Are they kidding?? Is that Russia's entry?? Why do they even bother to enter if they send pathetic stuff like that?? No wonder ESC is seen as a joke by many nowadays.

I agree... I watched that and said WTF????? If I were in charge of something, I'd ban them for 5 years just for submitting tripe like that! I saw finally they were wearing headset microphones, and at first, I only saw the mic on the ONE grandma, and I thought it a GINORMOUS tumor on her face or something. I hate those headset mics. Huntress... what is the political problem with Armenia?

Edited March 20, 201213 yr by alphanguy74

So far, for me.... it's between the UK, Croatia, Lithuania, Malta, and Izabo. I find the Moldova entry intriguing as well, his vocals don't contain any of the affectations that most modern singers tend to have, he's a bit of a vocal throwback, and WOW is he gorgeous. Russia is of course, the worst... followed closely by Turkey. Poor Turkey, they really miss the mark so many times, and the first time they entered, they had a beautiful song (Seninle Bir Dakika), but only got three points, msot people feel, as punishment for their invasion of Cyprus. But theyv'e had much greater success the last ten years.... this year their song just sucks.

Edited March 20, 201213 yr by alphanguy74

Huntress... what is the political problem with Armenia?

Armenia and Azerbaijan were involved in a war over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave between 1988 and 1994, and tensions have been high between the two countries ever since.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagorno-Karabakh_War

It's hard for me to compile a top 10 this year, as I like most of the entries.

I've tried anyway

Just missing out: Azerbaijan, Denmark, Finland

1 point goes to... Switzerland

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/8yX1dIK9vuc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

2 points go to... Estonia

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/PSQdnvzV8CE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

3 points go to... Sweden

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4nJcmLMb5to" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

4 points go to... France

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/SnSmB7uBo-Y" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

5 points go to... United Kingdom

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/pFNv9pjqZkk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

6 points go to... Moldova

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/3H7AILnPoio" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

7 points go to... The Netherlands

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/oiBaOceaaA0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

8 points go to... FYR Macedonia

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/98FZchoQxvc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

10 points go to... Romania

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/VH2t9LpRGQk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

12 points go to... Norway

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/fOdRFtwTzb8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

And my favorites who didn't win their national finals and thus missed out on getting the ticket to Baku:

Raffaela Paton / "Chocolatte" (Netherlands)

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9QWpgZPqrIU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Plumbo / "Ola Nordmann" (Norway)

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/B-CHodO8gm8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Max Barskih / "Dance" (Ukraine)

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/GrdiPtXbYYU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Syostry Syo / "Une Marionette" (Russia)

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/87aEtydgZdE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Several sites dedicated to the Eurovision Song Contest have been hacked, among them esctoday.com. They received this message from the hackers:

"What will gays bring to Azerbaijan? What will happen in azerbaijani families after gay pride? there is no place to immoral gays in Azerbaijan..leave our country..no place to stay in azerbaijan for gays who look like animals. there is no place for the evil in this country..we paint blue to red blood."

The first semi-final is over.

The following countries have qualified for the final on Saturday:

• Albania
  
• Cyprus
  
• Denmark
  
• Greece
  
• Hungary
  
• Iceland
  
• Ireland
  
• Moldova
  
• Romania
  
• Russia
  
  The following countries are out:

  • Austria
    
  • Belgium
    
  • Finland
    
  • Israel
    
  • Latvia
    
  • Montenegro
    
  • San Marino
    
  • Switzerland
    

A lot of the songs were really bad. Mostly the ones that didn't qualify, thank God.

I can't believe Albania qualified for the final. That "song" (if you can even call it that) was awful, just a lot of screaming and some whispering. Alongside Montenegro it was the worst performance of the evening.

I would much rather have seen Latvia qualify.

And I know that copying ABBA used to be seen as a shortcut to success, but Israel took it to a whole new level this year. The chorus in their song was an almost exact replica of the chorus from ABBA's song "Nina Pretty Ballerina"!

The only country that I'm going to miss in the final is Switzerland. I really liked their performance and I thought it was much stronger than for example Hungary (although I'm always glad when a non-Ex-Soviet country and a non-Ex-Yugoslavia country advances to the final, so I'm happy for Hungary).

Romania, Greece and Cyprus were weak, but televoting helped them. In Greece's case, a background singer supported the "lead" singer throughout the whole song Romania's singer was off-tempo for half of the song.

I didn't think Russia was cute at all. It was horrible and I hope it won't win the whole thing.

I guess the jury saved Albania (and Hungary).

My favorite was Moldova.

Romania's singer was off-tempo for half of the song.

Her ear-piece malfunctioned during the song and that probably disturbed her. You could see it very clearly. She made a signal to someone and then ripped it out of her ear.

Wow, I really couldn't disagree more. Not that Eurovision is a place for quality songs (usually), but I loved the craziness and style of the Albanian song/presentation, Romania, Cyprus and Greece gave EXACTLY what is expected for this competition (singing talent and malfunctions notwithstanding) and Russia is just adorable. Yes, I do think they will win the whole competition because, more often than not, it's about the gimmick. And they sure got a good one.

I guess if those grannies came from Portugal, the Netherlands or any other western European country and they sang exactly the same song, no one would vote for them.

In recent years, the contest has become much more commercialized, especially due to the re-introduction of the juries, so I think a Russian win would throw the contest back a full decade in terms of quality and reputation.

Wow, I really couldn't disagree more. Not that Eurovision is a place for quality songs (usually), but I loved the craziness and style of the Albanian song/presentation, Romania, Cyprus and Greece gave EXACTLY what is expected for this competition (singing talent and malfunctions notwithstanding) and Russia is just adorable. Yes, I do think they will win the whole competition because, more often than not, it's about the gimmick. And they sure got a good one.

I don't mind when the songs/performances are a little bit special, but the Albanian song was dreadful in my opinion. It had no melody! All she did was either scream at the top of her lungs or whisper one or two words and contort her face. I'm not too keen on either Greece or Cyprus either. They've had much, much better songs in the past.

I guess if those grannies came from Portugal, the Netherlands or any other western European country and they sang exactly the same song, no one would vote for them.

Exactly!

The 2nd semi-final starts in 1 hour... here's the official recap of the 1st one:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/eQV8VNTZa9c" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>