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The Octoberizing Chamber
Mar. 20th, 2008 06:11 am Striped icebergs.
*****
The Olympics approach. The torch-lighting is Monday. They're apparently planning to carry the Olympic torch over the summit of Mt. Everest. You gotta love a ceremony that involves setting something on fire, then running around waving it while everyone stares at you.
The Chinese have far and away some of the most wonderful Olympic structures I've ever seen. Whatever spirit impelled architecture here in the 1960s, the Chinese have it now. Our newer buildings look tame and inhibited next to stuff like the Bird's Nest, or the Water Cube.
I've noticed the same thing about their main grandstand at Shanghai - it's imposing past belief, with that huge bridge over the main stretch, but somehow toy-like at the same time. It makes the whole thing look like a slot car track.
*****
The Chinese Olympic mascots are a pretty shitty lot, but that seems to be the custom anymore. I'm reasonably sure that no-one will ever match the pure distilled essence of failure that was our Atlanta mascot.
*****
The Olympics approach. The torch-lighting is Monday. They're apparently planning to carry the Olympic torch over the summit of Mt. Everest. You gotta love a ceremony that involves setting something on fire, then running around waving it while everyone stares at you.
The Chinese have far and away some of the most wonderful Olympic structures I've ever seen. Whatever spirit impelled architecture here in the 1960s, the Chinese have it now. Our newer buildings look tame and inhibited next to stuff like the Bird's Nest, or the Water Cube.
I've noticed the same thing about their main grandstand at Shanghai - it's imposing past belief, with that huge bridge over the main stretch, but somehow toy-like at the same time. It makes the whole thing look like a slot car track.
*****
The Chinese Olympic mascots are a pretty shitty lot, but that seems to be the custom anymore. I'm reasonably sure that no-one will ever match the pure distilled essence of failure that was our Atlanta mascot.
