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Freaky Eurovision

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Clarissa

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Of course, the Russian Eurovision team is freaky because, as we all know, Russians are not in a good place and have gone collectively [even more] coo-coo. But it also seems like Eurovision in general has gone in the direction of freakishness. It doesn’t seem to be about the catchiest tune or the most representative artist from each country. It seems like it’s getting more and more in vogue to nominate the weirdest artists with the strangest numbers they can come up with.

I have enough of “whoever acts in the most outrageous way wins” in the US politics, and it would be nice not to see so much of it everywhere else.

29 responses to “Freaky Eurovision”

  1. cliff arroyo Avatar
    cliff arroyo

    ” Eurovision in general has gone in the direction of freakishness”

    Wow…. I was thinking this year was entirely too tasteful (we’ll see what I think about the second semi) … there have been lots of gimmicky selections before and I’m sure there will be more in the future.
    The worst taste I think was Finland sending a group of developmentally disabled youngsters a few years ago (who were really…. bad)

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      I hope you are right. After the bearded lady, the Russian babushkas, the freaky Ukrainian Ruslana, this year’s Samoylova, etc., I have started to lose faith in the contest.

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  2. el Avatar
    el

    I have recently reread your post about the bearded lady at Eurovision and thought both her country and Russia could be seen as attempting to flaunt being progressive by their choice of contestants. Of course, Russia won’t send somebody transgender, so they used a disabled person.

    I think somebody in Russia did think about this angle too.

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Of course. The whole point is to be able to say, our contestant lost. These nasty Europeans hate the disabled.

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  3. el Avatar
    el

    Also, I wouldn’t put cute babushkas together with a bearded lady. Becoming a babushka is normal. Everybody will grow old unless something worse happens.

    Have you seen Israeli song? What do you think?

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  4. cliff arroyo Avatar
    cliff arroyo

    I’ll mention that Poland sent a singer in a wheelchair to Eurovision a few years ago, but she was an established performer who was confined to a wheelchair after a traffic accident.
    The official video included film of her performing before the accident and showed her in the wheelchair in the final shot.

    The song made it to the final but didn’t do well there.

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  5. anonP Avatar
    anonP

    And so in the end Russia didn’t make it to the final! First time ever. Ukraine is now the only country that made it through the semi-finals every time since they were introduced.

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  6. el Avatar
    el

    Netta Barzilai brings Eurovision win to Israel
    Israeli songstress broke barriers, brought Israel its fourth Eurovision Song Contest win; 26 countries competed in this year’s finals, with Israel widely considered a frontrunner to win from the outset; ‘I’ve given all my heart and soul to Eurovision, and now it’s your turn,’ Barzilai tweets after her performance; PM Netanyahu tweets his greeting, Gal Gadot calls on her 19.5 million Instagram followers to vote 22 for Israel’s entry.

    https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5258807,00.html

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Wow, congratulations! That’s a huge win. I haven’t been following this year but I’ll listen to the winner. I’m hoping she has no beard. 🙂

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      1. Clarissa Avatar
        Clarissa

        Ok, I just watched it. God, it’s horrible. I don’t know what the rest were like but sheesh, this one is horrific. Talking about freakishness. Man.

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        1. Clarissa Avatar
          Clarissa

          Where is Cliff Arroyo,our resident specialist on Eurovision? Did you like it, Cliff Arroyo? I’m not getting this at all.

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          1. cliff arroyo Avatar
            cliff arroyo

            “Did you like it (Israel’s Eurovision winning song) Cliff Arroyo?”

            I’ll write more later at my place, but I’m not surprised by the win…. and you haters are all just old, old, ooolllllddddd. This is one of the few times that something that actually sounds contemporary won (like the last time Israel won).

            And as I wrote, you hear the song a couple of times and it’s likely to bore into your brain and stay a while no matter what you do so I’m not surprised at all by the win, except that I thought it would do better with the juries than the public voting…. and the result was the opposite, it was fourth or fifth in the jury voting (behind some very bland stuff indeed) but convincingly won the public voting.

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            1. Clarissa Avatar
              Clarissa

              It’s probably a genre I’m not equipped to understand. Is it supposed to be a parody of something? Is there a reference point one needs to be aware of?

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              1. cliff arroyo Avatar
                cliff arroyo

                “Is there a reference point one needs to be aware of?”

                I’m going to have a post in a day or so, but for now just realize the chicken sounds are part of the branding (one of the things a song/performer needs to have in order to win and which most don’t really do very well).

