Showing posts with label #London2012. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #London2012. Show all posts

Monday, August 13, 2012

#London2012 - Deadspin offers up video clips of what you missed at the 2012 London Olympic Closing Ceremonies because of NBC's editing, and the Tom Brokaw one-hour documentary that allowed him to reclaim his title of "voice" of "The Greatest Generation" -his personal kitsch marketing niche

Deadspin offers up video clips of what you missed Sunday night at the 2012 London Olympic Closing Ceremonies while people because like me continue to question  NBC-TV putting Tom Brokaw front-and-center Saturday night to showboat a bit, and to reclaim his title of "voice" of "The Greatest Generation" -his personal kitsch marketing nicheduring a completely unnecessary one-hour program about 1930's Britain and WWII and the economic and social aftermath, "Their Finest Hour."

Nice original title(!) and contrary to what's been reported, I HAD seen much of the footage before.

And if you insist on doing something like this, why would you schedule it on the last weekend the Olympics instead of the first weekend?
It's completely illogical, even on its own terms -even if you support something like it airing on U.S. television.

There's a very good reason why so many smart people in the U.S. saw the original "The World at War" anthology by ITV about WWII when it first aired in the U.S. came out in the late 1970's, with Laurence Olivier's narration.
Because of its quality and clarity and depth, unlike most high school and college textbooks.

It aired here in South Florida on Channel 10 on Sunday nights before ABC-TV's entertainment  programming began. I never missed it and have seen every episode about a dozen times thanks to the Military Channel, DirecTV Channel 287. http://www.theworldatwar.com/ )


NBC Cut Nearly An Hour From Its Closing Ceremony Telecast. Here’s Everything They Didn’t Show You (Including The Kinks’ Ray Davies)
By Timothy Burke
August 13, 2012 1:44 PM 
We knew NBC would heavily edit its broadcast of last night's London Olympics closing ceremony; they cut out a bunch of stuff from the opening ceremony, too, in the name of "tailoring programming to our American audience."

IF you are one of those rare Americans who had somehow missed the point for the last forty years that Brokaw was from South Dakota, you couldn't have missed it during this self-indulgent one hour.
Since it was all recorded, there was no actual reason for Brokaw to even physically be in London save high self-regard and him throwing-his-weight-around and/or NBC wanting to trot him out to how how serious they were, and in any case, wasn't the latter role actually Bob Costas' role as Everyman, who felt it necessary to state the obvious, sometimes, in grave tones?

Meanwhile, these are the same NBC geniuses that waited until the 15th day of the 17-day Olympics to do a segment on Roger Bannister, when it should've been done the first weekend.

The same geniuses who DIDN'T show the medal ceremony for the Men's Marathon winner, the last contest of the Games, and always a highlight.
Thank goodness an American runner didn't do something silly and win and throw NBC's minute calculations off.

Me, foolishly, I thought that the hour of coverage that NBC promised us after the Local NBC affiliate newscast would be what we missed.
Instead, they re-played what they'd already run, awkwardly picking it up during the narrative of the U.S. Women's gymnastics team battle for the team gold against Aliya Mustafina, Victoria Komova and the rest of the Russian team.  

See clips of the rehearsals of the Closing Ceremonies at
http://www.youtube.com/user/london2012

My grade for NBC for the whole Olympics is C-.
In a nutshell, with plenty of examples I could cite jere, probably just like you: The winner of the Women's 100 Meters speaks English, being from Jamaica, but NBC chose not to interview her - THE fastest women in the world.

