What do you get when you mix blonde bombshells Charlotte Perrelli and Lady GaGa? You get this fabulous mash-up, as Lady Gaga sings 'Poker Face' over the backing track of Perrelli's 'Hero' from last year's Eurovision.

Labels: Charlotte Perrelli, Eurovision 2008, Lady GaGa

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The photos are old news, I know, but I haven't made them public before. I'm just experimenting with making slideshows at Slide.com. This is my first attempt, with a random selection of my photos from the Eurovision Winner's Show at London's Scala, when Ani Lorak totally outshone Dima Bilan. You should be able to hear Scissor Sisters while this is playing, but I can't hear the track. Can you?
The music track did work, but has now been removed after extensive user testing and feedback. Thank you Mark.

Labels: Ani Lorak, Eurovision 2008, Scala, Ukraine

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Ana Ivanovic's Eurovision appearance must have done her the world of good. She's just won the French Open. She will also climb to be the world's number one woman tennis player when the new rankings are announced on Monday. Her compatriots Novak Djokovic (who started the scoring in the first Eurovision semi-final) and Jelena Jankovic also made the French Open semi-finals, giving Serbia three of the last eight in the singles events.

If you didn't see her in one of the Eurovision semi-finals, you were probably watching the BBC version. I haven't seen it, but I don't think they showed Ivanovic's filmed 'Welcome To Belgrade' tourist information piece, which was shown in countries where they don't have adverts, while the other countries were seeing the ads. I'm told that the UK showed Paddy instead. Never fear. YouTube to the rescue! This produced massive cheers from the locals, even in the sparsely attended rehearsal I attended, when it appeared on the screens.



In other sporting news, Curtain Call and Kandahar Run have just failed to make me any money in the Epsom Derby. I've also bet on Germany (realistic) and Croatia (14-1 outsider because I'm in an ex-Yugo kind of mood) as my each way bets for Euro 2008.

Labels: betting, Euro 2008, Eurovision 2008, football, Serbia, sport, tennis

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Whatever happened to national pride, huh? Andy Abraham managed to come last in Eurovision on Saturday, as widely predicted by fans and bookies alike. On Sunday, he only managed to chart at a hopeless #67, giving him the lowest placed UK Eurovision single since 1989, when Live Report could only manage a week at #73, despite coming second in Eurovision. (Live Report's song is absolutely pants, so goodness only knows how that happened anyway.)

But what's this? This year's Greek entry, Secret Combination by Kalomira, is currently nestling in the midweek UK top 40, on the strength of download sales since Sunday. It's the song that received the UK's douze points on Saturday, so it's no big surprise that it's 'doing a Verka', but still...the shame!

Labels: Andy Abraham, chart, Eurovision 2008

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So, Russia finally won Eurovision last night, with their twelfth appearance in the final (and thirteenth entry overall, due to their failure to get through the oddity of the 'pre-contest' in 1996). They started entering Eurovision in 1994.

Dima Bilan wins on his second attempt and becomes first male soloist to win Eurovision since Toto Cotugno for Italy in 1990. Coincidentally, this was also the last time the contest was held in what was Yugoslavia at the time, in Zagreb (now in Croatia).

Russia becomes another new winner and the fourteenth different winner in fourteen years, which is great.

It's not the most popular winner here amongst the fans and the press pack though. Part of that stems from the cost of Moscow, which is the most expensive city inEurope, according to a report I read in the paper on the plane over here. It said the averaga hotel room in Moscow is 237 pounds per night, and that's average, when there's nothing special on. I simply can't afford to go. Some people wonder if the Russians might hold the contest in a more Western Russian time zone, to avoid the contest starting at 23:00 and fisnishing at 02:20, but I can't see any country winning Eurovision for the first time and not wanting to show off its capital city to Europe. It wouldn't make sense. We shall see.

The real reason Russia won was the ice-skater, I feel. Evgeny Plushenko is even more famous than Diva Bilan himself and I'm convinced that's what swung it. He (and the Hungarian violinist) turned a fairly dull song into a good performance and it was enough to get votes from all over the ex-Soviet parts of Europe.

