Olympics

[naomikritzer]

We have been watching the Olympics in the evenings -- the stuff on NBC, since we don't get cable, which mostly at this point has been (a) synchronized diving, (b) beach volleyball, (c) swimming, and (d) gymnastics. The synchro diving has been taped highlights and has been edited down in a rather frustrating way -- last night, the North Koreans were in second place after the first round, and then dropped completely off the standings, presumably because they totally muffed their second dive. Did we get to see either the superlative first dive or the terrible second dive? Nooooooooo. However, when the Mexican divers were shown, we knew they'd have to be the surprise medal contenders. (For one brief moment I thought maybe NBC was showing the Mexicans because they have noticed the huge Mexican population that lives in the U.S., but presumably they're supposed to be watching los Juegos Olimpicos on Univision.)

Sometimes one event finishes before the next thing they were planning to air is ready to start, and they put in some filler, like a piece yesterday about panda bears. Today the filler fluff piece I saw was about the bizarre things those wacky Chinese people eat. I was unimpressed by duck feet and tripe, but at one point the woman bought a deep-fried scorpion. She didn't pop it in her mouth or anything but she did sort of nibble on a leg.

I will eat almost anything, but I will admit a certain reluctance to eat enormous, scary bugs that still look like their enormous, scary selves at the point that they're being served. And this was an enormous, scary bug, deep fried, and served on a stick.

I desperately DESPERATELY wanted someone on the TV to make a joke about the Minnesota State Fair, but NO ONE DID.

(The Minnesota State Fair, which starts next week, is where Minnesotans swap in-jokes, and one of the long-running Minnesotan in-jokes is food on a stick. Sure, you've seen corn dogs on sticks and pork chops on sticks, but at the Minnesota State Fair, you can buy a latte on a stick, macaroni and cheese on a stick, a deep-fried Mars Bar on a stick, and naturally, deep-fried alligator on a stick. But you cannot yet buy deep fried scorpion on a stick. I think this is too bad. Not that I would eat one, mind you, but the same sort of people who go on the reverse bungy ejector seat thing because their friends double-dog dared them would buy and eat deep-fried scorpion on a stick, don't you think?)

Comments

What next, beer on a stick?

[jenizie.livejournal.com]

Ok, I just have to ask. Latte on a stick? How the heck does that work??

Re: What next, beer on a stick?

[naomikritzer]

I do believe they freeze it, popsicle-style.

Re: What next, beer on a stick?

[naomikritzer]

I am browsing through my summer 2008 posts because I'm trying to remember how well Molly was swimming three years ago (because I want to compare children, the way you're not supposed to) and I ran across this comment.

1. The latte on a stick is in fact done popsicle style; it's like a mocha fudgesicle. It is now one of Kiera's Minnesota State Fair STAPLES. (Mine, too.)

2. I believe beer on a stick was introduced in 2009 by Summit Brewing Company. (The "stick" in this case is sort of a paddle with three holes in it, and each hole holds a small sample-sized cup of beer.)

[rowan-redbeard.livejournal.com]

I have been all around unimpressed with NBC's coverage, especially since they decided that Californians are night owls and can stay up three hours late to watch stuff. Okay, okay, I get it about timezones, but it wouldn't hurt to have the interesting things come on sometime before these parents think it's bedtime. (Jenizie's been watching some on streaming video while I edit photos, so at least there's that.)

Don't even get me started on the whole tone of making fun of Chinese culture that has permeated everything about these Olympics. From the sports announcers (though they're the best of the lot -- they mostly just make inane comments like "is that difficult?" which is par for the course) to the human interest stories, and most especially the ads. The ads, frankly, make me disgusted with my country. We can do better than this, than to take stereotypes and cliches and rub them in the face of every Asian American.

Ok, I guess someone spiked my rant juice. But still...

[naomikritzer]

Yeah, the food story bugged the hell out of me for that reason, as well. They talked about how the Chinese eat things that NO ONE ELSE WILL EAT. Dude, tripe? The Chinese do not have a monopoly on tripe!

I eagerly await the TERRIFYING FOOD filler story for the 2012 Olympics. I mean, English sausage? I have eaten it. I will not eat it ever again. Eating English sausage makes me want to stand up and sing odes of praise to the German, Italian, and Polish immigrants who came over to America and showed us how sausage is SUPPOSED to be made.

[sylvia-rachel.livejournal.com]

I eagerly await the TERRIFYING FOOD filler story for the 2012 Olympics.

No kidding. Blood pudding! Steak and kidney pie! Roast-beef-flavoured crisps! Toad-in-the-hole and spotted dick! Bubble-and-squeak!

[servant-of-clio.livejournal.com]

Yeah, seriously. I changed channels when that story came up because I was so annoyed. Plenty of Europeans eat tripe. In fact, in many parts of the world, Americans are considered deeply weird for NOT eating organ meats.

[naomikritzer]

The French eat tripe! And organ meats! And unlike the British, the French are known for GOOD food!

[sylvia-rachel.livejournal.com]

And don't forget the snails.

And in Belgium, according to a veterinary journal article I edited a while back, they eat a lot of horse. Which I imagine makes for interesting conversations during equine medicine sessions at international veterinary conferences ...

