Eurovision 2023

[venusian]

This is getting a embarrassingly UK centric now.

[KlaxonCow]

No Frankie? Disappointed.

[venusian]

There was a FGtH reunion with Holly during the week. One song only.

[KlaxonCow]

There was a FGtH reunion with Holly during the week. One song only.

I need to look that up.

Not least because Holly has refused all previous reunions, so a full band reunion has a touch of "Pink Floyd + Roger Waters at Live 8" you'll-probably-never-see-it-again to it.

[NorthWay]

Sweden shouldn't be this far ahead already IMO.

[venusian]

Weird, weird voting patterns from the juries.

[lazerwalker]

The juries can get fucked, I've a feeling the public votes are going to be really out of sync with them.

[KlaxonCow]

How can Germany have zero points?

The jury votes are just bollocks and, yeah, I think the public vote's going to just totally flip it at the end.

(Oh, they have 2 points now. But, still, that's shit and they shouldn't be at the bottom.)

[venusian]

Germany have not been sending arm to Ukraine very much, have they? Or cutting off gas supplies.

[NorthWay]

How ...droll?

[KlaxonCow]

Yeah, not sure what song contest the jury and public vote was watching, but it quite doesn't jibe with me.

Ah, to be fair, Loreen wasn't the worst. So it's not a terrible injustice, I guess.

But it just didn't feel like it ought to be the landslide victory she actually got.

And a few of them - Germany, Australia - just feel horribly robbed, as they were way better than the votes suggest. Particularly Germany, which does, indeed, almost feel like it's some kind of "punishment vote" or something.

[KlaxonCow]

Also, they mentioned a "rest of the world" vote.

Was that actually announced? I didn't see it.

Or was it just folded into the public vote?

[skab]

Huh. I recorded it and will watch it on Sunday, makes it way more palatable if you can skip the obvious duds and flick though the voting, but I zapped in just in time for the final public votes, which got surprisingly dramatic at the very end considering the huge jury vote lead for Sweden. Loreens's song was considerably weaker than "Euphoria", so one has to wonder why the jury vote was so strangely high.

And thanks for the sympathy for our loss We don't expect anything anymore. No wait, actually we do, and it's the usual Germany last, UK second to last, and that's what we got.

[KlaxonCow]

Apparently, Russia bombed Ternopil. The home city of Ukraine's Eurovision act.

And it's in Western Ukraine, so it's not a typical target and seems like a calculated "message", rather than a coincidence.


It's a shame that there's no Russian translation, as far as I know, for the Welsh "pwdu" (said like "poo-dee"). Which means "to sulk" or have a tantrum.

It was a very effective response from my Welsh speaking grandmother, when I was a kid, to me pulling a sulk or a tantrum. You just mockingly say "aww, pwdu". Like, being totally mocking and sarcastic about your little temper tantrum. Zero sympathy. It's like a way of saying "get over yourself and grow up".

So, to Putin pulling a temper tantrum that people don't like him and won't roll over on his command? Aww, pwdu.

What are you? A fucking 8 year old? Get over yourself, you twat.

[KlaxonCow]

We don't expect anything anymore. No wait, actually we do, and it's the usual Germany last, UK second to last, and that's what we got.

In fairness, always being - as you note - second to last, I think the UK had given up in spirit as well, for the last decade or so.

But then we had Sam Ryder, who was awesome, turned things around and, in truth, was really the winner last year - but for the public vote understandably dumping a load of "support" votes for Ukraine (though hearing it back this year, it was a better song than I remember it being - there's a kind of quasi-religious chant quality to its chorus that's quite nice).

Mind you, makes it feel all the more cruel when we inevitably get relegated back to our normal second-to-last position.

And Germany has won before - Lena with her "Satellite" - so I think it's, like, when you've got a genuine banger, they will actually fairly vote for you. But if it's just a "meh" song - not any kind of obvious winner - then things just fall back to the "default points"... and it seems, generally, Europe has a gripe with Germany and the UK, so our default positions are at the bottom of the table.

I wasn't a fan of the UK's entry this year. But it wasn't second-to-last bad, I feel. Like, it had a melody, a hook and so forth. Not my favourite, sure, but it was a decent enough song and it was musical.

Ah, never mind. As you say, back to the "default positions" again, I guess.