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Why Not... Official Eurovision Thread (A Tribute to Terry Wogan)
- Thread starter Hoggy
- Start date
Knightsworld
Well-known member
TOTP2 Eurovision special on BBC 2 now
Glory days.
Glory days.
Nemesis
SERIOUSLY!
Dave the Gaffer said:oh bollocks...two votes - the irish (who we then didnt reciprocate) and the malta vote
perhaps we should take this more seriously than the shite we put out there tonight
its an embarrasement
as was written in the Telegraph recently:
if Morrissey had secured the British nomination, and turned up in Helsinki in May to sing about how misunderstood and miserable he still is, he would never have won the contest. Not a chance. That is nothing personal against the ludicrous former Smith. We could dispatch Amy Winehouse, currently wooing America, and she too would lose. Joss Stone, selling so many CDs across the globe her record company boss cannot wipe the grin off his face, would be lucky to score higher than the entry from Macedonia. Frankly, Radiohead, the world's greatest current band, could enter the competition, play the most astonishing set in their distinguished careers and still garner nul points.
That's what happens to the British. As Terry Wogan never tires of telling us, Eurovision is awash with voting cartels and carve-ups, about as close to a free exercise in democracy as a general election in Zimbabwe. You might imagine the nation that gave the world the Beatles, David Bowie and the Stone Roses, the country whose popular music artists remain a hugely significant earner of foreign currency as they fill the record stores and concert venues of the continent, would have a chance.
But it is nothing to do with history, quality, or ability. Not when Bosnia votes with Slovenia and Estonia backs whatever bilge emerges from Lithuania. Britain's relationship with Eurovision is a bit like Brazil entering the World Cup knowing a linesman's flag will overrule any goal they score.
BensGrandad
New member
Hoggy said:
I was told by an expert on Eurovision that Wogan is paid £150k to present the show, if that is true, which I dont know for sure, he is hardly a 'working class' hero.
Yoda
English & European
Dave the Gaffer said:oh bollocks...two votes - the irish (who we then didnt reciprocate) and the malta vote
perhaps we should take this more seriously than the shite we put out there tonight
its an embarrasement
Or just not bother as no matter who we put out there, the Eastern Block Countries will still all vote for each other.
Barrel of Fun
Abort, retry, fail
BensGrandad said:
He is the only paid presenter of Children in Need - £1,500 an hour. This is the first year that he donated his fee to charity - when it was revealed how much he was taking home.
Withdean Wanderer
Banned
Theatre of Trees
Well-known member
It always amuses me when we complain of block voting. If you sit down to bother to look at the ethnic make up of the countries then you can work out where many of the votes are going to go. Many of the artists who sing for Eastern European countries are popular or well known in that part of the world but unknown in the West.
Beach Hut
Brighton Bhuna Boy
Barrel of Fun said:
Bad Wogan - thought Children In Need was all for charity
Barrel of Fun
Abort, retry, fail
Beach Hut said:Bad Wogan - thought Children In Need was all for charity
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6417329.stm
Beach Hut
Brighton Bhuna Boy
Barrel of Fun said:
You would think he would have accepted doing it for nothing though, in the spirit of the show and the good causes that money is raised for.
dougdeep
New member
I thought Moldova had the best song and that lady could actually sing.
Blackadder
Brighton Bhuna Boy
OOPs posted this on another thread.
If it wasn't for the Irish and the Maltese that's exactly what we would have got.
Methinks it's time to pull out for a couple of years and, of course, let the little counrties pay for it.
No Western European country will ever win it again with the current voting system.
If it wasn't for the Irish and the Maltese that's exactly what we would have got.
Methinks it's time to pull out for a couple of years and, of course, let the little counrties pay for it.
No Western European country will ever win it again with the current voting system.
Buzz said:
What rubbish. The same voting system has been in place for some years now yet Finland won it last year and, if I remember rightly, Greece won it a couple of years back.
Serbia may have benefited from some block voting last night but they still gathered about 200 points from outside the Balkan bloc; they scored pretty highly from all round the place.
