The Olympic Opening Ceremonies for London 2012.

The Music used, The DVD Release and technology used for the London 2012 Opening Ceremony.

The DVD of the  2012 London Olympics is now available to pre-order. It includes the opening ceremony, key Olympic highlights and the closing ceremony, Available on both DVD or Blu-ray and £10 cheaper here on Amazon than from the BBC shop :
Released on 29th October 2012 :

Love it or hate it or just not bothered you can't escape it. After all the preparation the London Olympics have arrived. The Olympic Opening Ceremonies for the London 2012 Olympics are absolutely amazing.

Amazing firework show during the opening Ceremonies London 2012.

You can't help but be impressed by them. If you missed them then don't worry as you can now watch them in full right here:

CD of the music

I absolutely loved the music that was written for the Olympic Opening Ceremonies and nice to see that you can buy it on CD now. Its called Isles of Wonder - Music For The Opening Ceremony Of The London 2012 Olympic Games

The best bit of music was Underworld - Caliban's Dream with superb vocals from Alex Trimble and the choir. That's the one that starts with the children's choir singing.



Here is the complete track listing for the CD - Isles of Wonder - Music For The Opening Ceremony Of The London 2012 Olympic Games.

CD1 Isles of Wonder
Frank Turner - I Still Believe
Four Nations Choirs - Jerusalem, Flower of Scotland, Danny Boy, Bread of Heaven
LSO On Track Orchestra & Francois-Xavier Roth - Nimrod
Underworld feat. Dame Evelyn Glennie and the Pandemonium Drummers - And I Will Kiss
Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells / In Dulci Jubilo
LSO - Chariots of Fire
Blanck Mass & LSO - Sundowner
Dizzee Rascal - Bonkers - Radio Edit
A.R. Rahman feat. Jaspreet Jasz - Nimma Nimma
Emeli Sande - Heaven
Emeli Sande - Abide With Me
Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor (Live)
Arctic Monkeys - Come Together (Live)
Underworld feat. Dockhead Choir, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Only Men Aloud, Elizabeth Roberts, Esme Smith and Alex Trimble - Caliban's Dream

CD2 Welcome
Chemical Brothers - Galvanize
High Contrast - Moon Watcher
Underworld - Always Loved A Film – Instrumental
Underworld - Dark & Long (Dark Train) (Remix)
Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls
Underworld - Minneapolis (High Contrast Remix)
High Contrast - Reach
High Contrast - Ghost Dance
Underworld - Confusion The Waitress (Darren Price & High Contrast Remix)
Wretch 32 feat. L - Traktor
F Buttons - Olympians (High Contrast Remix)
High Contrast - Can't Stop This Fire
Underworld - Moon In Water (Instrumental Remix)
Underworld - Crocodile (High Contrast Remix)
U2 - Where the Streets Have No Name (High Contrast Remix)
High Contrast - For Years
Underworld - Dirty Epic (Darren Price & High Contrast Remix)
High Contrast - The Long Way Home
Underworld - Dark & Long (Darren Price & High Contrast Remix)
Underworld - Rez (High Contrast Remix)
David Bowie - Heroes
Chemical Brothers - Galvanize

Mr Bean playing his part in the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremonies (Chariots of Fire).

Watch the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremonies in full on the BBC iPlayer here :
Watch the opening ceremonies here.
That's almost 4 hours of it ! Best to watch it in fullscreen mode, You can fast forward to any part.

Will there be a DVD of the 2012 London Olympics Opening Ceremony?
The most popular question asked at the moment seems to be "will there be a dvd of the 2012 olympic opening ceremony?"

Update 12th for August :
The DVD of the  2012 London Olympics is now available to pre-order. It includes the opening ceremony, key Olympic highlights and the closing ceremony:



Its even available in glorious HD via the Blu-ray version, also available to pre-order now :

Another I would love to see is a "building of the 2012 Olympics", like they do on the Discovery Channel. I've not seen anything like that yet but hopefully they will make one.



These opening ceremonies should make Danny Boyle more of a household name now. If you have never seen trainspotting then you should watch it, this was directed by Danny Boyle and stars Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd, Robert Carlyle. Can't believe this film was from way back in 1996. Another classic film by him was Shallow Grave :


Here are some direct links to certain parts of the show :

The Industrial Revolution :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b01l4ldk/?t=13m04s

Watch Paul Mccartney perform Hey Jude:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b01l4ldk/

The arrival of the torch at the stadium and hand over to Sir Steve Redgrave:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b01l4ldk/?t=3h24m52s

There are some amazing musical and theatrical performances you WILL love it!

