The absolute best part was Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkins) in the orchestra!...................
Posted on 07/30/2012 8:12:04 AM PDT by shortstop
Actually, London, your opening ceremony was atrocious.
It was horrific.
It was a deeply troubling insight into a once-great nation.
I recognize that, in the grand scheme of things, the opening ceremony of the summer Olympics doesn’t amount to a hill of beans. Probably, the summer Olympics themselves don’t have any true significance.
After all, it’s just sports, and most of them are obscure sports.
But they are entertaining nonetheless, and we look forward to them each four years, and we enjoy the spectacle as much as we enjoy the competition.
Which is why on Friday night we lined our families up in front of the television set to see how London would open its season in the sun. Years of preparation, millions in expenses, thousands of volunteers.
The world convened happily in anticipation of the pure enjoyment of love of country and honest competition. Thankful for the every-four-year effort to out do previous the Olympiad, we were eager to see what the Brits would do to try to outshine the Chinese.
And it was a complete flop.
It was a stunning, enraging, insane flop.
Probably few things have been done in the history of England which have so damaged the kingdom’s esteem in the mind of the public.
Americans have the belief that, somehow, Brits are more educated, articulate and refined than most.
Those beliefs went down in quick flames Friday night, as the opening ceremony morphed into a sad commentary on the cultural decay of Great Britain.
Supposedly intended to highlight the fundamental strengths of British history and character, the spectacle instead reeked of ignorance and entitlement.
If anyone wondered why and how the British empire fell, the buffoonery of Friday night offers some pretty good insights.
It also offered a chagrining contrast between the precision of the Beijing opening ceremonies and the mindless meandering of the London opening ceremonies.
China had choreography, China had spectacle, China had vast quantities of people who could perform with computer-like precision.
London had an insane storyline through which many earnestly but pointlessly drifted. It left the world surprised at the cultural stupidity of the people of the British isles.
One of the purposes of an Olympics opening ceremony is to give the world a chance to see the culture and accomplishments of the host country.
Unfortunately, the people who wrote the London opening ceremony have no grasp of the culture and accomplishments of the British people.
For example, the opening ceremony focused on England’s children’s writers and its socialized medicine system.
Let me repeat that. England has the world’s attention. Perhaps a billion people around the globe are turned in.
And we get “A Hundred and one Dalmations” and the nationalized medical system that pretty much ensures people needing surgery will either have to do without, wait months to be seen, or travel to America for care.
This is the country of Shakespeare, Dickens and the Magna Carta. The nation whose colonial system left footprints of democracy across the globe. The birthplace of English common law which to this day provides the foundation of most legitimate legal systems.
It was England which first opened the door to political liberty.
And it was England which stood alone so long against Nazi Germany.
One of the most noble and noteworthy civilizations on earth and they do a parachuting-queen stunt that seems right out of a season finale of “Survivor.” Some indecipherable parade of people in old clothes, various strained efforts at political correctness, and a nightmare sequence with dancing doctors and prancing nurses was neither entertaining nor honest.
Because, contrary to the impression left by the Olympic opening ceremony, the British people are not idiots and their history is not insignificant. The ceremonies were trifling, but England is not.
And it’s unfortunate the opening ceremony didn’t make that point.
The English have given us the language of the modern era. They define our time and they paved the way to our liberties and our literature. The British empire left a string of former colonies that are among the modern world’s freest and most prosperous.
The English people, with the Scots and the Irish, are great.
But the fools who made the Olympic opening ceremony seemed oblivious to that fact. They seemed intent on nothing short of embarrassing the British.
And boring the world.
The Olympic opening ceremonies sucked.
And the jokers who put them on should be embarrassed.
Wait! You mean the Olympics have already started?!
I honestly have never watched these over the years, a rare exception one year being the women’s volley0ball games just to watch them in those bikini suits jump around. Even then I didnt follow the game.
What is the point?
One giant black mass.....
