Copenhagen 2014 - final!

IT'S HAPPENING ... !!

Great intro! Simple and fun. DR has really done a fantastic job with this. We're loving it.

Ooh, a new thing ... ! They're introducing all the performers in order with their country's flags in lights. Coolness. This should be a thing every year from now on. :-)

KAS has a good point though: They should have had a little bit of text on the bottom of the screen making sure that everybody catches which country it is ... it's a little bit hard to hear what's being said over all the cheering and maybe not everyone recognizes the flags by sight, I don't know. :-)

The hosts! The guys in suits, the way too skinny female host in an at least acceptable dress. But it's too big though, she's too skinny for that dress. Oh well. She'll probably be changing into something else soon.

It is SO FUNNY to hear Danes speaking English ... ! :-D

OK, there's no reason to wait ... !! It's on! Eeek!!

Ukraine. I'm not a big fan of this song, so I wasn't thrilled to see them get through, but then again I totally dig the giant hamster wheel. I LOVE it. So I've actually been looking forward to seeing this again. Hah. The song kind of packs a punch, so it's actually a good way to open the show. It's growing on me.

Belarus. This was so hideous in their national final and actually looks kind of stylish now, although the lyrics are still so dumb ... but it doesn't totally kill me to see this now. He's not a hit here in Drammen though. KAS wants to give him minus points. trilltrall says we should call it penalty points. :-D Hm. The song gets kind of enervating in the last minute or so. Nope, don't want to hear this again.

Azerbaijan. Beautiful singer, beautiful dress, beautiful voice, beautiful song. The trapeze artist is a little hard to relate to though. I don't quite see how it relates to the lyrics. She's very good though. But it's a beautiful entry. I would have liked to see them win with this - although they're not likely to - rather than Running Scared. They'll probably do quite well this year though.

Iceland. Blech. Maybe my least favorite entry in the final. So annoying. Almost everybody else here likes the song though. What's wrong with people. It's the fricking teletubbies. Sheesh. But as it's being said further along the couch here, there's only 300 000 of them, there's a limit to how much talent there can be on that island. People are dancing in the arena though. But I hope they'll bomb. >:-)

Norway. Come on, Carl Espen ... !! Now's the time to go all out depressed! Give us all the feelings! Quiltoholic wants to see a grown man cry. Oh, his beautiful voice ... !! But he did a better job on Thursday. Still good though. And getting better. Ooh. This is gorgeous. Nenad says it reminds him of whales singing. :-D It's a beautiful song though. I love it. Kudos to us. The arena looks beautiful too with all the cell phone screens lit up. Yay us.

Romania. I like this song but the performance annoys me a bit ... the round piano's so gimmicky. The song's got a good beat, and it's totally different from our song, which is good, keeps the audience on our toes. :-) I really hope Romania will win the contest one day, but I don't think tonight's the night for them. I could be wrong though, I think they will do well.

Armenia. Nenad's shocked by how much makeup Aram's wearing. He's right, he looks almost dusty. LOL! Nenad's on a roll with these animal analogies. Iceland ducks, Norway a whale, Romania chickens and Armenia a frog. :-D This song starts out as a tender ballad and then suddenly totally takes off ... and he's alone on stage and totally owns it. I really like this tonight. Yerevan 2015? I'm tempted to say they deserve it.

Montenegro's a swan. :-) I really really like this song, it's beautiful ... and I love that they're singing in Montenegrino. The rollerblader's a little klutzy tonight though. But overall a good presentation, just a little distracting. But beautiful, a beautiful entry. Hope they'll do really well.

Poland. KAS wants to give them a minus vote too. LOL! Minus ten! She's making a note of it on her bingo sheet. I actually think it's fun though. And the guys are loving the "cultural exchange" as trilltrall's calling it. :-D We're having a lot of fun with this now. This could be one of those gimmicky entries that ends up doing scarily well.

Greece. LOL! The intro ... we're obviously back on the Balkans, and Nenad says that "this is how it sounds when you die". LOL. Hmm ... funereal opening and then we're told to "rise up". Hmm. ;-) This is a fun entry that gets a little annoying. But it's Greece, they'll do great.

AUSTRIA ... !!!! Sshh ... ! Seriously. This is THE BEST ENTRY EVER. I'm serious. This entry IS Eurovision. Some of the crowd here has been standoffish about this but now everybody agrees. We all applauded when it ended. It has everything. The song itself, the singer, the dress, the presentation, the performance. EVERYTHING. It must win ... !!!

Germany, making their flag out of candy! Sweet. Just like the song, sweet. But also somewhat forgettable. Would be better if we'd heard this more than once, so to speak. It's not good to be one of the big five, it really isn't. They have weird outfits. I really don't know about this. I'm hoping they'll do pretty well, but they had really needed to be heard twice. Oh well.

