[AlmostChicGeek]

(Original post by The Marshall)
I agree, it was nothing compared to India's or China's opening ceremonies. They even gave the Indians a very shot view clip and that was it. Only a second. To be honest, why put modern music into history? Why make Brunel and his followers dance? Why do all of that? Mind you, the special effects were brilliant. And the stadium surely should be bigger. If this was America hosting it, believe me, it'd be much bigger, more grandous, and more clever. I don't think the Chinese were impressed at all. Danny Boyle must have stolen ideas from both the nation's opening ceremony, hell, they didn't let the athletes go out at all! I mean, why was it in french? The French aren't hosting it. Most of the ceremony tired to show how great Britain was, how excellent they are, and really, the Olympics belong to them, and the rest of the world sucks. It had no personal collection of the world. And surely the Greeks should have gone first, they're the ones that started the whole thing anyway. President Jacque was right in saying that there should be respect. This is an international event, not a national event.

You do know that the opening ceremony is supposed to showcase the host country?: 'The host nation then presents artistic displays of music, singing, dance, and theater representative of its culture, history, and the current Olympic game motto' :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_Games_ceremony

[AlmostChicGeek]

(Original post by HugoDuchovny)
exactly! my friend.

You do know that the opening ceremony is supposed to showcase the host country?: 'The host nation then presents artistic displays of music, singing, dance, and theater representative of its culture, history, and the current Olympic game motto' :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_Games_ceremony

[HugoDuchovny]

(Original post by AlmostChicGeek)
You do know that the opening ceremony is supposed to showcase the host country?: 'The host nation then presents artistic displays of music, singing, dance, and theater representative of its culture, history, and the current Olympic game motto' :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_Games_ceremony

If something cultural to showcase ourselves was the target, surely doing pieces that symbolize the cultures of England, Scotland, Wales and N.Ireland would have been more globally understood, rather than history clips of British soap tv shows such as corrie and east enders which the world has no clue about.

[emilie18]

(Original post by HugoDuchovny)
... his films suck. Trainspotting was crap, a film about druggies interspersed with contemporary pop-culture references to make it cool, Slumdog Millionaire an overrated piece of melodramatic slush that has the same feel good factor you get with a kick to the groin and the less said about 127 Hours, the better. I’ll give him 28 Days Later though, that was a good movie.

These films were all successful, Trainspotting is still seen as a great film, Slumdog Millionaire won a ton of awards, 127 hours was also incredibly popular. I respect your opinion, but come on, he wouldn't be where he is now if his films really sucked

(Original post by HugoDuchovny)
The rest of it was mostly mediocre multicultural claptrap; a mish-mash of potted history through the industrial revolution taking in Brunel that will have been lost on anyone who’s attended Britain’s finest dumbed-down educational establishments during the last 15 years; a homage to our very own NHS that not so much came across as a blatant piece of lefty propaganda as it did advertise to the world that the UK health service is free to all and everyone’s welcome; some rubbish new-age style arty dance crap that was accompanied by a singer nobody’s ever heard of warbling a funeral dirge; gangs of irritating teenage hoodies advertising the latest mobile phones and using social media to tell a pointless love story; and lets not forget the hordes of children that seemed to be peddled at every possible opportunity to perhaps invite sympathy or more accurately, ensure that the whole Olympics charade plays the cynical “games legacy for our kids” card full tilt. The NHS has nothing to do with the Olympics, and the whole world found that odd. 7/7 is important to remember, but still has no place in the Olympics. Besides, The commemorative dance was utterly rubbish and didn't do justice to 7/7. Furthermore, If something cultural was the target, surely doing pieces that symbolize the cultures of England, Scotland, Wales and N.Ireland would have been more globally understood, rather than history clips of British soap tv shows such as corrie and east enders which the world has no clue about.

I think he did an amazing job showing some of the major events in our history, it was a unique opening ceremony and although some people clearly don't agree, I think it was good to try something new!

I think you're wrong about people not knowing who Brunel is - the vast majority of people who have attended school ("Britain's finest dumbed-down educational establishments" as you called them) in the last 15 years know who he is.

- The NHS is a big deal, I think it was right to celebrate it
- LOTS of people have heard of Emeli Sande. She's been a songwriter for years and her music is immensely popular at the moment...
- If children weren't included as much, I'm sure you'd be moaning that they should have included more young people
- I think it was right to remember not only people in the war but victims of 7/7 since it was just a few days after London was chosen as host of the 2012 Olympics that the attack happened.
- I think it's great that it was aimed at British people - our music, our inventions, our history, our humour, even our TV shows! - instead of something generic that would please everyone. It was for British people and most of us loved it.