Ernest
Stupid IDIOT
dougdeep
New member
Blackadder
Brighton Bhuna Boy
Gwylan said:
Since when has Finland been in Western Europe?
It's in the Scandavian "Block"
Theatre of Trees
Well-known member
But Finland has always been in the West politically.
The East Europeans take this competition very seriously and nearly always send their best or well known competitors whereas we send unknowns or third rate groups who had their 15 minutes a few years back. On top of this the east European music market is huge and covers many of the 'blocs' people have mentioned above and many of the performers will be stars in a number of different countries. Before they briefly hit the big time here, Tatu were selling bucketloads in Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Czech Republic and other countries.
Last night's winner has been producing albums for the local 'Yugoslav' market for nearly 4 years and underwent a promotional tour of the same area along with Greece. With the song sung in Serbo-Croat it was fully understood by voters in Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia, and to a lesser extent in Slovenia, Macedonia and Bulgaria.
The Belarus entry was a winner on the Russian version of Pop Idol which also provided one of the girls in the Russian entry's group. The programme would also have been seen over the border in other countries with a Russian minority; Latvia, Estonia, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine and to a lesser extent in Armenia and Georgia. The Ukrainian entry was from a comedian who has been broadcasting for a number years on various Russian television stations. The Moldovan singer is regular in the Romanian charts and Romanian MTV.
What it actually highlights is western Europe's ignorance of that part of the world, its make up and traditions. The Baltic States regularly held song contests during Soviet rule as a way of keeping ther culture alive and enhancing links between them against their perceived aggressor. If you understand east European history you'll understand the voting patterns. It is ironic the that the two votes the UK got last night was from countries closely associated with us.
The bloc voting does not necessarily get you a win but can be built upon, outside their bloc Serbia picked up 12 points from Austria and Switzerland, 10 points from Sweden and Norway and 8 points from the Czechs, France, Germany, Malta, Poland and the Netherlands. They failed to get any votes from only 5 countries out of 41; Andorra, Estonia, Lithuania, Turkey and the UK.
The East Europeans take this competition very seriously and nearly always send their best or well known competitors whereas we send unknowns or third rate groups who had their 15 minutes a few years back. On top of this the east European music market is huge and covers many of the 'blocs' people have mentioned above and many of the performers will be stars in a number of different countries. Before they briefly hit the big time here, Tatu were selling bucketloads in Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Czech Republic and other countries.
Last night's winner has been producing albums for the local 'Yugoslav' market for nearly 4 years and underwent a promotional tour of the same area along with Greece. With the song sung in Serbo-Croat it was fully understood by voters in Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia, and to a lesser extent in Slovenia, Macedonia and Bulgaria.
The Belarus entry was a winner on the Russian version of Pop Idol which also provided one of the girls in the Russian entry's group. The programme would also have been seen over the border in other countries with a Russian minority; Latvia, Estonia, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine and to a lesser extent in Armenia and Georgia. The Ukrainian entry was from a comedian who has been broadcasting for a number years on various Russian television stations. The Moldovan singer is regular in the Romanian charts and Romanian MTV.
What it actually highlights is western Europe's ignorance of that part of the world, its make up and traditions. The Baltic States regularly held song contests during Soviet rule as a way of keeping ther culture alive and enhancing links between them against their perceived aggressor. If you understand east European history you'll understand the voting patterns. It is ironic the that the two votes the UK got last night was from countries closely associated with us.
The bloc voting does not necessarily get you a win but can be built upon, outside their bloc Serbia picked up 12 points from Austria and Switzerland, 10 points from Sweden and Norway and 8 points from the Czechs, France, Germany, Malta, Poland and the Netherlands. They failed to get any votes from only 5 countries out of 41; Andorra, Estonia, Lithuania, Turkey and the UK.
dougdeep
New member
Buzz said:
Finland is not in Scandanavia. FACT!
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=58.493694,26.367188&spn=33.112454,80.771484&z=4&om=1
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