Pop Cult
Thoughts, ideas and videos from the world of movies, music, TV and everything else pop culture.
Olympics closing ceremony highlights
Photo credit: AP
So we've reached the official end of the London Olympics! Tonight's closing ceremonies is supposed to be less formal and more musical than the more artistic opening ceremonies crafted by Danny Boyle. No parachuting queen (though, likely some Queen) and no dancing tribute to the Industrial Revolution expected. Join us as we blog along with all the excitement on NBC and tell us what you want, what...
Read more »Olympics wrestling controversy just part of the confusion
Recently, fellow PopCult blogger Erica Marcus bemoaned the demise of the straightforward 10-point judging system in gymnastics, making the sport less dramatic for the viewer at home. I agree — but at least with gymnastics an unschooled eye can see when the gymnast has performed with grace and confidence and avoided awkward mistakes. You don’t need to be an Olympic judge to recognize a shaky performance.
Likewise...
Read more »Gay Olympic diver Matthew Mitcham is out
Photo credit: Getty Images
I’ve been watching and blogging about the Olympics off and on since the opening ceremonies, and up to now I’ve heard precious little about gay and lesbian athletes participating in the games. The website OutSports.com counts 21 openly gay or lesbian competitors out of some 10,000 total participants in London, among them U.S. soccer player Megan Rapinoe, Great Britain’s Carl Hester (who won a gold...
Read more »Allyson Felix fights way to Olympic gold
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Nice guys (and gals) don't always finish last.
Finishing first, though, sometimes requires letting some niceties go.
Look at Allyson Felix. Whoops. Make that Olympic Gold Medalist Allyson Felix, winner of today's 200-meter race.
The 26-year-old from Los Angeles got her first individual gold medal in dramatic, come-from-behind fashion to pass the field and hold off Jamaica's Shelly-Ann...
Read more »Is Aly Raisman Jewish and other Olympics questions
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It’s bad form, I know. I’m not supposed to wonder if she’s Jewish; I’m not supposed to consult Wikipedia. But thanks to Raisman’s choice of "Hava Nagila" to accompany her floor exercises, I no longer feel guilty about this. Mazel Tov, Aly!
And now, some other burning questions:
Why do the Russian team jackets say “Russia” and the Chinese jackets, “China”? Neither country uses...
Read more »Gabby Douglas routine center of faux drama
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NBC's coverage of the uneven bars finals from the London Olympics played out almost like a silent movie.
There were the stunned looks on Team USA's gymnasts' faces as Gabby Douglas, who won the women's all-around competition, faltered. Instead of the wide smile that has become her trademark during the games, Douglas wore a look of sad resignation after her routine. And you could almost hear...
Read more »Usain Bolt prances after victory; McKayla Maroney icy with 2nd-place finish
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We’re into the second week of the Olympic Games, and now track and field events enter the mix. Right off the bat, you see that the runners have a very different competitive style from the swimmers, the swimmers a different style from the gymnasts, and so on.
Tonight, everyone’s attention was focused on Jamaican runner Usain Bolt, the “fastest man in the world,” who qualified for the final...
Read more »Olympics Water polo: beyond the helmets
Photo credit: AP
Now that I've gotten beyond the dorky Amish bonnets, I'm grooving on water polo.
Most Olympic sports I could do very poorly; water polo I simply could not do.
Put me on a balance beam and I would fall off. From the high diving board I could not even manage a convincing cannonball. My lack of strength, speed, coordination and endurance makes me a track-and-field nonstarter. On the soccer...
Read more »Michael Phelps caps Olympic career with gold
Leave it to Michael Phelps to embody a difficult bit of hip-hop self-help advice: Stay in your own lane.
It's a thorny concept about believing in yourself, in your own plan, in your own timing. It's an idea that a hip-hop head like Phelps can embrace – you know best. Maybe it's what he and his hero Lil Wayne tweet about, when Weezy isn't singing Phelps' praises.
Phelps, in tonight's...
Read more »Olympics: John Orozco of NY and others who didn't medal, here's to you
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Let’s speak tonight of the losers. There’s plenty of flag-waving and cheering for the Olympic winners. Tonight I thrilled with millions of other viewers to the accomplishments of Nathan Adrian and Rebecca Soni, of Danell Leyva and Misty May-Treanor. Bravo, Olympians.
But what about those who let us down? I get hung up on the big disappointments; as a nonjock, I can relate to losing the race....
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