Commonwealth Opening Ceremony ( merged threads )

[rossthejambo]

 

 

 

You don't think people looked at that from around the world and started chucking cornettes about?

 

I'm sure some folk did, I'm sure the majority probably quite enjoyed it though. Doubt they get too hung up on folk singing about inventions, ship building and some heather with some tartan thrown in.

 

 

[Beats]

 

 

 

I'm sure some folk did, I'm sure the majority probably quite enjoyed it though. Doubt they get too hung up on folk singing about inventions, ship building and some heather with some tartan thrown in.

 

I doubt the majority enjoyed that mate. But you seem worked up about it and I don't want to fall out

[rossthejambo]

 

 

I doubt the majority enjoyed that mate. But you seem worked about it and I don't want to fall out

 

far from it Beats, just don't see the point in taking it all too seriously.

 

No chance of a falling out.

[ToYouToMe]

 

far from it Beats, just don't see the point in taking it all too seriously.

 

No chance of a falling out.

 

Glad to see the Friendly Games spirit extending to Kickback.

 

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[Beats]

 

 

far from it Beats, just don't see the point in taking it all too seriously.

 

No chance of a falling out.

 

I'm not taking it serious but in my opinion it was shite.

 

I was hoping for a falling out then I wouldn't have to give you that bottle of vodka

[Thunderstruck]

 

 

 

 

I'm sure some folk did, I'm sure the majority probably quite enjoyed it though. Doubt they get too hung up on folk singing about inventions, ship building and some heather with some tartan thrown in.

 

Exactly. The notion of self-deprecating humour seems to go way over the heads of some.

 

I said on Monday that the entire show as rehearsed was - on the whole - actually quite good. The televised version is a poor second best and fails to capture the atmosphere - the sights, the sounds, the movement but that is true of everything from live music to stage shows. The TV also spoils it with commentary.

 

The inclusion of the UNICEF piece was well done and made a good point - eleven children dying from preventable diseases every minute, every minute of every day!

 

[All roads lead to Gorgie]

Cool buddy. Let's unite behind the team.

[rossthejambo]

 

 

 

I'm not taking it serious but in my opinion it was shite.

 

I was hoping for a falling out then I wouldn't have to give you that bottle of vodka

 

Exactly the reason there will be no falling out

[Mysterion]

The start was guff, the rest was a load of fun.

 

Far too many miserable people unable to enjoy it for what it was - an opening ceremony to welcome every nation.

 

The charity/fundraising aspect was also very well done. Pleasing to hear it originated from the Scots organisers too.

 

Whether we stay or go with the vote in Sept - leading on activities to improve society is how I want Scotland to be. I was really proud of that tonight.

[Pete Seeger]

 

 

The only pitbulls you will see in the East End of Glasgow are those usually followed by a trackie clad ned.

 

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Original.

[luckydug]

I thought it was not bad at all after John Barrowman ,Karen Dunbar and Susan (how does it go again) Boyle GTF.

Trouble is after the dreadful start most people probably switched off.

These things usually are crap though unless you are there in person to get the atmosphere.

Have to remember it was probably done with a fraction of the budget that the Olympic Opening Ceremony had.

It could have been the best show in the world and the usual Scotland haters on JKB would still mock .

[Geoff Kilpatrick]

Some people are getting very precious about this!

[Hasselhoff]

I thought it was not bad at all after John Barrowman ,Karen Dunbar and Susan (how does it go again) Boyle GTF.

Trouble is after the dreadful start most people probably switched off.

These things usually are crap though unless you are there in person to get the atmosphere.

Have to remember it was probably done with a fraction of the budget that the Olympic Opening Ceremony had.

It could have been the best show in the world and the usual Scotland haters on JKB would still mock .

 

The fraction was 20/27 if my googling serves me correctly! London opening cost 27m, Glasgow was meant to be 14m but they overspent by another 6m in true Scottish government style.

 

Worst bits

Susan Boyle

Celtic sign turned on

Message inside baton remaining unopened

The chairs thing

John barrowman bit

 

Best bits

Music for the athletes to parade to

Violinist girl

Fireworks

Baton being welded shut (no point opening it anyway)

Big screen

 

Hazel Irvine said at the end about the statue with the cone on its head that it typifies Glasgow, a place where you aren't allowed to take yourself too seriously. City of vandals and crime also perhaps

 

 

 

 

 

[Thunderstruck]

 

 

 

Hazel Irvine said at the end about the statue with the cone on its head that it typifies Glasgow, a place where you aren't allowed to take yourself too seriously. City of vandals and crime also perhaps

 

Modern folklore has it that the cone on the Duke of Wellington is to Glasgow what the ravens are to The Tower and The Barbary Apes to Gibraltar.

