Presenters: Gah I am terrified by them, and those too kids are scary, there like 8 how did they win Junior Eurovision 3 years ago? Wow they are ridiculously plastic and scary, why are the presenters always like this? I miss the ones that were like Will & Grace from a few years ago.

 

You'll see one of them again, it's Sakis Rouvas, the Greek entrant :kink:

I really enjoyed the Finnish presenters. They weren't cheesy at all and were quite good. The 2008 presenters were, well, camembert. And the guy hosting the semis this year is just PLAIN SCARY. The girl seems OK. She's a bit nervous, but I think that's because she's got the wailing animal beside her. :(

I really enjoyed the Finnish presenters. They weren't cheesy at all and were quite good. The 2008 presenters were, well, camembert. And the guy hosting the semis this year is just PLAIN SCARY. The girl seems OK. She's a bit nervous, but I think that's because she's got the wailing animal beside her. :(

:rofl:

 

He is famous here for talk shows mostly -_-

On a scale from 5-10, which I did as the show progressed, and noting the qualifiers with "*":

 

10 *Turkey - Balkan songs win Eurovision so often because they sound awesome

9 *Sweden - great voice

9 *Iceland - great voice

9 *Malta - great voice

8 *Armenia - nice, but maybe some notes were botched

8 *Finland - standard fare for the finals

8 *Israel - touching but a bit boring

8 Andorra - oops, they didn't make it, pity

8 Macedonia - oops, they didn't make it and kinda generic rock

7 *Bosnia - a solid performance, maybe I should have given it an "8"

7 *Portugal - okay, but maybe this made it in with the help of the judges?

7 *Romania - started out great, but I felt it floundered into mediocrity

7 Belgium - looking good only because of the two acts before (Czech and Montenegro)

7 Switzerland - generic pop rock

6 Montenegro - the guy ruined it

6 Belarus - embarassing

5 Czech Republic - worse than embarassing

5 Bulgaria - like male cats yowling at each other

 

Turkey was awesome, and I hope they win it, so I can get sick of that song rather than something less palatable.

 

I think I understand Macedonia's entry. I've been to Macedonia, but I've been to Bulgaria a lot more, and there I know they love 70's and 80's dinosaur rock. If you go to a party there, the music you'll hear will likely be ancient American rock bands. So, I think Macedonia's taste for this just didn't translate to Europe as a whole. It made my cut at "8", but it was unremarkable.

 

Bulgaria also has a taste for "chalga," Bulgarian folk-pop music, Balkan music, and so I was hoping for something of the same caliber as Turkey's entry. Alas, the Bulgarian entry was a complete disaster. The guy really sounded off-key. In general, falsetto runs from mediocre to horrible, and this was clearly on the horrible end of the scale. I think it's possible that this was a good but difficult song that was ruined by a bad performance, but it's hard to tell through the bad performance. This debacle reminds me of Azis, the bearded transsexual Bulgarian male who is so popular in Bulgaria - they sent him to Eurovision in 2006 and Bulgarians just couldn't understand their entry did so poorly in Eurovision. Although Balkan music rules, Bulgaria is sometimes a little too far off in its own realm in its Eurovision entries.

 

My good friend AND mom thought it was something about the Bosnian entry they have heard before :o

I was watching last night and can only comment now :o I was VERY pleased that none of the awful hair-rock made it through, but very disappointed Switzerland didn't make it (my only disappointment of the night though, so 'tis all good!), although bad vocals will do that. Armenia, Bosnia and Iceland all gave FANTASTIC performances - I'm ecstatic that Iceland are performing seventh on Saturday though - draws Johanna away from Jade but gives her a chance to shine from the same spot Bo'az did last year, so hopefully top five for Iceland (but behind the UK :P). Either way, Is It True? was STUNNING live. Armenia's performance was very good - along with Iceland my only 10/10/10 performance (in terms of song/performance/staging) of the night! I'm very very shocked that Finland made it - I love the song, but the vocals were hideous! Hence my theory on the jury vote...

 

Roll on tomorrow and Latvia being kicked out! :cheer:

You know, I think Latvia could just make it!The song is not THAT bad, and it will have great appeal for the former USSR...

My good friend AND mom thought it was something about the Bosnian entry they have heard before :o

Some of my mates thought the beginning of it sounded like Green Day's 'Time of Your Life'. I can sort of see the resemblence I suppose...

Oh and I'm getting increasingly disappointed that Belgium didn't make it! I've been listening to it $h!tloads today. :( Such an addictive song!

Yay, someone agrees :cheer: Belgium fall into the same category as Switzerland - that it seems impossible for them to qualify :cry:

But Belgium's 'song' was HIDEOUS :( The performance was pretty awful as well...

