Eurofalsh - the movie, the wasted potential.

Just watched "Eurofalsh - the movie". A bit of a dissapointment. This movie was based on a brilliant idea that had the potential to become a must-see-film for every Eurovision fan. Basicly, it's a documentary about a band that performs Eurovision covers - with lipsinc and the exact dance moves - on Eurovision sunday parties in Israel. The movie tells the story of the band members, and how the band, with all its glory and fame, became their means of escape from their everyday personal problems. The four band members who are the heart of the plot - Micky, Ben, Irit and Eran, are all very colourful characters with a potential of spicing up everything and making the movie into a hit. Unfortunately, amateurism and an apparent lack of creativity turned this movie into a quite boring work, with not even a single moment that I really liked or became moved by.

Right from the start, when the opening theme of Eurovision sounded, I understood that this movie was not going to be a burst of originality and creativity. And I was quite right. The movie lacked the drama and the glory that a movie about Eurovision fans should defenitely contain. The conflict between the glorious life of sunday night's show and the normal life was not emphasized enough. The band members were not given each his unique and intrigueing portrait and their colourfulness was not apparent. All the questions the interviewer asked were very expected ("what if eurovision would cease to exist") and boring, and the answers sounded cut out, and not like a natural flowing story. There was also a part where they featured Israel not qualifying in ESC 2011 - really unnecessary and irrelevant to the plot, which was timeless and spreaded over several years (and several Eurovisions).

If I would have created that movie, I would focus more on the personal stories. Eurovision would stay mainly at the background, and the people and their emotions and passions would conquer the main stage. In addition, I would want to demonstrate to the average non-Eurofan viewer how the Eurovision fans see the band members - as some kind of envied celebrities. I would have done it by showing attractive high-quality scene shots of the band dancing and performing, showing-off their charisma and talent big time. In the movie, there's not even one good shot of the band on stage. 100% of the shots are taken from too close to the stage and from down, which causes a distortion of the perspective and prevent us from seeing the whole choreography. For the average viewer who haven't heard about the Eurofalsh before, the whole performance concept would seem very amateuristic.

But the movie has its moments, when it raises some interesting issues. The band members ask a question at one point: Do they wanna become professionals and try to reach higher with the band idea, or do they wanna continue treat it as a hobby and hope that one day, someone would "discover" them and do all the hard work? Well. Becoming a professional band of artists also means re-branding everything, and making some hard descisions that, from then on, would be based on professional motivations, rather than on friendly ones. Judging by the band members' arguments about who's getting to do "the solo", and why those who established the band 10 years ago should always have priority - I guess they may want to keep it as a non-profitable hobby.

Another interesting aspect in the movie is the "low self esteem issue". In the movie, Micky claims that even though they know they are very talented, they don't wanna  go proffessional because they all have low self esteem. To this adds the fact that the band, in all it's 10 years of existence and performing, has never demanded any sort of payment from the Eurovision club in which it performs (even though they do attract the custumers). They even feel guilty after asking for 100 NIS for props. I don't know if it has to do a lot with low self esteem. But I think that somewhere deep inside, the band members suspect that the band exist more for the benefit of themselves, than for the benefit of the audience and the bar-costumers. Unlike popular artists, the Eurofalsh wants to perform, more than the audience wants to watch. I mean, the audience do have a lot of fun watching them, but sometimes people just wanna be left alone and dance to Eurovision music without someone on stage showing them the right way to do it. Eurovision fans, after all, love to be the diva themselves, not only the admirers. Based on this, would the eurofalsh be sponsored had they went proffessional?

The movie has some kind of a happy-end, where one year later, each band member solved his personal conflicts and found balance in life. Micky, the teacher who was torn by the love to dancing and performing and the will to experience family life, managed to have a baby. Irit, who always hanged up with gays and never had a serious hetrosexual relationship, finally found a boyfriend. Eran, who was bankrupt and lost his business, returned to work as a fashion designer. And Ben, who had Eurovision as the center of his  life, finally found himself professionaly and started a career as a police officer. What the movie does not show, is how these changes in the lives of the band members, affect Eurofalsh in the close future. Will they stay a tight group of friends as they were? Would their interest in Eurovision stay the same, now that each one of them have a new main interest in his life? And will they ever stop fighting over solos? The answer would probably have to wait for "Eurofalsh 2", if it would ever be created.

