Last night, the Irishman made me watch the Eurovision finals. I was a bit suspicious as to why my boyfriend wanted me to watch a pop song contest, but I soon realized that it is a spectacle not to be missed. Back in the US I never watched American Idol and here I couldn't give a toss about X-factor, but there is nothing like watching representatives from 42 countries compete for the title of best Euro-pop performing artist. Clearly I loved the cheese factor of the whole competition, and I think that Azerbaijan was ROBBED - they put on the most Euro-pop-tastic performance of the night. Turkey also put on an impressive harem-pant-Shakira-rip-off.
The best part of the competition is how the winners are decided. Norway was the runaway favorite, with a final score that was the highest in Eurovision history, because of the voting: that's right, every country VOTES. You call in and vote for your favorite (you can't vote for your home country), and then representatives of each country call the show and say (for example) "Riga calling... Latvia gives its highest votes to... "! Crazy!!!!!! They also announce everything in French as well as English so it's a good French refresher course. The whole thing is ridiculous and wacky, with guest stars like Andrew Lloyd Webber playing piano for the UK's entrant Jade and a surprise appearance of Dita von Teese for Germany (which is totally not fair, btw). Next year, I am totally tuning in and hosting a Eurovision party... US friends, you need to be here to witness this spectacle!
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