tubechallenge.com

michael_churchill wrote:

Soup Dragon wrote: 3. No Scandinavian countries qualified apart from hosts Sweden, without neighbours to vote for where will these votes go? The UK could pick up some of these votes, as will Latvia, Lithuania and perhaps The Netherlands.

Even if you don't qualify for the final, you still get to vote. So, by your logic, all the scandinavian votes will go to Sweden.

However, they can only vote for Sweden once so they will have two or three votes left over that usually are shared amongst each other.
Based on the link you've provided I just looked back over the past 5 years for points awarded between Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway & Sweden. The results are:
Iceland 116pts
Norway 107pts
Denmark 104pts
Finland 103pts
Sweden 77pts
During these 5 years Sweden made all 5 finals, Denmark, Iceland & Norway made 4 finals and Finland 3 finals.

Don't forget the different scoring system this year. The popular votes added at the end may well swing a surprise.

As usual, I shall be listening on Radio 2 tonight, so I won't be swayed by any of the performances. I haven't heard any of the songs in advance, so hopefully my decision will be as objective as it possibly can be. I always try to go for the best song, but as others have said the contest doesn't seem to be about that any more

Just vote for anyone but Russia.

W

tubeguru wrote:Just vote for anyone but Russia.

Why? Although their staging is really good, it is also a good song. I'd vote for them if I could

Tube Geek wrote:W

tubeguru wrote:Just vote for anyone but Russia.

Why? Although their staging is really good, it is also a good song. I'd vote for them if I could

To register a show of solidarity against Putin and his nasty foreign policy. Their staging is a complete copy of last year's song.

tubeguru wrote:

Tube Geek wrote:W

tubeguru wrote:Just vote for anyone but Russia.

Why? Although their staging is really good, it is also a good song. I'd vote for them if I could

To register a show of solidarity against Putin and his nasty foreign policy. Their staging is a complete copy of last year's song.

Whilst I agree with you about Putin let's not forget it's a song contest. In regards to the staging of the Russian song, it is a similar concept to Sweden last year but it's hardly a complete copy, and as for the song itself it is nothing like last years winner. There are several songs trying to stage similar to last years winner, so Russia is not alone in trying to copy the concept.

Soup Dragon wrote:

tubeguru wrote:

Tube Geek wrote:W

tubeguru wrote:Just vote for anyone but Russia.

Why? Although their staging is really good, it is also a good song. I'd vote for them if I could

To register a show of solidarity against Putin and his nasty foreign policy. Their staging is a complete copy of last year's song.

Whilst I agree with you about Putin let's not forget it's a song contest. In regards to the staging of the Russian song, it is a similar concept to Sweden last year but it's hardly a complete copy, and as for the song itself it is nothing like last years winner. There are several songs trying to stage similar to last years winner, so Russia is not alone in trying to copy the concept.

I think we're too far down the whole political/block voting road to not consider it now. It stopped being a "song" contest over 30 years ago. It's now a "best performance" contest, to be fair. Remember when Israel first performed in 1972? There was political unrest way back then, and the contest was only 16 years old by that point.

Just got in and caught the Georgia entry was awesome

My douze points goes to...

Belgique!

The final 2 HAD to be Russia and Ukraine, didn't it!

Well, there we go again. Russia given the middle finger by Europe, and UK in the bottom five, as I predicted.

I love the new score-revealing system too.

I agree - it does make more dramatic. Although we came 24th, for a brief period of time we were 8th. I mean, the UK? 8TH?!!

Tube Geek wrote:I agree - it does make more dramatic. Although we came 24th, for a brief period of time we were 8th. I mean, the UK? 8TH?!!

Same again next year, I imagine. And I hope they keep using this new scoring system.

I don't like the new scoring system because it gives more power to the "bloc" vote - the exact reason the juries were reintroduced in the first place. Go back to last year's system. It limited the bloc votes (Cyprus only gave 10 to Greece for instance). Also, felt the UK and Australia got treated very cruelly by the new system.