The 2018 Winter Olympics: Opening Ceremony Pt.3.

Obviously a continuation of Part 2; https://watchitdie.blogspot.co.uk/2018/02/the-2018-winter-olympics-opening_12.html

Video Presentation: 

While the physical stage was being reset after the Parade of Nations viewers where shown a short video presentation. Primarily to distract them.

This showed Korea's beautiful natural landscape as the seasons changed through the year. This re-affirmed that the Wu Xing was being used only as it refers to the changes of seasons.

The Wu Xing lays out the five essential elements which through their interaction can explain everything in the universe.

One of the more dubious things it is used to justify is Chinese herbal medicine. There is certainly significantly less scientific evidence to support claims this type of traditional medicine works then there is to support the claim that winter follows autumn.

Despite this lack of evidence President Xi Jinping is a firm believer of traditional Chinese medicine. He promotes it as way to boost Chinese influence globally. Unfortunately many traditional Chinese herbal remedies are made out of the body parts of endangered species. Such as the bones of Tigers or the tusks of Elephants.

By promoting traditional Chinese medicine President Xi is also promoting the hunting and poaching of some of the World's most endangered species. This is the RoK giving him a little bit of a rap on the knuckles over that.

It is also a small slight to the DPRK. In an effort to further distinguish itself from the RoK in 2015 the DPRK introduced its own timezone 30 minutes ahead of the RoK timezone (GMT+9).

Time is determined by your position on Earth relative to the Sun. So much like the weather time does not give a damn about political boundaries. Therefore there is certainly no reasonable explanation as to why the DPRK is 30 minutes behind the RoK.

Mainly though this video presentation was to prepare us for the big Climate Change lecture to come.

Beaten Black & Blue:

The point of the Wu Xing is that the five essential elements coexist in balance with each. Therefore while it would be easier for me to write up dividing the elements up to describe individually rather defeats the entire point.

As such this sequence deals with both Wood (Green) and Water (Black). Strictly speaking the water element is portrayed by the colour black. However it's always a short of blueish black, rather like water. As such particularly when you're doing lighting displays it is acceptable to portray water as blue. If you used black light no-one would see it.

The Opening Ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympics held in Rio de Janerio, Brazil featured a lengthy video presentation warning about Climate Change. This explained the human causes of Climate Change and the predicted effects that Climate Change would have on the natural environment. It was not artistic is was simply scientific.

Particularly on Mardi Gras we all know that Brazilians can throw a party. Their challenge as Olympic hosts was to show us that they can also do complex, technical and scientific things.

Climate Change is a topic of massive importance to Brazil. Along with its neighbours it is home to the World's largest Rainforest. These absorb Green House Gases (ghg's) and turn them into biomass (wood) and useful gases like Oxygen. They represent the best way to protect us from Climate Change.

Despite former US President Obama's claim that he has solved Climate Change through the Paris Agreement there are many who think that it remains a vitally important topic. Every day should involve a long lecture about Climate Change - no matter if it reveals Obama to be a liar.

Along with Brazil the RoK is another particularly significant nation in the fight against Climate Change.

Before the Paris Agreement ruined everything the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) established something called the Green Climate Fund (GCF). The headquarters of the GCF are physically located in Seoul, RoK.

As the name suggests the GCF job is to raise and then disperse funds to projects to combat Climate Change.

That can mean something as simple as distributing Olympic Cauldron-style low fuel use stoves in Africa. It can also mean more complex things like putting heat insulation cladding onto tower blocks in a city such as London to reduce energy use.

On June 13th 2017 (13/6/17) activists for the UK Labour Party set fire to the Grenfell Tower block in London. They claimed the fire had been spread by insulation cladding attached to the building. They went onto claim this cladding had been installed because supporters of the evil Conservative Party don't even want to look at people.

For those working at the Green Climate Fund the UK Labour Party's lies were extremely obvious.

In honour of her sacrifice during the UNFCCC process the GCF headquarters were actually opened on my paternal grandmother's birthday.

So I'm sure the UK Labour Party can continue to run around town thinking certain things are going to go away. If they like.

