T minus 9 hrs (or something like that)

so the opening ceremony for the commonwealth games is today. i'm actually kind of against the whole thing but yesterday i decided to go into the city and see all its festive tackiness.
this one is my favorite:

and the sign explaining it:
as far as you can see down the yarra river there's giant fish and arial view flags of every country part of the games

here's canada's fish, the atlantic cod. i'm assuming these things will be lit up tonite because they look a bit tacky now-- lights will fix that 8)they've also created a beach in the city (even though the real one is only a tram or a train ride away from here). they actually tore up half the grass on this lawn and imported sand and added beach hut props around. its a stage area at the art centre where bands play
i think its going a bit overboard when even the church has a giagantic commonwealth games banner hanging from it (obviously its there to try to cover up the scaffholding but its not doing a great job so it just looks like the church is another commonwealth games venue.