Mike and Daniel at Eurovision

We have moved:)))))))))))

2010-05-13T21:10:00.002+01:00

Okay so ESC is just around the corner and some of you will be checking here to find out what's going on and what we've been up to.....

Sadly, or not for us anyway, we have MOVED HOUSE......you can now find us at.....

http://www.esckaz.com/new/en/blogs/mike-and-daniel

and be sure and check out

http://www.esckaz.com/new/en

and

www.esckaz.com

for loads of videos and pictures of rehearsals. And from people much more qualified to do this sort of thing than us:)

There will be some stuff posted here but most of the nonsense that we came up with last year will be on the new site:)))

Follow us if you like 'cos all there will be here is pictures of drunk friends and the occasional tourist photo:)))

Huggies

M+D

Love this and just had to link it:)))

2010-05-04T16:31:00.000+01:00

Moldova and planes and parachutes......

I want to see her play the saxophone while doing it:)))

Uk Preview party 2010

2010-05-04T16:17:00.007+01:00

Well the time of year has rolled around again when a few brave (foolhardy?) acts fought the volcanic ash (actually only 2 of the 4 did this) and arrive in the UK to give a preview performance to the gathered discerning audience of drunk fans.

On the bill this year were.......................

United Kingdom.

Romania

Ireland

and Cyprus.

The night kicked of with half a bottle of vodka, as is now the tradition. This was swiftly followed by a mad dash to the West End of London cos I was late, a quick scramble to find the venue and then a swift vodka ta the bar.

The place was rammed.....much more so than last year and that awful under filled venue cos of the clash with the Netherlands preview on the same night. That almost put us of from going this year, and when we heard that only 4-5 acts were confirmed it was a tough decision to make.......

However the one and only Naimh Kavanagh was going to be there, Volcanic ash or no volcanic ash so we were sold.

The night started fairly late, the first on stage was Cyrus at around 11ish, nice guys can hold a tune and we were impressed. Would love to see this qualify this year. They sang 2 or 3 songs and seemed to have a ball;)))

Romania up next. Being beset by microphone problems is awful at the best of times......but when it's in front of a baying crowd of ESC fans who will pick up on every fault and blow it up into a crises of Eyjafjallajokull proportions you realise that these guys never stood a chance. Sorry no video clip.....the sound was just too dreadful to be honest and would not be fair on the performers.

Still our dark horse this year.....c'mon if Balkan Girls can qualify then this could actually win:)))) And our bank balance would also be very happy:)

Third up was the delightful young Josh, this years UK (emphasis on the hope here) hopeful. Kudos to the guy he can sing his little heart out, nice stage presence and we can't help but wonder what might have been should the Waterman freak have given him a good song to sing.

But he didn't

and we will come nearly last

and it is so not gonna be Josh's fault.

And finally the Goddess herself Niamh Kavanagh. She sang three songs, In your Eyes being one of them, can't remember the other one and It's for you. Without doubt the best performer of the night, but to be honest she had a very "home" crowd willing her on.

And we leave you with a brief clip......the sound is not great but the venue was not really geared up for acoustics:((( But you get the idea:)))

39 Reasons to love ESC this year......

2010-04-29T17:34:00.005+01:00

Well the reviews of this years songs are coming in thick and fast now......and lets face it they have been coming for ages now.

Nothing we can say or do will change anybody's opinion about any of the entries for this year......so instead of doing a review we thought we'd do 39 reasons to love ESC this year......actually it's 39 descriptions of the various songs so bear with us.

Some of these are a bit negative, so we guess that they might not actually be reasons to love this year, but it's our blog and we don't care:)))
So on with the list.......if you reach the end there is a special prize which will be revealed in Oslo.

(and if you believe that you probably are one of the people that think Germany has a chance this year....OPA!!!!)

Oh just so we are clear these are personal opinions that we fully expect to be bashed about. Again remember who has the baseball bat so bring it on if you think you're hard enough:))

1. That sounds good to me. Lots and lots (we lie here) fought for this prestigious prize this year, will it be Turkey, will it be Spain, will it be that awful pile of rubbish from Slovenia.....all wrong for us this year it's all about Greece. Instant appeal, well staged, way better than last year's effort and our song that is on repeat at the moment:)

2. That sounds shit to me. Loving the fact that there is lots of choice for this one prize. But being honest, and really we hate doing the "that's rubbish" thing, but the only one we care enough about to award this to is Portugal:((((( Please bear in mind that there is an "indifferent" award later on.........and Portugal didn't get this:))

3. Best "live" performance.....of those we saw there were quite a few that could win this. Serbia was in with a chance, as was Lithuania, same could be said of Spain, and even Albania gave a good shot at wow-ing us way back sometime before Christmas. And even though it's a pet hate Norway does give a little belter of a performance. However we have to pick one and this is gonna surprise a few people BUT we really liked Belgium this year live. Simple, effective and does what it says on the tin:))

4. Worst "live" performance. A two way battle this one between Germany and Russia. Russia won.....it usually does in battles with Germany anyway:))

5. Song we will most likely LOL to on final night. Easy. UK. End of.

6. Song we secretly love but will bomb. Estonia, every-time its played I hear different things going on with it. Yes is has been compared to Depeche Mode, wrongly in our opinion, but its a nice little song and way better than the other "slit your wrists" song this year, Russia.

7. Country with the best promo. There are some quite good promos around this year. Spain (this is a recurring theme with us this year) is lovely, Romania is rather nifty, Lithuania is the best comedy value, Finland has something quite charming about it's promo but to be honest Turkey does it for us this year.

8. Country with the worst promo. Estonia. Which is a shame. The artwork was stolen from Six Feet Under and that is blasphemy in our book. They could have done so much more.

9. Male Hottie of the year. There are quite a lot of boys (and a few in-betweeners) this year, but we think that Mr Greece wins this......swiftly followed by Mr Bulgaria, and bubbling underneath are the boys from Israel, Lithuania, UK and Poland. Once we meet them all in the flesh in Oslo this will change:))

10. Female Hottie of the year. Without a shadow of a doubt Miss Georgia wins this hands down. Stunning. Second place goes to Serbia, and bringing up the rear are Miss Slovakia, The Croatian Girls and if only she'd kept the original hair Miss Albania. Once we meet them all in the flesh in Oslo this will change:))

11. Country we were most disappointed with. Ukraine.

12. Best Disco-dolly number. Albania. Nuff said.

13. Best Ballad. SHIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEEE. That's Georgia in case you were wondering.

14. Worst Ballad. Apologies to our hosts this year but Norway. Bored to death after about 3 notes.

15. Song that we publicly hate but that will do really well. Azerbaijan. And this is the only mention it's getting from us!

16. Song most likely to cause divorce in our house. Ireland. You can take a random guess as to which one of us two likes this and which one hates it:))

17. Best of the rock-gods. Though it's not really a rock song it kinda falls into that category. Yes you guessed it Turkey gets the Oscar here. We were slightly disappointed when we first heard it but it grew on us and now even Daniel likes it:)). And Bosnia's not bad either.

18. Worst of the rock-Gods. Macedonia. Vile. Sowwwyyy.

19. Song most indifferent to. Slovenia. It's just so bad that we struggle to remember it at all.:((

20. Entry that will most likely make us get up and dance in Euroclub. Lithuania. Fun fun fun all the way.

21. And the Euroclub toilet break goes to....Denmark. C'mon it really is a WTF moment from them. And we usually like their entries....a lot.

