eurovision song contest thread

[Still Waters Run Deep]

I can't believe that there is'nt a Eurovision thread, so I've started one [mods: remove if there is...]



You can put all your euro-comments in one place!



Oh..me, no I wont. I can't stand the spectacle of mediocrity, so I did'nt watch it..............

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love and kisses

Still Waters



"just an old, saggy cloth cat. Baggy, and a bit loose at the seams, but Emily loved him"

[Sheridan]

I watched the voting and its just getting worse. There is now a Balkan block, a baltic/Russian block, and a Scandavian block. Hardly worth playing the songs when the votes are just handed out to the neighbours.

Willow: ...I have to tell you....

Tara: No, I understand you have to be with the person you l-love

Willow: I am

[urnofosiris]

I posted my thoughts about it in the May weekend thread, but it can certainly have a thread of it´s own. I did not watch all of it, as I zapped back and forth between CSI. I did catch the Ukrainian song and I knew it would win and I am glad it did. It had the same yummie qualities that last year´s winner had.



The vote for your neighbour thing was ridiculously obvious at times, which is the reason why some countries ended below some of the worst songs, but ultimately I believe the right song won. I think most countries voted for their neighbours and the best song, so the best song won. The friendly voting thing has been going on forever, but it seems to be getting worse as more countries participate, yet it is also sort of nice to see former rivalling countries support each other in this contest.



The Dutch candidates were whining in the paper about the friendly voting, but they were boring as hell, so suck it up already. Xena/Ruslana was lovely and I respect the fact that she wrote her own song. She put up a great show and I am impressed that she managed to sing so well whilst jumping all around the stage. It did not hurt any that she looked very sexy, but it was the whole package that made me root for her. The song, the melody, the show. Wonderful. I also read in my Dutch paper that there are "concerns" about whether the Ukraine will be able to organize the contest next year, like there were concerns about Turkey this year. The arrogance is pissing me off.



I am still trying to find a video download of Ruslana´s performance, if anyone happens to come across a link before me, please do post it.

[Lindy]

Ah, the hype.. I hate it.. well, hate is to strong a feeling.



Well, there are already jokes about how noone will be willing to go to Kiev next year, because of the Chernobyl fall-out. So funny, really.



I didn't like the German candidate so I am not sad he hardly got under the top ten. And did anyone get why some countries didn't have to do the semi finals?

[effrena]

i think it`s because of the ranking of last year... everyone worse than place 20 had to do it....

i kinda liked this one girl from cypres and turkey was funny. the austrian part was as usual REALLY embarrassing! which is no surprise, since everybody with some brain had already plans for the LIFE BALL! (biggest charity event for HIV & aids in europe)

Can`t we not suck anymore?! Ellen DeGeneres

[Sheridan]

Quote:

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everyone worse than place 20 had to do it....

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Unless your country is one of those that pays for the competition; hence Britain was exempted from the semi-final.

Willow: ...I have to tell you....

Tara: No, I understand you have to be with the person you l-love

Willow: I am

[Cazzie]

Of course the main reason most people here watch is to listen to Terry Wogan's snarky comments about everything. Particularly the friendly voting.

[urnofosiris]

I watched the Eurovision on Belgian TV because I enjoyed their comments the most, they were sarcastic too about the friendly voting but in a nice way, they were critical about some entries but in a fun way and not nearly as condescending as Terry Wogan can be. Still, he can be funny, I did zap back and forth between the BBC and the Belgian channel (I avoided the Dutch channel because our commentary was as boring as the Dutch song and singers). I loved Wogan´s comment about the Netherlands after they were done. He said something like "It has been 29 years since the Netherlands won the Eurovision song contest....Make that 30"

He called Ruslana Xena too, it wasn´t just me then, heh. I finally downloaded a video of her performance using WinMX. She really is yummie.

[nazelhuts]

how did i miss this thread! UKRAINE UKRAINE!! not that i'm ukrainian or anything but i saw them in the semi final (!) and told everyone to look out for them and they won woohoo! dicky dido dicky dicky dido! (my version of the song)..

when life boils your kettle, make tea!

