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Post by stratford on May 25, 2008 18:23:49 GMT
You didn't.  I was trying to work out the location from the map and it looked nearby. I had no idea it was like Vatican City. I expect the Pope will be giving the results of the Vatican jury/tele-voters next year.  |
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Post by Nick on May 25, 2008 20:14:31 GMT
LOL....nothing would surprise me ;D I think San Marino is more north east from Rome going up towards Venice..I may be wrong I must admit ..I am a bit of a Eurovision anorak  |
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Post by stratford on May 25, 2008 20:45:58 GMT
Nothing wrong with that. It's educational when someone knows more than you do about a particular subject. No one would have specialist subjects in Mastermind if they weren't a bit of an anorak. |
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Post by Nick on May 26, 2008 14:21:07 GMT
Thanks.. |
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Post by RitaLittlewood on May 26, 2008 18:24:41 GMT
Paul told me Austria didn't enter this year for the same reason Italy pulled out 11 years ago. He said his other half was furious with the voting and wanted Sweden to win.
I'm wondered if it's part of the plan. Sounds daft I know since generally it's just a daft song contest no one takes seriously. The Eastern bloc and former Yugoslavian countries are for some reason and appear to driving the rest out wth the fixed voting. Why do they want it so badly? Not many acts have actually had a successful career from it. These days especially they fade into obscurity. So why are they doing it and, more importantly, why isn't the EBU stopping it?
Patsy
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Post by RitaLittlewood on May 27, 2008 18:14:31 GMT
From the Mirror:
BBC won't axe Eurovision Song Contest despite voting farce
Exclusive by Mark Jefferies 27/05/2008
Eurovision is to continue on the BBC despite this year's voting fiasco.
BBC bosses yesterday said the show was a huge ratings hit and there are no plans to withdraw its £173,000 funding towards the event.
As a result, the BBC will screen Eurovision in 2009 and beyond. But executives will lobby other countries in the European Broadcasting Union, which produces the show, to try to change the politically-motivated voting.
A spokesman said: "We remain committed to the Eurovision Song Contest. There is no question of it not running or not participating next year.
"We were one of the founding members of the Europe an Broadcasting Union when it was set up, and year-on-year the show gets close to 10million viewers.
"However, we are going to pass on the comments and sentiment in the UK about this year's event."
The future of Eurovision in the UK could now be debated in the House of Commons after a motion was raised by Lib Dem MP Richard Younger-Ross.
He described the weekend's contest, in which former Eastern bloc nations schemed to make sure Western European entries were squeezed out, as "a joke."
Bbc commentator Terry Wogan has also suggested he may step down from the show following this year's shambles, which saw UK entry Andy Abraham coming last.
But the X Factor's Louis Walsh, who managed Irish singer Johnny Logan when he won Eurovision in 1980, said we miss out because we no longer put in enough effort.
He said: "Everyone in the Eastern part of Europe take it very seriously and they send their biggest stars.
"We don't put enough work into it, Ireland and England. We need to get good artists and our best songs."
Bookies reported taking a number of bets on Wogan quitting.
A Paddy Power spokeswoman said: "With the way Eurovision has gone, Wogan is the only thing worth tuning in for."
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Post by CG Wendy on May 28, 2008 11:20:52 GMT
Is it any wonder, the way the British are treated by other countries. Getting nil points just for the sake of being nasty is getting tedious.
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Post by RitaLittlewood on May 28, 2008 15:36:23 GMT
I doubt it would make any difference how much effort we put in. We'd still be hated. There's many factors. Not surrendering completely to a bunch of Brussels dictators and Iraq to name two.
Patsy
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Post by RitaLittlewood on May 28, 2008 17:33:30 GMT
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Post by RitaLittlewood on May 28, 2008 19:07:15 GMT
From Media Guardian:
Eurovision Song Contest: UK could lose free pass to final
Leigh Holmwood guardian.co.uk, Wednesday May 28 2008
The UK could lose its guaranteed place in the Eurovision Song Contest final following criticism that the event is becoming increasingly biased against western European countries.
Eurovision organisers have told MediaGuardian.co.uk that the issue of the UK's guaranteed place in the final will be one of a number to be discussed at a meeting of the European Broadcasting Union in Athens in two weeks' time.
A senior BBC insider said that it has an "open mind" about the controversial proposal, which, if implemented, could see the UK's Eurovision entry have to qualify and potentially fail to make the final for the first time in the event's history.
