The opening ceremony starts in a couple of hours. Unlikely that it will rival the ridiculously lavish spectacle at Beijing, but I think it should still be pretty awesome.
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The opening ceremony starts in a couple of hours. Unlikely that it will rival the ridiculously lavish spectacle at Beijing, but I think it should still be pretty awesome.
I wish I could watch it live. They're not going to air it here in the US for nearly seven hours yet. =/
They (the media) reckon it will either be Sir Steve Redgrave or Sir Roger Bannister who will light the cauldron with the torch.
Earlier, people were thinking it might be Bradley Wiggins as he is the first Brit to win the TDF. Others said David Beckham has a part as well.
It will be interesting to see who does, although I don't think anyone can match when Muhammad Ali lit the flame at the Atlanta games back in 1996.
:bowdown:
Could be the Queen of course.
I wonder who's performing. I know McCartney's gonna do an epic round of Hey Jude which should be pretty sweet.
Yawn. Even the Muslim suicide bomber has fallen asleep by now.
Absolutely fantastic opening ceremony... Danny Boyle is my hero!
Started off slowly but the whole industrial revolution scene was amazing, and just got better! Just wow.
He deserves a knighthood for that.
Like Patrick says, it started off really slow and I thought it was gonna be terrible. Then comes the Industrial Revolution and the show really begins.
It was very impressive and fun to watch. Danny Boyle should be proud.
Watching now. Is there any site that streams it live? Or at least, sooner than what my timezone receives?
For me the beginning was the highlight with the forging of the rings, and the cauldron was a great idea too.
Oh and Mr. Bean of course. Atkinson is the master of his face. :D
Worst bit was probably the 'teenagers' scene, don't really appreciate my generation being portrayed as a bunch of vacuous, boring hedonists, after the greatness of past generations like that of Brunel.
Queenie cemented my opinion of her of a grouchy old hag, she just frowned all night and it was hilarious at the end when the British team emerged and the beeb switched to her just sat there picking her fingernails... for somebody's who's essentially supposed to be the embodiment of etiquette that's just an aggressive level of ineptitude.
teeheeeheee
you british are so silly
ohhh look, voldemort
Lol, I know. She always looks bored at these kinds of things. It's hilarious the way the presenters always try to paint her as being cheery and ecstatic when she actually looks quite moody and disinterested. There was one point in the ceremony where the BBC presenter said something like "And there's the queen, looking on intensely at the event". The camera pans to the queen, looking like one of the corgis has pissed on her new shoes.Quote:
Originally Posted by Xei
The opening ceremony was... umm... different :?.
i only saw some of the opening ceremony.
i usually look forward to the marathon run they have towards the end.
Sucked.
It seems that most Brits loved it and that most other people didn't really get it.
Having said that I heard some Aussies praising it yesterday.
At this moment My Commentator said "This Is a Moment the Queen will never Forget."Quote:
Originally Posted by Heavy Sleeper
I read an article in the papers today; basically everybody across the world except the yanks really liked it, for some reason. What with Romney's awful gaffe and dressing their team up in military inspired uniforms, they're not exactly endearing themselves right now. Apparently their media also cut out the memorial to the 7/7 attacks, and the brief lesbian kiss (which was, however, shown on Saudi television)... nice goin.Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick
Personally I quite liked it, up until the whole 80's cellphone/txt mssge thing. I think the ones who didn't were the millions upon millions of Joe Six-Packs and Suzie Homemakers who seem to proudly suckle at the teat of Fox News and Rush Limbaugh. They seem to lead the world in anti-intellectualism and anti-traditionalism - even though these are the same people who spout off all the time about what they call 'traditional family values' they're contemptuous of the traditions and values of any other country or people.
didn't watch, don't care.
Great post.Quote:
Originally Posted by IndieAnthias
That North Korean weightlifter who lifted 3 times his body weight :shock:. Lots of upsets so far. Interesting.
the nbc coverage here in the states has been crap
I just wanted to watch some buff guys swing around on silver hoops, why is that so hard? It felt like the entire coverage was the pommel horse. And when the winners were neither american or british the coverage doesn't give any love or care for the chinese. So chinese are the enemy now? Theres no chinese americans?
