EUROVISION SONG CONTEST 2008
 

Ok so we all know this thread had to be created sometime, so I did it now.

I was really bored today and looked a little into it and I can't really say I'm impressd or surprised (as usual). =(

The most surprsing thing to me this year is that a country like azerbajan is competing. In danger of sounding like total arrogant eurotrash my first reaction was WTF!?. Well, I guess it shouldn't be a bigger surprise than Israel and Turkey being a part of it. Geographically that is.

So my question to you.. Will you be watching?
Who are your favourites?


Edit:

Here you can listen to clips of all participants except two:
part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vcdh5D7Lmyw
part2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6jUq...eature=related
part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmL3h...eature=related

An oh! To answer my own questions:

I will probably not be watching unless Im invited to a preparty at one particular friend's. I don't even know the date. LOL

My work is having a lottery, so I have to guess who'll win and be the top 5. My guesses based on songs I find decent so far:

Slovenia (damn catchy even if it's not very fresh creative or have a pretty scenery)

Bulgaria

Russia - (was this the guy so many people were drooling ovr?? Disgusting but the song is catchy. Reminds me of backstreet boys lol)

Armenia - Quele Quele (I'm 100% sure I*ll hear this in discos, it's catchy, but yet not traditional, kind of like ruslana's winner song, however I hardly think armenia is well enough connected a country to win. Sadly)



Those who will probably do well but are not on my list:

Sweden
Ukraine
Latvia ( remoinds me of a watered down version of happy bubble gum eurodance from the ate 9Os, like toybox and aqua. Z_Z)



Hey why can't Italy participate with some cool gyaru dancers and Eurobeat? That would be so cool! IF they contest is to be forever stuck in a pop dance funk, this would be awesome.

(Oh, and if Azerbajan can join, why not expand further? next year I vote for that ayumi from japan)

I'll watch like usual, have been since 2000. First time I won't watch it on TV, since I don't live in Europe anymore. I usually like more songs, this year I like maybe 2.

Luckily I always watched it more because I'm interested in the whole project behind it. It's the biggest TV event in the world, the huge preperation behind it is unbelieveable.

It's also a chance for the host country to show what they got and attract tourists, so the amount of money spent on the stage, lighting and such is enormous. All of it also looks very impressive for that reason.


This years entrants:


SEMI FINAL 1 20 May 2008

01 Montenegro - Stefan Filipović - Zauvijek volim te
02 Israel - Bo'az Ma'uda - The Fire In Your Eyes
03 Estonia - Kreisiraadio - Leto svet
04 Moldova - Geta Burlacu - A Century of Love
05 San Marino - Miodio - Complice
06 Belgium - Ishtar - O Julissi
07 Azerbaijan - Elnur and Samir - Day After Day
08 Slovenia - Rebeka Dremelj - Vrag naj vzame
09 Norway - Maria - Hold On Be Strong
10 Poland - Isis Gee - For Life
11 Ireland - Dustin the Turkey - Irelande Douze Pointe
12 Andorra - Gisela - Casanova
13 Bosnia and Herzegovina - Laka - Pokušaj
14 Armenia - Sirusho - Qele Qele
15 Netherlands - Hind - Your Heart Belongs To Me
16 Finland - Teräsbetoni - Missä miehet ratsastaa
17 Romania - Nico and Vlad - Pe-o margine de lume
18 Russia - Dima Bilan - Believe
19 Greece - Kalomira - Secret Combination


SEMI FINAL 2 22 May 2008

01 Iceland - Eurobandið - This Is My Life
02 Sweden - Charlotte Perrelli - Hero
03 Turkey - Mor ve Ötesi - Deli
04 Ukraine - Ani Lorak - Shady Lady
05 Lithuania - Jeronimas Milius - Nomads In The Night
06 Albania - Olta Boka - Zemrën E Lamë Peng
07 Switzerland - Paolo Meneguzzi - Era stupendo
08 Czech Republic - Tereza Kerndlová - Have Some Fun
09 Belarus - Ruslan Alekhno - Hasta La Vista
10 Latvia - Pirates of the Sea - Wolves of the Sea
11 Croatia - Kraljevi Ulice and 75 cents - Romanca
12 Bulgaria - Deep Zone and Balthazar - DJ, Take Me Away
13 Denmark - Simon Mathew - All Night Long
14 Georgia - Diana Gurtskaya - Peace Will Come
15 Hungary - Csézy - Candlelight
16 Malta - Morena - Vodka
17 Cyprus - Evdokia Kadi - Femme Fatale
18 FYR Macedonia - Tamara, Vrčak and Adrijan - Let Me Love You
19 Portugal - Vânia Fernandes - Senhora do Mar (Negras Águas)


