First post and some observations on Eurovision 09

Ok everyone, so this is my second foray into the world of 'blogging'. I did set one up briefly a while ago but my commitment to these kinds of things tends not to be maintained for long, so it disappeared after a couple of entries. But recently I've found blogs written by my friends to be quite interesting reads, so I've been somewhat inspired to set up my own. I aim to update this one fairly regularly, and will at least try to engage a bit more in this blogging business, so please keep an eye out for updates!

Just so you know, this blog will not be a journal so you won't be getting updated on my day-to-day thoughts/activities (I prefer to use Facebook statuses for that every now and then). Instead, most of my entries will be on politics or current affairs, though not exclusively! For example, for my first entry I thought I'd talk about something relatively light-hearted: the Eurovision Song Contest! Now, I know this is much maligned but even in recent years with the endemic political voting I've still found it worth watching because occasionally the contest does throw up some genuinely good songs, and also some absolutely hilarious ones (certainly reason to watch the semi-finals as well as the main event!). Nonetheless, I think everyone was getting a bit tired with the farcical back-scratching between neighbouring countries in the voting and the more I think about it, this year's change to the voting system (where the results are decided in each country 50/50 between a jury and telephone voting) has probably saved the contest somewhat. The big four countries who get the automatic entry to the final made an effort with their entries this year and I do think that they may all have considered withdrawing from Eurovision entirely if they'd have been screwed over by political voting again. Who knows?

Anyway, so I think Andrew Lloyd Webber hit the nail on the head when he stated that Eurovision had 'become a song contest again' or something along those lines. For the most part, the final table in my opinion was a fair reflection of the relative quality of songs in the contest, and for the most part, the best entries got through to the final. (Personally I thought Slovenia's entry was pretty cool and I liked Ireland's as well). The best part of all, however, was that for the first time in years I actually felt proud of Britain's entry. I wasn't convinced Jade was the right choice to sing the song at first but she won me over. She, along with everyone else involved in writing/performing the song, really made an effort with it and this was reflected in the fact that we picked up a very respectable points total. The only question is how do we do that well again next year? It will be interesting to see what happens, just as long as we don't go back to sending reality TV rejects every year.

Here’s a few thoughts on some of the contestants that stood out for me from Eurovision 2009:

Portugal: I quite liked this one; the set-up was really cool, loved the instruments, and the song itself has a certain relaxing quality about it. Perhaps lacked a certain something to really make it grab people's attention though.
Russia: The song they won with last year wasn't too bad, but this one was just...well...depressing. Deservedly didn't make the top ten.
Azerbaijan: Another that finished where it deserved to in my opinion. Stood out above some of the other similar entries and was quite catchy.
Denmark: Co-written by Ronan Keating and boy, you could tell! Part of me did wonder if the singer was in fact related to Ronan in some way. Either that or he idolises the former Boyzone member. Good song though, and 13th place was a bit harsh in my opinion.
Germany: Now, this wouldn't have been that bad if the performance hadn't been clearly geared towards parading Dita Von Teese in a corset on stage. Maybe an ill-advised grab for the male vote? Who knows? Either way it didn't work.
Albania: Average song. Not that I could comment on it in any detail because I was sat there wondering why on earth there was a green gimp (as accurately described by the guy commentating on the semi-final) on stage manhandling the singer. Oh and the Joker/mime makeup on the backing dancers was just weird as well.
Norway: The main singer pulled a few too many smug faces for my liking during his song, but overall a good track and a deserved winner.
Ukraine: Incredibly cheesy, right down to the scantily-clad Romans who looked like they'd been picked up from a lady's night or a hen party somewhere. Made me laugh though, and every Eurovision needs a few acts like this just for sheer hilarity.