No dream impossible

Life can really be an amazing thing. You have your friends, you spend time with them as a child, and you talk with them about their hopes and dreams. Then you grow up, and they grow up too. If you're still keeping touch with these friends, you get to be a witness to the most marvelous thing in the world: You get to see your adult friends making their childhood dreams come true.

I decided to write about this because I've just got a phone call from one of my best friends. She's a Eurofan, too - a very dedicated one. She's been traveling to Eurovision every year since it was held in Serbia, and just like many other fans, she's always been feeling herself better abroad than in her own country. Moving abroad, or more accurately - moving to her favored country Greece, has always been her biggest dream. And now, on this phonecall, she told me that she found a job in Greece and she's moving there already on Sunday! Isn't that amazing?! I know I should be a bit sad because it means I'm probably never gonna see her again, but I feel so happy for her because I'm imagining myself in the same situation (moving abroad is my dream as well) and it makes me shiver with excitment!!!

Making huge dreams come true is not such a rare thing as I might have assumed. Another friend of mine, a Eurofan as well (or Ex-Eurofan), has always liked Scandinavian music and has been dreaming his whole life about moving to Sweden. Then he signed up to study East Asian studies at the university and totally fell in love with the Chinese culture and language. Since then he's been dreaming about moving to China, and guess what? He won a very exclusive scholarship to study abroad and he's now studying in China and having the time of his life, with no intentions of coming back.

Another Eurofriend of mine has always dreamt about taking part at Eurovision. He's been trying all sorts of things like sending songs to our national preselection, or getting in contact with famouse artists, untill he understood that he needed to find a job which would express his unique talents. He got an invitation to work as an assistant for someone in the showbizz industry - a job that was less paid than his current job back then, but he still accepted the offer. Since he was really good with people and with orginizing things, he gradually moved up in the ladder untill on 2010 he finally became a member of the Israeli delegation to Eurovision. Now he's flying to ESC every year as a delegation member and he's also orginizing the Israeli party there. I think that's one of the most impressive ESC dreams to ever come true!

I have many other friends I could tell about, some already made a big dream come true, and some are showing good signs of being in the proccess of...almost getting there. One thing is sure - watching people do what they've always dreamt of is just amazing. It gives you new hopes and energies because it shows you that the world IS a fair place after all, and that everything that should happen - eventually happens.

What Loreen has to do with branding

A few weeks before Eurovision, I had a very interesting conversation with one of the fellow Israeli ESC fans. We talked about the artist who was considered the biggest favorite already back then - Loreen. My friend said that he sees an elementary difference between Loreen and other female singers in Eurovision, like, for example Ani Lorak or Shiri Mimon. Loreen, in contrast to them, is not perceived in the contest as a person, or as a woman, he said. Loreen and Euphoria are perceived as a united image that represents something, rather than a certain singer who is participating in the contest with a song.

I think that what he was trying to say is that Loreen is not perceived merely as a singer, but as a brand. I personally think that Loreen and Euphoria were delivered to the audience in MF and Eurovision as a catchy product which is very easy to digest. "Loreen - Euphoria" is a brand by all means. Loreen is a catchy name with a unique spelling, and no surename. Her hairstyle stands out and is already identified with her. Those amusing pictures (of Thomas G:son and Peter Boström) serve as a proof for that -

Her voice is also very unique (that was already said about her back then in "Idol" - one of the judges said that all the Swedish singers sound very similar to each other, but not her) and so are her singing manners. The name of her song is catchy, too - there's even a popular parfume with the same name  - and it has the unmistakeable qualities of a hymn. As for her public persona, even when she's interviewed, it's very easy to notice some of Loreen's remarkable characteristics:  She's calm, relaxed, "chill" as some define it.

