Saturday, May 14, 2011

::Drumroll please?::

And the winner is...Azerbaijan?!?!?



It's not a bad song by any stretch, but in my opinion, it benefited from a pretty good draw and the fact that Turkey wasn't competing in the Final that night.  It's too early to tell if I'm going to Baku next year or not; I might need a few days to decompress!  (Lucky for me, I fly to Israel tomorrow to board a cruise with my parents!  If you don't hear much from me over the next few days, that's why!)

On the happier side of the coin, I'm absolutely THRILLED that Italy's Raphael Gualazzi came in an incredibly respectable runner-up position.  It wasn't because of the fact that Eurovision fans missed Italy, and it wasn't because of some hyped-up production...I like to think that it was because the music was real, heartfelt, and well-performed.  I've met with Raphael a few times over these past two weeks, and, bar none, nobody else that I had met with here in Germany feels the music running through his veins as much as he does.  If someone asks him to sing acapella, he closes his eyes and moves his fingers as if a piano were in front of him.  He's fantastic, and he has an amazing career ahead of him.

Sweden came in 3rd, which is a pretty remarkable contrast from the train-wreck that his first few rehearsals displayed.  Early fan favorites Hungary and Estonia came in 22nd and 24th, respectively, and Jedward beat Blue in the scoreboard.

I don't know about you guys, but I'm exhausted, and I've got an early flight to catch.  My voice is gone, and my feet hurt from the three-inch stilettos I'm rocking tonight.  But I've never been happier.

I'll catch you guys soon!

8 comments:

  1. I was so shocked that the UK came in 11th. I was completely gob smacked that Estonia came 24th. I guess you really can't predict the winners of eurovision, but for the first time since I have seen the contest, I gained a feeling of much political bias. The votes were way too political this time around with countries like Greece and Ukraine doing well. Those votes could have gone to better, more deserving songs. From the beginning, I really liked Azerbaijan, but I think i got caught up in all the expected winners that I forgot about them and I had turned my hopes to other countries. So, when they won, it wasn't as special as it would have been if I had just stuck to judging the songs myself and not reading other peoples opinions. If there is one thing I have learnt from this year, it is not to emerse yourself into the songs completely before the event. I found myself not enjoying Eurovision as much this year because I had listened to the songs so much by the time the final came, I actually found myself bored. I was so angry at myself. Next year, I will definitely not do what I have done this year.

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  2. Very well said Jack! :D

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  3. Ah well... mitä yötä!

    Now for my/our last loving look back:

    Here is what I am suspecting this year: Our scoreboard is not well polarized; 221 is a relatively low amount for a winner, and only 3 points more than Iceland got coming second in 2009. Well, OK, Switzerland got quite a low score, but right above her, the 44 for Estonia was pretty high for a 24th position. So what does this suggest? The televote and juries may not have agreed upon the winner this year. Italy may have topped the jury marks, Azerbaijan may have topped the televote, and both must have scored top ten in the other party, but not terribly high in that top ten.

    Now, Poland: Nyt, jestem tosi pettynyt! LAST? My country did not even give her any points, either! She is even four points under Portugal! There was hype about this one, by fans considering this as the best Polish entry in years, while others did not get the hype. My suspicion is this: There is a clear difference between reading this as a well executed schlager entry with enough unique details to make it a great song in its own right... and reading this as an (as Ewan Spence calls it, and I hate typing this to describe a song like this) AVERAGE song. There was much to love about this song, and I have gone over those points in my previous posts (light-heavy feel, language, etc.), but according to the performance, too many people read it as AVERAGE. In the semi-final performance, there was no tension. We should have had more of that to suit what was my number one song in this semi-final. And the draw: I absolutely commend her for her courage in electing to go first voluntarily, but in the end, that might have actually hurt her.

    Well, what is there to suspect about Bosnia and Herzegovina? The draw absolutely killed them! When did I first post that comment stating my belief? 3rd of March? My country did not even vote for them! We gave 10 points to WHO? Love In Rewind sounded like a winning song with so much to offer to the contest itself! It should have won!

