Eurovision: It’s Berlin 2011

Cograts to Germany. Lena was not among my top favourites, and I still think Germany was overrated, but I can see her appeal. She was incredibly charming and different, you know, Björk-like different. In fact, I quite fancy going to Berlin for Eurovision 2011. No doubt, would be fun. Fingers crossed, nothing will change my plans.

I thought Denmark was OK but overrated too. I liked Romania. Funny, entertaining, very Eurovision-y. Could not stop smiling during their performance.

Glad to see Belgium and Turkey won respective semi-finals. Totally deserved.

Overall, I thought entries who participated in semi-s performed worse during the final, except Belgium, Turkey, Moldova and Romania.

During the show, which I was watching with a big crowd in London’s Soho, we did not notice anything unusual during Spain’s performance. And then were surprised to see a repeat of their performance towards the end. Only at home, watching the recording of Eurovision, I noticed that stage intrusion by someone from the audience (Jimmy Jump). It took a short while till he was taken away by the security. (video below) That was the reason why they allowed Spain to repeat their performance. Fair enough.



I am impressed how the Spanish singer and team on stage ignored the intruder, and continued singing and dancing, as if nothing happened. Well done. I liked Spain. It was sweet, and took me back to childhood memories.

Armenia, Azerbajan and Georgia: What I said in my previous post, still stands. Plus... Safura looked tired and lacking energy. Graham Norton, British TV presenter, called Eva “the sexiest babe” and suggested a Miss Caucasus title :)

Actually, Graham Norton mentioned a right word re Georgia entry: “they slightly overproduced it”. And I think this was true for all three South Caucasus countries.

But hey, that’s the glory of Eurovision, isn’t it? :) Otherwise, what will we bitch about. I have to confess, this whole ‘analysing’ thing re Eurovision is very entertaining for me.

As per Twitter reports, at some point “Armenia” (or “Armenian”/”Armenien” - what was with that spelling?) and “Apricot Stone” were trending.

Btw, I won a bet with a friend of mine. I bet that Armenia won’t give 12 points to Russia. Also, on Twitter, when asked who I think Armenia might give its 12 points for, I replied: "very difficult to predict this year. Might be Georgia, Ukraine... not sure" (yes, it was Georgia)

I liked Norwegian male presenter Erik Solbakken. He was a star. Funny and charming. He was particularly impressive and hilarious when after the show - announcing that 15 mins voting time interval - started changing clothes live while doing all sorts of tricks.

I loved very much that Euro flashmob dance part. Was great seeing and feeling Europeans throughout the continent - beyond the EU formal borders - united in fun. See, it is possible. Yes, we can!! :)))

One more thing - do not trust or take too serious bookmakers or Google predictions, or readers’/fan poll results. Treat it as part of the entertainment, and take it easy. They are easily manipulated. If you want to get a general idea on trend and changing preferences, follow Eurovision related websites, blogs and forums (e.g. esctoday, oikotimes, escdaily, escnation forum).

Below is the official Eurovision final Top Ten (surprised Iceland did not make it; would prefer to see here Moldova too, loved their show and that sax player was very funny):

Germany
Turkey
Romania
Denmark
Azerbaijan
Belgium
Armenia
Greece
Georgia
Ukraine

See you in Berlin 2011 !!

*picture - by Eurovision.tv