All because Jing Jing dropped his shoe!
The FUWA are so naughty and cute!

All them read as 北京欢迎你!

For more information about them, please click HERE! 

As any hard-core Olympic geek will tell you, the games are only as good as their cuddly little mascots…and this year’s batch is top-of-the-line, baby! Nicknamed the “Friendlies” or “Fuwa”, these Chinese “good luck dolls” outpace even the classic Nagano “Snowlets” from 1998 in the cute department.

Colored the bright hues of the Olympic rings, the “Friendlies” are Beibei (the blue fish), Jinjing (the black panda), Huanhuan (the red Olympic flame), Nini (the green swallow) and Yingying (the yellow antelope).

And though I jumbled up their names, when you put them in the proper order, it says “Beijing Welcomes You!” in Chinese. Or something like that…

Either way, as you can see, these guys are almost too cute for words. And though we only bought one of the plush “Friendlies” at the Chinese Pavillion at Epcot this past April — we have had Huanhuan, the red one, sitting on top of our TV since the games began! — I recently discovered a cool site where you can download desktop wallpapers of each and every one of the Chinese “Friendlies”.

And while you might not be crazy enough to place a stuffed one on your TV — or to have purchased a slew of “Friendlies” shot glasses, a softball and a crazy expensive “Friendlies” coffee cup at Epcot — you still might wanna have these guys on your computer screen for fun.

So, download away at the appropriately named: OlympicFunPage and, as those bad-ass, bronze-medal-winning Mexican diving chicas would say: “Que viva los “Friendlies”!

Muchas cosas qué hacer y muy poco tiempo para postear. Regresé a clases y este blog estará atualizándose cada que tenga chance o cada que me encuentre cosas tan interasantes y atractivas como esta.

Ahora que están en pleno apogeo los juegos olímpicos, ya varios de ustedes deben conocer a las mascotas oficiales, los Fuwa (no me pidan significado, porque no tengo ni la más mínima idea, me da weba buscarlo y esa no es la intención de este post).  Pero qué mejor que una versión corregida y aumentada de estos insipidos y silenciosos personajes al estilo manga y en formato wallpaper (1024 x 768).

De izquierda a derecha son: Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying, y Nini. (Son unos malditos genios esos chinos)

Me gustan más lo primeros, ¡matarilerilerón!

ประวัติมาสคอสโอลิมปิก 2008

Jingjing（福娃晶晶） “จิงจิง” ออกแบบมาจากหมีแพนด้าซึ่งเป็นสัญลักษณ์ของประเทศ

เป็นตัวแทนความร่าเริงสดใส ผู้ที่นำพรอันประเสิรฐและความเจริญรุ่งเรืองมายังผู้พบเห็น จิงจิง

จะเป็นผู้ที่คอยปกป้องและดูแลธรรมชาติให้ยังคงสวยงามตลอดไป และจิงจิง เป็นเสมือนวงแหวนสีดำในตราสัญลักษณ์โอลิมปิค

Beibei（福娃贝贝）ออกแบบมาจากปลา ซึ่งตามความเชื่อของคนจีนถือว่าปลาเป็นสัญญลักษณ์ของความอุดมสมบูรณ์

โดย “เป้ย เป้ย” จะเป็นตัวแทนของความสุภาพและบริสุทธิ์ และเธอเป็นเสมือนวงแหวนสีน้ำเงินของตราโอลิมปิค

Huanhuan（福娃欢欢） “ฮวนฮวน” ถือเป็นพี่ใหญ่ของบรรดาตัวมาสคอตทั้งหมด และถือเป็นตัวแทนคบเพลิงของการแข่งขัน

ฮวนฮวนเป็นตัวแทนของความกล้าและความแข็งแรง เสมือนเป็นห่วงสีแดงในตราสัญลักษณ์โอลิมปิค

Yingying（福娃迎迎） “อิ๋งอิ๋ง”เจ้ากวางน้อยซึ่งออกแบบมาจากกวางทิเบตที่ได้รับการคุ้มครองจากรัฐบาลจีน

