2012 Olympics Hype Thread

[Kouzan]

The Opening Ceremony was pretty spectacular. I wouldn't say it was as spectacular as Beijing's (particularly the cauldron lighting. Which still takes my breathe away watching), but still fantastic. The best parts were James Bond parachuting with The Queen and the battle between Mary Poppins and Voldemort.

I'm currently watching cycling , not really pay attention though, so not sure who's winning.

I'm mostly interested in seeing football and basketball and maybe volleyball. Apparently there's also a Malaysian shooter who is 8 months pregnant. That sounds pretty interesting to watch her shoot with a baby in her.

Did anyone else see the Queen parachuting with James Bond?

Yes but I don't think the people parachuting were really Queen Elizabeth II and Daniel Craig because I think I saw the Queen appear by walking through a door in the Stadium but I still liked the video :)

Yeah and the Queen is also way too old to be parachuting so obviously that was a stunt double. Still my favorite part of the entire thing.

[Therian]

So proud of my country today. Don't think we beat Beijing but that's not shameful as I don't think anyone will beat Beijing for a couple of decades, and we had a fraction of their budget.

Some of it did have a political edge but that can be overlooked easily. Favourite parts were Mr Bean and the Queen "parachuting" with James Bond.
Also I have good hopes for the medal table, we came 4th last time knowing we would be next to host the games, now it's on home soil hopefully we can take 3rd from the Russians. But saying that, I think China will win again like they did in 2008 and USA will come 2nd.

[mwetwe]

The political edge has annoyed me a bit, th eprime minister has kind of took advantage of the olympics just to try to get buisness in th UK. Its not about that :\.

On a posative view, the ceremony was great... But the peeople lighting the cauldron was kept top secret all the time and yet, although the people are kind of inspiring, the people who it the cauldron werent really a big surprise.

[GreatLiver]

I found the James Bond thing to be so corny, and afterwards it's all the commentators over here harped on. I got so excited when I heard the TARDIS during Bohemian Rhapsody expecting it to appear somewhere, but that was it. Disappointed how something that has been a part of British pop culture for 49 years barely got a reference.

[sweet insanity]

I think the Opening Ceremony was amazing! I particularly loved the cauldron lighting and the children's literature part. The bit with James Bond was kind of cheesy, but it was quite funny, and so was Mr Bean/Rowan Atkinson. Did anyone else see the boy with the 3DS?

[Shinobu]

The political edge has annoyed me a bit, th eprime minister has kind of took advantage of the olympics just to try to get buisness in th UK. Its not about that :\.

That's not at all unusual. When cities campaign to become hosts they talk about how the Olympics will help their city. Hosting an Olympics is a massive money-pit, so host cities will want some type of long term return on what they spent.

[Therian]

Well its been a great start for China already, first day and they've already won 4 medals 3 of which are Gold, and there's still 3 more events today left to go!

EDIT: well what a difference 20 minutes makes, China's won another 2 medals, another bronze and another Gold, bringing their total to 4/0/2 and still 1 medal event left to go for today.

EDIT2: And US fans will be happy to know despite not much success this morning, USA has had more success this evening and moved up into 3rd, with 1/2/1

[Bikini Miltank]

NBC's coverage of the opening ceremony was pretty dire.

Here's a tip: if you're going to insist on showing it hours later, you don't have to cut things out for ad breaks. You could show the whole thing! Imagine that!

So not only did we miss huge chunks of it due to ads (especially grating in the parade of nations, where NBC even saw fit to skip over Guam, a friggin' US territory), they also decided to can the tribute to the victims of the 7/7 terror attacks in favor of an inane interview with Michael Phelps conducted by Ryan fucking Seacrest.

That Costas idiot needs to be fired as well. Joking about Idi Amin? Laughing at the names of countries? He managed to fulfill every negative stereotype of Americans dealing with foreigners.

[Lord Clowncrete]

My fave part of the opening ceremony was obviously NANANA NANANA NANANA HEY JUDE! The stadium center looked as if the sun had risen there due to the Olympic torch(which was beautiful) when the song was being sung. I stayed awake till 6:am just to watch the ceremony.

[Shinobu]

So not only did we miss huge chunks of it due to ads (especially grating in the parade of nations, where NBC even saw fit to skip over Guam, a friggin' US territory), they also decided to can the tribute to the victims of the 7/7 terror attacks in favor of an inane interview with Michael Phelps conducted by Ryan fucking Seacrest.

That Costas idiot needs to be fired as well. Joking about Idi Amin? Laughing at the names of countries? He managed to fulfill every negative stereotype of Americans dealing with foreigners.