My time here is done. Sightseeing beckons. It's amazingly hot again, as it was yesterday. Before I go, here's some proof that I have been eating. It's the delicious 'vegetable plate'. Yum. Bye for now.

Labels: Eurovision 2008, final, Russia

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Norway - 'Hold On, Be Strong' - Maria (Haukaas Storeng)

Apparently, having a surname in Eurovision is problematic, so Maria shortened her name between winning the Norwegian final and coming to Eurovision. I was so pleased to see this do well last night. We now know that Maria came 4th in the first semi-final, justifying my faith in this song. There's always room for a simple song, done simply in Eurovision, and this proved to be the one that people went for, even if they did develop a routine around it. The Norwegian final performance was much simpler, as you can see here:



It has been suggested (mainly by people in relationships), that it's only us single people who really relate to this song, but I liked it without taking much notice of the lyric, to be honest, apart from the title. On deeper analysis however, it does have some personal relevance, which just makes me love it even more. This was a great way to end the show last night. Well done Maria on coming 5th and being the top Scandinavian country, top 'Western' country and top 'old Eurovision' country. Here's last night's performance:

Labels: Eurovision 2008, Norway

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14:45 Belgrade time (13:45 BST)

I'm back in the press centre, in the one room left open for us to use, as technicians are ripping wiring out of the ceiling cavities and PCs are being removed from the other rooms. I've just made my purchases from the souvenir shop and it's all rather sad. I'm determined to finish this before I leave Beograd though. I had to rush away for our planned pre-final meeting last night, and still didn't have a ticket, but it all turned out for the best and I had a fantastic evening, of which more later and during the week. I only have half an hour left in here, so let's crack on.

Bosnia & Herzegovina - 'Pokušaj' - Laka

This brother and sister act have provided the best entertainment for me this week and the Serbian crowd outside the town hall, where we were last night, lapped it up. This song has provided priceless moments in the Euroclub this week, including one particular night, possibly Thursday, where they played it and, at the moment it speeds up dramatically, everyone on the dancefloor ran around wildly, as these two do, with no regard for the consequences. I ended up whacking a Spanish friend squarely in the face with my arm, but he was too drunk to care. Oh, how we laughed! I was in hysterics after watching everyone. It was a magical Eurovision moment.

I was surprised Laka didn't do better in the scoring, both last night, where he finished 10th and in the semi-final (9th). I really thought this would have been top 4 last night, and may have won. But what do I know? Here's last night's wonderful performance for posterity:

Labels: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Eurovision 2008

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Ukraine - 'Shady Lady' - Ani Lorak

All things considered, this may be my absolute favourite now, in terms of overall song and performance, but we'll stick to the order I had decided on before coming out here. I had to overcome a natural aversion to any song with the word 'lady' in it at first, as it's not a word I would ever use. Woman, yes. Lady, no. I have forgiven Ani because the pop song is great and she sells it like no other, with this year's best dancers, who I'm so happy to say I chatted to in London last month. (Sacha and Bogdan, at least.)

I'll be very happy if this wins and my third trip to Ukraine is on the cards. On the second trip, last December, the first advertising hoardings I saw in the taxi from the airport were for Ani Lorak's new album. I wondered then if she would be picked for Eurovision this year and she was announced a few days after I returned. Is it fate? Here's Thursday's stunning performance.

Labels: Ani Lorak, Eurovision 2008, Ukraine

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Bulgaria - 'DJ, Take Me Away' - DeepZone & Balthazar

There had to be one that got away before we reached it, didn't there? Never in a million years, either before or after Thursday's semi-final performance, did I think this would fail to make the final. Perhaps it was just too leftfield for most people. I thought it was one of the most exciting three minutes we've ever had on a Eurovision stage. Here's the performance that failed to make the final:

Labels: Bulgaria, Eurovision 2008

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Latvia - 'Wolves Of The Sea' - Pirates Of The Sea

Lead pirate Roberto Meloni is, I believe, the only person to appear in Eurovision last year and this. He sang for Latvia with the operatic group Bonaparti.lv last year, and their song 'Questa Notte'. I'm glad this has made the final, as there should be something for everyone, including children and pop fans! Ahoy there, me hearties!

