I have to confess my only Eurovision exposure comes from this Slate piece and that one episode of Father Ted (My lovely horse!), but, you know. Timo, hook us up with the local Flickr streams!
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
"I'm no good at judging the size of crowds Ted, but I'd say there's about seventeen million of them out there."
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
For some reason, I actually wrote down comments for every single entry. I had a vague idea about putting them on my blog, but then realised that I don't have one. Tsk. The best band won, though.
I feel sorry for Johnny, though. It's a harsh girl that dumps you due to your inability to twist.
Posted by Austin Powers (Member # 250) on :
Congrats to Finland - great song!
Unfortunately, some of my other favorites and those of my friends at our "Eurovision" party fared much worse.
Our top contenders were Sweden, Denmark, Great-Britain, Finland, Norway, Greece and of course our very own Texas Lightning for Germany.
But thanks to the infamous "political voting" (neighboring countries mostly in eastern Europe and the Balkans giving each other top scores no matter what the quality of their songs is actually like) almost all of the aforementioned countries ranked in the lower half of the final scoreboard. Sad really. I think they should return to panel voting like in the olden days.
Anyways, at least we have a worthy winner with Lordi's powerful rock anthem.
Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
Okay, all I can gather from the Eurovision website is that it's a song contest. Someone care to clue me in to if there's something more to this than that?
Posted by The Ginger Beacon (Member # 1585) on :
You think the Balkan voting in the final was bad, just remember that the favourite (Belgium) didn't even get to the final thanks to all the ex-Russian countries voting for each other.
Ex oppressed bastards. Spoiling it for the rest of us.
Glad to see our entry did better than last years (I think the UK came 19th out of 24 this time as opposed to last in 2005. thank you blair.), even if it was shit. Finaly the Brittish are willing to accept we'll never win again and should give up trying.
Oh, and BJ, it's not in America, so that's why you won't have heard of it before.
Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
In a way, I'm glad Finland won, if only for how it will shake up the business, put question signs in the heads of all those schlager gurus and put the final nail in the coffin for the "nude shocks", as miniskirts and push-up bras obviously no longer work as well for stealing votes.
But we swedes were plenty surprised that we only came 5th, since we had a lot of expectations riding on our entry. It seemed she had strained her vocal cords too much in the semis. And the music blared out much of the song. In fact, I noticed that with many entries, perhaps those Athens sound engineers were drunk on set, screwing up the levels.
Cool that you others also notice the ex-soviet nations' voting traditions, ahem.
Anyway, all things considered, this turned out a swell weekend after all.
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
One day after five Finns in monster masks edged out a Russian heartthrob at Europe's largest and most-watched pop music contest, some Russians complained Sunday that the vote was skewed against their country. Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
quote:Originally posted by The Ginger Beacon: Oh, and BJ, it's not in America, so that's why you won't have heard of it before.
DUH! I could figure that much out for myself. I was merely asking for more info about it. All I got from the website was that it's a song competition, but nothing about how they various songs get into the competition, why there's only one from each country, etc. etc. etc.....
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"...why there's only one from each country..."
Because that's the way it works. It's a competition to see which country comes up with the best song. That's like asking why, say, the World Cup only features one team from each country.
As for how each song gets in, I believe each country holds their own competitons first.
Actually, perhaps you should just read about it yourself, so I don't have to.
Posted by The Ginger Beacon (Member # 1585) on :
quote:Originally posted by Nim: In a way, I'm glad Finland won, if only for how it will shake up the business, put question signs in the heads of all those schlager gurus and put the final nail in the coffin for the "nude shocks", as miniskirts and push-up bras obviously no longer work as well for stealing votes.
Speak for yourself!
I did notice a serious deteriation between her semi and her final performance, which was a shame, because I liked the song - very Eurovisiony. My big upset of the night was the Ukraine not doing better (see above).
