Olympic Ceremonies

[akhenaten]

OT but I will also be gutted if we leave the UK. I love being part of the UK!

On topic. I'm a big fan of the Queen anyway, but her part was absolutely brilliant! So pleased she agreed to do that!

Scotland may leave the uk? Wth.... I read and watch our 24 hour news shows etc and have not heard this.... The state of the media in the us today is horrible! What is going on? Is this being voted on? Btw I enjoy opening ceremonies that tell a story about the host country.... This one seemed disjointed.... But maybe it was NBC editing....

 

[136368]

For me, the lighting of the olympic flame was magical. If you haven't seen it yet, I won't ruin it for you. But is is soooo cool!

 

[epcot.girl]

Scotland may leave the uk? Wth.... I read and watch our 24 hour news shows etc and have not heard this.... The state of the media in the us today is horrible! What is going on? Is this being voted on?

Yeah. It will be such a loss to the rest of Britain if it happens: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_independence_referendum,_2014

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

That's a really nice thing to say, thanks. And before anyone wants to remind us about the evils of our empire that once existed, we know. But at least we don't sweep it under the carpet (like Japan) or get angrily nationalistic when challenged (Turkey, Russia). Still. some very good things emerged from the British Empire, the United States for one thing! (And yes we know that wasn't our choice and we got our backsides whooped with that!)

Oh please. When compared to other countries, the UK could hardly ever be considered evil. Besides, you could use ever dirty word in the book, but when it is said in your accent, it always comes out sounding like beautiful Shakespear. Who could ever get angry at that?

I love the royal family and would have liked to have seen that highlighted a bit more. Other countries have royals, but it seems that the British royal family just seems to do a bit more for international relations. Princess Diana was a true jewel when it came to this, in my opinion, and while her time with us was short, she did a wonderful job to raise her sons to be very much like her. I really would have loved to see more of that. Of course, then you would have to deal with the people saying that it was one giant ceremony glorifying the royal family. It seems you could never win.

 

[dizcrazee]

You are very welcome, Sittinpretty. I'm a huge anglophile (as are many, many Americans) and I'm very much looking forward to my trip to the U.K. next year. I sometimes wish my English and Scottish ancesters had never crossed the pond.

By the way, did anyone notice the Pink Floyd references at the very beginning of the program when they were panning over the city? There was a floating pig over Battersea Power Station and they played a couple of bars from "Time" (Dark Side of the Moon) when the camera panned past Big Ben. That was so cool!

 

[Jennasis]

Sweet googa mooga such angst. Wha happened??

 

[Princess Dolly]

I really enjoyed the ceremony. Sometimes I think people just don' t get the symbolism and allegories in the Opening Ceremonies.

Also, I'm sure the cauldron will be moved. I visited the cauldron in Vancouver and it wasn't at the stadium. It is usually moved to a hub. In the case of Vancouver it was near the international media center.

ETA: seems they are keeping it the stadium, just moving it to a corner. Seems messed up. Maybe they'll change their mind.

 

[Jennasis]

Wow! I had no idea that the Olympic torch run was conceived and instituted by the NAZI'S for the 1936 games as propaganda. Learn something new everyday!

 

[Pipkin]

Exactly, I couldn't agree more. We really do acknowledge that we have done some bad things, we don't take ourselves seriously and we really realise that we aren't very important in the world any more. We have an empire that is long gone (and everybody here realises it), we are in a slow and inevitable decline, we rarely feel proud about ourselves and our country is on the verge of breaking up. We are also in an extended recession.

Perhaps this was the last ever global event where the United Kingdom could uncharacteristically celebrate itself and wave its flag (a rarity in the UK outside of Royal Weddings), before it possibly disappears from the world map in 2014 or shortly after. We just wanted to feel a little bit better about ourselves before this might happen, just think of the London Olympics as the UK's possible leaving party! No-one should get too bent out of shape if it was too British for them, that entity and word may not even exist in a few years so just wait a while.

The third world faired quite well under British rule; Zimbabwei prior to its "independence" was a self sustaining country. Since it has been "liberated" the people are starving. Great Britain has done far more things RIGHT than wrong, and as an American, I treasure them as our closest ally.

 

[Planogirl]

I personally love seeing something about the culture and history of other countries. The UK has certainly had a colorful history and is in no way evil. At least not any worse than the US. All nations have their dark moments.

I still feel like the middle of the program was disjointed and confusing. This is likely more due to the editing and endless commercials than anything else. I don't blame the announcers at all. I assume that they were also edited plus I appreciate them at least making the attempt to explain it all. Obviously they didn't explain enough.

As for not enough commentary on the nations, there was no time! Again between the constant commercial breaks and the nations practically sprinting through the stadium who had time to say much of anything?

I am sorry to hear that so much was cut. NBC, that is sloppy coverage IMO.

 

[Planogirl]

I was warned over on the British DIS boards that the main boards can be scary places sometimes! I think they were right, I will scuttle back there soon. Is this the typical level of discourse on the main DIS boards? Now a Care Bears or My Little Pony fan site I can understand it, those guys are vicious, but a Disney fan site? Seriously? We should all be one big happy family; disagreements yes, poison & anger no.

Don't go. I think that most of us actually like everyone but we just get caught up in the moment sometimes.

 

[epcot.girl]

Scotland may leave the uk? Wth.... I read and watch our 24 hour news shows etc and have not heard this.... The state of the media in the us today is horrible! What is going on? Is this being voted on? Btw I enjoy opening ceremonies that tell a story about the host country.... This one seemed disjointed.... But maybe it was NBC editing....

Sorry I know I already quoted and answered this but what you said made me think of something.

