Oolite Bulletins

So, anybody here going to own up to watching this tonight?
I'm devastated that Malta and Bulgaria didn't get through, Bulgaria's song was ace - plenty of 'phat beats' i do believe they're called and Malta had a rock chick singing a song about Vodka - what's not to like!?!?
Anyway, I'm rooting for Finland with their warrior heavy metal outfit and Latvia (i think it was), with their jolly gang of pirates, don't think Andy from the UK has much chance, and i defy any of you not to shout at the television when Russias song comes on - it's a way too, uh, overwrought, horrible boy-band thing, think Ronan Keating to the power to 20 - you'll want to rush the stage and infest them all with Trumbles.

oh yeah, i´ll be watching, i´m from Denmark btw...

Cheering on them aswell, since we had that terrible Drag Queen down there last year (song:Drama Queen)... not that i have anything against them, just the song was terrible, and so was her/his performance..

This year at least, we have not to overly good song, but decent song, that i think will end up in the top 10...

The winning song last year, i did´nt get it.. must be something with East european song style (very theatrical). and at the same time, very few west european countries made it to the finals... there was even talk of "east-european-Gang" voting off all of the West-european countries, something i think was a utterly ridicoules claim...

of my favourites(or ours, me and my wife), only one didnt goto the finals...

cant recall that bulgarian song though, but i do recall the Vodka Song, it was terrible.. vodka vodka, i mean, lol... its eurovision, not a bar singing crowd..

The jolly gang of pirates... yeah a happy song... love pirates, i´m one... in Oolite

havent seen or heard the UK, Germany, the "socalled" large countries that do not have to go through the semifinals, simply because theire population is so large..

Spains contribution looks like Cheese and Chong´s cousine , that is going to be a laugh, i mean when you dont have to go through elimination rounds, you simply ought to do ALOT better. anybody from spain can freely quote me on that...

Frances, Contribution, now i dont speak or understand french, but what i could tell from that vidio, my first thought was "monkey"... because i nearly couldnt see his face, for facial hair, and sunglasses... Hint for ya, dont wear sunglasses inside... makes you look stupid, sort a like, underwear goes inside your pants... if you wear it outside your pants, you look stupid, and are prolly homeless, or lost a bet.

In hindsight, a monkey has far less facial hair... so sry for that, to the monkeys. again, this song from what could hear, will not win.

And i did think the same about Denmarks contribution last year.. terrible song.. i mean a drag Queen that stands there, and sings "i´m your drama queen tonight".. it speaks /sings for itself ...

I just hope, that this year a song wins that i get, why it wins. Serbias song prolly was good, but you would need to understand the text i think... and for my taste, was a bit to theatrical... but hey, nobodies taste is the same, and thats good.

ah c'mon the Vodka song was great! even though she did sing it a bit like someone singing a song in their bedroom infront of the mirror.
Yeah France's guy is crazy - looks a bit like Charles Mansun. I haven't heard Spains song, is it called 'el robocop' or something
Hey, Denmarks song is quite good, they're the guys that dressed up a bit like chimney sweeps right?
Bulgaria's song was a techno dance one, guys spinning around on their heads and some bewildered looking bloke wondering around playing a reggae riff with some DJ's in the background setting their records on fire? probably a bit to extreme for Eurovision! shame though, it was great

I don't remember last years winning song at all, it was some sort of power ballad i think? last year the UK had some god awful group dressed up like cabin crew from the worlds campest airline, what were we thinking?

Sorry,

I like music. But not the Eurovisions...

Frame wrote:

there was even talk of "east-european-Gang" voting off all of the West-european countries, something i think was a utterly ridicoules claim...

The former Yugoslavian countries give each other the top points. The former Soviet countries give each other the top points. Greece gives 12 points to Cyprus and Cyprus gives 12 points to Greece. And tonight, Denmark gave 8 points to Sweden, 10 points to Norway and 12 points to Iceland. Every year, the voting has nothing to do with the music and everything to do with political affiliations.

Frame wrote:

havent seen or heard the UK, Germany, the "socalled" large countries that do not have to go through the semifinals, simply because theire population is so large..

I believe that Germany and the UK get automatic qualification because they contribute the most money to the contest.

Frame wrote:

Spains contribution looks like Cheese and Chong´s cousine , that is going to be a laugh, i mean when you dont have to go through elimination rounds, you simply ought to do ALOT better. anybody from spain can freely quote me on that...

What I love about the Spanish entries is that they put mad songs together, and don't give a toss about how many votes they get.

Well, congratulations to Russia, i thought the song was a bit overblown - surely it isn't a good idea to stand around barefoot near someone whizzing about on ice skates?
That Spanish song was mad!

I'm just sorry that Dustin the Turkey never made it to the finals. OK, it may have been a "three minute joke that wasn't especially funny", but it's better than a three-hour joke that's not especially funny. You have to admire Ireland's determination never to have to host the show again.

The only good way to watch Eurovision is to play the Eurovision Drinking Game. After each "performance", players bet on which country will give them the highest marks. Whoever guessed the highest awarding country wins a drink. If you guessed the 12-pointer, you get two drinks. A keen knowledge of pan-European history and politics is a great advantage. Due to the shortness of the songs this game is best played using spirits instead of beer; for the underage, the teetotal or the stoned, alcohol can be replaced with Maltesers, Smarties or other similar confectionaries, but these are bad for the teeth...

hmm ppl must love to quote me...

at least it was a song that won, congratulations to Russia, even though i heard from the speakers that they had some 50 songwriters writing the song, in order to ensure it won.. Then you really want to win... lol

and 75 cent, whats not to love (even though the scratching was playback)..

