I hear you cry?! - or maybe I don't
I'm doing the annual " Phil's buggered off for a bit" thing - never fear though, I are keeping a breast of the Eurovision news while I am relaxing with a new job and a uni course!
The site will live like frankenstines monster in about 6 weeks time!
Meanwhile....... enjoy the silence lol
Sunday, 17 June 2012
Saturday, 2 June 2012
So the Eurovision is *this* Saturday yeah??
.....perhaps not... but it has been a week since the contest, I have had a sleep and can commit some decent thoughts to paper.
Firstly, despite me not liking the winner, I can totally understand it - especially when walking past a computer shop in Manchester the other day with the new boyfriend and I stop in my tracks as Euphoria is being played. The conversation went:
"Shit"
"what?"
"They are playing Euphoria"
"Whats Euphoria?"
< Cue several seconds of scowling and explaining
"oh, I get it.... its rare huh?"
Damn right its rare Owen my child, It'll be top 5 in the UK charts this week and is already a European hit. Considering *I* thought she was a mumbling woman spazzing out on stage, just proves how wrong *I* am and Europe clearly weren't!
Honorable mentions for the rest of the top 4 as well - The Grannies were the only one that the party i attended remembered after several bottles of wine which suggests they won the televote by miles, Zeljko did what I expected him to do and got the result to match and those pesky Azeri's getting the home town result.
Positives and Negatives down the board?
Positives -
Estonia - Proof, if it were needed, that singing a song still does well here.
Spain - That they can still "do" this contest. ( First top 10 since 2004 and highest score since 1995)
FYR Macedonia - Give em a chance and not only is qualification a possibility but so is their 2nd highest result ever.
Albania - Highest finish and points score ever for them!!! One note can do wonders!
Denmark - Finally the kicking this country has deserved for being so blinkered they sent the same song 5 years in a row!!
Malta - Just for making the final. 21st is no disgrace.
Negatives
Turkey - Personal negative here. This song did not deserve 7th place, its awful.
Italy - Ah well, twice back, twice in top 10 but ultimately flattered to deceive?
Norway - NRK must be furious. No wonder Per Sundnes has "stepped down" - Change of direction?
Ireland - HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! - Sorry but this result makes me laugh out loud! - It may have been a more "mature" song, but one trick ponies will always be that!
Iceland - More shock and awe at the result than negativity I guess.
So where does that leave the UK. As with so many attempts, A+ for the surprise factor and the reasoning, but again like so many years F for the performance. He really did cock up the jury final and the song was not nearly instant enough to get the telephone voters picking up dem phones. Kudos for them trying it, though and despite what the press would have you believe, the result wasn't fixed!!
We also learnt that Siegel is a t**t and should be killed or at least stopped from writing songs ever again, that shaking your ass garners you 8 points, that mental Montenegrins score in this contest, that Beautiful Songs are under-rated, that Bulgaria will never qualify again from the semi and that Eva Bota was flaming robbed!!
So, basically we learnt we know nothing.... again... like every single year.
Stockholm in the "Friends" Arena anyone?? - 3rd to 19th May if you are booking holidays ;)
Firstly, despite me not liking the winner, I can totally understand it - especially when walking past a computer shop in Manchester the other day with the new boyfriend and I stop in my tracks as Euphoria is being played. The conversation went:
"Shit"
"what?"
"They are playing Euphoria"
"Whats Euphoria?"
< Cue several seconds of scowling and explaining
"oh, I get it.... its rare huh?"
Damn right its rare Owen my child, It'll be top 5 in the UK charts this week and is already a European hit. Considering *I* thought she was a mumbling woman spazzing out on stage, just proves how wrong *I* am and Europe clearly weren't!
Honorable mentions for the rest of the top 4 as well - The Grannies were the only one that the party i attended remembered after several bottles of wine which suggests they won the televote by miles, Zeljko did what I expected him to do and got the result to match and those pesky Azeri's getting the home town result.
