I woke up early yesterday morning and switched on NBC, expecting to be greeted by the exuberant sounds of the 2008 Olympics opening ceremony. Instead, I got some rebroadcasted junk from NBC that created the impression that the ceremony had yet to begin, despite the fact that it was occurring at that very moment. Instead, I had to wait until later in the night to watch it so NBC could make a few more bucks off of ads for sugar water. Even worse was later that night when the opening ceremony was broadcast, and NBC went to great lengths to create the illusion that everything was live, despite the fact that it was all 11 hours late. The ceremony itself was also interrupted with commercial breaks.

Aside from NBC’s greed induced failure, the opening ceremony was unbelievable. The stadium was an ocean of cheering people. The ceremony was incredible, and it consisted of thousands of performers moving in synchronization. Considering how difficult it is to get even a few people’s movements synchronized, I can’t even imagine how long it took to perfect yesterday’s performance.