|
Post by Deleted on May 22, 2015 17:37:56 GMT
|
|
|
Post by patricklondon on May 23, 2015 17:38:43 GMT
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 23, 2015 18:00:25 GMT
Perfect Eurovision song.
Before the contest starts in one hour, the odds say:
1. Sweden 2. Russia 3. Italy 4. Belgium 5. Australia
The odds place Germany in last place (27).
Since the odds are (almost) always wrong, it will be interesting to see what happens.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 23, 2015 18:38:06 GMT
I had not heard the Swedish song, so I looked it up.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 23, 2015 22:52:30 GMT
And so, after slogging through this endless show, the final results are (surprise!):
1. Sweden 2. Russia 3. Italy 4. Belgium 5. Australia
It is actually quite rare for the odds to match the results. Tied for last place: Austria and Germany with zero points.
|
|
|
Post by lugg on May 25, 2015 18:37:09 GMT
I'd quite forgotten that Celine Dion won years ago. I listened to an interview with her last week and she was encouraging unknown singers to take part as she believes the contest acts as a springboard to future success ......
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 25, 2015 19:09:28 GMT
Well, just think of Abba. Often the singers in the contest are already big stars in their own country and it at least gives them a chance to see if they have any hope of a major international career.
|
|
|
Post by cheerypeabrain on May 26, 2015 8:52:22 GMT
Not the English contestants. As an English person I find the whole thing embarrassing and unrepresentative of the current popular culture. In the past 20-30 years the English Eurovision contestant is invariably somebody we've never heard of (and don't expect to hear of again after the event) No established or rising musician wants to take part...this morning on the news a popular 'recording artiste' said that Eurovision is regarded as a poisoned chalice.
In the 70s some well known astists took part and did quite well...but always people that were very 'uncool' in the opinion of my friends and I...
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2016 21:16:32 GMT
Time to prepare the Eurovision song contest for 2016. This year France has chosen Amir Haddad as its candidate.
For once, France will not be the only country singing in French because Austria has chosen a song in French as well -- but only if the singer can make it past the semi-finals.
|
|
|
Post by whatagain on Mar 12, 2016 21:34:43 GMT
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2016 21:40:59 GMT
That was the rule for a few years, but there were too many tiny countries using "rare" languages, so I do understand that they did not think it was fair to them. As far as I'm concerned, countries who sing in their own language should be awarded bonus points.
In any case, the rules have changed again this year. The "professional" vote has been separated from the vote by the public. So they will be giving the professional vote by each country first, and after that, the public vote will be factored in. This will at last make it extremely obvious when the public is voting for purely nationalistic reasons (the country next door) rather than for artistic reasons.
In any case, this is the first year in a long time that I think that France has a pretty good song.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 29, 2016 22:23:16 GMT
In the department of what haven't we done yet, the Belarus contestant Ivan wants to sing in the nude with live wolves on stage.
|
|
|
Post by cynthia on Mar 30, 2016 4:15:56 GMT
Obviously, a real artiste.
|
|
|
Post by amboseli on Mar 30, 2016 10:34:40 GMT
I quit watching when the televoting started ... many years ago!
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 30, 2016 12:08:53 GMT
That's what will make this year interesting. All of the professional votes will be given first and only at the end will they throw in the televoting results. This will allow everybody to see who should win as opposed to the country that will win.
|
|
|
Post by tod2 on Mar 31, 2016 16:55:44 GMT
I don't think they have heard of the Eurovision Song Contest here.... it's never in the news that I can remember. It's like it does not exist, yet in past years....when the Abba group were on the scene and a time thereafter, we did have it on our TV. Of course we possibly could tune in if you have cable.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2016 17:07:40 GMT
Australia even participated last year even though it is not a member of the EBU as far as I know, just because the contest is so wildly popular in that country. Israel is a member of the EBU and participates every year, and I also recall one year when Morocco was allowed to participate.
To reward you for your interest, here is this year's entry by the UK. They seem to be hoping that their song will put everybody to sleep so that they don't hear the other songs.
|
|
|
Post by tod2 on Apr 1, 2016 6:24:56 GMT
If they were judged on looks I think they would win! What clean shaven good-lookers!
