Everything Olympics 2012

[Guest howyousawtheworld]

NME forgot some tracks that I can think of on top of my head, so I have no idea why to call it a complete songlist. Where's Brain Eno's An Ending? And Mike Oldfield's In Dulci Jubilo? And Vangelis' Charoits of Fire? I am sure there's missing more then. And I find it questionable that only comments below the article show up that praise Arctic Monkeys instead of what I see here, that most people are like 'WTF? That's random" No, instead I read posts like:

"The only band that can make the Beatles sound better! Arctic monkeys !"

"Best band around now, Arctic Monkeys, doing the best band of all time, Beatles, music"

You cannot tell me that only these kins of posts were posted, surely they filtered the less positive posts out. Whatever, luckily this board doesn't. :thinking:

 

The opening of the Olympics was amazing to me. The industrial revolution to make a ring that would fit in the logo. Then the binding and the sparks coming off, amazing! Also the idea behind and the look of the fire was Wow.

 

Personally the NME and it's readers should come with a warning. They are pretty ignorant folk with not a clue in the world. The Arctic Monkeys are alright but they are nothing special. They are nothing to set the country alight or the world alight for that matter even though I do think they were pretty good (Come Together being a whole lot better than their own hit). I didn't have any urge to go and look up more of their stuff (I have one album of there's which I barely listen to) whereas the likes of Evelyn Glennie (the female drummer) Mike Oldfield and Underworld I did. It was random and looking back I would have preferred if the ceremony had stuck to a soundtrack.

 

So many songs missed out from that list including Emeli Sande's rendition of Abide With Me (which US viewers didn't see after NBC cut it from their edit. Kind of disrespectful as it was paying tribute to those killed in the London bombings which happened a day after London won the games)

 

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmtRlEIIZnQ]Emeli Sandé - Abide With Me (1 Mic, 1 Take) - YouTube[/ame]

[bart]

I dont think any show of its kind could ever replicate what we all seen on Friday , cant wait to see the closing one, I am tremendounsly proud

[Guest howyousawtheworld]

Great Britain have got the silver in the gymnastics! What an effort! I believe this was the same squad who almost failed to qualify for the Olympics!

[Imke]

Insane situation in fencing right now.

[Abracadabra]

I wish I had the opportunity to learn to fence :disappointed:

Swimming soon!

[Guest howyousawtheworld]

Great Britain have got the silver in the gymnastics! What an effort! I believe this was the same squad who almost failed to qualify for the Olympics!

 

:( Japan protested and got promoted back up to second place. Great Britain still get the bronze though and does not take away from their incredible effort. Feel even more sorry for Ukraine who were bumped out of the medal position and into 4th.

[Violet]

^ ...Wait, explain that. How do you protest your way to silver? I've only seen a bit of swimming today, so this is something I missed.

[Coeurli]

ANOTHER GOLD FOR FRANCE!!!! YEEAAAAH!!!!! YANNICK AGNEL IS AWESOME! :awesome:

 

Disappointed for Camille Lacourt, though, who only came in 4th at the 100m backstroke competition :\

[Abracadabra]

^I too was surprised at Lacourt because he started off very well and was I think second after the turn and then something mysterious happened halfway back and he fell behind. He was my favourite and it really surprised me, his being left without the medal.

[Coeurli]

^ He was still in second 10 seconds before the end! :bomb: ugh!!!

 

It's disappointing when people from our swimming team don't win, not only because they can, but also because they're great people, you can see they're nice, clever and down to earth when they speak to Nelson Monfort :nod: (French journalist who speaks to athletes right after their race)

[Guest howyousawtheworld]

^ He was still in second 10 seconds before the end! :bomb: ugh!!!

 

It's disappointing when people from our swimming team don't win, not only because they can, but also because they're great people, you can see they're nice, clever and down to earth when they speak to Nelson Monfort :nod: (French journalist who speaks to athletes right after their race)

 

France have got some really good swimmers it seems. Really strong nation. Is this France's strongest sport in the way that cycling or rowing is for the UK?

[Guest howyousawtheworld]

^ ...Wait, explain that. How do you protest your way to silver? I've only seen a bit of swimming today, so this is something I missed.

 

Japan protested the judges scoring on the pommel horse where the original decision deemed that one of their athletes dismount was a fall thus scoring no points. Japan successfully appealed that their athlete's dismount wasn't a fall and thus gained the points that saw them sail back to take the silver medal. Ukrainian's are understandably gutted.

