Opening ceremony just a tad embarrassing !

[cheekypickle]

I just don't get it!

What baffled the DCs about the industrial revolution was all the men in the top hats. It only emerged afterwards that they were wondering whether they were all Sir Topham Hat, and they sort of expected Thomas the Tank Engine to make an appearance.

Given that the show featured HM the Q parachuting into the stadium, I don't think it was entirely unrealistic of them.

I don't give a stuff if the rest of the world didn't get it - British people would get and IMO that's the main thing! I didn't get the Beijing opening ceremony but thoroughly enjoyed this one

It was brilliant.

Well done London.

But why no Muse to finish with the Olympic song?

James Bond, Mr Bean, Kenneth Brannagh, Pogoing Punks, Frank Turner the Caulron .... all brilliant.

Proud to be BRitish this morning.

Late to the party here, was a bit why are they doing the NHS? when remembered that the NHS was founded the same year as the last time we hosted the Olympics.

I loved it! How can you not have marvelled at the industrial revolution segment when the set was dismantled and the giant chimney stacks erected? He chose four or five big British 'stories' and went for it. I was proud.

Entertaining and spectacular but dear god how much money is wasted. It seemed a bit competitive at points with The Queen and the fireworks and the cauldron. And now it's done and that's it.

We really liked watching the athletes walk round and were amazed at the countries we hadn't heard of. I want an austerity Olympics where it's just them really. Not like people won't enjoy the Olympics if we don't do a multi million pound show to start it.

I LOVED it.

For those of you who didn't like it what would you have done if you'd had Danny's job? I always think its very easy to criticise without having the faintest idea of what you would deliver creatively. It's a very British trait though, so well done :o

Well i loved it and thought it was so us very funny and oweing to things we love the nhs is very speical and people around the world envy it

To those who say they dont get it as a black person often feeling like i dont belong last night i cried because i felt like i belonged

They had a mixed raced family at the end to recognise that one in four children in london now live in a mixed raced family of some kind and that we are the most mixed western country also, also loved that fact they had the wind rush and gave a nod to how important it was to this country

And when i was watching those parts all i could think of is he has thought of us thought about how london looked then and h ow it looks now

The bangra music to represent our asian communty oh and the children from the four coners of the isles

The pearly kings and queen the armed forces mary popins,mr bean when the word see the uk thats what they think of and at that moment on that day i couldnt have been more proud

Oh my and the torch just wonderful just wonerful i am crying as i type becase i feel so sad that many still dont get our wonderful cultre

Go team GB wooo hoooo

Oh and well frigging done to the person who got the queen to do that my son (12 ) couldnt belive it and commented that the queen is a good sport

For those moaning that it's only about London - please bear in mind that it's LONDONERS that have paid for it with an increase in their council tax - if you northerners want a fancy show put your hand in your pocket and pay for it.

I loved it too

MrBojangles - spot on

I thought the ceremony was amazing. made me proud to be british x..........

The Jarrow marchers
Paul bleedin McCartney
The Industrial Revolution
Rural Idyll
The Whole of the Music Section
The whole of the childrens literature section
Glastonbury
The filmed bit of children singing in Scotland, Wales, Ireland
Arctic Monkeys

Hmm, large bits referred to other parts of the country or were not London-centric

I think some of you were not watching very carefully (or perhaps only saw what you wanted to see

It was shit and i suspect the rest of the world are thinking WTF, that we are Barmy/crazy/eccentric/weird.

We could never live up to the Beijing opening ceremony but wow, what an embarrassment!

YABU. To say it was embarrassing is like being one if those kids who think they are too cool for school...
We loved it. Other countries' opening ceremonies focus on what and why they are as they are; why shouldn't ours?! It was very cleverly put together and those who don't understand the relevance of the rural idyll being pushed out by the industrial revolution need to check out some history books.
The only bit which was rubbish was Paul mcCartney, yes he's internationally recognised, but there are loads of other UK artists who would have fit the bill and actually been good!
Well done I say. In these gloom and doom days, something like last night makes you appreciate actually how lucky we are to live in this country.

Isityouorme you are wrong just looked at ABC News and some other papers from around teh world and they loved our humour it was a hit

SO THERE !

I absolutely loved it! I am from the other side of the world and got all the references, you just need to know a little bit of history... This is one of the most important countries in the world after all.
Its very easy to criticise, i just don't know how some of you can't just enjoy something that took so long to put together.
I am proud and I'm not even British!

The reviews are using the words baffling, confusing, weird and more ..... Check the guardian, NY Times, us today sites ...

So there!

Mrsbojangles your post was so heartfelt. It brought a tear to my eye

From the new york times

By SARAH LYALL
Published: July 27, 2012
FACEBOOK

LONDON ? With its hilariously quirky Olympic opening ceremony, a wild jumble of the celebratory and the fanciful; the conventional and the eccentric; and the frankly off-the-wall, Britain presented itself to the world Friday night as something it has often struggled to express even to itself: a nation secure in its own post-empire identity.

isityouorme

"Olympic opening ceremonies make the most sense when staged by totalitarian states wishing to announce their imminent global primacy. The quintessential ones are the Nazis in 1936 and Beijing in 2008, in which China basically cowed the world with an insane display of manpower, muscular creativity and technical wizardry. They beat me at "hello". By the time those drummers had finished, they might as well have projected ALL YOUR ECONOMIES BELONG TO US into the night skies"

Marina Hyde - Guardian. Bejiing was amazing, but they had a very different agenda from us.

Wow, amazing. Just brilliant. The naysayers have had their day in regards to this Olympics - thank goodness, now let's just enjoy it.

that London?s are ?not a state-run Games ? it is a people-run Games,? and Boris Johnson, the London mayor, noted sharply that Britain was not planning to ?spend our defense budget? on ?pyrotechnics? but would take pride in being ?understated but confident.?

China was breath taking but many were forced to take partno doubt the people who wouldnt or didnt cut the mustard went missing and the stadium was so empty as the people so poor they had to draft the faithfull in as crowd filler

This year nearly every event bar football has been sold out even thr para games have been sold out for the first time ever

sweetandtenderhooligan thank you