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http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/olympics/4437461/Inside-Olympic-Stadium-as-2012-Opening-Ceremony-takes-shape.htmlThis is the scenery for the opening ceremonies. Speaking as one who likes British history, this looks quite interesting. But as an opening ceremony for the Olympics? I don't know, it looks like it may be too simplistic. This is either going to be really good or really bad. Hauling a huge, full masted 18th century ship of the line into the stadium would be cool though.
I'm sure they'll try to keep up with what they did in Beijing in 2008, which was over the top. Interesting to see what they'll try to do with that cottage.
I thought Beijing was awesome! Perhaps the old-fashioned, historical style of this will be a good contrast to the modern-techno stuff of Beijing. Then again, maybe there will be some surprises the British newspapers aren't telling us about.
Let's just hope it wasn't like the British performance at the Beijing closing ceremonies. That was kind of lame. Let's also hope it's not a tribute to British political correctness, though I predict that will play a part in it.
Maybe you have to be into the Brits to like this, but so far this opening ceremony is extraordinary. Just saw the Queen get escorted into the stadium by James Bond. How cool is that?
A let down from Beijing, I thought. Did British history jump from fields and grass to industrial revolution, and that's it? They cut out most of the country's history. Also, what's up with celebrating the National Health Service?? Anyway, the skit with the queen was funny, but what I liked the most was the skit with Mr. Bean.
Yeah, I was little surprised at the big NHS letters. I thought that sequence was kind of creepy anyway. My opinion why they celebrated is because the Brits consider this a major accomplishment. Good for them but no thanks here in the US.Mr. Bean was hilarious! I would have liked to have seen something with the Age of Sail. They should have made a replica of HMS Victory or something.No it didn't compare to the communist propaganda-like opening of China, and thought how difficult it would be to follow that up. But IMO this was better. Was probably the most original and creative opening ceremonies I've ever seen. My only complaint was the lack of Pink Floyd references. I only saw two...the flying pig and one of the villains during the kids' nightmare sequence looked very similar to the school master in the Wall. I read somewhere that one of the assistant directors of this was a director of the Wall concerts in the 80's. Could certainly see that influence at times.
My only complaint is the lack of discretion when it comes to reporting, especially in the US. I go on Drudge yesterday afternoon, front and center headline was Phelps comes in 4th. This was about 5 hours before it was televised. Talk about a spoiler!! Since NBC is showing some events live, why couldn't they do the swimming live to avoid this?
Since we're on the topic, here are some photographs of Victorian Era Britain in todays UK Mail.
How cool was it that the Queen parachuted into the stadium though? (or at least a stuntman dress up like her)
“Good evening, Mr. Bond”That was the coolest! Then flying into the stadium with the UK flag parachutes and the James Bond theme song.
Other than the opening ceremonies, of which I watched a little, I will probably not watch much of this years Olympics. Mainly because I will be in the US on vacation and have better things to do than watch people run around a track and throw spears.
Most of the things I want to watch, like rowing, are being shown during my work hours. That's the only reason I'm not watching it too much during the week. And I'd rather watch people throw spears and disks than a basketball game (ahem..NBC are you listening?).
The tape delay is making it harder to watch. You see the results in the news, which spoils it for when the events are shown at night. Still, I am a big fan of the Olympics. They show sports that I would usually never be interested in. The team archery competition between the U.S. and Italy was really neat, as are most all other events. I was just watching men's volleyball (U.S. vs. Germany) and it reminded me how much I like to watch that sport.
I love it too. Some of these more obscure (less commonly seen on TV) sports are interesting to watch. The only problem is I guess some of the competitions are so short in duration that you have to be sitting in front of the TV for hours watching other stuff before watching the 15-20 minute event you want to see. Like with rowing, I checked the TV schedule...which I have to say the NBC Olympics site did a pretty good with...and it's on, but only for like 30-45 minutes. I hope the finals, at least with the men's 8, will be televised even if it is tape delayed and even if the US team doesn't qualify. And I hope they show a lot of the decathlon too.
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