Everything about Loreen is so clear, simple, easy to understand and easy to like. And people love it. People love brands, because they release us from the need to do the hard work: To think, to understand, to define, to decide. Loreen, the well-defined product is much more popular on the market than other good ESC singers who appear just too "human", too complex and not so commercial. This explains why Loreen was a clear favorite among the fans from the very start, and may explain what made her overpower the other strong candidates in the contest and get points from just everyone. She was like a versace in a sea of good-but-unknown designers. And the best thing about her was that in contrast to Versace, she was not really a famous figure, but her excellent branding made everyone like her as if she was a well-known artist all along.

Efter regn kommer solsken

Free-translation from Swedish: Sun always shines after the rain

This week has been quite busy and emotionally-hard for me. But as a compensation and a treat for the upcoming weekend, a lot of nice things happened today. So these were the little rays of sunshine in my day:

1. After I was forced to live without a mobile phone (or with a very basic one) for about two months, my Blackberry has finally came back from the lab and is now ready to use again! While it was gone, I didn't miss all its advanced functions at all, apart from one: the ringtones!!!! Now I can finally do what I've been dreaming about for the whole Eurovision season - listen to Euphoria every time someone is calling me. I was so excited that I made now a whole bunch of nice ESC and Melodifestivalen-related ringtones ("Stormande hav" by Timotej, "Het" by Timotej, "Det går för långsamt" by Mimi Oh and many many others...)

2. I got a good feedback at work. I work as a visual merchandising trainee at H&M - we design the various departments, place clothes, dress the dolls, etc. Today we had an internal inspection - our store manager surveyed the way everyone constructed their department and gave us critique. He really loved my departments and said that I did a good work. These words cannot be taken forgranted because usually there is a lot of negative notes, especially of you're new - and I'm in this role less than a month. It really made me happy and gave me more motivation. I think that I'm gonna go for the weekend to Haifa (where my parents live) and on my way stop at the local H&M store, in order to be inspired and get new ideas.  

3. A stupid thing but still - Today I discovered that we have a whole stock of Loreen-like wigs at work for the mannequins. It has very long dark hair and long bangs, just like the divine original. I think I'm gonna use it on the dolls for the one-after-next campign and also make them as Loreenish as possible! 

4. My new two roomies on the appartment seem very nice!

Hope this weekend is gonna continue as nice as it started! Have a great weekend everybody!

Loreen and the new Eurovision

Once upon a time, people who listened to Eurovision music were quite rare. If we, Eurovision fans, did find about someone listening to an occassional Eurovision song, the only conclusion to make was that this must be another Eurovision fan, just like us. This "once upon a time" was actually not so long ago.

But now, in the new Loreen era, things have changed drastically. People, "normal" people who have nothing to do with Eurovision, listen to Euphoria. They don't just express a casual positive opinion about it. They want to listen to it. They want to download it. They crave for it, as if it was Rihanna's new single. It also has a screening effect on the the other Eurovision 2012 songs - many people are interested in getting to know them. They think that if the winner of this contest is such a successful hit, the other songs from this year's show might be worth listening too.

I think that we still don't fully understand it, but Loreen started something new here, and Eurovision is about to change as a result. Maybe it's about to become more trendy, more updated, more modern, more popular. We cannot really know yet, but one thing is sure: It's not gonna stay the far-flung odd contest it was.

What was the trigger that made me think about this issue? Today at work I suddenly heard a mobile phone ringing loudly with "Euphoria". And it was not my phone. The sound of the ringtone came from the lockers so I went closer in order to discover who's mobile is was (and then become his / her best friend). But then it hit me. When it comes to Euphoria, It doesn't necessarily mean that the owner of the phone is a Eurovision fan. Because everybody like Euphoria. And they don't like it because it won. They love it because it's a song with the clearest characteristics of a radio hit ever.

I already know what I'm gonna ask the next Swede I'll meet: How do you people do it? When everybody all over the world are struggeling to "sell" things, to make people buy things, you Swedes seem to have found a way to make people crave for your stuff on their free will. They just go crazy for everything your country offers to the world: H&M, IKEA, and now your Eurovision enrty which won hearts and points all over Europe. Tell us, Swedes, what is it that they teach you at school?