You can also watch all of the Olympics LIVE every day here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/2012/live-video

The Olympic torch came through Derby, watch my video of it here :
http://derbyphotoscouk.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/video-of-olympic-torch-relay-in-derby.html

Here are some screen grabs from the Olympic Opening Ceremonies in London :

There was some amazing technology used in this stadium.
Here is one of the led panels that you may have seen between every seat in the stadium. Each panel has 9 individual LEDs in equal rows of 3. There are over 70,799 seats in the Olympic Stadium, which means the total LED count is  637,191 pixels ! The panels were controlled by a Avolites Media Server.
These were used to display some amazing visual effects.

One of the LED panels that are located between every seat in the stadium.

And finally did you know you can own your very own 2012 Olympic torch for a fraction of the cost of the genuine article?...



We can ALL be winners of a Gold Medal too...


The Olympics don't last that long. The Closing Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games is on Sunday 12th August 2012 at 9pm. It will last for over 3 hours and should be quite impressive going by the opening of the games. I wonder if that will be released on DVD too?

The musical director for the closing ceremony is David Arnold, which is expected to be watched by millions, will reflect the nation as a whole. Among the performers tipped are The Who, Paul McCartney, Elton John, the Rolling Stones, George Michael, Paul Weller, the Spice Girls, Adele, Ray Davies, Liam Gallagher, Annie Lennox, Madness, the Pet Shop Boys, Take That, Muse, One Direction and members of Queen. Over 10,000 athletes and flagbearers are expected to march with the men’s marathon medal ceremony a feature
There are rumours that Kate Bush could perform, after a remixed version of Running Up That Hill (a deal with God) 2012 remix appeared on Amazon !

Update for 13th August :
You can now watch the Closing Ceremony in full for free on the BBC iPlayer here :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b01m1l2q/

Its only available to view for 7 days so if you miss it, you can always see it on the DVD release
London 2012 Olympic Games [DVD]

Of course don't forget the Paralympics near the end of August. The Opening ceremony for the 2012 paralympics is on Wednesday 29th August 2012 starting at 8pm UK time.
The Paralympics continues until 9th September 2012.
For full details about these games see www.london2012.com/paralympics

Thanks
Andy

Video - Uttoxeter Road Derby in its entirety. June 2012, Part of my Derby streets by car series.

This is a car journey that took place on 21st June 2012. It covers Uttoxeter Road in Derby. Starting in Mickleover and going all the way into Derby.


Andy's Driving videos around Derby, Derbyshire, UK :
Are you an ex-pat of Derby, feeling homesick? Or perhaps you just want a clear way of giving someone directions to a location in Derby or just want to show people your Derby Street. Well in this video and the many others I have made, you will be able to take a virtual drive around the city of Derby's streets as though you were in the driving seat. I use a dash-mounted camera, Traffic lights and heavy traffic have been edited out.

Why not start with the original video and watch them all one by one...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIMdVNMVc4U

00:00 The A516 roundabout at Mickleover
00:19 Etwall Road, Mickleover.
00:45 Uttoxeter Road
01:02 Tesco's roundabout
02:12 Western Road junction
02:16 Going over A38
02:46 Corden Avenue junction
03:22 A38/A516 roundabout
03:49 In wrong lane, Time to swap.
04:58 Kingsway A5111 Derby outer ring road junction
06:10 Uttoxeter Old Road junction (to the left), Rowditch area of Derby
07:01 Uttoxeter New Road roundabout for Mercian Way (Derby inner ring road)
07:06 Stafford Street
07:14 Friar Gate Junction ahead.

Music Credits:
Visionary [Original Mix] by Kazmo.
http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/384793

Licensed under Creative Commons.

Thanks
Andy

Video of the 2012 Derby Caribbean Carnival, filmed in 1080p HD.

The Derby Caribbean Carnival parade took place on Saturday, The weather was perfect.
Here is my video which features every single dance troupe that took part.
If you formed part of this years parade then you will be in my video.

