Eurovision 2014 Final...

SO, AT LAST, IT HAS BECOME THE DAY.

Eurovision 2014 final is today, and what I can tell you -- this year seems too complicated to favor one particular song, since most of them are very good and will make a decent win tonight (today, depends where you are watching).

So, from my 20 favorites from the semifinals I scored 80% right (not so bad, I say to myself), but making a prediction on WHO will win, is a different story. I can't tell, just because: I don't know.

What I can tell you is, who I THINK can maybe win tonite.

I think the winner will be among these: Armenia, Austria, Hungary, the Netherlands, and Sweden. I don't like it, it's way too broad. But rounding up to 5 seems fair, just because I like odd numbers, and this only is my thinking... it'll depend at last on how Europe votes.

I think Spain and the UK will be the great performers among the big 5.

An songs that I totally LIKE, from Switzerland, Finland, Greece, Romania , Malta, France and San Marino will be well placed, but not enough to win. Why? The 3 known factors: block voting (mainly, ex-USSR countries and the like, the Balkans and Eastern Europe and the Nordic countries), the time of performance (1st half vs. 2nd half), and the geo-political and diaspora vote.

For this last reason, I see Ukraine scratching better votes this year, because of all the Crimea thing; same reason why, even though they have a KILLER song (the best in years), Russia will not be very well loved in 2014.

So, who's your favorite to win?

This is the running order for the Final:

1. Ukraine
2. Belarus
3. Azerbaijan
4. Iceland
5. Norway
6. Romania
7. Armenia
8. Montenegro
9. Poland
10. Greece
11. Austria
12. Germany
13. Sweden
14. France
15. Russia
16. Italy
17. Slovenia
18. Finland
19. Spain
20. Switzerland
21. Hungary
22. Malta
23. Denmark
24. Netherlands
25. San Marino
26. United Kingdom

:: Shaken not stirren

2014 Eurovision Song Contest

Llega el momento del año para Eurovisión, y en 2014 el concurso será en Copenhague, Dinamarca, el sábado 10 de mayo, y las semifinales ocurrirán el 6 y 8 de mayo.

31 países se juegan el volver a cantar en la noche final, y como acostumbro hacer aquí abajo van las canciones que yo creo pasarán, junto con el anfitrión (Dinamarca) y los "Big-5" (España, Francia, Alemania, Italia y el Reino Unido).

Semifinal 1:

1. Suecia
2. Albania
3. Islandia
4. Rusia
5. Letonia
6. Azerbaiyán
7. Armenia
8. Estonia
9. Bélgica
10. Hungría
11. Moldavia
12. Montenegro
13. San Marino
14. Portugal
15. Ucrania
16. Países Bajos

Semifinal 2:

1. Noruega
2. Israel
3. Georgia
4. Austria
5. Lituania
6. Polonia
7. Malta
8. A.R.Y. de Macedonia
9. Finlandia
10. Irlanda
11. Rumanía
12. Eslovenia
13. Bielorrusia
14. Grecia
15. Suiza

Y eso es lo que yo pienso ¿Qué opinas? Comentarios abajo, me gustará saber tu opinión.

Las 37 canciones completas, según el sitio de ESC en youtube:

:: Shaken not stirren

Malmo 2013 Eurovision Final Night

So tonight is the final of Europe's favorite song contest.

Here's a sneak peak!

This is the final order of the 26 songs:

1. France: L'Enfer Et Moi by Amandine Bourgeois
2. Lithuania: Something by Andrius Pojavis
3. Moldova: O Mie by Aliona Moon
4. Finland: Marry Me by Krista Siegfrids
5. Spain: Contigo Hasta El Final (With You Until The End) by ESDM
6. Belgium: Love Kills by Roberto Bellarosa
7. Estonia: Et Uus Saaks Alguse by Birgit
8. Belarus: Solayoh by Alyona Lanskaya
9. Malta:Tomorrow by Gianluca
10. Russia: What If by Dina Garipova
11. Germany: Glorious by Cascada
12. Armenia: Lonely Planet by Dorians
13. The Netherlands: Birds by Anouk
14. Romania: It's My Life by Cezar
15. United Kingdom: Believe In Me by Bonnie Tyler
16. Sweden: You by Robin Stjernberg
17. Hungary:: Kedvesem by ByeAlex
18. Denmark: Only Teardrops by Emmelie de Forest
19. Iceland: Ég Á Líf by Eyþór Ingi
20. Azerbaijan: Hold Me by Farid Mammadov
21. Greece: Alcohol Is Free by Koza Mostra featuring Agathon Iakovidis
22. Ukraine: Gravity by Zlata Ognevich
23. Italy: L'Essenziale by Marco Mengoni
24. Norway: I Feed Your Love by Margaret Berger
25. Georgia: Waterfall by Nodi Tatishvili and Sophie Gelovani
26. Ireland: Only Love Survives by Ryan Dolan

From those, these are my favorites for tonight (in alpha order):

• Azerbaijan
• Germany
• Denmark
• Iceland
• Ireland
• Netherlands
• Norway
• Russia
• Sweden
• Ukraine

With no Balkan countries in the final, and a with Scandinavian and Northern Europe countries in, is difficult to predict a solid winner... or a swing vote. Not to mention former USSR countries that usually do bloc voting also.

