Eurovision time!

Tom,

As I recall, EuroVision was the launching point for ABBA, so a few good bands have come out of that (I know, "good" is a matter of opinion).

Hope you have a great time in Vienna. I expect to be there later this year, and looking forward to it.

Tom, you lucky duck! I have yet to be in Europe for Eurovision.

Checked the official website the other day, and I couldn't find anything about being able to stream the final this year. So disappointing!

And here are some clips of some favorites on YouTube. And I've just started watching this, but it appears to be a show from BBC on the best of Eurovision.....

I just hit Kisses for Me. It's really a hoot. I think while it may not be the best, it surely is representative!! (It's about 30 minutes in.) I think it's fascinating the way it turned into a sing along!

Emma, I think that the Spanish singer has found the fountain of youth.

"I'm still scarred by the Polish milk maid entry from last year!"

That one was almost NSFW.

I thought Montenegro deserved the win.

Apparently the current favourite, ahead by a head and neck, is Russia. Not because of the act, but all the political voting. If they were to ever have won I wish that it had been the Russian grannies in their native costume. Some of those ladies were really ancient; one was nearly an antique.

One huge disadvantage of winning is that that country has to put on the next year's show.

Go Australia ...... and no, I don't mean Austria.

Yes,the interesting thing about the Australian entry is that they a favourite, too. But Australia is there as a one-off so that the massive (?!) Australian audience can participate. So, since they aren't on the bill for next year, what would happen if they did win?

Anyone know of anyplace in Paris to watch?

Your hotel room, on a TV? If you can get French TV, it should be on, although I wouldn't know which channel.

If your TV gets BBC1, some do and many don't, try and catch the Graham Norton (what WAS he thinking growing that awful beard?) play by play on the broadcast. Otherwise you are stuck with the French take on it. The final is at 8pm British Summer Time, 9pm in France, BBC1.

France Télévisions is the place for the ESC in France with the final this year on France 2.

One of those posting comments on the 60th Anniversary Show than Graham co-hosted called him an elf of a man. Someone else very quickly reposted and said, "Oh, no. He's a leprechaun. :)

Pam

Graham has grown a beard?! Oh dear lord.

I really wish that BBC America would give us Eurovision, but all they seem to show is Star Trek:TNG and any other random movie that happens to have an English actor in it.

I consider Eurovision a completely waste of time. Useless thing. But there are people who like it. It is like the predecessor of all lame music context shows before they became the realm of "reality TV".

It was a crime not letting Netherlands through to the final...

I had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity tonight to attend the public viewing of the 2nd semifinals at Vienna's main public viewing venue, the Eurovision Village at the Rathausplatz. What a fun time! There were thousands of people there waving their national flags, drinking beer and wine and having a blast. For some reason, there was a particularly large contingent of Norwegians and Icelanders. The crowd favorites, though, seemed to be Israel and Sweden.

Yay !! , I guess. We got into the finals. I might even watch this year. I hope we don't win . . . the idea of having the contest here is mind-boggling. We're too small. We won twice in a row back in the day and so we hosted when it was nowhere near as huge as it is today. After the second win, we relinquished the hosting job.

Tom, what a fun experience!

Here's what I've heard about the voting ever since they started letting the general public vote by phone. You can't vote for your own country. But if you're Russian and living in Poland you can vote for Russia, for example. Countries with large populations of foreign nationals tend to give more points to those specific countries. There's also the language . . . maybe that's why Greeks vote for Cyprus and Cypriots for Greece, because they understand the lyrics and have a common cultural background.

Oddity - the Israeli song won in 1978. This year I was in Ronda, Spain and heard the song (Spanish translation) being played at a foot racing event. Sometimes they just linger on for no reason . . . Of course I then had the song in my head for days.

I've just discovered that the Grand Final will be streamed on YouTube; just search for "Eurovision Song Contest 2015."

If I'm doing the math correctly (unlikely), it starts at noon tomorrow on the West Coast.

Chani, Israel also won Eurovision in 1998 - Dana International with "Diva". That year was my first introduction to The spectacle that is Eurovision.

Personally, I like the Italian song this year but doubt it will win. Hated the Swedish song first time I heard it but it has kind of grown on me.

Laura - I was living in California then. I guess Eurovision was the last thing on my mind. The more I think about watching it, the more I'm inclined to record it and be able to watch it with the fast-forward option.

We're a little less than one third of the way through, and here's what I've noticed... most of the songs are...well, actually quite good this year. Other than the pajama'd drum brigade from France, we've had none of the usual cheesy "WTF?" moments.