Here's their performance from Thursday night:

Labels: Eurovision 2008, Latvia

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14:10 Serbian time (13:10 BST)

I'm in the media centre, in one of the many 'working areas'. It's basically a room full of PCs, 72 of 'em! Only seven of them are occupied, which means I've secured a plum seat by the widescreen TV, which is transmitting the third and final dress rehersal for tonight's show, live from the Beogradska Arena, twelve minutes' walk through a housing estate.

The show has just started, so I'll try and comment on it as it unfolds, as well as blogging my top 5 songs and adding some photos. This could be a busy two hours!

The opening:

Rather understated after the theatricality of the semi-finals, but also surprisingly provocative, in a gender-bending way. For a country that's not exactly hot on homosexuality and gender issues - we've had offical warnings - it's rather brave and I applaud RTS for doing it.

Marija sings last year's winner a capella, then in the dance mix, then part of another song. She then introduces the hosts. There is no more to it (and the interval act later is pretty straightforward as well).

The hosts are pretty terrible. For once, I think the French (by Zeljko) is better than the English though. Well done to him for that. As usual, the script is cringingly crap and horribly stilted. Don't bother listening to them at your party. They say nothing interesting in the whole show, and nothing funny either.

01 Romania

Brilliant as ever. It's not an energetic start, but they are superb and I could sit and stare at Vlad all day.

02 United Kingdom

Believe it or not, I have seen 42 of the 43 countries live on stage. The one I haven't seen is the UK! This is because of the rehearsal schedule and some woefully slow custonmer service while getting a pizza yesterday, which meant I couldn't get to the arena in time for the first dress rehearsal. (The essay on Serbia's understanding of customer service may follow another day. Many people here will want to contribute.) We heard Andy Abraham's last notes and applause as we were going through the metal detectors on the way in! It wasn't meant to be.

Our postcard is quite funny. Try to read it. Good lord, what is Andy wearing? A silver fringed blue jacket from Butlin's? He's very smiley, the sound mix sounds right, strong vocals. The hunky male backing singer from Eurovision - Your Decision is back, many will be pleased to hear. Lovely colourful stage. "We love you", Andy shouts to the crowd at the end. It's a good, energetic performance of a completely unmemorable song. The poor lamb. I hope he's ready for the voting.

03 Albania

It started. It lasted three minutes. It ended. Previous experience taught me to include this in my predictions on Thursday, which proved correct, and I like the fact that the Albanian song made it to the final, as she has had to endure booing at rehearsals from some sections of the local audience because of the K word which we're not advised to mention, so fans have countered it with cheering, to support the poor girl. She's only 17 and she's not a politician, so I wish people would leave her alone.

04 Germany

Insipid, uninteresting and a hot favourite amongst us media types here and the bookies - for last place tonight. I never need to hear this again. The one who has been ill all week with a virus is now back. That's the most interesting thing I can say. They should have picked Carolin Fortenbacher and they wouldn't be in this pickle; they'd be in the top ten. Schade.

05 Armenia

She's not the best vocalist on display (and far from awful), but her limitations don't seem to matter anyway with this, as it's full of energy and the dancers have a good routine. Would have been a hotter favourite if she'd secured a later draw.

06 Bosnia & Herzegovina

Every moment of this is brilliant and I would love it to win. UK, vote for this! It has an immediate impact, it's funny and fascinating. A Russian man just asked me if I like this, as I was singing along (in my best Bosnian). He said "They're freaks". Yes, that's why I love them.

Break: 45 seconds from in front of city hall, where I can see there is now a screen, but the flowerbeds are going to get trampled. Obviously there's no one there now, so some woman just read out a script, with all the feeling that only a technician could manage. I imagine you'll be more excited later (if the BBC shows this bit).