-----
http://olympicclosingceremony.tumblr.com/

Saturday, August 11, 2012

#London2012 - The best photos of the Olympics. Breakthroughs in photographic technology lead to astounding detail in Olympic photos in London; Getty Images shows what innovative photo technology they're using in London to capture the magical moments


Wall Street Journal Digital Network video: The Best Photos of the London Olympics.
WSJ photo director Jack Van Antwerp speaks with George Stahl, Deputy Managing Editor of DJ Newswires about how the advancements in digital technology have allowed a scale of detail and context to converge at the London 2012 Olympics, of what used to be generic sports wire photos, that are nothing short of astounding. Van Antwerp showcases a photo of swimmer Michael Phelps shot by Gabriel Bouys of AFP/Getty Images as an example of this revolution, all the more remarkable because flash photography is prohibited at the swimming venue. Uploaded August 10, 2012. http://youtu.be/K-V_mgS0ohE

The URL mentioned above is http://online.wsj.com/public/page/olympics-london.html

See also:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443404004577581244173272220.html?mod=WSJ_OL2012_hps_PhotosModule_1#slide/1


Getty Images video: Shaun Botterill, Adrian Murrell, Marc Webbon and Georges De Keerle of Getty Images speak to the practical effects and marketing edge that clients of Getty Images' will have from their use of the latest technology at London 2012, including 3D, 360 and robotic cameras. Uploaded June 6, 2012. http://youtu.be/Okt0gVYs_zk

Gabriel Bouys: http://portfolios.afp.com/photographer/gabriel-bouys.html
AFP: http://www.afp.com/en/news

Photos by Getty Images photographers at the London 2012 Olympics:
http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/Editorial/Frontdoor/livefromlondon?isource=usa_editorial_olympics2012

Getty Images Sports Photography homepage:
http://www.gettyimages.com/EditorialImages/Sport?isource=usa-en_home_FTV_quicklinks_sports

Photos by London 2012 Olympians of other Olympians -and everything else:
http://twicsy.com/l/olympians

Getty Images YouTube Channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/gettyimages

London 2012 YouTubeChannelhttp://www.youtube.com/london2012

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

#Olympics - Julie Foudy on the Englishman who wants to reward Fourth-place finishers at the Olympics with a medal, and is paying for them himself; Nightline asks Do you think there should be a fourth place medal at the Olympic games?; #London2012, @JulieFoudy, @JuJuChangABC, #Nightline


ABC News: ABC News Nightline Olympic correspondent Julie Foudy of ESPN on the Englishman who wants to reward Fourth-place finishers at the Olympics with a medal, and is paying for them himself; @Nightline asks "Do you think there should be a fourth place medal at the Olympic games?" August 7, 2012.
http://youtu.be/CRrHDK35AKI

Just more proof of why Julie Foudy is so very likable and reliable, besides knowledgeable and articulate -and unswervingly honest
Me, I'm a big fan of hers.

I think I'd rather listen to her than just about any other TV color commentator covering any other sport, except for Jim Palmer on baseball and Ron Jaworski on the NFL.

She was excellent on ESPN's Euro 2012 coverage from Poland and Ukraine

@Nightline asks "Do you think there should be a fourth place medal at the Olympic games?"
http://twitter.com/Nightline/status/233049579925426176

@JulieFoudy http://twitter.com/JulieFoudy
http://www.juliefoudyleadership.com/

ABC News @ABC http://twitter.com/ABC 

Monday, August 6, 2012

So very underwhelming! South America's cocky ABC countries flounder in London: After first 8 days, Argentina & Chile had combined for ZERO medals at 2012 London Olympics; ABC is roughly 250 Million people -result is one Gold Medal after first 7 days; #London2012, #IULondon12


TelegraphTV video: Argentine President Cristina Fernandez Kerchner: I thought Falklands adverts were great. June 27, 2012. http://youtu.be/Jg4nkllrNu4

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez Kerchner is like a very cocky and annoying cartoon character. Is she really that egotistical and self-serving, or... 
Yes, all the evidence to date appears to support such a hypothesis, witness this last week:

The Telegraph
British ships banned from docking in Buenos Aires
Ships flying the British ensign have been banned from docking in Argentina's largest province under a new law passed yesterday
By Jonathan Gilbert in Buenos Aires