Don't play that song again, or: Why we don't want to listen to the Eurovision songs after the big show is over

A thread in the Israeli ESC forum that I participate in, deals with those Eurovision songs that managed to stay in our playlist even after the contest. Most people name Sweden - A natural choice, since it's the winner of the contest and can continue with us into the normal non-Eurovision world. Many people also name other songs which did quite well in the contest, like Estonia or Romania. The songs that failed, as expected, are scarcly mentioned. 

Personally I think that it shows us two things: First, that the show and the music are inseparable. Second, that music and emotion are inseparable, too.

Before the three big evenings of Eurovision, all we have is songs. Yes, we've seen some fragments of a show on the national finals or on the previews video-clips, but the real show which connects the Euro with the Vision is still about to be exposed. Whe the artist finally performs on the Eurovision night, it's like the answer to the question "what is the meaning of this song?" have been answered.  The show shows us what the creator (singer, writer, director, etc) wanted to to express at the first place. Now, after the performance, there's no place for imagination anymore. At some cases, the whole picture that we get through watching the show is marvelous just like the song. At other cases, the show makes the song look better. And at some other cases, it drags it down and ruins it completely.

Let's take France for example. Who's able to listen to it now? Before Eurovision this song was conceived as a powerful charismatic pop song. But now, after the fiasco of the show? It mainly reminds us of a big mess and a chance that was not taken seriously. Estonia, on the other hand. A great ballad, which was always considered good, but now got a new life after the show, which was powerfull and and made the hearts of everybody beat as fast as hell. When we listen to it after the contest, we get the viberations we got when we watched the great show, even though the studio version in our Ipod didn't even change a bit.

There's also this thing about the final score. We all want to be winners and no one of us wants to be a loser. If a song didn't do so well, we don't want to stick to it anymore. We want to get away from it, not to be recognised by it. It's the winners we want to stick to, and hope that their light will shine on us too.

As for me - After the contest I'm left with a very few songs which I am able to listen too: Denmark - I "rediscovered" this song quite late in the Eurovision season and since then I'm quite addicted, expecially because of the great lyrics, the catchy rythm and the touching voice of the singer. Sweden - I thought I couldn't listen to it anymore because I did it too many times since MF in march, but the energy in it just never seem to die, I guess. Lithuania - I always pressed "skip" when it came to my playlist before the contest. Now, After I've seen the show, I see new qualities in it. It seems much more authentic now, and so much less boring, somehow.

I'm glad I listened a lot to music when I was young. Now it's easy to revive the memories...

Today I refreshed my ipod playlist. Deleted all the Eurovision songs (got really tired of them by now) and put in instead som baltic pop music: Nylon Beat's discography, and "Kui me päikeseloojangut ootama peaks", an album from 2003 by the Estonian group Blacky.

Nylon Beat's music always brings back to me memories from the years 2003-2004. I downloaded these songs back then from a guy on Soulseek who had the same nickname - Nylon Beat. Once, while downloading, I started a conversation with him and discovered, to my great surprise, that he was not Finnish or Swedish as I expected, but an Israeli who lived in the neigbourhood next to mine! This was a start to a very long story which is entitled "The first time I fell in love". A long, painful story, but also beautiful and nostalgic at the same time. Nylon Beat's music, as well as certain Melodifestivaen songs, were the soundtrack of my life back then and listening to them now, many years after, brings the memories back to life, vivid and accurate as if they occured yesterday.

I discovered Blacky's music by a mistake, when I was once looking for a Eurovision-related song named "Salaja". I didn't know the name of the artist, and then got "Salaja" by Blacky as one of the results. I downloaded the song and fell in love with it instantly. The thing that I like about Blacky is that all of their songs sound quite the same - in a good way. They use the same chords sequences over and over again, in all of their songs, and since I realy love those non-conventional sequences, I always know that I'm about to enjoy the whole album. They also have a certain agressivity in their songs (even though it's a girls group) which really suits me these days, when I'm having a hard time in some aspects of my life.

In a few days I'm about to launch a personal and a very unique Eurovision-related project...updates coming soon.

The Eurovision dream corner

A Eurovision fan is not a true fan if he never dreamed at night about Eurovision at least once in his life. Last night I happened to have one of those Eurovision-related dreams. And since it happened to be an extremely enjoyable dream, I just felt I had to share it here with you.

