BS: Olympics opening ceremony

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: EBarnacle
Date: 28 Jul 12 - 02:44 PM

I would much rather that Sir Paul had stood there while a band played his song. It would have avoided the embarassment of displaying what has happened to his voice as he aged.

Ali's appearance was as unfortunate as Dick Clark's New Year's Eve appearances. Especially as boxing is a featured sport, showing the potential consequences of participation in that sport was not a good move.

Neither Ali nor Sir Paul should have allowed themselves to be in the positions they were in.

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: EBarnacle
Date: 28 Jul 12 - 03:10 PM

Anent my 11:26 posting above, the French announcer got the pronunciation right, followed immediately by the English announcer saying what sounded like "Jack Rog."

If you wish to see the arrival and its excellent but somewhat subtle effects, copy and paste the link below.

http://www.alternet.org/hot-news-views/6-most-awesome-things-come-out-olympics-opening-ceremonies?akid=9140.154686.t-UnWz&rd=1&src=newsletter682566&t=1

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 28 Jul 12 - 03:50 PM

""My point of view is, I believe, as valid as anyone elses' or perhaps you consider that I should be shot because I have not gone along with all the hyperbole that has lead up to the games.""

Well Raggytash, if you feel that your opinion of something which you know nothing about (since you proudly state that you didn't watch it), is going to add something useful to the debate, be my guest.

I have no problem with anybody whose opinion differs from my own, but I admit to wondering why anybody would enter a discussion simply to profess his total ignorance of what is being discussed.

Seems pointless, but if that's what turns you on..........?

Don T.

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: GUEST,Andy Shandy
Date: 28 Jul 12 - 04:10 PM

Well here's my more serious contribution to this debate - infer what you like -

All the vast million spent on producing & televising the next few weeks of Olympics
will provide me with an invaluable positive opportunity
to catch up on a huge backlog of recorded TV shows & Movies
clogging up my Humax hard drive.

Many many thanks BBC schedulers.

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 28 Jul 12 - 04:16 PM

On the contrary, I feel spoilt for sporting choice.

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 28 Jul 12 - 04:24 PM

We recorded the opening ceremony in HD - can we watch it? No because the BB fucking C decided to broadcast it in 3D!

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: ChrisJBrady
Date: 28 Jul 12 - 04:59 PM

The Beeb's small screen transmission missed out loads detail of the 'green and pleasant tubby land' shots. Where were all the animals - I only saw the shire horses? And where were the maypoles - I only saw one? AND one newspaper report said that there were even some morris dancers!!!!

Her Maj and 007 can be seen again at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19020220

Mr Bean can be seen again at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19021660

The Cauldron is at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19031028

If these do not work from overseas try using ExpatShield first.

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Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: Bonzo3legs - PM
Date: 28 Jul 12 - 04:24 PM

We recorded the opening ceremony in HD - can we watch it? No because the BB fucking C decided to broadcast it in 3D!

I am sure that they'll be loads of torrents available for p2p downloading.

====

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: SINSULL
Date: 28 Jul 12 - 05:24 PM

Blocked "in my area". Ah well.

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 28 Jul 12 - 05:39 PM

According to the news this is the first olympics where the flame/cauldron/etc can only be seen from inside the main venue;

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: ChrisJBrady
Date: 28 Jul 12 - 05:50 PM

If the Beeb access is blocked try ExpatShield first.

Or download one of these and open into uTorrent:

http://isohunt.com/torrents/?ihq=opening+ceremony+2012

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 28 Jul 12 - 09:23 PM

I enjoyed it. I was among those pleased to see Evelyn Glennie.

The US team uniforms reminded me of those worn by flight attendants on major airlines at about the middle of the last century, but I like them. I, too, am dismayed they were made in China.

I won't be watching the games but will listen to results on the news. The athlete I am most interested in, Elizabeth Biesel, just won a silver medal in a swimming event. I think she'll compete in just one other event. I'm interested in her because she is from my state, Rhode Island, and very few RI-ers compete at the Olympic level. Also, she attended schools in the town where I worked, North Kingstown, although she was never at my school.