FINAL 24 May 2008

02 United Kingdom - Andy Abraham - Even If
04 Germany - No Angels - Disappear
19 France - Sébastien Tellier - Divine
22 Spain - Rodolfo Chikilicuatre - Baila el Chiki-chiki
23 Serbia - Jelena Tomašević and Bora Dugić - Oro

This years theme

http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/1...ade2008ek1.png


This years stage

http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/3...fcui6pmkp8.jpg


Venue: Belgrade Arena

http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/6...plxpzpmja7.jpg


Hosts: Jovana Janković & Željko Joksimović

http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/1...e1hcvpmsc9.jpghttp://img527.imageshack.us/img527/4...foyaapmoh5.jpg



Official Eurovision website videos here

THanks for the update. So who are your favourites mister?

I like Ukraine and Sweden the best. I've liked Ani Lorak for a few years, since she tried entering the contest in '05. I don't think "Shady Lady" is typical at all, the refrain is very catchy and unique, easy to remember. But of course, like the contest, it's all in the eye of the beholder. Sweden is kinda typical Swedish, but better than what they've sent the last few years.

I do think some of those wacky ones will get high up, as much as I hate it. They usually do. Like, Dustin the Turkey. A turkey?? What?? It's dumb, but you gotta hate something in the contest, that's what makes it fun. A lot of the music is pathetic, cheesy, horrible, desperate and so on. It's always fun to laugh at other peoples expense :P

^
I think many of the sngs mimic the typical swedish style, it has shaped the contest.

I was surprised to see that all the songs I picked were in the top 20 in the finnish ranking :dead2 .

I think both of your favourites are ok, but they just fail to grasp me. I think maybe greece has a chance as well

the new contest in Belgrade is going to be interesting ~~
i wanted to go,but i'm not sure anymore...

I used to be excited about Eurovision, but the songs keep getting worse and worse every year :(

This year, there's a stellar song though: "Era Stupendo" by Paolo Meneguzzi representing Switzerland. Tht song is awesome!

And there are also a few here and there songs that are not so horrible. And Spain's song??? UGH!

Oh God Dustin the Turkey is so embaressing... :dead2

^I know... :( We aint even gonna make it to the final this year lol

Don't be too sure of that, it's happened over and over again that entries like this Irish one make it really high. Alf Poier in 2003, LT United in 2006.

i like the little young girl from georgia last year...she was so cute!and the song she sang too!

agree...

Bilam Dima FTW!!!!!!

So glad he's performing again this year. I hope he can win since he came second in '06 and lost out to Lordi aka the band with the gimmick. >__>

The UK entry is so crap this year - not good, not totally awful, just boring. zzzzzz.

Go Ireland!

mi|kshake~

go Serbia! LOL

Wow I almost forgot that Eurovision was so close. No one will ever top Silvia Night :luv2

Željko is such a hottie ... mhhhmm *dreaming*

He sure is! :love

She was so amazing. It was hilarious when she got her bodyguard to remove this woman from a press conference because the woman was "staring her in the eyes". :laugh Her song should've been top 5! :P

GREECE!!! hahaha Kalomira is not the best singer in the world by far hehe but i think she commands attention well - if we get lucky we might do okay hehehe

but i will watch of course! ^^

I'm rooting for Greece too! Kalomoira has a great personality, I hope she can do a great performance! ^_^ A lot of the entries sound good this year, I'm expecting a lot from this year's competition!

Did anyone watch the first semifinal? Obviously San Marino deserved to pass to the finals, but what did we get? Horrible Armenian song, Bosnia and Norway qualified?? Horrible!

^
LOL many people posted those songs as their favourites. ;)

Personally I think greece was catchy and it may win. I like the armenian song better though, much less traditional and much more catchy. I'd love to hear it in a club.

I saw our Hind, she ever was third of the Idols competition... But I hate this song..
And that puppet and Poland were... too bad..
I guess I don't like someone...
Well, Greech had the best song.

