It's 1:30 am and I'm just now laying my head on my pillow. Tonight my entry will be short.
It's been another surreal day here in the RusskieLand Theme Park. Since I arrived the main Olympic Park has been devoid of people. The only people who have been around this past week were the ubiquitous Purple-jacketed military and the credentialed media.
All the monolithic structures loomed above empty acres of asphalt. Then, suddenly tonight, thousands of people mysteriously materialized. Lines formed at ticket offices, moms and dads bought their children ice cream, skate fans queued at the arena entrance and peasant-costumed ladies sold chocolate blinis at concession stands. People strolled around marveling at the sights. But this is not your normal Olympic crowd. At every Games I've attended, the crowd has had an international flavor. Groups of people whooped it up, singing songs arm-in-arm waving their country's flags. You would hear a virtual babel of languages.
Tonight, at least on my quick stroll around the arena, the only language I heard was Russian.
Yet standing in Olympic Park last night I was imbued with a sense of wonderment. The Russians had pulled it off. But sadly for them, the party they are throwing isn't attracting the world. The more I'm here the more I understand that they just want us to love them. "See, we are not the enemy" one of our runners told me, "we are just like you."
Having been here in the "bad old" Soviet Union days there is something very reassuring about hearing Robin Thicke blaring from the speakers of Olympic Park. I'm so sick of that song . . . but the fact that "Blurred Lines" is playing for all to hear, did, in it's own bizarre way, makes the world seem more unified. They are trying to meld with us. They are trying to make people comfortable. And that is a new idea in Russia.
Ten minutes to the start of competition we started to get worried. The arena was nearly empty. What an embarrassment for the Russians if the world saw they didn't care about their own Games. But, like everything else around here, it all changed at the last minute. They even filled a bunch of seats with volunteers. The only area which stayed empty were the IOC assigned seats at the 50 yard line behind the judges. Luckily those seats were camera-side.
Even though it's the night before the Opening Ceremony, the competition has begun for the guys at snowboarding and us here at Figure Skating. The marathon of 18 days is underway. I've got a cozy little corner in the Truck.
I've always felt like getting the Olympic TV monster moving is similar to guiding a giant cruise ship out of out a tight, narrow harbor. Getting the 100 or so folks at the venue to be in synch is never easy. But today we made some Olympic TV.
We had a new event . . . Team Figure Skating. It looks like a cross between a Game Show and a sports event. Strangely enough it was a nice kickoff to the competition.
Our segments are being fed to the Main Broadcast center right now. In about 7 hours the trumpets will blare, the pretty helicopter shots which make this place look like a winter wonderland will fill millions of screens and then people will watch our efforts. All in, about 2700 NBC people will be bringing the show to America. That is a crazy number.
It all looks so clean and simple as we feed the program down the line.
Yet it won't be 7 1/2 hours before the usual gang of idiots start bad-mouthing our coverage. By the time you read this I'm sure there will be tons of stories on the web bitching about NBC. I've developed a pretty tough skin on this issue but it's always a bit disconcerting when our hard work is bashed.
I'm not sure how or why I just made that left turn into the darkness. Actually I do know why . . . I hit the wrong tab on my browser and instead of updating this blog, I ended up on the Google News page where I caught a headline bitching about our Live web stream tonight, which apparently, wasn't functioning perfectly.
Enough ranting!
My colleagues are always quick to admonish me not to listen to those assholes. Yet I am a sucker for punishment because I read all the crap (and the good stuff, which is a rarity). "Don't read that shit, it's bad for you."
And so it begins.
It's been another surreal day here in the RusskieLand Theme Park. Since I arrived the main Olympic Park has been devoid of people. The only people who have been around this past week were the ubiquitous Purple-jacketed military and the credentialed media.
All the monolithic structures loomed above empty acres of asphalt. Then, suddenly tonight, thousands of people mysteriously materialized. Lines formed at ticket offices, moms and dads bought their children ice cream, skate fans queued at the arena entrance and peasant-costumed ladies sold chocolate blinis at concession stands. People strolled around marveling at the sights. But this is not your normal Olympic crowd. At every Games I've attended, the crowd has had an international flavor. Groups of people whooped it up, singing songs arm-in-arm waving their country's flags. You would hear a virtual babel of languages.
Tonight, at least on my quick stroll around the arena, the only language I heard was Russian.
Yet standing in Olympic Park last night I was imbued with a sense of wonderment. The Russians had pulled it off. But sadly for them, the party they are throwing isn't attracting the world. The more I'm here the more I understand that they just want us to love them. "See, we are not the enemy" one of our runners told me, "we are just like you."
Having been here in the "bad old" Soviet Union days there is something very reassuring about hearing Robin Thicke blaring from the speakers of Olympic Park. I'm so sick of that song . . . but the fact that "Blurred Lines" is playing for all to hear, did, in it's own bizarre way, makes the world seem more unified. They are trying to meld with us. They are trying to make people comfortable. And that is a new idea in Russia.
Ten minutes to the start of competition we started to get worried. The arena was nearly empty. What an embarrassment for the Russians if the world saw they didn't care about their own Games. But, like everything else around here, it all changed at the last minute. They even filled a bunch of seats with volunteers. The only area which stayed empty were the IOC assigned seats at the 50 yard line behind the judges. Luckily those seats were camera-side.
Even though it's the night before the Opening Ceremony, the competition has begun for the guys at snowboarding and us here at Figure Skating. The marathon of 18 days is underway. I've got a cozy little corner in the Truck.
We had a new event . . . Team Figure Skating. It looks like a cross between a Game Show and a sports event. Strangely enough it was a nice kickoff to the competition.
Our segments are being fed to the Main Broadcast center right now. In about 7 hours the trumpets will blare, the pretty helicopter shots which make this place look like a winter wonderland will fill millions of screens and then people will watch our efforts. All in, about 2700 NBC people will be bringing the show to America. That is a crazy number.
It all looks so clean and simple as we feed the program down the line.
I'm not sure how or why I just made that left turn into the darkness. Actually I do know why . . . I hit the wrong tab on my browser and instead of updating this blog, I ended up on the Google News page where I caught a headline bitching about our Live web stream tonight, which apparently, wasn't functioning perfectly.
Enough ranting!
My colleagues are always quick to admonish me not to listen to those assholes. Yet I am a sucker for punishment because I read all the crap (and the good stuff, which is a rarity). "Don't read that shit, it's bad for you."
And so it begins.
OK my little strawberry thats all good stuff. Thanks for keeping the stream going and giving whom ever is out there a peek at the effort. Energy up and full steam ahead.
ReplyDeleteI love you sooooo and look forward to this every day!!
xo
David-- Get some sleep!! Thanks for the blog- it is very informative. Stay safe- and as we are all being told here-- watch out for toothpaste!! jbzatzkin@comcast.net
ReplyDeleteNo wonder you like to paint!!!....you don't need 2700 people to help you unscrew the cap off a tube of cobalt blue...we're really enjoying your blog here in Amsterdam!!....Piet & Julia
ReplyDelete