I'm fascinated by the fact that I remember almost nothing of any other opening ceremonies, save the cute girl in Beijing lipsynching for the not-as-cute girl with the better voice and the Aboriginal runner in Syndey. Oh, and Muhammad Ali in Atlanta. Okay, and Wayne Gretsky in Vancouver. Anyway, I don't remember much about the ceremonies themselves. But celebrating the NHS? That seemed very odd.
Finally, some upbeat music, but still... Meanwhile, anyone know how many us team members there are in total? From the photos on CNN of the parade of nations...our team looks HUGE.
Twitter has been waonderfully sarcastic at just how dismally bad Matt Lauer and Meredith Viera have been. I mean, embarassingly bad. Not knowing how Tim Berners-Lee is bad.
You don't remember the drummers from Beijing? I might never forget that. Atlanta: the Grecian shadow display (good) and the shiny pickup trucks + cheerleaders (less good).
Loved the huge and long Dr.-IOC-Guy-stopping ovation for the volunteers. Was momentarily phased by the fact that the athletes didn't seem to be participating as much as the audience, but then remembered that many of them may not speak English. Plus, as Matt and Bob told us 23098525 times, swimmers need to conserve their energy for races soon, so perhaps all these people were conserving their clapping energy.
I was at the Opening Ceremonies, so I didn't get to see it on TV until late at night (early in the morning) when I was back in my hotel room. What always strikes me is how much different these ceremonies come across on TV than in person. The parts that are striking to the TV audience (the bikes, for example) are often snoozers in the park, and vice versa. I loved the Industrial Revolution parade, because of the driving beat of the drum corps and because it held together better thematically with a bird's-eye view than with all the closeups you got on TV. But on TV, it looked like a bore.
That being said, my main takeaways still were: a) it ran at least 30 minutes too long; b) there's got to be a way to speed up the procession of athletes (having dozens of volunteers on the sidelines waving them along frantically like a third-base coach did not do the trick); and c) I love The Beatles, but McCartney's voice is really creaky, and I'm pretty sure that either he or I was misremembering the verses.
I wish it had ended with the Raising of the Rings... the spectacle leading up to that part was amazing!! Everything after that left me scratching my head. The comedy bits were cute but something in me disliked it for undermining the significance of the event. I also HATED every time they cut away to pre-filmed content (except for the Queen's "jump!"). I don't watch the Opening Ceremonies to see video clips.
rowan atkinson was funny, but i felt the bit really took away from the orchestre, like they didn't think we could handle an orchestral performance without comedy.
The commentary on NBC was appallingly bad. Offensively bad, in fact. I understand that it serves a tremendous benefit to viewers if done well, but it seemed like Lauer and Viera found imparting information to be distasteful. The bit with Berners-Lee and his NeXT cube was vomit-inducing. I realize that few Americans will know him by name, but instead of laughing at not knowing who this nerd is and essentially apologizing for having the context to share with viewers, maybe just providing the information wold have been useful. Or Mredith singing along to the Stones? Giant Voledemort could have done us all a favor and disapparated the NBC booth.
Overall, the opening went on way too long. The James Bond theme music may. Be the greatest thing the entire UK has ever produced (and yes, that includes the industrial revolution, the NHS and The Beatles.)
My single favorite stupidist thing said last night on NBC: "Winston Churchill said of Uganda it was the Pearl of Africa. Of course, Churchill never met Idi Amin." I mean, is that necessary? If were going to have a fun fact about a country, can't we have a nice fun fact?
I'm going back to my Twitter joke. When does the Scouring of the Shire start?
ReplyDeleteWhy is Britain celebrating characters that are the rightful property of Warner Brothers and the Walt Disney Company?
ReplyDeleteThis is really dull. The segment on the Today show this am about what each country was wearing was far more exciting...which isn't saying much. Yawn.
ReplyDeleteI'm with friends in a bar in Chicago and we think it's v v odd. Although we like mr. Bean.
ReplyDeleteI think the Queen was authentically happy during the real entrance after her amusing fake entrance. Chug.
ReplyDeleteI'm fascinated by the fact that I remember almost nothing of any other opening ceremonies, save the cute girl in Beijing lipsynching for the not-as-cute girl with the better voice and the Aboriginal runner in Syndey. Oh, and Muhammad Ali in Atlanta. Okay, and Wayne Gretsky in Vancouver. Anyway, I don't remember much about the ceremonies themselves. But celebrating the NHS? That seemed very odd.
ReplyDeleteFinally, some upbeat music, but still... Meanwhile, anyone know how many us team members there are in total? From the photos on CNN of the parade of nations...our team looks HUGE.
ReplyDeleteI think Community already did this bit better.
