what did you think of that opening ceremony?
what did you think of that opening ceremony?
No offense, but I thought the opening ceremony was bad.
I thought it was brilliant.
...fantastic...!!!
...didn't understand it all ...thought it was magical and original ...looked great on our new HD tv ...always like the bit when the nations mingle and party ...Macca looked like he was way passed his sell-by-date ...and his bedtime ...as did the Queen ...fun segment with James Bond tho' ...loved the way they produced the couldron ...very emotional...!
:)
i thought it was brilliant except for a few bits,danny boy took it to the limit,god knows how the overseas veiwers kept up with it.the nhs/gosh segment i didnt like,it was clever ,but not for me.the queen and 007 was a belter,larfed like a drain!and those chimneys and lowry inspired sets were very well done too.
paul mc cartney's voice wasnt great,but it was late and he's 70 ish,but got the place rockin' with hey jude.the arctic monkeys?no thanks
the copper petal idea and the caldron lighting was excellent
over4 hours of it and i was glued to the tv till the end
we were never going to replicate anything like the chinese in bejing.did it make me proud?oh yeah!
And there's a chance nobody will. I've been on the giving and receiving end of "This will never be surpassed". And so it goes....... Since there's not much else clubhousing, I'll detail it later.Quote:
Originally Posted by tamla617
In the mean, between.....I missed the first 45 minutes.....but thx to Yahoo, it was already spoiled for me by them showing pictures of the helicopter on the their home page with notes saying, "We don't want to spoil the opening ceremony of the Olympics"......Which should have been followed by: "But if you've got half a brain you might guess that it has something to do with the _____ and J____ B____ and a helicopter."
The girls and I very much enjoyed most everything else that followed. They didn't think much of the whole boy/girl Internet plot,nor the live rapper......but at least 5 times during the musical segments they yelled out...."Oooo that's my jam/song" and the dancers and effects during that segment were cool. They are more Mary Poppins fans than Harry Potter.....and we all thought that sleeping baby was more creepy than cute.
I personally liked most of the stuff during the endgame: the activists carrying the flag, the stadium workers, the young athletes, Paul.....and even the Artic Monkeys. And most of all, as usual, The Parade of Nations.....especially the tiny ones..... the bon mots tossed out by the announcers......and the shots of the costumes and pictures like the guy that painted his beard yellow and blue to match his outfit.
I think the object was to be as different as possible from Beijing as possible, concentrating on the human element. I was glued to the television. and thought the whole thing was brilliant. I need to see it again; I think there were a lot of in-jokes.
One of the problems with the Beijing opening ceremony was that the Chinese have pretty much ruined the event for everyone else who has to follow. They spent £65 million on their ceremony, so if you’re going to compete, you’re going to have to spend equally ridiculous amounts of money as well.
Britain doesn’t have that kind of cash to throw around, so trying to come up with an opening event that would be memorable meant approaching it from a completely different angle. What we got was, in my opinion, one of the best opening ceremonies of all time, as I will try and explain below.
Firstly, I cannot recall any other opening event where the host nation openly took the piss out of itself, thus showing its sense of humour. Previous ceremonies have always wanted to show the hosts in the best possible light, with no warts or blemishes. Here was an opening ceremony that throw that aside, so we had references to the weather [[a favourite British pastime, moaning about the ‘bloody weather’) and several other typically British idiosyncrasies.
Secondly, Queen Elizabeth’s involvement in the James Bond sketch is without precedent. Since America does not have a royal family, there is no real comparison I can draw. I’m sure that if the Olympics were being held in the US, then the President would probably do something similar, but there again, politicians will do almost anything that raises their profile. But for the Queen to take part in such a manner, especially in a year when she has been celebrating her Diamond Jubilee and projecting a staid and officious [[which is not meant to be in any way detrimental) persona, was wonderful to see.
Thirdly, the sketch with Rowan Atkinson as Mr Bean playing with the London Symphony Orchestra injected the right amount of humour into what is always such a straight-laced event. British humour is somewhat unique, but Mr Bean has touched a nerve around the world and so getting the rest of the world laughing along brought some much needed light relief.
I did think the whole NHS segment was overlong and not necessarily the kind of area that needed emphasis – Britain has contributed much to the world over the last fifty or sixty years that could have been focused upon, not least of which was Roger Bannister breaking the four minute mile barrier back in 1954.
In the weeks leading up to the opening ceremony there was considerable speculation as to who would light the Olympic flame in the stadium. Most of the money went on either Daley Thompson or Steven Redgrave, and it seemed a few days beforehand that there had developed something of spat between the two, with friends and allies of both stating publicly why their man deserved the honour more than the other. A day before a rush of bets of Roger Bannister made him the new favourite, so the stunt the organisers pulled at the actual event came as a big surprise. There again, during London’s bid for the Games the organisers had stated that they hoped to leave a legacy for the next generation, so having members of that next generation lighting the flame was inspired.
Elsewhere I thought there was much to savour – the squad of Mary Poppinses defeating those nasty villains, the iconic mini car [[with the 2012 registration), a salute to great British music of the last fifty years or so [[although I could have done without The Sex Pistols – why not The Average White Band, who scored bigger in the US than the Pistols?) and we had an opening event that had something for everyone.