                I’m not going to say it’s great music but the performer played up her strengths and hid her weaknesses very effectively which is the main reason the song was one of the favorites to win ever since it was released/revealed back in March). There are musical reasons it won as well but the packaging (official video and performance) was a key factor.

                If it makes you more positive about the song some (mostly Americans presumably) are flustered and clutching their pearls over the ‘cultural appropriation’ aspects.

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              2. Clarissa Avatar
                Clarissa

                The appropriation of what??? Chicken noises? Because it hurts the feelings of chickens?? Now I’m completely lost.

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        2. Dreidel Avatar
          Dreidel

          Yeah, I have to agree that Barzilai’s video is beyond bizarre — so I have no desire to even peek at the competition that lost to it!

          But it’s pleasantly ironic that Israel’s entry won despite a massive campaign by the anti-Semitic BDS haters that savagely attacked Barzilai personally and urged votes against her simply because she was Israeli.

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          1. Clarissa Avatar
            Clarissa

            I obviously don’t think she should lose for political reasons. But I don’t think she should win for political reasons either.

            I don’t think I’ve seen a worse number in my life. I get kitsch. But this doesn’t even work as kitsch.

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            1. Clarissa Avatar
              Clarissa

              And why do the media say this horrible number is somehow related to #MeToo???

              This is so crazy.

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              1. Dreidel Avatar
                Dreidel

                “why do the media say this horrible number is somehow related to #MeToo???”

                Listen to the lyrics — if your brain can stand watching the video that long. The song is an in-your-face feminist anthem that says that women are wonderful and “boys” are idiots that women like the singer will put down.

                (If you want to hear an excellent feminist song that isn’t an “us versus them” put-down of men, go to YouTube and listen to Helen Reddy’s 1972 hit “I Am Woman.” Still a great song, 46 years later.)

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            2. Dreidel Avatar
              Dreidel

              I’m sure she didn’t win for political reasons. Europeans — and the world in general — definitely don’t love Israel all that much.

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  7. Stringer Bell Avatar
    Stringer Bell

    “anti-Semitic BDS haters”

    lol this stupid motherfucker is getting desperate now.

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  8. Dreidel Avatar
    Dreidel

    Ah, Clarissa, did an insect just splatter all over the windshield on your website?

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  9. el Avatar
    el

    To be honest, I am glad Israel won and will get to host the competition next year (what will happen if we have a Gaza operation at the same time?), but the thing I liked most of all were those waving, nodding gilded cats. 🙂

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Operation, eh? :-((

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  10. cliff arroyo Avatar
    cliff arroyo

    ” appropriation of what??? Chicken noises? ”

    Japanese culture…. apparently people from an economic and cultural superpower (with an aggressively expansionist past) are in danger of being oppressed by her whiteness or something….

    There are times when I would be against ‘appropriation’ but almost of the cases that the perpetually offended find and try to make an ussue are simply stupid and ridiculous and it’s an assault on one’s dignity to actually address them.

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      You are punking me. That can’t be serious. The performance was as Japanese as I am.

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      1. cliff arroyo Avatar
        cliff arroyo

        Sadly (or hilariously, depending….) it’s true.

        https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/eurovision-winner-netta-israel-latest-cultural-appropriation-japan-costume-a8349296.html#comments

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      2. el Avatar
        el

        // You are punking me. That can’t be serious. The performance was as Japanese as I am.

        I thought the point of the idea of cultural appropriation was that the ones who appropriate don’t give ‘authentic’ performences of the foreign culture, but take a few elements out of context.

        I made the mistake of reading the comments at cliff’s link and besides the expected “Israel is a genocidal regime and you care about cultural appropriation”, saw this gem (last sentence):

        “My point is we should stop trying to think that all the world is European.
        So yes, Israel and Australia are not in Europe.
        To add more, for Europe the capital of Israel is Tel Aviv not Jerusalem, so of course Jerusalem can’t host the next contest.”

        Obviously, Jerusalem, not Tel Aviv, will host the contest, as has been in the past after Israel won, if it truly is hosted in Israel next year and nothing interferes.

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        1. Clarissa Avatar
          Clarissa

          I looked at a couple of other performances and realized I’m definitely not European enough to get it. It’s a genre I’m not capable of comprehending. Obviously, many people like it and good for them. But it’s like American football or Twitter. I’ll never get it.

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A conservative literary critic and college professor

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