(no subject)

[pensnest]

I've never watched the Olympics opening ceremony before, so I have no ability to make comparisons, but that one was pretty good. I imagine most of the world was a bit baffled by the Industrial Revolution stuff, so I hope you all had decent commentary going on. The BBC did well on that score. I *loved* the idea of using NHS staff and patients from Great Ormond Street for the 'children's lit' section, and the sight of Mary Poppinses flying down was quite brilliant. I can't decide quite what to make of the James Bond bit... Lots of awesomeness, and that incredible flower turning into the Olympic cauldron was fabulous.

Your thoughts?

Comments

[iconis.livejournal.com]

Saba, Mette, Noora and I had a Skype conference call to watch it together and I think we all pretty much loved it all. Rowan Atkinson's bit was delightful and I absolutely LOVED the James Bond thing. The cauldron was probably the coolest I've seen so far, with every team bringing their piece in. And I loved the fact that young athletes lit the Olympic cauldron, I really loved the symbolism of it all. I'm superhappy I woke up at 5.30am to watch it. :D

[pensnest]

I thought they did a great job on the inclusiveness/symbolism thing. And, it was fabulous to note that *every* team included at least one woman.

[iconis.livejournal.com]

Yes! That is fabulous about the female athletes. And, I mean, an Olympic ceremony with multiculturalism, a gay kiss, Kenneth Branagh, inclusion of Real People (the NHS and the honor guard of the builders when they brought the Olympic flame into the stadium), Muhammad Ali touching the Olympic flag, Sir Tim Berners-Lee tweeting from the stage, Voldemort, JK Rowling *and* the gorgeous cauldron lit by the future generation of Olympic athletes? Well done. I actually caught bits and pieces of it again this afternoon because I loved it so much.

[pensnest]

There was a *lot* in there, plenty of obvious things but unexpected ones too - I mean, Tim Berners-Lee! And yet, in this day and age he absolutely ought to have been there.

Muhammed Ali made me so sad, though.

[withdiamonds.livejournal.com]

I thought it was great fun.

[pensnest]

Me too - with occasional pauses to sniffle just a little bit.

[puszysty.livejournal.com]

Our running commentary in the US was pretty good, so I had no trouble understanding what was going on there. I enjoyed the theatrical portion of the ceremony and I thought the idea of the flags in that hill was cool, but I have issues with the torch lighting.

[pensnest]

What sort of issues? (I'm interested, not hostile.)

[puszysty.livejournal.com]

The torch has always been handed off between former athletes and lit by a former olympic athlete. This year was a big break from a long-standing tradition. That's my big issue.

[pensnest]

I thought it was rather brilliant to have it lit by *future* Olympic athletes instead. I'm hoping that in four or eight years' time, the commentators will be mentioning that at so-and-so's first Olympic appearance, he/she lit the flame. We'll just have to wait and see.

[msktrnanny.livejournal.com]

It was lovely!! The real nurses etc was genius, making that section particularly geniune. I actually really enjoyed the Industrial Revolution section- the 'dance move' style machine movements and the unveiling of the London map. There was a great close-up of Kenneth Brannah at one point, clearly just caught up in the joy of it all.

And the cauldron. Beautiful! The symbolism of the young athletes lighting it was really nice, too.

[pensnest]

I really liked that fact that the display was basically done by amateurs, with a handful of professional entertainers thrown in - and like you, I really, really liked the use of real medical professionals.

[turps33.livejournal.com]

I thought it was fabulous, and the part with Bond and the Queen had me laughing so much.

My favourite was the NHS section and the actual cauldron lighting was beautiful.

[pensnest]

I wished, in retrospect, that I'd been live-posting to my journal as I did with the Royal Wedding. There were so many details I now can't remember.

[nopseud]

I watched it from about when they cast the rings until the entrant parade got about as far as the Dominican Republic, and then I have to admit I went OMFG how many more countries? and gave up. It seemed pretty well done, though, and I'm really glad it didn't get rained on like the Jubilee.

[pensnest]

Yeah, it would have been such a shame if the rain had poured down on everything. One of the teams was well-prepared, though, marching in shiny blue wellies!

There were some very shiny outfits on parade, too - I think Mexico was the most fun. But there are a *lot* of countries marching...

[brandywine28.livejournal.com]

The United States are waaaaay at the end of the alphabet, so I ended up watching the entire Parade of Nations like a chump (and by that point I was DONE). But I thought the first thirty minutes or so--the transition from the pastoral setting into the Industrial Revolution and Kenneth Branaugh reciting that speech from The Tempest and strutting around like a badass--were just beautiful.

[pensnest]

We missed the first few minutes, mostly due to not expecting the fun stuff to start right away, and I think *just* missed Ken Branagh's "The Tempest" speech. But there was a lot of fun to be had - I think being somewhat self-deprecatingly British and having a sense of humour about most of it was a big plus.