD..then how did all those athletes break world records....!!!...GEEZ..i'm so pissed how the euro media is so negative about the beijing olympics...no matter how hard we try..they always find ways to criticise us...like now..they're reporting hard out on the 'faked footprints'...but i mean HEY..we never said it was real fireworks..you just all ASSUMED it was real...geez....

jay_ed

08-13-2008, 02:11 PM

^ You're watching it in New Zealand too???..OMG..yes..i hate all the side comments about the fog/hazy/smog/pollution and saying how they feel sorry for the athletes..and they're also saying how the weather is incredibly hot...like HELLO..is it really the fault of China that it's HOT?!

and it's not just their coverage on the olympics that annoy me...it's also the coverage they do on the side things..such as their views on China/Beijing...

and then they had this 'feature' on TV..talking about all the fakes and China and etc...and how now it's not just faking the brands..it's also 'copying' the logos so it's similar, then they brought out one that looked liked the Zesprit logo and the lady was like "OH!! They've totally copied the logo"...where copying the logo maybe wrong/immoral...i hate it how New Zealanders always think the Kiwifruit is native and all belongs to NZ..in fact the kiwifruit originated in CHINA!!!..

and then that documentary sent a reporter into a mall....and she came out with a fake LV bag...and she's was like "I own my own LV bag now!..and it only cost equivalent to ~$40 NZD, whereas it would cost ~$2000 back at home"...and then they interviewed this tourist..and she went "oh, we know it's fake and not very good quality..so it won't last for very long..but it's ok"..DUDE..even the REAL and AUTHENTIC brands are made in China..what makes you think just because it's a fake from China it's going to be bad quality...

PLUS...they make it seem like China is the ONLY place in the world with pollution and haze and fakes and fraudulent activities...

(Sorry..very strong sense of China-pride kicking in)

hobielover

08-13-2008, 02:34 PM

i hate it how New Zealanders always think the Kiwifruit is native and all belongs to NZ..in fact the kiwifruit originated in CHINA!!!..
I thought it was the kiwi bird that originated in New Zealand. :?

LOL! They really thought they were making fireworks? At least the "China expert" from the US had the sense to call it a "shan shui" (literally "mountains and water") painting. The Americans said something similar about the astronauts, but they also had the sense to mention China's plans to land on the moon.

I think the only instrument they tried to name during the whole opening ceremony, though, was the "gu chin" as they called it. I was like, "The instrument doesn't have a 'chin'! It's a 'qin,' because that means 'instrument'!"

Seriously, who did say all the fireworks were real? Fireworks can be dangerous, so having some extra fake ones should help prevent fires, right? So, what's the big deal? They were obvious good fake fireworks, since it took them so long to realize they were fake. They shouldn't say that China was cheating, because those special effects were very high quality.

Darkshrimp

08-13-2008, 06:18 PM

a few things..

First, the footage of the opening ceremony wasn't choosen by the station itself, but it was sent out all over the world by beijing telecast over satellite.

And the commercial cut in was all over the other channels too, except CCTV ones in china, which is the one i watched on.

haha, i guess I can't join in the angry discussion because i haven't been watching the Australian channels.

also, i don't think anyone else performed at the opening except for the two singers and one piano player.

also the little boy who was holding yaoming's hand. he's a kid that personally saved a lot of other students during the earthquake, that's why he was awarded with some highprofile stuff, haha.

but to stick with the anti-x theme. A lot of media does need to do a lot more homework before they broadcast. and all they bloody concentrate on is saying how smoggy beijing is, can't you say something better?

rainless-868

08-14-2008, 05:01 AM

i know!!!......i totally agree with you Darkshrimp...all the media is projecting is how polluted china is..and how the food and air is affecting the athletes..how sum ppl are sick nw...=.=..geez...

furthermore...it reli pisses me off how they always criticise us...like the news with the little girl lip singing...well i must say i was a lil disappointed with china when i knew..BUT...there's no need to be so critical and say how we fake everything...geez it's a sporting event..KEEP TO THE TOPIC...BUT thank god a commentator wrote sumfin nice about china today in the tvnz website and the whole lip singing thing in new zealand....