อิ๋งอิ๋งเป็นตัวแทนของความจริงใจและความซื่อสัตย์ เปรียบเสมือนวงแหวนสีเหลืองบนตราสัญลักษณ์โอลิมปิค

Nini（福娃妮妮） “หนีหนี่”ได้รับการออกแบบมาจากนก หนี่หนี่เป็นตคัวแทนของความร่าเริงและสนุกสนาน

และเปรียบเสมือนวงแหวนสีเขียวบนตราสัญลักษณ์โอลิมปิค

]]> http://feww.wordpress.com/2008/08/09/image-of-the-day-sickening-symbolism/ Sat, 09 Aug 2008 01:50:26 +0000 feww http://feww.wordpress.com/2008/08/09/image-of-the-day-sickening-symbolism/ http://dreamerboy.wordpress.com/2008/08/08/new-banner/ Sat, 09 Aug 2008 00:11:32 +0000 Robert T. http://dreamerboy.wordpress.com/2008/08/08/new-banner/

Ok So Check it Out! I’ve got a new blog banner! You like it? It stars the 5 Beijing Olympic Mascots which are also known as the Fuwa, Good-Luck Dolls or the Friendlies. Each one represents one of the Olympic rings, as well as different elements and sports. So here’s a run down of each of the characters:

BeiBei

BeiBei obviously represents the blue olympic ring and all aquatic sports. Her headgear is intricately modeled after designs of fish from certain decorative stone-age artifacts from the Neolithic era. In the chinese culture, the fish represents prosperity since in chinese, it sounds exactly the same as the chinese word for surplus (excess amount of/more than enough. The artifacts that inspired her fish and lotus styled headgear was found at a village that resided near the Yellow River, which is obviously a body of water that can be used for fishing. BeiBei represents the Sea and the Element of Water and has a friendly personality. She also represents leadership.

JingJing

JingJing, the giant panda, is up next. JingJing represents the black olympic ring along with body strength activities such as weight lifting and judo. He was created with the thoughts of the honorable giant panda and the beautiful lotus flower in mind. Since the JingJing is a panda, that makes him stand for several things since, after all, the panda is a national symbol of China and an international symbol of enviroment and the human-nature partnership. Because of this, he stands for hope, happiness and honesty. He represents the Forest and the element of Wood. **Side Note: I do not feel that wood should be an element, even if it is one of the fengshui elements. It just doesn’t make sense, because Earth is another element..but Wood is a part of Earth…so it can’t be it’s own Element! I believe that the standards should be Fire, Water, Earth, and Air! Some cultures require an additional element at which time they include Metal. I guess this is alright, but I think they could choose to alternate Metal with Lightning. Lol ok my rant is done.. haha.**

HuanHuan

Now over here we have HuanHuan, the Olympic Flame. He is the guardian of the red olympic ring. He obviously represents Fire. HuanHuan has an enthusiastic personality and is quite the firey extrovert. He stands for the passion of the Olympics (after all, The Olympic Flame is like the spirit of the games) and the passion of sports, specifically ball sports [like volleyball, basketball, baseball, etc]. He is basically the physical embodyment of the fire in the hearts of the Olympic athletes.  “Faster, Higher, Stronger.”

YingYing

YingYing, the representer of the Yellow Olympic Ring, is agile and quick like the Tibetan antelope that he is based on. He is healthy and independant and full of life. He represents the Olympic sports dealing with speed, track & field and cycling for instance. As for his element, he represents Earth (but I think he should be Lightning instead, oh well).

Nini

Lastly is Nini, the high flying swallow, guardian of the green ring. She represents the sky since she was inspired by the bird and by Beijing’s beautiful shayan kites. She is innocent and kind and symoblizes good fortune. The swallow directly ties to Beijing because the chinese character for the swallow is used in the characters for an old name that was used for Beijing, Yanjing. Her element however is Metal, which I feel is wrong and should be Air instead. She represents the gravity-defying and apparently weightless activities included in gymnastics.

I also included in the banner the Olympic rings and, within each, I put a symbol for one of the activities in that category. Swimming, Sprinting/Running, Gymnastics, and Volleyball (JingJing’s head is in the place of the black ring). Then I obviously have the text for Beijing 2008. Lastly I have the title of the blog in blue over red and white stripes for Team USA! Go USA!

