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Nic

Nic

Strata Poster
Can't quite believe we haven't already got a thread for this, but with the event underway, we need one :)

So, what did you think of the opening ceremony? What sports are you most looking forward to? What are your predictions for the medal results? Can you just not wait for the whole thing to be over and done with?

Once it's underway, this will also serve as a place to discuss the results of the events.

A few words on the opening ceremony to start us off then. I was sceptical beforehand, but absolutely loved it. My favourite part was the village green, and the way it transformed into the industrial landscape. I thought the whole thing was so incredibly British, but without being stuffy or overly traditional (that is, until Paul McCartney turned up and ruined it all - don't get me started on that!) I actually really loved the decision to let the 7 young athletes light the cauldron. I'd normally hate all the "w@nky symbolism" of something like that, but in this case, I think it worked really well and is really refreshing. It was a perfect way to end a ceremony that was built around the core value of celebrating members of the public and it not being purely about soulless celebrities (and then Paul McCartney... yeah)
 
**** everything except the opening ceremony. Sport is boring and most people only care when some big event is on so they can join in with the crowd. The amount it's going to **** up my transport and prevent me from going into the city to enjoy it is burdenous.

What I saw of the opening ceremony was good though. I dunno why people were so quick to bash it an the cost of it. I can easily see how £27m was spent on it.
 
Agreed with Joey, don't care about anything else. That opening ceremony was absolutely amazing though, The lighting in the audience was incredible and to know that friends were involved in the actual show is just amazing (including Mr Infernus!!). I think everyone did an incredible job on it and yeah, just awesome. I was buzzing afterwards which was annoying because I needed sleep for my shift today (so, so tired).

Oh I didn't think I'd get too screwed in terms of travel arrangements then this morning I saw the preps for the mass crowds at London Charing Cross, it made me cry. I shall upload a picture tonight I think to share my woe. At least I'm not affected on the way into work.


EDIT:

Oh and the Olympics also meant that yesterday my boss decided we were going to have an office Olympics, it was hilarious and so goony and childish. Javelin = throwing paper planes, ball toss = balls of paper into bins, archery = pinging elastic bands into a plastic cup and a really technically goony game we came up with which no one on here would understand/get but it made us laugh so much and there was so much energy created because of how tight the heats were (lol) we might make it an occasional thing at work. I <3 my boss and his crazy plans to keep us happy, quite surprised these games weren't sponsered by beer actually. Oh and there were medals for first and second place winners of each game which were just DVDs with either a silver (read as grey) or gold (read as yellow) printed cover attached to a lanyard :D


This morning we've tuned two of our monitors into the sport. BBC One HD for generic stuff and one of the extra channels for yep, Women's Beach Vollyball lmao
 
James Bond escorting The Queen - the ACTUAL Queen - to the ceremony was a stroke of genius, I cried with laughter, disbelief and pride.

The opening ceremony was perfectly British. Despite all the economic and social problems the UK has, for several hours last night, the country was reminded how brilliant Britain can be - NHS, Mary Poppins, Harry Potter, comedy, music, film, the industrial revolution, green fields, the weather (which isn't usually good, but it's British weather), the Queen, James Bond - all of which was pulled off in a typically British way. No kids twirling ribbons, no over the top flag waving, no performers desperate to be the centre of attention, no symmetry. I loved it! Only McCartney let it down, he was terrible.

Now we have to endure two weeks(ish) of boring sport before we see how Boyle ends it. Give that bloke a knighthood.
 
There was this topic:

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=34292

;)

As for the opening ceremony - I loved the first bit (basically up to the countries coming in) I thought it had the potential to make us look really backward and lame, but the transformation during the 'industrial revolution' was really good and I thought the whole thing was actually quite impressive. My favourite bits were Rowan Atkinson and the Queen/Bond doing their little 'cameo' roles. :p

The countries coming in was a bit lame, but I don't really mind that as there's nothing you can do to speed it up and it's a pretty standard part of the opening ceremony. HOWEVER I thought the lighting of the torch and the closing performance was quite a let down compared to the first half. I just wasn't impressed.

Overall thought, I loved it. I thought it was absolutely fantastic and for me it was better than China. ;)
 
^ Basically this. I loved the towers rising up from underneath, and there were some really uplifting moments. Music was great, couldn't fault it up until the athletes came through.
 
I loved it!

Going into the ceremony I had no pre conceptions as to what would happen. Just took it all in, fantastic performance by everyone, such great energy and atmosphere it created.

