So about 40 minutes into it here and he Queen and James Bond have just parachuted in. Quite bizarre and not as borin as one might imagine.
The whole Industrial revolution opening was suprisingly good, quite a steam punk feel to it.
Unsuay opening ceremonies are dull because it's all modern dance, mining and foreign stuff; it might be the Cider i have drunk but this seems quite good.
Maybe it's just cos it's British stuff that I'm enjoying it? Not sure if it's just familiarity or patriotism or booze but it's looking good.
I've just turned it off. Waste of money, waste of time. I almost feel embarrassed by it all. I felt that the ceremony was trying to cram in everything that was uniquely British, everything that defines us as a nation and yet, I feel that Danny Boyle has completely missed the target.
I've just turned it off. Waste of money, waste of time.
I almost feel embarrassed by it all. I felt that the ceremony was trying to cram in everything that was uniquely British, everything that defines us as a nation and yet, I feel that Danny Boyle has completely missed the target.
It's gotten better, but that abomination of a countryside scene had me facepalm'ing... I fear we are a laughing stock; to the rest of the world we must appear a nation of yokels, and farmers more akin to Austrians than Britons. Idyllic peasantry eh?
purplefood wrote:http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/2012/live-video/bbc_one_2012_hd Anyone wants to watch it online. It's free as well. Not entirely sure if non-UK viewers can watch but have a try anyway.
It appears non UK viewers can not. Anyone know of any illicit restreams?
I've just turned it off. Waste of money, waste of time.
I almost feel embarrassed by it all. I felt that the ceremony was trying to cram in everything that was uniquely British, everything that defines us as a nation and yet, I feel that Danny Boyle has completely missed the target.
Your the first person I've seen moaning about the opening ceremony tonight...
I wasn't even planning on wtahcing it, but glad I have.
I've just turned it off. Waste of money, waste of time.
I almost feel embarrassed by it all. I felt that the ceremony was trying to cram in everything that was uniquely British, everything that defines us as a nation and yet, I feel that Danny Boyle has completely missed the target.
Your the first person I've seen moaning about the opening ceremony tonight...
I wasn't even planning on wtahcing it, but glad I have.
There are far too many countries though...
Agreed...
We could conquer a few.
Cut down on the number a bit...
I've just turned it off. Waste of money, waste of time.
I almost feel embarrassed by it all. I felt that the ceremony was trying to cram in everything that was uniquely British, everything that defines us as a nation and yet, I feel that Danny Boyle has completely missed the target.
Your the first person I've seen moaning about the opening ceremony tonight...
I wasn't even planning on wtahcing it, but glad I have.
There are far too many countries though...
Agreed...
We could conquer a few.
Cut down on the number a bit...
I've just turned it off. Waste of money, waste of time.
I almost feel embarrassed by it all. I felt that the ceremony was trying to cram in everything that was uniquely British, everything that defines us as a nation and yet, I feel that Danny Boyle has completely missed the target.
Your the first person I've seen moaning about the opening ceremony tonight...
I wasn't even planning on wtahcing it, but glad I have.
There are far too many countries though...
Agreed...
We could conquer a few.
Cut down on the number a bit...
Which one is mighty ol' england gonna conquer?
*United Kingdom
We'll either get all of them or just pick at random...
You know like we did last time...
I've just turned it off. Waste of money, waste of time.
I almost feel embarrassed by it all. I felt that the ceremony was trying to cram in everything that was uniquely British, everything that defines us as a nation and yet, I feel that Danny Boyle has completely missed the target.
Your the first person I've seen moaning about the opening ceremony tonight...
I wasn't even planning on wtahcing it, but glad I have.
There are far too many countries though...
Agreed...
We could conquer a few.
Cut down on the number a bit...
Which one is mighty ol' england gonna conquer?
*United Kingdom
We'll either get all of them or just pick at random...
You know like we did last time...
Watch out for the ones that have guns. Some of them even have a lot of guns. It'll be a bit different than before.
I've just turned it off. Waste of money, waste of time.
I almost feel embarrassed by it all. I felt that the ceremony was trying to cram in everything that was uniquely British, everything that defines us as a nation and yet, I feel that Danny Boyle has completely missed the target.
Your the first person I've seen moaning about the opening ceremony tonight...
I wasn't even planning on wtahcing it, but glad I have.
