Aug 18, 2008

My Olympics Games Post - Part 3


- I was always impressed with Michael Phelps, yet I said I "done with him" in a previous post. Today I warmed up to Michael as he was interviewed with his mother. I finally got to see the human, behind the superhuman. He was picked on as a kid, raised by a single mom (she's an educator by the way), and was sincerely humble and grounded. As I said in that previous post "enjoy your success Micheal, because you earned it.". It's not his fault NBC's ad nauseam coverage of him, influenced me to think he didn't have a golden heart.

- The men and women on the running track experience grounded flight. Those parallel camera shots show the human body in the most divine and essential form of movement; running like the wind. Oh, they are divine! I want to be next to them and breathe the air they breathe. And, I might add these men and women exude, for me, this energy that makes them so sexy.

- How cool is it that that Dara Torres, at the age of 41, won several medals in swimming. And, that Oksana Chusovitina, age 33, vaulted to s silver medal in gymnastics. To quote Dara "Don't put an age limit on dreams."

- I would have enjoyed the fencing more if they used lightsabers, and dressed up like Jedi Knights. I guarantee you that the popularity of that sport would soar, like an X-wing starfighter leaving an exploding Death Star.

- The Olympic mascots are mad cute (see pic above). There is Beibei the Fish, Jingjing the Panda, Huanhuan the Olympic Flame, Yingying the Tibetan Antelope (I bet she wants to see a free Tibet)and Nini is the Swallow. I want one of each. Uggh, I just thought of the thousand of years they will remain in landfills around the world. Hey, remember that whack mascot of the 1996 Atlanta games Izzy.

8 comments:

Joie Mayfield said...

The fact he was picked on as a child and has achieved such greatness...that's amazing...

The mascots are adorable! Nerdy subpoint for you... the names all have meaning..

Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni = Welcome to Beijing. :)

Love the new banner at the top!

Allan S. said...

Ahhh Joie thanks for the heads up on the meaning of one of the mascot's name.

Also, thanks for appreciating my efforts to beautify my blog space. New banners will be displayed in the future. Stay tuned

Joie Mayfield said...

I should've clarified, lol. When you put all the mascots together, the first part of their names means "Welcome to Beijing." :) I should've explained better.

I try to do new banners every now and then. I'm actually about to upload a new one, too.

Allan S. said...

I'm slow at times Joie. You explained it right.

Good people, take note. We're into learning here at the Extroverted Wallflower.

Joie Mayfield said...

Well, I don't explain things the best at times, either, lol. ;)

Learning is a good thing!

Anonymous said...

Here's my take on the Michael Phelps thing (sorry to bust into the room with no regard for anyone around me).

I feel like we need to be "done with him" in a sense because the way everyone is hyping him now, there's only one direction left for him to go and it ain't up.

One day the Olympics will be over and if he feeds off of the hype (let's hope he just ignores it), he'll find himself with nothing left to hold onto, and I for one don't want to see him passed out drunk on the sidewalk slurring "I'm the greatest Olympian" when some new young kid has won 13 gold medals.

That's not a pretty sight.

p.s. Allan, I love the banner too! It's very chic.

Reneé said...

I love the Beijing mascots! I think the media in their exuberance to promote Michael Phelps have once again gone overboard. He was the only script they read so they have no clue how to cover the other athletes...overkill is the safe harbor of a media that failed to get enough filler data on the other athletes competing in the Olympics.
I got the feeling Michael is kinda over them as well.


Off Topic:

Love the new page set-up especially the banner (I love things with an Asian flare).

Tendolla said...

I agree with what junior said. Hopefully Phelps doesn't lose his head through all this. The media has hyped him up too much. I was getting so sick and tired of hearing about him. But here I am complaining - if it were Ryan Lochte winning 8 medals I would have been obsessed because he is WAY hotter then Michael Phelps. Am I shallow?