View From The Top Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 It was totally & utterly fantastic. Loved it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doubleonothing Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 James Pearce @Pearcesport I have answer for location of Olympic cauldron. It's going to be moved to where large bell was at end of stadium James Pearce @Pearcesport Cauldron location will be very unpopular with many visitors to Olympic Park, as it will only be visible from inside main stadium Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nexstar Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 This bloke Nazi saluting when the Germans came out shocked my entire household into silence. We couldnt believe our eyes. Boris clearly thinks its f**king hillarious. He's obviously just waving at the German national team. Besides, the Nazi salute was with the right hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verbal Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 I saw the cyclists whoosh by over Putney Bridge this morning - now THAT was a spectacle, and a lovely carnival atmosphere. Once the sport really gets going, the scars from watching last night will slowly heal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jawillwill Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 He's obviously just waving at the German national team. Besides, the Nazi salute was with the right hand. Are you a nazi? That's something that only a nazi would know I think. Alpine Saint will be absolutely out raged. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turkish Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 "Cameron and his gang will surely not dare to continue the dismemberment of the NHS after this." from http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jul/28/richard-williams-olympic-opening-ceremony?CMP=SOCNETTXT6965 Why not enjoy it for what it is rather than using it to promote your agenda? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bridge too far Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 Why not enjoy it for it is rather than using it to promote your agenda? Not my agenda - I'm not a Guardian reporter. I did enjoy it for what it was, a celebration of all things great about Britain. I said that earlier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turkish Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 Not my agenda - I'm not a Guardian reporter. I did enjoy it for what it was, a celebration of all things great about Britain. I said that earlier. So why would anyone be interested in what the Guardian has to say then about what David Cameron might do? A great display and a reminder to everyone what a fantastic country we live in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thedelldays Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 So why would anyone be interested in what the Guardian has to say then about what David Cameron might do? A great display and a reminder to everyone what a fantastic country we live in. quite sad isn't it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfc1976 Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 Emergency meeting in Downing Street today I heard. Health policy being radically changed on the basis of children jumping up and down on beds in the middle of a stadium......more to follow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonnyboy Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 Emergency meeting with Danny Boyle and Olympic committee this morning as members of Saintsweb found the ceremony too socialist and PC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verbal Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 Emergency meeting with Danny Boyle and Olympic committee this morning as members of Saintsweb found the ceremony too socialist and PC. Stormfront are not happy bunnies either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypochondriac Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 So why would anyone be interested in what the Guardian has to say then about what David Cameron might do? A great display and a reminder to everyone what a fantastic country we live in. Exactly. How unfortunate that some reporters have to make a political point. Equally sad that BTF has to bring it up on here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thedelldays Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 (edited) I see we put on the greatest show on earth and the sporting mad UK nation is loving it meanwhile, that famous sport loving Qatar brought about 7 people to these games nice one blatter Edited 28 July, 2012 by Thedelldays Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffo Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 Why did Doreen Lawrence need to be involved? She gets everywhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostBoys Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 I thought it was going to be an embarassment but I thought it was excellent. The only downside was Paul Macartney at the end but he was slightly better than his dire performance at the Jubilee thing and apparently ruining the end of the Springsteen concert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffo Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 ..and who the f*ck was that thick GB 'athlete' that decided to shout 'brap' into the camera? I was seriously embarrassed for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thedelldays Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 meanwhile http://uk.omg.yahoo.com/news/caroline-wharrams-big-brother-eviction-struggles-olympics-opening-090725520.