The Greatest Show on Earth ("Be not afeard, the isle is full of noises")

[elisi]

Although really, the best word is magical.

♥

(We were at my in-law's last night, and put up a big screen, and ended up staying the night due to lateness. Hence the lateness of this post.)

ETA: I think The New York Times might have said it best: "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, whatever that actually is."

(And Kenneth Branagh as Isambard Kingdom Brunel was just... *hands* And Jerusalem! So much there. A million brilliant little touches. Really, in a nutshell, this show was like Doctor Who: Madman with a box Stadium.)

Comments

[yourlibrarian]

Probably the most curious thing about the opening ceremony was the coverage of it. As usual, our coverage here managed to spoil much of it, either by not informing us of certain things or, more often, by simply not showing things. I'm always curious to see every Olympic opening ceremony and find it constantly irritating that I'm only ever permitted to see parts of it due to the network terror that people will leave the broadcast if things aren't either completely recognizable or American focused. Thus all our commentators had to discuss post-ceremony was the Bond-Queen bit because those are the only two figures the average American would recognize. And I suppose they weren't wrong in some ways because a lot of people only want a major celebrity or pyrotechnics every 3 minutes to hold their attention (http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2012/07/27/london-olympics-the-most-embarrasing-opening-ceremony/).

I quite enjoyed it myself especially the first third which I thought was a wonderful approach to the history of the Isles. We didn't get as good of a look at parts 2 and 3. In fact, I'm a bit baffled by all the discussions of quirkiness. My vote for that would go to the Winter Olympics ceremony a few decades back that passed quirky and managed to hit weird. Although I expect the hometown crowd was better able to appreciate its messages just as in this case.

[elisi]

And I suppose they weren't wrong in some ways because a lot of people only want a major celebrity or pyrotechnics every 3 minutes to hold their attention
I'm guessing these be the people who voted for Dubya... *cough* Anyway, over here, about half the country watched. For 4 hours straight, pretty much. No breaks. (And everyone more or less adored it, so we will just look down on anyone 'foreign' who doesn't get it. *g*)

In fact, I'm a bit baffled by all the discussions of quirkiness.
You missed Mr Bean and the whole hospital/fairy tale part? I'm guessing the giant Voldemort counts as pretty quirky...

[yourlibrarian]

I guess I'd just use the term "clever" when a raft of governesses beats back the giant Voldemort threatening the NHS and its patients ;)

[elisi]

I was mostly flailing. If I wasn't busy trying to get organised (we're going on holiday tomorrow), I'd probably be writing meta just about now...