However during this sequence one of the Four Guardians put in a small appearance. Black Turtle. Who signifies longevity.

During the sequence Black Turtle was shown as, well, a black turtle in hands of one of the childlike ciphers.

I feel I should point out though that Black Turtle is traditionally represented by a sort of Snake, Turtle hybrid. These are a reference to King of the North Xuanwu's two key Generals - Snake and Tortoise. In some versions of the legend Snake General and Tortoise General began life as Xuanwu's intestines and stomach.

In their multitude of criminal enterprises the UK Labour Party often try to present themselves a Charities - working for the good of the 'community.' They're definitely not trying to launder the proceeds from their drug and prostitution businesses.

Perhaps suspecting this topic might come up Britain has prepared. In the form the Oxfam Charity Abuse Scandal.

This began with reports of prostitution in Haiti. Even if the GCF don't know about it my accountant certainly remembers how I used Oxfam to unlock a lot of funding in response to Haiti's 2010 earthquake. Including from US movie stars like Sandra Bullock who apparently just writes cheques for anything.

We then all watched that money being squandered in a relief effort led by former US President Bill Clinton. Aided and abetted by his wife then US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Not just on this topic it has been said by many that the Clinton Dynasty wasn't a political career. It was a crime wave.

The Oxfam scandal has though expanded to include Africa. A continent which has about the same level of electricity use as the DPRK. And has over the years (1945 -1979) has received about the same amount of US financial aid as the country of the RoK. Charity bosses across the UK are getting extremely nervous.

As I've said it must often feel as though I'm ignoring Korea. There is one thing that tipped me off that the RoK in particular is feeling ignored.

They insisted their news broadcaster Arirang World be included on my super secret satellite TV package. Judging by recent discussions over the US TV show; "The Unit" I appear to be the only person in the UK with access to this satellite package.

I remember the UK launch of Arirang World well. They sent their head of European news to interview the head of the network. This being a few years ago she was asking him lots of questions about how the network would take advantage of things like 4K TV and 5G wireless in the future.

He sat there with a look on his face as if to say; "Our satellite is powered by a hamster running around a wheel."

I can't say I've watched Arirang World much after that.

Although it is in the "News" section of the program guide it seems more to resemble an entertainment channel. Sort of a South Korean MTV with lots of information about the latest K-Pop stars, who they're dating and when their doing their stint in the military. I gather though there is a roughly 30 minute news bulletin each day at around 4AM.

In doing this Arirang World seem to be promoting a talking point about the phenomenon of News as Entertainment. This has long been a feature of US news and has recently been growing in the UK.

It used to be that we got news bulletins with journalists giving us facts. Now all we see to get are discussion shows with the type of people who are available in the middle of the working day giving us their wildly uniformed opinions. In the US it seems to be just one opinion - they really don't like President Trump.

Arirang World also seem to be winding up their regional rival Japan.

Japanese culture is extremely deferential and polite.

You often see Japanese people wearing surgical masks in public. People often mistake this for the Japanese being very afraid they will catch the other people's germs. It's the opposite. In Japanese culture if you have a cold the absolute rudest thing you could do is risk spreading those germs to other people but not wearing a mask in public.

The Japanese police also have a remarkably high conviction rate due to most suspects confessing. In no small part this is due to innocent people confessing to crimes they haven't committed because attempting to correct the police officers accusing them would be the height of rudeness.

Even in Japan their state news broadcaster NHK has a reputation for being extremely deferential and as a result not in any way holding its government or public figures to account.

Anyway as to how all this was portrayed during the ceremony;

It used the song "Arirang" sung by the 77 year old Kim Nang-ji

Often described as the unofficial national anthem of Korea there are an almost infinite number of versions of this over 600 year old song.

Arirang is listed by the UN's Educational, Scientific, Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as intangible cultural heritage not once but twice. The RoK registered it as part of their heritage in 2012. The DPRK registered it as part of their heritage in 2014.

The central theme of the song is that a man and a woman meet on opposite sides of a river and fall in love. The song is the man's lament that because of the river the two can never be joined as one. In some versions he tries to cross the river and drowns.

