Last night, August 8, 2008 the Beijing Olympics began. The date was chosen for the three consecutive 8’s. In China, 8 is considered to be a lucky number, just as 7 tends to be here. The word for 8 is “ba”, which sounds similar to the word for “fortune” or “wealth.”

China has long history, and it is about time they start to be recognized on a global front. The Olympics is something dedicated to the skill of the athletes, but in this case, it has put Beijing in the spotlight and made them “shape” up so to speak. Although the city of Beijing, and country of China is far from perfect, it has made some vast improvements in air quality (even if it is hard to tell), technology, and environment.

Some things we will start to see over the next could weeks are “FUWA” mascots, the Water Cube, and Bird’s Nest. The Beijing Olympics mascot is known as FUWA, and actually consists of 5 mascots known as Beibei (fish), Jingjing (panda), Huanhuan (Olympic flame), Yingying (Tibetan antelope), and Nini (swallow). The names are a combination of the Chinese phrase “Beijing Huan Ying Ni”—“Welcome to Beijing.”

The Water Cube, officially called the National Aquatics Center is built to resemble a cube of water bubbles tightly packed together. It is one of the most environmentally friendly buildings; able to use energy it collects to create a perfect environment year round. The official name for the “Bird’s Nest” is the National Stadium; this is where the opening ceremonies will take place. It is a huge winding “knot” of steel in the shape of a nest, complete with a retractable roof, and will host the track and field competitions and the football finals. It can hold up to 91,000 spectators.

Tonight, the 2008 Beijing Olympics was hailed as the most successful and beautiful opening ceremonies of all the Olympics. Each act presented a piece of Chinese culture or history. It started with a count down that quickly changed to drummers beating drums that were light to the beat.

The children of China’s 56 minority groups paraded across the stage, all dressed in their beautiful traditional dress. Thousands of light up people formed a dove that flapped its wings before morphing into the Bird’s Nest. There was shadow boxing, opera, Taiji, and much much more. Finally there was a parade of countries that began with Greece and ended with China. Instead of doing it alphabetically, it was done in order of the number of strokes in the Chinese character for the country name.

Yao Ming was the flag bearer of China’s parade, and was accompanied by 9-year old Ling Hao, a survivor from the Sichuan earthquake. Lin freed himself from the rubble only to return and save some of his other classmates, he said he was the class leader and it was his job to do that.

Some of the most renowned Chinese treasures are found in Beijing and its immediate region: Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Great Wall, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, and even the Terracotta Warriors in Xian. The Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and Temple of Heaven are all in walking distance of each other with some great shopping areas like Wangfujing Dajie or Pearl Market (or Hong Qiao).

• The official Beijing 2008 Olympic website can be found at http://en.beijing2008.cn/.
• The opening ceremonies can be viewed at http://en.beijing2008.cn/ceremonies/headlines/openingceremony/

Continue reading It’s Beijing: A Cultural Lesson for the 2008 Games…

In January 1984, I was a little over a year old, so I don’t really remember these commercials being on TV. Thanks to magicmike9000 on YouTube, I can now share with you commercials for Eastland Mall from 1984. Free parking, baby!

Mike has a second commercial that highlights Elsfelder Jewelers (who?).

Seeing that today is September 11, I find it appropriate to dedicate this open thread to what happened six years ago. Here’s what I’m interested in knowing:

1. Where were you when you heard?
2. Do you think we have forgotten the significance of the event a mere six years later? Why?

I was a freshman at Purdue in my second week of class and was watching the morning news shows when the news came in. I couldn’t be pried away from the TV. It was a surreal week of nonstop news for me.

As for forgetting September 11, I definitely think we have. I think a lot of it has to do with the Bush administration’s lack of approval, and his Iraq war deflecting our attention from the tragic event. It’s hard to focus on 2000 lives lost six years ago, when our troops our losing theirs every day.

What’s your take? Tell us in the comments.

photo courtesy of by victoriapeckham

Did you know that REO Speedwagon keyboardist Neal Doughty was born in Evansville? REO Speedwagon was one of the biggest bands of the 1980’s with hit power ballads like Can’t Fight This Feeling and Keep On Loving You (every bad boy has a soft side). Doughty was born in Evansville in 1946, but he formed Speedwagon while a student at the University of Illinois.

Doughty and his band are still playing today and every now and then make a trip back to Evansville to play at Mesker.

photo courtesy of Neal Doughty.com

Did you know that there was a race riot in Evansville in the early 1900’s that killed 11 people? On July 3, 1909, Evansville police officer Louis Massey was trying to prevent Robert Lee from reentering Ossenberg’s saloon after threatening the bartender. Lee and Massey got into a gun fight, that ended up taking the life of Massey the next day. Massey was the first EPD officer to die in the line of duty.

When news broke that Massey died at the hands of a black man, a mob began to form outside of the jail. Gunshops were looted, windows were shot out, and there was even a black effigy hung from a light pole. Classy stuff.

The rioting went on from July 4-6. When it was all said and done, more than 50 people had to be taken to the hospital with wounds from the rioting.

If you want to read more about the riot, check out the Boneyard.

photo courtesy of Losttrekker