This song is one of the major favorites this year. I'm afraid I don't quite see that. I like it, I do, it's a good entry ... I just don't think it's up there with the best this year. Azerbaijan hasn't been competing for long, this will only be their third year, and they've done very well for themselves so far. No doubt they will do so again this year, but I don't think (and I actually don't hope) that they'll make it all the way.
Good things about this song are, let's see ... the melody's good, it has a catchy tune for a ballad, the singer has a good voice. Technically there's nothing really wrong with it. Bad English, but what do you expect from Azerbaijan. ;-) The one big problem with this song is the presentation. But that really is a big problem. I mean, seriously, take a look at it. WTF is that shit about?? That is a pretty screwed up outfit and a very screwed up choreography.
What it looks like is that someone needs to explain to Team Azerbaijan that when the rules say no more than six people on stage, the key phrase is no more than ... it doesn't mean that you have to have six people. So just fire that choreographer and get rid of those so-called dancers. Brrr.
This is Safura performing Drip Drop by Anders Bagge, Stefan Örn and Sandra Bjurman. These three Swedes will, somewhat absurdly, compete for Azerbaijan on Thursday, May 27th.
Lyrics here.
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19 hours ago
6 comments:
Hi, I read your recent comments on Pharyngula, just wanted to say I'm sorry that most were so dismissive of them...
Whew, relieved to see you're from Pharyngula ... !! I assumed you'd be some incensed Azerbaijani slamming me for not praising their entry to the skies. ;-) Check out the comments on my review of the Macedonian entry ... o_O
Anyway. A nice surprise to see what you actually had to say. :-) Thanks for stopping by. I didn't read all the responses over at Ph. ... I logged off pretty soon after posting my last comment. It was getting really late Norwegian time. :-) And anyway I realized pretty quickly that there was no point in talking, in any case. People obviously have their opinions and aren't prepared to take in any information that could change them. This is very common ... I expected better of PZ's readers, but I was wrong.
As I said, I thought it might be interesting to add a perspective so much closer to the actual event being discussed ... it seemed to be mostly Americans discussing, and most Americans know jack shit about Scandinavia. But clearly many feel it's better to stay ignorant. ;-)
I wasn't really surprised, though ... the reaction is much the same here, from many quarters. There is a general feeling that the only possible reason anyone can have anything against immigration or immigrants is that they must be racists if they feel that way. Any factual basis is dismissed. To the point that when immigrants themselves express similar doubts (this happens rarely, but occasionally) they too are written off by many as 'self-hating' or as schemers trying to make money off controversy. They can't be expressing an honest opinion, because that opinion is not accepted in the public discourse ... regardless of its truth or factual merit. I'm sure I don't have to explain why this is very worrying.
I was trying to make two points in my comments, both of which were totally overlooked ... one is that the current 'one-way racism' we have in this part of the world is totally wrong (this point didn't come across well, I agree) - brown people can be as racist as white, in fact the ones we have here are sometimes worse. You can hear the worst things being said about Norway, Norwegian culture and Norwegian people ... we are apparently the scum of the earth in the eyes of a number of our 'new countrymen'. And having no real idea who feels that way and who doesn't, what are you gonna do? It is totally natural to become skeptical of the whole group. It's too bad that that's the way it is, but immigrants everywhere will have to fight against assumptions and prejudice, that's the reality. And they're the ones who came here, we didn't come to them, IMO it's their job first and foremost to fit in and adapt. They are our guests, not vice versa. I sometimes wonder why they even live here if we're such awful immoral people. But of course the handouts from our wealthy state explain that to a large extent. >:-)
Anyway ... the second point is that I as a non-Muslim should not have to follow Muslim rules, but very many Muslims seem to feel that I and my fellow non-Muslims should, in this case. So what's the next rule that should apply to all? This point was totally overlooked as far as I can see. Too bad.
