Olympic Opening Ceremony

[Mevara]

What did everyone think? Which one was better Beijing or London?

[ASTalumna06]

I think the story was hard to follow. Usually I'd be thinking, "Matt and Meredith need to shut up," but I was actually happy they were walking me through it step by step. And Matt saying. "I don't know if that's cute.. Or creepy," about that giant baby thing was hysterical. I was thinking the exact same thing. It was kind of weird.

And it wasn't as visually stunning as Beijing. There were a lot of talented dancers, but that's about it.

And what was up with the whole texting part of it?

And the workers taking apart the grass at the beginning just looked strange and unorganized.

Definitely not my favorite.

[BlueOwl]

Watching on the west coast so it is still dragging on (it is 11:05 pm PST)....UH, boring in my opinion. Creative, yes. But just not as visually thrilling to watch as Beijing. Was so looking forward to the show, but must say it has been a let-down. Going to bed.
Go USA!

[Mevara]

My sister-in-law, who is German, thought it was awesome. I on the other hand was very disappointed. I believe if it needed that much explanation it wasn't done very well.

I wonder if most of the ceremony was lost in translation.

[AGDee]

I thought the electronic things on the seats creating images was really cool. I loved Sir Paul's part. What a great way to bring everyone together.. with a song that was known around the world. Many reminders that a lot of great music comes from the UK. The fireworks at the end were astonishing.

[ellebud]

Frankly, mediocre at best. The National health service more importent than Britian's contribution to World World 2? Seriously?

[Always AlphaGam]

I think, for a country so steeped in tradition, they did a fine job staying true to their colors. I think it was great that they did something that celebrated their people instead of trying to put on a flashy show for the world.

It's their 3rd time hosting the Games in the Modern Era. Beijing needed to prove something. The British certainly did not.

It'll be interesting to see how it will be done in 2016. Methinks Rio won't be so...calm.

It was really neat to see Her Majesty with James Bond. That was cool.

[Senusret I]

Originally Posted by Always AlphaGam

I think, for a country so steeped in tradition, they did a fine job staying true to their colors. I think it was great that they did something that celebrated their people instead of trying to put on a flashy show for the world.

It's their 3rd time hosting the Games in the Modern Era. Beijing needed to prove something. The British certainly did not.

It'll be interesting to see how it will be done in 2016. Methinks Rio won't be so...calm.

It was really neat to see Her Majesty with James Bond. That was cool.

I agree with all of this.

I actually loved the opening ceremony, particularly the love story/decades dance.

I also liked the tearing away of the earth and the rising of the smokestacks.

The whole thing was just so BRITISH... I can't describe it any better. And I guess I'm a bit of an anglophile.

[KDCat]

Originally Posted by Senusret I

I agree with all of this.

I actually loved the opening ceremony, particularly the love story/decades dance.

I also liked the tearing away of the earth and the rising of the smokestacks.

The whole thing was just so BRITISH... I can't describe it any better. And I guess I'm a bit of an anglophile.

I loved it. I think it's the best opening ceremony that I've ever seen. I'm a huge Anglophile and the "just so BRITISH" was absolutely fabulous.

What I loved: the opening hymn: "Oh, Jerusalem" is a very traditional hymn in Britain. Every kid in Britain knows it, the way we know "America the Beautiful" or something similar.

I loved the kids' choruses showing all four countries in the UK.

I loved the industrial forging of the Olympic ring and the rings rising to the center of the stadium.

I loved that it included a ton of Brit Lit, including Shakespeare and J.K. Rowling and Peter Pan.

I loved that it included so much British pop music.

I loved that all of the flags were planted on a hill together. I also loved that the hill symbolized Glastonbury Tor, which is where King Arthur is supposed to buried and is the mythological heart of Britain.

I loved that the cauldron was made of petals, one petal for each team at the Olympics.

I loved the Queen for having a sense of humor and agreeing to the Bond sequence.

I loved the flame coming up the Thames on a boat.

I loved the rings and fireworks on London Bridge.

I loved the construction workers lining the tunnel as the flame came in. The ceremony did a very, very good job representing every aspect of British society from the Queen to the workes who built the stadium.

It wasn't the extravaganza that Beijing was, but it was perfect.

