# eurovision
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eurovision/19555
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [May 15, 2000, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eurovision/19555 "2000-05-15T11:21:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@bj0rn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bj0rn)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2000, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eurovision/19555/1 "2000-05-15T11:21:31Z")
congratulations olsen-brothers and denmark.
i would also like to congratulate Germany and France for their contribution this year, as well as everybody else.
bj0rn - š
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### Author:  [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2000, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eurovision/19555/2 "2000-05-15T11:40:45Z")
Welcome to MPSIMS, bj0rn š
I think the Dutch entry came in 13th, but it was all overshadowed by the big explosion that hit the town of Enschede last Saturday. A fireworks factory exploded, killing 15 people and wounding over 600 (so far). The area looks like a warzone: check [this page](http://www.omroep.nl/nos/nieuws/binnenland/nieuws/2000/mei/150500/explosie_fotoos.html) for some photographs.
Sorry for the hijack, bj0rn.
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### Author:  [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2000, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eurovision/19555/3 "2000-05-15T11:48:58Z")
All right. I _never_ thought Iād ask this, but Bj0rn, could you please tell this ignorant American something; just what is _ **eurovision** _?
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### Author:  [@bj0rn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bj0rn)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2000, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eurovision/19555/4 "2000-05-15T12:59:21Z")
coldfire: i know about the explosion in the fireworks factory. my sympathies to everyone in the netherlands.
unclebeer: something i hope will never reach the us.
its a song contest.
bj0rn - lalalalaā¦
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### Author:  [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2000, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eurovision/19555/5 "2000-05-15T13:13:43Z")
Donāt listen to him Unca! Heās lying! Itās a particular brand of German sunglasses. Oh wait: itās a brand of Danish televisions. No, scrap that: itās a sarcastic remark regarding the lack of insight in the EC Committee.
Aw hell. bj0rnās right. It is a horrible annual song contest that includes participants from all over Europe, such as Israel. Donāt ask me to explain it, but when it comes to football and singing cheesy songs, Israel is apparently a part of Europe all of a sudden š
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### Author:  [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2000, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eurovision/19555/6 "2000-05-15T13:19:07Z")
Iād be curious to know how many Europeans here watch it for the humour aspect. My sister has eagerly taped it to watch as a comedy show.
picmr
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### Author:  [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2000, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eurovision/19555/7 "2000-05-15T13:23:20Z")
Oh and I should mentioned (double post just avoided, still sitting on zero) that for football/ soccer Israel is frequently part of Australasia. In World Cup qualifiers, Australia seems to play NZ, Vanuatu, the Solomons, Papua New Guinea, Israel. After we have won that, we alsways have to play a ālucky loserā, which in recent years has been Scotland, Argentina and Iraq.
picmr
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### Author:  [@the\_Scarlet\_Pimpernel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_Scarlet_Pimpernel)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2000, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eurovision/19555/8 "2000-05-15T14:12:55Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*\*
> Iād be curious to know how many Europeans here watch it for the humour aspect. My sister has eagerly taped it to watch as a comedy show.
>
> picmr
> \*\*
Are you kidding? They _all_ do!
That said, itās rather a dubious honor to have won, but on behalf of the Olsen bros, I will accept any cash you care to throw at me.
The SDMBās Token Dane
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### Author:  [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2000, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eurovision/19555/9 "2000-05-15T16:19:59Z")
Oh.
My.
God.
Eurovision. Bow down and sacrifice a Pink Floyd record to whatever god of Music you believe in that you dont have to endure the endless suffering commonly known as Eurovisionā¦
Its a song contest.
But not any normal song contest.
Only the Kitchest, Cornyest, most evil radioEuro frendly music from Satans 8-track collection is allowed to compete.
\*but I still watch \*
and thats the sad thing. Instead of reading a book, or doing something productive, I end up killing my braincells with beer and Eurovision.
The only exciting thing about the Eurovision is the voting. The only entertaining thing at all.
Greece and Cyprus give each other full marks every year.
Germans go into surrounding countries to vote for their own country. (its done by a phone vote, but you cannot vote for your own country)
And there is a lot of mony to be made by betting on who is going to finish last, hopefully with nil pois (nil points)
this year the last song was from Macedonia.
They were completely off key, off time and with bad lyrics
āI love you 100% yayayaā and so onā¦
oh lordā¦ only another 364 days until the next oneā¦
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### Author:  [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)
#### Post date: [May 15, 2000, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eurovision/19555/10 "2000-05-15T18:17:12Z")
Eurovision is like the confederation of the different European TVs so when an event is transmitted live from one country to another they first tell you itās āEurovisionā. Today this seems quaint but Eurovision was established something like 40 years ago when TV was quite new and you saw just local stuff. Eurovision is like interpol in that it is formed by the members. They started long ago holding that annual song festival which is an embarrasment for Western Culture. BTW, that is where Julio Iglesias started his career.
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### Author:  [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2000, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eurovision/19555/11 "2000-05-16T04:58:40Z")
And ABBA.
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### Author:  [@mazirian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mazirian)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2000, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eurovision/19555/12 "2000-05-16T06:13:50Z")
And Celine Dion got her first big break in the contest.
Weāre so sorry.
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### Author:  [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2000, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eurovision/19555/13 "2000-05-16T06:16:19Z")
Jeez. Nobody replied to **my** thread on the subject. (goes off in the huff)
Yes of course everybody watches it though the songs are usually pretty dire - with, it has to be said, the Irish entry reaching new standards of heinousity, both in terms of the music and the mullet.
And as I said in The Thread That Will Not Be Replied To, the Latvian entry was actually pretty good.
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### Author:  [@bj0rn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bj0rn)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2000, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eurovision/19555/14 "2000-05-18T12:56:34Z")
whats good about it:
when they are counting the votesā¦horribly exiting!
there is this occasional good song that does not win.
there is an entry from your country.
the bad things about it are:
you have become sick of hearing your countries entry for the contest durin the last few weeks.
there are a few horrible songs.
the strange thing is:
your countries entry never sounds that bad when you finally hear it in the contest.
the songs are never longer than 3 minutes, so you never have to listen to the bad songs for a long time.
the voting is sometimes hilarious (greek/cyprus case).
how many people watch this thing!
bj0rn - darn itā¦
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### Author:  [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2000, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eurovision/19555/15 "2000-05-18T13:13:28Z")
Hey, you guys are forgetting half the fun!
The tasteless costumes. The hairdos (or hairdonāts). The wooden dancing. The painfully bad āhumorousā scripts the presenters are forced to read. (The forced smiles as they realize that agreeing to present this program is the Kiss of Death.)
Itās a bad taste bonanza!!!1!
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### Author:  [@Doobieous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doobieous)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2000, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eurovision/19555/16 "2000-05-18T14:55:05Z")
Oh my, sounds like something iād watch just to heckle the performers. From the description, it sounds like a nationally televised bad Karaoke session with bad costumes, hair, etc.