6:20AM BST 03 Aug 2012

'To compete on English soil, we train on Argentinian soil': TV ad highlighting claim over Falklands filmed in Port Stanley 
May 3, 2012
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2138926/Falkland-Islands-London-2012-Olympics-ad-shows-athlete-training-Argentine-soil-Port-Stanley.html

The original video in question...
Homenaje a los caídos y ex combatientes de Malvinas
Yes, the video is STILL on the Argentine govt. website

I'd originally planned on posting something about the larger issue of South America's largest countries history of under-performing at the Summer Olympics in mid-June, even prior to Argentine President Cristina Fernandez Kerchner proving once again her inability to keep her more base instincts to herself.
Result, foot in mouth -again!

Hmm-m... what other female elected officials can I think of that have that same problem?

I had planned on wishing her Olympic team full of obscure handball players and synchronized swimmers good luck as the ABC countries of South America -Argentina, Brazil and Chile- once again proved that despite having lots of people and resources, they could NOT transform those advantages into anything more than under-achievement, while much smaller countries punked them in the medal count.


2011 Population estimates:
Argentina, <42 million="million" span="span">
Brazil, world's 5th-largest country, 195 Million 
Chile <17 font="font" million="million">

Total, roughly 250 Million people
Result: Number of Gold Medals after one week: one.

In fact, Chile and Argentina had not only actually earned less Gold Medals than IU students and alums in London the first week, they had earned less medals than IU student and French swimmer Margaux Farrell. http://www.iuhoosiers.com/sports/w-swim/recaps/080112aaa.html



Oh, dear!
It looks like once again, Argentina is better at agit prop than actual performance.
Now we know why their athletes are shown having so much fun at the Opening Ceremonies
-unlike the athletes of many nations, they don't have the pressure of actually doing something worthwhile, they're just there for the fun!

Outside of soccer, nobody in the rest of the world, well, outside of South America, even thinks
about Argentina, and why would they?
And seriously, how has such a large country produced so very little of interest or value to the
rest of the world for so very long?

And from a larger perspective, while there are a handful of internationally-respected music and film stars from these three countries, why so few out of 250 million people?

Chile is over three times larger in population than Finland, yet Finnish consumer products and knack for marketing -Nokia and Angry Birds- have more tangible impact on U.S. consumers and business culture than anything Argentina or Chile does; I do like Chliean wine. 

In the 1980's, when I lived in Chicago and the most well-known Argentine most people could name was tennis player Gabby Sabatini, a banker friend who traveled a lot for business, esp. to international conferences, put it very nicely, in a way that reminded me of the national archetypes mentioned in Luigi Barzini Jr.'s various works.
http://ac-support.europe.umuc.edu/~jmatthew/naples/barzini.html
"Argentines think they're good-looking Italian bankers who must wear English bespoke and see French psychologists because of their own deep sense of national inadequacy."
Exactly

Even now, they're a country that's still has plenty of people who think their govt. did nothing wrong when it grabbed political opponents and threw them off airplanes over the ocean.
Maybe things will change there once all the people who could countenance that are dead.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Meet the face of the new Ugly American: Washington Post sports columnist Mike Wise. He jumps-the-shark in London via a mean-spirited attack against Mariel Zagunis, who lost at the 2012 Olympics in a sport you don't even care about. WTF?!; #London2012

Meet the face of the new Ugly American: Washington Post sports columnist Mike Wise. He jumps-the-shark in London via a mean-spirited attack against Mariel Zagunis, who lost at the 2012 Olympics in a sport you don't even care about. WTF?!; #London2012 
In the year 2012, with a few rare exceptions, American sports columnists at any large sporting event are what comes after the word "superfluous."
Think of the Miami Herald's Linda Robertson, whose Olympic columns for years have always seemed to me to read like paint-by-numbers jobs that were pre-written in Miami before she showed-up wherever the Games were being held.
Once there, she simply put the name and the sport into the meme she wanted to get out into the universe. And completely predictable memes at that.

