Cheerio, London: 2012 Olympics Come To An End

From the end of Sunday night’s Closing Ceremony:

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It was easy to get distracted and confused by all the shiny lights and music of Sunday’s Closing Ceremony. If that’s the case, here’s a bunch of things people said about the ceremony, revealing that most people who watched it also found themselves distracted and confused by all of the stuff going on. All that said, everybody seemed to enjoy the random mixture of various British cultural references.

From the LA Times:

All good things must come to an end. Just as the lighting of the Olympic Cauldron marks the beginning of the Olympic Games, so too does the extinguishing of the flame signify the official close. And such was the case Sunday night in London at the Closing Ceremony, as the Games of the XXX Olympiad celebrated their conclusion.

The Cauldron in London was lit July 27 and burned brightly within Olympic Stadium until Sunday night, when the leaves -- one for each country represented in the Games -- came apart and the flame died out.

About seven hours into the Closing Ceremony on Sunday (maybe it was 10, I sort of blacked out for a while there), a gentleman came out to a giant cannon and climbed inside, in preparation of being shot through the air. That didn’t end up working out so well.

Turns out that it was all a sham, as that human cannonball was none other than beloved Monty Pythonist Eric Idle!

United States runner Lolo Jones -- unfairly or not -- has been picked on by the media pretty much nonstop for month leading up to the Olympic Games. She caught flack from all sides based on what supposed ideals for an Olympic athlete (and a woman) are and are not supposed to be. She clashed with teammates. And she failed to medal. In other words, Lolo Jones has had a rough few weeks in London. The word on the street is, the fire in her heart is out.

We feel for you, Lolo. We really do.

The best way to describe the Closing Ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games in London is to say “a cough-syrup induced fever dream.”

Wait, no. That’s not quite right. It’s like ... it’s like if you had pneumonia and fell asleep while watching a Paddington Bear marathon.

By all accounts, the Closing Ceremony just hit its high note with Monty Python’s Eric Idle leading the Olympic Stadium in a sing-along (whistle-along?) of “Always Look On the Bright Side of Life.” That’s the good news. Bad news is, there’s still plenty more.

Up next we’ll have the official handover of the Olympic Games to Rio, the hosts in 2016, and the official Closing of the Games -- that means SPEECHES!

The Closing Ceremony has really hit a lull here. And I’m not talking about the guy from the Spanish basketball team, either. There’s just athletes walking around slowly and hugging while a 10-minute-long ballad is being played and confetti is fluttering.

So, since that’s super boring and not at all funny, please enjoy this instead:

The inexplicable boy band One Direction stopped by the 2012 Olympic Games Closing Ceremony on Sunday to “delight” the crowd with a “song” and also to make everyone marvel because WHAT ARE THEY DOING WITH THEIR HAIR?

Seriously, like ... what is that? It’s like a Vanilla Ice with a bowler stuck on top of it. And don’t get me started on a bespoke tailored suit with the dress shirt buttoned all the way up and no tie. Come on, One Direction. What are you even

The British dance troupe Stomp has been around since 1991. You’d think by now they’d be able to afford actual musical instruments. But there they were Sunday night in the Closing Ceremony, still just banging away on their trash cans.

Recession hits everyone, y’all.

The Pet Shop Boys stopped by the Closing Ceremony in London, looking pretty good and not at all like absolute terror fuel.

Yes, I always like to be pedaled into places by rickshaw-bicycle drivers dressed like concept art for Silent Hill while I’m late for a Cremaster Cycle costume party. The Pet Shop Boys are just like us!

The Closing Ceremony of the 2012 Olympics is already off to a pretty weird start, obviously. Famous British heroes Batman and Robin have made an appearance, looking a bit ... uh ... you know. They’ve had better days.

Who could ever forget iconic UK superheroes Batman and Robin? Particularly British Batman’s catch-phrase, “Gor! Blimey, matey! Fish ‘n’ chips!”

The Closing Ceremony is meant to evoke “a day in the life of London,” from “morning rush hour” to ... uh ... I guess, feeding the birds? Tuppence a bag?

Part of daily life in London apparently involves everything being made out of newspaper.

After two straight weeks of criticism and bashing, it appears as though NBC will be providing at least a small bit of fan service as their coverage of the 2012 Olympic Games in London comes to an end. NBC will offer a live stream of the star-studded Closing Ceremony for viewers, although an edited version will still air on the network on tape delay in all time zones.

NBC drew ire from American viewers right from the get-go with their Olympics coverage after they declined to offer either television coverage or live streaming coverage of the Opening Ceremony. It was, for all intents and purposes, the only aspect of the Olympic Games that NBC did not make available on the official NBC Olympics website, which otherwise provided live, comprehensive coverage of every event over the course of the Summer games.