Every time Phelps dived into the water for a final here, the ripples extended into every corner of the Water Cube. On Saturday, the Andrew Lauterstein of Australia won the bronze medal in the 100 butterfly. Standing on the medals podium alongside Phelps, Lauterstein said, he was thrilled to have had a cameo role in this recording of history. “I was saying to myself, ‘This is pretty special,’ ” he said. “ ‘Look around and try to remember this moment.’
aja:
livingstones by stéphanie marin
We just got this sofa delivered on Thursday, and I want these stones / pillows to go with it. Peeeerfect.
Phelps may be the Games’ Golden Child, but the most inspiring performance I’ve seen is from Dara Torres. Still giving those other kids a run for their money at the ripe age of 41? Kickass. Way too cool for words. She may have missed out on her chance for an individual gold last night by one-hundredth of a second, but it’s been amazing watching her.
Also getting on my nerves? The multiple anchors and commentators who describe the U.S. team athletes and coaches of Chinese descent as “returning home to their own country” for the Beijing Games (e.g., Shawn Johnson’s Chinese coach, the women’s volleyball coach). You know what? They’re fucking representing this country, they’ve devoted their livelihoods to furthering the sport for the U.S.’s teams, they’re contributing members of American society. So why are they all of a sudden chink-eyed foreigners “returning home”? I nearly threw my remote at my television set when one commentator essentially assured us, the American viewing public, that the U.S. volleyball coach Jenny Lang Ping (who’d formerly played for China and has since moved to the States) COULD BE TRUSTED not to compromise the U.S. team with divided loyalties to China. And what about Kevin Tan, U.S. men’s gymnast who happens to be Chinese-American. AMERICAN. Yet the commentators repeatedly had to blow smoke up their own asses about how amazing and progressive the U.S. is for having an Indian(-American), a Chinese(-American), and a Belarusian(-American) gymnast on the team.
Way to make it stunningly clear that you consider “true” Americans to be corn-fed, blue-eyed, blonde-haired white people, while the rest of us are merely The Foreign Other, no matter our citizenship or country of birth. We just happen to be benefiting from the U.S.’s benevolence and magnanimity in allowing us to live here, pay our taxes, and contribute to society, right?
Remember the red dress cutie singing “Ode to the Motherland” from the Olympics’ opening ceremony? Yeah, turns out it’s actually another girl singing, but because she wasn’t “flawless” enough, they decided to have a cuter girl lip sync it.
They faced a dilemma because although Lin was prettier, seven-year-old Yang had the better voice, Mr Chen said.
“After several tests, we decided to put Lin Miaoke on the live picture, while using Yang Peiyi’s voice,” he told the radio station.
“The reason for this is that we must put our country’s interest first,” he added.
“The girl appearing on the picture must be flawless in terms of her facial expression and the great feeling she can give to people.”
Singer Lin, who is being called the “smiling angel”, has already become a media celebrity because of her performance.
Seriously? Sick.
Something a bit Western about her hanbok. Could be the silk chimajogori. The shoes? I think this was when she got engaged to my grandpa. One of my favorite photos of her, if not my all-time favorite family portraits.