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WorldWeird: THE OLYMPICS: a benign virus

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    • CommentAuthorbadbear
    • CommentTimeJul 27th 2012
     (10772.1)
    Always having a way with words, London Mayor Boris Johnson has described the Olympic excitement as spreading like a benign virus. As I can see it creeping into all the other topics so I thought perhaps we should have a specific thread for it? Keep it contained?

    Yesterday I left my office to see the torch go past Olympia. It was exactly as underwhelming as you would expect: three coaches full of advertising and bored students wearing branded t-shirts, followed by a tired looking woman holding a torch. I'm feeling very "bah humbug" about the whole thing. Is anyone actually excited?
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      CommentAuthorEd Jackson
    • CommentTimeJul 27th 2012
     (10772.2)
    I'm just glad I don't work in London any more. Fuck that for a game of soldiers.
    • CommentAuthorFlabyo
    • CommentTimeJul 27th 2012 edited
     (10772.3)
    I think I'm the only person I know that loves the Olympics and is really looking forward to it.

    I blogged about it.
  4.  (10772.4)
    I was looking forward to the XXX Olympiad, until I realized that those were roman numerals.
    • CommentAuthorbadbear
    • CommentTimeJul 27th 2012
     (10772.5)
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      CommentAuthorFoamhead
    • CommentTimeJul 27th 2012
     (10772.6)
    I'm the opposite to Flabyo, sorry. So much so, I honestly mis-read the first line of badbear's post as "Olympic excrement."

    But it's here and happening and there's bugger all I can do about it now, so I hope it goes well. I really do. But I can't get over this lurking sense of impending WTFery and 16 days of non-stop facepalming. Kinda like Boris Johnson's bumbling persona is the spirit of the games writ large, with all The Horror that's going to entail.
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      CommentAuthoroldhat
    • CommentTimeJul 27th 2012
     (10772.7)
    I'm not fond of the actions of the Olympic organizers and how cities tend to lean over backwards for them while putting money that SHOULD be going to some much-needed programs in to a building and ad campaign they're only going to use once. The arrival of that shit always bugs me. But I don't hate the athletes who trained to be there. That's what's kind of been bugging me about some of the protests, the ire towards the athletes instead of the organizers.
  8.  (10772.8)
    Well, now Mitt Romney's pitched up and shone a spotlight on just how much of an outright cock he is, I'm in the odd position of being on the same side as Boris... I mean, it may be a corporate gangbang omnishambles, but it's OUR corporate gangbang omnishambles. So fuck off, Romney.

    I'm kind of looking forward to the WTFery, might enjoy some of the games, hoping the sponsors kill and eat each other. Am not looking forward to the second week, as I'm back at work then and have to deal with the travel insanity.
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      CommentAuthorcurb
    • CommentTimeJul 27th 2012
     (10772.9)
    I wish all involved well, and I hope all the investment does help regenerate deprived communities across the country. And I hope it inspires a generation of kids to keep active and follow their dreams. But I'm finding it hard to see it as anything more than a celebration of some shitty corporations. Also, the British ability to get really excited about sports we don't care about the rest of the time.
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      CommentAuthorFoamhead
    • CommentTimeJul 27th 2012 edited
     (10772.10)
    This is what I mean - the best of intentions let down when they meet the real world.

    • CommentAuthorbadbear
    • CommentTimeJul 27th 2012
     (10772.11)
    Apparently the first world record of 2012 has been broken by a blind south korean archer. So that's pretty nice.

    @curb
    I think getting excited about the more fringe sports is probably the only way to get through this thing - if I've got to be massively inconvenienced on a daily basis it's surely better to be interested in all this bloody sport than grumpy about it.

    For anyone with a few spare minutes to waste I would like to recommend this piece on Rhythmic Gymnastics by Brian Phillips (if you have even a passing interest in tennis I also recommend his series on the last Wimbledon championship which isn't very sport heavy but is an exceptionally good read.)
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      CommentAuthornigredo
    • CommentTimeJul 27th 2012
     (10772.12)
    fuck it, fuck it, fuckitty fuck it!

    Boris Johnson's voice comes on every few mins on the bus or the tube telling already fairly homicidal commuters that all the shit they will be going through for the next three weeks will be worth it. Who the fuck came up with that idea?!

    London has been turned into an unofficial sim-war city, full of soldiers and police, and zombies swilling soylent green, wearing sponsor-approved clothing and footing the bill for the whole thing.

    FUCK IT

  13.  (10772.13)
    @nigredo

    BoJo has been barking at commuters for weeks, the first time I heard him was stumbling off the train at 6.30am - thought it was some sort of terrorist atrocity until I realised what it was. The guy does not have a voice for PA systems, it sounded like a pissed wedding uncle hijacking the karaoke. Nobody should be forced to listen to that freaky shit, a) at that time of the morning and b) without adequate warning c) ever.
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      CommentAuthorTF
    • CommentTimeJul 27th 2012
     (10772.14)
    I'm looking forward to Danny Boyle's opening tonight. That's it.
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      CommentAuthorcity creed
    • CommentTimeJul 27th 2012
     (10772.15)
    Laurie Penny's Olympic Catabasis invokes some familiar spirits to navigate the unreal.
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      CommentAuthorTF
    • CommentTimeJul 27th 2012 edited
     (10772.16)
    Mary Poppins just showed up to fight Voldermort -

    IT'S THE FUCKING LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN!!!!!

    Edit: that was both the best and worst thing I've ever seen on TV. I am now done with the Olympics.
    • CommentAuthorSolario
    • CommentTimeJul 27th 2012 edited
     (10772.17)
    I have no strong opinions one way or another on the Olympics as a sport event.

    As a cultural phenomenon and political entity it's one of the worst things that's happened this year. It's corporate fascism, it's class warfare and it's exploitive as all hell.

    Tom Humberstone did a nice comic recapping some of the main problems with the London Olympics and what the Olympics has been used for in the past.
    The London Olympics
    • CommentAuthorOddcult
    • CommentTimeJul 27th 2012
     (10772.18)
  19.  (10772.19)
    However it looks like Boyle has pulled off a bit of subversion, basically using the event as a huge advert for the NHS, also resulting in the first lesbian kiss broadcast on Saudi TV and a massive celebration for British art, film, music and literature under the noses of a Tory govt. IMO a nice piece of use the system against the system subversion. If we have to have the Olympics then this was the way to recover something from it.
    • CommentAuthorOddcult
    • CommentTimeJul 27th 2012
     (10772.20)
    https://twitter.com/AidanBurleyMP - yeah, some tories are already having kittens over it

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