Now I am looking forward to the next part of the Oympics that I will watch: the closing ceremony. I love seeing the athletes mingle with those from other nations.

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: GUEST,Andy Shandy
Date: 29 Jul 12 - 03:43 AM

Still no medals for the host nation. Everyone pinning their hopes on the Blonde Swordfish today. The thing that nobody really said about Rebecca Adlington is that she looks pretty weird. She looks like someone who's looking at themselves in the back of a spoon

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: GloriaJ
Date: 29 Jul 12 - 04:59 AM

Talking to my good friend Gary Boyle last night (at a wonderful Keighley folk-mafia party) I said" You were in the Olympics ceremony Gary - they played My Boy Lollipop" and he said " Oh yes, well I was in it twice because I played on David Bowie's Starman as well" - bloody name-dropper!

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker
Date: 29 Jul 12 - 05:11 AM

well that Andy Shandy [Date: 29 Jul 12 - 03:43 AM ]
is a fake.

How do I know, same as some of you mods most likely know,

cos Today just for the daft hell of it
it was the first name that came to my head as a post specific silly pun.

Of course it's not an original name, google is full of "Andy Shandy"s.


So I guess there is the vagueset possibility one of the other Andy Shandy's
by miraculous coincidence chose to post on the very same thread ????

So please don't delete any of us.

just in case one of us is the genuine article.

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker
Date: 29 Jul 12 - 05:12 AM

and I know fuck all about swimming
apart from the wet clinging camel toes.

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 29 Jul 12 - 05:13 AM

Great game, but the Olympics table tennis is a farce, frankly: because so many of the top 100 are Chinese, they meet against each other representing almost every nation under the sun - if you'll pardon the pun.

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: Jim McLean
Date: 29 Jul 12 - 05:23 AM

Danny Boyle said he drew his inspiration for "Our isles of Wonder" from Caliban's Dream " …. this isle is full of noises …..". At the end of the play, The Tempest, Prospero and his entourage cannot wait to abandon the island as soon as possible and leave it to Boris/Caliban.
Just a thought.

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 29 Jul 12 - 06:26 AM

I seem to have been getting the wrong end of the stick - having gained most of my information from the radio, I thought the Isles of Wonder were 'aisles of wonder', though I wasn't sure whether it was in a church or a supermarket.

And those doves on bicycles, which I am now told were doves of peace, I took to be 'bluebirds' as seen over the White Cliffs of Dover - symbols of peace maybe, but only after victory.

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: Les from Hull
Date: 29 Jul 12 - 06:41 AM

Back to blazers - it was the boat crew of the captain's gig that were rigged out, officers did have uniforms.

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: banjoman
Date: 29 Jul 12 - 06:47 AM

I was forced to watch the whole shebang by my family, but actually enjoyed it. The queen looked as if she really had just parachuted in in a howling gale. The transition from the rural to the industrial scene and the forging of the rings was great. After that it seemed to go a bit flat. Why do we have to suffer the artic monkeys and paul mccartney. Surely there are better people to represent the music scene.
My overall view is that we certainly matched, if not surpassed, the Bejing opening ceremony.
Well done but a few Morris Dancers would have completed the rural scene

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: Edthefolkie
Date: 29 Jul 12 - 07:52 AM

I thought most of it was great because Sir (next Jan.) Danny Boyle TOOK CHANCES. It was like some huge stewpot with lots of good things bubbling inside.

So many cultural references that nobody could spot them all. For instance I missed Ratty and Mole but spotted the tiny clip of David Niven and Kim Hunter in "A Matter of Life and Death".

Apparently a big influence was the mighty Humphrey Jennings who made "Listen to Britain" during WWII - eg the foundry workers in goggles and masks forging the Olympic rings. And there's your Tolkien reference too, not to mention Wagner!

I see some US journalists missed the point. "For the life of me, I am still baffled by NHS tribute at opening ceremonies. Like a tribute to United Health Care or something in US," tweeted clearly confused Los Angeles Times sports writer Diane Pucin. La La Land indeed.

