The 2012 London Olympics - Page 2

Well...THAT was under-welming...

Which I think totally sums-up the British zeitgeist...

 

Well done, Danny!!

Pfft I didn't care either way about the olympics but I thought it was good. Decent mix of tongue in cheek and genuine socialistic enthusiasm for British stuff - fun seeing the NHS get a worldwide shout out, like a deliberate middle finger to the Tories. I'd have thought movie fans would at least enjoy seeing Boyle letting his bonkers imagination run wild with an infinite budget. Too bad Macca ended it on an awkward note.

James Bond?...Mr Bean?...Mary Poppins?...WTF?

The Bond and Bean bits were pretty fun!

It feels incredibly random.  There was no flow, no connective tissue between the skits.  Some impressive moments, but it just didn't fit together. 

 

 

I have yet to see the TARDIS.  I am not amused.

 

It's there! Kinda. They worked the TARDIS sound effect into Bohemian Rhapsody. It was the peak of the opening for me.

That Skyfall TV spot they ran just now was fantastic!

NBC's coverage is infuriating.

^ No kidding. I hate that they give you no choice but to wait for them to delay the most popular events until primetime. Why don't they ever provide at least a single channel with live coverage? As it is I won't be able to participate in any discussions in this forum until the event is long over and already old news.

 

 

I was behind so I watched it on DVR, I think it probably set an opening ceremonies for "What the fuck I don't even" moments worldwide. 

 

 

At least there's a rejoinder to "the British HATE their national healthcare!" - "come back when the US does a tribute to health insurance companies during OUR Olympics"

I have no clue why there was so little Doctor Who, especially considering that the show is such an iconic piece of British pop culture, but if that was the result of some twat getting their panties in a twist over copyrights, they can fuck themselves and jump into the Thames with bricks tied to their feet.  That three seconds of TARDIS noise that was playing underneath some song was unacceptable.  If big ass Voldemort can rear his ugly head, I should have gotten an actual TARDIS sighting.  Imagine how awesome it would've been if they had a TARDIS on wires flying around?  Nope, let's give them a birdman on a bike instead.

Their website is streaming all competition real-time apparently.

 

As for the ceremonies, that's what happens when you get a film director to coordinate a stadium show.  Too compartmentalized, too dependent on video clips.

 

 

They aren't available in streaming? (I only really give a shit about the cycling road race, so it isn't as if millions of housewives are beside themselves to watch those, so they're available streaming). 

Correction to my previous post:  You can only watch the streaming site if you have an existing cable or satellite subscription.  In which case, I wouldn't be trying to watch the goddamn thing on the computer.  Ridiculous.

It's hilarious and baffling to hear about what apparently happened in the opening ceremony out of context.

Overall, pretty good.  I really dug the transformation at the beginning, the forging of the rings, the Bond and Atkinson segments, and thought the torch design was particularly brilliant.  The trampolining orphans, Mary Poppins vs. Voldemort, and the musical history/romance bit... not so much.

 

Also, currently on vacation with most of my extended family for the weekend, and was thus watching this with them.  This includes my folks, and aunts and uncles, all of whom are in their fifties and sixties, grew up with The Beatles, and are all musically inclined.  During McCartney's much anticipated performance, they were all criticizing how his choice of playing Hey Jude was odd, and made no sense.  My response was, "Really?  You do know this song, right?  Wait two minutes, and you're going to have an audience of however many thousand people singing that refrain."  It was the perfect closer.

 

 

I don't believe there was any context, aside from "hey, this is English, right? Throw it in there!" 

Was anyone else sitting there going "HEY COULD YOU SHOW A COUPLA AVERAGE-LOOKING ATHLETES SO I CAN FEEL BETTER ABOUT MYSELF PLEASE?" 

 

 

Jesus, what a collection of ridiculously good looking people....I was reading some articles on the reported debauchery that occurs in the Olympic Village (God bless their randy little hearts, I say) and one athlete said "even if the face is [only a 5], the body is a 20."

It did not necessarily need to be english, they threw in Shrek, the Cosby Show and tons of other nonsense.

 

True. 

 

 

Still, it's nice to see London get such a showcase - it isn't a city you often hear about in the news, or very historic, and I don't think many people were interested in going there before the festivities this evening. 

