update: the final of ESC 2004

[jawnbc]

But first, an update.

I got my press pass, a P2. So I can’t use the press workroom (the wireless works everywhere, but it means I’m all alone, sniff sniff). Perks include free admittance to all government run tourist sights (including Topkapi Palace, Aya Sofya etc), several of which I visited this morning. The delegate bag has “make jawnbc quiver and twitch” all over it: black canvass with a bright red front flap (briefcase style) and the new Eurovision logo embroidered on it. Squee! Included in the bag were various CD and DVD promotions, as well as VIP invites to all the important parties--most of which I’ve missed. But I’ve got 2 invites for the official after party and I will be there!

I also scored free tickets to each of 3 dress rehearsals. They are run as live, tapped wholly, and are of real use. Sometimes problems or incidents occur (a coup triggered in Portugal by one song, at least one political protester (that year they just showed the score board in silence until the guy was subdued and carried away). During the live broadcast the best of the dress rehearsal tapes is run concurrently--so the director can switch over if someone’s shot, or their top falls off, or if they start making hawt girl-on-girl luvvin’ (t.A.t.U. last year. They didn’t). And when they show mini-clips of each song during the voting instructions (voting is only 5 minutes), they use clips from the rehearsals.

2 Dress rehearsals today: 15h00 and 22h00. Yes I will be here more than 12 hours. Yes I will hear each song twice. Yes I am terribly excited about

And now, Here’s the list of the 24 finalists, in order of appearance: Spain Austria Norway France Serbia Malta Netherlands Germany Albania Ukraine Croatia Bosnia Belgium Russia Macedonia Greece Iceland Ireland Poland UK Cyprus Turkey Romania and Sweden. Qualifiers are in bold.

I’ve tweaked some performance scores a bit higher, based on feedback from those who watched the qualifying semi-final. But the big difference is when each song is played: half the qualifiers were among the last 6 songs performed Wednesday: the only qualifier in the bottom 6 tomorrow night is Cyprus-great advantage potentially. Most are in the icky middle, where it’s hard to stand out and memory wanes. Good news for several is that there are to be 2 breaks instead of one (8, 8 & 8 instead of 12 & 12).

Four songs scored 8 points: Malta, Macedonia, Cyprus and Sweden. But will the qualifiers do better (more listens good) or worse (more listens novely wears off)? I think this could hurt Malta and perhaps Macedonia. Cyprus could pick some up; as querrelle said the other night “that song sounds better the more you listen to it, but makes no impression the first time.” Prophetic?

Nine songs scored 7 points: Spain, France, Ukraine, Belgium, Russia, Greece, UK, Turkey and Romania, with only Ukraine and Greece being qualifiers. Word is that UK and France ain’t all that, but they could make the top 10. I suspect (sorry Marko) that Greece will lose its novelty a bit. Belgium’s topped the advance polls, so that’s the kiss of death. That leaves Spain, Russia, Belgium, Turkey and Romania as contenders.

I’ll update tomorrow after a couple of dress rehearsals, and let you know what my final predictions are!

On unrelated new, after I chatted with querrelle, I left my hotel to take a brief walk. I finally found my hotel nearly 6 hours later. Dinner ended being chips and pop in my hotel room.

Comments

[moroccomole.livejournal.com]

I've lived a life of Eurovision deprivation here in the States, but you and zurcherart are doing a great job of making this craziness come alive for me this year. I'm on the edge of my seat to see if Macedonia can elbow out Greece!