Eurovision
Third from bottom! Third from bloody bottom! And this year we actually had a half-decent entry and the Iraq war is a whole two years behind us so I don't know what went on there. Actually, I do - there's now 39 countries who get to vote in this thing, and over half of them are Eastern European, formerly parts of the same country or satellites to one another so they all vote for one another to the exclusion of all else. The people who announce the votes don't even bother to hide it any more. So in the end, while we were third from bottom, France was below us and Germany came last. And all three of us refused to vote for each other as well. Don't you just love how politics gets into everything?
As for the entries... well, Moldovia was by far the most memorable one - something called 'Grandma Beats the Drummer' or similar. One half Moldavian folk, one half progressive rock with too many drums (and Spike Dudley on one set in particular). There was near panic as the first votes came in and people kept giving them high votes - we all thought they were going to win. I blame the drunk student population of Europe for that. I'm sure we heard Terry Wogan praying up in his commentary booth. Norway, on the other hand, gave us their version of The Darkness, complete with the glam rock skin-tight suit and mad leaping about with the microphone. The Ukraine, who were hosting it this year, gave us their revolution song (since they only went and got themselves democracy late last year). The Israel singer was a tall blonde woman. Turkey did belly dancing again, but made the mistake of putting everyone in the other traditional Turkish costume, which doesn't too do well for that sort of thing.
The only thing worse than the Moldavian entry was the female Ukrainian presenter, who honestly didn't need a microphone. Wogan nicknamed her "Shriek", and it was an accurate nickname. And she just wouldn't stop talking, either! Also, and I know this is terrible of me when you consider how much the Ukranians had to fight to get their democracy, but by the end of the show when the president (still scarred from getting poisoned by the opposition last year) came out and made a speech I was getting really annoyed with all of the political add-ons.
In the end the Greeks won, with their so-so Euro-pop entry, sung by a leggy woman in a short dress. Nick and I voted for Hungary, because it was a good song and the female singer was both very attractive and Roma. They got in the top 12, at least.
As for the entries... well, Moldovia was by far the most memorable one - something called 'Grandma Beats the Drummer' or similar. One half Moldavian folk, one half progressive rock with too many drums (and Spike Dudley on one set in particular). There was near panic as the first votes came in and people kept giving them high votes - we all thought they were going to win. I blame the drunk student population of Europe for that. I'm sure we heard Terry Wogan praying up in his commentary booth. Norway, on the other hand, gave us their version of The Darkness, complete with the glam rock skin-tight suit and mad leaping about with the microphone. The Ukraine, who were hosting it this year, gave us their revolution song (since they only went and got themselves democracy late last year). The Israel singer was a tall blonde woman. Turkey did belly dancing again, but made the mistake of putting everyone in the other traditional Turkish costume, which doesn't too do well for that sort of thing.
The only thing worse than the Moldavian entry was the female Ukrainian presenter, who honestly didn't need a microphone. Wogan nicknamed her "Shriek", and it was an accurate nickname. And she just wouldn't stop talking, either! Also, and I know this is terrible of me when you consider how much the Ukranians had to fight to get their democracy, but by the end of the show when the president (still scarred from getting poisoned by the opposition last year) came out and made a speech I was getting really annoyed with all of the political add-ons.
In the end the Greeks won, with their so-so Euro-pop entry, sung by a leggy woman in a short dress. Nick and I voted for Hungary, because it was a good song and the female singer was both very attractive and Roma. They got in the top 12, at least.