Sports Buzz The girl who sang at the opening ceremony in Beijing was apparently not cute enough for prime time. Chen Qigang, the ceremony’s musical director, in a state radio interview said “The child on camera should be flawless in image…” The rock band “Boston” was considered, but then dropped when live footage from a 1982 tour was discovered.
Sports Buzz The Advocate chose the 20-year-old openly gay Olympic diver (a media sensation in his native Australia) to be their September cover boy. Mitcham doesn’t like the comparison to openly gay diver Greg Louganis either, which is fine with us, as long as Mario Lopez doesn’t play him in a made-for-TV movie.
Sports Buzz Two relatives of a coach for the US Olympic Men’s Volleyball team were attacked by a Chinese man, who managed to injure one and kill the other before taking his own life. Can we just pretend this never happened and watch the opening ceremonies again?
Apparently, whatever…this…is will be part of the opening ceremony at the Olympic Games. Two shimmering gold dudes decked out in bikinis, chin to crotch? That’s what the Olympics are all about: Cirque du So-Gay.
Gorillaz members’ Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett’s new viral video ushers in new album. The video is a recreation of the Chinese folk tale Journey to the West. While primarily created for the BBC’s 2008 Summer Olympics marketing campaign, the video also coincides with the announcement of a new long playing release from the Gorillaz duo. It should come as no surprise that the video is a harbinger of more to come from the creative juggernaut that is Damon Albarn.
Culture Buzz The newest and most striking of the 37 event venues of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Of the 37 venues being used to host the Olympics in Beijing, 12 were newly constructed for the competition. Whether its the massive National Stadium (nicknamed the “Bird’s Nest”) or the incandescent National Aquatics Center, Beijing certainly managed to produce some stunning new architecture. Awesome links and photos aggregated below.