22. Delegation we most want to meet. Lithuania. Though we would quite like to meet Niamh as well.

23. Song we just don't get but that everbody else appears to love. Germany. Just can't see it to be honest, though ESC week(s) in Germany might be kinda exciting and full of promise:))

24. Song that reminds us of something else (but that we still like). Slovakia. It's just Nox remixed isn't it?

25. Best of the Former CIS countries. Moldova. What a great opener to the whole thing. Love the saxophone, will qualify for sure and might just surprise a few people yet.

26. Worst of the former CIS countries. Azerbaijan. Okay for those reading carefully yes it has now had 2 mentions from us. But is deserves them both:)))

27. Entry we know we really shouldn't like but just can't help ourselves. Netherlands. This is a hoot. It should be obliterated from the contest but every time it comes on we just sing along like a couple of demented smurfs on acid.

28. Best of the direct finalists. Okay this is soooooooooo easy that we really should have thought of another category but hey-ho it's (drum roll please) SPAIN.

29. Worst of the direct qualifiers. France. Please it's eurovision not some holiday theme tune from one of the Caribbean Islands. Vile.

30. Car Crash Moment on the night. Hummmm quite a few could get this but personally, even though we like the song, we think Belarus will struggle to even hit one note, let alone get the harmonies right.

31. Country that shocked us most with what they sent in the end. Sweden. not your usual thing from them. But that said we LOVE it. This should do well. Hopefully. Now watch it miss out on the final:)))

32. Folky-Flim-Flam skip round the room moment......Finland. We are perfecting hand-claps as we speak:))

33. Weirdest lyrics of the year. Latvia. Does Mr God know.....and if he does is he actually gonna tell us?

34. Country we bet most money on. This was a tie. Sweden and Romania, both perfectly perfect each way bets.

35. This years Dark Horses. See answer to number 34. And add Georgia to that:)

36. Who will get the UK's 12 points this year. Toughie to be honest. We would like to say Ireland but fear that it might just go where it normally goes....Greece or Turkey. That said the Welsh are very good at mobilising their votes in X-Factor programs so watch out Cyprus, Greece might not be the only country giving you 12 this year.

37. Countries that we think might give the UK 12 this year. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL. none.

38. Song most likely to go from zero to hero during ESC week. Malta. I know, we know NOTHING:))))

39. Country whose party we'd most like to go to. Azerbaijan. Okay 3 mentions but they are throwing soooooooooooo much money at this year's contest that the party will at least have free food and drink. And the last Azerbaijan party we went to (Belgrade) was AMAZING. Best party EVER.

PHEW. Got to the end and here's the ones that never got a mention;
Poland,
Iceland
Armenia and
Switzerland,
So just for them. Here's your mention now:)))) There, they've been mentioned:)

Toodles:) and check back sometime for a top 10 from us:)

Sunshine, The London Eye and upside down flags

2010-04-22T08:47:00.010+01:00

This year, if you didn't know that Oslo was hosting the Eurovision Song Contest, you have either wiped Alexander Ryback's win from memory or are stuck in some 80's-90's time warp where either the Irish win, or the UK come second.

Which tenuous link brings us to the events of yesterday. NRK, the Norwegian TV company, have decided that this year it should all be about the fans "sharing the moment"..........and hence they will be filming the postcards in various countries with groups of mad screaming fans jumping up and down.

This is all very well until you realise that when you come to do the UK one in the open air in April the possibility of it pissing rain, no-body showing up and those that do show being soooo reserved that it could all turn into a bit of a damp squib!!!!

HOWEVER, this is not what happened. Various e mails went out courtesy of Auntie BBC, some frantic phone calls were made, lunchtimes were rescheduled and viola on a Wednesday afternoon in central London, in glorious weather in the shadow of the London Eye this is what appeared...........

Yes it looks kinda scary.........all these quaint looking people with Union Jacks, short hair cuts and in the middle of a UK General Election, but rest assured this was not some kind of rally for one of the more extreme right wing UK political parties.........no it was something far far worse. It was the various people who turned up for the filming of the UK postcard for this year's ESC.

So what happened. Well it was all fairly tame and well behaved. The noisy ones twirled around in flags and asked where they picked up their Oscars, the quiet ones hid at the back and giggled every time Thomas the cute NRK camera man said "ACTION", the naughty ones (don't know who we could mean here) slouched against the wall and smoked ciggies, and all the while the man from Auntie BBC fussed round making sure everybody's UK flag was the right way up.........

Apparently there have been letters written to the BBC about upside down flags before.......OH DEAR:)))))

We don't really want to say too much about the filming.....why spoil the surprise of who you might spot on the postcard in May.....suffice to say that there were 2 different shots, with 3-4 takes on each one, the usual British reserved attitude was much in evidence, and at one point we all had to move so that the sun was directly in our eyes:)))

And I'll leave you with a few pictures of the day.....there will be more on the BBC website but as this is our personal blog we get to choose who is on here.......

The Norwegian cameraman, Thomas, had run into a few problems with the volcanic ash cloud this week. He can be seen here in the bottom right hand corner, in the blue top. He had just arrived, having run all the way from Prague in his slippers:))

Daniel looking way too cool for school as ever:))

It's the UK. It's and ESC event......hence men in skirts ALWAYS turn up:)))

And finally we heard a rumour that the new version of "that sounds good to me" on this radio station.....today....but sorry we don't know the time:((((

http://sverigesradio.se/webbradio/webbradio.asp?type=live&amp

Failing that you can watch Josh on the following youtube clip.......enjoy!!!!

oh and don't forget to check back over the next few days for the Mike and Daniel review of the year.......only 3 weeks before we leave for Oslo now.......yaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Sweden tells the world to stop........we are deciding

2010-03-13T10:02:00.005Z

No the world does not stop.....Sweden decides tonight. But more importantly your digital flies on the wall have been out and about in Stockholm to bring you the news you really want.......who did what, to whom and how many times!!!!!

And now that we have finally worked out how to stop the text being blue, instead of white, we can continue

First introductions go to our new spy-cam. He is called F.L.Y., originally enough, and he has spent the last 24 hours scouring the streets of Stockholm looking for MF performers, ESCNation message board heros, naughty goings on and the occasional CD to add to it's collection.

Sadly there was an accident on the Metro yesterday and the last thing that went through F.L.Y's mind before it died was it's bum. Full funeral rights were observed and then we went out to party. Donations to mark F.L.Y.'s short life can be sent to Moderators@escnation.com. Cash only please:))

We are British and so reserve the right to moan about the weather that we have had this year during the long dreary winter that seems to go on forever. I think we should take a leaf out of the Swedes book and simply return to collect our bikes in May!!!!!!

And another thing......this year's theme seems to be PINK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Everywhere. Personally I blame Norway!

And onto the pictures that you know you want to see really. If you don't know who these people are then you really should ask someone. The Doctors that wear white coats and carry straight-jackets will be able to tell you, just before they remove most of the following people to the local funny-farm:)

"Did someone just say that the bar is serving free drinks? Really? Free you say? How the hell am I going to get this smile of my face now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Oh look it's the UK act the Miss Fitz.......no wonder Pete Waterman didn't put them through. I'd be really quite scared to be honest.

