Paul McCartney, 007, and a tribute to teh commie health care system made it great enough for me.

This ceremony was an amazing celebration of the people! Not bankers, fuck you Forbes, go back to kissing Mitty's ass!

Fuck them indeed

I thought it a remarkable celebration of people. I "got it" and am happy so many others "got it" too.

Mary Poppins NHS banners and chimneys belching out smoke!!
Gay couples kissing, the Queen and Daniel Craig looking as if they had been press ganged and nurses in dodgy outfits.
OH THE EMBARRASSMENT
So ashamed to be British right now.
They may as well have roped in Steptoe and Jim Royale picking his nose
As Jim Royale would say DANNY BOYLE MY ARSE
SHAMEFUL
Danny BOYLE YOU ARE FIRED

I just can't understand the hoopla about him. I know this puts me in the minority, but I thought Slumdog Millionaire was one of the most predictable and boring films I've ever forced myself to sit through. I have long suspected his ego and 'buzz' is much larger than his talent

a little more fun and less serious than Beijing's.

which was huge and overblown but still had an elegance and simplicity. Still, this one had a few nice moments, but they passed by so quickly if you blinked you missed them.

in a labor camp.

All the grace of a North Korean dance troupe and all the charm of a gulag.

I watched it live (I'm on vacation) in Canada and I loved it!

Recorded in its entirety. Loved it immensely.

gravy nice placed. I enjoyed it immensely.

I bet every right winger in America shut off their TV's. LOL I loved it!

All that socialism must have spooked them.

I thought the ceremonies were good, overall, though NBC's coverage was less than spectacular.

Candidate makes an ass of himself around the Olympics? No problem! Just change the world so it matches his stupid words.

I enjoyed most of it.

I really get frustrated by the constant play by play yapping by the NBC staff. I would prefer to listen to what is happening without someone having to describe "boy meets girl, girl meets boy, boy and girl like each other."
I guess they believe we are so dumb we can't think for ourselves, that we have no imagination what-so-ever.

I would have loved to see more Mike Oldfield. That was indeed a surprise.

They mostly didn't say anything.

I thought the opening ceremonies were the same as all the others - it was all mostly good and entertaining and unique and nice to see another country's culture.

the pathetic ceremonies or the inane jabberring of the Laur and company.

I actually screamed STFU at the TV a couple of times.

This sort of spectacular doesn't really appeal to me, so I don't watch the Olympics at all anymore. However, the husband loves this stuff and he wanted me to "share the experience". It took only a couple of minutes before the incessant blather drove me nuts and I had to leave the room. Obviously they think we're too stupid to understand what we're watching unless they explain it to us. Oh, and when it comes around to the actual competition, why must we sit through endless analysis and back stories? Can't we be trusted to watch a sports event just for the event?

streaming it live. Like you said - the themes were obvious without any of the commentary.

London Opening Ceremonies are all about THEM. The show is just a backdrop.

90 percent of it was one of the best things I've seen on TV period in recent memory...

But Costas and Lauer are a couple of assclowns...May as well have put Katie Couric in the booth if I wanted to hear so much gab...

The NHS tribute was pretty ballsy, and I revel in just how many viewers got butthurt over it...

and that's what this pissant writer is doing.

Don't pee in my Wheaties.

"Opinions are like assholes, everyones's got one and everyone thinks everyone else's stinks"....

The Dead Pool (1988)

If Danny Boyle had just done a "history of british music" I think it would have had a better flow.

and being unfamiliar with another's culture was the real issue

connected with the two young people rockin' through the late 20th century?

I understood all the cultural touchstones, I just didn't think they formed a coherent narrative.

not about "look at what a great country we are".

I also understood all the references, but I don't think you should have to be British to understand the opening ceremony of the Olympics. It should be about welcoming everyone and showing what we all have in common.

And it really did feel like it was put together by/for a septegenarian British lord who had heard about "that punk music" but had never really listened to any of it or understood why it was important or relevant to anything.

There were cool moments but too much random pastiche that had nothing to do with the reason they were all there.

The most memorable part was a giant set piece displaying the environmental catastrophe that was the industrial revolution. Not exactly flattering...

I still remember, fondly, and I was three for god sakes. the 1968 closing ceremonies in Mexico City. The cascade of light, is something I remember. It was very native too... and I remember people NOT native having issues with it.

The chinese ceremonies, I turned them off, I could not stand the massive regimentation.

and dancing nurses and children on hospital beds, I said "this is the worst pink floyd show I've ever seen"

All in all I thought it was good though to be honest.

plus there was a digitally inserted pig flying over Battersea Power Station in the sequence moving up the Thames.

My son recently worked security for his concert at Fenway Park in Boston.

to the strengths ie humor. I think most thought it would be terrible so the expectations where low to begin with.

between two different themes, don't really work well..

helped. it was just normal run of the mill stuff. not in the same boat as Beijings which has been the best opening so far, a tough act to follow. take away a few highlights that where mostly just laughs and it just ran without too many mess ups.