Contest is over. My vote went to Norway, although their song is probably too much of a downer to win. I also thought Slovenia, Lithuania, Romania, Spain, the UK, Russia and Italy were particularly good.

Nice ode to Mahler to close the competition.

Sweden wins.

YouTube streaming worked wonderfully!

I was happy that Sweden won, but I would have been equally happy if Italy had won. Russia's singer reminded me of Lily James from "Downton Abbey." (And it was really too bad that some in the audience chose to boo her.)

Poor Germany and Austria (the host country!): nul points.

I watched the performances of the first, second and third place winners and thought they were all incredible. The Swedish singer especially had a creative mix of graphics and lighting.

"And it was really too bad that some in the audience chose to boo her."

They weren't booing her personally, per se (although it looks like she took it that way). They were booing the hypocrisy of Russia's official entry singing a song about peace... and probably fearing the propaganda coup a Russian win would have delivered to Mr. Putin. Given that one of the themes of Eurovision this year was acceptance and tolerance, Moscow is the LAST place most of Europe wants to see host the competition next year. I even heard a joke on Austrian radio that went something like, "If Russian wins, who will they invade after next year's competition?" (A reference to Russia quickly squandering whatever international goodwill they gained after the Socchi Olympics by their actions in Ukraine).

But I have to admit, it was a good song and an excellent performance.

EDIT: Here's another joke I heard on the radio: "By "A Million Voices", she meant: "As long they're not gay, work for an NGO, independent media or an opposition party, Ukrainian, Polish, Latvian, Estonian, Finnish, Lithuanian, American, or British and only the one's my government allows to speak and hasn't killed or sent to a siberian prison."

One of the Swedish Newspapers (DN) had a rather humorous article on the reaction of Russian language twitter accounts. One of the feeds recorded after Lithuania gave zero points to Russia was a photo of a very serious Boris Yeltsen with the caption, "12 bombs to Lithuania".

The article is in Swedish:
http://www.dn.se/kultur-noje/bomba-landet-som-hjalpte-zelmerlow/

The order that the countries' voting is presented is constructed to present the best possible climax these days, knowing the votes. With one run away winner there is nothing that can be done, but with 2 or 3 close songs the tension can be sustained. Unlike the old days when the voting was the same order as the singing.

Eurovision was on the large TV screen at the hostel I was staying in Vienna; certainly there was interest since it attracted an audience at this hostel. Of course, the hostel staff would show it because of the the excitement.

And the winner is....Sweden! http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-32850671

Here's the winning performance.

Fred, were you in Vienna this week, or was that a previous Eurovision? If it was this year, we should have met in a cafe over a Sacher Torte!

Thanks for the link to the winning performance Pamela. Guess I'd have to be there to get enthused about it.

You'd have thought that in these days of Periscope, Skype, Facetime and the bajillion other internet geegaws they would have been able to keep open 40 video links for one hour, wouldn't you?

It isn't like they are relying on Telstar.

It was so obvious that the Russian song was pure propaganda for Mother Russia.

I just wish that the three lads from Italy or the one lad from Belgium had won. Don't those 3 Italian lads sound great? Good thing that they didn't win, actually - it might have completely bankrupted the country.

I think that the host country should get at least one sympathy vote from every other country. Shouldn't end up with nul points.

And what was that with Nigella Lawson (former wife of Saatchi and domestic goddess until cocaine got in the way, didn't she look rough?) trying to show that she could speak in every language? (UK vote correspondant)

Best part of the night? The percussion performance on about every kind of percussion going accompanied by a chorus and brass section. Magic.

@ Tom...yes, it was this past week. On the Sat night of EuroVision, that rainy night, I was staying at the hostel, one or two nights is enough, which had Eurovision on the main scene in the check in area, booked a decent hotel nearby on Sunday. I'm leaving Vienna Friday by night train (lol), really could have stayed another week, such an intriguing, fascinating, place. Meeting up would have been nice...thanks.

EDIT: Here's another joke I heard on the radio: "By "A Million Voices", she meant: "As long they're not gay, work for an NGO, independent media or an opposition party, Ukrainian, Polish, Latvian, Estonian, Finnish, Lithuanian, American, or British and only the one's my government allows to speak and hasn't killed or sent to a siberian prison."

That's really funny Tom!

Reminds me of an old, not-so-great, comedy called "Top Secret". Near the beginning they do a satirical take on the East German national anthem.