London Olympics 2012

HJackson wrote:

Mildly entertaining closing ceremony

moment of the evening really. Salutes.

j7wild wrote:

George Michael was there at the closing ceremony.

Did they let him out of Prison?

The Spice Girls?

I didn't know they were still alive!

Grief man, are you serious :affraid:

Largo's Shark wrote:

HJackson wrote:

j7wild wrote:

George Michael was there at the closing ceremony.

Did they let him out of Prison?

It's more surprising that they managed to get him out of the men's toilets.

They should have brought back the grassy knoll from the opening ceremony and recreated Hampstead Heath.

A cottaging scene certainly would have been nice - find the right actor to play Ted Heath and it lets us show the world we've had Prime Ministers other than Churchill too.

HJackson wrote:

Mildly entertaining closing ceremony

#WhitePeople

MUSE were f*cking awful. Like SPRINGTIME FOR HITLER without the humour.

What the hell was Emeli Sandé doing? The bitch can't sing. Tinie Tempah and Taio Cruz? Jessie J covering We Will Rock You? Ed bleeding Sheeran replacing David Gilmour? You having a laugh? Russell Brand sh*tting on one of the Sherman Brothers' greatest songs ("Pure Imagination"), the over-reliance on The Beatles, and One Direction? Though to be honest, the bait and switch of the David Bowie bit pissed me off more than anything.

Thank God for the The Who, Bryan May, George Michael, and Monty Python.

You thank God for the Who, the actual Who rather than Kaiser Chiefs doing the Who wouldn't have been too far wrong.

As for One Direction, as Don Rickles I believe said: "Why don't you take a left and go right into yourself"
Bloody swines

Hilly wrote:

You thank God for the Who, the actual Who rather than Kaiser Chiefs doing the Who wouldn't have been too far wrong.

Wasn't there both? :suspect:

The Kaisers did a cover "Pinball Wizard" and then at the end The Who did a three song set.

Largo's Shark wrote:

Hilly wrote:

You thank God for the Who, the actual Who rather than Kaiser Chiefs doing the Who wouldn't have been too far wrong.

Wasn't there both? :suspect:

The Kaisers did a cover "Pinball Wizard" and then at the end The Who did a three song set.

I didn't notice that. Pretty sure it was only Pinball Wizard.

Hilly wrote:

Largo's Shark wrote:

Hilly wrote:

You thank God for the Who, the actual Who rather than Kaiser Chiefs doing the Who wouldn't have been too far wrong.

Wasn't there both? :suspect:

The Kaisers did a cover "Pinball Wizard" and then at the end The Who did a three song set.

I didn't notice that. Pretty sure it was only Pinball Wizard.

It was before Take That.

I must've been more dazzled by Boris than I feared.

The David Arnold piece was just as bad I expected, though the DANCES WITH WOLVES trumpet solo was a nice nod to Sir John.

Closing ceremonies photos from inside the Olympic Stadium:

http://www.imagebam.com/gallery/61o9h9x825t36xezhgt0cr3yojuiks1q/

Annie Lennox performing:

http://www.imagebam.com/gallery/mgb7lna4lojmrjivcuryyliu9dqttd9f/

Lily Cole:

http://www.imagebam.com/gallery/hnxjkmw6htmpp16ax0485j42twwruyrc/

Kate Moss:

http://www.imagebam.com/gallery/ntcuopiudr4np2mi94725bpr1mrks1hf/

(In the scope of public interest and safety, I DID NOT post the 122 images of The Spice Girls performing.

I didn't want anyone here to fall ill from their pictures.)

The view of the Fireworks from outside the Olympic Stadium




The Olympic flames are being extinguished




The last set of fireworks in the colors of RIO, Brazil 2016 Summer Olympics




The London 2012 Olympics is now officially over!!



Thank You London for being a most gracious host!!

:cheers:

Largo's Shark wrote:

MUSE were f*cking awful.

As usual.

Anyone have a link to a video of this?

The only decent clip on Youtube is of the Spice Girls.

The hottest one is Old Spice.

The Spice Girls, featuring David Beckham's boyfriend.

The black one has good T&A.

Is it okay to stop caring about water polo and sailing and equestrian events for another four years?

I didn't watch a single minute of it.

By the time NBC broadcast any of it, I'd already knew the results by looking on the internet during the day.

I wasn't even deliberately looking at the Olympics results either.

Anytime I logged onto the internet, the results were right there on my Yahoo Email or on the Google home page.

It wasn't hard to miss.

I saw NBC's rebroadcast of the closing ceremonies, which apparent DID include The Who, George Michael, and others that were originally cut out of the initial broadcast, though I appeared to miss MUSE in the closing ceremony (and opening ceremony if they were in that as well).

Now that it's all over I can rain on London's parade just a little bit. While the games went off without a hitch and credit should be given to all the volunteers and organizers who put together such a logistical nightmare, I've got to say that the opening and closing ceremonies will be remembered, I feel, in a bad way. Off the top of my head, I can't recall a winter or summer olympiad whose ceremonies were so vulgar, cheap, crass, tacky, and void of taste. There's a big sigh of relief in Atlanta (my hometown) because we're pretty confident now that the opening ceremony of our "redneck games" will be forgotten, and instead London will supplant that memory with sick kids in hospital beds singing about the joys of the National Health Service, or The Spice Girls lip-synching (poorly, I might add). You offered us an exploding car with Batman and Robin jumping out of it? One Direction? I mean, good God!!

