Eurovision time again

[angelophile]

So, the 51st Eurovision song contest has just finished airing and as usual it was absolutely fricking hysterical. Probably more so than for many years with a bizaare mix of Easter European Britney Spears, heavy thrash metal, power ballads, rap and some really odd gay German cowboys.

There's a giant stadium (this year in Athens, Greecce being last year's winners and the host nation), intense rivalry and flag-waving fans from many nations. The Eurovision Song Contest, the annual extravaganza that sees pop acts from up to 36 countries face off before around 100 million television viewers.

It pretty much personifies kitch and has been the home of bland bubblegum pop and forgettable power ballads for years. And it's taken so incredibly seriously by most of the countries that enter it, you can't help but boggle.

Previous winners include Sweden's ABBA — victors in 1974 with "Waterloo" — and Canada's
Celine Dion, who won for Switzerland in 1988. Olivia Newton John was a runner up to ABBA.

This year the Lithuanian entry that was basically a load of fat guys doing a football chant of "We are the winners of Eurovision! Vote for us, you know you want to!" Utterly surreal.

However, it's the goth supporters of Finnish metal band Lordi are celebrating after their thrash metal anthem "Hard Rock Hallelujah" has just been crowned the winning song after a performance that made full use of monster masks and apocalyptic lyrics.

At a press conference, the band's frontman apparently said his plan for the final was to "scream louder. And turn the amps up."



Of course, by far the most entertaining thing with the UK coverage is just how... tongue in cheek it is. Well aware of just how terrible the whole thing is, veteran Irish broadcaster Terry Wogan pretty much tears every second apart with a screamingly funny running commentary. While other countries' representitives are claiming stuff like "This was a really good competition! Just like the Olympic Games", Wogan was following it with dry observations like "This voting process is absolutely tedious isn't it?", "This is pathetic", "Who in their right mind would give twelve points to THAT?" and my personal favourite "Who in heaven's name picked that eedjit?"

Last year during the Danish-hosted Song Contest, Wogan dubbed the two Danes who introduced each song as "Dr. Death and the Tooth Fairy." Danes were outraged. This year Estonia launched a hate campaign against him weeks before the competition.

Anyway, expect radio silence for at least 2 days as I'm off building sets for next week's play that I'm stage managing as well. hopefully it'll be more professional than Eurovision.

Comments

[occamsnailfile.livejournal.com]

I am like, surrounded by Eurovision. Apparently this year it was a big hit amongst many of my American geek friends as well as the Brits and Aussies. Even the X-Axis featured Eurovision coverage this week. The X-AXIS!

I had no idea this thing existed. O.o

[angelophile.livejournal.com]

You haven't lived. ;)