There are far too many countries though...
Agreed...
We could conquer a few.
Cut down on the number a bit...
Which one is mighty ol' england gonna conquer?
*United Kingdom
We'll either get all of them or just pick at random...
You know like we did last time...
Watch out for the ones that have guns. Some of them even have a lot of guns. It'll be a bit different than before.
I was enjoying it so much, the entire ceremony was brilliant (though there are far too many countries), the cauldron turned out to be awesome, the fact that the athlete turned over the honour of lighting the torch was touching, and using Pink Floyd for the fireworks made me happy.
Then Paul McCartney turned up...
I thought it made us all look aggressively homosexual. Not that I'm concerned about it, but when lots of your friends are American soldiers and you have to argue with them about the stereotype that British men are limp wristed and effeminate, its not good.
Still, the world we live in.. no doubt Rio will be the exact same.
Shuma and the like will like to say otherwise, but we live in a global economy and a global country. Rio will also be aggressively gay, and if 2020 is held in the USA, it will also feature singing children, dancing men and spandex.
Basically, its all gone to gak since 1955 rolled around. And real men are a dying breed. Acting like a nosh bag is actively encouraged regardless of nationality.
Just awesome.. didn't try and match the sheer scale of the Beijing opener, but went down a more artistic route instead and I didn't find any of it really embarrassing or disappointing.
I thought impressive in parts, touching and emotional, even funny (the Bond bit and Mr. Bean bits in particular). And the firework display, which must have made the amount of artillery used at the Somme to pale by comparison, with Pink Floyd playing was a touch of genius
Really impressed overall, and can't wait for the actual sporting events to start now!
Right, I can't tell you how tired I am of 'Hey Jude', no no no no-no-no. When the Artic Monkeys are doing Beatles tunes better than yourself, it's time to call it quits Paul.
mattyrm wrote:I thought it made us all look aggressively homosexual. Not that I'm concerned about it, but when lots of your friends are American soldiers and you have to argue with them about the stereotype that British men are limp wristed and effeminate, its not good.
Still, the world we live in.. no doubt Rio will be the exact same.
Shuma and the like will like to say otherwise, but we live in a global economy and a global country. Rio will also be aggressively gay, and if 2020 is held in the USA, it will also feature singing children, dancing men and spandex.
Basically, its all gone to gak since 1955 rolled around. And real men are a dying breed. Acting like a nosh bag is actively encouraged regardless of nationality.
Glorioski wrote:Is it just me or does ShumaGorath have a giant chip on his shoulder?
Anyway good ceremony. Rowan Atkinsons cameo as mr bean has to be my favourite part.
You just now noticed this? You must be new.
mattyrm wrote:I thought it made us all look aggressively homosexual. Not that I'm concerned about it, but when lots of your friends are American soldiers and you have to argue with them about the stereotype that British men are limp wristed and effeminate, its not good.
Still, the world we live in.. no doubt Rio will be the exact same.
Shuma and the like will like to say otherwise, but we live in a global economy and a global country. Rio will also be aggressively gay, and if 2020 is held in the USA, it will also feature singing children, dancing men and spandex.
Basically, its all gone to gak since 1955 rolled around. And real men are a dying breed. Acting like a nosh bag is actively encouraged regardless of nationality.
I've just turned it off. Waste of money, waste of time.
I almost feel embarrassed by it all. I felt that the ceremony was trying to cram in everything that was uniquely British, everything that defines us as a nation and yet, I feel that Danny Boyle has completely missed the target.
Apparently the British culture begins with Industrialisation has the NHS, Harry Potter and pop music, lots of pop music.
This was British, but the dumbed down variant. Most opening ceremonies go back into a nations past and present, I got the impression it was fast forwarded to the pop music. Her Majesty looked bored with it all.
As for the BBC commentary when the atheletes marched in, it was [nation name] is currently suffering [tragedy here], oh joyous. It got the point that I could guess what tragedy they were going to remind us of, like the Tsunami, various civil wars etc. In was hoping that when Great Britain entered, or 'Team GB' as we are expected to say, that the mentioned tragedy would be BBC plagued, alas it was not that honest.
The technical side was excellent, but the cultural side was lacking. Thousand year old continuous nation state and all they can come up with from before the modern era is Brunel, come on.
