Mock if you like, but yes, it's true, I admit it, I enjoy Eurovision.
I enjoy it a lot less now that Wogan doesn't do the commentary, and most of the acts are in English, and sound like the kind of generic thing you win a generic reality TV show contest with, and most of the other acts, the ones that are interesting or different, get knocked out in the preliminaries. Yeah, there's a lot of things that make me enjoy Eurovision less than I used to, but god damn it, I STILL enjoy it!
I've already missed seeing the preliminaries live, and it looks now like I'm going to have rellies here Friday & Saturday nights (during the SBS broadcasts), so that just leaves the final.
Now, I dunno how you mob feel about it; whether you watch it religiously, avoid it like the plague, or just don't give a shit either way; but whatever the case, I was thinking I might do a bit of live commentary/chat/whatever.
Squib, if you're keen and Melba isn't, I can probably stream the BBC broadcast. I think it'll be sometime Sunday morning, my time. Melba, if you're keen and Squib isn't, I'll just watch the SBS broadcast on Sunday night. If both or neither of you are interested, I'll just go with whatever option I feel like doing at the time, or watch it twice, I dunno.
What say yous?
6 comments :
Have watched and very much enjoyed in the past, and usually manage to watch a few acts, especially on the last night. Can't promise anything in terms of watching but would love to read commentary, and I can find clips if I need to see.
Watched the first semi final with rellies. Won't go into details, because I want to go to bed soon. Amazed that three out of four of my favourites went through.
Even more amazed by my rellies. These are country people, whom I've known to be quite bigoted over the years. They're not, "shoot the poofters" bigoted, more like "gays make me squirm" bigoted.
Yet tonight, we're watching Conchita Wurst (the bearded drag-queen from Austria who won last year, in case you weren't aware), and all anyone in the room could talk about is how beautiful she is and how fantastic a voice she has.
Not a single defamatory joke the entire evening.
It was actually kind of trippy, but anyway — with all due deference to gift horses — yay my family, for making some sort of progress.
Yes, I was aware of Conchita. Think she's pretty amazing and also that's pretty amazing, but good, about your family embracing her in that way. That's very yay.
I have to say Conchita unsettles me only because I can't understand why someone who prefers such a feminine appearance in every single way except one obvious one (not meaning genitals, but I don't think she's had surgery)is the beard. And it's the beard that is the most striking thing about her. SO a leetle part of me wonders wtf is going on there, and whether the beard is for publicity. I dunno. What are your thoughts?
When she won I thought fantastic, that's so good, diversity yeah, but the beard throws me. It is a very striking look and I'm not in any way suggesting a person *can't* or *shouldn't* have that mix, but I have buts...
Well, she's a professional entertainer, so if I had to guess, I'd say that having a beard is PROBABLY (at least mostly) a branding gimmick. Whether she's a "real" trans-gender person or just the alter-ego of a male transvestite; I don't know; and I'm not particularly concerned either.
There are two things I like about her:
1) Whether she's trans-gender or not, I think she's helping to break down the notion that gender should be a binary thing; that you're supposed to fall into one group or the other. Of course, where that eventually leaves us with gendered toilets, change rooms, services, etc; I don't know; but I suppose we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
2) She can sing. This isn't as flippant as it probably sounds. Even if Conchita was a fictional character played by a heterosexual male, and the beard was a simple gimmick; she still wouldn't be a Norman Gunston or Borat type character, where we are being invited to mock or ridicule what she represents. Even if the facial hair is the thing that first grabs your attention, it's completely incidental to the performance, and the person; and I think the longer you look at it, the less strange it seems. And that's a good thing. Come for the beard, stay for the music, and maybe lose a little bit of prejudice along the way.
Sorry - didn't see this. Not keen, thanks anyway!
No worries.
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