07 Israel

This has shot up in my estimation and I completely understand how it made Tuesday's top ten. He's a pocket-sized hunk and there's not one of his five backing boys who has been anywhere near the ugly stick. His voice, which was grating on me at first, now seems fine. I love the freeform dance that the boys do at one point. It really works, because they look like they're having fun, and it lends a lighter touch to Dana International's otherwise serious-sounding song. Final shot: what a bunch of beauties! Also, Boaz is one of the few artists who has been spotted in 'our' Euroclub, so I respect him for that.

08 Finland

They know what they're doing and they do it well. This is the advantage of having a group represent you (as all the music is recorded anyway, so only the vocalist has to do anything. And the drummer. Have you tried miming drumming?) Odds on this winning have apparently come in from 150-1 to 12-1.

In other news, there are five of us currently in this press room. I know everyone here and we're all Brits. How strange.

09 Croatia

Another faultless performance from the group and the singer. The old geezer, who gets all the press coverage, doesn't actually do much and when he does, he shouts. I have no idea how this will do. It could win on novelty value alone, or just get a mid-table position with Balkan votes. Then again, Terry Wogan might encourage his TOGS to vote for it.

10 Poland

Isis Teeth delivers again, but although this has now grown on me, this is one I would happily have seen not qualify from Tuesday. I don't know why I dislike it, but it doesn't move me. She's too slick and the song is too smooth, with no interesting bits. Can't fault her singing though.

One of the best postcards, with umbrellas and some catchy music, leads up to...

11 Iceland

The favourite of The Gays, and it's easy to see why, even if I have criticised it for being old-fashioned and cliched. When I saw this in the hall earlier in the week, I thought Regina must have been sick, as only Fridrik was on stage, but I just hadn't realised how late she somes into the song. As someone said to me, they have really learnt how to perform this for TV, not the audience in the hall. The singing is perfect and this will get your party going! Eurobandid are Eurovision fans who make a living performing Eurovision songs as a Eurovision tribute act. It would be beyond surreal if they won Eurovision and then someone else could be a tribute act to them.

12 Turkey

The other proper band in the final, after Finland. I love it to pieces now. When only positions 12 and 13 were left in the draw on Thursday night, the Turkish singer said he wanted number 13, but he drew 12 instead, leaving unlucky 13 to Portugal, and it is unlucky, because now we have a break.

Break: The hosts are back, linking to the green room hosts, Kristina and Bane. I think they won a contest on Serbian TV to do this job. They're both funny and sexy and should have been the hosts in the hall as they're much better. They seem to understand how corny some of their script is and they're taking the piss out of themselves. You may not get to see this if you have ad breaks.

13 Portugal

Last out of the hat on Thursday, so the position after the break may have killed off its chances, but there's no doubting that this is now being widely seen as a deserving potential winner. I have succumbed to its charms, but it took a while for the tune to lodge in my head. It's flawlesly presented and if the Big Balkan Ballad vote is going anywhere, it may as well come here. Funny thing is, it IS a Balkan ballad, co-written by Andre Babic, who has popped up on backing vocals for more ex-Yugoslav Eurovision acts than I've had hot dinners. This is top two with Ukraine here in the media centre.

14 Latvia

My favourite activity of the last 48 hours has been talking to people about their reaction to Thursday's qualifiers and waiting for them to pull a sniffy face when they say, "But Latvia?" and then watch their disgusted reaction when I say it's one of my favourites. Some people are so bloody serious, they've forgotten how to have fun and don't get the joy of catchy, costume-based pop music. I have fond memories of Adam Ant when I see this and I would be overjoyed for it to win, if only because it would annoy so many people (and Riga was brilliant, so I'd love to go back).

15 Sweden

Catface is flat again. Why does no one notice this? I haven't heard her sing these opening verses well yet in several performances and rehearsals. Her stretched to buggery face terrifies me and I suspect lots of people won't vote for someone who looks so weird, no matter how much they like the song.

