This could be a first, and fun! Dopers worldwide can watch the Eurovision Song Contest together at the same time by going to http://www.eurovision.tv/english/ on Saturday, May 21 at noon Pacific Coast Time.
If you have never seen it, think American Idol, except each group/singer has been selected from their country in Europe, they all sing their song in one show, all the votes are tallied live on stage after they sing, and then the winner is announced. The entire show runs about 3 hours.
The show is major kitsch, the (original) songs are mostly Euro-pop, the singers vary from very good to the truly miserable. However, this is the show that gave ABBA their start, and even Celine Dion won one year, singing the song for Switzerland.
Tune in for a taste of European television, for a glimpse at musical tastes in various European countries, and get ready for some eye-popping kitsch and a couple of ohmygod moments. When I lived in Berlin, I used to invite friends over, drink lots of beer and we would just laugh and laugh until the show finished.
Ah, but how much of the fun will online viewers miss, not having the benefit of a snarky presenter to add some spice to the evening? I still think it’s worth it, of course, just to know what us Yurrupean types are talking about. Provided we don’t get enough people watching to crash the server…
The voting system, for those of you who haven’t watched before, is a bit odd. I believe every country now lets viewers call in and vote, although in the past there were professional juries who made the decision. Countries award points to one another, with the winner of the most votes getting 12 points, then 10 to the second-place winner, then 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. Countries vote in alphabetical order and announce their results starting with the 1-point winners.
Mandatory equipment: your choice of beverage, a suitably unhealthy TV snack, and a sense of humor. Companions help to enhance the experience, but you can of course find those in the right Dope thread…
Any eurodopers have an idea for a drinking game.
So far I’m going with
1 drink for every national instrument
1 drink for every mullet
2 drinks for every piece of clothing removed (pulling a bucks fizz)
I would say one drink for every backing dancer, but nobody would make it to the end then…
Mr. Moldova’s shirt apparently didn’t get back from the cleaners after the semi-final.
Now Ms. Albania is up. Why do the backing dancers have violins? I’m not hearing any violin music, and they aren’t even holding them like they have a clue how to play…
Comment from the Norwegian TV host about the Ukrainian band: “The best part is that they have a chubby, balding, homely, middle-aged man as a vocalist, which gives us all reason for hope.”
Well, we know why the Greek singer needed four backing dancers. So that when she sang “You’re my number one”, they could emphasize that by lying on the floor to make… a number 1.
Symbollic of what though, I wished they were bound and gagged by the end
Finally they ripped a piece of clothing drinks
at this rate i’m not going to be drunk by the end of this.
The russian woman found a phrase she liked and she’s sticking with it
Bosnia Herzegovina: Name ripped off from Eminem, music ripped off from ABBA, hair ripped off from Miss Clairol. They can’t lose.
Norwegian TV announcer: “This is the kind of music you hear on the ferry between Sandefjord and Strömstad.” Later: “If I were Benny Andersson, I’d sue.”