(no subject)

[oyceter]

Watching the Tivoed Grand Prix final, and argh, I want to strangle the stupid commentators! First, Beijing has not been the seat of government and culture in China for thousands of years. Hundreds, yes, but definitely not thousands (I guess that would be Chang'an? Luoyang?). And then there's the comment on how Westerners can't understand the poverty and the desperate desire to succeed. Why not? I don't get it. Also, they ask the stupidest interview questions ever: "So winning team, how good does it feel to skate this well at this event in your home country?" I maen, what is one supposed to say after that? "Er, yes, yes, indeed, it does feel good." "But tell me how amazingly good it is and how stupendous it must be!" "Er."

And then the interviewer made some really dumb comment about how everyone was yelling "Add oil!" for the skaters. I was quite confused until the skaters repeated it in Chinese -- cheering in Chinese is literally "add oil." I suppose it makes sense, but the way the guy said it made it sound something like, "Haha, you say 'add oil' to cheer on people, you people are so strange!" and completely ignoring the fact that people generally don't think about the etymology of what they say. I mean, when I say something is quintessential, I don't usually mean that it is of the five elements. But then, given that completely stupid question, I shouldn't expect so much.

Rant has now ended.