Omens: In 1999, Charlotte won from position 15, on the Saturday after Man United won the European Cup on the Wednesday. Can she do the same again? (No. I think Denmark may even beat her to the top Scandinavian position.)

Talking of which...

16 Denmark

"What a day for a daydream.." What song is that? (It's The Lovin' Spoonful, if I may answer my own question.) The intro always reminds me of it. I hate the fact that this is a lowest common denominator song that anyone can sing along with after half a chorus (and half a pint), which Simon sells very well indeed. But there's no progression in the song, it's just pub rock at its most basic. Please let a proper song or at least an interesting performance win, not this plodder.

17 Georgia

Dark horse alert! Dark horse alert! If ever a song has improved from the grainy video of a national final to the Eurovision stage, this is it. I can see this winning, because it has a peace theme with widespread appeal and the stage gimmick of the night. The transition from the dark side to the peaceful side is extremely well done. It has to be seen to be believed. I have a feeling it was inspired by this couple's act:



18 Ukraine

I would like to buy one of the men packaged in Ani's boxes. Sacha, Bogdan and the other two are just fantastic in this. The hook in this song is the head nodding. I have taken to doing it whenever I hear the tune (which is my text message alert, so that's quite often). Another perfect performance. If a pop song wins tonight, I hope it's this one.

The hosts return for a moment. My hotel roommate Dermot has just sat down next to me so I don't know what they said.

19 France

All the backing singers are dressed as Monsieur Tellier himself. Quite funny. "Mon amour chante en francais," he sings in the breakdown, which is just a tease to the folk back home (including the government arts minister) who criticised him for the song being in English.

This has the funniest false ending - it really did get cheered in the rehearsal yesterday as people thought it was over. Not today though. There are some intentionally bad camera angles (I have now decided they must be intentional) in this, but I'm not sure if people will get the joke.

20 Azerbaijan

The first time I've seen the finished version of this on a TV screen. The sheer theatricality of this must have put it through from Tuesday night. The funny thing is, there are billboards advertising this entry all over Belgrade; you can't get away from them. They also headlined the official party, which is odd. It will be interesting to see if Serbia gives it a lot of points. It's certainly a lot better than it was. They've tidied it up rather well.

21 Greece

As Kalomira starts off being carried on some kind of pole by the dancers, I find myself glad that Cyprus and their 'carrying the singer on the table' didn't get through as well (not that there was ever a chance). Big UK points for this, but I don't see it as a winner. It's too repetitive and doesn't really mean very much.

22 Spain

Keep an eye on the woman in the pink who can't quite get the dance moves. (It's intentional.) She's quite funny. The rest I can take or leave. Will Europe get the joke? Top ten or a hopeless failure. I'll go with the former.

23 Serbia

A simple and dramatic presentation and a possible winner. The home crowd cheers wildly after the third line of this. It seems innocuous, 'Don't forget my name', but apparently it's seen as an oblique reference to keeping hold of the place that begins with 'K' that we're not allowed to mention here. There's a reference later in the song to St. Vitus's Day, which apparently means another story related to the K place. Clever how they sneaked it through, isn't it?

24 Russia

The man with the empty eyes is back. The histrionics will hopefully put people off, but the presence of a real life champion ice-skater (Yevgeny Pluschenko) is good and works well in these Eastern parts, if yesterday's rehearsal reaction is anything to go by. I just can't afford 240 pounds per night for a week in Moscow (or a final that starts at 23:00 for that matter!)

25 Norway

I probably can't afford Oslo either, but nothing would give me more pleasure than to see this simple, catchy song take the prize, if only to shut up the pathetic 'Eastern conspiracy' whingers. It's slick and looks great. The male backing singer on the right with no hair is the same one who has done many previous Norwegian Eurovision performances and even tried to enter as a soloist. He's rather tasty, but I can't remember his name. Anyone? This is a lovely way to end.

We now see the scoreboard. It's nothing unusual or fancy; they've gone for the basic look.

