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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2016 18:44:30 GMT
Actually, the big Ukrainian population in Russia and the big Russian population in Ukraine generally insure that each country gives the other an excellent score.
Meanwhile, there is another thing to worry about: Justin Timberlake will be performing during the voting interlude. He has absolutely no reason to be there since he is not a European singer. With the event being broadcast in the US for the first time and JT on the marquee, there can be legitimate concern about the intervention of foreign powers who can obviously understand the millions that can be made out of the Eurovision contest. Next they'll be asking for commercial interruptions.
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2016 16:09:31 GMT
Looks like things are heating up, even more so since the Ukrainian singer is from Crimea. Can't wait to see the audience reaction. Final verdict tonight.
What will Justin Timberlake think about all of this? Maybe he'll have a wardrobe malfunction like he did with Janet Jackson.
Meanwhile, I quite liked the performance by the two presenters at the semi-finals making fun of the whole affair.
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2016 22:52:30 GMT
And so the happy pop world of the Eurovision song contest crowned a song about exile and death tonight, thanks to the vote of the public: Ukraine. Very interesting. I approve.
The professional juries of the 42 countries had chosen Australia.
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Post by bjd on May 15, 2016 6:17:40 GMT
Putin is having a hard time digesting his breakfast this morning. He will see this as a huge snub, of course.
I didn't watch it, but don't understand why Australia, Israel or Justin Timberlake are there -- this is supposed to be European kitsch.
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Post by tod2 on May 15, 2016 10:10:13 GMT
I liked the song 'You're The Only One" from Russia. I didn't like the winner at all.
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Post by patricklondon on May 15, 2016 10:41:03 GMT
I didn't watch it, but don't understand why Australia, Israel or Justin Timberlake are there -- this is supposed to be European kitsch. It was originally set up so that the European Broadcasting Union could have something to show some sort of return on the amount of money spent on enabling the then different TV systems to communicate with each other across (western) Europe. Then as it grew and the hosts (winners of the previous year) had to come up with bigger and better shows, it got potentially ruinously expensive for them (it was a running joke after Ireland won it several times in a row that they were going to have to put in an absolute stinker so they wouldn't have to do it again - inspiring one episode of Father Ted). More and more countries joined the technical network of the EBU, increasing costs, competition and status envy and pressures to take national advantage of the promotional platform it offers, and presumably, getting an Australian and a US network in will help to pay for it all. China have apparently been showing it as well. Just wait until Korea and Japan want to join in as well...... The days of "Can you hear me, Oslo?" are long gone.... My blog | My photos | My video clips"too literate to be spam"
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Post by bjd on May 15, 2016 10:48:56 GMT
Thanks for the information, Patrick. From what I read on the CBC, in the States it was shown on an LGBT channel, so rights were probably not as high as for the Superbowl.
Looking at the first video, the audience has certainly changed. I don't spot anyone with a funny costume.
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Post by amboseli on May 15, 2016 10:51:59 GMT
I did my very best to watch the show but 26 songs is just too long for me. The TV has been on all the time but I have been doing other things and haven't carefully listened. Of course I cheered for our Belgian participant Laura Tesoro. She was the first performer and she did a great job. I really liked her act. I didn't like the winning song at all. What I, as an older woman, liked best was Måns Zelmerlöw. I didn't even know he was last year's winner. Nice to look at ...
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Post by patricklondon on May 15, 2016 11:10:51 GMT
If I were being a boringly pedantic administrator, I'd suggest three elimination rounds of no more than 15 entrants each, the first three in each round to go through to the final to join the five "permanents" (they get that because they pay most in to the EBU). They could do the elimination rounds on video performances over several weeks, or make it like some of the classical music competitions that go on for a week or more. Either way, it would cut down the bloat of the final live concert. My blog | My photos | My video clips"too literate to be spam"
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2016 12:24:44 GMT
Israel, and Turkey (which is currently boycotting the Eurovision show just like Italy did for about 10 years) have always been members of the European institutions, which is where their affinities lie: song contest and sports federations. Of course when Israel won two years in a row, it broke their budget, so Sweden put on the show for them the following year. And if Australia had won, it is Germany that would have hosted next year's show, but this is strictly for reasons of time zones.
At least the voting now goes faster.
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Post by bjd on May 15, 2016 16:39:09 GMT
Either way, it would cut down the bloat of the final live concert.
I imagine the people who make the trip to wherever the final is being held are happy to see the whole thing.
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2016 16:54:15 GMT
Most of them actually spend all week there because there are 3 concerts to be seen -- the two semi-finals and the final. With 42 participating countries, they have to cut them back to "only" 26.
Six countries being qualified automatically -- the five dinosaurs + last year's winning country -- there are two shows with 18 songs to present the other countries. Televoting selects 10 out of 18 from each show.
Frankly, all of the money collected from the televoting must certainly help finance all of these shows quite a bit compared to olden times when only professional juries were used.
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2016 18:13:52 GMT
Here are the lyrics of the winning song:
When strangers are coming... They come to your house, They kill you all and say, We’re not guilty not guilty.
