how cunning. i bet you watched the entire show but were too embarrassed to comment. and you let your readers do the dirty job. slick indeed, but i won’t fall for that :) 

     by markz on January 30, 2006 at 9:49 am

Well… you didn’t miss much. Once again the jury overturned the popular "people" choice. Well, the jury performed even better than Jamie Oliver. Nevertheless, it was kinda right, cause badly sung song with so many different musical influences has nothing to do at the eurovision song contest. It has all been seen and heard… Why need then to make a mix of ukranian, serbian, croatia and something else in one song…  Actually, EMA was marked by badly sung performances (including your favourite, reffered as "Ferboten" by the host Skof), bad songs (sorry, brizgalna brizga would be better than polkasomething), plagiates, jury, … At the end, somebody won, who has completely no chance at the Eurovision final… he had a non-wining, all-already heard song, if sung in english, i would probably mistake him for somebody from Cyprus or Israel… And please, can somebody buy him a razor? Still, we would probably have more chance with a blond female, with long legs and short skirt… (oh yes, can some people change stylist???). Oh yes, your favourite should have gone there… who cares if the song sucks… The highpoint of EMA were probably the actors, Janez Å kof, AljoÅ¡a TernovÅ¡ek in Boris Kobal. Heh, and they made huge fun of slovene popular music. Rightfully i must say… Though i doubt the new leaders of RTV will like it  At the end… i don’t doubt that some songs will be huge hits… and this is democracy, so if people want that kind of music, let them have it… :) 

     by Matty on January 30, 2006 at 10:03 am

If only I was that cunning! If only I had a brain, for that matter.

     by Michael M. on January 30, 2006 at 10:04 am

You can see the show at your employer’s site ;) http://www.rtvslo.si/ema/arhiv.php 

     by Bostjan on January 30, 2006 at 10:09 am

"Sadly" I missed it. But I was enough of an enthusiast to dload the victor and the runner up. What can I say… there’s absolutely no way Andrej Dezan could possibly see Sunday’s main event with this bland, uninteresting composition. Tedious synth arangements which seemed to arrive straight from 1982 due to a disturbance in the space-time continuoum. Not to mention the slow ballad-like start turning into a bad disco song has been done already by Donna Summer - with much more pleasurable results. Not to mention the boy sings like he was an  Andraz Hribar clone. *cringe*How about people’s choice, then. Mandoline. Hmmm. The song in itself is Eurovision-style awful with a touch of the Balkan-nostalgia (no, that’s NOT a good thing imo) but it’d probably reach the final. It’s a total rip-off of course. Hint: Ruslana Lyzhicko - Wild Dances. But at least that one worked in 2004, since it won. In short… debating which of the two Slovene favourites is better resembles a discussion on whether it’s better to die of cancer or AIDS.

     by freddie on January 30, 2006 at 11:18 am

a trivial tidbit on the winner… http://www.luciearnaz.com/set10.htmlscroll down a bit, to the eigth letter… this is not my find, it’s from a friend of mine (i’m sure he wont mind me sharing this - it screams out for sharing

     by Cornelius on January 30, 2006 at 12:27 pm

What the hell happened to the drinkers? Weren’t they supposed to participate too?

     by mAT on January 30, 2006 at 1:15 pm

Again? http://24ur.com/naslovnica/ekskluziv/ekspres/20060130_3068621.php

     by Andrej on January 30, 2006 at 2:06 pm

Quote: L:  Sr. Dezan:Welcome to our country.  If it weren’t for wonderful immigrants like you coming to America my brother, Desi, and I wouldn’t be here!  I’m happy you found I Love Lucy.  I don’t know if it’s perfect, but it certainly provides a lot of great laughter, and can help make life a little easier, especially these days.  Good luck with your play!   unquote;Oh my god, the guy gets owned by an American actress Perhaps he would definitely need to shave…

     by Rekun on January 30, 2006 at 3:16 pm

Saw bits of it over a dodgy internet connection, including Rebeka/Domen’s disappointing Platin impression.  Seems the expert jury are fully capable of overturning the public vote even when MiÅ¡a Molk isn’t anywhere near it…..

     by Catherine on January 30, 2006 at 3:31 pm

Oh my gawd! I was trying really hard to aviod it but the voting part crept up on me and then I couldn’t shake it. “The winner is…” part was just like an orgasm gone wrong. Janez Skof was just gearing up for the final push, but then some sorry bastard in the director’s booth put the results on screen and while Skof was still beating the drum-roll, the whole of Slovenia was already aware that we will be sending a metrosexual-wannabe to Greece.