Positives and Negatives down the board?
Positives -
Estonia - Proof, if it were needed, that singing a song still does well here.
Spain - That they can still "do" this contest. ( First top 10 since 2004 and highest score since 1995)
FYR Macedonia - Give em a chance and not only is qualification a possibility but so is their 2nd highest result ever.
Albania - Highest finish and points score ever for them!!! One note can do wonders!
Denmark - Finally the kicking this country has deserved for being so blinkered they sent the same song 5 years in a row!!
Malta - Just for making the final. 21st is no disgrace.
Negatives
Turkey - Personal negative here. This song did not deserve 7th place, its awful.
Italy - Ah well, twice back, twice in top 10 but ultimately flattered to deceive?
Norway - NRK must be furious. No wonder Per Sundnes has "stepped down" - Change of direction?
Ireland - HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! - Sorry but this result makes me laugh out loud! - It may have been a more "mature" song, but one trick ponies will always be that!
Iceland - More shock and awe at the result than negativity I guess.
So where does that leave the UK. As with so many attempts, A+ for the surprise factor and the reasoning, but again like so many years F for the performance. He really did cock up the jury final and the song was not nearly instant enough to get the telephone voters picking up dem phones. Kudos for them trying it, though and despite what the press would have you believe, the result wasn't fixed!!
We also learnt that Siegel is a t**t and should be killed or at least stopped from writing songs ever again, that shaking your ass garners you 8 points, that mental Montenegrins score in this contest, that Beautiful Songs are under-rated, that Bulgaria will never qualify again from the semi and that Eva Bota was flaming robbed!!
So, basically we learnt we know nothing.... again... like every single year.
Stockholm in the "Friends" Arena anyone?? - 3rd to 19th May if you are booking holidays ;)
Monday, 28 May 2012
Sunday, 27 May 2012
5th - 1st
Albania - Jury sponge clearly, not so much with yer televoting. Her vocal skill will always be in doubt, but it clearly won some people.
Azerbaijan. Home town result methinks. Not strong enough or close enough to win, but just interested enough to keep them going.
Serbia - As nailed on a Top 3 as you could ever hope to get. It hit all the right notes in the East and gained enough west of the Balkans to come 3rd. Not a surprise.
Russia - Nuff Said.
Sweden - Possibly one of the most commercial winners ever? - Modern sound and walked away with 18 Top scores and 5 2nd places. You can't argue with that!
Azerbaijan. Home town result methinks. Not strong enough or close enough to win, but just interested enough to keep them going.
Serbia - As nailed on a Top 3 as you could ever hope to get. It hit all the right notes in the East and gained enough west of the Balkans to come 3rd. Not a surprise.
Russia - Nuff Said.
Sweden - Possibly one of the most commercial winners ever? - Modern sound and walked away with 18 Top scores and 5 2nd places. You can't argue with that!
Results. 10th-6th
Spain. Best result in ages. Deserved more cos of performance but satisfied I would hope. Fans wouldn't be as not wonning.
Italy. Confusing result. Great song under performed leads to 100 points but not as many as she could have squeezed out of it. Underpar score for this song.
Germany. Complete opposite of above, over scored if anything. Good looks helped but still a dodgy song. Televoter friendly you would think.
Turkey. Frankly your guess is as good as mine. This baffles me!!!
Estonia. Hooray, good song and emotion equals points. Ott sung well without trying too hard. ERR should be well chuffed.
Italy. Confusing result. Great song under performed leads to 100 points but not as many as she could have squeezed out of it. Underpar score for this song.
Germany. Complete opposite of above, over scored if anything. Good looks helped but still a dodgy song. Televoter friendly you would think.
Turkey. Frankly your guess is as good as mine. This baffles me!!!
Estonia. Hooray, good song and emotion equals points. Ott sung well without trying too hard. ERR should be well chuffed.
