Olympics closing ceremony on TV now.

[Detroit City]

...and we'll kick ourselves for it.

why? history has shown that no one stays king of the hill forever

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

why? history has shown that no one stays king of the hill forever

Because imo, china as the superpower, will behave in all the negative ways that the left constantly accuses the US of.

China in control will be a Bad Boy.

 

[derf]

At what human and financial cost.

What the Chinese Central Committee did makes no sense on any level; how would you begin to justify spending £20 billion to an electorate . . . how do you justify moving thousands of people from their homes, tearing down entire post codes in order to make nice squares, easy access and stadiums that stand in great grounds . . . how do you persuade average Londoners to give up 1-2 years of their social lives in order to make politicians look good at a closing ceremony?

The whole shebang was utterly bonkers, the epitome of the excesses of a centrally controlled society and of the subservience of brain-washed worker drones, and something to be despised, not impressed by.

The Opening and Closing Cermonies were straight out of Orwell - 'One World One Dream' . . . how can all that crap not stand as an object lesson in what not to do?

The spent case is easy to justify. Some one gained and their local economy will do well from it.
As for tearing down homes and so on it would suppose it depends on what happened to the people. If they were dumped on the streets that would be bad news but if they were provided better housing it may have been a good thing.
Does anyone know what happened to these people?

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

The spent case is easy to justify. Some one gained and their local economy will do well from it.
As for tearing down homes and so on it would suppose it depends on what happened to the people. If they were dumped on the streets that would be bad news but if they were provided better housing it may have been a good thing.
Does anyone know what happened to these people?

I know that two elderly women who applied for a govt permit to conduct a lawful protest concerning the destruction of their homes, with the protest to be carried out in the govt sanctioned protest area, were summarily arrested and thrown into prison.

The mere act of applying for the permit, was their crime.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/21/sports/olympics/21protest.html?hp

 

[The Straw]

But that's the thing about Central Committees. They don't have to justify anything to anyone.

Watching these olympics reiterated for me why the olympics is a valuable thing. We are still able to get together and play games and run races, when what we usually do together, is much less fun.

The olympics represent hope. The olympics are a good thing. What the chinese govt did to put on a facade for the world, was not a good thing. But that is their fault, not the fault of the olympic ideal.

I couldn't agree more.

Normally, the host country is shown more than just amere backdrop. Magnificent scenary and history is what i've come to see on the tv whenever i've seen an Olympics.

This year??? Nope. Looks like the Chinese clamped down on allowing the cameras to go around and tape footage of the regaular citizens there like what i've seen in Greece, Italy, Australia, France, Japan, etc etc...

This Olympics was a bigger sham than anything what with the young gymnasts who had allegedly forged documents from the Chinese Gov't.

I'm glad the Olympics are now officially out of China and are now in the hands of GB.

 

[Guineveretoo]

I haven't yet found a video of the 8 minute London showcase, but it seems a bit odd that one of the main British icons is a brand new London bus (not even a routemaster! ), a celebrity footballer (when Team GB doesn't even put up a football team), a reality tv popstar, and an ancient (but not particularly mainstream) rocker. Oh, and not to mention the bumbling (but funny) Mayor of London. Is that really the best they could do?

 

[London_Calling]

As has been mentioned variously, the idea behind the London segment wasn't to sell the Games, to brand the Games or to promote the Games to . . . Londoners.

As entertainment, for most people it didn't work (me included), but then we don't live half way around the world in a different culture.

 

[Guineveretoo]

As has been mentioned variously, the idea behind the London segment wasn't to sell the Games, to brand the Games or to promote the Games to . . . Londoners.

As entertainment, for most people it didn't work (me included), but then we don't live half way around the world in a different culture.

What was it trying to show? That we don't have any genuine sports stars or musicians, and that buses in London are red?

 

[twistedAM]

What was it trying to show? That we don't have any genuine sports stars or musicians, and that buses in London are red?

It's nice though, that a small country gets a turn at it?

 

[Geri]

What was it trying to show? That we don't have any genuine sports stars or musicians, and that buses in London are red?

I don't know what you're so confused about. All those things represent London - David Beckham is very famous around the world, as is Leona Lewis. London is well known for red buses.

 

[Orang Utan]

Leona Lewis is famous round the world? I'd never heard of her til yesterday

 

[JTG]

Her UK debut single, "A Moment Like This", broke a world record after it was downloaded over 50,000 times within 30 minutes.

Her second single, "Bleeding Love", was the biggest-selling single of 2007 in the UK, topped over thirty national singles charts and became a number one single on the first week in France and number one in the United States.

Her debut album, Spirit, was released in Europe in November 2007, and became the fastest-selling debut album ever in both the United Kingdom and Ireland. Released in North America in April 2008, Spirit debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart and made Lewis the first British solo artist to top the chart with a debut album.