The Opening Ceremony has started, I hope you’re watching! I am! That countdown was so cool! (With the drummers). And now they are doing like a tai-chi/drum routine to the words of confucius. It’s amazing and awe-inpsiring to see all 2,008 drummers doing it all at the same time and in unison, in fact it’s even a bit intimidating.

Kicking off a new weekly post called Papercraft Friday.  If you’ve followed my blog for awhile, you know that I’m into papercraft.  Not origami, more like paper models you cut out, fold and glue together.  I would like to get myself back into the swing of doing these regularly again, so I figured I’d start up a weekly post of some of my favorite ones available from the internet.  Maybe I’ll even do them myself and make a followup post of the results, or post pictures of reader’s creations.

I thought it would be appropriate this week to kick off the new post with what’s kicking off today in the world: the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.  The papercraft consists of five Fuwa, or “good luck dolls”, each representing a color of the Olympic rings:  Beibei (blue), Yingying (yellow), Jingjing (black), Nini (green), and Huanhuan (red).  Although Yingying looks orange to me… go figure.

You can download them from the creator’s website in China here.  Have fun!

Los Fuwa son las mascotas oficiales de los Juegos Olímpicos de Beijing 2008, y representan el mensaje de amistad, paz y buena voluntad de China hacia los niños de todo el mundo.

Cuando los nombres se unen –Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni– ellos dicen “Beijing Le Da la Bienvenida”.

Los cinco elementos de la naturaleza –el mar, el bosque, el fuego, la tierra y el cielo– pueden encontrarse en sus orígenes, todos están presentados estilísticamente en formas que representan las profundas influencias tradicionales del arte folklórico y ornamentación chinos.

Beibei

En la cultura y el arte tradicionales de China, los dibujos de peces y de agua constituyen tanto símbolos de la prosperidad como de la cosecha. Es así que Beibei representa la prosperidad, ya que el pez es una forma de expresar un año próspero y una vida dichosa según la tradición china.

El diseño toma como referencia antiguas pinturas chinas bien conocidas. Entre las cinco mascotas, Beibei es conocido por su amabilidad y su pureza. Bueno en deportes acuáticos, refleja el aro olímpico azul.

Jingjing

Jingjing muestra una sonrisa cándida: he ahí la razón por la que transmite el deseo de felicidad ahí donde va. Podemos constatar su alegría en la encantadora inocencia de su pose danzante y en la ondulación amable de su piel blanca y negra. Tesoro nacional y especie protegida, el panda es adorado en todo el mundo.Los dibujos de flores de loto contenidas en los ornamentos sobre la cabeza de Jingjing, inspirados en las pinturas de porcelana de la dinastía Song (960-1234 D.C.), simbolizan el bosque exuberante y la relación armónica entre el hombre y la naturaleza.

Jingjing ha sido escogida para representar nuestra voluntad de proteger la naturaleza y preservarla para las generaciones futuras.

De una inocencia encantadora, Jingjing es también optimista. Es un atleta famoso por su fuerza, por lo que representa el aro olímpico negro.

Huanhuan

De entre todas las mascotas Fuwa, Huanhuan es el hermano mayor. Es una criatura de fuego, que simboliza la llama olímpica y la pasión por el deporte.

Huanhuan se encuentra en el centro de las mascotas como la encarnación del espíritu olímpico. A la vez que nos inspira para correr más rápido, saltar más alto y ser más fuertes. Allí donde brille la luz de Huanhuan, el calor acogedor de Beijing 2008 se puede sentir. Los dibujos de llamas en los ornamentos de su cabeza provienen de los frescos célebres de Dunhuang, con un pequeño toque de los motivos de buena fortuna tradicionales chinos.

Huanhuan es de temperamento abierto y entusiasta. Destaca en todos los juegos de balón y representa así el aro olímpico rojo.

Yingying

Siendo una especie animal protegida en particular en la Meseta de Qinghai-Tíbet, Yingying es un antílope ágil y rápido, que refleja la concepción de las Olimpiadas verdes. Como un símbolo del vasto territorio de China, encarna los mejores deseos de buena salud para todo el mundo.