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: theleveller
Date: 29 Jul 12 - 10:33 AM

"I thought most of it was great because Sir (next Jan.) Danny Boyle TOOK CHANCES"

It just goes to show how different peoples' perceptions can be. I thought it was embarrassing because he DIDN'T take chances but, instead, relied on banal, stereotyped images of what our country isn't any more. Like the steel industry - amazing in its time but destroyed by Bloody Thatcher; like the NHS - destroyed by Bloody Thatcher and every government since. Where was the celebration of our wonderful, diverse countryside - all we saw wasit being ripped up to create the Industrial Revolution; as an island nation where was the celebration of our coastline and all that happens there? I could go on. The impression I was left with was one of dark, satanic mills rather than a green and pleasant land (apart from Tellytubby Hill).

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: GUEST,CJB
Date: 29 Jul 12 - 11:00 AM

He he - during the kissing scenes of the Opening Ceremony - incl. Wills & Kate on the Buck House balcony - there was the brief glimpse of the first lesbian kiss on British t.v. from soap 'Eastenders.' Bet that was a first for a number of homophobic countries taking the transmission including the Arab States.

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To America's shame the NBC censored out the appearance of the first (and only) woman athlete from Saudi Arabia in the parade of athletes.

Also NBC censored out the homage to the 7/7 victims of Islamic terror on British (London) spoil.

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Did anyone realise that the forging of the rings was inspired by Tolkien's LOTR. It is reputed that the ring actually forged in the stadium was the 'one ring.'

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Huge anger amongst many athletes and the public for the numerous blocks of empty seats both in the Opening Ceremony but also in the MANY venues during the first two days. These apparently are likely to have been due to 'freeloaders' aka corporate sponsors (you know who they are) not turning up. Many athletes were refused tickets for their close relatives, and the general public generally still feels disenfranchised from the whole Shen. having been refused tickets from the get-go.

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THE main black and Asian newspaper The Voice was refused media accreditation to all Olympic venues. This has been considered a slap in the face for not only for British multiculturalism (as portrayed on the Opening Ceremony), but also has caused huge offence amongst Britain's many ethnic minorities.

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Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Jul 12 - 11:25 AM

There was a little skirmish with the police outside the Opening Ceremony when Critical Mass cyclists protested about the lack of provision for cyclists due to the Olympic 'Zil lanes' squeezing them off the roads.

http://criticalmasslondon.org.uk/main.html

The police reacted with physical abuse and violence towards the peaceful cyclists. The police used pepper spray and are rumoured to have use tasers. One disabled cyclist unfortunately got caught up in the protest and was so physically assaulted by one policeman that the copper had to be dragged away by colleagues.

The news of this has gone viral, including being picked up and broadcast many times by Russia Today.

Apparently now over 180 cyclists have been arrested.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-19036212

Appalling behaviour by the police, who after the Tomlinson affair obviously now think that that its OK to physically assault anyone and everyone.

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 29 Jul 12 - 12:06 PM

The Voice was granted media accreditation to all Olympic venues on 18th July.

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 29 Jul 12 - 12:08 PM

It has to be said(/sung)

Oh Danny Boyle, that start was a sensation.
It 'raised the bar' for any future games.
You showed the best of our island nation,
There was no need to employ famous names. (the Queen excepted!)
You showed our nightmares with the 'Child-Catcher'
Safe in their beds, the children were not caught.
A wave from Churchill, not from Maggie Thatcher.
And so our only other dread was Voldemort!

You raised a scene of England in its idyll.
Maypoles & cricket on the village green.
Then, up above, you built a 'dark satanic mill'.
Ideas too broad to fit a tv screen.
But come you back, at last, when games are ending.
We hope Kim Gavin* does as well as you.
As onto Rio our goodwill we're sending.
As we all stop, and pause, and bid the Games "Adieu!"

*Artistic Director for the closing ceremony.


Cheers
Nigel

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 29 Jul 12 - 08:17 PM

"" And there's your Tolkien reference too, not to mention Wagner!""

Nice one EdtheFolkie!

I've been waiting since Friday to see if anybody else made that link.

Not even all that subtle either.

