Saturday, May 14, 2011

Eurovision 2011: And the Winner is...... Azerbaijan



Congrats Azerbaijan on being next year's host of this insane maddness. Did I watch Eurovision? No, not really. I had it on in the background with the sound down, and then watched the voting. Here is my take.

There was a brief period there where I was actually a bit worried Sweden might win. I say worried because I couldn't imagine having to listen to that song 'Popular' for another year. I really hoped it would go to that special circle of hell where they play Songs of Eurovisions past to torture those who tortured others.

But then they interviewed Eric Saade, since he was the leader, about how he felt about being in the lead. And he was awesome. Either the boy has the personality of a wet rag – or he has an awesome sense of humor – because for awhile there I was hoping we would get to listen to a whole year of 'stupid things Eric Saade said.' (Example: Annoying German Hostess: What would you do if you won? Eric: “I would sing my song again.” AGH: How do you feel right now? Eric: I have to pee. Side note: it didn't go exactly like that, but kinda)

So I rooted for Eric to really win, for about 5 minutes. And then he promptly lost. But really, coming in second place at Eurovision is a bit like coming in second place in Idol, you get a lot of attention and cheers, and your country doesn't have to put on a giant international shindig in a year's time.

Oh, and Italy? Second Place? What's up with that? That guy did a lot of mumbling and I had the feeling he had no idea what he was singing about. But I only watched a 30 second clip on YouTube.

But I am truly happy for Azerbaijan. This puts them on the map (something I couldn't find them on – because I am terrible at geography) and lets us all learn a little something about Azerbaijan – like how to spell it, or that it is an independent Turkish state. Who knew?

But good job Eric, you made us proud, or something.

6 comments:

  1. The writers for the Azerbaijan song are swedish, so we kind of won too anyway :P

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  2. Haha, of course, Swedish songwriters write the best pop! :)

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  3. Do you know its also a tradition to say "i didnt watch it" in Sweden, everybody says that, still its in a magic way ends up having millions of viewers.
    I think most ppl watch it like u did, its in the background.

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  4. @anon - I can totally see that - but didn't realize it was a tradition, glad I am assimilating so well :). I do think a lot more people watch it then admit to it. One year we spent 'watching' it as we had cocktails on our balcony looking at the screens in all of the other apartments in view. It was on EVERYONE's TV.

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  5. I actually didn't watch it since I was at dinner for my friend's birthday but I really wanted to watch it!

    Am still confused as to how Azerbaijan made its way into Europe. We really need to call it the EurAsiaVision contest.

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  6. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_Azerbaijan_in_Europe

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