I spent most of the day today watching the Olympics opening ceremonies. I have all sorts of feelings about it, but the finale, Celine Dion singing Edith Piaf's song, "Hymn to Love" had me in tears. From what I've read on line, a lot of other people have had the same reaction. Dion has been struggling with "Stiff Person Syndrome" for a few years and has had to stop performing. I watched a documentary about it and it was so sad, but she said she was learning to sing again, and this performance certainly proved that she has her voice back again. It was amazing.
I won't say the ceremonies themselves were amazing. There were great things. The arrival of all the teams is always great, and the view of them in boats floating down the Seine was great fun, but the boats were all too far apart and it took forever for all the boats to make the 4 miles to the Eiffel Tower.
In the slow spots there was entertainment. Starting with Lady Gaga singing in French with lots of pink feather fans. I read later that the thing was recorded, so I'm not sure why they showed it. There were can can dancers, ballet dancers, a strange fashion show, and musical numbers by people I never heard of. I just wanted to see the athletes, not a can can at the edge of the river!
In all of this, it was pouring rain the entire time. One guy played a solo on a grand piano that was covered with water, and you could see the rain coming down on it. It was amazing how little everyone on screen seemed to notice that it was raining.
There was also a weird guy carrying a torch across all the roofs of Paris that seemed really stupid, but the final carrying of the torch was amazing, as it kept being passed from one Olympic star to another, including a guy who was now 100 years old and in a wheelchair.
I'm glad I watched it, but I sure had problems with it. But it was probably worth it just for the Celine Dion song.
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PHOTO OF THE DAY
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