The morning after the night before
Or should I say the late afternoon after the night before! We really are going to be struggling to pull ourselves back onto a western european timezone aren't we? Getting to bed at 9am and sleeping til 4pm isn't going to be easy to adjust from! No hangover today though as we only had a few beers at the euroclub as it was getting light outside, crazy! Glad next year we will be on more normal times next year so we might get to see lunchtime in Stockholm!!!
We are getting some great results analysis here on the blog already so I'll just mention a few things on the voting. Firstly, I am euphoric for Loreen after missing out on the final in Sweden last year and equally euphoric for Sweden after putting on such great Melodifestivalen shows over the years and doing badly at the contest in the main. Say what you like about the formulaic nature of their selection and the recent slump in standard of music, it's a continuing success story and proof that the UK seriously needs to look again at our relationship with the contest. We spoke to the UK head of delegation and, whilst disappointed, he seems to know what needs to be done in the future though getting that message to the decision makers in the beeb will be a continuing battle. Gosh knows what will happen next year and who and what will be our entry on the Stockholm 2013 stage. But that's for later isn't it?
Englebert performed well though many people said he was slightly off vocally in the jury final, the staging was great and I think we deserved better than 25th. Definately a case of killed by the draw in a strong field. We've been interviewed for the beeb too giving our reaction. They expected us to be shocked and gutted and were surprised we had predicted a low score and how enthusiastic we were for Sweden. Will they ever understand us fanoraks...?
So Sweden scored from everyone except Italy (a possible tactical jury vote?) and received 18 douze points... I knew when she was getting 7's and 8's from the Balkans she was going to be up there. Out of everyone who voted for her, the lowest was a 3 from Portugal.
Russia scored from everyone except Switzerland but generally more middle scores in the 5-8 range. Interestingly only one 12 from Belarus.
UK narrowly missed coming 26th which, had it happened, would have given us the dubious honour of being the only country to ever come 26th and on two occasions. Thanks Tooji for putting Norway in that special club too! He must be gutted!
So pleased that Albania and Estonia scored so well. Ott deserved that and we had a chat with him too. He was having his first drink in two months and I informed him I'd not not had a drink for two months...
I think it's safe to say that Lynda Woodruff (aka Sarah Dawn Finer) will be one of the hosts next year. Loved the fact that she read the Swedish results like that!
We're off to meet some other fans who are lingering longer in Baku for dinner in Fountain Square tonight and I fancy a final visit to that bar!! Tomorrow we will do a free bus tour of the city and have a stroll-ette in the old town and basically gather our thoughts, dirty clothes and euro tat and shove it our cases for our early morning departure to Heathrow on Tuesday.
xx
We are getting some great results analysis here on the blog already so I'll just mention a few things on the voting. Firstly, I am euphoric for Loreen after missing out on the final in Sweden last year and equally euphoric for Sweden after putting on such great Melodifestivalen shows over the years and doing badly at the contest in the main. Say what you like about the formulaic nature of their selection and the recent slump in standard of music, it's a continuing success story and proof that the UK seriously needs to look again at our relationship with the contest. We spoke to the UK head of delegation and, whilst disappointed, he seems to know what needs to be done in the future though getting that message to the decision makers in the beeb will be a continuing battle. Gosh knows what will happen next year and who and what will be our entry on the Stockholm 2013 stage. But that's for later isn't it?
Englebert performed well though many people said he was slightly off vocally in the jury final, the staging was great and I think we deserved better than 25th. Definately a case of killed by the draw in a strong field. We've been interviewed for the beeb too giving our reaction. They expected us to be shocked and gutted and were surprised we had predicted a low score and how enthusiastic we were for Sweden. Will they ever understand us fanoraks...?
So Sweden scored from everyone except Italy (a possible tactical jury vote?) and received 18 douze points... I knew when she was getting 7's and 8's from the Balkans she was going to be up there. Out of everyone who voted for her, the lowest was a 3 from Portugal.
Russia scored from everyone except Switzerland but generally more middle scores in the 5-8 range. Interestingly only one 12 from Belarus.
