Olympic Love

I've seen lots of reviews about the last night's Opening Ceremonies.  From what I can tell, not many people enjoyed it.  In my opinion, (which is probably biased, since I LOVE the Olympics!) the ceremonies were positively outstanding and absolutely London.  Opening Ceremonies, since the beginning of their time, have always been long and philosophical and over the top.  If you go in knowing that, you'll have a great experience.

That being said, Beijing's in 2008 were not my favorite.  They were HUGE and over the top but they were almost too spectacular.  They seemed to spend too much money, make it too "out there" and too much about China, not enough about the world athletic community.  In my opinion at least.  London's on the other hand, were huge but really tried to make it about the bigger picture which is what the Olympics are really about.  They are to bring the world together for a few weeks every few years to celebrate the best of the best and athletics in general.  And London seemed to do just that.

The movie shot by Danny Boyle that opened the show, set the tone.  It was artsy, creative and fun.  Then, came the performance led by Kenneth Branagh, of England moving from puritan to industrial times.  It added the Wow factor, that all opening ceremonies must have.  I adored the ode to GOSH and J.M Barrie.  The children and doctors & nurses seemed to be having a blast.  And Voldemort, Cruella and Hook battling Mary Poppins?  That was just icing on the cake! 

The neatest part for me was that England was able to show their sense of humor without going over the top.  The performance of "Chariots of Fire" with Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson) on the organ was priceless.  Atkinson is one of their most cherished comedians, and having him involved seemed like a great aside to England as a whole.  They then moved on to an even bigger and sweeter musical spectacular capped off by everyone's favorite Beatle: Sir Paul.

From beginning to end, I thought it was positively perfect for London.  You could tell all you need to know about the British from the choices that were made in the ceremonies.  They chose to go smaller rather than grander than Beijing.  They knew they couldn't out do China, so they went for more quality rather than quantity.  They do cheeky humor and fantastic literature really well. Lastly, they've produced some of the world's most famous musicians and music.  They showcased the best of what England had to offer dazzling millions in the process.  And afterall, isn't that what the Olympics are all about?