"you like my song........really......you do?.......ahhhhhh go ON you're just saying that to keep me happy. But you know actually we are going to be doing lots of work on it.......BLAH BLAH BLAH" Next.

Globen now has a mini-me baby Globen attached to it on the outside. We were not brave enough to do the little trip to the top.......and besides there was NO BAR when you got there, very little to see and KOM was playing in the shopping centre.....far more important than a vertical chou-chou train

"And I said, Don't you go doin' dat to me missy......"

"oh I hear you honey-pie......really I do......but put your arm down that BIATCH Mike has got the camera out AGAIN!!"

Huggies. Marianne is laughing 'cos Drew just told her that the UK song is not his number one.........well not yet anyway.

You heard it here first......

This person on the other hand LOVES the UK song soooooooooooooooooo much that his face contorts into this whenever it's played. OH DEAR

And the winner, by an absoulte mile and a half was the HOTTEST girl there all night long. Welcome to Anthi. Our new Message Board Hero. She is STUNNING and we were all fighting for her attention last night like spoilt school children. We let Geert win. Then Noel and I bitched about it:))))

And finally, for today at least, the most random thing of the weekend so far was approximately 20 British crazies watching the UK National Final in a British pub in the middle of some backstreet in Stockholm, drinking warm beer and trying hard not to wet ourselves with laughter. Hummmmmmmmmmmm!

and thanks from us two for a great night out. We had a blast as usual, drank far too much and hope to do the same thing all over again tonight. But only if KOM wins.

Huggies from us:))

Alcoholics? Us? Never

2009-11-06T10:14:00.004Z

The institution that is known as the ESC Nation Message Board meet-up arrived in the Fair City of the Emerald Isle...........Yes Dublin we are here, we're queer and we're not going shopping.

We arrived late afternoon and even though we texted everybody, nobody replied. So of round the town to get barrings and find out where we were meeting later. We discovered later on that the boys from Scandi land got of the airport bus and the FIRST building they saw happened to be a pub..........a gold star goes to the person who can guess what happened next......

Back to the hotel and finally someone got in touch, Sir Roger of Norwayia with Lady Carly of Americania were at the Hotel........a swift Vodka later and of we all went to the Korean dog slaughter house........I mean restaurant for dinner.........

There was sat waiting patiently young MerseyMike, swiftly followed by the ever glamorous Egle. Drinks were taken and we awaited the rest of the alcoholics..........the following is a selection of what happened next...........

This was the face Sild pulled when informed by the bar staff that "no there is no more Vodka, you'll have to have a soft drink, we do a selection, would you like to see a menu?"

Nuff said really, there wasn't blood but it was a close call......

A most welcome addition to the maniacs was Fatima from Iran. She was quite shy at first but soon got into the swing of things when Sild tried to tell her that facial hair is not really acceptable in Ireland. An appointment was made for the clinic for today and we expect to see her later at the Guinness Tour resplendent in less restrictive attire:)))))))))))))

"Why didn't anybody tell me that it wasn't as big as my left arm and really it was only a diddy one.......about the size of the shape I'm making with my other hand. I am of course referring to the size of the glass that my drink came in........tsk tsk tsk......you naughty thinking people you"

Look into my eyes, not around the eyes, into the eyes.........now you're under.....**Steals drink from under you're nose**

We were of course very sensible, well someone had to be, and left early to go to bed. Still feel like shit today but that could be more to do with the **coughs** nightcap in the room.

We know you love a bit of group action so here are some teasers before the main event tonight....

Hands above the table please boys.......

AND finally......a big fat gold star to the first person who can name the MBer underneath Jonas hair.........

Sad news day

2009-07-20T19:26:00.002+01:00

We know we haven't posted for such a long time but not much is going on with us 2 until we go away to Turkey at the end of August.

We have, however, had some real bad news today. As most of you know we hang out at the Message Board at ESCNation.com and sadly we found out today that one of the regular members has passed away.

Tore, how can we forget the endless iTunes chart updates, your radiant positivity on the board and the joy which you had at Norway winning this year. You will be missed.

and in the end it's all about just one guy

2009-05-20T20:26:00.002+01:00

The hearts of Europe melted and they voted/swooned/cried out for/screamed their undying devotion at young Mr Ryback from Norwayia (it needs and -ia on the end of it 'cos we got so used to Eastern wins that old habits die hard)

It was truly one of the best final nights we have had at Eurovision....from the very first opening strains of Believe, right through that first glorious 10 points from Spain to the UK, and on with the landslide victory......the Fishy Norwegean next to me had no bladder control at all during the voting and we LOVED THAT!!!!

Congratulations to Norwayia and we will see you all in Oslo (or wherever they decide to host it) next year....thanks for reading and check back occasionally 'cos we do other stuff apart from Eurovision....not too sure what but Daniel insists that we do so just go with it....

M+D

And so final night is here

2009-05-20T20:19:00.003+01:00

So with our trusted bat at the ready we arrive at final night.....let's hope we don't have to use it on those pesky juries.....

Final thought's before entering the arena for the last time......could Jade actually do it for the UK. We have serious doubts but you just never know

And just for all those of you who don't believe that we actually exist and that we are the figment of some imaginary troll from the ESCNATION.COM message board here's us in all our finery just before it all kicks of.....and know we are not Spasiba and Spellina in disguise!!!!

Miss Kiss boobies out

2009-05-16T12:54:00.003+01:00

Today is the day when the sickness sets in. Too much alcohol for too many days and not eating proper food finally takes it's toll and we just pray that we can get through the show tonight without having to leave and go to the press centre........

Anyway watched 2 rehearsals yesterday and WE HAVE NO CLUE who will win now. It could be that the very talented backing singer for Sakis will win it for Greece again, young Mr Ryback could drag the contest back to Scandinavia, Mme Kaas could be the saviour of the whole shebang or Jade ('cos of the draw) might shock everyone yet.......we will know in a few hours.

Oh and at the second rehearsal last night the German delegation has obviously been told to cover up and Ms Von Tess is more covered up than this snap from yesterday afternoon

So whoever you are, wherever you are enojy the show tonight, vote for what you like and don't throw anything at the TV when the song you hated wins!!!!!!

M+D

Final day is almost here

2009-05-15T10:14:00.003+01:00

So it's now nearly all over for another year and we are just waiting for the first full run-through today.

This should give us more of an idea of what will happen tomorrow night. A quick look at the draw before seeing it in reality makes we smile for Jade, 'cos that's a great draw for her being the only slow song in the last 10.

Other things that jump out are the crappy draw for Bosnia, Croatia and thankfully Israel.

More thoughts later after we watch the first run-through and show our faces at the final UK press conference after the rehearsal this afternoon.

M+D

This was his night......Sadly

2009-05-15T09:52:00.003+01:00

So we sadly have to admit that the night belonged to Greece. We now are very afraid that we have to return to Greece next year and for all the wrong reasons this performance from Sakis will almost certainly clean up tomorrow night.

Now don't get us wrong we don't hate Sakis, far from it we actually quite like him BUT this song is so boring and dull.........but he does transform it on stage.

The only thing that can really stop this now is the jurys all going for the same song, but the chances of that happening are slim....

So how did our predictions go. Well Daniel did well getting 9/10 and Mike only managed a poor 7/10. For us as well it was great to see Ukraine going through as during the show we both agreed that we thought she would miss out on a place in the final. The "fans" here really hate Svetlana and that puts a smile on my face.

