Eurovision Song Contest Final this Saturday night

Conchita Wurst!

Diggi-loo, diggi-lay,
Looking forward to the big day!

Hope streaming from the Eurovision website works. :|

Sanna Nielsen and Sverige
However, she is probably too good of a singer to actually have a chance of winning.
http://youtu.be/N_hmzLU1_cc
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I took a look at the Austria entry and Ms Wurst seems to exude everything that makes Eurovision so special (The first time I saw Eurovision was the year Dana International won).

Here's my reactions from the first hour.

I like Montenegro best so far. Nice song, and quite a risk singing in Serbian. And how was that girl ice skating on stage when there was obviously no ice?

Every year, there's at least one "WTF?" number. Poland delivered the goods first, and probably came as close as I've ever seen Eurovision get to soft core porn . Who would have thought butter churning could be so sexy? Best lyric of the night: "This is our hot Slavic blood."

I liked the music for Iceland's contribution, but the lyrics sounded like something from an After School Special.

The bearded drag queen from Austria didn't do anything for me.

I give Germany credit for the use of an accordion and double bass for accompaniment, but I doubt the song will win.

nice fireworks in the opening...

Spain just jumped to the top, for me.

Sweden's supposed to be the favorite, but her act did nothing for me.

This seems to be the year of atypical instrumentation. First the accordion and double bass with Germany, then a flute from Slovenia, then a banjo, tamborine, fiddle and double bass from Switzerland. I'm waiting for someone to bring out a tuba.

Is there some background to this running joke where the cohost, the guy from Borgen, always brings up China?

China - according to the British host, Graham Norton, it gets really tiresome after the umtyumth go around. Apparently Euro Song .... goes around the world. whatever. There have been bad jokes on the show for decades.

And what is all this with 3 hosts? Normal complement is 2.

Poland??? Stripping off to wash clothes and skim water off the stage? That's new....

Everyone's booing Russia this year...doesn't make them any more popular that they voted for their freindly neighbors.

If you thought the broadcast version of Poland's entry was racy, check out the official video. Almost NSFW.

Did the Armenian entry remind anyone else of Peter Capaldi as the Doctor?

Poor France. Their song was worth 10 points at least.

Has anyone here ever been to a Eurovision finale in person?

I don't think I have ever watched this other than a random few minutes. It isn't something to watch on your own, more with a group or party. No, cities and towns are not dead while Eurovision is on. Here in Frankfurt, everyone was out all evening until 02:00, running around all over the city for the Night of the Museums. So much for Eurovision.

During the World Cup, the streets may be quiet as far as traffic, but every cafe, pub, restaurant with outdoor seating (and they all have outdoor seating) and central squares will be filled with people watching on big screen TV's. The squares will fill up with exuberant fans who may even bring their own chairs from home.

"Has anyone here ever been to a Eurovision finale in person?" A friend of mine attended a few years ago when Düsseldorf hosted the competition. He had an absolute blast.

It's pretty popular in Sweden. Leading up to Eurovision, they have Melodifestivalen which is kind of a "playoff" of the Swedish entries. It is six shows over a two month period. I read that last year (when Sweden hosted), something like 80% of Swedish households tuned in to Eurovision.