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But seriously why are you seemingly so bitter / upset about it ? It's Eurovision at the end of the day - not a UN summit.
 
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But seriously why are you seemingly so bitter / upset about it ? It's Eurovision at the end of the day - not a UN summit.

Some of us do take Eurovision semi seriously. I Would have loved Australia to win (given who knows our future in the competition), but at the end of the day would have preferred any of the other songs I enjoyed to win over what did win (my least favourite song of all out of the semi finals, didn't even know it was a favourite when watching the Semi Finals).
 
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Some of us do take Eurovision semi seriously. I Would have loved Australia to win (given who knows our future in the competition), but at the end of the day would have preferred any of the other songs I enjoyed to win over what did win (my least favourite song of all out of the semi finals, didn't even know it was a favourite when watching the Semi Finals).

A preference yes, but for some to get so aggrieved seems ridiculous.

Did my favourite win ? No. Am I traumatised and outraged because of it ? No ...
 
A preference yes, but for some to get so aggrieved seems ridiculous.

Did my favourite win ? No. Am I traumatised and outraged because of it ? No ...

Traumatised and outraged? lol I'm not either. In my opinion it was a bit messed up (As Eurovision seems year in and year out) and I'm allowed to have that opinion. Winning for Australia would have guaranteed us another year (and another live broadcast, which we only get when we participate) which makes the experience so much better.
 
Tonight's show has been awesome. Regardless of whomever wins Sweeden have delivered one of the best Eurovision's ever.

The standard of entries in the final was outstanding this year and of course I just love Petra to bits and Mans was pretty good at hosting as well (and even better at dancing and singing!). Sweden know how to do it for sure.

Disappointed for Dami but second is still a great result and she should be proud of her performance.

The political undertones were strong this year and though I didn't think much of Ukraine's song I'm at least glad Russia didn't win. Russia shouldn't even be allowed to host Eurovision. I'm pretty sure given their anti-gay laws half the crowd and participants wouldn't even be allowed to attend or risk getting imprisoned just for being who they are and loving who they want. Russia's hate laws are the complete opposite of what Eurovision stands for and is supposed to promote. I'm surprised so many people voted for Russia. The song was pretty Euro-trash if you ask me. "Thunder and lighting, it's getting exciting", I mean seriously? And the presentation was too gimmicky for my taste.
[doublepost=1463323541][/doublepost]I hope Ukraine invites us back.
 
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Neither.
You expressed your opinion on "advertising" in Australia's song, we expressed our opinion about the political content of the Unkrainian performance.
Don't overdramatize an exchange of views.
And yet you were the one who went hunting for Eurovision rules and regulations or are they just things you carry around in case you need them ? If anyone is being dramatic ....
 
I usually don't pay any attention to Eurovision because it always seemed bland and uninspired, but yesterday before finals I've decided to skim through contestants' songs on youtube and I instantly knew Ukraine was going to win. It was the only song which stood out, everyone else was like everyone else years after years, trying hard with flashy, empty, predicted and calculated on what-averange-joe-would-like type of songs. Jamala had substance, soul and wasn't fake, she truly wanted to represent her story and emotion. The political background doesn't matter that much, you won't look good just by singing randomly about issues, it did provide the song with substance but is definitely not an issiue and didn't do the work for her/isn't the reason why alot of people voted for. Genuineness, great production (which isn't that unique overall but if you compare to other contestants' late 90's (Russia) to 2005 production, it's lightyears ahead), her perfromance is what brought her victory.
 
And yet you were the one who went hunting for Eurovision rules and regulations or are they just things you carry around in case you need them ? If anyone is being dramatic ....
I presented you with facts during the exchange of views. I would've appreciated the same from you, even if it involved "hunting" from your part.
Tell me, MRU, being an Android fan, did it really hurt you so much to hear "FaceTime" in a Eurovision song that you flame here?
 
I presented you with facts during the exchange of views. I would've appreciated the same from you, even if it involved "hunting" from your part.
Tell me, MRU, being an Android fan, did it really hurt you so much to hear "FaceTime" in a Eurovision song that you flame here?
So sinking to juvenilty ? I'm not an android Fan. I use a 6S+ and currently an SE as my daily driver. I work on a MacPro and MacBook Pro and i draw and illustrate on my iPad Pro 12.9. just because I also own an android handset, which is a requirement for me because 1, I have created mobile apps for clients and need a handset to test them on, and 2, I like having both platforms - has absolutely no relevance to the Eurovision or the juvenilty of which you have now plundered the depths of.

People asked why was Australia wrapped on the knuckles and the answer is simple. Mentioning Facetime is or at least could be construed as free advertising and when your selling your show and it has an audience reach of 200 million, then that is likely what their issue was. It is all by the by because they allowed them to go ahead with it and use the lyric regardless.

Also I have been on this thread and contributing since it began. Check your facts before you throw out wild accusations and name calling.

I think it's time to add someone to the 'ignore' list.
 
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Good for Austria showing the example.

If most countries just sing in English, it is not Euro.
 
Good for Austria showing the example.

If most countries just sing in English, it is not Euro.

There was a time when they made it mandatory Songs had to be sung in their native language, but now it's just an option.