Damn, I remember years back when they would always give the national anthem of the winner regardless of who it was in sportsmanship, but now the coverage is so biased its lame.
They're cutting out foreign anthems now? Wow, American parochialism really seems to be reaching new heights this year. It's kinda concerning. :/
(Typing this as 'Deutschland ueber alles' plays on the BBC in the background, lol).
I didn't watch it last night because the freaking news told us we came in fifth before it even aired and I couldn't turn the damn channel fast enough, but I think the reason they cut out the anthem was because we didn't place. I've heard several foreign anthems throught the Olympics, and every time we either got a silver or bronze.Quote:
Originally Posted by juroara
My country can beat up your country.
...as long as the 'Marquess of Queensberry Rules' are obeyed.
The UK's organizational work conducting the parade of nations has been a total blunder for a few countries, specifically India and Japan. I don't believe I've ever witnessed either of those scenarios happening during the parade of nations march before. Weird stuff. Meanwhile the host country of the games is currently getting steam-rolled on their own turf.
I've been watching it randomly. The gymnastics really fascinate me, probably more then any of the other "normal" activities. People don't give gymnasts enough credit, people are just like "lol gymnastics is easy it shouldn't be a sport". Like bitch no do you see what they are doing.
I agree.Quote:
Originally Posted by juroara
The swimmers bods are quite good.
When has anyone ever said that? :OQuote:
Originally Posted by Erii
Gymnastics is one of the hardest sports ever... Much more physically demanding than putting a ball into a hole.
What do you guys think of Chinese swimmer, Ye Shiwen's mind-boggling win?
I think people need to stop throwing around accusations about drugs. She passed all the tests, nothing suspicious was found. Is it really so hard to believe that she won it through hard work? I get the feeling that a lot of the hysteria comes from the fact that she's Chinese. If she was British or American, I bet everyone would be singing her praises.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ne-yo
Paul McCartney was absolutely awful, Lennon would be turning in his grave.
I live on the same road as Hampton Court Palace (where all the cycling's been held) which has been pretty sweet, and I've discovered a love of handball. Olympics are shaping up to be better than I expected.
G4S on the other hand... My interview was in November and they still haven't told me when or where I'm working.
China are immense! Take that democracy!
You're right if she was British or American everyone would be praising her. In fact I believe if she was any other nationality it wouldn't hit as hard. China doesn't really have the best reputation for honesty based off some past events. So I think people automatically raise an eyebrow when something extraordinary in competition happens that spans from China. Nevertheless she's been groomed since she was a baby specifically for this event and had specialized scientific training in Australia. Kind makes you wonder why Australian swimmers not producing similar results.Quote:
Originally Posted by Heavy Sleeper
What was the problem with Japan's parade? So by a few you just mean India and Japan... I thought it was an incredibly well executed ceremony considering how much could have gone wrong.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ne-yo
And why is it a negative thing that the host country isn't doing very well? The UK has never performed particularly well at the olympics; perhaps you just never noticed that until now. Anyway pundits are still saying that Team GB will do better than they did in Beijing.
