Eurovision
May. 14th, 2011 11:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
smofbabeOne of the best things about having moved to Australia is being able to watch the Eurovision Song Contest every year. (Don't ask me why they broadcast it in Australia or why Israel is one of the qualifying countries.) This year was unfortunately light on the goofball entries that make it so much fun, but there were a few here and there to leaven the boring pop ballads.
On the funky front, I was sort of fond of the boxing theme from Armenia. Goofiest was probably Moldova, Stephen's favorite, complete with tall pointy hats and a girl on a unicycle. We cheered when they made it through.
The sand painting in the background of the entry from Ukraine was cool but I'm sure we weren't the only viewers who completely ignored the singer and song in favor of the art in the background.
We also had the usual hilarious background dancers, especially giggle-worthy from Macedonia, Sweden, and Hungary (the dancers that flip on the stage about 1 minute in have as an added bonus costumes that light up). The winner, though, was Cyprus, whose dancers leaned so dramatically that we figure they must have been wearing magnetic shoes. (Their entry also featured a lit globe that looked like it was going to be swung like a discus!)
The theme for the contest this year appeared to be hair gel, as exhibited by funky frenetic twins Jedward from Ireland, Denmark, Bulgaria, and a boy band refugee from Russia. (Stephen really wanted Russia to go through because of their light-up shoes.)
Most Pathetic this year was probably Portugal (although we haven't yet seen the big countries that get in on a bye like Germany and the UK). And this year's Most Pointless Costume Reveal award goes to Croatia, whose lead singer managed three within the final 30 seconds of the song! Least Ethnically Coherent goes to Norway which featured a song sung by a Kenyan partially in Swahili.
Still can't believe that boring Switzerland, an earnest teen with guitar from Finland, and really bad rap from Greece made it through Semifinal 1 over more deserving entries, like Israel.
In the final, I was cheering for the miniskirted 60s tribute from Serbia, and the equally retro Iceland entry , especially given its heartwarming back story (the original contestant died suddenly at age 37 and his friends got together to perform as a tribute to him, calling themselves "Sijonni's Friends"). Unfortunately, neither did well: the winner was Azerbaijan with an innocuous pop song. The big surprise to me, though, was Italy in second place with a strange and musically confused jazz/swing ballad.
On the funky front, I was sort of fond of the boxing theme from Armenia. Goofiest was probably Moldova, Stephen's favorite, complete with tall pointy hats and a girl on a unicycle. We cheered when they made it through.
The sand painting in the background of the entry from Ukraine was cool but I'm sure we weren't the only viewers who completely ignored the singer and song in favor of the art in the background.
We also had the usual hilarious background dancers, especially giggle-worthy from Macedonia, Sweden, and Hungary (the dancers that flip on the stage about 1 minute in have as an added bonus costumes that light up). The winner, though, was Cyprus, whose dancers leaned so dramatically that we figure they must have been wearing magnetic shoes. (Their entry also featured a lit globe that looked like it was going to be swung like a discus!)
The theme for the contest this year appeared to be hair gel, as exhibited by funky frenetic twins Jedward from Ireland, Denmark, Bulgaria, and a boy band refugee from Russia. (Stephen really wanted Russia to go through because of their light-up shoes.)
Most Pathetic this year was probably Portugal (although we haven't yet seen the big countries that get in on a bye like Germany and the UK). And this year's Most Pointless Costume Reveal award goes to Croatia, whose lead singer managed three within the final 30 seconds of the song! Least Ethnically Coherent goes to Norway which featured a song sung by a Kenyan partially in Swahili.
Still can't believe that boring Switzerland, an earnest teen with guitar from Finland, and really bad rap from Greece made it through Semifinal 1 over more deserving entries, like Israel.
In the final, I was cheering for the miniskirted 60s tribute from Serbia, and the equally retro Iceland entry , especially given its heartwarming back story (the original contestant died suddenly at age 37 and his friends got together to perform as a tribute to him, calling themselves "Sijonni's Friends"). Unfortunately, neither did well: the winner was Azerbaijan with an innocuous pop song. The big surprise to me, though, was Italy in second place with a strange and musically confused jazz/swing ballad.
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