(Original post by HugoDuchovny)
The Sir Tim Berners-Lee tribute was a nice touch but even he must have felt a bit of berk sitting out there tapping on a keyboard in front of a global audience of billions. As for the flying Mary Poppins, cavorting imbeciles around the Maypole, embarrassingly twee costumes, Lord Voldemort wannabe, that stupid face sculpture thing made of what looked like string and the live farm, it was not so much a spectacle as it was a fine display of half-assed British eccentricity and drivel. Or to put it another way, there were more sheep in the audience than there were in that damn farm.

What's wrong with celebrating the fact that one of the biggest inventions in history came from Britain? And that one of the best-selling books of all time came from Britain too?

(Original post by HugoDuchovny)
To cap things all off, that old geriatric duffer McCartney was wheeled out to sing off key and murder what little atmosphere remained in the stadium from a pliant crowd that would have been satisfied with a third rate Punch and Judy show. Why they have to get this old fool out at every opportunity singing the same tired old rubbish is a mystery although I suppose we should be grateful they didn’t go with the infinitely worse Rolling Stones. Why choose Arctic monkeys, who on a global scale are unheard of, surely Coldplay and Elton John would have been better, more melodic choices.

I agree with you here, Coldplay should have performed, I don't know what made him choose the Arctic Monkeys, even in Britain they're not often in the charts etc, they're definitely not recognised as amazing talent we need to show off to the world. Leona Lewis, Adele, Coldplay, the Military Wives, any of these would have been really good.

(Original post by HugoDuchovny)
Mot atrocious of all though, was surely the daft decision to announce everything in French before English. WTF? It was an absolute disgrace and further proof if any is needed that the IOC is nothing more than a jumped up bureaucratic jolly for its members to swan around the world staying in the best hotels, dining on the finest food at the expense of the mug host country that’s been stupid enough to bid for the games and bow to their every whim.

It was announced in French first so that the English announcement got the applause

(Original post by HugoDuchovny)
Finally, it is tradition to expect one person to light the beacon and ideally somebody recognizable. The whole " giving it to the youth" idea was stupid and the world did not care to see some nobodies light the beacon. We did not outshine Beijing or Sydney. The Olympics is a global thing, the opening ceremony should mostly be something the world can relate to.

I think the whole point was to do something different.

[HugoDuchovny]

(Original post by AlmostChicGeek)
You do know that the opening ceremony is supposed to showcase the host country?: 'The host nation then presents artistic displays of music, singing, dance, and theater representative of its culture, history, and the current Olympic game motto' :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_Games_ceremony

i agree with what you're saying, what i'm saying is that the selection was rubbish. UK has better things to showcase than stuff like soap tv.

[mikeyd85]

I wasn't massively impressed. I didn't watch all of it though, but the reaction from the crowd for the bit I was watching was...minimal to say the least. If the crowd isn't behind you then no matter how good a live show is, the atmosphere just isn't there and it becomes less entertaining to watch.

[AlmostChicGeek]

(Original post by HugoDuchovny)
If something cultural to showcase ourselves was the target, surely doing pieces that symbolize the cultures of England, Scotland, Wales and N.Ireland would have been more globally understood, rather than history clips of British soap tv shows such as corrie and east enders which the world has no clue about.

That may be the case, however it isn't about being international as you previously said.

Some parts were definitely national - NHS for example, And the choir sang in England, Scotland, Wales and N. Ireland I believe, so there were parts that at least showed the different components.

[AlmostChicGeek]

(Original post by HugoDuchovny)
i agree with what you're saying, what i'm saying is that the selection was rubbish. UK has better things to showcase than stuff like soap tv.

I didn't even notice the Soaps so it wasn't such a big component, and earlier you just said that it was supposed to be an international thing when it actually wasn't.

[fudgesundae]

(Original post by HugoDuchovny)
Mot atrocious of all though, was surely the daft decision to announce everything in French before English. WTF? It was an absolute disgrace and further proof if any is needed that the IOC is nothing more than a jumped up bureaucratic jolly for its members to swan around the world staying in the best hotels, dining on the finest food at the expense of the mug host country that’s been stupid enough to bid for the games and bow to their every whim.

(Original post by emilie18)
It was announced in French first so that the English announcement got the applause

It was announced in French because it is the first official language of the Olympics. The Olympic movement was started by a frenchman, Baron de Coubertin. English is the second official language.

At all the games the announcements are made in French, then English, then the language(s) of the host nation.