Huh, Finland is in the finals. I thought we'd never manage it again, especially not with a song that's in Finnish.

No one likes Portugal - Senhora do Mar?
Cause I dont LOL
Here in Portugal in the finals there were such amazing artists and then the winner was Vania.
BLERGH

I watched it too:rolleyes. I liked the first two songs, Finland and the one with the bridemaids & the laundry (the act was stupid, the song rather catchy).
Like every year, we weren't selected:thud.
Really - no offence - but the last years it are always the East-European countries that go to the final. I think Eurosong has become more the playground for politics than for chosing a good song:innocent.
But, I liked the song that won last year. In my country, people didn't like it "because it's sang in a language they don't understand". If a song isn't sang in English or their own language, then they don't like it:shakehead:no.
I always listen to the music and to the way that the voice fits the song (eg: sweet voice with a love song, ...) first and then I decide if I like the song or not. When I find the lyrics (in English) afterwards, then - most of the time - I like the song even better, like "Love in the Ice" (TOHOSHINKI):luv2 and "Together when..." (Ayu):luv2.

I'm pretty tired of all western countries excusing their horrible songs with "the eastern mafia" who vote for each other. Fact is that the Eastern countries just take it more seriously and send better songs. Most of the time, the western countries don't even try and send the biggest crap of the whole contest.

I'm not saying that the eastern countries get all their votes by these politics, but I think most of it. Western countries do the same: my country, for example, always votes for "The Netherlands" and they always vote for us, "Belgium". Do you think that all the people in Belgium would vote every year for the same country and always giving 12 points? I'm pretty sure that people vote for other countries instead, but they (The Netherlands) always get the 12 points. I mean, when you watch the results, you know before who is going to give 12 points to who (Russia to Belarus and Belarus to Russia, etc.) Eurovision is just game of these politics and not of chosing the song that whole Europe likes.
Alright, Dustin the Turkey was crap and wasn't serious, but not every western country sends a crappy song (like Finland).
I'm not defending the song of my country, I like it, but other people in my country think it's crap; it depends on your taste in music.
I gave up on European and especially on American music a year ago, when I started to listen to Japanese music. Like I said before, there ARE eastern songs that I like (like the first two and the laundry one), but you can't deny that the whole eurovision contest is a game of politics; just like most things in our lifes that are controlled by politics but we don't know of.

I think the right song won the past 5 years, and pretty much thought the ones in the top 5's were deserved. Are you saying they only got there because of their neighbors?

I seriously don't think people watch it and vote for a country regardless of the song. There is some neighbor voting, but only because a lot of neighboring countries have same tastes.

I get annoyed when western newspapers whine about "the eastern mafia" when infact, the western countries voted for the eastern countries themselves. Again, eastern countries just take it more seriously and produce higher quality music. Plus, a western country won as early as 2006.

^
^

I don't think it's all politics, but also due to the fact that a song from the neighbouring contry is much more accessible to the the general public. It's much cheaper for an artist to tour neighbouring countries, the language is more often than not much more understandable, esp in the german (dutch scandinavian, suiss german etc etc), latin (italian, spanish, french) and sounthern, western and eastern slavic (macedonian, russian, polish, croatian etc) areas, also the popular music also is different in these areas, something a quick youtube search should prove.

I never really "gave up" on western musci, but I will admit that I was sorely looking for good and catchy music when japanese music came along. I didn't have any access to anime, manga or anything prior to listening to it. Simultaneously I discovered chinese and indian music but it didn't appeal to me as much.

About the songs: Yes, it's about taste mostly, but you still can't ignore tha fact that a big portion of them are very very schematic and traditional pop songs without even the slightest attempt of doing something new or standing out. I don't remember all the songs from the first semi final, but there were at least three - five songs falling into the "demi tempo disco verse bridge chorus x2 with a almost below album track melody to back it up" category. They were relying entirely on melody, voice and stage show for people to like it, they didn't even have a proper instrumental hook, something that can make people remember the song. Basically, that makes the song doomed unless people like the melody or the singer has a hell of a lot more charisma than the other (and that's competing against a tough crowd).

