The absolute most boring opening ceremony EVER! Please, can we just get to the part where the athletes enter the stadium.

Aren't they all just coming in the TARDIS?

Finally they made it to the rock and roll era. AND IT STILL SUCKS

It would have been better if they used those to just end this misery. The people of Beijing must all be thinking the same thing at once...Awkwaaaaard.

Fencing!
I lovehow their masks ligthup, funny ligths should be part of everysport

At first I thought you were being sarcastic but now I think you are actually serious. Which is very surprising to me. I thought it was probably the best opening I have ever seen, or at least right up there with Lillehammer. I really loved the whole thing from beginning to end.

Highlights for me included: the Queen with James Bond, the actually children from the children's hospital which is paid for with the proceeds from Peter Pan taking part in the wonderful bit about kids stories and the NHS, Beckham driving a motorboat down the Thames, the industrial revolution, the history of rock that was seemingly lifted from my iPod, and pretty much all of the rest of it.

I really genuinely loved it and this was even watching it at 2:00 am after spending 12 hours at a Folk music festival.

It wasn't bad, but it wasn't Beijing. I really like the Mr. Bean part and thought that was pretty funny. James Bond escorting the Queen was a great entrance for her.

And now we get onto the actual games. Michael Phelps is qualified for the 400 IM finals tonight and should be good to see. It'll be interesting to see how he does this Olympics. I'm looking forward to that and the basketball as well.

I just thought that the beginning parts with the stadium took too long to complete. Maybe Canada has better announcers too, but I was really surprised at the long pauses with no dialogue from the announcers. The gaps left a lot to be desired and it was left up to them to actually exp[lain what we were supposed to be watching.

I did love the part where the Arctic Monkeys sang Come Together and the butterflies on the bikes were cool.

Off topic: We are in the middle of one hellacious rainstorm here. Thunder all around and I know we have to have well over 3 inches of rain right now. This is why Fort Laud or Miami can never host an Olympics in the summer.

Women's Volleyball shorts (not beach) are the hottest.

I thought it held up exceptionally well against Beijing. Beijing was all spectacle and zero humanity. Got a little girl who has a pretty voice, but isn't cute enough? Find one that's prettier and have her lip sync. Not making your deadlines? So what if some construction workers get killed? In London, the people who built the stadium actually got to participate in the opening ceremony. I thought that the two ceremonies illustrated pretty starkly the differences between the Chinese and Anglo worldviews.

Incidentally, did anyone else catch the "20-year-old" Chinese gymnasts? Good to see that they're sticking with the "they were all 16 in Beijing, honest!" narrative.

I'm a little scared by the weightlifting North Koreans. Maybe they're channeling the strength of the Dear Leader's delusions?

Why yes. Yes, they are.

I am amazed with how much heart Angola is playing with against the USA Womens Basketball team. That's one of the best things I always see in any Olympics.

"But the crowd was so supportive of all the lifters that even a North Korean was backed as though he were a Brit."

That's pretty awesome.

Dutch women's Field Hockey team rated as hottest women of the Olympics.