Eurovision!

I promise a dissertation on Eurovision before the week is out. In summary, while it's officially the Eurovision Song Contest, songwriting is just about the last consideration. Contestants are evaluated on the basis of:
- staging
- looks
- catchiness
- kitschiness
- how favorably their country is viewed by people voting in other countries
- musical talent
- looks
- lyrics

This was only my third Eurovision, but I will admit to being a bit obsessed with it when it comes around.

Anyway, how it works is, each country chooses somebody to send to represent their country in the song contest. This year, 42 countries participated. There are always 24 countries in the final round: Britain, France, Germany, Spain (because these four countries are the biggest sponsors), the top 10 from the previous years, and the top 10 from the semifinal, which airs earlier in the week (and which I've never seen).

There are 24 performances, most of which are delightfully over-the-top and in terrible English (this year's winner was the first winning song since 1998 to contain no English lyrics). The winner is determined by phone voting. You can't vote for the country you're in, which is reasonable. Each country announces its top 10, with 12 points going to first, 10 to second, 8 to third and 7-1 to the 4th-10th.

People always complain about the voting because it seems to be about culture or politics, rather than about the music. Germany ranked Turkey highly because there are a lot of Turkish immigrants in Germany. Russia gives points to Georgia, but not vice-versa, for the same reason. Malta always gives the UK 12 points. The former Yugoslav republics have each others' backs (to some extent). Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine vote for each other. Israel votes for Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. Cyprus votes for Greece. Turkey gives points to Armenia, but not vice-versa. The Scandinavian countries vote for each other, but it's slightly less blatant, and I think it's actually in response to the other blocs. This, for me, is just part of what makes Eurovision Eurovision, but some people are actually upset about it and there is talk of the western countries, which get screwed over due to their stable borders and low emigration rates, withdrawing in protest.

Actually, this is almost a dissertation. So I promise a dissertation on this last Eurovision in particular (which was my favorite of the three, despite the lack of Croatia, Dima Bilan, or the Eurovision drinking game) sometime soon.


I also bought a hat today, because I have decided that I no longer go outside without covering my head and I was getting bored of scarves. If I could afford it (not even close: gloves are very expensive!), I'd start wearing gloves everywhere. Nobody would notice, or care, because when you're a foreigner living in Russia you can wear pretty much whatever you want. This is partly because Russians are very flashy and just flat-out ignore traditional rules of dress. If you decide to wear a leopard-print vinyl miniskirt, you're still the most conservatively dressed person in the room. If you feel like wearing three slightly-but-observably different flower prints, you're still one of the most coordinated. And it's partly because they have low expectations for foreigners (especially Americans). If you decide to wear unironed jeans and tennis shoes everywhere, well, that's just what Americans wear.

Next time someone asks me why I live in Russia, I will direct them to this blog entry. It's all about Eurovision and hats.


In other, more important, news: tomorrow is open-toed shoe day!

Today I was explaining to one class that they can't use "fall" in the present perfect continuous ("I have been falling") unless they find themselves in a bottomless pit because it's generally a short action ("I've fallen"). They, and every other Russian I've told this story to since, pointed out that it's okay to say "I've been falling in love," and I had to concede that it was, to which one student said, "so, love changes everything...even the grammar rules!"


I finally bought a dress for summer. I was about to give up for the day when I saw it, decided that I could at least try it on, and was surprised to find that it looked really good (this was confirmed by the friend I was shopping with, so it's not just my rampant narcissism).

The whole thing made me realize that I have an extremely predictable personal style. It involves boring hair, boring makeup, a boring, layered top, a boring, dark-colored or gray skirt, and "what are you wearing on your feet?!?" I know this because my first thought upon buying this dress was "what can I wear over this?" and my second was "now I need some orange shoes!"

I like this predictability, actually, because it will make all future shopping much easier.


In other, more important, news, Eurovision is tomorrow!

I told him that photo would come back to haunt him

I just wanted to post about this because I found it disturbing:
http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=2029

When I read the summary, and that she was accused of promoting underage drinking, I assumed that she was underage in the photo. Actually, she's 27 and the photo was taken two years ago.

It actually reminds me of the case in the 1970s that allowed pregnant teachers to keep their jobs. (Which I read about in Glamour, of all places). Basically, teachers used to be pushed out of their jobs as soon as they were visibly pregnant because it was thought that the sight of them would make students uncomfortable. These were married teachers at public schools. More recent cases that you can google involve unmarried or fertility-treatment-using teachers at religious schools, which could be two other blog posts right there.

How does one draw a connection between bringing a new life into this world and drinking whilst wearing a pirate hat? It's the idea that students can't handle the fact that their teachers have lives outside of work. Or the idea that, if that bothers students (or, more likely, their parents), that that is somehow the teacher's responsibility. This is completely unreasonable. As long as they're teaching and not discussing their child-conceiving or drinking habits at school, they have fulfilled their professional responsibility.*

Just for fun, if I ever move back to the US, I'll start holding everybody in every profession to the same standards that teachers are held to. This means, to start with, that I won't be watching TV, listening to music, or watching movies. Shopping in general might be iffy, since it's likely that at least half the store employees have myspace pages, and half of those probably make some mention of some kind of inappropriate behavior. Oh, and no more voting or taxes, either.

I'm not arguing that it was a good idea on her part. What I am saying is that it shouldn't matter. Obviously, it does, and teachers who want to get or keep jobs have to work within that stupid, stupid system. On that note, I also don't understand why the university couldn't have just warned her, which would have been helpful.


* - I say "they" because the TEFL industry in Russia is very (in fact, a little too) far removed from this situation.