Eurovision Song Contest

[goggle]

mutley said:

In my German class, one of our assignments is to create a webpage about a hobby or interest --no prizes for guessing what I picked. I'll be drafting my reviews and predictions in English first; would anyone be interested in reading them if I posted them here? They'll be short, I promise .

Sure! I wish I could do that for my Italian class...we did discuss San Remo, but that doesn't count.

quepasa18 said:

Does anyone know a website where they stream the semifinals and finals? I don't have a satellite dish for the first time in several years and I don't want to miss it!

You can watch it on eurovision.tv. I was able to watch both fine last year. I just hope they get their act together, because they had problems with the draw. They start streaming live coverage May 3, so you can find out then if it will work for you.
If for some reason that doesn't work, you can watch the web streams of TV channels that broadcast it. I find that this site is useful for finding them.

[Deleted]

Damn, can you believe the ESC's next week? It seems like yesterday that I was promising to put my reviews up --I had to scrap it as a topic for my German assignment since we were only allowed to use the grammatical structures, etc, and in GERM1002 it's difficult to say anything more complicated than "Das ist mein Lieblingslied. Der Lieder ist sehr schon und der Musik ist sehr gut!"

Anyway, is anyone interested in a Greecie prediction competition? You post your ideal top 5, and your predicted top 5 for both the semi and the final (and last place as well) and the winner gets bragging rights and a fabulous prize like a date with Tristan*. Even if you're not the kind of tragic who listens to all the entries a month in advance , have a go --you'll probably do as well with random picks as I usually do reading every rehearsal blog going (I picked Ireland last year ).

In a perfect world:
Semi:
1)Turkey
2)Georgia
3)Moldova
4)Belarus
5)Poland
Last) Montenegro/Estonia/Albania

Final:
1) Germany
2) Turkey
3) Russia
4) Ukraine
5) Moldova/Spain/Georgia
Last: Romania

In this one:

Semi:
1)Serbia
2)Hungary
3)Turkey
4)Malta
5)Belarus
Last: Estonia

Final:
1)Russia
2)Serbia
3)Ukraine
4)Germany
5)United Kingdom
Last: Finland


*only if the winner is Rose, of course --Eurovision is so fae!

[goggle]

mutley said:

Anyway, is anyone interested in a Greecie prediction competition? You post your ideal top 5, and your predicted top 5 for both the semi and the final (and last place as well) and the winner gets bragging rights and a fabulous prize like a date with Tristan*. Even if you're not the kind of tragic who listens to all the entries a month in advance , have a go --you'll probably do as well with random picks as I usually do reading every rehearsal blog going (I picked Ireland last year ).

At least you didn't pick Belgium like me!
I'll try my luck again now. I actually might have a fabulous prize (I won a Schlagerboys giveaway of a Malta CD/DVD, but since I am in Region 1 the DVD won't be that useful for me) if we actually go through with that.

Perfect world:
Semi:
1)Belarus
2)Serbia
3)Cyprus
4)Moldova
5)Slovenia
Last)Latvia

Final:
1)Belarus
2)Serbia
3)Sweden
4)Cyprus
5)Spain
Last)United Kingdom

This world:
Semi:
1)Switzerland
2)Serbia
3)Belarus
4)Turkey
5)Bulgaria
Last)Albania

Final:
1)Switzerland
2)Serbia
3)Ukraine
4)Belarus
5)Sweden
Last)Ireland/Lithuania

[Deleted]

I've got a terrible feeling the UK's not going to finish anywhere near the bottom of the table --I played the songs for my mum last week (excluding the obvious no-hopers: not even I've got the patience to play Albania all the way through) and it was by far her favourite (she liked Russia, Greece and Norway as well, and hated Belarus and Latvia ).

Be afraid --her favourites are usually top 10 at least!

Goggle, what do you think of all the buzz around Andorra during rehearsals? I still can't see it doing anything --there's no melody, and it's nowhere near as fun as, say, the Moldovan drumming grandma from a couple of years ago.

[goggle]

The only song I played for my mom is Latvia, and she thought it was mediocre, and she usually likes that kind of music. She also thought that one of them had a very distracting accent.

As for Andorra, I think the only thing that's guaranteed is 10 or 12 points from Spain, but depending on the number of kids watching and voting it should get more votes than that. The advantage it has over the other rock songs is that the music is youthful-sounding, and the song is performed by teenagers. Also, the lead singer is not all that bad to look at.

It's interesting how all the countries that have never been in a final (Andorra, Belarus, and Bulgaria) seem to have good chances to qualify this year.

[Deleted]

My mum thought Latvia sounded like a drunk Il Divo --that might explain the costumes! Even if it does get to the final , I think Germany might steal a good proportion of its demographic: Roger's hot (as long as he keeps the hat on ) and can really sing --if the bookies here did ESC bets, that's where my money'd be.

Of the three qualifiers you mentioned, Goggle, I reckon Belarus is the only sure thing: Andorra's a bit too bland (and Israel might steal some of its votes) and Bulgaria's too noisy and monotonous and doesn't have a memorable hook --it won't get much more than neighbourly votes. Cyprus does the dance thing much better, anyway.

It'll be interesting to see how Slovenia does this year --they've sent great songs and performers to the last few, but can never quite do it.

[goggle]

I get the feeling that it's just me and you who are interested in this, mutley.

I played some songs for my brother and his favorites were Austria, France, Israel, and Malta. I don't know if he can predict the outcome well or not, but since he does like "Hard Rock Hallelujah" and obviously lots of people liked that, maybe there will be many others who actually vote with similar taste to him.

[Deleted]

goggle said:

I get the feeling that it's just me and you who are interested in this, mutley.

Yeah, I know. Oh well --at least it narrows the field for our prediction "competition" . How about the first place prize being a date with Tristan, and second a date with Pickle's eunuch/slave? If anyone else wants to join in...3rd place'll be either Hairy Scotsman, Creepy Jason or the chubby guy in the monk's habit --how's that for incentive ;D ?

Israel's grown on me --the verses and the rap bit are pretty good, it's just the chorus that sucks. I can't even remember how Austria goes (but his sparkly tracksuit's pretty special) and France reminds me of "Free Love on the Free Lovin' Freeway" for some reason. Interesting that your brother liked Malta, given how rocky his other pics were --but he'd probably change his mind after seeing the video . It'll probably do well.

I love that the Maltese songwriter wrote "On Again, Off Again" from 2004 as well --one of the cheesiest/best Eurosongs ever!

[teclola]

My favourites in the semi-final are Georgia and Malta. Huh. I'm susprised I don't have more than two.

I'm hoping Norway, Andorra and Portugal don't go to the final.

I wish Turkey didn't sing in English, because the lyrics are skeevy and the pronunciation is horrible. I enjoy the song, but those things kind of ruin it for me.

[Augustus]

Heh, I sure don't think we'll get through to the finals. (Netherlands that is, if anyone's wondering.)