EUROVISION!!!!

[diane]

Eurovision was on last Sunday and I must say it was very spectacular.
I hadn't seen it for a few years and I can only remember it being a
combination of very bad singing, scantily clad women (and men :uhuh: )
and some of the most boring ballads ever sung. This year I was
amazingly suprised. The pre-show entertainment was extremely
cheesy but the half time show was spectacular - I couldn't even begin
to describe it but it involved a suspended clear plastic swimming pool
with people diving and swimming in it. It was suspended above the
audience and was lowered and raised by cranes!!!! I don't think the
Olympics had anything so grand.
The standard of singing was much higher than I can ever remember and
the voting system was changed so all countries are treated equally. In
the past it is easy to see the countries that are not liked (in a political
way) as their singers don't get any votes. The winner was Norway -
Alexander something sang and performed "Fairytale" - apparently he
was the favourite. He was 200 votes ahead of the second place
getter Iceland. Iceland's entrant was a beautiful girl who performed a
song that was voted the best pop song in the competion. The third
place getter was Azerbaijan I can't remember much about them
(the competion goes on for 2 and a half hours :nervous: ) but they did
look like the Spice Girls. I have also taped Junior Eurovision - which is a
laugh a minute!!!

[Larry's 66 Diner]

This must be something not aired in the U.S. because I have not heard of Eurovision. Pardon my naiveté, Diane.

[Hedvig]

NORWAY!!!

;D ;D ;D

Yeah Larry, it's, er, Euro. I shouldn't think it would be very well known over there. It's a glitzy music contest. Maybe an acquired taste, but it beats having a world war at least.

Not only did Norway win - rightly - but they received the prize on Norway's national holiday, 17th of May. So it must have been doubly fun to be a Norwegian that day. They certainly know how to celebrate their national holidays, maybe a bit too much, but this time I can understand it.

Sweden finished 21rd, out of 25 contestants, but heck, we deserved it.

The Azerbaijan guy had actually grown up in the Swedish town of Malmö, so we'll make the most of that I guess. Nordic dominance on the top! Weee!

[spruance]

I have to admit that I broke the habit of a lifetime and watched the Eurovision Song Contest from start to finish last Saturday evening. Usually I just tune in for the one-sided partisan voting and to see the UK in their now customary last place!

This year's UK entry 'It's my time' was specially written by Andrew Lloyd-Webber, and was sung by Jade Ewen who won the right to sing the song on a BBC Eurovision talent contest. The song was ok but I thought that Jade was straining on some of the notes but all the same she did well to finish 5th overall. This year's contest was broadcast from Moscow as Russia won last year. I thought that the production was fantastic especially as they were well past 02:00 local time towards the end of the show.

Portugal's entry was my favourite. :thumbsup:

Most of the songs are on this YouTube channel....

www.youtube.com/user/DieJeeh

[Hedvig]

Spruance, we too loved Portugal, it was kind of sweet. We were rooting for Armenia though. We always go for the weird ones.

I wouldn't dream of watching the Eurovision if I didn't have a gang of girl friends to watch it with. It's definitively a social event. We're even talking about going to Oslo next year, my cousins have a summer house close to the border and it would be fun. I've never been there.

I had heard the British were kind of angry at the friendship voting, more so than people here even. It kind of surprised me, I didn't think the contest was taken so seriously over there - Terry Wogan's sarcasm seemed so healthy. We're the ones who take it way too seriously, the little countries with low self-esteem. Hm. Maybe if you divided up the UK into Scotland and Wales and England, you could get Scotland and Wales along with Ireland to vote for England. And you could fight to get some more former colonies to be admitted into Europe, that would help your odds.

You can't bring up that argument this time though, Britain got a very respectable 5th place. It was far from the worst song. The Moscow show was great, although the circus-bits were a bit strange.

I didn't necessarily think the Norwegian song was the best. Just that it sticks in your head, the violins were nice, and that boy is cute. You can't help being happy for him.

[diane]

Malmo pops up in Henning Mankell's books.
I hadn't watched Eurovision for a few years and Herb had never seen it - needless to say he was
pleasantly suprised. We did like Iceland and Herb really liked Germany. Before you smile (the
entrant had Dita Von Teese "helping" him) our radio station had been playing songs all week and
Herb really liked Germany's entry. He came in and said Michael Buble is an entrant in Eurivision!!!
I didn't think so!!!! Anyway it wasn't him - it was the cheesiest chap on the show!!! but we both liked
it and were suprised that Germany scored so low. Norway's song was excellent but I don't think it
deserved to be ahead by nearly 200 points!!!

