being from the UK, i feel a bit left out as at the moment ive not really got the huge Olympic buzz most of the country seems to have. the opening ceremony last night was pretty mind bending, i think it really showcased the best bits of our history and what we've achieved. i suspect a lot of non UK people may not have 'got' all of it, our countries ability to take the mick out of ourselves is sometimes lost on other countries.

showcasing the NHS, our world changing industrial revolution, film and literature, inventing the internet and of course we gave the world all the best music

the soundtrack to the ceremony, from start to finish was mega. the diversity was incredible, from swing and jazz to '60's culture, through punk, Ska, rave, grime (a music genre founded within spitting distance of the Olympic Park) through to present day.

Mike Oldfield's music was predictably perfectly suited to such an event, but for me the highlight of the music was The Arctic Monkeys.

they are everything a British band should sound like. the performance itself, how tight they sounded, the vocal, was phenomenal. and covering 'Come Together' was a clever little touch. they were great. they arent big time charlies, they arent trying to be American, or over the top, or do anything other than what they do best. shame Paul McCartney wasnt as good, missing his cue or being out of time or something, singing the highly predictable and boring Hey Jude, and generally just not sounding great.

other than the music, the scene with James Bond and The Queen was precisely the sort of British Humour that other countries may have missed, as was Rowan Atkinson's apprearance as Mr Bean, which made me crease. the use of the 'pixels' situated behind every seat was genius, and the actual torch was nothing short of monumentally beautiful and modern. and letting young upcoming athletes light the torch, thats a serious gesture.

very different to Beijing 4 years ago, which just seemed to be all about as many people and fireworks as possible and ridiculous stunts. great spectacle, but not really thinking outside the box.

saying all that, i still dont really have the buzz. maybe when we start getting towards the pointy end of the competitions it will interest me a bit more. as i type this the end of Team GB's first gold medal chance is nearing, Mark Cavendish in a cycle road race, heavy favourite and teamed up with Tour De France winner Wiggins, its looking good.

anybody else see the Ceremony ?

My Vote is for Tom Boonen, however the course is typically biased towards a flat out sprinter like Cavendish......Wiggins that's another story.

The reality though is how much of a cohesive unit are the teams behind the favorites. It's never a lock down when you consider the National Team is made up of Trade teams which often are at odds with one another on a personal basis...That is going to be the critical points.
Wether personal issues could, can and will be set aside to win for the National Team...

I was tuning in to Reuters for a bit but willhave to find live feed off of Hulu or Versus...

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

The olympics are on?

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former user radio_friendly_unit_shifter

When I saw the report on about the Tee shirts being sold that say I rented my flat to fat americans I kinda got turned off on the whole Olympics. Hopfully I'll get over it.

wow so i made a post about the biggest event on earth, mostly about music, and i got a reply suggesting the organisers are cheating in the cycling, sombody not claiming to know the Olympics is on (if you were from Burkina Faso or similar, i could forgive you, but you're Australian, stop pretending its not a big deal ) and somebody slating the whole event over a $@!& t-shirt probably made up by some dogy sidestreet dealer making a quick buck, a story id hazard a guess was totally blown out of proportion.

now i see why this forum isnt supposed to evolve past conversation about wooden instruments

I saw most of the opening ceremony, The Arctic Monkeys were a pleasant surprise.
I'm watching the cycling as we speak. That wee crash just now was pretty bad. This is just about the only sport which I'm supporting Team GB. Its not looking great for them though.

I'm pretty sick of hearing about the Olympics to be perfectly honest. We've got a giant set of rings on the front of the city hall in Belfast, which seems odd to me.

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Rated "M" for meaty.

its possible im not bored of it because i ignored all of it. i wasnt even going to watch the ceremoney, but my mates missus had control of the TV remote, so i didnt get much choice. glad i did though. ive not really got any particular interest in any of the sports. my favourite sports tend to involve engines and wheels, and there no Olympic Rally Championship. i do know somebody competing in the Judo though.

bit of a chore watching all the teams enter the stadium though. my mate was asleep by the time Bermuda came in rocking their fine line in shorts.

