Hooking up with our Home Girl

Norway's largest tabloid newspaper VG has finally discovered that there are other Norwegian ESC contestants this year besides Didrik. Sylvia Strand grew up in the beautiful middle of nowhere, by the fjords on the west coast of Norway. To end up as a contestant for Cyprus along with her Welsh band, on home turf is quite an achievement! We met them at the opening reception in the City Hall last night, and they were all super nice.

We support you Sylvia, go girl!

Semi-Final 2

All righty then, it's time to reveal our pick for the second semi-final!

• Armenia
• Azerbaijan
• Cyprus
• Georgia
• Ireland
• Israel
• Lithuania
• Romania
• Sweden
• Switzerland

This list might be as far off as it gets when comparing it with the final list Thursday night. Like, there's not much hope for Europe to ignore Turkey with their polished, family friendly rock show, is there? And don't get us started on those pretentious Danes. Croatia has more than a fair chance with the lovely femidoms, and Bulgarian Miro is so kitchy we're almost starting to like him.

And Sieneke! She scares the shit out of us...

Woha, this will be so exciting, we can hardly wait!

And you guys, beg to differ anyone?

Whatever happened to our judgment?

Sometimes, listening to a song many times can make it better, while other times it just burns an irreplaceable hole in your head. So, after giving you our honest opinion about the entries, and then listening to them for like a million times more, has anything changed? A little for some of the entries. Here's the latest news from our changing minds, after the rehearsals have kicked off in Oslo.

Russia
We hated Russia. Kinda still do. But then we've hated it so much it has reached the level of something similar of a cult status with us. "What are you doing, man?" will certainly be a party one liner for the next couple of weeks and we will almost remember it when looking at a photo. At least this song has something quirky and funny about it, and that's more than we can say about the other boring stuff.

Cyprus
There is something about Jon Lillygreen. He is really sweet and his voice sticks with us. We think this can be a popular song in the finals. Because after all, now it's spring and everything looks a little better.

Serbia
Disappointment from here to eternity after watching Milan Stankovic's first rehearsal in Norway. The man is still glorious, but what happened to his glorious dancers? Looks like he switched two of the women for boring men. And the fantastic ethnic show gone as well? Shame, shame, shame, Serbia. You are in vain. We hope you're fooling us, and will reveal the most ethnotastic show ever in the later rehearsals to come.

Sweden
Sweden's entry is working a little bit like their H&M clothing - nice, but wears out really quickly. Anna is still lovely, the song isn't.

Estonia
We're loving the Siren of Estonia even more each day. Robin Juhkental is just so fine and dandy standing there bending his knees, moving in interesting ways and pointing his microphone everywhere. The song is a pearl that grows on you. Too bad the majority of the televoters don't have time for that.

Poland
We're so easily charmed it's embarrassing some times. Poland's happy joy joy singer running around loving his family and making video blogs is just so super charming we're actually reconsidering the song and liking it a little bit more. So much for being tough critics.

France
Oh, God. We wish we didn't like this tiring song. But there's something about it that makes us want to play it every once in a while. We need music like this from time to time. And Jessy is still lovely. Really looking forward to seeing how this works live at least.

Israel
When we reviewed this song, we thought it was a little bit too forgettable and nice. But as we are approaching the finals and taking closer and closer looks at Harel, we realize this is some fine song we will never forget. We've tested it on 2 year olds and mother-in-laws and rock stars and they all like it, so we figure it suits many and is one tough challenge for the rest of the countries this year.

Denmark
We just have to tell you: This song will always remain as horrible as the first time we heard it. For every breath you take, we will despise you even more. It's pretentious, calculating and soulless. Sorry, neighbors. You're a bore.

Comme Ci, Comme Ça

Cyprus has the advantage of being spared from the humiliating big fat zero on the scoreboard. Regardless of how crappy their entry might be, Greece will always shovel at least a couple of points over, under normal circumstances even a "douze points"! After the introduction of the semi-finals Cyprus has really struggled and failed to qualify for the big final every year since 2005. With the exception of the snappy "Comme Ci, Comme Ça" by Evridiki from 2007, we can´t really claim that Cyprus deserved a better outcome. To us it seems like they´re not trying hard enough, being almost indifferent towards how their own country is doing as long as Greece finishes in the Top 10.

This year we will cheer a tiny tad extra for Cyprus. Behind the piano is Sylvia Strand, a fellow Norwegian gone Welsh, member of the backing band The Islanders. All of a sudden she found herself in the spotlight after winning the national selection final in Cyprus with a whopping top score from both the jury and the televoters. An experience she describes as surreal, but super fun! Lead singer Jon Lilygreen is talented and charming, and we find ourselves warming up to his message. Life does of course look better in spring when it´s Eurovision time!

We do wish to see Cyprus entering the final this year, however we are not quite sure if televoters in Baku, Minsk and Belgrade share our enthusiasm.