After what's been hailed as the most extravagant Opening Ceremony in Olympic history, Zhang Yimou does it again... Just not as well.

Don't get me wrong, I loved the thousands of volunteers and the symbolism of handing off the torch to the Brits- yeah, it really felt like a corny reversal of the 1997 Hong Kong Handover. 

I even teared up at that scene where the Chinese volunteers waved goodbye to the reluctantly-leaving foreign athletes, which was followed by an appropriately somber extinguishing of the Olympic flame... then the passionate re-ignition via sheer manpower!

What I was annoyed at was what immediately preceded and then followed the meaningful handover segment- the disappointing performance of Leona Lewis, which was only rescued (somewhat) by Jimmy Page's skilled riffs. The good folks at Fourth Place Medal did a good job poking fun at all of that. And while certainly jubilant, the "Olympic Carnival" was a strange mess of dancers, acrobats, pyrotechnics, and stars the Western world is totally unfamiliar with.

What is up with NBC?! I have been generally impressed with NBC's coverage of the Beijing Olympics, but they totally botched the music portion of the Closing Ceremonies. Not only was the camerawork shaky, switching from acrobats to dancers to Jackie Chan, but they didn't even bother to acknowledge the Chinese superstars singing on stage... and the one they did identify, Wei Wei, is hardly "the biggest pop star in China".

At least they could've acknowledged Korean superstar Rain (whose singing in Chinese below, with Kelly Chen), whose long running feud with Stephen Colbert is the stuff of comic genius. Shame on you Bob Costas!

I'm pointing all of this out because I CLEARLY remember NBC analysts identifying Greek pop stars when they performed at the Athens Closing Ceremony- even though they weren't singing in English either! They even took time to ID the Greek American winner of Pop Idol in Greece... yet totally ignored Chinese American superstar Wang Lee-Hom!

But what really disappointed me was not seeing the REAL king of the pop music charts in China.

According to his reps, Jay Chou was invited to perform, but chose not to because "it didn't suit him" and because his company was afraid that he wouldn't "perform well".

In retrospect, perhaps President Chou and Co. made the right decision- if cameramen would focus on Jackie Chan and Wei Wei, while totally panning past Andy Lau and AMERICAN Alexander Wang Lee-Hom, it would've been a waste of time for Jay... especially because he's always talking about crossing over "one day" to the American music market. Then again, given NBC-Universal's lack of interest in even talking about Asian stars, I doubt it'll make that much of a difference.

All of this really proves something I heard a month ago from a Chinese professor at ASU,

"America has globalized the world, but it itself is not globalized."

In other news, people seemed to have made a huge fuss about Australian basketball player Lauren Jackson going in for some love from the most famous Chinese athlete on the planet.

Dude, look at Yao's face!

“How can our national self-respect be so fragile and shallow?” Han Han, one of China’s most popular young writers, wrote on his blog, in an essay about nationalism. “Somebody says you’re a mob, so you curse him, even want to beat him, and then you say, We’re not a mob. This is as if someone said you were a fool, so you held up a big sign in front of his girlfriend’s brother’s dog, saying ‘I Am Not a Fool.’ The message will get to him, but he’ll still think you’re a fool.”

This renewed pride has also affected the way Tang and his peers view the economy. They took to a theory that the world profits from China but blocks its attempts to invest abroad. Tang’s friend Zeng smiled disdainfully as he ticked off examples of Chinese companies that have tried to invest in America.

“Huawei’s bid to buy 3Com was rejected,” he said. “C.N.O.O.C.’s bid to buy into Unocal and Lenovo’s purchase of part of I.B.M. caused political repercussions. If it’s not a market argument, it’s a political argument. We think the world is a free market—”

Before he could finish, Tang jumped in. “This is what you—America—taught us,” he said. “We opened our market, but when we try to buy your companies we hit political obstacles. It’s not fair.”

