This is my review of the semifinal, which I wrote in an email to another ESC fan, which is why some of the references ask direct questions.
Hey Rick!
Due to being in college over the week, it seemed I would struggle to sit down in front of a 30something inch tv with my scorecard and snacks and rate the entries.
As it turned out, I arranged to watch the show over at my classmate's house.
Unfortunately, upon arriving at her house, we discovered that she doesn't have BBC3 ( :O )
Luckily, the residence was only a 5-minute walk away, so I went back to the halls, flicked the channel and caught the last minute or so from Bulgaria.
I watched the next 5 songs and some of the Montenegrin song.
Then, some "blockies" came through and decided they wanted to watch the "fitba'".
So, I decided I would go on one of the PCs and watch a live webstream (hey, better watching a bad quality screen than having to endure Paddy O'Connel whinging about Ann's Edge Dayzan and Modga Stikla!).
I went to the official website which informed me that I needed an octoshape plugin to watch the live webstream.
So I downloaded the plugin.
And nothing happened.
So I downloaded it again, and pressed "run".
And still nothing happened.
By this time I knew I had missed Switzerland, Moldova, the Netherlands, and Albania :'(
So I went onto the Eurovision forum, and posted my dilemma in the appropriate thread.
I began to get very angry - 2 nights in a year and it has to go wrong why? :'(
Luckily, a good Turkish/Armenian/Lebanese member provided me with a link to a live webstream from NRK.
After thanking him immensely, I managed to catch the last 30 seconds of Poland and watched all the way until after the broadcast had finished!
Oh, bliss! Hearing Norwegian commentary (which DOESN'T talk over songs or tell us that The next song is Anamdanda) with the commentator occasionally breaking into song!
Anyway, here's my review (bearing in mind I heard none of the songs until last night either):
BULGARIA
I caught the last minute or so, and wished I'd walked back more slowly! I'd been told this entry was really good and catchy, with unusual R&B elements. It was just a WAG and her sugar daddy banging drums until the girl got bored and decided to wail about not having enough designer shoes in her walk-in-wardrobe. Totally yucky.
ISRAEL
Flashbacks of Alf Poier in 2003...he also was song number 2! Unfortunately, Alfie had originality on his side, this was such a rip of...Mensch der hat die Liebe? Wiel Der Mensch Er Fraureburger? Du Bist Eine Schlamper? Something like that anyway...although I guess I kinda liked the "non-nouveau rues de paris" feel to this song...
CYPRUS
WOW. I love it! Yes, it may be a little tiny bit dancey, but I can live with that. I can still remember the chorus (after 1 listen)!!! A travesty that this failed to qualify.
BELARUS
Yeah, yeah, whatever. So you have a magic trick in your act. So what? It's nothing Dima BILAN didn't do for Russia last year. Our second clonesong of the night.
ICELAND
Forgettable, bleh, rock and roll is not the goal. Apparently this guy says he will "never do Eurovision again! Never NOT EVER NEVER EVER!!!" Hmm...I'd put him in time out, a minute for every year of his life, but judging by those wrinkles I'd be there until Wednesday.
GEORGIA
A little more dancey and weird than Cyprus, but I can sort of remember the tune. A stunning visual from a gorgeous - I repeat - GORGEOUS girl, and I'm not sad at all to see this qualify.
MONTENEGRO
What I saw was just 'Ajde Kroce Hallelujah really. Nothing special.
SWITZERLAND
I just saw the performance on youtube. Why on Earth was this a favourite? The tune is okei, but I thought it was by DJ Bobo, as opposed to DJ Bobo and two other people who deserve credit.
MOLDOVA
No idea
NETHERLANDS
Edsilia Rombley produced one of the greatest Eurosongs in 1998, finishing 4th (The country's highest placing since their last victory - in 1975!) with an incredible 150 points (from only 24 countries - that would usually merit 2nd or 3rd place - and is on average higher than Elena Paparizou's score in 2005). Unfortunately, from what I saw of the recap, "On Top Of The World" is no "Hemel En Aarde", and "Hemel En Aarde" would only have placed her 8th or so nowadays. Still, I remember the chorus, despite hearing only the recap.
ALBANIA
The recap seems nice enough, an ethnic folksy ballad that Europe has loved in recent years.
DENMARK
No idea - the backing dancers looked like gimps though.
CROATIA
No idea
POLAND
Sorry, but I LOVED this! Catchy, that girl can sing, an excellent beat, I can even take a little bit of (c)rap. I was surprised this had been judged so harshly by the fans.
SERBIA
This was praised to high heaven by the fans, and I have to ask - why? There is no tune, her singing is only okei, although I admit there is a lot of drama in the song. And yes, she's a she!
CZECH REPUBLIC
Hard Rock Dama Mala strikes again! My only observation is that these guys didn't need rubber masks anyway - they were already ugly enough without even trying.
