This is the blurb from our 2013 Eurovision Party. For details on our 2017 party on May 13 at The Liberty, click here. —Ed.
Given the exhaustive nature of our Eurovision coverage, it may surprise you to learn that we are not all currently in Malmö, Sweden, living in a tent outside the Eurovision theater and counting the minutes until the doors open. But Mark and I will actually be watching the competition here in New York… and you guys should totally join us!
Yes, you read correctly! (I’m assuming you read correctly. Did you read that we’re having a Eurovision party on Saturday, May 18 at 2:45pm in NYC? Yes, you did read correctly!) We’re going to be streaming the show on a giant projector screen in the heart of the East Village! I am inordinately excited about this! From personal experience, I know that Eurovision is best enjoyed with snarky friends and beer, and both will be available in great quantities.
If you’re coming, go to our Facebook event page and RSVP! If you promise to come, we promise not to cover Junior Eurovision.
There’s a JUNIOR EUROVISION??? You’ve been hiding this crucial information from us all this time!!!!!
Hope you enjoy the party.
You guys have analysed the songs or Eurovision, but are we going to see any analysis of the voting. The Eurovision Song Contest is notorious for voting along deep international alliances that go back generations, and the new Eastern bloc countries that have participated more recently are equally adept at playing the game. It’s more entrenched and complex than the UN. Has this factor been worked into your Overthinking?
We would love to talk about that, but I’m not sure we’re qualified — part of our fascination with Eurovision is that we’re outsiders, and I’m sure we’re missing a lot of significant details.
We rely on the real Europeans to set us straight.
It gets incredibly complicated. But in general, look out for the strong geographic link between countries who give each other top marks. famously, Cyrus and Greece give each other big marks, usually 12 a-piece… but Cyprus is not in the final this year.
But note the Scandanavian bloc – Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark are all in the final. Their points will be skewed in favour of each other.
In the UK, the scoring bit of the show is probably more culturally significant than the actual songs. The phrase ‘Nul point’ (pronounced the French way, ‘nool pwah’) is a bona fide British idiom, meaning to fail spectacularly in public.
Note also how all the scores have to be announced by the show anchors in French as well as English, but only the French announcer will actually give their results in French. All the others will speak English. That’s actually an interesting cultural nugget right there, especially given the British Conservative Party’s current and recurring obsession with leaving the European Union.
The whole thing reminds me a lot of a General Election count. In fact, now I think of it, you guys have missed a real opportunity in not getting Nate Silver in to make predictions. Next year, next year.
Y’all should consider getting in touch with the Swedish Consulate in New York to see if they’d like to help out with the party. :)
http://www.swedenabroad.com/en-GB/Embassies/New-York/About-us/Consulate-Staff/
Hey, are we going to have an official hashtag for those of us in the actual European Broadcasting Union?
I suggest #OTIESC or #ESCOTI
I like #ESCOTI, it also conceals a subtle prime for Scottishness to remind people that if Scotland does go independent they may be making a seperate entry next year.
I’m sure that Alex Salmond is trying to prepare for independent EBU involvement and believes that Scotland can have a prominent position in it.
But George Osborne is trying to stop them from keeping Franz Ferdinand, if I heard the news correctly.
We will do some proper recap eventually, but in the meantime, I should just say that we had a great time, we spilled out of the back room and almost took over the entire bar, and at some point we collectively decided we were all rooting for Azerbaijan and against Russia.
A huge thank you goes out to everyone who came!