My video of this years Derby Caribbean Carnival:


or click the link here for the HD version of The 2012 Derby Caribbean Carnival.

Thanks
Andy

Derby Caribbean Carnival 2012 on Saturday 21st July. Family fun day on Osmaston Park on Sunday August 26th.

UPDATE NEWS 23/08/2012 -  The Family fun day on Osmaston Park that was to take place on 26th August has now been cancelled due to some silly "administrative error" in not getting a alcohol permit in time. Seems a bit silly to cancel the entire event for this as I thought it was "all about the live music and family", The DWICA may have made a bad decision cancelling it because of this reason, time will tell !

This years Derby Caribbean Carnival will take place this Saturday, 21st July 2012.
The Family fun day on Osmaston Park however will not take place the day after the carnival but will in fact take place on Sunday 26th August. The Osmaston Park fun day would have taken place on July 22nd but this has had to be changed due to the recent bad weather.

The weather looks like its going to be dry, sunny and warm for the Carnival on Saturday afternoon which is good news and lucky for them after all those weeks of rain.

My 2012 Derby Caribbean Carnival Guide.

Here is my complete guide to this years Derby Carnival. Complete with detailed route map for the procession so you know where the best place to stand along the route to get a view of the dancers and their great costumes. I have also provided a smartphone mapping pin. The procession generally moves very slowly so if you have trouble getting here and parking then don't worry as you can soon catch up with the front of it.

On Saturday 21st July 2012 the 37th Derby Caribbean Carnival Parade will take place, show your support for this annual event. Its always very popular and attracts lots of people. Derby's annual Caribbean Carnival has been running since 1975 !

The Procession starts at 1pm from Pear Tree Street in Derby. After leaving Pear Tree Street, it turns right onto Portland Street, right onto St Thomas Road, Left at the mini round-a-bout onto Pear Tree Road, right up Normanton Road to very top where it meets Lara Croft Way/Mercian Way, Down Babington Lane, left onto St Peters Street, down The Corn Market and finally onto Derby Market Place at about 3pm for the carnival showcase and live performances.

If you are a car driver and are around this area then expect to have to wait while the carnival passes through. Also the Bus route will have to change while it goes up Normanton road.

I will hopefully be taking video of this years carnival and will try an get it online within in a few days, it will appear on my YouTube channel : Andy Savage's Derby and Derbyshire videos.
If you have an account on youtube then subscribe to my channel and you will get notified when the video is available to view. Check out some of my other local videos if interested.

Here is a video I took at the 2010 Derby Carnival:


Here is video I took at the 2009 Derby Carnival :
I have taken quite a few photographs at these events over the years but have only got around to uploading photographs I took at the 2005 Derby Carnival. Have a look at my photographs here - 2005 Derby Carnival Photographs on www.derbyphotos.co.uk.

Derby Carnival Procession Route Map
Here is a detailed map showing the complete route that the 2012 Derby Carnival Parade will take on 21st July 2012. Click the link below the map if you want a large version you can print out.
Also the link below the map will work on an iPhone so your can see the route map when you are mobile.

My route map seems to be very popular with  4851 views so far !


View Derby Caribbean Carnival Procession Route Map. in a larger map

Smartphone mapping pin.
If you have a smart phone (iPhone,HTC,iPad etc) then you can use a navigation drop pin I have made for you. While viewing this blog on your phone tap the link below :

Smartphone push pin <-- Tap me on your smartphone to get exact location of the start of the Derby Carnival.

Smartphone push pin <-- Tap me on your smartphone to get an exact location of the end of the Derby Carnival.

When you tap the link above, it will launch your mapping application and place a "push pin" onto the map with the exact location of the carnival parade start. You can then use this marker to get driving, walking or bus directions from your current location.
For example on an iPhone you tap the Directions button at the bottom and this will pre-fill in the start and end locations so just tap the Route button at the bottom and it will show you either the driving route or the walking route. If you tap the middle button at the top, this will even show you which bus number and when the next bus departs !


360 Degree Views of the Carnival route, use your mouse to look around.

360 view of Pear Tree Street where the parade starts at 1pm.
360 view of St Thomas Road where the parade turns left up Pear Tree Road.
360 view at the bottom of Normanton Road.
360 view at Lara Croft Way (note that this no longer looks like this since the Derby inner ring road was completed)

On Sunday 26th August 2012, the Caribbean Carnival will descend upon Osmaston Park, where music acts will perform on stage. There will also be a fun fair, catering stalls selling Caribbean and European foods and arts and crafts stalls.

