Originally Posted By mawnck I've been amiss in not posting this sooner. If you have never seen the Eurovision Song Contest, you have not lived. It's a kind of "Battle of the Bands" thing in which countries from all over Europe each send one 3-minute song from one specially chosen musical act, and they compete for the honor of being the most musically awesome country in Europe. The thing has been going on since 1956. It's one of the most-watched non-sports events in the world, and it features some of the most stupefyingly bizarre songs, singers, costumes, hosts, sets, and TV production you will ever experience. Past winners have included an Israeli transsexual, and a Finnish heavy metal band in monster makeup. (Yes, Israel is a participating country. Long story.) Although most of the songs are pure Euro-Velveeta (or Euro-Dance, or Euro-Folk or whatever) and don't even get released in the US, the contest did give us: "Volare" "Love Is Blue" "Waterloo" (Abba's win in 1974 was the contest's finest hour) "Save Your Kisses For Me" "Eres Tu" "Just a Little Bit" by Gina G Celine Dion (representing Switzerland (?) in 1988) Olivia Newton-John ("Long Live Love" - A song so horrible that her American record company still refuses to acknowledge its existence, although it came in 4th. The only reason she lived it down was it was the same year Abba won. It's all over YouTube if you're interested.) Riverdance (it was a time-filler act one year when the contest was in Ireland) The contest, created to bring Europe together after the war, has created more controversies and ill-will among European neighbors than just about any other non-military activity besides the Olympics. The current big stink is over the recent proliferation of Eastern European countries in the contest, each with the same number of votes, which they tend to award to each other. (The contest organizers counter that Western Europe's recent entries have mostly sucked, and it's kind of hard to argue. Last year England sent "Flying the Flag for You", a ridiculous dance-pop song by a group dressed as airplane stewards/stewardesses. The group was called Scooch.) The point awarding ceremony itself is a half-hour-plus of loopy, tension-packed television the likes of which you'll never find elsewhere, as local TV hosts from each participating country beam in their point awards via rather shaky satellite feeds. Nobody in the US carries this thing on TV (it has no commercial breaks), but decent raw network feeds can be found free on the official website, <a href="http://www.eurovision.tv" target="_blank">http://www.eurovision.tv</a> . Most of the MC-ing and point-awarding is in English. The final is live tomorrow, Saturday May 24th, at Noon Pacific, and will be available as free video-on-demand after that. Among the competitors are a bunch of Latvian pirates ("With a hii hii hoo and a hii hii hey! We‘re hoisting the flag to be free. We will steal the show, Jolly Rogers go. We are wolves of the sea" - actual lyrics), a 75-year-old rapper from Croatia in a sort of Godfather-influenced number, and a Spanish -- oh, I can't even describe it. Just watch. Both semi-finals are also available free on-demand, the first of which contains an Irish puppet named Dustin the Turkey, who sings a wild dance number about how nobody's been voting for the Irish acts recently. (He didn't make the final.) Don't even get me started on the outfits. Really. You MUST see this at least once. 300,000,000 Europeans can't be wrong. PS - Readers in Europe please note - Almost nobody in the US has even heard of this contest, believe it or not. We don't even know who Bucks Fizz is.
Originally Posted By mawnck PPS - To watch the streams, you'll need to install this plug-in first. It's harmless, and can be removed after the show is over: <a href="http://www.octoshape.com/play/play.asp" target="_blank">http://www.octoshape.com/play/play.asp</a> I'm sorry to report that the Mac versions are pretty buggy, and may require some wrestling with Flip4Mac and Quicktime. If watching live on a Mac, allow extra time to tune in.
Originally Posted By Inspector 57 THANK YOU for that post, mawnck!!! I knew that ABBA had begun their global domination by winning something called "Eurovision," but I never really knew what Eurovision was. VERY informative! Thanks again!
Originally Posted By LindsayC Well it has to be said there is nothing quite like Eurovision! Eurovision parties will be held tonight and a huge amount of alcohol will be consumed (which is actually the only way to get through it) the voting is by far and away the best part and true colours shown. It amazes me some of the dross that the UK puts forward (the aforementioned Scooch was enough to send me behind the sofa) - but we will always be in it - we don’t take part in the semi-finals - we are permanent I think! And I can’t believe no-one knows Bucks Fizz - their dress ripping routine for Making Your Mind Up is embedded in our culture!
Originally Posted By mawnck One of the things that led me to look into this Eurovision thingy was the discovery of a UK Bucks Fizz 45 at a thrift store (something other than Making Your Mind Up). The more I read, the worse I wanted to see it. Now we have the technology. PS - it starts in 12 minutes. Get that plug-in installed NOW.
Originally Posted By mawnck The direct link to the live stream (won't work without that plugin) <a href="http://127.0.0.1:6498/ms/asf/esc08.high/ESC08high" target="_blank">http://127.0.0.1:6498/ms/asf/e...SC08high</a>
Originally Posted By mawnck OMG - the first two minutes alone are worth the trouble of installing the plug-in ....
Originally Posted By mawnck Well, those who were complaining about Eastern Europe hogging all the points just got a ton of new ammo from this year's results. Some countries are already making noises about quitting. If you do want to see it, now's a good time. There may not be a next year. I should probably mention that there is a lot of GOOD music at this event too (although many haters won't admit it). And the host and hostess were especially hopeless this year, which always makes things more fun.
Originally Posted By u k fan Greece was robbed! The political voting is hilarious. IMHO, any song that get's in the top 3 without being from eastern block country should have won. Mind you I wanted the Pirates to win! The UK came a well predicted last. The song was well performed, but not good enough to win with or without the dodgy voting, IMHO. Good old Scooch - "Something to suck on for landing, sir?"!!!
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Oh my god, the Latvian pirates were the worst. I liked the Russian, Georgian, Turkish, Finish, British and Akebejan entries. France was also fun too. And as always, lot's of hotties - Greece, Ukraine and a few others too. Some serious, some camp, but great fun. Shame it's gone sooooo political over the last 10 years. And I still cannot believe Spain did so well, yet the excellent UK number was snubbed. I am a closet Eurovision fan by far.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo And I think Eurovision has to answer for some of the more dodgey DLP offerings (Toon Circus, Carnival and Need Magic anyone?)
Originally Posted By mawnck I haven't seen anything in the European press about this, and I'm sure I'm risking the ire of the mods by even going here, but do you think that the UK entrant's race had anything to do with it? Has a person of African descent EVER done well in the contest? Because while it wasn't the greatest song ever, it WAS a spectacular performance (and I came to this conclusion without Terry Wogan, who was not on the internet feed). It was certainly at least a hundred points better than that German disaster it was tied with for last place. I guess if a majority of the judges refuse to vote for anything other than Bouzouki, then not even the Beatles would stand a chance.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo I think race could have had something to do with it. In my experience, there is a lot of racism both in Ireland and also in Eastern Europe. A real shame. I forgot, I also really liked Israel's entry (even if they are not European).
Originally Posted By mawnck Oh, you were answering my question - I thought you had posted it before I asked. Jeez, I need to wake up.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo You just read my head mawnck. Latvia had aweful music, but great costumes. And I wonder if that lady with the frilly blouse has a big backache - wow!!!
Originally Posted By mawnck But the cutest hottie on the show, says Mawnck = The girl who called in the point totals from Azerbaijan. Hubba hubba!
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo She was very nice. Mmmmmmm, there are so many hotties in Eurovision, for men, women, and very popular with alternative lifestyles too. Something for everyone!
