Olympic Proportions

[howeird]

The joke at BASFA Monday night is the summer Olympics are happening right now in Vancouver.

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I am totally done with watching the coverage on NBC. Gab, gab, gab. Inane chatter from the not particularly articulate commentators constantly. Watching the first Canadian gold medal presentation, instead of turning up the audio on the audience, which was singing O! Canada with all their hearts, NBC uses the piped in instrumental, talking over it, while showing a close-up of the winner, who apparently doesn't know the words. Truth is he's singing the French version, being from Quebec. Something the droning announcer didn't have a clue about.

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I've been disappointed at the camera placements, the often out of sync audio, and not particularly stellar directing. The figure skating seems to have escaped most of the technical issues, but they still have the TMI thing going in spades.

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Edit add: Just saw on TV and heard on radio two US Olympic team ads which featured 1-liners from several athletes. They really should not let those people near a microphone.

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Domino is pooping on the carpet again. I don't think she's gained any weight this month. Expletive! Probably still has the thyroid problem. Both kitties will be hungry tonight, they get their dental cleanings tomorrow, which requires anesthetic, so no eating 12 hours prior.

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Will probably leave work a little early to pick them up. Drop them home, then meet localinactivist for dinner at a new place in Mountain View called Thaifoon. I want to try them out before they go under. It won't be long. They are across the street from two Amarins (vegetarian & normal) and Krung Thai. Between the stupid name and the competition, they are doomed. Maybe. I see they are a franchise chain with locations in Salt Lake City, Scottsdale, and Capetown SA.

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Finally hauled a bunch of chewed up textiles out to the dumpster. Next is the moldy air mattress. That would have been too much fun for one night.

Comments

[dprisoner.livejournal.com]

I could be wrong, but my understanding from watching two different country's coverage of the summer games is that the Olympic Broadcast Services seems to be responsible for the feed. At the Beijing games, if you saw a guy in with a bib that sad BOB - that was the Beijing Olympic Broadcast group. Could you imagine how cluttered it would be with every major broadcaster having cameras at every angle? So the event sound and vision at the Winter games is the responsibility of OBSV.

I do agree with you about Bob Cost-ass yammering over everything. I'm more pissed that we're in the same time-zone as the Olympics, and we get tape delayed highlights...

[howeird]

I used to be a cameraman for remote events, and trust me, NBC has their own cameras, and controls their own feed. That's what they paid the big bucks for.

[dprisoner.livejournal.com]

With a little more research...

To some degree we're both right. From MultiChannel news (which I used to get when I was at KTEH):

"Most of NBC's core feeds will come from host broadcaster Olympic Broadcasting Service Vancouver (OBSV), said Mazza, which will have more than 400 cameras and more than 22 mobile units at the event.

"We will have another 100-plus cameras ourselves and five or six mobile units," he said. "I think the host has about 60 EVS operators and we will have another 45." "

I'm still surprised at the amount of camera they have there - but they still need a lot of them out there for individual interviews at the events. OBS only started their coverage with Beijing, and it looks like NBC had the same commitment at those games (courtesy of BroadcastingCable.)

Remember, this is NBC - the same people who thought they could save money by putting Leno on 5-nights a week.

[howeird]

Last thing first - don't confuse NBC Sports with NBC entertainment - if they were under the same wing, Leno would be doing his show from Vancouver this week.

Looking at a more technical article, you're more right than I am.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/447917-Olympics_2010_NBCU_s_HD_Leap_Into_Vancouver.php

It basically says that NBC's extra cameras are mostly "specials", used to provide special effects like superimposing the country flags on the speed skaters' lanes, spotting the longest jumps and so on. Plus the on-the-spot hand-held cameras. Which means it's OBSV which has done a sucky job of camera placement.

[lemmozine.livejournal.com]

Thought you might find this interesting: http://neighbors.denverpost.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=14390154&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=0

A Boulder, CO restaurant owner indicted, essentially, for importing and keeping slaves from Thailand to operate his businesses.

[howeird]

Thanks for the link, I'll look into it. On the surface it sounds like they don't have the whole story. Usually Thai restaurants bring over relatives and the contract is in return for getting them here. Or the employees are Burmese who have been sold by their parents.