Saturday, May 24, 2008

The Grand Prix of Singing

The Eurovision Song Contest is tonight. My North American and Australian readers might be saying, "The what?" to that announcement. That was certainly my reaction when I first heard people in Munich talking about the Grand Prix. I assumed they were talking about car racing at first, as that's the name by which I knew Formula 1. But with all the talk of costumes, voting and oh yeah, singing; I realised it couldn't quite be Michael Schumacher they were talking about.

If you are that interested in it, you can read about it in my first link. If you're not that interested, just a few quick facts for you to take to your next trivia quiz. ABBA won Eurovision contest in 1974, which basically paved their way to fame. 1988 was the year Celine Dion won the contest (performing for Switzerland, not Canada). And Riverdance, the Irish dance show sensation, started as a 7 minute filler during the 1994 Eurovision. Funny that the filler became more famous than the act that won.

This will be my first time watching it with the BBC coverage, and only my 2nd or 3rd time over all. Apparently half the reason my British friends watch the show is simply for the dry witty comments from Terry Wogan, so that is something to look forward to. Everyone in Munich always complained, "It just wasn't the same" without Terry covering it. So tonight is my chance to see if it's even close to worth the cheesy hype it's given.

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