Did anybody see the opening ceremony last night? Whaddya think?

ETA 02.13: This thread isn't JUST about the ceremony of course: Post anything about the competition, the ads, NBC's coverage, the poor luger who was killed: anything @ all!

The whales were my favorite part!!!!!

And I am so excited that the Visa "Go World" commercials are back!!! The one about Dan Jansen made me teary eyed....talking about how in 88 his sister Jane died right before his race and he didn't win the gold like he promised to her that he would. Then it shows him winning in 94 and taking the victory lap with his baby daughter named after his sister. Awww!

I love the Olympics and am actually going for part of it later on this week. I am so excited

I only saw part of it, when all the teams were coming in. My God, a large percentage of those athletes are extremely attractive!

That's the one downside of the winter Olympics as compared to the summer games: you don't get to see a lot of naked pecs, everybody's too bundled up (maybe the figure skaters, but they have a dress code)

I loved the whales! It ticks me off that a lot of the media is complaining about the gaffe with the cauldron, when the rest of the ceremony went without a hitch! Beautiful job, but I would have liked to see more tribute done for the luger, like a montage of his accomplishments (although I understand that would have really short timing given the events).

I also loved the whales, and all of the water scenes... I thought the 'tap' dancing was overdone and way too long... perhaps I don't understand the history of it enough ... I felt so bad when at the very last second they had trouble with the torch... but it ended up so beautiful and unique...

Back in the Nancy Kerrington, Kristi Yamaguchi and Brian Boutano days I used to follow the skating competitions like the nationals and worlds every weekend... I didn't see any this year..... does anyone know if they were on ? or did I just miss them...

I saw the ladies' nationals and part of the exhibition. Trouble is, I work a lot of weekends and if they don't have the competitions in prime time I don't get to see them. Between the Kerrigan era and the turn of the millennium they showed a lot of nationals and worlds in prime time, the men and pairs as well as the ladies, as well as a ton of events for professionals, but after Y2K the market for televised skating got oversaturated and now everything but the ladies event is considered the Not Ready for Prime Time* (*Except for the Olympics) Players. And to be honest, I'd much rather watch the guys: they're technically stronger, have a little more personality (Johnny Weir ROCKS!) and you get a wider variety of music choices (rock-n-roll, kick-butt movie themes), while the women are more cookie-cutter and tend more toward slow dreamy classical or classical-sounding music. (Remember Surya Bonaly, that big black French girl skater back in the early 90s? She'da been great if they let her use music like the Ride of the Valkyries; but nooooo, they had to shoehorn her into the damn dainty-poo Swan Lake/Four Seasons mold)

Alina Adams, a TV skating producer who's written a series of cozy mysteries with skating backgrounds, said in one of the books that the men are really more popular. I think she's right

I was just talking about this with my family. I'm from Vancouver and really enjoyed the ceremonies.

But we are all So curious as to what other people thinkabout the ceremony and about our city. Really interested in what people have to say!!

My favorite part of the Opening Ceremonies was kd lang singing "Hallelujah". My goodness that was awesome. I had goose bumps. Here is a safe link to the video of her performance last night if anyone wants to see it. She has such a perfectly pure and beautiful voice.

http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/***...ony+hallelujah

I loved the whales too.

I'm sooooooooooooo excited for the Olympics!! I cannot wait for snowboarding, figure skating, alpine skiing, and speed skating. Mostly I'm just excited to watch snowboarding & speed skating. I was just watching Apolo in the semis and I was hiding behind the couch, I was getting very stressed out, lol. So you can guess where I'll be hiding during snowboading too, haha!!

It's very sad about Nodar Kumaritashvili though. I don't think I will ever forgot what happened to him..

Breath taking city, would like to visit.

I'm really excited about Shaun White, seeing him flying brings me so much hope and happiness. He was born with TOF, the same cardiac defect my son was born with.

I didn't know Shaun White has a heart defect. I love him..I can't wait for snowboarding.

He endured two open heart surgeries when he was a baby to correct the defect. Tetralogy of Fallot is the name of the congenital heart defect.

Everytime I see him performing it brings tears of emotion, knowing that my baby boy can have a life with no limitations.

Same here, can't wait for snowboarding. I believe is Wednesday.

I'm excited for snowboarding too! So much fun to watch. Love shaun white!

Was outside in vancouver on the beach in a tank top and flip flops with sunscreen on.. Vancouver Winter olympics hahah.

Oh wow, I did not know that. I hope your son can have a life with no limitations.