 

 

[Stewart MacD]

First time ever someone couldn't open a screwtop in Celtic Park.

[Stewart MacD]

David Tennant and Peter Capaldi emerging from the Tardis would have been good.

[Guest GhostHunter]

Listening to Karen Dunbar singing "Welcome to Scatland (sic)" gave me the cringewillies.

[SE16 3LN]

Some people seemed to have missed the comic self parody. Scots have always been excellent at ripping the pish out of themselves and each other. I don't think "visitors" would get it, but I don't think that matters. They like to believe all that shite is serious.

[Franco Fascione]

All done for the tourists in mind.

 

Low point. Susan Boyle was pish.

 

High points. International space station and Nicola Benedetti playing the fiddle.

[deesidejambo]

I liked the wee dugs. I didnt like multi-millionaires Hoy and Mcevoy telling me to donate money to UNICEF. If they each donate a million quid from their own personal fortunes then they would have a better mandate to ask othes to donate some of their own money. Same goes for Bono, Madonna, Sting. I'm happy to give rmoney to charity but I don't like being asked to do it by multi-millionaire celebs.

[ToYouToMe]

Listening to Karen Dunbar singing "Welcome to Scatland (sic)" gave me the cringewillies.

 

 

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[ToYouToMe]

Some people seemed to have missed the comic self parody. Scots have always been excellent at ripping the pish out of themselves and each other. I don't think "visitors" would get it, but I don't think that matters. They like to believe all that shite is serious.

 

Didn't miss it. It was just badly done.

 

 

 

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[ToYouToMe]

I liked the wee dugs. I didnt like multi-millionaires Hoy and Mcevoy telling me to donate money to UNICEF. If they each donate a million quid from their own personal fortunes then they would have a better mandate to ask othes to donate some of their own money. Same goes for Bono, Madonna, Sting. I'm happy to give rmoney to charity but I don't like being asked to do it by multi-millionaire celebs.

 

Or be manipulated with the whole "let's do it together" line.

 

 

 

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[Diego10]

Some people seemed to have missed the comic self parody. Scots have always been excellent at ripping the pish out of themselves and each other. I don't think "visitors" would get it, but I don't think that matters. They like to believe all that shite is serious.

the problem with self parody is it's a very fine line to tread and if your performers are Barrowman and Dunbar, you're no getting the subtlety you need to show it.

 

It wasn't a terrible idea, but it was terribly executed. Bar the Teacakes which were genius.

[bighusref]

The bad:

 

First 20 minutes - beyond ridicule

Rod - hate the laddie with a passion

Boyle - car crash

The Scots gear - honking, Wales' impression of Scots was better than ours

 

The good:

 

The chair thing - sorry, I loved that. Not really sorry

Amy video - brought a human element, IMO

Lesotho - LOVED their outfits and mad behaviour, bet they were on the lash last night. I'd have loved to have a bevvy with them.

Beneddetti - just a gorgeous rendition. A truly beautiful moment

Mandela stuff - pitched it right

 

Best bit:

 

Mylo - what a great set. From Kraftwerk, to Cliff, to FSOL, to KLF and onto The Shamen and Primal Scream

 

Glad I watched it, to be fair.

[Ibrahim Tall]

I liked the wee dugs. I didnt like multi-millionaires Hoy and Mcevoy telling me to donate money to UNICEF. If they each donate a million quid from their own personal fortunes then they would have a better mandate to ask othes to donate some of their own money. Same goes for Bono, Madonna, Sting. I'm happy to give rmoney to charity but I don't like being asked to do it by multi-millionaire celebs.

 

Hoy? I'll give you McAvoy or even Ewan McGregor but what's Chris Hoy done? I seriously doubt he could afford to give a million either.

[Mister T]

Self parody is one thing, amateurish nonsense is quite another. I thought that had ended with the Chic Murray Hogmanay show 30 odd years ago. How many people watching outside Scotland would have really got it? And how many will now be thinking Scotland is actually Brigadoon?

[The Treasurer]

Could have been better, could have been a lot worse.

Biggest minus points :

Getting someone who can't sing (Karen Dunbar) to open the show by, em, singing.

Constantly being told that Glasgow (one of the most inhospitable, violent cities in the world) is a friendly "come oan in" type of place filled with cheery, lovable "ordinary" folk

Plus points:

Crowd singing God save the Queen at full volume at Parkhead and also the Northern Ireland flag getting a huge cheer.

