So yes, I may have snickered a touch when they lit the torch with Pink Floyd’s Eclipse from the Dark Side of the Moon.
BTW- I loved the lighting ceremony. Thought it was very cool.
by John Cole| 72 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
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El Cid
Nothing like the classic Pink Floyd movies of the ’40s, with all the suspense and the snappy dialogue.
different-church-lady
When do the Spice Girls go on?
NotMax
Couldn’t get the rights to “Money?”
foodriots
That’s exactly the sort of comment one would expect from someone living life as an observer from a computer screen reading Rolling Stone and actually believing it when they write a story that global food riots are just around the corner.
In other words, get a life.
different-church-lady
Wait a minute… there’s a good Pink Floyd movie?
David Koch
Ah, fuck.
U just ruined it for everyone on the west coast.
pseudonymous in nc
“Bonkers” seems to have been the preferred term. I liked Marina Hyde’s tweet: “I can’t believe this country is allowed nuclear weapons.”
Lavocat
McCartney was as cringeworthy as ever. And he looked like shit. Good christ!
Four words: Best. Lighting. Ceremony. Evah!
Only thing missing was a giant inflatable pig floating over the stadium.
Tripod
Which one is Pink?
Tom The First
Well, I fell asleep and woke up right when they lit the torch… my sleep-endured reverie only enhanced what was a somewhat surreal moment. Thought it was awesome.
BGinCHI
Mushy peas.
Tsukune
They showed the inflatable pig floating in the sky during the pre-ceremony bit where they went down the Thames.
Old Dan and Little Ann
@Lavocat: There was an inflatable pink pig floating above the city in the opening montage. And McCartney sounded like shite.
JGabriel
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How come we’re not seeing any criticism or advertising about Romney raising money in foreign capitals?
I’m surprised that’s even legal — if it is — but whatever it’s legality, can you imagine what the outcry would be if a Democratic Presidential candidate were raising money outside of the country?
Why aren’t we attacking Mitt on this?
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The Dangerman
@David Koch:
Indeed; careful with these posts, Eugene.
maven
So now you’re going to Lord your Time Zone over the rest of us?
Wag
I had no idea Sebastian Coe was a Lord. Very cool.
Gravenstone
@foodriots: Sayeth the anonymous jackass hiding behind his own PC screen…
Wag
@The Dangerman:
FTW
HelpThe99ers
Barcelona, 1992. Archer. Cauldron – waaaayyy up in the nosebleed section.
One shot. A long, slow, beautiful arc.
Whoosh.
Best. torch. ever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIl_3sYPzsQ
Omnes Omnibus
@BGinCHI: Spotted dick.
@JGabriel: IIRC Obama did a fundraiser in Paris in 2008. As long as the donors are US citizens, it is perfectly legal.
Ash Can
Oh, fuck y’all, I had fun watching this silly, pretty pageantry. Some of those national costumes were really lovely. And the queen and her corgis are just too cute for words.
Ash Can + a few beers and a shot of — what else? — gin.
BillinGlendaleCA
@JGabriel: They aready attacked PBO for attending a fundraiser in Paris that he didn’t attend.
ETA: Not the one in 2008, earlier this month.
Ash Can
@HelpThe99ers: Yes, that was grand.
JGabriel
@Omnes Omnibus:
The optics still suck. Romney parties with rich donors in Europe while Americans suffer at home?
I mean, seriously, that’s a bullseye as big as a continent.
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satanicpanic
Has America won all the medals yet?
Omnes Omnibus
@JGabriel: Again, the Obama 2008 Paris one is the difficulty.
JGabriel
@BillinGlendaleCA:
So we have truth on our side and the GOP doesn’t. Where’s the downside?
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namekarB
@NotMax:
That would have made a lot of heads explode. Thanks for the vision.
satanicpanic
@JGabriel: I lol’d for real
Origuy
I’ve only seen bits and pieces of the ceremony. I did find a cool clip of the fireworks; no narration.
