The Olympics

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verbal gymnastics
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The Olympics

Post by verbal gymnastics »

I am still in awe at the magnificence of the opening ceremony.

What a proud day to be British!

Funnily enough the lowlight was Paul MacCartney but the highlights are too many to mention.

Let's hope we win plenty of medals.

And there can never be too many camera shots of Jessica Ennis!
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Jack of All Parades
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Re: The Olympics

Post by Jack of All Parades »

Agreed- most impressive and I loved how it tied together your[and our] greatest heritage- the glory that is the English language with the references to the myriad authors who have enriched it over the centuries. That and the 'Glastonbury tor'- what an iconic image. And who knew the Queen was a Bond girl. Danny Boyle staged a 'spectacular' opening ceremony and it was one of the more memorable ones of all the Olympics I have viewed.
Last edited by Jack of All Parades on Mon Jul 30, 2012 12:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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pophead2k
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Re: The Olympics

Post by pophead2k »

Agreed. The only thing that diluted my enjoyment was the inane commentary provided by NBC anchors throughout.
scielle
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Re: The Olympics

Post by scielle »

I was fortunate enough to be part of it all - drumming in the Industrial Revolution segment, then marshalling during the Parade of Nations. Got to stand 3 meters away from the cauldron as it went up.
Certainly one of the most memorable moments of my life, and the entire rehearsal process leading up to it was a treat too (each of the volunteer groups put in 120-140 hours on average, not to mention some ridiculous transit times from people coming in from halfway across the country to do this!)
I must say Danny Boyle is an absolute class act. He has been nothing but lovely to all us volunteers, and very accessible despite the huge weight on his shoulders. Very personable and truly gracious guy. Same goes for Rick Smith of Underworld whom we worked with on the drumming section.
Great people all around, and a marvellous experience. Glad it's been so well received.
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Otis Westinghouse
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Re: The Olympics

Post by Otis Westinghouse »

Brilliant. Am very jealous, as a drummer I spent a large chunk of it wishing I was one of them, though God they drummed for a long time (those who were at it throughout). Out of interest, how did you get involved that way?

Very well kept secret, and so many fun and surprising elements.

There were definite moments when you thought 'how on earth will people all over the world make any sense of that?', in a way that was parochial but fun with it.

Seems to have got great comments all round, apart from the Tory twit who claimed it was too left-wing (and my 19 year old son, who was outraged they didn't balance the Industrial Revolution with an exploration of the millions massacred in India under the British Empire, etc., but that's arts students for you).

Am so glad they got someone to direct it and make something so memorable of it, and it seems Boyle was the ideal choice.

"Heroes" brought a lump to the throat, and I thought the whole flame/flag/cauldron sequence was perfect. Loved the fact that pretty well unknowns did the lighting; loved seeing nationally significant people such as Doreen Lawrence and the admirable Shami Chakribarti alongside ambassadors for co-operation Ban-Ki Moon and the wonderful Daniel Barenboim, fresh from conducting his wonderful Wes-Eastern Divan Arab/Israeli orchestra at the prom; and it was just wonderful how the copper tips turned out to be all forming part of the cauldron. The lighting and ascending into one whole was magical. As were the industrial toil creating the Olympic rings and the fact that the Royal aspect was done with such wit. The nation's and the world's dropped in unison at that 'OMG it's really her moment'.

Just wishing I'd tried to get some tickets now!
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scielle
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Re: The Olympics

Post by scielle »

Otis Westinghouse wrote:Brilliant. Am very jealous, as a drummer I spent a large chunk of it wishing I was one of them, though God they drummed for a long time (those who were at it throughout). Out of interest, how did you get involved that way?
All the volunteers went through at least 2 auditions back in Oct/Nov of last year - I applied through the LOCOG website around Oct, having missed the summer 2011 deadlines for the all the other volunteer roles. The first audition was general, the second was segment-specific (i.e. dancing, acting, drumming, etc.) Most segments began rehearsing around April/ early May. There were c. 1000 drummers in the 17-min Industrial Revolution segment, but only about 200 drummed throughout the parade. The rest of us were marshalling athletes on centre-stadium. I was lucky enough to be in the centre circle right around the cauldron. Amazing experience all around (and we get to keep all our costumes!)
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Otis Westinghouse
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Re: The Olympics

Post by Otis Westinghouse »

1,000 drummers - wow! Did they say they were plastic drums, recycled or something?