The other great thing was to see Denmark go through as even though it's not the greatest song in the world it means that there is a least some Irish connection in the final.

And what about Ireland???? To be fair they performed their best last night but in reality it was probably never going to happen for them. A shame really but next year this might make RTE sit up a take notice of what get's results at ESC these days. For a good example they need look no further than this guy below.........

And for us he was the REAL star last night. The guy has had a really tough time in Moscow with horrible fans being nasty to him in Euroclub, horrible Ruskie camera crews being nasty to him and even after all that he shone last night. Let's hope this is not the last we have seen of Dimitri

And so we left and went to Euroclub, hoping that it might be getting better BUT no it's still rubbish and we were home in bed by 3 a.m. Our Eurovision partying reputation is in tatters this year.....oh well I guess we must be getting old.....

M+D

Oh we forgot to mention....

2009-05-14T10:49:00.001+01:00

The Semi-Final After Party at Euroclub.

Okay it's now been mentioned nothing more needs to be said.

Oh alright then.....it was pants with it's only saving grace being the free bar....apart from that NADA!!!!!!

The worst post event party we have ever been to and that includes the very non-alcoholic ones in Athens!!!!!

Nuff said

M+D

More ESCNATION.COM mad people

2009-05-14T10:27:00.005+01:00

Eurocafe is now getting into the swing of things.....it's only taken nearly 2 weeks but at least they are playing Eurovision music......not like the now infamous, cavernous Euroclub.

Why go to Eurocafe last night......well the free bar at Euroclub suddenly stopped working last night 'cos of all the Ruskies at the Ruskie partyski...there were millions of them and when the police started to arrive we thought it best to go somewhere else....

Getting to Eurocafe was funski!!!! Someone, you know who you are, decided it would be great funski to do a LADACAB-SKI. These Azerbaijan/Armenian drivers are all completely mad, have NO clue where they are going and charge about 50 roubles to get anywhere....we're in!!!

Norway's turn to DJ at eurocafe and a great night was had by all....at least it seemed that way.....judge for yourself at the lovely pics of some random people we met there.....

This is one of the dancers from the Albanian delegation....tall isn't he?

The great fishy one

The Fishy one took my drink and never gave it back!!!!

I don't know who these people are but they seemed like great fun-ski

Daniel woke up and predicts......

2009-05-14T10:23:00.003+01:00

Okay so he finally got out of bed last night and then we promptly went out......someone's Birthday and alcohol always takes priority over silly predictions, but anyway....

So when we got in at 5 a.m. I managed to get him to write down his predictions for semi 2 qualifiers and being slightly worse for the demon drink here's his list

Croatia (WTF!!!)
Norway
Denmark
Azerbaijan
Greece
Lithuania
Moldova
Ukraine
Estonia
and either Poland or Ireland

We shall see, we shall see

Semi 2 predictions

2009-05-13T16:02:00.002+01:00

Okay so spurred on by our success (7/10) for semi 1 here are our predictions for semi 2 qualifiers

Mike goes for

Latvia (I warned you about Israel and I think this will sadly just about get through)
Poland (rubbish song with a nice performance)
Norway
Denmark
Azerbaijan
Greece (though a lot of people today were saying that they thought he might struggle)
Lithuania
Ukraine
Estonia
and horror of horrors The Netherlands

Daniel is sleeping 'cos we are all going out tonight for a certain OGAE president's very special birthday so if he wakes up in time I'll get him to put up what he thinks

Let's see how many we get right tomorrow but at some point our prediction skills will run out and we will most probably get them all wrong.

M+D

Semi 2.....the horror of the hosts from hell continues

2009-05-13T15:48:00.003+01:00

So did we mention yet that these two should be replaced with immediate effect? No? Okay well then these two should be replaced with immediate effect. Seriously I could do a better job myself. At least I might make an effort to try to remember where I am and what I am supposed to be doing. Disaster, in a country of 160 million people this is the best they could do....utter rubbish

So today was all about one act for me. To be fair she was not great with the singing....but you have to hand it to her the stage show is, in my opinion, the best this year. And to cap it all she is starting to be hated by certain sections of the fans....would love to see her win now just to annoy a few people.

I'll be your anti-crisis boy/girl/whatever

One really annoying thing from the last few years has been the booing habit of certain sections of the audience. This happened today for young Mr Ryvita.....seems he does not like gay people. Have to say he was very friendly and sweet with us 2 whenever we spoke to him. Some fans could do with getting over themselves!!!!

This is for loyalty really. We hope and pray that the girls will succeed but we think that realistically they are gonna struggle big time......

More ESCNATION.COM message board heroski's

2009-05-13T15:30:00.003+01:00

Funnily enough we have not been out too much this year. We did bump into this lovely chap and his squeese the other night. As promised here's the mention on the blog

M+D

The arena AIN'T all that

2009-05-13T15:21:00.002+01:00

Just before moving onto the after party it needs to be said that there are some serious issues with the venue

1. Crowd control is really rather silly. Our entrance for the fan club seats was right around the back of the building, and once inside you have to move all the way around to the front of the building. Okay you might say.....but when you realize that they do not allow people to take their seats until approx 40 minutes before the show starts and understand that in these narrow corridors are lots and lots of people it becomes a bit of a nightmare

2. The toilets are the worst I have ever seen at a Eurovision event.....VILE

3. There is no alcohol on sale at all.....makes for a very flat atmosphere......you're not in there long enough to get steaming drunk so why not sell a few drinks....

4. The treatment of members of the presski is bizarre sometimes. We know they like to say niet BUT why do they say no to some and not to others. One journalist was REFUSED entry to the rehearsal this afternoon because they had a camera. Funny the whole of the front row had cameras today....weirdski!!!!

5. Some useful signs inside would help.....

M+D

So what did we get wrong????

2009-05-13T15:13:00.002+01:00

Well the first semi is now over and well and truly in the past. We warned you about Israel but you didn't believe us. Don't start crying now!!!!
We also warned you about Turkey and we both feel that this rubbish, trashy cheap song is now quite dangerous with it's late draw......we can but hope and pray!!!

So what did we get wrong....
Well for a start Sweden passed through which we both thought would struggle.....we have a sneaky suspicion that this will turn out to be the Jury vote, same as last year.

Daniel got Romania which at the time I told him he was mad. But I got Portugal, and he told me I was mad......

Most of the others we seemed to get about right, I think we both managed 7 out of 10. That's a pretty good hit rate for us 2!!!!!!

Thoughts on the show overall???? Not bad, dreadful hosts, some fairly obvious camera mistakes but all in all we enjoyed ourselves and give Russia a little pat on the back for effort....

M+D

Semi One First run through

2009-05-11T16:10:00.003+01:00

Okay SACK the presenters now 'cos they are shit. We really can't believe that in all of Mother Russia that these 2 were the cream of the crop. We would have preferred Fillipe Kikirov, and that's saying something.

However it's prediction time so putting money where mouths are this is what we say

Mike goes for
Belarus
Armenia
Switzerland
Turkey
Israel (WTF!!!!!)
Iceland
Possibly Macedonia
Finland
Portugal
Possibly Malta
and the winner of the semi is
BOSNIA

and Daniel goes for
Belarus
Armenia
Andorra
Switzerland
Turkey
Iceland
Romania
Finland
Malta
and the winner of the Semi is
Bosnia

So hang us tomorrow when we got them all wrong......ha ha ha ha

The Welcome Reception (and with Red Carpet no less!!)

