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2012 Summer Olympics, London


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Because we usually have an Olympics thread.Talk about whatever comes to mind.

Initially I didn't get the whole Daniel Craig-Queen thing. Until she turned around I thought I'd switched onto an extended liquor commercial or something.

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Here is what I've posted on FB so far:

I really want to like this Olympic Opening Ceremony, but so far it's been all about sheep, working class blight, and socialized medicine - with QE2 jumping out of a plane. Please, more Shakespeare fantasy, less angsty Hamlet. Oh wait, here comes the children's lit section...

The young ladies marching with sticks with country letters on top remind of Happy New Year's Hats. Their dresses look like unicef posters. This is the strangest opening ceremony since Albertville in 1992....

I'd rather have more royal pageantry, pipes tattoos, royal ballet, and/or british composers, and less lame texting love stories. At least I can still be shallow and judge the national uniforms. That never changes.

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Of course I'm watching 8 hours after this happened, because god forbid NBC shows it live (or streams it live) and then rebroadcasts it in prime time. I doubt they would lose much neilsen share if they did both. I really miss CBC as my alternative. Damned comcast for not carrying CTV! Matt Lauer is proving to all of us that he is the real problem with NBC's morning show - not Ann Curry.

When he and Meredith Viera talked over the *entire* children's choir section, I wanted to reach into my TV and stuff my dirty socks in their mouths.

I respect Bob Costas for taking a stand on a moment of silence for Israel's athletes lost in 1972. But he still fails as an opening ceremonies color commentator.

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IMO one of the lamest Opening Ceremonies in recent memory. Cluttered and un-focused, it lacked any real visual oomph. I'm wondering how the people in the stadium saw all the TV close ups. (the sleeping kids!) Maybe personal screens at every seat? It was memorable for some of it's supreme lapses. Where was Monty Python? Sting? U2? C. S. Lewis? Lewis Carroll? Royal Ballet? The "Phantom"? To name but a few. And did I miss this, but where were the Black Watch pipers? And the running commentary was simply banal. The entire evening seemed a bit "beige" to me. While I loved the idea of the Queen being a "Bond girl", would it have hurt her Majesty to crack even a small smile during the ceremony? Actually, it should have been Sean Connery jumping out of the helicopter with QE2!

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I gather NBC cut one of the big dance moments from its television coverage entirely (Akram Khan).

Ah. I was wondering, because I was looking for that. I was switching back and forth between something else and doing other things, so I thought I might have missed him.

While I loved the idea of the Queen being a "Bond girl", would it have hurt her Majesty to crack even a small smile during the ceremony?

She's always looked rather grim in public. She isn't naturally outgoing, so it is work for her. It's too bad, because as photos show she has a nice smile. I do wonder what the kiddies thought as their sovereign gazed balefully on their efforts.

With Danny Boyle in charge and given the horrid economic situation, I don't think too much royal pageantry was ever in the offing, which caused me no great distress. It would have been nice, however, to get a little more Vaughan Williams and less pop.

I tend to be more interested in the bizarro moments like the Giant Inflatable Beaver. The Great Inflatable Baby wasn't quite in that class.

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It would have been nice, however, to get a little more Vaughan Williams and less pop.

What was the deal with having British athletes parade in to David Bowie’s Heroes? The tone of that song is desperate and wistful and ironic. The heroism there is fantasy. I couldn’t hear the lyrics well last night, but I’m guessing they at least cut out the lines about how “you can be mean and I’ll drink all the time.”

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I haven't seen the whole thing through (had to be at a show last night) but I really liked the torch at the end (especially the way it was constructed out of the individual "petals" carried in with each group of athletes -- I'm a sucker for that kind of symbolism) and the miniature hill with all the flags.

Phooey on NBC for cutting out Akram Khan, but I think they also cut out the section where the athletes take the Olympic oath, which is one of my favorite moments in these events -- I'm another one who is really missing the Canadian coverage...

I am hoping to catch some of this online at some point -- surely it will all appear on YouTube eventually?

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I really enjoyed the Opening Ceremony. The children's literature segment was a highlight. And I thought the lighting of the torch was really cool and original.