FSUTan

08-14-2008, 07:36 AM

i came up on this article....anyone else spot the dumbass (excuse my language)'s mistake?

Teeny-Tiny Matter of Age for China’s Gymnasts

nytimes.com — The ages of the Chinese gymnasts have been a topic of conversation for months, but it has reached a fever pitch in Beijing. The smallest of the six competitors is Deng Linlin, 4 feet 6 inches and 68 pounds. The team ’s average size is 4-9 and 77 pounds. That is 3 ½ shorter and nearly 30 pounds lighter than the average

broken_paper

08-14-2008, 07:45 AM

i'm watching NBC here in CA and at first, i thought that the olympics was LIVE because they said so but when i went to the website, the scores were exposed already! i was like, isn't the olympics LIVE on NBC? but then the results are out? i have to agree with hobielover on the bush thingy and the opening ceremony where the media has no knowledge of chinese culture.. gosh that makes me mad too!

and the air pollution?? i heard that CNN or whoever said that china has bad air and they wore stuff to cover their noses and mouths when they arrived there but the air wasn't bad, it was just fog!! it's like they're criticizing China!

FSUTan

08-14-2008, 08:04 AM

there are a few things i'm upset about:

1. pollution...yah, pollution in china is bad, so what? get over it, if you fail at a game it's because you suck, not because the pollution was bad.

2. the stabbing and killing of the americans in china's summer palace...yes, we're all sad that it happened, and that it happened during the olympics, but just because it has happened, let's not tie it to china's fault and that if the olympics weren't held in beijing, then things like this wouldn't happen.

3. fireworks added on for effect...safety reasons, a lot of networks, countries do this, so it's pot calling the kettle black if you ask me. plus, it's fireworks, i don't think it matters that much.

4. little girl's face not used, but voice used because she wasn't pretty enough...ok, bad move china...i mean you talk about promoting perfection and that's why you used a pretty girl's face, but how is that giving china a perfect image? obviously, if you think her voice wasn't good enough, you don't think she was perfect, plus, don't scar a little girl's psyche just because she's not pretty enough in your eyes.

5. underage girls in china's gymnastics team...two different parts i want to point out here. first off, yes, they do look young, especially deng linlin, she looks like she's freaking 10 years old! but china says she's old enough, and they proved it by showing her passport and whatnot, sure, whatever, everyone has their own thoughts...her age is never going to black and white and there will never be sufficient proof in certain people's eyes, which brings me to the second point of martha karolyi and especially her husband bela who's remarks were certainly in my opinion uncalled for. for those of you who didn't watch, he mentioned DURING the women's gymnastics finals as well as at the END when china won gold, that china won because they cheated. now, first things first, bringing up a point which has no validation really just makes him seem like a sore loser, then, to add salt to wound, what IF, just what IF, the chinese weren't underage? well, underage or not aside, karolyi's comment was bitter and unnecessary, after all, it was his own team that made the mistakes, so let's not point the fingers to blame by finding a scapegoat.

an article here, provides a detailed explanation
click here (http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/gymnastics/news?slug=dw-karolyis081308&prov=yhoo&type=lgns)

this is only day 6 of the olympics and i ALREADY have this much to say...haha

I feel the same about the opening ceremony in the olympics. I think it was on CNN or FOX, I'm not really sure, they were summarizing the opening ceremony. Finally, they got to the part where the little boy named Lin Hao from the Si Chuan earthquake was walking together and all they said was something like the little boy was a survivor of the earthquake and he's walking next to Yao Ming, a huge Chinese hero...my point is I'm just surprised that they didn't mention the fact that that little boy helped rescued two of his classmates..I think that's just American stubbornness to ever say anything nice about China.

