I watch Eurovision for the show, for the costumes, for songs, for its weirdness, ridiculousness, for occasional talent, for the ‘gay factor’, for all the comments exchanged (online or offline), especially on Twitter, for Eurovision parties. But one of my most favourite parts of the Eurovision is the voting announcement by countries. This is a show in itself. No less entertaining, than the actual show.
This is the best time when you can observe all the country alliances, people’s preferences, cultural ties, politics, and all the subtle or not so changes in relationships.
Traditionally, as “strategic partners”, Armenia and Russia exchange top marks, the likes of minimum “8”, but more like “10” or “12”. Up until recently, this has been a fair reflection of the situation on the ground, taking into account the Soviet legacy and ties, big Armenian Diaspora in Russia, and the influence of Russian pop culture in Armenia. However...
With Armenia moving closer towards Europe, effectively rejecting new post-Soviet Russia (Putin) sponsored economic/political alliance, and the recent hike in (Russian) gas price in Armenia, the impossible happened:
@unzippedblog: Headline of the day. Only 7 points from #Armenia to #Russia #Eurovision #gas
@unzippedblog: Headline of the day (2). Only 2 points from #Russia to #Armenia #Eurovision #war
Finita la “strategic alliance”, Eurovision way.
As for the Armenia entry Dorians, all I wanted to say I have already said in my previous post. Same applies to the final.
In my opinion, they are the most talented Armenian entry so far. But they were robbed a chance of any high place or win because of the choice of song. Lack of PR added to the expected outcome. Just one last example. Only yesterday I found out that they have a Twitter account @dorians_am that was so not publicised that at a time of pushing the “follow” button, they had only 70+ followers (!). And this was on the day of Eurovision final. You got the picture.
I particularly want to praise the host Sweden for putting an excellent show and stage for the Eurovision. Plus, we had both gay women and gay men kisses during this Eurovision. Thumbs up to Sweden for spreading the message across. My “douze points” for you.
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2 comments:
Great post and comments as usual, Mika jan. One question on my part: Do you really think it's "finita la 'strategic alliance'” between Armenia and Russia? The scores they gave each other were an unprecedented low, but does this mean the two countries' strategic alliance is really over? Perhaps this is the start of a long process in cutting Mama Russia's apron springs. We can surely hope!
:)) no, of course not, it was an exaggeration on my part, Eurovision style. But yes, it's a process of re-defining relationships, I think.
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