With her album reaching number one in at least three continents and nine countries, Lewis has had one of the most successful launches of any television talent show contestant ever.

So, with her and Page side by side, it was a fine representation of decades of British music being known around the world

 

[editor]

Leona Lewis is famous round the world? I'd never heard of her til yesterday

Ah, JTG beat me to it. But as popstars go, she is very famous - although to paraphrase Morrissey, the music that she constantly plays says nothing to me about my life.

 

[Orang Utan]

Shows how much I pay attention these days
They should have got Jarvis!

 

[JTG]

I liked their use of the World Service 'This is London' announcement and the shipping forecast as well. Great stuff

 

[QueenOfGoths]

Just watched the 8 minute segment and i really enjoyed it - especially the transforming bus.

It was pretty ideosyncratic - apart from Beckham but I can perfectly understand why he was chosen to represent Britian being probably the worlds most recognised footballer - and that is something that the British do well. And tbh honest it wasn't for us really, was it, it was for the international audience and I think in that sense I think it worked.

 

[aylee]

What was it trying to show? That we don't have any genuine sports stars or musicians, and that buses in London are red?

Hmmm .... I agree with you that it was all rather confusing (what were all those people gyrating all over the bus for?) but whatever you may say about Beckham, there is no doubt of his star status, and to suggest that Jimmy Page is not a "genuine musician" is a quite remarkable statement. Leona Lewis may not qualify as a star yet but she has a reasonable pair of lungs on her.

It could have been worse .... they could have had Brian May.

 

[Maltin]

Some views from around the world

Guo and Rogge were thin, erect and serious, encased in creased dark suits. Johnson shambled out, his middle button undone, a hand in his pocket. He waved, pointed, pumped his fist and grinned: a naughty schoolboy out with the grown-ups.

Then the British appeared, with a dance skit including a London bus and members of three dance companies. Clearly, they were playing far from home, with limited resources. Even so, it looked chaotic and under-rehearsed.

Jimmy Page almost rescued the moment, with a demonstration of the simple power of the electric guitar. David Beckham received what may have been the biggest cheer for any non-Chinese athlete at the Olympics, just for kicking one soccer ball toward the crowd.

It was a powerful demonstration of how to get a lot from a little.

http://nytimes.com/2008/08/25/sports/olympics/25london.html

As home to the 2012 Games, London was represented by Mayor Boris Johnson, who struggled gamely to wave the Olympic flag, while David Beckham did what he does best, kicking a ball-- but from the top of a double-decker bus. The bumbling mayor and the crop-haired epitome of British celeb culture were a reminder that the London Olympics will be more eccentric, probably funnier and certainly more celebrity-mad than the Beijing Games. To prove it, popular thrush Leona Lewis accompanied Page in a storming rendition of “Whole Lotta Love.” (China was probably on firmer ground when Spanish tenor Placido Domingo and Chinese singer Song Zuying sang a stirring version of “Flame of Love.”)

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117991060.html?categoryid=14&cs=1

As a London bus drove into the stadium last night, transformed itself into a stage and gave soccer superstar David Beckham a platform to bend a ball toward the Games of 2012, the message was clear. The Poms have a lot of work to do to match Chinese ingenuity.

But if last night's handover to London during an emotional closing ceremony is any indication, England will at least inject something into the Games that were missing in Beijing - a sense of humour.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/beijing_olympics/story/0,27313,24234672-5017607,00.html

But proving that numbers and uniformity aren't everything, the London 2012 organizing committee staged a stirring show that promises a very different Olympic experience following the official handover ceremony to London Mayor Boris Johnson.

A classic red double-decker London bus bearing a London-Beijing-London sign arrived, and pulled up at a 'bus stop,' where a typical group of commuters — men reading newspapers, others unfurling black umbrellas, two people in wheelchairs and faces white, black and brown — were waiting and then tried to pile in.

They were all dancers from London's famous Zoonation troupe, and they fell back from the steps of the double-decker as, like a giant transformer toy, the top of the bus turned into a stage for singer Leona Lewis, who belted out Whole Lotta Loving with Led Zeppelin's legendary Jimmy Page on guitar.

They were joined by soccer superstar David Beckham, wearing a simple tracksuit, who held a soccer ball briefly in his hands before kicking it into the crowd.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/serv...824.wbeijingwrap0824/BNStory/beijing2008/home

 

[kyser_soze]

Oh, our 8 minutes was great!

I can finally see what kind of Olympics we need to have - we mustn't take it seriously, or earnestly, or lose our sense of humour over it. We should do it our way, limpingly and drearily and cunningly cheap! And if it is ever in any danger of failing, then we should wheel out an old rock star - in fact, we should have old rocks stars on podiums hidden under the very streets for just such occasions.

