The New York Times | July 27 2012
LONDON — With its hilariously quirky Olympic opening ceremony, a wild jumble of the celebratory and the fanciful; the conventional and the eccentric; and the frankly off-the-wall, Britain presented itself to the world Friday night as something it has often struggled to express even to itself: a nation secure in its own post-empire identity, whatever that actually is.
The noisy, busy, witty, dizzying production somehow managed to feature a flock of sheep (plus a busy sheepdog), the Sex Pistols, Lord Voldemort, the engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a suggestion that the Olympic rings were forged by British foundries during the Industrial Revolution, the seminal Partridge Family reference from “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” a group of people dressed like so many members of Sgt. Pepper’s band, some rustic hovels tended by rustic peasants, “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” and, in a paean to the National Health Service, a zany bunch of dancing nurses and bouncing sick children on huge hospital beds.
It was neither a nostalgic sweep through the past nor a bold vision of a brave new future. Rather, it was a sometimes slightly insane portrait of a country that has changed almost beyond measure since the last time it hosted the Games, in the grim postwar summer of 1948.
Continue reading @ NY Times
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I think one should view the opening ceremonies as we view the Denver Airport murals, with curiosity as to the symbols behind everything. Some were obvious like the sheep, the hospital beds foretold how we are all being done away etc. but there is much hidden meaning if one even has the interest to dig deeper. Who does? Not I… They are a sick bunch and the sooner they are behind bars or banished to another planet the better! VK
Hi Vk! Totally agree! It was so over the top it bordered on manic! At least the programming is out in the open now. Blessings ~G
I couldn’t agree more with ‘Another Lightworker’ above. I’m stunned that that was a British production. The have SO much talent there and they spent gobs of money on that and that’s what we got?
My only curiosities were: Did the Queen actually film that scene WITH Daniel Craig or was it filmed separately and how high off the ground were the Mary Poppins? I wish I could have seen how they airlifted them in/down, etc. Other then wondering those to things, I was mostly confused as to what the point was.
That’s the point, Minty. There WAS no point! Just a manic display of dystopia. They should get an immediate accounting from the individual who managed to spend $27 million on such garbage. They need to rescind his citizenship. He disgraced his nation. ~G
If something makes no or little sense to the conscious mind, then the subconscious mind is MUCH easier programmed. The conscious mind is too busy trying to make sense of things to filter out the garbage. I really wish no one had watched those programs. Deliberate word there. Instead, Americans set a new record for opening ceremony watching. Oh, well. Perhaps people will do some personal clearing to undo all the programming they swallowed while trying to figure out the “nonsensical” and “disappointing” show. I am sure the buyers got what they wanted from it, just like the whole Olympics promo style has been slightly off kilter and “casual.” It’s not casual, though. Clear, clear, clear away the garbage!
You NAILED it, Laura. Really glad you put this comment here. Blessings, ~G
Here was an online review of the ceremonies. Looks like a big hilarious fail!
FLOP AND CIRCUMSTANCE!!!
That was THE WORST opening ceremonies I have EVER seen!! I was honestly expecting to feel CREATIVELY INFERIOR after watching this. I mean this is Great Britain home to MOST of the great clothing designers and a HUGE amount of talent in the arts…apparently none of them had the interest. That was a CRAPPY, SLOPPY, SHIT SHOW! I mean if you’re going to do historical why do the shittiest costumes… why focus on SMOKE STACKS and SICK CHILDREN when you have knights in armor, mod (ok they sorta did mod but it sucked), punk, georgian, victorian.. blah blah and blah but they chose ABRAHAM LINCOLN VAMPIRE HUNTER and small children who STARE into the camera!?…. The fucking FRANKIE SAY RELAX shirt wasn’t even how it used to look?!?!?!? WTF They sang “Hey Jude” at the end and NOBODY KNEW THE WORDS because they’re all too young!?! The queen was BORED.(GASP! She did NOT just do that while the PEOPLE WHO PAY HER BILLS walked through the door?! THAT is the difference between Americans and British people! If The PRESIDENT or the FIRST LADY did that as America walked through the door the next day they would have to resign, all the nations of the world would say how horrible of a nation we are, and the Presidential Family including dogs, cats, goldfish, maids would be exiled to FRANCE) The royal family looked EMBARRASSED…and they were right!…. The production honestly was nothing, like it had zero focus or direction. I can’t imagine how if you were watching it in the stadium there would actually be something to focus on? It was like just DECORATIVE RAIN… The GARBAGE PARADE… The FOOD COURT AT THE MALL WITH SUFFRAGETTES. If I had paid a thousand dollars for those tickets I would have been PISSED. Imagine watching it as a spectator in the arena?!? That weird baby BOILING IN A SHALLOW PAN?! It would have been AWFUL!!!!!!???? If you handed me, and six of my friends a sparkler and 75$ Im willing to bet we’d give you something to remember… This CAVALCADE OF CRAP did NOT… They picked up the set while you WATCHED?!?! Like was that pastoral scene so imperative it was worth watching them pick it apart and take it away while they came in with an even more uninteresting set???
Couldn’t have said it better myself. It was so bad I tuned it out after 5 minutes. More fun watching the rain fall on the pavement outside. Thanks for sharing, A.L.
Blessings ~G
I didn’t watch it at all and I am glad I didn’t but I found that online review to be hilarious. Obviously the queen was not amused either – I can hear the cries of “off with their heads” lol. The failure of the entertainment aside, I think Laura is right. If you watched, it can’t help to detox from any potential side effects besides mass boredom.
So we got Mary Poppins and the Sex Pistols. No satanic rituals or illuminati symbols. Think the paranoia is getting to us?
No. There was a lot of symbolism and crazy camera work throughout this disjointed, unappealing, frenetic, deranged production. These people are mind control experts. God alone knows what they were REALLY up to. Blessings, ~G