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Why couldn’t the Reaper take 3 of the Nolans instead?

Let's relive it time and again: So much feeling and emotion than she has ever brought before to this, just amazing.

27/7/24 40 Cyndi Lauper - Time After Time 38 Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill 37 Ultravox - Dancing with Tears in My Eyes 36 Bronski Beat — Smalltown Boy 36 Giorgio Moroder & Philip Oakey - Together in Electric Dreams 36 Tina Turner - What’s Love Got to Do With It 36 Nik Kershaw - The Riddle  36 Queen - I Want to Break Free 30 Tina Turner - We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome) 26 Madonna - Like a Virgin 21 Stevie Wonder - Part-Time Lover  16 U2 - Pride (In The Name of Love) 15 Bananarama - Robert De Niro’s Waiting  14 Dee C. Lee - See the Day  14 The Commodores - Nightshift -3 13 Elton John - Nikita -3 13 Madonna - Material Girl 13 Baltimora— Tarzan Boy +4 06 Thompson Twins - Doctor! Doctor!  Looks like I'm onto a loser with Tarzan boy but I think it's a fun song

It should because I created it. This isn’t a serious job. It’s a fucking website.

General George B. Crist, who served 36 years in the Marines between 1952 and 1988, has died. He was 93. https://www.marines.mil/News/News-Display/Article/3852000/in-memoriam-gen-crist-first-marine-combatant-commander/

How embarrassing it would be if that burning balloon ended up floating into Notre Dame and burning it down again.

Aye, you might regard it as a spare thread, just in case...

An interesting opening ceremony. Positives? Loved how it showcased Paris as a city, winding down the Seine was a genius idea, showing off Notre Dame, the Louvre, the bridges, the Eiffel Tower, etc. Breaking up the athlete's parade was really clever too, as that's 1.5-2 hours that drags usually (and was probably much more interesting to them too). The horse on the Seine was very impressive and the explosions of blood at Les Invalides were brilliantly effective. The cauldron looked incredible, and when it rose in the air, it was jaw dropping - gave Thomas Heatherwick's 2012 design a run for its money. Celine Dion was an incredible showstopper, was wondering if she was going to appear. Negatives? It was a bit faffy and scattergun. The problem with plonking things on the side of the Seine is that they lose the tightness of a stage or screen performance (Lady Gaga and the Can Can fell foul of this in particular - maybe because it was still light? Not sure). The torch relay somewhat descended into farce. We had Zizou holding it at the start but then get stuck on a train and pass it to some kids, they get in a boat with a weird masked figure (was it the same one who continued all the way to the Trocodero?) and the figure then hands it...back to Zizou, who still got there in time anyway (he may as well have hung onto it on the train!). He then hands it over to Rafael Nadal, who isn't French (albeit, I guess he's an honorary Frenchman, given he has 16 French Open titles - I probably wouldn't begrudge Roger Federer a small role in a London ceremony either!) and he then gets on a speedboat BACK DOWN the Seine (where the torch has just come from!) with Carl Lewis, Serena Williams and Nadia Comaneci (who the BBC struggled to identify and seemingly weren't being provided with real-time updates as to who people were). So that's 4 non-Frenchies, 2 Yanks and 2 tennis players. Weird. Then we finally get to the French torch bearers but they seemed to be struggling slightly with what I was thinking all along: that there isn't a standout French sporting icon who could light the cauldron (I suppose the closest would be Mbappe, but he has no Olympic connection to speak of). I can name lots of successful and famous French sporting figures, but mostly famous in their own fields and sports, rather than on a global scale. So instead, they included hundreds of slightly famous figures, in the hope everyone recognised at least some of them. I'm guessing Yanks probably know Tony Parker, who I've never heard of, I knew Amelie Mauresmo and was expecting Renaud Lavillenie to make an appearance (which he did). But it was all a bit ridiculous as we ended up with an army of torch bearers trekking through the Paris night. The cauldron saved the day, though. And the weather was atrocious, which is hardly their fault, but did lend a damp and flat air to proceedings despite all the energy. Imagine a warm, bright July night, it would have been spectacular. That looks like a lot more negatives than positives, but to be fair most of it is my analysis of the torch relay. And I did enjoy it, and applaud them for attempting something ambitious and different and it will be interesting to see if Los Angeles try to incorporate any of their city into the 2028 Opening Ceremony. Now onto the sport - I absolutely love the Olympics!