Russia's Dima Bilan won Saturday's contest in Belgrade, with the Ukraine coming second.
The UK, Germany, France and Spain - the "big four" Eurovision countries who get an automatic place in the final because they contribute the most funding - all came in the bottom 10.
The UK's entry, The X Factor finalist Andy Abraham's Even If, came joint last.
A growing feeling that the UK may never win Eurovision again has even led BBC commentator Sir Terry Wogan to say he may quit, claiming political bloc voting had got out of control.
BBC1's ratings for this year's event were also down, with 7.1 million viewers on Saturday, compared with last year's 8.7 million.
The head of the Eurovision Song Contest, Svante Stockselius, told MediaGuardian.co.uk that potential changes would be discussed when the 42 participating countries meet next month.
"Every year, we evaluate and debrief each contest. We will discuss these things there," Stockselius said.
"We did a couple of big changes to this year's event, with the introduction of two semi-finals.
"We do not exclude that we will look into different changes for next year."
When asked if the poor performance of the "big four" countries could be down to other countries purposely voting against them, he replied: "It could be."
Stockselius added: "I don't think it is jealousy, but it might be that people think: 'Why should we vote for them when they are automatically in the final? Lets vote for someone else'. It could be something like that."
Making the "big four" compete in the Eurovision semi-finals could lead to them cutting their funding, but Stockselius said the scale of sponsorship the contest now attracts meant it could afford to carry on without this money.
"Of course we would have to look into funding, but we have such big sponsorship now it could manage," he said. "It would be a point of discussion."
The BBC's controller of entertainment commissioning, Elaine Bedell, told MediaGuardian.co.uk that the corporation was keen to talk to the EBU about potential changes.
"We are going to sit down with the EBU pretty soon to see what the best way forward is," she said.
However, taking part in the semi-final could lead to a position where the UK misses out on a place in the final.
This is a scenario the BBC would be keen to avoid when, due to its contract, it has to screen the three-hour final in peaktime on BBC1.
However, Stockselius said: "That is a question 38 other broadcasters have to face."
BBC sources said the corporation had an "open mind" about the UK potentially losing its automatic place in the final.
"We would have to think clearly about it, although it would be a bit odd giving over primetime without the UK in the final," one insider said.
Stockselius added that taking part in the semi-finals might be a decision the "big four" broadcasters should take for themselves in order to bring greater interest to the contest.
"Maybe it should be something for the broadcasters to consider," he added. "They would most probably get a better rating in the semi-final."
BBC insiders said that as well as potential changes to the contest's structure, questions also had to be asked about what acts the UK put forward in future.
"The viewing figures [for this year's contest] were fantastic, but we need to think about the sorts of musical acts we put forward in the future and how we want to approach it," a BBC insider said.
Stockselius said he did not agree with the argument that the "big four" would never win again, adding it was "fully natural and understandable" for countries to be disappointed when they did badly.
However, he added that it was "more the matter of the song and performance" and praised the Russian entry - which was produced by top US artist Timbaland – as a "worthy winner".
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Touched a nerve, did we? How about Malta saying the same thing last year? Did they get through this? Er....
Patsy
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Post by RitaLittlewood on May 28, 2008 19:08:11 GMT
Interesting from Friday's Media Guardian:
Eurovision song contest: Fears over text voting system
Leigh Holmwood guardian.co.uk, Friday May 23 2008
The winner of the Eurovision song contest could be called into question because most countries taking part in tomorrow night's final will allow text voting, despite the BBC banning it due to its unreliability.
The continued use of SMS voting across Europe is bound to raise fears about who wins the contest, which takes place in Serbia tomorrow night.
The BBC banned SMS voting from programmes following the spate of fake TV scandals, saying the technology was not accurate enough to guarantee that all text votes were counted in time.
Sources have confirmed that the BBC has raised the issue with the European Broadcasting Union, the body that runs the song contest.
"Conversations have been happening with the EBU and we have said to people this is our position," a BBC source said.
"We have shared the findings of our review with the EBU, and they have incorporated some of it to inform everyone of what we have found and how they can work more effectively, but ultimately it is up to each country how they want to vote."
The EBU cannot force individual national broadcasters to ban text voting and the majority have said they will continue to do so.
In the UK, viewers will only be allowed to vote by phone.
A spokesman for the EBU said that people would be able to vote by SMS or phone depending on "territorial circumstances".
