Authenticity Watch: East and West

"a cross between a North Korean mass rally and Cirque du Soleil" -- Charles Krauthammer on the opening ceremonies at the Beijing Olympics. 

Meanwhile, back at the inauguration:

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Itzhak Perlman, pianist Gabriela Montero and clarinetist Anthony McGill made the decision a day before Tuesday’s inauguration to use a previously recorded audio tape for the broadcast of the ceremonies

Here’s my take, back in the summer:

Hard to believe it needs saying, but it is spectacularly hypocritical of Americans to be accusing another country of being mean by privileging beauty over talent — even as China’s manipulations are reported by news anchors who are themselves pumped so full of Botox they look lobotomized..