Interestingly enough, the day after the opening I went online to see what the rest of the world had made of it – was it too British, did they get all the in jokes, what did it say about Britain in the 21st century? Every review I read, including those from Australia, the US, India, China and Russia, thought it an excellent opening ceremony. Indeed, my eyes began to water just reading what other nations thought of the ceremony. You can’t please all of the people all of the time, but the opening ceremony pleased most of them.
I'm enjoying the games so far. But getting back to the opening ceremonies. I thought the Queen/Helicopter bit was tacky. If the citizens over there think it was great that they poked fun of themselves, then who am I to judge? I also didn't like for the most part, the music and dancers. "Firestarter"??? Really? I also didn't like the movie bits. This is not the Academy Awards or the MTV Music Awards. Alot of the stuff I saw seemed better suited for the closing ceremony. Every last co-worker or friend of mine, that has discussed the Olympics and the opening ceremony said they were boring and just not good. Maybe its just the people I know in my little part of the world. My criticism is not a reflection of the country, it is more of a reflection of the Olympic committee and the producer of the opening ceremonies.
It's not a reflection on the Olympic Commitee or Producer, it's a reflection of your lack of diversity and possibly taste and Heaven knows what else.....notwithstanding your aforementioned comments.Quote:
Originally Posted by skooldem1
I can't run into 5 people who watched without getting a yea AND a nay on the Opening.
Are your people victims of some strange Citywide Tribal inBreeding Ritual Gone Wrong.....OR Right?
Run Skooldem1.....RUN.
As if to prove that not everyone gets the British sense of humour, here's the almighty row that broke out over a flippant comment made by the Team GB head of the cycling team in response to a French query as to why we had performed so well during the Olympics:
The French were today accused of trying to sour Team GB’s amazing cycling success.
It comes after suggestions in France that the British had “magic wheels” which the team hid after every race.
Today, Sir Chris Hoy's father claimed the French team had started the row over "magic tyres" in a bid to justify their bad performances at London 2012.
He said: "You've got to upset someone. It might as well be the French.
"They've got to look for some reason for why they're under-performing."
It appears the French may have fallen for a joke by British cycle supremo Dave Brailsford who told a French newspaper that GB had “specially round wheels”.
The tongue-in-cheek remark sparked a cheating row as France’s director of cycling Isabelle Gautheron said: “We are looking a lot at the kit they use. We are asking a lot of questions: how have they gained so many tenths of seconds?
“I am not talking about any illicit product, because anti-doping tests are so strong. Honestly, we are looking a lot at the kit they use. They hide their wheels a lot. The ones for the bikes they race on are put in wheel covers at the finish [of a race].
Referring to a French make of wheel, she asked: “Do they really have Mavic wheels?” This prompted French paper L’Equipe’s headline “Magic or Mavic.”
But Mr Brailsford said: “I told them we had some special wheels because we had made them specially round. The French seemed to have taken it seriously, but I was joking. They are the same wheels as everyone else. There is nothing special about them.
“The real secret to our success is peaking at the right time, talented athletes, commitment and ... brilliant coaching.” The controversy came after Jason Kenny, 24, stormed to victory over Frenchman Gregory Bauge in the men’s sprint final in front of 6,000 fans at the velodrome last night.
It was Britain’s fifth track cycling gold out of seven events and there were further hopes of three more medals today from Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton and Laura Trott [we won two, collecting a silver in the third].
Mr Brailsford, British cycling performance director, said: “It’s interesting that people are starting to ask questions. It’s no different from when we raced the last three and a half weeks at the Tour de France. It’s the same method, the same philosophy and essentially fantastic coaching which is the only secret weapon we possess.
“As far as the Olympic Games go, only two weeks are important: one week in Beijing, one week here. And we’ve peaked for both.” French journalists said they had not been taken in by British humour, and realised it was a “round wheel” joke but still suspect the GB squad have developed some ground-breaking technology.
Their suspicions may also be fuelled by the fact that the British have a team termed the “secret squirrels” led by Chris Boardman who have the job of perfecting the technology.
It might be British technology, but the joker really is on the French - they manufactured the bloody things! Now if they had been members of the Soulful Detroit Forum, they'd have spotted the ad for bicycle wheels on the ads that appear on the right hand side of the page....
Quote:
Originally Posted by destruction
So because I [[and MANY others around the world I might add) didn't enjoy the ceremony- You feel the need to put me down?
They were boring. That is my opinion. Believe me when I tell you, I am not alone. The previous opening ceremony put this one to shame.
I've been out of town and was not able to comment.
Everyone has their own opinion and they are entitled to it. However, I'm with Bankhouse on this one. I thought it was "quite right."
hotspurman
those tyres are made of woven silk they take a pressure of about 200psi!your car tyres are about 32 ish.so the rolling resistance due to tyre deflection on track contact and lateral movement is almost nil,less friction and wasted energy as the normal tyres that move.
also on the road bikes the chain set sprokets are not completely round [[oval)so on the down stroke the chain will move fractionally faster before and after the "hump",we're only talking small amounts but over several 1000 rotations it makes a difference at the end.
the cranks are made of carbon fibre wrapped 'round l
,molyibdimena metal that melts at 100 degs c.stick it in boiling water,the molten material pours out and you get a hollow monocoque shaft,strong and light.all 10ths of a second gained but makes the difference with all the other "small" improvements = world records and gold medals!.Mr bordman couldnt pronounce the metal or kept it secret but we used it for bending aircraft pipes so they dont collapse at the bend line,add boiling water and you have an empty pipe perfectly formed!