The Europe-wide voting system is run by the German firm Digame, which also oversees voting for shows such as German Idol and Big Brother.
"From the Balearics to the Urals, Digame is enabling more than 100 million viewers to choose the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest," it says on its website.
It is not the first time that fears have been raised over the accuracy of Eurovision voting.
Last year, MediaGuardian.co.uk revealed that the EBU had looked into claims of voting irregularities.
Consultants PriceWaterhouseCoopers conducted an audit of the tele-voting system, but the head of the contest, Svante Stockselius, said no irregularities had been found.
Malta led calls for the Eurovision voting system to be overhauled, calling for phone votes in some former Soviet bloc countries to be removed, while Ireland and Andorra were also said to be unhappy about the scoring.
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Jun 1, 2008 18:43:52 GMT
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Post by sootycat on Jun 2, 2008 11:16:44 GMT
IMO The Eurovision Song Contest is as corrupt as the European Union.
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Jun 2, 2008 12:04:53 GMT
You aren't kidding.
Patsy
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Post by Nick on Jun 2, 2008 12:29:23 GMT
I think only the countries who get through to the final should be allowed to vote
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Jun 2, 2008 12:32:13 GMT
And they should reduce it again.
Patsy
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Jun 4, 2008 16:42:45 GMT
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pink2wink
Road Sweeper
I Love Lucy De Ville. Please visit Lucy De Ville at http://www.lucydeville.com
Posts: 38
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Post by pink2wink on Jun 6, 2008 20:04:48 GMT
Just to add my two penny worth: I reckon that all the western bloc countries who are getting pissed off with loosing the Eurovision should disallow voting next year BUT not tell Eurovision officials so that when they then go to each one of the 40 + countries to get the results of their voting then countries can officially say "sorry we have no points to give out". Alsdo I feel sorry for some of the European viewers because here in Blighty it is screened between 8pm and 11pm but in Russia because of the time difference it is screened live between 11pm and 2am because Russia (Moscow) is 3 hours ahead of GMT (see www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=166) so us Brits get to see it earlier than other European countries except Iceland ( www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=211) where it is screened live between 7pm and 10pm because they are 1 hour behind GMT. But I still say we should not vote at all next year and see how Euro camp like that. But I still smart over the admittance by Spain that they rigged the voting back in the 60's to stop Cliff Richard and UK winning when we did ACTUALLY win. Dan |
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Post by RitaLittlewood on Jun 7, 2008 11:40:20 GMT
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Post by Nick on Jun 8, 2008 11:20:36 GMT
I thought they would have had Cliff there this year with Massiel the woman who 'won' for Spain in 1968...they could have awarded Cliff a belated award and slapped Massiel and snapped her award in half and ripped off her 'I've won Eurovision' epaulets (a la 'Branded' the 60's series with Chuck Connors) ;D
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Post by Nick on May 14, 2009 21:18:02 GMT
My God there was some tuneless dirges in this years semi finals...poor Ireland not getting through, I thought it was quite good
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Post by RitaLittlewood on May 14, 2009 21:37:42 GMT
Did Graham Norton participate? I may watch just to see how he compares to old Wigon.
Patsy
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Post by Nick on May 14, 2009 22:43:38 GMT
yes he hwas talking to Sarah Cawood (is that her name)..he said it should be Terry there and he wishes it was..but he's been given the job and he'll do the best he can..and he gave some very honest opinions about some of the songs..I shall give him a fair hearing
We all said that Terry sounded really jaded and fed up last year and we thought he would quit..and lo and behold he did
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Post by RitaLittlewood on May 15, 2009 0:34:40 GMT
We did. It was a total piss take last year, the worst ever. Although he has said before he'd go but then stayed. With his producer going too it sort of made his mind up I think. As long as Graham Norton is sarky and bitchy, he'll be okay by me. If he's PC then he should be axed.
Patsy
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2009 6:47:40 GMT
We all know the show is a pile of dog doo-doo (with the odd exception), but my wife and I have made it a bit of a ritual to watch it together with a decent Chinese take-away and a good supply of drinks.
The more awful it is, the more enjoyment we get out of it, so here's hoping this year's is a stinker!
Looking forward to Graham Norton taking over too. I'm not a fan of Wogan anyway, so his departure is no great loss in my eyes.
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I was trying to work out the location from the map and it looked nearby. I had no idea it was like Vatican City. I expect the Pope will be giving the results of the Vatican jury/tele-voters next year. 