Of all the beauty and class and talent and culture that England has, I was astonished to see it scrape the gutter with drug addicts and sex offenders like George Michael, or "supermodels" like Kate Moss (who have harmed millions of girls self-image with her "heroin-chic" look) or tantrum/phone-throwing Naomi Campbell. These were the best and the brightest that England had to offer? And the inclusion of John Lennon's political song, Imagine, really had no place in these closing ceremonies (not to mention it directly insulted the 6.5 billion people on the planet who do believe in a God or some form of organized religion).

By the time Fatboy Slim came on the program, and then the "rappers", I started to tune out and read my book. I guess I just don't "get it".

An opening and closing ceremony should make me want to know more about the host country; it should be a snap-shot of the greatness of the country and the people. Instead, I feel like the artistic directors of these ceremonies went for camp...for kitsch....for laughs...for cheap baubles. Honestly, I'm surprised Jack The Ripper didn't get some inclusion in the ceremonies (or did I miss that?). And then you've got Annie Lennox going around singing as some sort of f****ing vampire?!?

British taxpayers are getting hosed if they ended up paying for that crap.

I will always remember the ceremonies (to a greater or lesser degree) of Lillehammer, Norway, or Vancouver, British Columbia, or Beijing, China. And I"ll never forget London either, but not out of respect or fondness for the artistic endeavor, but for the sheer abomination and colossal failure of the directors in charge to emphasize anything of merit or virtue, but instead to pander to the lowest common denominator.

The opening ceremony did well at celebrating England's culture.

Shakespeare, James Bond, and The Rolling Stones. What more could one ask for?

Joking aside, I loved the opening ceremony. I wasn't quite as gripped by the closing ceremony, though. I have no interest in The Spice Girls, Russel Brand, or Jessie J (whoever the fuck that is). I caught the Eric Idle segment, but, unfortunately, missed Michael Caine--perhaps Britain's greatest living legend.

The games were all great, however. And I caught plenty of women's volleyball.

Quote :

You offered us an exploding car with Batman and Robin jumping out of it?

That was a reference to a classic episode of the British comedy series ONLY FOOLS AND HORSES. I don't think it aired in the states.

If anyone wants 122 Ultra High Quality photos of the Spice Girls, PM me.

;)

I think Eric Idle was probably the best bit, but then it's another cheque in the mail. One of the better Python song moments is in He's Not the Messiah but there you go.

Sooner see the Spice Girls parachuted into the Atlantic.

Nice of them to fit zimmer frames to the top of the taxis for them though.

I enjoyed the opening and closing ceremonies. Unashamedly British. I despise One Direction, can't stand the Spice Girls (who would have sounded better if they had have lip synched, like One Direction did), had no idea who Jessie J was, and still don't, and I'm always hypercritical of anyone singing Queen who isn't Freddie Mercury.

My biggest complaint - it made me sing Waterloo Sunset to myself for most of today.

Ravenstone wrote:

I enjoyed the opening and closing ceremonies. Unashamedly British.

Was it, though? I guess that's for them to decide. When I think of England I never think of pop culture, music, or fashion. I would like to think that if I had been the director in charge of putting on these shows I would have come up with something loftier than The Spice Girls.

Quote :

I despise One Direction

Don't know enough about them to despise them, but I certainly don't believe they have a body of work that merited putting them on the biggest stage in the world. The Who, The Rolling Stones, Duran Duran, Muse....hell, even George Michael and The Spice Girls :roll: have at least been around a while and accomplished something. I wonder who One Direction's manager had to blow to get them a spot in the closing ceremony. Will anyone even be talking about these kids two years from now? I think not.

Quote :

can't stand the Spice Girls (who would have sounded better if they had have lip synched, like One Direction did)

I'm pretty sure The Spice Girls lip-synched. The black one, Scary Spice(?), was nowhere near the microphone when her vocals were going out over the system.

Quote :

had no idea who Jessie J was, and still don't, and I'm always hypercritical of anyone singing Queen who isn't Freddie Mercury.

Never heard of her either, though I guess if you're going to get-sub for Freddie Mercury she didn't do too bad of a job.

I will say this: I've done a complete reversal on MUSE's "Survival". I love it. It took a second listening to get the hook or melody. What troubled me at first was that it starts off like an opera with some classical music thrown in, then it fades into some sort of jazz recital for about 30 seconds, then it gives way to alternative-rock. Just got back from the gym and I must've listened to it at least 5x while I was there. Too bad American didn't get a chance to hear it. I think NBC cut them and The Who and Kate Bush from the closing ceremony. I could do without the operatic background vocals on Survival, but I can also work with it. The lyrics are uncompromising. It reminds me of a bit of QUEEN with a bit of FAITH NO MORE's "EPIC" thrown in. Great stuff. I can't wait for their next single, SKYFALL, to come out.

But anyway...other than the artistic direction of the ceremonies, I think the London Games were fantastic. It's extremely complicated to pull those things off. Londoner's should be proud and I look forward to Rio. Now THAT is a place I'd love to be in the summer of 2016. I bet there's going to be some gooood times. Lotta tongue lashing.