[imponderabilias.livejournal.com]

Don't forget menudo! That's made with tripe, I think.

[jiawen]

My teacher in Beijing found a lot of that stuff quite strange and held that only southerners would eat like that. People in Taiwan seemed to think that only those weird mainlanders would eat weird stuff. It seems like everyone holds that everyone else's eating habits are the weird ones.

[naomikritzer]

This is absolutely true. To the point that I think there are a number of ethnic slurs based on what the weird food Those People Over There eat.

I have read that Chinese people find cheese absolutely disgusting and don't understand why anyone would want to eat partially-spoiled animal milk that smells like baby puke.

Nepalese don't eat beef because cows are sacred animals, and will occasionally ask American visitors, "do you really eat cow meat at home?" in roughly the same spirit that an American might ask a French visitor if they really eat horse or a Chinese visitor if they really eat dog.

It's all about your perspective.

Though that deep-fried scorpion? OMGWTFBBQ. That's just weird.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

You can watch complete feeds of just about everything, as well as some coverage with commentary/editing, on nbcolympics.com. Yes, they have finally realized the internet is the way to make less-popular sports still available for viewing. Silverlight kinda sucks, but hey, at least you can see stuff.

[probably-lost.livejournal.com]

Yes, I've been pretty happy with the bits of feeds I've watched. Sometimes they have text commentary but no voice commentary, which is PERFECT.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

Yeah, given the NBC commentators, totally. Although sometimes those are so unedited they don't even have scores, which is not so helpful.

[alirose.livejournal.com]

This seems like the perfect time to use this icon I made 3 years ago after returning from my second trip to Beijing.

[naomikritzer]

Are those scorpions on a stick I see? AWESOME!!!

[alirose.livejournal.com]

yup! ^_^

[sylvia-rachel.livejournal.com]

We have been watching both CBC and NBC (occasionally TSN -- Canada's sports network, imaginatively named The Sports Network :P), but mostly CBC because the NBC coverage is so! annoying!

The CBC coverage is also becoming annoying, however, because as the Games progress and Canada continues to not have ANY MEDALS AT ALL, everyone is focusing more and more on how we have NO MEDALS, and ambushing Canadian swimmers after they don't win or don't make the finals to ask them what went wrong; and when they're not doing that, they're telling us (or each other) reassuringly that although so-and-so didn't win, they did achieve a personal best or break the Canadian record or something.

They did have a filler piece last night that we found really entertaining, which was about those yellow-t-shirted claques with the inflatable clappy things and how they were recruited and have been training for something like four months to applaud and cheer (politely, restrainedly and in an equal-opportunity manner) in organized unison while filling in empty spaces at Olympic events. Apparently one such group got out of hand during a soccer game and actually began cheering for the Canadians.

[naomikritzer]

Check out the DFL blog (for Dead F'ing Last, it honors Olympic losers: "Because they're there, and you're not.") The second story down is about the "Great Canadian Choke Story" and how the Canadian media always whines midway through the games about the lack of medals. Apparently in the winter games last time, some Canadian journalist demanded an apology (to Canada as a whole) from a speed skater who had the nerve to get a Bronze instead of a Gold. This same skater went on to win more medals than any other Canadian athlete in history.

[sylvia-rachel.livejournal.com]

They make a very good point. I've never understood how anyone can berate Olympic athletes for not winning -- and I've noticed that commentators who used to be athletes themselves are a lot more understanding, not surprisingly. I mean, take the gymnasts: I'm blown away by the fact that they can even do handsprings, never mind landing some obscure quadruple something-or-other of difficulty level a billion.

I also think people should grow up: this is a sports event. The fate of the world is not hanging in the balance here.

And I also think that people should remember how much worse it could get: specifically, the 1988 Winter Olympics, of which Canada was the host country and won a grand total of five medals (two silver, three bronze). Elizabeth Manley won the silver medal in women's figure skating, and cried so much I seriously thought she was going to melt into a little puddle, and everyone was so pathetically grateful that we had finally won something that we all cried, too :P Not winning any medals isn't a terrific feeling, but not winning any medals when you are the host country feels really crappy. Which is why, controversies aside, I often find myself rooting for Chinese competitors -- especially the ones who totally weren't expected to win.

[perimyndith.livejournal.com]

We, too, have bene watching CBC.... for one thing, they start coverage at a reasonable time of the day and don't appear to expect me to stay up 'til midnight to find out who won the gold in the big-viewership sports.

What we've found quite a musing is the poll they put up every night so Canadians can vote for the best clip of the day... always 2 exciting things and 1 Canadian-centric thing... of course the Canadian-centric thing always wins.

[sylvia-rachel.livejournal.com]

I hadn't noticed that feature, but that is pretty funny.

[peacockharpy.livejournal.com]

My daughter was horrified to see that they also serve sea horse on a stick (there was a Chinese weird food special on the food or travel network, and she watched with rapt attention). Fortunately, she fell asleep before they went to the penis restaurant. *sigh*

We haven't been very good about watching the Olympics, mostly because I forget to turn it on during the day and in the evening we are wrapped up in bedtimes and such. Maybe I'll surf through the channels now...