I actually thought the NHS bit was quite good.. I think it's something that philanthropists fought for for a long time, and that a lot of British people just take for granted and even abuse in some cases - having travelled and worked around the world, I found the general consensus from a lot of other countries is that they regard it as something special. You could therefore say that it is something 'British', and deserving of a place in the show, and something to be proud of. Just read in a paper that Jeremy Hunt (the culture secretary) was against that sequence, but apparently Seb Coe managed to stop any kind of government meddling in the content of the ceremony.
Pacific wrote:Iapparently Seb Coe managed to stop any kind of government meddling in the content of the ceremony.
Which is brilliant because the alternative is you end up with some OTT chest beating like China's ceremony. On the other hand I thought Seb Co's speech at the end was fairly boring considering he's had so much time to prepare for it, the olympic chairman's speech was better.
Orlanth wrote:Thousand year old continuous nation state
300, actually.
Parts of, England goes on a back a tad further and London happens to be in England.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Corpsesarefun wrote:To be fair we didn't do a vast amount of worth as a nation before the empire...
You kidding right.
Chaucer, Shakespeare (briefly mentioned), Arthurian Myth, Robin Hood etc.
Plenty of old heritage and folklore to draw on, an observer might be led to believe what you say is true, even worse that we have very little real culture prior to modern music.
Plenty of old heritage and folklore to draw on, an observer might be led to believe what you say is true, even worse that we have very little real culture prior to modern music.
Out of context but I can't resist. We're slowly converting your younger generation with rap music
Plenty of old heritage and folklore to draw on, an observer might be led to believe what you say is true, even worse that we have very little real culture prior to modern music.
Out of context but I can't resist. We're slowly converting your younger generation with rap music
10-15 years ago perhaps. Currently I think you'll find we're slowly converting you're younger generation with dubstep.
Orlanth wrote:Thousand year old continuous nation state
300, actually.
Parts of, England goes on a back a tad further and London happens to be in England.
England hasn't been a state for 300 years.
Actually it has, its part of the Union. Besides England certainly does have a cultural presence going back that far and further, which is the relevant point.
Orlanth wrote:Thousand year old continuous nation state
300, actually.
Parts of, England goes on a back a tad further and London happens to be in England.
England hasn't been a state for 300 years.
Actually it has, its part of the Union. Besides England certainly does have a cultural presence going back that far and further, which is the relevant point.
No more than the street I live on is a state.
...and I get your point. I'm just being a pedantic nuisance, for which I apologise.
Plenty of old heritage and folklore to draw on, an observer might be led to believe what you say is true, even worse that we have very little real culture prior to modern music.
Out of context but I can't resist. We're slowly converting your younger generation with rap music
10-15 years ago perhaps. Currently I think you'll find we're slowly converting you're younger generation with dubstep.
I think it is all rather overly inverted and silly. We are at the 'development of the internet' bit and it runs like an internet provider advert, all about social networking and none of the other applications, it all feels really odd.
I also second Orlanth about the lack of ancient history, a missed opportunity to get a few thousand years of history shown... Although hopefully if there'd been a stonehenge, we'd have avoided any Spinal Tap style mistakes.
...and I just got grinning about the prodigy and now I'm muttering at dizzy rascal.
Automatically Appended Next Post: and now Tim Berners Lee just reminded the world he invented the internet, feeling proud again.
ShumaGorath wrote:
It appears non UK viewers can not. Anyone know of any illicit restreams?
Try NBC, they have US broadcast rights.
Anyway, it was good, but not as good as China's. But then China's was about the coolest thing I've ever seen.
I was particularly impressed with the bit where the Chinese arrested the peaceful protestors. Locking up the 2 women I'm their 70s when they applied for a permit to protest was especially classy.
I also liked Russia,'s unexpected contribution of invading Georgia during the opening ceremonies.
mattyrm wrote:I thought it made us all look aggressively homosexual. Not that I'm concerned about it, but when lots of your friends are American soldiers and you have to argue with them about the stereotype that British men are limp wristed and effeminate, its not good.
Still, the world we live in.. no doubt Rio will be the exact same.
Shuma and the like will like to say otherwise, but we live in a global economy and a global country. Rio will also be aggressively gay, and if 2020 is held in the USA, it will also feature singing children, dancing men and spandex.
