Your Sneak Preview Of The Closing Ceremony [London Olympics]

The closing ceremonies kick off this afternoon at 4 p.m. EST. But why wait (*checks watch*) five minutes to see what the set'll look like? Hey, you could look at pictures of past closing ceremonies, or you could look at pictures of future closing ceremonies. Here are some pre-ceremony pictures being tweeted and instagramed by various insiders.

From what we can tell: there will some kind of ferris wheel, Allesandra Ambrosio will be holding or is currently holding something shiny, Ludcaris and Vin Diesel may be in the house, and everything is bathed in an eerie blue light.

From SI photographer Robert Beck:

From @RickyBerens, what the US and Swiss delegations will be wearing:

Presumably apocryphal, unless—dear God, is Russell Brand really singing "I Am the Walrus"?

And here's your BBC Livestream, because fuck you, NBC.

Top image courtesy Mark Smith (@MarkSmith4100)

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NBC Responds: We Removed The Opening Ceremony Memorial To Terrorism Victims Because The Tribute Wasn't About America [Video]

NBC finally responded to overwhelming criticism of its decision to heavily edit coverage of Friday's opening ceremony with an answer that satisfied neither American fans nor Olympic organizers. Claiming "our programming is tailored for our American audience," NBC spokesperson Greg Hughes defended the network's choice to replace the "Abide With Me" memorial performance with a Ryan Seacrest interview of Michael Phelps.

The segment's choreographer and visionary for the memorial to victims of London's 7/7 attacks reacted angrily at a press conference this weekend, being quoted by Reuters as having said: "Is it not accessible enough? Is it not commercial enough?"

As our friend Louis said over on Gawker this weekend, it's a remarkably tone-deaf response from NBC. It does, however, demonstrate exactly how NBC views the Olympics and how differently it does so compared to the rest of the world's broadcasters.

Everywhere else in the world—including places like China and Saudi Arabia—the Olympics are considered a major international news story, worthy of coverage as such and, thus, live and as uninterrupted as possible. Comparisons include the Royal Wedding (which NBC *did* show live in its entirety) or a natural disaster like a tsunami. Our editor emeritus Will Leitch says the Olympics aren't sports, but reality TV; he's right, only insofar as an American perspective goes, though. We're conditioned to think we should be fed our salad pre-tossed because that's how we've always received it; NBC has taken this liberty we've given them and used it to craft narratives that do not actually exist and to eliminate the ones they'd rather we not see.

What NBC did with the opening ceremony is, then, simply a stand-in for the manipulation they engage in with all their prime-time coverage. What you see at night on NBC's Olympic coverage didn't actually happen, but is instead an NBC-forged simulacrum of what the Olympic day was like. They recreate a sequence of events that never actually happened by using footage of things that actually did. Maybe we're okay with that, but NBC dismissing complaints of anyone who isn't okay with it is not, well, okay.

SEE ALSO: Here's The Opening Ceremony Tribute To Terrorism Victims NBC Doesn't Want You To See
Opening Ceremony Choreographer "Disheartened And Disappointed" NBC Cut His Entire Performance Out Of Their Broadcast
NBC Also Edited Out A Tribute Featuring Two Dead U.S. Servicemen From Their Opening Ceremony Broadcast

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NBC Also Edited Out A Tribute Featuring Two Dead U.S. Servicemen From Their Opening Ceremony Broadcast [Video]

NBC explained that it skipped a memorial to terrorism victims in its broadcast of the Olympic opening ceremony because its show was "tailored for our American audience." While cutting that part of the show, NBC also skipped a transitional segment called the "Wall of Remembrance"—which included memorials to two deceased United States servicemen.

Olympic organizers solicited photos from around the world to honor "those who cannot be with us tonight," according to the opening ceremony media guide. One of the images was that of United States Air Force Academy cadet Andrew Chin, who passed away June 19th. An associate of Chin's tells me his CS-10 "Tiger Ten" squadmates were thrilled when they learned his photo had been selected for inclusion. Then, when they tuned in, they saw Ryan Seacrest interviewing Michael Phelps. (You can view video of the memorial in its entirety here.)

Cadet 2nd Class Yung C. Chin was a biology major who hoped one day to become a surgeon like his father and his memorial service remarked upon his generous character.

The second serviceman featured is this Marine, whose identity we do not know. A viewer from England named John Brown alerted me to this, saying NBC's decision was "not only an insult to the British dead, but also an insult to the American casualties of war and their families left behind." If you have any information as to this Marine's identity, please let me know.

PREVIOUSLY: Here's The Opening Ceremony Tribute To Terrorism Victims NBC Doesn't Want You To See
Opening Ceremony Choreographer "Disheartened And Disappointed" NBC Cut His Entire Performance Out Of Their Broadcast
NBC Responds: We Removed The Opening Ceremony Memorial To Terrorism Victims Because The Tribute Wasn't About America

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Mystery Woman Horning In On Opening Ceremony March Pisses Off Most Of India [London Olympics]

Jul 28, 2012 1:00 PM  

The woman you see decked out in red and blue has no association with the Indian contingent of athletes and officials who marched during last night's opening ceremony and the Indians are pissed. Not only was she walking with the Indian contingent, but she was leading the contingent, walking alongside flag-bearer Sushil Kumar.

