avoided headline: dalai lama botches beijing

being the appreciator of comedy that i am, i love filmmaker zhang yimou, whose older films (pre-kung fu spectacles) make funny china's cultural revolution. consequently, they were 'banned' from china. every yimou fan knows (because he has said as much) the director gives not a toss about politics. my hunch is that his real passion lies in commanding/tormenting multiple lovers and smoking dope (see raise the red latern if you doubt it) and merely wanted a rise out of his comrades, not to mention a little free publicity. those zany chinese--they really do do things on a grander scale--including tomfoolery. but i digress.

last night, though i hadn't planned on watching the opening ceremony (i can't remember when i last watched the olympics), i was--atypically of course--free on this friday evening, so said what the hell. i've never enjoyed spectacles such as these, so i had very low expectations. i expected at most dragons, lots of bicycles and dim sum. as everyone knows by now, it was much more hi-tech than all that. i for one was stunned. i mean, does anyone remember bjork in athens? i actually do not, but i googled it and imagine it was awful.

people cannot deny that the ceremony in beijing was the ceremony to end all ceremonies, but it has its critics. eg, i heard someone say, 'why not a dalai lama chase scene--where's that, yimou?' that's unfair, i say. the dalai lama has no acting experience and could have RUINED EVERYTHING.