Never mind, Hasbeen. I hear they're going to be holding an Olympics for Philistines - I take it you'll be representing Australia?

I must admit, I thought the opening ceremony was a serious yawn with occasional well done bits. The symbolism had resonance only for the Brits. I switched off half way.

My son turns eleven this year, so this is the first Olympics that he's really taken note of. He was keen to watch the opening ceremony as it happened, so he set the alarm and we got up to watch it. I'm reasonably knowledgeable on British history, so I was able to give a running commentary on the infolding of the story during the opening ceremony - and because of that we both enjoyed it.

As Pericles points out, it is a gargantuan circus, but watching my boy race to get his world flag book to identify the countries as they "marched" out, I have to admit that my cynicism took a back seat.

I only watched a few minutes every other hour or so & found it different to say the least. But it was also an indication that we're so addicted to artificiality of romp & pomp hence so many put-downs by many comments.
It shows that people have no imagination anymore. Most opening ceremonies have so over the top it belies sense in as to why they want the ceremonies out-do the actual sporting events. That australian girl who keeps crying about only getting Silver should be given Gold for crying.

Poirot, as I said in my thread on the subject, I loved the march of the athletes. If anything it was more inspiring than some others have been, perhaps due to the camera focusing more closely on some of the individuals.

However the "blockBuster" performance that preceded the march was really bad. Any production that has to have announcements declaring what you are seeing, & effectively what to think is not worth the trouble, & definitely not worth 40 million.

We are living in modern times. I wonder why the royal family has the privilege the society in the Olympics opening ceremony (e.g. royal family has a special room) that I don't have. How can I have the same privilege as they have? They are just ordinary people. I believe it is the feudal sytem of UK which made great britain lose its superpower position after 20th century. So I think with time goes on, it should be considered when to over turn the monarchy regime which inhibits the development of UK.