Japan's entire delegation was lead out of the stadium and wasn't allowed back in.Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick
You're actually right, I think I'm focusing a lot more on the UK because they're the host country.Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick
Woah, weird... Do you have a link for a news report or something? Just curious, didn't hear anything about it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ne-yo
Well new drugs which aren't tested for have been a common feature in the past. But beating your previous best by 5 seconds really isn't particularly unusual at that age. The UK are disappointed that their one of their strongest hopes for gold was dashed; the US are just generally extremely confused about being second in the world, apparently their media has been talking about how the Chinese are bred or genetically modified from the start.Quote:
Originally Posted by Heavy Sleeper
Um... the UK is doing very well, we're 5th. The home advantage isn't so powerful that a country with a population of 70 million could come out top and beat an extremely organised and ambitious one with a population of a billion, don't be so silly. The fact that you made this comment just shows you adhering to the stereotype of Americans totally missing the point and thinking the Olympics is about belligerence.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ne-yo
He sang extremely well for a 70 year old, christ, what's wrong with you? His voice has been gone for years but he somehow was hitting the high notes again.Quote:
Originally Posted by moSh
I know right? Weird. but, yea, I found out about it on the World Wide Web just check there you'll come across it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick
Same ole' Xei, still taking everything to heart. I'd have you know, that I actually liked when hobbits came out of those hills so I don't have any idea what "Stereotypes of Americans" has to do with that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Xei
That doesn't seem to be a coherent sentence... I don't know what you're saying but I guess it's just another clumsy attempt at trolling.
It wasn't the sleight I took to heart (nor do I consider it one), I'm just always upset by ignorance and militance.
Then I guess you stay pretty upset every-time you look in the mirror.Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick
I appreciate the fact that he hit the notes and whatnot, but what was with the American accent when singing? I hate it when British artists do that. Arctic Monkeys held their own, but they didn't stick to their Sheffield accent either.Quote:
Originally Posted by Xei
I just couldn't help but cringe during his performance.
I didn't notice it... Macca has always had a 'rounder' voice compared to Lennon's sharp one. There's no reason he'd want to do an accent or develop one... John was the one who crossed the Atlantic with no intention of coming back.
I didn't think that Arctic Monkeys were so good... the rendition of Come Together was okay but not great, and it pissed me off when they substituted a Beatles lyric to one about themselves, that was pretty arrogant.
I suppose you're right. I guess I just felt he was past his best, but I suppose you can't spell Britain without Beatles really.
And yes, the Beatles should not be tampered with.
Yeah he is, in fact he was pretty bad at the Jubilee celebrations and people were saying it was getting embarrassing... that's why I was surprised and happy that he pulled it out of the bag here for what will presumably be his last big public appearance. He's mainly there for emotional value, and it is basically the best stadium song ever written.
Edit: serious question here; why are swimmers so attractive? I'm not talking about bodies, that's obvious. But the female swimmers all seem to have very beautiful faces (and largely the same for the men). In an arena totally based on objective personal merit (rather than business or acting for instance) it seems very odd to me that those at the top should be pretty.
Olympic boxing is a joke but other then that so far i've enjoyed the rest of it.
What a fucking terrible closing ceremony
I don't really think it's intended to be much of a spectacle. Just lots of good songs to send the thing off... I think it's fine.
I thought it was pretty good. Didn't compare spectacle-wise, but they managed to get the best of the best in terms of music (apart from maybe Zeppelin), with the exception of Taio Cruz of course.Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick
Indeed... I mean there were quite a few other British artists they could have gone with but whoever chose the playlist had good taste. Floyd, Kinks, Blur, yep. About a third of it was (not so well known) Beatles stuff. :)
I thought Liam Gallagher was kind of ridiculous though. I think the guy really is starting to lose it inside his ego... he never used to sing in such an obviously John Lennony nasal voice but now it's just over the top, it sounds stupid.
I watched most of the closing ceremony. I quite enjoyed it.
The organisers were still selling the '90s Britpop thingy. Not that I was complaining however, especially when Jessie J came on shaking her booty, etc. :D
Agreed. I've never been a huge fan of Oasis anyway, but I found Gallagher's part pretty hard to watch.Quote:
Originally Posted by Xei
Jessie J was proper good, so so hot :)Quote:
Originally Posted by RobStar
I really love the performance of Mr.Bean(Rowan Atkinson)... ever since I was a kid I always watch his movies and tv series especially the cartoon Mr.Bean.>.<
Thoughts on the paralympics? I didn't realise how much I'd appreciate the strength some of these individuals have. Very impressed.
I understand the sentiment but the paralympics really doesn't make any sense to me. It's pretty clear that there is a lot of variation in handicap within classes.