ESC 2010: Norway, final

My whole trick is to keep the tune well out in front. If I play Tchaikovsky, I play his melodies and skip his spiritual struggle.
Liberace

An appropriate quote to open this post, since NRK opened the show with Alexander Rybak playing the piano ... !! :-D And then a short version of Fairytale. Ooh, and our little hobbit made us all laugh - he introduced the hosts, the very lovely Marte Stokstad, and Per Sundnes. :-D

I'm watching the show with KAS, trilltrall and Anne Ida ... us girls are all dressed in black to show our support for Keep of Kalessin, but trilltrall is refusing to change his outfit, because he's voting for Didrik. :-) Sheesh, boys ... !! ;-)

Tonight there'll be two rounds, first all eight entries we'll vote on, then half of them will get through to a second round, and the winner of that round ... will be our winner. :-)

*****

Entry #1 - Don't Want to Lose You Again, performed by A1. I wish there was an ... anti-vote function ... something so you could send a minus vote for an entry. If that was possible, I would have done that ten times for this song. Blech. My worst nightmare this year is that we end up with A1 representing us - us = Norway - in the final, and then they actually win. They're a British band!! Fuck that shit. They're also making a scary promise - in their video intro they said that if they win tonight, all their fans across Europe will assure another victory for Norway. But that's exactly what we don't want!! So, fingers crossed we won't be seeing this again. They didn't get as big a cheer as I expected in their interview after the performance, so that's something, anyway. Fingers crossed ... !

Entry #2 - Make My Day, performed by Maria Haukaas Storeng. OK, at least a much better outfit than in the quarter-final, where she looked seriously weird in a black pantsuit. She's a very good singer, so even if the song isn't the best in the lineup tonight, she can certainly hold her own. A quality entry, but not the winner.

Entry #3 - Jealous Cause I Love You, performed by Venke Knutsson. Same outfit as last time, I think? Song still catchy, her voice still a bit weak, but a fun entry. A song I like more and more every time I hear it ... unlike the A1 song, which I like less and less every time. Also not the winner, but a fun song.

Entry #4 - Yes Man, performed by Bjørn Johan Muri. Another song that is doing the opposite of growing on me. A relatively boring song with stupid lyrics ... and his performance is so boring, it just loses more energy every time. For some mysterious reason this song has become a huge hit - it's getting constant radio play and is #1 on iTunes. o_O Must be all the tweenies swooning over the guy ... because the song is really nothing special. But the hype is really focusing on it, it's supposed to be a potential winner. Sheesh. But I would much rather see this guy on stage in Telenor Arena than A1, because Muri is at least Norwegian ... ! >:-(

Entry #5 - The Touch, performed by Maria Arredondo. I like this song a lot, but I really don't want us to send it. Because, seriously, although I don't see this song as an international winner, considering who wrote it ... brr. I haz a fear. It kind of deserves to be in the second round tonight, but I don't want it there anyway. Call me superstitious ... :-)

Entry #6 - Give It To Me, performed by Alexander Stenerud. Oh, I hope he gets through. He so deserves it. Third time's the charm?? Nah ... but it's a good song, a fun entry, and I love his attitude and the fact that he's written all three entries himself. :-) This show wouldn't be the same without Stenerud! :-)

Entry #7 - My Heart Is Yours, performed by Didrik Solli-Tangen. Also a singer with a big following since he competed in the third quarter-final. The song is really good, it's exactly my type of song and I'd love to see it as our entry ... with a different singer. He just isn't good enough IMO. But I don't think that'll be important to most of the people who will vote for him ... ;-)

Entry #8 - The Dragontower, performed by Keep of Kalessin. Yayyayyay ... !!! :-D Very good for them that they're in the last slot. And likewise bad for A1 that they went on first. Hmm, coincidence? ;-) Thank you, anyway, NRK. A good performance, the guys are total pros. Oh, I hope they'll be the winners ... !!! IhopeIhopeIhope ... !! :-)

*****

Who'll get through to the second round? My guess Venke Knutsson, Maria Arredondo, Bjørn Johan Muri and Keep of Kalessin? Or Stenerud instead of Knutsson? I don't want her to get through - Knutsson I mean - but we're thinking that it's the kind of song that will appeal to a lot of viewers ... but the question is, will those viewers vote? I'm thinking people like my father ... who probably won't vote. ;-) I've voted once for Stenerud and five times for KoK, so I’ve done my duty. Fingers crossed ... !! There are more songs I want in the second round than there are places ... !! o_O

*****

And now we'll see, for a second round ... called in random order:

#1 - Bjørn Johan Muri. No surprise there, but what a boring song it is. We'll do badly in May with this one. Sheesh. Damn teenyboppers!!