Managing to get the obligatory proclaimers song in (does every Scottish event HAVE to have their horrible dirges) without having to suffer the dwarf shaggers in person.

Like it or not the rest of the world want and expect to see kilts, tartan and pipers.

They got that in bucket loads

[The Mighty Thor]

Dunbar - as funny as a burning orphanage

Barrowman - why?

English Rod - Why?

some borderline mentally ill bird who forgot Mull of fecking kintyre?

 

you'd need one of these so large you could see it from space

 

 

People now trying to pass off its utter mickey mouse shitness as part of the gag?

 

 

where the feck were fran and anna?

 

overall i'll give it a out of 10.

[Diego10]

Could have been better, could have been a lot worse.

Biggest minus points :

Getting someone who can't sing (Karen Dunbar) to open the show by, em, singing.

Constantly being told that Glasgow (one of the most inhospitable, violent cities in the world) is a friendly "come oan in" type of place filled with cheery, lovable "ordinary" folk

Plus points:

Crowd singing God save the Queen at full volume at Parkhead and also the Northern Ireland flag getting a huge cheer.

Managing to get the obligatory proclaimers song in (does every Scottish event HAVE to have their horrible dirges) without having to suffer the dwarf shaggers in person.

Like it or not the rest of the world want and expect to see kilts, tartan and pipers.

They got that in bucket loads

Glasgow one of the most inhospitable and violent cities in the world? No in the top 1000

[FORTHCLYDE]

I'm not anti gay but I do want to see men kissing live on BBC TV just to show Scotland is a tolerant Country.

[djf]

The highs (ISS, worldwide rave, fireworks, Chris Hoy, Mandela segment) were high and the lows (the entirety of the first half hour) were very low.

 

I think they did well. Definitely more excited for watching the games than I was before.

[Sterling Archer]

Sounds like you're a little anti gay?

[Geoff Kilpatrick]

I'm not anti gay but I do want to see men kissing live on BBC TV just to show Scotland is a tolerant Country.

 

[Diego10]

I'm not anti gay but I do want to see men kissing live on BBC TV just to show Scotland is a tolerant Country.

glad to hear you want to watch gay men kissing. The start of your sentence made me think you were going to say something homophobic.

[The Treasurer]

Glasgow one of the most inhospitable and violent cities in the world? No in the top 1000

Trying being there when they find out you're from Edinburgh or even worse, an Edinburgh football fan.

[Boris]

The bad:

 

First 20 minutes - beyond ridicule

Rod - hate the laddie with a passion

Boyle - car crash

The Scots gear - honking, Wales' impression of Scots was better than ours

 

The good:

 

The chair thing - sorry, I loved that. Not really sorry

Amy video - brought a human element, IMO

Lesotho - LOVED their outfits and mad behaviour, bet they were on the lash last night. I'd have loved to have a bevvy with them.

Beneddetti - just a gorgeous rendition. A truly beautiful moment

Mandela stuff - pitched it right

 

Best bit:

 

Mylo - what a great set. From Kraftwerk, to Cliff, to FSOL, to KLF and onto The Shamen and Primal Scream

 

Glad I watched it, to be fair.

 

Pretty much agree with that. Don't mind Rod though. Thought once the kitsch Dunbar/Barrowman led ensemble was over things got better. Billy Connolly's Mandela piece was excellent.

 

One thing I couldn't stomach was the UNICEF charity stuff. Before I make my point, in no way am I denigrating UNICEF or the work that they do. All the points raised were extremely valid and public awareness is a great thing. However, surely this is something that the Commonwealth Heads of Government should be addressing and not a whip round by the citizens? By showing all those things, does it not highlight the complete failure and ineptitude of the Commonwealth as an institution?

[Regal Kingston]

 

I'm not anti gay but I do want to see men kissing live on BBC TV just to show Scotland is a tolerant Country.

 

Not wanting to see two men kissing is pretty much the definition of anti-gay.

Think it was quite important as some of the commonwealth countries are massively intolerant of gay people.

 

[Diego10]

Trying being there when they find out you're from Edinburgh or even worse, an Edinburgh football fan.

I've lived here for years and never hidden either. Amazingly I've never once been hit with an axe.

 

Most of Glasgow' s violence is gang related and easily avoided.

[Chris Benoit]

I enjoyed it. Should've got someone other than Karen Dunbar but Barrowman was ok. Cheesy as **** but nothing wrong with that. The rest was very well done.

