To be read as a direct continuation of Part 1; https://watchitdie.blogspot.com/2021/07/the-2020-summer-olympics-opening.html
Opening Video: This was shown in the arena. On giant screens. As, I assume, was the Opening Animation.
However here the TV pictures kept cutting between the feeds. Blurring the line between what was video and what was live.
The Opening Animation addressed efforts to establish parity between the Olympics and Para-Olympics.
One way the 2018 Winter Olympics attempted to do this was by using the same, big topics at the ceremonies for both the Olympics and Para-Olympics.
One of those big topics was Time Dilation. Taken from Albert Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity.
This explains how time can speed up or slow down - dilate - relative to its location. Particularly if it is located close to a source of gravity. Such as a Black Hole.
Einstein built upon the work of Isaac Newton. Who built on the work of Galileo Galilei.
It was Newton who coined the phrase; "Standing on the Shoulders of Giants."
Explaining how all scientific discovery simply takes or appropriates the previous scientific discovery. Then builds upon it.
Western activists like Black Lives Matter want to see this type of; "Cultural Appropriation" banned.
Galileo, Newton and Einstein all agree that time is linear. Within its location or frame.
This means that while it may become possible to travel forward in time. It will forever be impossible to travel back in time.
Not here though.
The video travelled back in time. Taking us back to 2013. When Tokyo was awarded the 2020 Summer Games.
This was followed by a montage of athletes frantically preparing for the games. Training in their gyms with their support staff.
It showed a montage of athletes competing at the 2016 Summer Games.
Then back to frantically training in their gyms with their support staff.
This montage took us all the way to the start of 2020. With footage of the World welcoming the New Year. The Olympic year. Tokyo's year.
Then everything stopped.
After momentarily grinding to a halt itself. The video then showed the silent, empty streets of the pandemic Lockdowns.
Olympians are not the sort to give up though. So the video quickly resumed with a montage of athletes still frantically preparing for the games. Only this time at home, alone during Lockdown.
What I thought was interesting is that the video didn't use Japanese landmarks to illustrate the New Year celebrations and Lockdown. It used French landmarks. Such as the Arc de Triomph.
In part this was to highlight that France will pick up the baton from Japan. Hosting the 2024 Summer Olympics.
An important show of solidarity. Given that France's own preparations have been disrupted by the pandemic. Not least because they now only have three years to prepare.
Also though I think it was because one of France's most famous landmarks is the Eiffel Tower.
Tokyo has its own version of the Eiffel Tower. The Tokyo Tower, the second tallest structure in all of Japan.
Not only is the Tokyo Tower 32 metres taller than the Eiffel Tower. It is also functional.
Alongside being a tourist attraction with viewing decks and restaurants like the Eiffel Tower. The Tokyo Tower was also built to serve as the main TV & Radio broadcasting antenna.
The Japanese have also painted their tower orange and white for aviation safety. While the less industrious French have just left theirs nude.
When Japan made the switch from Analogue to Digital broadcasting in 2012 the Tokyo Tower was no longer tall enough. So they built the even taller Tokyo Skytree. Now the tallest structure in Japan.
The 2019 Eurovision Song Contest was held in Israel. Bringing it to a much wider audience than usual.
It also forced something of a revelation from me. That I was once in a three person couple - a so-called; "Thrupple." With a bisexual Israeli Jewish woman and her Black British girlfriend.
Due to Twitter related difficulties and delays. I ended up making this revelation during Hanukkah 2019. That period at the end of 2019 where everything seemed to go a bit mad and COVID-19 came into being.
Although not widely known that relationship was hardly a secret.
It formed the basis for a 2007 episode of US TV show; "The Unit." Specifically Season 2, Episode 18; "Two Coins." In which the Sgt Grey character falls in love with a female soldier in the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF).
The Unit was executive produced by Shawn Ryan. Who has gone on to executive produce the rather similar, current US TV show; "S.W.A.T." One similarity with The Unit is that it seems to have continued its interest in my love life.
It was S.W.A.T which really brought the term; "Thrupple" into popular usage. With the bisexual "Chris Alonso" character, played by Lina Esco becoming part of a Thrupple with a man and his bisexual girlfriend.
It is also S.W.A.T which seems to have pitched the Fantasy Thrupple. Myself, Miley Cyrus and Lina Esco.
I don't know the truth of it. However the TV show has certainly been putting about the rumour that Lina Esco has a massive crush on Miley Cyrus.
