Blogging the semi-final

Ok here we are... at 3am to blog the semi final...
Am tring to stream it live from the Eurovision.tv website but it's slow and not working very well.
Here we go:
I've missed the first people: mOngtenegro
Czech Republic is on now, but it's going in and out... they look like a bunch of random children's performers having a play on stage.
Oh, something's on it's Belgium, looking rock, 50's almost jive with what looks like a red and a pink drag queen in the background. It's fat old Elvis. Somehow, they always get it wrong, or at least they have since Kate Ryan.
Bits of Belarus now, all long hair shaking around 80's style. With white clothes...
This really isn't working, maybe i should have stayed in bed
Sweden: looking like Charlotte Perelli, blonde, tight dress with slight back-up dancers, oh there's an operative trill, wish this connection would actually work and i'd get more than 5 seconds
Armenia, strange duet, feels late-80's early 90's Shakespeare's sister-style. With green lasers.
It seems this will be the best i can get, it was going well, then I got an error message grr.... SO annoying! will have to do something else for Thursday night
Andorra look like ABBA with guitars, they sound like them too.
HA! Octoshape's server is down.. HOw surprising!
Turkey now, hm... hope the song is better than when i saw it last: about 3months ago. Well it is , the size of the stage certainly helps.
one of the backing dancers ended with the splits. ouch. huge applause.
Israel: sombre, black-clad woman, ah she's joined by another woman. nice song, none of the shivers up the spine that Boaz gave us last year. oh, using gold biscuit tins as drums now!
There must be another way guys!
Natalya looks good, slightly older than usual, Andrey also looks good, black and white. She's got BIG hair and is doing the french part (a bit badly, but no worse than the hosts from previous years).
Oh the green room attendent (i think they mean journalist): he's not being ironic.
FINALLY after 10 songs, i may have real streaming! don't want to jinx it.

what is this intro? crazy building in a woman's hair?
ok... Bulgaria: Krassimir, Krass indeed. The backing dancers wigs give the First Lady of Cameroon a run for her money. Oh he's going all opera... It's like some strange 60's Hollywood genie-fest. With whizzy-dizzy's on stilts. No Nono, please no.
Iceland: I always love iceland, have ever since they had the worst hairstyle ever (Redhead guy, sang in 1986 and 2007. yohanna: starts off with cello, cute blonde chick who looks like she's walked off the Neighbours set. it's an o song, but has none of the catchiness of previous years Europop entries. Unlike last year, this won't be playing in a gaybar at 3am. Despite this, it's ok.
Am i losing the stream? OH NO! DON'T DO THIS TO ME!
OH, we're back! thank goodness!
this is actually a good song! I wonder where i can buy the album in Mongolia? She should get throu through. despite diasphoric.
aaaa FYROM, the country who came so close last year, would have got through if the jury hadn't picked the brilliant Hero by Charlotte Perelli.
This year (looks like) brothers with matching 80's rock frizzy perms, who need to, to quote Australia's Next Top Model judge Alex Perry "make friends with conditioner." Mate, there's no use signalling them to clap and sing along if they can't understand what you're singing! They look like they're having fun, even though it's all inoffensively stuck in 1987. Quite catchy though.
oops, I've just realised that I had my headphones in the wrong jack and may have woken the whole house up. Oops!Another building on the head of a woman?
Romania: "The Balkan Girls" Where the Cheeky ones in surgery?
Oh no, she's jsut singing about them, further perpetuating a cultural stereotype: Balkan girls unwind with gin, tonic and lime.
Or maybe she's just funded by the Balkan Tourist board?
Her "hips are ready to glow" and she's looking for a man to be her Prince! You might as well come out with a plate of Borek and be done with it now.
Oh, now some trad ethnic dancing, and we've jsut lost the stream.
FInland: Waldo's people. oooh i like it! Good change from the heavy metal of the last threee years for Finland. Some Gallon drums with fire in it, oh and a puny-looking guy looking V. mid-90's.
Oh i like it!!! lots!
Fire twirlers with fake tattoo shrugs. phew. I love how the Nordic nations feel comfortable enougha bout themselves to put non-coathangers in short/tight dresses and pull it off. props to them. i like this song!
Ah the keychange, first of the night that i've noticed (have only caught everything since Israel: will be setting the player up earlier on thursday)!
Slightly warm reception: neighbour stuff?
oh, we're back to (let's not includ ethe definite articles) Green room. He's telling us how to watch on the internet: no don't, then the stream will go! No!
oh the cd AND the DVD. i want it! HE's getting all telemarketer on us and "begging" us to buy it.
ok Portugal, the country who have been in it the longest without winning: every year i think, come on, it's your time, and then they do something dumb/conservative/highly flammable/out of touch.
maybe in 2009?
NO, not if the sing in Portugese. Oh wait, could be ok, she's got flowers in her hair.
She's cute. there's an accordian.
I like it, oh, folk-dancing twirl. Love the bit of ethnic, such a standard in the ESC. No punani flashng this year, (POrtugal aren't going to up the ante with that one, this ones pure and sweet) but there is a cheery man with bongo drums.
She kinda looks like Adele, she's good. i hope they get through. wish they'd come out and stun us and win one year!
They looked like they might last year, got a RIGHT cheer in the hall, but then.... obviously diasphotic voting kicked in, not that we can begrudge Dima.
I feel like i should be at a port town drinking some wine or caipherinia.
Get through, please
I'm viewing this in the small box so i can jump to the blogsite and type...
oh Malta...
Chiara..
third time lucky?
this woman can sing, but... first note off she's nervous. there's HUGE expecation in malta for them to win: come on hon, you can do it! has she lost weight since last time? Not sure, but the dress is much more flattering, black with beading down the middle.
it won't win, but it should do well, at least make the final.
she's into it now.
oh, we're funking it up a little!
Gosh we're nearly finished, t goes so quickly when it's jsut the songs and no interludes time wasting things!
no, she's good and she should get thorugh. that's what the maltese will expect.
So now Bosnia, such a gorgeous place!
And special to me (and Kate?) after meeting Laka last year and then visiting it.
Oh no, we're back to white-clad Balkan schlager IT DOESN"T WORK! Marija mnanaged to transcend the genre, but that's 'cos she has an amazing and moving voice. This sounds a little like an operatic aria with the marching noises in it: as though the hero is bidding his woman farewell before he goes off to war. Which, given they're all wearing white woolen long coats has probably happened.
DON'T LEAVE ME STREAM!
oh good you came back!
no it's gone now! bum!
oh we're back briefly, Natalya with her british accent: can you jsut stay for the recap stream?
Andrey looks a bit like Bruce Forsyth. She's cute. V. cute.
recap, bits of it: montenegro: fast, catchy
czech: random, like a children's performance
Belgium: rando as usual

