Today Show - August 13, 2008

More Today Show Appearances from Jen Reeves on Vimeo.

Mark and Sarah made appearances on the Today Show! I tried to get this online yesterday but other KOMU jobs got into the way. Anyway. You can see Mark OBVIOUSLY waving a KOMU sign and a Canadian flag!! I didn't get to add arrows, but the next shot you can see Sarah right under the time graphics. After that, you can see Sarah in the middle to the right as the anchors talk to a person from Chicago. There are a couple of other Mark and Sarah shots as well. Enjoy!

Look who was on the Today Show!

I thought I'd post a portion of the Today Show with the Beijing group showing off some pride:


Mizzou Pride at the Today Show from Jen Reeves on Vimeo.

-Jen Reeves
komu.com New Media Director

Day 40 - The Opening Ceremonies - A Local Perspective

Hey Everyone!

Wow - it has been a whirlwind these past 48 hours.  Last night, I got to bed around 2:45AM and was up at 8 ready for work.  This is the first chance I've had to reflect on the past few days.  Here's what's been going on...

August 8th, I left the hotel at 12:30 to get to the Olympic Green.  I wasn't sure how bad the traffic was going to be and I wanted to get some footage around the area.  Security was the highest I've ever seen it and I ended up having to walk to the Green - we've always taken the bus.  I must have passed through five checkpoints before I was even CLOSE to the Green.  It was funny, I wasn't quite sure how many levels of clearance I had every time I approached a checkpoint.  I pretended I knew what I was doing and walked briskly through.  When I was

 stopped, I tried to reason, but it doesn't help when the police officer doesn't speak English...and he thinks you speak Chinese.  I walked around for awhile and finally ended up getting to the entrance around 4:00PM!  I was dehydrated and tired from walking so long and being rejected by the guards.

At the NIS, we met journalists that had come to interview the athletes pre-Opening Ceremonies.  The NIS was the staging area for all the athletes before the Parade of Nations.  I went outside and watched the start of the Opening Ceremony with a bunch of volunteers on the Olympic Green.  

About two hours before the ceremony, people started pouring in.  I can only describe it as an international gathering and melting pot of countries from all over.  Everyone was in a party mood and we took the opportunity to take pictures with as many people as we could.  It was a mutual sharing of photos and there never seemed to be enough people to take the pictures!

There were monitors set up...but they were not showing what was happening inside!  I was disapointed, but many of us made a pact that if it came to that, we would want to say we were there in person.  We could watch it whenever we wanted to.

I got to see the drummers line up for the opening portion of the performance and got some pictures with the actors.  They were all very popular!  Then, we gathered around the large chute that was set up for the athletes to send them into the stadium for the Parade of Nations.  It was incredible seeing all the countries go by.  The Chinese people were feeding off the athletes when they responded to their cheers.  It was one surprise after another.

By

 the time 11:30PM rolled around, we were getting tired.  Many of us wanted to stick it out to watch the flame.  Close to midnight, the cauldron was illuminated and without hesitation, it was lit in a bright flash.  Fireworks followed in a cornucopia of colors and shapes.  One formation was in the Olympic rings.  Not only were they shot off by the stadium, but down the entire Green.  The sky was literally filled with fireworks and we were surrounded!  It was one of the best shows I've seen!  As an extra treat,

 fireworks continued to go off as we headed to the subway - conviently, they were in the same

 direction!  Words cannot describe the evening...here's a better attempt.  (waiting for the fireworks)

Today was our first day on the Olympic Green during the Games.  Seeing the flame watching over us was very cool!  We entered the NIS and got ready for our first round of competitions.  I worked with the NBC Sports people - national.  We interviewed all of the men's team after competition in subdivision 1.  When you see the interviews with them, I'm standing literally inches from them scribbling down quotes.  It was so much fun!  I stuck around for the other subdivisions throughout the day helping out and

 observing the competition.  

I also heard today there was a murder near the Drum Tower.  That is located in Ho Hai - an area we visited awhile back - the place with the rickshaws.  It is very sad to hear about the incident.  Haven't heard too much about that here locally.  (Drum Tower performance weeks before)

Will try to keep you updated on this incredible journey.  Hope you enjoyed the start to the Games!  Thank you to all for checking out this blog - I hope it can help you see another side of China.

Ted

Quick note on the opening ceremony

Hi guys! Just a quick note before I head back to work at the National Indoor Stadium. I spend most of my evening wandering around the spectators' stand and met a lot of athletes.

Here is a video of Yao Ming (flag bearer for China) getting ready to walk over to the Bird's Nest. I apologize for the lack of audio, my camera did not pick up the sound. But everyone was cheering for the Chinese team, chanting 中國, 加油! Literally, it means "China, add fuel", a Chinese way of saying "strive for the best".

Day 38 [20.5 HOURS!!!] - Calm Before the Storm

Hey Everyone!

I was on the Olympic Green tonight!  Wanted to get one more viewing before the craziness begins.  You can see it, too.

Ted

Day 36 [3 DAYS TO GO!!!] - Video Promo

Hey Everyone!

The video promo is up at the top of the page!  It took about 30 hours to edit!  This is just a promotion for the Olympics done in a la athlete profile sequences!  Enjoy!

Ted

Day 25 - People Soup

Hey Everyone!

My alarm clock went off at 5:00AM this morning - not for work, but for a chance to buy Olympic tickets. The fourth phase of ticket selling began this morning at 9:00AM. The remaining 250,000 tickets for Beijing events went on sale Friday, and some are predicting they will be sold out the same day.

Some friends and I planned out or attack the night before. We left at 6AM from the hotel and caught the subway. We split up from there: two of us hoping to get beach volleyball tickets and the other two looking for football tickets. Ashley and I headed to the venue site for beach volleyball. It took an hour just to find the place. Once we did, we had to go through several security checkpoints just to get to the line. The crowd was huge...so long we couldn't see the end. For all we knew, it wrapped around the stadium. We learned that there were six ticket offices corresponding to the six chutes that people were gathering in. We were ushered into one of the chutes and began "the wait". Not surprisingly, it was the most humid day yet in Beijing. People were all around invading all personal space. Standing became tiring and we sat down - first brushing away street trash and then putting down a piece of paper to sit on. It was HOT. I was sticky from the humidity and the enormous number of people trapped in the heat. Many times throughout the wait I seriously thought about leaving, but we had come so far and stayed so long we HAD to see it through. Making matters worse, there wasn't a breeze.

We didn't move for more than an hour which gave me the opportunity to do a lot of thinking and observing. Two women started fighting over something intense and the police had to break it up. One man had tucked his shirt into his underwear - a fashion no-no and - I'm sure - an uncomfortable decision for the day. By 1:00PM, five hours later, we got to the front of the line. (Nothing compared to the two days some people waited for opening ceremony tickets, but it was still tough.) Here's the kicker: each chute corresponded to a specific box office which sold tickets for specific dates. We wanted tickets for the 17th, 18th or 19th, but the booth we were directed to was only selling the 13th-15th! We tried moving over to the correct booth, but weren't allowed. We bought the tickets for the 14th and hoped for the best. It turns out, we will be okay and will be able to make the event! The other group grabbed women's football (soccer) tickets, so we are going to that event, too! The morning was a true test of patience. We passed, but a retest probably wouldn't yield the same results.

Check out the video - notice how the novelty wears off as the hours melt by.

Ted