Did you have to sign an oath of secrecy to participate?
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Re: The Olympics

Post by History History »

Scielle,it was fantastic. Thank you.
scielle
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Re: The Olympics

Post by scielle »

Otis Westinghouse wrote:1,000 drummers - wow! Did they say they were plastic drums, recycled or something?

Did you have to sign an oath of secrecy to participate?
Just regular plastic and metal buckets, "tuned" via the strategic addition of rubber or nuts 'n' bolts (for the metal buckets, to create the snare effect). Larger plastic garbage bins were used as bass drums (and were played with tennis balls attached to the drumsticks. All nicely painted and spruced up by the (volunteer) prop department, and largely made of recycled materials.

And yes, we did have to sign a contract (with a will-not-sue-LOCOG-in-case-of-fatal-injury clause!), but there was no secrecy pledge per se - it was a largely unspoken honour code. (Though we were specifically asked to refrain from facebook, tweeting, and picture-taking until after the show.)
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verbal gymnastics
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Re: The Olympics

Post by verbal gymnastics »

scielle - thank you for your posts and for your contribution to the fabulous opening ceremony. From reading international press reports, it was all worth it.

It's funny, I didn't for a moment think that once I had posted this thread that we'd get such a good first hand account.

Can you post any pictures that friends, relatives etc took?

Mrs VG's cousin was one of the Olympic torch runners. He has said that Mini VG can take some pictures so that she can take it as her "show and tell" when she starts school in September. I think we're more excited than she is :lol:
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Re: The Olympics

Post by Who Shot Sam? »

Very much enjoying the Olympics so far - England putting on a great spectacle. NBC's decision to tape delay many events does annoy the hell out of me. They seem to have a very 1994 idea of how people consume media. Having said that I did spend the better part of the day on Sunday channel surfing around the various NBC properties and enjoying all kinds of sports - table tennis, archery, skeet shooting, gymnastics, boxing, water polo, swimming, you name it.
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Jack of All Parades
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Re: The Olympics

Post by Jack of All Parades »

Cannot get enough of the more esoteric 'sports'- looking forward to the synchronized swimming for instance as my daughter's team failed to qualify. Liked this piece on Tumblr about the 'cauldron':

http://olympicopeningceremony.tumblr.com/
"....there's a merry song that starts in 'I' and ends in 'You', as many famous pop songs do....'
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Otis Westinghouse
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Re: The Olympics

Post by Otis Westinghouse »

That's the Orbit:

Image

This is the cauldron:

Image

I love both. And for anyone who missed that glorious moment (and can watch BBC clips):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19024254

Me too with getting into obscurer sports you didn't expect to, but I can never get enough of the gymnastics. I've been wishing like hell I could get to some of it, but funnily enough a fellow gymnastics enthusiast who went to this event in Athens said today it's miles better on tv. In the venue there's too much happening at once and you miss the commentary. Made me feel better.
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Jack of All Parades
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Re: The Olympics

Post by Jack of All Parades »

Otis- I should have given better instructions in the link I posted from Tumblr. If you follow the time-line to the final dot it is all about the Cauldron. The whole time line follows in some detail the entire opening ceremony from start to finish.
"....there's a merry song that starts in 'I' and ends in 'You', as many famous pop songs do....'
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Re: The Olympics

Post by so lacklustre »

Nice one scielle, must've been fantastic to be there. I have tickets for the athletics next Tuesday morning qualifying sedsion including mens 200m 1st round, so shd get to see Bolt et al.
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