 

Only real complaint was Rod ******* Stewart!

[GlasgoJambo]

I'm not anti gay but I do want to see men kissing live on BBC TV just to show Scotland is a tolerant Country.

 

classic case of suppressed feelings.

[Chris Benoit]

 

 

Pretty much agree with that. Don't mind Rod though. Thought once the kitsch Dunbar/Barrowman led ensemble was over things got better. Billy Connolly's Mandela piece was excellent.

 

One thing I couldn't stomach was the UNICEF charity stuff. Before I make my point, in no way am I denigrating UNICEF or the work that they do. All the points raised were extremely valid and public awareness is a great thing. However, surely this is something that the Commonwealth Heads of Government should be addressing and not a whip round by the citizens? By showing all those things, does it not highlight the complete failure and ineptitude of the Commonwealth as an institution?

 

 

I donated a fiver because it is a good cause and I could afford it but was chatting about it with the wife and pretty much said what you did.

 

Someone on her Facebook posted that how come we're being asked to donate money to help children in these countries yet their athletes are all coming out with iPads

[The Treasurer]

I've lived here for years and never hidden either. Amazingly I've never once been hit with an axe.

 

Most of Glasgow' s violence is gang related and easily avoided.

I worked there for 3 years (not through choice), so my opinion is not just based on attending Hearts matches 4 or 5 times a season.

[Chrambo]

Just had a rematch of the highlights and the iPhone/iPad thing is very true.

 

What's the obsession with their phones, couldn't they put it down for 2 minutes to listen to the Queens speech and enjoy the moment? All very well having videos of you at the ceremony but pointless if you didn't actually enjoy yourself cause you were sat on the phone and missed the whole thing.

[deesidejambo]

I donated a fiver because it is a good cause and I could afford it but was chatting about it with the wife and pretty much said what you did.

 

Someone on her Facebook posted that how come we're being asked to donate money to help children in these countries yet their athletes are all coming out with iPads

 

I visit Nigeria 2-3 times a year and the poverty is very real. However so is the fact that the reason for the poverty is the charity money and massive oil revenues goes to the Nigerian Gov't and their families, many of whom are billionaires, thats billionaires, not millionaires. The poverty can very easily be sorted in Nigeria, but not by donations from outside - that makes things worse.

[Boris]

As an aside, was talking about this with a colleague of mine at work and she said, "Oh, touchy subject". She then elaborated.

 

Turns out her Dad won the Commonwealth Gold for Scotland in the marathon in the 1954 games held in Vancouver. A race more famous for the English chap collapsing before the finish.

 

Anyway, not one invite from the Games organisers to this Scottish Gold medalist, Scotland's only marathon winner, and in the 60th anniversary too. He even raced for Glasgow Harriers! Shameful and shocking omission.

[Dusk_Till_Dawn]

Not gay but I like seeing men kissing on TV, especially with tongues.

 

Anyway, Mo Farah has pulled out.

[2NaFish]

Trying being there when they find out you're from Edinburgh or even worse, an Edinburgh football fan.

 

10 years in and i'm yet to have any bother about being a hearts fan from edinburgh. Guess i got lucky.

[Boris]

10 years in and i'm yet to have any bother about being a hearts fan from edinburgh. Guess i got lucky.

 

Never once had any bother when I lived in Glasgow 25 years ago. If anything being a Hearts supporter seemed rather novel to them.

[ToYouToMe]

Could have been better, could have been a lot worse.

Biggest minus points :

Getting someone who can't sing (Karen Dunbar) to open the show by, em, singing.

Constantly being told that Glasgow (one of the most inhospitable, violent cities in the world) is a friendly "come oan in" type of place filled with cheery, lovable "ordinary" folk

Plus points:

Crowd singing God save the Queen at full volume at Parkhead and also the Northern Ireland flag getting a huge cheer.

Managing to get the obligatory proclaimers song in (does every Scottish event HAVE to have their horrible dirges) without having to suffer the dwarf shaggers in person.

Like it or not the rest of the world want and expect to see kilts, tartan and pipers.

They got that in bucket loads

Dunbar - as funny as a burning orphanage

Barrowman - why?

English Rod - Why?

some borderline mentally ill bird who forgot Mull of fecking kintyre?

 

you'd need one of these so large you could see it from space

 

 

People now trying to pass off its utter mickey mouse shitness as part of the gag?

 

 

where the feck were fran and anna?

 

overall i'll give it a out of 10.

 

Lads. Thanks for these reviews. Hilarious stuff.

 

 

 

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