I might be an unlikely candidate to be watching Eurovision but it’s a throwback to earlier times when it was about the only time that British TV admitted there were other languages and cultures out there and as a language graduate I felt duty bound to watch. And I’m usually at home doing nothing thatevery Saturday night. I mean there is always some awful drivel and in that regard not a great deal has changed, at least half the songs are dross. Then you get the occasional half decent track which is bound to do badly and then the ueber-schlock which is bound to do well. I can never predict the winner, in fact my tacit vote is usually Woganesque in its power for the kiss of death. Last year I was torn between Iceland because the singer was a fox and Estonia which was a catchy tune played on real instruments a sort of foot-tapping no. 23 in the charts. I thought TATU the Russians were dreadful, I thought Jemini got a bit of a bum deal from the sound system but then I’m probably just being generous because Gemma the singer was quite a pleasure to look at! I was quite surprised about Britain getting the big zero, it was tough on the 2 who had nothing to do with the then political situation but hey it was a powerful statement and one I supported.

This year I watched the songs and well, OK I’m a red-blooded male so I couldn’t fail to give the Ukraine a second glance, and a third glance and then almost looking for some spare video in case she won!
The Irish, well for years now the overriding impression I’ve got from the Irish entry has been that they’re still so shit scared that if they win it again they might never get rid of it. After all that 3 in a row in the 90s nearly bankrupted the country, started losing it and lo, emerald tiger!
The English entry seems an affable enough bloke and being a Welshman I feel a mild sense of Celtic loyalty! But he did over-americanise the lyrics and I really hate that.
The Cypriot entry sounded like the theme tune to ‘Prisoner Cell Block H’
The Belgian women reminded me too much of Tara Palmer-Tompkinson altho’ to be fair the Belgian did have a chin.
I could do with seeing the Polish woman again she was growing on me, but then abstinence does make the heart grow fonder, or something like that!
But the Baron’s vote goes to the hosts -Turkey, I know I was surprised but they came out with a band and a rather ska-esque type song which I thought was quite good, I’d listen to it on the radio.

I was thinking about writing a paragraph about how disappointed I was that so many countries now feel pressured to sing in English and all the semantic fascism etc. and then I realised that ultimately I liked a Turkish entry because it conformed to a Western genre that I like so I’m no bloody better.

We’ll see who wins, I suspect it will be suitably underwhelming and probably won’t tempt me back to the blogging table. Sorry you Americans/Canadians/Australians and Fillipinos that read my blog you will not necessarily have a clue what I’m talking about!

Original Comments:


ryan made this comment,
Hello
Weturning the favow
So what is this Eurovision thingy? an cult? or the real thing that those idol programmes riped off
howed you find my blog by the way?
http://themeaningoflifeishere.blog-city.com
comment added :: {ts ‘2004-05-16 01:12:28’} GMT+01

kate made this comment,
Dear Mr Baron,
Come on give us a name at least…. Firstly not to worry about your voyeuristic tendencies, putting the pic up is a test measure for a few days and although I write about personal stuff I do choose to publish it. Although I do keep meaning to make some kind of political statement so as to establish my position I daren’t tell you now,otherwise you may be scared by our quasi-parallel lives.
As for Eurovision, well we all secretly watch it I suspect otherwise they wouldn’t have it primetime every year, though I did manage to miss it this time.
Ooh finally, glad to be earning brownie points and really I do realise that I’m stunning the compliment wasn’t necessary, though sweet.
[Redbaron’s response -since we are leading parallel lives you may call me Red! I’ll leave you to decide whether that’s by name or by nature!]

comment added :: {ts ‘2004-05-16 01:14:59’} GMT+01

A visitor made this comment,
do you actually think about what you’re going to write, or does it just come out? you sound like you know what you’re talking about, while i’m just really pissed at where this country is….
rachel

[Redbaron’s response -that’s kind of you to say so but no it isn’t generally planned it tends to flow which is why my political blogs are longer than any others. I guess you get used to writing things in a certain genre so maybe that starts to come naturally. I started writing stuff to vent my spleen in 1997 and it were pen to paper in them days!!!]

comment added :: {ts ‘2004-05-16 01:23:32’} GMT+01

kate made this comment,
I’m afraid I am indeed, I was in fact conceived on a CND march (nice to know these things), however you won’t want to marry me when you find out that I am actually an (active) party member. Not that I agree with the leadership you understand but rather because I support the Labour philosophy that we have here at a local level. However I live in the middle of hunting-ville in Kent so there’s very little cahnce for any of our aganda to actually have much affect on council policy.
comment added :: {ts ‘2004-05-16 01:56:34’} GMT+01

Brett made this comment,
Good old Eurovision, we even get it here in Australia, minus Wogan. We even got the preliminaries this year from Istanbul!!!
It bought the world ABBA – I rest my case in the relevance of the Eurovision Song Contests

[Redbaron’s response -Christ that’s hardcore having the prelims as well however it must lack a certain something not to have old Tel waxing lyrical and getting steadily more pissed and acerbic as the evening and his alcohol consumption progress]

comment added :: {ts ‘2004-05-16 02:00:18’} GMT+01

Rachel made this comment,
ahh, jesus, but what can you do except the petty responses such as petitions and protests? and can you honestly tell me that they’re making ANY difference? i’m almost sick of watching the news anymore, just becuz i know EXACTLY what’s going to be on it. but again, what can you do?
comment added :: {ts ‘2004-05-16 03:08:50’} GMT+01

ryan made this comment,
Why dont we get it down in NZ if you Auzzies get in Austerlia??
comment added :: {ts ‘2004-05-16 07:55:14’} GMT+01

Tine made this comment,
I watched the contest, Belgium deserved a better place than ending almost last :/
Visit me @ http://tine.blog-city.com

[Redbaron’s response -I agree the Belgian one was no worse than many of the others and the Tara Palmer-Tompkinson jibe will only work in the UK.]

comment added :: {ts ‘2004-05-16 10:17:16’} GMT+01

MaD^g3r made this comment,
why thank you =) i’ll link ya?

[Redbaron’s response – why thank you too, I’m always glad of a link, but who are you? You need to give your URL so that I may return the favour. You wouldn’t be Turkish by any chance?]

comment added :: {ts ‘2004-05-16 10:38:59’} GMT+01

Vijay made this comment,
Hola… Thanx for the stuff on beer! Will toast you next time I have some :-). Just linked you…BTW I think there are two groups “THE Divine Comedy” and just “Divine comedy”—Not sure though. Too bad we dont get Eurovision out here :-(. BTW have u ever tasted any Indian beers?
Visit me @ http://thusspakevj.blog-city.com

comment added :: {ts ‘2004-05-16 13:33:44’} GMT+01

A visitor made this comment,
Look, they have *got* to cut out the singing part for next year: I have a sneaking suspicion they’ll do this anyway – after all you’ll notice it’s actually called Eurovision 2004. Not a mention of “Song” anywhere 🙂 Actually no mention of “Contest” either! The entertainment waiting for the voting to complete was the best bit for me and the fact that the Turks put on such a spectacular show proves my theory. Loved Terry’s comment about “Turkish Riverdance” though !
peterg22

comment added :: {ts ‘2004-05-16 19:24:07’} GMT+01