I don't think they even talked about the little boy on NBC. I had to look up who he was on the Internet. They said his name, but that was it. So, I had to look on the Internet to realize that he was a hero for saving his classmates. I agree, they don't want to acknowledge that China has heroes. They were all over that little girl lip-syncing to that other girl's voice, though. Like no Americans ever lip-sync.

just to clarify, NBC did in fact mention the boy and his heroic acts, they not only mentioned what he did, but also why he went back and saved his classmates, and at the end even showed clipped of interviewing Yao Ming with the little boy.

hobielover

08-14-2008, 01:55 PM

just to clarify, NBC did in fact mention the boy and his heroic acts, they not only mentioned what he did, but also why he went back and saved his classmates, and at the end even showed clipped of interviewing Yao Ming with the little boy.
Really? When I watched it, they didn't do that, and I kept wondering, "Who's that kid with Yao Ming?" Maybe they did it when they showed the parade at one point, but not when I watched it.

Shirlz

08-14-2008, 03:22 PM

The newspaper over here are dissing the Beijing Olympics so bad..
They are finding everything that they can diss about it and exaggerate.
Apparently everything was fake & photoshopped & the little girl at the start was miming..?
Stupid english papers... they wont do better than beijing olympics in 2012!
London in 4 years time... I only live 2 hours away. i might have to watch it haha

FSUTan

08-14-2008, 07:15 PM

well, my main observation, is how the general TV media, doesn't like to talk about how this olympic is the MOST watched ever, and how NBC (in the US) has beat all kinds of records by showing the olympics, yet, all they can concentrate on is the negativity of the olympics. but then again, that's show business =)

xiao|mei

08-14-2008, 07:49 PM

hobielover

08-15-2008, 01:47 PM

we must have been watching 2 different NBCs
i watched the opening ceremonies on NBC network television and they explained who the little boy walking with Yao Ming was...told his entire story, saving his classmates and why he did it, called him a hero
they even did a little story with him and Yao...asking who was really looking up to who during that walk...very touching
they pretty much said hands down best opening ceremonies they ever saw....and kept pointing out the cheerleaders who danced through the whole parade of nations...they were pretty impressed by that =)
I recorded the showing late into the night, and the station I get has news broadcasted from Charlotte, so it's not just NBC, it's WCNC, which could make a difference. The Charlotte news could have cut into parts that you watched, so I didn't get to watch them, I suppose. :oops: They did say that it was the best opening yet, but there was still a lot of negativity about the faked fireworks and the lip-syncing after the fact. They never said much about Yao Ming and the boy, though, just their names, and never called either of them a hero.

xiao|mei

08-15-2008, 06:46 PM

I recorded the showing late into the night, and the station I get has news broadcasted from Charlotte, so it's not just NBC, it's WCNC, which could make a difference.

were your commentators the national NBC commentators??
i watched it with Matt Lauer and Bob Costas commentating...

hobielover

08-15-2008, 07:10 PM

I don't know the names of the commentators, but I'd think they'd be the same ones, since they were actually in Beijing. I don't know, maybe they had different commentators for the night showing, but they definitely did not talk about the boy, or if they did they did do it during the actual parade and it got cut out so they could show the Charlotte news.

Last night, they kept saying, "Gymnastics are coming up next!" Then they'd show more volleyball. (I'm sure there are people who are really into volleyball, but I don't really think very highly of it, but I don't want to make anyone who likes it feel bad. It's just not my thing. Mom told Dad not to watch the women's beach volleyball, though, and that was funny!) I kept flipping channels and waiting for them to show the gymnastics that were supposed to be coming up right after commercials, while I could have been watching "CJ7" which I'm renting through NetFlix. I ended up going to bed without seeing the gymnastics finals, and then I found out which girl got the gold through Sirius radio this morning. So disappointing! The one channel on which they said they'd show gymnastics changed into some entertainment news program, and NBC showed volleyball while it kept advertising the gymnastics finals! :oops: Now, I already know who won. What's the point in watching it now?

xiao|mei

08-15-2008, 07:36 PM

wow....i can't believe they cut to local news!! they talked about the little boy during the parade as the Chinese athletes were walking out and doing their lap around the stadium...so you didn't get to see that part??
NBC here (KXAS Dallas/Fort Worth TX) stayed with the whole ceremony to the very end and never cut to anything except a million commercials!
but yeah....gymnastics came on very late, but they stayed live though the whole thing including the medal ceremony i don't think in ended till well after midnight central standard time
i was pretty happy with who won...had to root for the home town girl =D

beach volleyball is actually one of the most popular Olympic events =\
not a big fan either...

hobielover

08-15-2008, 07:50 PM

After midnight central time?! :glug: They said it was coming up next at like 7:45 PM Eastern time! I gave up around 9:30, since I had to go to bed. I had work today, so I couldn't wait until past 1:00 in the morning my time to watch that!

