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sambista
Joined: 25 Sep 2004 Posts: 16951 Location: way station of life
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Posted: 08/07/08 9:13 pm ::: Gritty Renegade Now Directs China’s Close-Up |
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By DAVID BARBOZA
Published: August 7, 2008
BEIJING — For much of the past quarter century, the Chinese director Zhang Yimou made films that showcased his country’s struggle against poverty, war and political misrule to the outside world — films that Chinese, for the most part, never saw.
Time and again, Mr. Zhang’s terse, gritty epics were banned by government censors for portraying China’s ugly side. When he won an award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1994, the authorities stopped him from attending. Up for an Oscar one year, officials lobbied to have his film withdrawn from the competition.
But when the Olympics kick off Friday at China’s new National Stadium, with President Hu Jintao of China, President Bush and other world leaders in attendance and perhaps one billion people watching live on television, Mr. Zhang will preside over the opening ceremonies.
Nearly two years in the making, his spectacle is intended to present China’s new face to the world with stagecraft and pyrotechnics that organizers boast have no equal in the history of the Games.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/sports/olympics/08guru.html
_________________ no justice, no peace.
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kage
Joined: 28 Mar 2007 Posts: 3495
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Posted: 08/08/08 2:24 am ::: |
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Zhang Yimou... is he the director that did Curse of the Golden Flower and House of the Flying Daggers? I know he's a really famous movie director but I always get confused on his actual films. |
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sambista
Joined: 25 Sep 2004 Posts: 16951 Location: way station of life
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Posted: 08/08/08 6:56 am ::: |
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kage wrote: |
Zhang Yimou... is he the director that did Curse of the Golden Flower and House of the Flying Daggers? I know he's a really famous movie director but I always get confused on his actual films. |
yes, to both. i'm really getting pumped about the ceremony. "today" show said folks' jaws will drop in the first hour.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0955443/
_________________ no justice, no peace.
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p_d_swanson
Joined: 01 Dec 2004 Posts: 9713
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sambista
Joined: 25 Sep 2004 Posts: 16951 Location: way station of life
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Posted: 08/08/08 7:13 am ::: |
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thanks for the heads up!
_________________ no justice, no peace.
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Richyyy
Joined: 17 Nov 2005 Posts: 24352 Location: London
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Posted: 08/08/08 7:16 am ::: |
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Can't believe you guys don't get this shown live. It continues to amaze me how much is tape-delayed in the US.
Whatever hour of the day or night this was taking place it would've been live on BBC1.
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sambista
Joined: 25 Sep 2004 Posts: 16951 Location: way station of life
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Posted: 08/08/08 7:17 am ::: |
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omigod, i'm welling up already.
_________________ no justice, no peace.
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p_d_swanson
Joined: 01 Dec 2004 Posts: 9713
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Posted: 08/08/08 7:28 am ::: |
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Richyyy wrote: |
Can't believe you guys don't get this shown live. It continues to amaze me how much is tape-delayed in the US. |
Hell, at this very moment, NBC's Today Show has Lauer, Vieira and Costas outside the stadium informing America how much they're going to enjoy tuning in this evening to watch the replay ("But I don't want to give too much away!")...
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Richyyy
Joined: 17 Nov 2005 Posts: 24352 Location: London
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Posted: 08/08/08 7:43 am ::: |
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p_d_swanson wrote: |
Richyyy wrote: |
Can't believe you guys don't get this shown live. It continues to amaze me how much is tape-delayed in the US. |
Hell, at this very moment, NBC's Today Show has Lauer, Vieira and Costas outside the stadium informing America how much they're going to enjoy tuning in this evening to watch the replay ("But I don't want to give too much away!")... |
Unreal. Just wouldn't even be contemplated here. There'll be plenty of highlights shows and repeats in prime-time for people who can't watch stuff live due to work, but absolutely everything as big as this is live as a matter of course. Same with all the showpiece sporting events.
As media gets more and more integrated, and larger and larger proportions of the population get used to watching things online, the US broadcasters are going to have to change that attitude. Arguably visual media is already far enough along that they should have already.
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sambista
Joined: 25 Sep 2004 Posts: 16951 Location: way station of life
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Posted: 08/08/08 7:47 am ::: |
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they're gonna have to give up that tape delay as we get even more "global" because the live streaming will eventually upstage any of this time manipulation.
but watching this, it's just as the "today" folks said - not only the spectacle, but the precision within the spectacle. i'm blown away. i thought greece was pretty impressive.
_________________ no justice, no peace.
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p_d_swanson
Joined: 01 Dec 2004 Posts: 9713
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Posted: 08/08/08 7:54 am ::: |
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NBC's preview (with some helpful background information) is available here...
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abontorab9
Joined: 19 Jun 2008 Posts: 6207 Location: Connecticut
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jersey_stupka
Joined: 25 Apr 2005 Posts: 3195 Location: Outer loop of the Capital Beltway heading towards the new National Zoo
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Posted: 08/08/08 8:01 am ::: |
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any other options besides above? i'm getting a message to enter an access code...not to mention an annoying flashing box...
_________________ Break out da booze...is New Yawk...
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sambista
Joined: 25 Sep 2004 Posts: 16951 Location: way station of life
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Richyyy
Joined: 17 Nov 2005 Posts: 24352 Location: London
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p_d_swanson
Joined: 01 Dec 2004 Posts: 9713
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Posted: 08/08/08 8:11 am ::: |
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Sarah Brightman singing in Mandarin!
First up: Greece...
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JayhawkNYC
Joined: 03 Jun 2007 Posts: 465 Location: NYC
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Posted: 08/08/08 8:59 am ::: |
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Hmph... I'm here at work and can't stream anything. But reading everyone's commentary is making me excited when I get to watch tonight.
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kage
Joined: 28 Mar 2007 Posts: 3495
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Posted: 08/08/08 12:31 pm ::: |
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BTW, from what my sister told me (she's in Shanghai so watched it live), they announce countries by strokes in the character name.
For example, America is Mei Guo, which has 9 strokes in Chinese... So they're after the 8 strokes and before the 10 strokes. Which is an interesting way of doing it although I'd wager that means you won't know who the last country is given that trying to figure out the largest number of strokes for a country could be... difficult. Heh. |
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norwester
Joined: 14 Jun 2006 Posts: 6367 Location: Seattle
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Posted: 08/08/08 1:09 pm ::: |
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That is interesting. I watched a bit of the Parade of Nations this morning on the CBC (Canadian Channel) and wondered how they were doing the order.
_________________ Don't you know the plural of "anecdote" is "data"?
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