-Pic is a worstwriter original.
Some things just flabbergast me. I mean, these things (or happenings or events) just take me away into a mind's eye of other worlds where I think: gee, (because of the way I see things), am I really this smart or… is the rest of the world so stupid? I know. That's an arrogant thing for an expatriate redneck like me to say (because it is complete and utter BS). But, there are things that motivate me to do and write because my mind's eye ain't the healthiest part of who I am. So I guess, in a way, I'm a victim and not a perpetrator. And I refuse to take pharmaceuticals. Or is it the other way 'round? Nomatter. It's not my fault. So. Without further delay…
Has the commercialization of the olympics finally reached it's peak or is London 2012 raising the stupid-bar a few notches higher?
First of all, what's the with the swimming arena? Seats are empty everywhere. The water looks kinda fake, too. And if it's not fake, where the hell did the Brits get it from? Have you seen the Thames lately? And, for those who forgot, England is an island surrounded by muddy oceans. And how come swimmers wear those fancy looking space suits to swim in? I mean, when the underwater cameras are on you can see how the suits are impermeable; you can even see tiny bubbles constantly gliding along the suit. I don't get it. Why all the science to go swimming in a pool of fake water? To break more records? Why don't they just have the swimmers swim butt naked? That would be athletically revealing. And it would really, really help the whole commercialization thing. And one last thing on the swimming event. What's with all the swimmers being shot out of a dungeon-like entry way where they seem to be rushing to their starting gates? What is the purpose of relegating the athletes to this sort of start procedure? Wow. When some of them girls came out of the dungeon into the light they have some pretty weird faces on them.
Moving on.
What motivated me to write this post, of course, is my bitter, middle-aged personality having become so anti-commercial that I refused to watch the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Olympics. Either that or I was busy doing something else and I missed/forgot it.I mean, at least I'm not anti-athletic. Anywho. I will be watching various events and games when I can because I'm very interested and fascinated with the level of athleticism that can be viewed. With that in mind, I have since come to regret not watching the freak show that the Brits put on the other night. I do not regret it because it was awesome or because it might lower the stupid-bar. No. Most certainly not because it was awesome.
Ok. The next morning I saw a few parts of the opening ceremony on the Internets. I liked the James Bond and the Queen thing. But my first question after seeing that was if the scene where Bond picks up the Queen and then walks down the hall with her is going to be included in the upcoming new Bond movie. Seems like it would fit - and both of them were seriously in-character. Ain't it about time the Queen gets into a Bond movie? I mean, James is always talking about her.
Later, on another part of the Internets, I saw the Mr. Bean skit. I don't know about you, but that little sketch just didn't seem appropriate for the opening ceremonies of an athletic event where cheating is rampant. After that I started looking around the Internets for the rest of the freak show. I viewed a few YouTube snippets of Hey Jude and Abraham Lincoln. Then everything was pulled due to copyright issues. Or was it me giving up on finding more krapp to test my (in)tolerance? And we all know that old chestnut.
Still. Let me tell you, dear worst-reader, from what I've seen of the opening ceremonies, I'm now completely convinced that the end is upon Great Britain. Some people think the it happened before these games and some will think it is still to come. But I am now convinced that she has finally gone over the edge. This once great GB nation has finally cracked. (Do I need to say/write it again?) Or as they like to say down at the pub, the old bat has gone scrumpet. Or something like that.
Danny Boyle is the mind's eye behind the freak show production of the opening ceremonies of the Greatest British story ever told. A story that is to open an event that is about how physically fit humans play with balls, run around, jump and dance on matts, etc. But instead of talking about The Games, we are given a British bird's eye view of how a world empire orchestrated its own demise in a matter of a few hundred years. For the life of me, I can't figure out why Boyle didn't just focus on the British joys of people mastering their guns to shoot clay pigeons out of the sky and thereby get (fake) gold medals for it.
I can only wonder if at the moment that Boyle took on this job he didn't actually know anything about what the Olympics are about. Or did he think this was a cartoon-like re-interpretation of Trainspotting? At the least, I hope this weird freak show was due to the owners of the Olympics going to Boyle and telling him what they wanted. The only problem is, Boyle must have agreed with their world view of who and what Britain is (has become).
Obviously the host country of the Olympic games reserves the right to show off its country and the culture within. But somehow I don't think that's what this was.
Now time to check out women's beach volleyball before they replace it with poll dancing.
Rant on. -tgs-