China lacking freedom, individuality etc.

UK being more open , allowing difference.

China did stupid shit like have the girl who wasn't actually singing out there because they didn't think the one who actually sang was pretty enough.

Beijing was a 'celebration' of people behaving like 'good little robots', doing exactly the right thing at the right time and place.

London was a celebration of diversity and inclusiveness... especially of working people.

Ironic... officially, the 2008 host is a 'People's' republic, and this year's host is a monarchy....

...but I warmed up to this one. Lots of things I didn't understand (the burning house?) and some things that seemed disjointed. But still jolly good fun.

but that was a different season.. I really enjoyed the 2012 British opening as well. It was soooo British.
The funny thing is that I have always been drawn by British things. I grew up in the USA and English Literature was the 4th year High school English..I loved it.

I moved to Canada over 40 years ago. My sons were born here. My older son now lives in England. I will be visiting him in October for a month. I highly recommend The Lonely Planet Britain book... In the back it gives a few pages of history...You get to know a few things.

There is soooo much history in Britain and Europe...The north american continent is soooo young compared to Great Britain.

I just don't understand the feelings some Americans have about NOT wanting to know about other countries, like my brother expresses. He is so proud of this feeling. I am very happy to be a Canadian. We like diversity as does Britain.

My attachment to Canada is unusual, too. In the American revolutionary war, a greatx? grandfather was forced to flee to Canada. (Plenty of other ancestors were Patriots to the American cause, but this man was a loyalist.) Giving up his massive holdings in New York state, he was nailed into a wooden crate and ferried out of the colonies to Canada. There, he (and his family when they joined him) were the first white settlers in a part of Ontario, and lived with Indians. Canada was "settled" so much later than the U.S. that they were essentially settlers and then pioneers. Fast forward, past the trek westward, the homesteading on the Saskatchewan prairie and the eventual emigration, some generations later, to the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. in 1922.

Interestingly enough, in 2009 Canada changed its citizenship laws and I became one of those who were granted Canadian citizenship because I was born outside Canada to a Canadian citizen. So I have dual citizenship, and it blows my mind.

What province do you live in?

Didn't care for the Frankie and June bit, but it was good.

would disturb most Randians running for president.

geez.

and a lot of other rock bands.

Sounds like you didn't watch all of it.

....versus Kenneth Branaugh quoting from "The Tempest"?

Talk about cringe-inducing. Glad you didn't have any input into the opening ceremonies.

Where are you from in England?

King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table - yeah, could have
Henry the 8th and his 6 wives...... - dodgier. Religious splits, executions - not something to celebrate.
Lord of the Rings - another maybe.
The Beatles - featured heavily. McCartney closed the whole thing!
David Bowie - turned up twice ('Starman', 'Heroes'), plus video from "The Man Who Fell To Earth'
Duran Duran - perhaps (they did play the associated gig in Hyde Park)
The Cranberries - they're Irish. Fail.
Adam Ant - look, we can list hundreds of acts - you have to stop somewhere. I don't think he makes the grade.
Richard Burton - there are many actors of the past they could have put in. But it wasn't a film clip routine, really (I did see a bit of 'A Matter of Life and Death', but I would think that's more to do with saluting Powell and Pressburger, who may well be heroes of Boyle - as they are to many film-makers).
Kirsty McColl - I like her, but she really was not big enough to make the grade.
The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe - yeah, could have
River Dance - again, Irish. Quintessentially Irish. So Irish, I'm beginning to think this is a wind-up. Are you really British, as you claim?
Madam Tussauds - meh. Feeble tourist attraction.
The Tower Of London - featured in the opening video up the Thames
The London Eye - ditto
Kate Moss - what the fuck for? That definitely is a wind-up.
St Valentine - arble-farble-woosh? Is this some reference to an obscure band of that name or something? The actual saint, or the day for sending valentines, has no specific British connection at all.

honored working people, especially the people who built the stadium, was inspiring. Don't forget McCartney and Beckham. I thought that where this ceremony honored the country's people, the Bejing ceremony conveyed a sense of using their people as props. Like just cogs in a wheel.

was amazing! Bravo!

As someone here on DU said last night, the huge healthcare segment was an giant "I fart in your general direction" to the asshole repugs in the US who LOVE to say that the Brits hate their healthcare and want it to be the same as here--pay or die. BRILLIANT!

Edit: RAgAss came up with the Python quote. Love it!

RW journalistic trash.

I'm sure they had to get her permission to use her in that and it shows she has a great sense of humor.

No idea if they ere HM's corgis or "stunt corgis."

She is a big James Bond fan and a huge sport to do that. The Queen is a rockstar! Loved that part.

those were actually the Queen's corgis.

I loved the whole bit.

They were such little hams!

The Queen would totally keep 007 waiting while she finished her letter.

