2012 Olympics Closing Ceremony: Cheers London! Roll On Rio!

[Norlite]

..The Hudson's Bay Company?Bring back Tu Ly!

Was 2010 his last collection for the Bay? I missed that news somehow. I just figured he missed this time.

[pollyanna]

Divah Darcey

NBC chacked her.

[nubka]

NBC chacked her.

That really upset me!

[AragornElessar]

The Canadian jean jackets are an affront to style.

Sadly, those jean jackets were the best of an awful set of clothing our poor Olympic Team had forced on them. No wonder so many wore their National Team unis whenever possible. The Swim Team's were my personal favourite and looked ten thousand times better thanks to Speedo.

Oh and someone who popped in today said she couldn't understand why everyone seemed to have a problem w/our unis. Russia had their name on the front of theirs too. As I told her, the Russians didn't look like their Uniforms came from Bob and Joe's Bargain T-Shirt Factory either.

Loved the Closing Ceremony and all of the music. What a way to say Goodbye to two incredable weeks.

And now my impersonation of the critter who ends every Just For Laughs special/show on the CBC....

MOMMY!! IT'S OOOOOOVVVVEEEERRRR!!!

London was awesome!!! Let the countdown to Sochi begin!!

[kappa_1]

This is the first closing ceremony of the Games that I remember actually liking.

But then again there was Kate Bush (though not in person) and Annie Lennox, so everything else was frosting on the cake.

[overedge]

NBC showed Take That but not The Who????? That is just wrong.

ETA: Oh, actually NBC is going to show The Who but in an hour. Because everyone is going to want to stick around to watch some awful sitcom before then. Wrong.....

[Vash01]

London was awesome!!! Let the countdown to Sochi begin!!

Incredibly, it's just 18 months before Sochi.

[Bournekraatzfan]

Was 2010 his last collection for the Bay? I missed that news somehow. I just figured he missed this time.

I believe so. This one was done by an HBC fashion team headed by fashion director Suzanne Timmins. I loved Tu Ly's 2008 fusion of ancient Chinese symbols with the maple leaf. The 2012 ones are pretty blah, and the 'CANADA' on the front is tacky, imo. I wish they'd tone it down and go for subtlety.

Azerbaijan had some nice ones, designed by Ermanno Scervino. I guess people thought the 2010 ones (with the colourful ski pants) were too tacky, but I loved them!

also loved the Brits. Stella McCartney did a great job--the blues she selected were really beautiful and I love the design.

In the opening ceremonies, I thought India's bright yellow saris and turbans were gorgeous, and played nicely with the navy blazers. Their team looked great! Nigeria's team was also beautifully dressed, and I especially liked their track and field uniforms.

Who did people think were the best dressed?

[Hanna]

London!!! And GB!! What an amazing two weeks!!

Much preferred this "it's everybody's party" type of celebrations as opposed to the synchronized group things.

[BaileyCatts]

Did George Michael only sing 'Freedom', or did he sing twice and NBC didn't show it? I've read some things that make it seem like George sang twice.

[allezfred]

Did George Michael only sing 'Freedom', or did he sing twice and NBC didn't show it? I've read some things that make it seem like George sang twice.

He sang twice. I'd say NBC did the right thing by cutting his second performance though.

[BaileyCatts]

What was the second song (and anyone got a link)? Was it really that bad? Cause uhm.... Freedom was my favorite number from the closing (from what NBC showed anyways).

[paulac]

What was the second song (and anyone got a link)? Was it really that bad? Cause uhm.... Freedom was my favorite number from the closing (from what NBC showed anyways).

Freedom was amazing. He mimed the second song (new single!) and it went on for way too long.

[Loves_Shizuka]

^Yes; be thankful you didn't see GM's second "performance".

Incredibly, it's just 18 months before Sochi.

Can't believe it - excited!!

[millyskate]

I'm surprised people liked the closing ceremony... I only started enjoying it when the Royal Ballet appeared. The lights were amazing, but then I much prefer a visual spectacle to a pop concert so I guess it's personal taste playing a big part.

[os168]

Wow the closing party feels like somebody threw everything musically British except the kitchen sink in a big drunk after party. Literally no coherence threading everything together. Alot of lip synching (ahem ... Spice girls, easily the most enjoyable moment for me was watching Victoria Beckham unable to hide the fact she was fearing for her life clinging desperately to the banister of her black cab while being whizzing around with her crazy hair extension and keep missing her queues. I have the urge to hit replay at that point )

What a weird deck of cards, looks like everyone got to perform according to a random number picked from a hat (for fairness and all that crap), and why did Jessie J get to do so many songs including the legendary Queen song!? I do love her long yellow cape (remembering Freddy, Yellow is definitely in, check out all the yellow Nike Trainers this Olympics) Her agent must have sold his soul to get this gig. No Adele? I feel incomplete, maybe she didn't have enough happy song (yep singular not plural) for this occasion.