But it's really when most sports columnists are at a gathering as large and diverse as the 2012 Olympics in London, with tens of thousands of people from all over the world who are heavily-invested emotionally and financially in being there, that someone like Wise reminds you why they are like a third nipple.
And not nearly as interesting.

Desperate as they are to hold your attention to justify their presence to their bosses back home at an event where 99.99% of even the Americans there have NEVER heard of him, to these visitors, Mike Wise is the creepy guy in the hotel elevator who wouldn't hold it open for you as you raced towards it, preferring to wave "buh-bye" to you and your wife as it closed.

The guy who ruined your good mood and reminded you once again that there's no Ugly American like an American journalist overseas, with a colossal sense of self-importance and entitlement, even when nobody-but-nobody is interested in what he thinks.

That's Mike Wise.
The third nipple.
After you read his put-down of American fencer Mariel Zagunis, a two-time Gold Medalist, you'll probably agree.
Me, I'll bet his ancestors spread rumors about witches in 17th Century Salem -for sport.

Washington Post
Mariel Zagunis loses her fencing semifinal bout, and the Olympic spirit
By Mike Wise, 
August 1, 2012
LONDON — There goes the emotional sitdown with Costas. The brainless chit-chat in the morning with Matt Lauer and a cereal-box cover are also off the table.
Say buh-bye, America. Mariel Zagunis’s Q-rating just left the building.
Thanks for carrying the Stars and Stripes into the Opening Ceremonies, Miss Flag Bearer. Now pack your swords and go home for four years. We’ll call you before we get to Rio.
Read the rest of the attack at 




TD Ameritrade interviews Mariel Zagunis. http://youtu.be/x_bWZD0FU9o


The sporting romantic in me hopes that Wise somehow provokes a burly but emotionally-volatile Redskin veteran player during the course of the season, and after a tough loss, the player decides that he's had quite enough of Wise's smart-ass baiting of him.


Then, with TV cameras there to capture the moment for posterity on YouTube, with a white towel wrapped around his neck, the player stands up from his folding chair as if to put the towel away and get dressed when suddenly he takes one quick step towards Wise, and nails him flush with a hay-maker, as cameras capture Wise going limp like a rag doll and falling flat on his ass. 

First a Kapow! 
Then a Timber!

But it's probably too much to hope for.

Still, in the future, if you ever see Mike Wise flaying away in some body of water somewhere, especially near Washington Harbour in Georgetown, one of my old haunts, perhaps after he's had a drink too-many at Sequoia and fallen into the Potomac, just remember the importance of karma.


Then think of emotionally-frustrated Mariel Zagunis and his conscious decision to go after her when she is at her lowest, and emotionally distraught. 
You'll know what to do.


Nothing.
Nothing but wave and mouth the words "buh-bye" to Wise as he says, on-the-record, "Blub, blub..."
Yes, his final clever remarks captured for posterity before joining the mounds of debris that lie at the bottom of that dirty, dirty river.

-----

Elsewhere in London, in a much-better column that's not dripping with mean-spirited sarcasm for vitriol's sake...

New York Times
U.S. Star Loses Chance To Win Her Third Gold
By Sam Borden
Published: August 1, 2012

Friday, July 27, 2012

"Listen, do you want to know a secret? Do you promise not to tell... The Daily Telegraph on how film director Danny Boyle was able to get 60,000 volunteers to keep Olympic Opening Ceremonies on the QT; #London2012, #TeamGB


London2012 video: Dove Bike Rehearsals London 2012. July 27, 2012.
http://youtu.be/zZmyp3zcm4I



London2012 video: Mary Poppins Rehearsals London 2012, July 27, 2012
http://youtu.be/BZEYCRWpsZk


"Listen, do you want to know a secret? Do you promise not to tell... The Daily Telegraph on how film director Danny Boyle was able to get 60,000 volunteers to keep Olympic Opening Ceremonies on the QT; #London2012, #TeamGB 


