Eurovision time

[prendrelemick]

Just imagine, there may be some galaxies far, far away where there is no Eurovision Song Contest!

[prendrelemick]

Yes! Rapping spacemen from Montenegro. How can they lose?

[prendrelemick]

That was brilliant, and we get to do it all again twice!

[cacian]

Bonnie Taylor to represent the UK I think. I was a bit surprised at the choice but there you go. ;)

[kiki1982]

And Belgium is through :banana:.

That's the second time we've succeeded to get to the final! And then come last :D.

Apart from that one time years ago where Sweden didn't give us any points and the Turks won and we came second. grrrrrr

I liked the songs by Denmark, Moldova (I think) and Estonia (the lady 5 months pregnant with her seventies white strapless dress). But then there was the surprise by the Netherlands. We wre still singing it when we went to bed. So maybe it could be a dark horse.

Didn't you think the presentation was a breath of fresh air? It was engaging and no over-tried-to-be-funny-autocue-but-I'm-no-good-at-it stuff.




My husband really converted me into a Eurovision fan...

[kev67]

Bonnie Taylor to represent the UK I think. I was a bit surprised at the choice but there you go. ;)

We could have The Beatles represent us and we wouldn't stand a chance.

[prendrelemick]

Kiki. I never knew Joaqiun Phoenix was Belgian.

and I still don't know how that Nederlander dirge got through.

Best entrance - Carried on by a giant.
Best dress - Cyprus - economic circumstances meant they could only afford the flimsiest material two sizes too small.
Best spray tan- the girl in the very,very,very short dress who emerged from the glitter ball.
Best Princess Diaries themed act -Russia.
Best singer - Actually, they could all sing.
Best effects - the girl with a hydraulic lift in her skirt.
Special "We were robbed" catogory - Montenegro of course
Special award for the one I'd like to see again but never will - That Girl band at the end. Unbelievable and just a little bit scary.
Special - oops we've come to the wrong party - Award. Those 5 blokes from Croatia

[kiki1982]

Nono, it was 2003 with Sanomi by Urban Trad (that weird song in a made-up language). I still remember we could win because Turkey and Belgium were not very far apart (urkey won by 2 points) and then, the Swedes (b*st*rds; no offence intended :D) they didn't give us any! Nasty. Screaming at the TV!


Didn't you find the dancing excellent all of a sudden? I mean, apart from the music, that woman with her three dancers like those who won Britain's Got Talent a few years ago, they were so good. The Belgian guy who got touched up by woman double his age was quite funny :lol:.

[prendrelemick]

The Belgian dancers had some very strange moves altogether.

[LitNetIsGreat]

Just imagine, there may be some galaxies far, far away where there is no Eurovision Song Contest!

And that's just where I intend to be on a Saturday night. Red Deer pub will do.

Mrs Neely loves the Eurovision, hence the escape. She fancies Norway. I've put her a fiver on it at 8/1. A good thing she thinks. There you go, there's your tip.:lurk5:

[prendrelemick]

[QUOTE=kiki1982;1218573]Nono, it was 2003 with Sanomi by Urban Trad (that weird song in a made-up language). I still remember we could win because Turkey and Belgium were not very far apart (urkey won by 2 points) and then, the Swedes (b*st*rds; no offence intended :D) they didn't give us any! Nasty. Screaming at the TV!


[QUOTE]



Same thing happened to us in 1988. We were in front right up to the last country, Yugoslavia (now defunct ,HA!) who gave us nothing and seven to some no hoper called Celine Dion - so she won instead.


In fact The UK has been 2nd 14 times.

[kiki1982]

I know, the Belgian dancers had weird moves, so did those others I mentioned, but I foud the whole thing so well synchronised. Better than otherwise. Or maybe it was becuase there was less going on and more substance.

My hubby's favourite Denmark. In fact, he has predicted the top 3 (and sometimes the winner) accurately for at least the last 5 years.
He doesn't know what he has to make of the Netherlands.

Nasty Dion. Tssss. And later you don't hear anything of them anymore.

[Lokasenna]

I'll be missing it again. Bah.

Every year the Viking Society for Northern Research always somehow manages to schedule a meeting on Eurovision night, so I miss the whole thing. I suspect a conspiracy.

