Eurovision Song Contest 2012

[tubeguru]

Ta. I just watched the first ten seconds of Russia. Clear winners.

[hopeful traveller]

Ta. I just watched the first ten seconds of Russia. Clear winners.

No! No! No! The song "goes off" after the first 30 seconds!

[Soup Dragon]

My predicted qualifiers are....

Semi 1 - Iceland, Greece, Albania, Romania, Switzerland, Israel, Cyprus, Denmark, Russia, Moldova.
Semi 2 - Serbia, FYR Macedonia, Netherlands, Portugal, Ukraine, Slovenia, Croatia, Sweden, Turkey, Norway.

I always mean to ask you - have you sat down and listened to all of the songs, or are you just basing it on the odds being offered by bookmakers?

I base it mainly on my own tastes having listened to all songs on YouTube and downloaded the MP3 files as well. I also take into account some of the feedback on various ESC Fan sites. Trying to correctly predict all 20 qualifiers is virtually impossible though. I usually manage to get 7 or 8 correct in each semi, but there are always a couple of suprises.

[hopeful traveller]

I've just had my official CD delivered. I find it annoying that they're all in alphabetical order by their 3-letter acronyms (what's the UK doing between France and Georgia?) because that means we have to have Albania and Austria before a moderately OK one...

[tubeguru]

I've just had my official CD delivered. I find it annoying that they're all in alphabetical order by their 3-letter acronyms (what's the UK doing between France and Georgia?) because that means we have to have Albania and Austria before a moderately OK one...

GBR.

[tubeguru]

Which is a bit weird, as we have always competed as "United Kingdom".

[MylesHSG]

Rhys...ever pushed the little arrow button...here, it resembles this: --->

[Soup Dragon]

After watching Panorama this evening I'm voting for Azerbaijan. It seems like such a fantastic country and fully deserving of our douze point.

[tubeguru]

What happened on Panorama that has any bearing on the Eurovision Song Contest?

[al]

If I read the snipet in the paper correctly, various human rights violations, all in the name of hosting a fabulous contest...

[tubeguru]

So SD is advocating that we give Azerbaijan 12 points because it is a fantastic country, and not because their song is any good?

[hopeful traveller]

Let's all put the country behind us. I haven't seen the Panorama programme (and never do after they told a big fat lie a few years ago), and besides, Azerbaijan won't win again.

Eurovision CD arrived!!

I'm going to say WHO I WANT TO QUALIFY:

Denmark - "Should've Known Better" by Soluna Samay
Cyprus - "La la Love" by Ivi Amadou
Ireland - "Waterline" by Jedward
Israel - "Time" by Izabo
Greece - "Aphrodisiac" by Eleftheria Eleftheriou
Switzerland - "Unbreakable" by SinPlus
Hungary - "Sound of our Hearts" by Compact Disco
Iceland - "Never Forget" by Gréta Salóme & Jónsi
Belgium - "Would You?" by Iris
Latvia - "Beautiful Song" by Anmary

I've left Russia out because of that horrible opening. Too wishy-washy for me.
I really don't like Romania and Moldova. I loved Romania last year and voted for it. Not again.
Austria, Really?
Uh oh, San Marino.
Finland. No. Finnish, okay. Swedish, though...
I only have one thing to say about Albania:

QAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAJ!!!

(Yes, I did just play the note holding down "A").
Euro No points, Montenegro.

Rhys...ever pushed the little arrow button...here, it resembles this: --->

Don't get it.

[Soup Dragon]

So SD is advocating that we give Azerbaijan 12 points because it is a fantastic country, and not because their song is any good?

My tongue was firmly in my cheek with a very large slice of irony. Based on their abysmal human rights record I suggest nobody votes for Azerbaijan.
Really enjoyed tonights semi, what a great mixture of musical styles. Based on performance my 10 qualifiers are:
Iceland, Greece, Albania, Romania, Cyprus, Denmark, Russia, Austria, Moldova, Ireland.
Awards of the night:
Biggest Hair: Albania
Biggest Voice: Albania
Biggest Song: Albania
Biggest Collar: Albania
Wettest Performance: Jedward

[Soup Dragon]

What happened on Panorama that has any bearing on the Eurovision Song Contest?

Basically they did not broadcast the Armenian entry (which is against EBU rules) and the secret police then visited all Azerbaijanis that had voted for Armenia.
They refused to give the Armenian's any extra protection or security in Baku, so Armenia had no choice but to withdraw.
If the EBU had any balls they would kick Azerbaijan out of the contest. When Jordan did not show the Israeli entry the EBU kicked them out, so they should stick to the rules regardless of who the country is.

[Soup Dragon]

I got 9 out of 10 correct, only one wrong was Austria, with Hungary being the one I missed