101 Things I Love About Sydney

Okay okay okay, so the bits of the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony i saw out of the corner of my eye in the pub last night were pretty damn impressive i have to admit. But let's not forget the Sydney Olympics, its Opening ceremony and how uniquely Sydney they were.

Sure Beijing has a rotating 3D multimedia globe with cascading aerialists, thousands of glowing percussionists, perfect military-like synchronisity and the world's largest 3D LCD keyboard, like the one Tom Hanks played in Big (but with little chinese people popping out).

But we had lawnmowers, mambo shirts and hills hoists. Also compared to Beijing, one thing that was uniquely Australian about the Sydney Olympics was our little slices of non-comformity and protest. Remember all the volunteer geniuses wearing Triple J t-shirts trying to win a publicity competition? Midnight Oil wearing Sorry Suits in direct defiance of the attending Prime Minister? Nikki Webster turning into a smarmy mole? The torch almost not lighting and being stuck halfway up a waterfall, but getting there in the end.

Yes, the Sydney Olympics were great and very Sydney. And look at the great legacy we have: great public transport and... errr... a fuck off big stadium. And Fatso the Fat Arsed Wombat. Viva 2000!