Highlights
- the forging of the rings
- going through the decades of music
- mr bean and chariots of fire
- James bond and queeny!
- NHS section
- Redgrave collecting the flame and bring it into the stadium. Fully deserved.

Only thing that was a let down was McCartney, just wasn't the same energy as the rest of the show! Muse with their naff single would have been better as a finish!
Oh and I was upset but happy to see Mohammed Ali but he's so frail now, was little bit upsetting, don't think he knew where he was :/

Overall I loved it, the media like it! Apart from one MP I think it's been well received.

Arise Sir Danny Boyle
 
I also loved how the 7 people who lit the final torch where young, unknown athletes. I thought that was kinda cute...
 
LOVED IT. Although I fell asleep halfway through the procession of the atheletes so I watched the rest of it this morning.

I'm really getting into the Olympics. Some of the BBC coverage of the events is really atrocious though. The camera on the final stages of the road race today was shocking!!! Felt awful for the guy who cycled straight into a barrier. Broken collarbone definitely.
 
Can someone explain to me why the stadium was so damn empty? It took me a while to realize it, but it seemed like 90% of the seats were empty and were just the blue lights.

The opening ceremony for me is the worst part of the Olympics, no matter where it is. I get bored, I would much rather watch the sports (well most of them) than watch people walk. I get the importance and significance, but it does nothing for me.

Question, how old will the Chinese gymnasts ACTUALLY be this time around. I'm sorry, but there was no way any of them were over 13 in 2008.
 
tks said:
LOVED IT. Although I fell asleep halfway through the procession of the atheletes so I watched the rest of it this morning.

I'm really getting into the Olympics. Some of the BBC coverage of the events is really atrocious though. The camera on the final stages of the road race today was shocking!!! Felt awful for the guy who cycled straight into a barrier. Broken collarbone definitely.
Click to expand...

I fell asleep when seb Coe started speaking. #giveitarestseb
 
tomahawKSU said:
Can someone explain to me why the stadium was so damn empty? It took me a while to realize it, but it seemed like 90% of the seats were empty and were just the blue lights.
Click to expand...

The blue (and multiple other colour) LED "pixels" were attached to each seat on stems, but could also be held/waved about by the person sitting in that seat. The beauty of LEDs like that is that from a distance you can turn the entire audience into a big LED screen, which is what they did.

It was full, don't worry.
 
Amazing opening ceremony, that's for certain. That village green was just... so British. And with all those people involved, there must have been more than a thousand people on stage there. Then the surprises came in waves.

Industrial revolution with Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

NHS. Wonderful scene. I heard the Americans are raging over it, but the rest of us think it was rather great.

40-metre Voldemort puppet. Banished by Mary Poppins. Because literature.

Children's Choirs.

James Bond and... the Queen? In a helicopter? Wait, are they gonna... oh, wow. At some point during the planning, somebody must have uttered the sentence "James Bond and Queen Elizabeth jumping out of a helicopter together" for the first time. Oh, how I wish I could have been there and witnessed the response to that sentence.

Rowan Atkinson. That man is just so great.

Huge dance party.

David Beckham steering a boat upriver to deliver the Olympic flame.

Muhammad Ali. Sad to see him like that.

All the countries marching in. I've seen similar things live twice, at the World Scout Jamboree. It's great to be there in person and cheer for your country, but a bit dull to watch it all on television.

I think McCartney did at decent job. He got the crowd to sing, and it worked well.

Then the lightning of the torch. I think the torch itself was extremely cool, with each country bringing in a nozzle to attach to it. Spectacular to see as they rose up and created a giant torch like that.

I went to bed some time after that. Our National Broadcaster had screwed up the time schedule, and said the broadcast would only last until 1 AM. It was some time around 2 I gave up and turned off the TV. But the general impression of the ceremony was definitely awesome. Two thumbs up, and congratulations!
 
The opening ceremony was ace, and I love watching all the sports.

The whole thing is class. I'm watching volleyball right now. :D
 
^Implying all Americans think that. Granted my dad did, I didn't give enough **** to watch it


In fact, I don't really care about the summer Olympics at least. Winter is much better, If i'm not going to watch swimming, basketball, or any other sports on a daily basis, why would I watch it now? because it's special?
 
tomahawKSU said:
Can someone explain to me why the stadium was so damn empty? It took me a while to realize it, but it seemed like 90% of the seats were empty and were just the blue lights.
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Oh, don't you start. Even media outlets that aren't the Daily Mail have resorted to reporting empty seats as if they are. Such a SCANDAL. It's all the news have been banging on about all day. I mean, it's not as if there's important world news to report like a civil war spiralling out of control or anything. Oh, wait...
 
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