Diasfora
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: smokester on July 27, 2012, 11:09:48 AM
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Ok, it's nearly upon us. I still have trouble believing that it's being hosted in Stratford, as even Londoners fear stopping there for too long. However, it's here, and I suppose it has to be embraced.
Of course, nothing can go wrong can it?..
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Of course, nothing can go wrong can it?..
and the security company scandal, and the flag fiasco with North Korea, and the Greek athlete posting racist remarks on Twitter, and disqualifed athletes failing drug tests already, and............. ;D
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Well, I really enjoyed the opening ceremony which is a surprise (I thought it'd be crap), and all I noticed that was awry was 2 balloons didn't pop when prompted.
There might be hope yet.
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don't get me wrong, i'm not picking on Britain, it's just that something seems to go wrong with the Olympics all the time, everywhere.
saw on the news that this is the biggest armed forces mobilization since WWII, damned terrorists :-\
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The games are already creating their own problems domestically, and I can only hope that the area it's being held in benefits enough for it to have been worthwhile.
I can't deny that I'm looking forward to the men's 100 metre final though - if someone could just wake me up a few minutes beforehand?
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the opening ceremony was different indeed.
some excellent parts and some rubbish. gave up after the B countries came through, work to do .
Missed the end so i will watch it later.
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I am truly surprised at just how many cynics (myself included) thought the opening ceremony was fantastic. I even felt patriotic and perhaps even a little proud, which is not something I am famed for.
Of course I woke to the archery team being eliminated from the team event, so it's business as usual again.
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Ceremony started well then went downhill, Abide with me...a funeral song, the Queen looked like she was sucking on a lemon and did not want to be there, Arctic Monkeys ? there are a lot better groups around, poor old McCartney can not sing any more even Sir Cliff would have been better.
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Arctic Monkeys ?
Honestly. WTF?! It's GB! As if they didn't have bands to choose from. ::)
poor old McCartney can not sing any more
;)
I still think he was very well chosen (the song too), he completely belong there and probably a good part of the world enjoyed it.
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I haven't had 5 minutes free to watch any so far. It's a bugger having the event in real time.
Roll on Rio when I can watch live action in the evening (U.K evening) again.
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have watched quit a lot of the games.
loved some , hated others.
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I'm missing out on the whole thing. No TV at the dorm and all the TVs at work are tuned in to HBO or some other movie channel.
Is the opening on Youtube?
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yes i believe it is.
also on bbc iplayer but unsure if available outside the uk
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The U.K has surpassed any of my expectations in this Olympics, excluding the damn football that is.
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I just saw XT's country win their first medal here; a bronze in the tennis. Very touching how proud the whole Argentinian camp was, and for my money it is those moments that define good sport and good sportsmanship.
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I just saw XT's country win their first medal here; a bronze in the tennis. Very touching how proud the whole Argentinian camp was, and for my money it is those moments that define good sport and good sportsmanship.
Our first medal! I even cried a happy tear. And after loosing 19-17 to Federer he deserved a break. He's such a nice guy too.
Vamos todavĂa!
Edit: Andy has just got the gold!!
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Edit: Andy has just got the gold!!
He might just get a pair of them.
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gold and silver.
were doing well.
To stand in the Athletic stadium and receive the gold medal with the entire spectators signing the anthem, must make the odd winner cry.
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I just saw XT's country win their first medal here; a bronze in the tennis. Very touching how proud the whole Argentinian camp was, and for my money it is those moments that define good sport and good sportsmanship.
GB v Argentina in the ladies hockey semi-final. I think GB are the underdogs for that one.
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GB v Argentina in the ladies hockey semi-final. I think GB are the underdogs for that one.
I look forward to watching that. I couldn't watch Argentina vs Australia today. Or anything else for that matter. :(
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Did Argentina get a silver in the Hockey? I missed it yesterday and it was one event I had tried to find time to watch.
I wish I'd seen more of the entire Olympics but I say that every 4 years and then cannot find time to watch any of it. Roll on retirement age.
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There are a few events that I want to watch and it looks like I'm going to each one of them. I have neither cable nor TV in the city.
