London Olympics 2012 - Games of the XXX Olympiad
OLYMPICS
A thread for all things Olympic over the next fortnight.
Opening Ceremony is tomorrow 8pm local time. Directed by Danny Boyle, it's going to be ... strange. With 'The English Countryside' as a theme, it's got ... lots of countryside apparently. Fields, hedgerows, farms and farmyard animals. If nothing else, it'll be different to any other Olympic opening ceremony to date.
I find myself really, really looking forward to the Games. Roll on tomorrow.
Really looking forward to it. The football's already started early yesterday (well done Team GB ladies) tonight we're going to see 2 Olympic men's Football matches at Old Trafford, including Team GB vs Senegal.
Originally Posted by Ominous Gamer
aaaaaaand we have our first gaffe.
Not good.London 2012: North Koreans walk off after flag row
The North Korean women's football team walked off the pitch at their Olympic match in Glasgow after their images were shown on a screen beside a South Korean flag.
Kick-off was scheduled for 19:45 BST but the game started over an hour late.
North Korea beat Colombia 2-0 in the second of the Olympic matches held at Hampden Park on Wednesday.
Games organisers in London have apologised to North Korean officials for the mistake.
The error occurred when a video package was being shown ahead of kick-off, with the North Koreans noticing that their faces were being pictured alongside the South Korean flag.
The squad walked off and could only be persuaded to return when the teams were announced again with each player's face displayed next to the North Korean flag.
With this and soldiers being forced to serve as security, I don't have high confidence that the organizers of this thing have any skill in delegating authority.
Hope is the denial of reality
Vs
Don't worry, I don't think anyone will come even close to China's grand opening ceremony in decades tbh.
Tomorrow is like an empty canvas that extends endlessly, what should I sketch on it?
Heh that looks like the street from Ridley Scott's Hovis ad.
EDIT:
In fact it IS the street from the Hovis ad.
Shaftesbury in Dorset, apparently. Pretty
Gold Hill
Forever associated with sliced bread, thanks to the 1970s Ridley Scott-directed Hovis ad, this absurdly pretty cobbled hill, lined with thatched cottages, revels in sublime views across Dorset’s rolling countryside. It sits in the heart of the picturesque town of Shaftesbury, founded by legendary ruler Alfred the Great in the ninth century. This is Hardy country, and close-by, sixteenth-century Ox House featured in the author’s controversy-courting tragic tale, ‘Jude the Obscure’.
Last edited by Timbuk2; 07-26-2012 at 09:09 PM.
Argh. Team GB 1-1 Senegal in the Footy.
Rand ain't gonna be happy.
Wow Timbuk2, you got a keen eye for detail.
Anyway, Japan beat Spain, which made my day. Didn't get to watch the GB game, as I don't consider them a viable team to win it. With Spain's performance (or rather yet, representing players) I don't see them winning either. I'm rooting for Brazil or Japan.
Tomorrow is like an empty canvas that extends endlessly, what should I sketch on it?
Actually had a really great dayArgh. Team GB 1-1 Senegal in the Footy.
Rand ain't gonna be happy.
Our seats were brilliant. Went for the cheapest set of seats (just £20 each) and the ones we got were front-row seats on the second tier above the goals. Wouldn't expect to get front-row from cheap seats
The first game was fun. Most of the crowd in Old Trafford were booing Suarez from before kick-off and whenever he touched the ball, so we decided to support Uruguay.
There wasn't that much atmosphere at the first match though, although I was surprised to see it almost fully occupied - I expected many people to drift into the stadium in time for the Team GB match only. The atmosphere for the second game was on a completely different level though. Great fun and looked like it would be a good result, shame for the equaliser. Was completely convinced we had a penalty at the end, haven't seen any replays but that was a shame it wasn't given - would have been good for the Team and on a selfish level we were sat right above it so would have been amazing to see a match-winning penalty live. Oh well.
Spoiler:
The British queen is one cool grandma.
Tomorrow is like an empty canvas that extends endlessly, what should I sketch on it?
That industrial revolution montage was pretty cool.
When the sky above us fell
We descended into hell
Into kingdom come
Really liking so far. Didn't quite know what to expect, but it's way exceeded any expectation I had. NHS reference not so so sure about, but whatevs.
Danny
I rather liked the way they mixed the GOSH kids with Mary Poppins, that section did drag a bit though when they just had the nurses dancing but oh well.
Really liked the rest of it. Liked the music montage, really contributed a lot of key music over the decades. Wasn't sure about it when they said countryside, but they've done well
Okay. Who the fuck are The Federated States of Micronesia ? ?
Ask Loki, he has this weird thing about them.
When the sky above us fell
We descended into hell
Into kingdom come
They are states of Micronesia that are federated
Good god. Is the queen a puritan? Her expression was dour every time they zoomed in on her.
Captain Obvious here. Only have 2 comments from what i saw
Holy shit that was British, and holy shit Mr. Bean is getting old.
"In a field where an overlooked bug could cost millions, you want people who will speak their minds, even if they’re sometimes obnoxious about it."
Entertaining.
I hear that I'd have much preferred to watch the BBC coverage to NBC (with commercials every 3 minutes).
Oh well.
Time for the athletes.
We're stuck in a bloody snowglobe.
I like how the athletes are all walking in with cameras. Adds a nice human touch to it.
"In a field where an overlooked bug could cost millions, you want people who will speak their minds, even if they’re sometimes obnoxious about it."
Really, really well-done.
Paul McCartney has tears in his eyes.
We're stuck in a bloody snowglobe.
So did Chris Hoy (our flag bearer).
The reaction of many of my friends (and Amanda and I) was that it was great but Paul McCartney need's to realise his age and retire, time for bed
A bunch of islands in the pacific that were under US control until they gained independence. Now they're independent, but defended by the US military and do whatever we tell them to do.
Hope is the denial of reality
And how much exactly is that? Can't imagine they've exactly got a massive military on their own etc?
As far as minor nations are concerned, one of my favourites is Tuvalu - one of their largest exports quite simply being commercialising their .tv top-level domain name
They don't have any. Ditto with Palau and Marshall Islands.
Hope is the denial of reality
So other than being an airstrip, how much exactly can the US military tell them to do?
He didn't mean they do what we say militarily, just that they do what we say and are defended by our military. Basically free votes in various international forums.
Last night as I lay in bed, looking up at the stars, I thought, “Where the hell is my ceiling?"
When I was interning at the UN, Micronesia didn't vote against the US a single time in the entire General Assembly session. Palau and Micronesia were about as likely to vote with the US as Israel. We also have military bases on their territories.
Regarding the main theme of the thread, is there a particular reason why your team is called "Team Great Britain" when it includes athletes from Northern Ireland?
Hope is the denial of reality
According to wiki:
Great Britain and Northern Ireland,[1][2][3][4] usually abbreviated to Great Britain,[5] allocated the IOC country code GBR, and since 1999 branded as Team GB, is the team that represents the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) at the Olympic Games. It is organised by the UK's National Olympic Committee, the British Olympic Association (BOA).
also
Under the terms of a long-standing settlement between the BOA and the Olympic Council of Ireland,[citation needed] athletes from Northern Ireland can elect to represent Ireland at the Olympics, as Northern Irish people are legally entitled to dual citizenship.[6]
which i didn't know.
Besides, shouting COME ON TEAM GB is much less of a mouthful than shouting COME ON GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND
Or they could just call it Team United Kingdom.
Hope is the denial of reality
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