I hope this isen't too abstract, but to make an example and a comparison to an ayu song (which IMO has a lot of most of what I mentioned above) that may not have her best and most catchy melody, but has an awesome hook that drives you into it nonetheless and can make you repeat the song untill you are accostumed to the melody as well. I'm thinking of WE WISH, and about 0:22 into the song, the instrumental hook plays. It's a great life saver for any song. THe same type of hook is right at the beginning of the hit of Britney SPears "hit me baby one more time". Soo many eurovision songs lack this feature + like mentioned above features, it's sad.

I think maybe a reason why many of the "eastern" countries are doing better also musically IMO is because they use ethnic sounds incorporated into the song that are really catchy and danceable. Some westrn countries do that as well, but often it turns out very bland compared to those who have it in their blood. Compare the armenian song to the dutch this year and tell me who has the fiercest beat, not matter which song you like the most... Same thing with the "spanish" take of the norwegian song last year. :headache

Music is about taste, but still there are certain ways that make a hit more approachable than others. A great example is the reception of the song "life" off mirrorcle world, it's made to be a B-side, it's got no promotion and a straightforward pretty arrangement.

I could go on about this for ages, but my fingers are exhausted for now. =P

I TOTALLY agree with you. Most of the western countries present songs that bring nothing new to the competiton (either sounding like they've been made by a swedish producer who's been making the same stuf ever since abba) or they have boring melodies and lousy arrangements. IMO this is because very few people care about it anymore in ther repsective countries. In France the competition is practically unheard of and Italy is not ever participating.

I think that people can vote how much they want, but the governments have their say in it. Politicians are good in telling tales and making promises to the citizens, but they don't tell everything they do or decide. Believe me, the politics in my country are a mess, but nobody will understand it, even I don't get the whole point. Almost a year after the elections, we got our government. But that's beside the point, isn't it? :)
Anyway, nobody will ever know the truth behind the votingsystem of the contest, so we don't know if it goes they tell us it works or it goes by politics.
We are both right, okay?;)

It's good to know that there is still someone who believes in a good world, because I lost my faith in the world and people a time ago (thanks to "my dear friends" or should I say "the ones I thought were friends, but are the perfect exemple of hypocrisy and telling lies". But that's beside the point too:)).

HAHAHAHHAHAHA OMFG WE GOT BOOED OFF STAGE. :roflmao

OMG Bilan Dima was just on TV his english is sooooo cute!!!! XD

He said "UK, hi!" and I was like "HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!" seriously i had such a crazy fanboy moment. <3<3<3

Ok, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Portugal, Greece and Isreal are voted through to the final.

Moldova, Slovenia, Estonia, Montenegro, Belarus, Bulgaria, FYR Macedonia, Hungary, Lithuania and Czech Republic are all left out of the final.


Now all the Western countries can stop whining about the "Eastern Mafia".

^ I know, I was surprised too. :D

Macedonia were gooooooood :)

Haha, that one was so bad it was hilarious. The moves that woman made :laugh

just watched the semi-final (correct?)

my favourites were:
Azerbaijan
Andorra
Armenia
the Netherlands
Finland
Russia
Greece
Belgium

so far, i'm cheering for Greece and Azerbaijan

he is as annoying and arrogant as someone can get, and his English sucks badly XD The only english phrases he knows are the movies/song titles and it seems he loves saying "Please, do it faster" XD
And even though I live in Serbia XD I am possitive that the fact that there are so many slovenian/eastern countries who keep voting for each other every year is dumb and it would be good if the countries who didn't make it to the finals can't vote during the finals ^^. Obviously the songs suck even more this year ^^

Ugh, Kalomira's song is alright but it sounds more American than Greek. She is half American though... but still. :/ I like the dance and the song, it's just... typical-sounding. My Number 1 FTW, lol.

Well there are 2 of them :P

They're both annoying, the female host makes me cringe when she speaks and she's so fake. The Finnish hosts were 10 times better.

UNF UNF UNF

really? i loved the music and her voice was awesome.. i think it was macedonia anyway. :laugh

I wonder what did everyone think about Israel's (my country's) song lmao.

I think it's nice but too bad he doesn't sing it in English.

Most people won't relate to Hebrew and the lyrics are pretty.

That's one of the songs I really like, he sings very well (although I thought it was a woman singing at first), the melody is nice and I actually like it's partly in hebrew. It fits the song. I also like the fact that it's not full of gimmicks, but just him singing. I think it'll do very well.

Thanks!

:laugh at the thought it's a woman singing!