Now a 'living legend' is due on to start the voting. Tonight it will be a basketball star who I've never heard of. I saw him yesterday and he is a giant. Today though, he's not here, so a stage hand is playing him. From the moment Serbia won last year, I had assumed that Novak Jokovic would play this role, but they shot their bolt by using him on Tuesday. It's because the French Open starts soon, so the tennis star couldn't do today. I'm guessing the basketball star won't be demanding a standing ovation, like Lys Assia did on Thursday, the cheeky Frau.

The reprise is shown now, in performance order (not reversed). Then some other business (we were chatting), then the reprise again, with shorter clips. Even if France improves tonight, the clip in the reprise is terrible, because it's already edited from last night's rehearsal. It sounds awful. They are doomed.

More crap banter from Will-ko and Grace-ko. They count down to the end of the voting in Serbian. Pray that they have no more than 15 seconds to fill, because they can't ad lib to save their lives. They count down in Serbian, should you wish to join in.

Interval act: Goran Bregovic and his Orchestra

This is the real deal. It's exactly what I hoped for and expected from a Serbian-hosted final. A band "for weddings and funerals". Serbians must have the best funerals in the world. How could you be sad listening to this joy? The Russian journalist has just come back and said he thinks Goran Bregovic is the winner of Eurovision as this is better than all the other songs. He was certainly popular in the arena yesterday. Locals were up and dancing near me. It was fab.

My new Russian friend thinks we should send Amy Winehouse to Eurovision. He couldn't remember her name, but he mimed her hair. Brilliant.

The interval band does three songs, then back to the hosts, then over to the green room hosts. They are now imitating Spain, Russia and France. Very funny, but I don't know if they'll show this on the BBC.

They're practicing the voting now, with live links to the 43 spokespersons and fictitious votes which are usually planned to give a 25-way tie at the end. Carrie Grant does her bit efficiently.

The hosts have the wrong name for the Moldovan spokesperson. He politely points out that he's called Vitaly. He's a cutie too.

As ever, there are some real timewasters amongst this lot. Just give us the bloomin' points!

OMG! French spokesperson! Hunk! Look out for the French votes. Swoon! Who is he?
OMG! Norway's isn't bad either.

After 20 countries, there's a break in the voting as it clearly isn't taking long enough. We get Kristina and Bane again. He's getting more hunky in every link. I think it's the stubble growing.

The leading three countries are shown now; 1st Poland, 2nd Turkey and 3rd Portugal in this fictitious line-up.

OMG! Slovenia also has a hunk giving the points.

At the end of the fake voting, it's not a tie. Germany have won! They've clearly taken the most ridiculous scenario possible. Some stagehands pretending to be Germany come down to the stage. Thankfully, they don't do a reprise. Credits roll. The end.

So much for posting my top five. I need a loo and drink break. Bye for now!

Labels: Eurovision 2008, final, live

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13:00 CET (12:00 BST). I'm in the Eurovision media centre now for the next few hours, mainly on the hunt for a ticket for tonight, but I will be online or popping back here frequently today.

So, your comments are invited. Who's going to win tonight? I've narrowed it down to twelve out of the 25, as I think this is the most unpredictable contest in years. The fiddling around that the EBU did with the semi-final draw, splitting up countries who are more likely to vote for each other, appears to have worked. With one or two minor quibbles, twenty decent songs have qualified for tonight's final (but what happpened to Bulgaria, which was fantastic?) The dross has mainly gone, but Denmark somehow sneaked in, with a song that I despise. The litmus test of whether FYR Macedonia would qualify with an average song has been passed. They didn't.

Twenty songs which have already gained Europe's approval this week will be competing with five that haven't, and forcing three of them down to the bottom of the scoreboard. (Serbia will be challenging to win and Spain may escape, although it's not as funny or as well-presented as I feared, thank goodness.) Germany, France and the UK will be fighting for last place, as no one except Ireland is likely to give us points, no one except perhaps Belgium will vote for France and only Switzerland may vote for Germany. The staging of the French song is a huge disappointment and it's going to fail miserably. It doesn't sound very good either.