the others are a blur
Switzerland, usual, the greased hair and black leather jacket.
Turkey: not upsetting the Raki cart.
Israel: ok, but Boaz was amazing so it would be hard to top that
Bulgaria: Speaking of top, this is the top hair!
So it looks like people have come back online... GET it together, ESC people want to stream!
I am SO sick of this error message! now i've missed some songs!
Romania: Balkan girls are conforming to a cultural stereotype
Finland: i'm in, i want it, i like it.
Portugal: cute, v. cute. i want them to do well!
Malta: She's got a big voice; she always does ballads, third time lucky?
BiH: war opera.
Oh we're back with the hosts...Andrey just called NAtalya Natasha. oops.oh we'redoing a points recap from last year: what a night that was! oh and Euro 2008: this is the year Russia won stuff: miss world, ice hockey, wonder if they'll put bits of Georgia in the clip?
No, they didn't. but maybe on the domestic version.
OMG Andrey just asked Natalya why he could trust her with such important matters as voting?
ok Recap AGAIN. i'm taking pictures.
Armenia is strange: why didnt i atake aphoto! swiss is a bit rocky.
Oh the camera's jsut died so no pics of Balkan Girls. you all know what they look like anyway.
Ok, they're back: in the crowd, Natalya has NEVER been in a more exciting place in her life. Not even the Chanel Haute Coutre show? Or the Louis Vuitton campaign, or the birth of her three children. I like her though and given she's never presented before is quite natural. perhaps b/c she can actually speak english as opposed to jsut reading autocue liek other past presenters.
ad break. ok we're back. maybe this is just for us and the crowd.
Military people, gypsy theatre and military music "from Russia with love for you Europe."
A military choir, a smiley man in ethnic garb and a balalaika. The choir's singing in full uniform: still from the parade?
Military man singing in white, singing traditional Russian songs.
Oh now some trad. ethnic dancers are coming into position.
This isn't about nationalism or asserting the cultural significance of Russia across Europe is it?
ok Baishte Military man.
Think I know this song, oh it's the song about the Katusha rocket (i think), well they are in uniform. Some of the people have medals on their chest. Do you think they get them for choir attendance (i joke, i jest).
it seems any attempts at dissent are not taken lightly, stream's gone.
Oh, new military man singing trad songs, aaah the gypsy dancers. "Lai lai lai lai" song. It could almost look spanish except for the slavic moustaches and the military uniforms.
Ok... young people breakdancing to trad military songs. And a young man who may be about to split his pants...
Red flags in the air: military drummers, this is really cost-effective, they're using the same guys from the May 9 parade. The drummers are pretty good. Now there's some techno and T.A.T.U are here singing "not gonna get us." We're not gonna get you live honies, and we haven't since your disasterously out of tune performance in Latvia 2003.
Oh the Military choir is singing backing harmonies!!! WATCH IT FOR THIS! What would ALLA P think?
now we're looking at the big 4 and Russia:
france looks all class, a bit Ute lemper.
Russia: sweetheart move on stage. catchy.
Germany: all kiss no bang me fears. Though Ditta von Teese is apparently going to be on stage.
UK: is it your time? sounds like a phone ad. will ALW be playing on stage on saturday?
Spain: Take me, shake me? she looks like Finland 2003: Addicted to love. meh.
Ok... come on, give us the songs!!!
Here they are:
Don't look if you want to know, kittens.
Natalya jsut keeps smiling.
oh, they're going to Svante Stockelius, who's a redhead this year.
Push button technology replaces the envelopes:
first country through to the final is...Turkey (no surprises there)
Then... Sweden!!!! YAY! Good work guys: Hope you'll do better this year now that diasphoric is OUT
ISRAEL! Good work guys!
Andrey you can't get political! He said " the most politically correct song gets through to the final" Possibly not allowed!
Portugal's through!
Malta: after a shot of Chiara looking disappointed, she's got reason to smile!
Next through is... Finland! Thankfully there's a bit of taste this year!
Natalya is getting a little brattyabout pressing the buttons " I don't press buttons on the catwalk, i press buttons outside the catwalk. Where are you buttons Andrey?" "I will tell you after the show" RIGHT
Then... BiH!
Romania is through.... to perpetuate cultural stereotypes in the final
Armenia, sisters clad in ethnic garb are through!
Last country is ICELAND! FABULOUS! That's three nordic countries and some big guns.
They're all on stage. and it's over. I'm going back to bed.
Natalya said baka!
dasvidanye, baka from Moskau and UB!