El Cid
London Opening Ceremonies End With Traditional Lighting Of Olympic Stadium
Cassidy
@Ash Can: Here, fucking here.
eco2geek
What genius at NBC thought letting Ryan effing Seacrest do interviews was a good idea? Instead of Sports Illustrated, we get the National Enquirer.
It warmed my cold, cynical heart just a tiny bit that they actually gave a shout out to both kid’s lit and the National Health Service.
Having Lauer and Vieira there to explain things was actually good, I thought.
Lavocat
@Old Dan and Little Ann: OMFG. I was JOKING! You’re SERIOUS!? I obviously missed that. Not that I wouldn’t have enjoyed it. Still, a bit heavy on the Floyd, one would think.
Did I also miss some massive wall being broken down on stage?
Just a tad derivative, if you ask me.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@JGabriel:
that’s the meat of it, Romney isn’t hosting students, teachers, spouses of foreign nationals… I’m sure there are a couple of dozen reasons US voters live abroad for months or years that I’m not thinking of. Romney is meeting with the Fabulous Fabs and their ilk. IIRC, the US citizen head of Barclays who quickly resigned when the LIBOR manipulations became public was one of the named hosts of that fund-raiser.
Todd
I still like that Meredith Viera worked “money shot” and “The Queen” into the same sentence.
Lavocat
@The Dangerman: Cute. One of these days, you’re going to set the controls for the heart of the sun, and then you’ll be on the thin ice.
Don K
Well, I haven’t watched an opening or closing ceremony in a while, and downhill skiing, ski jumping, luge, and bobsled are more my style for spectator sports, but still, playing Eclipse shows someone in the programming department of the organizing committee either has one hell of a sense of humor or doesn’t have a fucking clue.
JGabriel
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Omnes Omnibus:
Are you sure?
I’ve been looking and haven’t found anything credible to verify that yet. The first page of a Google search for “Obama Paris Fundraiser” only yields hits from wingnut sites like brietbart, newsbusters, and Jim Hoft @ GatewayPundit.
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satanicpanic
@JGabriel: I believe that was a wingnut myth. He wasn’t actually there. Or so I heard, who can follow this stuff?
The Dangerman
@eco2geek:
Another indeed; did he have to tell the little gymnasts that Justin Bieber was sending them his package?
Thomas DeVito
I loved the festivities, personally. Then again, I’m an admitted anglophile, and would probably love whatever they put on.
satanicpanic
Found Paul Mccartney singing Hey Jude on Youtube- ouch. It must suck to reach the age when you can’t sing your own song well anymore.
pseudonymous in nc
@HelpThe99ers:
That missed, but looked good.
NBC cut out the ‘Abide With Me’ memorial interlude and showed a Seacrest interview with Michael Phelps instead. That’s the ‘context’ that they didn’t want to deprive viewers of in a live broadcast.
Omnes Omnibus
@JGabriel:
@satanicpanic: Oddly enough, all I find on it is rightie sites. OTOH, I do remember it from then. Obama was not present; does that make a difference?
satanicpanic
@Omnes Omnibus: You’re right, the media will say both sides do it.
Yutsano
@Omnes Omnibus: Not to the wingnuts.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
Irish soda crackers = spotted mick.
(h/t Posh Nosh)
scav
hhhmmmm. Country that pairs Simon Rattle with Mr. Bean, sets off a bunch of fireworks and seems to indulge in synchronized bed jumping about
nationalizedSozialized! medicine or a set of people that can’t distinguish Faux from a news station … who do I send the nuclear codes to . . .Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: Disturbing.
dead existentialist
OMG! The stadium lights look like the top of the pyramid with the eye in it on the back of a dollar bill so that must mean the Illuminati are up to something or something-something. Here’s the youtube video that I watched for about one of the 14 minutes it runs.
Let me know what happens.
Plus, also, too, I hate NBC with the heat of a thousand suns for their horseshit coverage. Seriously, how can you fuck up the Olympics? And yet they do it over and over again. Grrrrr.
