www.bbc.co.uk The 2014 Fifa World Cup officially got under way on Thursday with a colorful opening ceremony in Brazil. 660 spectacular dancers paid tribute to the country's nature, people and football around a living ball on the Arena de Sao Paulo pitch.
Okay. I admit I'm not interested in football. I spent the first 45 years of my life in Australia, where they call the game soccer. Aussies wearing short shorts play real footy. Not that I liked that either, but at least I could watch a flash of masculine legs. When I first arrived in England in the late 80s, the players wore such baggy shorts they were in danger of tripping over them. But on with the opening ceremony. I like those.
32 nations will compete in 64 games over the month-long tournament.
Many fans took to the streets to sing and chant their support for Brazil as excitement built in the hours beforehand. But residents who were unhappy with the expense of hosting the tournament staged demonstrations.
However, there was no trouble within the 65,000-seater arena. Performers dressed as trees, flowers and various musical instruments all performed in three acts before the central ball opened to reveal singers Claudia Leitte, Jennifer Lopez and rapper Pitbull as they moved their mouths to a microphone and gyrated to unclear background music. Apparently they were singing the official World Cup song as the finale. I couldn't hear their voices, so all their effort was wasted.
Okay. I admit I'm not interested in football. I spent the first 45 years of my life in Australia, where they call the game soccer. Aussies wearing short shorts play real footy. Not that I liked that either, but at least I could watch a flash of masculine legs. When I first arrived in England in the late 80s, the players wore such baggy shorts they were in danger of tripping over them. But on with the opening ceremony. I like those.
32 nations will compete in 64 games over the month-long tournament.
Many fans took to the streets to sing and chant their support for Brazil as excitement built in the hours beforehand. But residents who were unhappy with the expense of hosting the tournament staged demonstrations.
However, there was no trouble within the 65,000-seater arena. Performers dressed as trees, flowers and various musical instruments all performed in three acts before the central ball opened to reveal singers Claudia Leitte, Jennifer Lopez and rapper Pitbull as they moved their mouths to a microphone and gyrated to unclear background music. Apparently they were singing the official World Cup song as the finale. I couldn't hear their voices, so all their effort was wasted.
www.bbc.co.uk For me, the highlight of the show were the tree people. Loved them. And here's why. My co-writer Edith Parzefall and I have already written about such creatures in the third published book in our futuristic Higher Ground series. See the novel, Golden Submarine on the sidebar, one click away from Amazon. Of course, I must give you a short excerpt.
By the way, Trevly uses the term, 'rocks and boulders' as a form of cussing! If you read the novels in order, the characters will become true friends. In the future, the same as nowadays, people's strengths and faults define them as individuals. They might have lost touch with what happened in the past, but they remain human beings.
By the way, Trevly uses the term, 'rocks and boulders' as a form of cussing! If you read the novels in order, the characters will become true friends. In the future, the same as nowadays, people's strengths and faults define them as individuals. They might have lost touch with what happened in the past, but they remain human beings.
He glanced at his companion, who raised an eyebrow and shrugged. “I’m a fisherman,” Rashio said. “You’re the hunter.”
“No, I’m not. I hate killing. Stand still.” Trevly listened to the forest and heard faint sounds of their four companions higher on the rock. And breathing. All around them, he heard the dull throb of hearts, the blowing up and puffing out of lungs. He stared at a tree ahead. It swayed. In the middle—eyes. Blinking. Was he going mad? One way to find out. Trevly sprinted towards it. The tree dashed away. Rocks and boulders!
“Hey, what’s going on?” Rashio called.
Trevly didn’t bother to reply. He had a tree to chase. “Stop, you bark-encrusted trunk.” Vision edges blurred. More trees gathered around him. But they weren’t trees. He stopped and searched around. Men. Mere men, covered with barks and twigs.
“Have you come to court the lovely Brunhild?” a scratchy voice asked.
Trevly shook his head. “No. Never even heard about her.”
“What are you doing here then?”
“Hunting for food.”
The man released screechy laughter. More people chimed in all around them. The first man stopped, and the others bent in a stiff way before they pulled up behind.
“Then you are an animal in the forest of the sentinels.”
Trevly glanced around. No Rashio. The coward must have sneaked off. “Well, I better hop along then.”
The man stabbed him with a branch. “You sure you don’t want to win Brunhild? She’s got hair the same colour as yours.”
Someone added, “Yeh, you’d make a pretty couple.” Chuckles all around.
Not many people had blond hair, but that didn’t mean he had to take her as his wife. “No, thanks.”
The man prodded him again. “You sure? She’s the strongest and most beautiful woman. And fast. But you might be faster.”
More laughter. Someone else piped up. “She might have thrown the other fellow off the tower already.”
“What?”
“The big guy with the wild hair.”
“Boris? Rocks and boulders. He’s going to win her?”
The man grinned and revealed foul teeth. “He’s trying. Want to be next?”
“Uh no, I’m sure Boris will do just fine. He’s a friend of mine. I can’t go stealing his bride.”
“Sheesh. What’s wrong with men these days?”
“Well, it was nice to chat with you. Gotta go.” Trevly waved, ducked under the branches of more unwieldy tree people, and ran. He reached the cover of real trees before they could drag him off to court this blond woman.
He ran until he felt sure no more hearts beat around him. He waited to catch his breath while he tuned his hearing into nature. Still no animals except for insects and one lone bird cooing.
A high warning call chilled the air.
Did you watch the opening ceremony? What did you think of it?
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