[barbino]

Great posts, Senruset I and KD Cat. Your two posts together sums up the London opening ceremony well. I liked it but found it hard to follow & overly long and boring in parts. I loved the part with James Bond & the Queen. Her corgis were so cute, and it was neat to see her in the palace.

The part with Beckham cruising through London in a speed boat was neat and I thought that having J.K. Rowling read a story was classic. I agree with Senruset I; it was so very British.

But the best part for me is always the Parade of Nations. I really enjoyed seeing all the athletes in their country's special Olympic outfit.

[amIblue?]

I really enjoyed it, but I am also an Angliophile. I liked Beijing, too. I don't think I can choose one over the other. They were just different.

[KKGCaroline]

DH & I stayed up (It finished 1am local time) to watch it.... We (especially I) loved it.

We loved how "Cool Britannia" it was, we loved the music, the dancing and the little bit of history, like Always AlphaGam mentioned, the British really didn't need to prove anything, Danny Boyle just went out, picked the best of British, and had a really good time with it!

British Best Friends were lucky enough to get tickets to the ceremony, and they said the atmosphere live was phenomenal. We are all travelling down to London next week to watch Mens Water Polo...

Since we moved here nearly 2 years ago, we both feel a little more British than American, so we are supporting both!

Go Team Britmerican!!!

[Sciencewoman]

Originally Posted by barbino

Great posts, Senruset I and KD Cat. Your two posts together sums up the London opening ceremony well. I liked it but found it hard to follow & overly long and boring in parts. I loved the part with James Bond & the Queen. Her corgis were so cute, and it was neat to see her in the palace.

But the best part for me is always the Parade of Nations. I really enjoyed seeing all the athletes in their country's special Olympic outfit.

Agreed. I also liked the Mr. Bean on the piano/Chariots of Fire part. That was funny.

The whole boy-meets-girl texting thing would be the part I'd delete.

I missed the Beijing opening because we were on a cruise and is wasn't on the satellite TV. I was pretty bummed about that.

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by Mevara

I believe if it needed that much explanation it wasn't done very well.

I wonder if most of the ceremony was lost in translation.

This was my real issue with it. I felt like a lot of it had to be explained. And at some points, it seemed like Matt and Meredith had no clue what was going on..

"And here come some people in some very interesting outfits.."

I felt like the whole concept was good - the execution wasn't the best.

Originally Posted by Always AlphaGam

I think, for a country so steeped in tradition, they did a fine job staying true to their colors. I think it was great that they did something that celebrated their people instead of trying to put on a flashy show for the world.

It's their 3rd time hosting the Games in the Modern Era. Beijing needed to prove something. The British certainly did not.

They stayed true to their colors, yes. However, that's what the opening ceremony is supposed to be - a show for the world. Obviously you want to show off history and traditions, but it should be a spectacle enjoyed by all.

And I'm not so sure that because this was their third time hosting the games that they had nothing to prove. Besides, the last time they hosted was in 1948. How many people watching last night were even alive in 1948?

Originally Posted by Jen

I was glad the Brit sense of humour was so prevalent in the ceremony. I actually expected way more performances, and was kind of disappointed there wasn't more name performers - they played a ton of music, but I would've been happier to see some live performances.

This!

Originally Posted by Sciencewoman

The whole boy-meets-girl texting thing would be the part I'd delete.

Definitely.

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by Low C Sharp

Right. And you have to figure, if it was confusing to college-educated Americans, with our strong historical and linguistic ties to the UK, what were less educated people and those in Africa, China, and South America thinking? They could have done a better job of telling a story that was comprehensible to everyone.

I fast-forwarded through the dancing hospitalized children (what?) and the love story/decades dance party (I was expecting them to have the actual Eurythmics there, not just play a song I have on my iPod!). And whose idea was it to have the top-hatted industrialists doing those weird arm dances? We burst out laughing at my house.

I was unimpressed by most of the themes and the narrative. However, I thought the tech aspects were spectacular. Sets, pyro, forging the rings, building the cauldron out of 200 individual petals, all that was amazing. The original turf set was a beautiful representation of the English countryside with its meadows, hedgerows, etc.

The best opening ceremony moment, that I believe will never be topped, was Barcelona lighting the cauldron with the flaming arrow. That was AWESOME.

Yes to all of this!

The hospitalized children part was strange, and the texting thing was completely random and not necessary, in my opinion. I was also laughing/wondering "what were they thinking" at times.