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Mostly Olympics Snark
Aug. 1st, 2012 07:56 pmFirst, today's celebrity death was Gore Vidal. I have to admit that I would have assumed he had died years ago. I've never read Myra Breckenridge which was probably his most famous novel, but I have several quotes from him copied into my commonplace book. One of those is "All in all, I would not have missed this century for the world." I'm glad to see he didn't.
Another thing Vidal wrote is "There is no human problem which could not be solved if people would simply do as I advise." I certainly feel that way frequently, particularly when I work over at one of our hot desks in the Pentagon. In addition to the non-stop telephone talker this morning (who was talking about work-relevant things a bit less than half the time), I got to hear someone (who I don't know) say loudly, "It's just a cold virus. I don't have AIDS." I'd advise people to remember that everyone in the office can hear everything you say.
One organization I'd love to advise is the NBC team responsible for Olympics coverage. Admittedly, my primary issue is the typical American ignorance about other countries and repetition of dumb trivia about them. This was particularly noticeable during the opening ceremonies. Once the U.S. team entered, they barely acknowledged anyone but them and the UK team. More of my annoyance was things like the mention of political troubles for Egypt, Libya and Syria, but not for Mali, which recently had a major coup d'etat. The worst example was Uganda, for which they mentioned Idi Amin (who has been gone for years), but not the Lord's Resistance Army or, much much better, any of the development successes of recent years.
As for the rest of the opening ceremonies, I found the entertainment portion bizarre, but I pretty much always do. What I really want is for them to cut to the chase and the parade of nations, which is what I find the most fun. There seemed to be a particularly high number of mispronounced names this year. How does an announcer manage to get Kiribati correct and screw up the name of its capital, Tarawa? And, really, is Cote d'Ivoire all that difficult?
Mostly I enjoy the parade of nations for my opportunity to be snarky about the costumes. The ones I do like either reflect national character in some way (e.g. Bermuda with their red shorts and, yes, people there really do wear bright colored Bermuda shorts and navy blazers to work) or are especially colorful, e.g. Cameroon, Guyana, and Malaysia. The U.S. uniforms were pretty dreadful, especially the berets. Taiwan had suits that looked like they belonged in a 1920's gangster movie. Namibia was trying for the casual safari look, but came across as sloppy. Liechtenstein also seemed sloppy in blue jeans, but one supposes they can't actually wear just postage stamps unless they have become a major power in beach volleyball. The Germans were just weird with the baby blue for the men and pink for the women. But the rock bottom was achieved this year for the Czech Republic with white shorts and blue rain boots.
Apropos of nothing, I decided I really like the flag of Trinidad and Tobago.
I was, by the way, intrigued by the independent Olympic athletes as I admit to having missed the political drama involving the Netherlands Antilles. I knew their status had changed, but I admit to not entirely understanding the difference.
I also want to comment on the ads. The Mac ads struck me as suggesting that Mac users are rude, selfish jerks. Which may well be true, but do you want to advertise that? (N.B.: I use a Mac myself.) And what was with the Proctor and Gamble ad saying "to their moms, they will always be kids"? Don't most of the athletes have fathers, too? Or was the ad written by the same person who designed the German team's uniforms?
Finally, it is probably just me, but I think it is tacky to pull out a camera and take pictures of a parade you are in.
Another thing Vidal wrote is "There is no human problem which could not be solved if people would simply do as I advise." I certainly feel that way frequently, particularly when I work over at one of our hot desks in the Pentagon. In addition to the non-stop telephone talker this morning (who was talking about work-relevant things a bit less than half the time), I got to hear someone (who I don't know) say loudly, "It's just a cold virus. I don't have AIDS." I'd advise people to remember that everyone in the office can hear everything you say.
One organization I'd love to advise is the NBC team responsible for Olympics coverage. Admittedly, my primary issue is the typical American ignorance about other countries and repetition of dumb trivia about them. This was particularly noticeable during the opening ceremonies. Once the U.S. team entered, they barely acknowledged anyone but them and the UK team. More of my annoyance was things like the mention of political troubles for Egypt, Libya and Syria, but not for Mali, which recently had a major coup d'etat. The worst example was Uganda, for which they mentioned Idi Amin (who has been gone for years), but not the Lord's Resistance Army or, much much better, any of the development successes of recent years.
As for the rest of the opening ceremonies, I found the entertainment portion bizarre, but I pretty much always do. What I really want is for them to cut to the chase and the parade of nations, which is what I find the most fun. There seemed to be a particularly high number of mispronounced names this year. How does an announcer manage to get Kiribati correct and screw up the name of its capital, Tarawa? And, really, is Cote d'Ivoire all that difficult?
Mostly I enjoy the parade of nations for my opportunity to be snarky about the costumes. The ones I do like either reflect national character in some way (e.g. Bermuda with their red shorts and, yes, people there really do wear bright colored Bermuda shorts and navy blazers to work) or are especially colorful, e.g. Cameroon, Guyana, and Malaysia. The U.S. uniforms were pretty dreadful, especially the berets. Taiwan had suits that looked like they belonged in a 1920's gangster movie. Namibia was trying for the casual safari look, but came across as sloppy. Liechtenstein also seemed sloppy in blue jeans, but one supposes they can't actually wear just postage stamps unless they have become a major power in beach volleyball. The Germans were just weird with the baby blue for the men and pink for the women. But the rock bottom was achieved this year for the Czech Republic with white shorts and blue rain boots.
Apropos of nothing, I decided I really like the flag of Trinidad and Tobago.
I was, by the way, intrigued by the independent Olympic athletes as I admit to having missed the political drama involving the Netherlands Antilles. I knew their status had changed, but I admit to not entirely understanding the difference.
I also want to comment on the ads. The Mac ads struck me as suggesting that Mac users are rude, selfish jerks. Which may well be true, but do you want to advertise that? (N.B.: I use a Mac myself.) And what was with the Proctor and Gamble ad saying "to their moms, they will always be kids"? Don't most of the athletes have fathers, too? Or was the ad written by the same person who designed the German team's uniforms?
Finally, it is probably just me, but I think it is tacky to pull out a camera and take pictures of a parade you are in.
