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Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2012 20:49:53 GMT
I thought we might need a thread to talk about what is going on starting at the end of this week. Unfortunately, if it can be believed, I was not at all pleased by this article that I encountered, concerning the conditions of the employees.
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Post by fumobici on Jul 22, 2012 22:17:04 GMT
Seems perfectly in tune with the times, treating the less fortunate with withering contempt. "This is not a prison. Nobody is forced to stay there. Many of our staff have come from areas where there is extremely high unemployment and are very happy to be working in the Games." I personally don't think the general current conditions of high unemployment are anything less than a planned occurrence to disempower the working classes. We have handed over the keys to our countries to self-entitled, spoiled sociopaths and the resulting misery for the many is the inevitable result. Sorry for the digression/rant
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Post by mossie on Jul 23, 2012 12:49:54 GMT
I'm afraid this typifies the shambles that this sorry country has descended into. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer, paraphrased from an old music hall song "It's the rich wot gets the pleasure, it's the poor wot gets the blame" Roll on the revolution
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Post by Deleted on Jul 23, 2012 20:55:01 GMT
Time to get into the mood for the good stuff now. I think this advertising film is quite lovely.
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Post by htmb on Jul 23, 2012 21:08:01 GMT
Members of the University of Florida Marching Band have raised almost one million dollars to travel to the Olympics. They will be a part of the opening ceremonies.
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Post by patricklondon on Jul 24, 2012 16:08:09 GMT
The buzz is (well, it would be, wouldn't it) that the opening ceremony is going to be quite something. Teh director asked the audience at the final dress rehearsal not to leak details of what they'd seen, but that lasted about five minutes. Of course, that might all have been meant as a publicity ploy anyway.
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Post by htmb on Jul 24, 2012 16:20:44 GMT
Five former and current University of Florida swimmers will be competing for the USA in the 2012 Olympic games: Ryan Lochte, Conor Dwyer, Clark Burckle, Dana Vollmer, and Elizabeth Beisel. Also, UF coach Gregg Troy will serve as head coach for the U. S. men's team. Article from the July 24, Gainesville Sun: www.gainesville.com/article/20120724/ARTICLES/120729851/1185?p=1&tc=pg
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Post by htmb on Jul 27, 2012 14:29:09 GMT
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Post by lola on Jul 27, 2012 15:31:31 GMT
If that's a sample of Romney's diplomatic skills, um....
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 27, 2012 15:42:44 GMT
Yes, I've been skipping and dancing with glee that The Rebooblican Candidate has taken his keen interpretive & diplomatic skills to a foreign stage.
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Post by htmb on Jul 27, 2012 16:20:40 GMT
Yes, I've been skipping and dancing with glee that The Rebooblican Candidate has taken his keen interpretive & diplomatic skills to a foreign stage. ;D ;D ;D
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Post by Deleted on Jul 27, 2012 16:33:52 GMT
Waiting for the big show in a few hours -- maybe Mitt can be the last torch carrier.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 27, 2012 21:01:39 GMT
Okay, I confess that the beginning of the show was very impressive, but all of the next part with trivial British culture was extremely annoying to me.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 27, 2012 21:23:36 GMT
Waiting for the big show in a few hours -- maybe Mitt can be the last torch carrier. Hopefully they stuck him in with the 70 sheep somewhere....
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Post by htmb on Jul 27, 2012 22:53:58 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 27, 2012 23:31:59 GMT
Impossible for a ceremony to be more endless. This will make the Oscars seem so short in the future.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 27, 2012 23:44:34 GMT
Please no more close ups of Paul McCartney and the most unnatural hair colour in the world.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2012 1:58:04 GMT
I was out and missed the opening ceremony. Pray tell how were the (70) sheep I kept hearing about featured? I can't seem to shake several images in my head of what they were supposed to be doing or representing.
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Post by htmb on Jul 28, 2012 4:04:31 GMT
How did I miss the sheep? Kerouac, I agree with you that the opening ceremony started out okay, but then got lost early on. However, I loved the end when Steve Redgrave came in with the torch and handed it off to the very young athletes. I thought the lighting of the torch was brilliant. I know Paul McCartney has aged, but whenever I hear him sing I'm 12 years old again and seeing Paul on the Ed Sullivan for the first time. Bad hair, aging face and tired old voice make no difference to me
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2012 6:40:12 GMT
I was just thinking about that ceremony again, and I'm pretty sure they lost me with all of the children on hospital beds.
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Post by lugg on Jul 28, 2012 6:48:23 GMT
I thought it was greatc ( mostly) and at times brilliant
The GOSH section was quite a political statement by Danny Boyle to David Cameron et al ie The NHS is part of and vital to the UK
Hear Hear !
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Post by mossie on Jul 28, 2012 7:21:37 GMT
I would agree with Lugg, to have the Queen parachuting out of a helicopter was a touch of genius. Maybe some would have liked to see Mmr Romney do the same, but with a faulty chute. ;D
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2012 9:15:37 GMT
Perhaps, but is it normal to present local political issues to a viewing public of 2 billion who know absolutely practically nothing about the UK? The French were very pleased with their own bid for the Olympics and lost partly because their presentation was totally ethno-centric and imagined that France was the centre of the world. The British bid was brilliant because it showed the hopes and aspirations of young people all over the world and did not claim that London was the focal point of the universe. But that show last night made it appear that the British have become like the French.
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Post by nycgirl on Jul 28, 2012 14:17:28 GMT
17-year-old Lia Neal of Brooklyn, a girl I have ran into at the local swimming pool for the past 8 years, is swimming the 100m relay today. She swims with the girls I babysit and she always struck me as a quiet, modest child, even though it was clear to everyone that she was something special. I'm going to be sure to watch her today.
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Post by lugg on Jul 28, 2012 15:42:05 GMT
Oh I hope Lia does well Nyc girl
No K2, we are much more bonkers than the French. But I can understand your point that many outside the UK would not have understood and / or cared about all the references to British culture
But still I loved it and I think generally the world media has been kind
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Post by patricklondon on Jul 28, 2012 18:28:23 GMT
I don't think that was the objective (though the underlying concept of that segment of the show was a bit of a two-fingered salute to those who think corporate interests are the be-all and end-all): the whole segment was about the influence and importance of generosity and the "gift relationship", from JM Barrie giving the rights and royalties from Peter Pan to the Great Ormond St children's hospital, to the principle of the NHS, to the way social digital media, and all that they allow us to do, wouldn't have happened without Tim Berners-Lee making the concept of the Web open and unpatented - hence his words, displayed at the end "This is for everyone": and that's what ties it to the original bid.
I understand there was a media guide explaining it all, but whether overseas broadcasters used it to brief themselves I don't know.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2012 18:33:04 GMT
Explanation in the foreign media was along the lines of "NHS = National Health Service. Oh, there's Mary Poppins!"
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Post by htmb on Jul 28, 2012 21:56:45 GMT
We got the JM Barry details here, which I thought was absolutely wonderful for him to do. I had no idea.
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Post by nycgirl on Jul 29, 2012 0:20:45 GMT
Explanation in the foreign media was along the lines of "NHS = National Health Service. Oh, there's Mary Poppins!"
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Post by nycgirl on Jul 29, 2012 0:23:54 GMT
Oh I hope Lia does well Nyc girl She certainly acquitted herself nicely. I don't know her personal time, but the team won bronze and set a new American record. This is an extraordinary accomplishment, not only because she is quite young, but because NYC is not a hotbed for swimming competitors. Good for her. The kids at the pool are going to be so excited when she comes back. (I can almost hear the screaming now.)
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