Los rasgos decorativos de su cabeza incorporan elementos culturales de las regiones del oeste, sobre todo de la Meseta de Qinghai-Tíbet y de Xinjiang. Bueno en atletismo, Yingying es ágil y vivo que representa el aro olímpico amarillo.

Nini

Nini proviene del cielo y es una golondrina en vuelo. Cada primavera y verano, los niños de Beijing juegan con sus cometas ayudados por el viento. Entre sus formas tradicionales, la golondrina con las alas doradas es uno de las cometas más populares; de aquí es de donde surge Nini.

En chino, golondrina se dice “Yan”, y “Yanjing” era el nombre antiguo de Beijing. Este pájaro es mensajero de la primavera y el símbolo de la esperanza, alegría y buena suerte. Nini aporta al pueblo la primavera y la alegría. Fuerte en gimnasia, representa el aro olímpico verde.

(Tomado de la página oficial de Beijing 2008: http://sp.beijing2008.cn)

Miguel Salizar

www.tkero.com

A melhor cobertura da internet dos jogos olímpicos está aqui no blog mydreamland. 

Conheça nesse post especial das olimpíadas os mascotes e seu siginificado.

Beibei: Um peixe que representa prosperidade e abundância. Sexo feminino. Representa os esportes aquáticos.

Jingjing: Um panda que representa a felicidade.  Simbloiza a relação entre os humanos e a natureza. De sexo masculino, ele é otimista e representa o halterofilismo, judô, entre outros.

Simbolizando a chama olímpica e a paixão pelo esporte, representa o: mais rápido, mais alto e mais forte, lema olímpico. Sexo masculino, representando os esportes com bola.

YingYing é um antílope do sexo masculino simboliza a vastidão do território chinês e a saúde. Representa o atletismo.

Nini uma andorinha inspirada nas pipas chinesas representando o céu e dando benção e sorte para as Olimpíadas. Do atletismo.

Fique ligado nos próximos posts do blog mydreamland, o blog com a maior cobertura olímpica e saiba de tudo sobre os jogos em Beijing.

Aperte Ctrl+d e adicione aos favoritos ou assine o feed.

A Symphony of Lights is a great multimedia display, which creates a all-round vision of colorful light and laser beams with music. For the best view of the show, we took Star Ferry (天星小輪) to go to Tsim Sha Tsui (尖沙咀).

It was the first time I had been in Kowloon (九龍) [1]. When waiting for the Light Show on 20:00, we ate some dessert in Hui Lau Shan (許留山). Actually there are several branches in Taiwan, but it is still a must-eat in Hong Kong

My friend Bie is a lover of mango, and she recommended some mango sweet such as 芒果麻糬 and 什果芒果撈. Mangos in HK are different from that in Taiwan. Because in HK, they use 呂宋芒果, whereas we have Taiwanese mango instead. 呂宋芒果 is sweeter, and Taiwanese mango is more aromatic[2].

We watched the show at 星光大道. The show was nice and we really enjoyed it. You can see more photos about the show in http://www.tourism.gov.hk/symphony/.

In 星光大道, there are five cute Fuwa (福娃), who will serve as the Official mascots of the Beijng 2008 Olympic Games. I like the red one (Huanhuan; 火娃歡歡) most. Huanhuan represents the passion, just like me XDDDDD. (I am of Fire element in horoscope [3])

After we bought some clothes in ESPRIT outlet of Tsim Sha Tsui and had BBQ (燒臘) for dinner, we went to Temple Street (廟街) at night. As a result of watching too much HK movie, I fantasized about 廟街十二少 or 廟街十三妹 would appear XD But what I ONLY see are fortuneteller, fortuneteller, and fortuneteller. To be honest, I don’t believe in that. (OS: but WHO was talking about the horoscope in the previous paragraph!!) So we just skimmed over and took some pictures.

At the end of the street, we had a fantastic night snack in a small store. The 芝麻糊 and 合桃糊 were excellent!! I will never forget the tastes of them ~~~~

[1] 這裡用過去完成式對不對？
[2] 我想說 “台灣芒果比較香”, 應該用 aromatic 這個字嗎？
[3] 我也是火象星座的嘛!!!

