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I have a confession to make. I am a cheese-fiend. Anyone who has been in my car recently will have heard Belinda Carlisle, Queen or Whitney Houston, or if they're lucky, all three. Anyone who has had the pleasure of seeing me on a night out (ever) will have been subjected to me cheering (loudly) and singing (horrendously) every word to the entire back catalogue of Belinda Carlisle, Queen, or Whitney Houston, and, once again, if they're lucky, all three.
I love any form of rubbish music (I write this whilst preparing for a Friday night out whilst watching High School Musical, I kid you not!) And that is why I don't see the problem with Eurovision.
In a world where war, famine and natural disasters form the basis of the evening news, I genuinely don't see a problem with switching over the channel, switching off the brain, for one night, and one night only, to watch a bit of Euro-cheese.
Sure, the Finnish entry of Lordi and Dana International (2006 and 1999 respectively) were low points. Terry Wogan is one person I would not like to be locked in a cupboard with (especially as I learnt at the weekend that he crossed the Picket Line at a BBC strike!)
However, there are some classic performances. I for one, do not think I would be the person I am without seeing some skirt-pulling-Bucks Fizz action, nor hearing the abmissal effort of our dear Gemini. The tenth year of my life (1997) was most definitely altered by Katrina and the Waves, and their classic, Love, Shine a Light.
Now, OK, this blog may be in jest (unfortunately my darling friend who tried to introduce me to trendy music last weekend will vouch for my taste in music, that is not!)
Minus the political voting, which I mean, seriously, do it at the UN, do during EU votes, but Eurovision? It's a laugh. It's meant to be taken as such. So come on, all you Eurovision haters - including a certain David Lunn positioned below - cheer up, take a break from revision, and laugh. Laugh at the terrible singing. Laugh at the political voting. Laugh at the quality hip-swaying and lip-synching of the backing singers. Most importantly, laugh at yourself for taking it so seriously.
So I urge you fellow Yorkites, pick up your Union Jack and wave it. Wave it like you just don't care.
Eurovision is not unlike a bad office Christmas party. It comes around every year, always sooner than you think, and only when you’ve just got over the last one. Reluctantly you attend; you haven’t made an effort, it turns out to be embarrassing…and you don’t score all night. If anything, you end up annoyed with yourself for attending again this year.
Usually I’m not a passionate critic of the quality of television programming. I can happily sit through a number of shows which people may think are a waste of good airtime. I enjoy daytime television, I regularly watch Neighbours, and sometimes I even dabble in the odd bizarre documentary. But if there is one thing I cannot bear to watch, it’s Eurovision. It is trash TV at its worst.
According to the bookies this year’s UK entrant is the worst one ever. Well what is the point of entering then? After listening to Even If, I have heard worse, but it isn’t the greatest representation of song writing talent that Britain has to offer. And that’s what angers me.
Any of the UK entrants I can remember have been absolutely terrible. And not so bad it’s funny. They’re so bad it’s cringeworthy. I don’t even bother listening anymore. I feel like I have wasted precious moments of my life when I could have been staring into space instead.
What truly angers me about Eurovision is the undeniable existence of political voting. It is never the case that the votes collected seem truly fair, with nations allocating their points based on their country’s political relationship to the other countries, rather than on their opinions of the songs. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to work out that the voting patterns show this. And yet we continue to be one of the heavy investors of the competition, giving us an automatic place in the final every year. Do we really want it?
People defending the contest may argue that this occurs because certain countries share similar musical tastes and cultures. But then surely the point of the competition is wasted. It should be a celebration of different cultures and tastes, with winners chosen on the basis of musical talent. It would be interesting to see if the competition was anonymous, whether Greece gave 12 points to Cyprus, Norway 12 to Sweden, Spain 12 to Italy, and the reverse.
You may preach to me that it’s all just a bit of fun. Surely not. Watching half of the entries is just painfully embarrassing, the rest, a pointless waste of your life. And it doesn’t change; year in, year out, we are subjected to an evening of the same drivel. A WHOLE evening. Hours of it. I would like my licence fee money spent on something with a little more quality please.
So I urge you fellow Yorkites, switch off your TV tonight. Switch it off like you just don't care.
Eurovision is on Saturday 24th May 2008, BBC1 at 8pm
Love Eurovision, love Eurovision drinking games. 
Eurovision is the best TV show on all year!
No matter what we do, the rest of the world hates us. Let's just accept that and give up.
last place - what a surprise!
Never have I been so proud to have come last in anything. Who cares if the Europeans like us or not?!
People put too much emphasis on the voting! The whole point is that it's cheesy and entertaining, who cares about the block voting.
That said, there was a lot of crap this year. Even Scooch was better than our guy :(
The only thing i like about eurovision is the drinking game you can play along to the voting results. Before the whole thing starts, you and however many of your mates (lets say 4) go on a bookies website and find the 5 countries most likely to win. Then you write them down on bits of paper and put them in a hat. Whichever country you pick out is yours for the evening. When the votes come in, the system works as such:
1 point = 1 finger
2 points = 2 fingers (and so on, until)
8 points = down your drink
9 points = do at least 6 fingers with a shot of lovely vodka (or equally strong alternative)
10 points = 2 shots
12 points = down all your lovely shot inudced beverage.
I gurantee by the third round, you will all be passed out!
If that doesnt sound fun, just drink every time Terry Wogan wisecracks at the contestants. What a hero
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