[jip1]

(Original post by Mister Dead)
hahaha stop throwing your toys out of the pram, you're blocking up the internet. yeah so tiny tempah's a twit and dizzee rascal nicks his lyrics from the Jungle Brothers. people love them. get over it

Haha if only he'd nick the beats too!

People can go to T4 on The Beach and love them thats cool! Just didn't think the OLYMPIC opening ceremony was really the place to do it.

Whilst im moaning i'd love to know how much Trevor Nelson got payed for his informative observations on BBC1..

[such_a_lady]

(Original post by AnimalSpirit)
"Currently BBC iPlayer TV programmes are available to play in the UK only, but all BBC iPlayer Radio programmes are available to you."

Haven't been able to find a decent version on YouTube..

Do NONE of these work? http://www.google.dk/#hl=da&sclient=...w=1280&bih=593

[AnimalSpirit]

(Original post by such_a_lady)
Do NONE of these work? http://www.google.dk/#hl=da&sclient=...w=1280&bih=593

Are you everywhere?

They're all highlight vids or paid-only :/

[Sw3ensterFM]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm9dL...eature=related

[AnimalSpirit]

(Original post by Sw3ensterFM)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm9dL...eature=related

[Deshi]

(Original post by Drewski)
Yep, almost the entire sequence is available as an album on itunes and, presumably, amazon. 37 tracks in total, album called "Isles of Wonder".

Here's the amazon link

Damn it, the song I'm looking for ain't on that album. I wonder if they'll release a full list of the songs used, in order preferably

[BolloTheGorilla]

(Original post by Hood_Man)
Why are people complaining about the London Olympics being too British? Why does the rest of the world need to be accommodated in the host nations opening ceremony, it's not like their athletes aren't allowed to compete.

If we made allowances for other nations cultures to be included in this ceremony it would have been at the expense of our own, and what right would we have to decide which culture to add or exclude? There are hundreds of nations competing, we can't celebrate everyone.

And to be honest, I'd be disappointed if I saw American or British culture in the 2016 Rio opening ceremony in 4 years. I want to see a celebration of them.

Very well said sir! Too bloody right, did the Chinese implement the culture of other nations? Did the Greeks in 2004 or the Australians in 2000? If they did, it must have been extremely brief, because I cannot recall such occurrence. I do remember the Australian ceremony and it was extremely unique to their nation and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I too would also dislike to see the Rio games implement American or British culture into their ceremony, it should be unique to the host nation imo.
This is Britain and it is Britain's Olympics, of course it should be a time to be proud of our collective identity and represent our nation in a positive light to the rest of the world.

(Original post by Rock_and_roll)
Human labour, thousands forcibly moved from their homes and buisnesses by an unelected, opressive regime with a disgusting human rights record. Yes, the Beijing ceremony was very 'appropriate' for the spirit of the Olympics

Exactly! Last night's ceremony in London was very much a ceremony for the people of Britain, the Chinese games was a mass display of thousands of people prancing around in perfect military unison for the sake of making their oppressors look good.

(Original post by RedDevilThing)
Yep. It was heard during the guitar solo in Bohemian Rhapsody to be precise.

Ah! Good, so I wasn't hearing things!

(Original post by jip1)
The section with the house and the street rave was a huge mistake and I felt got a bit embarassing as it went on. People have been moaning about the apparent lack of interest of the Queen.. What did you expect?! For her to be grinning with glee while a load of kids jump around to Tinie Tempah's Pass Out??? Also the inclusion of Dizzee Rascal, a self confessed London car thief was just a joke!

Well, not exactly but she could have at least put in an effort to pay some degree of interest, a fake smile for the sake of her nation wouldn't go a miss! The fact that she was looking downwards, busy picking her nails whilst the British athletes came out was disrespectful I thought. She is our head of state for crying out loud and she looked like she could not give a stuff about the whole thing. She is paid out of the tax-payers pocket to attend things such as this, the last time the Olympics were held in Britain was 1948 so it is hardly a mundane task. Her speech, if you can call it as much was the most lacklustre and uninspiring drivel I've ever heard.

[F Ellen]

(Original post by Drewski)
Yep, almost the entire sequence is available as an album on itunes and, presumably, amazon. 37 tracks in total, album called "Isles of Wonder".

Here's the amazon link

Brilliant thanks!

[Mister Dead]

(Original post by jip1)
Haha if only he'd nick the beats too!

People can go to T4 on The Beach and love them thats cool! Just didn't think the OLYMPIC opening ceremony was really the place to do it.

Whilst im moaning i'd love to know how much Trevor Nelson got payed for his informative observations on BBC1..

there was a decent bit of vandalism to his wiki page during the ceremony

[Birchington]

The opening ceremony was incredible.

[Podcaster]

That mixed race girl

This was posted from The Student Room's Android App on my HTC Desire C

[lilabs]

Oh guys you wouldn't believe. Being in this thread last night was the best thing that's happened to me in a while. There was a very much pleasurable unexpected turn of events. Yay for the Olympics!

[mummyperson]

I thought the drummers were great: they created continuity with Bejing but did it in a really lively quirky way with drums made out of recycled plastic!

I thought forging a ring in the stadium was absolutely amazing

Having the NHS was a stroke of genius and seeing the Olympic flag carried by Shami Charabarti and Doreen Lawrence was really moving - I felt there was a running theme about equality and human rights which I really liked a lot.

The whole torch thing with becks, the speed boat, coe, the petals, the young torch bearers, the old olympians, was magnificent.

[Sasa Luke]

The gross cost might be Billions bucks!what a legendary event!