As for those who don't know, Eurovision is a pan European song contest that has been going on anualy for 50 years.
Each country that enters submits a single song (usualy decided by a competition in their country), which go through to the next stage.
At the main event (the Final), these are all performed live on the night. The competition is usualy (but not always - some have declined) held in the country of the act that won the previous year.
After all of the songs have been performed, a pan-European phone vote takes place, with the viewers (lots of millions of them) voting for their favourite act (although often countries vote for their neighbours, such as with the Balkan states this year). You can't vote for your own country's act.
At the end a representitive from each countries broadcasting coroporation returns the results of their phone vote, and the scores are added up on a giant interactive scoreboard as each vote is returned (to the cheers and anguish of those watching). Only ten countries are given points - the one with the highest number of votes gets 12 points, the next 10 points and then the next 8 get 8,7,6,5,4,3,2 or 1 points according to how the vote went.
The winner then gets a trophy and sings their song again.
Then there is a party.
In the early years of Eurovision, a jury from each country decided where the votes were going. Also, there has now been a new application system - the top 10 from the previous year go though automaticaly, as do the UK, France, Spain and Germany irrespective of place (they all put the most money in). The rest fight it out in a playoff-the semifinal (usualy held two days before the final, and also decided by a pan european phone vote), from which another 10 go through. The results of the semifinal have no bearing on the scores achieved in the final.
The competition os known for the cheesines of acts, which are usualy pop music. There is often some sort of gimmick. Abba won it in Brighton. Lots of people watch it and get drunk. The presenters (always a bloke and a woman) will always try to sing and flirt with each other. Thats all I can be bothered to write. If you want to know more move to Europe.
Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
Yes, once a year is quite enough, but it is fun to do something of it, get a bunch of friends together, food and drink and dip, voting and arguing, brawling and scuffling, usually everyone vs me. God I love a good song contest.
Carrot lantern:
quote:There is often some sort of gimmick
Yes, maybe I've shown this before, but this was a swedish entry that almost got to the top to represent Sweden, I wish they'd have won;
Note the bridge of the nose of the backup dancer girl...
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Sorta looks like Caitlin Dar the cheery Romulan Ambassador in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.
Posted by The Ginger Beacon (Member # 1585) on :
Quality. I am deeply impressed.
Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
It's partially obscured but both her dancer girls had bajoran ridges, it was very nice.
Coincidentally, we also have one two-girl band that is named "Sarek" (brilliantly cute swedish folk music in a dance pace, only band to have �ulled it off) and a techno-pop group called "Spock". The "Spock"-guys dress in blue science officer tunics when performing. But to be fair, Sarek actually is a national park in Lapland, which the girls in the band are from.
Oh god, I ended in a preposition, yet again!
Posted by Timo (Member # 245) on :
OTOH, Lordi has been quite falsely accused of satanism. Klingons have no devil!
The big problem with recent contests has been that the songs indeed tend to get "Eurovisionary". They now form their own tedious subgenre that combines the worst aspects of the Schlager and a Madonna dance video. Lordi merely did what the Moldova drummer lady failed to do last year: he demonstrated that ANYTHING is automatically better than that subgenre.
At least Lordi plays the kind of music that people actually listen to. Heavy metal (or, in this case, mediumweight lyric-romantic monster metal) if anything is "ethnic" to Finland.
Timo Saloniemi
Posted by Austin Powers (Member # 250) on :
@ The Ginger Beacon: actually it was not the UK that came last in 2005 but Germany with measly 2 points (one each from Malta and Moldavia). Granted, our song in 2005 was crap.
@Timo: Klingons have no devil??? What about Fek'lhr? ;-)
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
I love ABBA. And as Ghastly reminded us, "EVERYONE!...sings along with the Lulu."
Celine Dion sang for Switzerland? Shu muh? And Katrina & The Waves?!?
Oh, I see...the winning country hosts for the next year. I like that. The Olympics should do the same.
