Olympics Opening Ceremony
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mr_ricky.

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No comments on the Opening Ceremony?
By and large, the Greeks didn’t like it much – especially the fact that it was not of the appropriate cultural tone because we do not have the historical traditions of Greece.(quote -unquote)
They didn’t like our humour and specifically the ‘Chariots of Fire’ music by Vangelis Papathanasiou being treated irreverently by Mr. Bean. Ok. We’re different in lots of ways and variety is the spice of life, as they say, but I have found the reactions strongly negative among my circle of Greek friends/acquaintances.
I must admit that I felt a lot of what was positive in British history – for example Darwin, Newton on the scientific side – was not represented.
Our Green and Pleasant Land being ripped up and forested by smoke belching chimneys was not an image I found appealing.
Anyone got any thoughts on this?
latsida
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I did not watch it so cannot comment, but here are a few views, including some positive comments, with reservations, from the Greek media .
I started watching it and thought it was all a bit well to quote
Al Murray "s**t", I think the Asian community were over represented but this is becoming the norm now in England, where being white means you are racist. For example it seems perfectly ok for a Muslim to desecrate war memorials and get off with a £50 but an Englishman hope sprays a poppy on a mosque gets 2 years in prison. But thats besides the point. The only thing I found amusing was the ‘Queen’ parachuting in after that I switched off !
Kind regards
Ricky & Cath
:)Olympics : started to watch for the opening on the TV, TV sent me to sleep so missed that most of it but what I did see at the beginning –
Buckingham Palace : Daniel Craig in guise of Bond 007 being received by the Queen, then them walking off down the corridor, getting in helicopter, then it waving over the olympic stadium – that I did not understand, as it could not land in the middle as it would not be able to take off again –
next minutes Her Majesty Parachutes out of the "Helicopter" in her dress with parachute, followed by BondHere is the story behind it
To be honest, don’t give a stuff what the Greeks thought of it, in general. Who are they to judge!!!!!!!
I thought it was fantastic and showed us as a diverse and multicultural society and it made me feel very proud to be British. The music was great and I think showed us as a forward thinking nation, not looking to the past constantly.
51565E455B4E5B5E46425E53370 wrote: I thought it was fantastic and showed us as a diverse and multicultural society and it made me feel very proud to be British. The music was great and I think showed us as a forward thinking nation, not looking to the past constantly.
I thought it was mostly about the past…
I’m sure it was better visually if you were there but the tv coverage showed it to be very messy and often embarrasingly bad.The forging of the rings and the chimneys rising were technically brilliant (o yes,the rape of the countryside-yes makes you very proud to be british).The NHS section (something else we are so proud of)was downright embarrasing and the coy texting teenagers summed up our modern culture and made me want to chuck..There were some brilliant ideas,all executed rather badly-like the hurried snippets of our wonderful music through the generations-something I would have liked to have heard more of.Is Mr.Bean really the best of british comedy,and the Queen acting rather badly?! And I thought it rather amusing to play only the first line of the Sex Pistols god Save The Queen, and Frankie’s Relax which was banned when it first came out.Perhaps it was all to show we are a messed up nation,not really listening to what people are saying.On that note I did wonder why all the annnouncements were in french first,then english.
I’m not sporty but I thought I’d watch this seeing as so much of our tax-payers money was spent on it,but I had to go to bed once all the athletes came out-I heard that went on for hours!!Sorry to miss Paul.but I heard that wasn’t too amazing either. :-[I am from Shropshire the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution… and our countryside is wonderful and not raped at all.
Something else they got wrong then! ;D
latsida
ParticipantMember since: 17th October 2006- Topics: 165
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- Total: 2572
- Practcally Cretan
- ★★★★★★
the announcements are in French because it is a mark of respect for the man who founded the Modern Games , Baron de Coubertain and French is the official language of the Games
" Economic historians are in agreement that the onset of the Industrial Revolution is the most important event in the history of humanity since the domestication of animals and plants."
quote taken from this website
Definitely important and brilliantly shown on the stage.Shame the spectacle all went downhill after that,maybe it could have all been a bit more historically linear instead of mixing it all up.Having the yellow submarines on at the same time as Kenneth hamming it up was a bit weird,and the ‘Queen’ parachuting was just tacky.However,these things are always better if you are actually there.
What is annoying me now though,is the extensive coverage on the tv,it is hard to escape it (bit like royal weddings!)Apparently there is no other news either from the rest of the world (maybe 5 minutes at the end of the BBC news mentioning the war in Syria and a few other minor events!!)Never mind Ganesh, after Aug 14th there won’t be any Summer Olympic news for 4 years. Lots of time to pack all the depressing stuff in about useless, lazy, self centred and violent people etc…. Nice change to get Olympic news about people who dedicated, work hard individually and as part of a team and are patriotic (by and large). :)
Well said Gem
Strange view of life outside sport Gem (but I know what you mean)As for me,hate sport and I hold the view that the world would be a better place without ‘patriotism’.Now that should open a new debate ;)
in common parlance, a devil’s advocate is someone who, given a certain argument, takes a position he or she does not necessarily agree with, for the sake of argument. In taking such position, the individual taking on the devil’s advocate role seeks to engage others in an argumentative discussion process.
2E29213A24312421393D212C480 wrote: in common parlance, a devil’s advocate is someone who, given a certain argument, takes a position he or she does not necessarily agree with, for the sake of argument. In taking such position, the individual taking on the devil’s advocate role seeks to engage others in an argumentative discussion process.
No they don’t
Did I miss something? Who is playing devil’s advocate?
4F607167646276343C050 wrote: Definitely important and brilliantly shown on the stage.Shame the spectacle all went downhill after that,maybe it could have all been a bit more historically linear instead of mixing it all up.Having the yellow submarines on at the same time as Kenneth hamming it up was a bit weird,and the ‘Queen’ parachuting was just tacky.However,these things are always better if you are actually there.
What is annoying me now though,is the extensive coverage on the tv,it is hard to escape it (bit like royal weddings!)Apparently there is no other news either from the rest of the world (maybe 5 minutes at the end of the BBC news mentioning the war in Syria and a few other minor events!!)I’ve been watching Russia Today on freeview to try and get away from the constant Olympic ramblings about how fantasic it is to win a bronze medal, oh please no more….
>:(Out of all the 203 countries in the Olympics, I don’t think it’s too bad to come third especially as all but 8 got through to the final and the rest didn’t even qualify. Well done GB!!!!! :D
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