Olympic Ceremonies

[Octoberbride03]

So without reading all of the thread and not seeing the ending(had to work this morning so I went to bed at the Parade of Nations) I enjoyed the ceremonies last up until that point. I probably would have enjoyed it even more if Matt Lauer hadn't been doing commentary. I think Janie and Tim(?) ran long for me but oh well.

 

[Octoberbride03]

good god! does she get outside her studio much??

Outside? She hasn't even been IN the studio in months. Left the Today Show and that was the last I heard of her until she showed up on my screen last night. Which probably explains the lack of homework on her part, but not the bad jokes.

 

[sittinpretty]

Maybe, other people just aren't all that interested in all the major history about YOUR country?

I'm glad that these posters attitudes aren't representative of the the majority of the British posts & posters here. It's been great reading the other posters take on their own country's ceremony last night.

Thankfully, the British sites I visited when I was there, I wasn't hit in the head with ALL the British history I was supposed to know about before getting there.

I'm sorry you took my comments so badly, I was just responding to my country being called self-centred because it had included parts of its recent history and what it feels proud about in the ceremony. And things like the history of the industrial revolution, womens' right to vote, the world wars and 60s pop culture etc are very much a shared history in much of the western world so I would hope that part of the show didn't leave anyone feeling too hit in the head with history.

I'm interested in how much Britishness should have been included? Should there have been nothing at all about the host country's history or culture and instead been purely generic?

If I was watching a US Olympics I would expect a 100% American experience, including references to US history that I wasn't so familiar with, however I would enjoy the experience and educate myself, I wouldn't get upset or think the Americans self centred in the slightest for doing so.

 

[jdb in AZ]

Why did they have music from the exorcist playing in thr background of the children's segment?

 

[dizcrazee]

Why did they have music from the exorcist playing in thr background of the children's segment?

That music is Mike Oldfield's famous "Tubular Bells". Mike Oldfield is a remarkably talented English musician and composer, and I'm glad they used his music.

Although the program was somewhat disjointed and the texting/romance thing was weird and seemed out of place, I understood the historical and cultural references and I thought it was a pretty good tribute to the U.K. overall.

 

[islandmum]

Outside? She hasn't even been IN the studio in months. Left the Today Show and that was the last I heard of her until she showed up on my screen last night. Which probably explains the lack of homework on her part, but not the bad jokes.

sounds like she bombed, and you had parts cut, and heavily edited ... I cant imagine how bad that probably made it - you get no continuity at all like that. We watched the BBC and they didnt speak much until the athletes came out, so we got just stadium sound which was great.

 

[sittinpretty]

What I got from the whole thing was, 'This is where we come from. These are some of the things we've done (good and bad). Here is some stuff we're proud of. Yes we don't take ourselves too seriously sometimes. This is where we are now. Welcome to our country. Let's inspire the next generation.'

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.

 

[dizcrazee]

I'm sorry you took my comments so badly, I was just responding to my country being called self-centred because it had included parts of its recent history and what it feels proud about in the ceremony. And things like the history of the industrial revolution, womens' right to vote, the world wars and 60s pop culture etc are very much a shared history in much of the western world so I would hope that part of the show didn't leave anyone feeling too hit in the head with history.

I'm interested in how much Britishness should have been included? Should there have been nothing at all about the host country's history or culture and instead been purely generic?

If I was watching a US Olympics I would expect a 100% American experience, including references to US history that I wasn't so familiar with, however I would enjoy the experience and educate myself, I wouldn't get upset or think the Americans self centred in the slightest for doing so.

I agree with you. I expected a show that would highlight the contributions that the U.K. has made to the world and I would have been disappointed if it had been some kind of generic program that failed to acknowledge the unique history and culture of the host country. Also, as you said, many of the contributions that were portrayed are of importance to all of western civilization. The U.K. has much to be proud of and I'm glad that the world was reminded of this yesterday.

