Well as many forum regulars know i'm somewhat of a tragic for the Eurovision song contest. It must be something about pretty flickering colours and good from far, but far from good-looking Eastern Europeans that appeals to the sadist in me, but this year was truly a return to form for the Eurovision song Contest - both in Content and execution.
For starters the program was very, VERY well conceived and produced. the stage was of a massive scale and the Constructivist theme chosen was well executed. Each individual stage show looked like it came from the same family but showed an entirely different facade. To cap it off the presenters spoke French/English proficiently, Voting was smooth, and the end result not entirely undeserved. There was just enough tackiness thrown in for good measure, which, really, is what we all love to see in our eurovision lives.
Ahh yes, the competitors. This year "Fairytale", sung by 23 year old Alexander Rybak, romped home with a truly massive 387 points, clearing closest rival, Iceland's Yohanna with "Is It True?" by over 100 points. Azerbaijan also had a bumper year, rounding out the top three with Aysel & Arash singing "Always", which garned 207 points.
The theme of "Fairytale" was, in my mind, incredibly well chosen as the past few years have seen the contest itself take on the theme (Finland in particular took the theme to heart with it's production in 2007). The song itself was reasonably catchy, and the addition of Cossack dancing was a nice touch.
Yohanna is an attractive enough Icelandic girl who's "Is It True?" was considered by many to be 3 minutes of near perfect pop, and highly suited to the competition. the performance was reasonably simple - No fireworks, no flames - and was benefitted as such.
Aysel & Arash represented the old Guard of the Eurovision Contest - the warbling, off key, loud and cliched eastern european country making good. "Always" was probably my least favourite song of the night because it wasn't bad enough to not be taken seriously, but it wasn't good enough to earn it's position in 3rd.
I mean look at them, seriously.
Honourable mentions for this contest go to the United Kingdom, who have fallen from grace in recent years, to make their way up to 5th position with what can only be described as a Pop Idol contest song winner. "It's My Time"
The Ukraine (12th) for what can only be described as Gay Sparta. Points are awarded for the WTF name of "Anti-Crisis Girl".
France (8th) for doing what they do best and harking back to their glory days of the 70's - with a pared back female-led ballad.
and Portugal (15th) who I felt were somewhat unlucky with their position, considering the Acid nature of their backing screen and the relatively upbeat mood of their song, it seems they chose the wrong tone for the competition.
Dishonourable mentions go to Germany (23rd) who flew In Dita Von Teese to sex up their act, only for her hard work to be undone by a pair of male, skin tight silver pants - possibly causing any hard on created to shrivel and die.
And Finland (25th) who misfired this year with a Dance song about the Homeless. Yes, you read that correctly.
Overall the new voting system had it's intended effect - Bloc Voting, while still somewhat prevalent, was all but wiped out, and it allowed a western European country the right the host the 2010 contest, which I look forward to.
Special mention must go to SBS for showing the program in Australia, with commentators who take it as seriously as I do (Meaning not very)
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by LisaS