Isso mesmo…vamos contar algumas curiosidades que boa parte das pessoas não sabiam. Os Jogos Olímpicos também pode ser chamado de Jogos Olímpicos de Verão. O dia 8 de agosto foi escolhido propositalmente:

8/8/08 Viu alguma semelhança ? Como se não bastasse a abertura dos Jogos vai ser: 8/8/08 08:08

Agora porque tantos números 8’s ? Na cultura chinesa o número 8 significa Prosperidade.

• Os “Fuwa”:

Beibei

Beibei: Vem da parte “Běi”. Sua transformação é o peixe e a sua cor representativa é o Azul.

• 9 Marcas/Modelos vão estar cobrindo os Jogos para a transmissão aqui no Brasil:

Fonte: Wikipedia.org.

One has to admire the timeless beauty and simplicity of the Olympic Rings design. It was Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Games, who in 1913, first came up with the idea of the five interlocking rings. However, it was not until the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp, that the logo was incorporated into the Olympic in flag. A lot of people ask “What do the five rings represent?” The five rings represent the five competing continents: Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia, and “the Americas”. (Yeah, it seems like there should be six to me too.) Despite the fact that each ring is a different color, it is not the case that each individual ring represents a specific continent. That leads to the question “What do the colors of the Olympic rings mean?” It seems that the colors, which in order are blue, yellow, black, green, and red, were chosen because every flag of every competing nation has at least one of these colors in its flag. (No word yet on what changes the IOC will implement if some competing nation adopts a hot pink flag with a field of purple stars.)

The rings are a stark contrast to the awkward looking corporate logos that were common during the same time period such as these from 3M, IBM and John Deere.

This image of the 1920 Olympic Programme was the earliest depiction of the Rings that I could find online. Check out the advertisement for cigarettes on the cover. On one hand, we can be smug about how such an ad would never be allowed today. On the other hand, with Coke and McDonald’s being likely advertisers today, perhaps that smugness is misplaced. See “Supersize Me” for additional information.

The Olympic Rings Logo is recognized world wide, and understandably, it is vigorously protected in the courts by the IOC. There are many who want to politicize the Olympics, or use the popularity of the Olympics as a vehicle to draw attention to their particular cause. The Rings Logo makes a wonderfully convenient visual device for these folks. The recent Olympic Torch Relay debacle in San Francisco is a perfect illustration of this. One photojournalist on the scene counted at least 20 different factions vying for attention. Check out his account here. The New York Times also did a great photo essay on this same topic. For the record, Paulano disagrees with the idea of mixing the Olympics and political protest.

With respect to the idea of protecting the Rings Logo and the Olympic Brand identity, the IOC can sometimes be its own worst enemy. As evidence, check the mascots for the upcoming 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. The mascots for the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver are no better. One of the mascots is a Bigfoot. Why is he wearing boots? He’s a Bigfoot! And does anyone remember Izzy, the Whatisit?

Currently, Kyle Design does not have a license to do Izzy, or any of the other IOC Characters. But she does have a lot of gift items with olympic themes, like soccer, swimming, baseball/softball, gymnastics, basketball, weightlifting, cycling, equestrian, crewing, sculling, sailing, tennis and volleyball. And IOC, if you are listening, I know just the business to handle all your etched-metal Olympic Rings Design gift items. Have your people call my people.

Technorati: Olympic Rings, Design, Pierre de Coubertin, Olympic Games, International Olympic Committee, Olympic Flag, Olympic protests, Olympic Torch Relay, San Francisco, Bay Area, politicize, five interlocking rings, Olympic Logo, 2008 Beijing Olympic Mascots, 2010 Vancouver Olympic Mascots, Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying, Nini, Sumi, Quatchi, Miga, Izzy the Whatisit, gift items with sports themes, soccer, swimming, baseball, softball, gymnastics, cycling, weightlifting, basketball, equestrian, crewing, sculling, sailing, tennis, volleyball, Olympic Rings Colors, Olympic Rings History