The Olympics - London 2012

[cockjol]

not suggesting it was all perfect, but it kept you gussing till the end and tried to be original...certainly succeeded on that score...get the impression that most of the people who looked on it really negatively would have done so regardless

 

[CosmicHotspur]

I've seen pictures of Muhammad Ali recently and know how frail he's looking but the old man was utterly shocked and simply didn't recognise him. Ali can't even stand up by himself now and I wondered if he even knew what was going on around him last night.

So very sad - possibly the most famous man in the world in his heyday and I fear he won't be with us much longer so I'll give my tribute now to an amazing man before it happens. He truly justifies the word "legend".

 

[hugrr]

Apart from the sour face of Liz, the most embarrassing part was McCartney for me. He really was bloody awful. I'd rather have seen the Strolling Bones or The Who up there. At least they would have been more in keeping with representing Greater London and not Liverpool.

Paul McC has a thing for ending big events with Hey Jude, so everyone there can do the naaah na na bits, I remember him doing it at the end of Live 8, did he do it at the Jubilee as well?

 

[SoulDog]

Why is it every time Paul Mcc performs live his mic always fucked up? Every single time?

 

[AW?]

I was quite surprised to be honest. 90s music seemed to consist of Underworld, which is great if you like Underworld, which I do. But there was no reference to Oasis or Blur, the two Britpop leaders who were absolutely massive for half of the decade.

Britpop wasn't a golden age in our musical history that's why. Barely any muisc of any real merit even came out of the era with the exception of maybe Pulp. Blur were already around incase you're not old enough to remember. It was a embarrassing self-dulgent coke fueled horror story of awful music and having the likes of Noel Gallagher sticking his tongue up Tony Blairs arse to get Labour to power says it all. Decadent horrendous times which actually made me feel ashamed to be British with all that tacky flag waving going on which we only expect from the Yanks.

It was nice to see a nod to the rave scene which I grew up with. You can say what you like about the drugs side of it but considering how huge dance music world wide it's not really that important now.

All in all I think it was superb. I found it pretty sombre but meloncolic (something us Brits do well so was fitting) and a lot of it was ambiguous but these Olympic ceremonies always are aren't they? The NHS thing did seem a bit misplaced but I can see why the used it and it did open up the horror/fantasy element of kid storeis etc. I think the fact there were so many ideas and themes it's a testament to how diverse these isles are and what we've contributed to the world.

Danny Boyle deserves all the credit he gets.

One moan. Paul MacCartney. As soon as I saw him I thought here we go again, the vocals of a cat drowning in a bag. The most annoying thing was his stupid American accent. I know he lives there but that reallty grated on me. They couldn't have had the Stones at the end for the same reason. They may be Brits but they play American and sing that way too. Nothing wrong with that but it wouldn't have worked last night.

 

[AW?]

Oh and fuck the Yanks if they didn't like it. Can you imagine theress? Beyonce completely overdoing the national anthem and all the other tacky shit that goes with it. I wouldn't even watch it.

 

[Chinaspur]

Best bit for me was the Abide with me.

Agree. For me a really spine tingling moment.

 

[nightgoat]

Just been out to see the road race. Waited around 45 minutes by the road in Bushy Park, the riders whizzed past in about 30 seconds and that was it (bar the procession of cars following up), it was great. Gonna go back out to watch them come back through Hampton Court later.

 

[CosmicHotspur]

Why is it every time Paul Mcc performs live his mic always fucked up? Every single time?

To hide and make excuses for his awful performances?

 

[JerryGarcia]

Come on, it's Paul fucking McCartney! Give the guy a break, I really enjoyed the whole thing.

 

[werty]

I really enjoyed the opening ceremony. The cauldron lighting, the angels and the Olympic rings rising were brilliant. The Paul McCartney bit was obviously poor and I thought the bit about the Industrial Revolution went on a bit long. The other thing I didn't really like, and most people will probably disagree, was allowing the 7 young athletes lighting the cauldron. It was a nice touch and all, but I think one of the former Olympians should have lit it. They earned the right to light it.

Team GB's outfits were awful btw .

 

[CosmicHotspur]

Come on, it's Paul fucking McCartney! Give the guy a break, I really enjoyed the whole thing.

Billions watching knew it was crap so how come you didn't?

I certainly did enjoy last night but I cringed when he "performed". There should have been combined choirs for the finale with something really inspirational.

Must mention that helicopter and parachute sequence - the Queen did come up trumps there doing her bit of acting with Daniel Craig. Very funny stuff.

 

[nightgoat]

Must mention that helicopter and parachute sequence - the Queen did come up trumps there doing her bit of acting with Daniel Craig. Very funny stuff.

Shame she looked so utterly disinterested in the whole ceremony though.

 

[CosmicHotspur]

I really enjoyed the opening ceremony. The cauldron lighting, the angels and the Olympic rings rising were brilliant. The Paul McCartney bit was obviously poor and I thought the bit about the Industrial Revolution went on a bit long. The other thing I didn't really like, and most people will probably disagree, was allowing the 7 young athletes lighting the cauldron. It was a nice touch and all, but I think one of the former Olympians should have lit it. They earned the right to light it.

Team GB's outfits were awful btw .

Another McCartney gets into the act...!

 

[CosmicHotspur]

Shame she looked so utterly disinterested in the whole ceremony though.

She's a very elderly lady and perhaps she wasn't feeling that great. You never know...

 

[JerryGarcia]

Billions watching knew it was crap so how come you didn't?

I certainly did enjoy last night but I cringed when he "performed". There should have been combined choirs for the finale with something really inspirational.

Must mention that helicopter and parachute sequence - the Queen did come up trumps there doing her bit of acting with Daniel Craig. Very funny stuff.

His voice might not be what it was but this was about Britain and the Beatles are about as British as you can get and he's loved by so many people from around the world too. The guy is a true legend and I imagine that if he died tomorrow, all the same people who are slating him now would be posting cringe worthy, hollow condolences in an attempt to pay their respects.

I saw a comment elswhere that they should have got Adelle to close the ceremony instead. FFS, popular music is shockingly bad these days and Macca should be commended for actually playing live infront of what will have incredibly been his largest global audience of all time. Maybe it's because I'm a musician that I can appriciate it more, I don't know. I just think it's sad that a lot of people are saying he ruined the ceremony instead of simply enjoying a great night and cutting the guy a bit of slack.

Sorry for my rant, it honestly wasn't aimed at anyone on here in particular. I was just really annoyed by some comments I read this morning on Yahoo

 

[AW?]

I'm mores surprised it didn't end with Coldplay. In fact even though I don't like them very much i'd rather they'd done Hey Jude with Macca on the piano.

 

[DuDe]

sad to see quite a lot of negative comments about last night on various sites from so-called brits...would argue it says more about them than the opening ceremony...miserable pr*cks

It's because they are retards used to mindless, non-creative, idiot tv like TOWIE and Simon Cowell excrement.

 

[DuDe]

Must mention that helicopter and parachute sequence - the Queen did come up trumps there doing her bit of acting with Daniel Craig. Very funny stuff.

Highlight of the night for me. I'm still stunned she did it.

 

[JerryGarcia]

Highlight of the night for me. I'm still stunned she did it.

I wonder what Danny Boyles original idea was for that scene? Maybe Bond walking in and the Queen is laying on the bed in a provocative position stroking a pussy cat? I bet he tryed to get her to go as far as possible lol