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thedelldays Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 I thought it was going to be an embarassment but I thought it was excellent. The only downside was Paul Macartney at the end but he was slightly better than his dire performance at the Jubilee thing and apparently ruining the end of the Springsteen concert I don't know why you thought it would be an embarrassment...we always pull of a big show. the only concern I had was if it was going to be a bit like the last night oft he proms, marching bands, queens guards, empire stuff...but then old danny boyle is not like that....so no real worries Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Kraken Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 Hats off Danny Boyle, that was absolutely epic. Didn't make the mistake of trying to out-Beijing Beijing, just stayed to being British and IMO it was better. Really thought it was going to be absolutely naff, akin to the dreadful London bus debacle from Beijing's closing ceremony, but i was wrong. My only "criticism" was the lighting of the flame, which I thought lacked a real wow factor like Barcelona and others. But I liked the concept so no real complaints. Overall excellent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackFrost Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 I see we put on the greatest show on earth and the sporting mad UK nation is loving it meanwhile, that famous sport loving Qatar brought about 7 people to these games nice one blatter Qatar are actually very much in contention for qualifying for the 2014 World Cup on merit. In their group their battling for the second qualifying spot with Iran behind South Korea. Anyway, personally I didn't think much of the opening ceremony. Some good bits but overshadowed by some bloody awful things. The theme was ok initially when they transformed the green fields into the industrial revolution (thought they should have gone the whole way to what London is now) but then it all went downhill The NHS bit was just weird, the Rowan Atkinson thing was stupid after 5 seconds and from then on it became hopelessly reliant on wheeling celebrities out. They made a big mistake making a load of nobodies light the cauldron, although the cauldron itself was very clever. As for bleedin' McCartney at the end Couple of comedic moments, some of the balloons during the countdown didn't explode, that German guy doing that Nazi saluting although that may have been a unfortunate camera angle (either way it was hilarious), and I swear someone had to wake the Queen up just before Rogge got her to declare the Olympics open. The whole thing wasn't a patch on China 4 years ago, now that was unforgettable. I don't think I'll ever forget this, simple yet so spectacular http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iySCiDaaldw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doubleonothing Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 I thought I'd get the view of some older people on the opening ceremony and so gave my parents a shout. They hated it. In the words of my old man "The world will think all we can offer is musical bloody theatre. The NHS is a failing system so we should fix it before we celebrate it. We could have done a lot better than wheel out lots of celebrities and why were our athletes the most yobbish of the lot?" He also reckoned that everyone is just being polite and saying it was good. Emperors new clothes - When one person complains everyone esle will realise. I don't think it was a bad as he made out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypochondriac Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 Pathetic response from your parents TBH. Mine loved it and I think it was absolutely fantastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dune Posted 28 July, 2012 Author Share Posted 28 July, 2012 I thought I'd get the view of some older people on the opening ceremony and so gave my parents a shout. They hated it. In the words of my old man "The world will think all we can offer is musical bloody theatre. The NHS is a failing system so we should fix it before we celebrate it. We could have done a lot better than wheel out lots of celebrities and why were our athletes the most yobbish of the lot?" He also reckoned that everyone is just being polite and saying it was good. Emperors new clothes - When one person complains everyone esle will realise. I don't think it was a bad as he made out. That was really embarrasing when the black athlete went all spazzy at the camera. Very un-British. And that NHS bit was utterly cringeworthy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheaf Saint Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 That was really embarrasing when the black athlete went all spazzy at the camera. Very un-British. I take it you haven't ventured into town on a saturday night or been to a Spanish holiday resort in recent years then. If you had, you would realise that it was actually very British. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpine_saint Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 After sleeping on it, I still don't think much differently I'm afraid. But perhaps I'm the wrong audience for these kinds of grand spectacle. When I went to my one and only Andrew Lloyd Webber production I couldn't wait to hit the exit early, such was the toe-curling awfulness of the show (JCS). Still, he's made a vast fortune with this stuff, so what do I know. Verbal didnt like it ? Quelle f**king Surprise. Woe betide anything that celebrates Britishness and instills a sense of patriotic pride in the people of our nation eh ? Much better to have hand-wringing and displays of self-flagellation because of guilt in our past.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verbal Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 Verbal didnt like it ? Quelle f**king Surprise. Woe betide anything that celebrates Britishness and instills a sense of patriotic pride in the people of our nation eh ? Much better to have hand-wringing and displays of self-flagellation because of guilt in our past.... What guilt? I just found it embarrassing - not my thing. I don't start pulling out childish insults aimed at people who do, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpine_saint Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 He's obviously just waving at the German national team. Besides, the Nazi salute was with the right hand. Yes, he was obviously only waving. Yes, the Nazi salute was right-handed, but so f**king what ? That's sophistry, it looked like a repetitive Nazi salute, and in my predominantly Austrian household the first impression was "WTF???". All I did was comment on the initial reaction. Some of you are self-important pompous arses whose lives are given meaning by correcting the slightest ambiguities in others posts. And this is not directed just at you, I see a few others have also felt the need to state the bleedin' obvious as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpine_saint Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 What guilt? I just found it embarrassing - not my thing. I don't start pulling out childish insults aimed at people who do, though. Your predilection for sneering and dismissing, in a desperate need to feel superior, deserves all the ridicule it gets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpine_saint Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 A comment for all of you criticising Her Maj for looking miserable. Maybe she is exhausted. Its been a big last 6 months for her. She is working as hard as ever and she is rapidly approaching her 90's, FFS. My wife and I think she looks a lot more frail than she did last summer. I'd like to see how many of you are still bouncing around to 6 appointments a day and 14 hour working days at that age. