I have so much to say and not a lot of time to say it, so this could be a dangerously bad blog post. But it’s the season for dangerously bad---it’s EUROVISION season!!! YES! It’s the best time of year for anyone who lives for the cheesy glamour of Europe’s favorite song contest---and that would be me!

Tuesday night was the first semi-final; the second follows tonight, Thursday. I admit to being the tiniest bit disappointed by the menu of cheese offered up last night by the 19 countries competing for a spot in the coveted final. That could just be me, though---I’m on a diet and have given up drinking alcohol during the week. Could it be that Eurovision isn’t everything it should be for the sober audience? That would be tragic. I’ll let you know after tonight.

Anyway, there were standouts in the first sime, both in honest-to-goodness quality and what-the-hell weirdness (both absolutely necessary for great EV viewing). For quality, my favorites were Serbia, Finland, and Iceland. Serbia’s entry featured a way-cute girl with an awesome voice singing in Serbian; a brave and excellent choice, in my opinion, as most competitors sing in English. She and her also-very-cute backup singers were dressed in super cool 60s-inspired dresses that matched the bouncy, retro spirit of the song. I would have been singing along if I could sing in Serbian.

Finland’s song was absolutely lovely! The boy who went out in the world to save the planet---both a song and an environmental message. And isn’t he the cutest! Between Serbia and Iceland, the cuteness factor is almost too much to bear.

Iceland’s all-man-sit-down-band was so corny, so understated, so fun! I loved it!

I voted for all three of them and was really pleased they got enough votes to send them to Saturday’s final.

Norway’s Stella Mwangi performed last night and didn’t make it through, which was sad but I have to say, I wasn’t surprised. Stella is a lovely girl and I admire her very much for standing up under the pressure she must have felt after all of the controversy here in Norway about her even going to EV. The vicious sniping about “how a Norwegian of African descent---singing an Afro-beat song!!!---could possibly represent Norway” was small-minded at best, horribly racist at worst. Through it all, Stella stayed strong and she looked beautiful and happy, albeit a little nervous, on stage Tuesday. She just doesn’t have a great voice, though, does she? It lacks power and depth, and is sometimes even out of tune, and that was her downfall. Her song was fun and should have impressed, but she just couldn’t manage it. I wish her all the best and will be interested to see where she goes from here.



Besides Serbia, Finland, and Iceland, the other countries who made it through the first semis are Lithuania, Greece, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Switzerland, Hungary, and Russia. Out of those, I only really like Greece and Hungary, and that’s only after the second and third viewing of their songs. Hungary’s entry is sort of a Mariah Carey-esque ballad with a me-me-me-what-about-me theme. The singer, who is tall and striking with a vaguely male face, has a fabulous voice, though, and the song is probably playing on Hungarian radio at this very moment.

Greece….wow, Greece. Majestic weirdness. A bunch of guys, two lead singers, one doing a little bit of rapping and one channeling George Michael, all to a traditional Greek rhythm. All that’s missing is the plate throwing. I adore it but I don’t see it winning.

I have no idea how Russia got through. A truly terrible song. Georgia’s has too much anger; why so angry? It’s Eurovision! And don’t even get me started on Switzerland. When a song begins, “I love everything about you,” I stop listening. I’ve been married for 20 years, for Pete’s sake. I love everything about you my ass.

I was sorry Portugal didn’t get enough votes to continue, as they won my vote for The Best What-The-Hell moment of the night. I mean, really, what was going on there? It was like The Village People crashed into a small Portuguese farm town and a riot erupted. Since it was all in Portuguese, some translation probably would have helped me understand the message. I needed Cristiano Ronaldo sitting beside me. Just to help with the translation, of course.

Well, tonight is semi-final #2 and I’m terribly excited. Look at Ireland’s entry! Oh yes. Bring on the May Madness!