S. Worthen | Weblog

It's notable how much difference the on-the-night performance makes to a song. I liked Norway better in video than I did this evening, much as it was still in my top 5 of 6. My two favorites of the evening, Finland and Iceland, held opposite ends of the chart. We were so convinced that Finland would shine, not needing my vote, that for that reason, I voted for Iceland. Finland came last, in what seemed like an inspired performance to me.

I liked Iceland more in competition than in video for one major reason: such cool background effects! Clouds drifting by. The moon moving across the sky. A ghost ship floating through. The LCD screens were, in general phenomenal, if not always well used.

C.'s pick, Germany, did badly in voting, but is now stuck in my head.

Romania's entry was a visually fabulous fairyland of falling petals and a stone or wood throne; it's too bad the song had nothing to do with those things.

Albania had a decent song - and totally ruined it with a baffling, distracting, and unfortunate visual performance.

The "yay, Moldova" song was SO much better in video. On stage, it was a lowlight.

For once, the hosts were not annoying! Indeed, the male presenter won my fondness for verbally preferring sandglasses to digital timers and arguing that a DVD will last a thousand years if well-treated. Speaking of hosts: I am so grateful for Norton after the last few years when Wogan talked over the songs.

The moment when cosmonauts, live from the International Space Station, opened the voting was genius.

Notably, all countries received at least 20 points; this egalitarian development may very well be a by-product of moving back to partial jury voting this year, with half of each country's votes coming from juries instead of popular votes.