London 2012 - Opening Ceremony

[Smeg Head]

Watching it on delay been enjoying it so far.

 

[Zuma]

Sir Paul should have sung "We All Stand Together" Hey Jude being one of the most successful British singles and with the involvement of the crowd on the "na na na na's" it was probably the best choice.

McCartney is 70 and this was probably his last huge televised performance and it was the biggest of his career. Pity about the technical stuff up at the start but as a true pro he got on with it and rebounded in jubilant style.

 

[Zuma]

let the stars light the thing. this is too PC. i want to see them, not some random kids

These random kids apparantly represent the Pom's future olympic hopes and dreams. Mind you, there have been many hopes and dreams

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

I fell asleep during the countries, what was with the bronze cone things?

They became part of the cauldron. The cauldron effectively is 204 flames rather than one huge one.

 

[Spiritsof82]

Just saw a replay of the Aust teams entrance, to me they looked like a bunch of drunken pensioners off to the pokies after a game of lawn bowls, how much had they drunk while they waited to get out onto the track.

 

[Quinz]

Kicks in a ball lit on fire hopefully.

"Still got it"..

 

[E92_]

From what I saw it wasn't that good, the forging of the olympic rings was cool and the Mr Bean part was awesome but for the most part it was pretty dull tbh.

 

[quin_stick]

Loving Foxtel's Olympic coverage so far, 10+ channels, no events on and still not one of them showing a replay of the opening ceremony

 

[GOAUS!]

Ms Leryn Franco will be launching the Javelin from 10am or 11.25am London time - depending on which qualifying group she is in - on Tuesday 7th August

I wouldn't mind showing her my Javelin.

 

[Amazing Bombers]

Lol at Switzerland having a tennis player carrying the flag and making it Wawrinka and not Federer. Although he is playing tomorrow, so he couldn't march.

To be fair Roger was offered it, but he chose Stan instead.

 

[Caesar]

I quite enjoyed it. Some of it was pretty facepalm-worthy, but I think coming from a similar cultural background I had a much better appreciation for the content than I have had for a lot of recent Opening Ceremonies.

Or as my mother put it, "it was much better without all the chinky ching chong we got last time".

 

[TheStinger]

I think even Atheists will be getting down on their knees and thanking God for her.

 

[Caesar]

To be fair Roger was offered it, but he chose Stan instead.

Nah, the Olympic committee chose Wawrinka when Federer refused (because he'd done it in 2004 and 2008).

Fabian Cancellara probably would have been the flagbearer, but with the cycling road race on Day 1 he didn't attend the ceremony.

 

[THRILLHO]

Watching the replay in 3D.

Not making it anymore enjoyable. Very dull OC.

 

[CF]

I didn't like the tribute to popular music too much...I mean all those great artists and none of them live???? Then the rather dull story of a boy and a girl and social media. meh!

Salute to the NHS? - different to say the least.

The first part was the best although I felt like I was watching a Pink Floyd concert at times LOL.

 

[Bombers_Forever]

Just saw a replay of the Aust teams entrance, to me they looked like a bunch of drunken pensioners off to the pokies after a game of lawn bowls, how much had they drunk while they waited to get out onto the track.

Yeah, I was thinking the same. Fine for a closing ceremony but for an opening?

The irony of those 7 young athletes is there is no chance that moment last night will ever be beatn, that is if they do indeed 'make it'.

 

[BACCS]

Loving Foxtel's Olympic coverage so far, 10+ channels, no events on and still not one of them showing a replay of the opening ceremony

They aren't allowed to. Channel 9 has sole rights to it.

 

[Caesar]

The first part with the tribute to the industrial revolution was pretty good. Thought it went downhill a bit after the Chariots of Fire spoof. Cauldron was great though.

Our athletes are deadset bogans though. Jeeze they made me cringe.

 

[GOAUS!]

Quite liked the Hello Mr.Bond line from Lizzy.

 

[Total_Juddshanks]

I liked it, understated and very British... In an odd way it felt like they were subtlely pulling the piss out of Beijing for being so over the top.

That said, a lot of the use of humor is going to go over the heads of the no Anglosphere

 

[CF]

Mr Bean and the Chariots of Fire bit was funny though.

Laughed when the British team was walking in and they crossed to Lizzie and she was looking at her nails bored as bat shit.

I agree once it went past the industrial revolution bit it started to go down hill.

 

[ManWithNoName]

 

[Balony_pony16]

I wouldn't mind showing her my Javelin.

Paraguay just don't let us down do they? This pic gets me excited for World Cup Soccer

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

For about 90 minutes in the lead up to the opening ceremony I watched BBC World News on Foxtel to get an idea of what the Brits were thinking. Plus I couldn't stand the crap on 9 and Foxtel.

15-20 minutes before opening ceremony, they spoke to Ric Birch who was head of Brisbane 1982 Comm Games ceremonies, which was so successful that the yanks drafted him as an assistant producer fo LA 1984. I 99% sure he was head of 1992 Barcelona ceremonies as he was the one who came up with the archer with the flaming arrow to light the cauldron and he was head ceremonies of Sydney 2000. He has consulted to 2004 and 2008 ceremonies. He became the Chinese producer's international assistant and said he had meetings with Danny Boyle. Pretty sure he was heavily involved in the Torino 2006 winter Olympics ceremonies.

He was in Shanghi and on a Skype feed, which I found unusual. Near the end of his interview which wound up with about 5 minutes to go before it all kicked off, he said the lighting has becoming so important, almost the most important factor in ceremonies. The last daytime opening ceremony was Seoul 1988. That's why the London opening ceremony started so late, they said Boyle wanted a night sky.

I watched and was amazed at how good the lighting was. Because I was half a sleep, I didn't pick up how they did those effects in the crowd and all those images. When I watched the replay this arvo I found out how they did it. Every seat had a light pad/boxes. So the stadium was designed with thios feature in mind. Same thing happened in Sydney and Birch put his ideas in front of architects before the final stadium design happened. In particular the water fall and moving cauldron was factored in by the architects in the design.

http://www.itv.com/news/update/2012...sses-add-extra-dimension-to-opening-ceremony/

They spoke to him half hour an after the ceremony, he gave a and he commenteted about how Boyle's backround in film could be picked up in little bits and pieces. Birch liked the doves on biycles and thought that one of them being lifted up and floating high thru the stadium was a bit of a nod to ET He gave a couple of other examples but I have forgotte them. Then again Birch would like the biycle component. Remember the kangaroos on bikes bit of the 10 minute presentation for Sydney at the end of the closing ceremony in Atlanta??? All the controversy it generated and then including a few of them in Sydney - I think for the closing ceremony, for a bit of a laugh.

He said that he thought all the video footage looked good for TV coverage but not sure how it worked for those in the stadium. Said one day down the track the whole artistic part of the ceremony could be done outside the stadium. He thought the use of footage and reference to British soapies didn't work as few outside Britain would have got it.

 

[Joe Mama]

I wouldn't mind showing her my Javelin.

Since that Usain Bolt is learning Spanish because (according to Eddie Everywhere) he reckons "that the prettiest women are spanish speakers", the question has to asked, will the world's fastest man try to show off his lightning bolt at her before the games are over ?