Saturday, July 28, 2012

WE'RE MOSTLY NOT WATCHING

...not that we have anything in particular against the Olympics, but we don't have anything in particular for them that would draw us to watch.  I don't wish to spoil the enjoyment of the games for anyone else, but the purpose of my announcement is to let you know that I'm not up on the latest events (or the earliest for that matter) in the Olympics extravaganza.  If you refer to events, I will probably know nothing about them, so you'll have to fill me in.

28 comments:

  1. Isn't it funny what happens to my pen-name when I post! it's margaret turns in to a funny kind of cuss word or something!

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  2. That will pretty much rule out watching for you and Joel. For the first two years we were married, we did not own a TV, but ever after, we did. We watched at the laundromat on Friday nights when we went to wash our clothes. I seldom watch now.

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  3. margaret, I thought you were doing that to your name as a joke. I'd guess it's the new html formatting for an apostrophe on Blogger. Or maybe it's some other internet entity messing with the formatting. I'm glad you cleared that up.

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  4. No TV here either - well, we have a TV but we're not connected, so we only use it for DVDs. Nowadays if someone tells us something is worth watching we can usually find it streamed online.

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  5. No TV here either - well, we have a TV but we're not connected, so we only use it for DVDs. Nowadays if someone tells us something is worth watching we can usually find it streamed online.

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    1. Tim, right now I'm listening to "Rose of Allendale" sung by Mary Black. It's lovely. Thanks again for introducing me to her music.

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    2. Excellent song by an excellent performer!

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    3. By the way, Mary Black learned the song from Nic Jones, and if you google 'Nic Jones Rose of Allendale' you'll be able to hear a live version of him singing the song (much of Nic's early catalogue is trapped in record company dispute purgatory, sadly). Nic in his turn learned it from the Copper Family of Rottingdean in southern England, who have been singing traditional folk songs unaccompanied for at least four generations. And that's your traditional folk music trivia for breakfast this morning!

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    4. Tim, thanks. I'll check out Nic's version.

      I'm amused when people argue about the definitive version of the lyrics of old traditional folk songs, as though there could not be more than one version of songs that were originally passed down orally.

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    5. Agreed. When I sing them myself, I very rarely pass them on 'as is'; I usually adapt them to the present time and the audience.

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  6. It is, then, my solemn duty on the most important moment so far in the games, and that is the moment when James Bond called at Buckingham Palace to accompany Her Majesty to the games. Six minutes video covers it (you need watch nothing else): http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19020220

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    1. Thank you for the link, Laura. I will happily and dutifully watch HRH parachute in.

      From what I hear from my friends, coverage of the festivities here in the US is not very good, and the commercials are many.

      I love your most recent post on whether the church should care if the organs are inside or out, and I was going to leave a quick comment at the time. Alas, I was not signed in, and I was in a hurry, and there's the accent and all, but I shall return.

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    2. Laura, the BBC says the video is not available in my territory.

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    3. LayAnglican (and all Brits): BBC vids are NEVER viewable by Yanks. FYI.

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  7. Thanks, Laura - I saw it on a Canadian network web page, CTV.

    Mimi, try it at http://www.ctvolympics.ca/videos/watch/good-evening-bond.html

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    1. All right then. That was good fun. I have to say it: HRH might have given the crowd at least a brief smile...or would that have been against protocol?

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    2. I learned I should refer to the Queen as Her Majesty or HM. Sorry about that.

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  8. I have not watched any of it, but Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson) performed as soloist with Sir Simon Rattle conducting the London Symphony Orchestra--the music was the theme from Chariots of Fire, and from what I understand, an excellent instance of Mr.Bean type hilarity ensued.

    The only part I usually watch is the opening ceremonies, and sometimes I check in for the gymnastics, so odds are I will see nothing of these games. I actually prefer to watch the Winter Games--which is a bit odd, I suppose, since I live in the subtropics (which include South Florida from Vero Beach on down)

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    1. kishnevi, perhaps you like the Winter Games because you want to get away.

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  9. BTW, we Miami folks had to contend with a traffic jam caused by the Olympics today. Chelsea played AC Milan at the stadium--I'm assuming they borrowed ours because of the Olympics.

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    1. Now that's odd. I suppose Chelsea wanted to get far away from the Olympics.

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    2. Turns out I was wrong. Chelsea is simply playing a series of exhibition games (and mostly losing, like they did last night) in one of those annual attempts to raise the profile of soccer in the US. Supposedly over 57,000 people attended last night, second highest attendance at a soccer game in that stadium ever. But it actually had nothing to do with the Olympics.

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    3. I see...for purposes of conversion. Soccer seems pretty popular amongst children and youth around here, but the game is not yet in the big leagues in the adult world.

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  10. Social scene: Git, oops wait that's Mitt right? Romney and his wife were in the dignitaries box.

    Mrs. Obama was there. And I ADORED the Queen's hat, the Bond bit, and the Mr. Bean bit was hilarious and fun.

    Also noted ABC was sitting behind the Queen in her box.

    I love the gymnastics, the swimming and the track events but the commercial interruptions are tiresome.

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    1. So Mitt is a dignitary? Who knew?

      My problem with the Queen's hat was that it looked like mussed hair from certain angles.

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