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[dobbs]

May I point out to everyone talking about how there were so many British references that other countries that in fact Dannie boyle has been very clever in picking out specific references which have been exported widely around the world.

For example there is a video on YouTube where Rowan Atkinson discusses how he went to a village in a deprived African country and although they had very little they recognised him as Mr Bean! He is known worldwide and therefore his bit would have been appreciated by many.

No, not every reference would have been understood by everyone around the world but you can't please everyone, as shown by this thread!


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[RtGOAT]

Sitting in a home somewhere while fireworks lit up the Olympics Opening Ceremony would have been the family of Kane Gorny.
They watched their cherished teenage son die of thirst at the hands of incompetent doctors and nurses.
Kane was a promising footballer with a bright future ahead of him until he was admitted to hospital. He died of thirst a couple of days later.
His life was lost for want of a simple glass of water. One glass of water that a succession of clueless medics denied him.

Kane even went to the extreme length of calling 999 from his hospital bed so desperate was he for a drink during his visit to hospital for a hip replacement in 2009. Yet when the police arrived, the nurses ushered them away, assuring them that the young patient was confused.
Within a day he was dead. Dead because NHS hospital staff refused to give a sick man a glass of water. We are not talking some powerful prescription drug. Just a small glass of tap water.

Yet none of them were able to do this. They were ‘incompetent’ and made a ‘series of basic failures’, said the coroner after an inquest earlier this month into Kane’s death.
It has been suggested that some of these people should have gone to prison for what happened. Yet, shockingly, just one nurse has been demoted as a result of Mr Gorny’s death and the rest are still working in healthcare.

How does the family of Kane – and indeed the thousands of others we have heard of and the many more we haven’t – feel when they see the NHS being shamefully glorified at the biggest sporting bonanza in the world?
Sick to the stomach, I imagine.

Yet this is exactly what happened in front of an international audience of billions who were watching the show in London yesterday evening.

The letters ‘NHS’ dazzled in bright red, like some triumphant advert. All around pranced self-indulgent nurses who had volunteered to take a few days off to be part of the ceremony.
Children lay in their beds as Mary Poppins figures danced and JK Rowling read some bedtime tales.

And how long did this shameful propaganda last for? A whole 15 minutes at the top of proceedings before viewers dozed off to the procession of banana republics and far-flung destinations nobody has ever heard of or even cares for.

That such a politically divisive subject was included at all is utterly shocking. Not least because it glossed over the cracks in a system that is creaking at its seams - crying out for urgent reform.
'This left-wing multicultural equality agenda was so staged it was painful to watch'

And nobody seems to have considered the sheer hypocrisy that the majority of the athletes taking part in the Games will have access to the most expensive cutting-edge private treatment available in the world for even the slightest graze on their bodies.

The NHS segment came after a mildly moving rendition of Jerusalem (though this will move any patriot) and a play depicting the industrial revolution tearing up Blake’s ‘green and pleasant land’.
The highlight was undoubtedly an hilarious sketch featuring the Queen and James Bond which saw her Majesty ‘parachute’ into the stadium.

But it was the absurdly unrealistic scene – and indeed one that would spring from the kind of nonsensical targets and equality quotas we see in the NHS - showing a mixed-race middle-class family in a detached new-build suburban home, which was most symptomatic of the politically correct agenda in modern Britain.

This was supposed to be a representation of modern life in England but it is likely to be a challenge for the organisers to find an educated white middle-aged mother and black father living together with a happy family in such a set-up.

Almost, if not every, shot in the next sequence included an ethnic minority performer. The BBC presenter Hazel Irvine gushed about the importance of grime music (a form of awful electronic music popular among black youths) to east London.

This multicultural equality agenda was so staged it was painful to watch.

And Conservative MP Aidan Burley was right to point out on Twitter that it was a load of 'leftie multicultural c**p'. Yet predictably he has been castigated by Twitter's Guadianista brigade.
Unfortunately the kind of politically driven multiculturalism we saw last night is the kind of social engineering we have come to expect.

What we should not accept is the promotion of an institution that allowed a man to die of thirst from his hospital bed.

Yes, there are parts of the NHS that we can be proud of and it undoubtedly does lots of excellent work.

But that should not be forced on us at a sporting event that's supposed to be above politics, which is of course why the likes of Syria, North Korea and China are allowed to compete.
If only those behind the biased spectacle last night had spared a thought for the likes of Kane, and the many others who have been failed by the NHS, would we have had an opening ceremony we could be proud of.

Sadly - despite all the hype about how brilliant it was - we cannot.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/ar...glorified.html

How can such and despicable institution be celebrated?

[spacepirate-James]

Unfortunately the institution is human and its workers are capable of committing human errors. The incident is unfortunate, yes, but it shouldn't be used to base the entire health system on; a health system that is an achievement even with its shortcomings.

Anyway, my arguments don't matter because this article was written by the daily-mail and so not worthy of anyone's time.

[monk_keys]

When the trolls of the DM comments section don't agree with you, you've gone too far.

[BethaneyJ]

The NHS is part of British culture and history, of course it was going to be involved and represented. What happened with the young man who died was a terrible and appalling accident but it was certainly not a representation of the NHS as a whole. You can't exclude things because not everyone like it. Not everyone agrees with the wars we fight but we had army/navy/air force representatives etc.

I think it was Danny Boyle who said that there was hopefully something for everyone. Of course not everyone is going to like all of it, but I thought it was very enjoyable. Especially when the rings were forged.


More interesting ( I think ) is the story that has emerged about the woman who walked with the Indian team into the stadium in red and blue. No one knows who on earth she is or what she is doing there!!

[Silkielemon]

One example =/= whole of the NHS