12:03--Well they can't keep a secret in this town any better than anywhere else. Li Ning gets the honor. He takes a giant leap--and the final lap around the highest wall inside the stadium to light the cauldron. Fireworks ensue. Good job, China. Let the Games begin!

11:54--The torch is in the building!

11:53--I should have said "doves" with quotation marks. Ever since there was an accidental holocaust of the "peace" birds at one ceremony, the dovishness is strictly symbolic. 100 young women in white gesticulating gently did their dovish best.

11:38--The long parade and the short speechmaking (doping rated a condemnation from IOC president Jacques Rogge). Finally the rituals of the Olympic flag, the anthem, the oaths, the doves and the lighting of the Olympic flame. I confess I am a sucker for this. So far no panda in sight.

11:29--Press release from Russian athletic federation hits my Blackberry, insisting Russia is just performing a lawful peacekeeping mission and is only responding to Georgian aggression. Add interrupting Opening Ceremonies with political propaganda to violating the "Olympic truce" among Russia's sins today.

11:22--Kobe's grinning face flashes on the screen to huge applause, followed by possibly even louder cheers for Dirk Nowitzki.

11:12--Crowd chants "Jia you", "Go China go, or more literally "Add gas."

11:09--Look up "flag bearer" in the dictionary and if there isn't a picture of Yao Ming, it's a lousy dictionary. A little boy walks beside him waving a tiny flag. China wins big on style points.

11:08--Go figure. You hear so much negativity about China and its human rights policies at home and abroad. Yet the Chinese athletes gets the loudest cheer, a veritable roar that might have lifted the roof off the stadium if it had one.

10:56--Swiss blonde reveals bare midriff, the international symbol of beach volleyball, but a first in my long Olympic memory.

10:45--It's probably insensitive to mention it in this moment of crisis, but all the former Soviet republics could use some fashion advice. To a republic, their outfits are tacky or drab. Yellow ankle socks from the grand-paternal homeland, Ukraine

10:28--U.S., looking dapper in country club white and blue blazers, get huge applause. President Bush is shown on the giant screen and is a greeted by a loud noise that is less clearly decipherable.

10:20--Cheerleaders ring the inside to greet the athletes, but even they are wilting, losing some bounce in their step in the heat. My usually nimble finger are slipping all over the keys. The entry of Russia--could folks in this wired world already know?--followed two later by the United States is moments away.

10:10--Manu Ginobli just walked by carrying the Argentinian flag. He can fill it up but he can't carry a flag, the only bearer yet to let his country's flag drag on the ground. Lots of NBA stars being honored as flag-bearers including Andrei Kirilenko for Russia and, of course, Yao Ming for China.

10:00--Word just filtered down press row that Russia has sent troops into the former Soviet republic of Georgia.  So much for the Olympic truce. It's raining on our parade. Putin is here in Beijing. He may find himself less popular here than Bush. It has also started raining--real weather-wise--on our parade of nations.

9:55--Iraq enters to big applause. The loud noise greeting Iran right behind them is harder to decipher. The two Koreas will be interesting to note.

9:35--Conspicuous applause for Pakistan and then Cuba. I wonder if President Bush is enjoying the show.

9:29--Brunei Darussalam will be a no-show. Only 204 countries now. I may get to bed a little earlier than expected.

9:27--Denmark looks like it thought it was heading for a day at the beach.

9:22--Chinese Taipei enters the building to a warm reception. Sure sign of diminished tensions there. Hong Kong gets even bigger applause.>

9:10--Time for your fridge and bathroom breaks. The parade of nations, 205 of them. The U.S. comes 140th.

9:08--There will always be the debate: high art or total schlock. It is most always something of both. I give the Chinese high marks, though, for some dazzling effects in light and motion. And for less panda-ing to other cultures' tastes.

9:02--A giant globe, nine rings, acrobats, Olympic sports, a song in somebody's heart, children of the world. I think I am losing the thread, possibly back on Silk Road.

8:55-- A mass exercise in ancient martial arts. Of course they couldn't pick one I've heard of. This is Taijiquan. It is not yet an Olympic sport.

8:35--The rumor around town is that Li Ning, who won five medals at the '84 LA Games, will be given the honor of lighting the flame. But a close source has just messaged me about the possible involvement of a panda. Seems impossible in this weather. China has enough worries with Tibet and Darfur demonstrators. The don't need PETA riled up.

8:33--A salute to silk and a particularly clever way for my wife to provide a reminder.

8:25--Something to do with opera and soldiers. My best guess: a salute to the Pirates of Penzance.

8:23--A dazzling salute to the Chinese invention of movable type. We journalists thank and salute them.

8:21--More Confucius. He must have said a lot of interesting things.

8:15--Something very arty about paper and intellectual pursuits. I'd explain more but Melinda is occupied.

8:10--The Chinese have resented any comparisons critics have made to the '36 Berlin Games. Still, watching soldiers goosestep the Chinese flag feels a little eerie.

8:09--Fireworks exploding over Tiananmen Square and all over the city. More amazing, they clear off the field in less than two minutes. In their stead, mutant Christmas lights do an Olympic rings turn. And there is a Peter Pannish thing going on too.

7:55--Amazing light tricks, a modern pyrotechnic riff on the old college football cheering section with flash cards. 2008 performers play a centuries-old percussion instrument called the fou  and quote Confucius. I have never seen that done before.

7:30--With so much talk about the smog--in five days here I haven't put on my sunglasses yet--there hasn't been too much talk about the heat. There will be tonight. Shame they never got that roof they wanted on the stadium.

7:05 p.m. --I have been watching the pregame show for more than an hour now, from the "Acrobatic Lion Dance of Cangzhou" to the "Purple Bamboo Tune Dance" to the "Dragon Dance of Tongliang". Not a single beer or bao vendor has come by. I am beginning to despair.

6:45 p.m.--I am seated in the 4th row of the magnificent "Bird's Nest", on about the 30-yard-line. Next to me is my colleague Melinda Liu, who opened our Beijing bureau in 1980 and returned here a decade ago. I told her I'm going to be too busy blogging to answer many questions about what is going on.