Yeah, I just had to ignore the commentators after a while. They were just laughable.

[Therian]

The tribute to the 7/7 bombings wasn't made clear. They announced there was a memory wall of all the people that had died, and you thought that was it. Then an Indian child and a black man danced together which was actually very boring, and it came across as just the next part of the show and it was only explained afterwards that the dancing was a tribute as well to the victims.

Also the 7/7 bombings in my personal opinion doesn't really have anything to do with the Olympics, other than it was a terror attack that coincidentally happened a few days after we got awarded the games. If America had won their bid to host the games in 2016 I doubt they would have a tribute to 9/11 or a disaster that happened in 2009.

Also count yourself lucky that they cut the Parade of Nations, that is 2 hours of my life I will never get back. They shouldn't have cut Guam though as it is your territory.

[mwetwe]

Also the 7/7 bombings in my personal opinion doesn't really have anything to do with the Olympics.

No it did not, but neither did anything in the opening ceremony. The industrial era has nothing to do with the olympics. Neither does the NHS or the 70's. My point is the opening ceremonies is about celebration about the olympics opening, and that can be celebrated in anyway what so ever. I completely agree with you though, it shouldent of been added. Olympics is about celebration and although it was a moment for memory, it wasent an appropriate time.

But I think there was a historic english theme in the opening games, it was just showing alot about england, they probably felt abliged to put it in.

[SmearglePaints]

What does everyone think of the statements from certain Olympians that the Olympic Village is used as a sex retreat for the vast majority of participants. Apparently, the committee orders as much as 100,000 condoms for Olympian use that is used within their six-week stay at the village.

Sex is said to be so rampant it takes place anywhere within sight, including the grass or between buildings.

Olympic Village Sex: It's Party Time For Athletes At London Olympics

[Therian]

What does everyone think of the statements from certain Olympians that the Olympic Village is used as a sex retreat for the vast majority of participants. Apparently, the committee orders as much as 100,000 condoms for Olympian use that is used within their six-week stay at the village.

Sex is said to be so rampant it takes place anywhere within sight, including the grass or between buildings.

Olympic Village Sex: It's Party Time For Athletes At London Olympics

That's probably why no one is allowed in not even the press lol

[Bikini Miltank]

The tribute to the 7/7 bombings wasn't made clear. They announced there was a memory wall of all the people that had died, and you thought that was it. Then an Indian child and a black man danced together which was actually very boring, and it came across as just the next part of the show and it was only explained afterwards that the dancing was a tribute as well to the victims.

Memorials tend not to be laugh riots, so even if you found it "boring", it's just bad form and insensitive to cut something like that out. And this wasn't a cut to a commercial, which would have been irritating but at least consistent. This was one of the few cuts that was quite clearly deliberate, as they filled the time with some little tit failing to extract anything of note from Michael Phelps.

As for whether or not the meaning was clear, the BBC seemed aware of what was going on, and they had the same show notes as everyone else. Regardless of if they knew or not, cutting away during the sad bit because there aren't enough puppets or fireworks is the worst kind of patronizing, lowest-common-denominator cowardice.

Also the 7/7 bombings in my personal opinion doesn't really have anything to do with the Olympics, other than it was a terror attack that coincidentally happened a few days after we got awarded the games. If America had won their bid to host the games in 2016 I doubt they would have a tribute to 9/11 or a disaster that happened in 2009.

It was the very next day, and for many people in the UK those events are inextricably linked. It's much the same as commemorating the anniversary of an event: it may have been a long time ago, but there are certain dates that remind us of it.

What makes this especially weird is that the turnip NBC chose to commentate actually spent part of the parade of nations complaining that the IOC had declined to include a memorial to the 1972 Munich massacre in the ceremony. And he may have had a point (though there were diplomatic reasons why it was never going to happen). But you undermine that point when you decide, in the same damn broadcast, that a memorial for the victims of a different terrorist attack is of insufficient interest for your viewers.

Also count yourself lucky that they cut the Parade of Nations, that is 2 hours of my life I will never get back.

Then why watch it at all? If you sit down to watch a four-hour Olympic opening ceremony, you have some idea of what you're in for. And a lot of it is going to be people with flags.

The parade of nations has always been my favorite part: getting to see representatives of almost every country in the world all in one place. It's not for everyone, but if you do want to watch it then you probably want to see the whole thing. Having some director chop out the "less interesting" countries undermines the whole point of the exercise: that for this part of the games, the tiny Pacific atoll that sent just two athletes shares an equal billing with the US, China and Russia.