Eurovision 2007 (Finland)

[forre]

haku, Nothing new. People are always complaining but as I mentioned before, statistically the winning countries are dominated by the West.

fanoff, last year the result appeared on the Eurovision official site by a mistake, LOL. EBU tried to cover it up too but this year it's easier to do it.

[la aurora]

Originally Posted by Станко394

I don't get what you're saying.
What do you mean by saying "justify Macedonia", and do you mean Belarus and Serbia were obviously good from the very start or what..?

What I mean is that I hear western people saying Macedonia wasn't really bad and they even voted for it. This country always benefits from neighborhood voting and whatever song they send they 'don't deserve it' and 'they qualify'. This year I heard some opinions about it actually deserving it.

With Georgia, Slovenia, Moldova and Hungary there's no surprise. A lot of people pick 1-2 of those as the 'only ones that deserved it'. Tastes differ a lot this year but all those entries have a big crowd of supporters that did vote wherever they were.

Belarus and Serbia were obvious from the start havig songs that majority considered strong. They are among favorites since forever and unlike Bobo, they didn't ruin it with performances totally. So no surprise here.

[forre]

Some first reports from the rehearsal arrived from Swedish journalists. They pay attention to:
Ukraina
Russia
Belarus
Latvia
Serbia

The following countries went not so well:
Greece (poor vocally)
Germany (jazz might be too much for Euro)
UK (old)

[haku]

Originally Posted by la aurora

It's amazing how people complain about East-West thing and at the same time say they voted for Georgia, Hungary, Moldova, Slovenia etc. All these entries have a crowd of supporters in Western Europe

Nobody is denying that Western Europeans do vote for Eastern songs, it's the opposite that never happens because Eastern Europeans only vote for their neighbors (or even themselves when they live in another country) regardless of the quality of the songs.

Originally Posted by forre

statistically the winning countries are dominated by the West.

That would be because most Eastern countries did not participate for over 40 years, so of course stats over 50 years are gonna be in favor of the West, but the winner has always been an Eastern or Nordic country since 1999 now, and it's gonna be the same this year and for many many years to come.

[forre]

Originally Posted by haku

Nobody is denying that Western Europeans do vote for Eastern songs, it's the opposite that never happens because Eastern Europeans only vote for their neighbors (or even themselves when they live in another country) regardless of the quality of the songs.

Pat, Western European songs are just not good enough. Have you heard them? They are all OOOOOLD! When France sent Natasha St. Pierre a few years ago, who ended up in top 3 nobody complained. The song was excellent and the performance was great too. Block voting doesn't exist in a pure form. There's cultural voting. People prefer songs which are close to their culture. I know for a fact that Swedish voters always give high points to beautiful ballades. It's in the culture. It was just an example.

You'll see that France is going to do much better this year regardless high number of former socialistic countries among voters.

[Lauiii]

I recorded yesterdays Semifinal show & uploaded some parts of it, if someone is interested...

File Name: 01 Bulgaria - Eurovision Semifinal 2007 [Lauiii].mpg
Size: 74MB
http://www.sendspace.com/file/y2md3b

File Name: 04 Belarus - Eurovision Semifinal 2007 [Lauiii].mpg
Size: 73MB
http://www.sendspace.com/file/hmdrqt

File Name: 06 Georgia - Eurovision Semifinal 2007 [Lauiii].mpg
Size: 69MB
http://www.sendspace.com/file/b9rrww

File Name: 09 Moldova - Eurovision Semifinal 2007 [Lauiii].mpg
Size: 73MB
http://www.sendspace.com/file/2eu6e2

File Name: 15 Serbia - Eurovision Semifinal 2007 [Lauiii].mpg
Size: 73MB
http://www.sendspace.com/file/wf43ov

File Name: 18 F.Y.R. Macedonia - Eurovision Semifinal 2007 [Lauiii].mpg
Size: 72MB
http://www.sendspace.com/file/80cjr6

File Name: 25 Slovenia - Eurovision Semifinal 2007 [Lauiii].mpg
Size: 72MB
http://www.sendspace.com/file/mq0y1r

File Name: 26 Turkey - Eurovision Semifinal 2007 [Lauiii].mpg
Size: 73MB
http://www.sendspace.com/file/zqrz4c

File Name: 28 Latvia - Eurovision Semifinal 2007 [Lauiii].mpg
Size: 71MB
http://www.sendspace.com/file/wytyt5

[fanoff]

Originally Posted by Lauiii

I recorded yesterdays Semifinal show & uploaded some parts of it, if someone is interested

Lauii,im asking if you could minimize the files,those are pretty big!

Can't wait for tomorrow's big night!IT will be a great show for sure.

[spyretto]

Originally Posted by forre

Pat, Western European songs are just not good enough. Have you heard them? They are all OOOOOLD! When France sent Natasha St. Pierre a few years ago, who ended up in top 3 nobody complained. The song was excellent and the performance was great too. Block voting doesn't exist in a pure form. There's cultural voting. People prefer songs which are close to their culture.

You'll see that France is going to do much better this year regardless high number of former socialistic countries among voters.

Isn't bloc voting and cultural voting basically the same thing? Greece votes for Cyprus even when the song is as culturally apart as possible, nothing to do with the song here.
There was nothing close to the Greek culture on the r'n'b or europop style of songs that Greece and Cyprus presented in recent years. Not the language, nor the performance or the type of song. Still the max points were a certainty.
You can expand the example to other countries as well. Neighbours in good terms would prioritise exchanging votes with each other first than vote for someone else.

