Eurovision Song Contest 2009

I saw Eurovision Song Contest 2009 last nite on SBS. It was hosted by Russia, thanks to their win in last year's contest. It was quite good to watch. Norway's youngster Alexander Rybak ended up winning Eurovision 2009 in a landslide. He got a whopping 387 points, the highest points score in Eurovision history, apparently. Iceland's teenage beauty Yohanna finished a distant second, on 218 points.

Rybak is of Belarussian descent - he was born in Minsk. His winning song, "Fairytale" was performed with the violin, & was inspired by Norwegian folk music. Rybak is certainly talented & I quite liked his song, but I wouldn't go as far as to give him first place. Top 5, yes - only just. I was most impressed by Turkey's performance (wonderful belly dancers, brilliant music), & would have picked them as winner on that basis. I would then have picked Iceland, Albania & Azerbaijan as the next best 3 performers, & then Norway in fifth place. I would rank UK, Israel & Greece alongside or just behind Norway. After that, I would give honourable mentions to performers from Russia, Romania & Sweden. But hey, that's me, it's just my opinion. I don't decide Eurovision. Televoters across Europe do, & just about every country voted Norway in their top 3. Of course, the exception is Norway as no country is allowed to vote for itself. When all is said & done, the final standings for Eurovision 2009 are:

1: Norway (387 points)
2: Iceland (218 points)
3: Azerbaijan (207 points)
4: Turkey (177 points)
5: UK (173 points)
6: Estonia (129 points)
7: Greece (120 points)
8: France (107 points)
9: Bosnia & Herzegovina (106 points)
10: Armenia (92 points)
11: Russia (91 points)
12: Ukraine (76 points)
13: Denmark (74 points)
14: Moldova (69 points)
15: Portugal (57 points)
16: Israel (53 points)
17: Albania (48 points)
18: Croatia (45 points)
19: Romania (40 points)
20: Germany (35 points)
21: Sweden (33 points)
22: Malta (31 points)
23 (joint): Lithuania (23 points)
23 (joint): Spain (23 points)
25: Finland (22 points)

Of course, no Eurovision contest is complete without the "bloc-voting". You get the former Soviet states, the Balkan nations & the Scandinavians giving top votes to each other. It's easy to guess which way certain countries would vote. Anyway, that aside, it's fun & quite fascinating to see the coming together of various European cultures in the name of music.

Just one other thing - please bring back the British commentator Terry Wogan! Don't tell me he has quit commentating on Eurovision?? Please no. We get SBS using their own commentators for Eurovision 2009. Huh, Eurovision commentated by Australians - goodness, that's even worse than Americans commentating soccer. Those SBS people are amateurs (ok, maybe I'm being a little harsh, but u get the idea). Come back Mr Wogan!!