[Coeurli]

France have got some really good swimmers it seems. Really strong nation. Is this France's strongest sport in the way that cycling or rowing is for the UK?

It might be one of our strongest, indeed. We're also very good at judo (3 bronze medals already and Teddy Riner, a legend, hasn't even started yet). I think these are the sports where we'll get our most important number of medals, but we also have chances in athleticism.

[Reilly]

What a stunningly mongoloid review, must be written by a 15 year old, an illegal immigrant, or an American.

You clearly have no idea about British Culture.

"The entire theme was baffling". WOW, how much of a cretin must one be to not understand or be able to follow the theme? It was artisitic to set a backdrop of squalor and pain with SGT Pepper marching in, or did that confuse you too?

"The exorcist theme". WOW another amazingly stupid comment. Yes it was the theme to the exorcist, so fucking what?! It's called Tubular Bells and it sold 19 million record in the UK Alone (more than any Coldplay Record). Yo also say that you disliked the musical choices, well I thought it was very apt for a British opening ceremony? If Coldpla had been picked I would have slit my wrists with embarrassment. I'm a huge fan but really, that would have been cowtaling to corporate-whoreism. "it was like he had his ipod on shuffle". Hmm yes, it was. How else would you syncrhonise 50 years of British Music without playing them all the way throught from start to finish. Boyle managed to capture all areas of Bitish Music covering all tastes and preferences. Even if you don't like it, Dizzee Rascal and Pop music is now integrated into British culture.

 

Very ignorant to suggest that the 'shimmying of the insudtrial businessmen" was 'funny'. What else would they fucking do? Just Stand there? Has to be some kinetic movement otherwise it would be like Beijing's ceremony of box people. and on to the 'kids bouncing on the beds'. Do you know what GOSH is? I expect not, a very British institution that saves thousands of children every year from impoverished backgrounds and life threatening illnesses, often if it means they will die anyway. did you understand the literature bit? or as you like to call it "the Kids bouncing on the bed bit", astonishing. British literature is so encompassing, it was highlighted by JK Rowling who is also a fuckig mong and literally any other human would have been more deserving but it illustrated the more famous sides of British literature and how it resonsates with children and their imaginations.

 

Go to fucking school, read a book, and watch it again, then you might be able to pick some stuff up.

 

And the NHS was given a fantastic tribute by the nurses of the real life NHS, What was wrong with that?

 

This is just such an odd post, at times its like you aren't even disagreeing with me, as all the swearing and attempts at insults clearly mean otherwise- do you always have such a problem with expressing your opinions?

 

I didn't find everything about the show baffling, as I wrote in my last post, a lot of it wasn't very hard to understand and you don't need to be British or know everything about your culture to get it. It was the way it was all put together, the toing and froing between timelines, I found the jump from the end of the Industrial Revolution to Sgt Peppers just very odd, and cheesy

 

Yeah, it is the theme to the Exorcist. OK. We've definitely now established that. Three times now. What was your problem with me writing that exactly? Your point didn't go anywhere! But regardless, I'll justify my reasoning behind calling it 'the theme to the Exorcist' and bring howyousawtheworld into this point:

 

^ Yeah the fact that not knowing it was Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells and presumed that a soundtrack from a horror movie shows little understanding.

 

Are you sure you knew that? I thought you didn't know a lot about Oldfield? You make 'Tubular Bells' sound like its a single. Regardless, that original album started off very slowly and only increased in popularity after the release of the Exorcist a short time later. I don't know a lot about Mike Oldfield, but probably more then most, from an enthusiasm for The Exorcist at one point and in recent years a sample of Oldfield in a Kanye West album reminded me of the fairly unknown singer, so for me and the rest of civilisation (Including the vast majority of Brits who watched the ceremony not having a clue who Oldfield is) it is known as 'the Exorcist theme', I don't know how hard to stomach that is, but nobody, even Mike Oldfields biggest fan, would call that short excerpt from the large text of music simply "Tubular Bells". So I don't know why either of you would assume I don't know how huge that album became (Off the back of the Exorcist) but I also don't know what difference that makes whatsoever, or why it's even worth mentioning.

 

It's the theme from the fucking Exorcist, OK? If calling it that that upsets you, then be upset at 99% of the people (British included) watching it as well. Also there's no way that album sold 19million records in the UK alone! Hahaha! Are you fucking demented! As if 1 in 3 households have an old Tubular Bells vinyl kicking about.