Basically, its all gone to gak since 1955 rolled around. And real men are a dying breed. Acting like a nosh bag is actively encouraged regardless of nationality.
I thought it was very well done and I'll fight you with my manly fists in the snow any time. I liked the contrast to the Beijing olympics which were all about power and capability, this opening ceremony was much more about humanity and history. I was expecting to be underwhelmed and left quite impressed.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Kid_Kyoto wrote:
dogma wrote:
ShumaGorath wrote:
It appears non UK viewers can not. Anyone know of any illicit restreams?
Try NBC, they have US broadcast rights.
Anyway, it was good, but not as good as China's. But then China's was about the coolest thing I've ever seen.
I was particularly impressed with the bit where the Chinese arrested the peaceful protestors. Locking up the 2 women I'm their 70s when they applied for a permit to protest was especially classy.
I also liked Russia,'s unexpected contribution of invading Georgia during the opening ceremonies.
Apart from the fact that Sky's audio was on the blink for the first 40 minutes I enjoyed it very much. Sadly I have always hated Hey Jude but you can't have everything in this life.
I thought it showed the world how much culture and stuff has come out of the UK. The cameo by the Queen was brilliant. Mr Bean's piano performance was a good injection of humour. Beckham's boat ride was nicely done.
And, apart from a brief flash of David Niven, no-one mentioned the war!!
You can argue with details of the content but you have to admit it was a masterpiece of technical co-ordination getting all that different stuff on and off stage working properly. The visual effects were brilliant. The macro pixel array was genius.
I really liked it. In my opinion it was much better than china's. Not as spectacluar but more was done with a lot less.
Loved the Rowan Atkinson, bit but there are too many countries. I hadn't even heard of some of them.
The lighting effects were really well done. Whoever thought of putting LED pack on every seat and then turning it into a screen is a genius.
I really like how they managed to keep the cauldron secret but still hinted at it with the petals.
Yes, a lot of the history of britan was missed, a huge part in fact, it was the opening of a sports event not a history lesson so I think we can let them off.
Corpsesarefun wrote:To be fair we didn't do a vast amount of worth as a nation before the empire...
Industrialisation is a good period into our imperial history, mind... they already slapped the Yankees by honouring the NHS, why not show the colonisation of the Americas and other exploits against simplistic natives?
Corpsesarefun wrote:To be fair we didn't do a vast amount of worth as a nation before the empire...
You kidding right.
Chaucer, Shakespeare (briefly mentioned), Arthurian Myth, Robin Hood etc.
Plenty of old heritage and folklore to draw on, an observer might be led to believe what you say is true, even worse that we have very little real culture prior to modern music.
Bolded the key part of my statement, admittedly they could have referenced what you mentioned above in the literature section but our actions as a nation prior to the empire were mostly uninteresting.
I wasn't sure at first, but then it really grew on me. By the end, I loved it. I mean, I WAS pissed...
Even so, I thought it was a brilliantly unique production - and let's face it, who else would have the balls to put Isambard Kingdom Brunel reading Shakespeare, Mr Bean playing a synth and HM the Queen jumping out of a helicopter with James Bond in their opening ceremony? It was bonkers and brilliantly British.
As for everyone saying that huge parts of our history were missed out, I think the intention was to provide cultural reference points that people from around the world could understand and relate to as being British, such as the Industrial Revolution, the NHS, our awesome contribution to pop music, the internet, Shakespeare, Harry Potter, Mary Poppins, James Bond etc. Things like this shouldn't be an exercise in in national navel-gazing (would the Arubans really be interested in Agincourt? Do the Tajiks dig Pepys?), it should be more along the lines of 'here's a bunch of stuff you like - it happens to be British'. It was outward-looking in that respect and I applaud the organisers for that. I'd rather that than some fascist display of triumphalism like the Chinese did, for example.
At least our over-worked and oppressed peasants were actors, and not the real thing.
For me I was pleasently surprised, some bits lacked in the impressive-ness of the Industrial revolution, like the whole music section and Paul at the end.
But over all I liked it, I hope our closing ceremony is just as good
I don't know what including the woman who burnt the city of London to the ground and killed a third of it's populace would do for the London 2012 opening ceremony. That's kind of like your murderer showing up at your funeral.
Albatross wrote:@corpses - The Magna Carta/Common Law, the printing press, defeat of the Armada, Boudicca, Parliamentary democracy...