Will anybody here follow the men's swimming competition...? (Being the only sport I've ever practiced/watched with passion, I might as well find a partner in crime around here...happy.png )

The men's swimming competition is one of my favorite Olympic sports. Looking forward to it, as well as gymnastics and diving. :)

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IMO one of the lamest Opening Ceremonies in recent memory. Cluttered and un-focused, it lacked any real visual oomph. I'm wondering how the people in the stadium saw all the TV close ups. (the sleeping kids!) Maybe personal screens at every seat? It was memorable for some of it's supreme lapses. Where was Monty Python? Sting? U2? C. S. Lewis? Lewis Carroll? Royal Ballet? The "Phantom"?

U2? maybe with Sunday Bloody Sunday? they are from Ireland! flowers.gif

I agree that it looked quite confused on TV: when they were creating the symbol of peace, they looked of the same color og the "stage", almost invisible... maybe the used big screens.

Some great ideas (young athlets to light the torch...but are they lighting it off to move it in anothre place? it cannot stay in the middle of athletics stadium!) and some others I didn't like at all (all the part with "text love story")...

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Those ugly industrial smokestacks reminded me of Ratmansky's Firebird.

Basically a grim, gloomy rather 'untidy' opening cerem. So this is what $40mill buys? (That said, I loved Mr. Bean's bit with the 'Chariots of Fire' and the Queen with James Bond. That's it.)

Great Britain is a LOT more beautiful than than. They deserved a display of beauty, brightness and dignity...and professional movements from professional dancers. Where on earth was The Royal Ballet in this? Does Danny Boyle only like punk-street dancing? At least he cannot mess-up the beautiful vistas in and around London, such as the gorgeous Sussex countryside I'm now seeing in the bicycle road racing.

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Those ugly industrial smokestacks reminded me of Ratmansky's Firebird.

Basically a grim, gloomy rather 'untidy' opening cerem. So this is what $40mill buys? (That said, I loved Mr. Bean's bit with the 'Chariots of Fire' and the Queen with James Bond. That's it.)

Great Britain is a LOT more beautiful than than. They deserved a display of beauty, brightness and dignity...and professional movements from professional dancers. Where on earth was The Royal Ballet in this? Does Danny Boyle only like punk-street dancing? At least he cannot mess-up the beautiful vistas in and around London, such as the gorgeous Sussex countryside I'm now seeing in the bicycle road racing.

Well the industrial revolution was really incredibly beautiful, with gleaming smokestacks covered in glittering gold. Happy workers dancing in the streets for joy at their marvelous working conditions and sunshine, rainbows and lollipops everywhere!

It encouraged great progress but also a lot of human misery. The UK was instrumental in the Industrial revolution and as it was critical to the modern world as we know it I can see why it featured so prominently in the opening. I'm rather glad it wasn't whitewashed over though.

And the first section, with a verdant england focusing on Glastonbury Tor was quite beautiful.

Honestly from what I read I thought it was going to be a bit "weirder" than it was.

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It would have been nice, however, to get a little more Vaughan Williams and less pop.

What was the deal with having British athletes parade in to David Bowie’s Heroes? The tone of that song is desperate and wistful and ironic. The heroism there is fantasy. I couldn’t hear the lyrics well last night, but I’m guessing they at least cut out the lines about how “you can be mean and I’ll drink all the time.”

At skating championships, the International Skating Union has played "We Are the Champions" when the medallists take their victory lap. Talk about tone deaf.

I thought Boyle's approach was fascinating. I wonder what it was like to be in the stadium. I'm assuming they had big screens and/or an internal frequency to allow people to see close-ups on their cell phones. (in Vancouver, they jammed cell phone reception in at least the closing ceremony.). The entire Jubilee has been full of pomp. There's no way the Olympics could compete with that. I'm glad they took a different approach with the Opening Ceremony.

I thought Queen Elizabeth was great in the Bond video. She's in her '80's and has had months of Jubilee-related events. I thought she looked tired more than dyspeptic during the ceremony.

The CTV people were great at keeping quiet through most of the Opening Ceremony. Unfortunately, during the Parade of Athletes, the info they gave was mostly useless.

