Eurovision Song Contest

chinnyhill10 · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 15695

Grim... wrote:

[edit] And didn't "Better the Devil You Know" come third, or something?
[editedit] Second!
[editeditedit] "One Step Out of Time" was second, too! Sam Janus, er, wasn't.

We had a long run of number 2's (stop laughing at the back) in the late 80's and early 90's. Specifically these:

1988 - Scott Fitzgerald - Go

Winner: Switzerland "Ne partez pas sans moi" - Celine Dion
Beaten by the cheating bastard Swiss fielding Celine Dione and cutaways of Bruce Forsyth looking furious in the audience. What I love about this one is the the standard recording has Scott with a nasty cheap synthesised 80's backing and you think "this is just shit". Then when he got there on the night BAM, full orchestra and it sounds amazing.

1989 - Live Report - Why Do I Always Get It Wrong

Winner: Yugoslavia "Rock Me" - Riva

Then a two year gap followed by:

1992 - Micheal Ball - One Step Out Of Time

Fact: To give the performance more energy, Ball opted to speed the song up for the contest.

Winner: Ireland "Why Me" - Linda Martin (Johnny Logan penned dirge)

1993 - Sonia - Better The Devil You Know

Going in to this Sonia was looking rather washed up. She hadn't even had a top 10 for 2 years. For my money she did a cracking job.

Winner: Ireland "In Your Eyes" Niamh Kavanagh (Mrs Doyle sings MOR pap)

Chinny verdict: All 4 of those are worthy of being winners. I think it's fairly obvious the Beeb were going all out to win on those occasions by getting the best people in. Credible performers, good songs and performers hungry for the win. Sadly Eurovision is now so tainted that the UK can only attract "stars" who would get top billing on a cruise ship.

chinnyhill10 · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 15695

DavPaz wrote:

Don't forget Ooh Ahh Just A Little Bit

8th. But a UK number 1 single. Which proves something.

TheVision · **Posted:** Mon May 20, 2013 7:33

chinnyhill10 wrote:

DavPaz wrote:

Don't forget Ooh Ahh Just A Little Bit

8th. But a UK number 1 single. Which proves something.

That everyone fancied Gina G?

MaliA · **Posted:** Mon May 20, 2013 8:14

TheVision wrote:

chinnyhill10 wrote:

DavPaz wrote:

Don't forget Ooh Ahh Just A Little Bit

8th. But a UK number 1 single. Which proves something.

That everyone fancied Gina G?

Just a little bit!

Grim... · **Posted:** Mon May 20, 2013 9:38

chinnyhill10 wrote:

DavPaz wrote:

Don't forget Ooh Ahh Just A Little Bit

8th. But a UK number 1 single. Which proves something.

A hit in the USA, too.

TheVision wrote:

That everyone fancied Gina G?

Gina G the Australian?

romanista · **Posted:** Tue May 21, 2013 14:45

chinnyhill10 wrote:

And bloc voting has been a long proven statistical thing. There was a statistician on the BBC news the other day who had worked it all out.

I'm not actually sure what you're saying here... last time i heard a statician on this, it showed the bloc voting wasn't that influencial at all, people were just voting for a) cultural preference b) the nation they came from originally.. (the turkish vote in germany).. which is ofcourse influencing the competition..

Still, we're happy here.. first time in years we had a proper artist going to the song contest, and finally in the final and top 10, well done Anouk..

chinnyhill10 · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 15695

Why didn't you give us points comrade?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22609523

Grim... · **Posted:** Wed Feb 11, 2015 10:33

Australia are going to be in the 2015 competition.

WHUUUUUUT.

Slightly Green · **Joined:** 26th Aug, 2010 **Posts:** 2069

Grim... wrote:

Australia are going to be in the 2015 competition.

WHUUUUUUT.

Hope they win, that would be hilarious

Kern · **Posted:** Wed Feb 11, 2015 10:50

Great, another country that won't vote for us.

Curiosity · **Posted:** Wed Feb 11, 2015 10:56

Kern wrote:

Great, another country that won't vote for us.

Nah, they will.

Mr Dave · **Posted:** Wed Feb 11, 2015 11:23

Grim... wrote:

Australia are going to be in the 2015 competition.

WHUUUUUUT.

What did they do to deserve that cruel and unusual punishment?

