Eurovision

Pleasantly surprised by Eurovision this year. Not because of its music, that was about as shit as ever. Hell, in fact it may have been one of the blandest Eurovisions in recent memory with no obvious extroverted piss-takers save Moldova. No. But what did surprise me was that voting seemed to, largely, reflect the quality of the musical performance rather than the political voting which has plagued the contest in recent years. Yes, there was an element of that, with Denmark giving Sweden 12 points and vice-versa, and also quite amusingly the former Soviet states all bestowing upon Georgia high scores in some thinly veiled showing of solidarity against the Russians. Regardless, the right song won in the end, Azerbaijan's 'Running Scared', by far the most innocuous and pleasant song of the bunch. Although I have to say I was quite surprised at how badly France did, who actually had a very good entry and were one of the bookie's favourites. Somehow, however, tenor Amaury Vassili didn't quite belong in the circus ring with the rest of the animals and was perhaps too good to be there. Spain's cheery and upbeat entry also undeservedly finished lower than perhaps it should have, containing all the elements usually present for a Eurovision winner. Plus, the girls were fucking fit. Anyway, a mildly more interesting contest this year. Here's the winner.

Eurovision 'vote for your neighbour' Contest

If you're European you probably fall into one of two categories regarding the annual song contest. You either anticipate it and huddle round the TV to indulge in what sounds like screams from hell or, you have a life and completely disregard it. I fall somewhere in-between. This year I managed to catch the last 15mins of voting and the eventual winner; a young German girl who cannot sing and has no rhythm. Yet, much to my annoyance, the winning song has increasingly grown on me. She sounds like a bit of an amalgamation of Kate Nash and Lily Allen, 'artists' I could care less about.

The fallacy of course is that everyone votes for their neighbouring countries in a politically motivated tit-for-tat rather than based on musical talent. Naturally the UK is universally hated in Europe so we finished bottom. Again. The UK's entry was in fairness pretty shit, but no shittier than any of the others. I would however be greatly intrigued to see what would happen if we entered someone like the Arctic Monkeys or Oasis to compete against Europe's finest. Would they be judged on ability or the fact they're associated with an island nation that enjoys bombing camels and tents? Anyhow, I dunno, there is 'something' alluring about this Lela. Decide for yourself...