@JohnnyBoy

Political relations with Iceland, sweden and norway.. I assure you we are most competitive in regard to almost any competition, as long as we are in the same competition..

But since this is Voting by SMS(at least in Denmark), voting by political relations is utterly rubbish...

It is the people that votes, and the final 12 points from Denmark to Iceland, put Iceland just before Denmark. I actually did vote for turkey, even though i didnt understand one word of it... just liked the song...

I dont think the common people gives 1 cent about political relations, when voting for a song.. They vote for the song that they think is the best, or deserves theire vote. And ofcourse your neighboring countries usually hit the broader masses taste and liking...

Spain, Germany, UK, France...Ofcourse since they have to largest populations, they put in the most money, thats like saying B comes after A. but all the other countries also contribute money, its however because they have the largest population and eurovision wants to ensure audience for each eurovision, that they are ensured a place in the finals...

They have always contributed the most money, cause they make the most money cause they have the largest audience and therefore have the largest income... Basic economics.

Spains Contribution, well making a mad song, is easy, it might even had been funnier if i could understand spanish, but to me that song was just a curiosity... and prolly did score some points on that account... but imagine if everybody did that.. eurovision would stop after a couple of years. and it is one of only events that all of europe watches, so that would be a loss for us all..

Frame wrote:

Political relations with Iceland, sweden and norway.. I assure you we are most competitive in regard to almost any competition, as long as we are in the same competition..

But since this is Voting by SMS(at least in Denmark), voting by political relations is utterly rubbish...

Frame, it looks like you and I will disagree on this - but in a friendly way.

Here in the UK, the host of our Eurovision TV show (Terry Wogan) is considering whether he will be part of it next year - he's so frustrated at what he calls 'political voting'. The BBC story is here.

The University of Surrey has conducted statistical research into the way that nations have voted in the Eurovision over the past 53 years. This is from the summary:

In particular, the period since the mid-90s has seen the emergence of large geographical voting blocs from previously small voting partnerships, which initially appeared in the early 90s. On at least two occasions, the outcome of the contest has been crucially affected by voting blocs. The structure of these blocs implies that a handful of centrally placed countries have a higher probability of being future winners.

The full academic paper is here.

I must agree with the fact that neighbouring countries tend to vote each other, but I disagree a bit on the reasons (since it is an SMS vote in most of Europe). The main reason, in my opinion, is the different music tastes in various parts of Europe. For example, it is completely incomprehensible to most Scandinavians how UK keeps sending really awful pop songs to the Eurovision year after a year. And if they don't do that, then it is a weepy ballad they send.

Another example is the Scandinavian tendency to like metal music at the moment. A couple of years ago, for example, the Finnish Lordi won. But whereas the Scandinavians voted for the music (as it was hard rock/metal), the rest of the Europe voted for the show itself (silly outfits etc.). Then afterwards, the Scandinavians were happy that a metal band won the contest, while the rest of the Europe were thinking that "stupid dress-up clowns" won the contest...

So, it is different strokes for different people in different regions.

Maybe Im missing something here. I dont know anyone who likes the music, Eurovision is seen by everyone I know as a joke. The music, for EVERY country is bad.

The UK entry is not exactly popular music for the uk. If the competition were to showcase leading artists from each country, then it might be fun, and might represent differing tastes from areas in Europe. As it is, I really cannot see the point, the music is poor, mostly from second rate or worse acts, and certainly in the uk, I cannot imagine whoever was our entry selling more than a handful of records.

As Disembodied said, the only way to watch the show is drunk.

How anyone can care that there is corruption is beyond me, I thought that was kind of the point

Cmdr James wrote:

Maybe Im missing something here. I dont know anyone who likes the music, Eurovision is seen by everyone I know as a joke. The music, for EVERY country is bad.

The UK entry is not exactly popular music for the uk. If the competition were to showcase leading artists from each country, then it might be fun, and might represent differing tastes from areas in Europe. As it is, I really cannot see the point, the music is poor, mostly from second rate or worse acts, and certainly in the uk, I cannot imagine whoever was our entry selling more than a handful of records.

As Disembodied said, the only way to watch the show is drunk.

How anyone can care that there is corruption is beyond me, I thought that was kind of the point

QFT. I see it more as a way to get together with friends and have a few good laughs than anything else.

Cmdr James wrote:

How anyone can care that there is corruption is beyond me, I thought that was kind of the point

I can't disagree with you there, Cmdr James - but it does make you wonder whether the European Union is run in exactly the same way...

another_commander wrote:

QFT. I see it more as a way to get together with friends and have a few good laughs than anything else.

Must agree with this as well... However, I didn't watch the whole thing at all this year. Had far better time at our summer place without TV at all.

JohnnyBoy wrote:

Cmdr James wrote:

How anyone can care that there is corruption is beyond me, I thought that was kind of the point

I can't disagree with you there, Cmdr James - but it does make you wonder whether the European Union is run in exactly the same way...

Hmmm, I don't really see a connection between the European Union and a commercial Song Contest (the hype around which I've never understood, frankly I couldn't care less about the whole thing).