I've just spent the last 2 hours watching a webcast of the Irish Eurovision finals. Well done Ireland for actually picking the best song on the night! hurrah! They picked 'Et Cetera' which is sung by pop-punk girly band, much in the vein of Avril Lavigne or Pink. Its really very catchy and I think will actually allow Ireland to make it to the finals for the first time in years. Even better is that it was written by two people I'm familiar with in the Eurovision fanworld - Jonas and Christina Schilling who are fan club members in Denmark and Sweden. I read a lot of their blogs last year. So double hurrah to them!

So Eurovision is really heating up and I'm very excited. It's 11 weeks today till I'll be watching the finals in Moscow. arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Yes I have paid for everything now, but I'm rather stressed that my savings account (and hence spending money) say $0. That obviously will change significantly in the next month once I get my bond back, my annual leave payout, my handout money from the govt. $3800 all up just from that alone.

Now, the latest entries to comment on...

Ireland - Sinead Mulvey and Black Daisy 'Et Cetera' - catchy pop number in the vein of Avril, Pink and High School Musical. Energetic band, colourful presentation, quite 80s. Will propel Ireland to the finals, but who knows how far it will get them?

Greece - Sakis 'This is our night' - ok, another great dancey catchy song sung by a Ricky Martin wannabe. It stuck in my head most of yesterday which I guess is a good sign. It's not really my thing normally, but I know it will do really well at Eurovision - talking top 5 here. I really wish he'd stop thrusting. I'm thinking Enrique Iglesias.

Georgia - Stephane and 3G 'We don't wanna put in' - Ouch! 70s disco beat and girls with afros. It is catchy but its also controversial. Lyrics about 'shoot him' in the chorus which are thinly veiled comments towards Putin. I expect some booing at Eurovision for this. Yes, its warranted. If they want to make a political statement it was made better last year with the Georgian entry 'Peace will come'.

Belgium - Patrick Ouchene 'Copycat' - I haven't heard it yet, but its a tribute song to Elvis Presley sung by an Elvis impersonator. Yeah, ummm, say no more. Our first novelty song for Eurovision 2009! Thanks Belgium for not letting the side down - you deliver hilarity year after year.

France - Patricia Kaas 'Et s'il fallait le faire' - Its cabaret at its finest, and the music sounds like a jewellery box. I'm betting it would have won back in the 60s, but I don't know whether it really works now. In fact, its sending me to sleep.

Germany - Alex Swings Oscar Sings 'Miss Kiss Kiss Bang' - what strikes me most is this sounds like Sam Sparrow. It has that swinging dance beat behind it and should be entertaining on the night.

Armenia - Inga and Anush Arshakyan 'Nor par (new dance)' - I don't like this because it changes sounds and tempo 4 times in the space of the first 30 secs. At first it starts like the last years entry Qele, then it sounds turkish, then the dance beat kicks in and disappears just as suddenly and goes r'n'b. And now it sounds like its Indian and rap. Too confusing.

Iceland - Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir 'Is it true' - great song, slightly uptempo ballad, great singer, and I believe its a dark horse in the race. Would go so far to say its this years 'Hold on be strong' (last years entry from Norway that came 5th) that came from nowhere and blew people away.

Malta - Chiara 'What if we' - here's an artist who has been at Eurovision 3 times now, has a following and has been 2nd and 3rd before. But in comparison this song is dull. Its well done but sounds more like it be in a musical on the West End.

Andorra - Susanna Georgi 'La teva decisió (Get a Life)' - its Michelle Branch in the verse with the guitar and then very keyboard ABBA in the chorus. She acts about 18 and looks about 40. Apart from that desperation I think this will rank highly cause its catchy. And its curently ranking as a fave on the fan sites

Azerbaijan - Aysel and Arash 'Always' - its now been announced the country will have a upbeat r'n'b duet between the very cute pop starlet and the author of the song. Only a snippet has been heard online but from that its obviously she can sing and dance and is the full package. I still think Azerbaijan are ones to watch.

Cyprus - Christina Metexa 'Firefly' - she's 16, her brother won the Cypriot Idol 2 years ago. Its an ambitious and sweet ballad written by the brother but done badly. She can't reach the notes and her voice is more a whisper in parts. Would have been better for junior eurovision.

Lithuania - Sasha Son 'Pasiklydes zmogus' - beautiful male pianist delivers a strong ballad. Well delivered and well sung, but can be a bit dull to listen to. Would help if it was in English so I know what the song is about.

Moldova - Nelly Ciobanu 'Hora din Moldova' - this is the most obviously balkan ethnic song I've heard so far in the competition. It sounds like every other ethnic entry given by the likes of Slovenia, FYR Macedonia, etc in the past few years. They usually do well in the semis and flunk out in the finals. Nothing too special.

Netherlands - De Toppers 'Shine' - ohmigod! I'm singing along to this! Its the most cliched Eurovision entry I've heard in years with the 90s beat and the coda... it sounds like 'No Goodbyes' by a Netherlands entry a few years back. Its got me dancing now. So dodgy but it will make people happy.

Poland - Lidia Kopania 'I don't wanna leave' - a typical Polish ballad staple. But when I listen to it I have to admit its the first time I've heard a Eurovision ballad from Central and Eastern Europe where the language is perfect English rather than broken or terribly translated. I could actually imagine this being sung by Delta Goodrem. Really good actually - the kind of stuff that would make it in the top 40 charts too.

Slovenia - Quartissimo 'Love Symphony' - strings accompany rock music, but not much singing happening. The presentation is just wonderful but it is starting to sound like 'Hooked on Classics'...

So with these countries now decided, UK, Montenegro, Denmark, Finland, Romania, Turkey, Belarus and Albania also having decided their songs (as previously commented), and Czech Republic, Israel, Switzerland and Bosnia decided their artists, I'm gonna give some top predictions (so far) -

Azerbaijan
Greece
Turkey
Iceland

And maybe - UK, Ireland, Poland, Malta and Andorra as outsiders in the finals.

I think we need to keep an eye out for Russia, Sweden and Ukraine even though they haven't decided. I see those countries as big chances of winning no matter what.