The people who vote for our representative(s) are partly to blame.
The British public?
Well, the people who voted for Daz are to blame.
The people who selected the songs to choose from are to blame. All the songs were dreadful this year - Daz at least stood out from the other bland rubbish. Let's face it, the songs selected to choose from have probably been rejected by all the record companies before they've been entered to Eurovision.
RTÉ had no financial problems hosting the Eurovision Inspector Sands. I know it's a common story, but it's a load of codswallop!
Yes it was an undesirable expense, but it in no way affected the station's output, and only marginally ate into reserves. There are even horror stories of the broadcaster's drama output being slashed - again a pile of bunkum!
RTÉ had no financial problems hosting the Eurovision Inspector Sands. I know it's a common story, but it's a load of codswallop!
Yes it was an undesirable expense, but it in no way affected the station's output, and only marginally ate into reserves. There are even horror stories of the broadcaster's drama output being slashed - again a pile of bunkum!
The people who vote for our representative(s) are partly to blame.
The British public?
Well, the people who voted for Daz are to blame.
Chavs possibly?!
isn't it odd how people's definition of chav differs. in my book chavs are the idiots who hang around outside spar drinking cider crashing each other cigarettes and wearing jimmy saville tracksuits. the antithesis of the kind of person who is remotely interested in eurovision. they're more galaxy listeners than radio 2 i should imagine.
Alas no Indeed Father Dick Byrne's assertion that it was costing too much to stage in that episode is one of the main reasons the myth has persisted to this day!
Clearly a very different directorial style this year by ERT - rather more conservative than the Swedes to say the least! Lots of static pedestals and lingering shots. Have to say I prefer it - the SVT railcams get very tiresome after the first few acts. When the special 'big gun' shots happen with ERT they're much more noticable and effective as they stand out from the more conventional floor shots used for most of the performances, rather than SVT's constant swooping jibs and rushing rails.
Saying that, they could with more movement on the floor peds - even slight tracking instantly lifts things up.
The central shot for the stage from the floor looking up that they keep using is appalling for such a prominent camera - they shot the presenters from foir their whole link and it was appalling. I dearly hope they don't continue to use it for voting. Indeed in general they're relying on floor peds way too much - the shots they get aren't very pleasing being positioned so low down. They haven't used the peds half way back through the auditorium at all it seems!
There are lots of conspiracy theories about the UK's (relatively) poorer record over the last decade (though until 1997, we hadn't won it since 1981), but I think a lot of it is justdown to the fact that singing the song in the English language used to be a distinct advantage - until the vast majority of the continent, including virtually all of the newer states, decided to do so, in which case that advantage has gone.
(The same has happened, to an extent, with RTE's Irish entry - how the mighty have fallen, and hard to imagine the contest used to be an almost annual event there in the early to mid 1990s.)
Isn't it the case that a handful of "major" European countries (e.g. UK, France, Germany, etc) mostly/entirely pay to stage the event, no matter what the host country is?
There seems to be a lot of resentment that ever since all the eastern-European countries joined the contest, that the likes of UK/France/Germany don't get much of a look-in in terms of scoring points, despite paying to stage it.
Well, if us paying countries really do resent the current situation, surely the answer is for us to stop paying for it (i.e. scrap Eurovision)? It makes no sense for us to p*ss-and-moan, yet still willing fork out the cash.
No, you're confusing 'The Eurovision Song Contest' and 'Eurovision' AKA the EBU.
The UK, France, Germany get a bye into the finals because they are the biggest contributors to the EBU and the Eurovision network. That's not necessarily a financial contribution, it's facilities and audio/video material as well - for example the BBC central control room at TV Centre is a major Eurovision network hub.
The song contest is just one tiny part of Eurovision; it's paid for in part by the EBU and the broadcaster that's hosting it - hence the financial problems that RTE had in the 90's after having to stage it 3 years running
The people who vote for our representative(s) are partly to blame.
The British public?
Well, the people who voted for Daz are to blame.
Chavs possibly?!
isn't it odd how people's definition of chav differs. in my book chavs are the idiots who hang around outside spar drinking cider crashing each other cigarettes and wearing jimmy saville tracksuits. the antithesis of the kind of person who is remotely interested in eurovision. they're more galaxy listeners than radio 2 i should imagine.
I'm just going by what it says in
Chav. A User's Guide to Britain's New Ruling Class
by Mia Wallace and Clint Spanner. I'd say Daz is quite chavvy by their standards! Chavs wouldn't have been watching Eurovision... they would have been outside Spar on Saturday night!!
Glad Finland (the faux heavy-rockers) won-- they were far better and far more entertaining than the other favourites. Daz deserved to come 19th for his dire (c)rap Time to get Belle and the Devotions out of retirement?
Just got back to UK after a quick visit to my normal home in The Netherlands.
What a night Saturday was. FIrstly it started on Saturday morning when I actually watched BBC Breakfast and watching the news story about the Finnish group and possible problems by some factions. As soon as I saw the group I thought they have to win - they may not have the lyrics, tune etc but their costumes are GREAT!!!!! Move over The Darkness!
Saturday night, in a bar with friends and the results begin. I got every single prediction spot on and my friends wanted to know how I knew - simple. Former Yugoslav countries give each other high marks; Former USSR (except Yugoslavia) give each other top marks, Scandinavian Countries also do the same. The biggest change, I have noticed are the votes between Greece, Cyprus and Turkey - becoming more and more friendly - possibly due to Turkey wanting assension into the EU?????????.
So effectively who votes for the UK. The recent urban myth is down to the war in Iraq and the closeness between Tony Blair and George Walker Bush (I really wanted to change the 3rd letter in his middle name!!). This myth has destroyed europeans faith in the British and this is shown in the voting. Plus I see it everyday, the euros are very sceptical of what Brits do - shame as we do have a lot to offer to Europe - more so than the USA (who are actually saving and building up oil supplies thus actually having an effect of the high price of oil for other countries - its only a small percentage but its big enough!!)
Back on topic......
I was ecstatic when Finland won - fantastic - the best laugh ever - what will they do for next years show??? I can't wait to find out!
