# Olympic Ceremony - Impressions Outside UK **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 27, 2012, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-ceremony-impressions-outside-uk/629613 "2012-07-27T22:11:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2012, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-ceremony-impressions-outside-uk/629613/21 "2012-07-28T03:51:05Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > Finally, did the Queen look pissed after the film showing her jumping out a helicopter with James Bond. I think she just doesn’t have a face that automatically makes her look happy. It’s unfortunate for a person in her position, but some people just have naturally grumpy faces (I’m one of them too). ETA: She even [acknowledged it once](http://www.vanityfair.com/society/2012/01/queen-elizabeth-201201): > [@](#): > > Meeting and greeting thousands of people at receptions and garden parties actually gave her a temporary facial tic. But when she was watching a performance or a parade, and her face was in repose, she looked grumpy, even formidable. As the Queen herself once ruefully acknowledged, “The trouble is that, unlike my mother, I don’t have a naturally smiley face.” ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2012, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-ceremony-impressions-outside-uk/629613/22 "2012-07-28T03:54:13Z")
> [@Gary\_T](#): > > Ah, I see. Since I won’t be watching till the end, I guess I’ll find out tomorrow. Bronze petals to form a large sculpture that will become the cauldron And I liked that when the cauldron was lit and the fireworks went off, the music was Pink Floyd’s _“Eclipse”_ ---
**Author:** ![SurrenderDorothy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/surrenderdorothy/32/1221_2.png) [@SurrenderDorothy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SurrenderDorothy)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2012, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-ceremony-impressions-outside-uk/629613/23 "2012-07-28T03:54:55Z")
I actually somehow made it to this point in my life without knowing that that was the tune to “God Save The Queen”. I don’t know how I managed that. Paul McCartney is old and not sounding good and this Hey Jude thing is not working for me. I liked the show overall, though. It was definitely kind of bizarre, but captivating and fun. I thought the cauldron was super cool, though. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2012, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-ceremony-impressions-outside-uk/629613/24 "2012-07-28T03:57:25Z")
she does have a gorgeous smile when she deploys it. becoming queen so young, it is no doubt a good thing she has a “we are not amused” face. gary t, they will become the olympic cauldron. hopefully you can sleep now. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2012, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-ceremony-impressions-outside-uk/629613/25 "2012-07-28T03:58:23Z")
I loved it! Surreal, funny…pythonesque!! I’d pay to see it in a theater. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2012, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-ceremony-impressions-outside-uk/629613/26 "2012-07-28T03:59:45Z")
Since we’re in Cafe Society, I can repost what I said on Facebook (I’m British, but I live in the States, so I think I get to participate in this thread): > [@](#): > > Why Paul McCartney? Roger Daltrey, Elton John, Elvis Costello, David Bowie, Ray Davies… all actually from London. Also, better. I thought the ceremony was cherishably naff. It was a reasonable combination of pandering to the global audience (“look, it’s Mr. Bean/J.K. Rowling/Voldemort/Bond!”, etc.) and stuff that only the local audience would appreciate (Ode to the National Health Service, weird farming-cum-cricket-match opening act). ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2012, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-ceremony-impressions-outside-uk/629613/27 "2012-07-28T04:02:20Z")
That was just . . . surreal. I do mean that in the best sense of the word. Very cool, visually, but not exactly Olympianesque. In Vegas, bravo; on the world stage, wtf. I’ve been watching with a handful of Brits who, to a man, have deemed it shite. Of course they’re all antisocial, antimonarch, London hating, ex football hooligans so what the hell do they know. I’m not a big Olympics fan and probably won’t catch much of the games but I still felt compelled to watch the opening ceremony, as I’m a sucker for pomp and hoopla. I would have been bummed if I’d heard descriptions of it without having seen it myself. Truly a “you had to see it to believe it” affair. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2012, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-ceremony-impressions-outside-uk/629613/28 "2012-07-28T04:08:35Z")
The fireworks at the end were pretty good. Much better than the Jubilee stuff. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2012, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-ceremony-impressions-outside-uk/629613/29 "2012-07-28T04:15:48Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Since we’re in Cafe Society, I can repost what I said on Facebook (I’m British, but I live in the States, so I think I get to participate in this thread): > > I thought the ceremony was cherishably naff. It was a reasonable combination of pandering to the global audience (“look, it’s Mr. Bean/J.K. Rowling/Voldemort/Bond!”, etc.) and stuff that only the local audience would appreciate (Ode to the National Health Service, weird farming-cum-cricket-match opening act). Agreed; one would have to look at the whole thing over again to catch all those various references (e.g. in the pre-ceremony video ostensibly following the Thames from its source there was another scattering of both grand/small and high/pop cultural imagings). Perfectly adequate, reallly, and an appropriate walkback from the trend to the hyperproduced. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2012, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-ceremony-impressions-outside-uk/629613/30 "2012-07-28T04:16:32Z")