But, again, ignorance is bliss. It's much easier to dismiss people with opinions such as mine as racists and bigots. This is what is being done to a large extent in this country. The worrisome thing is that ignoring it won't make it go away. We may be avoiding hurt feelings at the moment, but it may - probably will - be much worse when the shit really hits the fan later.
OK, extremely long comment, maybe it should have been its own post. :-) Thanks for stopping by, anyway. I'd be happy to see you around again. Take care and keep thinking ... ;-)
I assumed you'd be some incensed Azerbaijani slamming me for not praising their entry to the skies. ;-)
Heh, I'm actually from Finland, I've not listened to the Finnish entry yet for fear of embarrasment :)
One thing, when you mention immigrants and welfare, in an American context that will usually be automatically associated with racism. (Many of the commenters aren't American but still, the discussion is mostly in that context.) But when you actually do have a generous welfare state, maybe there are more realistic concerns to be had, but I don't know a good way to express them!
Are you planning to go to the atheist meeting in Copenhagen, by the way?
Yes, I'm sure you're right ... but it was precisely because the context of the discussion was very American - ouch, bad phrasing - that I thought it would be useful to get some input from over here where it's actually happening. The US and Europe just don't compare when it comes to immigration. I don't think that the vast majority of Americans have any inkling about the situation on these issues here. I also think they don't understand the first thing about the concept of the welfare state. ;-)
Which is 'under attack' in the sense that it can't be maintained at the current level ... we're going to get so many more elderly people within the foreseeable future and that alone will be a big burden, and with a lot of immigrants as well who are not contributing anything whatsoever to the state's income, but who are taking considerable amounts out of it ... that just doesn't add up. And this is something Americans just can never really understand because the immigrants they get are the creme de la creme ... they pick and choose, they take mostly only those who are educated and will be able to work and support themselves. We don't do that here ... for several reasons, mainly what we call 'family reunion immigration' ... we import, pardon my French, a lot of useless village idiots from the stone age. There aren't that many unskilled jobs left in this country and, this may sound bad, but it's just not a good idea to import lots of people who are qualified for nothing else. And who don't speak the language, and in some cases don't want to learn it ... they are doomed to stay unemployed and so it's a net loss for the state. And a lot of people aren't too keen on the idea of their tax money being handed out to people who have never contributed anything to the 'common store' and who have no connection to Norwegian society at all other than that they happen to live here. That may be right or wrong, but that's just reality. People do feel that way and IMO it's not right to tell them that their feelings are 'wrong' because one doesn't feel that way oneself.
Whew, another overlong comment. :-) I was just trying to say that you are right, but for that exact reason I would think some non-American input would be valuable. But again, ignorance is bliss, I guess I shouldn't blame people for wanting to hang on to it. ;-)
No, alas, I'm not going to Copenhagen ... are you? PZ Myers will be in Oslo on his way there though, I hope to be able to go to hear him speak while he's here.
You should check out your ESC entry ... !! It's not at all embarrassing, it's good! I've listened to it a lot and I like it more and more every time. :-) It is, alas, rather the Finnish version of Fairytale so I think it may be a bit too soon for a song like it to do very well ... but I'm rooting for you guys, it's a good song. A lot of Easterners will probably like it, and generally I think it'll put people in a good mood. I may end up sending a vote your way, even. ;-)
Oh, and did you hear about Vilks' house being firebombed today? I guess by some people's standards he just deserved that for being such an awful racist ... ;-)
Yes immigration from Middle Eastern countries especially probably looks quite different in the US and Europe. Like the famous example that the US accepted very few refugees from the Iraq war, Sweden took many times the amount! A lot of Somali refugees have been admitted to the US lately though.
This woman seems to have had similar experiences to yours that were judged so harshly on Pharyngula:
http://www.nettavisen.no/innenriks/article2047653.ece
But whatever one feels about immigration, I think all religiously motivated violence and threats should be taken as seriously.
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