Vancouver Olympics opening ceremony, torch malfunction and all

-World premiere of the remade 'We Are the World' video for Haiti, a month after the earthquake and hours after a competitor in luge died during a practice round. Oddly, Justin Bieber starts the video.

9:00 pm
-Opening ceremony dedicated to Nodar Kumaritashvili, who died. Everything, of course, is in French and then English. Totally low-tech, homemade feel in indoors stadium, in contrast to Beijing. Video of a snowboarder carving down the side of a huge mountain, huge maple leaf traced out by Canadians holding lit torches, he jumps into the arena -- not quite a seamless transition.

-Games being held on territory of four of Canada's 'first nations groups,' Queen Elizabeth isn't coming Michaelle Jean, a black woman, presiding in her place as Governor General. Only 33 million people.

-Everything is looking very white and blue indoors, snowish everywhere. 16-year-old 'jazz phenom' sings the anthem, her voice is silky-smooth, slows it waaaay down, in a bright red strapless dress, as the flag slowly rises, switches into French, alone on a huge stage way above the floor, jutting out into space. Like everything else so far it's very pleasant.

-First peoples give an official blessing and welcome, the outfits, miking, overprojection and the acoustics make it seem like a Miss Universe pageant. Aborigines pour into the arena from all four directions. Ceremony is sparsely populated, given a sense of mass by light projections on the floor, and four tall, skinny, totems. Graphics are really sharp; all a bit random.


9:21
-Parade of Nations starts, Greece first like always. "Winter Games feel more intimate than the Summer Games," says Bob Costas, our indefatigable host, along with Matt Laurer.

-Then Albania, Algeria, both with just one athlete. Andorra, 1/6th the size of Rhode Island. Argentina -- no South American team has ever won a medal in the Winter Olympics. Three siblings on the team. Armenia, Australia.

-Powerhouse Austria, Linger brothers carry the flag together, the first time in Olympics history, fourth on the all-time list of medal winners -- Norway first, then Soviets, then U.S. Azerbaijan, they've got crazy paisley slacks. Belarus, Belgium, Bermuda, wearing shorts.

-Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cayman Islands; Matt notes some athletes wearing black armbands. Chile, then China.

-During Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic and North Korea marched, back with Denmark -- which has only won one medal, which is insane compared to its neighbor to the northern Norway, which has won 280. That's just astonishing; how can those two countries be so different?!

-Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, Macedonia, France. And then Georgia. They get a huge hand ad standing ovation, look very somber. Germany next, huge contingent, on top in Torino for the third straight time. Ghana, one guy by himself, first Winter Olympian for the country. Great Britain, big hand for the motherland.

-Hong Kong, Hungary, medal-less Iceland, India, Iran -- hats with I.R. Iran, Islamic Republic of Iran I assume. Denmark by the way has 5 million people, Norway has 4.8; man, how shameful is that -- Finland and Sweden are also among top ten medal winners. Ireland, then Israel. Italy, Jamaica, Japan -- another underachiever, just 32 medals.

-Kazakhstan, flagbearer is 16; youngest is an Aussie, at 15. South Korea. Break, missing Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Mexico, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco (one of five African countries here), Nepal, Netherlands -- Matt tells us his wife is Dutch, I think he mentioned that two summers ago as well. New Zealand.

10:00 pm
-Powerhouse Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia -- which wants to win 40 medals, 9 gold, after taking 22 in Torino, 8 gold. Break, missing San Marino, Senegal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, one of the 30 countries here that has never won a medal at the Winter Games, Spain.

-Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine, as Matt/Bob note the aborigines have been continuously dancing in welcome for more than an hour now.

-United States! Big hand, of course. Vice President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden there. Uzbekistan comes in after, we'll see if we ever see them. And now... Canada! Huge roar.

-Parade over, 'Bang Your Drums' sung by Nelly Furtado and Ryan Williams. Back from break, it's been an okay ceremony so far, nothing everyone's gonna be talking about tomorrow. Starts 'snowing' indoors, some sort of metaphorical journey through Canada's many cultures.

-So far based on this show, I'd think Canada is all Indians. Shaman-like guy pounds the floor with his staff, it looks like it's sending a shockwave across the vast floor, pretty cool.

-Prettiest part so far, performers with lights on their clothes run around a giant lit-up bear as the audience waves glowsticks, floor then 'splits, to resemble ice floes, pretty realistic-looking. Audience wearing white ponchos, special effects on them too -- then 'whales' swim across the floor, it's pretty cool.

-Wow, salmon 'swim' up from floor, giant ribbons of cloth, up to triple 'clouds', turns into totem poles, then turn into trees, brown and green on top -- it's pretty stuning, visually. Pretty well-done, if derivative from what Beijing did.