We have, at various times, led the world in fashion, music, theatre, film - we should rely on our old staples like this, wheel out Paul McCartney if he's still alive, and the Queen, backed by Queen! Oh yes, I can see it now, glorious and hilarious and spectacularly ours. And cheap! So lovely and cheap.

We don't have billions of people willing to act like computers in choreographed dance routines, we didn't invent fireworks, we don't run a one-party state with unlimited budgets - we have a pissant, wet little island that is quite possibly the funniest, coolest, place on earth.

If we take it seriously, we will get another Millenium Dome. There's something a little distasteful about the efforts the Chinese have gone to to look good - we don't need to try that hard, FACT.

Agreed.

Im inordinately pleased by the heart displayed by our athletes, they dared to dream and achieved far beyond what we expected.

Sadly the 'creatives' who are chosen to plan our millennium events, opening and closing ceremonies and logos tend to be neither cutting edge nor traditional.

They fall consistently below the standards of independent companies who put on Manumission, Trash City, Ministry of Sound or even the frigging Jubilee celebrations.

We are good at this putting on spectaculars, but the moment politicians and Nathan Barley type nobheads get involved- it turns to liquid shit.

As for our world image editor- I dont disagree with you, but people know us for our music and artistic endeavours as well as Big Ben, Buck House and buses.

So who are the 'Nathan Barleys' then? I've been to Manumission and it's basically house music interlevened with sex shows. MoS as a centre of creative excellence?

I haven't yet found a video of the 8 minute London showcase, but it seems a bit odd that one of the main British icons is a brand new London bus (not even a routemaster! ), a celebrity footballer (when Team GB doesn't even put up a football team), a reality tv popstar, and an ancient (but not particularly mainstream) rocker. Oh, and not to mention the bumbling (but funny) Mayor of London. Is that really the best they could do?

What was it trying to show? That we don't have any genuine sports stars or musicians, and that buses in London are red?

I don't know what you're so confused about. All those things represent London - David Beckham is very famous around the world, as is Leona Lewis. London is well known for red buses.

Worth pointing out as well that DB is an international ambassador for Good Sportsmanship - what could be more British than that notion (even as we abandon the cheerful amateurism that seems to go along with it) then that?

 

[Orang Utan]

DB is an international ambassador for Good Sportsmanship

 

[kyser_soze]

And? That's a pcture of what? 'That' world cup foul?

 

[Orang Utan]

Yes - one of the three things I know about Beckham

 

[JTG]

something that happened ten years ago when he was younger and dafter

 

[editor]

The variety article is probably right on the money:

The bumbling mayor and the crop-haired epitome of British celeb culture were a reminder that the London Olympics will be more eccentric, probably funnier and certainly more celebrity-mad than the Beijing Games.

 

[Orang Utan]

something that happened ten years ago when he was younger and dafter

People remember it though!

 

[kyser_soze]

You remember it LTC...in ony one of 3 things you remember Beckham for!

 

[Guineveretoo]

I don't know what you're so confused about. All those things represent London - David Beckham is very famous around the world, as is Leona Lewis. London is well known for red buses.

Hasn't got a lot to do with Olympic sport, though?

David Beckham plays in a sport in which we don't even compete, and is not even based in Britain. He only became famous around the world when he started playing in the States. That film, Bend It Like Beckham, was even released under a different name because of that

Leona Lewis won a reality tv show.

Why red buses and not red post boxes? It just seemed odd, is all, to parade a double decker bus.

 

[Orang Utan]

You remember it LTC...in ony one of 3 things you remember Beckham for!

I also remember that he's a kickball soccerplayer and he's married to Scary Spice

 

[QueenOfGoths]

Hasn't got a lot to do with Olympic sport, though?

David Beckham plays in a sport in which we don't even compete, and is not even based in Britain. He only became famous around the world when he started playing in the States. That film, Bend It Like Beckham, was even released under a different name because of that

Leona Lewis won a reality tv show.

Why red buses and not red post boxes? It just seemed odd, is all, to parade a double decker bus.

I can't agree with you about Beckham - he was certainly very, very well known round the world a long time before he went to the states. He is probably the most recognised footballer in the world and the most recognised British sportsman. He was the obvious choice

 

[JTG]

Hasn't got a lot to do with Olympic sport, though?

David Beckham plays in a sport in which we don't even compete, and is not even based in Britain. He only became famous around the world when he started playing in the States. That film, Bend It Like Beckham, was even released under a different name because of that

Leona Lewis won a reality tv show.

Why red buses and not red post boxes? It just seemed odd, is all, to parade a double decker bus.

Nonsense, Beckham has been famous across the world since he was playing for Manchester United. You are confusing 'the world' with 'the United States of America'

Leona Lewis won a reality TV show - and then went to number one across the world with her debut album

I don't think a pillar box would have been suitable transport into the stadium tbh