*comes in*
Sorry for being late, Greek guy here, I just got lost in the way of life...
For all I know, 4-5 years ago no one in Greece cared about Eurovision, but everyone had a change of heart I guess... The closer we get to the last contest, the more public interest it attracted, the more it was discussed by the media, the more gossip went around, the more people were sad that we didn't win, the more tomatoes we threw at our own when they came back empty handed. Last year, when we won I could almost expect a statue be raised in the name of Elena Paparizou!! Oh, well, let's get on to the actuall contest of 2006.
First of all, I'm really happy for Finlandl! It has nothing to do with 40 years of trying to win, as I see each contest as a separate event with different songs and people in it. What I liked was how different Lordi were, despite their song not living up to the hype of their costumes. I was happy because:
boffenjl said:
i love it!!! Lordi! in a contest of overmakeupped popgirls singing anout weird stuff lordi comes in and
mops the floor with em! glorious!
...yup, couldn't possibly word it any better, thanks boffenjl!
As for Greece? We were the hosts and what did we do? Once again we made a salad of it all, mixing all sorts of eras in a bowl, trying to show what? Who knows! Some parts of the opening ceremony where downright insulting towards our ancestors, but hey it wasn't satire gone overboard, it was supposedly the image we wanted foreigners to have about us... People dressed like soldiers of 500 B.C. dancing Can-Can? Spare me...
Other things I should be ashamed of as a Greek? Plenty! When Lordi won, Sakis anounced the name Theodoros Russopoulos, a representative of the government, as the person who would hand over the prize to Lordi. Instead that person just sat there with his wife doing nothing... In his stead the prize was handed to Lordi by the head of the channel responsible for the broadcast in Greece (a more or less "nobody", compared to the person who was supposed to hand in that prize). What were we told about that mistake? N-O-T-H-I-N-G!!
The very same night Anna Vissi nearly cried, after having said everything was fine, the people loved her, she did her best, we were the winners either way etc. What did she expect? To win? With the song "Everything"? With a typical pop song? With only herself on stage? Where's the inovation? Where's anything out of our ordinary, mundane musical pop scene?
Elena Paparizou, the previous winner, said she was greatly dissatisfied, that Anna deserved a lot more and that "little kids like little monsters"! Well, sorry Elena for not being
serious enough for such a contest!! Sorry for our taste!
Hell every damned gossip show or news paper was picking on Lordi! I mean how DARE they win when WE are the hosts?! Of course no one even mentioned how Lordi got more points than any other contender ever (something I was wondering about when I saw that 292, though a friend of mine said others had gotten a lot more
). Hell, they did it when WE where the hosts, thought no one thought of this! A lot of people even expressed concern as to the future of music (
) and opinions of the sort: "They don't make songs like they used to"
Finally, a reason to be proud? Hope? YESH! "Greece gives 12 points tooooo.... FINLAND!!"
Take that reporters, gossipists and politicians! Don't bite your tongues, you might die of poisoning! Greece isn't those guys on TV, it isn't the reporters, the gossipists OR the politicians!! Greece was in those 12 points! 12 points we ALWAYS give to Cyprus, though thank the gods this time we didn't have to, since they were disqualified... (of course political voting is a matter of its own). I wonder what Eurovision would be like if people voted for songs instead of countries...
These were my thoughts for the contest and my country, spat here without remorse or regret! I'm happy to be carrying one weight less on my back! Go go Lordi! Go go Finland! May your contest next year be THE BEST
p.s.: To vote you call on the number they show on the channel responsible for the broadcast in your country or send an SMS in the other number they give or just do as they tell you (and they do tell you). This year I didn't vote because they went overboard with the prices! It was 1,10 EUR per SMS... last year it was 1 EUR! I mean, what's it gonna be next year? (1,10 EUR isn't much, but the way they handled the matter, KNOWING people don't pay attention to monetery fees on such events, doesn't feel right).
Helsinki is a pretty good organizing big events. :3