Their view, which is popular in China across ideological lines, has validity: American politicians have invoked national-security concerns, with varying degrees of credibility, to oppose Chinese direct investment. But Tang’s view, infused with a sense of victimhood, also obscures some evidence to the contrary: China has succeeded in other deals abroad (its sovereign-wealth fund has stakes in the Blackstone Group and in Morgan Stanley), and though China has taken steps to open its markets to foreigners, it remains equally inclined to reject an American attempt to buy an asset as sensitive as a Chinese oil company.

And because of his connection with a generation of youth that is changing China's perception in the world, he might be something even more iconic -- its Joe DiMaggio.

"He has had great achievements," Feng said. "But it has been difficult for him, too. Even though he does not go out often, wherever he goes, he sees his own picture in the streets. There is great pressure. He withstands psychological pressure no other athlete can withstand."

The day afterwards, Nike China put out an ad that reads as follows:

Love competition.

Love risking your pride.

Love winning it back.

Love giving it everything you've got.

Love the glory. Love the pain.

Love sport even when it breaks your heart.

His time away from the Oval Office included the month leading up to 9/11, when there were signs Osama bin Laden was planning to attack America, and the time Hurricane Katrina destroyed the city of New Orleans.

Sen. John McCain takes weekends off and limits his campaign events to one a day. He made an exception for the religious forum on Saturday at Saddleback Church in Southern California.

He was asked "if evil exists." His response was to repeat for the umpteenth time that Osama bin Laden is a bad man and he will pursue him to "the gates of hell." That was it.

He was asked to define rich. After trying to dodge the question -- his wife is worth a reported $100 million -- he finally said he thought an income of $5 million was rich.

One after another, McCain's answers were shallow, simplistic, and trite. He showed the same intellectual curiosity that George Bush has -- virtually none.

Extra Note: And here's the kicker...

I am sick and tired of the president of the United States embarrassing me. The world we live in is too complex to entrust it to someone else whose idea of intellectual curiosity and grasp of foreign policy issues is to tell us he can look into Vladamir Putin's eyes and see into his soul.

George Bush's record as a student, military man, businessman and leader of the free world is one of constant failure. And the part that troubles me most is he seems content with himself.

He will leave office with the country $10 trillion in debt, fighting two wars, our international reputation in shambles, our government cloaked in secrecy and suspicion that his entire presidency has been a litany of broken laws and promises, our citizens' faith in our own country ripped to shreds. Yet Bush goes bumbling along, grinning and spewing moronic one-liners, as though nobody understands what a colossal failure he has been.

I fear to the depth of my being that John McCain is just like him.

The Olympics are almost over, but the Real Games have yet to begun!

I feel strangely at peace when I see two gray-haired old friends talk as they walk down the street or sit in a coffee shop. I like to imagine what they're talking about- golf? grandkids? killing fascists in the War?

Like many guys in their 20s, I don't really care to live to a ripe old age- but if I do, shooting the breeze with other fellow jeriatrics would be good times indeed.

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When babies cry (and when I say cry, I mean the wailing and screaming kind), I'm reminded of slasher films. If you're an adult and you sound like a distraught toddler, squealing as loud as stuck pig, chances are you're in the midst of a horrible, horrible death.

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How I know we're heading for a recession - I was riding the bus through Huntington Beach, and at every stop, there were groups of blonde, tanned, OC girls boarding public transportation with their designer bags and sunglasses. $5 dollar a gallon gas coming soon to a station near you.

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Speaking of gas, I think high prices at the pump are actually a blessing in disguise- it forces businesses to pursue new, innovative ways of utilizing alternative energy sources, which would undoubtedly create new jobs for both blue and white collar workers.

After all, American ingenuity in science and technology is how we got to be el primero en el mundo in the first place.

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It's easy to make excuses for yourself if you don't have legitimate answers. For instance, whenever people asked me why I wasn't dating (especially in high school), I would respond, "I don't have any money!" or "I want to keep my money!"

For one, I was full of it, and people "in the know" knew it right away. On top of that, my answer is sort of self-defeating; if I was that concerned about money, I don't deserve to be in a relationship in the first place.

Now when people ask me this question, I simply reply,

"I'm a college student in LA- why would I want to be in a relationship?"

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And lastly,

Boston sucks.