Spoiler Alert: This has no direct bearing on anything Austrian but is a light-hearted break from austerity. See what I did there?
The English (Olympic committee) are painting a hilarious, multi-billion dollar caricature of themselves.
This Olympic ceremony began as a creepy, massive-scale broadway style operation based upon every Dickens cliche ever. Plenty of wacky top hats and dirt encrusted workers clogging alone cobblestone streets...oh, and dancing steel workers.
I must say, they did not skimp on the set. All of the stadium floor was plastered with real grass sod and they somehow built realistic looking rolling hills and a huge 'tree of life' type thing that appeared to have been lifted from Avatar. Then it quickly shifted to some sort of Industrial Revolution metaphor as all of the dancing actors pulled up the sod to reveal a steel-like floor. Matt Lauer chimed in the remind the audience that this was a time of 'hardship'. Then James Bond came out and parachuted from a helicopter into the stadium with "the queen". Seriously.
Then infaltable-armed Lord Voldemort arose from the darkness. Luckily he was quickly dispatched by an army of Mary Poppins... So hopefully you're getting the idea.
Anyways, somewhere in between all of this Cirque du Soleil-esqe abomination (without cool stunts and an added flavor of English quirkiness) there was a bit featuring glowing beds and dancing physicians complete with trampolining children. In the middle of the stadium the initialism NBH popped up-- National British Health. Hmm... This was followed by gigantic demons springing from under the bed. I lost focus at this point, but I think JK Rowling had to take them out or something.
And now there are hundreds of horribly dressed teens dancing around embarrasingly, representing the "modern age of communication" while horrible pop music plays. I'm glad my generation is being aptly represented by the IOC.
At least now they're playing Eric Clapton... For the last 10 seconds of "The Way You Look Tonight".
ANYWAYS, do you guys have any general/specific thoughts about the Olympics and this garish convention of modern nationalism on display?
OK, now they're playing The Beatles and Led Zeppelin, much better, but still haplessly goofy. And David Beckham is heroically speeding towards the stadium with the torch on a motorboat.
I'll be watching men's soccer but that's pretty much it.
The Olympics shouldn't have any more opening ceremonies because nothing will ever top the Beijing Olympic opening... That's my important input for the day, just throwing that out there.
You mean Wonderful Tonight?
I had a hard time even picturing the imagery of what you described. It sounds like propaganda. "We destroyed the Earth with industrialization. You need State Health Care. Who knows what is under your bed? By the way, we want sex to be of prominent focus among young people because they will be less politically active. Remember all of the good music that you owe to the British culture.
the 2012 'emblem' of itself looks like it spells "Zion." It is that square (or rhombus) in the middle. Try to justify that in "2012."
Zo i N
Embrace the new age. The "Tree of Life" can be represented the way you describe. A groundless tree with roots and branches mirroring each other.
At least we know what cult is running Britain...(duh)
the 2012 'emblem' of itself looks like it spells "Zion."
Now that you mention the emblem, that's pretty unfortunate. I think it looks like a swastika.
If I had a cake and ate it, it can be concluded that I do not have it anymore. HHH
You really are quite bonkers.
Seconding neo. Beijing's openings blows London's away.
This doesn't compare to Cirque du Soleil's Love.
To paraphrase Marc Faber: We're all doomed, but that doesn't mean that we can't make money in the process. Rabbi Lapin: "Let's make bricks!" Stephan Kinsella: "Say you and I both want to make a German chocolate cake."
So now I have to deal with the Olympics as well as New-Age jackasses hijacking the World Tree? Great...
Understated.
My humble blog
It's easy to refute an argument if you first misrepresent it. William Keizer
You guys are pussies. It is obviously there. The people who are willing to call other people crazy simply because they notice this, I think, are protesting too much.
It is not as if Zion doesn't represent the intial reality and epitome of man...it fits with the Olympian motif for God's sake.
Cryptograms and Symbolic Philosophy - Manly Hall's Secret Teachings of all ages
“Signs and symbols rule the world, not words nor laws.” -Confucius
Basketball, handball and waterpolo for me. Prolly just the final matches though.
Nobody is watching womens' beach volleyball? Now that's bonkers!
Er...I mean, "2012" pretty much could be arranged to spell "ZION" any way you write it. Obviously the '2' looks like a 'Z' and can be turned on its side for an 'N', since, y'know, they're the same symbol. And '0' and '1' and 'O' and 'I'? Really?
And besides, the Olympics symbol this year looks way more like Lisa Simpson giving some dude head. THAT's the real conspiracy.