Earlier this year it seemed as if the next edition of the Eurovision Song Contest was going to have the largest number of participants ever. Not only was there talk of Lichtenstein FINALLY getting an entry, but talks of Austria, San Marino, Monaco, and even Luxemburg's return to the stage (hell, there hasn't been an entry from Luxemburg since 1993!). However, not only have none of these countries returned (San Marino is still a "maybe" technically but I'm no longer holding my breath), but so far four more countries have jumped ship -- Hungary, the Czech Republic, Montenegro, and as of today, Andorra.

All of these countries claim financial difficulties, and that's not unlikely; most broadcasters have had budget cuts after the economic fiasco over the last year. That being said, though, none of the withdrawing countries have made it to the final over the last two editions, and there's no doubt in my mind that this is a factor. Hungary was last place in its semi-final in '08 and had to replace its song twice this year; Montenegro and the Czech Republic both debuted the same year but neither had ever qualified to the final, with Montenegro's "friendly votes" never being enough and CR having TWO last-place finish, one "nul point" score, and a total number of points in three years of 10. And Andorra? Andorra's been around since 2004, and has also never qualified, with some at Andorra's broadcaster calling sending entries to the contest a "waste" since they never made it to the final. A shame, as I always rooted for Andorra -- if ever there was an "underdog" in the contest it's Andorra!

So now we're down to 37 countries. It's certainly a respectable number, but the number hasn't been that low since Athens 2006, and the new two-semi system was meant for a good deal more to participate. It'll be interesting to see who else may have to bow out, as there are talks of Lithuania and Latvia also not being able to secure funding in order to particpate.

This is "Ei minua", "It's not me", by Villieläin, and this song was one of the first cut in the Finnish Eurovision preselection. While not a fantastic song by any means, there's some interesting stuff going on here -- a unique goth-rock-electronica fusion that works most of the time. In some instances it's reminiscent to Machinae Supremacy, which is one of my fave bands. I think it's also one of the few times where a song transposes DOWN towards the end, rather than up. If you're in the mood for something a bit different, do give it a shot!

Today we look at two popular English-language songs, covered in other languages:



アンジェラ・アキ / Angela Aki - Kiss From A Rose

Angela is a popular singer, songwriter, and piano player in Japan, and here she covers Seal's song of the same title, with two thirds of the lyrics adapted into English. I say adapted as, though the basic idea of giving into a love as strong as a drug is still implied, the Japanese lyrics are NOT a translation, as seen by the line in the chorus, "愛で死ぬなら　キスで殺して", ai de shinu nara, kisu de koroshite,, "If I die from love, kill me with a kiss."



מיי פיינגולד - הללויה / Mei Feingold - Hallelujah

Mei Feingold was one of the stronger competitors in Koxav Nolad, Israel's answer to American Idol. Here she sings Leonard Cohen's song in Hebrew. Her grittier voice has won her fans throughout Israel; I first heard about her through Tzachi, who insists that she needs to go to Eurovision this year to represent Isarel.

My first Multilingual Monday song in Afrikaans, Heinz Winckler singing "Ek Kan Weer In Liefde Glo", "I Can Believe In Love Again". Those who saw Eurovision this year will recognize the song. :: laugh :: Carl quite enjoys this version, even more than the original -- that kinda surprised me ...

For slavetoreznor:

Dita Von Teese: Eurovision Censors Picked On Me

I'm just amazed by this. Apparently a whopping 43 people in Azerbaijan voted for Armenia's entry, and said voters had thereafter been harassed by police and told they were "security threats" to the nation of Azerbaijan.

I understand ongoing tensions between nations, but come on, it's a fucking SONG CONTEST. It's yet to be seen whether or not this whole blowup will result in any kind of action on the part of the EBU, the governing body of the contest.

So I now can't sleep ... maybe if I fall asleep right now I MIGHT get four hours of sleep. But I don't see it happening.