The weather forecast for the Derby Carnival does not tooo bad at the moment so hopefully there won't be and rain for the procession. If you are driving in from another city then you can always have a look at my local webcams to see for yourself if its raining right now.
 
Thanks
Andy

Video of the 2012 Derby City Summer Beer Festival.

Here is my latest video, The opening ceremony of the 2012 Derby Summer Beer Festival at the Assembly Rooms in Derby. The Mayor of the City of Derby, Councillor Lisa Higginbottom can be seen accompanied by The Beer King.

For more details on this event see my :
Derby Summer Beer Festival 2012 Guide.


My video from Derby Summer Beer Festival :

Or click this link - Derby Summer Beer Festival 2012.

Thanks
Andy

Video - Have you lost a football? - It may be here, stuck at the Weir in Derby during the floods!

During the start of July 2012, Derby like lots of places in the UK suffered torrential downpours, this caused severe flooding.
Here in Derby, Derbyshire, Uk The river Derwent flows through and passes over a large weir.
I visited this weir on Saturday 7th July 2012 to see what the river Derwent was like, As you can see in my video a massive collection of footballs have collected just below the weir, caught in the strong currents.
There are all sorts of footballs and Rugby balls. I notice one says "Ashton United" on it !



Or click this link :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0IvCA4pxzk

If you were unfortunate enough to fall in to the river then I don't think you would be able to get out from those strong currents. Look at that large tree trunk being thrown around.

Thanks
Andy

Video - The art of urban symmetry - Belper Inceptionesque " Belper as never seen before".

Here is my latest video creation,
The art of urban symmetry - Belper Inceptionesque " Belper as never seen before"

If you are from Belper, see if you recognise any of the locations.

Here is my video The art of urban symmetry  " Belper as never seen before".


Or click the link here : The art of urban symmetry - Belper Inceptionesque.

Feel free to embed/link on Facebook etc.
Please watch my video in Fullscreen mode by clicking the icon in the bottom right of the player window, also best at 720p/1080p if your system and internet connection can handle it !

I filmed this in Belper, Derbyshire, UK on June 9th 2012.

The amazing music really works well with the footage.
The music is Time a Eryo Remix of a Hans Zimmer track.
http://www.myspace.com/eryomusic



Please leave a comment if you enjoyed my video. state a timecode if you like certain bits of the video.

Thanks
Andy

Cider Festival at Babington Arms and the Standing Order Derby. 11th to 29th July 2012.

The Summer Cider Festival at the Babington Arms and the Standing Order Derby runs from 11th to 29th July 2012. Last year they had some great Ciders to try so hope this year is as good.
You will probably be very interested in my post here :
How to buy a box of Cider for home (35 pints!)

This dedicated Cider festival just happens to start on the very same day as Derby's CAMRA summer Beer Festival.

JD Wetherspoons Summer Cider Festival 11th to 29th July 2012.

Last year they had 11 ciders to try, in 2012 they have 16 different ciders to taste!

Cider Festival 2012. Click to view full size.

The 2012 Ciders are :
Blackcurreant Twist
Ginder Cider
Plum cider
Sheppy's Raspberry cider
Strawby cider
Farmhouse Scrumpy
The last straw
Devon Scrumpy
Sheppy's farmhouse cider
Thatchers Cheddar Valley
Thatchers Somerset Perry
Welsh Gold Perry
Fiery Fox
Pear-shaped
Sundown Cider
Vintage Cider


 


Here is a list of some that were on draught in 2011 :

Westons Cider Raspberry Twist
Sheppy’s Farmhouse Draught
Strawberry Cider
Festival Special Perry
Devon Scrumpy
Addlestones Cloudy
Thatchers Traditional
Healey’s Texan-Style Cornish Hard Cyder
Broadoak Perry
Mont St Michel Cider
Bulmers Crisp Blend

Want more info on these Derby pubs ?...
The Babington Arms, Derby.
The Standing Order, Derby.


This Cider Festival will take place at all JD Wetherspoons pubs not just the Derby pubs.

Thanks
Andy