The first and fifth I'll give you, the second was done first by a German, the third was mostly due to weather and the fourth as purps said is hardly appropriate for the opening ceremony.
I read about one of the guys shot whilst trying to watch Batman having a two million dollar medical bill. I couldn't help but think of him when the nurses and patients were jumping up and down on hospital beds. I'm so happy to have been born British!
Also, did Muhammad Ali depress anyone else? It was so sad to see such a flamboyant and elegant boxer reduced to being held up for us to gawk at. Still, I bet he wanted to do it. Great man!
She didn't use to 'own' any of the countries that where part of the Empire prior to 1953, and she's actually still Queen of many of the ones who left after that... Just saying.
Albatross wrote:She didn't use to 'own' any of the countries that where part of the Empire prior to 1953, and she's actually still Queen of many of the ones who left after that... Just saying.
Albatross wrote:@corpses - The Magna Carta/Common Law, the printing press, defeat of the Armada, Boudicca, Parliamentary democracy...
The first and fifth I'll give you, the second was done first by a German, the third was mostly due to weather and the fourth as purps said is hardly appropriate for the opening ceremony.
The printing press was invented in China well before Gutenberg. Just sayin'.
Albatross wrote:@corpses - The Magna Carta/Common Law, the printing press, defeat of the Armada, Boudicca, Parliamentary democracy...
The first and fifth I'll give you, the second was done first by a German, the third was mostly due to weather and the fourth as purps said is hardly appropriate for the opening ceremony.
I didn't say that.
Glorioski has appropriated my avatar.
Albatross wrote:@corpses - The Magna Carta/Common Law, the printing press, defeat of the Armada, Boudicca, Parliamentary democracy...
The first and fifth I'll give you, the second was done first by a German, the third was mostly due to weather and the fourth as purps said is hardly appropriate for the opening ceremony.
I didn't say that.
Glorioski has appropriated my avatar.
No I did not. I think you'll find my avatar to be the exact opposite of yours.
Albatross wrote:@corpses - The Magna Carta/Common Law, the printing press, defeat of the Armada, Boudicca, Parliamentary democracy...
The first and fifth I'll give you, the second was done first by a German, the third was mostly due to weather and the fourth as purps said is hardly appropriate for the opening ceremony.
I didn't say that.
Glorioski has appropriated my avatar.
No I did not. I think you'll find my avatar to be the exact opposite of yours.
The Olympics? Oh yeah, I've heard of that. That's the ring thing, right? I'd likely have heard of it even more if Canada won more gold medals. I missed the opening ceremony though, didn't watch it. I was watching Batman.
More than 130 cyclists were arrested by police close to the Olympic Stadium on the opening night of the Games.
I find this rich, how its being hosted in London, yet your everyday Brit is allowed nowhere near the Olympic grounds as it may 'disruption' or pose 'security risks'. Can't wait till the games end!
The only thing I liked in the ceremony was the Mr. Bean bit...
I agree with Orlanth...would have liked to see more of the history to include the ancient Britons through viking conquest, through Alfred, through Normans...a lot of stuff left offf.
Also how do you leave out Tolkien out of the "great english writers' I mean come on J.K Rowling?
generalgrog wrote:The only thing I liked in the ceremony was the Mr. Bean bit...
I agree with Orlanth...would have liked to see more of the history to include the ancient Britons through viking conquest, through Alfred, through Normans...a lot of stuff left offf.
Also how do you leave out Tolkien out of the "great english writers' I mean come on J.K Rowling?
GG
It wasn't "great english writers" it was great British children's writers. So people like Barrie (Peter Pan) and Rowling (Harry Potter, the most successful children's books of all time) fit in better as the majority of Tolkeins work was aimed at adults. This was accentuated by the use of children and staff from Great Ormond Street Hospital in that segment, the same hospital which Barrie gave the rights to Peter Pan to before his death.
A more glaring hole was the lack of Heavy Metal when going through Britain's contributions to music through the decades. One of the genres which was invented purely in Britain and it doesn't even get a short excerpt of Sabbath or Maiden to represent it.
