Eurovision 2008: The Day After, or the Jetsam and Flotsam

Tuomo writes: The party's over, time to wrap things up and start thinking about next year...

Thank goodness there's the Internet and message boards; I used to be so depressed the day after Eurovision with no one to discuss the results and speculate - until I got to college and found my ilk... And now I got to blog about this... It was worth growing up :-)

A couple of words on the results, starting with the Top 10:

1. Russia (272 points) Поздравляем! Apparently a dog-and-pony show with pyrotechnics isn’t enough these days: you need an ice skater too :- I still think Dima put on a better show in 2006: even the song was better than this one without a refrain...
2. Ukraine (230 points): No surprise…
3. Greece (218 points): No surprise…
4. Armenia 199 points: No surprise…
5. Norway (182 points): Norway the best Scandinavian country in 2008?! This song is starting to grow on me, but I still fear that at any moment the lyrics will turn into Christian rock…
6. Serbia (160 points): Sure, the host country always does well…
7. Turkey (138 points): Well of course :-)
8. Azerbaijan 132 points: So close behind Turkey. Go figure :-)
9. Israel 124: I still can’t believe this, but oh well…
10. Bosnia-Hertsegovina (110 points): As Dave put it (and he can be picky, so his word carries a lot of weight here!), the most original performance and a fun song, too. Besides, Finland gave this one 8 points (3rd best) in the semi-finals voting... Did the chicken get to run around on stage, too?

And then last but not least a few (hopefully well and wisely) chosen words on the others:

Latvia: 12th?! Oh and guess what: 12 points from Ireland. Quelle surprise! Thank goodness all the other mock entries were either eliminated (Ireland, Estonia) or placed lower than this (Spain). Let’s hope this nips the trend at its bud NOW. No more funny ha ha numbers, please. Ever.
Sweden: 18th?! This uber-produced, perfected and bleached beyond recognition number placed 12th in the semi-finals but made it to the finals only thanks to jury votes (instead of televotes) – and bumped Macedonia (10th) in the process. All along, Sweden was supposed to be such a shoo-in to the Top 5. Oh the irony of placing 18th. Oh and 18th last year too with 51 points vs. 47 points in 2008.
Romania: 20th?!? What’s wrong with you people?? :-(
Finland: 22nd!!! And not last… Dang! Let’s hope this puts an end to Finns believing that one can’t lose with heavy rock (“Hevillä ei voi hävitä!”) – BECAUSE YOU CAN! Try rock like Turkey… or bringing hunky javelin throwers à la Russia. And maybe have Ransu or Ti-Ti Nalle sing for Finland :-)

Now, honestly - what am I going to blog about next…? :-)