-Sarah McLachlan sings at a white piano, her amazing voice floats out, "Ordinary Miracle." All very pleasant and enjoyable as dancers frolic among the tree trunks. Whereas Beijing was an awesome show of force, this is sparser, more insubstantial but also ethereal.

-Back from break, from winter to autumn -- leaves on the group, huge harvest moon, fiddler. Another break, this time spring? The praire, gold square in the midst of a sea of blue. It's an astonishing visual image, performer walks, looks like the prairie is rippling below him, starts running, then lifted up into the air, all to the haunting "Both Sides" by Joni Mitchell.

This is probably my favorite part of the night, it's totally magical; simple but effective, and it conveys something about Canada -- the huge space, the individuality, the languid pace, how nature is central to all. Now the gold spreads up to the audience -- hey, there's a bloc of empty seats up in the top! Now the whole floor is golden, audience too; it's pretty darn cool; back down to one rectangle of gold.


11:00

-Giant 'iceberg' rises out of the floor; it all looks great on television, Donald Sutherland's reading excerpts from Canadian writings before each segment in that great voice of his. Athletes are pretty 'transfixed' as Bob puts it.

-Vancouver is nicknamed the 'city of glass' Bob tells us, as performers recreate Winter Olympics events. Why?! Some big Canadian white guy discovered on YouTube goes on a rant about what Canada is, gets big hands for saying, "we are please and thank you," and "yes, we call it zed." Weird, so far tonight you'd have no idea Vancouver is more than 30% Asian. "We are the true north, strong and free." And part of the Commonwealth.

-Jacques Rogge starts speaking, with the luger's death. Canadian host next, he says, "through the magic of television... we invite the people of the world to experience, if only for a few moments, what it feels like to be a proud Canadian." Hmmm, I thought this was more about world citizens? He seems like an earnest nice guy, but is wooden and uninspiring, pauses for applause then plows on. He seems obsessed with how many people may be watching this, keeps talking about it. Like many Canadians, he veers between bland niceness and an almost paranoid patriotism; it's labored and uneven, well-meaning but ultimately it's like he wants to make sure to hit all the notes, and at the same time be true to himself. Instead of just letting it flow and being in touch with the moment.

-Rogge is back and babbling in French, to the accompaniment of peals of drumming, apparently someone thought it'd be a good idea to hand out drumsticks. Games declared open, and now K.D. Lang sings "Hallelujah," on the elevated stage alone i the middle of the floor with a sea of fake candles waving all around her.

-Flag brought in by famous Canadians -- Betty Fox, mom of a famous cancer victim, Donald Sutherland, race car driver Jacques Villenuvue, ex-figure skater Barbara Ann Scott-King, Anne Murray, ex-UN official Romeo Dalliare, Bobby Orr, astronaut Julie Payette. An interesting crew. I wonder if Peter Jennings were alive what role he'd have had. Probably MC.

-Some opera singer is singing; I'm listening to Joni, again. Wonder if Neil Young will sing tonight.


-Flag lowered to half-mast, as we observe a minute of silence for the luger, vast place is absolutely silent. Athletes' oath next.

-Who's gonna light the flame? Uh, Wayne Gretzky. How's he gonna do it? Uh, shoot a puck at a net.

-Flame comes in, paraolympian in his wheelchair brings it in, backlit, huge smile on his face. Catriona Lemay Doan, great speed skater with a even better name, next. To Steve Nash! Man, I hope Mike Meyers is part of this! To Canada's female athlete of the 20th century, cross-country skier, now a senator. To Wayne Gretzky, for the last lap. He's now just standing in the middle of the floor, waiting -- for... hmmm, this is going on for a while. The others are staying and waiting too. Kindof weird. Okay, it's been like a minute now. Bob says there may be some sort of a mechanical cauldron; three chutes are open, one more is stuck. Oh-oh....

-Hope the crowd does something to break the tension; music even stops, now it restarts. Three of the four bases rising, the fourth one -- nope, still nothing there. Oh, Canada! Looks like the plan was for all of them to light the thing at the same time; and three of them do.

-It shouldn't mar what's been a memorable opening ceremony; but it does, of course, if only a little. It's the Olympics, after all, where hundredths of a seconds mean the difference between gold and nothing.

-Now Wayne goes off to light the cauldron that's outside; back from break, he's riding in the back of a truck carrying the torch, crowds of Canadians running alongside. Stops, lights the giant outdoors blue replica (with four legs).

And that's it. Overall, a good opening ceremony -- no arrow like in Barcelona, thousands of drums like in Beijing; then again, no bizarre new age artists like in Albertville or backpack bombing like in Atlanta.

Totally looking forward to these Olympics, like all Olympics; by the end of the 16 days it'll be the athletes that shine brightest in memory, not failing hydraulics.