French train network hit by 'malicious' arson attacks hours before Olympics ceremony

[Mr K]

Never mind, the beach volleyball looks splendid

[papa smurf]

Originally Posted by Mr K

Never mind, the beach volleyball looks splendid

Some people aren't happy

Paris Olympics crowd boo Dutch rapist Steven van de Velde during opening match
Van de Velde, who was imprisoned in 2016 for raping a 12-year-old British girl, has been a controversial figure at this summer's Games. He was handed a four-year prison sentence for his actions but served only 12 months. The Dutch star arrived in France earlier this week under tight security.

And jeers rang out at a packed stadium as the 29-year-old took to the sand court at Champs de Mars park under the Eiffel Tower. He was then booed again as he was introduced to the crowd for his Olympic debut.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/other...booed-33342547

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by papa smurf

Some people aren't happy

Paris Olympics crowd boo Dutch rapist Steven van de Velde during opening match
Van de Velde, who was imprisoned in 2016 for raping a 12-year-old British girl, has been a controversial figure at this summer's Games. He was handed a four-year prison sentence for his actions but served only 12 months. The Dutch star arrived in France earlier this week under tight security.

And jeers rang out at a packed stadium as the 29-year-old took to the sand court at Champs de Mars park under the Eiffel Tower. He was then booed again as he was introduced to the crowd for his Olympic debut.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/other...booed-33342547

I'm surprised he was picked by his country. That's not going to go well down with most people there even if he did serve (some of) his term.

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

I'm surprised he was picked by his country. That's not going to go well down with most people there even if he did serve (some of) his term.

A quote from the BBC article

It was interesting that every Dutch fan I spoke to was either unwilling to talk about the subject or was supportive of Van de Velde.

---------- Post added at 18:55 ---------- Previous post was at 18:50 ----------

On another note, as you might of guessed, someone somewhere managed to complain they were "offended" by the ceremony.

A banquet sequence featuring drag artists in particular came in for criticism from Christian groups, who felt it parodied Leonardo da Vinci's painting 'The Last Supper'.

The Catholic Church in France was among critics, saying the ceremony featured "scenes of derision and mockery of Christianity".

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by Paul

On another note, as you might of guessed, someone somewhere managed to complain they were "offended" by the ceremony.

I think they had a right to be.

It's a bit confected, isn't it? The Last Supper has been parodied/invoked thousands of times by now. It's so famous that it's been used as a reference many times. I've seen comics do it, The Simpsons did it, South Park has done it, Lost did it, House MD did it, and Battlestar Galactica did it as a poster to advertise themselves.

That arrangement has to be one of the most used motifs in the history of Western art.

The cat is long out of the bag for The Last Supper being some untouchable work.

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Pierre

I think they had a right to be.

Cancel Culture snowflakes.

[jfman]

Originally Posted by Pierre

I think they had a right to be.

In France people have been slaughtered for less when it was another of the world’s major religions.

Originally Posted by Damien

It's a bit confected, isn't it? The Last Supper has been parodied/invoked thousands of times by now. It's so famous that it's been used as a reference many times. I've seen comics do it, The Simpsons did it, South Park has done it, Lost did it, House MD did it, and Battlestar Galactica did it as a poster to advertise themselves.

That arrangement has to be one of the most used motifs in the history of Western art.

The cat is long out of the bag for The Last Supper being some untouchable work.

It was a Dionysian Feast, not the Last Supper...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-dionysus.html

'It was a representation of the event called the Feast of Dionysus. Greek God of festivity and feasting and ritual and theater.'

'The Olympics are from Greek culture and tradition. French culture is deeply rooted in feasting and festivity and performing arts.'

According to the theory the scene depicted in the opening ceremony was based on a painting called 'Feast of the Gods' by Johann Rottenhammer and Jan Bruegel, circa 1602.

https://www.today.com/news/paris-oly...rsy-rcna163929

The official X account for the Olympic Games shared photos of the moment and referenced Dionysus, Greek god of wine-making, fruitfulness and ecstasy.

“The interpretation of the Greek God Dionysus makes us aware of the absurdity of violence between human beings,” read a tweet captioning the photos...

...Appearing on French news channel BFM-TV Sunday, Jolly confirmed “The Last Supper” was “not my inspiration.”

“There is Dionysus who arrives on this table. He is there because he is the God of celebration in Greek mythology,” Jolly said. “The idea was to have a pagan celebration connected to the gods of Olympus. You will never find in me a desire to mock and denigrate anyone.”

I think the part with the blue guy singing was Dionysus but there was a cut where they panned out from the table before that - without him - which I think pretty much was The Last Supper. Again, it's too iconic a reference for it to be unintentional surely.

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Hugh

It was a Dionysian Feast, not the Last Supper...

[tweetiepooh]

Topic was on disruption but now more generally Olympic based so : enjoyed the Rugby 7's but struggling to find the archery. BBC showed the GB match(es) but not the others. They show other sports without GB participation so they should make the archery and other sports also available. Isn't that why we have the red button to select the event we want, navigating BBC iPlayer is a pain?

[papa smurf]

Vandals target French telecoms network as far-left activist arrested over rail attacks ahead of Paris Olympics

https://news.sky.com/story/far-left-...mpics-13185452

Originally Posted by tweetiepooh

Topic was on disruption but now more generally Olympic based so : enjoyed the Rugby 7's but struggling to find the archery. BBC showed the GB match(es) but not the others. They show other sports without GB participation so they should make the archery and other sports also available. Isn't that why we have the red button to select the event we want, navigating BBC iPlayer is a pain?

European Olympic broadcast rights are now with Discovery Sports, not the BBC. UK legislation means Discovery is compelled to make a certain amount of it available to the BBC but the BBC doesn’t have the rights to do wall-to-wall red button coverage like it did in 2012.

Originally Posted by Pierre

I think they had a right to be.

Yes, just as everyone else has the right to dismiss them as idiots desperately trying to be offended.