As far as the UK vote is concerned, I have a horrible feeling that Denmark's tedious plodder and Sweden's familiar schlager will be right up there for the 12 and 10, with Bosnia getting the 'we do understand wacky' 8 points. I have heard, from a pretty reliable source, that Denmark topped the televote AND the back-up jury vote in France on Thursday. Be very afraid.

Who do you think will get the UK's points? We're first to give them this year, with former entrant Carrie Grant doing the honours, so the Scandis may top the scoreboard for at least one minute. If we give any points to Portugal or Bosnia-Herzegovina, it will bode very well for both of them. The second vote is from FYR Macedonia, so we'll immediately have an idea of the relative chances of Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina too.

Please feel free to give your opinions below (if anyone's reading on a Saturday afternoon). I'll be back later.

Labels: Eurovision 2008, final, UK vote

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I was just saying to my friend PJ, who I visited in Kyiv last December, that I didn't really think I'd be going to Ukraine AGAIN, for a third time already, as soon as next year. However, I think it's a distinct possibility. Ani Lorak will probably win tonight's second semi-final hands down, and then it's all about the draw later tonight, where a decent middle draw could see her through as Saturday's winner.

The routine is so slick on TV. It turns out that Sacha and Bogdan, the two dancers that Ani brought with her to the London Scala party, who I chatted to in broken English, are the slickest here, along with the other two Ukrainians. They're faultlessly synchronised every time. It's a joy to watch.

I scored eight out of ten in my predictions on Tuesday, although Mr Mills scored a first ever ten out of ten. We've done this for five years and no one had ever topped nine. Off to do it again now for tonight, but the show is much better, there's more talent on display in every way, and it's much harder to guess. Enjoy the show.

Labels: Eurovision 2008, Ukraine

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Greetings from Sava Centar in Beograd (Belgrade). It's not a supermarket; it's a bloomin' great big sports hall which has been converted into the Eurovision media centre for a fortnight. Unusually, it's also 12-15 minutes walk from the Beogradska Arena, where the rehearsals have been for the last nine days and where Eurovision is actually taking place tonight, Thursday and Saturday on your telly boxes. I now realise that some people haven't been watching rehearsals in the arena at all, just on the TV screens here, which is slightly surreal, coming all this way and then sitting inside, watching TV, slightly removed from the reality of it all.

I only have a few minutes here before I have to go back into town to the Eurocafé, where the annual meeting of the Anglo-Irish great and the good will be taking place in order to have a pre-semi-final meal (if there's anything I can eat - it's not looking good so far) and partake in the now traditional Serviettes of Death prediction competition.

I haven't really considered a list of ten qualifiers yet, but I'll have a stab at it when we have the meal and report back tomorrow. I watched the first public rehearsal for tonight's show on the huge screens in here yesterday afternoon and the quality of many acts was pretty poor. If you're trying to convert anyone to Eurovision, don't tell them there's a semi-final tonight. They'll be none the wiser. Just get them watching on Thursday. UK viewers can't vote tonight anyway; Thursday is your chance. I'll be waving a small Irish flag on a stick tonight, not because I love Dustin the Turkey particularly, but because I would like to see them in the final and I am 37.5% Irish. And because it will annoy many people if it gets through (which is touch and go, to be honest, as it's a bit of a frantic three minutes with too much going on).

Because there is such a lot of shite in tonight's show, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Norway stick out like sore thumbs as beacons of quality. They are both performed brilliantly, if completely differently and should both sail through to the final, as will Russia and Romania. All great shows or great singing. The Netherlands now looks like a possibility too, and their white dancer wins my award for totty of the show so far, along with Vlad from Romania, of course.

In other news, it was extremely hot and humid here this morning, but it has rained earlier this afternoon and cleared the air, which is a blessed relief because it was getting a bit too clammy for my liking. On the plus side, it does feel very summery and there is consequently lots of totty on display. Rarely have I seen such a high proportion of lean but muscular, short-haired men on the streets of a nation's capital. I have yet to see any fat people at all. True. It makes me think we should bring back national service at home; I'm sure that has a lot to do with it.