# 2 - Didrik Solli-Tangen. OK, and no big surprise either, but again, he's not good enough. He sings so much better the second time, he did that in the quarter-final - but that's not good enough, because we'll only have one chance this year! Sheesh. But OK, I like the song. It's looking grimmer for Stenerud though ...

#3 - Keep of Kalessin!!! Yes! Yes yes yes!!! YES!!! :-D Wild cheering in the couch. :-D

#4 - A1. Nooooo ... !!! Damn it!! Evils!!!

OK, so, now there's a fifty percent chance that we'll be sending a piece of shit. Oh, nervousness!! KAS is saying that this is too much excitement for her nerves, she needs a paper bag. We're falling apart, this isn't good for us ... !!

I've voted so many times for KoK now that I've lost count. Twelve? Oh, my poor nerves ... !!

*****

But now, the intermission entertainment. Which is guaranteed to be brilliant. Ingrid Bjørnov is some kind of genius.

Anita Skorgan is probably watching this. I wonder what she's thinking? :-D

Ooh, the voting's closed!! My nerves ... !! :-o

This intermission performance is a total masterpiece. Ingrid really is some kind of genius. Fantastic, brilliant. For those not in the know: This year is the perfect year for us to host the contest, because it's the 50th anniversary of our participation. We've been competing in the ESC not for fifty years, but since 1960. So this year's intermission entertainment is a kind of cavalcade over lots of our ESC entries over the years. There's been a lot of fun songs. A varied list. Let's put it like that. :-)

*****

And now - the regional juries vote!! Oh, the excitement!!

The regional juries, one from each of the quarter- and semi-final host cities, have 20,000 votes each to distribute in amounts of 2,000, 4,000, 6,000 and 8,000.

The Ørland jury give ... 2,000 to A1 and 8,000 to Keep of Kalessin. Yes!!

The Bodø jury ... the same. Wo-hoo!!

The Skien jury - their 8,000 go to Didrik Solli-Tangen, but he's from there, so that's only to be expected.

The Sarpsborg - 8,000 to Keep of Kalessin, 2,000 to A1. Yees ... !!

And now the televote. Anxiety and dread!!

The televote is divided up into five sections to correspond with the different parts of the country.

Northern Norway - their votes put My Heart Is Yours first and The Dragontower second. Well, OK. I want KoK to win, but I can live with prettyboy Didrik too. Just not A1 ... !!

West Norway - oh, shit!! Verdammt, to quote KAS. They put Didrik solidly in the lead, now he's got more than double the points that KoK have. Noo ... !!

Central Norway - they should get lots of votes from here, cause they're from Trøndelag. But no, they only came third here. Damnit!! >:-(

It looks like we're looking at a showtune not very well performed in Telenor Arena ... :-(

Southern Norway - they don't like KoK much and they love Didrik. I think this is done now. He's so solidly in the lead. But the East Country is the deciding factor ... !! We have more people than anyone and thus more votes. Oh, my nerves!!

Eastern Norway - Yes Man at the bottom. The Dragontower third. Damnit!! We have no taste! But A1 only comes in second, so yeah, the showtune has won. DAMNIT!!!

*****

Sheesh. OK, I am happy with this, because A1 didn't win. Anything's better than them. ;-) But we should all brace ourselves now, because this song - My Heart Is Yours, I mean - is a potential nil-pointer. I mean, it's not a bad song. But his performance is probably not going to be very good. It gets better every time he does it in a night, but in May he's only going to get to do it once in front of an audience. So ... he probably won't be impressing the viewers. And the song itself, while it's good - personally I like it a lot - may well drown in the sea of other songs that'll be washing over Europe that week. :-) The UK did well last year with a similar kind of entry, so we may do well, I'm not saying we won't. But it definitely has the potential for a spectacular crash and burn.

Anne Ida says that that'll just be fun, though. Nil points in home court!! :-D

But at least I'll be getting one of my wishes: There isn't a snowball's chance in hell that we'll win this thing. ;-)