The details of the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics (8 August) have been kept strictly under wraps, so as not to spoil the surprise.
That at least was the plan until South Korea messed it up, and showed a 30 sneak preview on TV.
The footage was obtained by a reporter with the Seoul Broadcasting system, who walked into the National Stadium during a rehearsal on Monday.
The images are now on the net, and show floating 3D humpback whales, kung fu fighters and trapeze gymnasts.
In one segment, thousands of white cubes are moved by people to form waves suggesting the explosive growth of high-rise cities in China. A giant green and blue globe can be seen. Large whales will figure, as will dancers dressed as ancient soldiers from the Tomb of Unknown Warriors.
Not unsurprisingly, China is not best pleased with this leak. The Beijing Olympics spokesman, Sun Weide, said last night that the footage was obtained by "irregular means" and questioned the professional standards of the reporter.
The video was on YouTube until it was pulled for copyright reasons, and the fact that the Chinese are furious. However, it still can be viewed here: Huffington Post.
See it before it is pulled.
Don't forget to visit www.theolympicswarehouse.com
www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"
The smart move might have been for China’s Olympic organizers (and the games’ fans) to acknowledge this as a testament to the intense excitement and anticipation of these games, get the video taken down,** and move on.
ReplyDeleteInstead, this kind of retributive anger is another example of the Olympic organizers seemingly selfish desire to have a picture-perfect Olympic “product,” regardless of the unfairness or backwardsness of the process used to produce the games and their worldwide broadcast.
Links to video and more commentary:
http://dailybagel.wordpress.com