I dreamed that I submitted a song to Melodifestivalen. Unfortunately I have no idea what kind of song it was, or whether it was good or bad (hopefully it was a great catchy hit with lyrics in Swedish). All I know is that as the dream took place, I was standing in the Green Room speaking to no other than Thomas G:son! We spoke in Swedish. Miraculously, my dream-Swedish was very fluent. It felt so easy to speak and I didn't need at all to think in advance about what I wanted to formulate. I remember one sentence I said to G:son, which went like this:

"Förut hade jag stora förväntningar men nu bryr jag mig inte så mycket om min låt går vidare. Jag känner mig lugn. Avspänd alltså" ("Before I had a lot of expectations, but now I don't care so much if my song qualify. I feel calmed down").

And then the dream changed into a different scene, as dreams often do. In this scene someone tells me I have a package waiting from Mr. G:son. I started to run in order to make it in time and take it. With me there was another woman who's running and wanted to take it too. I showed her to the opposite direction and than managed to be the one who gets a hold on the package . When I opened it I found inside some marvelous treasures: G:son's own bussiness card, a personal accreditation card for Eurovision 2013 with my name and picture on it (already attached to the lace with the ESC 2013 logo and everything)  and a big bunch of Swedish money in bills. There was also a note saying he's gonna be my sponsor through the upcoming half year. I was so damn happy! (hehe, who wouldn't be?) Then my friend Raphael came running towards me and I waved from afar the Swedish Crowns for him to see. I remember saying to him "this is the happiest day of my life".

Oh, what a stupid and sweet dream! Every time when it came to my mind today, it filled me with a pleasant feeling and made me smile. Naturally, I tried to think if there's some meaning to this dream and then came to a conclusion: This dream must mean that Eurovision 2013 is going to be such a great adventure! I really can't wait for this year to pass. I also think I'm gonna go to Sweden for a little visit this summer too. Start bathing in the first sun rays of Eurovision ambience :-).

How to overwhelm your PED

It's really painful to admit it, but the Eurovision 2012 season is officially over. A winner was already crowned - Loreen and her unforgettable "Euphoria"; the winners, the Swedes, have already celebrated their victory in any possible way; the newspapers have already gave a variety of stories about the event; the full results of the semi-finals were already published; and we, fans, have already discussed every aspect of these results. Indeed, 36 hours after it ended, there's nothing more to say, write or do about the Eurovision Song Contest 2012.

Quite depressing, some would say. During this last half-a-year, Eurovision played a central role in the life of every Eurovision fan. From late September until May, Eurovision gradually became more and more dominant in our daily routine, starting from slight interest in the first national finals, and ending in dedicating our whole daily schedule for following the rehearsals at the very last days before the contest. Eurovision slowly conquered our lives, and now it's suddenly gone. Over. Some would say that it feels just like marrying someone and losing him right after the wedding-party is over.

No wonder that Eurovision fans tend to experience a slight depression every year after the big show is over and the dull, normal, Eurovision-less life is about to begin again. Post Eurovision Depression, or Post Eurovision Blues, whatever it may be called, is a genuine phenomena known to Eurovision fans. It usually starts within 24 hours after the show is over, and normally passes after 1 to 7 days, depends on the fan and his personal life. PED tends to be unusually strong in those fans who traveled all the way to the host country and experienced the great magic of Eurovision from a close distance.

I remember my first PED untill this very day. It happened after my first Eurovision as a fan - ESC 1999. The contest escorted me through half a year and made my life so interesting: In November I followed the draw for the running order, then I followed our representative musician being chosen for my country, I watched the preview shows, and watched all of the many Eurovision related-shows that were broadcasted all year-long since Eurovision was held in my own country - Israel.

On 29th May that year, the Eurovision night came and then it was gone. At 00:00 everything was over. I had to go to sleep because I had school on the day after, and it was really hard for me to fall asleep. I remember feeling horrible at school. All I wanted to talk about was last night's show and my favorites who didn't do so well at the contest, but around me were children who were not interested in all this. I was probably so depressed that I became sick and was sent home in the middle of the school day. When I came home, I did the only rational thing - creeped into bed, took the tape on which last night's show was recorded, and watched the contest several times. Only after one week of decreasing Eurovision doses I was finaly able to go back to school and follow the routine.

