The Olympic Closing Ceremony.

As with my post "The Olympic Opening Ceremony" which I've still not finished the post should be considered a work in progress and subject to edits.

As I've previously mentioned the Olympic Closing Ceremony was inspired by the concept of an iPod on constant shuffle. Therefore it is difficult to divide neatly into acts.

However the introduction featured "Emile Sande" off of the opening ceremony who we later learned would play a big part in the closing ceremony. Really her main problem is that her debut single "Heaven" didn't go straight to number 1 to calm Britain after the August 6th 2011 (6/8/11) riots. After she'd sung the first few bars of her second single "Read All About It" the camera panned back to reveal a stage depicting the streets of London displayed in the form of the Union (Jack) Flag (St Georges Cross overlayed with a St Andrews Cross on a newspaper coloured background). Around these streets tore newspaper covered cars including the series 1 mini designed to remind us of the 1960's and Italian cool. The chaos and noise was designed to remind us of the chaos that the Olympics coming to London had caused. Then "Timothy Spall" appeared dressed as "Winston Churchill" from the top of the 'Big Ben' clock tower model in the centre of the stage and recited those lines from "William Shakespeare's" "The Tempest" that you remember from the opening ceremony. It turns out this was just a way of introducing our British Royal hosts for the evening (Prince Harry and Catherine Duchess of Cambridge). Once they'd taken their seats we launched into a version of the British national anthem "God Save the Queen" unusually begun by a chorus of that such London sound - workmen digging up the road with their pneumatic drills.

01:00 on 13/8/12.

Edited at 01:25 on 13/8/12 to add;

Once the British national anthem had finished we were treated to 1980's Ska band "Madness" being driven around the stadium on the back of a flat-bed truck while singing "Our House" the hit they also performed at the Diamond Jubilee Concert. They were quickly followed by other flat-bed trucks that resembled floats at London's famous "Notting Hill Carnival." As the Notting Hill Carnival is predominately a West Indian (black) affair it was at this point things got a bit rowdy and middle England got scared. Fortunately the music quickly changed to "Blur's" song "Parklife" as preformed by the band of the British Army Guards regiments stationed at near-by "Wellington Barracks" and a Church of England Protestant Vicar appeared to calm things down. This sequence showed the otherside of 1960's Britain which featured large numbers of West Indian migrants arriving including that first batch who arrived on the "HMS Windrush."

Time then suddenly jumped forward and we were treated to 1980's (gay, so gay) Disco act "The Pet Shop Boys" performing their hit "West End Girls" aboard garishly orange rickshaws like you find all over Covent Garden. Then the show really gave up as allegedly famous boy-band "One Direction" off of the X-Factor were allowed to whore one of their 'hits' around the stadium on the back of yet another flat-bed truck. It was at this point I may have wandered off and taken a ciggarete break.

01:40 on 13/8/12.

Edited again at around 02:20 on 13/8/12 to add: It turns out I've already spoiled this for viewers in the USA. So I apologise for NBC even if I really don't see how that is my fault.

As if to give "One Direction" the hint that their time was up performers from the West End Show "Stomp" hammered away on dustbins and other assorted metal work. Now this could have been a way to promote the West End (theatre district) version of "Stomp" but I prefer to think of it as a way to sell infamous London anti-capitalist samba drummers "Rhythms of Resistance" to a wider audience. Either way they quickly made way for that unholy cacophony of noise known as "The Beatles" song "A Day in the Life." As the Beatles are now mostly dead this song was performed to the sight of "Britain's Got Talent" winners "Spellbound" doing some painfully redundant modern dance routine. Then a London Black Taxi delivered former front man of "The Kinks" "Ray Davies" to the stage. The Kinks are of course most famous for that CIA baiting song "Lola" or "Sunny Afternoon" the protest song against the almost 90% higher rate of income tax pursued by Britain's Labour Government in the 1970's. However surrounded by what can only be described as overgrown Oompa Loompa's Davies chose to play "Waterloo Sunset" while trying not to look like "Take That's" "Gary Barlow" who despite losing a baby earlier in the week is a notorius ally of Britain's Conservative Party and spokesman against the current 50% higher rate of income tax.