Aside from the 3 I mentioned & Elena Paparizou, how many of these artists end up being actually stars with staying power? And how is it that Anna Vissi keeps getting fucked over? she's like the Susan Lucci of Eurovision
Posted by Austin Powers (Member # 250) on :
Actually Olli Dittrich (the drummer in Germany's lineup) is a well-known comedian in Germany. In the 90s he was very successful with his partner Wigald Boning as the two-man comedy music combo "Die Doofen" ("The Stupids").
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"Oh, I see...the winning country hosts for the next year. I like that. The Olympics should do the same."
What, so that they'll be held almost exclusively in the US, with the occasional foray into Russia?
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
I thought the Germans or the Estonians or the Swazi rocked ass this year?
Posted by Timo (Member # 245) on :
Well, if the rules decreed just one Olympic contestant per nation from now on...
(The 400 m relay and volleyball would become less interesting, though. Or perhaps more so. And we'd probably see two very different types of performance in equestrian sports, depending on which half the nation decided to send.)
Timo Saloniemi
Posted by The Ginger Beacon (Member # 1585) on :
The big question is, will the band be invited to the Presidential Ball at Independence Day (December 6th) despite the fact that they won't appear without their masks (any more than Santa would wish to appear without his beard and belly and bondage bambi bobsled)...
Our generally socially easygoing President has already quipped that triumphant cross-country skiers don't bring their skis to the reception, either. This would surely have cost her the re-election if she weren't already on her final term.
Nobody has yet dared speculate whether the band will perform at the Ball. Thankfully, no previous artist-attendee has ever attempted to do so.
Timo Saloniemi
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"I thought the Germans or the Estonians or the Swazi rocked ass this year?"
Well, I was referring to summer. Winter would be held almost exclusively in Norway and Germany.
And I doubt Swaziland has ever sent anyone to the winter Olympics, much less won any medals.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Timo - what did you think of Conan O'Brien's trip to Finland - I thought it was hilarious. I can't believe he actually got an audience with Tarja Halonen! Posted by Timo (Member # 245) on :
It's the only time I have watched a talk show of any kind...
...So I don't know whether those Finnish shows he visited were for real, or part of the joke. (The two little brats, I mean - the Arto Nyberg guy does exist at least.)
Conan seemed to be scared stiff through most of his visit, but he's obviously the master of self-control. There's something similar about Mr Lordi - he appears quite shy, but is plainspoken and never at loss of a wisecrack or some honest insight into the world of entertainment and latex-faced international diplomacy.
Does O'Brien do that "Ohmigosh, it's Conan!" fan visit schtick in other contexts? (Does he do this tour thing at all, apart from the Finland Special?)
Timo Saloniemi
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
No no, Finland was a one-off and it was quite crazy!
Have a squiz at wikipedia for most of the history behind it but basically
A lot of Finns started turning up in his audience and then he found out that it was a highly rated show in Finland and then he found out that people were thinking (in Finland) that he looked like your president - Tarja Halonen. Then he decided to support her reelection - not for any political reasons - just because he looked like her - he did a few skits/ads and they actually ended up on Finnish TV. She got re-elected - he immodestly (as a joke of course) said she won due to his influence (all of 3% majority) Then he announced that he was going to Finland (this was during the Winter Olympics break)... a few weeks when Conan started back up after the Olympics he had a 1 hour special showing his visit to Finland including an audience with President Halonen.
I thought the continuing joke was bloody hilarious.
The only other places he's taken his show in the last 11 years has been Toronto and the recently to Chicago - both for a week of shows. Other wise he's based in NYC.
Conan is great, Letterman is O.K. and Leno is embarrasingly AWFUL!
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Hmm? Conan goes on location all the time. Well, OK, not with the whole show behind him, but, like, let's go wander in the street and talk to people. I mean, NYC is a big place.
I sincerely hope that show with the two kids is real.
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