So instead I'm looking at the above. So apparently there's a movement to bring the live orchestra back to Eurovision (which has been MIA since 1999), and to counter the argument that an orchestra would be "old-fashioned", someone had pointed out that Italy's San Remo festival still has an orchestra, which has led to people being creative in using backing tracks, mixing equipment, and the orchestra itself, and pointed to this song, "Quelli che non hanno età" as an example. I have to say, it IS kinda slick ...

And I thought to myself: Eiffel 65. Why do I know that name? It took me long enough to realize: oooh they did that annoying "I'm blue (da dee da dee da da)" song! I had no clue they were even Italian! :: laugh ::

So, yesterday afternoon was my Eurovision party in Peoria, the second I've had here in three years.

We had about the same number of this people as we did in 2007, with five newbies. Alas, there were quite a few cancels so the crowd wasn't as big as I'd've liked, but still the seats in the living room were all full. teledude lent me a projector so we had both our smaller television on one room and the show projected on our wall on the other side. Carl made pulled pork, I made baklava, and there were several liquor and snack gifts throughout.

As for the show? Opinion was split. there were some great singers last night, and some good performances. However, people who had attended the Eurovision parties before seemed to have found that this year there was a lack of variety of songs in the final. There were plenty of ballads and dance tunes, but in comparison to, say, 2007, there was a lot less variety. The few rock-ish songs that were there, were cut in the semi-finals, and several were disappointed by this.

As for the results? I wasn't surprised that Norway won, at all. It was a hot favourite and I expected it to do well, but I wasn't expecting it to score 387 points! For the sake of Illustration, Iceland came second but scored only 218 points. This year the results were from 50% televoting and 50% professional jury and it was, admittedly, nice to see quite a reduction in the same countries giving their points to the same other countries. It wasn't reduced 100%, but it was far improved this year.

The room enjoyed Spain (despite the somewhat tuneless backing singers), Germany (I never heard of Dita von Teese but apparently slavetoreznor loves her!!), and Iceland, whereas Moldova and Romania were pretty unpopular. Norway was somewhere in the middle, with one of our guests even declaring it the worst song of the night. And that's why it's so fun to watch these things with a group of people, as you get such a mixed opinion to the songs. Personally, I loved Portugal and Estonia, yet each was loathed by one guest of ours each. :: laugh :: And that's fine -- a great mix of songs gives something that everyone can enjoy.

OUR ROOM'S SCORES:

12 Points: Spain
10 Points: Portugal
08 Points: Israel
07 Points: Sweden
06 Points: Iceland
05 Points: Estonia
04 Points: Malta
03 Points: Denmark
02 Points: Greece
01 Point: France

So TVE isn't showing the second semi-final until today, after not even showing the semifinal live in Spain. Oh Spain, you're a trainwreck!

So, the point of this post? There are several men who are in no way, shape, or form fond of the Eurovision Song Contest. And that's fine -- I don't expect people I know to love everything I love, and vice versa.

But that being said, there's a little good in everything. May I present scenes from the opening of the second semi-final, featuring a musical orchestra that was playing famous songs from the contest. Why do I post these?





Mmmm, beards. One of the reasons I'm GLAD the contest went to Russia. :: laugh :: The guy upfront in the second picture is particularly handsome, and damn do I love me a long flowing beard.



Though it doesn't have to be flowing, for me to find a man attractive, like IGOR KNEŽEVIĆ, backing singer for Serbia. Serbia's song this year is pure shit, but he's still hot. :: laugh ::

You know the routine.

At 2PM Chicago time (in about ten minutes) there is the second of two semi-finals to decide who moves on to Saturday's finel. Ten out of nineteen songs will move on. Watch at Eurovision's official site (requires an Octoshape plug-in) or other broadcasters' sites, like Spain's TVE site (which, hopefully, works better than it did Tuesday!). Enjoy the show!

FOR THOSE WHO SAW THIS WHEN I INITIALLY POSTED: I am SO SORRY. I don't know how I fucked up my cut.

