i was watching the opening of the 15th Asian Games (Doha, Qatar) the other night. the ceremony was a visual feast. news about it says that some optical tricks and tech breakthroughs displayed in the lengthy opening ceremony was never seen before...not even in the olympics.
opening fireworks
HK singer jackie cheung singing the asian games theme (or Taiwan?)
"peace be upon you"
“pano nila ginawa yun? ano yung malaking screen na yun? grabe sa laki ah”, i wondered as i watched it unfold on my tube.
it is reported that the qatar government has spent $2.1 billion dollars in staging the game! shet sa puwet! so this is the most expensive Asian Games by far...and it’s being hosted by the smallest country to ever host the games. holy kalabaw! qatar’s land area is just 11, 427 sq km (and mostly ay desert pa) and the population is less than a million (817,052 -2003 estimate). Pinas is a lot of times bigger in area and population (300,000 sq km, population-85 million plus, based on 2003 estimates).
honestly while i was watching the ceremonies, i can’t help but be jealous of it for my beloved pilipinas. i am jealous at the fact that a small country like qatar can host a lavish Asian Games but not us. i’m not sure if we ever hosted the Asian Games before, i don’t think so. and i don’t think we’ll be able to host one soon....not in the near future. hopefully still in my lifetime, but with the present political and economic situation of my homeland, hosting the games is still a far-off dream.
on the other hand, i believe we can produce a much nicer opening ceremony if we ever get to host it. pinas is abounding in talent you know. the ceremony will be star-studded and colorful of course...the pinoy way. siyempre there would be an ati-atihan with chants of Hala-bira, Hala-bira, then production numbers of Bellestar Dancers together with Bayanihan Dancers (much grander than kuya Germ’s Germspecial or his Walang Tulugan show) ....fronting them are the Sexbomb Dancers dancing to the remix versions of Spageti at Otso-otso plus a new danceable tune from the song-writing maestro – the one who upgraded the taste of pinoys when it comes to music appreciation, with his smashed hit Spageti, peso-generating Otso-otso and nerve-wracking Pito-pito, non-other than Lito Camu – a real genius talaga.
where can you find lyrics like “spageti pataas, spageti pababa”, or “tayo’y mag-otso-otso, otso-otso” and “pito-pito, bago magwalo-walo”? anak ng tinapa, mabubuwang ka muna before you ever get to know the meaning of the songs...if they ever have a meaning at all. of course Lito Camu has lots of hits pa like “jumbo hotdog kaya mo ba ‘to?, kaya mo ba ‘to? kaya mo ba to?”, and “ang bango-bango, ang bango-bango, ang bango-bango ng bulaklak” - (with a part that says, “ang pula-pula, ang pula-pula, ang pula-pula ng bulaklak”). imagine the international music news; US Top Hits: Don’t Cha-Pussycat Dolls, UK Top Hits: Speed of Sound-Coldplay, HK Top Hit: What’s going on-Eason Chan, Japan Top Hit: Shirushi-Mr. Children and Philippine Top Hit: Otso-otso-Lito Camu. ang saya di ba?
going back to my dream opening ceremony...it wouldn’t be complete without the loveteams singing together and waving to the crowd. i can just imagine the international audience screaming their hearts out as the loveteams would hold their hands and look at each other til their foreheads kissed, at nose to nose na. that would be kilig to the officials from all over the world. of course the finale will be the magnificent rendition of different popular songs by our popular singers: martin, gary, ogie, janno, zsazsa, erick santos, kuh ledesma, sarah geronimo....at sa huli siyempre, the “one and only asian songbird” - regine velasquez! she will come out from nowhere wearing gigantic butterfly wings and all-white silk dresses with matching feather achuchuchu headresses. she would belt to the highest tune she alone can reach as if telling the world na mas mataas na boses, mas magaling at mas mahirap na kanta eh mas maganda! and the people will stand in ovation amazed and perplexed at her voice, borderlining screeching sound and shrill scream.
of course there would be the ‘torch run’ (usually the torch is carried by accomplished athletes of the host nation). of course we’ll do it differently in P’nas. the torch will be carried by the First Gentleman himself...but he’ll just walk. he’s too taba to run. the caption on teevee would say “First Gentleman Mike Arroyo – never is and never was an athlete BUT he is the husband of the president.”
then the president will declare the games open....
president: let ush shelebrate peash and goodwill among our ashian brothersh. we welcome you to the two thoushand shix ashian gamesh. let the gamesh begin.
what an opening ceremony that would be. it will be the event of the century.
there would also be thousands of elementary and high students from different public schools waving flags and clapping on every part of the program. they’re not necessarily eager to attend the event, pero sabi kasi ng teachers nila, dun sa venue magche-check ng attendance for that day. and as usual, the checking of attendance will be at the end of the program. so they have to stay and bear the whole program. and if you don’t show up during the event, you’ll surely get a low mark on PE or Home Economics and probably have to buy something for the school as a “project” to pass the subject. siyempre naman we know that the teachers required their students because the government required them as well....if not, the president might not sign their xmas bonus and salary increase they’ve been waiting for years.
oh my gulay.
i was just talking of asian games and i ended up touching a bit of philippine politics. ganyan ata talaga sa Pinas....everything is meshed and messed by politics.
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