That being said, I strongly think the contest will stay in Scandinavia for the next year. Either Denmark or Norway will win tonight, I don't think Sweden will repeat the win. My heart favorite, Ireland, will maybe place in the top 5, and Germany will be the Big 5 top scored country, followed by Italy or France.

Do you agree with me? What do you think?


:: Shaken not stirren

Eurovision 2013

So this is finally Eurovision week: 39 songs will battle to be Europe's song for the year 2013.

If you are not familiar with this Song Festival Contest, I may suggest you to look it up in the Wikipedia, it has a fascinating story... or you can browse my previous postings of other years.

Back to this year: as you may be aware, Eurovision this year will take place in Malmo, Sweden. This is because last year's winner (Loreen) is from this country.

So... 16 and 17 songs will compete in the Semi Finals, only 20 will join the Big 5 and Sweden for the Grand Final, which will be this Saturday 18 May. For a complete revision of the 1st and 2nd semifinal songs, you can watch these youtube lists:

Semi Final 1

Semin Final 2

And these are my predictions for the final performances, not necessarily all of them are my favorites but it is what I think Europe will kinda vote. Let's see how many countries I get right.

Semi Final 1

1. Estonia
2. Denmark
3. Russia
4. Ukraine
5. Netherlands
6. Lithuania
7. Belarus
8. Ireland
9. Belgium
10. Serbia

Semi Final 2

1. San Marino
2. Azerbaijan
3. Finland
4. Malta
5. Iceland
6. Greece
7. Hungary
8. Norway
9. Switzerland
10. Romania

Finally, these are the ones already in the Final: France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden (the host) and the United Kingdom.

:: Shaken not stirren

Eurovision Song Contest 2011

Greetings euro-fans!

ESC 2011 is just 2 weeks away! Have you already chosen your favorites?

Since it's a tiresome task to post EVERY video in one single entry, here's the Eurovision list with all the songs (click here).

Here's the playlist I created from the original Eurovision channel:



:: Shaken not stirren

A "prayer" wins Eurovision

Serbia's Eurovision 2007 entry won the song festival!

Molitva, Prayer in English, it's an espectacular ballad sung in Serbian language that cautivated, not only Eastern Europe countries, but the rest of the continent as well.

Here's the Crotian TV broadcast, with the lyrics as well.

MOLITVA
Ni oka da sklopim,
postelja prazna tera san,
a život se topi
i nestaje brzo, k'o dlanom o dlan.

K'o razum da gubim,
jer stvarnost i ne primećujem,
još uvek te ljubim,
još uvek ti slepo verujem.

K'o luda, ne znam kuda,
ljubavi se nove bojim,
a dane, žive rane,
više ne brojim.

Molitva, kao žar na mojim usnama je,
molitva, mesto reči samo ime tvoje.
(I) Nebo zna, kao ja,
koliko puta sam ponovila,
to nebo zna, baš kao ja,
da je ime tvoje moja jedina
molitva.

Al Bogu ne mogu
lagati sve dok se molim,
a lažem ako kažem
da te ne volim.

English translation
I'm wide awake
An empty bed drives my dreams away
Life melts like ice
Disappears in the twinkling of an eye

I'm losing my mind,
Pushing reality out of sight
Our lips are touching softly
You're the one I believe blindly

I walk around like crazy
Falling in love frightens me
Days are like wounds
Countless and hard to get through

Prayer...
It burns my sore lips like a fire
Prayer...
Thy name is something I admire
Heaven knows just as well as I do
So many times I have cried over you
Heaven knows just as well as I do
I pray and live only for you

I can't lie to God
as I kneel down and pray
You're the love of my life
That's the only thing I can say

More bla bla bla regarding the song contest soon, as soon as I review my precious recording of yesterday's event.

10 to the final... plus the other 14.

So, you are ready to poll for the song of Europe?

Poor Czech Rep. didn't make it, even thought they had a powerful song. Anyway, I think next year contest will be in the South. Spain's year this time? Probably, but doubt it. The guys are cool, but the song sucks big time.

I think Greece can repeat the wonder... then, again, why not Romania, let's say.

Let me think of my fave, and I'll let you know later on.

Hello, Helsinki calling

Ladies and gentlemen, the time has come for the 52th Eurovision festival. Let's hear what Europe thinks is the best song of the continent. The final will be held this weekend in Helsinki, Finland.

And this year for a change, there's no clear favorite!

If you happen to have satellite/cable tv, turn on Television Española (TVE) international channed this Thursday night for the semis and Saturday 9PM CET (2PM GMT-5) to watch the final.

Will pop beat over rock this year? Let's see how musy-mushy ESC turns out to be.

