It doesn’t really bother me too much that the “footsteps of history” fireworks display during the Olympics opening-ceremony TV coverage from Beijing turned out to be a computer animation trick.
Gao Xiaolong, head of the visual effects team for the ceremony, said it had taken almost a year to create the 55-second sequence. Meticulous efforts were made to ensure the sequence was as unnoticeable as possible: they sought advice from the Beijing meteorological office as to how to recreate the hazy effects of Beijing’s smog at night, and inserted a slight camera shake effect to simulate the idea that it was filmed from a helicopter.
“Seeing how it worked out, it was still a bit too bright compared to the actual fireworks,” he said. “But most of the audience thought it was filmed live - so that was mission accomplished.”
Still, I can forgive this one. It’s sort of like how the archer at the Barcelona opening ceremony in 1992 missed the cauldron with his flaming arrow. And Yet The Mighty Olympic Flame Was Magically Lit.
But here are some Chinese (and NBC) Olympic deceptions that genuinely get my kung pao in a wok.
I’m pretty burnt at the moment, having written over 11,000 13,000 heavily researched, meticulously hyperlinked words about the John Edwards/Rielle Hunter story in the last 2 weeks. (No, it ain’t diggin’ ditches. Anybody can dig ditches!) But the story’s still developing, and our traffic is way up. What to do? Simple: I’ll let youguys do all the work.
Please note that unlike certain people, I’m giving credit where it’s due. In no particular order:
Some say this very special lady’s name is pronounced “Riley.” Some say it’s “Ree-elle.” According to commenters “a reader” and Fortunate Son, it’s pronounced “Real.” (Sorry for doubting your instincts, Maureen.) Of course, we might have nailed down the correct pronunciation by now if the n-e-w-s hadn’t waited for John Edwards to let them off the leash. For now, I’m sticking to the way I’ve been pronouncing her name: “Koo-Koo Nuttington III.”
Commenter Ellis Easton Bret (get it?) thinks he knows why John and Rielle are behaving the way they’re behaving. It’s all speculation, of course, but it certainly would explain a lot.
Fortunate Son has more info on Pigeon O’Brien — which is the name of an actual person — here and here. I used to think it was hacky when comedians said, “You can’t make this stuff up, folks!” And it is hacky, but you really can’t. FS also has more info on Mimi Hockman (Rielle’s “partner” in that “video production company”) and the career of Andrew Young.
Fran points out that based on Frances Quinn Hunter’s date of birth, the date of conception must have been on or around June 6, 2007. Which would make this all the more perfect. Maybe Rielle really was under the podium…
Thanks to FS again for pointing out Breitbart.tv’s B-Cast yesterday, which actually credited Deceiver for the information they used. (You know how lazy and irresponsible those dumb bloggers are, unlike actual journalists.) Also, he’s got more info on Rielle’s sister Melissa Druck, and on apparent changes to the homepage of the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
So thanks, you guys! All this stuff is enough to make your head spin, and it would have been nice if the media had released it over the last three weeks instead of cramming it into the last 96 hours. But one thing’s for sure: There are a hell of a lot of pieces to this puzzle, and very few of them fit together the way Edwards claims they do.
“They put my name up all over their ads like I’m in love with them, and I really don’t like them,” Trump told The Post’s Dareh Gregorian…. “If it was somebody I was happy with, that would be one thing, but I’m not happy with them.”
The Morrison Cohen firm won a multimillion-dollar settlement for him last year over a real-estate dispute. Naturally, the cheap bastard has not yet paid them for their services, so the firm believes this $5-million lawsuit is just a way to get out of paying $600,000 in fees.
Stella McCartney — designer, PETA darling, and daughter of Paul — is seriously pissed that British fur-maker Hockley used one of her line’s bras in a print advertisement for a $13,000 mink coat with a leather belt.
‘Stella went absolutely ballistic when she saw it,’ a source at Ms McCartney’s store in Mayfair told The Mail on Sunday. ‘I have never seen her so angry. She hit the roof and said that she planned to sue.
‘She allows her accessories to be lent to shoots all the time, but she would never ever allow anything of hers to go to a fashion house that deals exclusively with fur.
‘If Stella knew it was going to be used by Hockley there is no way she would have lent it. It was loaned to a stylist in good faith, but when Stella saw the picture she was furious. She said: “It goes against everything I stand for.”’
But oh, the irony: The bra in question is made from a silk blend. How do you make silk? Here’s a video instruction manual, which explains how silkworms are boiled alive in the process. “This is bad news for the silkworms inside the cocoons” — indeed, which also makes it not terribly vegan.
And if we wanted to get nitpicky, we would point out that Stella McCartney made a suede purse a few seasons back, using “ecological leather.” Which, guess what, is still leather. From environmental-activist cows, I suppose.
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I’m pretty burnt at the moment, having written over 