Then that Emelie Sande women turned up again and 'sung' the full version of "Read All About It" while a montage of great moments from the 2012 Olympics played on the big screens. This was of course a reference to her controversial 7/7 terrorist bombings in the opening ceremony. However you've really got to watch those montages because I swear that just as Ms Sande launched into one of the rises of "We can r-r-r-r-ead all about it" the big screen flashed up an image of the Chinese Olympic team. Well at least she's got her career in microbiology to fall back on I suppose.

The ceremony then moved on to the parade of nations. In a break from tradition rather then parading around behind their national flags the athletes casually wandered in through the crowds to take up their place in the mosh pit(s) next to the stage. As they entered a British band called "Elbow" played one of their hits. "Elbow" were quite a famous band in the late 1990's/early 2000's. Unfortunately since then the lead singer has got really fat. I considered this 'Fat Elbow' to be a warning to the athletes in the mosh pits not to get too excited because with all those field and weightlifting competitors knocking around those mosh pits could really have turned into their founding acronym - March Of the Skin Heads (MOSH). Fortunately the organisers decided to calm things down with a (ripped off) Cirque Du Soleil inspired stage show and a recording of "Kate Bush" "Running up that Hill" playing in the background. The centre piece of the stage was an Egyptian style pyramid but this was simply a reference to the trend within western pop-music towards Egypt rather then anything in particular.

There then followed a medal ceremony for the winners of the men's Olympic Marathon and a ceremony to mark the achievement of all the volunteers who made the games possible.

We were then welcomed back to the performance by the opening bars of "Queen's" "Bohemian Rhapsody" while the clever LED's built into every seat in the Olympic Stadium fired off an artists impression of what the music would have looked like if they were displayed on a graphic equalisers. Obviously being able to sequence that many LED's to the music is something of a technical achievemnt but is hardly considered cutting edge these days Unfortunately rather then being allowed to listen to "Bohemian Rhapsody" we were forced to endure a deaf show choir (think Glee) miming along to "John Lennon's" "Imagine" while stage hands built a face on the stage. It turned out to be John Lennon's face in the end but it really reminded me of that Gary Sinise movie where the executive producer of "CSI:NY" discovers a giant human face on Mars. A clear reference the the current NASA "Curiosity" mission.

03:05 on 13/8/12.

Edited again at 15:30 on 13/8/12 to tidy some of the spelling etc above and add;

The purpose of getting all the athletes to stand in mosh pits throughout the closing ceremony was to put them under the extra pressure of being broadcast live to a global TV audience while being exposed to the sensory overload that was stage show. If you thought it was weird watching it on TV up close it was a disorientating mix of loud noises, bright flashing lights and lots of smoke. It's not actually that different to the enhanced interrogation techniques used in places like Guantanamo Bay.

The first part of this sensory assault was "George Micheal" from the 1980's pop-band "Wham" and a subsequent solo career. Although "George Micheal" is clearly past his best he performed one of his hits "Freedom" and a new song which I think he wrote about his near death experience which saw him rushed to hospital with pneumonia in the latter part of 2011. As "George Micheal" is gay and has a reputation for engaging in risky sexual activity the thing that everybody thought but no-one said when he was taken ill was that his HIV has progressed into full blown AIDS. Throughout both songs "George Micheal" was backed by a black soul choir similar to those you find in Pentecostalist Churches across sub-Saharan Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa has a huge HIV/AIDS problem and very negative attitudes towards homosexuality. Therefore the sight of a gay man who is nowhere near as good as he used to be and possibly be about to die from AIDS seemed to be designed to reinforce the widely held belief in sub-Saharan Africa that AIDS is God's punishment for homosexuality. Of course this has a knock on effect of increasing the stigma around HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa which discourages people from getting tested and seeking treatment thus increasing the number of people who die of HIV/AIDS. "George Micheal" was immediately followed by modern British band "The Kaiser Chiefs" playing "Pinball Wizard" by 1960's British band "The Who." Of course the "Kaiser Chiefs" took their name from a South African soccer team so their performance was another link to the sub-Saharan HIV/AIDS debate which was a recurring theme of the ceremony. Throughout "George Micheal's" performance the LED's formed the shape of a piano keyboard which was a reference to the "Paul McCartney" of "The Beatles" and "Stevie Wonder" song "Ebony & Ivory" that toe curling call for racial unity.

