Eurovision 2010.

vodafoneproblem

geotrig wrote: »

But if you guys are still insistent on taking your ball and going I’m sure Italy might be interested in setting up a two-nations song contest with us !but they might leave if they don’t win!

I think we could also invite the UK as some of them are fairly unhappy with things, too, and are calling for them to pull out. And then we could give everyone who takes part a prize like they do in the Special Olympics. We could call it the Special Eurovision.

alfa beta

Papa Smut wrote: »

They're both brutal imo

I think 'Give me a reason' is ok....but I'm probably a little biased!

Elmo

murpho999 wrote: »

Spain is an interesting case. To me it's an awful song, like the Irish one, but Spain got points from:

I have been saying that Geo-voting doesn't occur, I just am pointing out to me Spain's song isn't as good as Ireland or many of the songs that it did better than.

murpho999 wrote: »

Same as people complaining about German singer singing with English accent. That is obvious to our ears but the majority of Europeans who are not native English speakers they would not have noticed her English accent.

I have to say she didn't sound English. Not a big fan of the Kate Nash etc accent when singing. She sound more like Bork or the Girl who sings 99 Red Balloons.

Anyway I have enough of this. IMO Ireland deserved to do better, not to win but to do better. That those who have come out against the entry since it came 3rd last really kept quite about it up until the very last moment. Which leads me to believe that they thought it had a good chance of doing well. (I am talking about many in the press and our so called celebrities Ronan Keating and Louis Walsh).

F.A.

Lads, will you please get over Lena's accent already... I'm German myself and absolutely delighted she doesn't have that god-awful accent most Germans embarrass themselves with! This should give you an idea:

Go Lena!!

JonathanAnon

F.A. wrote: »

Lads, will you please get over Lena's accent already... I'm German myself and absolutely delighted she doesn't have that god-awful accent most Germans embarrass themselves with! This should give you an idea:
Go Lena!!

I dunno, I just cant take to her. I find her extremely immature and childish. She's certainly pretty, but she's also pretty annoying.

philomenadeise

F.A. wrote: »

she doesn't have that god-awful accent most Germans embarrass themselves with! This should give you an idea:


Go Lena!!

What, German accents? I find her accent an embarrassment.

EKRIUQ

It appears The Irish Song became joint 9 in the semi-final barely scraped through to the final.

efb

Are we surprised?

Drico

F.A. wrote: »

Lads, will you please get over Lena's accent already... I'm German myself and absolutely delighted she doesn't have that god-awful accent most Germans embarrass themselves with! This should give you an idea:

Go Lena!!

Excellent. Zshe haz vays off mayking herzelf tawk, ja?

I'm glad she won. The song is contemporary. Girls want to be her and boys want her. She's a proper pop star.

Drico.

rebel10

F.A. wrote: »

Lads, will you please get over Lena's accent already... I'm German myself and absolutely delighted she doesn't have that god-awful accent most Germans embarrass themselves with! This should give you an idea:

Go Lena!!

Oh Jesus, didn't think i could find her more annoying after the "I heart you" incident. I think there is something way off if you think the German accent is embarrassing and are keen to replace it with that weird brit/american style thing she puts on. Its very sad when you see countries that are embarrassed by parts of their national identity and yearn to become more American. In Japan a few years ago, they are so heavily influenced by the British and Americans that some of the younger generation are embarrassed by the beautiful, ancient and natural culture which surrounds them.
When i heard her sing in the put on accent, i didn't really bat an eyelid as i could see it was the style of song she was trying to put out there, but when i heard that awful put on American accent (oh mein Gotte!) I was very disappointed to see she was after falling into this horrible horrible need to be more American. Sorry if this doesn't makes sense:)

Drico

rebel10 wrote: »

I think there is something way off if you think the German accent is embarrassing and are keen to replace it with that weird brit/american style thing she puts on.

You seem to suggest that all Germans can only speak English with a stereotypical German accent. Some speak the most perfect unaccented English. The weird British accent that Lena speaks in is partly a result of how she was taught and part calculated pop strategy. She's a clever girl.

Drico.

rebel10

Drico wrote: »

You seem to suggest that all Germans can only speak English with a stereotypical German accent. Some speak the most perfect unaccented English. The weird British accent that Lena speaks in is partly a result of how she was taught and part calculated pop strategy. She's a clever girl.

Drico.

