David

As if it's like...nearly six years ago since we used to OWN the Lounge. :mellow: And almost four years since I stepped down as Lounge mod I believe! Alas, now I just come back for the Eurovision. :(

I hope I feature in this. My 2006/7 posting must surely throw me relatively high. I think?! :heehee: Edit ^_^ :drink: Oh David :( Hey uk

Glad some of it is staying in Italian. I just LOVE it. Definitely my favourite this year!

I don't know much about Serbian immigration, not gonna lie. I realise he's in the Balkan-centric semi final, and he's no doubt guaranteed at least 36 points there. Okay, maybe 79 points is a slight underestimate, but I'll stick by it for now!

That Serbian song is far more of a nothing song than Bosnia's is. We're all just getting carried away because he's a relatively "known" name in Eurovision land. Aside from us few Eurovision fans and the Balkan countries, no one's going to have a clue who he is. Average song, that will get lost in a sea of ballads in my opinion. And now he's opening the show as well just before Macedonia, so the show won't really get going until the Netherlands start bopping around.

Opening isn't amazing, but I suppose it's better than between 2nd and 5th. Definitely don't see us troubling the top five though now, however. France and Italy being drawn together is good - two amazing songs - but I feel Italy will shine above the French, which will probably see Anggun finish amongst the bottom few. :(

Okay here are my first set of (completely inaccurate) positions. Had to have the obligatory "we know all the songs so let's predict the scores" play around. I know we don't know the entry from San Marino yet, but whatever it is they send, I doubt it'll be up to much Greece 114Iceland 105Romania 101Russia 101Moldova 95Denmark 94Cyprus 91Belgium 90Ireland 82Hungary 63Albania 55Finland 54Latvia 53Israel 48Switzerland 35San Marino 14Montenegro 12Austria 11 I see this semi final being quite close towards the top. I might be overestimating Romania slightly, but it's a decent song and they'll score highly from the likes of Moldova, Spain and Greece. I'm fairly confident on the top ten though, but they're probably in the completely wrong order. I think Hungary will just edge it over Albania, Finland and Latvia. In fact Latvia shouldn't be that high with that atrocious song they've sent. Most of the generic ballads are in the other semi final, so I think Belgium will breeze through this. I don't see the grannies doing quite as well as some people are expecting, and I fully hope that the majority of songs qualifying here are the uptempo ones... Sweden 187Bosnia & Herzegovina 128Norway 127Ukraine 88Serbia 79Portugal 76Slovenia 76Netherlands 71Turkey 67Lithuania 59Estonia 51Malta 49Croatia 41Bulgaria 39FYR Macedonia 24Slovakia 20Belarus 18Georgia 18 I'll be very surprised if Sweden don't walk this semi final. I'd say this is the weaker of the two, and overloaded with average ballads. The one that stands out for me is the Bosnian one though, so I think they'll do well, and Norway are also easing through. Again, I'm fairly confident with this top ten too to be honest; the only one that could sneak up there I reckon is Estonia. That's all for now anyway. I'm sure it'll all change over the coming weeks.

This song is so qualifying. It is absolute trash, but really catchy...

Keeping a close eye on Oddschecker atm...our odds are beginning to shorten with a few bookmakers now that it's been released. :D

Oh I forgot about Spain...theirs is also very good obvs, as are Bosnia's and Slovenia's. Lol...I'll just retract that last comment. It's good though.

I firmly believe we have the best ballad in the contest by a country mile teebs...

Just had a look though, and previous Swedish Eurovision entrants always get a single release (Saade's was on 12th May), so I'm hopeful this will as well.

I really want it to be a massive hit in the UK... Is it still not on iTunes though? Because you know full well that it'll be album only on the Eurovision album...

Last year was ridiculous. Italy finishing so high could never have been predicted! It even came tenth in the public vote didn't it?! Obviously I think Sweden are in with a shout, but right now I'm thinking Italy. Maybe I'm just being biased because I love it and I love her, I just think Nina Zilli will absolutely nail it even moreso than Loreen. I don't really see which other entries could win though. :unsure: Russia are likely to do well, but they shouldn't get much help from the juries. Serbia's borefest will pick up some eastern votes but will be largely ignored by the west, Denmark is being completely overrated and will be lucky to finish top ten in the final and Spain may have the best ballad in the competition, but again, I could easily see them missing the top ten. Azerbaijan's odds are very long right now too...I wouldn't be too surprised if they pulled a big one out of the bag again at all. I just hope we don't all wake up on Sunday and realise that five grannies (and Dima Bilan?!) have snatched the victory and brought the UK's vision of the Eurovision back to what it was, after the last few years of it steadily losing its novelty value...

This isn't qualifying. :(

I genuinely don't think Sweden will win. I do really like it, but something about it just doesn't scream out "winner" to me. Too dancey perhaps? After France's ridiculous odds all the way up to the final week last year, I think it's safe to say the bookmakers can get it very wrong. I think the odds for 'Fairytale' were about this low at this point too weren't they? I'll dig around and find the old thread! Edit ^_^ Yep...here are the March 18th 2009 odds: Norway 7/4 Greece 4/1 Montenegro 8/1 Turkey 10/1 Malta 10/1 Azerbaijan 12/1 Sweden 16/1 United Kingdom 18/1 Russia 20/1 I remember Montenegro being really high up at one point...they soon dropped after a brief spell that high!

As I posted in the other thread, here's what I think for semi final two... 1.Sweden 2.Bosnia & Herzegovina 3.Norway 4.Ukraine 5.Serbia 6.Portugal 7.Slovenia 8.Netherlands 9.Turkey 10.Lithuania 11.Estonia 12.Malta 13.Croatia 14.Bulgaria 15.FYR Macedonia 16.Slovakia 17.Belarus 18.Georgia

Ok, so here's my initial predictions... SwedenBosnia & HerzegovinaNorwayUkraineSerbiaPortugalSloveniaNetherlandsTurkeyLithuaniaEstoniaMaltaCroatiaBulgariaFYR MacedoniaSlovakiaBelarusGeorgia

I think people are underestimating Lithuania and Estonia. These two could potentially take votes from Serbia, and they're both in the second half of the running order.

I think Croatia might miss out this year actually... The only hope they have is that there are loads of former Yugoslavian countries voting here. The Bosnian and Slovenian songs are far stronger though.

Worst Eurovision song I've heard for years. There are loads of songs each year that I don't have any opinion of, but I genuinely despise this. It's awful. :mellow:

Classy song...best ballad in the contest along with Spain methinks. Or Slovenia... Oh I don't know, I get very confused. I really like this though!

I do love 'Euphoria', and I think it works well live, I'm just not sure it can win myself. I need to proper analyse all the songs and their chances over the coming weeks methinks! I was hideously wrong last year.

Public mincing is far more satisfying Tyron, especially with the amazingness of the Zilli. :heart: I managed to put a bet on this at 33/1, well impressed considering how much the odds have shortened.

Same. Prancing around town with it on repeat thinking I'm Nina Zilli strutting round the streets of Rome with a skinny latte. This song is too amazing... I cannot wait to see a live performance of it.