As such Arirang serves as a metaphor for me relationship with my lesbian wife. Or my relationship with Rihanna whom I was married off to at the 2012 Para-Olympic Closing Ceremony. In short my love life is a mess.

I suppose at a push Arirang could also serve as a metaphor for the RoK and the DPRK and dreams of Unification. The river being the De-Militarised Zone (DMZ) along the 38th Parallel.

Prompting a discussion about cultural misappropriation the way Arirang was portrayed during the ceremony is absolutely nothing like the song.

It showed the childlike ciphers on a raft being rowed along a blue/green river. As if they were on the Amazon River travelling through Brazil's Rainforest.

It ends with the children drawing their futures in ice on the sky using what appear to be Harry Potter-style magic wands. I've never seen any of the Harry Potter movies or read any of the books. However the people who have seem utterly obsessed with this funny lightning bolt scar I've got on my forehead.

With the appearance of one of the Four Guardians there is an Augmented Reality (AR) sequence showing us the stars. This reminds us that the Four Guardians are constellations of stars. It also shows what appear to be Fireflies rising into the night sky.

This is a reference to the 2002 US TV Show; "Firefly." This was written and directed by supreme ruler of the universe Joss Whedon.

This TV show was a big feature of the 2012 Summer Games. To the point the British hosts named a special plane carrying the Olympic flame; "Firefly." Prompting people who'd seen the TV show to tut and point out the vessel in the show was named; "Serenity." It was a Firefly class spaceship.

Although to some it may appear to be a TV show Firefly is actually an exercise in "Existentialism." This philosophy has its roots in animist religions such as Korean Taoism.

One particular sequence shows the River Tam (Summer Glau, later of The Unit) character walking amongst Cherry Blossom trees. A powerful image in places like Korea, Japan and China. She is holding in her hand this beautiful branch.

We are then shown the same scene from the perspective of the rest of Serenity's crew. River is in fact standing in the ship's cargo bay waving a handgun around.

This explains existentialism through the US gun control debate;

A gun is an inanimate object made up of the Wu Xing elements of metal and wood. Or wood, water and earth if you want to get into plastic polymers. On its own a gun will just sit there without purpose. It is only when a person picks it up that it takes on a purpose and is defined as either good or evil.

Firefly also makes some interesting contributions to the US broadcast regulator - the FCC - strict prohibition on swearing and foul language.

Firefly exists in a future where the Chinese and US government have combined in a single global government. They have then set out to explore and colonise other planets. The unseen enemy are known as; "Reevers." Pronounced exactly the same as Muslim Uighurs from China's Xinjiang Province.

As a result of this bilingualism everyone in Firefly speaks both English and Chinese.

So when the characters come to swear they do so in Chinese. So the FCC can't understand them. I gather that having gone to the trouble of hiring Chinese translators the writers then just absolutely went for it conducting their own sort of; "Swearing Olympics."

Apparently if you speak Chinese it is the most foul mouthed program ever made.

Firefly also featured the actress Gina Torres. As she was married to Laurence Fishburne at the time her character is named "Zoe Washburne." I assure you Laurence Fishburne made his TV debut in; "M*A*S*H."

Joss Whedon's current big TV project is; "Marvels: Agents of Shield."

This, what I think is described as an "ensemble cast," features Chinese-American actress Ming-na Wen. The only concession she's made to westernise her Chinese heritage is to allow her given name - Ming-na - to be written before her family name - Wen. Normally it's the other way around.

Ming-na Wen's apparent love affair with the "Director" character has great fun with Joss Whedon's apparent obsession with eastern culture. The rumour is he's having an affair with an air hostess for and Chinese airline.

The show also features the actress Chloe Bennet who is mixed race - half white, half Chinese. The character she plays is also half white and half Chinese. Although using an alien metaphor the show features her struggle for identity and a researched and  accurate learning about her Chinese heritage.

Chile Bennet's real name is Chloe Wang. However that makes her sound like a transsexual porn star. So she assumed a stage name.

Recently Chloe Bennet was attacked by Obama's Black Lives Matter warriors for that new crime of "Whitewashing her Chinese heritage" by adopting a stage name so people wouldn't giggle when she entered a room.

