Eurovision 2009 report

Ahh, Eurovision. It is something that you have to see to believe.

When most of the countries in Europe (and there are quite a lot of them) gather together in one big event to sing and dance, you know that it is going to be some event.

This years outstanding performances were...

Ukraine. They went with a 'sex on a stick' style performance, which was similar to Germany's song, though Germany didn't have glitter studded Roman centurions and a drum being pulled across the stage. The choreography and costumes left little to the imagination, that is if you could see the performance beyond the blinding lasers, lights and fireworks that were going off.

Albania was obscure, with two dwarfs and a 'green man' as backup dancers. If they were trying to convey some meaning, they failed, spectacularly.

England tried really really hard to win with an inspirational song. But it came across as a sad "woe is me, me, me, me myself and I" and more me me me me's than you could poke a stick at.

Iceland had a nice euro pop song, though it really didn't do anything spectacular for me.

Norway though was the crowning champion of the evening (by a record 300 points), with a tradition/pop mixed song titled Fairytale. YouTube it or do something like that, it's worth listening to.

Spain's entry was a massive disappointment, it was like they just pulled a singer off the street. Plus they were one of the big five that automatically gets in (they should have put a lot more effort into it!)

Russia's entry was good, very dark, guttural and obscure but worth listening to.

I was disappointed with Germany's song. It was very jazzy (which I liked), but they just over-sexed the visuals to try and bring in the votes (to which it didn't)

The performances as a whole - higher quality than last years, which was good for the ears. Unfortunately though, that meant less humour and funny entries.

Russia hosted a magnificent performance, costing over $50 million, used 40% of the worlds LCD TVs and was the biggest Eurovision ever hosted. A splendid array of performances were given by the host country, maybe with the exception of the 'pool performance'

Suspended above the crowd were shallow pools with clear bottoms. Girls splashed around, swam and half danced in the water with lights and visual effects that were quite amazing. The pools were then lowered into touching distance of the audience (many health and safety jokes were made) only then for the dancers/swimmers to "belly flop" onto the clear surface covered only by 1cm of water. It looked frightfully painful, but the audience seemed to enjoy it.

Overall, a fantastic event, to which I will wait with eager anticipation untill Norway 2010!

Advertising in the 21st Century

I personally don't appreciate or value a website that contains more advertising material than it's content. It seems almost inevitable that in this fast paced, consumerist world, that advertising is intruding more and more into our daily lives. Though as it intrudes, some of us reject it.

For those of us who think that advertising is just billboards and promotional flyers, and it is very easy to think so, you are yet another sheep whom the wool has been pulled over their eyes. Advertising in the 21st century is changing as fast as we can keep up with it. TV, Radio and print media are all saturated in it, not to even mention media/news on the Internet. Whenever you do a google search, on the right hand side will be ads. Small and subtle, but still adds. Google can now track your search history if you are a subscriber to some of their other services, thus making their adds more 'tailor made' to suit your desires (and more importantly, theirs). Anything free on the Internet will come with adds, guaranteed. (If you do find a free site without adds, let us know!) In movies, corporations will pay to have their products/logos displayed. An Apple Mac book or Dell will be the choice of computer for the computer detective, and the hero's drink of choice will be either Coke or Pepsi. As technology evolves to the point where you can block the adds that appear on your TV screen, advertising agencies will only use different methods to make you buy a product. This innovation, is aimed at trying to sell us a product, without us even knowing it is being sold to us.


Sp it seems that wherever we move now days, something is trying to be sold to us. When creating this blog, I was encouraged to put adds on it. So I ask, am I writing the content, attracting an audience, just so a product can be sold to them? While we may be able to accept what is occurring, I believe that knowing why and how we are being encouraged to buy is is the key to knowing when something is being sold to you.



http://www.abc.net.au/tv/gruentransfer/

Getting Started

In economic and political times like these, almost everyone has an opinion. Combine these opinions with technology, and we have an opinion 'overload'.

Some will argue that this is bad, for reasons to which they are entitled to hold. But I think that it is a good thing. Hearing others opinions, expressing ones own and just being part of the whole 'opinion circle' is important. The art is not in having the right argument or opinion, but by being able to accept others, make a judgement, and stand by what you think is right.

And for these reasons and more, I write.