Eurovision Song Contest 2007 (Finland)

[Jules]

... but I really love Cyprus' song and not because they are our neighbours ...

Yeah lol. I wonder to whom Greece will be giving their 12 points this year.

[2099net]

Well, the reason Israel's in the Eurovision organization is, I would have thought, pretty obvious. They're a country surrounded by countries that - if not outright hate Israel's presence, are at best indifferent towards it's existence. Also, culturally Israel has little in common with its Middle East neighbours and more in common with Europe. I would suspect that the fact Israel is largely a country born from the ashes of World War II is also behind that decision.

Turkey may be in Europe physically, but at the moment it is not a member of the European Union, hence a lot of Europeans not truly accepting it as a European country. While some European countries decide to stay out of the EU for their own reasons, I understand Turkey has been rejected on Human Rights issues, but its progress will be re-evalued by the EU in a few years.

It seems that every other year, the Eurovision Song Contest gets bigger - mainly from former Eastern Block countries joining Europe. While it's fun for established countries to see the Eurovision Song Contest as a bit of camp entertainment, a lot of the new countries treat it very seriously. For them, it is a big symbol towards the freedom and democracy they have recently acquired. I was happy when the Ukraine won the contest in 2003. In fact, the singer of the winning song – Ruslana – helped to entertain and motivate the crowds during the country's "Orange Revolution" the following year where the people rebelled against an election they thought was fixed.

[Lars Vermundsberget]

Turkey is also for the most part not in Europe...

Maybe, maybe not. As a US citizen, and not a European citizen, I am one that fully believes Turkey is a part of Europe.

As you might have noticed, I was speaking for the most part in terms of geography. According to a world atlas most of Turkey is in Asia, only a small part in Europe. But apart from the fact that Turkey has had some problems lately dealing with certain human-rights issues and parts of their history, and therefore has problems entering the EU, I basically agree with your cultural and historical analysis.

Israel is, of course, much less, or not at all, part of Europe. But for historical and other reasons it does stand out from its neighbours at the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, to say the least...

As for Europe and the European Union (in another post): Norway, Iceland and Switzerland are not in the EU...

[Jules]

Hey guys! Today's the semi-final! Please vote for Malta (provided you like the song) so maybe we'll make it to the final.

If you don't, this will be the first Malta-less final in 17 years! And you don't want to be responsible for that sin, do you?

[Scabbie]

Well, vote for the Netherlands! Since they have semi-finals, we didn't get through to the final. Last year's song by Treble was really bad, but Glennis Grace in (I think) 2005 and Edsilia this year are great!

[PatrickvD]

Well, vote for the Netherlands! Since they have semi-finals, we didn't get through to the final. Last year's song by Treble was really bad, but Glennis Grace in (I think) 2005 and Edsilia this year are great!

Glennis Grace was awful. She thought she was friggin Whitney Houston. Especially when you name yourself Glennis Grace. And her song was incredibly forgettable. Treble was better, but still far from good. Hemel en Aarde was the last truly good song we sent.

Or maybe I just have high standards and expectations. I'll be watching tonight, but usually to laugh myself crazy like there's no tomoroow due to the poor music and performances. Holland isn't making the finals anyway.

sorry for being so pessimistic, but this show is not about music anymore.

[Scabbie]

I really liked Glennis Grace. But Hemel en Aarde was much better, indeed.

[2099net]

Well, its good to see Tony Blair announce his resignation today, two days before the ESC voting. I'm sure the news that he is leaving will enable the UK to get some votes that may have been witheld before on political grounds.

[Scabbie]

Netherlands not in the final.... again. All ten qualifiers are from the East and Central Europe: Serbia, FYR Macedonia, Slovenia, Moldova, Georgia, Belarus, Turkey and Bulgaria.
I think the EBU should have another look at the current system. Televoting is bad... we should go back to a jury.

[PatrickvD]

Netherlands not in the final.... again. All ten qualifiers are from the East and Central Europe: Serbia, FYR Macedonia, Slovenia, Moldova, Georgia, Belarus, Turkey and Bulgaria.
I think the EBU should have another look at the current system. Televoting is bad... we should go back to a jury.

I'm all for Simon Cowell. That should teach those eastern european countries to send people who actually have talent.

