posted
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.
posted
@ 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? ;-)
-------------------- Lister: Don't give me the "Star Trek" crap! It's too early in the morning. - Red Dwarf "The Last Day"
Registered: Nov 1999
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Shik
Starship database: completed; History of Starfleet: done; website: probably never
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posted
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
-------------------- "The French have a saying: 'mise en place'—keep everything in its fucking place!"
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posted
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").
-------------------- Lister: Don't give me the "Star Trek" crap! It's too early in the morning. - Red Dwarf "The Last Day"
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posted
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.)
-------------------- I have plenty of experience in biology. I bought a Tamagotchi in 1998... And... it's still alive.
Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
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.
posted
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!
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
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?)
posted
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!
-------------------- "Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica." - Jim Halpert. (The Office)
posted
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.
Registered: Mar 1999
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