2009-05-11T15:39:00.006+01:00

All we can really sat about last night's party is good food, plenty of free drink, nice show and plenty of room to move around.......put simply this was how to do a Welcome reception.
This was on a par with Helsinki, and sorry Belgrade but the Russians had the edge(but they do have more roubleski's).....oh and Athens look and learn, look and learn.

And we wonder who these 2 handsome fellas are???? Not often that we get a picture together but some lovely Ruskie person was very obliging....ta very much

Yep we needed frequent ciggy break as well

She looks so much better dressed like this and Svetlana does not look too bad either.....

So who looks better.....Goddess Jade or Classy Kaas

And some media whores who we found wonderiing around looking fab in Union Jack get-ups...

Marko where is your hand? The Dolly bird from your stage act does not too impressed!!!!

Look and Learn Mr Sakis....this is how to look good for the crowds

De Toppers heard that there was an opening of an envelope going on so they thought they'd drop by.....

Errruuuummmm....yes well.....Jury vote anyone?

The Boys from Bosnia always looking mighty fine and dandy.....

And the Boys from Switzerland always looking for vodka shots......they made me drink 4 or 5 shots while talking to them.....didn't even touch the sides

Now this is what you call a frock......
Who is she again?

So a good time was had by all....we fell outta of there about 2.30 am and headed for home....anyone who was worried that Moscow would not put on a show should really have that fear dispelled now....

M+D

ESCnation.com message board heros

2009-05-11T15:29:00.003+01:00

These 2 guys rock our world

and the Irish girls are great fun as well with the free vodka

The others we met were too scared when we came running at them with a camera.....

Except of course for Mr Fishy
And Spellena's new man.....

And the best of the rest from yesterday

2009-05-10T09:54:00.003+01:00

With some people it's all about the teeth and the hair.....
Well it worked for Isis Gee last year and now we have the male version....Big Teeth, Big Hair and a suspicious orange glow to the skin.....

Actually this looked really quite cool on stage and can't wait until Ms Dita Von Teese arrives on later in week. We do like a good classy stripper and this looks like it will work very well visually....

As I said it's all teeth and hair........
Ms Kaas.....very simply pure class in every sense of the word......nothing else need to be said

But we hated the fact that Dima had to hyjack her presski conferenski......get over yourself you are so last year Dima honey!!!!!!

We missed nearly everything else yesterday....but one thing of note is that Azerbaijan seem to now have the support of Mr Putin.....wonder where all the CIS votes will be going this year????

See ya tomorrow with the Welcome reception pictures.....guess will have to go and get ready soon......now where's the voddy

Jade....the New Goddess

2009-05-10T09:43:00.006+01:00

I know, I know, I know......I am eating my words but I don't care 'cos for the first time in a very long time at ESC there is a feeling of pride about the UK entry.

I guess I should have done what these did yesterday....funny I didn't even bring a UK flag this year 'cos of the year after year let downs. We thought it would be the same story again this year.....not now!!!!!

She looks stunning and we have not even seen the full stage show yet.

Quite simply I got goosebumps for only the second time this year. Even Chiara couldn't do that for me this year.......

And we got confirmation at the presski conferenceski that ALW will be on the stage next week and there will be a special UK only press conference next Friday afternoon....

M+D

Now I'm confused

2009-05-10T09:00:00.005+01:00

It's all getting very strange....like being back in Athens....Fillllleeeeppppp and Carrrrrooooolllllllllaaaaa

Together at last..looks like loves young dream to me.

So as promised yeasterday some snaps from the parties. I bet you haven't seen any of these before....also its been a while since I put up a picture of Sluttie Svetti.....she is still rocking my world and out of all the eastern countries, Ukraine would really be the only one we would be totally happy about returning to.

Had to put this picture up. We have a friend back home who came to Belgrade last year and we managed to get him to the Icelandic party. Needless to say, what with him being Irish, he fell on to the free bar and tried to drink it dry. You know who you are!!!!!! and as you still like Mr Eurobandi this one is just for you....

I seem to have lost my bitchy side this year and keep finding real sweeties among the various members of the delegations, and here's another. She was sat there all innocent in the smoking area looking all lost and just had to have a chat. Perfect English from a perfect little angel....What's wrong with me this year........gotta find at least one person who's a bit of a tosser....oh yeah I was forgetting Dimitri, Mr Presski Conferenceski Hosti. Pah!

"Hey Sevtti look at me.....arn't I beautiful?" said young Mr Ryvita

"maybe you are but I want to win and I'm afraid I'll just have to get my boys to come around and sort you out....." said Sluttie Svetti

We did manage to catch the Irish girls before they all ran to the bar to grab a few shots of voddy....great girls and now that they get that I am "token Irish" they seem to like me a whole lot better. Daniel met someone who he knew from going out from years ago last night.....always the same with Irish people..........

We have absolutely no idea who this woman is but she was on stage with Mr Bulgaria, going for it. The whole of the UK presski corpski thought she was fan-bloody-tastic. Still haven't a clue who she was though.

The very beautiful Missy from Iceland.......what a stunna

And finally just had to put another pic in of my Svetti.......and her boys.
Just for the fun of it 'cos I know it's really annoying.....I guess it's my revenge for all the shit I had to read about Dima Bilan-ski from last year.

Hugs

M+D

Not too much today.....

2009-05-09T11:10:00.002+01:00

Was sick most of the day yesterday so only did a few hours at the Presski Centre before deciding that some much needed time of should be taken

Of we headed into town and grabbed a fantastic meal at some Swedish restaurent of all places!!!! Then a quick freshen up and of to the Turkish Party. Sorry no pictures 'cos Daniel is somewhere else in the presski centre (CD hunting I think) and he has my baby camera.....

Highlight of the night was again Chiara and De Toppers.....these people know how to work an audience and get a party going.

That party finished and then it was time for Bulgaria, lots of delegations there, including the lovely Mr Eurobandi from last year.......

Had a great chat with Missy from Moldovia....such a SWEETIE and fab outfit on....some sort of national dress but nicely done

So dramas from yesterday were at the Irish press conference when HofD kicked out over technical difficulties. Mr nasty press coference host said they are the only ones BUT we know of the following dramas

Ukraine
Lithuania
Malta
Moldova
and of course Ireland

Dontcha just love the rumour mill at this time of year

Anyway I'll post some pics later today when I finally get hold of Daniel

M+D

Just heard in the hall....taking about Sakis's props "after ESC these will be for sale on eBay and can double as a solarium".....ha ha ha

Stop the presski.....breaking news

2009-05-09T10:58:00.003+01:00

Yes for those of you that know and love the ESCNATION.COM message board one of the VIPs arrived yesterday.

Slightly dazed looks from Jonas at all the attention he is now getting.....

Didn't get too much of a chat with him 'cos him and Christina and Dylln being superstars now they are too busy to speak to us....

Bit we did manage to get the most important picture.....look one of those accreditation thingys with a D on it!!!!

