Olympics 2012: The Opening Ceremony

Actually it now appears they didn't. http://inagist.com/all/229197502946103296/

I've mixed feelings on the inclusion of Ali. A legend no doubt, but the Olympic movement recognised that back in 1996 and it kind of felt forced into the moment a bit. Talking of the Olympic flag I'd have rather seen that carried in by British sporting icons too, especially as the torch relay part was quite rightly passed on to the younger generation.

Sham Chakrobati should have had nothing to do with it. An irregular, irrelevant and inconsistent little blowhard. She gives liberals a bad name with her shrieking.

I thought she seemed a little embarrassed to be there.

And she'd defend your right to say that. Which is why some of us actually quite like her.

The one thing she doesn't do is shriek. Have you ever actually listened to her being interviewed?

Whenever I've seen her interviewed she's always avoided kneejerk reactions and overly simplified answers to complex questions.

I don't always agree with her - but I always respect her, and listen to what she says.

I thought it was an extremely powerful message to send to the world that the leader of Liberty, an organisation that protects our civil liberties (and often disagrees with governments of all parties), was involved in escorting the Olympic flag into the stadium.

Particularly powerful given that Beijing, that cradle of human rights and civil liberties, hosted the games previously.

If anyone (like me) is wondering about the music used for the cauldron lighting, search YouTube for underworld - caliban's dream. A full uninterrupted version has already been uploaded.

Thanks! I was looking at the Isles of Wonder soundtrack on iTunes, but failed to spot it as I thought it was listed in order of performance. It was on there all along.

Edit: Ah, looking at the listing on Amazon's MP3 store, the tracks have been arranged as they will be on the two CDs - the 1st being parts of the show itself, the second being the soundtrack to the Athlete's Parade

Out of interest, how did the light up beds work? I initially thought it was using a blacklight but the outfits of the nurses were not lighting up too. Were there lights within the sheets?

Yes, it looked to me like the 'duvets' lit up somehow. On a close-up they looked to be made of a plastic/thin tarpaulin type material - with some cabling linking them to a box on the headboard of the bed. I assume this allowed the lights within to be controlled for all the effects.

I was surprised to see that all the kids boucing on the beds looked like they all had earpieces in too.

Click track and directors' instructions - not just for the actual dancing but also the bits before and after, making sure they went in the right direction at the right time entering and exiting the stage.

Yep - looked like LED lighting embedded in the material making up the duvets. Presumably DMX data controlled - either with battery power and RF data, or cabled power and cabled data?



I think nearly everyone performing had an earpiece - not sure whether to hear the music and/or click track they were performing to, or to hear a direction track slaved to the music track, or indeed a mix of both? (I think Beijing did something similar to keep everyone tightly choreographed)

NBC's response regarding the skipped tribute



http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/london/story/2012-07-28/NBC-tribute-to-victims-Michael-Phelps/56556494/1