Chef de mission for the Indians, Brig P K Muralidharan Raja voiced his displeasure and surprise.

"She had no business to walk in with the Indian contingent and we are taking up the issue with the organisers. We don't know who she is and why she was allowed to walk in. It is a shame that she was with the athletes in the march past," Raja told PTI in London.

"We were initially told that she would accompany the contingent till the track but she went on to take the entire lap. There was another man also but he stayed back and did not enter the stadium," Raja added.

Raja was further perturbed by the coverage, 10 seconds on television he says, which focused solely on this random woman.

h/t @TheCleverHans
Image via Getty

'Mystery woman' leads Indian contingent at Olympics, India clueless [India today]

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Here's The Opening Ceremony Tribute To Terrorism Victims NBC Doesn't Want You To See [Video]

The major transitional element of today's London Olympics opening ceremony was a downtempo performance of adoptive sporting anthem "Abide With Me" by Scottish singer Emeli Sandé. The song and accompanying dance were a tribute to the victims of the 7/7 terror attacks in London that claimed 52 victims days after the 2012 Summer Olympic hosts were named. (It's also been suggested the performance was a memorial to the war dead.)

Regardless, it was a rather significant and emotional moment in the opening ceremony, coming just before the parade of nations—and it wasn't aired in the United States. Instead, viewers were treated to a lengthy and meaningless Ryan Seacrest interview of Michael Phelps. NBC regularly excises small portions of the opening ceremony to make room for commercials, but we've never heard of them censoring out an entire performance—especially to air an inane interview. We've asked NBC why they didn't air the tribute, and if they get back to us we'll let you know what they say. In the meantime, enjoy the performance everyone else in the world saw. [BBC]

Update (12:25 a.m.): Some readers have commented the official media guide to the opening ceremony makes no reference to 7/7. The sheer number of news stories that cite the performance as a tribute to its victims (as well as the performance itself) gives us pretty good confidence that the memorial was its theme. Here's the prepared BBC remarks as aired:

Ladies and gentlemen, please pause silent for our memorial wall for friends and family who can't be here tonight. The excitement of that moment in Singapore seven years ago when England won the games was tempered the next day with sorrow from the events of July 7th that year. A wall of remembrance for those no longer here to share in this event.

Metro reporter Cassandra Garrison told me the segment's choreographer Akram Khan did not mention 7/7 in his press conference on the performance, explaining it instead to be about "mortality."

SEE ALSO: Opening Ceremony Choreographer "Disheartened And Disappointed" NBC Cut His Entire Performance Out Of Their Broadcast

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The London Olympics Opening Ceremony In 30 Seconds [Video]

Jul 27, 2012 7:53 PM  

Don't let NBC insult your intelligence by showing you a three-plus hour-long tape-delayed version of today's opening ceremony. Here's all the best parts, shrunk down to take up just 30 seconds of your time. [BBC]

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Our Experts On Fashion And Danny Boyle Are Here To Discuss The Opening Ceremony. Join Us. [Yakspin]

Jul 27, 2012 7:47 PM  

Hey! How about that opening ceremony that concluded a few minutes ago? Now we get to watch it! Thanks NBC.

From our hater's guide earlier today:

The opening ceremonies are basically a three-hour episode of Project Runway, only there isn't a bitchy gay judge there to explain why the Qatari dresses lack cohesion.

Well...

Deadspin's style correspondents are ready to answer questions, entertain you, flirt with you, argue with you. Parade of Nation outfits! Bob Costas! Whatever insane shit that Boyle dreams up! Who looks good, who looks stupid, it's all on the table. Get to know:

Nick Axelrod: He's the editorial director of Into the Gloss and a former editor at Elle. He deftly reviewed the Yankees cologne for us.

Irina Aleksander: She's a former editor at Elle and a cold, lethal Russian. Talk to her about boxing! Irina just wrote a monster piece for The Atlantic on an American lady boxer.

This is our red carpet. Let's talk.

UPDATE, 11:16 p.m.: We're done. These two have been here for almost four hours. I'm sorry for keeping you so long. But you did great. And so did everyone else! U-S-A! U-S-A! Also, apologies to Paul McCartney for not getting to your performance. But we'd love to have you another time.

Otherwise, conversation we had tonight is saved below. Good night!

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Opening Ceremony Choreographer "Disheartened And Disappointed" NBC Cut His Entire Performance Out Of Their Broadcast [Video]

Jul 28, 2012 5:03 PM  

Choreographer and dancer Akram Khan, whose "Abide With Me" performance at last night's opening ceremony was for many the highlight of the evening, was visibly shocked to learn NBC had edited out his performance when the network aired the ceremony in tape delay, choosing instead to air a Ryan Seacrest interview with Michael Phelps.

Khan's dance director and partner in the performance Farooq Chaudhry told Olympic Rings And Other Things' Nicholas Wolaver "It's disgraceful U.S. media could make that decision and [I] would like to know why."

Wolaver told me he questioned the myriad British news sources that said Khan's performance was a tribute to victims of the 7/7 terror attacks, though Khan doesn't appear to deny that at any point, either. You can view some video of the Khan interview over at Wolaver's site; regardless of the actual theme of the performance, its exclusion from NBC's broadcast continues to be a mystery.

PREVIOUSLY: Here's The Opening Ceremony Tribute To Terrorism Victims NBC Doesn't Want You To See

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