We don't wanna Putin

2009-05-09T10:54:00.002+01:00

Yes boys and girls Mr Demi-god bear fighter of Russia and general all round small man looking for a power trip, Mr Putin himself arrived at the press conferencski place this morning

We were suitably impressed for all of five seconds and then just got annoyed 'cos they would not let us back in

One week here and it all starts to go horribly wrong

2009-05-08T10:23:00.006+01:00

Today is the day that all the normal functions that keep us alive, such as eating properly, not drinking too much alcohol, getting enough sleep, which have been forgotton for a week, all catch up with you and little warning bells go of inside your head to say TAKE SOME TIME OUT!!!!

There was just one problem with that...party season started last night with first blood going to Belarus. For the last few years Belarus seems to spend lots of money on promotion and this year is no exception. First there were great press packs, then free ice-cream in the press centre, and then they host the first party. And finally when you left the party there were free bottles of vodka for everyone.

Young Petr is a bit of a sweetie to be honest and we have developed a bit of a soft spot for him over the last few days. Most people seem to think that his song will qualify as well now. Not too sure myself but there is the point that at least one of the eastern block is going to clean up with the televotes and this could be it.

And so on to the party. As ESC parties go it was very traditional party. Lots of people milling around hunting down little silver disks, various delegations looking a bit lost and free drink. We tried to get into the bit where there was food, but even waving madly at Fillllllleeeeeeppppppp Kikirov wasn't going to get us into that section of the EuroDom. This is probably why I feel so rough today....didn't really eat all day yesterday and then straight onto the local beer.
To cap it all it's the Turkish Party tonight and we will have to do it all over again.....life's tough

Then it was on with the show, various performers and countries crossed the glittering stage of the EuroDom and to be honest they all sounded fairly good until you found out that everybody, except for Sascha-just call me Dimitri-Son. Good for him, the sweetie of the contest and the only one brave enough not to mime at EuroDom.

So just gonna leave you with a few pictures to give you a flavour of the party.....

Ready......steady......and go

Love him or hate him, this guy does know how to work a crowd......

Sluttie Svetti is in competition with the dancer from Serbia over who can do the most elaborate splits.

Tight black jeans, funky t-shirts and big Bon-Jovi hair.....has to be Macedonia

And this years award for best dressed delegation goes to the Netherlands for sure. Gordon does seem to be very fond of the glitter though..

NO!!!! Mr Ryback is not really tall.......he's standing on a box

By the way did you know that one of his dancers broke the stage the other day....last time that happened was with Ruslana and look what happened to her.....

Fine pair of lungs this Moldovian woman has......

The best one of the night. I don't really like the song but I hope it does well. The guy is lovely and he was the only one to sing live

Shake it sister

Ruskie Vodka cheers from us

M+D

Sluttie Svetti ROCKS our world

2009-05-07T10:22:00.006+01:00

Switch of now if you don't like the Ukrainian entry this year 'cos you'll be bored.

This girl for me is a breath of fresh air to this years contest and in my opinion the only serious competition to young Mr Ryvita from Norway. Ideal top 5 placings this year would be Norway, Switzerland, BiH, Ukraine and Azerbaijan (for the money honey, for the money) with Ryvita and Svetti slugging it out for the top spot!!!

Most of the haters probably blogged her out of existance yesterday and to be fair Svetti's first rehearsal was not the best but WE DON'T CARE.

So details. The staging is simply one of the most complicated and effective we have ever seen. Yes we know it's all about the performance with this entry but ESC has not been about just the song for a very long time.....this has turned some people off ESC altogether but not in our world.

Bring on the props, fireworks, loud press conferences and general over the topness!!!!!!!!

On the dance routine, one of the boys has now gone, but both of the backing vocalists are still there. We last saw the ditched dancing boy on his way into central Moscow. Sluttie Svetti pointed him in the right direction to make a few extra roubles while he is here....

So for now that is all I am going to say and I'll just leave you with a few pictures from yesterday....can't wait for her party which is on Saturday I think.....should be great fun.

SLUTTIE SVETTI ROCKS!!!!!!

Where is that guy from the ESCNATION message bored when you need a liftie....the fishy one...you know who you are

Mean and moody stares do it for us....

Guess which 2 anti-crisis boys forgot their deoderant today. Svetti was heard to say "put your arms down you stink...pooh"

He's behind you svetti doing a lizard impression

Noise, noise and more noise.....this is what ESC is all about. Make some noise

And shimmy, and shake, and shimmy and shake. Gay boys pretending not to be gay but they do look mighty fine

The hell machine....more like a non-hell machine 'cos yesterday it wasn't working too well

Stand and model anyone????????

Final thought. Ukraine really do know how to put on a show. They are the one country that has taken ESC to their hearts and try again and again every year to come up with something original. Long may it continue

M+D

Catch up day

2009-05-07T09:26:00.007+01:00

Is this seat taken????????

We missed Montenegro the other day and so rushed this morning to catch a least one run through.......should we have bothered........well we disagree on this one. Daniel being the disco-dolly of the partnership thinks it's amazing. Me beng the rock-chick wanna-be couldn't wait until the horror of it all had finished...

So sorry again for not posting our thoughts from yesterday.

We were in SHOCK because of the arrival of the demi-goddess from Ukraine and had to take a lie down for a few hours. Then all of a sudden we were whisking ourseleves of to EuroCafe for dinner with Swedish friends who arrived last night. Eurovision is more and more about the friendships for us 2 and taking time out to catch up with them is far more important than some silly rehearsal that stops and starts and never quite seems to go right!!!!

Lots more new arrivals this morning as well. Mostly from the UK so have spent a lot of this morning catching up and swopping Metro ride stories. To be fair the Metro excellent, if a little busy at times, but there is a lot less pushing and shoving compared to the London Underground....

Anyway enough already, how about yesterday.......

Mr Hungary is a fan-bloody-tastic dancer with a very hot body (look and learn Mr Sakis, look and learn!!!) BUT BUT BUT he needs to be able to sing and dance and boy does he miss the mark then. It's like Deen from Bosnia with muscles.......nuff said!!!!

The sweetie of the whole contest is young Dimitri from Lithy-landia (Lithunania) He is humble, coherent, likeable and he actually does a great job on stage. Could we see a return of Lithuania to the final after the glorious WE ARE THE WINNERS. Well we hope so, but predictions for qualifers will be given after the first full run through so will judge next week

The was a moment for us, she has 2 lovely twins on stage, and we like short people so these 2 guys rocked our world....as for her singing better than we thought but would have much preferred this is it's original language....

Hated DE TOPPERS before we arrived and was very pleasently surprised with this. It looks great in the hall and is a nice uplift at the end of the semi. Fun all the way with these guys at their press conference, especially the way the took over the whole thing. Mr Dimitri press conference host didn't like that one little bit. He had a forced smile on his face the whole time. Good, about time that guy was brought down a peg or 15.

Make of this picture what you will be we Mr Sakis is trying to tell us something......this was the rehearsal where he fell over and WE MISSED IT.

That said if he gets this right on the right it could look very effective on the stage....just have to wait and see.

Come and get it baby.....this is our night?

We now officially love these guys for the fun fun fun they bring to some very boring moments in the press conference hall......Gordon is the gobby one, but the other have their moments as well.

Fab costumes, not bad singing and a great ESC attitude. Who cares if we win it's all about the parties

They also have officially the best press pack ever....IT SINGS AT YOU!!!!!!