A big live ceremony thing that people are bitching about?  Is it the Oscars again already?

 

I don't think it's possible to put on a good show anymore, I can't remember the last time somebody had anything good to say.

 

Indeed.  Waited the whole time for a Doctor to show up, or the TARDIS to fly through, or a Dalek to wheel past, just two seconds of TARDIS sound.

 

Enjoyed the whole thing plenty though, apart from the contemporary 'Digital age' bit, which slowed the thing to a crawl.  

 

The beeb's coverage was ten times better then NBC, but it wouldn't be an olympics if they didn't have their heads shoved up their asses.

 

Is that because everything is shit, or because it's the internet and everything needs to be sneered at and picked apart? This show was surreal, didn't take itself overly seriously, pissed off a lot of right wingers, and had ludicrous amounts of OTT spectacle. I mean it featured the fucking queen flying in in a union jack parachute. I don't know what people are bitching about.

 

 

wtf

 

Do adults even watch that show?  I mean people on the street, not geeks online.

 

Don't hit me.

 

Beijing 2008 was universally hailed as an outstanding opening ceremony, and rightfully so.

 

Everyone and their mother watches that show in Great Britain.  And even if adults didn't watch, if kid-friendly Harry Potter can get some love, why not a cultural icon of theirs that has been around for ages?

 

Well I guess that is the unanswered question then, why a no show for Dr Who?  I can tell you that was born in the UK and am currently living here, and maybe it's just the circles I travel in, but nobody I know watches it.  It's a kind of niche show, I did watch it as a kid, but honestly the only time I see it mentioned now is in film forums, but never in the real world.  Maybe people don't want to admit they watch it, I don't know.  I do know that Harry Potter has way more exposure and mainstream acceptance than Dr Who.

 

I do agree that it's a uniquely British icon though, it's very long-running, and deserved a spot in the ceremony.

The opening ceremony was pretty inconsistent in terms of pacing and content, but it was decent overall. Nothing to be embarrassed about. The torch lighting was pretty damned awesome, though. Well done and actually fairly moving. The torch itself is fucking brilliant in its design and execution...watching the individual elements rise to form the cauldron was stunning.

Looks like the weather has improved?

I loved the "set change". I actually got choked up thinking about the environmental destruction brought by the industrial revolution. Of course NBC made no mention of the removal of the green scenery and what it represented, saying only vaguely that there were "hardships" during the revolution when the suffragettes walked on. Overall though that section of the ceremony was my favorite. The forging of the Olympic ring was super cool!

 

Other NBC stuff that infuriated me? The inventor of the internet and his message that "this is for everyone", speaking of course about a free and open internet standard. NBC translated it as "The internet is for everyone to enjoy, but not for people to abuse". Thank you, giant corporate overlords, I am sure his was a pro entertainment, anti-piracy message, natch.

 

Or how about the signing choir, shot and framed so only their faces were visible, rather than the signs? I'm sure the deaf children watching at home really loved that.

 

Or what about the NHS celebration, packed to the brim with facts and figures from our anchors from our NBC anchors about JM Barrie and children's lit, without a single word on the NHS and why the Brits feel so proud of it.

 

Maybe they were afraid that it would take too long to explain to the viewing audience why a blue police box was whizzing around and why everyone in the stadium was going so apeshit over it.

List of things not to name your daughter if your last name is Hooker: 1) Destiny.

 

That'd be "British" dude, don't make Mike's Pants kick your arse.

Much as I love Dr Who I didn't mind it not being there, because everything else was perfect.  From the salute to the NHS to the old guard of Medal winners letting the future ones light the cauldron it summed the spirit of the UK up perfectly.

 

Singed Ken Savage currently proud to be British.

I liked it, but was outraged that not a single dead parrot was involved.  

 

I find these complaints odd as I specifically remember the NBC commentators explaining exactly why the workers were removing the green scenery and what it represented.  They also seemed quite awed by both the execution and the symbolism of the act, as was I.  And they did, in fact, explain the NHS and why Brits are proud of it.  The whole time I was wondering how many conservative viewers were tuning out, disgusted with this show of "lefty" sentimentality.

 

...Got TOO CLOSE to the cauldron, then?