UK narrowly missed coming 26th which, had it happened, would have given us the dubious honour of being the only country to ever come 26th and on two occasions. Thanks Tooji for putting Norway in that special club too! He must be gutted!
So pleased that Albania and Estonia scored so well. Ott deserved that and we had a chat with him too. He was having his first drink in two months and I informed him I'd not not had a drink for two months...
I think it's safe to say that Lynda Woodruff (aka Sarah Dawn Finer) will be one of the hosts next year. Loved the fact that she read the Swedish results like that!
We're off to meet some other fans who are lingering longer in Baku for dinner in Fountain Square tonight and I fancy a final visit to that bar!! Tomorrow we will do a free bus tour of the city and have a stroll-ette in the old town and basically gather our thoughts, dirty clothes and euro tat and shove it our cases for our early morning departure to Heathrow on Tuesday.
xx
Euphoric – but also ill...
Hello all, just a very quick post to comment on last night’s
result. I’m thrilled for Sweden and Loreen which was my favourite all along,
though a bit surprised it was quite such a runaway winner, almost equaling Alexander Bareback’s record total (perhaps ironically as Norway themselves came
last). A very disappointing result for the UK, but all accounts are that he
fluffed the jury final on Friday which was where his votes were coming from
really. The draw in the final killed the televoting chances. Our very lovely friend Liam Jarnecki has pointed out that over the past 4 Contests 39 different
countries have awarded the UK points, so that somewhat disproves the simplistic
allegation that Europe just doesn’t like the UK. Oh well. We chatted to the BBC
Head Of Delegation afterwards who was philosophical and agreed with us that it
would be good for the BBC bosses who are the ones who actually make these
decisions to have a rethink – Sweden’s success with both this and Melodifestivalen
has been the result of somebody with good knowledge and vision taking the helm,
whatever you may think of the merits of the show’s content. Being the biggest
show in Swedish TV can’t be a wrong approach.
Kurt from Malta was one of the last to leave the after-show
party having danced his pants off. We chatted for quite a while before he left.
He was disappointed to have done so poorly, but we tried to boost his spirits
by pointing out he’d beaten two global superstars in the UK and France. Ott
from Estonia was being mobbed for photos, and enjoying his first booze-flavoured
drink for two months. And I got one last look at that Romanian boy, but my
hands were still not quite on his squeezebox. You'll be pleased to know we stayed until the bitterest of bitter ends being thrown out of the party with the dregs at 9am, just so we could bring you any late gossip. You know it's a late night and you've overcooked it when even all the Finns have left before you...
I’m going to be quiet from now on, as my traditional
Eurovision raspy throat has proved to be a bit if a stinker of a cold so what
with the late nights and all that double-ended action (I’m talking about candle
burning you realise) I am feeling particularly under the weather today. I will
do a final round up before the season ends though. Hope you’ve all enjoyed
seeing it through our eyes and I’ll blog for you soon. Oh, and you may have
seen us on BBC Breakfast today: I haven’t a clue what I said so I hope it was
coherent!
Monty x
15th-11th
Ukraine. Stumped here. Thought it would have done better, had televote written all through it. Guess their trumpet didn't make them Europes?!
Lithuania. Clear jury sponge. Thankfully his dodgy dad dancing stuffed his televote.
Macedonia. 13th is perfectly respectable for this one. Belted out by a seasoned singer and was a joy to watch. She could teach Jedward a thing or 10.
Romania. Perfectly passable and uptempo. Should have televoted well but I guess not memorable enough in this year to get em voting. I would be a little bit peeved if I was TVR.
Moldova. If Ukraines trumpets didn't work, his certainly weren't going to!!!! camp dancing a turn off???
Lithuania. Clear jury sponge. Thankfully his dodgy dad dancing stuffed his televote.
Macedonia. 13th is perfectly respectable for this one. Belted out by a seasoned singer and was a joy to watch. She could teach Jedward a thing or 10.