Why is it so hard for us, fans, to go back to normal life after Eurovision is over? I mean, it's not like we don't know that we'll have a new Eurovision next year. We DO know that the Eurovision would come back - all we have to do is hibernate and be a little patient. If so, why are we feeling so sad? I came to a conclusion that as Eurovision fans, the disapperance of Eurovision from our life leads to a several losses that cannot be immidiately recovered by the fact that next year would bring another Eurovision with it.

1. A loss of capacity. Untill May, Eurovision took a lot of our brain capacity. We often thought about ESC, even 99% of the time as the date approached. This was all we cared about and were all about. When suddenly there are no special dates to wait for, no rehearsals to watch, no songs to support...it creates an empty space that is waiting to be filled with somthing else. But it still can't be filled with next year's Eurovision because at this stage, we usually know about it very little.

2. A loss of interest. Eurovision is a big thing. It's glorious and shiny and makes a lot of noize. People who traveled to the ESC host country often tell that it's like being in a bubble where it seems that Eurovision is the centre of the world, the most important thing to everybody. We're all wrong, ofcourse. Eurovision is basicly important to the fans, to the participants and to the people who create it. All the others (a.k.a normal people) watch it for fun and never think about it again. But for us it seems so big that when it's over, everything else seems so little and unimportant. Including our normal life, jobs and so on. It's hard to go back to the boring serious routine after we've experienced "the real thing" - the fast-rythm, dynamic and glourious life of the two Eurovision weeks.

3. A loss of love. After Eurovision is over, we have to say goodbye to all of those songs that we really loved - our favorites. We had big expectation for them, which didn't necessarily came true. These songs meant a lot to us, and made us proud and hopefull when we listened to them. Now that we know the final results, listening to them is just...not the same thing. It feels pointless in the best case (if they didn't win) and really hurts us in the worst case (when they totally failed). Eurovision is about winners, and before the contest, everyone is a potential winner. After the Eurovision - there're a lot of losers, and listening to losers doesn't give us good viberations. It even makes us feel a little stupid and ashamed.

Is there a way to deal with this damn depression? I came up with a few which usually help me:

1. Start fantazising about next year's ESC. Make next year's Eurovision seem closer by checking flights, hotels and so on. Fantasize about the shopping you're going to do before your trip and be happy about the fact that you have one whole year to go down in weight and become a beauty queen before you travel to Eurovision and give the show of your life. Do it even if you actually don't plan to go to Eurovision at all. But come on, on the first month after the contest is over and the new host is known,  EVERYONE has intentions to go. 

2. Start something new. A project, maybe, like...studying the language of the next host country. You'll fill you time with something which is Eurovision-related and also would broaden your knowledge and would make you a worthier human being. Besides, think how nice it would be to use this language next year at the host country!

3. Write a song. A song for Eurovision, of course. Team with a friend  - one of you would write the lyrics, and the other would compose it (in other words - become a G:son-&-Boström). Consider sending it to one of the many national finals of Eurovision. This intention would surely erase any kind of depression and replace it with joy and hope. Naturally, you'll forget about this project after typically few days, and would never send anything to any national final, but it would be worth the fun and the relief of the PED symptoms.

And the best tip of all -

4. Go back to your routine. The sooner you'll go back to work / studies or whatever you do, the faster the magic of Eurovision would wear off and the feeling of real normal life would come back. Sounds dull, but sooner or later there would be no other choice. Yeah, we all want the feel the ecstasy of Eurovision all year long, but no one can live a Eurovision life forever. Besides, doesn't it feel better to know that you stand on solid ground and that your mood is gonna be quite stable for the upcoming months? Forget about Eurovision and make a little efforts in order to make your real life better and healthier. If you will like you life and job and friends and family in the end of this year, it would make it lot more easier to cope with the lose of Eurovision next time around.

I myself feel a lot better today, after I've been through one day of work. I rarely got to think about Eurovision the whole day. Actually, I got to think about it only once, when guys from my workplace raised the subject themselves and said that they loved Ireland and Romania :-).