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well, i must say that Britain did a wonderful job of hosting, and the Closing Ceremonies sound promising :)
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I watched the closing ceremony and I am sorry that I doubted the games possible success. I should have realised as an ex DJ, that the one thing that Londoners know how to do well, is how to put on a party.
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I'm watching it and it's a lot of fun. And Nick Mason & Mike Rutherford?! F"$%& yeah!!
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just getting my breath back
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I'm about to leave for work and I've missed the entire thing.
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I'm about to leave for work and I've missed the entire thing.
That dear, is the story of my life.
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have a giggle
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Excellent games + Ceremonies I was really surprised and proud to be British it will take me weeks to get rid of blood shot eyes, I even enjoyed sports I would never normally watch like dressage. Boxing was brilliant except as in previous olympics the scoring was dodgy still could not bring my self to watch synchronised swimming..... :).
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I agree with most of what you have said there, in fact, among my friends who are classed as disabled, the running joke is that you'd have to be dead to claim incapacity benefit, but only if you are not twitching. I also agree with with whatever you want to say about Seb Coe - but that's only because he's a Tory git :)
However, I do honestly believe that sport can bind a community together whether it be national or local, and these games have certainly made a lot of ordinary folk feel good about the country and themselves (evidently not all though). It has also helped racial tolerance in much the same way as ethnic minorities were accepted by the more ignorant as they happened to be scoring goals for whichever team the bigots supported - and that must be a plus.
Frankly, as a Londoner I was at the thin end of the wedge and was one of the capital's biggest cynics of the games (as was just about everyone I know from London), but it was a well rehearsed and efficiently managed performance that actually make the capital easier to traverse rather than screw it up. As these games were always going to happen, I think I'd rather have them the way were rather than the usual debacle our administration usually makes of far simpler tasks, and that our country did exceptionally well in them as we did.
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I agree with a great deal of what you have to say Smokes and what you have said has also given me pause for thought on the few things that I can't quite agree with but always with respect...
You and I are not so far removed. You're just sober more often.
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I think they avoided "deep" in favour of One Direction.
I would have facepalmed that ^ decision if it hadn't made me laugh.
Something I discovered that might be of interest regarding the Olympics and the broader impression of them, is that just before they started I had a job in Stratford right by the complex. The client was real Eastender and she was telling me of how bad the crime was there (as if it wasn't obvious) and how the last 2 burglaries she had, they'd axed her door down to get in. I'd remarked that with crime so bold and oblivious to the law, how last year's summer riots must have been terrible.
Here's the interesting thing: apparently there wasn't any real rioting and looting in Stratford. Why? because they drafted police from all over London and they lined the streets almost without a break in their chain to stop rioting at all costs. This was done because if any trouble near the complex became global news (as it would have in a breath), it would have seriously damaged the international perception of the games.
The rest of London bur..... well, the rest is history.
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Maybe its just me, but I enjoyed the Games, and I quite enjoyed watching the reactions of the athletes as they competed for medals in a home Olympics for probably the only time in their lives.
Compared to football, where we pay uneducated delinquents tens of millions of pounds to dive all over a football pitch whilst texting racist and other stupid crap to each other and their herds of moronic followers and then we pretend that somehow these imbeciles are not going to be seen as role models, I think that the Olympics were pretty good value, too.
In a quiet moment of reflection, I wonder if we could have played the protest card: a simple, understated, cheap opening ceremony and a similar closing ceremony bookending the games. Less of a global spectacle, but a statement.
No, it wasn't only you. I enjoyed all of the games I managed to watch and even our house had some kind of magical feel good factor around that hasn't really happened before. I think it was because most of the community were "buzzing" - possibly not because of the games, but more the fact that London hadn't been turned on its head like we all expected - and that feeling sort of became infectious.
I'm just pissed that they rejected the Solo Synchronized Swimming event.
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Don't mind me, I am just a cantankerous old git, and if I wasn't you would all probably be wondering if my account had been hacked ;D
No chance of that; you're inimitable Aelthric.
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Don't mind me, I am just a cantankerous old git
Yup.
I'm not convinced that you count as old, though.
I've known "old gits" who were in their teens.
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Get off my lawn.
I thought you country folk said "land".
Ok, I was kidding about "country folk" bit before you smite me.