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verbal Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 Your predilection for sneering and dismissing, in a desperate need to feel superior, deserves all the ridicule it gets. Chill out, get something that resembles a life and move on. (If you can - you seem to suffer from some obsessive behavioural problems. Anyway, do the best you can.) Above all, though, don't derail yet another thread with your volcanic, self-defeating spite. Anyway...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpine_saint Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 Chill out, get something that resembles a life and move on. (If you can - you seem to suffer from some obsessive behavioural problems. Anyway, do the best you can.) Above all, though, don't derail yet another thread with your volcanic, self-defeating spite. Anyway...... What were you saying about childish insults, hypocrite ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verbal Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 What were you saying about childish insults, hypocrite ? And back to the thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergei Gotsmanov Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 I thought it was clever, witty, wacky, warm, very British but too long. I am afraid Verbal's taste is more North Korea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpine_saint Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 And back to the thread. Talk about being hoisted on your own petard. Seriously laughing at your pomposity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpine_saint Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 I thought it was clever, witty, wacky, warm, very British but too long. I am afraid Verbal's taste is more North Korea. Well, at least anything not British. And I bet he would have been more tolerant of the participation of Kim-Jong-Il than Her Maj. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheaf Saint Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 Oh for Christ's sake Alpine, give it a rest will you!? Verbal simply offered his own opinion on the proceedings without feeling the need to ridicule or belittle anybody else's. What exactly is so wrong with that? You really are your own worst enemy on this forum sometimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alpine_saint Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 Oh for Christ's sake Alpine, give it a rest will you!? Verbal simply offered his own opinion on the proceedings without feeling the need to ridicule or belittle anybody else's. What exactly is so wrong with that? You really are your own worst enemy on this forum sometimes. Verbal is contrary and sneering for the sake of it. Amazing how I get hammered for commenting on a down side of a Saints performance or run of form and get accused of seeking negativity, knowing full well my opinion wont be well-received but needing the attention anyway, but sad acts like Verbal get away with doing exactly the same thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 Why did Doreen Lawrence need to be involved? She gets everywhere. Thought the same but careful,you'll unleash the wrath of the Guardian readership for raising such a question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dune Posted 28 July, 2012 Author Share Posted 28 July, 2012 Amazing how I get hammered for commenting on a down side of a Saints performance or run of form and get accused of seeking negativity, knowing full well my opinion wont be well-received but needing the attention anyway. Really? I hadn't noticed. I always had you down as a beacon of optimism and positivity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotty Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 I thought it was very good indeed. The markers laid down about the NHS, and general British culture, hit the mark really well. We can all sit here and rip it to shreds, but I reckon Boyle played an absolute blinder there. Hats off to him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dune Posted 28 July, 2012 Author Share Posted 28 July, 2012 I thought it was very good indeed. The markers laid down about the NHS, and general British culture, hit the mark really well. We can all sit here and rip it to shreds, but I reckon Boyle played an absolute blinder there. Hats off to him. I was a little disapointed we didn't have an act dedicated to encouraging eastern european migrants with the promise of free council houses and mobile phones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotty Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 I was a little disapointed we didn't have an act dedicated to encouraging eastern european migrants with the promise of free council houses and mobile phones. Cheap shot. The only eastern europeans I've met "flooding" into the UK have come here to work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miserableoldgit Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 I was a little disapointed we didn't have an act dedicated to encouraging eastern european migrants with the promise of free council houses and mobile phones. You haven`t seen the Closing Ceremony yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dune Posted 28 July, 2012 Author Share Posted 28 July, 2012 Cheap shot. The only eastern europeans I've met "flooding" into the UK have come here to work. Many yes, but not all. I was speaking to a Pole (who works and who is dismayed by those