Huzzah for the Olympics

[Loz]

... and here's the music from the Pandemonium segment. I can't tell you how many times I have heard this, but it is still an amazing piece of music that perfectly represented the story. The last chord still gets me.

[Pam50]

Thanks Loz! Here's another wonderful piece

[Loz]

Plus the wonderful Nimrod...

[Michael Palaeologus]

Great Opening ceremony.

Where are the medals?

[Ladygooner]

Great tv coverage of the Olympics - too much to watch - all going on at the same time. Good to have the red button if you have Sky

[Otta]

Wish the bbc would shut the hell up about empty seats!!! They were bought and paid for, so they have nothing to complain about.

Also wish the bbc news channel would talk about something else occasionally! I'm happy with the sports coverage, but the endless reporters reporting olympic "news" is tiresome.

[Michael Palaeologus]

Trouble is many of the empty seats have not been paid for, or at least not in the conventional sense. they have been given to sponsors, IOC hangers on and so on. The assumption being that they would be handed on to people who would watch teh sport.

People dont value what they dont pay for, so they dont turn up.

It is a great shame, I have friends staying with me, squelching round London with 2 small children trying to get some sight of the Womens cycling road race. they couldnt get tickets. To see blocks of empty seats is just wrong and should not have happened.

[Alan Medic]

From what I've heard only 5% on the seats at any event are for IOC hangers on. The rest of the empty seats is from the corporate sector who were sold tickets on the understanding that they would be used. London 2012 does not want to be remembered for empty seats at events and I hope the organisers are very proactive in ensuring people get in to events if seats are available. If they are paid for and not used, let people in for free.

Having said that, the Olympics for me is really about track and field events and I'm sure the stadium will be pretty full most of the time when they start.

[Otta]

But if the likes of Visa gave away tickets to competition winners, and those winners didn't bother, I personally think it's harsh to blame visa for that.

[citizenED]

Brilliant; second medal for Team GB with Lizzie's fantastic sliver in the cycling after Hamilton's amazing gold in the road race!

[the-e-dealer]

Some 20% were held onto for Journos, Officials and Official's Friends. Nice to be reminded how equal we are in the UK.

[Alan Medic]

the-e-dealer Wrote:

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> Some 20% were held onto for Journos, Officials and

> Official's Friends. Nice to be reminded how equal

> we are in the UK.

What is your source of information? I don't believe that figure.

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

I went today - great atmosphere and an amazing setting for the horse events, really showed London at its best.

Look out for the water jump tomorrow - fearsome wrapped up in a cute Wind in the Willows setting.

[Loz]

Alan Medic Wrote:

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> From what I've heard only 5% on the seats at any

> event are for IOC hangers on. The rest of the

> empty seats is from the corporate sector who were

> sold tickets on the understanding that they would be used.

According to the Beeb corporates are not the main problem, but the "Olympic Family" who aren't turning up.

"Eight per cent of tickets have been made available to sponsors and 75% per cent to the public. Another 12% go to National Olympic Committees and 5% to the Olympic family - people like IOC officials and the media."

[...]

"It doesn't appear to be a sponsor issue. Sponsors are turning up," Seb Coe said on Sunday. Locog has looked at who didn't turn up on Saturday and it was not predominantly the Games' corporate funders.

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

My first gripe of the games: flesh coloured face mikes aren't taking tanning salon finishes into account.

[Salsaboy]

Ooooooo it's all so good, but too much choice. Red button on the beeb means I'm flicking back and forth between everything and seeing nothing.

Women's beach volleyball in HD - hubba hubba.

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Can't hear the Marseillaise without blubbing. I blame 'Escape to Victory' and 'Casablanca'.

[woodrot]

well

It was a proper WTF at regular occasions

Kes, A matter of life and death, the NHS, the Industrial revolution , suffragetes, the windrush, the music - I was really welling up as I watched it - utterly shits on the DPRK like Beijjing ceremony - sometimes I like being a "brit" and the OC was one of those occasions

*wipes tears from eyes, clutches the Union flag to chest*

Well done Danny Boyle - this could so easily have become a Eurovision like PR fest for Britain - thank FUCK they didnt get Richard Curtis to do it...

[woodrot]

*Bob* Wrote:

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> It could have been so, so awful, but it just

> wasn't.

