Ickelpete Posted March 18, 2007 Posted March 18, 2007 Its so embarassing to be from the UK when we put bands like this through especially when one of the other options was Justin Hawkins from the Darkness Quote
Dreamweb Posted April 8, 2007 Posted April 8, 2007 Here's the Polish entry, I personally think it's crap. The band's called "The Jet Set" and the song's called "Time To Party". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vc8wkql3Jw What's even more interesting, the lass who sings is Russian and the lad who sings is British... But they represent Poland anyway :) I think Eurovision's quality is poor in general, but I liked Lordi and last year's Lithuanian band who sang "We are the winners of Eurovision"... But most of the bands who take part in it are really crap. But I watch it every year anyway :) Quote
Dfenz Posted April 9, 2007 Posted April 9, 2007 Right I'm going to get this off my chest as its being bugging me for some years now. In my view the Eurovision has gone down a lot as a TV spectacle in recent years. It is noticeably more difficult for smaller countries that are not part of particular power blocks to win especially since the introduction of newer countries from the former Soviet block. The big problem is the televoting system. This affects not only the contest itself but how songs are selected. For many recent years the Irish public voted which song to send over to the Eurovision. The main problem with this approach is that certain demographics are more likely to vote using text or mobiles and these tend to be younger people ,especially young girls. This means a boy band or solo artist is more likely to get selected with a woeful song than a more traditional tune that actually has a melody. When Ireland won the Eurovision three times in a row a few years back we had a special selection process that narrowed down the choice to 8 songs which was a wide enough selection to choose from to guarantee a shot at the contest. I for one would like to see a reversion to that system. As for the contest itself - well we've always had the Greece/Cyprus voting pact. But in recent years its got so bad I think the credibility of the contest is at stake. I accept that many of the new entrants speak a common language and this might make it easier to give votes to a neighbour but this love thy neighbour approach has gone too far with all the top marks being carved out frequently between Baltic or Balkans states. The televoting process does not allow people to vote for their own countries but this doesn't factor into account large migrant communitites working just across borders thar are free to vote for their home countries. Furthermore mobile phone networks can be accessed from more than one country so for example there are people near the border with Northern Ireland that could dial into the UK networks and give a vote to Ireland and vice versa. I can only imagine that the position could be even worse in countries with more land borders. I believe the general public is likely to vote along national flag lines than a specialist jury. That's not to say that good songs don't come from one of the power blocks - there are many good songs and if I recollect correctly we gave douze points to Lordi last year (more likely because it was a song that people remembered when it came to voting than because of its musical composition) it just makes it more likely that countries outside of these zones, e.g. Ireland will face relegation battles year in year out even if the song deserves a higher placing. I for one am prepared to accept a certain amount of neighbourly voting but if the show continues on the path taken over the past few years I can see viewers like me getting fed up with it. The best part of the show over the years has often been the unpredictible nature of the voting. If the voting gets predictible with only minor points in play the biggest draw will cease to exist. David Quote
phoinix Posted April 9, 2007 Author Posted April 9, 2007 As for the contest itself - well we've always had the Greece/Cyprus voting pact. But in recent years its got so bad I think the credibility of the contest is at stake. I accept that many of the new entrants speak a common language and this might make it easier to give votes to a neighbour but this love thy neighbour approach has gone too far David well dear David i agree with a lot of which you say but Greece and Cyprus voting for each other is not just about being neighbours or speak the same language We have the same artists! Anna Vissi the singer that reprisented Greece last year is from Cyprus and Korgialas the composer of the Cypriot song "comme ci comme ca" is from Greece!and Sarbel representind Greece this year is also from Cyprus!! So you see this isnt just a matter of friendly voting! Also many other countries vote for each other like the ex-Yougoslavia countries and the ex-Soviet union coountries...and even Ireland and the UK vote for each other! But everybody only remembers Greece and Cyprus without knowing that we have a common history cultuar and we are the only 2 countries in the world that speak Greek! So i agree with a lot of your comments but cyprus and Greece are a whole other story! I also dont understand why many countries (including my own) now sing in english or french or even italian and not in their native language! isnt this what this contest should be about? learning about other countries cultur? and i also dont understand why the "big 4" france the UK Germany and Spain are in the final every year! when the rest of the countries have to compete to win a place in the final... there are many things wrong with this contest nowadays...but hey its supposed to be just for fun.. its just a bit difficult to remember that some times... Quote
Dfenz Posted April 9, 2007 Posted April 9, 2007 [ there are many things wrong with this contest nowadays...but hey its supposed to be just for fun.. its just a bit difficult to remember that some times... Exactly my point. The best bit about the contest is not the songs - many of which are absolute rubbish and frequently reside in a Eurovision time warp. Anyone looking at the You Tube videos in isolation would wonder what the fuss is all about!! In my view the attraction has always been the voting and its unpredictability. No matter how bad a song is, some country will muster enough support from a far outpost of Europe to get the douze points. That's the fun bit. Its just that in the last year or two the voting has become far more predictable especially when it comes to one of the two main voting blocks, i.e. Balkans and Baltics. As far as Greece and Cyprus are concerned I'm sure the voting history speaks for itself However, it didn't matter too much when only a handful of countries played love thy neighbour. As far as the UK/Ireland goes there is a bit of history there that actually forces the UK to work a little harder for votes from many members of the Irish public. I don't recall the UK getting too many 12s from Ireland but then again in recent years the UK hasn't picked up too many votes from anywhere never mind a douze points. Anyway I'll be tuning in again this year - its almost a family ritual at that stage irrespective of the quality of the songs (or more likely because of the lack thereof) David Quote
Brainbox Posted April 24, 2007 Posted April 24, 2007 I don't recall the UK getting too many 12s from Ireland but then again in recent years the UK hasn't picked up too many votes from anywhere never mind a douze points. That's because we're rubbish. I know it's a bit of fun, but every year, we proceed to pick the worst entrant. For example: Scooch. I'm sorry... Quote
phoinix Posted May 2, 2007 Author Posted May 2, 2007 8 days left for the semi-final next thursday..time flies!! have you picked a favorite yet? mine is still Bulgaria..! and Cyprus ofcourse!! ;-) Quote
Brainbox Posted May 2, 2007 Posted May 2, 2007 I (regrettably) caught a bit of Scooch performing on Blue Peter today as I was flicking channels. All I can say is 8- Quote
phoinix Posted May 6, 2007 Author Posted May 6, 2007 this is another one of my favorite songs this year Georgia! http://youtube.com/watch?v=E97ZfemlQfQ great video!! and this is from their rehearsal at Helsinki http://esctoday.com/multimedia/showVid.php?id=682_NdzfYw0 and this video is from the Cyprus rehearsal http://youtube.com/watch?v=ca65c-WZDKQ the rehearsal videos do not show how the song will appear on camera on that night but give a general view of the graphics costums lights choreography and presentation.. Enjoy my fellow europeans! Quote
Brainbox Posted May 6, 2007 Posted May 6, 2007 |-/ Eurovision has caused the next episode of Doctor Who to be postponed a week. Sacrilige! Quote
phoinix Posted May 6, 2007 Author Posted May 6, 2007 |-/ Eurovision has caused the next episode of Doctor Who to be postponed a week. Sacrilige! doctor who, who? 8-| no i really dont know this show... anyways this is an once a year event.. ;-) most of "the big 4" countries (germany UK france spain) dont really pay much attention to this contest anymore..so they usually send songs like the schooch one which-sorry-but i find redicilus! the big 4 are always in the final while the other countries have to give a fight at the semifinal or be in the top 10 of last years results.. |-/ Quote
Wout Posted May 7, 2007 Posted May 7, 2007 Edsilia Rombly is going to Helsinki for the netherlands this week. It would be a miracle if we're going to the final, not because she's a bad singer or the song would be bad, just because there are not lands who standard vote for the netherlands. For example: Turkey always get 12 points from Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium and France, no matter how good or bad the song is, because people who were immigrated from Turkey always vote for Turkey. The Scandinavian lands always give eachother points, The east- europian lands always give points to their neighbours. *wacko* It's politics and it's no fun anymore :-( Quote
phoinix Posted May 7, 2007 Author Posted May 7, 2007 i have to agree with you Wout.. The ex-Yougoslavic countries vote for each other The ex-USSR countries do the same The scandinavic countries support each other the medideranian countries like Malta Greece and Cyprus support each other.. but i think that with a good enough song all these cane be over-run When Greece won in 2005 they couldnt have done it if they didnt get votes from all the countries.. the medireranian block isnt strong enough to make them win.. Same goes for Finland last year!they got votes from countries that never used to vote for finland.. it might take some help from friendly countries to be in the top ten but to win this thing you have to get votes from everyone.. I voted for the Netherlands last year and i dont live close to you ;-) and here is a "funny" bit from the Netherland presentor of the votes.. and what he said to the presentor Sakis Rouvas during last years contest in Athens http://youtube.com/watch?v=6fZNh9OJHGA kind of funny but not very polite... :-/ Quote
Wout Posted May 8, 2007 Posted May 8, 2007 I voted for the Netherlands last year and i dont live close to you ;-) and here is a "funny" bit from the Netherland presentor of the votes.. and what he said to the presentor Sakis Rouvas during last years contest in Athens http://youtube.com/watch?v=6fZNh9OJHGA kind of funny but not very polite... :-/ Thank you! :-) Yes, Paul de Leeuw (sort of stand-upcomedian/Cabaretier and presentor) became famous in the Netherlands for not being polite. In the early '90s he was still worser. But sometimes he's really funny. And he's one of the less Dutch who still loves the Eurovision and works for it. Quote
phoinix Posted May 10, 2007 Author Posted May 10, 2007 ok my fellow eyropeans the semi big day has arrived! tonight is the eurovision 2007 semi-final! 28 countries are fighting for 10 places in the final!! cant wait for it! (i am a big eurovision junky as you understand) here is the list of the countries with order of appearence http://www.eurovision.tv/content/view/545/281/ click on each country for details! so tune in sit back and enjoy! eat drink laugh and have a good time!! (and please dont forget to vote for Cyprus :-$ ;-) we really need your vote to get to the final!!) Quote
snefroe Posted May 10, 2007 Posted May 10, 2007 this is from belgium: love power it's got this "Earth Wind & Fire" thing all over the place, it's a nice pop song, but that's it. maybe people will notice this song for two reasons: 1) Eurosong is always created around this "feel good" atmosphere, lots of kitch, disco and bubble gum music of unknown people who usually disappear as fast as they came. Perfect match, i'd say 2) Usually, countries send songs similar to songs that did brillianly the year before; Three years back or so there was this weird "world music" formula that did pretty well, like Urban Trad, so everybody did something simular the year after. Last year we had the extravagant rock song of Lordi and now many countries do something like that as well, so maybe the belgian thing will be noticed this year just because it's different. also, we are number 24 out of 28, that's pretty late in the show, and people may just as well remember it when they have to vote. It would be a miracle if we're going to the final, not because she's a bad singer or the song would be bad, just because there are not lands who standard vote for the netherlands.For example: Turkey always get 12 points from Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium and France, no matter how good or bad the song is, because people who were immigrated from Turkey always vote for Turkey. you're right, i think there are two processes against us, belgians and dutch: neighbouring countries very often do give points to each other because they're related as countries and cultures (like Skandinavia). offcourse, we belgians and dutch always seem to have this weird "love-hate" relationship that forbids us to vote for each other :-| especially in the Balkans and with Turkey, it's the problem of mixed populations; Eurosong hasn't been able to find a solution for that, and i'm not even sure if they're interested in the problem. They probably will, once France, UK and Germany decide to no longer finance the show... Quote
phoinix Posted May 10, 2007 Author Posted May 10, 2007 Belgium is a great up-disco pop song! good luck to you Sne! hope to see you in the final! the trouble of voting gets harder and harder each year... ex-yougoslavia and the ex-USSR have turned into so many countries and they keep voting political for each other.. eurovision is so un-predictable these days.. you never know who will win beilive it or not my friends Ukraine is the new big favorite!here is the song http://youtube.com/watch?v=HHR491s3iSw Quote
snefroe Posted May 10, 2007 Posted May 10, 2007 Belgium is a great up-disco pop song!good luck to you Sne! hope to see you in the final! the trouble of voting gets harder and harder each year... ex-yougoslavia and the ex-USSR have turned into so many countries and they keep voting political for each other.. eurovision is so un-predictable these days.. you never know who will win beilive it or not my friends Ukraine is the new big favorite!here is the song http://youtube.com/watch?v=HHR491s3iSw thanks! hope we do good, but i think we were the favorite last year and we didn't get into the top 10, so i'll shut up now... :-X we are getting alienated from the show, that's for sure. Georgia, Ukraine, ...? no idea they were European :-| Quote
DoubleT Posted May 10, 2007 Posted May 10, 2007 Its not the Eurovision song contest any more.. Its the EastEurovision song contest..... The East mafia strikes again..... Im not saying it because Denmark did not go to the final, but damn many of the songs that did really really SUCKED :-X He he just my two cent.. Quote
snefroe Posted May 10, 2007 Posted May 10, 2007 i just heard the 10 winners! belgium isn't among them, but half of the balkans, turkey and asia, like Georgia is... :-| g... we really didn't see that one coming... :-| Quote
phoinix Posted May 10, 2007 Author Posted May 10, 2007 ok i am a bit ( A LOT) angry right now... i will just point you to this article.. http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/8641 goodnight... Quote
DoubleT Posted May 10, 2007 Posted May 10, 2007 I really think we should leave the show for East Europe.... Lets all vote for England, France, Sweden, Spain, Finland... It wont help... but hell... Im Thinking WestEuropean Eurobricks Song Contest.... Quote
snefroe Posted May 11, 2007 Posted May 11, 2007 I really think we should leave the show for East Europe....Lets all vote for England, France, Sweden, Spain, Finland... It wont help... but hell... Im Thinking WestEuropean Eurobricks Song Contest.... "let's all vote for England"? have you heard that song, tt? it's awful! :-X :-P 1) i think all western countries scream very loud after yet another loss in this game. Last year the dutch threathened to leave the show all together. Belgians are usually unhappy because they normally never get qualified anyway, very often thinking they did have a good song... :-| But in the end, they always send some one, because the preselections in Flanders to find a potential candidate is a very interesting commercial event with more than a million people watching and voting for 5 or 6 Sundays in a row. You have to be pretty stupid as a tv-channel to let this go... 2) the eurosong freaks here in Belgium got 7-8 out of the 10 right, so all in all, these countries probably did have better songs. I know the belgian performance was far from perfect and i remember from last year that that performance wasn't perfect either. the thing is, to these countries in the east, this show is what it used to be for us: a competition with lots of prestige, a national moment of pride, so they're spending quite a lot of money and effort in it, not only to produce the song but also to get the entire society behind it. For us, Westerners, it's just yet another competition, and not even a very interesting one... Bashing eurosong must be one of our favorite hobbies... still, you can't ignore the fact these countries are all in the same area of Europe. Coincidence? No, not really, because Eurosong is a show of nationilism. Where ever I'd live in Europe and i would bother to vote anyway, i'd vote for Belgium, whether that song is good or bad. I'm pretty sure it's like that with most people, and that brings me back to my previous post... Quote
Minifig Lecturer Posted May 11, 2007 Posted May 11, 2007 Come on guys. This "competition" is not about music! You cannot call these groups musicians. This competition is about childish national pride and as such the whole thing is a grade A joke for [insert derogatory noun]s ! David from Kildare is right about the block voting - its done primarily from nationalistic immigrants in each country (e.g. Turks in Germany voting for Turkey). To watch such a competition is a waste of your time unless you are on enough narcotics to be able to convince yourself that the song winner was really Europe's best among a bad bunch. Quote
UniqueBuilder Posted May 11, 2007 Posted May 11, 2007 ok i am a bit ( A LOT) angry right now...i will just point you to this article.. http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/8641 goodnight... I'm not really an Eurovision fan, but this made me angry, too. >:-( Quote
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