Daniel loves this....I liked the dancing and that's about all

Anyway that's it a Ukraine will be dealt with in another post....so all you Sluttie Svettie haters out there can skip that one

Hugs and Polounium sugar lumps from Moscow

M+D

Random happenings from Moscow

2009-05-07T09:05:00.005+01:00

Had a very interesting morning today. As you probably all know there is a Victory day parade going on this saturday, and when we left the apartment this morning we could not even get out of our street.

Everything was closed off and soldiers/police/suspicious funny looking men were everywhere.

We said that fatal word "PRESS" and got a resounding Niet Presski.....shit what do we do now?

After several minutes of looking gormless and generally freaked out the boys in uniform relented and let us through.

We are still finding our way around Moscow, though my cyrillic is getting better, and I didn't look forward to trying to find another way around to get to the Metro station. I guess our street will be filled with nuclear weapons and tanks as big a boats later today.......

Daniel asked me the toher night what would happen if one of those weapons went of....I don't think we would know too much about it

Other random happenings are the mobile phones. All was working perfectly and then suddenly I can't send texts...this is starting to be a problem now as more folks we know arrive and look to the advance guard for directions to the nearest alcoholic establishement. Why they all think that Daniel and I will know where these are is beyond me.....

And to cap it all the rain arrived today. One brave member of the press corps has decided to do the open top bus tour today....hope she has an umbrella. LOL!!!

So after a stressful morning I am now parked in the press centre with my orange COK and it's time to catch up from yesterday.....

I think I need a picture of Sluttie Svettie to cheer me up

Sorry......

2009-05-07T06:39:00.002+01:00

Sorry there was no blogging yesterday. We were at the arena all day and will post some thoughts when we get to the press centre later on.
We have no excuses other than we got back to the apartment last night and had to rush straight out to meet friends. Far more important to be honest.

One word of warning though, if you don't want to read about Ukraine then don't check us out later 'cos yesterday was all about Sluttie Svettie for us 2

Party season starts tonight with Belarus. As it's the first one, expect lots of people there and time permitting we will be first in the queue

Just one picture to leave you with and yes you guessed correctly it's our sluttie svettie

M+D

Euroclub....free drink....no way home......great night

2009-05-06T05:18:00.007+01:00

So the day finally came that Euroclub opened it's doors to the press.

This year sees a return of the tokens for free drinks.....there were audible gasps of horror in the press centre because of the now, thankfully, fading memories of Athens Euroclub.

The nightime pictures we took of the outside didn't come out too well so here's one we took earlier in the week.

First of we have to say that this is an amazing venue. Situated next to Red Square and the Kremlin it stands out against the surroundings. Entry has been strictly cordoned of so anyone without accreditation stands no chance getting in.

Once inside the complex has been done out in Eurovision flags and colours, there is a large stage and podium areas to meet with the stars themselves.

And the drink is free, if you have a token, but unlike Athens, you can buy a drink should you want to......and yes we wanted too.

Then came the first shock of the evening.

The prices.

Having gone to the local (o)gay bar ealier in the week where beer and voddy was cheap, this was in a different league. 4 euros for a voddy.....and not a very strong one at that!!!!!!

Seems like the idea of going to Euroclub first follwed by eurocafe later is the best one this year

That said we had a good night but left kinda ealry 'cos we had to get to the press centre early today....this is the last day of the early starts. That meant we missed Serebro and Dima Bilan but hey we can live with that

Lovely Mr Brink, but not too sure who the lovely lady was, Mrs Brink perhaps?

Always a nice surprise to meet Frederick from Eurobandi and looks like he is here to give support to Yoannah....not that she needs it

There we were standing outside smoking a cigarette, minding our own business when all of a sudden we heard familiar music coming from inside. Yes the stunning Ani Lorak is here.....Spasiba from the ESCNATION.COM team said that she looked like a "right tart who has no boobies and should get a new dress at the mall" That Spasiba is gonna get into lots of trouble before the week is out!!!!!

Mr Belarus seems to have taken lessons from Mans on how to spread em. We think Mans does it better but 9 out of 10 for trying Petr.

A little bird told me that it was the Russians who picked that god-awful backdrop for m'Lady from Malta.

She had in fact asked for a black background with stars. Here's hoping it will be sorted by the next rehearsal 'cos this is the one song for me that has this year done a complete turnaround from being crap to possible top 5.

She was having a good time at the party though and she remembered the stalker, sorry Daniel, from Kiev so that was nice. She is missing her daughter, so all say arrrhhhhh.

These two from Armenia look fantastic when dressed to go to a party but they are complaining about 2 working girls from ESCNATION called Spasiba and Spellina. Allegedly S+S threw ice cubes over the balcony at the sisters from Armenia. Jealousy is such an ugly thing!!!

Can you spot your flag? That game was fun for all of 30 seconds

What way did you say the bar was? Sorry Niet Ruskie!!!!

Anyway check back for more Moscow gossips later today,

M+D

Anyone for some orange Cok????

2009-05-05T14:30:00.004+01:00

Seems like this thirsty member of the press hordes has a liking for a bit of orange cok!!!!

It is all getting a bit much now, and it's only day 3. One more full day to go and then we can start skipping bits and bunking of........but we did that already. Oh well. Never mind.

The crowds are also starting to really arrive now. Some of of the less, how should we put, "polite and clean" members of the press corps are now here and the heat in the press centre has gone up a few notches. I guess air freshener is called for tomorrow...

Another arrival was young FILLLLLIIIIPPPPPEEEEEE Kikirov, resplendent in the latest fashion mistakes and swishing around like he owns the place....hang on maybe he does......most things in this country can be bought if you have enough roubles. I did have a quick chat with him and he did seem genuinely concerned that we were have a good time.....we will be when Euroclub finally opens it's doors tonight 'cos it's free drinks (via the dreaded token system) for the first 3 and then most people seem to have decided to go to Eurocafe afterward.

Will let you know tomorrow what it was all like

And so for todays glamourous, or not so glamourous as the case maybe, ESC happenings.

Solvakia. So they came back after lord knows how many years away and this is what they inflict on us.

Utter tripe of the highest order.

I only managed to stay in the arena for one run through 'cos I was bored witless and Daniel didn't even get as far as the arena. We both nodded of during the oh so exciting press conference and if it hadn't been for Denmark straight after we would both have gone home.....

The lovely Mr Brink seemed to be the guy with the most sound check problems in the universe. This and that was being tweeked, replayed, toned down, toned up, softened, checked again and finally my new friends from ESCNATION, Spellina and Sapasiba, shouted some Russian swear words at him and he finally appeared on stage.

S+S are quite feisty and are getting a bit of a name around the press centre with their antics. I'm sure they left their knickers somewhere last night 'cos Spasiba lifted her skirt today and not much was left to the imagination.

Anyway back to Denmark....well polished when he eventually got going and me thinks it could be in with a good chance of qualifying, after that who knows?

Such a little cutie.....with a face you just wanna slap....only kidding. He was a very nice guy, conducts himself well and gave a convincing performance today......

Something, and I can't put my finger on it, is still niggling me about this and I'm not so sure now that it is the dead cert that everybody seems to think it is.
I guess only time will tell

He needed another picture 'cos he a sweetie.....

This was a horror story from start to finish.....nothing more needs to be said.

What were they thinking with those white boxes??????????

Missy from Poland was also a very nice person......and comfirmed the fact that she is in fact a woman at her press conference. I didn't know that there were doubts in that department......still it is good to know she has all the correct bit and pieces to make her a woman..