Missed my point me thinks:(
No I am not suggesting that. I was merely replying to a native who said:I'm German myself and absolutely delighted she doesn't have that god-awful accent most Germans embarrass themselves with!
I am assuming that she is talking about the average German English speaker. I am well aware that many Germans have been educated by native English speakers and so have developed a perfect unaccented accent, but i can only presume that she is not talking about these people when she says it is embarrassing. Could be wrong.
Lena doesn't speak with a weird British accent, she sings with one. She speaks with a weird American accent and that is what makes it so bizarre.

caseyann

If we had of won would it have been good for ireland? Other than that no one cares

Oracle

I was watching the BBC commentary with Graham Norton. He's good but .... I'm disappointed he's continuing Terry Wogans disparaging remarks and critical attitude toward presenters and performers. Why do the BBC continue with this cynical and condescending attitude towards the show? It's time for a more balanced, optimistic and positive attitude.

MisterAnarchy

billy the squid wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0knrRog1mA

This was Justin Lee Collins' song which didn't even get through pre-selection.

The man is a legend,he would go down a storm in the Eurovision,great showman.

Pittens

The whole accent thing is hilarious. Almost nobody sings in their own accent. The accent people sing in is American, or mid-atlantic. We dont notice this because it is so common, but there it is. If she had sang in a mid-atlantic/ American accent - like all the other singers regardless of nationality at the Eurovision - there would be no fuss, but she was channeling Lilly Allen.

As for her American accent - my mom speaks fluent french, she was a french teacher - and she speaks French with a Parisian accent, so much so that they are rude to her in Paris, the kind of rudeness ( abruptness, really) that the French do amongst each other, they tend to be more tolerant with English speakers or obvious foreigners.

That was the way French was taught, it may still be the way. An Irish accent in French would be pretty dumb. So this german girl is using the American idiom when speaking English - good for her. She probably speaks German with whatever German accent she has.

Dozen Wicked Words

Oracle wrote: »

I was watching the BBC commentary with Graham Norton. He's good but .... I'm disappointed he's continuing Terry Wogans disparaging remarks and critical attitude toward presenters and performers. Why do the BBC continue with this cynical and condescending attitude towards the show? It's time for a more balanced, optimistic and positive attitude.

Hard to pitch a balanced, optimistic and positive attitude to a country that has finished last in 3 out of 8 of most recent contests. The only appetite for the whole Eurovision contest in the UK is to view it as a joke. Wogan made it viewable and I think Norton is doing absolutely the right thing by carrying on with the same approach.

ejmaztec

Pittens wrote: »

The whole accent thing is hilarious. Almost nobody sings in their own accent. The accent people sing in is American, or mid-atlantic. We dont notice this because it is so common, but there it is. If she had sang in a mid-atlantic/ American accent - like all the other singers regardless of nationality at the Eurovision - there would be no fuss, but she was channeling Lilly Allen.

As for her American accent - my mom speaks fluent french, she was a french teacher - and she speaks French with a Parisian accent, so much so that they are rude to her in Paris, the kind of rudeness ( abruptness, really) that the French do amongst each other, they tend to be more tolerant with English speakers or obvious foreigners.

That was the way French was taught, it may still be the way. An Irish accent in French would be pretty dumb. So this german girl is using the American idiom when speaking English - good for her. She probably speaks German with whatever German accent she has.

She seemed to switch between an American accent, with the occasional English accent thrown in for good measure. Sometimes it even sounded Australian.

I see that her father was/is a German diplomat. Perhaps she picked the language variances up in her travels. The father of a friend of mine was a well-travelled British diplomat, and my friend's accent is such a weird mixture, that people can't work out where the hell he comes from most of the time.

exaisle

Oracle wrote: »

I was watching the BBC commentary with Graham Norton. He's good but .... I'm disappointed he's continuing Terry Wogans disparaging remarks and critical attitude toward presenters and performers. Why do the BBC continue with this cynical and condescending attitude towards the show? It's time for a more balanced, optimistic and positive attitude.

They do it because quite frankly they havent a hope of winning it so they pretend its all one big joke. Perhaps it's an attempt to hide their unpopularity around the world, particularly in the rest of Europe.

Oracle

Yeah thats possibly true. I think its time they got a bit more mature and grown-up about it. They should approach it like any other variety, light entertainment show, without the baggage. I think the BBC audience would prefer a lighter, less cynical style.