Ash Can
@pseudonymous in nc: Thanks for that link.
Jon H
Nerdsquee: Tim Berners Lee in the ceremony, at a desk in front of a NeXT Cube, NeXT monitor, and NeXT keyboard and mouse.
(Although I think the monitor was modified to house a light. It was glowing bright yellow, while a real one would be a more muted blue, being a monochrome monitor.)
Dexter's new approach
I thought the 1st hour or so was pretty awful. Like a small art play theme on a huge stage. Or the film Synecdoche, New York. Or a Plink Floyd show gone wrong. I mean how many outside the UK got half the stuff? Well executed though. The 2nd half was very cool.
I suggested at the end that they should go with Young Lust, but seconds later it was a song from Dark of the Moon. So Close.
suzanne
That’s it. I’m going as Rafalca for Halloween.
freelancer
@suzanne:
I’ll meet up with you in this get up.
vera lynn
Being a huge Floyd fan, my favorite was the pig flying over Battersea at the beginning with Breathe (Reprise) playing. But I did love Eclipse too :)
Anniecat45
Having the young athletes light the torch was awesome, and so was having some of the construction workers participate in the ceremony.
Nellcote
It needed Hobbits but otherwise and aside from Paul go away Mcartney it was fun and colorful. Oh yeah nbc commentary really really sucks and I’m reminded every couple of years why it so difficult to watch the Olympics.
Darkrose
@pseudonymous in nc: Seriously?
And I thought I couldn’t hate NBC’s Olympic coverage more than I already did.
Tehanu
@eco2geek:
Mine too, not to mention the Industrial Revolution shown as workers instead of Captains of Industry, and the suffragettes. And the choir of both deaf and hearing children. And Tim Berners-Lee, for chrissake, and Rowan Atkinson! As a whole it was sorta clunky but who cares? All the pieces were terrific.
arguingwithsignposts
I know nobody will probably read this comment, but after watching the ceremony with all its quirky british sensibilities, I am sooooo freakin’ glad Chicago didn’t win 2016. Could you imagine the America, Fuck Yeah opening ceremony for that one?
AnotherBruce
If only Bob Costas could shut the fuck up and quit telling me what I’m seeing, for just one minute. I mean, why should some overpaid shitstick with a sickly studio tan have to filter the Olympics for me?
mai naem
I Tivo’d it and watched the whole damn thing. I thought it was pretty good. This is the first opening ceremony where I’ve watched the entire thing in a long long time. I didn’t think they covered New Wave/Punk/Ska enough. That was pretty damn big in the UK in the late 70s/early 80s with a ton of Brit artists…. No English Beat/Depeche Mode/Ultravox/Buzzcocks/OMD/Gary Numan/Adam Ant? I was surprised they didn’t stick a little Abba in the 70s piece. They had some non-English stuff in there so that shouldn’t have been a problem and Abba was huge in the UK in the 70s/80s.
Darkrose
@eco2geek: The NHS tribute was made of win. I really wish NBC had cut to a shot of Romney watching his fellow Anglo-Saxons celebrating socialized medicine.
Wag
@mai naem:
I think they did cover that, but NBC cut away to an ad. I distinctly heard the opening chords of “Pretty Vacant” as they cut to an ad, and they were into later new wave (New Order) when NBC returned.
arguingwithsignposts
@Wag: @mai naem: There was a good representation of a variety of eras. Here’s the full playlist (Torygraph link)
master c
@mai naem: Also, I heard Enola Gay by OMD….as has been said-a jumbled mess, but I liked it.
SRW1
Anybody care to explain to a twitterphobe what the square root thingy in the retweet might mean?
MikeF
@Dexter’s new approach:
I liked it. A bit hit-and-miss, but for me at least, quirky and surprising is more fun to watch than sterile spectacle.
master c
I would love to see the show in a non nbc format -link recs?