I really don't get why they didn't show that bit about the boy with Yao in North Carolina. I recorded the whole thing, but for some reason part of it wasn't there, probably for 11:00 PM news or something, and when they got back to it, China's march was like half-way through. Now I remember why I didn't see that part! Why'd they have to cut out everything from 11 to midnight? :dry: So, I think a lot of countries got cut out, and part of China's march got cut. :oops:

hk-kc-jc

08-15-2008, 08:02 PM

^ None of the Opening Ceremony over here got cut out which was good.. no breaks throughout.. and I don't think you would have liked to see all the countries come out because that was so boring.. LOL!

Because Beijing's time to England's is 7 hours ahead and I'm so addicted to the Olympic Games.. I get up in the morning at around 2 to 3 just to watch everything LIVE.. as later on when everything is just a replay on the show, the English media nearly always skip out every countries' performances apart from their own.. like every match that they show has always got Team GB competing in it..

And.. from 6 in the morning the same news comes up every half an hour and it really REALLY frustrates me because I'm trying to watch the Olympics..

Also.. there was this sportsman who was complaining that he wouldn't perform at his best because the Chinese people are taking too much blood out of him for blood tests, etc.. how pathetic.. it's not like they're draining him out or something..! Jeez..

Yes.. they're always talking about the weather and saying how polluted it is.. well sorry that there's a huge population in China and we have millions of cars on the road and loads of factories at work.. but they've shut down most of the factories for the meantime and cut down on half or more of the millions of cars that are on the road each day.. so what are complaining about?

However.. I think that the English commentators know what they are talking about and sounds like they've done some background research into the Chinese culture to say in the Opening Ceremony..

By the way.. I can't wait to see what London has to offer in their Opening Ceremony.. because this one was so good that I nearly cried! I'm so proud of China!!

hobielover

08-16-2008, 02:45 PM

Last night, I came home around 9:30 and my parents were watching men's beach volleyball. Even though as a family, we think it's a lame sport, they were watching it because it was on. Well, not far into the game, NBC went to commercials, and when it came back, one team had gained 6 points! A short while afterwards, NBC simply stopped showing the game altogether and changed to a different event! :glug: Why would they start showing a game, leave part of it out, and then start showing something else?! So, sorry to anyone who enjoys volleyball and wanted to see that game.

xiao|mei

08-16-2008, 06:48 PM

i suppose it's because they're trying to show as much as possible of everything....
they usually do show the end of the game...
but then again....your local NBC is odd because they cut to local news during the Opening Ceremony o.O
sculling is on!

midori

08-16-2008, 08:36 PM

There are different games each night though, isn't there? And it's not just NBC that are showing the olympics, there's CNBC and USA network right cause they all operate under the same owner?

I wonder if Ad prices are higher during the olympics, I would think they would be. After all, NBC paid almost a billion dollars to be the exclusive cover of the olympics. And the biggest payback would probably be Michael Phelp's competition for the 8th medal.

Darkshrimp

08-16-2008, 09:14 PM

Another thing i have to complain about, Australia's Channel seven, the official olympics coverage channel..

They can never broadcast a full match. When they decided to do a live broadcast of the USA vs Greece male basketball game, i was quite excited, but in the end i only ended up watching like 10 min of the game, because they kept on cutting to swimming, it was just heat races, like who cares, can't we watch a full game properly? geez.

tc9.jay

08-20-2008, 03:26 AM

I thought the western media was engaging in a pretty much game of sour grapes. The Opening Ceremony was so amazing and beautiful (even after discounting things like the lip-syncing which at that time wasn't exposed yet) and though the Western media did recognise this fact, their reports were laced with sarcasm and political undertones. It's frustrating really because it's not as if the West has a stellar human rights records so who's to say that China's efforts into putting up such a great show should be tarnished by them selling arms to Sudan? Honestly, we all know that the US and Europe aren't that morally or ethically upright either.