The English are British and lots of people think the British are English but that annoys the Scottish and Welsh because although some think they're British and some think they aren't and some think they are but don't want to be, they all agree that they definitely are not English. The Irish mostly think they are Irish, apart from the ones who are Northern Irish. Some say that makes them British and Irish. But others disagree and say they should just be Irish and then some say they aren't British either but part of the United Kingdom. People from England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland can all play cricket for England because they're British as can those from Ireland even though they aren't British. So can South Africans. The English play football for England unless they aren't that good when they might try to play for Ireland. Those from the Isle of Wight are English, from Anglesey are Welsh and the Orkneys are Scottish, but although that means they aren't from the island of Great Britain they're still British. The Channel Islanders depend on the crown which is what the Queen wears but they aren't in the UK and those from the Isle of Man are the same, apart from their cats.
I can't remember much of Beijing's, being relatively young at the time, although what I remember of it, it was lots of very impressive visual effects.
I'm not sure that we could ever have hoped to match the Chinese at their own game, but we easily made up for it the way the ceremony gripped the audience and kept them guessing.
We didn't win the Road Race Cycling, I'm bored of this already.
It was always going to be an anticlimax the second the Queen parachuted from a helicopter with Bond.
Schoolboy error there Seb Coe, unless the Queen destroys the Stadium at the closing ceremony with her laser vision, in a stroke killing all heads of state and instantly subjugateing their countries, I can't see it being topped.
So apparently NBC cut out a lot of the ceremony, including the 7/7 memorial in favour of showing an interview of Micheal Phelps by Ryan Seacrest, bad form NBC, bad from.
youbedead wrote:So apparently NBC cut out a lot of the ceremony, including the 7/7 memorial in favour of showing an interview of Micheal Phelps by Ryan Seacrest, bad form NBC, bad from.
Really? That's pretty disrespectful. I can imagine the outcry if another countries broadcaster did the same to an American ceremony during a segment where it paid tribute to the victims of the Twin Towers.
youbedead wrote:So apparently NBC cut out a lot of the ceremony, including the 7/7 memorial in favour of showing an interview of Micheal Phelps by Ryan Seacrest, bad form NBC, bad from.
Really? That's pretty disrespectful. I can imagine the outcry if another countries broadcaster did the same to an American ceremony during a segment where it paid tribute to the victims of the Twin Towers.
Plus during the Hospital bit with the giant childrens literature villains my first thought was of Mother, Wife and Teacher from Pink Floyd's and solo Roger Waters' live performances of The Wall.
I'm pretty sure Danny Boyle took some inspiration from it for that particular sequence in the show
youbedead wrote:So apparently NBC cut out a lot of the ceremony, including the 7/7 memorial in favour of showing an interview of Micheal Phelps by Ryan Seacrest, bad form NBC, bad from.
We can't let their socialist ideas infect the glorious homeland but still very very rude
The Independent Greeks have called on International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge to retract a comment he made about the Olympics “coming home” during the opening ceremony for the London 2012 Games on Friday night.
“In a sense, the Olympic Games are coming home tonight,” he said. “This great sports-loving country is widely recognized as the birthplace of modern sport.”
Terence Quick, spokesman for the right-wing nationalist party, said that Rogge’s comment was “historically ignorant, unacceptable, provocative and in keeping with the commercialization of the Olympic Ideals.”
He called for the IOC chief to apologize.
“He should retract his comments straight away and apologize to Greeks and Greece, which gave birth to the Olympic Games,” said Quick.
He also criticized the Hellenic Olympic Committee for not reacting to Rogge’s comment.
They’re going to be the cheekiest gals in London this summer.
Olympian Misty May-Treanor and her fellow competitors on the US women’s beach volleyball team vowed yesterday to keep wearing their sexy bikinis at the upcoming Games — despite a new rule that lets female players compete in dowdy shorts and T-shirts.
“We’re not uncomfortable in our bikinis,” said team member Jen Kessy.
“Growing up in southern California, that’s what you wear from when you’re a little kid to now in the summertime.”
Treanor said she loves to compete in her skimpy, bottom-baring bikini because “what you see is what you get — there’s no airbrushing.”
“I grew up on the beach, grew up in a bikini,” said May-Treanor, who has won two gold medals with her partner, Kerri Walsh.
Olympic officials changed the dress code for the racy sport — in which teams of two compete against each other — to soothe the concerns of nations where religion dictates that women wear more than skimpy swimsuits.
