Dull, Medicore and Plain

Croatia perhaps has not had an outstanding Eurovision record over the last 3 or 4 years, and let's be honest they haven't ever seemed to try very hard. But the varied selection processes that they have engaged in suggests that they might actually want to do well.

Croatia surprisingly decided to run with internal selection process and selected Nina Badric and her song Nebo. This was a straight-forward choice for Croatia. It is a balkan ballad. However my problem with this is that it is as plain as plain could be. This is far from what you want in order to attract votes from outside of the Balkan region. This song really does not go anywhere.

I think that in a semi-final full of balkan ballads this is going to struggle to stand out and be heard the only advantage it has is the fact that it is on immediately after Slovenia. This means that people interested in the Slovenian entry might be awake enough to hear this.

Verdict: There is very little to said about this entry, and I think that it is one of the lesser entries in this years contest. The standard for Balkan entries this year is very high and I cannot see this as a standout song. There will be those who disagree but this is regularly skipped when it comes up on my MP3 player [No I don't have an IPod - deal with it].

Grade: D+

I could not help but wonder whether or not Nina is continuing her sex ban. Either way I doubt her husband is unduly happy.

More and More News

So as the National Final season 2012 draws to a close everyone is rushing to get news out before the HOD meeting in four days time. At this point all songs must be finalised. So for those of you who feel you need a machete to get through all the news here's our less sharp machete - bulletpoints.

• Montenegro were first to release their Eurovision song today, sung by Rambo Amadeus the song is Euro-Nuero. To be honest I think this is the worst so far. You can watch it here. 
• Bosnia and Herzegovina were the other song revealed today. To be honest I am disappointed by it. I had hoped that she would be a bit more lively. Instead - it's another piano ballad. You can listen to it here.
• Zeljko Joksimimovic has confirmed that he will sing in Serbian. This is not surprising when you consider how lyrically poor the English Version was. Nina Badric also has confirmed she will not sing in English.
• Tickets for the final went on sale today interestingly they did not sell out which is surprising. This may be caused by Eurovision being so far away this year. I wouldn't be surprised if many fans (like myself) choose not to go.
• San Marino have confirmed that Valentina Montetta will be going to Baku for them. We will wait to hear song before we make a verdict.
• Lots of videos are appearing online for this years Eurovision. I am not going to link to them but most major fan sites will have them.
• We now know that in Belgium they will have the delight of picking between to ballads.
• And finally - there is a multitude of fan videos out there but sometimes the actually catch your eye so much that you actually care about the content. I spotted this excellent video for Jedward that was really impressive. If this doesn't light your fire - why are you reading this blog? [Created by @ed_witha_zzz]
  
  

So that's the round up for the moment. I might not be posting over the weekend as it is St. Patrick's Weekend and that means returning to internet free rural Ireland. So until next time, Ciao.

The Next Four Eurovision Songs

 My, that was a busy day. This is my reaction piece to the finals that were held today. The reaction piece to the semi-finals is here. So here we have the four songs that were selected today:

At no earlier than 13:00 GMT Ukraine selected their entry sung by Tina Turner impressionist  Gaitana with song "Be My Guest" it is rather good too.

Next up is Croatia Nina Badric, with the song Nebo - I am unsure about this song but suspect this could be one of the weaker songs from the Balkans this year. (I wonder is she still off sex too).

Then Latvia delivered a disappointment of a result by sending Anmary with the song "Beautiful Song".

And finally late in the day, Italy came out with an excellent song by Nina Zilli. She was selected with the song Per Sempre. However it is not known if this is her song for Baku. I would love to see it in ESC.