Monday, May 18, 2009

Eurovision

I meant to post about this when it actually aired on TV, but I was on the sofa and the laptop on the other side of the room and it was just tooooooo farrrrrr away. My memory has been jogged by the discovery of another blog, written by an Aussie currently living in Belge, so here is Ben and my take on it.

I haven't actually watched Eurovision since the year we won, with a horrific song I would rather not name in case it gets stuck in my head... too late, it's there. Damn. Anyway, this year Ben and I managed to catch it on TV whilst flicking through the channels, so we gave it a bit of a watch. When France came on, however, we decided she had too much of a funny face, and Ben went back to channel hopping, a hobby he enjoys and drives me mad. On a channel that shows almost entirely MGM movies we discovered 'Welcome to Woop Woop', a film set in a remote part of Australia that actually makes the Eurovision song contest seem normal in comparison. I do not recommend it; the best bit about it is the title. We watched it anyway, and flicked back over to Eurovision once the titles had rolled, just in time to catch Jade, England's entry. We watched her (and her creepy little hobbit sidekick) on Jonathan Ross and I thought she was quite sweet, so I was rooting for her.

One thing both Ben and I noticed yet has not be remarked upon in the articles I've read reviewing her performance was the fact that whilst walking down the stairs she managed to bop one of the violinists. How has this been glossed over?! She WALKED INTO one of the musicians! Surely that's worth more of a mention than Dita Von Teese's frankly lack lustre and faintly fluttery 'performance' in Germany's entry. Although not as worth a mention as one act that featured 'half naked rockin' out Romans', as Ben eloquantly put it.

Graham Norton was particularly amusing - not so much with his remarks about each entry, but his comment about the segment that played before each act; a strange looking girl with oddly highlighted hair blowing about in a very pop starlet fashion. As she appeared for the 24th time Graham paused halfway through what he was saying and said with some mild irratation, 'I'm getting really bored of her hair.'

That's why I like Graham Norton.

2 comments:

Lydia said...

Hello :) My opinion is that when it comes to Eurovision, the more spectacular the better. This is not the time for walzing about the stage singing a pretty song. This is a time for fire, acrobatics, costumes, and passion.

That movie sounds pretty bad. Please note that most Australians live in big urban cities, though we do often feed kangaroo meat to our pets.

Amanda said...

That's very true - Ben said something similar, I think; that Eurovision was about crazy entries, not the sort of stuff that X-Factor keeps churning out.

Glad to hear that not all of Australia is like Woop Woop!