Glorioski wrote:Terence Quick, spokesman for the right-wing nationalist party, said that Rogge’s comment was “historically ignorant, unacceptable, provocative and in keeping with the commercialization of the Olympic Ideals.”
So, kinda like right-wing nationalism most of the time then?
The Independent Greeks have called on International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge to retract a comment he made about the Olympics “coming home” during the opening ceremony for the London 2012 Games on Friday night.
“In a sense, the Olympic Games are coming home tonight,” he said. “This great sports-loving country is widely recognized as the birthplace of modern sport.”
Terence Quick, spokesman for the right-wing nationalist party, said that Rogge’s comment was “historically ignorant, unacceptable, provocative and in keeping with the commercialization of the Olympic Ideals.”
He called for the IOC chief to apologize.
“He should retract his comments straight away and apologize to Greeks and Greece, which gave birth to the Olympic Games,” said Quick.
He also criticized the Hellenic Olympic Committee for not reacting to Rogge’s comment.
They are wrong. He said the birthplace of MODERN sport. Not the olympics in general. And he is right, the Shropshire town of Much Wenlock is credited with holding the first modern olympics which went on to start the full international olympics.
The Independent Greeks have called on International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge to retract a comment he made about the Olympics “coming home” during the opening ceremony for the London 2012 Games on Friday night.
“In a sense, the Olympic Games are coming home tonight,” he said. “This great sports-loving country is widely recognized as the birthplace of modern sport.”
Terence Quick, spokesman for the right-wing nationalist party, said that Rogge’s comment was “historically ignorant, unacceptable, provocative and in keeping with the commercialization of the Olympic Ideals.”
He called for the IOC chief to apologize.
“He should retract his comments straight away and apologize to Greeks and Greece, which gave birth to the Olympic Games,” said Quick.
He also criticized the Hellenic Olympic Committee for not reacting to Rogge’s comment.
They are wrong. He said the birthplace of MODERN sport. Not the olympics in general. And he is right, the Shropshire town of Much Wenlock is credited with holding the first modern olympics which went on to start the full international olympics.
Suck it Greece!
We're in yoor Olympics killing yoor doodes!
youbedead wrote:So apparently NBC cut out a lot of the ceremony, including the 7/7 memorial in favour of showing an interview of Micheal Phelps by Ryan Seacrest, bad form NBC, bad from.
Why is this so surprising?! I mean, only a couple years ago they introduced Betty Fox as the mother of actor Micheal J Fox afterall.
Overall I enjoyed the Vancouver opening ceremony more, especially our most epic lighting of the flame and it's epic fail! (which we then turned into a giant joke at the closing ceremonies!)
The Independent Greeks have called on International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge to retract a comment he made about the Olympics “coming home” during the opening ceremony for the London 2012 Games on Friday night.
“In a sense, the Olympic Games are coming home tonight,” he said. “This great sports-loving country is widely recognized as the birthplace of modern sport.”
Terence Quick, spokesman for the right-wing nationalist party, said that Rogge’s comment was “historically ignorant, unacceptable, provocative and in keeping with the commercialization of the Olympic Ideals.”
He called for the IOC chief to apologize.
“He should retract his comments straight away and apologize to Greeks and Greece, which gave birth to the Olympic Games,” said Quick.
He also criticized the Hellenic Olympic Committee for not reacting to Rogge’s comment.
They are wrong. He said the birthplace of MODERN sport. Not the olympics in general. And he is right, the Shropshire town of Much Wenlock is credited with holding the first modern olympics which went on to start the full international olympics.
To be fair the greeks don't have much left nowadays
I thought it was bloody brilliant. Admitidly, I did watch it in a pub while quite pissed and the sound wasn't on, but it looked fething spectacular.
Rowan Atkinson was brilliant, though JK Rowling can do one as far as I'm concerned
Having watched it again, can't help but feel that the Suffragettes were over-represented, especially considering the omission of the trades union movement as a whole. Que sara.
generalgrog wrote:The only thing I liked in the ceremony was the Mr. Bean bit...
I agree with Orlanth...would have liked to see more of the history to include the ancient Britons through viking conquest, through Alfred, through Normans...a lot of stuff left offf.
Also how do you leave out Tolkien out of the "great english writers' I mean come on J.K Rowling?
GG
But there was some Tolkien! They forged a great ring, and there was a big fiery eyeball at the end.
