Closing Ceremony

[jimslip]

I think speaking from an industry that thinks its done a grand job if they shove a gobo in front of a light to get a venetian blind effect, I think its a little unfair to be rubbishing this amazing event.

Having worked on 100's of major theatrical events, this was a masterpiece of organisation, unsurpassed by anything I've ever seen. Didn't anyone notice that all the sets were built "Live" in front of the audience. The Chinese or Aussies would have pre-built the sets and left them in different parts of the performing area. This was brilliant because you'd see hundreds of ant like figures all streaming out and building stuff before your very eyes. Look at the John Lennon sculpture, imagine if you had been carrying one of the eyes and fucked up, 1 billion people seeing you running around with the eye bit.......it could have been a disaster.

Didn't anyone notice the bit at the beginning that Hitler himself would have been proud of? They get all the athletes of every country in the World and get them to make up the centre Union flag! Talk about the "Motherland!" lol

[Peter]

jimslip wrote:
They get all the athletes of
> every country in the World and get them to make up the centre
> Union flag!

The whole world once again under the union flag, happy days!

Was it legal to keep all those athletes kettled like that?

[JamesW]

Sam Slater wrote:

> Still no room for two of the biggest
> selling British bands of all time in: Led Zeppelin and Rolling
> Stones.


The Rolling Stones declined an invitation to appear.

[Arginald Valleywater]

What was amazing was the lighting works. No wonder Muse, Floyd, Maiden etc are famous for their sets and show as well as playing. And why Spielberg has made films over here.

Dear Pete and Roger. Please pack in now. You are no longer The Who. Let your legend rest in peace and stop being another Elton Rod.

[bamboo]

Imagine there's no heaven. It's easy if you try.
No hell below us. Above us only sky.
Imagine all the people . Living for today...
Imagine if you had been carrying one of the eyes and fucked up.....

I completely agree with you on this Jim, fantastic show.
I did prefer the opening ceremony out of the two but they weren't meant to be comparable anyway. Two completely different shows, with two completely different goals.

The only slight turd in the ointment for me, was the Rio bit towards the end. It was as poor as, if not worse than, the London 'take over' bit at the end of Beijing. So I really hope they get someone decent in to direct their ceremonies.

[JamesW]

Robches wrote:

> I agree that when you have a countdown of David Bowie through
> the years, not actually having David Bowie was pathetic.


David Bowie declined an invitation to appear.

[Dave Wells]

I've just actually watched the bits I missed on the iplayer (I gave up at the hand over to Brazil because I thought that was it over).
For me as always, it proved that rock music is the ONLY 'stadium friendly' music that is suitable for......well........stadiums. Most of the music was awful except Queen and The Who. The Spice girls were dreadful. Take That - average !

I agree with you Bill though the lighting designer did a superb job.

[Ken Shabby]

I agree, Dave, the staging (logistics, lighting, etc) was excellent. It was the musical acts that I felt were lacking. Except for Ray Davies, he was as good as ever. But I only sat through the first hour(?), so I didn't see a lot of what's been mentioned here, so I can't comment on those.

Mr Johnson, the 'Jessie J bloke' comment was, as indeed you probably suspected, a joke. I'm just getting so sick of seeing that butch, talentless nobody, so when I saw her come on, that was the last straw....

And Mr Sam Slater, I didn't actually ask 'was it just me?' in my original post. And I've never really cared about Fleet Street's opinion anyway. As for Twitter - 1: I'm not some 14 year old kid, and 2: I was watching TV! I'm not going to be reading what some other asshole thinks while I'm unwinding in front of the box! Do you take a laptop/Ipad to the pictures with you as well? I feel sorry for anyone who has to sit in the next seat with you banging out a review all the way through the bloody film!
And yes, I love it that it pisses you off that I think differently to you, Sam. So, no I won't be enrolling in your class this September. I'd probably have to sit next to someone tweeting through the whole lesson, anyway....

[Flat_Eric]

>>>Eric Idle was good though.


"Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life" is wearing a bit thin now. It was funny in 1979/80 when the film came out, but has been completely done to death since.

- Eric (not Idle)

[andy at handiwork]

I noticed they included Roman soldiers in the number but left out the crucifixion bit.