Yup, it's Eurovision time again! 
Time for the most
- fun
- trashy
- cruel
- awesome
songs/performances of the year! 
Last year's thread 2007
thread
To be honest, I almost didn't see the contest coming because I've been too busy, so I'm not informed at all. LOL I happened to see the CD in a
store yesterday, and there are more known artists participating this year than I thought! (Why, Sakis, why? 
) I have no idea what to expect, don't know
any of the songs (OK, hardly any), and I don't even know what goes on when. (There's usually a performance of the winning song from the previous year -
does this mean we will have to watch Plushenko on a tiny surface again?) In any case it'll be interesting how the new voting system works now that judges
have been added again.
Can't say I'm ready 
, but today is the first semi-final!
21:00 Central European Time (3 p.m. Eastern)
Link to watch live: http://www.eurovision.tv (or various European TV channels that might have live streams
one place or another)
Participants in Semi-Final 1:
|
#
|
Representing country
|
Performer(s)
|
Song title, writer(s) and composer(s)
|
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 |
Montenegro
 RTCG
|
Andrea Demirovic | Just Get Out of My Life |
| 02 |
Czech Republic
 ČT
|
Gipsy.cz | Aven Romale |
| 03 |
Belgium
 RTBF
|
Copycat | Copycat |
| 04 |
Belarus
 BTRC
|
Petr Elfimov | Eyes That Never Lie |
| 05 |
Sweden
 SVT
|
Malena Ernman | La Voix |
| 06 |
Armenia
 AMPTV
|
Inga & Anush | Jan Jan |
| 07 |
Andorra
 RTVA
|
Susanne Georgi | La Teva Decisió (Get A Life) |
| 08 |
Switzerland
 SRG SSR idée suisse
|
Lovebugs | The Highest Heights |
| 09 |
Turkey
 TRT
|
Hadise | Düm Tek Tek |
| 10 |
Israel
 IBA
|
Noa & Mira Awad | There Must Be Another Way |
| 11 |
Bulgaria
 BNT
|
Krassimir Avramov | Illusion |
| 12 |
Iceland
 RÚV
|
Yohanna | Is It True? |
| 13 |
F.Y.R. Macedonia
 MKRTV
|
Next Time | Neshto Shto Ke Ostane |
| 14 |
Romania
 TVR
|
Elena | The Balkan Girls |
| 15 |
Finland
 YLE
|
Waldo's People | Lose Control |
| 16 |
Portugal
 RTP
|
Flor-de-lis | Todas As Ruas Do Amor |
| 17 |
Malta
 PBS
|
Chiara | What If We |
| 18 |
Bosnia &
Herzegovina
 BHRT
|
Regina | Bistra Voda |
I'll post the list of the second semi-final later, otherwise it's getting too long.
Russia, United Kingdom, France, Germany and Spain will join in
the final show on Saturday.
I hope many of you are watching - at least the ones in the Eurovision areas
- and that it'll be great fun for all of us!
Janina.
There were 7 songs that I thought HAD to reach the final, and they did. 
I didn't quite like
Sweden's entry (it would have been OK if it had been like what the clip shows throughout), but I nearly expected the song to advance as well. Romania and
Finland were a surprise to me, those didn't really stand out for me. In any case you can now easily guess which seven countries were on my top list if you
know that the 10 countries that qualified for the final are
HRT
RTÉ
LTV
RTS
TVP
NRK
CyBC
STV
DR
RTVSLO
MTV
İctimai
ERT
LRT
TRM
RTSH
NTU
ETV
NOS
I
hope some of you come here after today's Final! 
I
also loved the bears in the beginning, especially the one with the snow machine. Here's the recap video of all 19 songs:
France 3
C1R
NDR
BBC
TVE
While I knew the song was good, it wouldn't have surprised me if something else had won. So it did surprise
me that Norway received all those 387 points. Only country to receive points from all the other countries, 16 out of 42 (or 41, minus Norway) countries voting
Norway first. Wow. That made the whole results presentation a bit boring, even though it's always fun to see Ireland's favorites. They're always
all over the place. 
costumes, "tasteful" performances vs. funny dancing at its best (preferably combined with crazy props). I love it, you only
get this once a year. And then you've had enough of that for another. 
He's so gifted, and I'm happy he won the composers' award
twice (I would have given it to him all three times 
(So, your boyfriend can sing? 