Eurovision 2019

[Agema]

And... As evidenced in this thread too, you shouldn't mix politics into Eurovision.

You can't avoid politics. Even not explicitly mentioning politics is political: the elephant in the room cannot be avoided. Eurovision is an opportunity for a country to show itself off, and if a country is busy doing things like invading its neighbours, repressing its citizens, gagging free speech or running the world's largest open air prison camp, what we really mean by not mentioning politics is implicitly excusing all that political shit it's doing. That's why places like Russia have rubbed their hands with glee at things like the football world cup, because it helps them conceal all the shady stuff that's going on with a flashy spectacle.

Apparently there was also a Palestine flag in Madonna's show, but I didn't see it.

When she did her duet with the other guy (Quavo? Quavi?) they turned their backs at some point: one had an Israeli flag stitched on the back of their outfit, the other a Palestinian flag.

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I don't like this relatively new voting system with the jury votes, and then the public votes summed up on top. I think it's really unkind to the performers to be flying high, and then suddenly find they're actually miles away from winning because someone suddenly got 250 points added and they only got 35. I'd rather they went back to the national presenters giving a combined country score of the jury and public.

I accept that in this system you can sometimes tell the winner a mile off, and the new one ratchets up the tension to the end, but to me it starts to feel like a lottery. I am also so utterly bored sick of stupid, absurdly extended, "dramatic" pauses until they reveal the result, now tediously ubiquitous. It doesn't make me feel more suspense, it makes me irritated and fed up. I also feel unhappy for some of the performers, especially the young ones, who must have a huge amount of their hopes and dreams tied up in the process, being screwed with for entertainment.

 

[bluegate]

I somewhat liked Norway as well. Where are you from, if you could understand 1/3 of their lyrics?

But yeah, next year we'll be in the Netherlands. Hopefully the amount of visitors and fans doesn't sink the country.

I think I either expressed myself incorrectly or you misread, I'm from the Netherlands so I understood the English portion of Norway's lyrics, but I didn't understand the Joik chanting(?) portions of the song. It sounded pretty cool, I do wonder what it was that he was singing though.

I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of show my country is going to put up next year.

 

[McElroy]

And... As evidenced in this thread too, you shouldn't mix politics into Eurovision.

You can't avoid politics. Even not explicitly mentioning politics is political: the elephant in the room cannot be avoided. Eurovision is an opportunity for a country to show itself off, and if a country is busy doing things like invading its neighbours, repressing its citizens, gagging free speech or running the world's largest open air prison camp, what we really mean by not mentioning politics is implicitly excusing all that political shit it's doing. That's why places like Russia have rubbed their hands with glee at things like the football world cup, because it helps them conceal all the shady stuff that's going on with a flashy spectacle.

I go in expecting a fun show and somebody manages to undermine it often enough. Then again Iceland's Hatari told in an interview soon after that if Eurovision is promoting that people shouldn't give up being who they are because of bullying or other pressure, then that's something where a Palestine flag deserves to be shown. I can get behind that logic, but for the whole ordeal I'll rather take a week of not giving a shit.

 

[Agema]

I go in expecting a fun show and somebody manages to undermine it often enough. Then again Iceland's Hatari told in an interview soon after that if Eurovision is promoting that people shouldn't give up being who they are because of bullying or other pressure, then that's something where a Palestine flag deserves to be shown. I can get behind that logic, but for the whole ordeal I'll rather take a week of not giving a shit.

There's no need to make a statement that goes all the way to wrecking people's fun. Standing up and giving a hectoring speech about "Free Palestine", yeah, that's kind of annoyingly intrusive. But if someone wants to just wave a Palestinian flag, point made and fair enough.

 

[TheIronRuler]

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I find it absurd the sabbath-bros were part of a special performance by differently handicapped performers only to be too handicapped to perform on a Saturday. And yes, I will call people who take rules from the heavens seriously fucking losers. Because honestly it's not just that, but they simply HAD to bring it up in the broadcast "oh this would've been really nice in the final but too bad because these two guys aren't allowed to work then". The whole thing has been on the calendar since a year ago, had they really wanted it on Saturday they would've got those guys replacements or sort it out in another way instead of this obvious bullshit.

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There was a contest for the musicians that would represent Israel in the Eurovision. The band which played in the special performance played until the finals and was slated to win and represent Israel, until the issue of technical difficulties - the aforementioned rehearsals on Sabbath - forced their hand in quitting the contest. This was a tribute to them, since they've made all the way to the finals but had to quit out of respect for their band-members. I understand the term respect may seem foreign and alien to you, which is shy you couldn't figure out what had happened there, and went on a little rant... It's when you don't call people losers because they practice a religion, for example.
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And... As evidenced in this thread too, you shouldn't mix politics into Eurovision.

You can't avoid politics. Even not explicitly mentioning politics is political: the elephant in the room cannot be avoided. Eurovision is an opportunity for a country to show itself off, and if a country is busy doing things like invading its neighbours, repressing its citizens, gagging free speech or running the world's largest open air prison camp, what we really mean by not mentioning politics is implicitly excusing all that political shit it's doing. That's why places like Russia have rubbed their hands with glee at things like the football world cup, because it helps them conceal all the shady stuff that's going on with a flashy spectacle.
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I can always count on you being your old English self and talking total nonsense about non-English matters, as per usual.
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We've had a very good production in Tel-Aviv, few hiccups... I'm proud our public broadcasting corporation pulled this off so well. It's a shame how Madonna had a bad day, live on stage, even after a donation payed over half a million for her to show up and it was kind-of a big deal...

 

[Jute88]

I somewhat liked Norway as well. Where are you from, if you could understand 1/3 of their lyrics?

But yeah, next year we'll be in the Netherlands. Hopefully the amount of visitors and fans doesn't sink the country.

I think I either expressed myself incorrectly or you misread, I'm from the Netherlands so I understood the English portion of Norway's lyrics, but I didn't understand the Joik chanting(?) portions of the song. It sounded pretty cool, I do wonder what it was that he was singing though.

Yeah, I apparently misread. Sorry about that

Apparently after a quick search, "Cajet dan cuovgga" means "See the light"

Don't know what "He lo e loi la" means though.

 

[Agema]

I can always count on you being your old English self and talking total nonsense about non-English matters, as per usual.

When you say "talking nonsense", I think you mean "hold a different viewpoint from my own".

And it's British, not English, thanks.

 

[McElroy]

I understand the term respect may seem foreign and alien to you, which is shy you couldn't figure out what had happened there, and went on a little rant... It's when you don't call people losers because they practice a religion, for example.

Absolutely no respect, but I shall shed a sprinkle of pity on their way.

 

[bluegate]

I wish the German cutie would've performed better, but after hearing the song I must retract the statement -- they got 0 points in the televote.

After having listened to the song a couple of times, it managed to get under my skin.

I can't file the blonde girl under "cutie" though, her face looks a bit too vertically squashed. On the other hand, the other girl is a cutie.

For people who aren't familiar with it and don't feel like looking it up on YouTube;

 

[Agema]

After having listened to the song a couple of times, it managed to get under my skin.

It was a painfully weak Eurovision entry: I'm not surprised it took a beating in the public vote. Although credit to it for tackling the tricky issue of thinking about murdering your sibling.

 

[McElroy]

I can't file the blonde girl under "cutie" though, her face looks a bit too vertically squashed. On the other hand, the other girl is a cutie.

Too old and "exotic".

Edit: okayokay, "exotic" is the wrong word, Laura's nose is too wide and her gaze is too narrow. Also too old (a whole week older than me xD).