Not as lame as Atlanta’s, talk about a PC-Fest.
for later
It wasn’t good because it wasn’t militaristic??? The opening ceremony was fantastic. China’s opening ceremony consisted of Borg-like drones. And speaking of the Chinese, they seem to have enjoyed it more than they did their own.
China
“Zhou Libo, a leading comedian and a host on “China’s Got Talent”, the Chinese version of the UK TV show, commented that “2008 Beijing was solemn, 2012 London is humour. Solemnity and stateliness tells the world you are strong. Humour lets the world feel you are strong; it’s about confidence.”
“Huang Jianxing, one of the best-known sports commentators in China, also stressed the light-hearted nature of the ceremony. “Its strength was its humour and self-mocking tone. You could see that even the Queen was enjoying it.”
“Ordinary Chinese were positive about the ceremony too, contrasting it to the much more formal Beijing 2008 Olympics ceremony. “I was shocked. I’d never have thought that you could have an opening ceremony like this,” said one Weibo user named Li Lingdang. “There was singing and dancing, JK Rowling, Mr Bean, James Bond , Beckham….The opening ceremony for Beijing was splendid but London’s was more individual.”
The absolute best part was Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkins) in the orchestra!...................
The Brits were in a tough spot...they were sensitive that a glorification of British history would be tantamount to praising Colonialism, which on the global stage, might not have been the best thing to do.
So, they focused on their main contributions to the world for the past 50 years, things that are known world-wide, in the areas of entertainment (James Bond, The Beatles, and the other bands that made an impact) and their role in technology, hence the tribute to Tim Berners-Lee.
He might as well have directed the Atlanta OC.
Hear Hear...I only liked the Queen being approachable part.
It was grotesque. I turned off the tube and told my kids a little bit about Britain’s great history - something the opening ceremony utterly neglected.
My sister was watching the opening ceremonies on tv when I walked by and saw all that jumping around hospital-beds. Felt a real embarrassment for England. Which really made me cringe, because I’ve always held out a hopeful confidence that England would be the one European country with a strong enough spine to survive, in the long run. That mess at the Olympics just reeked of cultural decline.
(not that the trajectory here in America looks much better, by the way; if anything, our descent has reached a rapidly quickening pace since Obama was inflicted upon us).
I’ll say it again: Worst. Opening. Ever.
Mr. Bean would probably make a much better Spanish Prime minister.........
As to the Olympics, if you can suffer through the lousy coverage and constant commercials, it is still very inspirational to watch these mostly young athletes who have been practicing for years, 7 days a week to be here just to compete. I love the interviews by the pool of the athletes, even if they took silver or bronze, are just so excited (as the should be) to have had the experience. Life changing for these kids.
To watch any of our athletes stand on the podium when they play the Star Spangled Banner is worth the pain of watching NBC and putting up with 60 year old, hair dyed, Bob Costas. Remember, it is all about the athletes. Forget the rest and try to enjoy. Nothing else is on anyways!
When they did the tribute to WWI, they could have just done the ending to Blackadder Goes Forth.
Very true.
But they are entertaining nonetheless
False.
and we look forward to them each four years
No, "we" don't.
Costas was fine. Lauer was the problem.
Why not gator?
Britain civilized most of those ingrate bastards.
The veritable cradle of political civilisation as we know it and btw...while imperfect...relative to the time of their power...they were rather benevolent compared to say the Spanish or Portugese or the peoples-tribes-warlords they colonized.
Rule Britannia.
I'd take James the First anyday over Obama...Monarch or not.
Their Rock & Roll tribute was nice, but the songs and videos went by so quick that you couldn’t concentrate on any one feature............
However, the field full of people running around like Neanderthals pursuing game was a bit distracting to this otherwise superb audio.
Did not like the NHS message though (didn't see how it fit in)..other than that it was ok.
They say the Queen has a great sense of humor and it showed..and the Mr Bean Chariots of Fire scene was great.
It Sucked! It Sucked! IT STUCKED!
Little kids jumpping on hospital beds being chased by black shadow people and let’s not forget the giant evil smoke stacks.