Romania. Perfectly passable and uptempo. Should have televoted well but I guess not memorable enough in this year to get em voting. I would be a little bit peeved if I was TVR.
Moldova. If Ukraines trumpets didn't work, his certainly weren't going to!!!! camp dancing a turn off???
Results part 2. 20-16th
Am tapping this out at burger king in Marylebone station #Stickingittotheman.
Iceland. Perhaps Europe didn't like big overblown ballads. Oh wait.
Ireland. Proof if it were needed that one trick ponies only work the once. I suspect we shan't be seeing then again next year. Backing singer more evident this time round and boredom of them lead to 19th.
Bosnia. If its all political how come 18th?? Balkan song for Balkan people, sung well but no appeal out of the old country. It didn't get it's mandatory 12 from Switzerland either.
Greece. Lowest position for an eternity 17th. Sighs of relief all round but c'mon, when your formula has this many holes in it not even your own fans should be surprised. Badly sung, badly thought out and finally got what it deserved.
Cyprus. Beat Greece which was not a shock, but only by 1 which was. Came across well but suspect throaty style and dodgy notes did for this one.
Iceland. Perhaps Europe didn't like big overblown ballads. Oh wait.
Ireland. Proof if it were needed that one trick ponies only work the once. I suspect we shan't be seeing then again next year. Backing singer more evident this time round and boredom of them lead to 19th.
Bosnia. If its all political how come 18th?? Balkan song for Balkan people, sung well but no appeal out of the old country. It didn't get it's mandatory 12 from Switzerland either.
Greece. Lowest position for an eternity 17th. Sighs of relief all round but c'mon, when your formula has this many holes in it not even your own fans should be surprised. Badly sung, badly thought out and finally got what it deserved.
Cyprus. Beat Greece which was not a shock, but only by 1 which was. Came across well but suspect throaty style and dodgy notes did for this one.
Ok. So let's analyse the results. Part 1
Am gonna do the finalists in reverse order I think.
Norway. You can't hide the fact that you are having trouble with a bad song with a dance routine. Europe are many things but they are not stupid.
United Kingdom. Bit harsh but not unexpected. A sweet song murdered in the jury final and Unmemorable in the final leads to not enough votes. 12 is a bit low, but totally understandable.
Hungary. Accidental low placing here. It's a credible album track but again wasn't punchy enough to get anyone picking phone up.
Denmark. First shock for me. I would have put money on this being top 5 as it's what Denmark have been doing of late. Perhaps Europe got bored with plodding and forgot to call. Either way this should be a wakeup call to change the song style.
France. Another shocker. France3 sent her everywhere, however when it comes to the crunch it was shown to be performance over substance- didn't help that she was having issues with singing. 2nd year in a row they have failed with fancied songs. Poor singer choice?
Malta. Arguably lucky to get to the final, but he milked all the points he could out of this in all honesty, and then some. TVM should be happy with this. It's better than camp Vella.
Norway. You can't hide the fact that you are having trouble with a bad song with a dance routine. Europe are many things but they are not stupid.
United Kingdom. Bit harsh but not unexpected. A sweet song murdered in the jury final and Unmemorable in the final leads to not enough votes. 12 is a bit low, but totally understandable.
Hungary. Accidental low placing here. It's a credible album track but again wasn't punchy enough to get anyone picking phone up.
Denmark. First shock for me. I would have put money on this being top 5 as it's what Denmark have been doing of late. Perhaps Europe got bored with plodding and forgot to call. Either way this should be a wakeup call to change the song style.
France. Another shocker. France3 sent her everywhere, however when it comes to the crunch it was shown to be performance over substance- didn't help that she was having issues with singing. 2nd year in a row they have failed with fancied songs. Poor singer choice?
Malta. Arguably lucky to get to the final, but he milked all the points he could out of this in all honesty, and then some. TVM should be happy with this. It's better than camp Vella.
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