Eurovision 2008 - SemiFinal 2 - Thursday 22nd May - Rolling/Polling

Deep Zone & Balthazar = best name (altho Pirates Of The Sea comes close)
Vodka = possibly best title

Voting Ukraine, for having the common decency to rhyme FYE-ah with diz-EYE-ah. Also, the Belgrade "press" squad money is on it.

Malta is fun, but Morena had the gall to MIME at The Scala. She could stand to make a little more effort.

Latvia is your OMGWTFLOL (and indeed OOH AAR) moment.

Dammit, should have voted for Bulgaria's wonky technoid aceness.

Vodka is the oddest attempt at courting the Eastern vote by a non-Eastern country there may have ever been, essentially a balalaika driven romp about how Russian people be spyin' like this. I think it has a decent chance.

I actually dunno about picks from this, cos I can't remember most of them. I think I can safely predict Lithuania are stuffed, tho.

On that note, Iceland. Hi-NRG, and I can see it doing well enough... but it's Iceland. You'd have to look some way to find more deeply ingrained Eurovision whipping boys.

Sweden's staging was uber-professional, and should see them through. Turkey will be going through whatever they send (Kenan Dogulu certainly proved that last year), but this would stand a good chance anyhow.

"Goodnight Europe." That sounded ominous. Uck Rhine and their moderately magic mirror ought to be straight through too, they've managed to make this three minutes seem utterly epic, and should be a very good bet to scoop the whole thing. Much better than Russia.

And now Lithuania. I think we've got our first guaranteed flump of the evening here.

Popular Southampton right-back Alex Ostlund, here. He's had a shave, yes. Also sporting the worst voice so far this evening, possibly this competition.

Albania. Hmm.

I'd not pick that to go through, really - it's not too bad, but that chorus is a bit of a drag and for Eurovis, it's not gonna work. Will finish ahead of Lithuania, but those opening four are looking kinda insuperable at the moment.

This year's Swiss import is Paolo Meneguzzi and this escalating chorus might save him. The crowd adores him.

The Czechs are the second locked-on failure of the night. The girl is, to put it bluntly, inaudible. The dancing is a mess. With someone who could sing, this might fly. With this poor woman, no.

"ERA Stupendo" would be a pretty good name for a fantasy baseball team.

xpost - Czech entry sounded exactly like a Czech Pepsi commercial.

Hang on, are there some boos mixed in for Belarus here? They appear to given their singer the exact same look as their man from last year, except he has been allowed a really, really dodgy tache. And their staging concept is... some illuminated orbs. These past two acts have looked dwarfed by the stage, and this song is uninspiring to put it very mildly. If I remember right, Belarus' entry last year was their first successful one... I'd not be shocked to see that go out. However, former Russian Idol winner suggests he will go through thanks to "voting patterns".

Latvia. Oh dear.

Belarussian guy looks disturbingly like Oliver Neuville.

Let us be blunt. That stank. Latvia are not traditional beneficiaries of political votes and I think we have bomb number three.

I'm not too sure about Croatia either...

It'll need the rest of the field to mess up for that to go through. Having an old man shouting at the audience is not, I sense, likely to fly across Europe.

Bulgaria have the first shit breakdancer of the night, but the intro to this may have just massively raised the stakes for the evening. The slower section is not really building on it. But here's the loud bit! Man, they really haven't heard of epilepsy, have they? A dead cert for the final, putting it very mildly.

I once lived upstairs from a bunch of Bulgarian dudes who loved, in roughly this order: homemade plum brandy, doing chinups in their doorway, and seeing if we wanted to "borrow their girlfriends" for the night. That was what their apartment always sounded like.

Denmark is actually responsible for some of the best electro-pop in the world at the moment, so what on earth this mediocre indie-swing is doing here is anyone's guess. This is failing very, very hard. I predict the BBC will somehow find a way to be shocked by its non-qualification.

I once lived upstairs from a bunch of Bulgarian dudes who loved, in roughly this order: homemade plum brandy, doing chinups in their doorway, and seeing if we wanted to "borrow their girlfriends" for the night.

hmmm. did one of them claim to be a wrestling champ, by any chance?

only seen croatia, bulgaria, denmark, sweden and latvia this evening...all exceptionally dire. nothing even remotely as exciting as azerbaijan on tuesday.

Georgia had the best song in the contest last year, but the performance let it down a bit. This year, they have a blind woman sucking the verve and guile out of "Toy Soldiers". First costume change of the evening. But I don't reckon that's going anywhere fast.

Hungary continue to piss on the mood with some straight-outta-1991 piano-ballad dirgery. Dragging like all hell. No.

Finally got the program thing-y working. That was a route one effort from Hungary there.

Malta stamps on the bosh switch very very, hard, and one certainly could not accuse Morena of not going for this... but the staging appears to have been put together by someone unaware of the concept of shadows. Those dancers are not helping her chances that much. Hesitantly going to say that's going through.

Love this Cyprus entry but might be best if it doesn't go thru cos it'll only lead to Wogan doing his "lol Zorba" routine and me putting my foot thru the telly.

Cyprus have costume change nummer zwei, and they're going to need Europe to be very impressed by that. Like, very, very impressed, cos this song has its backing on much too quietly. The voices are all too prominent and all too thin. The staging is too busy, and it's generally too nothing-y to do much.

FYROM will go through cos they always ruddy do.

FYROM = Night School Musical

The man on the left was born to have his face kicked in by Jackie Chan. This is dull. It's going through, but it's really dull.