He really has high voice (he could duet well with ayu lmao) and thanks to it he won Israel's "A Star is born" show which is like "American Idol" just israel's, and he was chosen to sing in the Eurovision this year to represent Israel.

Yeah I like that he just sings and there's nothing special!
The song is kinda the fresh type of ballad.

Oh he sings partly in English at the end? I thought he won't since they said here he won't (and I couldn't watch the semi-finals).

I think he sang the middle in English, though it wasn't that understandable, I didn't realize it until a few sentences in. (something like "come with me, let me show you something something fire in your eyes").

I hope he'll do as well as Shiri in 2005, she was great too. And it's a huge improvement over 2007s "Push the button" :dead2

Push the button was one huge EW, I couldn't believe this song was chosen to represent us.

Humiliating...

Shiri just started her own first tour and she sings her Eurovision song there as well lol =P her song was good.

Yeah, some Israelis sing in EngRish as well LOL.

Oh, I hated the song from Israel this year, completely horrible and he sings like a girl!

Now, Shiri was amazing!!!!!!!!

I love how Dana International wrote the lyrics for the Israel entry. Her song Diva is just epic, and her album Hakol Ze Letova too. :P Diva (1998), along with Wild Dances (2004) by Ruslana have been the most recents winners I've enjoyed. The others just don't stick out. And last year's winner sucked, srsly.

Is Greece favourite to win? The final's on tomorrow right?

Edit Oh and Helena Paparizou's song was alright too, but her albums are better. <3

Last years winner was "the victory of the song" supposedly, since people always complain it's more of a show contest than song contest. I liked the crazy Verka in 2nd place a lot better though.

Currently, Russia is the projected winner according to the bettings, with Ukraine, Greece, Serbia and Sweden following.

I hope Ukraine doesn't stall at #2 again this year. :dead2 I really like Shady Lady! But the lady who sings it really scares me, too much makeup. :laugh

I really wanna see Ani win, she's great. But yea, she could cut back a bit on the make up :P The Swedish Charlotte or Polish one on the other hand .... :dead2 And the Portugese looks like Ursula from The Little Mermaid. :headache

I saw Sweden last week, I think she's the best of these horrible songs...

true ^^, at least they could speak properly ^^ And I am fine as long as Serbia doesn't win again XD

Iceland's song is too good <3

Portugal finished... Did you like it?
LOL

Iceland gets points from me due to the fact that it actually sounds like a cedible Eurodance song, one of my favourite types of music when I was.. younger. I still absolutely love the best of this genre, it's my "80s" music. lol

Portugal song wasen't as bad as I thought it would be, but it reminds me so much of Pride in the chorus. :lech

Latvia... :dead2 apparently this genre did not die with Aqua and similar danish acts...

I vote Armenia For teh win! Look at her Paris video, she's adorable! Her semi final performance was better than this one though, it seemed like she had some problems with the playback track. Her song reminds me of Ruslana's song, it's catchy, ethnic and amazingly danceable. :yes



I think Russia will do well not only because the song is ok (sounds like a boyband song from the end of the 90s), but because people seem to love dima.

I don't particualrly care for Sweden and Ukraine because I've heard this kind of song so many times and with better and more catchy guises, like this swedish entry "cara mia" that didn't even make it to the eurovison final, but was played in clubs more than the actual swedish winner and several others (I couldn't find one other that I was thinking of that's both in swedish and some eastern european language). The songs are not bad, but not exactly very fresh.

Edit: I found it , it's Tornero by romania Mihai Traistariu in 2006 ^_^ Apparently I've only been exposed to swedish remix. >_<

LOL@spain

I liked Greece.. i think it's cute and catchy lol

Just to clear up for those of you not living in Europe about the "mafia" thing, it has some things going for it and also explains why so many small countries are in the final.

Due to the soviet occupation / influence and lots of russians native speakers and former russians are scattered in these countries. Just like Germany always gives a lot of votes for Turkey romanians in moldova, these will be more likely to vote for russia. As some of you might've noticed, lots of people were booing when russia got votes...

Most of the countries in the final have a population less than half of the biggest metropolitan areas of the captials of the biggest nations. Still, their votes count just as much. Imagine South Carolinia having just as many representatives voting for the next president as California... Instead of adding San Marino they should've added "Ile - de France" or "London Metropolitan" IMO.