Where is your mind? Humanity cries. You think you are gods. But everyone dies. Don't swallow my soul. Our souls
Yaşlığıma toyalmadım Men bu yerde yaşalmadım Yaşlığıma toyalmadım Men bu yerde yaşalmadım
2 We could build a future Where people are free to live and love. The happiest time.
Where is your heart? Humanity rise. You think you are gods But everyone dies. Don't swallow my soul. Our souls.
Yaşlığıma toyalmadım Men bu yerde yaşalmadım Yaşlığıma toyalmadım Men bu yerde yaşalmadım
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Post by tod2 on May 16, 2016 17:20:04 GMT
I read that the singer composed the lyrics about an event that took place in 1944. Why are the Russians so miffed then...were they responsible? To tell you the truth I am not against protest songs or the like, but I thought the tune too dramatic ( to fit the lyrics of course) and boring. I know little about Eurovision but when ever I have heard about it the song that won seems upbeat and catchy. Like the Russian song - that was a catchy memorable tune. Too bad for them this time around.
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Post by Deleted on May 16, 2016 18:14:54 GMT
You're kidding, right?
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Post by bjd on May 16, 2016 18:49:48 GMT
I read that the singer composed the lyrics about an event that took place in 1944. Why are the Russians so miffed then...were they responsible?. Yes.
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Post by patricklondon on May 25, 2016 17:52:34 GMT
It draws on memories of Stalin's deportation of the Crimean Tatars, who were collectively deemed to have been pro-Nazi, or not sufficiently pro-Soviet: hence the non-English lyrics being in a Turkic language rather than the Slavic Ukrainian. Not surprisingly, those Crimean Tatars who were allowed to return were and are mostly opposed to the Russian takeover of Crimea, which is why Russia is now spitting tacks about it all. My blog | My photos | My video clips"too literate to be spam"
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Post by Deleted on Feb 9, 2017 22:15:28 GMT
Looks like France is aiming for last place in 2017. This is the song that has been selected to represent the country.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2017 17:47:00 GMT
Looks like the UK doesn't want to win either.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2017 17:48:47 GMT
If Italy wears the same suit, he'll get points just for that.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2017 17:49:55 GMT
But it looks like he has a lot of possible outfits. Frankly, this song is already growing on me.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 10, 2017 13:29:07 GMT
Things are getting better and better - Romania has chosen a yodeling rap song.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2017 18:52:21 GMT
There is a bit of a buzz about the Hungarian entry.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 27, 2017 17:10:59 GMT
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Post by Deleted on May 10, 2017 17:00:59 GMT
I watched the first round of semifinals last night and only 2 countries sang in their native language -- Portugal and Australia. In my opinion, the Portuguese song was the best of the evening, and luckily the singer qualified for the final.
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Post by Deleted on May 12, 2017 17:06:57 GMT
For the first time ever, I actually watched both semifinals on one of the more obscure channels in France. Watching the Eurovision final already requires more stamina than that of which most people are capable, so I can assure you that this was a major feat as far as I am concerned.
During the first semifinal, I picked just 5 of the 10 countries that qualified. However, for the second semifinal I incredibly picked 10 out of 10, so perhaps this means that if you hone your Eurovision skills you finally get it right.
As you all know, there are a total of 26 finalists. Besides the 20 countries that had to qualify in the semifinals, last year's winner (Ukraine) is automatically qualified and becomes the host country for the next contest, and 5 countries are automatically quaified no matter how bad their songs are: France, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, and Spain. Why? Because these countries are the ones that contribute the most money to the contest. (OMG, my tax money is paying for this thing!) I must admit that the stage looks great, even if I can't tell it apart from the stages for the last 5 or 6 years. But I am happy that the city of Kiev can shine for one night, since it has very little reason to shine most of the time.
So, my top 3 from the 20 first countries are: Portugal, Romania, Israel.
The official betting odds (which cover all 26 countries) are: Italy, Portugal, Sweden.
I posted links to the entries of Italy, Romania and Portugal above.
So here are Israel and Sweden:
One last thing to point out for the second semifinal -- 3 countries sang in their official language this time: Malta, Hungary and Belarus. Croatia sang in Italian and English.
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Post by Deleted on May 13, 2017 23:17:43 GMT
Well, what a surprise -- Portugal singlehandedly rehabilitated the Eurovision song contest tonight when it won by a landslide after submitting a song which went against the grain of nearly every song presented over the last 30 years. It is a devastatingly sad and slow song, the total opposite of the Eurovision formula.
I suppose it's a good thing that the "big five" pay for most of the contest, because Portugal was not even able to participate last year because they couldn't afford it, and now they'll be hosting next year's show. This is the first time they have ever won.
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Post by patricklondon on May 14, 2017 12:21:26 GMT
I can't be bothered to follow all the preparatory stages, let alone chase up the promo videos, and missed most of the first few on the night. But as soon as I heard it I thought the Portuguese song so marked an alternative that it stood a real chance, depending on the viewers' taste. If anything it was a real throwback to old-style "chanson". How many people remember this: My blog | My photos | My video clips"too literate to be spam"
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2017 12:52:38 GMT
I was reading that in the old days, all of the singers had to perform using the same live orchestra. That would certainly turn the event back into a singing/song contest instead of the electronic special effects extravaganza that it has become. Of course, nobody under the age of 60 would watch it.
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Post by whatagain on May 14, 2017 17:16:27 GMT
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