Results

Well done to Joe, who has won his second competition on here in a few days, and will now be overloaded with Eurovision tat (I have plenty already) by almost guessing my favourite five correctly. He only transposed 3rd and 5th, effectively giving him a score of -4. Thanks to Chris P (-6) and Stephen (-8) for having a go too.

My top five faves in Eurovision this year are:

1st Norway - 'Hold On, Be Strong' - Maria Haukaas Storeng
2nd Bosnia & Herzegovina - 'Pokusaj' - Laka
3rd Ukraine - 'Shady Lady' - Ani Lorak
4th Bulgaria - 'DJ, Take Me Away' - Deep Zone & Balthazar
5th Latvia - 'Wolves Of The Sea' - Pirates Of The Sea

Reviews will follow later this week, but you know where to look for videos: YouTube.

The Serviettes of Death await! Dovidenja!

Labels: Eurovision 2008

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So there you have it, 38 of this year's songs, leaving just my favourite five to be revealed, after I get to Beograd tomorrow. (I'll probably reveal them on Tuesday afternoon, before the first semi-final.) This is where the competition comes in. The top 5 is settled. It's not exactly in a golden envelope, but it's in an Excel list along with all the others, which I am about to put onto a memory stick and take to Serbia with me.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to work out which five countries haven't appeared on my list yet, then put them in my order in the comments box below, from 1 (my favourite song) to 5 (my fifth favourite song). You're guessing what you think my favourites are. You're not predicting the results, and nor am I. Go for it! The prize will be some unwanted rubbish from my Eurovision pigeon-hole which is small enough to carry back.

And with that, it's bed, Birmingham airport at 6am, Zurich airport and then Belgrade, with two countries' parties to attend as soon as I get to the city centre tomorrow. It's going to be a hell of a long day. Expect news on here on Tuesday. Farewell, mes amis!

Labels: competition, Eurovision 2008

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Malta - 'Vodka' - Morena

It's not about vodka. 'Vodka' is a codeword, being used by spies. Got the concept? Good. They're not very good spies, given that their callsigns are 'Spy 1', 'Spy 4', etc. It's not Spooks, is it? Another great video though.

Labels: Eurovision 2008, Malta

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Sweden - 'Hero' - Charlotte Perrelli

Following on from Iceland, both here and in the running order on Thursday, it's former winner Charlotte Catface Perrelli. You know what you're getting with this. It sounds exactly like what the Brits expect the Swedish Eurovision entry to sound like. It's slick, horribly dated and very powerful. Douze points from the UK, methinks, inthe semi-final at least. But can she overcome the slot of death, number 2, from which no song has ever qualified for the final?

Labels: Eurovision 2008, Sweden

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Iceland - 'This Is My Life' - Eurobandið

There are two other fabulous songs in the world called 'This is my life' and this doesn't quite match up to either Shirley Bassey or Eartha Kitt, but it's massively popular (with the usual suspects, it must be said). It's dated, the lyric is a bag of selections from the rhyming dictionary, but it's fun. Iceland has already received the kiss of death from the gays at London's Retro bar, where it won their overall vote, so expect it to sink without trace after providing a stunning opening to semi-final two.

This is the best video, bar none, that I've seen this year. It taps in perfectly to the YouTube generation. Watch it from the beginning to the very end!

Labels: Eurovision 2008, Iceland

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Turkey - 'Deli' - Mor ve Ötesi



One of this year's best videos, a proper group and a song which stands up in the real world, outside of the Eurovision context.

Labels: Eurovision 2008, Turkey

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Serbia - 'Oro' - Jelena Tomašević ft. Bora Dugić



Eurovision is Serbia's to lose this year, but lose it they may not. I have strong feeling we may be going to Belgrade again next year. If this wins, one of the hosts will have to get the other one to give him his prize, as he wrote it.

Labels: Eurovision 2008, Serbia

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