[urnofosiris]

Oh my poor ears, I think the Bulgarian singer can vaporize kidney stones with her voice.

[Katharyn]

Perhaps I'm ill or something, but it actually feels there's more genuine music in there this year. Then I thought about it more and realised yes, it is because I'm ill.

Still, only a few novelty acts but no great overreaction to last years winners and attempts to copy it. A couple of boy/girl bands... and lots of wind machines.

I didn't say it was good music, but it feels like more countries are actually trying and with a range of different music too. Whoever thought the German's would turn up with swing?? Latvia with tenors and soprano's? The UK with... Scooch. *shudder*

I haven't noticed any men over the age of 35 (except drummers!) and I doubt there's a woman in the show over the age of 25...

And am I dreaming or was there a lesbian theme to the Serbian song? I was getting more wine while it was on and came back to the hearts formed by holding hands and the suits... Did I miss it?

Katharyn

[urnofosiris]

Serbia is rather lesbian indeed, go Serbia, lots of genderbenders as well this year. The eurovision gets gayer by the year. After last year´s horror, this year seems a lot better indeed. I hope Serbia wins, they are on course so far.

[Katharyn]

Serbia is just too perfectly placed. It sits in the Balkan block of 3 or 4 countries that give them high marks. Close enough to the Russian block for extra marks from that area and bordering the med area too...

But all geographical voting aside they seem to be picking up the most 'neutral' points too, so it's not just a victory of geography. In fact it must've lifted them above all the geo-voting. Now they won I can hear it the song!

As for the gay Eurovision, is it the chicken or the egg? At least here I'd have to say that gay men punch above their weight in terms of younger end of fans of the show. Is that because the show has gone gay? Or has the show gone gay to pull in the viewers and votes? I have no idea, but hey it's still kinda fun to listen to bad music once a year and have a laugh. Doesn't matter who you are.

Edit: Oooh, she can actually sing abit. And it's good someone's won who isn't singing in English (though I bet her English is better than Scooch's.) It kind of defeats the object when countries switched to English just to be understood and voted for.

Katharyn

[urnofosiris]

Of course half the songs that get played at the gay pride parade are old eurovision winners. Having heard the Serbian song again just now, it is not something I feel like hearing again and again, unlike the winning Turkish song in 2003 and the Ukranian winner from 2004, but I am glad a real singer won this year and not a circus act.

That santa was nasty btw.

[Katharyn]

I agree, no one is going to remember that song in 10, 5 or even 1 years time. I'm not even inclined to go find a translation to see just how nuanced the lyrics were (given the act.) But yeah, compared to last year...

What was up with Santa already? Did I miss 7 months of my life? He looked as skanky as Dan Ackroyd did in Trading Places.

Katharyn

[urnofosiris]

I think Mrs Santa stopped washing his dirty clothes and beard and who could blame her, seeing as Santa was acting like a lecherous fuck.

As for the voting, there has always been a blatant geographical bias in the votes, even in the olden days when it was just Western European countries among themselves. Some countries certainly end up higher than good taste allows, but looking at past winners, I don´t feel it was geography that determined which country won, I believe it was the song and the act that earned it, even that horrid thing that won last year.

[Carnival Kid]

Ah, my designated country from our drunken Eurovision night was Greece. Go Greece! My girlfriend got Great Britain. She was insistant that they were going to do well, if only for the 'salted nuts sir' line alone.

I had two words for her all night. "Iraq" "War". No chance of votes, regardless of the song, which incidentally I hadn't heard until they performed it on the night. It was awful.

As for Greece. One word, choreography. Superb. High camp at its finest.

I think our house mate had insider information because she picked the Ukraine.

My personal favourite was Germany, god bless 'em and their lyrics. Their reputation for being unfunny is now well and truly exorcised for good in my book.

Good work for the biased voting. It never fails to amuse. Although it was, controversially, less bias than usual.

As for the comments about the winning tune. You must have been listening to something that I missed. It was depressing (the Beeb had the translated words so that we could sing along!) and crooners went out when Sintatra passed away. She did have a decent voice though. More than can be said for team GB.