Don,t be so critical. Its all about the competitions I personelly could care less about the opening ceromomy. Like the Superbowl its all crap until the games begin.

moochy13 wrote:
wow so i made a post about the biggest event on earth, mostly about music, and i got a reply suggesting the organisers are cheating in the cycling, sombody not claiming to know the Olympics is on (if you were from Burkina Faso or similar, i could forgive you, but you're Australian, stop pretending its not a big deal ) and somebody slating the whole event over a $@!& t-shirt probably made up by some dogy sidestreet dealer making a quick buck, a story id hazard a guess was totally blown out of proportion.

So let's see....You started a thread titled "Olympics "...Ended your first post with a a few lines about the cycling road race.....
And now got upset because the responses were about the actual Olympics and some of the events instead of a focus on the Arctic Monkeys and opening ceremonies music....

" You can't have your cake and eat too... " So they say....Did you really think that a thread titled Olympics on the 1st official day was only going to get feedback about the Music....
Personally I think the whole glitch, pomp and circumstance of opening ceremonies is over the top, granted introducing all the athletes is part of the event but it has been made into such an entertainment episode at the cost of actually seeing as much of the athletic events as possible.
Pity....I'm perhaps in the minority but as a former amateur Athlete in Alpine racing and Cycling I really couldn't care less about the hollywood drama tilt on such world events. I want to see the event itself, not some talking head endlessly rambling on....

Speaking of cycling Road Race...It is/was a disappointing event, more like a marathon team Time Trial rather than an actual rate of attrition challenging road course....
But I guess spectator comfort took precedence....over the actual race logistics...
Why do I say that... Because a Road Race where most of the cyclists are wearing Aero booties, aero helmet covers is nothing like any of the road courses these guys race on the rest of the year...That's all...

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

Oh yeah- i was following that ceremony . Great show. Impressive to get such big event so smoothly through ,all the way! Arctic monkeys was a good choice of band. First song was great-and greatly performed. 'Come together' is always a hit,IMO. They played it smooth and tight-although to me it sounded like the singer was slightly out of tune the first half of it?? Maybe some monitoring issue..... And what happened to McCartney in the beginning of 'Hey Jude' , is a mystery to me. But it worked after a while Although I'm a big fan , I think Paul should take it more easy now- his voice isn't longer what it was Thanks for a great show ,you Brits

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A-man

I'm just watching it right now here in Aus.
Well I am enjoying it for what it is... entertainment.
Damn good show I think. Foxtel sorted, 10 channels to choose from and a few days off work next week, SWEET.
Now the decision Australia or United Kingdom??????

[quote=]"53magnatoneSo let's see....You started a thread titled "Olympics "...Ended your first post with a a few lines about the cycling road race.....
And now got upset because the responses were about the actual Olympics and some of the events instead of a focus on the Arctic Monkeys and opening ceremonies music....
[/quote]

no, the first response was suggesting the GB Olympic organisers were cheating, the second suggested they didnt know the Olympics was happening, and the 3rd was an over reaction about some dodgy t-shirt that has nothing to do with the official event.

thats not comments about the Olympics, thats just spamming a thread with $@!& instead of contributing to a decent discussion. i know its only the first day, but i thought it would be a good place to start.

im very aware theres no 'off-topic' section of the forum, which is a first for any forum ive been on. but it gets boring reading about Eric Clapton every other day and banal questions about guitars written by attention seeking lazy forum members who cant do their own research or make their own decisions without the input of faceless strangers.

i just wanted a thread to talk about the olympics in general, as its a pretty major event. and thought id 'big-up' the music in an attempt to make this remotely suitable to the forum.

instead i got accusations of bias and an over the top story about a t-shirt that hurt somebodies feelings.

on topic - indeed, i feel the days of McCartney belting out tunes to stadiums is long gone, but heres to hoping im wrong. as for the cycling race - i actually missed the end i was shoulder deep in fish tank, and missed everything. oh well.

No offense to people who enjoy sports and all, but I don't understand the point of the Olympics. I have no problem with it, I just don't understand why it's held. I've never been a huge fan of organized sports, really, so some insight might be good.

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1984 Squier Contemporary Stratocaster
1986 Peavey Envoy 110
1967 Kingston Acoustic

I predict that the great sporting nation downunder will once again win the medal tally per capita
No kidding Buxom? I pictured you as the athletic type, so competative 'n' all.

I used to play (American) football all the time, almost joined a few local leagues, then I broke my throwing hand. Other than that, I know nothing about sports.

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1984 Squier Contemporary Stratocaster
1986 Peavey Envoy 110
1967 Kingston Acoustic