who choose not to) who told me of a Lithuanian he knows who will only work 8 hours per week because if he worked more he'd be worse off and would lose his benefits and free house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfc1976 Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 Emergency meeting with Danny Boyle and Olympic committee this morning as members of Saintsweb found the ceremony too socialist and PC. Nothing wrong with the ceremony at all. It's the political spin that isn't required. I appreciate it's practically impossible to remove politics from these things completely, but to watch last nights events and then attempt to use it to promote your ideological commitment to a particular model of health care provision is absurd. But then I do find the notion of defining national identity by reference to such provision utterly bizarre as others have said. I've never had an overwhelming sense of 'Britishness' pour over when driving past a PFI funded hospital. And equally, looking back to a 'golden age' of the NHS is just a classic case of being nostalgic for something that never really existed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonnyboy Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 Maybe it's just many, many people look at other countries with no welfare system and think thank fook I'm British! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chez Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 (edited) I'm surprised so many people loved it so much. I know expectations were low, but for such a prestigious event I thought it looked cobbled together in places. The transitions between parts were clumsy at best, lots of long pauses and considering Boyle is a film director you'd think he would have worked closely with the BBC to get the right camera angles to show the best elements in the right way. Some shots chosen were terrible, revealing the absolute worst parts of the performance such as bored out of time dancers and uncomfortable shuffling to dismantle the early set. Why did the we need to see the flag carriers from above opening lids to slot flags in on the hill? Lots of small things like that just take a little of the shine off. That said I loved the grassy scene at the start. It looked fantastic. The industrial revolution forging of the rings was brilliant, great idea, excellently done. The transition between greenery to industrial just looked like a huge mess of people moving stuff though. This went on for ages and was visually poor. This was the time for a video interlude. I thought more could have been made of honouring our armed services. Bond and the queen was inspired and Bean for a minute or two was funny. I'd of liked to have seen more of that, humour not Bean. As proud I am of our national health service I just thought visually it looked strange. I love Abide with me, it brought tear to my eye at the cup final, but it failed miserably to stir me this time for some reason. The event nosedived badly after that, especially the music/dancing section, which was just a complete mess of bad dancing and poor costumes. Our TV and film culture is also certainly something to be proud of, but I'm not sure that was shown well all. The tinniest clips of shows hardly anyone knows didn't show us in a great light. Great exports like Monty Python??? The text messaging story was totally lost on me as was the lost phone love story. Again terrible editing caused this. The lighting of the torch was a great idea, and even going for future blood was OK, if slightly disappointing, but again it was shot badly by the BBC and the link between the gold medal winners and their nominated youngsters didn't show up well. Was Daley Thompson's face even shown? Did McCartney **** up his song? It seemed to overlap itself with a recording. **** poor. Also towards the end I felt that perhaps the whole thing could have started to move into the world of sport. We showed some excellent things about our country, but in the end its a sporting event and it just seemed to jump from a theatre production about the UK one minute to the athletes walking out the next. How about showing some of our sporting history. We invented some of the worlds greatest sports FFS. One last gripe. Why on earth did we have to suffer several U2 songs as the athletes came out? Were there not enough British tunes to pick from? I also thought it was a shame we couldn't hear the crowd applauding the athletes from all the countries or did no one bother? It went on far too long and the speeches killed the atmosphere. Apart from that I enjoyed it tremendously! Did anyone else watch it on HD? The `commentary' from Colin Jackson was quite simply unbelievable. Think Alan Partridge, but with less to say and doing so with less thought. Colin Jackson describing Industrial revolution "Of course lots of people got very rich and lots of people worked very hard" "there's Afghanistan. I guess they are just happy to be here" "the M25, which is the main ring road that goes round the city if London" "the colours of red, white and blue in the crowd...they are very significant" "the sound of the those drums signifies drummers". Edited 28 July, 2012 by Chez Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
View From The Top Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 No surprise the more extreme left & right didn't enjoy it, embraced as they are, in looking at every thing with suspicion & hate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aintforever Posted 28 July, 2012 Share Posted 28 July, 2012 (edited) It was a bit rough round the edges production wise but I think part of that was intentional, it was about real people not "step out of line and you get shot" Chinese style. There were so many good parts and great ideas I can't see how anyone would view it negatively. Even Mr Bean, who I don't usually find funny was superbly done. The forging of the rings was a great idea and looked amazing. It would be interesting to know what those who didn't like it were expecting. These opening ceremonies are notoriously dull and invariably end up with dancers running around in costumes making shapes. What Boyle did was bold, different, clever, entertaining and spectacular. Edited 28 July, 2012 by aintforever Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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