The Daily Telegraph

London 2012 Olympics: How Danny Boyle got 60,000 fans to keep mum over opening ceremony dress rehearsal
In the age of Twitter, Facebook and 24 hour news, getting 60,000 people to keep details of the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony secret should surely be an impossible task.
By Gordon Rayner, and Jack Taperell
4:28PM BST 24 Jul 2012

In the age of Twitter, Facebook and 24 hour news, getting 60,000 people to keep details of the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony secret should surely be an impossible task.
But Danny Boyle appears to have done just that by appealing to a crowd invited to a dress rehearsal on Monday night not to spoil the surprise for the rest of us.

Read the rest of the article at: 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/london-2012/9423842/London-2012-Olympics-How-Danny-Boyle-got-60000-fans-to-keep-mum-over-opening-ceremony-dress-rehearsal.html


Which nation in the March of Nations in tonight's Opening Ceremonies will be the subject of the most condescending remark or anecdote from NBC-TV hosts tonight in London?


http://www.youtube.com/london2012

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Delicious! CNN Piers Morgan punctures smug CNN afternoon anchorbabe Brooke Baldwin's ill-founded predicate in attack on Romney. Morgan: "He's only been saying what's been happening."; #London2012

No, the predictable -and unexpected- safety, security and logistics problems associated with London hosting something as huge as the 2012 Olympics have NOT exactly been a secret, as this front page Sunday story from The Daily Mail makes clear: Minister's Daughter in Olympic Safety Scandalhttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2177018/Claudia-Blunt-Ministers-daughter-exposes-Olympic-safety-scandal.html
Oh, dear! The cat is out of the bag. Just don't wake CNN's Brooke Baldwin, as she needs her beauty sleep.
Delicious! CNN Piers Morgan punctures smug CNN afternoon anchorbabe Brooke Baldwin's ill-founded predicate in attack on Mitt Romney. Morgan: "He's only been saying what's been happening."


Get it?
Romney's only been saying about logistics and security problems with the London 2012 Olympics what has been reported on the front pages of the British and Scottish newspapers for months!
They already know!

And it's been reported at the Drudge Report and on ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox News Channel newscasts for months, too.
That's why it's called "common knowledge!"


Taxi for Mr. Buckles -MPs savage G4S boss over Olympic chaos, The Guardian from last Wednesday, July 18, 2012. http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/jul/17/nick-buckles-g4s-olympic-chaos
So with so much being written, on the front page, something that a supposed-journalist like Baldwin should've known, or at least acted like she already knew was common knowledge, what gives with the dopey and smarmy attitude? 
Baldwin seems to be the last to know, the latest idiot who has a TV show.

(I'd planned on having some screenshots here of what took place around 2 p.m. on CNN but I'm having a problem downloading the photos from my videocamera.)

Jesus, that was so embarrassing, and really showed that left to their own devices, CNN's desire to go after Romney, who is clearly often his own worst enemy, when there's little rationale.
They do it because it's their natural instinct.
I'd forgotten why I didn't watch CNN during the day and Brooke Baldwin reminded me.

The real question is why Romney felt the need to say anything about it at all.
Oh, that's right, because NBC News Brian Williams asked him.
The same NBC that is airing the Olympics starting tomorrow.


Romney's comment should've been that he would mention his concerns or constructive suggestions to people who could actually do something about it, and that didn't include Brian Williams.


An hour after that 2 pm exchange with Morgan, yet another CNN host was brought on board to say something and Fareed Zakaria largely agreed with Morgan.
But then used that as an opportunity to attack the caliber of Romney's foreign policy people, including, surprisingly, Richard Armitage.


Hmm-m... I thought the Mainstream Media had voted that Armitage was a good guy because he was Colin Powell's top assistant under Bush 43, despite the fact that Armitage was the actual person who leaked the info about Valerie Plame
Powell acted ignorant about that publicly for months and months as people who were NOT involved, had their whole lives completely disrupted as they had to hire expensive defense attorneys during a government witch-hunt.