[spruance]

I don't think we take it too seriously Hedvig, and I think perhaps that counts against us. There were some adverse comments this year about the UK fielding a talent show winner, and after all our winning entrants in the past were big stars in their day.

Then again would it be unfair if the likes of Elton John or Rod Stewart recorded the UK entry and how would they feel if they didn't win?

The voting wasn't quite so bad this year but still very noticeable, so all the Balkan states voted for each other, all the Scandinavian countries voted for each other and all of the former Soviet states for each other, etc. etc. Also I found it strange that whilst only 25 countries made it through to the final round, all 42 (?) Eurovision member countries were allowed to vote.

[Hedvig]

It was tedious to wait for 42 countries to give their votes, too.

Would you believe that Danish papers actually complained that Sweden hadn't been "brotherly" enough because we didn't give them high points? I'm glad to hear you don't take it seriously over in Britain though - now I can go back to looking at it as the last refuge of sanity in Europe.

Seriously, is it so strange that countries vote for the ones with the most cultural similarities? I think it has less to do with politics than some people might think. We practically speak the same language, so it's the next best thing to voting for ourselves. Psychologically it's understandable, if a bit unfair. I think Britain's still got a chance to win though if she sent a really memorable song - you've still got the advantage of knowing English better than the rest of us. Andrew Lloyd Weber surely belongs in the "likes of"- category...?

Diane, those books are set around the area of Ystad aren't they? I haven't read them. Kenneth Branagh made a TV-series of a few of them recently though.

[diane]

Yes they are Hedvig. I have read a couple. Sweden has turned them into a series - our foreign
language TV station screens them. They are certainly a lot more confronting than Law and Order.

[spruance]

Just thinking on about the announcement of results, this is the same now as it was in the 1960s. I think that they should forget about the panel of judges and have all of the votes cast by public telephone vote. That way they could collate the votes cast and announce the results immediately. If anyone is interested in the breakdown they can read it in the newspapers or online. That alone would cut at least an hour off the programme time.

[diane]

I definately agree with you spruance, especially when it was clear, this year, that Norway was going
to be a clear winner. I can always remember watching Junior Eurovision a few years ago. They had
children from each country reading off the votes. One little girl (who must have been all of 6)
stumbled and stuttered - after she finished the computer did not catch it so she had to read through
it again. It was extremely stressful for everyone - especially her!!!

[Roger Thornhill]

For me the best UK entry was "Are You Sure" by The Allisons, it must have been 61 or 62. An excellent pop song, it got to number one and just missed out on winning the contest which, in those days, was very far removed from the pantomime of recent years.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACOHWmkGGJU

[spruance]

That was interesting Jeff. I always thought that they were an American duo.

I'm familiar with the song but as I was only three and a half years old at the time of Eurovision 1961, I can't remember anything about it! ;D

[Hedvig]

The Eurovision was smaller back then, was it not? One of the uglier aspects of the angry mentality we've had over here in recent years, are people saying they should put the iron curtain back. Maybe that's why I'm beginning to have a hard time taking those opinions seriously now, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I think that there are certain things that are preferable about today's Eurovision, and today's Europe, when you compare it to the 60's.

The quality of songs has degenerated though, that I can agree to wholeheartedly! I think that's happened to pop music in general. Bring the 60's music back please.

[spruance]

I'm not suggesting excluding the former eastern bloc countries Hedvig, but there are still issues with voting patterns although forum etiquette prevents me from saying any more on that subject otherwise Larry will be along with the anti-political big stick! ;D

I was very impressed by the production of this year's show by Russian TV, but in my opinion a fantastic first half was dragged down by the same old tedious vote reporting procedure as has been in place since the year dot. At one time of day it was a novelty to be able to hop around Europe's capitals at the flick of a switch but where is the novelty now? Anyone with a PC and a webcam/microphone can talk to anyone else virtually anywhere in the world. This is no longer the preserve of TV companies with their major network connections, yet on this point Eurovision seems to be stuck in a timewarp.

The voting lines were open for just 15 minutes and no doubt shortly after the lines closed someone would have known who had won the telphone vote. Despite this the insistence on having a 50:50 split between public and so called expert votes meant that what should, and could, have been a simple and swift voting procedure was instead the same drawn out process as it has always been. If they could sort that out the show would be much more watchable, and maybe they could have more than 25 entrants in the final round.