The opening ceremonies were delightfully quirky; right in line with the British sense of humor, which I very much enjoy. The focus on the common people, children, literature, music, film....wonderful. All participants were volunteers, and I'm sure damn proud to be involved.

"some must have wondered why they were there"

Really?

I wondered why I had to listen to Meredith Viera, Matt Lauer and Bob Costas give a cringe-inducing play-by-play. Sad those of us watching on TV had to endure their idiocy.

And I've seen all of them since 1972.

Better than most, not as good as some, but overall a pretty cool production.

I think the reason that some Americans didn't like it is they didn't get some of the less obvious cultural references, and of course, the British sense of humor, which a lot of Americans find absolutely baffling.

But hey, that's a problem for those Americans who just don't get it. Me, I thought it was just fine.

Are there really lots of people, even in the US, who don't know Shakespeare, James Bond, Mary Poppins, Harry Potter, the Beatles, etc. enough to recognize references to them that are 40 feet high and exploding on screen? I doubt it. Maybe Mr. Bean is lesser known, but still hardly what I would call obscure. The UK has produced a LOT of cultural icons, that's one of the things that made Romney's comments sound so particularly stupid.

I was bored for the most part.

Just wish NBCrap hadn't hacked it to death to make themselves another fast buck.

I think Forbes just doesn't like other countries being proud of things in their history that had huge long term effects on the world.

What idiots.

"...but some must have wondered why they were there."

How dumb does the writer have to be to actually write something so inane as the above.

The article is "cringe-worthy", the Opening Ceremonies in London were anything but, imo.

false happiness, the scale of the show did not prevent Boyle from presenting a spectrum of emotions and areas of interest. The first Opening Ceremony that was not just a bunch of paint thrown at the wall.
Best Opening Ever.

It was fun, loved the Mary Poppins to the rescue, the Industrial Revolution, James Bond and the Queen, NHS tribute made me very happy. I missed the end though, couldn't keep my eyes open not because I was bored though!

Personally, I liked the Opening Ceremony. But as with many things, I understand that some may disagree. Indeed, some DUers (not talking about the obvious troll) didn't care for it much either. I didn't see you challenging their right to have an opinion, or the right of those who liked it to have an opinion.

on the other hand, sucked worse than any announcers I've ever seen. She was rude and dumb, he was his usual asshole self, with constant irrelevant comments and trying to interject his politics. Lauer was horrid/didn't belong there. And neither did Tom Brokow, IMO.

Absolute garbage by the Mach 5 face lift duo.

WAY better!

Was a few comments by the two people covering it. When he said I am not sure if that baby is creepy (talking about large baby on stage) I thought why is he saying that? He is acting like Mitt. And she said a couple of things too I just can't remember what now...i thought they were disrespectful.

They are epic narcissists, which may be why they like Mitt the Shit so much.

The Dutch come in and Lauer had to start talking about his Dutch wife. Really, Matt???

and it brought out a right wing relative to throw cold water on it as 'smoke and mirrors'.
This from someone who calls (and has his family)himself The General and he never
served a day in the military. He just has been active in re-enactment groups for
the Civil War and Revolutionary War.

I thought it was very creative and entertaining--up until I fell asleep during the entrance
of the athletes.

but I am sure Forbes was rubbed the wrong way by the reference to the National Health Service. I mean, British are supposed to hate it, not be proud of it. Making the NHS a central part of the ceremony probably rubbed them the very wrong way.

It was also funny to see the parody by Mr. Bean.

And of course the entrance of the Queen with 007 was also cute.

But I can tell you, that celebration of the NHS, that is what was going to rub Forbes very wrong.

there were some bright spots. like that tree on the hill getting cut down and hordes of laborers streaming out of it. everything following that moment was forgettable at best. i dont particularly like that they glossed over 300 years of british imperialism but i suppose there wasnt a tasteful way to incorporate that into the performance. or maybe nbc cut to commercial during that part, i don't know.

So I can see why your thread is getting so many negative responses.

I didn't watch for exactly that reason. Early in the day it was being politicized here just as everything else is. For some, politics reign every moment of every day and with every breath.

Boring.

This is a link to the WSJ. I provided no commentary, just a link.

The whole thing is. For instance; there were Summer Olympics in '04 and '08... did a single DUer mention dressage? I think not.

so no I would not call it embarrassing at all.

When they did the bit about how much they loved their healthcare system, tying it in with children's literature. I don't want him dead, obviously, but he seriously is afraid that Medicare might become part of the government. A little perspective might do him some good.

Sadly, he thinks that they should have made it another fascist imperial litany, the way most nations would. The fact that England can laugh at itself is the one great cultural achievement they made, and no, that is not sarcasm, but something the world needs a lot more of. The fact they had the courage to show humor is brilliant, especially in the light of the way that China and, yes, even Canada, turned their ceremonies into screaming matches, as if to say "YES WE ARE THE MOST VIRTUOUS NATION IN THE WORLD!"

It just was not some people's idea of art.

Personally I loved it, I "got" it.