OK, now I'm getting excited about Eurovision.

Most people still dont have accommodation for Moscow, and thats really f*cked up. Fortunately its all sorted for me and I'm so happy I booked and paid when I did last August/September.
LESSON ONE TO POTENTIAL EUROVISION GO-ERS : BOOK ACCOMMODATION AS SOON AS THE HOSTING CITY IS CONFIRMED!

The entries are starting to be finalised...

- UK has Jade (kind of a Beyonce for the UK) singing a powerballad by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Diane Warren called "Its my time". Its actually very good, quite moving and she's a great performer. I think it could be the year that the UK could return to the top 10 (but not win it). I'm not usually a fan of the powerballad, but theres always a couple that feature in the top 10.
- France has Patricia Kaas. No song announced yet, but from what I can understand of her career, she's very well known for doing great jazz material
- Israel once again has a controversial entry - Noa and Mira Awad, a Muslim and Jew doing a duet. Yeah... I'm waiting for the boos and cheers... no matter what the song is. But I think its poignant considering the events of the last few months.
- Andorra is sending Andrea Demirovic with "Just Get Out of my life". To me it sounds like a tune by ABBA, and I have a feeling may have nicked lyrics from "Outta My Head" by that Ashlee Simpson. Doesn't bode well and sit well with me.
- Denmark just announced Neils Brinck with "Believe Again" written by Ronan Keating. He sounds like Ronan Keating. But the song is a nice, leisurely, singalong, bopalong sort of tune. Not a winner (I think), but one that will stick in peoples heads.
- Finland has Waldos People singing "Lose Control". Its a dance/techno tune with a female singer and male rapper. The performance could make or break it, but it doesnt do much for me listening to it now.
- Romania has Elena Gheorghe with "Balkan Girls". Its more of the latest Eurovision-typical-entry, a dance tune with Eastern beats sung by a beautiful girl and performed with 4 scantily clad backup dancers
- Turkey has Hadise with "Dum Tek Tek". Like Romania, its a dance tune with Eastern influence (we can blame 2003 winner Sertab Erner from Turkey for this wave of such entries). She's a good performer though, great singer, great dancer... could be one to watch and a certain finalist.
- Czech Republic has Gipsy.cz (no song announced yet) who are a Romani rap/folk/dance group. After listening to their stuff, it borders on sounding the Cat Empire. I like them actually, but it really depends on the song and the performance, and I don't know if Europe and Eurovision really goes for bands.
- Switzerland are sending a rock/pop band called Lovebugs. Again, there's no song announced, but after checking their stuff of the net, I like them. They might look like Matchbox 20 (well, better looking), but they sound a bit like old-time stuff from The Verve. I don't think they are winners for Eurovision, but they will be winners in terms of the exposure they quite obviously want from Eurovision.
- Belarus has Peter Elfminov with "Eyes that never lie". He looks like a Nordic 70s rockstar complete with white bodysuit. The song is an appauling 80s stylee rock tune (with falsetto!), but will grab a lot of votes because he seems a massive self-promoter and quite a performer. God help us.
- Azerbaijan have Aysel who is promising an upbeat r'n'b dance tune (ala "Qele. Qele" by Sirusho last year) even though the song hasnt been chosen yet. I'm thinking something like the Greek entry last year which came out of nowhere and claimed 3rd place - a mindless but catchy pop ditty complete with dance routine. I'll go out on a limb and say she's top 5 already. She's cute, I haven't even heard her sing (she could be dreadful), but she looks like she's stepped straight out of Idol. She'll be up there in the votes based on her energy and youth. As long as she doesnt do any of that 'lung' gurgling that the Azerbeijani entry did last year.
- Greece is sending Sakis again - he's the Greek Ricky Martin. I imagine he'll do much the same as his last Eurovision entry in 2006 - a pop tune and lots of pelvic thrusting, possibly with his shirt off. hmmmm.
- Netherlands are sending De Toppers - an aging male trio who do covers mainly. I have no idea what they'll sing, but I think you can be assured that this will be one of the non-intentional joke entries of this years Eurovision. Their song is being announced tomorrow.
- Albania has Kejsi Tola singing "Me merr ne enderr". Its the first confirmed song not in English at this years Eurovision. Its a dance tune, performed by a female that seems to have no rhythm, and no personality. She can certainly sing but her performance skills need a LOT of work. It was like watching a girl on her hens night doing kareoke after a few too many wines. She couldnt stand still, and couldnt even move in time with the music.