Stay tunned!

Hard Rock Hallelujah!

Lordi à la final d'Eurovision 2006...

Qu'est ce que vous pensez?

The "monsters" strike Euro-style

Lordi, from Finland, won tonight's EUROVISION. Earning just about 300 or so points, 50 points over from second placed Russia; also in the top 3 is Bosnia & Herzegovina.

Tonight, live from Athens, Greece, history has been written with a hard rock song taking over the coveted European Song Contest prize.

Douze points était la phrase très desirée ce nuit, aussi avec una préséntation d'avant-de-siècle, une misse en scène avec des plus de effects lumièrés, colors et téchnologie d'avant garde. Vraiment un show spectaculer! Et l'an prôchain, le destin est à la ville d'Helsinki... Je crois ça, ou non?

Semifinal eurovisiva

Ayer por la noche se realizó la semifinal del Eurovisión Atenas 2006. De los 23 países en la clasificatoria solamente pasaron 10. Unas dos horas de música, imágenes, emoción, energía, aplausos y uno que otro abucheo... Sí, abucheo, sino sólo ver la actuación de la islandesa Silvia Night, que (a lo personal) resultó desastroza rayando en lo kitsch.

De lo mejorcito de la noche, no pasó la que todos daban por buena, la canción belga cantada por Kelly Ryan. Por otro año más se quedaron con las ganas de cantar el sábado los de Bélgica. La gran favorita, la sueca Carola pasó (por que realmente tenía que pasar), con un himno festivalero a todo sazón. Suecia se verá frente a otra legendaria, la anfitriona Anna Vissi.

Como nota curiosa menciono a dos delegaciones. La lituana con "We are the champions", con tono a nana y medio burlona, definitivamente te saca una sonrisa... We are the champions of Eurovision... vote! vote! vote! Lituania quiere ser campeona, a ver si lo logran. Otros se fueron por lo teátrico, y de ahí sacamos a un par de monstruos nórdicos de Lordi: los fineses vienen a por todas este año con el hard rock. Y la debutante Armenia clasificó a los 24 del sábado: ¿será por la suerte de principiantes? ¡Les deseo suerte!

El orden de presentación fue como sigue: Armenia, Bulgaria, Eslovenia, Andorra, Belarús, Albania, Bélgica, Irlanda, Chipre, Mónaco, A.R.Y. Macedonia, Polonia, Rusia, Turquía, Ucrania, Finlandia, Países Bajos, Lituania, Portugal, Suecia, Estonia, Bosnia y Herzegovina e Islandia.

Es una pena que países como Chipre y Mónaco no pasaran a la final, pero siendo sinceros, la canción monegasca fue un bodrio... Aún no entiendo el sentido de la letra, realmente.

El orden de actuación de la gala de este sábado será:
1- Suiza
2- Moldova
3- Israel
4- Letonia
5- Noruega
6- España
7- Malta
8- Alemania
9- Dinamarca
10- Rusia
11- A.R.Y. Macedonia
12- Rumania
13- Bosnia y Herzegovina
14- Lituania
15- Reino Unido
16- Grecia
17- Finlandia
18- Ucrania
19- Francia
20- Croacia
21- Irlanda
22- Suecia
23- Turquía
24- Armenia

(en negritas los que pasaron de la semifinal)

Por lo demás, imperdible... Sábado 20 de mayo, en Atenas a las 22H00 (19H00 GMT/14H00 en Panamá).

The 51th Drinking Games

Or...

The Eurovision Song Contest Drinking Games Rules

1- Each person must select a country or two at the beginning of the game. This can be do as a draw, or a previous selective way.

2- Drink every time someone says/sings the following:
"Love"
"Eyes"
"Hello"
"Good-bye"
"Good evening/night"
Or the concording translation.

3- Drink every time the following occurs:
- One of your countries is mentioned.
- Take a drink for each point your country earns.
- Double the drinks if one of your countries awarded the points to your other country.
- Local TV commentator makes fun of an entrant.
- The singers/dancers use ribbons.

Athens: Feel the rhythm!!!

Feel the groooooove! Groovy!!!

El Eurovision Song Contest de este año será en Atenas, como ya algunos sabrán (y lo que no, ya lo saben). Este año la capital griega se prepara para ¡sentir el ritmo!

La 51º versión del festival contará con la participación de 37 países del continente europeo; la semifinal será el 18 de mayo y la gran final el 20. Será en la Arena Olímpica, una de las sedes del anillo olímpico durante "Atenas 2004".

El logo de este año representa las artes y cultura helénica en el disco de Phaistós, simbolizando también las ondas musicales, y el pentagrama multicolor: los colores de Grecia. Los anfitriones serán María Menounos (modelo, actriz y TV personna) y Sakis Rouvas (cantante y 2º lugar en ESC2004).

Es un evento imperdible... O sea, no lo puedes dejar de ver.

Más información sobre el Eurovisión en próximas entregas.