At least SOMEONE else was watching the Games! I thought I was the only one. I'm an Olympics freak, more or less, and I really look forward to the Games every two years (summer and winter and equally enjoyable to me, though summer provides much more skin, for obvious reasons).
I'm not entirely sure about the changes to the swimsuits, but there were several competitions I noticed wherein some of the athletes all wore the same thing, some competitions where they seemed to have a choice (one dude was bare-chested, the rest in singlets), and others where they wore the standard Speedo.
My guess is that new technologies come out all the time: these new full-body suits almost certainly provide the opportunity to shave off a few hundredths of a second, so swimmers are going to take advantage of that. Just as the degree of difficulty with diving continues to increase due to the new technology for elasticity in the springboard, it seems logical that the swimsuits are the result of any legally sanctioned methods to swim faster, approved by the IOC.
And just a guess, but I think some of the swim styles would benefit from a suit that covers the chest: breaststroke and butterfly involve some heavy-duty slamming into the surface of the water.
Bummer for the gay male home viewer, though.
I was frustrated with some of the camera angles and shots as well.
So, for any NBC or pool cameramen out there, in 2008, perhaps you can work a little harder to please the gay fans, OK? Here's some suggestions:
When a gymnast is hanging from the rings, you need to avoid some of the extreme face close ups -- and you also need to avoid the pull-back full body shots in excess. We want to see the dude's bulging arm muscles straining to support his weight, OK? At least give a medium-length shot of this, hold for a few seconds, THEN move to the full-body image. Geez, is that too much to ask?
Overall, the ENTIRE Olympics was marred by NOT ENOUGH ARMPITS! What the fuck? SO many missed opportunities. What a waste.
If a gymnast sticks his landing, a foot shot close up would be more than appropriate, I think.
Water polo: not TOO bad this year, but the shots were fleeting. GOOD work on the sideline images, though. You could linger a little more on the mostly naked dudes, however. Far too little coverage of the Yugoslavian goalie, Zoltan. Any dude named Zoltan needs more camera time. Thanks. As for the underwater shots -- more of those, too. Flailing thighs are a GOOD thing. Also, we need to see more images of the water polo players yanking on each other's Speedos underwater. The above-water hugging and blocking: more of that, too.
The marathoners are pretty much emaciated; you cameramen can't do much about that, though.
Men's pole vault: more slo-mo replays, NBC. Otherwise, you did OK with this event.
Diving: not much to look at this year, unfortunately, but there were a few. Scary that the nineteen year old Canadian kid was the best looking of all, though. I'll do him when he's twenty-one. But again, far too many face close ups, especially during arm-stand dives. To repeat, we want to see bulging muscles here, not a straining face. Pull back a little, get those arms in there, OK?
The two Greek men who won the gold in synchro diving: cute little fuckers. Unashamed to hug each other mostly naked in front of a large crowd, too. Nice. But honestly... too many ass shots for me. Get the camera to the front and get more chests next time, would you?
And hey, NBC... look, I know prime time is limited, and that he wasn't a medal contender this time around, but... MORE NEMOV, for crying out loud! Not only is he a handsome dude, but he's a really nice guy. Ten minutes of Alexei Nemov is a travesty. It was his last hurrah, you could have given him more airtime. For the most part, I am not all that into gymnasts, but Nemov is in a class by himself. Very disappointed in that...
I don't care WHAT you do with the women's events. I watch them, but I certainly don't critique the camera angles. HOWEVER, some of the coaches need to instruct the little girl gymnasts to wipe the fucking chalk off their vaginas after the uneven bars. Give the little bitch a towel, will you?
And finally... some of the coaches are worth more camera time, too. And a few of the shirtless fans in the stands. Pan around, dudes. There's plenty to look at.
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