Latvia, Russia, Iceland & Sweden is my favorites :3

Russia won...
Jesus =\

Russian win. Laaaaame. :eviltongu

I'm sorry, but Greece was stolen by block voting. I don't see how people can't think that. I know that Western European countries do it, but the Balkan and ex-Soviet block is really starting to ruin Eurovision, there is just too many of them in one area. (Eg. Ukraine gave 12 points to Russia. Omg. How surprising!) Dilma is a effing arrogant *****, and won simply because of his popularity in Europe, and the fact ex-Soviet Union countries licked Russia arse.

Thx. I can't believe my favourite 2 entries came second and third. How ironic...

Ukraine second again.............. so awful.

And Sweden flopped!? Poor Charlotte...

I really liked Greece.

i liked my country lol, and spain LOL , and.... russia was ok, but not awsome..

Greece should've won... damn eastern bloc ruining their chances
also, Andy Abrahams was robbed! UK should boycott or completely pull out of future Eurovisions, it's getting too political

Oh well, the two best entries this year (Switzerland and San Marino) were left off the final, which obviously sucks. I'm sick of these horrible songs with women singing,, sexy women and sexy dance moves. Those sngs have no substance, just make you shake your ass for a few minutees and then, what? Remember the year Ruslana won? I think among Eurovision fans Zeljko deserved to win with a much classier and deep song, really good songwriting, instead of Ruslana's average song with very eye catching coreography.

That said, obviously I hated that Armenia and Ukraine got so many points.

I think Ruslana is just awesome. Best Eurovision winner in a long time. :(

Well yeah, I'll tell you a secret: liked it too, it's just that I wanted Zeljko to win, so bad, that my hatred made me focus on Ruslana.

And did anyone notice how the singer from Portugal looks exactly like the Dixie Chick who sings?

Oh, so it's much like how I hate that Russian dude because I wanted either Ukraine or Greece to win so badly. :laugh

I like the behind-shaking-girls. :o Esp Sirusho and Ruslana.

Ruslana has a great album too, the entire album that wild dances is one I would recommend. ^_^ There's a more mellow version of the hit song that's really nice.

No matter if you take into account the so called political votes, Ruslana was a big hit and clearly the favourite song of Eurovision that year:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruslana#2004

darn, Shady Lady didn't win :D It was my favorite. I guess Ukraine is second at next year too...

hmm I don't think Russia had the best entry... i would have loved the Azerbaijan boys to win -- that song was... high pitched? lol, i loved it!

Greece also had a pretty catchy song!

I didn't like Russia, lame and overdramatic for me...

My favs were Azerbaijan and Armenia. Azerbaijan is great, it just clicks for me, I don't know why. Greece and Bosnia&Herzegovina were okay too.

Shady Lady has been on repeat for hours now. :blove The music video really made me love the song more for some reason, plus, Ani's so sexy!

I listened to it a million times too, it's sooo disappointing she didn't win :weep Her performance was FLAWLESS. Then the barefoot clown wins.. darn.

In the first semi-final he was the second to sing, no? Me and my dad liked it a lot!!!! It has more feeling than the song that won. I think that he sang english somewhere in the middle too, but I didn't mind that it was in Hebrew: it sounded good and that's what matters! I thought it was a woman at first too:headache:dead2 Anyway, it was good! If you have the song, let me know;)

I really liked Armenia's song
Spain's song was just...funny plus it got more votes than the UK?! Political voting...

Which ones? Proteriotita and the one that My Number 1 is on are her bests for me as a solo artist... the more recent stuff after Mambo was pretty meh imo.

You know when she was in Antique? Man, I wish she could go back to that. Her old stuff was way better than her new stuff.

Poor Elena, though. She's been diagnosed with multiple scleroris and she's certainly not doing well right now. I don't know if this was announced publically, but my grandmother told me. My aunt has a student who's uncle is a pretty high profile doctor so that's how the message got passed on...

If you're interested, here's a music video I did to My Number 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTbdj_lJ7lI :innocent

OMG she has multiple sclerosis?!:( that is so sad...shes like one of my fav singers ever...she really has been great since Antique.

^ I have The Game of Love and Iparhi Logos, and I love them both. I'm really looking foraward to her new album, I think it's out on June 8th? Porta Gia Ton Ourano was a bit dissapointing for a first single though...

