For those of us living in NSW or Victoria some light relief was certainly needed and last night we could sit back and enjoy the somewhat kooky Paralympics Opening Ceremony.

Once again the Tokyo Olympic Stadium featured eerily empty seats as the Paras opening played out for a television audience.  Like the Olympics ceremonies this one also featured pre-recorded pieces and projection technology, because without masses of athletes and performers they had a very large canvas to play with.

While the production was highly technical and very slick it still managed to come across as a simple narrative complete with smurfs, and a nod to Anime movies and Matsuri festivals.

Normally I will provide my observations on such an event but since I read an article by the Guardian’s Paul MacInnes, who was actually in the stadium, I’m going to defer to the professional because I actually like his take on it.

Paralympics opening ceremony: pandemic, politics and plenty of fun

And for an Australian take there is this from this SMH: Paralympics opening ceremony sets the tone for good-news story the world needs