Apparently "Whitewashing" is now almost as great a thought crime as; "Cultural Appropriation."

So this is a half white, half Chinese actress in a major US network show.

Although she occasionally masquerades as Latina she is playing a half white, half Chinese character.

She stars alongside a proudly Chinese American actress.

The show explores mixed-raced people's search for identity and their difficulties finding acceptance and a place within society.

The show also explores Chinese culture in an accurate and well researched way that belies a deep respect for that culture. It also features scenes of entirely Chinese dialogue.

Yet the actress and the show are and continue to be attacked for not doing enough to promote diversity in the entertainment industry.

It's one of those moments where you really come to realise that under Obama the US just completely lost its mind.

I gather US/Korean snowboarder Chloe Kim has been doing rather well at these games.

At around 18:45 on 13/2/18 (UK date) I will try to pick this up after dinner. However it must be said the combination of alcohol and existentialism rarely results in coherent sentences.

Edited at around 13:55 on 14/2/18 (UK date) to add;

Agents of Shield also features as a recurring character the actor Patton Oswalt. The sheer number of characters he recurs as is something of a running joke of the show.

Patton Oswalt also narrates the sitcom; "The Goldbergs." This is about a movie obsessed Jewish kid growing up in 1980's America.

One episode centres around him gathering his friends together to remake the 1985 movie "The Goonies."

One of the jokes is that this is the only time they play with Dave Kim - the Korean American kid at school. They need him to play the Richard "Data" Wang character.

That obviously raises questions about racial stereotypes which even the show seems to find quite awkward. In a; "Did we really used to behave like that?" sort of a way.

In the TV show if not in real life Dave Kim is given the large role as one of the closest friends of the lead character. A prominent role for a Korean American actor.

The children who act as our guides through the ceremony do seem to have something of The Goonies about them as they go about their big adventure. In reference to the Goldbergs and in particular Dave Kim.

Having drawn their futures on the sky an inter-dimensional portal then appears. One-by-one it transports the children to those futures. This is shown in a complex video/digital animation sequence.

The Blue child becomes a doctor.

Due to the River Tam and her older brother Dr Simon Tam characters I did not so much watch "Firefly." I was hit around the head with a DVD copy of it until I memorised every little detail. It was worth it. It's where I learnt the little factoid about US broadcasters using a certain shade of black as a command signal for computerised systems.

I gather in the Muggle universe there is also a TV show called; "Doctor Who." This supposedly examines existential concepts such as Time And Relative Dimensions In Space (TARDIS). However these days it seems more interested in promoting dumb ideas like; "Gender Fluidity" and "Pansexualism." Odd for a kids show.

In his work as a doctor Blue is shown using complex computer imagery. Specifically of a human brain.

This obviously showcases the RoK perceived role as the most technologically advanced nation in the World. The use of the brain opens the discussion up to include a whole range of mental illnesses and complex neurological conditions such as Autism and Alzheimer's disease.

The Yellow child becomes a Artificial Intelligence (AI) Specialist.

As with the whole sequence this confirms that the RoK sees itself not only as the most technologically advanced nation on Earth but also a world leader in new technology. It also brings up the topic of AI itself.

This is one of the more controversial aspects of technological advances. The South African tech billionaire Elon Musk is very opposed to AI. As the US company Boston Dynamics were reminded of this week when the unveiled an AI robot that can open doors on its own.

I have also found myself dragged into the AI debate.

Normally when I finish writing a post like this I also post a link to it on Twitter.

On Twitter companies use AI bots to spam users with links to whatever they're trying to promote. This is obviously annoying for users. So Twitter uses its own AI bots to identify and block the spam bots. Due to the Democrats attempts to rig the 2016 US Presidential Election this has become a major talking point in particularly America.

Over the course of the past week I have Tweeted so many links using the word; "Olympic Opening Ceremony" Twitter's AI bots have decided I'm also an AI bot. As a result my ability to post links has been automatically suspended.

Well that's the official story anyway.

