EUROMOMENTS

What a great result on Tuesday night. My prediction list changed somewhat after the live performances and I ended up getting 8/10. Things are looking very good for a well-balanced East-West distribution in the final, and in the Jade camp they must be truly delighted with a draw that places her far away from Malta and Iceland and nestled neatly between two dance numbers. Anyway, just a quick look at tonight's line-up: Croatia Ireland Latvia Serbia Poland Norway Cyprus Slovakia Denmark Slovenia Hungary Azerbaijan Greece Lithuania Moldova Albania Ukraine Estonia The Netherlands And my 10 to qualify: Latvia Norway Cyprus Hungary Azerbaijan Greece Lithuania Moldova Albania Ukraine This was decided very hastily but I think it captures the obvious favourites (Norway, Greece, Ukraine), a mix of styles (dance, r n b, disco, rock ballad), some novelty/memorability factor (Hungary, Latvia) and geographical/diasporic expectations (Azerbaijan, Greece). Let's see what happens! I'm fizzin

Well, here we are again. It's Semifinal Day (Part 1), Jade Ewen is playing on Radio 2 and there's a tiny tear of excited anticipation creeping out of one of my eyes. I'm amazed that I have, for the first time, managed to post something on this blog during the actual week of the contest as opposed to abandoning ship, all spent by the end of national selections. Surely that's worth crying about? My own greatness and steely nerve in the face of my extreme pre-contest excitement? It's myyyyy ttiiiiiiiimmmme naaaaaaaaooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwww But, you know, I really think we have a vintage year on our hands. I can say that there isn't really a single song that I dislike strongly enough to begrudge it success, and even if the whole world has decided that Norway has already won the damn thing, I'm hopeful of a nice open contest for places 2-5 if not the top spot as well. I think it's a great year for East-West balance in terms of song quality, a particularly good