 

[epcot.girl]

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.

OT but I will be truly gutted if Scotland chooses to leave us in two years. I love Scotland. They're often the most progressive part of the UK.

 

[LuvsDragonflies]

I'm pretty sure that after this mess I won't be watching anymore opening ceremonies....ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...good lord it took forever.

 

[7165red]

tinkerbellefan, I was thinking the same thing.

 

[mickeysgal]

Well, we enjoyed it. Interesting and quite detailed Industrial Age depiction. One of my favorite parts was actually the first thing we all saw - the beautiful opening film showing various parts of the UK.

Sir Paul - it was commented that he got choked up at the beginning - at least that is how they explained away his voice warbling.

Mary Poppins, Artic Monkeys, the shots of The Tower of London with the Olympic Rings, the passing of the torch, the Queen's speech opening the games, and of course, the Queen and James Bond. All my favorite moments.

The commercials were even fun - reminded me of Super Bowl type commercials - only sports centered.

I wish we could be there. London looks to be set to be a terrific host for the games. It has started talk here about wanting to visit England for a vacation.

 

[sittinpretty]

I agree with you. I expected a show that would highlight the contributions that the U.K. has made to the world and I would have been disappointed if it had been some kind of generic program that failed to acknowledge the unique history and culture of the host country. Also, as you said, many of the contributions that were portrayed are of importance to all of western civilization. The U.K. has much to be proud of and I'm glad that the world was reminded of this yesterday.

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!)

 

[sittinpretty]

OT but I will be truly gutted if Scotland chooses to leave us in two years. I love Scotland. They're often the most progressive part of the UK.

I agree, I've just spent three weeks in Glasgow and the people were so friendly, much more so than from where I come from - I didn't want to come home! I fear that those on the right in England and those on the left in Scotland will cause a divorce that will be bad for most people. I wish we could have a federal system, like in Germany or the U.S.A but I don't that could happen in a monarchy. Yes, sorry this is off-topic.

 

[Nancy]

My husband started adding, "And Santa Clause!" when Merideth and Matt were telling us what was coming up next!


During the parade of nations it was 5 minutes of coverage and 2 minutes of commercials back and forth for a long time. It was sooooooooo annoying! And they only seemed to have one camera angle.

I wish we had been more prepared and arranged to watch it live on BBC. It would have been so much better.

My daughter and I were cracking up that they would come back and tell us what countries we missed while the commercials were on. Ummm..we weren't seeing it LIVE, why did we have to miss any of them? Not a fan of NBC either I think their editing and filming did do a lot to make the opening ceremonies come across as disjointed and hard to follow.

 

[islandmum]

I'm pretty sure that after this mess I won't be watching anymore opening ceremonies....ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...good lord it took forever.

you must be getting bored quicker - it was shorter than Beijing and Sydney

 

[Bonnie151]

OT but I will be truly gutted if Scotland chooses to leave us in two years. I love Scotland. They're often the most progressive part of the UK.

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!

 

[epcot.girl]

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!

The Queen was AMAZING! Really didn't think it was actually going to be her when we first saw her from the back. That was the moment my Twitter feed of cynics switched from 'Hmm, this is OK but not great' to 'ZOMG YES!!!'

 

[akhenaten]

The kiss was from an episode of a TV program here ('Brookside') shown years ago. The first same-sex kiss shown on TV before the 9pm watershed. There are rumours that last night it became the first same-sex kiss shown in Saudi Arabia.

Here's some info on the 7/7 stuff: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-attacks-tribute-edited-Opening-Ceremony.html

Thanks..... It really bothers me when they make stupid editing decisions..... It diminishes the event....

 

[declansdad]

There were a few good points, but for the most part it was BORING,BORING,BORING.



They did say they had to skip over many of their notes because the athletes were coming in so fast.

Too fast.

The actual parade of nation took the better part of two hours. That was just another way for NBC to try and cover up their weak broadcast.