-
-
There's certainly nobody obvious - certainly if you hate some styles of music (rap for example) then there are acts that won't get you excited, but anything painfully bad? Not especially. Given that Lithuania runs it close. Great singer, shame about the song
-
Oh I love the term pivot, and I love the idea that the industry made a cuddly term for "we got it so hopelessly wrong we're going to take your money for Idea A and put it unilaterally into Idea B and make this sound like the best thing since unsliced bread"
-
Facebook for Eurovision and "culture" friends, Twitter for Tech and Mobile friends.
-
I had plans for one, but sorting out moving house got in the way. In any case, I'l be in my kilt for most of the time, and I think that's flamboyant enough.
-
I think that Europe is smarter than that to hold a grudge against Hera Bjork because of the Icelandic ash and banking crisis – but I’ve no doubt that people will blame that reason when it lands mid-table in the final.
I think that the song is a great song, and the judges that make up 50% of the vote will reward that, but I do worry that Hera (along with Niamh Kavanagh) aren’t going to have a great presentation on the television screens around Europe – they will be seen as well built women standing sedately behind a microphone, perhaps with a bit of hip swinging and clenched fist arm holding in front of them. The visual side will be more to blame for a big Icelandic loss than Eyjafjallajokull (which co-incidentally is the name of the Finnish song this year). -
The schedule looks a bit like this: MOn/Wed/Fri this week and next week until the eight Juke Box Juries are posted. A short Juke Box Jury "Prediction" show on Sat 22nd, and then a lot depends on how I find thins at the telenor Arena. The *plan* is a daily 15-20 minute show, posted around lunchtime, with the three commentaries available around 5pm on the Tue, Thur and Sat before the live shows. All subject to change and circumstances!
-
Denmark.
The Belgian entry could have had a strong showing if it was 1968, but I think Europe has moved on. It sounds "Euovision" to the man in the street in the UK and Ireland (even without the conenction to the Smurfs) but the presentation is poor. To hear what a great song it could be, listen to this cover version of it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVtk7PYykNM - I could hae seen that version put in a strong showing.
Denmark on the other hand is in my predicted top five and it would not surprise me one bit if it does win, but in such a close field there's abotu ten songs that are in with a chance. -
Honestly I've no idea, and would have to sit donw with the voting system in use at the time and look over all the songs and situation at the time. I do know that Abba scraped home as one of the lowest scoring coutnires (even on a percentage basis) ever, but it would be a brave bit of revisionism to deny them that win.
-
Tea is a divine right at any time of day for the Brits, so course you can. In which order into the cup though? Water then tea leaves, or tea leaves then water?
-
I think the problem is the genesis of the song – written in haste to be potentially sung by one of six acts (two men, two women, two groups as I recall). As a result of that, whoever managed to loose the credibility dice roll and win “Your Country Needs You” was going to be saddled with a song that had a neutered emotional core.
A good song should tell a story – this is little better than a “Janet and John” story and I don’t mean those that still air on Radio 2 from a certain Irishman. Josh may be a good singer and handed a story he can sing the standards but he’s been handed something with incredibly shaky foundations, and there’s little that he, Waterman or Stock can add to that without it all falling down.
The simple fact that this is now just about credible for a low to mid table placement says more about the skills of the team, but it’s not enough to negate the initial mistake.
If we stay out the bottom five, we’ve done well given what we had to work with. -
Romania’s entry to this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, which is the reference, is a tough one. If they could play the video and have the studio vocals on display they would be in the leading group.
But like everyone, the vocals have to be sung live, and they have to put on a stage show. Watching their live TV performances I’m not so sure that they’ll get the energy and “duelling pianos” effect in the Telenor arena. I think if they have a good night they can make it into the Top 10, but to have a serious impact on first place they need to get so much right, and hope other countries slip up. -
Why not?
Let's change it slightly though. Why do people support football teams? Why do they support rubbish football teams (like my own Cowdenbeath FC)? Or buy tickets to the Superbowl in the US not knowing who is going to be playing?
Why queue round the block to buy a new Apple phone? Or to be first in line for a film premiere? or countless other obsessions around the world. Some of these are accepted as part of culture (eg football and other sports) and nobody looks down on a Man City fan for being a fan. They might look down on the team, but all football fans understand the passion that others have, irrespective of the team.
So why Eurovision? Why not! -
Oh I'm so asking Paddy O'Connell that one when I get to Oslo. I'm not the best arbiter of mobile phone ringtones (Crazy Frog singing The Doctor Who Theme has been my ring for many years), but I suspect the winner is either Greece or Turkey. Greece's quality is variable (Sakis...) so I'll plump for Turkey. Good hooks and melody every year, and a strong 30 second experience.
-
I belive that is held by someone who has a far more respectable job and life nowadays, so I'll pass. But I do hear a rumor that he's in a band and has an EP coming out...
-
The cynic in me says that because when there was a “sing in your native language” rule, Ireland and the UK did far far better than everyone else. It’s interesting that a number of countries re-record their song in other languages as part of the promotional efforts.
If you’re reaching out around Europe, in just three minutes, there needs to be some common elements, and I think going for English is a practical choice, but not one that every performer chooses. Serbia took a victory in their native language in 2007. -
I'm going to quote Matt Smith here with "I don't know, still cooking." It's a touch easier as you're asking for my favourite song, not who I think will win, so let's name a few.
Both Cyprus and Denmark were early favourites, and that’s still the case. Catching up in the fave stakes would be Romania and Azerbaijan. And although everyone else puts it down, I think Spain has a cracking song which is going to lend itself to a good stage performance in Oslo.
And for my sins, the Russian entry is strangely appealing in a sort of hideous way.
(I reserve the right to change these at a later date by the way!) -
Three choices here in my opinion. The first is just start working backwards from now, so grab 2009 asap, buy the 2010 CD early May, and go from there.
Second option would be from 2004 and work towards present day - 2004 was the first year that the Semi-Final was introduced, so the contest took the form that you watch today.
The third option would be 1997; the year that members of the public started to cast phone votes... 5 countries in 1997, the majority in 1998. -
Like a small puppy investigating everything, but returning to his favourite bone once a year.
-
Does it matter what people call you?
-
Definitely with the "more the merrier" crowd, because it improves the Grand Final. With countries now having a publicly voted semi-final (50/50 jury spilt noted) between them and the Grand Final on the Saturday night, any chaff that gets through the national selection process still has to be validated at a European level. Which means even though many might say 2010 is a poor year for songs (personally I disagree), the grand Final will be at the higher end of the quality scale. So bring in the rest of the countries, let's get Italy, Austria and the likes involved. I think the only flaw is that half the countries don't get to be on show on the Saturday night, but that's an incentive to enter a better song and work on the National Final process the following year.
-
Ewan Spence’s Bio
Living in a Web 2.0 world, blogging, podcasting, commenting, reporting and preparing for my Eurovision 2010 coverage (ewanspence.com/blog)
