Rolling Out The Red Carpet: Special Olympics China

I am a sucker for the Olympic Opening Ceremony. I like the pageantry, the culture, seeing all of the delegates in funny hats, the giant ribbons and scarves, the fireworks, the lights. It's like th best parts of holidays smashed together in a ball and then stretched out again like silly putty.

With the summer games just under a year away, I was contenet to suffer in silence, longing for the days of vividly colored performance art. But when I tried to tune into my daily Gilmore Girls rerun on ABC Family (I guess you're not alone EK), what did I discover? The Opening Ceremony of the 2007 Special Olympics. Color this the best day of my week!

The games are in Shanghai this year and the opening ceremonies are just as big a spectacle as the traditional ones, if not more. I've been watching for 34 minutes and I've already seen a giant gold dragon; Jackie Chan yelling " Niiiiiiiiii Haaaoooooooo" (Hellllllllloooooooooo) to the tens of thousands of people in attendance; Quincy Jones reading from a flash card 8 inches from his face; a woman rocking on a nylon boat held up by volunteers posing as wave; and a music video about all of the countries represented that looked like a Nike commercial.

But seriously, don't let my sarcasm fool you, this is one of the best Opening Ceremony's I've seen, and I'm not alone in this sentiment. I am truly excited about the rest of the competitions. This will tide me over until my TV returns to China next summer. This is going to be a tough act to follow.