Thats all so far thats announced artist/song wise. Long winded I know. I'm using it as my own reference.

I say keep an eye out for Azerbaijan in the finals (possible winner? who knows), and Greece, Turkey and the UK for top 10 in the final.

The entry I'm really holding out for is the Ukraine. They've been 2nd for the last 2 years. They won in 2004. And featured in the finals every other time. They have the knack of picking great songs and artists. Verka (2007 entry who came 2nd - performing a wonderful show of utter campness) is producing one of the finalists for their own national selection - a duo called NikitA who appear to be leather bodysuit-clad lesbians, blonde and very sexy. They do r'n'b dance style songs with raunchy lyrics. And unlike Tatu, they can sing.

And Russia shouldn't be discounted either. I know they want to be the new Ireland and win lots of back to back Eurovisions now. They will put up a great act and put a lot of effort into the promotion and performance, just like they did with Dima last year. It certainly wasnt the greatest song and didnt deserve to win, but they acted like they had it in the bag months before Eurovision. The over-confidence won because every other act went in thinking Russia had won (and even Terry Wogan said it). It was a self-fulfilling prophecy. Something the UK really needs to learn if they ever want to win again.

Just checked the Eurovision news and they FINALLY made some announcements about the semi final draws (I'm quite happy to see that they've put a lot of Eastern European countries in the 2nd semi which means the West will be happy). They've launched the logo (Fantasy Bird - which is quite pretty, but has no slogan this year), and ticketing. The ticketing has me pissed off. Suddenly there are no packages available, only single tickets. 650 Euros for best seats? Ouch!

The fanclubs have been waiting for the confirmed news for months now but we still didn't have costs confirmed and therefore haven't paid yet. The only thing we all paid so far is a deposit of 30 pounds to guarantee our tickets.

I bloody hope that the packages are still available for fan clubs and they are decent seating and still around the 300 Euro mark. A massive jump to 650 Euros just for the final ($1300 AUSTRALIAN!!!!!!) is too much for anyone to tolerate, especially when most fans attending Eurovision also have the high hotel expenses to pay in Moscow, plus visas...

If its the case that theres no packages for fan clubs now, and tickets are that expensive, well, I might take my chances with ordering separately on the net. I'll just have to book cheaper seats for the final and I'll book better seats for the semis (which will be less popular). I'll just work towards ordering the 3 shows to a total of 300 Euros as originally estimated. I was so looking forward to sitting on the dancefloor section, but honestly, I'll just be happy to attend no matter where I sit. Just as long as I get to go to Eurovision and enjoy it live.

They are meant to be on sale to the public in the 2nd half of Feb. Counting down the days...

Latvia has been saved! They are back in Eurovision!
YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'll have to remember today, everytime someone peeves me off at work, to think of Eurovision, my holiday, and seeing Latvia perform!

And Bosnia is sending a rock band to Eurovision. Should be, umm, interesting.

Its shaping up to be a good year. Andrew Lloyd Webber is on board for the UK, Patricia Kaas for France, other countries are sending all their big acts, and System of a Down might be representing Armenia. hehe

Happy new year everyone (3.5 hours ahead)!

2009 - the year of Eurovision.

I just got an email from the Eurovision club actually, mainly telling people not to panic about Eurovision stuff. Officially all hotels are booked out. Now they are saying that they have 3 (1000+ room) hotels set aside just for the fanclub members at cheaper prices. I don't need to worry though - I have my apartment all set in the heart of Moscow. The tix will be all set to go in the first week of February, once everyone has the chance to secure the set aside accommodation.