[Rocktoddy]

Having heard the Serbian song again just now, it is not something I feel like hearing again and again,

Oh, I've been replaying 'Molitva' over and over since yesterday. I guess I just really like the dramatics.
Plus, the act that went along with it doesn't hurt either (makes for a really great self-identification/representation; chubby nerdy chick surrounded by all these hawt women, heh).



I didn't really care for this years happy/poppy songs, except maybe Germany's Big Band entry and Sweden's Glamrock act. The other songs I liked besides Serbia's were Hungary's 'Unsubstantial Blues' and Georgia's 'Visionary Dream'. But Serbia was really REALLY tha best song/act this year - yeah!

[Rocktoddy]

Oh yes it's that time of the year again! Semi-finals are on the 20th and 22nd of May, with the finale on the 24th.

Any other European Kitties planning on watching? ]

Ever since last year I've gone from "oh the ESC was last night? meh, don't care" to "omg I can't believe it's May again, BRING ON THE ESC GAIETY!"

My favorite this year is Israel, even though it probably doesn't stand a chance.

[amazon]

I guess I'll watch it this year. Although I don't really watch it for the talent. I mostly watch it because many of the songs and artist are very weird, possibly crazy. But of course some of them can be good. I don't have any favourites so far, but I'm hoping for Norway. She is a great singer, but the song is a bit boring...

[Dorothy]

I stopped watching a couple of years ago, I started out as a little girl around 1993, but lately things got really crappy, last thing I've seen was TaTu perferming their not very convincing act.

[urnofosiris]

Last time I watched most of it was in 2004 when the Ukraine won with Ruslana in her Xena outfit. I even voted for that song, I loved it, very catchy with the right amount of ethnic sound to it and also a great act. It had everything a Eurovision song winner should have. The Turkish winner from the year before that was excellent as well. The Dutch have had boring hopeless acts and songs the last years and I´ve grown tired of the bitching about political voting from the Eastern European countries as a reason for our failures.

The friendly voting has been around since the beginning of the Eurovision and it was never a problem when it was working in our favor. It clearly helps a few countries end higher in the rankings than their songs deserve, but I do not believe that the winner wins because they have the most friends to play with, but rather because they appeal to all. I´d like to think those Finnish freaks winning 2 years ago was an abberation and this year I am going to give it a go again. Last year´s winner was a lovely melodious song which restored my faith somewhat.

Edited to add: I just reread this thread, I already said most of this 4 years ago, well this board has been around for a while, so I forgot I had. At least I was not lying...

I think our song and act should be good enough to survive the semi finals this year. Hind is an excellent performer and the song has that aforementioned ethnic (Marroccan in this case) ring to it.

[Feena]

I enjoy Eurovision (except they delay Doctor Who for a week because of it )

I've only see the UK entry so far, nothing special. I'll be there with my Mum, marking each act out of 12!!

[nicola]

Did no one see Eurovision this year? Bosnia's knitting brides should have won for sheer bonkers originallity! And was Terry joking at the end when he said he and his produce would have to seriously consider whether they do next year? For all the block voting and cheesyness, I am still partial to the old Eurovision!

[amazon]

I'd say that the whole show this year was crap, except for a few of them. Some of them could actually sing.
It gets worse every year, but I'm still gonna watch because it's so damn funny
Oh, and WOO and HOO to Norway! 5th place!

[nicola]

Yep, the best bits I reckon were the little vignigettes (can't spell) with randoms interpreting the counties flags. bit of juggling always keeps me amused! The show does get worse each year, yet still I hang on. Think I'd be disapointed if there were nowt crap to laugh at!

[amazon]

I know it's a bit early, but I'm already spreading the love for this year's Norwegian contestant. This weekend he won the Melodi Grand Prix and became our representative for the Eurovision Song Contest. His name is Alexander Rybak, he is 22 years old and he has written and composed the song himself.
I'm hoping for votes

Fairytale
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTdndLFY3W0

[amazon]

We won! And with a record of 387 points!
Sixteen 12-points, nine 10-points and ten 8-points!

[Feena]

Well done!!

We came fifth, which is pretty good for us in recent years.

[lilkatie]

Very proud of jade she did a fab job