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News at Je t'adore, Eurovision!
10/05/08: All country reviews have been added to the site, including
the last eight - Finland, Romania, Russia, Greece, Malta, Cyprus, Macedonia and Portugal.
12/05/08: BOTH Semi-Final predictions are complete. Check out who I think will qualify
on the Predictions Page.
20/05/08: The FINAL PREDICTIONS have finally been posted to the site...
and just in time to! Check them out on the Predictions Page. Enjoy the first Semi-Final tonight and I'll maybe see some of you in Belgrade.
Please help keep Je t'adore, Eurovision alive!
Donate money by clicking the link below:
If you wish to read up to date reports and news on this year's Eurovision, I recommend you visit www.esctoday.com
I'll start creating links here in the run up to Belgrade 2008.
Je t'adore, Eurovision!
Here, you can find information about both this site
and the Eurovision Song Contest, with particular attention paid to the upcoming 2007 contest!
Je t'adore, Eurovision!
Yes I certainly do and that's why I've created this website (as a hobby!!) based on the Eurovision
Song Contest. The site has now moved on to cover the 2008 season, inluding all the reviews, predictions and polls
you could possibly hope for!! Last year I think the standard was really high, and there was an abundance
of countries worthy of the Eurovision crown. I've included reviews of all the songs and you can see how right or
wrong my predictions were. Please remember that my reviews and predictions are what I think - totally my opinion
- and are not intended to offend anyone! The show should be a thoroughly entertaining one, and I hope you're all looking
forward to it as much as I am. Please remember that the site's supposed to be fun, so I hope you enjoy it!
A Little Bit Of (Recent) History...
As
many of you now know, the format has changed and adapted since 2004, making way for the vast amount of countries wanting to
play the newfangled and fickled game we now call Eurovision. This has made way for a whopping 43 countries in total
in 2008 - the most a Eurovision has ever seen (and a far cry from a mere 7 taking part in 1956). Initially in 2004
the format was changed to one Semi-Final and one Grand Final. The Grand Final would consist of 14 pre-qualified countries,
including the Big 4 (France, Germany, Spain and the UK) and the countries which placed in the top ten the previous year.
The other countries wishing to take part had to go through the ordeal of the Semi-Final, in which the countries finishing
in the top ten would join those already in the Final and battle it out for the Eurovision crown. Those who failed
to make it through were simply relegated to the Semi-Final the following year. The same format was kept in 2005,
2006 and 2007, but with a growing number of countries, it was agreed that having to sit through a whopping 28 songs in the
2007 Semi-Final was more than many could take. So to accomodate the growing number of countries the EBU decided it would be
best to split the Semi-Final in two - haveing two Semis and a Grand Final. This year, 18 songs will compete in each
Semi, and only the previous winner (Serbia) and the Big 4 are guaranteed a place in the Final. Ten will qualify from
each Semi, nine by the normal televoting procedure and one by a combined jury vote from each country. Complicated? Well
these ten (twenty all in all) join the other five to make the 2008 Grand Final, with a nice round 25 countries competing.
A Closer Look...
2008 is shaping up to be a very exciting year for Eurovision, and it will be extremely interesting
to see if the new format will work. The countries in the Semis can only vote in the contest they are particpating in,
meaning that if regular voters would be split in half, the competition would in theory be fairer, so that's exactly what the
EBU did... Each of the countries participating in the Semi-Finals were divided into 6 pots based on geographical location
and voting patterns since 2004. These pots were then divided into two, between both Semi-Finals, splitting the Balkans,
the Scandinavias and the former USSRs (countries that usually rely on each other to get through) in half. Other regular
voting trends have been set appart, such as Cyprus and Greece, Ireland and Lithuania and Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany
and Turkey. It is less likely that countries can rely on their neighbours, with only 3 balkan countries in each contest,
they can only rely on votes from 2 of their neighbours rather than five, and instead of the Ukraine for example being able
to rely on 7 of its ex-patriots, it can now only rely on high points from 3 of them. With 19 countries participating
in each semi, and 20 or 21 voting in each respective Semi-Final the points to qualify should be lower than the 80-90
mark, and will more than likely be between the 50-60 mark, meaning a country would only need 4 12's and a couple
more points to qualify. The winner, rather than having between 230-290 points should be aiming to reel in between
150-170 points. The Big 4 should have a slightly larger say in what happens than usual, as they tot up the western numbers
making them fairly even between east and west.
Reviews
As an integral part of the website, I have included reviews on all of the songs in 2006 and 2007
and will continue to do so in 2008. You can check them out at the Review's Page, where you'll also find more detailed predictions. I have affectionatley created a page for each
country taking part in 2006, 2007 and 2008. The reviews are entirely my opinion and are, what I feel are realistic
and personal responses to the songs as I see (or hear) them. I hope you enjoy reading them! If you'd
like very detailed reviews, please visit Graham Soult's Eurovision Site - by far my favourite and inspiration!
Predictions
I have created a predictions tables and posted them on the site, showing how I think the results will turn out. The tables for
2006 and 2007 show who I thought would have progressed from the Semi-Final and how wellI think each country would have done
in each contest. The Final tables were republished after we knew exactly who was taking part. I'll do the same
in 2008 for both Semi-Finals and the Grand Final.
Poll
I've got several polls up and running on the site now and I'm very excited to see the results!
Please enjoy them an remember to abide by the rules!
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