 

And Latvia's 'song' only gets better after a painful 2 minute opening...

Who was talking about Latvia? I do kind of like it to be honest, I don't think it will go through, but I won't cry if it does (unless it's instead of Ukraine or Estonia...)

Some of my mates thought the beginning of it sounded like Green Day's 'Time of Your Life'. I can sort of see the resemblence I suppose...

The commentators on the 12th of May told us when the Bosnian card was on that some sort of a scandal took place about it.

Bosnian and Serbian press and several music experts have hinted that chorus of the song "Bistra voda" is almost identical with the chorus of the song "Oltar" composed by Mladjan Dinkic, the Minister of Economy of Serbia, performed by Kiki Lesendric.

Yay, someone agrees :cheer: Belgium fall into the same category as Switzerland - that it seems impossible for them to qualify :cry:

I like it too and stated that a few times :snif:

Iceland was by far my favourite from the night, wish SBS would show it a bit closer to it's initial broadcast time tho.

 

1. Montenegro // Andrea Demirovic - Just Get Out of My Life - Pretty decent song/performance, should have gone through over Armenia

2. Czech Republic // Gipsy.cz - Aven Romale - f***ing horrific.

3. Belgium // Copycat - Copycat - What exactly was this? it wasn't music.

4. Belarus // Petr Elfimov - Eyes That Never Lie - Not quite sure i 'got' this, the Aussie commentators were orgasming over it tho.

5. Sweden // Malena Ernmann - La Voix - I liked this one, Snalla Snalla $h!ts over it like, but it was a bloody good performance, my 3rd fave

6. Armenia // Inga & Anush - Jan Jan - This had to have gotten a sympathy vote, no-one with ears or sanity could have voted for this. Just horrendous in every way, shape and form

7. Andorra // Susanne Georgi - La teva decisio (Get A Life) - Good little song from the microscopic country.

8. Switzerland // Lovebugs - The Highest Heights - Wasn't bad, but not my thing.

9. Turkey // Hadise - Dum Tek Tek - I loved this, quite catchy.

10. Israel // Noa & Mira Awad - There Must Be Another Way - I'm a sucker for a ballad and this delivered.

11. Bulgaria // Krassimir Avramov - Illusion - Can't really remember this one...

12. Iceland // Johanna Guðrun Jonsdottir - Is It True? - f***ing sensational, i've downloaded this from iTunes already :kink: the show only finished 20mins ago :heehee: i hope this does amazing in the final, imo the best song in SF1 by a country mile

13. F.Y.R. Macedonia // Next Time - Nesto sto ke ostane - Can't remember this one either to be honest, Iceland was that good.

14. Romania // Elena - The Balkan Girls - 2nd best on the night imo, totally loved this.

15. Finland // Waldo's People - Lose Control - The guy just ruined this for me -_-

16. Portugal // Flor-de-lis - Todas As Ruas Do Amor - Didn't like this, christ knows how it qualified, at least it was better than Armenia.

17. Malta // Chiara - What If We - Quite liked this, but she isn't going to do as well as '98 or '05 with it.

18. Bosnia-Herzegovina // Regina - Bistra Voda - Didn't like this either tbh.

 

 

Overall - the hosts should be shot, they were all kinds of crap. The Aussie commentators weren't too bad, shame SBS waited a couple of days to show it on TV, i think i'd be able to watch the final live if my internet could handle it likes.

 

Iceland ftw, i love love love it. Shame i can't send ESC songs to BJSC. I'll save it for a ESC spin off :kink:

Iceland is already the top downloaded ESC song on UK iTunes (Jade excepted). It's a shame about the crap draw, otherwise I think it could be a winner... and the UK commentators loved Belarus for some reason too :unsure:

I saw that :wub:

 

The woman aussie commentator was f***ing puddling over Bosnia-Herzegovina. They were both over joyed at that one going through. I nearly cried when Armenia went through

TBH I quite liked Armenia. Sort of Eurovision by numbers, but catchy and fun. B&H is just drab :nocheer:

EUROVISION is written all over Armenian entry tbh :o That means i kind of disagree with you on Portugal and Armenia :wub: (My 2nd and 3rd best performances of the night). Good you liked my fave - Israel though ;D

Portugal is one of my faves too, but I can see that it isn't for everyone, so not fussed :kink:

I dont think non-europeans "get" ethnic or traditional music from countries around Europe. You definitely need an open mind, and not expect to hear Shakira, Timbaland or Leona in each song performed, as its not supposed to be just about chart-friendly songs, but songs that represent your country.