I used to like the foreign language entries and would use teletext / subtitles to get the translation - but as we have so many countries now competing it probably makes it easier for general viewers to have fewer languages, making it easier to understand the songs that are being sung.

I was actually surprised France had a chorus in English this year though.
 
There was a time when they made it mandatory Songs had to be sung in their native language, but now it's just an option.

Which are both wrong approaches.

It would be easy to say, for example, "a Big 5 language can only be repeated by a country after 5 years".

And one word counts as one use, to avoid cheating (with appropriate exception rules for when it exists in more than one language).

"Facetime" made me cringe. Blatant product placement in movies and music videos is already too much.

TV still has not learned in general that the right way are subtitles, even with Full HD available.

I was disappointed with France and Spain singing in English. Italy stands its ground, as always.
 
The political undertones were strong this year and though I didn't think much of Ukraine's song I'm at least glad Russia didn't win. Russia shouldn't even be allowed to host Eurovision. I'm pretty sure given their anti-gay laws half the crowd and participants wouldn't even be allowed to attend or risk getting imprisoned just for being who they are and loving who they want. Russia's hate laws are the complete opposite of what Eurovision stands for and is supposed to promote. I'm surprised so many people voted for Russia. The song was pretty Euro-trash if you ask me. "Thunder and lighting, it's getting exciting", I mean seriously? And the presentation was too gimmicky for my taste.
[doublepost=1463323541][/doublepost]I hope Ukraine invites us back.
I know you are posting this as a good person who really wants the world to be a better place and genuinely feels angry when unfairness prevails. I understand and respect that. The problem is, the picture your mainstream media paints, is rather extreme and skewed.

Russia is not the most open-minded country. That's for sure. None of ex-USSR countries are. We come from a past that many of you in the West can't relate to. Sexual freedom in general is a very new concept in this part of the world. For a long time even talking about straight sex was a kind of taboo. Making one's sexual life a public matter in general is something older generations feel uncomfortable with. The Renaissance of the religion that has been banned for near a century is also a big contributing factor.

An average Russian does not have an experience of having an openly gay friend, neighbour, colleague or relative. All he/she sees is an exaggerated, foreign and rather aggressive image on TV. This society needs time and education. Most local gay people are aware of the context they live in and don't seek confrontation for the sake of confrontation. They leave their bed-stories in their bedrooms, just like most straight people do. When Western activists come in with zero regard for the country's culture, history and current state of affairs, seek provocation and then your media turns into another wave of anti-Russian hysteria, what does it do other than making you feel superior and making locals more annoyed?

It takes time for some things to change gradually. It took you time. You had a head start and yet a lot of Western countries are still far from perfect in this regard. Countries like Russia may need a bit more time to catch up. Tolerance and understanding is not a one-way street.

With this out of the way, things are not nearly as bad as you make them sound. The so-called 'draconian laws' are just one law that forbids the promotion of homosexual lifestyle among minors. It's a stupid law that I personally see as a step in wrong direction, but Russian laws regarding sexual education of children are generally very conservative.

It's perfectly legal to be gay in Russia. There is a decent gay scene in the country. Sergey Lazarev that represented Russia this year performs in gay clubs regularly. And although he's not out of the closet officially, the names of his current and ex boyfriends are hardly a secret. There are many other artists that don't make statements but don't exactly hide their orientation either. The 'evil of the evils' Putin has mentioned having homosexual friends more than once. So no, you are not going to be arrested for being gay in Russia. It's simply not fair to make it sound worse than countries of Middle East where being gay gets you imprisoned or killed. Your leaders shake hands with the leaders of those countries all the time.

It's true that if you make your sexuality visible on the streets somehow, you can be unfortunate to face aggression from some of the extreme representatives of the society. It does happen in your civilised countries too. The chances are maybe higher in Russia for the reasons I mentioned in the beginning of this post. But you are in for the huge disappointment if you expect Ukraine to be different in this regard. It's actually more dangerous at this point, I'd say. The coup and events on the South-East of the country created the situation where the nationalistic feels are very high, the right-far groups believe in their impunity and they actually have weapons on their hands. In Russia police is much more likely to prevent violence. Moscow hosted Eurovision in 2009 and I don't recall any problems then.
 
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Wasn't there once the argument, that if not all are allowed to sing in english, that it could be seen as a disadvantage in the competition?

Despite from that. I wonder how the english songs sung by non native speakers sound to native speakers (I know, there is already a difference under non native speakers's pronounciation...). For me as a German, as long as it is a skandinavian, Dutch, Austrian, etc. entry it sounds ok (leaving out obvious accents, like in the case there would be e.g. a German pronouncing "th" like "s" or so, of course). Probably because all those languages are close to my mother tongue. But I imagine to english speakers these country's accent in english sound/appear similarly sticking out like to me balkan/east accents and the clichee romanic language accents sound.
For me an east accent in english always reminds me of a cheap parody of an eastern sex worker on a crime show on TV. (which I know is sad).
How do skandinavian/germanic entries sound to you native speakers, when sung english?
 
If you had properly designed non distracting subtiltles, not only would that increase the attractiveness of songs in non understood languages, but it would also punish poor lyrics.
 
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