Eurovision

Date: 18 May 2009 05:40:43

I rather enjoyed this year's Eurovision: a wonderfully eclectic range of acts, and I have not even had a chance to watch the Semi-Finals to see who [what even!] did not make it. I'll try and rectify that this week.

We had two Australian hosts this year, Julia Zemiro and Sam Pang [Julia was the female host of the wondrous stage show Eurobeat], and they did a good job I thought. They had some backstage interviews which I enjoyed, and worked well together.

Australian Voting [via the web] gives a different result to the Official One: interesting to see what Australia liked. A look at the official top 5 [Norway; Iceland; Azerbaijan; Turkey; UK] shows a mix from musical numbers to modern pop to traditional melodies -- good to see a great variety throughout the acts. The Sydney Morning Herald has some photos here, which give you an idea of the diversity.

I recall in Eurovision's past that it was the women who liked to throw off "excess" clothing; with Sakis Rouvas for Greece and Oscar Loya for Germany revealing their abs bit by bit, I see Eurovision has implemented an equal-opportunity-to-remove-clothes policy.

My top five, in no order and for varied reasons, were probably Iceland, Sweden, Germany, Armenia and Moldova, with Ukraine, France and Romania not far behind.

Fun, terribly kitsch fun, as always.

[Edit: and, of course, well done to Russia and Moscow who hosted a most spectactular Eurovision: great set designs and great acts.]