16:00 on 13/8/12.

Edited at around 19:10 on 13/8/12 to add;

The next sequence began with a video medley of hits by British pop-star "David Bowie" before breaking into a full version of the Bowie hit "Fashion." This heralded the start of the much hyped 'model's parade.' which began with something of a tease. Rather then a parade of beautiful people appearing trucks displaying billboard sized photographs of a famous British models such as "Kate Moss," "Naomi Campbell," "Lily Cole," "Georgina May Jagger" (daughter of "Rolling Stones" frontman "Mick Jagger") and "Sophie Dahl" (granddaughter of famous British author "Roald Dahl".) paraded around the stadium. Then suddenly the photographs were ripped away revealing the actual models who proceeded to strut around the stage wearing dresses by top British designers such Alexander McQueen. The idea was to promote Britain's fashion industry which has been suffering during the recession.

Once the models had left the stage "Annie Lennox" of 1980's British band "The Eurythmics" and a solo career appeared carried aboard Gothic pirate/sailing ship wearing a very Gothic costume. The goth theme was draw attention to the "goth" subculture and by extension Britain's various counter-cultures. It is at this point that I have to declare a personal interest in the proceedings. Without trying to name drop or show off I've actually met many of the performers in the ceremony in passing, through mutual friends or having worked on the same projects as them especially on things like charity appeals for developing nations. Therefore performing at the closing ceremony of an Olympics that has focused so heavily on me would be particularly stressful for them. "Annie Lennox" is one of those people because she has worked tirelessly in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa and with charities such as "Live Aid" and "Live 8." There for her inclusion was to continue the HIV/AIDS theme.

Next up was current British pop-star "Ed Sheeran" performing a cover version of legendary British band "Pink Floyd's" song "Wish You Were Here" while a tightrope walker performed on a high wire above the stadium. "Pink Floyd" of course famously re-formed for the "Live 8" so along with "Annie Lennox" and "Paul McCartney's" performance of "Hey Jude" in the opening ceremony this was designed draw focus onto the "Live 8" concert which might not have strictly speaking been done with the permission of the British establishment. "Ed Sheeran" did not take part in Live 8 and is just another one of those wastrels from Croydon's "BRITS School of Performing Arts." Probably two of his most famous songs are "The A-Team" which is about a women forced into prostitution following addiction to hard drugs (crack cocaine, heroin etc) and "Small Bump" which is about the trauma of losing a baby to miscarriage. The only problem is that neither of these experiences have occurred in "Ed Sheeran's" life so he's simply making it all up to cynically exploit the emotions of people who have gone through those experiences for monetary gain. His current single is a duet with a British hip-hop/grime artist "Devlin" in which they both murder "Bod Dylan" and "Jimi Hendrix's" great hit "All Along the Watch Tower" so it's was appropriate he destroyed yet another great song at the Olympic closing ceremony. Unfortunately though I think his inclusion was to promote Britain's creative industries such as the "BRIT school" system of churning out a procession of bland a mediocre pop-stars.

19:45 on 13/8/12.

