I don't know how it is in other European countries, but the streets in Reykjavík are almost empty when the Eurovision Song Contest is on TV. I think most aren't that much into the cheesy music that is played in the competition, but it's rather an excuse for having a party, sometimes with drinking games and just having fun laughing at some of the contestants...

This year there are two semi-finals, one tonight (at 21:00 CET) and another on Thursday.. from each semi-final 10 songs are picked to enter the final on Saturday which has those 20 songs + songs from the four countries that are the biggest sponsors of the competition financially (UK, Germany, France, Spain).
I think the voting is now 50% televoting and 50% from specially selected judging panels.

I haven't really found any favourite song yet, but tonight I'm gonna be all patriotic and root for (in spirit obviously, because I can't vote for my own country) this powerhouse singer from Iceland called Hera Björk (no relation to THE Björk).. The song, which is called "Je Ne Sais Quoi", has grown on me but I still have no idea what the fuck the video is about :

You should listen to the dutch song, its pretty amazing...
it goes sha-la-li, sha-la-la...

I'll watch it because almost every year a couple of nations offer some high-quality eurodance hymns; other than that, the contest is full of forgettable ballads and embarrassingly epic folklore...

purplehippieonthe1 said:

the same goes for germany they've been talking about nothing else on tv
but i do think that germany's got good chances this year

robertlove said:

truly an embarassment

1st semifinal starting now!

Moldova

Russia

Estonia

Slovakia

Finland

I wonder why the US hasn't tried a similar contest. Sounds like fun.

Latvia

sosgemini said:

That's because we fail miserably at it:

Serbia

Bosnia-Herzegovina

Poland

Belgium

Dewrede said:

maar we gaan winnen...door het draaiorgel!

Malta

Albania

i bloody love the shitness that is Eurovision!
The UK's entry this year is written by Pete Waterman (think early Kylie, Jason Donovan/ Bananarama etc.....) lol

Unfortunatly i'm at a party this saturday; really wish i wasn't, i love eurovision!

Greece

Portugal

Macedonia

Belarus

Iceland

Woo-hoo! Iceland made it to the finals! I'm hoping I can find a good party for Saturday.. with the municipal elections and Eurovision on the same day, there will be a LOT of partying in Iceland on the 29th.