And lest you forget, one of the principal reasons that I've never liked Colin Powell and thought him a bit of a fraud is that despite all his tough talk about doing the right thing, when the opportunity presented itself, we never got any explanation from Powell on why he didn't publicly say that his assistant was the leaker.

Colin Powell didn't care about how much his secret affected those other Americans, he only cared about protecting his pal's identity. 
That's who Powell really is to me -an over-rated, aloof and self-absorbed person.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Swedish heartache! We regret to inform you that talented and moxie-filled Swedish midfielder Josefine Öqvist -always "trending" at this blog- won't be at London 2012 Olympics due to pregnancy. And Sanna Kallur is out because of injuries -again; #London2012


SVT video: Gravid Öqvist missar OS. Pregnant Öqvist will miss Olympic Games. January 13, 2012. She's also missing the Damallsvenskan season in Sweden

Not so happy news for blågult! 

Sweden's Women football team, third at last year's World Cup, faces South Africa today in Coventry minus dependable #14, Josefine Öqvist, whose 29th birthday was Monday.
Öqvist will be rooting for her teammates while watching the match on TV back in Sweden with her boyfriend, hockey player Stefan Lassen, and her two-week old daughter, Stella.

Josefine is a delight to watch in a game because she's such a spark plug for the team and has such a sixth sense for the ball that seems positively uncanny at times.
Her knack for putting herself in the right position for a steal or to get a ricochet pass that leads to a breakaway, well, sometimes makes her almost like a cartoon character that's moving twice as fast as anyone else.

All screenshots of Swedish star midfielder Josefine Öqvist by South Beach Hoosier, July 6, 2011. © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved.




The team looks very good, but  I really have no sense of how they'll perform offensively without Josefine, though today's match against South Africa shouldn't even be close.
http://svenskfotboll.se/arkiv/landslag/2012/07/antligen-dags-for-avspark/

Håller alla tummar för att de tar medalj

Volume is turned down as this is a video that starts automatically.

Captain Lotta Schelin is ready to go...; 
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/olympics/2012/writers/grant_wahl/07/17/london-olympic-womens-soccer-preview/index.html

Team GB's Women's team hosts New Zealand in the opening match at 10:30 a.m. on MSNBC.

So you're asking yourself, what moxie-filled daughter of Vasa should we root for if Josefine is finito?

Until three weeks ago I would've said Long Island-born, Swedish-raised hurdler Susanna Kallur, aka Sanna, who has had her share of high highs, a world record, and many lows because of injuries, but who was very focused this year to let her enormous talent be seen by the whole world -again.


That is, until she announced at the end of June that she wouldn't be able to compete in the OS because of yet another injury.

Before...
SVT video: Sanna Kallur, "I love to train" Sanna in Chula Vista, California back in May of this year, when things were looking much brighter.

Click the TV in the far right box to go to full screen.

After...
SVT video: Kallur: Blir inget OS. I'll miss Olympic Games. June 29, 2012. 
So very disappointing for Sanna and her many fans.
Volume is turned down as this is a video that starts automatically.

SVT's Olympic webpage full of facts, photos and figures is at http://www.svt.se/os/



Sweden will be host the 2013 UEFA Womens Euro from July 10-28th, with the title match in Solna, just north of Stockholm. http://fogis.se/damem2013/

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Excitement rises as Olympic Torch hits London, as singer Paloma Faith -in high heels-, footballer Fabrice Muamba, boxer Lennox Lewis, tennis' Andy Murray & Venus Williams and actor Patrick Stewart get caught up in the enthusiasm as they carry the flame; #London2012, #bbctorchcam



