The Olympics/Paralympics 2012

[FaxModem1]

I rather wish Rowan Atkinson had done more of a Black Adder than Mr. Bean.

[LadyTevar]

You're easily impressed

Probably
But I did enjoy all of it. The Children's Choirs from all across the Isles, the fast change into the Industrial Age. The NHS & England's Literary history was questionable, but I did love the Nightmares. The Digital/Age of Rock was fun as well.

Mr. Bean was so very British, but 007 escorting Her Majesty is the real winner for me. Although I will laugh my ass off if Dr Who does rescue the Torch.

[FSTargetDrone]

All the fly-over stuff was fine. I did enjoy the Pig over Battersea Power Station.

Too much pop-culture stuff, though.

[weemadando]

Oh, and a NHS piece in an Olympic Opening Ceremony? I can understand the desire for inclusiveness, but what is exactly the point of showcasing disability in a competition designed to showcase the peak of human athleticism?

Maybe more suited to the Paralympics? Yes?

My thought exactly. From the deaf children's choir singing the Anthem, to the deaf drummer to the NHS segment, I think it was more suited thematically to the Paralympics than to the main game.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

Yes. But that's because you're a bigot who would like to segregate them from regular society apparently.

[fgalkin]

So are the organizers of every other Olympics, apparently.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[LadyTevar]

All the fly-over stuff was fine. I did enjoy the Pig over Battersea Power Station.

Too much pop-culture stuff, though.

Was the Pig a Dr Who ref? It made me think of the UFO that crashed. The animated Churchill was a WTF, but I love Bond's reaction -- "no, I did not just see that, carry on"

[fgalkin]

Ha! REAL fireworks this time

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Dartzap]

What the fuck was everyone expecting? Unless half the planet is going 'What the hell was that?" you are essentially doing it wrong. Its the very essence of Eurovision!

[FSTargetDrone]

Was the Pig a Dr Who ref? It made me think of the UFO that crashed. The animated Churchill was a WTF, but I love Bond's reaction -- "no, I did not just see that, carry on"

See the pig between the stacks on the left?

(Though it may not look it, that was a real pig balloon that happened to break away from its tether during the photo shoot for this album cover.)

[El Moose Monstero]

Double post deleted

[El Moose Monstero]

I'm completely cynical about the olympics, but I thought that was really great. Industrial revolution, end of the slave trade, the NHS, we had children in hospital beds (I took that to indicate London's association with child welfare in the past - Foundling institution and Ormond Street), literature, tv and film (although I thought these were the weakest part), the music of the last 40 years. It was visually stunning as well - the lighting of the olympic torch was genius, as were the cycling butterflies with ET/Jesus turning up. If they'd mentioned the BBC more explicitly, we'd have had the national institution bingo card full. Industrial revolution was by far the best bit for me, smelting of flying rings watched by armies of people in top hats amid rising chimneys? Sold.

Not sure what you're supposed to do with an opening ceremony, but to me, I thought that was pretty ace all around.

However, I thought that we should have had someone other than Paul Mcartney and Hey Jude as an end song - his voice is shot and for me, there are better songs to go out on.

[fgalkin]

However, I thought that we should have had someone other than Paul Mcartney and Hey Jude as an end song - his voice is shot and for me, there are better songs to go out on.

Agreed. That was kinda lame.

Still the best two Olympic songs:





Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Dartzap]

Well, from a quick gander of the various feeds...

t'was a Marmite event in all respects. Although the US complaints seem to be focusing on NBC having dire coverage.

[Teebs]

I watched it with thoroughly negative expectations, but thought it was really quite good in the end. I particularly liked the quirky little bits of humour stuck in there, but then I am vaguely British.

[JLTucker]

Well, from a quick gander of the various feeds...

t'was a Marmite event in all respects. Although the US complaints seem to be focusing on NBC having dire coverage.

And the alleged middle finger at the US health care system.

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Olympics ... ealth-care

Of all the things to laud in Britain's long history, the director of the opening ceremonies for the London Olympics chose for his second act ... universal health care.

Yes, that "NHS" spelled out by hospital beds in Friday's opening ceremonies stands for Britain's National Health Service – the government-run universal health-care system that director Danny Boyle called an "amazing thing to celebrate."

