Kalorima from Greece annoyed me, a lot, especially her voice in interviews. Totally plastic. The song annoyed me at first as well but I did like the pop-up book and eventually it grew on me and I found myself singing it. Ani Lorak’s Shady Lady struck me more immediately as a catchy song and I was really worried about it compared to Armenia. I am not at home so haven’t seen Sirusho’s finals performance yet but from what I read on blogs it SEEMS that she did much better than she did during the semi-finals, I certainly hope so because I was really worried and couldn’t bring myself to watch the semi performance more than a couple times because I was so afraid it’d happen again in the finals.
I rather agree with only countries who pass the semis as being able to vote, as Sir Terry indicated, however he is probably neglecting the fact that would mean the eastern countries would mostly win the semis and thus deprive even further western countries from getting votes- most indicative by the fact San Marino gave England its only if I recall correctly which would be something which couldn’t happen if eliminated countries couldn’t vote.

I was glad to see Armenia gave Az 2 points in the semi (no need to give them any in the finals though, esp. since I knew it wouldn’t be returning the favor. Seeing the rhetoric which comes out of Azerbaijan I was wondering that even if Azeri voters DID vote for Armenia they probably would have fudged the results to avoid the loss of honor that would result from their country giving Armenia points. Also I’m sure the hatred of the “other” is quite stronger on the Azeri side of the border thanks to the way its government behaves than the other way around. I am rather torn on Az’s entry. When I first saw it I hated it, and still would be extremely embarrassed if Armenia put on a spectacle like that, but must admit as many have said that entry did represent what Eurovision is like whether for good or ill and I have to respect them for the attempt. That falsetto opera singing entrance though, ughh………..

Basically, that skewed most of the voting so the final results don’t reflect on what was the best song. Anyway, as for Terry Wogan. He always struck me as cheesy and pretentious too so he was well suited for Eurovision although always condescending.

Basically, I think Greece should have occupied the top spot in a proper vote with Ukraine close by. UK would have always been near the bottom and it’s as much embarrassing for me to see the trash we’ve entered over the years as anything else.

I just heard an interview with Terry Wogan on BBC. He suggested limiting voting rights in the final only to those countries who passed through to the final. I must disappoint Sir Wogan, that even in that case the prospects for the UK entry did not look promising. While I understand the frustrations with neighbourly/political/diaspora voting, in the end no one can win relying only on that. There should be more general appeal. And while Terry Wogan and UK public in its majority does not seem to take Eurovision seriously, which is perfectly fine, but then every time after the final they start very seriously discussing why UK with its non-serious attitude is doing bad in the contest.

This excellent analyses by Esctoday prove that whether dividing voting between “Western” and “Eastern” countries or limiting voting rights to those passed through to the final, would not improve UK’s placing (Armenia’s position, on the other hand would stay the same or even improved to the 2nd place under “Western votes only”):

http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/12003

http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/12001