>

> The best music score and selection I think I've

> ever heard put together for the kind of global

> event that could have so easily (and usually does)

> sound corporate, pompous - and populist.. in the

> wrong way. If Macca had just done 'The End' and

> walked off, I probably would have lunged to my

> feet and applauded. I have already pretended I

> didn't hear Hey Jude.

>

> There were some genuinely great and moving bits..

> And some filler, but ?27m can't buy everything.

> Comparisons with the gaudy Chinese showboat affair

> are pointless.. $100m buys you a lot more in China

> than ?27m buys you in London. There was heart and

> thought in the show. I'll take that over six hours

> of continuous fireworks and an ultrabright LED

> nailed to every available surface.

>

> Boyle supped from the poison chalice and came-up

> with the goods, flipping the moaners the bird.

> Good on yer.

*Applause*

[Loz]

Michael Palaeologus Wrote:

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> Great ceremony, I did pass comment a few times that it would have the right wing of the

> Conservative Party frothing at the mouth, and so it did. Good.

I know that one plonker MP did froth a bit, but I really do not think the ceremony particularly leant in any particular political direction, though the NHS featuring seems to have the left wing creaming their collective jeans.

The whole point of the ceremony was to celebrate two things: first, the contribution the UK has made to the world in so many ways and second, and most importantly, celebrating the power of the individual. Neither of these are particularly left or right wing concepts.

Yes, it celebrated the NHS, but mainly the individuals in it. It also honoured and celebrated the armed services. It showed the Queen in a wonderful new light. It celebrated our youth and our culture. As Tim Berniers-Lee's tweet said, "This is for everyone." That sentiment was also on the last page of the official programme - the text created from a montage of the photos of all the volunteer performers.

Danny's description to us of the vision behind the Industrial Revolution sequence, was also telling: "You are creating hell. That is why we?re putting you through hell. The Industrial Revolution was the most important moment, not just in British history, but in human history. It was monstrous, but it changed lives. People, including you and me, can read and write thanks to it. It made us prosperous. But it also industrialised war and lead to horrendous casualties."

The lefties and righties can fight all they like, but Shami Chakrabarti in the guardian today summed it up best:

"This didn't feel like a leftwing or rightwing rally. There was far too much variety, self-deprecation and wit ? qualities that made the ceremony all the more British. From innovation in industry and technology to diversity in the arts and literature; from suffragettes and hunger marchers to punks and rappers ? the pageant was a celebration of our freedom. As with all great theatre, it became progressively easy to suspend disbelief. Boyle's story of Britain was inclusive and truthful, co-ordinated and individual, spectacular and human..."

[Pam50]

I'm loving hearing all the music again downloaded from

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008QAFVIW/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=103612307&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B008MIHQQI&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=1MW7YP08PY19C61V0GKZ

or ITunes

The CD is out Aug 2nd. Play.com has it for ?10.99, slighly cheaper than Amazon.

http://www.play.com/Music/CD/4-/34339707/0/Isles-Of-Wonder-Music-For-The-Opening-Ceremony-Of-The-London-2012-Olympic-Games/ListingDetails.html

(Thankfully, no contribution from Paul McCartney!)

[Michael Palaeologus]

So far, the Opening Ceremony has been the highlight.

Only a Silver and Bronze so far. Not a good return on our investment.

[El Pibe]

I rather enjoyed it too.

Intersting hearing a discussion in the office going on behind me this morning between a frenchie, iranian and kenyan(indian).

all three are mostly agreed that they enjoyed it, that they were mystified by most of it and the NHS bit, word for word quote on consensus:

- yeah, i get it, theyre proud of the NHS, but why would anyone else in the world give a shit?

It's from the horses mouth and impossible to argue with, it was a bit navel gazing wasn't it.

[Jeremy]

Well it's an important part of British history, and worthy of inclusion - but they dragged it out a bit, didn't they?

[Michael Palaeologus]

Well, yes, it was about Britain. What would be the point of a London Olympics opening ceremony that was about anything else?

If the Olympics were in France, Iran or Kenya, wouldnt they be about those countries, their history and achievements?

It would be particularly interesting to see what the opening ceremony of a Tehran Olympics would contain.