Eurovision

Never used to watch Eurovision while living in Romania: it was considered a rather lame thing to do. Eh… It just wasn’t my cup of tea. Things have changed since and… I became more sensitive to the going ons of my country and fellow countrymen. More so, starting to look more and more like a freak show, Eurovision and its very differently serious (or not) contestants are starting to get to me: I now leave the show on while surfing the net (and… updating the Global Immigrant blog). :)



As I write these very words the Finish representatives – Lordi - sing their boots off like there’s no tomorrow. I like them (I used to be a Goth you know).

I hope they win! They rocked. :D

Fact sheet:

Running since 1956, the Eurovision Song Contest is an annual televised song contest with participants from numerous countries whose national television broadcasters are members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The Contest is broadcast on television and radio throughout Europe, in selected countries around the world, and on the Internet.

The Contest's name comes from the EBU's Eurovision TV distribution network. Because it is the highest-profile event distributed by the network, the Song Contest itself is often simply called "Eurovision". ESC is an abbreviation used when referring to the Contest on websites and in forums.

The structure of the Contest is as follows:
• Each country, through a variety of means, chooses an artist and song to represent them.
• Each song from every country is then performed once on the night, vocally live.
• After all songs have been performed, viewers have ten minutes to vote for their favourite song. Viewers can not vote for their own country e.g. voters in Ireland can not vote for the Irish entry.
• All the votes are added up per country (e.g. all of the votes from Irish televoters, from French voters etc.)
• Each country, via satellite link, reveals its votes. The top ten songs voted for in each country receive points, from 1-8, then 10 and 12 points. Points are announced per country in reverse order.
• In the end, the winner is the country with the most points. In a tie, it is the country with (any number of) points awarded from most countries that wins.
• The winning country receives the honour of hosting the next year's Contest.

Ukraine is on now with the Shakira wannabe girl. Well… What can you do...



The best part of watching this is that its on RTE ONE. The presenter is a total tosser today, making fun of each and every contestant. Quite funny, it definitely adds a good bit of entertainment to the whole vibe of the moment.

Anyway. Its all good. Its harmless fun. I might even vote. Ireland is coming up next. Will I be nervous? Proud? I'm going to find out in a few seconds.

So who did you vote for?

P.S.: I got up and went in front of the TV while Ireland was on. :oS (anyone else noticed that the male backup singer seemed to have an unusually big head? – I am serious) .

Anyway… Don’t mind the dissing, its all good when multicultural events like such help bring in the limelight different perspectives of being different, from different places, different backgrounds and different beliefs.

Andi

P.S.: and the winner is...

LORDI

What an inspiring choice! ... and I'm not being sarcastic!