Edited again at around 17:00 on 14/8/12 to add;

The 1960's psychedelia of "Pink Floyd" was followed by more of the same as "Russell Brand" appeared on top of a generic 1960's Hippy bus as lines from British author "Roald Dahl's" novel "Charlie and the Chocolate factory." were recited. The 1974 film of the novel; "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" is of course absolutely packed with references to illegal drugs. "Russell Brand" then went on to sing British band "The Beatles" psychedelic hit "I am the Walrus" which of course contains the lyric; "I am the Eggman." As with quite a few other lazy people my Twitter avatar is just an egg. All these psychedelic sounds and swirls of colour would have been very disorientating to anyone in the athletes mosh pits or anyone who'd taken too much LSD at any point in their lives. The presence of "Russell Brand" standing on top of a bus/van whilst shouting through a megaphone had a specific resonance with me because I've actually met "Russell Brand" quite a few times before (and after) he became famous. One of the incidents from his wilder days that he's talked about was that occasion on I think the 2002 Mayday protests in the Soho district of London where he got arrested after climbing onto the roof of a TV satellite van and removing his trousers. I was one of the people that the police had to go through to get to Mr Brand but while he's gone on to a movie career and a pop-star (ex)wife all I got to remember the day was some strange riot shield shaped scars on the back of my head. Therefore if you were being mean I suppose you could call him a 'sell-out' by comparison and I suspect he's still smarting from some comments I may have made about his divorce from "Katy Perry." The "Russell Brand" performance was accompanied by a classical string quartet called "Bond." Apart from sharing a surname with fictional super-spy "James Bond" "Bond" the band were ill-judged experiment from the early 2000's by music producer "Mike Batt" who was famous for putting together "The Wombles" musical act based on the 1970's British TV show of the same name. The idea was to make classical music popular with fans of pop music by putting the fours girls in the band in sexy clothes and doing dance tinged remixes of classical hits. Although according to Wikipedia they sold over 4 million records worldwide the experiment failed and "Bond's" appearance at the Olympic closing ceremony was met by a chorus "Oh, I thought they were dead" from the audience.

17:25 on 14/8/12.

Edited again at around 17:35 on 14/8/12;

As he left the stage "Russell Brand" introduced world famous British DJ and Brighton's (Hove actually) most famous resident "Fatboy Slim." Although I think that the closest that I've ever come to meeting "Fatboy Slim" was being in the same city as he was doing his big (250,000+) gig on Brighton beach in 2002 Brighton is a very small place where everybody knows everybody elses business so even though I've been out of circulation for getting on for seven years I'm pretty sure I could get in touch with him by making a couple of phone-calls. "Fatboy Slim" performed for a platform inside inside a giant inflatable octopus. At the time this was simply a reference to the fact he lives by the seaside but would pick up an extra significance during the next act.

