Olympic Opening Ceremonies - I am SO PROUD to be Canadian!
I loved everything about the opening ceremonies last night from Vancouver. I loved seeing the Native dancers, the history of Canada portrayed, k.d. Lang singing Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah (and he is Canadian too), Bryan Adams, Nellie Furtado, Donald Sutherland (yes Kiefer's father, also an actor), Anne Murray, Rick Hansen, Nancy Green...the entire ceremony made me feel so proud of Canada. We were just missing William Shatner and Mike Myers, LOL. So many Canadians to be proud of out there...seeing Terry Fox's mother as part of the ceremonies was also very heart warming to me. In Thunder Bay Ontario we were always so proud to be on the Courage Highway and a big statue of Terry overlooks Lake Superior.
It was so classy and so Canadian in its understated show full of grace and music and history and culture. KD Lang brought me to my knees with her song - she is simply amazing. And seeing Wayne Gretzky - "the Great One" as the final torch-bearer was fantastic. I heard someone this morning on TV say that it was so typically Canadian that the final part of the ceremonies featured a hockey player riding in the back of a truck to light the torch. I remember Mohammed Ali lighting the torch in the US and that sight also choked me up.
One of the great moments of the evening, right near the end, was Shane Koyczan who is a slam poet. I was so pleased that they chose him to recite this poem in the ceremonies. This video is not from the ceremonies, but this is the poem. Way to go Shane!
Enjoy this very CANADIAN poem by Shane Koyczan...he was apparently commissioned to write this by the Canadian Tourism Commission...and KD Lang singing Hallelujah is below!
Here is his biography and website... http://www.houseofparlance.com/koyczan/bio.html
Below is the incomparable k.d. Lang, who is from Edmonton Alberta!
On a sad note, I am so sorry for the family and friends of the Georgian Luge slider Nodar Kumaritashvili who died hours before the ceremony. I found it so moving that the Georgian athletes attended the opening ceremonies wearing black arm bands. He was only 21 years old.
I love sports and watching sports at this level is so inspiring. Living in Red Deer, I feel close to everything - just over the mountains over there - there's Whistler! I can almost hear it! That's the closest I have been to the Olympics before.
It was so classy and so Canadian in its understated show full of grace and music and history and culture. KD Lang brought me to my knees with her song - she is simply amazing. And seeing Wayne Gretzky - "the Great One" as the final torch-bearer was fantastic. I heard someone this morning on TV say that it was so typically Canadian that the final part of the ceremonies featured a hockey player riding in the back of a truck to light the torch. I remember Mohammed Ali lighting the torch in the US and that sight also choked me up.
One of the great moments of the evening, right near the end, was Shane Koyczan who is a slam poet. I was so pleased that they chose him to recite this poem in the ceremonies. This video is not from the ceremonies, but this is the poem. Way to go Shane!
Enjoy this very CANADIAN poem by Shane Koyczan...he was apparently commissioned to write this by the Canadian Tourism Commission...and KD Lang singing Hallelujah is below!
Here is his biography and website... http://www.houseofparlance.com/koyczan/bio.html
Below is the incomparable k.d. Lang, who is from Edmonton Alberta!
On a sad note, I am so sorry for the family and friends of the Georgian Luge slider Nodar Kumaritashvili who died hours before the ceremony. I found it so moving that the Georgian athletes attended the opening ceremonies wearing black arm bands. He was only 21 years old.
I love sports and watching sports at this level is so inspiring. Living in Red Deer, I feel close to everything - just over the mountains over there - there's Whistler! I can almost hear it! That's the closest I have been to the Olympics before.
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