CTV didn't cut the choreography, but I think you had to be in the stadium to get the effect of the patterns and mass of people. It wasn't very photogenic, and I fast-forwarded through most of it.

After the children's choirs, my favorite part was the clip of "Gregory's Girl" shown during the mindless romance section. I loved the cauldron, the idea of passing the torch from one of the greatest British Olympic athletes to a group of children, and how they used the "petals" carried in my kids accompanying each nation in the Parade of Athletes to created the cauldron. I thought the Olympic Rings thing in the sky was splendid, and I love all fireworks.

Were the Great Britain team uniforms supposed to be ironic? Why did the US uniforms make them look like members of the Canadian military?

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It encouraged great progress but also a lot of human misery. The UK was instrumental in the Industrial revolution and as it was critical to the modern world as we know it I can see why it featured so prominently in the opening. I'm rather glad it wasn't whitewashed over though

You're of course quite right about the UK's role in the Industrial Revolution and the miserable conditions the poor suffered during it. But there are times to tell the hard truth and times, not to whitewash, but to celebrate what merits celebration, and I think the Olympics is one of the latter.

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Were the Great Britain team uniforms supposed to be ironic? Why did the US uniforms make them look like members of the Canadian military?
I wondered if Stella McCartney designed the uniforms as a throw back to glam rock (all the lame'). Regarding the US uniforms, plenty of criticism of the berets, that they are French, and therefore "unamerican". But the US Military has a long history of wearing the berets: US Army Special Forces have worn Green Berets since they saw the British wear Red ones in WWII. US Army and US Air Force have worn berets for at least 25 years. The US Army Rangers have worn Black berets for over 50 years. And 10 years ago, the US Army Command changed all US Military uniforms, to include the beret. So I think of berets as quite American!
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Those ugly industrial smokestacks reminded me of Ratmansky's Firebird.

Basically a grim, gloomy rather 'untidy' opening cerem. So this is what $40mill buys? (That said, I loved Mr. Bean's bit with the 'Chariots of Fire' and the Queen with James Bond. That's it.)

Great Britain is a LOT more beautiful than than. They deserved a display of beauty, brightness and dignity...and professional movements from professional dancers. Where on earth was The Royal Ballet in this? Does Danny Boyle only like punk-street dancing? At least he cannot mess-up the beautiful vistas in and around London, such as the gorgeous Sussex countryside I'm now seeing in the bicycle road racing.

Well the industrial revolution was really incredibly beautiful, with gleaming smokestacks covered in glittering gold. Happy workers dancing in the streets for joy at their marvelous working conditions and sunshine, rainbows and lollipops everywhere!

It encouraged great progress but also a lot of human misery. The UK was instrumental in the Industrial revolution and as it was critical to the modern world as we know it I can see why it featured so prominently in the opening. I'm rather glad it wasn't whitewashed over though.

And the first section, with a verdant england focusing on Glastonbury Tor was quite beautiful.

Honestly from what I read I thought it was going to be a bit "weirder" than it was.

I thought the William Blake set the tone - the contrast of the beautiful land and the dark satanic mills. There's no reason why a celebration of this kind can't include references to struggle and triumph over circumstances - quite appropriate to the Olympics, when you think about it.

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Were the Great Britain team uniforms supposed to be ironic? Why did the US uniforms make them look like members of the Canadian military?
I wondered if Stella McCartney designed the uniforms as a throw back to glam rock (all the lame').

The GB parade uniforms were designed by the clothing chain Next, not by Stella McCartney - she did the 'performance' kit.

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NBC needs to keep a camera on Mama Raisman at all times......

Agreed! Her reactions were priceless.

Enjoyed the 3-meter synchronized diving competition. Congratulations to Abby Johnston and Kelci Bryant on winning the silver!

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Wu and He, though, were incredible, just gorgeous in the air.

With the bronze Emilie Heymans became the first Canadian to win medals in four consecutive Olympics. Like Wu, she won a medal with her second synchro partner, and for Heymans, it was in another diving discipline: she had to give up platform diving because of injury. Congratulations to her and Jennifer Abel, her partner.

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