 

So anyway, back to this reply that is just as dis-jointed as the ceremony, it was like his iPod on shuffle. Glad you agree. Are your contributions in life always this fucking pointless? My point was that it didn't sound like a carefully arranged collection of songs, it's like he left his iPod on shuffle, and (now I'm repeating myself) it wasn't at all a wide range of influential music, like I already wrote. So I can't believe I have to now explain this to you, but by writing that it was a random collection of songs, I was therefore explaining that it wasn't a wide and diverse arrangement of music, as you seem to see it.

 

You are so fucking one dimensional and narrow minded, at no point did I say I dislike Dizzee Rascal (not that it should even matter- I love the song Bonkers) or pop music, I clearly pointed out the way it jumped from a bunch of songs in mid to late 90's right up to 2008. I have no problems with a fair representation of music, whether or not I like it, so I don't see why you'd assume that out of nothing, the problem was that it wasn't a fair representation of music, it was choppy.

 

As for what else the businessmen should fucking do, well yes, most of the time they did just stand there actually. They literally did just stand there, about 3/4s of the time, by hell you're a moron. And you're suggesting I should watch it again? The stillness is what made the shimmying even more hilarious, they just stood there, doing absolutely nothing, then all of a sudden every now and then they'd do these ridiculous looking dance moves.

 

And if you think Great Ormond Street is some underground institution, and Mike Oldfield is like freaking Britney 90s famous, you have some serious re-tuning to do there. I like how you seem to think it's such a huge step up to take "the bouncing on the beds bit" and instead transform it into "the literature bit", oh how profound! You nit-picking freak.

 

As for slitting your wrists at Coldplay's music being involved in an opening ceremony, I hope their success in Brazil picks up in the next 4 years.

[Guest howyousawtheworld]

You know what I was getting at. It was from Tubular Bells. I don't know a lot about Mike

Oldfield's work but I do know that the track was originally from the album Tubular Bells.

 

The Exorcist theme (happy now?) doesn't have to be mutually tied to the film. It's his song, he'll do whatever the hell he wants!

 

Also Great Ormond Street Hospital being involved and celebrated in the ceremony shouldn't be a matter for gripe. It was great seeing a nod towards some of the great work done in the United Kingdom in caring for ill children. I'd rather see those children involved in a ceremony and enjoying themselves than 2000 or so aggressively choreographed men putting on an incredible yet meaningless visual feat. Also with 2012 being the 160th anniversary of the opening of the hospital what better tribute than to include it in the Olympics opening ceremony?

[Prospector]

 

What a stunningly mongoloid review, must be written by a 15 year old, an illegal immigrant, or an American.

 

Really, not saying I agree or not, but using someone's nationality as an insult on the olympisc thread is a bit of an irony. The place you're born doesn't make you smarter or better than anyone else :wink:

[Reilly]

You know what I was getting at. It was from Tubular Bells. I don't know a lot about Mike

Oldfield's work but I do know that the track was originally from the album Tubular Bells.

 

I quite simply don't believe you, nothing personal.

 

The Exorcist theme (happy now?) doesn't have to be mutually tied to the film. It's his song, he'll do whatever the hell he wants!

 

Also Great Ormond Street Hospital being involved and celebrated in the ceremony shouldn't be a matter for gripe. It was great seeing a nod towards some of the great work done in the United Kingdom in caring for ill children. I'd rather see those children involved in a ceremony and enjoying themselves than 2000 or so aggressively choreographed men putting on an incredible yet meaningless visual feat. Also with 2012 being the 160th anniversary of the opening of the hospital what better tribute than to include it in the Olympics opening ceremony?

 

Whether it's called Exorcist Theme or Tubular Bells, I don't see how you can assume anything from me calling it either. When I say "WTF is the exorcist theme doing playing over kids bouncing on beds!" I'm meaning it in the grand scale of how the audience perceives it, that's essentially what it was and how the global and most of the UK will have seen it. This is a mainstream ceremony, and it's orchestrated by a guy who specialises in slums and smackheads. It was very self-centred, ambiguous, and a car crash.

 

You make good points about how there's nothing wrong with celebrating the NHS or Great Ormond Street, and as did the previous poster (Can't remember his name) about how there's nothing wrong with celebrating the NHS, but whatever nice motives were behind it, it looked ridiculous. That's just it, it looked so, so, stupid.

