Eurovision outgays itself

From the country that gave the world genocide and über-war criminal Slobodan Milošević comes Eurovision 2007 winner Marija Šerifović, whose strong voice and pseudolesbian/Harry Potteresque performance played well all across the continent. Even the BBC couldn't ignore the homo aura of the act, describing it as a "slow-motion lesbian porn film."

Find multiple versions of the winning song here, including the English version titled "Destiny."

We captured most of these images by photographing the live broadcast with Rex's fancy digital camera. This post by Rex includes a translation of a 2004 Serbian magazine article that claims Šerifović came out to her father.
Finishing second in the 52nd version of this huge cultural event, which is virtually unknown on this side of the Atlantic, was Ukrainian glam drag queen Verka Surduchka (below), whose entry was fiercely protested by rabidly homophobic conservative nationalists in her home country.
This quite possibly was one of the gayest Eurovision finals ever, an amazing feat given the event's long history of appealing to its legions of queer fans.

And the 2007 finale could have been even gayer. Denmark's DQ, the competition's other drag performer -- yes, there were two -- was eliminated in an earlier round when her song, "Drama Queen," failed to make the cut.

I love Eurovision. We spent most of Saturday afternoon watching the three-hour-plus finale live through a high-resolution Internet Webcast.

The contest, which is a kitschy mix of American Idol, Olympic opening ceremony and political party convention, has produced some of the world's best know music performers over the years including Abba (1974), Céline Dione (1988) and Lulu (1969). Viewers in each participating country vote for their favorites after the finalists perform their songs during the live show.

Most of my favorites didn't fare so well, though Serbia and Ukraine did make my top 10 list.

My picks...................................Final results
1. France.....................................1. Serbia
2. Finland....................................2. Ukraine
3. Germany.................................3. Russia
4. Hungary..................................4. Turkey
5. Latvia......................................5. Bulgaria
6. Serbia..................................... 6. Belarus
7. FYR Macedonia......................7. Greece
8. Ukraine...................................8. Armenia
9. Sweden...................................9. Hungary
10. U.K......................................10. Moldova

Go here to see all of the final results. And here for links to videos of all of the competitors and a replay of the Webcast.
Among my disappointments was France's entry, Les Fatals Picards fronted by fem falsetto Ivan Callot, who finished at No. 22.
The story was similar for German entry Roger Cicero (No. 19), who had a nifty big-band sound.
And the U.K.'s hyper-poppy Schooch (No. 23), whose high-energy performance to "Flying the Flag (for you)" could have doubled as a slightly risqué British Airways commercial.

Not all of my favorites fared poorly.

I really liked Hayko from Armenia, but his bleeding-heart prop at the end of his song was shameful even by Eurovision's schmaltzy standards.

As in past years, politics seemed to surface in some of the voting Saturday. That's the only way to explain the high finish of so many clearly sub-par entries, particularly those from eastern European countries who received big support from neighboring nations.
Take Russia for example. That country's entry was Serebro (No. 3), a talentless sexpot girl group whose song, profoundly titled "Song #1," included these unforgettable (or unforgivable) lyrics:

Gotta tease you nasty guy
So take it don't be shy
Put your cherry on my cake
And taste my cherry pie

Then there was Turkey's pitiful boy-toy entry, Kenan Doğulu, whose fourth-place finish came courtesy of first-place votes by Belgium, France, Germany, The Netherlands and the U.K., all of which have sizable Turkish immigrant populations.

As usual the spotlight was on the host country -- the winner of the previous year's competition.

For the most part, Finland put on an entertaining and technically flawless show despite some awkward dead spots, like when the hosts struggled near the end to fill a gap while the winner made her way to the stage.
Here's a view of the huge crowd that gathered to watch the contest on giant screens in Helsinki's central square.
We plugged the computer right into the TV to watch the show through the Webcast which came in at television quality. You've gotta love technology!