[Jules]

Malta didn't qualify for the final. This is first Malta-less Eurovision final in 17 years! Sooooob!

And to make matters worse ... I've been hearing that with this dire result (Malta's all time Eurovision worst) we will not be able to participate in next year's contest.

Is it true?

[castleinthesky]

Ewww, Belarus. Please, that dictatorship nation should be disqalified for that reason.

[Dottie]

And there we go again! The Eastern European countries giv their points to their neighbors and all the other states are left out.

And I won't be able to see it again this year, since a friend of mine invited me to his birthday party.
Well, it won't be that great anyway. It hasn't been for many years.

[Lars Vermundsberget]

Malta didn't qualify for the final. This is first Malta-less Eurovision final in 17 years! Sooooob!

And to make matters worse ... I've been hearing that with this dire result (Malta's all time Eurovision worst) we will not be able to participate in next year's contest.

Is it true?

According to what I hear, it's also going to be Norway-less...

[Jules]

According to what I hear, it's also going to be Norway-less...

That's right.

That's it! From now on, I am no longer taking the Eurovision seriously! Malta had a good song, and we should have made it to the final. But the with the EBU's crappy voting system ... of course, only the ex-USSR countries get through!

If only here in Malta we don't love the Eurovision so much, I'd say we just pull out of it, the same way as Italy. If voting always has to be such a mediocre affair, with good songs being left out, then it's not worth our energy.

[2099net]

Well, its all over, bar the voting. And another good show. Well done Finland - once again a professional and well produced. Apart from the horrible pink woman! (Who was not our Pink Renata, because we all know Renata is delightful!)

Our Tel said it was awful, but I rather liked the French entry. Sadly, the presentation of the song was appalling, but I liked the song. It was different and didn't really sound like any other. I may be going out on a limb, but I think it was my favourite of the competition (sound only).

I liked Hungry's Unsubstantial Blues, but that probably suffered from poor presentation. I also liked Sweden's tribute to glam rock. I actually thought I was Sam Tyler and had awoken in 1973 watching that!

Finland's entry seemed a little odd. Somewhat... depressing? But it warmed on me by the end.

Our Scooch did well, but I was surprised to see the two backing singers. I don't think Scooch will do well I think, but will only come somewhere in the top 5.

The problem is a lot of the songs are somewhat generic - both in format and presentation. Its a song contest, but its also Eurovision. A noticable casulty of this was Ireland - who despite having a perfectly fine, traditional song looked somewhat dead and static on screen.

I think this year's entries were probably better quality on the whole, and a numbe of the songs would grow on a listener, but I feel last year's had more songs with instant appeal, even if technically they weren't as good.

You can view videos of all the songs here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/eurovision/ ... ntestants/

[2099net]

Oh dear. Poor Scooch. Its not looking good. TONY BLAIR has resigned! You can vote for us now Europe with a clean conscious!

Will it be UK - nul points?

[Scabbie]

Oh dear. Poor Scooch.

Did you like Scooch? I thought it was one of the worst songs in the final. I'm glad Serbia won and not Ukraine... and it was good to see Edsilia giving the 12 points from the Netherlands.

[2099net]

Oh dear. Poor Scooch.

Did you like Scooch? I thought it was one of the worst songs in the final. I'm glad Serbia won and not Ukraine... and it was good to see Edsilia giving the 12 points from the Netherlands.

I did actually. I thought it was a nice, jaunty happy song. And it had a good visual presentation too. My favourite song was probably the French one, but the performers were just looked terrible. I also liked Ireland's traditional ballard, it would have done well in the competition 10 or so years ago, but the stilted performance just doesn't cut it today (and it was, sadly, last)

And you know, I know that they said that there was a lot of UK fans at the venue, but I'm sure Scooch got one of the... if not the... loudest applauses after their performance. I really did think that they did well.

While I can understand some people don't like the campness of the Eurovision, you can't say it was worse than Ukraine's pantomime performance?

[Billy Moon]

Well, its all over, bar the voting. And another good show. Well done Finland - once again a professional and well produced. Apart from the horrible pink woman!

She's a stand up comedienne, who's quite popular in Finland and has her own TV talk show. She's not really like that, it's her TV character...