"Pandemonium" was the theme at the Opening Ceremonies of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London. 

Depicting a living Facebook timeline of moments from British history, the XXX Olympiad kick-off included a mad mix of cultural references — a skydiving Queen with Daniel Craig as James Bond (nice promo for Skyfall), flying Mary Poppins, J.K. Rowling reading and a giant Voldemort from Harry Potter menacing a giant baby, Rowan Atkinson as Mr. Bean using an iPhone, a nod to the Mini, costumed villagers in a shire, chimney towers depicting the Industrial Revolution, a British musical medley featuring hits from Sir Paul McCartney (singing the Beatles' "Hey Jude"), the Sex Pistols, Queen, Led Zeppelin and David Bowie (cue a rocketman), plus a speed boat driven by David Beckham, bird bikes and a tribute to web founder Sir Tim Berners-Lee in the digital portion of the show — all orchestrated by Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle, who tweeted "Thank you, everyone, for your kind words! Means the world to me."

"Pandemonium" indeed — a theme and word chosen, according to the BBC, because it "was coined by poet John Milton (and) the name of the capital of Hell in Paradise Lost."Continue reading...

Social media mavens can't help themselves, as details leaked virally this week following Monday's technical dress rehearsal (that's the crowd above) for Friday's opening ceremonies of the London 2012 Olympic Games. The ceremony's artistic director, filmmaker Danny Boyle, begged those in attendance to "save the surprise" and even projected a Twitter hashtag (#savethesurprise) on the stadium's giant screens, but spectators tweeted pictures of the event and chatted up that the theme (spoiler alert!)...Continue reading...