Episode 13 of Season 3 of S.W.A.T was partly set and filmed in Tokyo. The episode is titled; "Eiktai Rashku."
Japanese for the show's Jackie Chan inspired catchphrase; "Stay Liquid." Which was, unfortunately, adopted by British backed, anti-China rioters in Hong Kong.
Quite a lot of the episode features the Tokyo Tower. It also touches on the tensions between different Asian nations.
The Japanese police officers are all very disrespectful to the Asian American "Victor Tran" character. Played by David Lim. As he's a different type of Asian.
Frustratingly I can't remember what type of Asian American Victor Tran is supposed to be.
I seem to remember him being introduced as Korean American.
However in this latest, pandemic, season it's claimed he's Chinese American. A convenient device to allow the show to explore Anti-Asian American hate in response to COVID-19.
So I guess we're settling on Victor Tran being Balhae Chinese.
An ethnically Korean group of Chinese people. Established under the Balhae Period. Which we were introduced to during the Opening Ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Prior to being the first US President to visit the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK/North).
President Trump said that China would want to help on diplomatic efforts. Due to China and the Korean Peninsula having often been the same country over the course of history.
President Trump was roundly mocked for such as stupid statement.
Particularly by another rabidly anti-Trump US TV personality, John Oliver. Who is very much part of Rachel Maddow's anti-Trump brigade.
The Balhae Chinese are living proof that President Trump is right. While John Oliver's an idiot.
What I also noticed is that between the New Year's footage and the Lockdown footage. The video featured a momentary flash of black.
We really hope that wasn't the set shade of black. For the set length of time. That computers are programmed to read as a command to switch to a different feed.
If it was it would have hacked a lot of people's coverage.
Much more to come at 20:05 on 26/7/21 (UK date).
Edited at around 17:20 on 27/7/21 (UK date) to copy & paste;
Opening Countdown: After the Opening Animation. After the Opening Video.
The Japanese hosts finally relented. Upholding the tradition of an Opening Countdown.
This took the form of a video montage. Augmented by computer animation. Showing various athletes participating in various Olympic sports.
The equipment they used in those sports showed the numbers of the countdown. Such as the squad number on the back of a Rugby Sevens player's shirt.
The Zero was the stadium itself. Shot live from above. In another Olympic tradition fireworks were set off from the stadium.
In another break from tradition the countdown was not 10 to 1. But from 21 to 0. Highlighting the extra year we'd had to wait for these 2020 Summer Olympics to finally begin.
The Strength From Within: The camera returned to the live action within the stadium. When the androgynous figure from the earlier sequence reappeared.
Upon closer inspection it was revealed that the earlier Chromosome test was wrong. Rather than being XY (male) this androgynous figure is, in fact, XX (female). Arisa Tsubata as she prefers to be known.
In her professional life Arisa Tsubata is a Nurse. Just one of the Nurses who have been extremely busy across the World in 2020.
In her personal life Arisa Tsubata is a pretty accomplished amateur Boxer. A combat sport which has traditionally been seen as a very male pursuit.
The Olympics is a truly global event. So I hesitate to say that Japanese society is extremely bad when it comes to Women's Rights. I can quickly reel off a long list of Olympic nations which are worse.
However Japan is part of the Group of 7 (G7) nations. Alongside the US, Canada, Britain, France, Germany and Italy.
So it is considered to be equal to advanced, western democracies. The sort of nations which make up the European Union (EU).
On the issue of women's rights Japan falls short of the standards of its peers.
It is a very traditional society where men are expected to go out to work to support their families. While women are expected to stay at home and look after their husbands and children.
If women do go out to work they are expected to stick to traditional female roles. Such as Nurse rather than Doctor. Or Secretary rather than Business Executive.
As is Olympic tradition. The Closing Ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympics saw the passing on of the Olympic Flag. From the Mayor/Governor of the outgoing Olympic city to the Mayor/Governor of the next Olympic city.
Japan were represented by Yuriko Koike, the Governor of Tokyo Prefecture. She was selected simply because she was the Mayor/Governor of the next Olympic city at the time.
However her presence was also a big statement. She was the first female Governor of Tokyo Prefecture.
In contrast to Japan waiting until 2007 to accept a woman to lead a sub-national government. Britain elected its first female Head of Government, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1979. Since 2005 EU politics have been rather dominated by Germany's female Head of Government, Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The push for better women's rights within Japanese society was a recurring theme through the Opening Ceremony.
