Let the Games Begin

The 2008 Summer Games have begun, and Sarah and I are watching Bob Costas and Joshua Cooper Ramo provide color commentary as over 15,000 Chinese performers put on a spectacle for the ages.  I have to admit, it's pretty awesome, and I can't imagine how amazing it must be to actually have the chance to witness this live.  Heck, Cirque du Soleil takes my breath away, so this would probably give me a coronary.  So Jason Lin, Sam Byun, and Grace Jan - if you happen to be there at the stadium, I'm pretty envious.

Just for kicks and giggles, I decided to find out who this Joshua Cooper Ramo actually is.  Apparently, he's a guru on the political, economic and business environments in China and has some lofty credentials, serving as a Senior Advisor to Goldman Sachs and as a Managing Editor of Time.  I always find interesting this phenomena of Caucasian guys who are fascinated by all things Chinese, and to their credit develop a mastery in the subject matter and the language that puts people of Chinese heritage like myself to shame.  Of course, the snide explanation is that Joshua Cooper Ramo is a guy with yellow fever that wanted to impress a Chinese girl he had a fascination with in high school, but surely there's more to it.  I have to admit that there's something alluring and mysterious about the Chinese culture.  Maybe since it's in my blood I can't appreciate it.  

I wonder if there are reverse scenarios, where renowned American expert Wu Xia-Ping is brought in to provide insight on Americans, and his Chinese co-host giggles with respectful fascination because Wu seems to speak intelligently about Jessica Simpson and Johnny Knoxville and can pronounce things like "Double Whopper with Cheese" without an accent.

Wow, I just saw a decked out Sarah Brightman singing a song in Mandarin with (presumably) a famous Chinese singer.  What hit the unintentional comedy scale was the wild contrast between these two performers.  On one hand, you have a statuesque Sarah Brightman wearing a Oscar de la Renta dress with diamonds and silver ornaments.  Standing to her left, you have this pudgy Chinese dude wearing what seems to be a black t-shirt and gray sweatpants.  I'm serious, you wouldn't be shocked if you read in tomorrow's paper that the original Chinese singer got sick at the last second, and one of the stagehands in a burst of nationalistic pride ran up to sing with Sarah Brightman.

By the way, has anyone noticed that while we're watching everyone sing songs and in a demonstration of global peace and goodwill, there is a brewing war going on between Russia and Georgia?  Goodness, people are getting killed as tanks and planes continue to lay havoc in South Ossetia while we watch acrobats dance around with candles on their heads.  There was a quick video shot of George Bush having some words with Vladimir Putin, and Bob Costas made a borderline idiotic remark about how they were probably talking about how much they like the drum demonstration.  Yeah, I can see that:

George:  Hey, Vlad, how about those Chinese and those drums?  By the way, you're not going to bring out nukes against Georgia are you?  You'll keep it non-radioactive, right?

Vlad: Very impressive percussionists, indeed.  No, I think we'll just continue a steady stream of air strikes in key military targets and take out some barracks.  Maybe we'll talk more at the emergency United Nations Security Council meeting.  I'm going to the snack bar to get an egg roll - you want one?

Seriously though, I pray that peace prevails, especially in the shadow of an event which stands for the antithesis of international war.