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2016 14:27:46 GMT
Here is a horrible song from which we will be spared thank god, since Romania was tossed out of Eurovision this year for being more than 10 millions euros behind in payments. Transylvanian vampires looking for a bit of extra work will have to go elsewhere.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2016 14:36:20 GMT
The current favourite of the bookmakers is... Russia.
|
|
|
Post by tod2 on Apr 24, 2016 18:46:02 GMT
I think that could win...did you like it? I like the heavy dramatic beat and the uncluttered stage props.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 1, 2016 14:02:26 GMT
The average of 9 UK betting sites has the following result:
1. Russia 2. France 3. Sweden 4. Australia (that answers my question about whether Australia would be invited back) 5. Bulgaria 6. Malta 7. Latvia 8. Ukraine 9. Armenia 10. Serbia
Okay, so let's take a look a Sweden. (The songs are supposed to be a maximum of 3 minutes long, so you can ignore the first 30 seconds of the video.)
And here are our Australian friends:
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 4, 2016 16:50:31 GMT
For the first time in its 60 year history, the Eurovision song contest is going to be broadcast live in the United States on Viacom's Logo channel, which apparently is the gay channel. For people who don't receive Logo, it will be streamed live on www.logotv.com or as usual on www.eurovision.tv. Various political controversy is arising as the date approaches. The Eurovision live audience is generally a sea of flags, but quite a few flags have been banned -- Palestine, Kosovo, and also regional flags such as Wales, Scotland, the Basque country, Northern Cyprus and quite obviously ISIS, among others. The only accepted flags other than UN member countries are those of sexual minorities -- basically the rainbow flag. Then there is the matter of country maps. As each contestant is presented, there is usually a map outline to show where the country is located. Well, Crimea is still part of Ukraine on the maps. Russia is keeping its protest about this rather low key since it is the favourite to win in the betting odds. However, there are other odds besides the betting odds, and in the poll of all of the official Eurovision fan sites, while the top three are the same top three, the fans have voted France to have the best song, followed by Russian and then Australia. Generally, the fan sites are pretty good at predicting the winner since their members are sure to vote. Then again, the vote of the public only counts for 50% of the vote this year (compared to 100% in previous years), so anything is possible. I must report that Great Britain is among about 8 countries to have zero votes from the fan sites. Anyway, here is another sure loser this year -- Germany. And I might as well post the French entry again, since the "official" video is different from the one I posted before. It celebrates the upcoming Olympics at the same time.
|
|
|
Post by cynthia on May 5, 2016 5:38:38 GMT
DW Euromaxx had a feature on young Jamie Lee and seemed very enthusiastic and serious about her, but then they would. I stared at the program with my mouth hanging open, so amazed was I at her outfit and giddiness. Took me a couple of minutes to remember it was not April Fools Day.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 5, 2016 5:49:10 GMT
Don't you think the hat distracts from the costume?
|
|
|
Post by cynthia on May 5, 2016 6:07:29 GMT
The feature explained that her main costume inspiration is the Japanese comic book tradition, which I confess I had not previously fully appreciated.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 5, 2016 12:25:52 GMT
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 9, 2016 12:45:33 GMT
As we head into the final week, the British are beginning to fantasize about being well placed after having a successful first rehearsal in Stockholm. Their odds now stand at 25-to-1. France appears to have moved into first place with odds of 5-to-2. People genuinely like the song, and the British say that France might also garner sympathy votes after the terrorist attacks. Geopolitics plays a huge role in Eurovision in this century (it didn't use to) and Amir Haddad has quite a few trump cards -- born in Paris of a Tunisian father and a Moroccan mother, but the family moved to Israel when he was 8 years old. He was a contestant on Israeli Idol ( Kokhav Nolad), the first ever to audition in French while he was a dental student at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (that would explain the dazzling smile). Then he returned to France and participated in The Voice. Also, he is deaf in one ear. So here we have someone who can appeal to Arabs, to Jews, to dentists and to the handicapped. What more can you ask for?
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 9, 2016 12:51:50 GMT
It should be mentioned that there is a new dark horse coming up fast -- Ukraine's Jamala. I am mystified except for the geopolitical sympathy vote.
|
|
|
Post by bjd on May 9, 2016 13:19:31 GMT
I guess the Russians won't be voting for that one.
|
|