An Apology
I’d like to apologise to Europe and the others around the world who will be tuning in to the Eurovision Song Contest this year in Norway.
Here’s why:
We (the UK) are going to be sending Josh to Oslo in May. The song’s quite a fun upbeat one (and I must admit I do like it – I think it’s being brought up in the 80′s surrounded by “The voice of a bright young Britain” – the slogan of PWL Records, who brought us Kylie, Jason, Sinnita, Sonia, Mel & Kim and more) but we weren’t given a choice with that – it was thrust upon us once again. Instead the BBC decided to let us choose one of six Karaoke singers to represent us.
For anyone who doesn’t know me, I’m a huge Eurovision fan, I love the camp, fun, bounciness of the show and the opportunity to take the mick out of the contestants’ dress, dance, song or voice. It’s a chance for me to unleash the inner bitch alongside thousands of like-minded folk. But I always have a little part of me that really wants the UK to win again.
Last year Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote the fantastic “It’s My Time” and (while I wasn’t sure about her at first) Jade Ewan did a fantastic job – and for a short while my hopes were raised. But fifth place was all we managed. That was after a huge campaign by the Lord of Musicals to show Europe that this time we were taking it seriously.
But this year we can’t say that – the acts we were presented with were unpolished, weak, uncoordinated or all of the above. I’m sure that some of them will have careers ahead of them but now definitely wasn’t their time.
So, Europe, I can only say “I’m sorry”.
#Eurovision, thank you twitter!
So, that’s it. Another year over with congratulations to Norway with their entry Alexander Rybek, and (if you believe the way the results were reported this morning) the UK were shat on from a great height again. But you see, I don’t agree with this idea. I don’t think that Jade should have won just because the song was written by Andrew Lloyd-Webber. In fact I think that’s probably why I don’t think that It’s My Time was a Eurovision hit. You see it’s just too much like a song from a show. It reminds me of With One Look or Tell Me On a Sunday.
That’s no bad thing, it managed to get lots of votes, and the Europe-wide campaign that Jade and Andrew did certainly seems to have helped so well done to them, douze points for effort!
But that wasn’t the point of this post, you see this year I decided to spend the evening at home. Andy was in from work and (because he was up early in the morning) wasn’t going out so I stayed in with him. Now Andy’s one of the type that I hate when it comes to Eurovision – You know who you are! You sit there and spit vitriolic bile all through the run up. You see someone who enjoys the show and understands that the comedic put downs are meant to be just that, comedic, and you decide to deride them. And no, “Eurovision’s shit hur hur hur!” is not a comic comment, and “You must be really sad wanting to watch that” doesn’t count as witty banter.
I don’t like football, planting myself in front of the TV for 90 mins (plus breaks) every week, sometimes 2 or 3 times a week doesn’t interest me. 22 men running round a garden, kicking a bag of wind and earning enough each year to pay the staffing costs for my whole department makes me more angry than excited. But I know what the football fans are feeling, you see I am a Eurovision fan.
For one week of every year I know that a spectacle is being finalised. I know that Europe-wide (and in Israel & Azerbaijan too) acts are preparing, votes are being cast, sequins are being sewn and the wheels of the ESC roll on in preperation for that week. I know that, for that week, I will have 7 or 8 hours of TV that I will enjoy. Yes, even the songs I don’t like I can still enjoy because I can let lose my inner bitch.
So, this year I was at home instead of the party that I wanted to go to, with a partner who openly scorns the show in public and yet avidly watches it when in the house with me. What can I do? Last year I was able to have a text conversation with one of my friends, but too much of that was spent explaining the rules, why don’t they read out all the scores? Why aren’t Ireland in it anymore? What, there are semi finals now? And so on.
But this year was different, I’d seen people watching Britain’s Got Talent using the hashtag #BGT and I’d tweeted through the semis using #Eurovision (which was what others were using it seemed via the trending topics) so I set myself up a few tabs (one with a Eurovision search, one with a search set for @ThoroughlyGood who I’d been tweeting with earlier and who was a great host! and one for my own @replies) and sat down to enjoy.
And do you know what? It was great fun! I tweeted at people, I was DM’d, I made sweeping statements and got feedback instantly, I saw other people’s comments and answered back. It was just like being at a Eurovision party with all my friends, except I didn’t need to dress up or have to find my way home at silly o’clock in the morning.
So, thank you to all the people that joined in with the twitter Eurovision party, and I’m looking forward to doing it all over again for Oslo 2010!
I’ve got a semi coming…
So, the whole of the Tyne Tees area is abuzz with antici…pation. Last night’s football match caused tears, cheers and so much emotion by some of the people I work with.
Then this morning they chatted about it, the fact that both teams could still fall out of the premier league, they dissected the match, the goals, the performances. And then looked at me askance, tutted and said they couldn’t believe it. Why? Because I’ve just been able to buy the Eurovision 2009 album!
I enjoy Eurovision, not because it’s political, not because of the tension of the voting or the fact that I hope the UK can win and certainly not for the musical merit! I like Eurovision because it’s fun. It’s a camp, dramatic, over the top celebration of sequins, lights music and dance. Yes it’s a gay stereotype, as is my obsession with Kylie, but that’s WHY these things are sterotypes, because so many of us do love it.
So yes, Sam may have decided to go out with her friends in disgust, Lee may be avoiding the house and remember that he wanted to spend the evening at his mothers, and Andy may watch “Cops on Cameras” or whatever shoite’s on Men & Motors/Bravo tonight, but I’ll be there, watching the portable in my bedroom just as I did when I was a kid. A leper, an outcast, a stereotype.
But I’ll be having fun!!!
If you’re going to be watching the semi-finals this year and you’re in the UK they’re on BBC3 from 20.00 (8pm) please feel free to join in with my tweets (you’ll spot me as the person taking the piss out of everyone and everything).
And when I tweet on Saturday you’ll be able to spot me by the vitriolic bile I’ll be spewing about Jade and the “serious” entry that Andew Lloyd Webber wrote this year. (You’d never tell that he writes musicals rather than songs for a show like Eurovision would you! >:-| )
(Don’t worry, I have the kiss of death for Eurovision songs, whenever I say I like one it fails miserably. So I’m not going to name my favourite song this year…)
