Paris Olympics kick off with ambitious but rainy opening ceremony on Seine River

Filled with French weirdness but a technical and musical tour de force. Well done, Paris and France.

TaiwanIsNotChina

Filled with French weirdness

French weirdness???

It might not have been to your taste, but there’s no need to be dismissive.

A toast to Paris. A toast to France!

Filled with French weirdness

Arrogantly imply “My culture is better than yours” without saying “My culture is better than yours”

I'm not dismissive. Every country does things their own way. I'm just saying for me personally, the flaming piano and torchbearer knight were a little weird.

Spectacular!

Though, I do wish there was more traditional culture.

Woke up. caught the end of it. Should have found a version online as par for course the NHK commentary was its usual insipid offering. Carl Lewis on the speedboat in the rain! Lol. The epitone of get me the hell out of here!

Widespread travel disruptions triggered by what French officials called coordinated arson attacks on high-speed rail lines as well as the weather had dampened the mood ahead of the ceremony.

Two different stories here right!

why are the left so violent?

Two different stories here right!

why are the left so violent?

The biggest threats they are getting right now are from fascist Russia and their army of violent supporters. They are still bitter and furious that the civilized world - rightly - wanted them banned from the Olympics.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd1j7kg2nk0o.amp

Anyway, good show despite the bad weather. Well done, Paris!

Agree with TIC above. Lots of weird stuff, but a good show with plenty of surprises, despite the sometimes heavy rain. Congratulations, France!

So extrange celebration..

Why not in a stadium as usual??..

That ceremony on the river looked more like an LGBT+ pride parade..

LOL

It was very interesting they used North American singers for the opening ceremony. They should have used local singers, even if no one knows who they are. It will introduce foreign people to French entertainers.

I appreciated the French or French speaking hip hop, it sounded like to me.

And yeah, how they managed to hold that in the rain with not a single person falling over was a miracle to me.

Today  07:57 am JST

FIghto

Two different stories here right!

why are the left so violent?

The biggest threats they are getting right now are from fascist Russia and their army of violent supporters. They are still bitter and furious that the civilized world - rightly - wanted them banned from the Olympics.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd1j7kg2nk0o.amp

Anyway, good show despite the bad weather. Well done, Paris!

who are you ? check, you have a stuck record in your head.

Why not in a stadium as usual??..

The Seine is iconic...

They should have used local singers

Oui!, Celine is Canadian...even the classical orchestra jumping into pop was a bit weird...

Missed it, glad I did from the reports. I pray that the games will be better at least.

did not watch,zero interest sorry...

Why not in a stadium as usual??..

The Seine is iconic...

Definitely...much better than another boring stadium.

Great to see a truly festive opening ceremony, the first Games fans from around the world have been able to attend in person since Pyeongchang 2018.

Ah, an Olympics with spectators. Much better! Japan should've waited till this year to hold theirs. Too bad. Looking forward to the next two weeks!

No ones cares about the host, we only care about our own countries athletes. GO USA!!!

Perversion parade worshiping Satan, glorifying the Alphabet people and hating on Christians. They are not even trying to hide it any more

Perversion parade worshiping Satan

Hysterical.

Seemed pretty easy to understand what they were trying to do - and did imo.

The Olympics as a celebration, a festival of nations, people and their athletes.

That they included many performers athletes from other nations showed a sense of welcome, acceptance, appreciation and humanity.

Not to think that Frances own history and culture wasn't on full show - it surely was.

A logistically, chaotic nightmare of a production to pull off and they did.

It won't be forgotten soon.

I missed it, but by all accounts it seems that Paris pulled off the near impossible. Especially impressive as they did not need a taxpayer-funded, white elephant stadium.

Not everything is "right" or "left" only those who suffer tunnel vision.

Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!

Lady Gaga is a bit overweight though.

Perversion parade worshiping Satan, glorifying the Alphabet people and hating on Christians. They are not even trying to hide it any more.

Yeah, I also hate any event that Satan gets involved in.

I am French and it was more than weird, to say the least. You hardly could see French culture in it while performance, imagination and diversity was open as it could be.

Paris illuminations under the heavy rain was more than a challenge and was a success.

