It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
^ Back to Top
The MI6 Community is unofficial and in no way associated or linked with EON Productions, MGM, Sony Pictures, Activision or Ian Fleming Publications. Any views expressed on this website are of the individual members and do not necessarily reflect those of the Community owners. Any video or images displayed in topics on MI6 Community are embedded by users from third party sites and as such MI6 Community and its owners take no responsibility for this material.
James Bond News • James Bond Articles • James Bond Magazine
Comments
By the way, today I sadly had to read this article:
"Today the famous German Jazz singer Roger Cicero has passed away at the age of 45.
He became more famous to European people outside of Germany by representing Germany at Eurovision 2007 with the jazzy “Frauern regier’n die Welt”. He died of a stroke last Thursday.
His death follows a long battle with acute fatigue syndrome and suspected myocarditis, a troublesome heart condition, which led the singer to cancel a series of concerts last November. He had planned to resume the sold-out tour in April."
Yes, I heard it :-(. This is his performance on the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 in Helsinki:
He came only 19th. But that was with the 100% televoting era. A few months later the Head of Delegation of Ireland released -against strict orders of the EBU- the back-up jury results. In the combined 50% jury / 50% televote results Roger Cicero would have become 6th!
It was the first step towards re-introduction of the juries at the Eurovision Song Contest. Two years later, during the final of the 2009 Contest in Moscow, the official result finally was the combined 50% jury / 50% televote.
I know @BondJasonBond006 isn't very fond of the juries. But I tell you this: the brains of televoters suffer much more from 'selective Alzheimer'. Juries have to watch every performance, and make notes of every entry. Obviously it didn't help that back in 2007 Roger Cicero was smashed in between Russia (3rd) and Serbia (1st) / Ukraine (2nd). Televoters completely forgot the more stylish quality of Mr Cicero.
Hence why I am very very grateful that we have juries again. If only the late Mr Cicero would have witnessed that :-(. R.I.P. Roger!
Cicero's death is quite a shock in Germany and Switzerland. A sad day indeed. He was quite successful since 2007 here.
Anyone else care to weigh in :-)?
Very simple.
1. Turn on the TV.
2. Choose the channel where the ESC will be broadcast.
3. Provide enough crisps, beer, popcorn.
4. Enjoy.
You are without doubt a better man than me! ;)
Seriously....just give it a try man. Eurovision has greatly improved in the past 10 years. I mean, if you hate these entries, then you hate all music. And be a sport.....just give below songs a chance.
First, the recently released 'LIVE' version of this year's entry from The Netherlands:
http://picosong.com/NZAJ
And some other recent fantastic entries:
Sure I have found "my" favourite in France. I even pre-ordered Amir's album on iTunes.
But it would actually be the first time that my actual favourite song (not performance) will win.
Last year that would have been Maraaya-Here For You (Slovenia).
Last year's best performance was Il Volo-Grande Amore, EVERYBODY but the stupid juries thought the same.
I found Italy a rather tacky Il Divo-rip off. Never really understood the song. And I had it 10th in my TOP 10 prediction. So perhaps I'm stupid too now ;-)?
I think it's a very competitive year. And like last year, there are again some very contemporary entries. Think Estonia, Germany, Armenia, Latvia, Serbia, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Sweden, France, Azerbaijan and Ukraine. I'm plaing those the most.
Your remark about this being the worst contest since 2002 I find quite an exaggeration. I actually rewatched the 2002 contest last Saturday. And then you actually 'feel' the huge...really really huge....quality difference between the (more or less) 100% televoting era (1998-2008) and the current 50% jury/50% televoting era (2009-present). I was indeed flabbergasted how bad the quality of the songs were in those days. The field of the 2016 contest is miles....lightyears better.
Moreover, the current contest also feels more professional. More and more countries really work on elements like staging, by creating the best possible 'videoclip' on stage. Moreover, most entrants in recent contests are hugely backed by big record companies, like Sony and Universal. And there are also better established singers (Anouk) who like to give it a try as means of marketing launching platform for their new album. So the contest really has become way way more professional. And certainly less tacky and cheesy.
For me tacky and cheese belonged to the ESC before 2004.
It's about the fun and fond memories.
Sertab really, almost single-handedly changed the ESC for the better with her revolutionary performance and song.
Watch it, does it hold up to the over choreographed and helped with electronic gadgets last year's winner?? No, but it's miles better anyway.
The fun factor has dropped dramatically since 2014, where the only thing shining was Conchita, unthinkable if she had'nt been there, it would have been a bore fest.
