Eurovision Imminent

Tomorrow is Eurovision. In my family Eurovision is second only to Christmas in terms of excitement and money spent on food and drink. The show is on in the evening and we traditionally build up with a long day of Scrabble, Kettle Chips and houmous. Hummus? Whatever. Norway is this year's host country. The contest is being held in Oslo.

The show is divided into 3 sections.

1. There's a couple of hours of songs which is the best part. We note our favourites so that we can root for them during the arduous scoring process. Each song is preceded by a 30 second (or so) film showing us something good about the host country. They're supposed to be like tourism advertisements but they're so weird sometimes that the message gets lost.

2.After all the songs have been sung there's a recess while everyone votes. The host country puts on a stage show. It's usually a mixture of deranged and dull so this is a good time to go to the loo or grab a drink or take a nap.

3. Next is the arduous scoring process. Each country votes for their top acts and awards points. The host country links up one by one (via satellite probably) with each participating country and they give their scores in both French and English. This takes a while as there are 40-odd countries participating. In the distant past the winners would be decided by a panel of judges. Recently they tried phone voting but that didn't work because no-one voted for the UK because everyone hates us. Now it's a combination of phone voting and a panel of judges.

Remembrance of Eurovisions Past

2006 - My boyfriend got sick and missed most of the songs including this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z75mLlg4uO0
Thanks for rocking, Lithuania. Lordi won this year's contest. One of the stand-out moments for me was when the hosts linked up with Holland and the scores-man remarked, "Ha ha ha, you look like Will and Grace!"

They really really did!

2008 - A.K.A. worst Eurovision ever. Kevin was off at a party celebrating his brother's recent wedding, Lucie was too drunk to show up and Ellie was hepped up on pain killers and fell asleep on the floor after about 15 minutes. So it was just me and Ellie's boyfriend left to awkward around for four hours. It was almost as bad as the time I had gastroenteritis and missed Christmas.

2009 - This was the first Eurovision we watched in high definition. Also the first Eurovision without Terry Wogan's wry brogue commentating throughout. Graham Norton did a good job though, I think! Can't really decide who's better.