celebrate the wonder of Eurovision 2008

How Russia could win…. the EUROvision!!!!!!!

It’s not even in Europe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

/Next we need Australia, Zimbabwe & Botswana, & Alaska onboard!!!!!!/

on the BBC website today here about this year’s contest.

Glad to see most contributors supported Latvia!

but it certainly didn’t disappoint! Best group of the night for me were the ones Bosnia and Herzegovina just because of their inexplicable outfits, use of a washing line and the knitting brides in the background

Oh dear it won’t be the same

I love you. The wonderfulness of it all: castrate singers with feather wings, performance art, bearded Frenchmen and -women, pirates, power ballads, bellydancing, shimmying dresses, ice-skaters, men without shirts, instant costume changes and – yes, YES! – numerous key changes!

My favourites were Bosnia-Herzegovina (weird but wonderful), Denmark (an old-fashioned 1960s or 70s ESC song), France (it was just so… French) and Spain (well, erm… what can I say except that The Ketchup Song is one of my karaoke bravuras?).

I can understand why Russia won, though: ice-skating on stage! Shirt-ripping-open!

Congratulations to Norway for doing so well! :)

The poodles have been walked, the pizza is in the oven, beer and crisps at the ready, it`s ESC night!

Here`s the pirate song, so we can all start singing!

With a hi hi ho and a hi hi hey
We’re hoisting the flag to be free
We will steal the show, Jolly Rogers go
We are wolves of the sea

Don’t try to run, it’s all set and done
There’s a treasure inside
We are robbing you blind
I hope you don’t mind
We are taking it all tonight

Just walk away, we will conquer it all
Pirates will stand and the loser will fall

With a hi hi ho and a hi hi hey
We’re bound to be close to the sea
Our captain will stand on the bridge and sing:
Pirates are all we can be

With a hi hi ho and a hi hi hey
We’re hoisting the flag to be free
We will steal the show, Jolly Rogers go
We are wolves of the sea

Down to the core, we’re coming for more
With a sword close at hand
We are scary and bold, a chest full of gold
We can steal it when sighting land

Then Hook, our captain is looking at you
There’s no Peter Pan, so what can you do?

With a hi hi ho and a hi hi hey
We’re bound to be close to the sea
Our captain will stand on the bridge and sing:
Pirates are all we can be

With a hi hi ho and a hi hi hey
We’re hoisting the flag to be free
We will steal the show, Jolly Rogers go
We are wolves of the sea
A skull and crossbone flag is closing in
To see you fall

We pirates will stand tall

(Hum, hi ho, hi hum, hi hey)
(Hum, hi ho, hi hey)
(Hum, hi ho, hi hum, hi hey)

With a hi hi ho and a hi hi hey
We’re hoisting the flag to be free
We will steal the show, Jolly Rogers go
We are wolves of the sea

With a hi hi ho and a hi hi hey
We’re bound to be close to the sea
Our captain will stand on the bridge and sing:
Pirates are all we can be

With a hi hi ho and a hi hi hey
We’re hoisting the flag to be free
We will steal the show, Jolly Rogers go
We are wolves of the sea
We are wolves of the sea

Must set recorder – as I am out this evening. What bad planning is that!!

Go those Pirates!!! Arrrrrr!!!!

by the information in last nights semis that two of the hosts of the show, the ones in the greenroom, are not professional tv-hosts or anything like that at all, they won the jobs! Clearly, when ones country has the chance to show off in front of all of Europe and show everyone how great the country is at making huge, overexpensive tv-shows, the way to go is to leave it in the hands of two lucky winners of some contest. It all makes perfect ESC sense, I love it!

The pirates are in the finals! I was getting seriously worried after the shocking news of the turkey not getting to the finals, but now there is hope again!

Eurovision Song Contest

Wolves of the Sea, etc. (You can play all this strangeness in a little window on your desktop, and thus gain deep and crucial insights into the cultures of our European friends on this site.)