I watched the BBC presentation of the Eurovision semi-finals, presented by Paddy O'Connell and Sarah Cawood, it was so refreshing, fun and easy to watch. Sarah Cawood was doing light, chatty links between the songs. She even had Niamh Kavangh on for a few minutes. It felt more like Top of the Pops rather than a serious music contest. that style of presentation was so much better. I couldn't believe I was actually beginning to enjoy watching Eurovision.

havetoquit

I agree with the comments about the German girsl's accent, but noticed when I worked in Germany that many young German's speak the type of English they hear on their American TV programmes. It is not something they do purposely I found. I liked the song; it won regardless of the accent. It was very now and the girl was refreshing in how she presented herself with typical German understatement in her choice of clothes; no shiny floaty streeling the floor ensembles. I think our Niamh has a great voice, but hey, even she knew that she was not given the most suitable song for such a contest as Eurovision. With regards to the British commentators of Eurovision, they were making the same comments during the times when they won, so while that type of commentating doesn't appeal to me, I think that they do it possibly to add a little lightheartedness. Marty got on my nerves entirely as he patronised us all by repeating at least 20 times that we must not vote for ourselves!!! Any non-national listening would have thought we are all idiots. I would also like to add that contrary to some people's beliefs, there are also a huge number of people in Europe who hold the British in regard, so it does seem a little unfair to make assumptions of this kind. Good and bad all over in my experience and those of us who may like to think otherwise are just deluding ourselves.

Lamph

alfa beta wrote: »

I think 'Give me a reason' is ok....but I'm probably a little biased!

I like "Give me a reason"...
but I must admit I quite like "Róisin Dubh" too John!!! :P

exaisle

havetoquit wrote: »

I would also like to add that contrary to some people's beliefs, there are also a huge number of people in Europe who hold the British in regard, so it does seem a little unfair to make assumptions of this kind.

Yes, there are a huge number of people in Europe who hold the british in high regard, but I'm afraid they are very much in the minority. I suspect that it might have something to do with their behaviour when abroad.

greenie

murpho999 wrote: »

Thanks, I know what thread I'm in, my point was that I find it wrong that people now want us to pull out just because we haven't won it in a while.

Looks like giving up in my eyes. People were happy enough when we were winning with Johnny Logan and ballads but because we can't send good modern songs we should declare the whole contest a farce and leave it.

As I've stated on other posts, the reason we did badly is that our song was about 20 years out of date. Performance was dull , Niamh was glued to the floor and what were the other people on stage there for?

Talk about the political voting all you like, but Germany has been doing terrible for years, went away, came up with a modern act and won the contest quite easily in the end, and Germany is hardly the most popular country in Europe that would have lots of neighbours voting for it.

Ireland needs to step up to the plate, change how songs are selected for the National Finals, at the moment they are selected by a panel of dinosaurs, and put forward modern acts. Also, don't have the song selected by Late Late Show viewers. The contest is still very winnable for any act despite political voting.

I think people are annoyed because not only have we not come near to winning it but we've more times than not failed to even get past the semis. It's easy to blame political voting (let's face it, it is there) because since they changed the Eurovision voting system Ireland has somehow become one of the countries that does the worst every year..that can't be a coincidence.
Look at Sinead Mulvey, I thought that was a different song than what we used to put through...It was a non ballad, modern & extremely catchy & yet again didn't make it past the semis. Yes there are usually much better songs than ours but in my opinion there is also a lot of rubbish that sails through thanks to 'neighbours' and 'friends'.
I reckon people who want Ireland to pull out are not giving up but just sick & tired of this yearly embarrassment.

You could be right murpho, the right song/singer could change everything but I can't blame people for being skeptical.

JonathanAnon

Meeja Ireland wrote: »

29-05-2010, 20:49 : As Niamh Kavanagh sang
I think she's going to win.

Just looking back through the thread.. Meeja, hang your head in shame...

FREETV

amdublin wrote: »

I saw him only yesterday in town on my lunch break! I had a good stare at him

I often saw him walk down Nassau Street early in the morning going to his Civil Service job a few years back.

amdublin

JonathanAnon wrote: »

Just looking back through the thread.. Meeja, hang your head in shame...

I texted people to say I thought she did great and thought we were in with a very good chance!

What good friends I have. None of them slagged me about it too much the next day.

greenie

Just saw an ad for discoverireland.ie, (with the most annoying song ever!) and the singer reminds me of Lena the voice I mean!

WesternNight

greenie wrote: »

Just saw an ad for discoverireland.ie, (with the most annoying song ever!) and the singer reminds me of Lena the voice I mean!

That song grates on me something shocking. It could have been a nice song if it weren't for the shouting

Elmo

greenie wrote: »

Just saw an ad for discoverireland.ie, (with the most annoying song ever!) and the singer reminds me of Lena the voice I mean!

They could do a press confrence where the joke about their non-existant Irish accents, I suggest that they sing