hobielover

08-20-2008, 01:54 PM

Last night, I kept getting mad at the commentators for getting the athletes' names wrong again. They called "He Chong" "He Chang" and "Kai Qin" was "Kai Chin," like the part of your face. I stopped watching because it was getting late and I was tired of hearing them mispronounce the names.

alisadorsey@yahoo.co

08-20-2008, 05:25 PM

I have never been so disappointed in hearing prejudice being so avidly expressed by some US commentators during these Olympics. The judges sure are chosen because they know what is required of all athletes in their performances. That being said, the thought that every time a Chinese athlete especially in gymnastics competes, the US commentators makes a comparison of why an American got a lower score. They then would implicate that they felt the American did better than the Chinese athlete. This is very sad. The implication to me is totally biased to Americans. I am an American, but I did not watch the rest of the Gymnastics last night, because they were getting on my nerves with this. I mean they did the whole competition. To listen to it and not really enjoy what I was watching was totally disheartening. But overall I do like watching the Olympics minus the negative reviews of some from the US. I don’t like prejudice nor like anyone trying to stir others to be prejudiced against others.

hk-kc-jc

08-20-2008, 11:12 PM

LOL.. hobielover ^

u think that ur commentators are bad.. the commentator who talks about the artistic gymnastics calls Zou Kai "zoo kay i" *what the heck?* and he calls Nastia Liukin "Anastacia Liukin" .. so terrible!! i mean when did nastia turn into anastacia?

hobielover

08-20-2008, 11:32 PM

alisadorsey@yahoo.co

08-21-2008, 12:50 AM

"Zoo Kay"? LOL! The American commentators are just as bad, I think, with the pronunciation, though.

Yes, Alisa, they are way too patriotic about the whole thing and dis China whenever they have the opportunity! Can they just get over the fact that China's communist and just remember that Chinese people are human just like us?

I am not sure if they realize if anyone is human. I have watched mostly all of the Olympics since I was born, and I have never seen the American commentators pick on any other country like this before. I mean it was totally uncalled for and irritating to the point that not only they were just busting up people's names, but it was like they had it out for my Chinese sisters and brothers. I just want them just to admit that China is totally awesome in sports and very dedicated in whatever they do.

Why don't they just give them credit for that? One voice stands out that irritates me. Tim Daggett. He was an American gymnast, but not that good to me. He made it to the Olympics, but was not outstanding there. Now he is a commentator and a supposed expert. He criticizes the men, as well as, the women Chinese gymnasts. Opinions are fine and welcomed by me, but I did not hear him saying anything negative really about the other competitors from the other countries. He kind of singled out my brothers and sisters, and compared them like they were mediocre athletes to the Americans. I mean I was very embarrassed to be an American listening to them all. Give credit when it is due is all I ask. I just think they need to just tone it down and concentrate on the hard work all these athletes put in for many years. Not tear them down for their hard work.

hobielover

08-21-2008, 02:26 PM

One voice stands out that irritates me. Tim Daggett. He was an American gymnast, but not that good to me. He made it to the Olympics, but was not outstanding there. Now he is a commentator and a supposed expert. He criticizes the men, as well as, the women Chinese gymnasts. Opinions are fine and welcomed by me, but I did not hear him saying anything negative really about the other competitors from the other countries. He kind of singled out my brothers and sisters, and compared them like they were mediocre athletes to the Americans. I mean I was very embarrassed to be an American listening to them all. Give credit when it is due is all I ask. I just think they need to just tone it down and concentrate on the hard work all these athletes put in for many years. Not tear them down for their hard work.
So, this guy thinks that the American gymnasts should do better just because they're American? That's not right. If people fall of, they fall off, and the American gymnasts, as well as everyone else, did a lot of falling off this year. The gymnasts lost points for that, and rightly so. If a girl can't stay on the balance beam, then the judges aren't going to feel sorry for her because she landed on her rear and embarrassed herself. Instead, the scores are based on difficulty and execution. Gymnastics can "make up" for a mistake by finishing well. This article (http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/969586/in_olympic_gymnastics_was_the_united.html) shows the prejudices clearly. I can't believe that someone would write about American gymnasts being "ripped off."