Portugal are critics' favourites.

Strongest ballad of the night. Interesting thing - Portugal were, I think, the highest finishing western country in the semi last year. And their song was far weaker then.

Right, sticking neck out:

Bulgaria
Portugal
Sweden
Turkey
Ukraine
Iceland
Belarus
Malta
FYROM
Cyprus

Jeez that Denmark thing looked horrible.

To be honest, tho, this is a much harder heat to pick - overall, I'd say the quality was lower, but the voting is gonna be much tighter. Several songs here are borderline, outside of the dead certs. Bulgaria the only one I found really impressive. Them, Ukraine and Turkey the only certs from where I'm standing, maybe Sweden.

It took me an awful long time to figure out that that was Chico.

Wow, that was very odd. Would not have picked that line-up as being qualifiers at all. Georgia? DENMARK?

Most notable thing - all the Scandinavian countries made the final.

Qualifiers:

Iceland
Sweden
Ukraine
Turkey
Georgia
Denmark
Portugal
Albania
Latvia
Croatia

If there was political voting, it was very, very weirdly arranged... Denmark, though? Seriously? Denmark?

Going for Ukraine. The Swedish one isn't too bad (way better than the one she won with in 1999), but I prefer Ukraine's electro styled entry rather than the best Eurodance number of 2007.

2008 I mean

I don't see why Denmark qualified. Iceland and Sweden were both strong, but Denmark? Sounded like the Swedish entry from last year, only mucn, much, much weaker.

Bulgaria was sort of interesting. 80s acid house meets UB40? :)

I can see Denmark getting props over here from "Campaign for Real Music" type saddoes.

I LIKE THE TURKISH ENTRY. There I said it. After having been shit every year except 2003, I am quite liking them again.

My loyalties are now with Norway, though. I think Spain's is the best of the big-five in the final, which must be a first.

Edward, you are menk.

Draw up - consensus seems to be that everything's coming up Ukraine, but Russia are still favourites at the bookies.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I voted for Denmark! But for unworthy personal reasons. And also for Portugal's fado-tinged theatricals. Sorry to see Bulgaria and Malta go down, but that was a nice even East/West split, so yah boo to conspiratorialists (and blimey, no FYROM!)

Edward: seriously, Spain?

Looking at the draw, I have a horrible feeling it might be Russia.

No, I must have faith. It's going to be Ukraine.

but that was a nice even East/West split

Basically, the Nordic voting block and the Balkan voting bloc had it all :)

Looking at the draw, I have a horrible feeling it might be Russia.

The winner of the draw was the Norwegian entry, which certainly has a chance there through being modern and pop although in an altogether different (and somewhat more appealing to older audiences) way than the other modern pop numbers.

But until anything else is proven, I guess Eastern/Southern Europe still has it.

I watched it for a little while. (I like to watch things on TV)

So, Femme Fatale didn't make it. Didn't see it anyway.

Bulgaria I quite enjoyed, but hmm there be no actual song there (DJ, take me away) so they b out.
The Pirates and the 75 cents one were both bonkers enough to get through.

Lithuania's overwrought vocal (I had the english/foreign dual subtitles on - Freeview) was too bonkers to make it.

Albanias was unexpectedly good.

Who nose. Not I.

The pirate one was just plain stupid although I am sure my 2 and a half year old nephew strongly disagrees with me :)

I quite liked the Latvian entry, it reminded of Aqua. But I don't think anything too humourous will win the contest. The Bulgarian trance/breakbeat had a really strong A part, but the chorus didn't really fit it, plus it was kinda weak anyway. They should've dispensed the vocals altogether, but I guess you can't have a totally vocalless Eurovision entry, can you?

They should've dispensed the vocals altogether, but I guess you can't have a totally vocalless Eurovision entry, can you?

A question of definition. Norway's 1995 winner "Nocturne" had vocals for the first 20 seconds while the rest of the song was all instrumental.

bah, i didn't check in here. bulgaria totally had my vote last night. not ACTUALLY with phoning and that. just in shouting woo at the telly.

i want to know mike t-diva's personal reasons. denmark was rub. sorry.

last night was all about the shady lady and the sheer mind-bogglingness of lithuania.

I can't believe what I'm hearing. Ukraine's song is shit. I blame heterosexuals. You people are ruining this thing.

William MUST replace Terry Wogan

oi, back off. there was nothing remotely hetero about shady lady.

malta was pretty good too...and I'm with you on turkey, somewhat against my better judgement.

Yes, but heterosexuals are the ones ruining it by voting for shit things! And not letting Malta and Andorra through!

Turkey might win, you know? Diaspora, neighbours, their first decent entry since Sertab...

UKRAINE IS SHIT.

the Andorra one was terrible. i'm straight tho.

(but i liked Dana International - v attractive)

And not letting Malta and Andorra through!

You mean, the entire final should have been consisting of rubbish Eurodance?

The best Eurodance-tinged entries are the Swedish, Icelandic and German ones. They are all in the final.

Oh pish. The Swedish one is just competent and the Icelandic one is a bit too childish.

And yes, the final should consist of rubbish Eurodance, with a few token non-rubbish non-Eurodance entries.

I hope they saved some Turkey for us!

Yes, but heterosexuals are the ones ruining it by voting for shit things!

I assume you have some sort of detailed demographic breakdown? I mean, you wouldn't just be basing this opinion on some crass assumptions about sexuality and music taste, surely?