c4countdown

Odd this year. I seem to like everything everyone else doesn't, like Belgium, Moldova, Finland, Ireland, and the UK. Russia were favourite to win but after first rehearsals they're drifting like a barge and the UK are the big movers in the other direction. General consensus (Wiwibloggs etc) is that UK has the best staging of anybody.

- - - PAGING STEVEN M. McCANN - - -

We've missed you Rhys!

The first Semi-Final is on BBC 4 now, for anyone that's interested.

Not listened to any of the songs yet as I like to go into the show without having heard the songs beforehand.

However, I am (as ever) planning to watch at a Eurovision party, and have written a blog about the most memorable and enjoyable Eurovision songs of the last decade. (I can't stop listening to Sax Guy and the Belgian yodelling girl. Absolute tunes.) Sorry, Rhys - Josh Dubovie is not featured.

The almighty plunge on AUSTRALIA (5/2 from 24/1) after the Semi-Finals, suggests "show insiders" know something.
The Russian plagiarists (they've pinched the video gimmock from last year's winner! ) will still be a tough nut to crack, 10/11 is the current best price available for RUSSIA.
My own personal favourite, SLOVENIA, the Taylor Swift lookalike with the magnificent bosom, didn't get past the Semi-Finals, she was judged on her singing rather than her appearance, unfortunately!

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The winning song was crap.

Next you'll be telling us the winning horse in the Grand National had four legs.

Matt Morrison wrote:Next you'll be telling us the winning horse in the Grand National had four legs.

It was crap even by the standards of Eurovision!

Don't like the new voting system. Gave too much power to the "bloc" voters, the exact reason the juries were reintroduced in the first place. See Poland.

LAST NIGHT WAS AWESOME!! No novelty songs, but overall standard of tune was better than usual, I thought. Half-time show was amazing (especially Peace Peace Love Love) and the voting was hilarious. Made absolutely no sense but was a billion times more entertaining than usual

Best song of the night by far was the spoof song.
I think Ricky Gervais should write our entry for next year.
Dollar for a hero is an awesome song

How completely out of touch with the public are these juries?
The Juries had AUSTRALIA winning by a country mile, they weren't even in the first 3 with the public vote.
They gave POLAND 7 points out of a possible 492, the public vote had them 3rd with 222 points.
Also the Juries bias against RUSSIA absolutely stunk, 130 points from the Juries compared to 361 from the public vote.
I won't be backing on this rubbish again until they have dumped the Juries.

Steven M. McCann wrote:How completely out of touch with the public are these juries?
The Juries had AUSTRALIA winning by a country mile, they weren't even in the first 3 with the public vote.
They gave POLAND 7 points out of a possible 492, the public vote had them 3rd with 222 points.
Also the Juries bias against RUSSIA absolutely stunk, 130 points from the Juries compared to 361 from the public vote.
I won't be backing on this rubbish again until they have dumped the Juries.

That kind of implies that you were taking it seriously before as a betting proposition, in which case, more fool you.

I really enjoyed it and I'm glad that Ukraine won, not necessarily wholly for the historical (and contemporary) political aspects (although they obviously contributed), but because it's going to make next years's competition - to be held in Ukraine - a potentially even more exciting political football.

Steven M. McCann wrote:I won't be backing on this rubbish again until they have dumped the Juries.

Took a punt on Ukraine after the Jury vote. Figured they were the only country with a realistic chance of catching the aussies. It was a brilliant show, from what i saw from half time onwards. Timberlake and all. That's a precedent. Next year the Ukrainians will have to wheel out snoop dogg or somethin.

My favourite two were probably Austria and Cyprus. I also didn't think Germany's was too bad for a song that did so badly. Long memories...

Gavin Chipper wrote:

Matt Morrison wrote:Next you'll be telling us the winning horse in the Grand National had four legs.

It was crap even by the standards of Eurovision!

I loved Ukraine. For me, it was clearly the best song on the night. It's certainly very eastern-sounding, so it doesn't surprise me that there are some people in this country who don't get it. From a very small sample of friends, people either love it or think it's the worst song they've ever heard. The people who love it vote for it, though, and the rest split 25 ways, so it's not a bad recipe for Eurovision success.

Gavin Chipper wrote:My favourite two were probably Austria and Cyprus. I also didn't think Germany's was too bad for a song that did so badly. Long memories...

Germany won in 2010. Presumably they were briefly forgiven?

I liked their song this year, but I don't think many people paid attention to it when the singer was dressed as Korean animated schoolgirl at carnival time.

Steven M. McCann wrote:How completely out of touch with the public are these juries?
The Juries had AUSTRALIA winning by a country mile, they weren't even in the first 3 with the public vote.
They gave POLAND 7 points out of a possible 492, the public vote had them 3rd with 222 points.
Also the Juries bias against RUSSIA absolutely stunk, 130 points from the Juries compared to 361 from the public vote.
I won't be backing on this rubbish again until they have dumped the Juries.

If the juries were just going to vote exactly the same as the public there would be no point having them.

Any Eurovision fan could have told you that a regional megastar singing a cheesy, outdated, uptempo number with ridiculously over the top staging would do better with the phone vote than with the juries.

The juries also have a reputation for being suckers for a big vocal. I personally thought Australia was a bit too shouty, but everyone else seems to think she sang really well.

Poland are a funny one. Diaspora help from all the Poles living across Europe probably helped a little in the phone vote, but they only came 15th in the public vote last year, so it can't be due to diaspora alone. My mum liked it, so I think it was more a housewives' favourite than anything.