 

I never said that celebrating the NHS, or Great Ormond Street, is a bad thing, it could've been done a lot more artistically, rather then a massive NHS and GOSH logo spelt out by white beds, which just looked shit, quite frankly. Visually it was horrific. You don't seem to be addressing this, just grasping at the background of it.

 

It's just a clear case of bias, if ceremonies were swapped about, and Britain had done the over-the-top visual extravaganza of Beijing, you'd be grappling for excuses and meanings behind everything to do with the ceremony if someone hinted that it was boring and repetitive as opposed to the acid trip of the London ceremony.

[Guest howyousawtheworld]

I quite simply don't believe you, nothing personal.

 

 

 

Whether it's called Exorcist Theme or Tubular Bells, I don't see how you can assume anything from me calling it either. When I say "WTF is the exorcist theme doing playing over kids bouncing on beds!" I'm meaning it in the grand scale of how the audience perceives it, that's essentially what it was and how the global and most of the UK will have seen it. This is a mainstream ceremony, and it's orchestrated by a guy who specialises in slums and smackheads. It was very self-centred, ambiguous, and a car crash.

 

You make good points about how there's nothing wrong with celebrating the NHS or Great Ormond Street, and as did the previous poster (Can't remember his name) about how there's nothing wrong with celebrating the NHS, but whatever nice motives were behind it, it looked ridiculous. That's just it, it looked so, so, stupid.

 

I never said that celebrating the NHS, or Great Ormond Street, is a bad thing, it could've been done a lot more artistically, rather then a massive NHS and GOSH logo spelt out by white beds, which just looked shit, quite frankly. Visually it was horrific. You don't seem to be addressing this, just grasping at the background of it.

 

It's just a clear case of bias, if ceremonies were swapped about, and Britain had done the over-the-top visual extravaganza of Beijing, you'd be grappling for excuses and meanings behind everything to do with the ceremony if someone hinted that it was boring and repetitive as opposed to the acid trip of the London ceremony.

 

Wonderful! If you don't believe me, fine. I won't take it personally.

 

If London had put on a show the scale of Beijing it would have looked like a desperate attempt to still make the country look "big and important" on the international stage. I'm not saying the UK is not important on the international stage but doing so would be bigging ourselves up higher than Beijing was perfect in the sense that it reflected their status in the world. Britain's was perfect in that it reflected their status in today's world. Also there was enough visuals to keep your eyes pleased. The industrial revolution section was fantastic as was the simplicity of the stadium draped in blue moments before the ceremony proper began, commemorating Britain's sea faring status. And hey were your simple eyes not satisfied enough with a firework display at the end? Maybe I am biased or perhaps it's just that I genuinely loved Danny Boyle's efforts in making it unique and special to those involved and those watching it. You comparing it to the incomparable that was Beijing displays that you were completely deluded in your expectations.

[rainplay]

Have been kinda busy, so can't follow the Olympics that much :disappointed:

 

But, whenever I watch it, USA and China are alwaaaaays on the freaking podium. Ohh and Canada got a medal, wooohooo.

 

And that Chinese girl who swam like the fastest ever. Haha, ya, nothing shady involved there..

[Wyrd]

I dunno, when I mentioned to the bunch of people I was watching the cerenomy with that Tubular bells was also used as theme of The Exorcist, they did not know (neither that in the Netherlands it was used for the television serie Bassie and Adriaan, bwahahaha!). They did know it was Tubular Bells though.

 

I loved the part with the queen arriving as well :D

[Ms Magpie]

AAAAAND SILVER FOR SLOVENIA IN JUDO!!!

 

:dance: :dance: :dance: :dance: :dance:

[Abracadabra]

:whaaat: Yeah, congrats. :nice:

[Prospector]

:( no medals after the 3 of the first day

[James.]

Darn those pesky Japanese, we earned that silver medal :snobby:

[Coeurli]

Gold medal for Tony Estanguet, which makes him the first French athlete to get 3 gold medals at the OG in the same discipline :awesome:

 

We just got a 10th medal thanks to Camille Muffat who got a silver medal in the 200m :awesome:

 

And kudos to Tsonga, who FINALLY won his match against Raonic, 25-23 in the last set! At some point, Isner-Mahut was worldwide TT on Twitter, because it reminded people of the longest tennis match in history :laugh3: Mahut is also a French guy, btw. We love tennis so much we don't want games to end :awesome::lol: