17 May 2009

Eurovision 2009.

I have a confession to make - "I'm a Eurovision fan", okay I said " I'm a EUROVISION fan", not a huge fan, I couldn't name every winning country and their entry since time began, but I do enjoy watching and "playing along" for it is traditional in this household for everyone present to give each act a score out of 10.

This year the competition was held in Russia as they won last year, I couldn't name the song or singer but I do know they scored 272 points with Niece N and I giving them 11 out of 20,and what a show it was. The stadium was huge, seating 2500 people (but don't quote me on that) and was quite spectacular As a finale they had a stage above the heads of the audience which was covered with some kind of plastic sheeting, for want of a better description, in which dancers appeared to be "swimming". The stage was then slowly lowered so that it was only centimetres above the heads of the audience, it must have felt like being in a river. As I say, spectacular, and to think we very nearly didn't watch it.

There are always complaints of block (countries voting for other countries who just happen to share a border) or political voting but this, on the whole, didn't seem to occur nearly as much this year - perhaps due to a slightly different voting system. However, last year saw Terry Wogan quit as the UK's commentator to be replaced, this year, by Graham Norton and lots of viewers seemed to be none too happy with this, perhaps due to loyalty to Wogan or the fact that he was known and loved for having such a dry sense of humour or maybes because they just don't like Norton who, by the way, did an ok job.

Anyway, out of 25 acts, the United Kingdom (Hubby and I awarded 14 out of 20)came fifth this year with 173 points, which was fairly impressive when you consider we came joint bottom last year, and whilst Norway won with ,the biggest score ever recorded, 387 points( we awarded 13 out of 20), our personal preferences were for myself - Germany, who came 20th with a total of just 35 points though we awarded 16 out of 20 and for Hubby - Ukraine who, though we awarded 15 out of 20, came 12th with a slightly more respectable score of 76. There really is no accounting for taste and , if these scores are anything to go by, Hubby and I obviously have little in the way of taste - musically speaking ,of course!

5 comments:

susan s. said...

How do you feel about Britain's Got Talent?

Felicity Grace Terry said...

What do I feel about Britains Got Talent?(or as one tv presenter calls it Britain Exploits The Mentally Challenged).
If I'm being totally honest I like the initial audition rounds the best, I know it's wrong but I like to laugh at all those deluded people who genuinely think they can sing/dance, whatever. Actually that's not quite true' I can't stand it when you have parents telling their little darlings that they are wonderful, tomorrows biggest star, when in fact they are dreadful. Don't get me wrong Susan I'm all for encouraging youngsters but at the same time shouldn't we be realistic?
What I, however, totally dislike about the show is when you get all of the sob stories coming out. They always seem to come from the most talented as well - for goodness sake let your talent speak for itself, we don't need to hear how your rabbit died when you were 5 and you've never getting over it so now you are dedicating your song to Thumper. Aah! Bet you wish you'd never asked.
Do you have any views on the subject? I would love to hear.

susan s. said...

Oh, I love do a good rant, Petty!!

I agree with you about the show. If I hear one more kid say he's doing it "for me Mum," I might get sick to me stomach.

Regarding children who are told they are special for every little thing they do, who will help them when they grow up and find that they are no more special than two hundred million other people?

As to the grownups that are so confident in themselves as to actually argue with the judges when they tell them how truly bad they are, well what can I say?

What got me really interested was, of course when Susan Boyle's performance went absolutely viral. People on my blog list started putting it up and when you click on a youtube spot, then other related videos pop up on a side bar. So I started clicking on them and was somewhat hooked. Susan was the news of the day over here for about 3 days.(We are easily entertained, but variety is required. ;-) BTW, I do think she was a surprise and a good singer. But then again so are some others.

I came to the conclusion recently that the way the stage, judges, and audience is setup it's like those scenes in old movies of the Christians being thrown in the ring with the lions. People must be entertained, I guess. And the easiest way is to see folks making utter fools of themselves with a sprinkling of real ability thrown in to keep people watching...

We don't get all of it over here, so I look at YouTube for the highlights. I pity those who must watch the whole show to get to the best ones. Of course only the most ridiculous or most sublime make it to the youtube. Some of episode 5 has gone up now. I especially enjoyed the 'Dream Bears' because they are cheeky in more ways than one, and Shaun Smith is a good singer, so young, and appealing as a person. I hope it doesn't turn out that he's already a professional.

Can I say something about the judges? If I hear Piers say one more time, "That was Absolutely Brilliant!!" I will have to stop watching entirely!

So, now I think you and I both feel better for having had our say!

Oh, one more thing. If I have to hear one more bad rendition of "Nessun Dorma," I may be put off Puccini for life!

Felicity Grace Terry said...

A woman after my own heart, Susan. At first I worried that people might think me a heartless so & so but it's amazing how many agree.
Re: Susan Boyle or "The Hairy Fairy" as she has been dubbed here. 3 days, 3 days! You should count yourselves lucky, we are still getting it constantly. She dyes her hair and plucks her eyebrows and she's had a complete transformation, She goes to America to appear on Oprah and she's the USA's new darling - PLEASE!!
And so onto the judges. Piers is bad enough as you say, Amanda gets on my nerves with the (crocodile?) tears and as for Simon? Is it just me or is there something sinister about the way he winks at people? YUK.
Grief that feels better.

Felicity Grace Terry said...

Did I really say Hairy Fairy? Don't know where that came from. Of course what I meant to say was Hairy ANGEL. Freudian slip or what!