So, Georgia are back in Eurovision late in the game after previously deciding back in August that they would pull out because of Russia and its invasion. But we lose Latvia?
I know which country I'd rather have in the competition.

I hope that the EBU/ESC organisers can find some sort of rescue package for Latvia to get them back in. And Lithuania.

Oh, and apparently Johnny Logan isnt singing for Ireland - I heard only a week ago that he would be in the competition, but apparently not. Instead they are going with an open competition for the song, probably some ridiculous 3rd placed Irish Idol or something. The UK isn't faring much better - the song will be written by Andrew Lloyd Webber, but he's doing a star search of unknowns which will be eliminated on live tv. Why not just get a act that's already known? sheesh.

Thats where the traditional countries get it wrong. They keep using unknowns and Idol contestants for their entries - acts who have never ever played to a whole arena of people before and can't handle the pressure. The Eastern European countries then select their biggest acts for their countries - acts who know how to work an audience and play to crowds. And even more important - acts that have a following in their regions. Dima Bilan won this year not because of politics. He won because people in the area vote for who they know and he's a huge star in Eastern Europe - Russia, Ukraine, Baltics, etc. Also aided by the fact he competed 2 years prior in Eurovision, so all the regular viewers knew him. He also had the stage presence to back it up.

If Ireland had Johnny Logan, or the UK had someone like Take That, they'd win.

The last time the UK won, it was because they had Katrina and the Waves (as in the act that did 'Walking on Sunshine'). Everyone knew who they were.

The UK makes me so angry with its treatment of Eurovision. They take the mickey out of it, ridicule all the other countries, think they are so damn good, but then they come last and they wonder why. They keep blaming it on political voting, not the fact that they actually really suck.
Having Graham Norton confirmed as the new host for Eurovision in the UK commentary team doesnt help matters at all.

Ok, yes, I'm behind the eightball on this one. I just realised how crap Easyjet truly are.

Firstly I've been passed onto 4 different people in Easyjet just because I want to push one of my hotel bookings forward by a day. I don't even mind if they just cancel the first day of my booking and then credit me money to pay for the other day, but that just seems to hard for them. The last person I got passed onto was a 'security adviser' for the company who has no idea why I'd be referred to them.
I might just ring the hotel in Berlin directly and ask them to cancel my first night and add one more day to the end of the booking.

And then, despite the fact that Easyjet say their flight schedule for summer 2009 for Berlin is LIVE, any search I do says that flights are not available post 2 November 2008. What did I do? I just booked on AirBaltic instead. It is possibly more expensive, but at least they have flights. Cost me about $90 for the one way flight from Riga to Berlin. Air Baltic from what I can see so far are pretty decent. I got a SIM card from them months ago for a local Baltic mobile number so I can use it next year on my travels (no roaming fees, its all pre-paid card stuff and can be topped up online, the rates seem extremely reasonable and I've got 10 Euros credit on it already. That SIM card turned up in the mail within a week, so I call that service. Plus they sell Brainstorm gear on their flights and website as the 'official sponsor of the band'.

And then I contacted the hostel I am staying at in Riga and asked them to add another night to my booking there. Cost another $8 in reservation fees. Damn Euro is so bad right now.

All this to see Depeche Mode in Latvia (one day after I was originally scheduled to leave Riga). I guess its a good reason not to book everything holiday-wise so much in advance. But I wouldn't want to risk Eurovision either.

Know what I'm thinking about right now?

Cheating on my holiday plans a little and flying from Berlin to Krakow, rather than catching the overnight train. The difference in cost is that the train is $50 cheaper. The plane will obviously get me there about 8 hours quicker and gives me another day to fool around in Berlin. hmmmmm.

I love Berlin.

And my penpal Tanja emailed today to say she's now living in Hamburg, so I might even be able to make a day trip to see her.

I am also very annoyed at Easyjet, as it appears they have scrapped the flights between Riga and Berlin. I may have to catch AirBaltic instead, at a cost of $90 more.