Olympics 2012 - the opening ceremony

Ah that explains it, another of those legacies from when the Western Europe empires (esp the British and French) (plus the USA) pretty much dominated everything internationally.

Apparently The Sun ran a story on April 1 which said part of the opening ceremony would have Bond meeting the Queen. About the only thing they print which is accurate gets ignored as an April Fool :lol:

 

I thought it was a fun show. Felt more genuine than the Beijing one, for sure. Glad they tried to keep it focused on British culture because trying to have too much "international" emphasis would surely make other nations think that GBR was flaunting its overpowering influence on world affairs these past few centuries.

I got to watch the show from Victoria Park about a kilometer away from the stadium! The fireworks that jutted off from the side of the stadium at the end were there for us!

Anyone else at the Games? It's a great atmosphere, and the British are incredibly friendly and helpful!

 

I thought it was fantastic. Missed the gay kiss so will have to go find it somewhere online. Made me proud to be British too, i really loved the deaf kids signing the national anthem and the fact they had kids lighting the torch.

My friends are at the dressage right now, i'm so jealous.

 

A recording of it from someone showing NBC didn't cut it in the US...

NBC Did NOT cut the lesbian kiss - YouTube

Also I wonder if the one prior to it was the first inter-racial one on UK TV - does anyone know?

 

Thanks for the video! Apparently that kiss was from Emergency Ward 10 in 1964. It was the first British tv show to have an interracial kiss on television (even before Star Trek in 1966). The woman is Joan Woolley and the man looks like John White but the pictures I see are with him in a white shirt. The first gay kiss on British tv was in 1994. It's cool that they showed both the first interracial and the first gay kiss.

 

I had the estiemed priviledge of seeing it live!!! OMG the drums added so much atmosphere!

 

I'm kinda appalled that NBC cut out the tribute to the victims of the 7/7 terrorist attacks. Appart from it being beautiful, it's damn disrespectful. It'd be reported on every news cycle in America for months if a broadcaster cut a 9/11 tribute out of a similar situation.

 

agreed. Americans can be the biggest hypocrats in the world. I'm tweeting this so the world will know!

 

It was amazing! I loved the children & beds part with the big Voldemort and JK Rowling :love:

 

Clearly because i watched it on NBC i missed this... *off to watch*

Okay, just seen it. very moving and i'm appalled that NBC cut it out.

 

Hey, don't blame the American people for NBC's substandard Olympic coverage. Trust me, we don't like it any more than you do.


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As far as the actual opening ceremony was concerned, it was great and all - but nothing will ever beat the show Beijing put on in '08!

Although maybe I would've liked it more if NBC hadn't broadcast it over 7 hours past the time it actually started?

 

Hmm, I'd assumed the really late start (apparently the latest ever meaning a lot of athletes didn't take part) was to get it into a semi-sensible timeslot for the US audience (still only 17:00 on the East Coast) - Hmm, I wonder why they started in the middle of the night in Asia, 23:00/00:00 across Europe (22:00 in the UK) then?

 

thats why they should one one channel air it live, and on another, air it later.

OH GOD, i WAS SO FRICCKAN PISSED AS VANCOUVER 2010!!! FUCK YOU NBC, I LIVE IN THE SAME TIMEZONE AS VANCOUVER, AND YOU TAPE-DELAYED IT ON THE WEST COAST WHILE AIRING IT LIVE ON THE EAST, YOU SHIT EATING WASTES OF FUCKING SPACE!