This began with "Jessie J" - another BRIT school wastrel - singing her second single "Price-tag" while being driven around a golden set in a USD450,000 Rolls Royce (Roller) car which was a great advert for Rolls Royce. The single "Price-tag" is of course synonymous with the practice of 'Price-tagging' which Jewish settlers engage in to force Palestinians off their lands and to some extent the 2011 Libya war. Although we've never met "Jessie J" and I are not great fans of each other. In fact you could argue that the incident that I had in a Brighton pub during the Spain V France Euro2012 quarter-final and the "Hackney 1 Big Weekend" on June 23rd (23/6/12) was set up specifically to mock lines from "Jessie J's" first single "Do it like a Dude." In an effort to show that British hip-hop acts are just as good as hip-hop acts from the USA "Jessie J" was joined on stage by "Tinie Tempah" and "Tiao Cruz" to sing the parts of "Price-tag" that were sung by USA hip-hop star "B.O.B" on the recorded version The ostentatious displays of wealth around the stage particularly the advert for Rolls Royce were specifically aimed at China's newly rich who are highly valued by luxury goods exporters because while they're learning how to cope with their new found wealth after generations of poverty they will buy any old cr*p. The Gulf Monarchies that the adverts were also aimed at have of course been super-rich for generations even if they still haven't developed any taste. China's newly rich are a key demographic in the USA V China struggle for global dominance. Through things like the "Coldplay & Rhianna" song "Princess of China" which loses a lot of subtly in translation Britain particular has been encouraging this demographic to push for faster reforms to China's Communist system however I doubt the Brits are doing this because they want to help the Chinese people. Bathed in golden light "Fatboy Slim's" inflatable Octopus suddenly became a reference to the "Octopus Con" which I mentioned on the night. This is quite a famous con that changes from victim to victim but the basic principle is that there is this shadow cabal or secret society that has it's tentacles in every aspect of global society and secretly controls the world by doing things like selling US government bonds on a secret shadow market. All the victim has to do is give the conman their life savings and the conman will allow them access to this secret bond market and they will make billions. One victim of this con was an American hedge-fund manager called "Samuel Israel" who's story appeared in the British newspaper "The Mail on Sunday" magazine that very morning. Therefore the reference to the "Octopus con" was to enquire which of our Olympic visitors were aware of the "Mail on Sunday" while making me and the editorial staff at the "Mail on Sunday" a bit paranoid. The central principles of the "Octopus con" are of course the basis to all those nutty conspiracy theories about 9/11, the Zionist Occupation Government (ZOG), the Freemasons, the Bilderbergs, the New World Order (NWO) etc. Therefore the reference to the 'Octopus con' was designed was to encourage the conspiracy theorists to believe in the conspiracy which is particularly popular amongst neo-Nazi's in the USA and discuss it. "Tinie Tempah" and "Jessie J" then went onto sing "Tinie Tempah's" hit "Written in the Stars" before "Tiao Cruz joined in and all three sung "You Should be Dancing" by (technically) British band "The Bee Gees.

time to go to the pub - spellcheck later.

18:02 on 14/8/12.

Edited again at around 19:40 on 14/8/12 to spell check, add to and generally tidy up the above.
19:55 on 14/8/12.

Edited again at around 15:25 on 15/8/12 to add;

Next up was one of the most widely plugged events of the evening - the reunion of 1990's British pop band "The Spice Girls." I actually missed most of this performance because I was too busy trying to write a post on my Blackberry's tiny, tiny keypad. The purpose of this was to remind everybody of the 1990's and promote discussion about 'Girl Power' the type of soft-feminism that the "Spice Girls" promoted during their career. At an Olympics that had already been dubbed 'the women's Olympics' and featured all nations including Saudi Arabia and Qatar putting forward female athletes for the first time alongside such things as the discussion about black women being accepted in the USA's political/intelligence establishment feminism and female empowerment was a major theme of the 2012 games. It also gave me another opportunity to show off because back in 2005 when the Brits 'rescued' me and my friends from the disasterous lives we were living down in Brighton a friend of mine was renting a room in an apartment complex where "Emma 'Baby Spice' Bunton" also lived. So while to you she's a world famous celebrity to me she's just another one of those people I sometimes passed in the corridor while pretending not to be as drunk as I clearly was. Remember this detail it will come in useful later.

The "Spice Girls" were followed by 1990's British band "Oasis'" frontman "Liam Gallagher" playing one of "Oasis'" biggest hits "Wonderwall" with his new band "The High Flying Birds." This was again an attempt to remind people of the 1990's and the 'Cool Britanina' fad that saw "Tony Blair" and the Labour Party swept into political office in 1997. "Oasis''" great musical rivals the British band "Blur" were of course playing a simultanious concert in Hyde Park. This of course was very bad news for anyone who can remember bands like "Oasis" and "Blur" because it means that they're now so old the happy days of their youth now counts as nostalgia.

After "Oasis/High Flying Birds" chronology took a little detour and we were taken back to the 1970's as the public address system played a recording of British 'prog-rock' band the "Electric Light Orchestra (ELO)" song "Mister Blue Sky." 'Prog-rock is of course what happened when 1960's pyschedelia got too weird. "Mr Blue Sky" is also something of an anthem of Britain's Conservative Party whose chosen political colour is blue. Therefore this section of the closing ceremony was a reference to the 2009 Conservative Party conference just before they were returned to power in May 2010. While the music was playing the stage was filled by actors dressed as what can only be described as spectators and performers at a 1920's circus. The sequence featured women in 1920's dress who were a reference to "The Suffragettes" helping to load a man dressed as a sort of 1920's flight suit which was a reference to the birth of flight into a circus cannon.