There's an idea that Americans are 'inward-looking' and uninterested in the rest of the world. I don't think that's fair. My experience in visiting the US and communicating with many Americans online indicates that there are many, many Americans who absolutely do take an interest in the non-US world. Obviously not as much as they do their own country, but that's true of all of us for obvious reasons.

I've also had some amusing experiences with Americans who don't know much about Britain ('Oh I know Wales, it's in England!' and 'Wales? That's north of England right?' and 'So does the UK have a president or what?') but those people were well-meaning, expressing an interest and I'm sure plenty of Brits make stupid mistakes about America when talking to you guys!

Now obviously the Scottish referendum stuff isn't big important news to anyone outside the UK yet. Maybe when it gets closer other countries will notice. So the fact that you haven't heard of it yet isn't so surprising.

But I am astounded that NBC didn't even bother to look up Tim Berners-Lee. His invention changed the world and he's a professor at MIT!

 

[akhenaten]

Yeah. It will be such a loss to the rest of Britain if it happens: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_independence_referendum,_2014

Interesting.... Does the move to leave have a lot of support? That would be very sad indeed....

 

[akhenaten]

Sorry I know I already quoted and answered this but what you said made me think of something.

There's an idea that Americans are 'inward-looking' and uninterested in the rest of the world. I don't think that's fair. My experience in visiting the US and communicating with many Americans online indicates that there are many, many Americans who absolutely do take an interest in the non-US world. Obviously not as much as they do their own country, but that's true of all of us for obvious reasons.

I've also had some amusing experiences with Americans who don't know much about Britain ('Oh I know Wales, it's in England!' and 'Wales? That's north of England right?' and 'So does the UK have a president or what?') but those people were well-meaning, expressing an interest and I'm sure plenty of Brits make stupid mistakes about America when talking to you guys!

Now obviously the Scottish referendum stuff isn't big important news to anyone outside the UK yet. Maybe when it gets closer other countries will notice. So the fact that you haven't heard of it yet isn't so surprising.

But I am astounded that NBC didn't even bother to look up Tim Berners-Lee. His invention changed the world and he's a professor at MIT!

I am really sad about that impression.... I would hope most americans are interested in other countries.
My grandparents on my fathers side were from wales.

 

[DeaverTex]

We enjoyed the opening ceremonies,even though the disjointed nature was confusing. We figured that, since this was all pre-recorded, there was no reason to miss things due to commercial breaks. That made us happy!

After a while, it started being obvious that we WERE missing things -- as though the feed was run non-stop behind the commercials. Now we were getting annoyed.

The parade of nations was awful. We got so sick of watching athletes for 2-3 minutes then getting a commercial break. Then -- all pre-recorded, recall -- the commentators showed quick clips of the countries that entered during the break. (Huh? Why not just stop the tape and show a few "important messages"?) By the time they got back to "live" feed it was time for more commercials.

We both wondered what happened to the oath of the Olympians, BTW. It was edited out? Is NBC going to edit the horses out of the equestrian events? The more I've read about what the opening ceremonies ACTUALLY looked like, the more I want to find a recording of the BBC feed and watch it the way it was meant to be seen.

Oh, we really weren't all that keen on the extended bit from a TV show, or whatever it was. We liked everything else, though. Well, other than the commentary from Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dummer.

 

[tinkerbellfan6880]

I didn't want to read this thread eariler since I'm a West Coastie, but I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU!!!


We are not morons and we DO NOT need you to talk. Most people do know who Marry Poppins is, idiots. They spoke though the entire segment of Tubular Bells so we didn't get to enjoy it.

I know right! I know who Mary Poppins is and the other stuff going on. It was just so annoying to have to listen to them talk during it. The only thing that I was okay with them talking was when each country come out in the parade. That was fine by me.

 

[muffyn]

Well, I'm in the minority with you. The only parts I have enjoyed are the Queen and James Bond thing, and Mr. Bean doing the Chariots of Fire scene. I've been really bored by the rest of it.

BRING ON SIR PAUL!

Mr Bean was the BEST

 

[LuvsDragonflies]

Does Bob Costas EVER shut up? Ever???

That's what I was gonna say...but then...

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/ne...2-bob-costas-protest-ioc-israel-munich-354908

 

[muffyn]

ETA I kind of got the feeling Sir Paul was slightly choked up in the beginning? I think that was why it sounded iffy. But maybe that was just me.

.

just in case this hasn't been mentioned,
that is exactly what happened ( by many reports) for someone who doesn't get rattle much, the even "got" to him.

 

[marybet]

I remember when NBC started covering the Olympics, I so wanted ABC to get it back. NBC has improved but they have never been as good as ABC.

I was very disappointed when The Today show announced that Meredith would be back for the Olympics, she was on tonight with a recap of the Opening Ceremonies, she looked like she was wearing a track suit with high heels!

I am glad/sad to hear of the editing problem. NBC wasted 20 minutes at the beginning with previews of coming events when they could have used that time to show things they left out. There was no reason for anything to be left out. The parade of athletes was so fast it was giving me a headache, I had to keep pausing it so I could look at the different outfits. USA's outfits were awful, did you know that the men's cost over $1900 and the women's over $1400 each? IIRC the men's tie was $200. Unless Ralph Lauren was paying the Olympic committee the Polo logo should not have been there.

I expect an opening ceremony to be about the host country, I don't expect an edited version of it. I think one of the main problems for me was removing the grass. It looked good at the start but I started getting bored when all they were doing was removing the grass and the fences. Thought it was great that the NHS was highlighted, loved the lighted blankets on the kids beds.

I did wonder if I had fallen asleep and missed the athletes oath. What a shame the NBC didn't think we would want to see that. Hope they do a better job with the closing ceremonies.

I loved the individual leaves making the cauldron but wished they had found a way to raise it above the stadium.