PORTUGAL
Now, this reminds me of Spain 2001 - Dile Que La Quiero. It's catchy, it's fun, it's a good visual, but it isn't quite Dile Que La Quiero, which means it won't qualify. DQLQ was good enough for 6th in a terrible year, A not-exactly DQLQ is not good enough for top 10 in a good year. Shame, I liked it.
FYI MACEDONIA
For the 4th time running, FYROM makes the top 10 in the semifinal. It's at the point where they only need to put FYROM in the final, and then let us see the song on Saturday. This was nice enough, but the English lyrics sucked bigtime.
NORWAY
The stage act makes me think it was all a little cabaret, cruise ship (Am I turning into Simon Cowell?). The song was good, Spanish-sounding, but not quite Danca Comigo, which isn't quite DQLQ. See where I'm going with this?
MALTA
I expected this to be a really energetic powersong with lots of oomph. And what do I get? The theme tune for "Because of Winn Dixie". Despite the dissapointment, still a good act. This girl has attempted to represent her country 11 times, finally managed it, and she's kicked out! Shame...
ANDORRA
So that's where Busted got to! My god his singing is awful! Let's save the thunderbirds!
HUNGARY
Ow, I think my ears are bleeding. Painful, depressing, tuneless, drab, nothing good to say.
ESTONIA
With the right song, this girl could have W-A-L-K-E-D the contest. Excellent performer let down by an inferior song and dance routine. Did you know she's the sister of 1/2 of the winning duo in 2001 (the white guy)?
BELGIUM
Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew! I HATE IT! Worst song by far, the guy cannot sing. Is it Sanjaya from American Idol? That would explain the singing anyway...I am completely shellshocked by this guy's inability to sing anything more challenging than "middle C, middle C, I am singin middle C".
SLOVENIA
WOW! I love it! Opera is a beautiful musical style, and popera is even better! No visual gimmicks, just a professional opera singing woman standing on stage and singing! Wonderful! Only comment is her breathiness in the verse, but hey, it worked for Eimear Quinn!
TURKEY
Every Way That I Can't. This reminds me SO much of Turkey's only winner, and thereofre Kiss Kiss. Not sure about the dancing, but I liked the song!
AUSTRIA.
Bleh. hank god Anastacialeft this outside alone, the song would have ruined her career. The whole red knot thing was due to the song being the official anthem for AIDs awareness in Austria. Did you notice that he pimped Andre's (Armenia 2006) hoodie?
LATVIA
Very nice, more opera. However...Slovenia's song was about the song and her voice. This is reverting to visual gimmicks with the top hats and tail coats, and it took six of them to achieve what Alenka did. One of the members is Italian.
So here's the votes of the Moo55ic jury:
...01...TURKEY
02...Portugal
03...Albania
04...Netherlands
...05...LATVIA
06...Estonia
07...Malta
08...Cyprus
10...Poland
...12...SLOVENIA!!!
And my bottom 3:
26...Hungary
27...Bulgaria
28...Belgium
So, 3 of the ones in my top 10 went through, but at least my overall winner made it! First time since 2004
And my prediciton, in performance order:
Cyprus
...BELARUS
...GEORGIA
Denmark
...SERBIA
...FYI MACEDONIA
Malta
...SLOVENIA
...TURKEY
...LATVIA
And the bottom 3:
26...Austria
27...Norway
28...Belgium
7/10...not bad at all!
The results! I'm so nervous!
03 - Belarus (oh, big surprise...not)
06 - FYROM (see Belarus)
07 - Slovenia (woohoowoohoo! Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees!!!!!!!!:D:D:D:D:D
08 - Hungary (NO! THE SONG SUCKED ***!!!)
11 - Georgia (so shocked...not)
14 - Latvia () away from Slovenia
17 - Serbia (whatever...)
21 - Bulgaria (this is a ****ing ****ed up ****tarded joke. Hungary and Bulgaria? Two of my bottom 3?)
22 - Turkey (YET ANOTHER late draw!)
24 - Moldova (I'll admit I was surprised by this one)
Well, all in all it was a good semifinal, thanks mostly to the lack of Paddy O'Connel
Slovenia's in, and hopefully will win (although I'll be happy with top 10)
I reckon Belarus won
See you in the final Rick!
PS incase you're wondering about the "Because of Winn Dixie" remark, let me explain:
Last weekend my sister and I were watching an advert for a new film. I said "was that Violet Beauregarde from the new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory film?"To which she replied "No". Then I said - "what was the name of the film she was in around the same time?" Cue my sister: " I can't remember, something stupid like 'The Ballad of Mincey-Twiddle'."Cue much laughter. Later in the week, in college, she texted me to tell me the name of the film was "Because of Winn Dixie."
i have to completely agree with you
and Andorra second... and Slovenia was awful 
HRH is a schlager with some guitars, Malá Dama is authentic metal...
I hate people comparing him and Dima Bilan. Koldun is hotter and the song was way better. 