BBC News video: Sir Patrick Stewart carries the Olympic Torch thru Croydon. July 23, 2012. http://youtu.be/b5iNmoGr_PI
Related article at: http://www.thewrap.com/tv/column-post/patrick-stewart-gets-torched-london-olympics-video-48956



London2012 video: Olympic Torch Relay Day 64 Highlights - London 2012. July 22, 2012. http://youtu.be/lwAL5pBVTnU



London2012 video:Olympic Torch Relay Day 65 Highlights - London 2012. July 22, 2012. http://youtu.be/0-sgYvdUvpM


http://www.london2012.com/torch-relay/video/video=torch-relay-day66.html



JulieJackson1 video: London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay thru Croydon with actor Patrick Stewart. July 23, 2012. http://youtu.be/TRMpNzSYDbA


Olympic Torch relays start in the morning and remember the five-hour time difference between Miami/EDT and London/BST 



Follow the progress of the Torch here, http://www.london2012.com/torch-relay/route/
and watch the Olympic Torch relay Route LIVE at http://www.bbc.co.uk/torchrelay
which I'm doing now at 5:35 Miami time as it's in Richmond Upon Thames on its way to 
Hounslow, Hillingdon, Denham and Ealing.



London2012: Get ready for the Opening Ceremony - London 2012. July 20, 2012.
http://youtu.be/qcHJHZRw2VU


http://www.london2012.com/


http://twitter.com/#!/search?q=%23bbctorchcam


Olympic torch: BBC torchcam draws in a global audience
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/18191691

http://twitter.com/NBCOlympics

Saturday, July 14, 2012

As the London 2012 Olympics reach two weeks and counting, the world's news media -and enthusiastic London Mayor Boris Johnson- visit Olympic Park, the Athletes Village, some venues and give us their appraisals; #London2012, @London2012




alejandromedinafilms video:  Time-lapse footage of construction of the London 2012 Athletes' Village. (HD). February 22, 2012. http://youtu.be/bB0W8xiqQ8Y





Al Jazeera video: Al Jazeera correspondent Lee Wellings checks out the Olympic Park two weeks before it's full of 16,000 athletes. July 13, 2012.
http://youtu.be/I1ZqZfVjMYU





Australia's 7News: Inside the Olympic village. July 13, 2012. 
http://youtu.be/p1os8q-8geo





London Mayor Boris Johnson inspected the beautiful Olympic Park on Friday, two weeks before the Opening Ceremonies and comes away both impressed and proud. 


MayorsOfficeLondon video: July 13, 2012. http://youtu.be/HIlZmMBYUy8
SNTVonline video: July 13, 2012.  http://youtu.be/p6Bg7uFUays





MayorsOfficeLondon video: A new £50m cable car system -aka Emirates Air Line- linking the Excel Centre at Royal Victoria Docks across the Thames to the O2 Arena in north Greenwich in five minutes, and with an amazing view. http://youtu.be/PLAz1lM0zgs


You don't have to be a genius to know in advance that whatever else happens the first week, this cable car ride with its great views is going to be one of the early breakout hits of the Olympics, with every TV cameraman from around the world in London taking at least two trips across with one of their correspondents showing the folks back home the view from mid-air, to say nothing of the visitors and athletes themselves who will cross with their own video-cams in tow, and why not? 
But the queues will be long!!!


I expect that within a month from today, there will easily be at least 500 videos of the entire Thames crossing on YouTube.


And lest you forget, that's Greenwich as in Greenwich Mean Time -GMT- though during the summer up 'til late October, London is actually on BST, British Summer Time, where the living is easy.
In any case, where time begins on this blue planet.




SNTVonline video: Inside Olympics venue - the Excel Centre. July 13, 2012.
http://youtu.be/3VN8R2mqxvU

Speaking of Depeche Mode... the music in the cable car video above you just heard is their's 



WarnerBrosRecords video: Depeche Mode - It's No Good (Remastered Video). October 26, 2009http://youtu.be/aieEZ950d1I
-----
http://www.london2012.com/spectators/venues/