Arisa Tsubata was shown running alone on a treadmill. Just as so many athletes and non-athletes have been forced to work out alone, at home during Lockdown.
The 2018 Winter Olympics touched on the topics of Social Conditioning and Social Control. This is very important in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Teaching robots, such as AI chatbots, to talk and behave like humans.
Although it feels a bit tin foil hatty to say. Social Psychologists will agree that humans are, to an extent, programmed like computers are programmed.
The example I used at the time was crime. Most societies have laws defining what crimes are. Along with Police forces and Courts to enforce those laws.
However what really prevents crime is Social Conditioning. That almost programmed understanding that if you want something from a shop you walk in and exchange money for it. You don't just put a brick through the window and take it.
It's testament to how deferential Japanese society is. That their Police and Courts have something like a 95% conviction rate. With almost all suspects confessing.
In part this is because Japanese society is very polite and rule abiding so there is very little crime. So when a crime does occur the police can throw massive resources at it. Plus the Japanese police have been known to engage in torture.
However a large part it is due to how deferential Japanese society is. That if an authority figure such as a police officer says that you have committed a crime. It is considered less embarrassing for you to go to prison than to point out that an authority figure has made a mistake.
Despite some of the most restrictive Social Control measures every seen, particularly in democracies. It suddenly being a crime to leave your home for example. Lockdown saw an almost complete collapse of Social Conditioning.
In most developed nations most people spend their childhoods being told what to do by their parents.
Then they go to school where they're told what to do by their teachers. Straight from school they go out to work. Where they're told what to do by their bosses.
During Lockdown all the schools and most of the workplaces were shut. Meaning that for the first time in their lives billions of adults suddenly had no-one telling them what to do.
It was the first time they'd been forced to rely on that strength from within. The discipline that saw them go to bed at a sensible time. Get up at a sensible time. Dress themselves and eat meals.
Rather than sitting around in their pyjamas getting drunk and watching Netflix. In one long, continuous day.
Not because they anyone was forcing them to do so. Just out of a basic sense of respect for themselves.
It showed how utterly incapable of thinking for themselves some people have become. So utterly reliant on Social Control.
That they would hang, with an almost religious fervour, on the government's daily briefing. Being given by people who clearly had no idea what they were doing.
In another example of the pandemic really playing to my strengths. My native, British society has spent at least the past 15 years aggressively excluding me. Or excluding itself from me, as I prefer to think of it.
So I really knew all this already. Having lived for a long time outside of Social Control.
Meaning Lockdown didn't really affect me at all. Beyond shifting my fortnightly trip to the supermarket from a Tuesday to a Wednesday.
At around 17:35 on 27/7/21 (UK date) that strength from within is calling me to do the dishes.
Edited at around 19:15 on 27/7/21 (UK date) to copy & paste;
Despite the impression given by the extreme Social Distancing. Arisa Tsubata was not working out alone.
She was joined by two other athletes. A man on a rowing machine and a woman on a static bike.
Frustratingly no-one seems to have bothered to provide the names of those two thirds of the Thrupple. Preventing me from giving them their due credit.
The three athletes formed the points of a triangle.
Something highlighted by the elongated spotlights shining upon them. Then further reinforced by dancers/performers forming the sides of the triangle, linking the points.
It is one of the more amusing Internet Conspiracy Theories.
That many, particularly American, celebrities are members of a global secret society known as; "The Illuminati."
Their supposed leaders are Jay Z and Beyonce. They all signal their membership of this secret cabal by making the shape of a triangle with their two hands.
The Illuminati was a real group in 18th and 19th Century Europe. A period which was known as; "The Enlightenment Era."
Their mission was to empower the population through education. Fighting back against the Social Conditioning and Control of occultism, religion and abusive state power.
That is the joke in claiming that the likes of Jay Z and Beyonce are members of The Illuminati.
Through their support for the US Democrat Party and causes like Black Lives Matter they are trying to disempower the population. Keeping them in the dark. On their knees in ignorance.
All to make it easier to vacuum money out of their victim's pockets. Totalitarian Capitalism. Or; "Communism With Chinese Characteristics" as it's more Progressively termed.
In discussing COVID-19, in the context of the 2020 US Presidential Election.
I joked that it came into being at precisely lunchtime (GMT) on November 14th 2019 (14/11/19). Knowing it would be utterly impossible for any scientist to ever prove me wrong.