This must be part of Macron's plan to deal with low birth rates in France: https://x.com/itvnews/status/1788877115296710910?lang=en

Good! Miserable twat, he is.

Bob Jones pucked off: https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/former-ottawa-senators-assistant-coach-bob-jones-dies-at-54-after-battle-with-als-1.6979465

Nothing can ever outdo the Queen parachuting out of a helicopter with James Bond.

I expect that would run rather like the tennis: men's doubles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles.

The Fucking 2024 Olympics? Have they added a new sport since I last watched?

Honestly, the most interesting tidbit posted in this thread in over a year. The efforts they put into eradicating diseases is truly inspiring.

Why start another utterly pointless thread? No idea, other than that I haven’t started one in ages, and to ponder on how best to avoid accidentally seeing or hearing ‘national treasure’ Easter Island statue-headed BBC presenter Clare Balding for two weeks. The over-under on this thread I’d put at 1.5 pages, assuming the wise yet tyrannical Paul ‘flag’ Bearer doesn’t smother it at birth. Ooh, there’s the Bhutan team tootling down the Seine in a pedalo. Not really, but I’m sure the USA will enter the opening ceremony on board an aircraft carrier equipped with nuclear warheads. No sign of the Albanian dinghy yet, but likely to be sinking off the Kent coast with several children aboard. You can bung anything in here, from inevitable terrorist atrocities to Paula Radcliffe shitting in a roadside gutter.

27 July 42 Cyndi Lauper - Time After Time 42 Bronski Beat — Smalltown Boy 37 Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill 37 Ultravox - Dancing with Tears in My Eyes +4 35 Giorgio Moroder & Philip Oakey - Together in Electric Dreams 35 Tina Turner - What’s Love Got to Do With It 34 Nik Kershaw - The Riddle  34 Queen - I Want to Break Free 30 Tina Turner - We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome) 26 Madonna - Like a Virgin 21 Stevie Wonder - Part-Time Lover  17 Baltimora— Tarzan Boy 17 The Commodores - Nightshift  16 Elton John - Nikita  15 Bananarama - Robert De Niro’s Waiting  14 Dee C. Lee - See the Day  14 U2 - Pride (In The Name of Love) 12 Madonna - Material Girl 06 Thompson Twins - Doctor! Doctor! 00 Colonel Abrams - Set Free -6

Bobbie Gentry is 82.

She looked and sounded fantastic. What a triumph!

Ok, overall thoughts on the opening ceremony. Loved Celine Dion. Actually, how is any of the sport going to top that? That horse going down the Seine. Incredible (say it in French). The Eiffel Tower light show. Fantastique! The flame! The balloon! Things that were less so. Parkour? Went on a bit really and obviously pre-recorded. Those dying handovers of the Torch - yikes, here's a grasp worth three seconds, now pass it to someone else. The overall presentation was as if a bedraggled Sunak, fresh from his election call in the rain, went into Number 10, called Macron and said "Now outdo that! But make it like a gay pride march. On the river. Disco the blazes out of it!". I know, I know - but I rather enjoyed it. I really did.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Coste This chap, who's now a qo cert. (Hey we were all thinking it.)

What a miserable twat you are.

After last time as well, he is starting to garner a bit of a reputation for poor but amusing campaign posters.

Mary Mears was a pick of mine and she died earlier this week.

That's weird, when I click it it still takes me to his obituary. Robert P. Hehir https://www.telegram.com/obituaries/pneo0719892