Olympics Opening Ceremony - Verdict

[Twinkle Toes]

Its the opening ceremony for a sporting event and it showed almost f*** all sport

With the greatest respect, it was always gonna be somewhat sport-light. I bet you a North Stand dispensed pie of your choice that in future you'll look back & realise that this nation's effort was head & shoulders above what anybody else will have to offer.

God bless Danny Boyle & the assembled cast of thousands. Made me feel very proud to be British (for a change).

Marvelous Jubilympic Scenes!

 

[T soprano]

2:42 still can't sleep FFS

 

[Lyndhurst 14]

They decided not to show it live in the States, so they are still showing the highlights now. It was much better than I expected. Very British, utterly bonkers in bits which the Yanks will love, with some outstanding bits like the Bond / Queen segment. One disappointment – the bell was not cast in London, the Whitechapel Bell Company outsourced it to the Netherlands.

 

[KZNSeagull]

Both wifie and I thought it was utterly superb. Was very, very impressed and surprised.

We had commentary from Barry Davies (who, in his own styles, got lots of things wrong) and was at one point not speaking at all and obviously getting it in the neck from the producers to do some commentary! Personally, I thought he got it about right - there was no need to speak when the pictures speak for themselves, or if when you do speak, you get it wrong anyway!

Enjoyed all of it and was particularly surprised when Mrs Lawrence helped carry the Olympic flag. Thought Seb's speech was spot on.

Mr Bean was not too bad, certainly did not make me cringe. The local channel cut to adverts as soon as the fireworks finished at the end, so we were spared Paul McCartney, which sounds like a blessing. Was also delighted that Mr Beckham did not have a prominent role.

All in all, an extremely good, well produced and enacted performance. No major hitches and, other than Macca, no wheeling out of the usual suspects. 10/10.

 

[Gazwag]

Just downloaded the "Isles of Wonder" CD from itune, all the music from last night and which does NOT include Hey Jude

 

[LamieRobertson]

Oh f*** Off not another thread about the Olympics

this ..poll was done yesterday evening

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

Not at all mate I'll keep going all night if you wanna 3 bottles of red still going strong

Yeah but it was better entertainment than a crappy american show about wanky gangsters.

 

[LamieRobertson]

Both wifie and I thought it was utterly superb. Was very, very impressed and surprised.

We had commentary from Barry Davies (who, in his own styles, got lots of things wrong) and was at one point not speaking at all and obviously getting it in the neck from the producers to do some commentary! Personally, I thought he got it about right - there was no need to speak when the pictures speak for themselves, or if when you do speak, you get it wrong anyway!

Enjoyed all of it and was particularly surprised when Mrs Lawrence helped carry the Olympic flag. Thought Seb's speech was spot on.

Mr Bean was not too bad, certainly did not make me cringe. The local channel cut to adverts as soon as the fireworks finished at the end, so we were spared Paul McCartney, which sounds like a blessing. Was also delighted that Mr Beckham did not have a prominent role.

All in all, an extremely good, well produced and enacted performance. No major hitches and, other than Macca, no wheeling out of the usual suspects. 10/10.

Having read Doreen Lawrence's book recently i was both surprised and pleased

 

[BUTTERBALL]

Encapsulated everything that is great about Britain. If you go onto national newspaper websites around the world, the majority loved it. Brilliant.

 

[Giraffe]

Totally brilliant. But that option not available so voted amazing.

 

[pipkin112]

I was one of the miserable sods who really couldn't be bothered with the Olympics. Having watched the opening ceremony, which i thought was fantastic (apart from Macca), I now want to watch as much of it as I can. I am now watching the beach vollyball. The blond Russian is fit btw.

 

[Eggmundo]

I bloody loved it!! Superb. I had a few tears during it I can tell you!

 

[goldstone]

I only watched the last 20 mins or so ... recorded the rest to watch this evening. Was underwhelmed with what I saw:
- who the hell were those people who ran around the stadium and then lit the flame - why?
- who were the people who "sponsored" them? What was that all about?
- Muhammed Ali should not have been dragged out for this. He is a wreck of a human being and should be kept out of the limelight. If you can justify his presence then Maggie should have been alongside him dribbling.
- Paul McCartney is, I would suggest, past his best.
- why the Arctic Monkeys? Absolutely nothing whatsoever special about their couple of songs.
- the ceremony was in ENGLAND for the LONDON olympics. The games originated in GREECE. So why all the French being spoken? Feck of froggies.

Sincerely hoping that the rest is better.

 

[public school boy]

where was Cliff Richard?

 

[Notters]

Thought the beginning was a little cringey with all the mutton chops, and hated the bits with text messages coming up on the screen but apart from that it was ok. Would've been good if they could've got a few more of the bands they played actually on live, like muse.

 

[Notters]

Encapsulated everything that is great about Britain. If you go onto national newspaper websites around the world, the majority loved it. Brilliant.

Links?

 

[Frutos]

I loved it in general, although I did think it sad to see one of my all time sporting heroes wheeled before the world in the state he's in now.

That said, the Rowan Atkinson bit, the forging of the 5 rings and the final cauldron were superb, as was the Queen/007 bit - shame Lizzie had a face like a smacked arse every time she was shown, mind.

 

[Notters]

NYT: At Olympic Opening Ceremony, B

 

[Tybalt]

Got bored when the countries started coming out but the first half was good.

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

I'm sorry but we threw the queen out of a helicopter then mr been came on and did a fart joke. It was amazing!