I did this in mockery of former Democrat US President Barack Obama.
Specifically Obama's attempt to block action to combat Climate Change by derailing the 2013 COP 19 Summit.
By forcing scientists to prove wrong his equally bonkers assertion that Climate Change wasn't being caused by Greenhouse Gas (ghg) emissions. But by Rihanna's violent mood swings during her Diamonds World Tour (DWT).
At lunchtime (GMT) on November 14th 2019 (14/11/19) I was having lunch with both of my lesbian mothers. In a restaurant in Salisbury, UK.
A city that a year earlier had become extremely famous for Novichok related reasons. Conveniently in that gap between the 2018 Winter Olympics and the 2018 Winter Para-Olympics.
While waiting for the food to arrive we noticed some Star of David and other engravings and wall art. This led to a discussion about whether they were Jewish in origin or associated with the Freemasons.
This involved me drawing a rough Pentagram on a napkin.
To explain how the Star of David was originally a Masonic icon. While the Jews used the Pentagram. The original flag of the Jewish nation being very similar to the flag of the modern nation state of Morocco.
The restaurant was in an 18th/19th Century building. It was originally been built as a Literary and Scientific Society. So eventually we realised it had been built by the actual Illuminati.
Into the sides of the triangle was light projected moving images. Of particles moving in string-like waves.
A reference to the String Theory interpretation of Quantum Field Theory. It's understanding of the Wave/Particle Duality.
Essentially tiny strings make up every particle which can behave like waves. They are all interlinked in a vast invisible field.
An example of conventional physics finally catching up with Animist religions, both Asian and European. The occultism the actual Illuminati were trying to save people from.Buddha's journey to enlightenment was a long one. At around 19:25 on 27/7/21 (UK date) I won't be attempting it tonight.
Edited at around 17:15 on 27/7/21 (UK date) to copy & paste;
The arena then became filled with light projected Lotus flowers.
Probably the most famous Asian Animist religion is Buddhism. Central to Buddhism is the Buddha.
The first Buddha was Siddhartha Gautama. He lived in Lumbani in Nepal around the 5th Century B.C. Although there is some debate as to exactly when.
A member of the royal family Siddhartha lived a sheltered life of opulent luxury. Shielded from the realities of life inside a golden walled palace.
One day small cracks began to appear in these walls of gold. Giving Siddhartha tiny glimpses of the suffering and misery going on all around him.
Inspired by the tiny glimpses Siddhartha left the palace for the first time. He was shocked to discover the cruelty and misery of life.
Particularly when he saw an old man, a sick man and a corpse. Teaching him that sickness, age and death are the inevitable fates of man.
Siddhartha also saw a holy man. Taking this as a sign he should also become a holy man he embarked on a life of homelessness, poverty, self-denial and meditation.
After many years Siddhartha realised that this path was doing nothing to alleviate the inevitable cruelty and misery of life.
Instead he embraced the path of the Third Way. Living a life of neither extreme poverty or extreme wealth. He though continued to meditate.
One day Siddhartha was meditating beneath a Bodhi Tree. He became so absorbed in that meditation that he achieved true enlightenment. Becoming the first Buddha.
It was a joke that did the rounds at the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest. Particularly driven by the Republic of Ireland and Switzerland.
That COVID-19 is punishment from Buddha's plasterer.
For
not such much making just tiny cracks in the walls. But taking a Miley
Cyrus shaped wrecking ball to them. A literally Miley Cyrus shaped Wrecking Ball.
Within Buddhism the Lotus Flower is used as a metaphor for that journey to enlightenment.
It begins its life sealed off from the outside world. In dark mud beneath murky water. As it grows it forces its way through the slowly clearing water. Until it breaks free into the light. Flowering into a beautiful flower.
The beauty of the Lotus Flower is fragile and transitory. With sickness, age and death being the inevitable fates of all living things.
Another concept conventional physics is also now starting to catch up with. Describing that inevitable fate as; "Entropy."
The Lotus Flowers were then replaced with light projected nodes, connected by lines.
These could certainly be interpreted to the 10 nodes, connected by 22 lines. Which make up the Jewish Tree of Life.
Although not, strictly speaking, an Animist religion Judaism does seem to share more with Asian Animist religions than its Christian and Islamic counterparts.
Primarily though it was meant to represent electronic communication. The Internet, basically. Computer nodes all connected and talking to each other via cables.
