27 MAY 2002
|
Subject: And the winner is... Date: 27 May 2002 From: James Clark
Such an AussieProbably the biggest cultural challenge for Australians abroad is convincing the world that Australia isn't overrun with deadly creepy crawlies and rabid wild life, our waterways aren't stacked three deep with crocodiles and our oceans aren't bubbling from the thrashing of sharks (more people die from falling coconuts each year than from shark related injuries- Tis true!)The world wide popularity of Steve Irwin the Crocodile hunter certainly doesn't help proceedings. I try to explain to people here that Australia is mostly an urban society. Then I got an email from back home, which when I read to my Euro associates, my tales of urban Australia became nothing more than an urban myth. My old man was having some stomach pains over the last year, so he finally went to the doc's. They did an x-ray and they found a piece of chipped bone from his rib floating around inside him. Chipped removed - no more pain. Apparently the offending piece was chipped when dad, riding on his motorbike through the Western NSW desert, was T-boned by a crazed Emu which was running blind out of the bushes. Dad, being the Aussie that he is, dusted himself off and got back on the bike. Emus were previously not on most people lists of fauna to worry about whilst visiting Australia. Now I have added another beastie to some peoples collection. Sold my Soul...Again!Yep, I sold my Soul again. What did I do this time? I watched the Eurovision song contest from start to finish. I can't believe I did it, but it is not as bad as it sounds. If I had been lounging on the couch at home on a saturday night watching the BBC2 coverage, then I would gladly raise the flag of the fiefdom of loserville. As it turned out though, I went to a Eurovision party that was organised by a pub in Temple Bar. I went with the international students as the token non Euro dude, and in our party there was representatives from Sweden, Romania, Switzerland, Germany, France and Italy (even though they didn't qualifly).As I expected the songs were like out of a high school rock Eisteddford. Thankfully no one takes it too seriously and the whole place erupted in laughter everytime a really dodgy country came out. The crowd favourites ranged from a Cyprian boy band, a transvestite Slovakian, another boy band from Russia in white suits trying to be home boyz, and a band from Greece who were decked out in space suits with keyboard guitars doing some homage to Krautrock. After ALL TWENTYSIX countries do their three and a half minutes the lines are open and you can vote for anyone except for the country that you are calling from. I must say this is a very efficient system as the votes were counted within half an hour for all of Europe. Compare this with Irelands general election which was on last week. the count was on TV for two days, for a country with just over 3 million people. It was a close contest between Malta and Latvia, but in the end crucial votes from neighbouring Baltic states Lithuania and Estonia saw Latvia take out the 2002 Eurovision prize, and the honour of hosting next years awards. (you've been warned kiddies, start saving. Who will join me in a Baltic road trip to Latvia next year?) It is quite an interesting phenomenom Eurovision. I'm usually quite the music snob and I thought that the crew I was with would have been as well. A quick poll found their musical taste ranged from Patti Smith, Ryan Adams, the Hellacopters and Einstuerzende Neubauten , so I thought they would have been as well. But they weren't. They loved it like they would love their embarrassing younger brother. Sure...It's cheese, but it's our cheese. A European tradition. Watching the pockets of supporters erupt each time their country got a vote, I couldn't help but think... I Love Europe. James |
