Eurovision Song Contest - Moscow, 2009

[Mooky]

Funny, I thought there'd be a new ESC thread by now...

Anyway, our entry for this year is being completely overplayed here and it's slowly but surely starting to grate my nerves, which is kinda shame because it's not a bad song. Anyone else feel the same about their country's entry? Or, just generally, what are your thoughts about this year's show, other songs (in case you've heard them), new voting rules and anything else you want to talk about.

Btw, this is B&H's entry for this year. The band's called Regina and the song's called "Bistra voda" ("Clear water").

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[Jules]

Yay! Someone made a Eurovision thread! I was going to make one myself, like two months ago, but decided it was too cliche for me to start it, so I waited for someone else - who turned out to be YOU!

Anyways ... Malta's entry is being underplayed here, and Chiara got a crappy video. And, shamefully, I haven't heard any other Eurovision song yet aside from Turkey and the UK. And now I'm gonna check out the link mooks provided and find out if B&H have served up another Pokucaj or a more, er ... conventional entry.

Oh, and I liked last year's Pokucaj (though everybody I talked to thought I was bonkers for doing so, including our resident ichabod )

Just to refresh some people's memories .... teehee:

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[Mooky]

It's not "Pokucaj" (which means "Knock"), it's "Pokušaj" ("Try"). But memory serves you well nonetheless...

[Jules]

Oops ...

Well, at least I remember it's pronounced "Paw Coo Shy".

[Mooky]

Yay!!! You got that right!

[2099net]

I've just found out the date of this, and I'll be at my parents. Sorry, Julian, no DVD recording as a result. But Wogan's not doing it this year anyway.

Not sure if I'll be able to see it or not. My parents aren't keen on it and frankly since the Athens hosted event in 2006(?) I've not been that impressed with the contest - that's no slight on the various hosting countries, but the quality of the songs. It may be worth watching though because (a) we could have another Athens and (b) its the first time for Graham Norton to host for the BBC, and his style will be radically different to Wogan's I feel.

[2099net]

Russia supports Jade?
http://blogs.thestage.co.uk/tvtoday/200 ... index.html

Well, personally I think our Andrew Lloyd Webber penned entry is poor (Jade sings more than well enough, but the actual song is bland, and it is supposed to be a song contest) it looks like the UK has actually got a clue this year, by promoting the song and singer in Europe before the contest starts.

[Jules]

Well, personally I think our Andrew Lloyd Webber penned entry is poor.

You take that back! If Jade's song is poor, then our Chiara's stinks! (and let's face it, it's not exactly the most riveting of musical compositions, gngngngngn ...) The song is perhaps rather traditional and not the most innovative, but as a musician I do feel it succeeds in its melodic progressions, and Jade's voice kicks ass. By the way, I'm tired of seeing the Big 4 in the bottom ten. I hope they place better this year (though I haven't heard the Spanish, French or German songs).

So who's going to watch the semifinal tonight?

And Scaps, I'm still waiting for you to chime in with a "Is it that time of year again!?" comment or something of the sort. *winks*

Oh, and netty, some days ago the local media said that Norton had an accident of some sort. I hope he'll be able to comment fine for the BBC!

[2099net]

He fell got drunk and fell down some stairs at the BAFTA TV Awards after show party or something. But he's OK. His weekly chat show was still filmed as normal. I think he wore a neck brace for a few days, but it was never on TV.

[Jules]

The results are in! Both Bosnia and Herzegovina and Malta qualify for the finals! Yeah!

[Mooky]

Woo hoo! All the songs I liked (except Switzerland's) made it to the finals!

[Wonderlicious]

Oooh, I'm watching it right now. Yes, it really is a whole load of camp crap, but everybody really loves Eurovision deep down inside.

Breaking tradition (due to not being in the UK this year), I'm watching it on the German TV channel Das Erste. It's commentary is less sarcastic, but needless, the odd entries are comedic enough. The Swedish entry was a truly indescribable experience.

I have to say that the French entry is really good. I am gonna phone-vote at least twice (ya know, the bias for Britain and the luck of being abroad at a crucial moment ), and the French will get a vote or two. I'm glad to see that it's now a mix of phone-vote and jury this year. Hopefully the winner this year thus won't be from an eastern country - no offence meant at all by that; it's just that the past six or seven Eurovisions have been quite predictable.

[Dottie]

I'm watching too and so far I really liked Portugal, Iceland was okay, France, Malta and one or two more I've forgot.

But overall the entries are better this year than during the last years. Many of the people who performed this year can actually sing.

[Wonderlicious]

Dottie, was halst du vom Lied Deutschlands? Es war doch ziemlich gut jedoch habe ich gedacht, dass es auch ganz und gar verrückt und kitschig war.

Translation: Dottie, what do you think of the German song? It was in fact pretty good, however I thought that it was also completely and utterly crazy and camp.

There's been less campy entries and silly costumes this year though. The French and the German ones are probably my faves (the latter mainly down to its intentional comedic factor; it was probably funnier than Guildo). I have to say that I also like the UK entry, mainly because it's from the UK and for once, I could vote for it.

I'm watching the interval show at the moment - it's kinda strange and sensual, I must say.

[Dottie]

I didn't really like the German song, the best thing about it was Dita, but then again, it was not as bad as some other stuff up on that stage.

The UK's entry was a welcome change to the oriental techno beats, but I just don't get why Norway won! I hated the song. The singer looks ridiculous, the song is horrible, but at least Norway can at least pay for the Song Contest

[Jules]

Oh Dottie! Germany had the coolest song of the night! Shame you guys didn't place well.

Anyways, most of the songs tonight were pretty much excellent. Azerbaijan had the worst, imo. It stank worse than fresh dog's droppings.

[Mooky]

Meh, it wasn't that bad this year... I don't particularly care for the winning song, but it sure beats Turkey's or Azerbaijan's. Portugal was my favorite, it's a shame such simple but beautiful songs don't have a chance at winning. And they made a huge deal about the new voting system and it pretty much stayed the same.

[Loomis]

It was all ballady stuff...but I thought the Greek one was pretty fun. Estonia I like, but purely on a visual level

[2099net]

I was very disappointed by this year's contest. Most of the songs were too bland - not particularly bade, but just with nothing to make them stand out from the crowd. And I include the UK entry in that - really, can anybody hum the tune now, without thinking about it?

And how Norway did so well is beyond me - while it wasn't awful, it was far, far from the best. I guess the "cute" singer won many over, but to me he seemed to shout it more than sing it.

Personally, I liked Israel's entry the best, mainly for the percussion I suppose, but I found it instantly memorable. I think that they should have won.

I'm sort of pleased after seeing Russia's hosting that the UK didn't win. No way on Earth would we have put a fraction of the money in that Russia did. Did you see the stage? It was amazing, as was the whole venue itself... I've never seen such a large audience at a Eurovision. To be honest, Russia's entry was good enough that I wondered before the voting began if they would win the contest again.

BTW, the Greek entry was clearly sung by the Greek John Barrowman. And I thought nobody on the planet could match Barrowman for vanity and arrogance!