We just watched the 24 finalists perform in the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest at the local public house. We’re currently in the 15-minute voting period, after which (I gather) each country’s voting pattern will be announced, and eventually a winner will be crowned.
In the meantime, allow me to pick whole I think will win. I wonder, are any of these videos up on YouTube yet? Hmm…not yet, YouTube appears to have blocked all Eurovision-related submissions for today.
Anyhow, I’m going with:
- Russia
- Hungary
- Finland
Hungary deserves to win, I think, but it’s hard to beat three hot Russian girls all tarted up and singing dirty lyrics.
I must find a video for the Ukrainian entry. If defies description, and expresses everything that I find so deeply surreal about this whole event.
UPDATE: I have located the Ukrainian entry. This isn’t from the contest tonight–I assume it’s from an earlier performance. You can get a sense of the weirdness nonetheless:
http://www.metacafe.com/fplayer/515180/eurovision_song_contest_ukraine_d_verka_serduchka.swf
UPDATE #2: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? Serbia’s answer to kd lang wins? And the mad, mad Ukraine comes in second? I call block (or is that bloc?) judging.
DarrenBarefoot.com 
Why was Malta so big on the UK’s unpopular-everywhere-else entry? Any ideas?
Jay: To be honest, I haven’t followed it all that closely until today, so I’ve got no idea.
So presumably these guys(?) won a “best music/band/performance” contest in the Ukraine.
Makes you wonder what the “losers” were like?
I’m nursing a grudge towards the Eurovision contest, because it knocked Doctor Who off the air (in England) for a week, and my computer pines for its torrenty goodness. On the other hand, it’s forced myself and my cohost to get creative with our podcast (Radio Free Skaro) tonight, since we won’t have a show to talk about. Truly a double-edged sword of nerdiness.
(Also, I love the fact that we’ve reached the point where I can complain about shows in other countries not being on exactly when I want them to be, rather than waiting for a VHS tape to wander over to North America a year after the fact.)
And this is supposed to be the actual Eurovision performance
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/575511/ukraine_verka_serduchka_eurovision_2007/
Darren: confirm? deny?
JohnB: Yep, that’d be it. Crazy, eh?