Everyone who watched the opening ceremony of the 2008 summer Olympics in Beijing, saw the grandiosity of the event. I had many "Holy crap!" moments myself. It was a huge display of art, technology and precision. No doubt about that. China is famous for fireworks, they had that. It's also known for its recent and rapid development in technology, we definitely saw that as well. As the commentator on NBC said: "there are issues and controversies surrounding these games but no one can dispute the quality of this display"
My favorite part by far was the Tai Chi part. I am a big fan of martial arts and have taken a few weeks of Tai Chi so I really appreciate demonstrations of this art. The first part of the act was very typical Tai Chi, I even recognized some of the moves! Then they introduced kids in the middle and the commentator said something that got my attention. I'll get to that in a minute. Then all of the sudden there were 2008 Tai Chi martial artists. 2008! The performance was accurate and the movements were very precise. Basically it was GOOD and I loved it.
So I mentioned the comment made by the NBC caster. From the opening moments of the ceremony the first thought that came to my mind was "what will the energy bill of this event be?" No I'm not worried if China has the money for it, but I was referring to the actual toll on the environment. I know it's a bit cheesy, but I have written a white paper and a thesis on the subject of environmentally responsible technology. So it has become natural for me to think about it every time a big display of electronics is used and I see massive use of energy. What is most interesting is that the commentator stated that the the designer of the show intended the kids in the act to be a reminder of the impact of energy use on the world and on the future of the generations to come. It is ironic to have a display that consumes so much energy to raise awareness about energy consumption in the world. It just doesn't seem right! But of course China had to start the events with a big bang.