[forre]

spyretto, We are speaking in general terms. There are some countries that always exchange 12s. Cyprus and Greece and then Germany gives always a 12 to Turkey. There are some things but they don't affect greatly the final result.

[Britney Spears]

Laugh Out Loud at Denmark!! They allow anything in Eurovision right? I loved it.

A lot of respect for Denmark because they had balls to actually send a Drag Queen to represent them. Damn.

[haku]

Originally Posted by Britney Spears

A lot of respect for Denmark because they had balls to actually send a Drag Queen to represent them. Damn.

Eurovision has seen a lot of drag queens already, and a transsexual has already won, so it's really not a problem.

[dradeel]

Hahahaha. Norway, Norway, Norway... I usually don't say this, but I'm glad we didn't make it to the finals. Hopefully - just ... hopefully - will we come up with something much better for next year. Haha.

What I'm looking forward to now? Well, actually I can't say I've seen any good songs so far. None that stick out. I am kinda curious about that Russian song. Haven't heard the whole song yet. Perhaps I should check it out on youtube. But yeah, it interested me ... plus; the girls were ... well, you know...

[forre]

dradeel, Russia was a bit off-key during the evening rehearsal and that's a bad sign.
SVT has all good links if you are interested in:
http://svt.se/svt/road/Classic/share...ex.jsp?d=64119

[la aurora]

Originally Posted by forre

dradeel, Russia was a bit off-key during the evening rehearsal and that's a bad sign.

I don't think it means anything actually. 2rd dress rehearsal is the least important one and many contestants weren't trying any hard. Tomorrow will be a different day and even having 100% perfect previous rehearsals and good performance in semi can't guarantee someone won't bomb. We saw it happening before. 3rd dress rehearsal will be the most important one but even it won't show the real chances probably. I'm already tired of the games russian team play from the very moment of being chosen, it's like they intentionally play on everyone's nerves, spread contadicting information and try to stay in shadows. The most important thing for me is that they are confident themselves at least and that's a good sign. I very much believe in top10 and something to look forward tomorrow evening.

Russian video (extended version). The one on SVT is an old version, not the one everyone compares performance with and baises expectations on.

[Sunrider]

I like the Russian song actually. If their performance tomorrow night is up to the same level, this has potential.

[forre]

la aurora, If the girls are off-key at the rehearsal, no one is sure they'll stay on-key during the final in a live broadcast for about 600 million people. Many artists loose their nerve then. That's what I meant by a bad sign.

I'm still a bit confused over Georgia. People like it and I have to take it into consideration. My Top 10 is currently a Top 13 and I have to eliminate 3 countries. Not so easy.

[la aurora]

Originally Posted by forre

la aurora, If the girls are off-key at the rehearsal, no one is sure they'll stay on-key during the final in a live broadcast for about 600 million people. Many artists loose their nerve then. That's what I meant by a bad sign.

They were fine during 1st personal rehearsal with terrible sound problems they had, they were good during 2nd. They were exellent during 1st dress rehearsal. There was an accident at slavic party where they planned to perform the Black Version but kept getting the wrong track playing, they didn't get lost even then, Temnikova kept talking with the crowd and then they just gave up and sang they version that was playing without any problems. From the interviews and reports I saw so far, it looks like they are type of people that get even angrier and more concentrated in extreme situaltion. You know that thing about people getting red or white, hyper or lost. That's why for me it looks more like either lack of concentration or sound problem than sign of being nervous. I don't know what kind of drugs they are on and what people around are telling them but all this time they seemed over-confident which is even annoying sometimes.

Originally Posted by forre

I'm still a bit confused over Georgia. People like it and I have to take it into consideration. My Top 10 is currently a Top 13 and I have to eliminate 3 countries. Not so easy.

Georgia doesn't really surprise me.
1. Newcommers often extra extra-sympahy from the voters
2. The show has quite a message. For East it's something we know, some bits of georgian culture mixed with contemporary song. In the West it can work as a sign of liberation of Georgia from evil Russia. U know what's going on there lately..
3. The singer is pretty and that red dress really works, she isn't bad vocally either
4. She's Bjorkish and some people including me happen to like this Icelandic girl ))

[forre]

Originally Posted by la aurora

Georgia doesn't really surprise me.

I know it all mathematically but still confused.
Armenia is next to a closing act and vocally very confident too. There are so many factors that affect the voting result.
France changed the key and messed up their act. I hope they pull it together by tomorrow night. The song is actually funny.

I saw Russia's rehearsal on a video before it got deleted and I was mostly taken by their very confident way of moving. They do look professional. Highly appealing. Some people say they might even win. Hmm... I don't know. Not yet.

[Станко394]

I can't belive what have I read today. "Marija Šerifović, Serbia's representor is going to win because Europe is gonna make Kosovo independent, so in that way Serbia's gonna have at this win..."
Lol, I wonder who can be that big jerk to write that! :roll:

La Aurora, I quite agree with you when talking about Georgia...

[forre]

Originally Posted by Станко394

Marija Šerifović, Serbia's representor is going to win because Europe is gonna make Kosovo independent, so in that way Serbia's gonna have at this win..."

They write a way too much. Btw, every country drops a line or two that their representative is going to win. I bet half of Sweden believes that their entry is going to win. LOL.