[emilie18]

(Original post by fudgesundae)
It was announced in French because it is the first official language of the Olympics. The Olympic movement was started by a frenchman, Baron de Coubertin. English is the second official language.

At all the games the announcements are made in French, then English, then the language(s) of the host nation.

Ah, ok that makes sense. I read on another post that it was so that the English announcer got the applause Thanks for correcting that

[HugoDuchovny]

(Original post by fudgesundae)
It was announced in French because it is the first official language of the Olympics. The Olympic movement was started by a frenchman, Baron de Coubertin. English is the second official language.

At all the games the announcements are made in French, then English, then the language(s) of the host nation.

thank you, for educating me on that issue. +

[UnderPost]

For somebody from Britain it was great. Mr Bean, the NHS. We all understood it. And personally I thought it was superb (although I think the Paul Mac should have been taken out, and the ceremony ending with the lighting of the cauldron).

However I'm sure for somebody from Tunisia, that never knew about the NHS or Mr Bean, they'd think "WTF"?
Put ourselves in their shoes. We are watching the ceremony of Rio and a local comedian comes on that we've never seen before and does stupid things. Would we find that funny?.

However as we paid for it, we should get the most benefit and I'm glad we had a unique ceremony and for once we didn't have 10mins of fireworks (which can often be boring).

[fudgesundae]

(Original post by UnderPost)
For somebody from Britain it was great. Mr Bean, the NHS. We all understood it. And personally I thought it was superb (although I think the Paul Mac should have been taken out, and the ceremony ending with the lighting of the cauldron).

However I'm sure for somebody from Tunisia, that never knew about the NHS or Mr Bean, they'd think "WTF"?
Put ourselves in their shoes. We are watching the ceremony of Rio and a local comedian comes on that we've never seen before and does stupid things. Would we find that funny?.

However as we paid for it, we should get the most benefit and I'm glad we had a unique ceremony and for once we didn't have 10mins of fireworks (which can often be boring).

Mr Bean is not just some local comedian. He's actually pretty big across the world. A lot of people in Asia and the USA will have heard of him and seen him before.

[Amhorangerdgerriug]

I disagree, except for the bit about lighting the flame. That should have been done by a single, great Olympian.

[drummer]

I felt it was very exclusive to Britain which isn't a bad thing but a lot of the parts must've been hard for the rest of the world to understand. Some great concepts though like the Bond and Queen scene and Rowan Atkinson and definitely the movement of time and history.

[Plushie]

I personally thought it was awesome, most of the things in the article you pasted were actually complimented. The only thing I really agree with is the fact everything was announced in French first, what the actual ****. Don't really care about applause, can see the logic a bit, but it was really annoying to have to wait to see what was going on after it had already happened.

[fudgesundae]

(Original post by Plushie)
I personally thought it was awesome, most of the things in the article you pasted were actually complimented. The only thing I really agree with is the fact everything was announced in French first, what the actual ****.

I explained why a couple of posts above

[Plushie]

^ I edited after you'd posted that, sorry. I still think it was odd having to wait until after the thing they were talking about had already happened when we are hosting it.

[emilie18]

(Original post by HugoDuchovny)
i agree with what you're saying, what i'm saying is that the selection was rubbish. UK has better things to showcase than stuff like soap tv.

It's not like they did a special Corrie-themed Olympics, it was a 3-second tribute to Eastenders that slotted in perfectly with the filming of the Thames and made people smile. Lighten up

[kimsiclez]

(Original post by The Marshall)
I agree, it was nothing compared to India's or China's opening ceremonies. They even gave the Indians a very shot view clip and that was it. Only a second. To be honest, why put modern music into history? Why make Brunel and his followers dance? Why do all of that? Mind you, the special effects were brilliant. And the stadium surely should be bigger. If this was America hosting it, believe me, it'd be much bigger, more grandous, and more clever. I don't think the Chinese were impressed at all. Danny Boyle must have stolen ideas from both the nation's opening ceremony, hell, they didn't let the athletes go out at all! I mean, why was it in french? The French aren't hosting it. Most of the ceremony tired to show how great Britain was, how excellent they are, and really, the Olympics belong to them, and the rest of the world sucks. It had no personal collection of the world. And surely the Greeks should have gone first, they're the ones that started the whole thing anyway. President Jacque was right in saying that there should be respect. This is an international event, not a national event.

There was an intruder in the Indian team. Some lady dressed in bright red and turquoise was walking right next to the flag bearer - nobody knew who she was. They didn't want the focus to be on this woman so they didn't show the Indian team for very long. Bit of a shame that she managed to get through all that security, really. I think she was a volunteer or something.