Opinion: Let the games begin

In case you missed the gossip, the worldwide TV audience got to see a few more fireworks than were seen by those actually seated in the stadium, courtesy of some nice dodged-up visual overlays. But does it really matter and is this really ‘faking’ it?

The whole point of the show seems to be an excuse to prove just how damn clever the host country is, so why not show off the work of some of your geeks as well as that of your dancers, singers and choreographers?

Surely, as long as everyone goes “ooohh aaahh” at the right moments then you’ve nailed it. And if I had the gig to organise London’s opening bash I’d quit right now and find something else to do. Fake bits or not, the Beijing opening is going to take some beating.

Maybe for the London opener they should just hire the Rolling Stones to do a one hour concert, then say “nyah nyah nyah your country can’t do that”.

Speaking of singing performers, the other storm in a teacup over the replacement of the real tiny tot behind the amazing voice in Beijing with a cuter version with more teeth is bordering on the hysterical and the hypocritical.

You can, and may probably have, paid serious money to see Mariah Carey perform ‘live’ only to see her lip-syncing to her own pre-recorded vocals.

And nobody lined up for a refund, and she’s certainly not the only ‘live’ performer using lip-sync. Let’s face it, it’s hard to jump up and down and run around like a lunatic and then not be out of breath when it comes time to stretch the vocal chords.

However, I take Tim Minchin’s point when he asks, if she was going to be lip-syncing anyway, why would she perform a Mariah Carey song? But, back to the Beijing bash – there were endless computer graphics going off inside the auditorium and even a nice BSOD showed up on one of the rooftop screens so why all the fuss over a few “enhanced” fireworks for the TV viewers?