Kaitlyn and I have been lucky enough to watch the London Olympics Opening Ceremonies (on the TV, not in the stadium - we're not /that/ lucky) - or at least up to the Teams' Procession, when I had to go to work - and I was impressed by a lot of things. For instance:

The entirety of the first segment, the British History piece, was amazing. I thought Brunel was brilliant (though as Kaitlyn pointed out, it must have taken them ages to come up with a historical character who wouldn't offend anyone), and the transition from the Hobbiton-esque rural scene to the industrial age was brilliantly executed - and utterly captivating. Particularly the dancing men in top hats, loved them - but also all the references (to speak in a fandom way). We spent the whole time going 'Ooh, Suffragettes! Ooh, Beatles!' - usually before the BBC commentators got there.

(And may I just say, they did a wonderful job of shutting up and letting us watch. Much better than the Jubilee, when I think they must have been paid by the word)

Then there was 'Happy and Glorious', with, er, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II parachuting out of a helicopter alongside James Bond. It kind of has to be seen to be believed.

Somewhere around here we had the orchestra playing Chariots of Fire, 'assisted' by Rowan Atkinson - who managed to be funnier without uttering a word than I think he could be talking.

Then there was the Children's Literature & The National Health Service segment, which seems a bit of an odd combination, but worked surprisingly well. J.K. Rowling gave us a lovely reading, and, well, giant Voldemort was driven off by a host of Mary Poppinses. It's like the most surreal crossover ever.

(On a side note: given that the Prime Minister is currently trying to sell off large chunks of the NHS, we wondered how comfortable he felt watching the nation extoll its virtues to the world. Not very, I think)

The closing Four Decades of Music/Television/Technology section seemed a bit crowded, and I didn't recognise much of the TV - or half the music - but the digitally-aided techno-romance story was very well done. Texts and tweets telling the story were added to the footage of the dancing, presumably live, and while the story wasn't exactly complex, it did its job - it caught my attention.

And then they revealed the inventor of the World Wide Web on the stage, which must have been quite a surprise for all the other inventors of the Web. Not sure what was going on there.

But all in all, great fun to watch, and it didn't get boring and repetitive. It does leave me wondering when the extravaganzas for opening ceremonies began, though - I know Beijing 08 had one, but I can't remember hearing about 04 (was that Athens?). Anyone know how long they've been going on? Because I think I want to watch them all.

So did anyone else see it? Or is anyone morally opposed to it? We won't be watching anything from the Olympics themselves - sport, booooring! - but the ceremony was really something.

Thoughts/feelings/reactions?

hS