Thursday, August 16, 2012

The 2012 Olympics Bubble has gone Poof!

It's crazy how quickly everything finishes.   The cauldron is turned off, the visitors to London have vanished, and the general commotion around events is gone.  Previously closed entrances to tube stations have opened, the volunteers in orange who are ever ready to help you with a smile (in an otherwise grumpy city) are gone too.  Poof.  Thats it.

What still exists though is the buzz.  We were at dinner just two nights ago gorging on Sichuan food and burning my tongue and loving it, and we couldn't stop the chatter about the events we went for, which one was more fun, and of course we had to discuss the really tight speedos that divers love to wear, and tight juicy butts all over the screen.  Shhh.

We were lucky enough to catch cycling around Buckingham Palace, we attended the Semi Finals of Table Tennis and rooted for Singapore, and also Beach Volleyball Quarter Finals, which I have to say was in the most awesomest location with so many location icons in the background.  And so much fun!  My hands were hurting with all the clapping, singing, and general merriment.

But most importantly, we continue to talk about the individual sports themselves, and the greatness that so many athletes showed.   As an Indian, I'm proud to say that we managed to secure six medals, which  doesn't seem like much given we come from a populous country (which is quite an understatement).  But still, knowing how things work in the country, it is commendable, and we should be proud of the progress.  Hopefully, it will encourage and motivate us to do much more, and acknowledge that sponsoring kids interested in sports is a good thing.

London is now back to normal.  Everyone is feeling the lack of Olympics, but I personally think its good that the athletes can go back and relax, the feeling of dread, nervousness and anxiety is finished.   Their stress became our stress too, but vicariously.   As Oquai says, 'they were our puppets'.   We came home and expected to be entertained at the cost of their sleepless nights, and years of toil.

So many sportsmen probably have to go back and start training immediately, in hopes for the next big game.  One person I am very happy for is Michael Phelps - he's done all he wanted, and I'm sure given his all, and has officially decided "thats' it".  I think its an awesome feeling, to go from hours of daily practice to not touching water for a while.  Imagine what he must be feeling.  Freedom.

Speaking of Freedom, how fun was it to see George Michael at the closing ceremony dishing out some fancy moves?!  And The Spice Girls!  Oh, I do heart them, always have.  I know, perhaps cheesy, but 'Wannabe' was one of my favorite songs at the time, and I think I've also performed to a few of their songs.

Looking forward, I think Rio is going to be awesome.  We are wondering if we should make plans to go, but four years down the line, how do you plan?   I believe they will deliver and I think being in Rio will be awesome if the snippets I hear about the food, party and people I've met are anything to go by.  Even mum and dad loved it when they were there.  But then they are quite into their food, drink and travel.

Did you like the 2016 Olympics logo?  I do.  Well, in part.  I LOVE the icon with the three figures, I think it is special, open, colorful, about people coming together, and full of spirit, and also represents what little I know about Brazil and its people, open, inviting, and fun.

The font is nice too (a new one created just for this logo), it is smooth and rounded, and generally tends to work well with the image if even just a tad bit too flowery for me.   And this hits me further when I see all the three items together, the figures, the font and the circles.  It is very symmetrical, the three individual parts in the overall 'oval', but I'm not entirely convinced about the roundness of them all when placed together.

I'm being picky I think.  I'll sit on this, and see how I feel in a few weeks.  For now, overall I like it a lot.  Clean. Happy. Colorful.  Depicting a sense of open energy and collaboration.  This is far from what I felt when I saw the London 2012 logo.  Ugh.  Not good.



For all those non marketing, creative people who think designing a logo is all about throwing in some colors, and fonts, and drawing figures, watch the following video - it seems simple, and in the end the visual is just that - 'simple' to the eye, but there's a lot that goes to making it what you see.  Click here to watch.  

Today I'm humming: Tonight by Summercat

3 comments:

  1. hey! Good to see a new post!
    I was glued to the TV these two weeks...lucky you to be able to see the events! Yes, I'm sure Michael Phelps is relieved to not have to train any more, though he will be stepping into the pool to shoot commercials for the 50-million-dollar-per-year contracts he has signed for!
    I'm so excited about the prospect of watching the games again in Rio...I'll bet they do an awesome job! You guys should definitely plan!
    Btw, are you on Twitter?

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  2. Not on twitter...yet. On FB tho at most in terms of social media. Need your last name and can then connect with you. will look up in the email! :)

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  3. More than the Olympics itself, I think what I enjoyed the most were the Google Doodles :). Oh, I love the Spice Girls too! I still know the steps to Wannabe ;)

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