Bienvenue chez moi

Arrived back home in Sydney this morning at 08h10, in querrelle’s arms by 09h00. Nice hot bath, nicer cuppa, nicer...you know...followed by cuddles galore. Much smooching has occurred. Yay!

After a faboo prawn lunch (querrelle cooks as good as he is hawt), spent the afternoon poolside, chilling. I’ve not felt tired today so much as periodically stoopid. I’ve been entranced by Nuala O’Faolain’s memoir Are You Somebody?--she’s a Dublin journalist (Irish times, RTÉ, BBC) who came of age in the 60s. There’s alcoholism, sexism, colonialism, humour and poignancy. I had to pry it from my own hands today, having nearly devoured it.

She is, for the record, somebody. More precisely, somebody both forthright and insightful.

My short term goals are to stay awake until 21h00, to eat the yummy dinner querrelle has prepped, and to catch a preview of Maria, Full of Grace. We live in Australia folks: sometimes things get here very late. Or not at all.

11th hour Eurovision drama

The actual Eurovision (ESC) broadcast is an event unto itself: the good, the bad, the bizarre, the political. You’ll laugh, cry and hurl. Over 3 hours.

But the backstories are often even more interesting. Monday, is the deadline by each of the 40 participants (who paid a deposit effectively in December) must submit their entry and their performer(s). After Monday they can tweak things a bit, but can’t substitute songs or singers--unless something freaky happens. Like in 2002 when it turns out the Lithuania entry broke the rules (see below) . . . but they got to send a substitute (it finished last). That same year Portugal withdrew, and at the last minute Latvia was asked if they wanted to send someone. They did, and Marie N won with “I wonna”.

This year’s gossip:
A mere 72 hours out, Lebanon has withdrawn from the 2005 contest, which would’ve been its first entry. Lebanese law forbids TV broadcasting any “favourable” broadcasts about Israel. When Lebanon was a passive participant they could just delete the Israeli performance. But with a song entered it’s either show it all or drop out. They dropped out. What a shame--a great song too!

Belarus’ wacky Angelica Agurbash has decided that the song that was selected by the Belarussian public is too bizarre after all. After ‘hoing herself to a couple of songwriters who’ve done well in the past, she’s picked Love me tonight by the guys who wrote Shake It for Greece in 2004. I liked the bizarre one better...even if it gave children nightmares.

Meanwhile, things are getting ugly in Serbia & Montenegro. Both Serbia and Montenegro hosted a semi-final, from which four songs went to the combined S & M final. Serbia picked their most popular female vocalist, singing a song written by the guy who took S & M to 2nd place in last year’s ESC with Lane Moje. Montenegro chose its most popular boy-band, singing a not-too-subtlely nationalist dirge. The deal was that S wouldn’t give their song radio airplay, since it was selected 2 weeks before M’s--an agreement not honoured. How did M get even? Their jury members gave null points to the Serbian songs. thus the M boyz won. Serbia has filed a complaint with the European Broadcast Union.

Adn for those curious here are some of the basic rules for eligiblity. If a country wants to send an entry:
-they have to be public broadcaster (non-profit), since there’s only 1 possible advertising break (during the voting)
-they have to be a member of the European Broadcasting Union (which doesn’t necessarily mean being in the EU, or even continental Europe). Israel, Morocco, Libya, Lebanon, and Algeria are all members
-they must be an active participant, meaning they show the ESC live (SBS in Australia is “passive” participant and thus ineligible to send an entry)
-the song must be 3:00 minutes long (a bit over is OK, but not more than 10 seconds).
-singing during the broadcast must be live--no pre-recorded vocals, including backup singers (though not all singers must be on-stage)
-no more than 6 people on stage (so you can’t bring an adorable choir of 6 year-olds, or 25 back up dancers)
-all persons on stage must be 16 years or older by 31 December 2004 (thank those who sent 11 year-olds for this rule)
-no overtly political messages (lyrical or visual). This year Ukraine’s selected one of the rap anthems from the Orange Revolution. To avoid disqualification they’ve re-written them. Still a pretty kewl choice though.
-no “offensive” performances. In 2003, Alf Poier from Austria was almost disqualifed because he kept “Michael Jacksoning” his crouch while rapping about animal rights (he finished 7th).
-countries now must hold a televote (phone &/or SMS), unless they can substantiate that their country’s infrastructure cannot support one

There aren’t any general ESC rules about:
-nationality of performers
-nationality of songwriters
-language of song (at one time a country could only submit songs in one of their official languages. That was a good rule)

Which is why Luxembourg won 5 times with singers from France & Greece; Switzerland with a Canadian (Céline!); the UK with an American, blah blah blah. This year Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Russia, Germany, Andorra, Monaco, Switzerland, Greece, Turkey, Belarus, Netherlands and Bosnia are either sending a foreign singer or using a foreign-penned song.