Don T.

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 29 Jul 12 - 08:24 PM

""These apparently are likely to have been due to 'freeloaders' aka corporate sponsors""

Well, according to the games organisers all the seats reserved for games sponsors were taken up and the bulk of the empties were reserved for various national olympic organisations, with a few taken by non sponsor corporations.

So you are wrong in almost every detail.

Don T.

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: Penny S.
Date: 30 Jul 12 - 05:47 AM

I only linked the ring to Tolkein on re-watching, thinking it was better to use Milton's Pandemonium than Tolkein's Orthanc (which I have discovered to be a quite respectable Old English word allied in meaning to the Greek polymechan which was one of Odysseus' labels. Cunning artificing.) But the scene did look like Orthanc in the films.

I hadn't linked the flame to Sauron's eye, though. I thought that waas the light on top of the Shard.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: Songwronger
Date: 31 Jul 12 - 06:22 PM

I missed all that but saw some photos of the tall creature standing over the hospital beds. Does that sound accurate? The huge figure looming over kids in hospital beds? Some kind of "tribute" to the National Health Service in Britain?

Made me think of Moloch, the old god that kids were sacrificed to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moloch

The British royal family is occultic. So are all of the old European ruling families. The opening ceremony may have been a glorification of child sacrifice.

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 31 Jul 12 - 07:50 PM

The tall figure was Voldemort, from the Harry Potter stories.

And the Royal Family as witches and warlocks.........NAAAH!

Just another dollop of Songwronger tinfoil hat Bollocks!

Won't some kind soul get him some psychiatric help?

Don T.

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: akenaton
Date: 01 Aug 12 - 03:57 AM

What had it to do with the Olympics, or the ideals thereof?

It seemed to me, from what I could be bothered watching, a media exercise, complete with hysterical sycophantic presenters.

An advertisement for "multiculturalism", "human rights", the media perception of "freedom" and all the other sleights of hand which they think persuade us that we have any meaningful form of society.

It made me feel a bit queasy really.

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: Musket
Date: 01 Aug 12 - 08:06 AM

Absolutely stunning.

It summed up Great Britain better than I could ever attempt to describe. Of course, we have the Cannock Chase MP, Colonel Blimp, The Scottish head Catholic bloke, Akenaton and a few dozen others out of a population of 60 million who perhaps don't feel The UK is the melting pot it is, but no matter. Society is society, and I think most of the world knows society means inclusion not exclusion.

Well done Mr Boyle.



Ian

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 01 Aug 12 - 08:42 AM

The Tolkien reference - to the film rather than the book - was the uprooting of the tree, and the destruction of The Shire.

I rather hoped that when it came to the deindustrialisation of Britain we'd have had Fred Dibnah blowing up the chimneys...

But I imagine there was lots of stuff going on that the TV didn't pick up - for example in a press photo I saw a large Yellow Submarine which never showed up on screen.

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 01 Aug 12 - 11:11 AM

Does anyone know if the spectators in the stadium had a programme which explained things for them?

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: GUEST,Ed
Date: 01 Aug 12 - 11:34 AM

I'd very much doubt it, Eliza given the advanced secrecy surrounding much of it.

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 01 Aug 12 - 01:13 PM

It's just I'm reminded of the sort of thing you get when you go to the Opera - "Antonio discovers Amelia is disguised as Donata. They turn into swans and are rescued by Profondo representing Freedom. Everyone sings in triumphant celebration..." etc. At least you have a bit of a clue as to what's going on!

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 01 Aug 12 - 01:30 PM

Does anybody read those in advance?

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 01 Aug 12 - 01:33 PM

Well, they could have referred to it during the ceremony. But I suppose it would have to be in several languages (like NHS leaflets!)

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: theleveller
Date: 01 Aug 12 - 01:40 PM

Well, for once in my life I find myself in some agreement with Akenaton - it made me feel queasy, mainly because of the huge gulf between the representation and the reality.

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: YorkshireYankee
Date: 01 Aug 12 - 02:23 PM

Roger Ebert's take is an enjoyable read...

