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The Olympics


ukelele lady

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Did anyone watch the opening of the Olympics?

I can't really decide what to make of it. It seemed a bit chaotic but as the spokesman said

"organized chaos ".

I think some of the re-enactors from the early days of Britain should have left the scene before the

first world war people came in and then some [ three? ] soldiers from the second world

war entered and suddenly it's Beatles time which seemed to blend with the African / Caribean

imigrants coming to settle , which to me the Beatles were a few years later.

It wasn't a very clear interpretation to the eastern countries of how it happened.

Ok WE know but I think it could have been done clearer for those at the other side of the world

that don't know. Then again . . do they want to know?

Still on the subject, what it that horrible piece of twisted metal in the background when they

show the Olympics on TV? I thought only Sheffield displayed things like that.

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Did anyone watch the opening of the Olympics?

I can't really decide what to make of it. It seemed a bit chaotic but as the spokesman said

" organized chaos ".

I watched it the next day after recording it.

The thing that impressed me most was the appearance of the six huge chimneys during the Industrial Revolution enactment.

Unlike some of the other gubbins, ( the beam engine and waterwheel for instance ), the chimneys looked extraordinarily realistic.

how on earth did they get those huge structures moving upwards at a constant rate ? Unlike the set of Crossroads they didn't wobble a bit.

Had they dug huge pits under each one or were there teams of troglydites slotting sections of chimneys together on complicated hydraulic lifts ?

I must say that, on balance, I enjoyed the performance.

Of course the recording ran out about 10 minutes from the end 'so I missed the handover to the young athletes and the lighting of the main flame.

I'd added 15 minutes to the recording but it wasn't enough, however I caught up on IPlayer.

HD

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Did anyone watch the opening of the Olympics?

I can't really decide what to make of it. It seemed a bit chaotic but as the spokesman said

" organized chaos ".

Assuming those on the other side of the world wanted to get up at 5 o' clock on Saturday morning (which I didn't)

I'm not a great fan of opening and closing ceremonies. Each host nation is expected to eclipse the previous effort until the opening ceremony becomes as competitive as the games themselves.

I do enjoy the team parade though, I think much more emphasis could be put on this aspect with perhaps 'extras' accompanying the teams wearing national dress and displaying some of the culture of the individual nations.

Having said that, from your description of the ceremony, the historical theme sounded quite mouth-watering!

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Not being the worlds best speller myself I will not mention the spelling of Olympics :P

You can spell Stuart, it is Olympic and not Olypic, there is an M in it.

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You can spell Stuart, it is Olympic and not Olypic, there is an M in it.

Yes Dave thats why I made the comment lol

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I must admit to having been sceptical about the whole thing ("Surely not" I hear you cry...) but I'll admit to enjoying the opening ceremony. I'm sure most of it was totally baffling to much of the non-Brit audience (and quite a few Brits as well), and the parade of athletes really does need attention.

Since a lot choose not to take part, and many aren't in Britain yet, each group could be pruned to just a flag bearer and half a dozen representatives, which would speed things up considerably.

Nevertheless I found the rest spectacular, and the lighting of the cauldron was absolute magic.

There was a letter in the paper yesterday from someone in one of the civl engineers professional bodies saying that the engineers who built the park deserve a medal. For my part I'd hand out three gongs, one to Danny Boyle, one to whoever did the fireworks, and one in particular to the people responsible for the lighting effects, which did a huge amount to build the atmosphere.

A brilliant effort all round though. Let's hope our athletes are inspired!

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Still on the subject, what it that horrible piece of twisted metal in the background when they

show the Olypics on TV? I thought only Sheffield displayed things like that.

Don't worry UL, once things quieten down the scrap lads'll have it away in no time.

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Not being the worlds best speller myself I will not mention the spelling of Olympics :P

How come my spelling of Olympics in my first post is correct but not in Thylacines quote ??

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I watched it the next day after recording it.

The thing that impressed me most was the appearance of the six huge chimneys during the Industrial Revolution enactment.

Unlike some of the other gubbins, ( the beam engine and waterwheel for instance ), the chimneys looked extraordinarily realistic.

how on earth did they get those huge structures moving upwards at a constant rate ? Unlike the set of Crossroads they didn't wobble a bit.

Had they dug huge pits under each one or were there teams of troglydites slotting sections of chimneys together on complicated hydraulic lifts ?

I must say that, on balance, I enjoyed the performance.

Of course the recording ran out about 10 minutes from the end 'so I missed the handover to the young athletes and the lighting of the main flame.

I'd added 15 minutes to the recording but it wasn't enough, however I caught up on IPlayer.

HD

I agree with you on the chimneys HD, that was very well engineered also the fireworks were spectacular.

I thought the individual lighting of the copper " cups " that created the circle then gradually rose to form

one single fire was very creative.

It's a pity they didn't finish it all with a good talented singer instead of Paul McCartney.

As one newspaper said after the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, Paul should " let it be. "

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How come my spelling of Olympics in my first post is correct but not in Thylacines quote ??

Somebody must have changed it

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Apparently one of the participants managed to hide a camera in their costume. Gives a different perspective. It was on Youtube earlier, but it's been blocked by the IOC on copyright grounds. Still, it might resurface elsewhere on t' interweb.

It does appear chaotic, but you can see a lot of organisation below the surface.

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Somebody must have changed it

I haven't changed mine or the headline on the topic.

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Guest shelagh scholfield

I thought the opening of the games could have been the history of Sheffield.The green fields to the industrial revolution,I was completely able to identify with the display.(don't know about the rest of the world)The gold fired Olympic rings appeared the same as they did in the steel works as I saw, when I was growing up.I do feel sorry for people that don't know what it's like to have been born and bred in Sheffield.Lets hope the ceremony gave them a bit of an insight.

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How come my spelling of Olympics in my first post is correct but not in Thylacines quote ??

It was me that sorted that one for you ukelele lady. Now OK in Thylacines quote.

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It was me that sorted that one for you ukelele lady. Now OK in Thylacines quote.

Thank you Dave it just goes to show you should never post late at night while slurping rosey wine.

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Thank you Dave it just goes to show you should never post late at night while slurping rosey wine.

I do most of my posts late at night while slurping a bottle of wine.

Probably why so many of my posts have spelling mistakes and often don't make much sense.

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