RuySan · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 3542

Finland's participant is a punk rock band where every band member has down's syndrome.

TheVision · **Posted:** Wed Feb 11, 2015 12:13

RuySan wrote:

Finland's participant is a punk rock band where every band member has down's syndrome.

Bamba · **Joined:** 25th Jul, 2010 **Posts:** 11128

TheVision wrote:

RuySan wrote:

Finland's participant is a punk rock band where every band member has down's syndrome.

As Finland don't actually make their selection until the 28th of February I'm assuming it's a joke.

RuySan · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 3542

I saw it mentioned on Facebook. So are you saying that not everything on FB is true? Nonsense!

Mimi · **Joined:** 27th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 25591

Bamba wrote:

TheVision wrote:

RuySan wrote:

Finland's participant is a punk rock band where every band member has down's syndrome.

As Finland don't actually make their selection until the 28th of February I'm assuming it's a joke.

Finland do have a punk rock band called The Punk Syndrome, where all the members have Downs Syndrome. There was a film made abut them recently. It seems like they have applied to be in the running to be Finland's act, according to The Independent, so though it is a slight mis-teling of the facts, it's isn't a joke as such.

Mimi · **Joined:** 27th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 25591

Also, Australia are taking part this year, w00t!

(As a one-off wildcard act).

Kern · **Posted:** Wed Feb 11, 2015 13:09

They're doing it especially for you

Malc · **Posted:** Wed Feb 11, 2015 13:12

I'm spinning around with that knowledge.

Malc

myp · **Posted:** Wed Feb 11, 2015 13:17

Mimi wrote:

(As a one-off wildcard act).

Unless they win.

Mimi · **Joined:** 27th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 25591

ooh yeah!

Or... maybe Australia would let us host if they won, and it would be a way out of nil points bloc voting.

Mimi · **Joined:** 27th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 25591

Because they are basically upside down British.

romanista · **Posted:** Thu Feb 12, 2015 21:01

The English speaking bloc might prove worse than the serbo-croatian (&friends) bloc...

Curiosity · **Posted:** Thu Feb 12, 2015 22:27

romanista wrote:

The English speaking bloc might prove worse than the serbo-croatian (&friends) bloc...

We can but hope.

romanista · **Posted:** Fri Feb 13, 2015 8:57

chinnyhill10 wrote:

On another Eurovision note, this lady also started following me last night.

2.07 It's Paul Calf!

The dutch commentary in that video is hilarious, slagging of most musical directors (but complimenting 'england's)

La royaume-uni..deuxieme place?

Cras · **Joined:** 30th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 49232

Wait, so this year our entry is a mash up of some swing tune with Kraftwork and the tune from the Mos Eisley Cantina?

Grim... · **Posted:** Sat May 23, 2015 13:56

Sung by a girl with Cystic Fibrosis, too.

Warhead · Noob as of 6/8/10

Grim... wrote:

Sung by a girl with Cystic Fibrosis, too.

Now they are a GREAT backing band.

Grim... · **Posted:** Sat May 23, 2015 21:49

I liked her dress.

TheVision · **Posted:** Sat May 23, 2015 23:29

I watch this pretty much every year but I don't know why. I think it's rubbish.

DavPaz · **Joined:** 27th Jun, 2008 **Posts:** 38460

My god, that Russian bird was made of fake. So glad she didn't win.

Derek The Halls · **Joined:** 31st Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 3742

My top songs:

Estonia
Belgium
Georgia
Latvia
Serbia

Kern · **Posted:** Mon May 25, 2015 12:31

TheVision wrote:

I watch this pretty much every year but I don't know why. I think it's rubbish.

I missed it this year, but the best way to enjoy Eurovision is at a party with everyone crowded round, being rude about the acts, drinking, and privately hoping that they will win the sweepstake.

And as a cue for discussions about the merits of different voting systems.

Grim... · **Posted:** Mon May 25, 2015 12:50

Kern wrote:

TheVision wrote:

I watch this pretty much every year but I don't know why. I think it's rubbish.

I missed it this year, but the best way to enjoy Eurovision is at a party with everyone crowded round, being rude about the acts, drinking, and privately hoping that they will win the sweepstake.

Goddess Jasmine · **Posted:** Mon May 25, 2015 18:29

I've never been to a Eurovision party. Am I missing out?