2012 London Olympics quiz: Are you ready for a gold medal?

It is more than a little bit presumptuous to imagine that Mr. Boyle was sending coded political messages to American voters who can't here the words "universal" and "health care" in the same sentence without invoking the Commerce Clause. But that doesn't mean Boyle didn't have a message.

He insisted that message was not political, but rather a reflection of the values that British society holds dear and emanates to the world.

"One of the reasons we put the NHS in the show is that everyone is aware of how important the NHS is to everybody in this country," he said at a press conference earlier in the day. "One of the core values of our society is that it doesn't matter who you are, you will get treated the same in terms of health care."

But not everyone agreed that the message had no hint of politics. "NHS beds dominated the infield for so long that it seemed more a political message than a tribute to our hardworking nurses," wrote the Daily Mail, adding that the spectacle "at times bordered on left-wing propaganda."

Repeatedly, Boyle made it clear that the ceremonies were his vision, and that London organizers gave him enormous freedom to shape them in his image. In that case, it should hardly be surprising that the director of films that chronicled heroin users ("Trainspotting") and the Indian underclass ("Slumdog Millionaire") might craft a performance from a working-class perspective.

Is that political? That is in the eye of the beholder.

But it is hard to escape at least some small sense of advocacy in Boyle's second act, particularly after a cigar-chomping elite let loose the gluttony of unchecked industry on the idyllic English countryside in the first act. This was, it seemed, an opening ceremony for the 99 percent.

In some respects, that gave it a poignancy beyond opening ceremonies of Olympic past – Boyle actually had a cutting message, whatever you thought of it. But for an Olympic movement that has long avoided even the scent of controversy – even forcing cities to ban civic protests during the Games – it was an unusual departure.

[Col. Crackpot]

The highlight of the evening's festivities, as far 6 year old twins are concerned, was when "that crazy grandma" jumped out of the helicopter.

[Pendleton]

You paid how much for all of this? The only part worth watching has been the bit with Daniel Craig and the Queen, most of which was pre-recorded. I'm sorry, but a performance piece about the Industrial Revolution and a retrospective of British pop music does not suggest "Olympics" to me.

Sorry guys, China still has you beat with respect to the Opening Ceremony.

Why would it? It was a celebration of Britain. Your first problem is missing the point.

Now people can enjoy the two weeks of athletes running around and throwing sticks. The ONLY good part of this whole thing has been the opening, which my cynical side enjoyed despite wanting to find fault (well, the pop music section after it left the eighties was naff).

China's was so good I can't even remember it bar some girl who sang, except she didn't.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Well we didn't do good on the first day, just about the only thing we actually won was in table tennis and women's football- the only team game we've won so far. We're currently down 62-47 on Women's basketball- we actually lost the men's beach volleyball to Canada!

We got a bad draw in women's fencing- one of the first round matches was between team GB team-mates.

[SirNitram]

I understand those of us watching in the US missed chunks of stuff.. Like a tribute to the victims of the bombings, and a chant at the end.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Indeed- we'll never know if the bombings were just a day or two earlier, whether it would have affected us getting the games.

[weemadando]

I understand those of us watching in the US missed chunks of stuff.. Like a tribute to the victims of the bombings, and a chant at the end.

And a lesbian kiss that NBC edited out but got aired in Saudi Arabia.

WELL DONE MURCA.

[CaptainChewbacca]

I really like the design of the torch, thought it was brilliant. At one point in the music through the ages number, I thought I heard a TARDIS cranking, but I must've imagined it

[Crown]

I understand those of us watching in the US missed chunks of stuff.. Like a tribute to the victims of the bombings, and a chant at the end.

And a lesbian kiss that NBC edited out but got aired in Saudi Arabia.

WELL DONE MURCA.

Nah, it was there, but if you blink you can miss it (like I did watching on the BBC so I googled the whole thing).

[weemadando]

Well, that's something at least.

[Crossroads Inc.]

Having watched and RE-watched the openning I have to ask...
Was there NO nod to Dr. Who at ALL?

I mean, you give nods to Harry Potter, Mr.Bean, James Bond and various other pop culture icons, but NOT Dr. Who?

Shoot I would have been happy just seeing an image or two in that section when they were showing countless images during the "digital dance' skit thing.