I really liked your video btw, really creative~

" I have The Game of Love and Iparhi Logos, and I love them both. I'm really looking foraward to her new album, I think it's out on June 8th? Porta Gia Ton Ourano was a bit dissapointing for a first single though... "

I completely agree. But I'm sure the whole album will be good, I usually like her album tracks as much (or more) as the singles.

:usaidwat

Wtf are you talking about.. licking Russia's arse? That's really stupid to say something like that, I'm from ex-soviet union country and the LAST thing my country would do is to "lick Russia's arse". It's NOT like the countries enjoyed to be a part of that union when it was at it's peak. :o Omg.

^ I'm afraid Austin is right, Lumix.
Songfestival isn't a songfestival anymore...
Horrible music... some more horrible than other songs..
And the East-Countries vote only for themselves...
... Of course an East-Country wins...

Okay, I'm not jealous that Russia won and the Netherlands didn't ...
But I only will say that the songfestival isn't anymore than a piece of stupid things...
I think Russia has the luck in this world that he has a lot of neighbourcountries... say: .. Believe wasn't a good track.. (... skate on a... Song Festival ? o.O)

^

I saw last years Eurovision and to me the east wasn't any worse than the west. Actually some of the western countries sang pretty hilarious songs I'd say (was it England that sang about airplanes or something? sorry I don't remember but it was terrible, no offense though), while eastern music brought into it some kind of creativeness. And the winner was clearly the best, the girl sang wonderfully and she actually used her skills to win and not looks.

I really don't see the problem you are talking about.

That's the same thing like if Scandinavian countries vote for themselves.. what's wrong with that? It's pretty natural I'd say.

I say 1st I felt proud for my country was the winner
now I feel sad because everybody say such nasty things about my country

really sad nobody's realling supporting it =/

^ Yep, it's pretty stupid how people are complaining about Eurovision every year.. once it's an international contest, so of course there WILL be like 50 countries "unhappy" and 1 "happy" and it's unfair to say nasty things about the winner.. most people sent him SMS to support him so what? Why do some people have problem with that.. it's easy as that.

*hugs ayu_ready?*

It's pretty damn obvious that Eurovision is all about playing favorites and politics. Nothing more than that. Which is sad to say since it's the only thing that showcases Europe's musical singing talent... ugh.

Oh I'm over it now, I was just really pissed because my favourite entries came 2nd, 3rd and 4th. :P I seem to say stuff a lot I regret later. I'm really sorry if I hurt your feelings Lumix.

But.. Finland won in 2006. Russia never won before, wouldn't they have won every year since like 2003 when the east countries started coming in?

I don't think Russia should've won, but it didn't win entirely because of neighbors. I think what happened was, that a lot of people wanted a slow, "beautiful" song to win and a lot of people wanted an upbeat song to win. If you look at 2nd place, it's a chick with an upbeat song. 3rd place, it's a chick with an upbeat song. 4th place, it's a chick with an upbeat song. The votes for the upbeat songs were split and it came in favor of Russia who had no real slow song competition.

it was all political buttkissing imo. I mean some neighbour countries gave each other 12 points while their song sucked XD

Iceland and Greece were good. They got almost none. WHAT THE HELL was so special about russia's song?...... ew. Nothing against Russia, I like their older entries a lot, but this song just sucked >< ew and then there was spain and france.....

seriously what the hell XD

^Greece came 3rd...

And the eastern butt kissing is just as bad as the western. Denmark gave 8 points to Sweden, 10 to Norway and 12 to Iceland. Hmmmm....

You didn't hurt my feelings but what you wrote felt was if you said "Hitler actually meant it well" to a Jew. :thud If you know what I mean.

Exactly. :innocent

PS: It's a stupid contest anyway.

If it's such a stupid contest, why is everyone all up in arms about it? -_-;;;

Anyway, congrats to Dima for winning, and congrats to Greece (who I was rooting for) for getting 3rd; I can't wait until next year to hear all the new entries!

Eurovision isn't a stupid contest! all you have to do, is ignore the voting! or view it as comedy! hehe us Aussies had Terry Wogan (i'm sure that was his name) as the commentator, and man it made the voting worthwile! that man had some smart comments :D

How is Eurovision not a stupid contest?

It's a joke like the likes of American Idol.

Terry Wogan's the coolest. I liked the way he was slagging off the female host's voice and she then mentioned Terry and two other commentators literally two seconds after he slagged her off. :P