Register Now!

The Remote Island

Olympic Opening Ceremony Rehearsal Leaked Online -- Watch It Before It's Gone!

Posted by Ben Kallen

 


Les Jeux Olympiques de Beijing
by Markbel

The video above is a rehearsal for the Opening Ceremony of the upcoming Summer Olympics in Beijing, which was filmed by a South Korean TV station and leaked to the web. Which, apparently, has made Chinese Olympic officials furious. It's been taken down from YouTube and other sites, but still available -- for now! -- on Dailymotion, whose copy we've linked to here.

The ceremony, directed by filmmaker Zhang Yimou, reportedly cost $300 million to put together and features 10,000 performers. The preview clip is pretty incredible, complete with whales, floating dancers and multiple martial artists. It's also -- let's say it -- just a little bit scary in the way it presents artistic movement with such perfect military precision

Of course, we have no idea if watching this video online counts as a vote for Internet freedom, or will just convince the Chinese government to crack down on web access even further. (As for NBC, they probably see it as the best viral promotion ever.) The actual ceremony will air a week from today at 8 p.m. -- and we know we'll be watching.

 
Previously: 
The Summer Olympics: You Can Run, But You Can't Hide 

 


+ DIGG + DEL.ICIO.US + REDDIT

Comments

No Comments

About Ben Kallen

Ben Kallen is an entertainment, health and humor writer who's been lectured to by Sidney Poitier, argued with by Lea Thompson and smiled at by Jennifer Connelly. He's the coauthor of The No S Diet and author of The Year in Weird, along with hundreds of magazine articles. He lives near the beach in Los Angeles, just like the gang from Three's Company.

in

Archives

about the blogger

Bloggers


Lindy Parker has worked as a ghostwriter, editor, dance instructor and a purveyor of dreams, one beer at a time. She loves Charles Dickens and Gabriel Garcia Marquez and also, straight-to-video releases with Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. It's possible she reads more teen fiction than she should. She hails from Los Angeles, her hometown and soul mate, but she lives in Brooklyn, the fling she'll never forget.

Olivia Purnell left Ohio for sunny Los Angeles; then found that she couldn’t ignore New York City’s call, and brought herself to Brooklyn where she has worked with GenArt, BlackBook, the School of American Ballet, and finished an M.A. in Creative Writing from N.Y.U. She loves one-liners with sting and hates the stench of the subway in the summer. That said, she can’t get enough of either.

Jake Kalish is a freelance journalist and humorist whose work has appeared in Details, Maxim, Stuff, New York Press, Spin, Blender, Men's Fitness, Poets and Writers, and Playboy, among other publications. He is also the author of Santa vs. Satan: The Official Compendium of Imaginary Fights.

Contributors


Ben Kallen is an entertainment, health and humor writer who's been lectured to by Sidney Poitier, argued with by Lea Thompson and smiled at by Jennifer Connelly. He's the coauthor of The No S Diet and author of The Year in Weird, along with hundreds of magazine articles. He lives near the beach in Los Angeles, just like the gang from Three's Company.

Nicole Ankowski has lived in Ohio, Oakland, and on the high plains of South Dakota, but is now proud to call Brooklyn home. She wrote for alternative weekly papers in the first two states, and tried to learn Lakota in the last. (The vowels can be tricky.) She just earned her MFA in Creative Writing and has been published in Beeswax literary journal. She is unable to resist good writing or bad TV.

Send tips to


Tags

SITES WE LIKE


partners