ReplyDeleteTwitter has been waonderfully sarcastic at just how dismally bad Matt Lauer and Meredith Viera have been. I mean, embarassingly bad. Not knowing how Tim Berners-Lee is bad.
ReplyDelete"who" Berners-Lee is, that is
ReplyDeleteI just feel like one giant question mark right now.
ReplyDeleteI hear Matt and Meredith, and all I can think of is the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade...we need fresh blood. Is Adele coming soon? I hope she's there.
ReplyDeleteRobin Williams carrying the flag for Angorra
ReplyDeleteThe worst part for me. Someone should remind them this isn't the Today show, people aren't watching for a show all about their small talk.
ReplyDeleteThe athletes without a country are by far having the most fun.
ReplyDeleteCertainly seemed to be having more fun than the kids from Iran.
ReplyDeleteYou don't remember the drummers from Beijing? I might never forget that. Atlanta: the Grecian shadow display (good) and the shiny pickup trucks + cheerleaders (less good).
ReplyDeleteEvery couple of years I'm reminded how much I hate NBC's Today Showification of the Olympics and what a tragedy it was that the ABC/ESPN bid failed.
ReplyDeleteGee, Matt, instead of telling us what an awesome cover song this is, why not LET US HEAR IT!?!?!?!?
ReplyDeleteThe one I'll always remember is Barcelona, or the arrow.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/v/b5gZeT4TVds&feature" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="170" height="140
The one I'll always remember is Barcelona, for the arrow.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/v/b5gZeT4TVds&feature" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="170" height="140
Well, I do like the cauldron. That and the bicycle riding doves are about the only part of this that really worked for me.
ReplyDeleteI was okay with the cauldron, but the final athletes and procession were underwhelming.
ReplyDeleteBasically, it was all downhill after Rowan Atkinson, no?
Loved the huge and long Dr.-IOC-Guy-stopping ovation for the volunteers. Was momentarily phased by the fact that the athletes didn't seem to be participating as much as the audience, but then remembered that many of them may not speak English. Plus, as Matt and Bob told us 23098525 times, swimmers need to conserve their energy for races soon, so perhaps all these people were conserving their clapping energy.
ReplyDeleteI was at the Opening Ceremonies, so I didn't get to see it on TV until late at night (early in the morning) when I was back in my hotel room. What always strikes me is how much different these ceremonies come across on TV than in person. The parts that are striking to the TV audience (the bikes, for example) are often snoozers in the park, and vice versa. I loved the Industrial Revolution parade, because of the driving beat of the drum corps and because it held together better thematically with a bird's-eye view than with all the closeups you got on TV. But on TV, it looked like a bore.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, my main takeaways still were: a) it ran at least 30 minutes too long; b) there's got to be a way to speed up the procession of athletes (having dozens of volunteers on the sidelines waving them along frantically like a third-base coach did not do the trick); and c) I love The Beatles, but McCartney's voice is really creaky, and I'm pretty sure that either he or I was misremembering the verses.
Oh, I recall the Barcelona arrow now!
ReplyDeleteI wish it had ended with the Raising of the Rings... the spectacle leading up to that part was amazing!! Everything after that left me scratching my head. The comedy bits were cute but something in me disliked it for undermining the significance of the event. I also HATED every time they cut away to pre-filmed content (except for the Queen's "jump!"). I don't watch the Opening Ceremonies to see video clips.
ReplyDeleteWell that's only because you couldn't hear Costas say over and over again that the athletes were moving much faster than ever in history.
ReplyDeleterowan atkinson was funny, but i felt the bit really took away from the orchestre, like they didn't think we could handle an orchestral performance without comedy.
ReplyDeleteThe commentary on NBC was appallingly bad. Offensively bad, in fact. I understand that it serves a tremendous benefit to viewers if done well, but it seemed like Lauer and Viera found imparting information to be distasteful. The bit with Berners-Lee and his NeXT cube was vomit-inducing. I realize that few Americans will know him by name, but instead of laughing at not knowing who this nerd is and essentially apologizing for having the context to share with viewers, maybe just providing the information wold have been useful. Or Mredith singing along to the Stones? Giant Voledemort could have done us all a favor and disapparated the NBC booth.
ReplyDeleteOverall, the opening went on way too long. The James Bond theme music may. Be the greatest thing the entire UK has ever produced (and yes, that includes the industrial revolution, the NHS and The Beatles.)
My single favorite stupidist thing said last night on NBC: "Winston Churchill said of Uganda it was the Pearl of Africa. Of course, Churchill never met Idi Amin." I mean, is that necessary? If were going to have a fun fact about a country, can't we have a nice fun fact?
ReplyDeleteThe Corgis stole the show.
ReplyDeleteBronn's finest moment.
ReplyDelete