A short break with a word from our host and a new record, highest high note ever. And the record goes to Croatia. Ouch! The other two hosts pop up ... she's still in the same dress, what a waste.

Sweden. Oh, I love this entry. But the broken English is a little painful. Beautiful singer though, and she's looking so great tonight ... and the song is just so fantastic. Great presentation too. Overall I really love the stage and what they're doing with it. They're really making it work for Sweden. This is fantastic. I wouldn't be surprised if they won tonight. But I don't want them to ... ! Sorry Sweden, you guys rock tonight. But Austria ... !

France, making their flag out of smoke in a way that kids probably shouldn't try at home. Silly song that we mostly don't like, though Nenad thinks it's fun ... and we're kind of laughing, but no. It's so samey too. Nope. France bombs again.

Russia. Pretty young girls is never wrong. Pretty young Jedi knights is absolutely never wrong. Very appropriately we are all eating Fazer's vodka liqueur fills right now. Na zdorovje! I really like this song. It's very pretty. There's a lot of distracting elements though. But they're going to do very well.

Italy, making their flag out of food, of course. And Emma's wearing an outfit from ancient Rome. LOL! Coolness. This is sounding a lot better than the studio version. They're totally rocking it. But the song itself is too forgettable, I think. And that crawling around is a little off-putting, at least for part of the audience. Ahem. Good luck to Italy, but, meh, I don't know.

Slovenia. With her fancy blue gown. And her piccolo and her really very good voice. I like this entry a lot. The dress is sort of too ... bulky, though. It's not quite becoming. But the song is beautiful, I really like it. I've been listening to it quite a lot. Good luck to Slovenia!

Finland. KAS has been complaning since Thursday that the singer has such horribly poor diction, she can't understand a word they're saying. I think I can understand one word in about four. But aside from that it's a pretty good entry. It's forgettable though. Calyx is making a prediction: This will get lots of points from northern Europe, and basically nothing whatsoever from anyone else. :-D We'll see ... !

Spain, yarnbombing their flag ... ! Awesomeness. Ahahaha, her hair is wet because she's dancing in the rain!! Ahahaha, brilliant. I love this entry. The best from the big five, hands down. Great presentation and wonderful song. Love it! Go Spain! They can come third, after Austria and us. ;-)

Switzerland. Oh yay! I'm so happy to see them in the final. :-) They're totally getting the arena going. But I've heard from several people now that the first time they heard it they didn't really like it, but it's really grown on them. I feel the same way. So that's not good since a bunch of the audience will be hearing it for the first time now. Fingers crossed though. I'd love to see them do well.

Hungary. This has become very arty. Harder to understand. The original presentation may have been too explicit ... but this is harder to get the story from. Hm. The song is good but the entry as a whole is quite depressing. Really not sure that this is what people are looking for tonight.

Malta. I really don't understand how this got through. Most boring entry of the night. This is like a flashback to ten years ago. I guess that could be the appeal. But I really don't get it. Mysterious.

Denmark, making their flag out of ... what was it, pallets? We were talking and I didn't pay attention. Sheesh. Oh well. This is catchy and fun while you're listening to it, but kind of forgettable. It's a summer hit kind of song. Not a classic, but fun. I hope they'll do OK, since they're the host and all. I'm not entirely convinced, but good luck.

The Netherlands, making their flag out of tulips, of course! I missed that in the semi. :-) And the hostess introducing them, seriously ... ! Go eat something, woman!! But the song is wonderful. Beautiful melody and great performance. I really like the presentation too. But it's not really a Eurovision song. It's fantastic, but is this what the audience is looking for? I'm not entirely convinced. But I wish them the best of luck, I really do. Quality-wise, it's quite possibly the year's best song.

San Marino. So cool to see them in the final! I like this song. It's one of the ones I've been listening to the most this year. The presentation's a little weird, but the song's so pretty. And Valentina's so happy ... !! Hope they'll do well. They could, it's a beautiful melody.

United Kingdom, making their flag out of red cars and buses and ... garbage bags? This is another example of how it's no good to be in the big five. This needs to be listened to more than once. It's a good song, but it's weird. And her outfit doesn't make it less weird, to put it diplomatically. I like this, and it gets the arena going, but ... I really think this would have benefited from having gone through the semis. It's one of the better UK entries of recent years, but still ... it's the UK.

It's over!! :-( Or one might say, it's about to begin. ;-) A few words from the hosts, thanking the commentators, that's new. And then, time to vote ... !!!

Runthrough of all the songs.

