2012 opening ceremony: your thoughts

[bmd]

After watching the Chinese opening ceremony I think we're gonna need all the help we can get, so I thought we could pool some ideas here and send them off to Seb Coe when we've finished.

I'm thinking food. Foods of the UK. We could have a Yorkshire pudding stadium, an Olympic sized Cornish pastie for the water sports and maybe some kind of haggis-themed structure for anything in Scotland.

Manchester tart anyone?

 

[Shippou-Sensei]

oh god not another one

 

[Melinda]

What a great thread idea!


Done to death thread has been done to death

 

[bmd]

You're not contributing.

 

[Melinda]

After watching the Chinese opening ceremony I think we're gonna need all the help we can get, so I thought we could pool some ideas here and send them off to Seb Coe when we've finished.

I'm thinking food. Foods of the UK. We could have a Yorkshire pudding stadium, an Olympic sized Cornish pastie for the water sports and maybe some kind of haggis-themed structure for anything in Scotland.

Manchester tart anyone?

Well perhaps if the good folk of Yorkshire, Cornwall and Scotland would like to help pay for the event they can have their food specialities represented.

As it is we're going with eels and jerk pork.

 

[Melinda]

You're not contributing.

I am! See!

 

[TheHoodedClaw]

Well perhaps if the good folk of Yorkshire, Cornwall and Scotland would like to help pay for the event they can have their food specialities represented.

Hey Melinda, I genuinely don't know the answer here. Is 2012 being funded entirely through the addition to the local London taxes?

 

[skyscraper101]

lol

On a serious note though, I'd like to see some of our amazing creative art. Jamie Hewitt has been mentioned a few times, Aardman animations etc, there's probably tons more I don't know of. We've got loads of great directors and stuff. Take all the crazy shit from Glastonbury and give them the platform.

Also it would be good to see some theatrics, original stunt stuff, special effects, explosions, and some pure theatre. Fireworks obviously. It would be good to light the Thames up in a big golden fire and use landmarks all over the capital like the London Eye (something similar to what they did a couple of years back on NYE)

Then I think we should showcase our amazing music. Get some megastars in like the Zep or Elton John to do a few numbers, get some classical crossover like Vanessa Mae or Bond or someone sexy, then..like get Brian May playing on the roof and Ozzy Osbourne playing Paranoid followed by more cool visual modern stuff like Pet Shop Boys, Faithless, Muse. I think Joss Stone should be kept away though to be sure.

I think get the royal military on board too, trooping the colour style with horses and queens guards. Then send the Red Arrows over doing aeronautics and acrobatics.

Then get the big time sports stars on board...Beckham, Daley Thompson, Kelly Holmes, Lewis Hamilton etc etc... to do their bit lighting the torch.

Closing party to be hosted by Fatboy Slim. Done.

 

[Melinda]

Hey Melinda, I genuinely don't know the answer here. Is 2012 being funded entirely through the addition to the local London taxes?

Funded directly from London Olympic precept, the LDA and a few quid from the lottery. IIRC.

 

[TheHoodedClaw]

Funded directly from London Olympic precept, the LDA and a few quid from the lottery. IIRC.

The lottery is a voluntary tax I guess, so good on you London! You'll have a better time with no haggis, anyway I'm nicking this off some Australian who posted on the Guardian site:

Londoners... you will have the time of your lives.. plus 4 years of another sort of fun up to THE DAY. In Sydney here, there wasn't a day missed for four , five years when we strolled out for newspapers and tottered back in howling with laughter at the latest stuff-up, cock-up, F**K-up and it went on in ever increasing craziness to the DAY. Nobody ever really figured out how much it cost, but what the hell, ...
And then it was 24/7 partytime. Enjoy it, enjoy it all, bugger the expense, you will be astounded at the talented people you have, they seem to emerge from nowhere, along with the lunacy of your neighbors, and just how lovely London can be. START ENJOYING IT FROM TODAY.

 

[bmd]

What's the English national costume btw? The Chinese seemed to have about 3 million to choose from and we're gonna need to chuck a few in if we're gonna look any good.

Also, they had the House of Flying Daggers director, maybe we should have Ken Loach, do it all in black and white and have some kind of domestic violence theme.

 

[twistedAM]

What's the English national costume btw?

Shellsuits, or is that just Liverpool?

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

What's the English national costume btw? The Chinese seemed to have about 3 million to choose from and we're gonna need to chuck a few in if we're gonna look any good.
.

 

[veracity]

Well perhaps if the good folk of Yorkshire, Cornwall and Scotland would like to help pay for the event they can have their food specialities represented.

As it is we're going with eels and jerk pork.

I think seeing as 63% funding is coming from central government non-Londoners are chipping in too!

 

[weltweit]

Personally if I was in any way involved in the 2012 openning ceremony I would be bricking it about now!

What could we celebrate?

- The Industrial Revolution
- The Empire
- Slaver .. er no
- Roman Occupation
- French Occupation
- Ah.. The Battle of Trafalgar

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Personally if I was in any way involved in the 2012 openning ceremony I would be bricking it about now!

What could we celebrate?

- The Industrial Revolution
- The Empire
- Slaver .. er no
- Roman Occupation
- French Occupation
- Ah.. The Battle of Trafalgar

well I suppose we invented a couple of things

 

[weltweit]

well I suppose we invented a couple of things

- Steam Trains
- Radar
- ..

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

- Steam Trains
- Radar
- ..

oh, 2012 people walking around in morse code

2012 people doing the Ouagadougou Choo Choo

2012 invisible people

 

[bmd]

lol

I quite like a well turned out kilt but wtf is the English one? It might as well be a shellsuit.

 

[Utopia]

Well in whatever way we open the games in 2012 at least we'll do it with integrity!...... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ot...ceremony-giant-firework-footprints-faked.html

 

[Threshers_Flail]

Well in whatever way we open the games in 2012 at least we'll do it with integrity!...... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/oth...nts-faked.html

Even in hindsight its still probably going to be better than some of the stuff were going to do.

 

[Utopia]

Even in hindsight its still probably going to be better than some of the stuff were going to do.

Well considering 19% of the worlds population live in China they certainly have the advantage where numbers are concerned!

 

[twistedAM]

Couple of commentators were talking about in on 5Live this morning.

One idiot suggested that since Britain is at the best at rock music (WRONG!) we should have McCartney, Zeppelin etc etc etc ad nauseum doing gigs.

The other guy suggested we should strip it all back, save loads and loads of money and just have the Queen cutting a ribbon and saying "one declares this Olympics open"

I think the latter is a great idea and she'd do it for free as she's going to be there anyway.