I thought it was wonderful. Sure you could nit pick anything, especially the NHS thing, but overall it was very entertaining. I have a room full of people from 14 to 51 who all share this feeling. So, I say well done to London. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2012, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-ceremony-impressions-outside-uk/629613/31 "2012-07-28T04:19:15Z")
I thought it was fabulous, start to finish. It was uniquely British and didn’t try to mimic the look or feel of any other opening ceremonies. The Beijing ceremony had more “shock and awe” but there was no humor in it. This ceremony had tons, and in addition to that I thought that the way the cauldron was lit was very beautiful and moving. Really, really first-rate. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2012, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-ceremony-impressions-outside-uk/629613/32 "2012-07-28T04:25:11Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > …an appropriate walkback from the trend to the hyperproduced. I meant to mention that. There was no way they were going to out-spectacular Beijing, short of Her Majesty _actually_ skydiving into the royal box, so not trying was a very good idea. ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2012, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-ceremony-impressions-outside-uk/629613/33 "2012-07-28T04:26:42Z")
Speaking as an American, perhaps I’m just too familiar with British culture, literature, music, etc. I prefer the more exotic (to me) venues: Barcelona, Lillehammer, Nagano, Athens, Torino, Beijing, etc. so I’m looking forward to Sochi and Rio de Janeiro. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2012, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-ceremony-impressions-outside-uk/629613/34 "2012-07-28T04:28:02Z")
You mean the Barcelona that had Freddie Mercury sing its Olympic theme song? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2012, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-ceremony-impressions-outside-uk/629613/35 "2012-07-28T04:57:23Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > I liked Rowan Atkinson’s skit to _Chariots of Fire_. I also liked that it was a little less sanitised than you’d expect an Olympic ceremony to be. The wife got up at 3am to watch this. I wasn’t going to bother, but her moving around woke me up. We missed the first 20 minutes or so, because – silly us – we thought BBC would show it, but instead they just kept talking to guests inside a studio about the ceremony. We finally realized it really had started and found it being shown on a local channel. The wife loves Mr. Bean, and the Rowan Atkinson bit was brilliant. I found the whole ceremony impressive, but I finally had to crawl back to bed when they started marching out the different countries. The wife stayed upuntil 7am our time, when the local channel unceremoniously cut the broadcast in the middle of Paul McCartney’s singing. Wish I’d seen the queen skydiving. ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2012, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-ceremony-impressions-outside-uk/629613/36 "2012-07-28T05:22:25Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > You mean the Barcelona that had Freddie Mercury sing its Olympic theme song? 😉 Not saying it was perfect. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2012, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-ceremony-impressions-outside-uk/629613/37 "2012-07-28T05:23:44Z")
No, but you did say maybe you enjoyed it less because of your familiarity with British culture and music. ---
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2012, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-ceremony-impressions-outside-uk/629613/38 "2012-07-28T05:37:37Z")
I appreciate the attempt to take the opening ceremony in a different, quirkier direction but the ideas and execution weren’t good enough and it ended up being a weird, hallucinatory mess IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2012, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-ceremony-impressions-outside-uk/629613/39 "2012-07-28T07:01:24Z")
Now that its over, is there any place I can watch a replay online, google is not being very helpful Declan ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2012, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-ceremony-impressions-outside-uk/629613/40 "2012-07-28T07:07:25Z")
I thought the show was bizarre and I kept jumping during the dream/nightmare sequence. I think some of those children were legitimately creeped out. I liked the end and was surprised when they all put their torches together. Paul McCartney delivered. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-ceremony-impressions-outside-uk/629613.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympic-ceremony-impressions-outside-uk/629613.md?page=3)