    Meanwhile, we shall see what Running Scared has to offer to the contest culturally. I see the contest as a living thing, that needs to be nourished with the right entries, and... well yeah (You can try to complete this sentence for me, I suppose.). I never denied that Running Scared was a pretty song, even if it was written by Swedes. The performance was quite simple, with virtually no gimmicks in sight. The cultural offerings that an Icelandic, French, or Bosnian victory would have yielded were more visible, but Europe opted for something else. We shall see where that takes us, aside from Baku apparently.

    It was great to get to know you all, Sam, Jack, and others. Have a great rest of the year!

    -Finland

    P.S.: I cast 6 votes for Bosnia and Herzegovina, 6 for Lithuania (the sixth one I cast was a last minute decision), and 3 for Iceland. Out of these, only Iceland got points from my country, which were 8. I also posted a bit of promotion for Dino on my page, including lyrics, national reveal performance, and slot number, so Bosnia might have gotten more within Finland than the 6 I cast myself, but apparently not a sufficient amount.

    In the semi-final, Finland yielded 2 points to Lithuania and 10 to Iceland.

    Also, I wonder if we get to see the dress Dana intended to wear to the Final. Which one was it?

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  4. I just checked: it was the 3rd of March.

    -Finland

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  5. It was nice going through this experience with you too, Stefanos! Hopefully, we can get back together next year. I was planning to go to Eurovision next year to the actual country, but Azerbaijan just doesn't seem appealing to me when I could spend that money on places that I have always wanted to go, like Estonia, Finland, or Italy.. (which is one reason why I wanted Estonia to win, the main reason because of the song and the country being an extra attribute). lol
    Just wondering, Stefanos, but if you had voted politically, what countries would you have chosen?

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  6. If I did not care about the songs, and voted politically, I would probably vote for Greece, being half-Greek, and quite possibly Cyprus if given the option.

    I think the real reason I wanted so badly for Bosnia to win this one is because, in that one song, I could see the Eurovision I know and love. If we have one song follow us and Eurovision forever, I would have rather had it be Love In Rewind, than Running Scared. I might have even been willing to see Sarajevo, not because it is on top of my destination list, just to check it out. SINCE THE 3RD of MARCH, I THOUGHT I NAILED IT THIS YEAR! This Eurovision that was won by Azerbaijan; I am not really sure how much I know and love this one. It will take more time for me to decide.

    On the other hand, we got Italy that came in second, which is very interesting. I could not quite work up the love for this song like some others (or like I could for Bastardo by Anna Tatangelo, in the Sanremo of this year), but I am happy to see it perform well, since it is such a pleasant song. If only the juries could have worked the same magic for Patricia Kaas. We shall see what RAI does with this second place; rest on their laurels, or provide us with further quality entries.

    I was pretty shocked, too, to see Estonia not do so well in the voting. Trust me; when I saw Estonia just sitting there at the bottom during the voting, I was thinking of you, Jack! I thought it could take any place up to second, but not win.

    -Finland

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  7. I love Greek people. lol As a Sagittarius, I am in love with the world, so, I pretty much love all types of people and I love the many different cultures. I just have a fascination with them. ^_^ Although, I have an odd relationship with Muslims. I really like their culture and I love visiting my local mosque (I have been a few times and they are very friendly), but I am also wary of their religion. Most Muslims are like extreme Christians and they, like extreme Christians, don't agree with anything of which their religions dictates not to agree with. lol And it conflicts with many of my core values (the main one being that one person or group of people should not enforce their opinions on another person. - Abortion, for example, I think should be up to the individual person. Personally, I disagree completely with abortion but I don't think I have the right to enforce that belief on someone else and to shape their life based on my opinions.) Anyways, completely off-topic. lol
    I think I would have been fine with the results if Estonia had not came 24th. That is the only thing that made me angry this year. I could deal with the fact that the UK came 11th (their performance wasn't good), I can deal with the fact that Azerbaijan won, because I loved their song, and I could deal with the fact that Sweden came 3rd (they should have been lower - for a moment there, I thought they were going to win), but, for the life of me, I cannot understand why Estonia came 24th. It baffles me completely.
    I thought it was funny that the only 12 points that the UK got came from ... Bulgaria? lol I would have thought France, Malta, or Spain would have because of all the promoting. Malta at least with political reasons. Bulgaria must have just liked the song. lol

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  8. Enjoy the cruise, dear Sam!

    And thanks a lot for keeping us informed and all those fantastic interviews.

    Toggie

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