The 2008 season is now coming at a distance at this point of time and a new season is about to start. Keep in mind that both Iceland and Bulgaria started their national seasons already in October last year - which means that only in about a month we might see some season kick off... wow - looking forward to it though;)
But before that time I would like to give a quick review of the semifinals and the final of the 2008 season...
as I stated earlier 2008 was in my eyes and ears one of the weakest editions ever, but i suppose thats because of the increasing number of countries participating and therefore also an increasing number of bad entries participating... THANKFULLY this year Eurovision turned out almost excactly the way I wanted it to - Almost ALL the best songs from the semifinals qualified to the big final on saturday night:) Which means that all bad songs were left behind and the quality of the final itself became VERY high, and therefore we got one of the best finals ever. But there are a few songs i would have rather seen in the final than others - those include San Marino (which was a good song and a good performance, but maybe not the right song for ESC), also I think that the Netherlands had a much better performance than for example Armenia (she did not hit a single note in her semifinal performance and must have qualified thanks to the emigration votes only). Also what the hell did Poland do in the final? I hated this song, and it deserved to get last place. And also, expected but not anticipated, Azerbaijan qualified... just a silly song and a silly performance.
So to sum up: a 100% perfect final would have included San Marino, The Netherlands, Bulgaria and Macedonia on behalf of Poland, Azerbaijan, Latvia and Georgia. Also I never understood the hype about Sweden this year and I never believed in it either... and it turned out to qualify only with the help ofthe juryvote... and of course it did poorly in the final, very understandable. Also I would have rather seen Ireland in the final than jokeact Azerbaijan to be honest, but i am also glad that Ireland did not qualify because otherwise we would have seen several muppet-acts next year I suppose.
The big surprises of 2008 turned out to be Croatia: a fantastic performance, never believed i would end up loving this song but i do. Also Finland made a great impact and i was soo surprised but glad that they qualified (eventhough i hated the song before i saw the show). Also Israels song was performed very well (which i did not expect to be honest). THe Greek song became a lot more addictive when seen live than on record, and wow - what a show Ukraine put on - I had shivers all over my body through the whole performance of Shady Lady. Turkey also turned out to be a great song and is now in my opinion one of the best Turkish entries ever:) Iceland gave an extremely well performance as well and in my opinion should have done a lot better. Even Spain was chearful...scary. All the nordic countries qualifying was a surprise, also that Norway did not get the 12 point from Iceland actually...which i bet many expected. Norway coming 5th was probably a big shock for many, especially for some certain Maria-haters among the ESC-fan-community - which made me extremely happy to be honest;) I Always believed in our song this year:)
What disappointed me the most was actually the bad camerawork for the French entry (which is a fantastic song), but it was meant to be like that (though it didnt have a very positive effect). Also Germany was not as good as I hoped... and also i think that both Portugal, and Iceland should have done much better... then on behalf of Armenia and Azerbaijan which did very well but did not deserve it.
2 semifinals worked this year - the final was close to perfect - the only thing I still would react to is the voting procedure... There should either be 50/50 telephone,sms/jury vote and ONLY the countries in the final should be allowed to vote, with maybe an additional vote called non-qualifiers vote. As we now see when backup jury votes have been revealed the UK would have scored a lot better than what they actually did... i do believe that jury votes should be included again so that one can get a more diverse voting pattern... this year it was just to obvious that Russia would win - which i dont mind (but i prefer the first version of the russian song not the one that was performed in the ESC).
But taking recent events into consideration i have to say that i agree with the many fans and non-fans who suggest that Russia should not be allowed to arrange ESC as long as they are in are in war... ESC is not supposed to be about politics, but it is supposed to be about unity and peace and if a country cant act upon this in real life then they should not be allowed to host this fantastic competition either.... but thats just my opinion of course. All my support goes to Georgia especially, we totally understand why they withdrew their participation next year... and also if other former sovietic countries do the same. This also make a great statement about the need for a change in the voting procedure. Why do so many countries consider to withdraw eventhough these are the countries who "always" award Russia with their 12 point mark? Mainly because it is NOT the estonians, or the latvians, or the ukrainian who's actually voting for Russia... but its the Russians who live in the respective countries (of course people love to vote for their homecountry, but it does not give a correct picture of the nations real votes if this is about to continue)... so lets see what 2009 brings along. It is for sure that there are discussions about a new voting procedure for next years competition - lets hope its a good one;)
Looking forward to a new season:) WOW - its only a few months left now:-D