Here are the first couple of paragraphs:

As the world watched the incredible opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the same thought was on many minds: How in the world can London possibly top this in 2012? Faced with that challenge, director Danny Boyle seems to have been inspired by the title of a Monty Python film: "And now for something completely different."

I don't know if Boyle's opening ceremony was good. I don't know if it was bad. I know it was surely the sort of event for which the British invented the term "gob-smacking." It was truly, deeply, British. It was by the Brits and for the Brits. Poor Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira and Bob Costas labored heroically to soldier through their notes, helping clueless NBC viewers to identify a speech from Shakespeare's "Tempest," recognize the 19th century industrialist Brunel, and spot topics they might not have been familiar with, such as the Sex Pistols and the Industrial Revolution. I am not quite sure they ever quite explained Mr. Bean, although luckily Rowan Atkinson comes with his own explanation built right in.

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: ChrisJBrady
Date: 02 Aug 12 - 10:50 AM

The Queen sat with a very unhappy expression for most of the ceremony. I now know why. The entire Arena was filled with acrid smoke and dust from the industrial scene especially with the fumes from the forging of the ring(s), followed by the cascade of fire as the five rings were lifted up to the roof. Her Maj. was NOT amused. Maybe the NHS part was about the rise in cancer from our industrial and very polluted past.

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 02 Aug 12 - 12:01 PM

We watched the ceremonies on NBC.com yesterday, basically to see what the fuss was about.

Some quick impressions. I have never seen so many shabby costumes and so much fake soot in a major international event.

I thought it impertinent, nay! Down right cheeky! when "Bond" cleared his throat to get the Queen's attention.

I thought it was really cool when they made the floor of the stadium look like the aerial view of downtown London for the parachute jump.

I was irritated that the NBC cameras spent a lot more time on the pretend US representatives (Mitt & Anne) that the real one Michelle Obama.

I liked the music thing but thought it could have used much more Dire Straights and Clash and a bit less eighties stuff.

I didn't understand the Danny Boy thing either and was especially confused that the team representing the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland marched to a banner reading merely Great Britain.

I think Danny Boyle was a good choice, though I did spend a little too much time looking for the Rage infested monkeys.

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: Musket
Date: 02 Aug 12 - 12:57 PM

Hello Sailor!

"Great Britain" is interchangeable with "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" by dint of the OED, custom and practice and common language. The technical difference is not one that upsets people, not even Ian Paisley and his band of bigots. Th reason being there is no statutory body that deals with just Great Britain, it is technically the mainland island rather than describing the three countries within or the countries without. If you were to be pedantic, you would have to include Isle of Man, Isles of Scilly, all the Channel Islands...

A bit like saying United States and Commonwealths of America, or plain USA, or even Dumbfuckistan.

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 02 Aug 12 - 01:15 PM

I think it would be more akin to the US team marching to a banner saying "Lower 48 States" Or "Contiguous States of America."

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: akenaton
Date: 02 Aug 12 - 02:26 PM

Musket...you may regret insulting Jack's country of birth.
He is quite capable of teaching you some manners.

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 02 Aug 12 - 03:01 PM

Or the Canadian team having a banner saying "All of Canada except Vancouver Island and Newfoundland because they are not part of the main land mass"

Or New Zealand's Banner saying "North Island of New Zealand"

Or Australia's saying "Australia: Not so fast Tasmania, just the continent!"

As you said, "Great Briton" is just the name of one island.

If this name is correct at the UN why not be as inclusive at the Olympics?

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 02 Aug 12 - 04:37 PM

Sorry, we do not have "downtown London" - it's partly called the West End, and partly called Mayfair.

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 02 Aug 12 - 05:48 PM

I realize that Bonzo, but the area depicted had three bends of the Thames with the areas north and south of it. Remembering the tube maps from my visit there at the time, that whole region did not have a name, it included at least six places with separate names, but included many iconic places. So, in my ignorance and laziness I hopefully chose a name that even the most ignorant and pedantic could comprehend.

Apparently I failed.

Subject: RE: BS: Olympics opening ceremony
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 02 Aug 12 - 05:49 PM

London Calling!