Curiosity · **Posted:** Mon May 25, 2015 19:36

ApplePieOfDestiny · **Joined:** 17th Dec, 2008 **Posts:** 8293

Not really. It's just extreme drinking and shouting in a different environment.

Grim... · **Posted:** Mon May 25, 2015 21:35

ApplePieOfDestiny wrote:

Not really. It's just extreme drinking and shouting in a different environment.

So: yes.

Grim... · **Posted:** Mon May 25, 2015 21:35

I’ll invite you to mine next year, Jazzy.

ApplePieOfDestiny · **Joined:** 17th Dec, 2008 **Posts:** 8293

ApplePieOfDestiny · **Joined:** 17th Dec, 2008 **Posts:** 8293

Morte · **Posted:** Tue May 10, 2016 14:32

So then, the first semi final is tonight with the second on Thursday and the final on Saturday. If that wasn't exciting enough there is a new voting system being used this year...

Quote:

New voting system
The EBU announced on 18 February 2016 that a new voting system would be implemented at the contest for the first time since 1975. The new system, inspired by the voting system of Melodifestivalen, involves each country now awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. After viewers have cast their votes, the results of each professional jury will be presented, with countries receiving 1-8 and 10 points being displayed on-screen instead of 1-7, which had been the case since 2006, and the national spokesperson only announcing the country receiving 12 points. After the results of the professional juries are presented, the televoting points from all participating countries will be combined, providing one score from each song. The results of countries finishing between 11th and 26th in the public vote will be automatically added to the scoreboard, with only the results of the top ten countries being announced by the hosts. The new voting system will also be used to determine the qualifiers from each semi-final, but as before the qualifiers will be announced in a random order.[23][24]

As the new voting system gives equal weight to both jury and televoting results, a national televoting/jury result cannot be used as backup result for the jury/televoting. Therefore, if a country cannot deliver a valid televoting/jury result, a substitute result is calculated by the jury/televoting result of a pre-selected group of countries approved by the contest's Reference Group. The Director General of Radiotelevisione della Repubblica di San Marino (SMRTV), Carlo Romeo, stated on 23 February that the use of a substitute televoting result discriminated against microstates like San Marino, which only used a professional jury due to their use of the Italian phone system and would therefore have its voting representation diminished under the new system, and criticised the EBU for not contacting its members before making the decision.

...Can't see anything going wrong with this, no siree bob.

TheVision · **Posted:** Tue May 10, 2016 14:41

We haven't got a hope in hell of winning this year in fact, I'll be surprised if we get any points at all.

I'm planning on live tweeting my thoughts for the whole show on Saturday. The wife is going out leaving me alone with a pizza and Eurovision

Mimi · **Joined:** 27th Mar, 2008 **Posts:** 25591

I know that Australia were invited as a special guest last year, but I'm so confused as to why they are in it again this year. Are they a permanent feature now?

TheVision · **Posted:** Tue May 10, 2016 15:12

Who knows? In fairness their song last year was one of the better ones. They had clearly taken it seriously too with the guy that was representing them being quite a big star over there.

I for one, welcome our antipodean friends.

Mr Russell · **Joined:** 6th Apr, 2008 **Posts:** 12243

TheVision wrote:

Who knows? In fairness their song last year was one of the better ones. They had clearly taken it seriously too with the guy that was representing them being quite a big star over there.

I for one, welcome our antipodean friends.

At least we know if we leave the EU we can still take part in Eurovision.

TheVision · **Posted:** Tue May 10, 2016 15:25

I got stuck at a party on the weekend and someone was talking about Europe. Everything was the fault of the immigrants according to this guy and that was his reasoning to leave Europe.

I managed to lighten the mood by asking if we can still be part of Eurovision.

They all thought I was joking but I am actually worried about it!

MaliA · **Posted:** Tue May 10, 2016 15:26

Mr Russell wrote:

TheVision wrote:

Who knows? In fairness their song last year was one of the better ones. They had clearly taken it seriously too with the guy that was representing them being quite a big star over there.

I for one, welcome our antipodean friends.

At least we know if we leave the EU we can still take part in Eurovision.

DavPaz · **Joined:** 27th Jun, 2008 **Posts:** 38460

I read that the organisers want to expand the competition world wide and make it into a Song World Cup.

Hence, Australia.

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Eurovision Song Contest
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