Eurovision nights
May. 13th, 2018 08:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shewhomustI enjoy Eurovision. I make no apology for that: one night a year of international silliness, glitter and incomprehensible pop songs, what's wrong with that. One night a year ought to be enough. I wouldn't dream of sitting down to watch the semi-finals. Yet somehow this year it happened that twice in a week we asked the television to supply some undemanding entertainment, and it gave us Eurovision, so that we came to the show having seen fragments of many songs (though not, as it happened, the UK entry). Did San Marino really have a row of little robots? (Yes.) Was Georgia really entering a choir of monks? (No, that was Iriao, an Ethno-Jazz band. What?)
Anyway, neither of these made it into the final. We invited F and C to help us through the big night, and had a good time. The New Seriousness announced by Portugal's winning entry of last year has not caught on. Portugal tried to repeat it, with a song about the writer's grandmother, in which the singer, in a floor-length nightdress, was joined onstage by the writer in what looked like a straitjacket (I don't remember this from last night, I have just looked it up. How can I have forgotten this?). But elsewhere there was glitter and sequins, flashing lights and gimmickry. Graham Norton's commentary was scathing about Moldova, who appeared to have offended him by the low-tech nature of their very clever retro staging: but if the song was forgettable, I liked the klezmer tinge of the music. There were pretty boys giving knowing, aren't-I-cute performances: it's a toss up for who irritated me more, the Czech Republic or Sweden - but the Czech Republic (I thought they weren't called that any more?) made C laugh a lot, and F liked the ambient quality of Sweden's song, so there you go. I understand that Ukraine's young vampire was bidding for the Goth vote, but why was his piano on fire? And what can I say about Israel?
Well, OK, I can say this about Israel: if Israel thinks that what Eurovision wants right now is a novelty production of a song allegedly "accepting differences and for celebrating diversity.”", the voting shows that Israel is absolutely right. There isn't a reward for an emotional response to the tragic journeys of refugees (sorry, France) nor for cleverly subtitling your response to the bombing of the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester in all the languages of Europe - which shows you how much I know, because as soon as I saw Italy's entry, I thought it hit the target spot-on, and I couldn't understand why it wasn't being talked about as a contender. But it seems that as well as the right message, you need a mini-kimono and a wall of lucky cats.
I also don't understand the voting. Apparently there are now two rounds: in the first, the juries of experts tell us who ought to win; in the second, the public phone in and vote for someone completely different. We found ourselves agreeing more with the public vote than with the professionals, which was unexpected: it was the public vote which boosted Italy into fifth place, for example.
My head said Italy should do well, but my heart went to Denmark: a squad of stomping Vikings, what's not to like? Better, a squad of Vikings singing about Saint Magnus, against a background of rolling seas, in a storm of carefully choreographed snow:
And a special Best Dress Award to Estonia.
Anyway, neither of these made it into the final. We invited F and C to help us through the big night, and had a good time. The New Seriousness announced by Portugal's winning entry of last year has not caught on. Portugal tried to repeat it, with a song about the writer's grandmother, in which the singer, in a floor-length nightdress, was joined onstage by the writer in what looked like a straitjacket (I don't remember this from last night, I have just looked it up. How can I have forgotten this?). But elsewhere there was glitter and sequins, flashing lights and gimmickry. Graham Norton's commentary was scathing about Moldova, who appeared to have offended him by the low-tech nature of their very clever retro staging: but if the song was forgettable, I liked the klezmer tinge of the music. There were pretty boys giving knowing, aren't-I-cute performances: it's a toss up for who irritated me more, the Czech Republic or Sweden - but the Czech Republic (I thought they weren't called that any more?) made C laugh a lot, and F liked the ambient quality of Sweden's song, so there you go. I understand that Ukraine's young vampire was bidding for the Goth vote, but why was his piano on fire? And what can I say about Israel?
Well, OK, I can say this about Israel: if Israel thinks that what Eurovision wants right now is a novelty production of a song allegedly "accepting differences and for celebrating diversity.”", the voting shows that Israel is absolutely right. There isn't a reward for an emotional response to the tragic journeys of refugees (sorry, France) nor for cleverly subtitling your response to the bombing of the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester in all the languages of Europe - which shows you how much I know, because as soon as I saw Italy's entry, I thought it hit the target spot-on, and I couldn't understand why it wasn't being talked about as a contender. But it seems that as well as the right message, you need a mini-kimono and a wall of lucky cats.
I also don't understand the voting. Apparently there are now two rounds: in the first, the juries of experts tell us who ought to win; in the second, the public phone in and vote for someone completely different. We found ourselves agreeing more with the public vote than with the professionals, which was unexpected: it was the public vote which boosted Italy into fifth place, for example.
My head said Italy should do well, but my heart went to Denmark: a squad of stomping Vikings, what's not to like? Better, a squad of Vikings singing about Saint Magnus, against a background of rolling seas, in a storm of carefully choreographed snow:
And a special Best Dress Award to Estonia.
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