<p>I’m sad it started with the death of a luge athlete in a training run. Just now, they just lite the flames, 3 pillars instead of the planned 4!</p>
<p>Share your favorite events.</p>
<p>What is the significance of the cauldron? It looked like the outdoor cauldron had 5 pillars which maybe symbolize the 5 olympic rings? I personally don’t really care for it, but maybe it will grow on me.</p>
<p>The snowboarder flying through the rings at the beginning was great!</p>
<p>I was hoping Celine Dion would have a part in the ceremonies.</p>
<p>I loved the bit where it looked like water with whales swimming in it. The whole event looked like it was probably incredibly spectacular live, but it did not keep my attention watching it on the TV. </p>
<p>When the delay with the cauldron happened I kept thinking how earlier one of the torch carriers that ran with the torch had said how heavy the torches are. I could almost feel my teeth gritting with the effort of them holding them aloft while they were waiting.</p>
<p>It seemed generally too Disney-on-Ice for me. Nelly and Bryan Adam’s acoustics sucked. But I loved the We are More poem by Shane Koyczan, and also K.D. Lang’s performance of Leonard Cohen’s song.</p>
<p>Whales were cool.</p>
<p>The whales were cool. very cool.<br>
Also liked the punk Celtic fiddlers and the guy who tap danced. He said he was the only one who could do it and they let him! </p>
<p>So sad about the luger.</p>
<p>I was a bit disappointed in the opening ceremonies. With the exception of the snowboarder and the whales, it just did not hold my attention. I was looking for something more “energetic”. I loved the Proctor and Gamble ad about mothers.</p>
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<p>Celine Dion already already sang at the '96 Atlanta games ceremonies, which I thought was very odd at the time. Were there no American singers available in '96? But last night’s show was properly all-Canadian.</p>
<p>Maybe the Canadians are saving Celine for the closing ceremonies. Plus they have plenty of bench strength we also didn’t see yet: Shania Twain, Alanis Morrisette, etc.</p>
<p>Younger D complained mightily about how boring the opening ceremony was. Well duh, they always are. China had the way too many people doing the same thing aren’t you scared of us factor, but other than that, they’re always boring.</p>
<p>Loved the fiddlers, though. Wish they would have identified them.</p>
<p>It also took us forever to figure out that the low pitched sound that sounded a bit like booing at key points was audience members hitting those drums. Couldn’t the commentators have told us that? Or were they fast asleep by then?</p>
<p>I got bored and returned to my CC reading. Missed the fiddlers entirely. They did say, though, that this year’s budget was significantly lower than the Bejing opening ceremonies one, and they knew they could not top that spectacle, so didnt want to try; so decided to keep it with a more down home feel.</p>
<p>I actually quite liked the opening ceremony. I loved the whales, the slam poetry, the fiddler/dancing section, and the part about the prairie with the young boy flying around set to Joni Mitchell.</p>
<p>It felt very Canadian to me. I liked most of the ceremony. The lighting of the cauldron was anticlimactic, though. First the glitch with the pillar in the stadium and then Wayne G.'s ride through the city on the back of a truck (with a burned out headlight, lol)…drama long gone by the time he got to the outdoor cauldron.</p>
<p>The primary fiddler was Ashley Macisaac, a well known Canadian artist, from Nova Scotia. </p>
<p>[Ashley</a> MacIsaac | Official Site](<a href=“http://www.ashleymacisaac.com/]Ashley”>http://www.ashleymacisaac.com/)</p>
<p>I liked the poetry, the visual effects, the fiddlers, the flying boy. The tap dancer left me a little underwhelmed. The aboriginals felt a bit like the Atlanta opening to me. The negative about all the special effects is that the opening seemed a bit too computerized, and not enough about people. I’m glad someone mentioned the “booing” being drums. I missed the explanation, but did hear the booing and wondered what it was.</p>
<p>I missed children. Previous opening ceremonies have always been filled with children, and the closest Canada had was the 16 year old singing Oh, Canada!</p>
<p>I felt sorry for them about the cauldron not working, but I was paradoxically somewhat relieved to see a “human” aspect of the show.</p>
<p>I felt, in view of the tragedy yesterday, that the subdued opening was somehow fitting.</p>
<p>(Full disclosure: I was quilting during the ceremony, so my eyes were only occasionally on the screen. I heard everything, but didn’t see everything.)</p>
<p>I liked the opening ceremony. Not as spectacular as China ($300m budget vs $30m), but the visual effects were at times equally good.</p>
<p>Very nice opening ceremoly and a very creative show! I especially liked that the athletes got to see it as well! The whales and the boy flying above the paririe were spectacular, k.d.lang’s version of Halleluja was amazing (what a powerful voice!), and yes, the P&G commercial brought tears to my eyes! H laughed really hard at the Coke commercial (the one with a guy trying to get to the Coke machine through a massive snowball fight among athletes in the Olympic Village). Oh, and Wayne riding in that truck with all the people running around and taking pictures and no cops in sight! 
So Vancouver!</p>
<p>Ashley McIsaac used to teach my oldest D fiddle lessons. He was a little odd, but he is certainly very talented. I liked most of it, but I do wish their would have been more children. in it and that the torch lighting could have moved a bit more quickly.</p>
<p>Good point about the lack of children! I know TONS of them will be in the closing ceremony as it seems every other kid we know is in it.</p>
<p>yes, good point! Thanks for giving us a heads up, starbright!</p>
<p>The fiddlers and tap dancers were amazing, too! Sparks flying from the soles of their boots - so creative! The indoor cauldron and all this fake snow falling on it made me very uncomfortable! I was keeping my fingers crossed that nothing bad would happen, that all of their fire exit signs were clearly marked, and they had a few fire trucks on standby!</p>
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<p>That is a good point. However, although the show might score high on the personal experience level, I think the athletes would have enjoyed a shorter and MUCH better show. The best part actually was the part they missed. The opening part was thrilling but the show went downhill from there (pun intended.) As others have said, they could not match the Beijing budget, but that does not excuse for the boring production, the bad acoustics, and the lack of creativity and interesting group choreography. This hippie-fest looked like an expensive high school production without the heart. The speeches were too long and too repetitive, especially the part of the Georgian athlete. The organizers should have turned this over to Cirque du Soleil! They could have kept the ski part of opening, the flying boy, the whales, and 25% of the fiddler show, add KD Lang and be done. </p>
<p>The best part of lighting the cauldron was that it gave a signal for the athletes to go home and have some fun. It is a sad show when the best parts are the commercials.</p>