The isle is full of noises

[altariel]

Aw, I'm a bit sad that Le Guin didn't enjoy Britain's funny little postcard to the world. "Hello!" it seemed to be saying. "This isn't going to be as impressive as Beijing, because we're skint and a bit rubbish! But here's some stuff we like! You may like some of it too!" (I wonder if the notorious NBC coverage made it less than impressive viewing in the US?)

Personally, I was rubbing my eyes the moment I saw poppies and heard Jerusalem. I may have had a lump in my throat when the children's choir sang and signed the national anthem (sorry, Dad). I bounced gleefully at the TARDIS noise. OK, the parade of athletes went on a bit, but we had a pizza delivered then so I had other things on my mind. But I was back to being in full flow when I saw who was carrying the Olympic flag. I even forgave McCartney. (I suppose if there are Beatles to be had, you've got to have one.) The next day I discovered that the writer, Frank Cottrell Boyce, sneaked in my home town's motto (Ex Terra Luce), and I got all choked up all over again.

Proud to be British? Don't be daft, that's an accident of history and birth (OK, and a conscious decision). But I thought some good things were represented in that big silly old sentimental large-hearted show: things that are, of course, universal.

Anyway, must go and cheer on Beth Tweddle in the gymnastics.

Comments

[dewline.livejournal.com]

Plus, I understand that McCartney went out of his way to keep things affordable. Something about his fee being £ 1, right?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Really? I hadn't heard that. Good for him.

[iainjcoleman.livejournal.com]

I liked Lance Parkin's take on the ceremony:

You'll Believe a Queen can Fly

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

I did think it would have been really classy if they'd brought Paul McCartney on just to sing "The End", and then that was the end (unless James Bond fancied doing an a cappella round of "Her Majesty" from the stands). But I could see they wanted a singalong to finish up.

[matildabj.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this link, that's a really spot-on write up. Sorry, Ms Le Guin!

[azalaisdep.livejournal.com]

The Resident Geek and I (and our extended friends-and-family Facebook water-cooler gang) completely loved it. I thought it was witty, self-deprecating, eccentric, bonkers and moving (how was I not supposed to weep at Kenneth Branagh declaiming Shakespeare over the Enigma Variations?!?). It was a £26 million love-letter to Britishness; and in that respect I can see why non-Brits may have been left scratching their heads and going "WTF!?" (Though all the non-Brits I know who know anything about Britain and the British loved it too.)

(The only boring bits were the bits one is contractually obliged to have; the athletes' parade and the speeches.)

The Small People are still hotly debating whether the Queen really did jump out of the helicopter ;-)

[azalaisdep.livejournal.com]

One of my FB friends and I had been debating all the way through what McCartney would sing. I held out for "Come Together", but the Arctics did that; she said "It'll be 'Hey Jude'. It's always f***ing 'Hey Jude'. The nation's signal to itself that we've all been up far, far too long and it's time we went to bed."

And she was, of course, right in both respects ;-)

[azalaisdep.livejournal.com]

That's a wonderful review, thanks Iain. I'm particularly taken with

"It was the first opening ceremony you needed to Google."

given that the man who made it possible for us all to Google got an ovation of his own :-) :-)

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

Of course she did. And what she was writing at her desk when he arrived was instructions to M about what exactly was to be done to Bond if anything went wrong.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

"I've heard more than a few of the stories about Commander Bond and in case of any disastrous occurrences..."

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Oh, I wish I'd known you were doing live updates on FB! I would have checked in. I was hanging around on Twitter.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

It turns out all the big name talent only took £1. The dancers and musicians were paid proper rates, though.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I sort of wish it had ended with the Pink Floyd bit and the view frooooom spaaaaaaaaace! But it did need a singalong, and I suppose "Hey Jude" is as good as any.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

This works for me.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

LOL.

[quinara]

I looooooooved it. But then, since I've been going on about little else since the weekend, everyone probably already knows that... ;)

[julesjones]

Same thing at the Jubilee concert - the big names did it for a peppercorn fee.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I've loved your posts! :-)

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

Sadly despite all their promises to the Musicians Union LOCOG was asking musicians to perform for free or for the exposure. OK, Macca might not need the dosh, but most musicians do - and since LOCOG pays all other staff the going rate is it too much to ask that professional musicians be paid, too? After all, you can die of exposure.

[white_hart]

I loved it too. I thought it did a brilliant job of showing off the bits of Britain I love and am occasionally proud of, in complete defiance of an Establishment (the last lot as well as the current ones, I think) which tries to deny the vibrancy and colour and variety and sheer simple good-heartedness of the underlying culture. But maybe you had to be British to really get it.

(Interesting that Le Guin also doesn't seem to have realised that it was the actual Queen getting into the helicopter, even if not jumping out of it - it wasn't a tacky stunt, it was an incredible coup.)

[quinara]

Oh, cheers! :D (And, heh, I didn't intend that comment to fish quite as much for compliments as it ended up doing... Sorry about that!)

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

One of the things I loved is that not only did they have the Windrush, but they also had PoC in the pre-industrial village scenes. Because no matter what racist types like to pretend, this is not some kind of "multicultural crap", but an accurate reflection of the ethnic makeup of these isles. We have the documents to prove it in many of our archives.

And that speech of Caliban's is delivered to a couple of venial drunks who are all about the pillaging, delivered by someone whose own mother was defrauded of her land by the magically enhanced invader. Named Sycorax, no less. A name used in another text, for another type of invader, brought down by a woman who was then brought down by an outsider who used his own words of power to do so. It was, as you said elsewhere, a superbly intertextual moment.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

I thought that the ceremony was excellent.

Ursula Le Guin is one of my favourite writers, but she's always given me the impression that she's rather lacking in a sense of humour.

[raspberryfool.livejournal.com]

I kinda watched it over a pint in the local Wetherspoon's public house. It gave me neck-ache.

[azalaisdep.livejournal.com]

The Resident Geek was periodically feeding me titbits off Twitter, including yours and Mr A's (he had his screen split between Twitter and FB while trying to remember to watch the telly as well...) I couldn't cope with managing both at once. The RG did tweet once or twice, but only to poke that berk Aidan Burley (sp?) with a sharp stick.