Hey look, it's not just us spoiled Americans who are hacked off at the TV coverage!

...  Ken Savage is British?!

If only text could have accents...

By the way, just saw the news about the 400m swimming event.
Warning: Swimming results (Click to show)

 

 

:taps the glass on Paul C's sarcastometer:

 

 

Last time I checked yes :)  

You don't have to wait until week two to see a Usain Bolt-esque performance. Turns out Hamish Bond and Eric Murray blew away all competition to smash the previous world record in the mens pairs rowing. The BBC is already declaring them to be the greatest pair of all time (not including Sofia Vergara - heyooooooooo). They're so damn good their nearest rivals quit rowing pairs and went to row in a four. They may not be competing in a glamour event like our man Bolt, but they are so similarly freakishly talented they destroyed that previous record at less than full steam.

 

Legends are among us. You'd be a fool not to take a wee break from the women's beach volleyball and see what greatness looks like.

 

 

Hmmm? Biased? Me? Noooooooooooooonononono.

 

Oh. Durrrr

NBC continues their standard of excellency:

 

 

 

I don't remember the coverage for Beijing being this awfult. The American commentators are biased and sometimes downright mean to the competitors from other countries and I don't appreciate their acquiescing to Ryan Seacrest's quest for world domination (Twitter updates from Joe Jonas? Really?).

 

Phelps' placement isn't really a surprise. He only added the IM to his event schedule like 6 months ago, I'm hearing, and as Nastia Liukin proved, even the best athletes need to put the time in if they want to make the cut. What is surprising is just how off his form was. Even his coach was down on him. He really seems like he's kind of over it all these Games. Not that he's got anything to prove at this point, either way.

 

 

Big US Women's Gymnastics Spoiler:

 

 

 

Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)

 

Also it seems like the Men have a chance not just to medal , but to snag gold, especially if China and Japan keep faltering. Nice. 

 

THAT'S fucking hilarious!

sorry to be so unrelentingly negative this week. But NBC is really pissing me off. They are televising the prime events (US women's soccer, US men's basketball) on the NBC Sports network (formerly VS which they recently bought).  Of course I do not have that channel, though I have a large cable package.  NBC holding the most desireable events hostage on a channel most people dont have and will have to pay extra for is really cheap and will cause me to watch a lot less olympics in general.

 

Also at the same time, I have 5 other channels that are part of NBC's olympic coverage, so far 3 of the channels i do have are running informercials most of the time. My guess is that NBC is charging a much higher rate than they usually get for the infomercials. Tactics like these will certainly hurt the overall viewership. It's no surprise that the network is dying after witnessing the corporate decision making thus far.

 

Another note regarding the piss poor coverage for NBC. They hyped the Phelps swim all night, ran tons of commercials all around it, and I finally gave up on actually seeing the race because Costas would tease it into every break and come back and just go into another tease. One stretch went from Costas talking about the event, to commercial, to Lochte preparing, to commercial, to a shot of the photographers in the stands with costas talking over it, to another commercial.....I turned it off at that point.

 

The olympics used to be a fun event to watch with the family, but if this first weekend is an indication of what we can expect the rest of the way, then fuck it.

...I thought they had dangling corks...

There is definite bias on the NBC coverage, but that's how we Americans are.  We're very "Rah! Rah!" I'd wager a lot of other countries would be that way as well.  The only time I ever really detect noticeable negativity about other countries is during the judged competitions, like gymnastics.  That does get a little annoying.  But they always find something good to say about any winner.

Yeah I hate NBC too. It makes me wonder after the winter Olympic broadcast fiasco (I was in the same time zone as the Winter Olympics and they delayed the broadcast even then, so that the east coast would see it first and then the west) how in the fuck did they get the contract again.

I know the answer will inevitably boil down to $$$$, but you'd think that the Olympics would have some sort of resentment of contact by association.

On the other hand perhaps the Olympics are over the whole shame thing, what with the committee basically saying over the past couple of years "Yeah, we accept bribes and there not a fucking thing you can do about it."

We're spoilt for coverage out here in the beautiful South Pacific. 7 or 8 dedicated channels going 24/7 with live events and highlights packages and no boring hype presenters getting in the way. It's pretty sweet. Very few commercials too.