A reference to the way the Lockdowns have essentially monetized so much of human interaction. From all the Work From Home (WFH) teleconferencing to Zoom calls with grandparents and friends.
This obviously has Cybersecurity concerns. It also has big ethical concerns. With seemingly our emotions and personal relationships now being the property of a handful of Big Tech companies.
This huge shift online has certainly made Contact Tracing a lot easier. The sort of Contact Tracing that often ends with a Hellfire missile landing on your head.
In June 2019 I was rushing to cover the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest. While US President Trump was embarking on a diplomatic tour of Europe. Starting with my home city of London, UK.
As a resident of London. My opinion of the anti-Trump protesters differed from Twitter's editorial policy. So I found myself banned from Twitter.
Officially for urging the @SkyNews account - as an inanimate object - to commit suicide. In a discussion about Assisted Suicide.
Specifically a news story about the claimed Assisted Suicide of Noa Pothoven. A famous Eating Disorder sufferer from the Dutch city of Arnhem. A claim which later proved to be false. Making it an example of; "Fake News."
This all struck me as a rather metaphysical interpretation of Twitter's rules.
If I could urge an inanimate object to commit suicide. Then surely Twitter's entire business is based around enslaving electrons. Forcing them to run along the lines connecting all those nodes.
After leaving Britain President Trump travelled to France. To mark the 75th anniversary of the D-Day Landings. The start of the liberation of Europe from Nazi Occupation and the end of the Second World War.
Key to the success of D-Day was the liberation of the so-called; "Pegasus Bridge." Over the Caen Canal.
That success made Britain overconfident. So they launched; "Operation: Market Garden." To similarly liberate a network of bridges across The Netherlands.
The bridge at Arnhem was the famous; "Bridge Too Far." Forcing Canadian forces to rescue what was left of British forces. In; "Operation: Pegasus."
This all happened in the North Rhine River region. Across Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium and France. An area that has been flooding the news in recent weeks. As if Pegasus himself was stomping his hooves.
Following the D-Day commemorations President Trump travelled to Japan. For the G20 Summit.
This was held in the city of Osaka. Which seems dangerously close to the acronymed version of my Twitter handle; "@Sovereignaka (@SAKA)."
In case there's still any lingering doubt. As to the extent to which Twitter made a mess of that.
Honestly. You'd think they'd be happy to pay to part ways with any staff members responsible.
Into the arena came performers wheeling around multi-coloured large rectangles.
These resembled giant versions of the toy building blocks you would give children to play with. To teach them about shapes, colours and spatial awareness.
They were though much simpler than the building blocks used in the Opening Animation. Being all the same, easy to fit together, shape.
Suggesting that Miley Cyrus and her US captors have yet to even advance to the Kindergarten level.
You could also describe the blocks as being; "Technicoloured." As in; "Technicolour" by Montaigne. Australia's 2021 Eurovision Song Contest Entry.
Proving that Eurovision plays fast-n-loose with the definition of; "Europe." Australia obviously isn't in the traditional Europe. It's in the Asia-Pacific region.
This is the same region as Japan. Australia and, particularly, America are now, more than ever, trying to build an Asia-Pacific alliance against China.
Everything about Montaigne's Eurovision persona was reminiscent of Ani DiFranco. An openly bisexual, contemporary American singer, song-writer.
Sending the message to America. That putting about the rumour Miley Cyrus may be bisexual isn't going to shock the World from its axis.
A message that was being reinforced here.
The multi-coloured blocks then formed the shaped of a pinwheel. The thing that is displayed on a computer screen when you're waiting for it to load.
A sight we've all become very familiar with during Lockdown. As, once again, our Zoom calls freeze.
Having been running on her treadmill throughout. Arisa Tsubata stopped. Stepped down and essentially fell to her knees. Clutching her head in her hands in despair.
Arisa Tsubata is such an accomplished amateur Boxer. That she was hoping to represent Japan at these 2020 Summer Olympics.
She kept up her training despite also having to be a Nurse dealing with the pandemic. Even taking a lower paid job to work at a clinic closer to her home and local gym.
She was all ready for her final qualifying event. Which everyone expected would see her selected for the Japanese Olympic team.
Then it was cancelled due to the pandemic.
Instead selection was based on existing World rankings. As newcomer Arisa Tsubata didn't make the cut.
Something which must have been completely heartbreaking for her.
At around 17:25 on 28/7/21 (UK date) there's still more to go.
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