BBC Olympics Coverage - Neatorama

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BBC Sport is using the traditional Monkey King character in the marketing campaign for their Olympics coverage. Produced by Jamie Hewlett and Damon Albarn. Link -via Viral Video Chart

Who knew China was so dangerous? What with all the big mouthed animals, and all.
If ALL of the Olympics looked like that, I'd be tempted to watch.

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Hi,

I just came across your blog and wanted to say that I love it! We seem to share the same love and fascination for nature/wild animals/trees.

However my blog is bereft of any of these.

x

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Out of curiousity, anyone know who the other two characters are?

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The pig-man is Zhu Bajie and the other guy I think is Sha Wujing.

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The other two characters are Pigsy and Sandy. The whole thing is inspired by one of the greatest TV series ever: Monkey http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_%28TV_series%29 which was itself based on the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West.

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they are pigsy and sandy

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Hmmm, what happened to the monk?! He was one of my favorite characters.

And Sandy is so thin...

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Those of course are the Chinese pinyin. :P

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That was awesome! I love the idea of mixing the traditional with the modern. Which reminds me I need to read up on the Monkey King stories!

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Awesome commercial. Too bad there's no cartoon abuse/ rights violations. I don't believe to have to beat people near to death to maintain order in a country. Please boycott the Olympics until China can do better with human rights.

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Leave politics out of this Ryon.

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That's just what the Chinese Govt would like you to do CheeseDuck.
The Olympics is ALL about politics.

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fyi - Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett are the art directors behind the Gorillaz or something like that. Thats why the monkey king kind of looks like 2-D (notice the teeth) and fights like Noodle....

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I wish my eloquence could match my passion.

Boycotts are worthless.

Go to the Olympics. Win. Denounce from the rostrum, not from the sidelines.

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Hewlett is the artist--Albarn is the musical mind.

They've been working with Cheng Shi-Zeng (a noted director who's also worked with Stephin Merritt) on an opera based on the Monkey legends, so I wouldn't be surprised if this footage is related to that.

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"I'm happy, I'm feelin' glad,
I got sunshine in a bag ..."

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Suddenly I want to see the Monkey King's movie again.

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Nice music. Who knew traveling in China was so dangerous?

Is this some kind of allegory on the problematic journey of the olympic torch?

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Actually, boycotts are TREMENDOUSLY effective, but that's hardly in the spirit of the games is it? Heck, there was an Olympics in Nazi Germany... not a very good one, but ONE nonetheless.

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Yep, 'Another Jake', and Jesse Owens won 4 gold medals and that pissed off Hitler. Let's do something to piss off the Chinese!

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That was beautiful! Combining Olympic sports maneuvers with something so Chinese as the Monkey King was genius, and the artwork was fantastic too. I doubt China could do any better than that commercial.

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