Chaos Reading discussion

Anyone else watching the biggest TV event in the world this weekend? So much hilarity. So much twitter-based snark.
I'll post my favourite clip at the end of the first semi-final (my time). So far though, it has to be Israel for my money.

Happy Eurovision Weekend y'all! :)

Warning - There may be spoilers (depending on your timezone).
http://www.eurovision.tv/page/baku-2012

Moldova!

Not so happy with Britains choice this year. Engelbert Humperdink. I'm not sure i spelt his name right, but i really can't be bothered to Google it. ;)

I'm definitely watching. Even if the UK have no chance of winning (again), I love Graham Norton's snark and the crazy entries... :D

Vee, (The PurpleLibraryGirl) ♥ wrote: "Not so happy with Britains choice this year. Engelbert Humperdink. I'm not sure i spelt his name right, but i really can't be bothered to Google it. ;)"

But that's so exciting! Engelbert Humperdinck, Russian grannies, poledancers, a really inappropriate costume by the Dutch singer..... that's Eurovision baby!

Derek wrote: "Moldova!"

Oh that's right. The guy with a moustache AND dungarees. Lucky man :)

I'm gutted Israel didn't make it through. GUTTED.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uy4gg...

I have no idea what this is. Am I being an ignorant American?

Ruby wrote: "Derek wrote: "Moldova!"

Oh that's right. The guy with a moustache AND dungarees. Lucky man :)"

..."how looks the trumpet...." genius mistranslation.

I thought it's just an european thing xD Haven't seen it, but sweden is too good for this event. :D The singer of my country (Germany-Roman Lob) was just too lame for this contest, but he's really sweet haha :D

Riona wrote: "I have no idea what this is. Am I being an ignorant American?"
The wiki link I posted at the top tells you all about it, and which countries it's televised to, so yeah. Not so much ignorant as lazy. :)

There's a stat going round Twitter (uncredited, so I can't confirm) that 3% of Australians watch Eurovision, a higher proportion per capita than European viewers! It has become a bit of a cult phenomenon here, with tongue-in-cheek commentary along similar lines to what Terry Wogan used to do in UK.

I thought it was a bit disappointing this year, and as always the semi-finals were way more fun than the final. My favourites NEVER get through! I'll never understand how Sweden won this year. Humperdinck was robbed! Still mourning for Slovakia too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTXz60...

Amy wrote: "Ruby wrote: "Derek wrote: "Moldova!"

Oh that's right. The guy with a moustache AND dungarees. Lucky man :)"

..."how looks the trumpet...." genius mistranslation."

Gotta love some of the English lyrics. "I was born in distant 1980..."
That was my favourite.

Ruby wrote: "Amy wrote: "Ruby wrote: "Derek wrote: "Moldova!"

Oh that's right. The guy with a moustache AND dungarees. Lucky man :)"

..."how looks the trumpet...." genius mistranslation."

Gotta love some of ..."

OK, time to confess. I paid almost zero attention to Eurovision. As Napolean said, "it's been downhill since Waterloo".

All I knew about this year's Eurovision was one piece I heard on the radio, where the reporter said Moldova was a front-runner :-)

Derek wrote: "OK, time to confess. I paid almost zero attention to Eurovision. As Napolean said, "it's been downhill since Waterloo".
All I knew about this year's Eurovision was one piece I heard on the radio, where the reporter said Moldova was a front-runner :-) "

Hahaha! Busted! That would've been during the first semi-final. I'm so glad they started televising the semi-finals. All the best/worst/funniest songs get shown then.

And LOL to Waterloo. The half-time show during one of the semi-finals had a bunch of recent Eurovision winners on stage as a "supergroup" singing Waterloo together. The Swedish pair who were leading it didn't know the words. Hysterical.

They came 7th. Full results board is here: http://www.eurovision.tv/page/history...

Ruby wrote: "a bunch of recent Eurovision winners on stage as a "supergroup" singing Waterloo together. The Swedish pair who were leading it didn't know the words. "

O.M.G! Abba didn't know the words when they first started singing it either (at least, the story goes, most of them didn't know the English, they were just singing phonetically), but it's not like they're that complicated, and it should almost be a condition of entry to the competition that you be able to sing Waterloo!

If you make it through the first five minutes, Waterloo's the last part of the "medley": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhCsee...

Erm..... do you mean the woman from Serbia who won the competition in 2007? Marija Serifovic.

I give Englebert Humperdinck a standing ovation for competing. He did an awesome job. People are just not accepting of a 75year old crooner competing against younger singers. He did a fine job and he represented the UK fantastically!!

This was my first year watching Eurovision and I must say that Englebert was the "draw". I have been a fan of his for years, so you know how old I am, lol!! He can do no wrong in my eyes. Reading some of the comments about the voting process, it sounds like it needs some re-vamping. People are saying that it is "fixed". No matter where Englebert placed in the competition, he will remain a favorite in my heart.

Juanita wrote: "I give Englebert Humperdinck a standing ovation for competing. He did an awesome job. People are just not accepting of a 75year old crooner competing against younger singers. He did a fine job a..."

Yeah, he's got quite the voice for 75! Pretty amazing, even if he didn't quite make the key change.

Fiona wrote: "I enjoyed this year's Eurovision, though I don't think that any songs were particularly stand-out good or bad... That one has got to be one of my favourite Eurovision songs ever. It is so terrible, awful, horrid but I think it did get more points then UK back in 2008. "

Oh no! I remember that one! The one I always wish got through was this from Israel in 2007: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=424dX1...
"I wanna see the flowers bloom, Don't wanna go kaput! kaboom!" Too controversial apparently - Can you hear the crowd booing all the way through? Nuts.

And no - I didn't really LOVE anything this year either. I keep hoping for another Lordi. I actually cried with happiness when that won. :(

Juanita wrote: "This was my first year watching Eurovision and I must say that Englebert was the "draw". I have been a fan of his for years, so you know how old I am, lol!! He can do no wrong in my eyes. Readi..."

They've been doing "bloc voting" forever. Even where it's not actually rigged though, the audiences in each country will vote for the countries they like most anyway! It's extremely political.

Thanks Ruby, maybe "rigged" was the wrong word. At any rate, I though Englebert was a delight and represented the UK admirably.

Juanita wrote: "Thanks Ruby, maybe "rigged" was the wrong word. At any rate, I though Englebert was a delight and represented the UK admirably."

Oh, don't get me wrong. I'm sure there is a lot of rigging going on too!