OK, twenty votes sent for Austria ... ! I've done all I can. :-) There are others I kind of want to vote for but I don't think I dare, I don't want to contribute in any way to anything that risks damaging their chances. That's going to have to be my strategy.

Really weird interval entertainment. The hosts sing their own song about the contest - that's so meta. This is a strange video. Jebus, is that you?

To the green room ... ! Our crazy skinny hostess chatting to a Junior Eurovision winner.

Another runthrough. The fun one with the performers leaving the stage. This needs to be a thing every year from now on.

OK, the voting's over. Panic attack ... !!!!

And now for the real interval entertainment. Which is super fun, of course!! Of course the Danes are making it cheap, simple and seriously funny. We're loving it. :-) Go Denmark!

Starving hostess in the green room. She needs to change out of that dress! Sheesh. Chatting with the performers. A full English for the Maltese singer, a cake for Molly Smitten-Downes, a restaurant meal for the French band. Fun. I love hearing Danish people speak English ... !

And now, finally, last year's winner ... ! They have broken with tradition by saving it for the interval, rather than opening the show with it. I have no beef with that. DR can do no wrong tonight IMO. Only Teardrops over, and now, The Rainmaker. Both of them presented in a really weird way. Well, she already won, so it can't be too weird now. :-)

All the performers on stage ... ! Carrying their flags and everything. Aw! This is what Eurovision is all about. This show is soo good ... !!

She is seriously not going to change that dress ... !! But at least she's found Jon Ola Sand. The votes are almost counted ... ! OMG I HAS A NERVOUS ... !!!

First 12 to Austria already from the second jury!! Wow! I am cheered.

8th country voting and it's so even. Which I claim to think is the best way for it to go, why do I keep saying that ... ! Augh. We are seriously weirded out by how well Hungary is doing.

Russia voting and being totally booed by the arena. And their jury leader is totally hearing it. WORD.

Thank you to the Netherlands, 12 points to Austria!

My guesses tonight have been pretty off ... ! This is an extremely difficult lineup to call. We are loving the fact that France has 0 points and they are the only ones who still have that score. Hah. 

10 points from France to Austria, and they're in the lead! I'm sorry France ... ! Thank you!

UK keeps Austria in the lead! AWESOMENESS!

12 points from Armenia to Montenegro ... ! Love it!

The Netherlands are doing so well, that's so cool ... !! But Austria's still in the lead. I SO HAPPY ... !

Sweden only gave us 3 points, that's so to typical ... !! But 12 to Austria! Thank you Sweden! Bet you we'll give your our 10 ... ;-) And 1 point to France, noo ... ! That means they will have 1 point. Sheesh, Sweden.

Now Germany. They will give their 12 to Austria for sure ... ! What? The Netherlands? No points to Austria ... ??! WTF, Germany??? >:-(

What?? A silly record now??! Most lalalas?? Spain has the record, but seriously, now??

This is seriously a thriller ... !

Hostess, still in her unbecoming dress, in the green room. Talking to Conchita of course. Who is so happy she's about to pass out. Awesomeness.

Israel ... ! Now they'll give their 12 to Austria for sure. Germany, I hope you're listening ... !

Us ... ! 10 to Sweden, 12 to Austria? No! 8 to Sweden, 10 to Austria! That has to mean ... 12 points to the Dutch song? Yep. Oh, OK.

Another 12 points to the Dutch.

Moldova voting, and good point from Calyx: The more folksy the jury leader's dressed, the more dictatorial the regime of that country. Keep your eyes peeled, she's right. :-D

Ireland's 8 points to the UK, what a shock. 12 points to Austria!

Finland gives another point to France! Is there something in the water?? 12 points to Austria!! :-D

We are cheering SO WILDLY for Austria here ... !!

Austria voting, so no points there, but the jury leader has THE BEST OUTFIT EVER. OMG I am crying with laughter.

Spain - 12 points to Austria.

This is so incredibly cool. I have no words.

Belgium gives 12 points to Austria. Thank you, Belgium!!

12 points from Italy to Austria. The entire Austrian delegation is practically in tears. This is a beautiful night.

OK. Wow. There are three countries still to vote, but no one can beat Austria now. They've won. OMG.

Conchita's so happy that I'm almost wondering if she'll be able to sing one more time. :-) Especially now that she even got the last 12 ... !!!

THIS IS PERFECT.

Thomas Neuwirth for president ... !!

Seriously. This is just exactly perfectly right. The best entry, a performer who really has a message, and a very important message too. And Europe embraced it. Seriously. Best Eurovision ever.

I love this entry. And I love the thought of all the Russian heads exploding right now. >:-)

The lyrics to this song are now incredibly profound.

Thank you, Denmark, for an absolutely fantastic show. And thank you, Europe, for making such a fantastic statement. Vienna 2015!!!