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Tremendous opening ceremony. Don't often sit right through & watch it all. The only thing I did not really like was Macca. Sorry but he should just retire. I wonder if the Stones will play the closing one and/or the Who or Peter Gabriel etc.
I don't think the military should have been involved,carrying the Olympic flag too up the hill.
The lighting was absolute genius throughout, the rings,the Cauldron and kids involvement fantastic. He is a social Democrat and it shone through, from the Jarrow marches,The Pankhursts, the industrial revolution, the NHS and nice touch having Sir Berners Lee involved.
Well done Danny, the best of British. Bet the Americans were looking on in envy!

The thing with the NHS is that the money that has been spent on the Olympic could arguably have been much better spent on the NHS.

As for the ceremony being a shambles, I watched very very little of it so can't comment on that. I'm just not a fan of them in general to don't watch unless I am really stuck for something to do.

It was a lot better than I expected to be honest.
The forging of the rings was impressive as was how the Cauldron was put together.
The segments on the the Industrial Revolution and NHS were well thought out.

I also liked that they added a bit of comedy with Mr Bean. Aswell as the little Bond themed movie.

The things I didn't like:
Sir Paul Mccartney murdering a song he wrote.
The Queen not managing to smile the whole way through.
The first 20 minutes (for me) were pretty damn boring.

People were always going to moan whatever happened, it's the British way.

'What a shambles blah blah blah tax payers money blah blah blah typical broken Britain blah blah blah'

Fact is, look at any paper (online version) around the world and you will see what a fantastic reaction it received.

London did us proud, no amount of Daily Mail reading moaners will change that.

I thought the staging, lighting and sound was brilliant. The stadium looked quality, too.

Great way to open the olympics, as well as the message of developing youth and passing on the torch to the next generation was a nice message.

Its not nice to Ali in the state he is, he doesn't look well.

I have to say on behalf of the Daily Mail (playing Devils advocate so to speak) that the paper and its (online) readers seem very pleased with the ceremony and the online comments are about 99.9% positive.

Funnily enough the Guardian comments are the most caustic complaining about everything from a lack of Iron Maiden being used to the overtly 'British' theme of the event

I thought Danny Boyle did a very good job... Not all of it was perfect, but there were some real stand out moments and some brave decisions that he pulled off flawlessly.

Sick of the "tax payer money" whining. It was watched by a billion+ worldwide. It's amazing advertising, and that costs money.

I see a few philistines have come out to play.

For those asking what a lot of the items featured in the opening ceremony has to do with the Olympics, the opening ceremony isn't supposed to be a representation of simply the Olympics, it's supposed to be a representation of the host country, highlighting it's identity and it's cultural heritage i.e. an introduction to the world showing what we are all about, the things we believe are important, the elements that have helped shape us and led us to where we are now etc etc. A flavour of Great Britain.

This is why things like the british industrial revolution were featured, the creation of the NHS, our musical heritage etc etc.

So some understanding of the reason for the ceremony and it's elements might help before jumping in with your size nines to criticise the contents being there or calling them irrelevant to the Olympics.

As for the 'what's the point of art?' type comments, I feel sorry for you, and perhaps with more education and age you'll start using the right side of your brain, rather than just the left half. You may even begin to see how art affects society and cultures, improves well-being, stimulates and expands the mind, allows people to express their energy and emotion in ways otherwise not possible, provides a medium to communicate thoughts to others that couldn't otherwise be transferred, develops creative thinking (which incidentally helps things like even scientific development), provides some happiness, pleasure and calmness to people in a society etc etc.

You may as well ask what is the point of music, or seeing beautiful things. It makes little sense to think humanity would develop more positively or become more enlightened if we only surround ourselves with bland practicalities.

Finally just because you don't find one piece of art stimulating or immediately worthwhile to your individual life, it doesn't mean it's presence has no affect on it's surroundings and other people that see it and should be destroyed or hidden from society as whole.

Anyone saying it cost too much should know 1 thing:

London 2012 Opening Ceremony cost: £27M

Beijing 2008 Opening Ceremony cost: £190M (Apparently they spent £20M on fireworks alone!)

I hope that puts things into perspective!

I thought the best bit was when team GB were parading the queen was checking out her finger nails.

How much did the UK spend on the olympics in total? They should've given more money to the opening ceremony imho. The whole rock of ages bit was something outta las vegas. A lot of filler videos as well. The first bit was excellent, and the cauldron lighting was cool too..thank goodness for the queen and mr bean to save the bad bits

Pea

great post. Thanks.