The Beijing Olympics Closing Ceremonies

So, after seventeen days, the Beijing Olympics are over.
Records have been broken, memories made, stories told.
The opening ceremonies were beautiful and overwhelming.  The closing ceremonies were an incredible sensory overload.
The games were fantastic.  It looked like no detail was overlooked.  Volunteers were everywhere.  The venues were polished and beautiful.  Almost every venue had some sort [...]

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A 1924 Olympian, still remembered

On the second-to-last day of coverage of the Olympics, I can finally say I liked one of NBC’s human interest spots.  After the silly kung fu spot, the offensive Chinese-food-is-weird spot, etc. I wasn’t expecting much.  (Actually, either I’ve been missing them somehow or NBC just hasn’t been airing any more of the Mary Carillo [...]

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My Olympic Top Ten

The kids didn’t cooperate.  They were rather whiny and annoying tonight, so I don’t have any cute stories to tell.  So, contrary to the earlier post, this won’t be about the kids. 
I’m going back to the Olympics. 
Now, remember, I am NOT an athlete.  I pick sports that nobody else does so hardly anyone [...]

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The Olympics: half naked and half brained

Like I’ve said previously, I enjoy watching Olympians do things I couldn’t even dream of doing.  Right now I’m watching the women’s marathon (on fast forward).  I might be able to keep up… on a bike.  Mostly, I’m watching to see views of Beijing.  “Hey, we saw that!  That looks like the gate we went [...]

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The Poopy Baby Game

I was busy last night watching people fly (aka men’s team gymnastics).  I don’t fly.  I don’t dash.  Any sport involving a ball is right out.  And nobody is ever going to confuse my swimming with a dolphin (referencing the Visa commercial about Phelps).  I did fencing for a few years but was never good [...]

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Politics and the Beijing Olympics

We keep hearing from the commentators that the Olympics are this great uniting thing internationally.  I don’t know about that.  The athletes, generally, seem to shake hands across any barrier, but are there enough of them (or are they respected enough) to make a difference back home? 
The major political incursions into the arena so far:
1.  [...]

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Daifuku recipe!

Daifuku are sweet rice cakes.  They’re wonderful for munching on during the Olympics.  Daifuku is the Chinese name; in Japan, they are called mochi.  [PH: I've been corrected on this; please see comments.]  They are not baked, but rather steamed (or, in this modern take on the recipe, microwaved).
Ok, now most of you are wondering [...]

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An olympic sized “I told you so”

I really enjoyed the opening ceremonies for the Beijing Olympics tonight, except for the commentators.  A lot less of them would have been nice.  And I heard two *odd* choices of words that particularly fed into my worries for these olympics (see http://politicalhousewyf.wordpress.com/2008/08/08/the-beijing-olympics-why-i-worry/ ).
The first was in the grandiose opening to the programming, all about the [...]

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In honor of the Beijing Olympics

In honor of the Beijing Olympics, I offer paintings of bamboo and iris (and my shortest post to date).
Yes, I did them.  The little red chop is just one of my favorite characters (ok, it’s one of the very few characters I know); it’s “joy” and looks suspiciously like a person in long skirts under [...]

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The Beijing Olympics: why I worry

Like many others, I am eagerly looking forward to the Olympics.  But they also worry me this year.
I love China, and not just because my youngest was born there.  It’s a beautiful country with an incredible depth of history.  Everything is bigger than it looks in the documentaries.  If you’ve seen pictures of the National [...]

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