The Semifinal Results
While the votes were being tabulated, there was some modernized Finnish traditional dance and music. It was pretty bad, yet still better than Poland.
There were quite a few empty seats in Helsinki Arena, by the way. But this is just the semi-finals, and a school night to boot.
UPDATED: I take it back. Some of the clips during the recaps were taken from rehearsal. I figured this out when I saw Magda wearing a different tank-top during her clip.
UPDATED AGAIN: I was right the first time, according to the BBC (who include a picture of Sopho in its article).
Anyway, I had to go to class before the results were announced. I'm home now and getting caught up. Here is the running order for Saturday's final. Tonight's semifinal winners are highlighted; the rest are the countries with the bye to the final.
1. Bosnia & Herzegovina - Maria Šestić: "Rijeka Bez Imena"
2. Spain - D'Nash: "I Love You Mi Vida"
3. Belarus - Koldun: "Work Your Magic" (An inevitability, really. I've got this stuck in my head right now. It hurts us.)
4. Ireland - Dervish: "They Can't Stop The Spring"
5. Finland - Hanna Pakarinen: "Leave Me Alone"
6. Macedonia - Karolina: "Mojot Svet" (That's a surprise, although I don't mind this one going through at all.)
7. Slovenia - Alenka Gotar: "Cvet Z Juga" (I was right to be nervous.)
8. Hungary - Magdi Rúzsa: "Unsubstantial Blues" (I am so happy about this. Magda could win this, I tell you.)
9. Lithuania - 4Fun: "Love Or Leave"
10. Greece - Sarbel: "Yassou Maria"
11. Georgia - Sopho: "Visionary Dream" (YAAAAAAAY!!!)
12. Sweden - The Ark: "The Worrying Kind"
13. France - Les Fatals Picards: "L'amour À La Française"
14. Latvia - Bonaparti.lv: "Questa Notte" (You've got to be fucking kidding me.)
15. Russia - Serebro: "Song #1"
16. Germany - Roger Cicero: "Frauen Regier'n Die Welt"
17. Serbia - Marija Šerifović: "Molitva" (She really was a lock to make the final.)
18. Ukraine - Verka Serduchka: "Dancing Lasha Tumbai"
19. United Kingdom - Scooch: "Flying The Flag (For You)"
20. Romania - Todomondo: "Liubi, Liubi, I Love You"
21. Bulgaria - Elitsa Todorova & Stoyan Yankoulov: "Water" (I'm surprised. I thought going first was going to do them in.)
22. Turkey - Kenan Doğulu - "Shake It Up Shekerim" (Good for him. Kenan had better bring it better on Saturday than he did tonight.)
23. Armenia - Hayko: "Anytime You Need"
24. Moldova - Natalia Barbu: "Fight" (This made it and Switzerland didn't? Unfair.)
About the only thing I can say is that I underestimated how beloved opera still is in Europe. Other than that, and Moldova going through, I don't have a huge problem with these results.
Incidentally, I just remembered that they don't do the elaborate voting procedure during the semis that they use in the finals. They just announce who is moving on. I will pretend Poland got a nil vote, anyway.
UPDATED: As it turns out, Poland ended up with 75 points, which disturbs me. The Czech Republic only got 1 point, from Estonia. That's still one more than Jemini got.