The audience is always right. The juries tried to prevent Conchita from winning but were less organised under each other.
Last year there were "secret" talks between juries to downvote Italy.
Furthermore corruption has been proved over and over again and juries got disqualified therefore.
I think the head of the ESC really underestimates the intelligence of people. Now he is hoping with the new system things will go away, we'll see.
I'll have it on heavy rotation til the shows arrive :)
Have a look at some of the predictions of professional betters and other bigger radio hosts:
The podcasts from http://escinsight.com are very insightful. In episode #6 Slovenia, Bulgaria, Israel, The Netherlands & Germany are being judged:
http://escinsight.com/2016/04/14/eurovision-insight-podcast-juke-box-jury-2016-6/
This blog, http://esctips.com, is from a professional better, named Gavin. He's earning a big chunk of his annual salary by betting on Eurovision and other entertainment shows. He has just posted his pre-rehearsal review for semi final #1:
http://esctips.com/2016/04/20/eurovision-2016-semi-final-1-pre-rehearsal-preview/
http://eurovoix.com is a website that is heavily followed by professional betters, as they are holding an annual 'shadow jury rating' with many professional musicians and ex-Eurovision participants. In a way they can be compared with the real juries:
http://eurovoix.com/2016/04/23/eurojury-slovakia-calling-2/
As a change to last year, the 'Eurojury's points from 1 to 7 are released in advance, whereas the 8, 10 and 12 points will be broadcasted via television on April 30th.
The first preview shows are being held as well, like these ones from official Icelandic broadcaster RUV and the Finnish broadcaster YLE. YLE has released the entire TOP 5 of all 43 entries, whereas RUV just finished reviewing semi final #1:
http://www.ruv.is/frett/holland-og-malta-fa-bestu-einkunn-i-alla-leid
http://arenan.yle.fi/1-3114416
Finnish preview show results:
Problem is only God knows what a few dozens of people (the juries) will decide over the several millions of paying voting viewers.
After they last year successfully toppled the biggest landslide victory in tele vote ever and banned ITALY to 3rd place, juries now know what power they have and corruption will even get worse between them.
They only have to look at the predictions and downvote any favourite they don't like so "their" favourite has better chances to win.
I wonder how much longer viewers will pay for voting when they know their vote doesn't mean anything. I will certainly not vote again until the system is changed.
Sadly under the current head of the ESC it will not happen. They stepdance around the problem since years as can be seen with the half-hearted changes they made for this year, and the changes only happened because last year 3 of the 5 big countries threatened to quit.
Anyway, I will watch the shows as I always do, and who knows maybe the 2016 system will work and leave no bitter taste as 2015 did (and 2014 to some extend, as Conchita only won because juries underestimated their power back then, not that they didn't try to prevent Austria's win).
Gone was the 'alzheimer' behaviour of televoters (televoters do not judge with the precision of juries, by really ranking all 26 finalists. Fact!) and the massively disruptive predictive behavior of televoters due to demographics (Turkish immigrants in Netherlands massively voting for Turkey) and nationalism (Mother Russia more heavily backed by its neighbors than now).
THIS is the reason we got juries now. And not 100% juries, but 50%! I tell you this: If Sweden last year had the same running order of Italy, then also Sweden would have won the televotes. But because the first half of the final last year was such a blood bath (all favourites got smashed in the 1st half), Sweden had to 'share' more points with countries like: Israel, Estonia, Norway, Australia and Belgium.
And in all honesty? I HATE the fact that winners are decided on running order, and not the quality of the total package. One last thing, and that's of a personal taste: I found Italy a hugely dated Il Divo rip-off. If Italy won, it would have been the least successful winner chart-wise.
Also, please stop exaggerating so much. You can always reason that THANKS to televoters Italy came 3rd and not 8th. Be a bit more positive......and respectful towards the rules we have. If we question every EVERY rule, then soon Eurovision dies. It's the kind of behaviour we see in Europe now a lot. People think too populist. We vote EVERY four years in elections. That's democracy. Questioning every month a decision making process is not democracy: it means the destruction of democracy and respect.
So Conchita won why?? starting 11th.
Il Volo would have won the tele vote if it had started 10th in order as well. Did you see the reaction after their performance in the hall?? NOBODY not even all the other performance doubted for a second that this was the clear winner of 2015.
Furthermore a draw to decide the running order is the only fair way!
As for voting behaviour of certain areas, that has always happened even back in the old days, and with the eastern countries joining the ESC it got a bit out of hand for a few years and the EBU solved that problem with creating two semi-finals. There would have been no need for juries whatsoever. They only were invented because of Lordi, that is well known, even if it's not the official reason.