Mind you, I think Eurovision has become more serious in recent years - less campy fun and more a serious attempt to do something vaguely decent. Plus, I do miss Sir Terry's acerbic commentary - that was what made the whole thing fun.

[kiki1982]

Oh, but I think Graham Norton is a worthy replacement. He's maybe a little less non-overtly sarcastic, but he's definitely worth listening to. In fact I always had a problem listening to Wogan, because his mellow tones sometimes got lost in the tumult. That's me, though, otherwise I thoroughly enjoy(ed) his voice and style. If I had BBC radio...
They've got Ana Matronic from the Scissor Sisters co-presenting again tonight. She looks really enthusiastic. A bit less weird than that girl who did it the last few years (announcer for BBC3?), whom I had got used to by now. Her presentation had something kitschy that weirdly suited the event, come to think of it, but I had the impression that freaked people out and that they didn't understand her accent sometimes.

It seems that someone in your Viking Society has no taste for good stuff like Eurovision :D. Maybe you should drop a hint.

But indeed it seems at least that more or less 3/4 of the countries are trying to focus on content rather than gimmick.

[prendrelemick]

So far I've liked the Russian entry the best - so they have no chance then.

The best song is probably Denmark's


HOWEVER, we are less than halfway through

Loki: Ask yourself - would a true Viking miss Eurovision night?

[prendrelemick]

Finland going for the lesbian vote in answer to the Irish homo-erotic act last tuesday.

Smiley Malta with a ukelele! I liked that one. Office Folk, a new musical genre is born.

Wooooweee It just gets better and better, Bulgaria are going for the everything including the kitchen sink and bagpipes approach. Bonnie must be wishing she was back home in Wales.

I wish I could speak Greek - then I'd know what the heck that was all about.


Oh great NOW I remember the sub-title button!

Hungry have the earworm tonight - Kanda sham!

Norway - absolute quality, what a performance. A strong contender that.

Georgia, a lovely duet - that would've won twenty years ago.

Romania have soared beyond any adjective known to the english language

[prendrelemick]

I'm not a betting man but Denmark (8/11) is hot favourite, followed by Norway,(8/1) Ukraine (10/1) and Russia.(16/1)



If you're looking for value - Georgia (at 25/1) and Finland (40/1)seems good.

If you're looking for long blondes with long odds and short skirts, Belarus at 100/1, ticks those boxes.

[kiki1982]

Well, the question whether a true Viking would ever miss Eurovision was answered last night by Iceland's entry. That singer looked like a real one. Sexy Jesus... I must say I was surprised that it got through, but delighted at the same time, it was a great song, powerful without needing text to be so. I hope he does well. That language is impressive in terms of sounds.

I forgot about Russia. That's a nice song too. (grudgingly)

Malta and the ukulele was so nice. I was quite sad that the other cutesy song from San Marino didn't get through, though. Shame, because it was good kind of Laura Pausini song. Too Italian?

The Hungarian guy had a good song, but he got eclipsed by his backing singer at some point. He got much better towards the end. I hope he does better tomorrow. Fortunately he didn't have three backing singers, they would have outsung him big time.

Don't like Norway.

Like France big time, but it's too good for Eurovision. Very Axel Red (that's Belgian, by the way, but she got a Légion d'Honneur a few years ago).

Greece is fun, but they shouldn't win it really. Shame. I wonder how they got that old guy singing. Did one of the band bring their father to the rehearsals or something? ;)

The Finish entry is nice too. She does play with the gay-straight issue at the end of her song. It's really funny because you have heard this about her and her boyfriend, singing 'marry me baby' and then she kisses her backing singer. Quite fun. :)

If there was an opera for Bram Stoker's Dracula, I think we should employ the Romanian guy, although maybe a counter tenor for Dracula is a bit camp.

[prendrelemick]

"A bit camp" is what Eurovision is all about.

I haven't heard the so called big 5 entries yet.

The Russian girl had the best voice, but the song was a bit ordinary.
The camera loved the Norwegian Girl, couldn't take my eyes off her.
Denmark had best song.
But let's hope an outsider comes through to win.

[cacian]

indeed camp is the word.
so what are the bets on who would be top and who would be nul point bottom of the table? ;)

[LitNetIsGreat]

Mrs Neely keeps telling me things about the Eurovision...for some reason. Mrs Neely tells me that the Denmark song is very over-rated. That's about the only thing I can remember, I think I'm repressing it, something something about Malta. Oh and by accident I also put £3 on Belgium at around 350/1! Whoops.

