What did every one think of it? I thought it was stunning and Britain is going to fail miserabley in 2012 trying to match that (we'll probably have crappy morris dancers and soldiers with bear hats at best. Or worse- Winehouse wailing her way through the National Anthem). I know there was a lot of controversy over it but I really enjoyed it, if it wasn't for Huw Edwards, Hazel something and that woman who couldn't get a word in edgeways, spouting verbal diahorrea for 4 HOURS STRAIGHT it would have been perfect, (I liked the fireworks, they were clever). Did anyone else find the commentators to be a bunch of morons who spoke over all of the music? I'm wondering if it was the same world wide...

i think it's funny that the architect for the Beijing games (Albert Speer Jr) is the son of Hitlers architect .

i didn't watch the opening ceremony. it's just a vehicle for authoritarian propaganda.



STOP THE MURDER AND ORGAN HARVESTING OF THE FALUN GONG !!!!!!!!!!!

I only saw a part of it. The word that stuck out of my head was: Choreography. Lots and lots of choreography.

I don't watch the Olympics. They seem dumb to me.

I usually don't care too much about the pageantry of events like that, but when a friend called me and told me to turn it on, I have to admit that I was blown away by the visual artistry of the ceremony. I was truly awestruck. I am certainly not a fan of China and many of their policies, but I have to admit they know how to put on a show. Breathtakingly beautiful work.

This is a media discussion topic... The Olympics are entertainment, especially the opening ceremony. Moved.

I didn't watch the opening ceremony but I do think it's ironic that so many people have complained about China being allowed to host the Olympics on the basis that it gives the country's regime "legitimacy".

The result has, in fact, been far more TV coverage for Tibet, for China's political prisoners and for its appalling human rights violations than we've had for years!

I found the commentators to be quite amusing! Sure, they didn't know what the heck they were talking about, but they were fun to listen to. (To some degree, at least.)

I'm reading that some of the fireworks were digitally added for the viewers around the world. Like the feet firework thing; they spent a year researching how that would look, even the little smoke trails that the fireworks leave behind. Woah.

Also saw a picture that had the Blue Screen of Death. Funny, but probably faked.

Yep. The truth is out. China added CGI effects to the TV broadcast. I heard in an NPR report that they even added a "camera shake" to make it look more real.


So, how could Britain outshine it? Make it for reals.

The blue screen of death pic was apparently real. That and the little girl singing at the start was miming another little girl singing because some minor official thought the real girl was too ugly.
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Also, a lot of the crowd for the events (and maybe the ceremony too?) are bussed in and made to cheer... STand-ins.
Hard to believe in a country that size that people couldn't be found anywhere that were interested enough to buy tickets isn't it?
Well they never had the chance.

A lot of the tickets for all the events were already allocated to officials and big corporations to do with what they liked. Welcome to the fake Olympics (Coke games 2?)... Wonder how many more records are broken on drugs this time?
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Meh, maybe the answer is top go the whole hog: Dose up the sports-people as much as they can take, force feed the buggers hormones and chemicals till their bums bleed. Then don't sell any tickets at all, just make the crowd and the ceremony digitally, that way it's cheaper, less security worries, and you get all the records you like smashed to pieces

I didn't see all of it, but what I saw was pretty damned impressive as far as choreography goes - the bit about China's seafaring history, with those guys in blue with the giant oars? Gorgeous.

Still, I was sitting there going "Oooooh, pretty - too bad the Chinese government are dictatorial crazies." >.>

Can you imagine your government getting together and deeming you too ugly?

... Yes... Yes, I can... *sobs*

I thought it was beautiful, especially the box thing, and when all those children held up their pictures during that song- little teary eyed at that, very powerful :P
The whole broadcast over seems to be China vs. U.s.a about every little thing, i wonder if other countries are doing this too.

SPANG: That's not going to happen- you did see the hand over ceremony didn't you? Made me even more ashamed to be 'British'.