Politics aside, this was an amazing spectacle. The combination of incredible technology (how about that massive LED scroll/screen) with the thousands and thousands of humans performing with such accuracy and synchronization. And the printing blocks that turned out to be human powered--astonishing. Beautiful production design and values throughout. I'm usually not that into these sort of things but I was impressed.

Wasn't that amazing and beautiful ! Something we could not really expect to do here, because the cost and the risks would be prohibitive. I wonder--- would Carl Lewis even ever consider being hoisted on a cable and pulled along the rim of a stadium like that because of the dangers involved.... I figure that guy was in real danger of physical injury or death on that gag, and must have placed under a lot of pressure to put that show on...... It was amazing, but you got to wonder about that, and the kids dangling from cables, again something we would not consider here...

As beautiful as it was, in the back of my mind I kept thinking that the 1936 Olympic showed similar highly choreographed ceremony in its day....

I watched and it was unreal. The precision is something we don't see here even on a small scale, let alone the magnitude that they employed. The technical and artistic infusion of events was simply amazing. I was impressed for sure. Now I'm wondering what the closing ceremonies will be like?

At one point about half way through the show, I turned to my wife and said. "Wow. If I was the team leader in charge of the London show in 4 years I'd be gnawing through my lower lip about now."

No matter your thoughts about the politics of modern China - everyone in that country who contributed to that amazing spectacle has the right to be deeply, deeply proud of the show their countrymen and women put on.

Vision, design, execution, "wow factor."

World class - in every possible sense of the phrase.