This sequence was interrupted by British comedian "Eric Idle" of "Monty Python" fame signing the signiture song from the film "The Life of Brian" - "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life." "Eric Idle's" performance looked a lot like a scene from the "Monty Python" themed West End (London's theatre district) musical "Spamalot" and all the perfomers (such as the roller-blading nuns) and stage sets were clearly borrowed from a number of West End shows making the performance an advert for London's theatre district. Eventually "Eric Idle" was joined on stage by a troupe of Indian (Bollywood style) dancers. This was designed to highlight Britain's close relationship with former colony and emerging global power India however this relationship might well be under review because Britain has been giving India a lot of bad advice recentely. The relationship between Britain and India was tested earlier in the week when in response to a question about sport provision in schools the British Prime Minister "David Cameron" said that he wanted to do away with Indian dancing. This caused a minor political storm with accusations of racism. The performance of Indian dancers though made it look like "David Cameron" was only giving a cheeky little hint about what the closing ceremony held and those who disagree with him clearly aren't as clever as his is. The sequence ended with the man in the 1920's flight suit being fired out of the circus cannon and being caught in a giant safety net. This was a reference to Britain's great 'social safety net' the Welfare State and another reference to how the Brits had rescued me. That last point would have carried more weight if it hadn't been proceeded by the "Spice Girls" performance.

World famouse British rock band "Muse" then performed the single they'd written as the theme to the Olympic games "Survival." This though was mainly just an opportunity to clear the stage for the next sequence.

16:15 on 15/8/12.

Edited again at around 19:00 on 15/8/12 to add;

The reason why the stage hands needed time to set up the next sequence was that it featured a giant TV screen showing "Freddie Mercury" the legendary British/Indian frontman of the British band "Queen" working the crowd at one of his gigs. Some think this footage was taken from "Queen's" performance at the 1984 "Live Aid" concert while others thought it was from their 1985 "Rock in Rio" concert while others though it came from the 1986 Wembley stadium concert. In truth the footage had been so extensively digitally enhanced that parts of it were probably taken from all three concerts while others were totally computer generated. Apart from providing an advert for Britain's computer design/creative industries this was also reminiscent to "Hatsune Miku" a Japanese popstar who exists only as a computer generated hologram. As such it wasn't a particularly good advert from Britain's computer design/creative industries making the sales pitch something along the lines of "We'll charge you top rates for a fourth rate service." "Freddie Mecury" did of course famously die of AIDS related illness and unlike "George Micheal" died in his prime meaning that he is still widely respected across the world even in places like Rio de Janerio which will host the 2016 Olympics. So the inclusion of "Freddie Mercury" was to continue the HIV/AIDS theme but to present it as a bad thing to the Brazilian audience rather then a good thing which is how it was presented to the African audience. Attention turned away from the big screen as two of the surviving members of "Queen" "Brian May" and "Roger Taylor" played one of the bands songs "Brighton Rock" which is again a reference to the British seaside town where I used to live. They were then joined on stage by "Jessie J" to perform the classic Queen hit "We Will Rock You" which had become something of an anthem for the 2012 games being played at almost every venue during almost every event. It was also what the British organisers had hoped that the 2012 games would do to me. After all in most of the photographs the police have of me I do quite literally have blood on my face.

The performance of "We Will Rock You" was followed by the flag ceremony which is a set part of any Olympic closing ceremony which sees the Olympic Hymn being sung and the Olympic flag being lowered and then passed to a representative of the next country to host the Olympic games. On this occasion the British hosts chose to have the Olympic Hymn sung by a Welsh Male Voice Choir. This obviously has some reference to me, my grandmother and our Welsh roots. It's mainly though that a Welsh Male Voice Choir in full voice is a force to be reckoned with.