The face on Janez Skof was that of a woman after a really lousy sex. I could almost hear him say it “you came already?”.

Slovene gala event host in general have no (and I stress that) talent for suspense.

     by pengovsky on January 30, 2006 at 4:37 pm

EMA = bljak.

     by Rok on January 30, 2006 at 6:21 pm

"The highpoint of EMA were probably the actors, Janez Å kof, AljoÅ¡a TernovÅ¡ek in Boris Kobal. Heh, and they made huge fun of slovene popular music."You’re kidding, right? They’re good actors, but the sketches were painful to watch — tedious and unfunny. If you want to see some good satire, watch The Daily Show with Jon Stewart weekends on CNNI.

     by AZ2SI on January 30, 2006 at 6:59 pm

heh… not as painful as songs…

     by Matty on January 30, 2006 at 7:04 pm

Ouch.  I just watched the performances.  Is this really the best Slovenia has to offer?  After all, during my last trip to Slo I enjoyed listening to music from Siddharta, Kingston, Mambo Kings, Vlado Krelin etc.  Even Atomik Harmonik (a band I enjoy shamelessly due to the smokin hot busty blonds) were difficult to watch this time around.  When are bands going to realize that inserting english words with a deep central European accent is hard to swallow by native english speakers?  Kinda corny.Although not as bad as Platin from a few years back, this years entrant will deffinetly not do well.  I am not too familiar with the Eurovision contest rules.  So please inform me,  is it not allowed to have live bands perform? (Siddharta)   And is it a required to have cheesy choreography and an 80’s set to perform? (all the entrants in this years competition) Slovenia may as well send Fredy Miller, at least then we could have a good laugh!

     by Amerikanec on January 30, 2006 at 7:22 pm

AZ2SI:Finally something senseful was mentioned. I love The Daily Show, too. So much better than Jay Leno … I wonder when Slovenes will learn what good satire is. Although TV Poper wasn’t pucking awful untill it was on TV Koper- the blessed influence of Italian-style satire. And Hribar’s radio shows ain’t that bad, too. At least so I hear.Or was this about Ema? Pass on that one.

     by Luka on January 30, 2006 at 8:25 pm

C’mon, why are we still taking this seriously? I’d love to *finally*
see a Eurovision-Song-Contest spoof at EMA. Remember Guildo Horn or Stefan Raab? or the Austrians Stermann & Grissemann?

     by ahim on January 30, 2006 at 8:28 pm

Luka: "And Hribar’s radio shows ain’t that bad, too. At least so I hear."I rarely get a chance to listen in, but the results vary: Hribar and his team often come up with world-class, rolling-on-the-floor-laughing satire with dead-on impersonations, but some of their improvised segments do fall flat. If they condensed the entire thing into one 30-minute show, it could be positively brilliant. Even so, it’s probably the best satire in the Slovenian media.Glad we agree about Jon Stewart, BTW!

     by AZ2SI on January 30, 2006 at 9:17 pm

AZ2SI: "If they condensed the entire thing into one 30-minute show, it could be positively brilliant."Yup. The central problem of Slovenian humour (if there is such thing) is defenetely that’s so spun out. If it were an animal it would be an ameba.

     by Luka on January 30, 2006 at 10:36 pm

I think it’s completely impossible for Slovenie comedians to reach Jon Stewart’s brilliance. It’s something about the rigidity of our entire culture. We have that certain A-Je-To humour like Chechs or Slovaks have - it’s hard to pinpoint it. I’d call it kitsch humour. It’ll always feel forced and unnatural compared to it’s American (and other) counterparts.