Do you ignore the fact that every single year at least one jury vote does get disqualified afterwards because of suspect behaviour??
Anyway, I know you and I don't see eye to eye concerning the juries. I never liked them, from the get go they behaved unnaturally. When Italy returned to the ESC in 2011, the juries made sure that Italy would get a good result, only because there was the fear that Italy would quit again, and Italy got to 2nd place, was that deserved? Did the audience think Italy's song was worthy a 2nd place?? I think not.
I'm not biased against any country or do favour some countries.
Euphoria was a clear winner. Heroes not.
Not every rule gets questioned. Just the juries in general and thank God it does get questioned. It's necessary.
And what on Earth has this to do with populism???
PS: Running order always has a small effect. I also think that Italy and Russia really benefited from it last year. I also think that the jury introduction has improved the quality of the overall songs but that is of course a matter of taste. Ten years ago , I hardly liked any of these songs. It was more about the show and the humour. Nowadays there are always a few really good songs. However, like last year I worry a bit that the show element will become more important again (see Russia this year) so that juries will care more about the show than about the song.
I think Sweden overdid it last year and I really think an additional screen like they had should be prohibited. Why can't an artist do a show with the screens that are available?
And there is no doubt that the juries were influenced by that as well.
Somehow I see Russia winning this year thanks to the juries. Not that I dislike the Russian performance, it's fabulous but the song, while good, is almost the least important thing in the performance.
Russia won't win. Simply because it's too much show and circus. Sweden last year didn't need any dated dance choreography. They simply added exquisite cinematography. Which Netherlands also did the year before. For me the Swedish 'act' was way more stylized and suited to a very good contemporary song, sang by a very good singer.
The Russian entry this year is way more dated. A prime example of a song that would work in 2006, not 2016. Also it's enhanced by a more dated dance choreography. It reminds me a bit of Greece 2009 (Sakis Rouvas, 7th place overall, 15th with juries).
No, I think one of these three countries will be the winner: Sweden, France or Latvia. With an outside chance for Australia.
Heroes is a good song nonetheless, so is If I Were Sorry but it would send out the wrong signal.
Why can't something original win. Like you said, Latvia would be fabulous but I don't see it winning.
As for Russia, I don't want it to win, and yes the similarities to Sakis Rouvas are staggering, including the muscles, dance and song and choreography.
Still, it is 100% Eurovision compatible and it will most definitely end up in the Top 5.
After the two semi-finals things will be clearer, it is one of those years where you only can tell who will win after everybody has performed.
(which is not the same as who I think will win)
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kQysGibXphE"; frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iP3USrYpr5w"; frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/avyMGbuna3w"; frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
If all three end up in the Top 10 I will be happy with 2016.
Prediction Semi Final #1 Qualifiers:
01. Russia *
02. Czech Republic *
03. Armenia *
04. The Netherlands
05. Cyprus
06. Malta
07. Iceland
08. Estonia
09. Bosnia-Herzegovina
10. Azerbaijan
Other possibilities: Hungary, Greece, Croatia, Austria
Prediction Semi Final #2 Qualifiers:
01. Ukraine *
02. Israel *
03. Belgium *
04. Australia *
05. Serbia *
06. Latvia *
07. Slovenia
08. Bulgaria
09. Norway
10. F.Y.R.o.Macedonia
Other possibilities: Poland, Lithuania, Georgia
Prediction Auto-Qualifiers TOP 6:
01. Sweden *
02. France *
03. Italy *
04. United Kingdom *
05. Germany
06. Spain
‘*’ = TOP 13 contenders Grand Final
Prediction Grand Final TOP 13 (provisional, as the 6 already placed finalists will rehearse tomorrow a 2nd time):
01. Sweden
02. Ukraine
03. Australia
04. Russia
05. France
06. Israel
07. Latvia
08. Belgium
09. Czech Republic
10. Serbia
11. Italy
12. Armenia
13. United Kingdom
In the mix: The Netherlands, Cyprus, Malta
By the way, the Eurovision Song Contest will now be broadcasted in the USA too:
http://www.newnownext.com/eurovision-song-contest-airing-in-the-u-s-for-the-first-time-on-logo/05/2016/
Sadly I have to agree. This year is awful, even more than 2014 when really only Rise Like A Phoenix was outstanding.
Australia is good and I hope it will win. If Sweden's Justin Bieber wannabe is winning all hope is lost. And the song is even stolen from Matt Simon's Catch & Release.