Flogging a dead horse

The Olympics are well under away in Hong Kong. We are hosting the equestrian event because apparently the air pollution in Beijing is fit for humans but not fit enough for horses. I'm not entirely sure the Hong Kong public was ready for such an event to be held on their turf. In Hong Kong, gambling is the only reason why people watch horses race around a track. You don't watch horses jump over barriers and prance around like show ponies without placing a bet on it. Although, I'm pretty sure that there are bets on who will win the dressage event.

I watched a news report that followed a local family going to see the equestrian event. They had to get up at 4am to catch a bus and be at the venue by 6.30am. The father, interviewed said, "We don't know much about equestrian but we want to support Hong Kong and the Olympic Games."

His five/six year old son said, "I can't believe we had to get up so early!" Later, after spending a couple of hours watching the event they were interviewed again.

Father: "It is very interesting and I have a lot to learn about the sport."
Son: "It's sooo boring! Can we go home?"

The Government has placed ads on TV advising how people can prepare to go to the equestrian events and actually have little info-mericals about what the sport entails. Seriously, how can you make people get excited about a sport when the chances for its citizens to actually take part in the sport is about as high as winning the lottery?

By the way, Australia is currently leading in this event.

Opening Ceremony

Did anyone else feel the urge to watch Zhang Yimou's Hero afterwards? I did. Most of the choreography came from the movie. The calligraphy, music, the colours down to the use of wires for the lighting of the torch. The 2008 drum countdown was spectacular.