Our man in Eurovisionia ([info]nick_at_esc) wrote in [info]oneurope_live,
@ 2008-05-23 23:20:00
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Typed in haste...
...we've whizzed over from the arena back to the press centre and we're even more confused than ever. Latvia's great even though it's terrible; Portugal easily gets the biggest response outside the local favourites (and is in the lead on the press centre predictions board); Serbia is scary big in the hall, but it would be; Georgia made a few people turn to each other and say "I've got an awful feeling..."; Germany's dead in the water; UK looks good in context but not good enough; Denmark's lyrics make no sense if you start analysing them; and I now have slightly less clue than I did two hours ago.

OnEurope there, getting confused so you don't have to.

While I'm about it, and so I don't forget in the excitement of tomorrow, I want to officially thank the RTS organisers, and especially all the press centre volunteers, for their hospitality and help throughout our stay. It's been seamless all the way from a journalistic point of view, it's all just been easy from start to finish. No doubt next year's organisers will think of even more things that we'd never even realised people were doing wrong, but it's certainly been my best ESC experience to date. And I didn't believe it was possible to top Helsinki.

Officially, the press centre closes for the day in 30 minutes' time, so I'll sign off for the day at this point and sit back to watch some of the voting rehearsal.

Tomorrow, I might well provide the key to understanding all the random blog posts which have caused such benign bafflement to most readers during the fortnight. But feel free to speculate on that in the comments, or what might win tomorrow night; whichever you feel is easier to work out!



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[info]radinden
2008-05-23 09:59 pm UTC (link)
Well, I was assuming that the random posts were a slightly more inventive way this year of disguising your counter posts - which, I'll grant you, would be one up on the previous "counter - please ignore" gubbins...

As for what'll win, goodness only knows. All I know is that I'm right out of step with the rest of Europe: my favourites have been Andorra and Switzerland, and look at their spectacular success.

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(Anonymous)
2008-05-24 06:26 am UTC (link)
Since you asked, :)

Many people have expressed praise for the new format. So far, so good, but I think it needs a little more use, at least, to call it a success. It does accomplish one useful thing, though - it eliminates weak songs from the final (except for the big four and the host) just because a country did well the prior year. I have also seen many people call this the strongest final in years. I agree with that, and have said all along that this seemed like a strong year (every year brings out a lot of "the songs are so bad this year" complaints, but I didn't believe that at all about this year).

As for what I think will happen:

The song that LOOKS (meaning visual appeal only) the most like a Eurovision winner is Greece. It also matches the most common recent "type" of winner (solo female artist singing an uptempo song in English), and Greece can pull in votes from everywhere.

I still think the contest remains Serbia's to lose, but only with a best performance. This year's final has only three ex-Yugoslavia countries in it, and I don't rate Croatia as a serious contender, so this will only compete with Bosnia and Herzegovina for Balkan votes.

No solo male artist has won Eurovision since 1990 (and before that, only Johnny Logan since 1966). I don't think much of the song, but Russia came close last year, and has a better performer this year. I think they will fall just short again however, especially with strong Ukrainian and Armenian songs again getting votes in the eastern countries that normally vote heavily for Russia.

Ukraine didn't impress me in the semi-final. She looked nervous. Maybe she puts it together and wins the whole thing, but I don't think so.

I loved Bosnia and Herzegovina from the beginning. This stands out anywhere in the draw, and while I don't think they have enough to win, they will easily finish in the top ten.

Turkey finished second in the televoting among western countries last year with a weaker song, and despite the tougher competition this year, have a lock on another top ten slot.

Sweden could have won the 1999 contest with this song, but it's not good enough to win in 2008. They will repeat its 2003, 2004, and 2006 results - a good finish, but not near the top of the table.

I didn't think Armenia deserved to qualify based on its performance in the semi-final. I like the song, though, and assuming she gets her vocals together, they will make the top ten again.

Spain has a funny joke song with a good draw. That should lead to the first top ten finish for a big four country since 2004.

The big ballad still has a place in Eurovision. Portugal gave a great performance in the semi-final, but I don't think the song has enough to push it up with the contenders, and singing first after the break means a big loss of points.

The rest:
Israel
Georgia
Romania
Norway
Latvia
Finland
Azerbaijan
Albania
Denmark
Iceland
United Kingdom
Poland
Croatia
France
Germany

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