Thank you to all who made it possible.

Shame about the weather, an interesting format from past opening ceremonies.

I watched the highlights.

Emmanuel Macron luck needs to change.

Just watched the whole thing, and yeah um. Brave of France to try that, but sorry it was bad. The athletes on the boats is the biggest talking point on the interwebs it seems - its almost universal panning of the move.

news.com.au had the best Aussie take in it “Paris was utterly taking the p**s” …it was as disappointing as a day old Coles croissant”

The Sun naturally had the best pun headline “Wat-er Farce”

The laser light show on the Eiffel Tower was my highlight.

Please let the games be better, terrible and raw food at the athletes village is not promising start.

@fizz bit: why are the left so violent?

More Truther fake news.

That ceremony on the river looked more like an LGBT+ pride parade..

The new " normal" they say.

*news.com.au had the best Aussie take in it “Paris was utterly taking the p*s” …it was as disappointing as a day old Coles croissant”

The Sun naturally had the best pun headline “Wat-er Farce”

Haha....

Filled with French weirdness

Bro doesn't get out much, rest of the world thinks America is weird. Check your election clownshow weirdness.

by all accounts it seems that Paris pulled off the near impossible. Especially impressive as they did not need a taxpayer-funded, white elephant stadium.

Gotta love that.

I don't know anyone that is in the Olympics and an orgy of flag waving is not my scene. Let the games begin. Take pride in Your accomplishments. Yes, Yours.

Really enjoyed it BECAUSE it was filled with French weirdness! Some surreal imagary, (the silver horse galloping down the Seine was great) then when they turned the Tower into a discotheque the visuals were amazing.

burgers and beersToday 03:13 pm JST

Filled with French weirdness

Bro doesn't get out much, rest of the world thinks America is weird. Check your election clownshow weirdness.

I can vote for my leaders, though...

Memorable opening ceremony. Wishing athletes, spectators, and organizers exciting times in Paris.

Perversion parade worshiping Satan.

Exactly.

French sophistication has gone.

Something else entirely now.

Decline of the West on full display.

Missed it, glad I did from the reports. I pray that the games will be better at least.

Though the execution was far from perfect, the concept was brilliant!

Bad vibes. Bad taste. Sick.

Decline of the West on full display.

Shouldn’t it be decline of medieval mindsets on full display!

Love the French and their culture, they evolve unlike the right wing nuts!

One new display on Friday showed what appear to be numerous performers, including drag queens and a large woman in an aureole halo crown, parodying "The Last Supper," a universally recognizable painting by renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci of Christ and his apostles.

Many internationally known figures condemned the display as a sign of the cultural rot in Western Civilization.

Disgusting.

2.4 billion Christians were disrespected last night. Yes, the Western World/Western Culture/Western Civilization is in danger.

Filled with French weirdness

Bro doesn't get out much, rest of the world thinks America is weird. Check your election clownshow weirdness.

I can vote for my leaders, though...

So can the French.

(edited)

One new display on Friday showed what appear to be numerous performers, including drag queens and a large woman in an aureole halo crown, parodying "The Last Supper," a universally recognizable painting by renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci of Christ and his apostles. 

Many internationally known figures condemned the display as a sign of the cultural rot in Western Civilization.

Disgusting.

2.4 billion Christians were disrespected last night. The Western World/Western Culture/WesternCivilization is in danger.

And people are still wondering why the far-right is on the rise in Europe and why 70, 75, 80 million people will still vote for Trump (it’s not just about immigration, social justice and economics).

The French has fashion that's always been renowned for avante-garde. (Remember, the modern bikini was introduced by a French to worldwide controversy.) They sure don't rest on their past laurels. They didn't let the rain stop pouring on full display last night. Congrats!

Porn addict, speaker Mike Johnson was whining about the opening ceremony being unchristian!!!

It’ll about projection for these loonies!!!

Japan Today, you missed reporting on the absolute disgust of many people including non-Christians at the shameful performance featuring a man with private parts hanging out alongside a child.

The blasphemous segment along with the golden calf at the center of it all points to an anti-Christian message which goes against Olympic rules.

Olympic organizers scrubbing the internet does not erase the fact that this was a major fail.