[prendrelemick]

Neely, all this Mrs Neely said this, Mrs Neely said that! Step into the light.

[LitNetIsGreat]

Ha, ha, no thanks I'm stepping into the pub, or sitting upstairs with my chess books.

[prendrelemick]

Soooo who shall I vote for?

Malta
Hungary
Norway
Russia

I think it's going to be .................................................. .......Hungary. It's a song that gets in your head.

[LitNetIsGreat]

Jesus Christ, I've come downstairs because the 'singing' is 'over' and some of the biggest load of ****e is on while they count up the votes, shoot me please.

[Darcy88]

I get European radio in the wee hours of the morning and last night I heard a Eurovision song by a French act with a female vocalist. It was awesome. Can anyone tell me what it was? I'd appreciate it.

Edit: Never mind. I think this is it - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfwa2A_aV5U L'enfer Et Moi by Amandine.

[prendrelemick]

HA! The French are refusing to speak in English - Bless

[prendrelemick]

And that's it for another year. But then as Johnnie Logan sang "What's another year?"


I thought the standard was very high this time - I mean the quality of the performers, I love the daft stuff, and I don't take any of it seriously, but it should be about the singing and the songs in the end.

[JuniperWoolf]

I just had some online friends show me what Eurovision is, talk about your different worlds. All those lights and people, it's all so grand and shiny, and and this is what I'm used to (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlqhP-zT6jE) (filmed in my area, this is the most accurate film representation of rural Alberta culture ever created - this is my life :bawling:).

[prendrelemick]

^Aye, those boys are a few sequins short of a eurovision.


Though Denmark won, I bet that Norwegian girl gets the most internet hits.

[kiki1982]

My hubby was right all along. He said Denmark, it was bl**dy well Denmark. He said France would get stuck in the low regions because it was too good, it did. That was Amandine Bourgeois, by the way. My God, was she nervous. When the camera caught her hand, she was shaking!

Hubby was wrong about Finland, because he thought it was a contender. Maybe it was let down by the lesbian kiss.

We are happy for Malta, Hungary (better performance than the first time), Greece and the Netherlands. We thought they were going to be forgotten.

On the whole I found the quality also very good. Maybe it's the semi-finals that filter out the inevitable crap (or let it through sometimes...).

I found the presentation and the in between act a breath of fresh air. No mindless pomp, just mindless fun. And I think they aggravated the conservatives a bit extra by this 'you may now kiss the groom'. What a wonderful country we are. GAYS CAN MARRY PEOPLE. Take that, Baku. :D. As Graham Norton said when Finland's song came up, 'And if you get offended by a lesbian kiss, then you need to grow up.'
I did think the opening act of semi-final 2 was better than the in-between act yesterday, but I just think they liked the lack of seriousness of it. Semi-final 2's act had a bit of the Olympic opening with a certain concept attached. It was more imaginative than yesterdays.

The presentation proved that you only need one good presenter, not 2 or 3 mediocre ones. That said, I thought they could have briefed the green room one a bit better. But it was his first time, so it's OK. Oh, and it was without auto-cue, with cards!

[prendrelemick]

The big surprises were Azerbaijan 2nd and Georgia nowhere, I think.




Ho-hum back to being a dour farmer for another year.

[kev67]

I didn't watch it, but Bonnie's song did not seem so bad. It was not as good as her 70s stuff, but it was a lot better than the Danish song.

[cacian]

I didn't watch it, but Bonnie's song did not seem so bad. It was not as good as her 70s stuff, but it was a lot better than the Danish song.

Agreed the other thing that I find incorrect is that the UK has to give 8/10/12 to different countries but then it does not necessarily mean it will get it back the same way from other countries. It feel rather unjust to expect England to give out the points and in return gets nothing. There is a fault in the system I reckon it is not right.

[kev67]

Agreed the other thing that I find incorrect is that the UK has to give 8/10/12 to different countries but then it does not necessarily mean it will get it back the same way from other countries. It feel rather unjust to expect England to give out the points and in return gets nothing. There is a fault in the system I reckon it is not right.

Quite!