[Hedvig]

From what I've heard the rule with the 50% jury vote was put in place in order to prevent the famous block voting though. So what can we do?

Yes, they do need to reform the rules a bit re. the 42 countries. If the show isn't non-stop entertaining there is little point.

I can always remember watching Junior Eurovision a few years ago. They had children from each country reading off the votes. One little girl (who must have been all of 6) stumbled and stuttered - after she finished the computer did not catch it so she had to read through it again. It was extremely stressful for everyone - especially her!!!

Gosh how awful Diane! I dislike the whole idea of Junior Eurovision - seeing highly trained child stars in intense competition with one another is highly unnerving to me.

[diane]

You are right Hedvig, Junior Eurovision was pretty ghastly. The last time I saw it was a few years ago
and I am pretty sure there was a rule where they had to write their own songs. What happened was
the older kids came up with very banal pop songs (the same lines sung over and over) while the
little children, who obviously had parental help, sang very skillful and wordy songs -it was very weird!!!

[robin]

This rubbish had it's place in the 1960's and 70's - but it's now regarded as a joke.

I'm amazed that it's survived for all these years.

[Hedvig]

I guess it has survived partly because now everything has a tendency to just get bigger and bigger instead of disappearing. Intellectually it's kind of like football but with glittering clothes, at least to me. It's fun when you're with a gang of girls and have some good snacks - what's ridiculous is how big it has become. If you make an entertainment so serious you ruin it.

Diane, I agree - that's always a problem with child stars, when they're singing songs written by adults, with the kind of complexity that sounds completely strange coming from an 8-year old or 12-year old.

[Roger Thornhill]

May 24, 2009 6:38:13 GMT -6 Hedvig said:

Intellectually it's kind of like football but with glittering clothes, at least to me.

There is no way that the beautiful game of football (The one truly global sport.) can be likened to the frequently tawdry pantomime that is the Eurovision Song Contest.

[Hedvig]

If you say so. I was merely thinking of the fact that it's a heated competition between different countries that gets taken too seriously - and that it has nothing to do with music.

[spruance]

A better comparison might be Jeux Sans Frontieres otherwise known in the UK as It's a Knockout. ;D

At least Stuart Hall took the commentary seriously (not!)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2bTwSfWtsE

[robin]

Although we finished last in this annual pantomime in 2010, the only positive thing to come out of it is that Peter Waterman has finally been shown up for the charlaton I've always thought he was.

[diane]

Eurovision is a tradition in our house (watching it - not
not entering ). Herb even watched the semi-finals
he claimed there was nothing else to watch. The
Australian hosts had just said "Well I can tell you
Ireland won't be hosting Eurovision next year - when
a country gave them some points - and suddenly
England was on the bottom. The Australian host also
said that from the time they arrived the English entry
had "bad vibes" . I didn't mind the German entry
but wow for a moment "Me and My Guitar" looked
dangerous (we didn't like that song). Herb and I
liked the Irish entry and we especially liked Ukraine.
I was so suprised that it finished "mid field" as it were
but I suppose it's all political. Who did you like Robin?

[Hedvig]

I only watch Eurovision with my girl friends and since they're not in this country I didn't watch. Plus Sweden didn't make it out of the semi-finals this year. Which we probably deserved - I don't know, I didn't watch it at all this year. I heard the English entry was pretty funny though. I'll have to youtube it.

[spruance]

The usual bore, and without even Sir Terry Wogan (new UK presenter Graham Norton is a pale imitation) I didn't even bother to watch this year. Not even the voting which is usually the only interesting part and then only for the possiblity that something will go wrong. ;D

Perhaps it is time that the UK gave Eurovision a miss.

[robin]

Diane, the last time I watched this charade was circa 1977!

Maybe this country would do better if they moved away from getting megabores like Lloyd-Webber and bloated Pete Waterman from writing songs for it.

Why not get real songwriters like McCartney, Elton or Mick Jagger to come up with something decent?

The last time we won it, Jonathan King was the chief operator - but having said that, look what happened to him!

[diane]

The Australian host was really keen on Pete Waterman - listing all the songs
he had written for Kylie - as Herb said wasn't that in 1980!!! He has been
resting on his laurels for almost 30 years!!!

[robin]

Diane, so has Waterman. He represented everything that was bad with the 1980's - the worst decade in my lifetime.