It's that time again ... to tear into the cheese spectacle that is the EUROVISION SONG CONTEST SEMI-FINAL! Let's take a look at this show's panel, shall we? This time, we have ROGER, CARL, everyone's favourite fag hag JAMIE, and new to this -- and to Eurovision -- is HEATHER, who met Mika before she ever met US! :: laugh ::

Below the cut will be running commentary on the eighteen songs of the first semi-final, held live on Tuesday in Moscow. I had to resort to seeing it on IBA's site as no one had it on demand except Israel's broadcaster. The plus was lack of commentator, Hebrew subtitles, and Israeli commercials (which were fucking hilarious). The minus was the horrible frame rate and having to watch it on the computer instead of our television. So, here is the review of all eighteen semifinal songs -- each panelist's comments are marked with their first initial. Click each country's name to see a YouTube video of last night's performance.

( ... cut to read )

In about an hour from the time I'm posting this -- at 2PM Central US time -- the first semi-final for the Eurovision Song Contest will start. You can follow the cheese on either the official Eurovision site (requires installing Octoshape) or through other participating broadcasters' sites, like TVE in Spain.

And of course I'll be at work, so I'm missing it, but should be able to watch it again like I did last year. So, slavetoreznor? Feel like coming over and tearing apart the entries like last year? :: laugh :: Just wait until you see the Czech Republic -- it's hilarious what it does to Carl ^_-

Comments are welcome here, but please, do me the favour of NOT telling me who qualifies and who doesn't. I want to be surprised!

Do let me know if you want to spend the night as well, so I know how much space I'm looking at!
I'm hoping to get a nice crowd!

Again this year I'll be having a party on May 16th to watch the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. It seems that we'll be doing it at my place -- teledude will be nice enough to loan me projection equipment -- so now there's some details to work out (like, what to do with Mika). But this is coming together, and I can't wait to have a party again!

That being said: I need help from YOU guys. I'm putting together a disc to play an hour before the show which features older songs, and intertwined will be clips of greetings from guys in other countries. zurcherart did this in 2007 (during the semifinal while he was in Helsinki no less!), and I'd like to do something like that again.

Other suggestions are more than welcome. I can't wait!!

I'd, once again, love to have a Eurovision party. which this year falls on May 16th at 2PM Central time. I could have it at the house again, but I imagine Mika and the lack of a big screen could be two large negatives, but at least guys could crash the night prior or the night of, in case they're traveling.

I'm open to suggestions on a viewing party! Give 'em to me, no matter how bizarre they might sound initially!

So today I was chatting with Tzachi, and we were discussing an Israeli Eurovision contestant who sang in the 90's ... at the age of 12. Apparently while he was singing he hit puberty in front of 400,000,000 viewers and then went into hiding, somewhere.

I said, "... wow, kind of like Carmen Sandiego!"
"Who?" Tzachi asked. "Is that the name of a drag queen?"

^^;;;;

And with that comes our ( 25 Things About Roger )

On the site of RTVA, Andorra's national broadcaster, there is now a contest to see if you can correctly guess who will win tomorrow's competition and be sent to Moscow to repsent the tiny principality this year. If you answer correctly, your name will be drawn to win the fabulous dress (seen above) from last year's singer Gisela.

...

Wow, now THERE's a prize. Can it get any better? :: laugh ::

Dear Dianne Warren,

Wow. That's it? Seriously? You're not even trying anymore.

Sincerely,
Roger Nyström

Fine, here, have a song in another language to tide you over. This is one of 50 songs that have made the cut to try to represent Spain in this year's Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow. Soraya is apparently quite popular in Spain, and while I've been pretty ambivalent about her prior stuff, I must say that I quite like this song. Now the next question -- will she be able to sing it live???

(Ignore the video -- it was pieced together from other videos that Soraya's done in the past, as AFAIK there is no official video or anything of the short.)

( ... but wait! Have an English song, free!! )