jujuhippo

08-21-2008, 04:28 PM

i remembered i woke up especially in the morning to watch Liu Xiang's appearance for the Hurdles...

when he appeared, i felt extremely proud of him and everyone was cheering him... but when the commentator said " oh look! that's Lu Qiang! "

i felt extremely offended immediately. can't they even spend the time to bother to learn how to pronounce the names properly?! it's like Liu xiang is such a famous olympic sportman and they don't even seem to give him the slightest respect by learning how to read his name properly.

phoebe

08-22-2008, 10:44 AM

i watched the opening " live " which started with news at 8-8.30pm!!!!!! half hour late of " live " show. my penalty for no cable tv i supposed

hobielover

08-24-2008, 06:24 PM

Here's one thing I don't get:

During the commercials recently, there has been a lot of showings of an ad that asks people to contribute towards building schools and railroads in Tibet.

My problem with it:

From everything I've heard from people who have actually been to Tibet, Tibetans don't want schools and railroads! They consider it an invasion. So, if the American reporters are so upset over Tibet "not having free speech," why do American stations air commercials to support what Tibetans to be the "Han invasion"? Aren't they contradicting themselves?

OK, NBC has yet to show the closing ceremony for the Olympics. People from the other side of the world have already seen it, but Americans have not. Apparently, LeeHom was there, and he sang. So, I'll be very disappointed (http://jay-chou.net/forums/showpost.php?p=17206754&postcount=52) if they cut that out the way they cut out the part with various celebrities singing "Zhan Qi Lai" in the opening ceremony. I joked about that cut yesterday while talking to a man who works in a local cafe, saying, "I didn't think Jackie Chan's singing was that bad!" Really, does the American media want to make everyone think that no Chinese celebrities exist? Then, perhaps the American media is not that different from the Chinese media that they so disapprove of. What is this if it is not censorship?

Today, one station was reviewing the Olympics. They had to bring up that guy going suicidal and killing that coach again. Well, my dad mentioned a bombing that happened in Atlanta when the Olympics were held here, so what's really the big deal? Atlanta wasn't exactly a home for psychopaths, either, yet there was a bombing during the Olympics there. If the only incident that happened in Beijing was so small, what's with the media continuing to bring it up? It's tragic, yes, but is it as bad as 2 people dying and 111 suffering injuries? No! To make it worse, the incident in Atlanta was brought about by someone who used to be in the army, who was trained in the army to use explosives, and who used that knowledge to hurt those people!

The media is also continuing to look down on the Chinese government. Why? Because they don't understand anything about Chinese culture, but that communism is "bad" and democracy is "good," regardless of the fact that any form of government is fallible, and it doesn't really have to do with the Olympics, anyways!

xiao|mei

08-24-2008, 08:56 PM

and he calls Nastia Liukin "Anastacia Liukin" .. so terrible!! i mean when did nastia turn into anastacia?

FYI: Nastia Liukin's real name is Anastasia

Nastia is a nickname

kyproperty

08-25-2008, 07:09 AM

I wanted to see the singing too.
I was watching it on the USA chanel.
I'm not sure if it was on there or not because i didn't get to see alot of it.
All i saw was tennis and some of the sprinting.

hobielover

08-25-2008, 03:26 PM

I wanted to see the singing too.
I was watching it on the USA chanel.
I'm not sure if it was on there or not because i didn't get to see alot of it.
All i saw was tennis and some of the sprinting.
It showed. They didn't show LeeHom much, though. They kept showing the drummers and the dancers instead of the singers. :cry: I stayed up until past 10:00 to hear "Wo Ai Bei Jing." I don't know why they had to show so many commercials! I went to bed after I heard "Wo Ai Bei Jing," so I didn't see anything after that. The commentators got so much on my nerves! They kept blabbing during the song, and they didn't really have anything important to say! The commentators didn't even know who was singing, and I think they called them "Chinese celebrities," even though we know LeeHom is American and Rain is Korean! The audio wasn't great, either, and it had a bad hum in it. :oops:

I also don't like the way they split the schedule. I had to record volleyball in order to record the closing ceremony! Why were they put together as one thing?!

aznmaestro007

08-25-2008, 07:35 PM

First off, I like to thank you for creating this thread. I, myself, didn't like the way the commentators pronounce Beijing. "bei-shing" O_o Also, at the closing ceremony, I was furious that they didn't mention the names of the singers. chinese celebrities. -___- ookay! This just shows how ignorant the commentators are not knowing the richness of chinese culture. And i didn't like the london's performance when they enter the bird's nest. The performance didn't even take the whole field. I watched the Athens closing ceremony when China performed in the end and it was so huge and miraculous. The open and closing ceremony was amazing. It felt so good that I started crying after watching it. Sorry to say, I don't think open ceremony for London 2012 will be any better than beijing open and closing ceremony. I'm proud of being Chinese. And thanks China for bringing in the most gold medals. i'm proud of that. Go China, and add oil!

jazlyn87

08-25-2008, 07:45 PM

hobielover

08-25-2008, 09:11 PM

i agree with aznmaestro

when i saw the london performance, it felt like it just lack the culture like how china did it .. it's doesn't symbolize anything except for the bus

i love both the ceremonies and how china had put on a spectacular show .. i don't think london's could top that
True, but for some reason that didn't keep the cameramen from zooming in more for London's performances. Anyone else notice? You could completely see down the front of Leona's dress much of the time! :oops: Yet, they hardly showed LeeHom at all, and when they had that group of singers on stage, they only did close-ups of Jackie Chan and Wei Wei, whom they call the "biggest pop star in China." :glug: As if! I'd never even heard of her until the ceremony, so how could they call her that?! Anyways, since they didn't do any close-ups on anyone else, I glimpsed some guy wearing cowboy boots and a hat, and he had bangs. I was like, "Is that Jay?!" Then, I found out it wasn't. :tongue: That dude was only a speck, though, so it was really hard to tell who anyone was.

OK, I take it back. Nobody called them "Chinese celebrities." They didn't call them anything except for "singers." So, the commentators didn't know anything about who they were or that those girls were playing the erhu, though I doubt they'd pronounce any of that right, anyways. Otherwise, someone would probably ask the question, "Are who?" :bleh: (OK, lame pun! :rolleyes:)

simplyjennifer

08-26-2008, 05:00 AM

yes i do. i hated it when they kept zooming in on jackie chan -_____-

london's performance felt like a broadway musical show, plus i couldnt really hear leonna lewis singing.

jujuhippo

08-26-2008, 06:02 AM

yes i do. i hated it when they kept zooming in on jackie chan -_____-

maybe because jackie chan is the only celeb they recognise lol!

aznmaestro007

08-26-2008, 08:15 AM

hobielover

08-26-2008, 02:53 PM

I really wanted to see Jay Chou sing in the closing ceremony. The world really needs to know this amazing cpop singer. I ask my friends if they know jay chou, and they say "no, who's dat?" Also, who is weiwei? she's the cpop superstar singer? Never heard of her, but I saw her in the Beijing Welcomes You mv. Jay supposed to be China's music icon. it's so sad how the beijing olympics went by so fast. wish it was longer. :dry:
Actually, he decided not to go. He got asked to go, but I suspect that everyone was lip-syncing, since when LeeHom hit the cymbol, it didn't make a sound, and maybe Jay found out that he was going to be lip-syncing and then decided not to perform. After all, Jay isn't very good at lip-syncing. He doesn't know what to do with himself, and then he gets all tense. A bit off-topic, though. I think if they were lip-syncing, the media will know for sure soon, and then it'll be on all the news that all those Asian singers are all lip-syncers, which we would know not to be true, but other people won't realize that. So, if Jay decided not to perform so he wouldn't have to lip-sync, it was probably better that way, since the world won't know him as a lip-syncer. Of course, this is all just a wild theory.

Anyone else notice how their country is all focused on "our athletes" and "our medals" now?