In her role as an AI specialist the Yellow child is shown visiting a luxurious house to work on an female AI robot. That robot itself is painting - showing that it is advanced enough to grasp abstract artistic concepts.

The style of the scene is very much based on the 2014 movie "Ex Machina." This starred Alicia Vikander.

The purpose of the opening ceremony is really to set the tone of discussion during the games. As a result they tend to include a vast array of conversation starters. People are also free to try and work their topics of conversations into the ceremony.

Despite being a movie that many had forgotten about that the time Ex Machina won several awards at the 2016 Oscars. That year was dominated by discussion of how make the Film Academy more diverse. In no small part due to her role in Ex Machina Alicia Vikander was fast-tracked into Academy membership by being nominated for her role in; "The Danish Girl."

If you are familiar with the rigours of the South Korean education system and the Park Guen-hye/Choi Soon-sil scandal you can have a lot of fun with the phrase; "Fast-tracked into the Academy."
 
The Black child became a K-Pop/Instagram/YouTube star.

This obviously brings up the topic of Korean Pop (K-Pop). They seem to be on a mission to take over the World. They'll probably succeed.

However it also references the movie; "Hidden Figures." This was a major success story at the 2017 Oscars.

As with some much else in Obama's America the facts of Hidden Figures didn't suit Black Lives Matter's political narrative. So they simply changed the facts.

However Hidden Figures deals with highly educated, professional black women working on the NASA space program in the 1960's. It fed into a wider discussion about shifts in Black American culture since the 1960's.

In short it seems that no-one wants to be a highly educated, professional black woman anymore. Instead they just want the easy fame and wealth of being a popstar like Beyonce.

At 15:00 on 14/2/18 (UK) Snake General and Tortoise General are insisting that it is lunchtime. I would hate for them to get upset.

Edited at around 15:55 on 14/2/18 (UK date) to tidy up and add;

The White child became what was described as; "An Augmented Reality (AR) Simulation Expert."

However from the way he was shown using an AR simulation in front of a class of school children it was clear this meant he was a teacher.

His chubby cheeked, comedic demeanour was a bit of a joke at my expense.

At the end of every games the Para-Olympics give out the Whang Youn Dai Award for achievement. It is named after South Korean Doctor Whang Youn Dai. She overcame Polio to not only become a doctor but also a major proponent of disability sport.

At the 2012 Para-Olympic Closing Ceremony I declared Whang Youn Dai to be Chinese. In my defence this was my 'wedding' to Rihanna. I only discovered that about half an hour into the ceremony.

Clearly though I'm never going to be allowed to live that down.

As 2018 hosts South Korea were granted a small sequence in the 2014 Closing Ceremony. That in part that featured a display of Chinese calligraphy. I said that was Korean calligraphy. The Korean Hangul alphabet is of course not logographic like the Chinese alphabet.

However Koreans do use Chinese borrow words and symbols as part of their language. This was the point that the sequence in the 2014 ceremony was trying to make.

I have come to accept though that if you're going to make mistakes at this level you have to take your lumps as the come. Or you might not get invited back.

For the past for years or so there has been a degree of happiness to let what I get up to go unspoken. However prior to that Britain was adamant that I must be sent to work in something like a supermarket. Before that there was some suggestion I should be a teacher. I do after all seem to have a talent for explaining complex concepts.

It must be said though that given my current job title its hard to imagine there's a job a UK Labour Party backbencher could conceive of that wouldn't be some form of demotion for me.

The Red child went onto become an architect.

When we talk about environmentalism people often think of things like wide open fields and the Amazon Rainforest. However for people living in cities the environment is roads, bridges and buildings.

What the UNFCCC and the RoK headquartered GCF having been trying to do is incorporate measures against Climate Change into the built environment. Through things like fitting insulation cladding to Grenfell Tower.

The red architecture sequence then further made clear to the UK Labour Party that no-one believes that the Grenfell Tower fire was an accident.

The cityscape created by the Red child and populated by the Black child seemed to resemble the futuristic Capitol in the "Hunger Games." Something that went on to be referenced in more detail in a later sequence.

At 16:35 on 14/2/18 (UK date) space limitations mean I'll have to continue this is in a seperate post.