Last year I left on the first part of my adventures to do VSO in Nigeria. I was disillusioned with this country and couldn't wait to leave. It was an interesting and challenging few months where I came to appreciate life at home in a way I never had before (see blog here). Then I came home briefly, initially loved it but very soon I found myself wanting to leave again, cue the start of this blog, me on my travels around SE Asia. The doom and gloom in the UK in January was too much for me and I'm not just talking about the weather. So when I came back this summer I wasn't expecting much in terms of joy. Awful weather aside it seems to have been a wonderfully happy and glorious British summer, thanks in the most part to London 2012 and the way it has lifted the spirits here in Blighty.
The games started in the best possible way with an opening ceremony that had it all, what followed was two weeks of drama, emotional displays, the mobot, the comedy of horse dancing, and the creation of memories to cherish for a lifetime, inspire a generation indeed. Alas I cannot lie the closing ceremony did not hit all the right notes for me. The opening segment was noisy and confusing culminating in Timothy Spall AKA Churchill bellowing 'STOP'. Stop indeed before this gets any worse. Highlights were Elbow, Emeli Sande and Ed Sheeran all giving great vocals. Fat Boy Slim and the giant Octopus another winner. I found myself strangely emotional with the video screens of Freddie Mercury at the start of the Queen song and Russell Brand, bonkers but I liked it. All in all though it was too bitty, it didn't flow well and every time it seemed to get going the next act was a let down, sing something we know George Michael!
The Brazilian segment giving us a glimpse at what we can expect in 2016 was much in the same vane, the samba was fun but it all seemed a bit haphazard and random. Then the extinguishing of the flame with fire represented through the medium of dance was all a bit special for me, it tainted that beautiful cauldron. Finishing with the awesome rockness of The Who and not Paul McICantneysinganymore was a major blessing however. It didn't diminsh from what was an amazing games and watching the athletes have fun was great, I bet there were a few hangovers this morning.
Now what am I going to do with myseld until the Paralympics?
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| Pic of the games - Lovely Mo and Lick me please Usain Bolt. |
Ah the closing ceremony, a topic of hot debate. Tom's review...
ReplyDeleteI quite liked the opening section but more for visual impact than the clattering-on and stupid Churchill bit. They were on a hiding to nothing after "Sir Danny of Boyle's" opening ceremony. Was nice to see the athletes excited and the union flag mosh pit thing was a good idea. The speeches were nice and positive. Ugandan and Greek national anthems got everyone on the dance floor!
I cheered when George came out to sing but when he started doing some 'new stuff' I wanted to lock him in a room with a fundamentalist Christian.
I thought the Pet Shop Boys were a major stroke of genius - they managed to don a ridiculous cone head cyclist outfit and yet I was still thinking, "how f@*k&ng cool is Neil Tennent". Annie Lennox was a total joke, Dave Stuart must have spent the night punching himself in the face so he didn't have to watch.
I did secretly love the spice girls but maybe only because I heart Emma Bunton and so didn’t really see/hear the actual performance. I was expecting to really hate the Jessie J/Tiny Tempah bit but actually it was pretty good.
Eric Idle was so left-field it was funny ("Life's a piece of shit") so got my thumbs up although what the hell was going on with Only Fools and Horses/Batman - ludicrous.
Elbow were brilliant, as were the Who. I got a lump in the throat when the Freddie and John Lennon clips aired (nice touch). This feeling soon subsided when Brian May came on with his flipping badger coat thing and basically dry humped Jessie J (fair play old man).
Could have set fire to The Kaiser Chiefs and the pre-pubescent ginger hedge that is Ed Sheeran. Where the hell were David Bowie/The Stones/Radiohead/Blur to kick Liam Gallagher up his Beady ‘Japs’ Eye?
I felt a touch of shame when it looked like Take That were going to close proceedings… at that point I was secretly praying for Elton John to appear and run off with Jason Orange just to get him off the stage. It momentarily made me forget how angry I was that One Direction haven’t been abducted by an alien race that require a limitless supply of smugness and vile sanctimonious teen-pop to rebuild their dying civilisation.
Well done Britain for a brilliant Olympics and half arse closing ceremony – having said that, if the Brazil bit is a reflection on what we should expect from Rio 2012 then we might just have seen the greatest closing ceremony ever. Pele – WTF????