With the 2012 Olympic Games mere days away, you'd expect excitement to be in the air, but transportation and security are putting a damper on things for the people of London.
Between a railway strike and only two of 80 hired guards showing up to the hotel where athletes are staying (and one of them being arrested for marijuana possession), some might say that the games are poised for a rocky start, but on Tuesday night's "Daily Show," Jon Stewart remained optimistic.
His thinking? As long as the Brits can pull off a really impressive opening ceremony, it won't matter how ungainly these pre-ceremony weeks have been. Especially to people tuning in from home.
Stewart joked:
England, don't worry. Remember China? Before the Olympics, the stadiums weren't finished, there was apparently a 3-mile toxic cloud that had to be moved, there was criticism of China's appalling human rights and working conditions. But then the games began! And those opening ceremonies started with the crazy drummers and the globe-walking and the calligraphy thing and the dancers in boxes. Everybody was like, 'Ya know what? If forced labor got that done, God bless! Cause ya know why? Those dancing boxes didn't miss a f*cking beat.'
With this line of thinking, though, the Brits need to have something big in their back pocket -- a secret weapon of sorts.
Unfortunately, it seems that their theme of choice is "meadow." As in grass. As in a field.
It's not exactly the sexiest concept, and at least on paper, it doesn't sound like one that's going to distract the people of the world from other issues.
"Really, Britain?" Stewart joked. "Your answer to the precision spectacle of China's 2008 games is to let a few dozen sheep loose on the Teletubbies set?"