You're o vision

I have friends and family who watch and even enjoy American Idol, though I try my best to forget.

Talk about American Idol in Europe and you'll be reminded that it's a spin-off of the UK show Pop Idol. Not sure why building a machine that spits out F-list celebrities and awful music is a source of pride, but whatevs.

Well long before Pop Idol there was Eurovision, and after American Idol and Pop Idol are gone, Eurovision may still remain. To put the magnitude of this contest into context, American Idol tops out at about 40 million viewers -- Eurovision maxes out 600 million.

The quick intro to Eurovision is that each country in Europe has its own national contest to pick a song and performer to represent their country. Then everyone votes and it's totally based on political relationships and there's all this dodgy Eastern Bloc controversy every year, and in the end a terrible song wins.

The only past winners you've heard of are Celine Dion and ABBA.

More background here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurovision

AND THIS YEAR'S WINNER!