The Burrow

The Opening Ceremony was done on the cheap, as the talking heads kept reminding us.  There weren't many props.  The most controversial one was a replica of Alberto Santos Dumont's plane - the first manned flight, according to Brazil. There's a bit of a brouhaha about that among those who care, but it's their party. I say, let them have it. ***** The show's designers explained the philosophical underpinnings of each segment; never have politics been so colorful. It's hard to smile while watching slavery, depicted with heavy square blocks for shoes and long wooden yokes balanced on shoulders with hands spread wide. But this is Rio, where thousands live in favelas with little sanitation while millions of dollars built one use arenas on the beach, below. ***** NBC couldn't seem to decide on the best camera angle; all that shifting around was vaguely nauseating. There were shimmery metallic sheets glimmering and twisting and making shapes and while I ...