Following the flag ceremony Brazil took charge of the closing ceremony for a short sequence showcasing their nation's heritage and Olympic vision. As the next hosts of the Olympics Brazil was forced to work very closely with Britain throughout the 2012 games this little sequence also provided them with an opportunity to provide their response to some of the issues raised. Therefore I deliberately went a bit hazy during this bit. However I think the sight of a roadsweeper being told off for dancing by a security guard was a hint that the 2016 games would be much less oppressive then the 2012 games. I think the sexy music of the carnival was a response to the HIV/AIDS and a warning about the British backpackers, gap year hoorays and sex tourists who visit Brazil every year before getting over-excited and engaging in risky and down right illegal sexual activity. Then "Pele" appeared. Although he may have played a bit of football in his youth "Pele" is probably most famous as a spokesman for erectile disfunction and drugs like Viagra. So Brazil's contribution to the HIV/AIDS debate was that they were not so much worried about the Brazilian population as the British visitors, provided they could get it up. Mind you I was quite wasted at that point so I might have just made that all up.

Brazil's segment was followed by the extingushing of the Olympic cauldron and the compulsary speeches which were so boring I didn't really listen. However I think IOC head "Jacques Rogge" simply tried to say his peice amongst the overall weirdness of the ceremony. LOCOG head "Sebastian Coe" was looking deliberately scholarly as he peered over his glasses giving the whole thing the air of a university graduation ceremony. Apart from being a reference to Britain's changes to university education (fee increases, riots, etc) this was a reference to Britain's attempts such as "Bond" to get it's population more interested in high culture and get over their short attention spans. The joke being that if people managed to stay watching during the really boring bit they would be rewarded by a nice surprise. That surprise came in the form of a performance by British pop band from the 1990's "Take That" which would have got women of a certain age really excited. Apart from a bit more 1990's nostalgia "Take That's" performance was really just a distraction so the Olympic cauldron could collapse back to it's bonfire state and the stage could be set up for the next sequence.

It was in this next sequence where things really got strange. A sculpture of a giant red bird starting moving above the stage while dancers from the high culture Royal National Ballet performed a routine which featured famous British ballet dancer "Darcey Bussell" being lowered from the roof on a zip-wire wearing flaming wings. Officially the giant red bird was the mythological "Pheonix" and was supposed to symbolise Britain rising from the ashes of it's economic troubles but also looked a lot like the Eagle symbol used by Nazi Germany's "Waffen SS" or an Eagle symbol that is used by a lot of Native American tribes such as the Navaho. The image of the 'Firefly bonfire' from the opening ceremony along with all the ballet again made me think of the actress "Summer Glau" who Britain had sort of painted a target on for the 2012 games. One possible reason they could have done that was in the hope that it would trigger a guilt response in me and as far as the Brits are concerned guilt over poor behaviour is considered a weakness.

The obsession with US TV Shows continued in the next sequence with 1960's British band and "Live 8" participents "The Who" performing a medley of their songs. The first song they played was "Baba O'Reilly" which is of course used as the theme music to "CSI:NY" which is produced by "Gary Sinise" who was referenced in the "John Lennon" face on Mars sequence just in case anyone didn't get the hint about the Mars Curiosity rover. "The Who" went on to play "See Me, Feel Me" and "My Generation" which of course was different from their Superbowl performance when they just played the three songs used as the theme music to the three CSI TV Shows in an effort to promote the CSI:Trilogy that was shown on US TV shortly afterwards.

The ceremony closed with Emile Sande again singing a cover version of "John Lennon's" song "Imagine" which was used earlier in the ceremony. Considering Ms Sande's disappointment at her first single "Heaven" not getting to number 1 after the August 2011 riots the opening line "Imagine there's no heaven." must have been particularly cutting.

And at around 20:05 on 15/8/12 I think I've actually finished. Better get to work on the "Olympic Opening Ceremony" post.