You'll get no argument from me on that, I just think that view is in the minority, or at least in terms of people who would actually admit it.
Hell, I'd even take George III.
I think Obama and the DNC paid them to put it in. The Republicans should have demanded equal time.
The Olympics have become nothing but propaganda generators. Ever since pros were allowed to compete, I’ve said screw the Olympics. Haven’t watched since, don’t plan to ever watch again. So I really could shivagit what the Brits say about their so-called “health” service.
Perhaps one day Britain will accept a more balanced presentation of their past.
Or even Henery the Eighth.
Ok, but apart from western civilization, infrastructure and values, what did British colonialism ever do for us?
pssst... what about the Welsh? You can’t forget the Welsh. They’ll kick your arse, especially those tough Cornballs.
Nothing new under the sun.
And it is worth noting that those 36 Games introduced a lot of the Pagan traditions that are still carried on to this day.
Yes it did. The hospital bed segment was beyond ridiculous. Sad to think we’re headed down that same road. It reminded me of the old commie propaganda era where everything was sugarcoated and with a cherry on top. Sick.
Oh, so the dancing doctors and gigantor baby was IRONY, NOW, I get it!
Playing the one note synthesizer theme from Chariots of Fire.
The few shots of her when she was in the stadium seemed to show her none too pleased with what was going on. Fortunately her only role there was to make a short statement declaring the games open. She became the first head of state to open the games more than once. IIRC she wore a light pink dress for opening the games in Montreal in 1976 and beamed when her daughter Princess Anne marched past as a member of British team.
Why didn’t she also open the Sydney Games?
I’dda like ta seen some British Sterling and English Leather and some Crown Jewels to boot.
I don't watch these Olympic things (haven't since the '70's), but I wish I'd have seen that. Reminds me of a Pink Floyd concert I went to during my misspent youth.
I thought I might like it when they started with a pastoral landscape and boy choirs - love choir music and the English are the best in the world at it. But when the smokestacks were raised I was like, if you’re going to raise a tower 100 feet above the ground, why make it a dirty smokestack belching smoke - two of them.
The Olympics.
60 years ago a gathering of amateur athletes from various nations to compete in sporting events.
Today. Professional athletes, athletes sponsored by medical labs, athletes taken from families by governments and trained for years gathering to promote various idealologies and lifestyles and to waste BILLIONS of dollars while doing so...
My gripe about the Olympics opening begins before the opening ceremony. NBC showed a summary piece that contained shots of England and probably every single olympic sport. Each shot was maybe one second long. Fast motion, slow motion, the sport shots were chopped before their climax. For instance, a dive was shown up to the point of leaving the platform, then it was chopped.
The opening ceremony also had a lot of cutaways to recorded footage taken around England. This is cheap and artless. The Queen lowered herself to be in the skit with James Bond.
I agree that the opening ceremony as a whole was strange indeed. All the way up to singing Hey Jude.
Ah . . . the Elizabethan Black Adder. One of the funniest television shows ever was the Elizabethan Adder episode with Hugh Laurie as the Evil Prince Ludwig, Master of Disguise.
Well, I imagine it went like this: The National Health Service offered them a LOT of money, but in return they had to choreograph a commercial for them and dance it out on the field. Also, I think they might have been keying off that hospital in the States that did that huge choreographed dance arrangement, all volunteer, that went viral on you tube. Because they said the dancing doctors and nurses were real medico volunteers.
Olympics...Boring as hell!...It’s all about globalism puke!
Don’t worry the same elitist bastards dished it out at home as well, the violence was all-inclusive. No one was safe from ‘The Establishment’.
"Jallianwala Bagh "
Reginald E.H. Dyer was removed from duty and forced to retire. He became a celebrated hero in Britain among people with connections to the British Raj.(The Establishment). The massacre caused a reevaluation of the Army's role in which the new policy became minimum force, and the Army was retrained and developed suitable tactics such as crowd control. Historians considered the episode as a decisive step towards the end of British rule in India.
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