     by freddie on January 30, 2006 at 11:01 pm

Slovenia is the Wisconsin of the Balkans, and I think that there is
something almost Scandinavian in the Slovenian character. We see the
bland side of Scandinavia nowadays, you could almost forget that they
were the Vikings and that monks wet their beds at night dreaming of
them, at one time Slovenians were a wilder people. There are old tales
of vampires and witches, there was a decent peasant revolt, and some
counts that could have taken the Hapsburgs.Most of the funny
Slovenians seem to have left, and ended up in America, like Wierd Al’s
people, but there’s still Atomik Harmonik, they are pretty funny.

     by Katja on January 31, 2006 at 12:05 am

Hmm, watching the EMA’s was certainly interesting, especially since
I am not up to par with my language skills as I should be.  What’s
up with the actors?  Are they funny — I don’t get what’s up with
them.  Forgive my ignorance. Also, Michael, your favorite Ms. Verboten is wearing a pilgrim hat!  What’s up with that?!

     by Kelly on January 31, 2006 at 1:45 am

I’m trying to write a post, but it is rejected for questionable content! why?

     by gazicebear on January 31, 2006 at 2:05 am

OK, since now heavy offences have fallen on Slovenes (like being the "Wisconsin of the Balkans" and being- I can barely write such indecent words- almost Scandinavians), I have to make some points in favour of our glorious Nation.There are still Slon and sadež, right. And Iztok Mlakar. It seems that in Slovenia, satire and humour is at its best when in songs.And as a true Slovenian, now I’ll try to open an internal-Slovenian fight: isn’t it that only the people of central Slovenia are "Scandinavians", while in sunny and windy  West more open, life-loving, sarchastic and expansive characters grow? (Kosovel: "Moja duÅ¡a je vesela, ker je pila kraÅ¡ki teran")

     by Luka on January 31, 2006 at 3:16 am

About the first post: I still don’t know why EMA is still existing in Slovenia?Every year there are some really absurd songs that are winning, most of them in English (I can still remember the "Energy" song that won some years ago….) while young talented groups never have the chance to get the first prize. For example, Billy’s Private Parking with their song "Ljubljana", which was in Slovenian, that has some meanings in the lyrics, whose band members look like everyday person (no barby dolls or outrageously looking Kens) [for the band : you look great guys! keep rocking!], just 4 persons that wanna rock and have fun, that’s all. And they don’t stand a chance in front of mass-media-made bands singing incomprehensible words… but hej! they are good looking (Naber,Alya…)! So is EMA going to end ? Will every band perform in English in order to win? I thought that EMA was, on the contrary, a festivity where every country could sing in its own mother tongue, and that the lyrics would count more that the showoff.I definitely hope that it might change one of those days, if it ever does. If not, we would still have to witness that the bustiest singer wins the match with some non understandable lyrics and some house music…

     by gazicebear on January 31, 2006 at 10:09 am

We should have sent Pero LovÅ¡in (Old Rocker attitude) or maybe even Adi Smolar instead of some kid, that looks like a cheap 80’s-hit-singer-wannabe slash metrosexual. Indeed I believe we would have performed better at Eurosong if we sent someone with a rack and some decent lyrics.

     by Rekun on January 31, 2006 at 3:39 pm

I think we’de be better off by sending AljoÅ¡a T. (known also as Dule vaupotiÄ?) with “his” song to Evrovision contest

     by Katsumi on February 5, 2006 at 7:09 pm

I know I am joining this discussion at a late stage, but now I saw the EMA on video. And I must say Slovenians are just like the Finns… They never celebrate what they have, they only complain of what they don’t have. EMA is a good enough show, with quite catchy songs and fun performances. If you want to see what a sad national final looks like, tune in to Portugal or Ireland. Slovenians are doing well. Anzej will do reasonably well, I think…

     by Tobson on April 14, 2006 at 9:43 pm

And I join in even later after finally having seen the winner. I like the song and I like the guy. He seems happy (sometimes a bit too happy ;o)) to be on the stage and that is a plus if you compare to some of the other sourpusses I have seen.

     by P Zrinski on April 26, 2006 at 10:26 am