Ruined for Life: Phoenix Edition

Pastoral, merry, cheeky, awesome, puzzling – all describe the Opening Games of London’s 2012 Olympics.

I love the setting of the English countryside, the children’s choirs singing traditional songs, the interspersing of film, literature  and music.

I kept thinking of the 2008 Beijing Olympics that raised the bar awfully high. The pageantry and pyrotechnics awed me. I couldn’t get over how precise and in step every drummer and performer was.

Yet watching the London games present the negative aspects of their history, e.g. the poverty and pain caused by the Industrial Revolution’s injustice, the devastation of World War. That was bold. That could not and would not be done in China and thank God the British have the liberty to do so.

The queen was great. Bravo for her participating in a cheeky vignette with James Bond. Not every leader, political or figurehead, would.

There were spots in the London ceremony that I didn’t like. I felt the teen romance portion with the rock music, music that I love, was kind of all over the place. But I’ll live with that as no one bats one out of the park every time and enough of the show did work. Again, I support an artist attempting something bold and Danny Boyle could.

I loved how the young athletes lit the torch, that more than one person did it and that there was a dramatic portrayal of how the old and young interact and share. I’m glad Paul McCartney capped off the night and that everyone sang along. I had expected more British stars and vaguely recall more Canadian celebrities participating in the Vancouver ceremony. I wish that in addition to Hey Jude, McCartney had written a new song for the games. I guess I’m a dreamer, but I bet a song with the theme of international cooperation and competition would sell like hot cakes.

Ah, so now as Benedict Cumberbatch says in this promo: Let the games commence.