The Who was totally a weird choice to finish everything off. And even more strangely, I thought One Direction sounded the best out of the night, so of course they must be lip syncing!

I do wonder how musically sensitive the creative director is to popular music, IMO he is clearly not as self aware as Danny Boyle. Other than a few set pieces (Enjoyed the Royal Ballet Pheonix theme with Darcy, Amazing Jigsaw Puzzle with John Lennon's Imagine which should have last longer) where you can tell he was within his comfort zone, the rest are too all knowing too self indulgent of a British party to be the truly open armed world party. George Michael shouldn't have sang that 2nd song. The most irked sequence for me is easily Fashion sequences with Kate and Naomi and then a bunch of ehhhs???

London produces some of the best fashion designer in the world

Vivian Westwood
Stella McCartney (Why wasn't she included, except maybe she has the good taste not to want her name associated in this weird mess)
Alexander McQueen (He died. Someone should have protected his memory better)
Paul Smith
John Galliano (Despite drunk controversy, he is still a total genius, possibly one of the best ever.)
Matthew Williamson
John Redmond
Chris Bailey

Who made the biggest mention? Victoria Beckham!! Are you frigging kidding me? Next thing they'd try to convince me is that she is a 'Musician' too!! Oh no they didn't!! The only positive thing I can say is she got a fab agent!

Wish Danny had been in charge of the closing ceremony! At least his Bollywood sequence would make a whole lot a sense, integrated more effectively and the humour timing would have worked a lot better. What clearly separate the 2 creative directors's vision for the open and close ceremony are the fact despite sharing similar prestigious theatre production experience, one is clearly more familiar with visualizing bigger productions, themes, think cinematic ally, adept at framing these close ups and pacing these key shots. At the start of the closing ceremony, there were alot of things happening at once, but the camera doesn't know where to look. The whole thing appears at the same time frantic, but also with little things happening at the same time at wider shots. They should have finished everything off with the Take That song instead of The Who, or even Brian May/Queen. I am however impressed with Ray Davies and Roger Daltrey still able to kick it at their age.

All in all, I might have grumbled a little too much, but I was told it is a normal thing for a Londonner to do. So it is back to life as usual, but the city has definitely been happier these past few weeks, let's hope it lasts until Xmas.

Looking forward to see how the vote will go for BBC Sport personality of the year... thinking maybe it should be a new thread, but my vote would be for

Ennis / Mo / Hoy / Grainger

in these order, but the whole team deserve a massive medal for their amazing team effort that made the nation very proud.

[Loves_Shizuka]

I'm surprised people liked the closing ceremony... I only started enjoying it when the Royal Ballet appeared. The lights were amazing, but then I much prefer a visual spectacle to a pop concert so I guess it's personal taste playing a big part.

I did enjoy it, although it kinda lost it's spark toward the end IMO. I thought the last few performances were the weakest, which kinda dampened it for me.

I think the problem was it was too long and too "self-indulgent". I preferred the parts which involved some kind of group performance or reflected the Olympics or sport in general. Some of the musical performances were just wrong IMO.

[Frau Muller]

Sound back up, minor crisis averted Wheee Darcey Bussell flying!

Whaaaat? US television must have chacked it. Ridiculous. The main section of the telecast ended just before our 11PM (eastern) with the flame going out and the big phoenix bird in lights, appearing above what used to be the cauldron. I noticed what appeared to be some dancers in unitards perched on the sides, around the periphery of the cauldron. When the telecast of the ceremonies resumed one hour later at our midnight (after a preview of a new NBC show and local news), it began with The Who's music. So where was the ballet??? Where was Darcey Bussell??? NBC SO SUCKS!

[Frau Muller]

I'm surprised people liked the closing ceremony... I only started enjoying it when the Royal Ballet appeared. ....

...which was chacked in America. It was a total bomb here. Even the Rio portion was a bit blah compared to what we know that the samba schools at Carnaval can produce. Where were the beautiful women with the FEATHERS, for example? Instead, we got some dopes with lightbulbs on their shoulders. The best thing was when Pele took off his jacket to reveal his name.

[kittyjake5]

Another black mark goes to NBC Closing Cermony coverage, it was awful.