It is pretty rare that I can feel sorry for the poms. It is also pretty rare that I would watch an Olympic or other such opening ceremony.

Having heard a couple of ABC types waxing lyrical about the London effort, I watched some of the replay.

My heart goes out to all "normal" poms. To have had to sit through that pretentious pile of garbage, produced in your name would have been bad enough. To have done it, realising that millions of pounds of your taxes had paid for it, & even worse, been paid to the B grade minds that devised it, would have been very hard to take.

I was once married to a Ballet choreographer. Yes I know, me & a ballet enthusiast didn't have much chance, but we had a hell of a few years trying.

I was never allowed to go to her rehearsals. I had to see the dress rehearsal as something totally new, as a sounding board to see if it worked. She wanted to see if I understood it. She said, "if it needs explanation, it is a failure". Boy did London fail.

Yes some of our Sydney stuff was quite cringe worthy, little girls with beach towels, & flying is rather kitsch, but the brilliance of the first few minutes made up for much. After all I could stand of London's effort, I had yet to find any redeeming moment.

How long do countries have to keep wasting tens of millions on this rubbish so called art. Couldn't we have the march of athletes, a few speeches if we must, then the sportsmen & women in the action it is supposed to be about.

All that cash!
Could have funded a whole new series of Grumpy old men.
No shortage of potential stars.
Second gallon of Coffee go you good things Aussie Aussie Aussie oih oih oih!
Loven it!

<< All that cash! Could have funded a whole new series of Grumpy old men. >>

Mwa haaaahahahaaa!!

Yeah except, we don’t need it while we’ve got Hasbeen to entertain us!! ( :>)

I’m not much interested in the Olympics. But I do think the tradition is a good one… and each city and country that wins the right to hold the world’s premier sports event should feel very proud and do the best they can to present them, despite the inevitable complications and disadvantages for some people.

BTW Haz, I thought my comment on your rates thread would have caused steam to shoot out your earoles!!
http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?discussion=5281#143137

art does have the benefits of allowing lefist to enjoy their pornography but re label it art. This does make it respectable. It is also often used to push their regressive social policies and use sarcasm to demonise anyone with commonsense. You could guareentee that a large percentage of the weekly sneering Q&A audience are supporters of art (providing the money comes from the taxpayer).

We might have cringed a bit in the opening ceremony but there were many countries that thought it was great. We shouldn't judge everything by our own standards. We are all different and long may we be so

One sample found here - independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/news/an-opening-ceremony-so-british-the-worlds-media-react-to-london-2012-opening-ceremony-7984501.html

Hasbeen, is it a case of 'sour grapes' because the 'poms', as you call them, upstaged the Sydney ceremony?
You seem to think that it's OK (in the traditional Aussie inferiority complex style) to have a go a the 'poms' while I bet you would be scared to have a go at the 'wogs' or the 'chinks' if it was their ceremony.
BTW, I'm not a 'pom' but I know a few and they're not as small-minded as you.
I'd rather see the ceremony 'wasting tens of millions' than watch our politicians perform their disapparing acts with our money.

Austin I'm not that far removed from being a pom that I don't feel able to call it as I see it. I had 2 pommy grand fathers, & one grand mother. We don't mention the other one, who was from that little green island just west of Wales.

I also own & preserve a couple of quite old & obscure, but very "British" sports cars.

That the opening ceremony was very ordinary is normal for these things. I shudder to think how much money we will waste on the Commonwealth bash coming up on the Gold Coast, & how bad the opening ceremony is likely to be.

When if ever I am silly enough to watch a similar performance from the "wogs", "wops" or "chinks", I will give it what it deserves, what ever that may be.

Did you notice I want more of the athletes, & less tripe. The young athletes, particularly some of the young girls, who were so excited they could not stop dancing, were inspiring, so unlike the pretentious rubbish before it.

As for having any "traditional Aussie inferiority complex", let me assure you, that is one thing no one who knows me has ever accused me of.

I'll admit that I watched it and I enjoyed it - well, most of it. But I can see where you're coming from. I had expected much more - or at least something very different.

The ceremony that they put on was a bit of a surprise. There was none of the optimism or progress that characterise London these days. There was no sense that they were representing a 'world city' or a revitalised England; rather, it harked back to the last time Britain really changed the world, unleashing the beast of industrialisation and quickly losing control of it.

Perhaps the difference between London's ceremony and the show we put on in Sydney related to that. In Sydney, we gave the sense of a city coming of age - renewing itself and embracing the modern world. London gave the sense of a city that had once done that, and was still living in its glory days. I don't know that this is a true representation, but it is one that seems to be popping up quite regularly. England's selection of Engelbert Humperdinck for Eurovision; Rolf Harris at the Queen's Jubilee concert; they keep suggesting that they are living in the past, which is far from the truth. Perhaps the 'establishment' needs some fresh blood - some people who can see glory days ahead of them, rather than those that are long past.

You're right, though: more about sport and less about ... well, pomp. That's what I'd like to see.