Very ropey vocal at the start but towards the end she got better.....and the first appearence this year of ballet...well we are in Russia so someone had to do a bit of a swan lake number at some point...

That's gotta hurt......if she does this on the night and she has a short skirt on expect gasps of horror from the assorted fans and dignitaries in the front few rows. And she dosen't just it once Miss Serbia.....she does it lots and lots and lots.........

This man is a god in my eyes....a rival with me for stupid haircuts, and not a bad shimmy-er to boot. Get boot....shoe....boot...shoe....no? Oh well never mind.

That said I am not so sure that Serbia will make it to the final now but that might not be a bad thing 'cos I don't want it to steal votes from BiH anyway.

In Moscow the traffic jams are quite big and bad and ugly.......so's this piece of nothingness. But he saved himself 'cos he was quite funny at his press conference...I just can't remember anything that he said....LOL

We refuse to discuss Ireland out of loyalty......the one thing we can say is that the lighting suits this song perfectly and they have obviously been working hard on the vocals......we will you decide if they have worked hard enough

And finally the new sex-god of the competition, Mr Igor from Croatia.
We were both pleasantly surprised with this, expecting a disaster of epic proportions with what is actually not a bad folksy kinda song. Expected disaster didn't happen, he performed well, audience kinda liked it.......probably go to the final now.......that's the kiss of death from us then

Thats all for today folks.....Euroclub opens its doors tonight and it's a kinda free bar so gonna make the most of it.

Hugs and Moscow handshakes from us 2

M+D

On and on the saga continues

2009-05-04T17:42:00.003+01:00

Today was all about one country. We saw the almost certain winner of semi 1 and a strong contender to win the whole thing.

For this reason, and 'cos we generally love them, they get a big fay sexy picture on our blog.....even Sluttie Svettie from Ukraine probably won't get that when her time comes.

So what did everyone think. Without exception it was declared the best song so far and the most effective looking on stage. With Switzerland coming a close second.
I thank my lucky stars that I managed to get this at 66/1 back in March 'cos the odds will tumble dramatically on this now.
Regina Rock!!!!

So as declared on the ESCNATION.COM website several months ago Chiara has returned for a third helping of Eurovision. We got this snap of her just as she was told that Macedonia would be voting last again......LOL.....only kidding.
In fact the face she is pulling is because the backdrop is of an underwater world. Less than impressive......especially when the Russians told her that they thought Malta were sending a whale to sing so this might be the most appropriate thing for her.....
To be fair though this lady can sell a song. It's basically a load of old smelly rubbish as a song BUT then she takes to the stage and viola next thing you know she's qualified and finished in the top 5 on final night.
And she is still as sweet as she ever was.....

Elena has just found out that the handsome Mr Press conference host (see earlier blogging) thinks she is the sexiest girl in the whole competition......why the face then......well she just saw the flash of jealousy across the faces of the front row of the press conference attendees and she must be thinking will she ever get out of here alive???????
Missed her rehearsal, and was still hungover at the question time.....so I guess you'll just have to check out the other blogs for more info

Daniel on the other hand did get to the arena in time and hence got this lovely picture of sexy Elena.....

Oh and yes this was Finland....again missed the rehearsal 'cos I was chatting to new arrivals (and looking for water to rehydrate) I'll report more on them at their second press conference later in the week.

And finally today Portugal. This is me least favorite song of the year.....truly I prefer even Belarus to this pile of pooh.....so I made my excuses and went for a well deserved cigarette break.
Thanks again to Daniel for holding the fort and getting at least one usable picture for you all to get excited about...

And so the randomness continues tomorrow but just a couple of thoughts to leave you with today......

-Mr Press Conference host (Dimitri) is starting to get annoying, asking about Georgia withdrawing to the Armenian delegation.....like who cares they've gone now. And today he more or less accused Regina of plagiarism......we all know that there is an alleged similarity with another song but as no official complaint was ever made this SHOULD NOT have been brought up by an "impartial" official. Me thinks Mr Dimitri likes to stir up shit.

-Someone asked me today if the story about the 2 mexicans on the plane was true.....yes it was.

-Met the lovely Tom....ESCNATION.COM blogger...what a sweetie...he feels all alone so the other ESCNATION.COM mad people better hurry up and get here

So that's it for today folks.....of to get something to eat now and an early night for us

Hugs from Moscow

M+D

Metro Madness In Moscow

2009-05-04T17:34:00.002+01:00

Well we were warned that the Metro was a good laugh during rush hour so obviously we were delighted that we had skipped this morning and traveled to the press center at lunchtime.

ROFLMAO!!!!!!!

What is the cause of such hilarity.....well if that is what the Metro is like during an off peak time then we will need body armor tomorrow. We had heard that women and small children were thrown onto the trains......can't wait for that spectacle.

And we will be there early 'cos Ireland is on first thing and we don't wanna miss that. Jonas, Christina and Dylan had better watch out 'cos there's questions coming there way.

M+D

2009-05-04T17:23:00.002+01:00

Despite asking the rather lovely volunteers at the press centre what time Euroclub opened we found to our horror that after walking for all of 10 minutes to the place it was closed.

No problem I hear you ask.....just wait until it opens. Sure thing. But as it doesn't open until tomorrow night we might look a bit stupid standing in a queue for that long. Though that didn't seem to bother the accreditation management.

So all dressed up with nowhere to go....oh well home to bed for us.....with about half a bottle of Jack Daniel's each.

We we woke up at 9 am the thought of doing the Metro in rush hour was just too much for us so we took an executive decision and canceled this morning's events....at least in our world anyway.

We are being very slack this year. It's only day 2 and we are skiving of already.

M+D

Rehearsals, press conferences and that awful accreditation QUEUE!!!!!

2009-05-03T17:47:00.004+01:00

We reserve the right on this blog to do things a bit differently to others......and we are a bit dumb with the computer.....so the days events will be totally out of order....but hey that just adds to the fun and games.

Speaking of fun and games.....accreditation queue was approx 3 hours today and it's not even that busy here yet.....and to cap it all we got the worst press bag in the history of the contest, some piece of polyester naffness that won't even close. Guess who has to buy a rucksack tomorrow for all the goodies

And so day one of rehearsals......but wait we went out last night......what are we doing up and at the arena so early you say. Well we were good boys and were home and tucked up in bed by 2a.m. Not for us the AKOE boys style-ie night out.....they were the bad boys last night. But don't worry normal will be resumed tonight when we venture to euroclub.

Turkey......crap song, performed really rather well. Are Turkey after the the winning spot this year? Seems so....they didn't let on too much costume wise today but most of the dance routine was there.....all been done before and for that reason it will probably sail through to the final and come in the top 5 at least.....

Next up........my fav and fast becoming Daniel's too is the Swiss entry. Very very very nicely staged backdrop wise, vocal a bit ropey but who cares 'cos this is simply one of the best songs this year and the guys seemed to appreciate my comparing them to New Order in the press conference.....let's hope we see more of these guys as for me, at least, they are a breath of fresh air this year. Watch out of the fab shots of (?swiss) mountains when the show goes out. This looks amazing in the hall...

And the sisters........generally agreed that this is far better now than on the National Final. Bu tit is such a weird sounding song that I really don't know how it will do.....more on this at second rehearsal....but defo one to watch

Ah lovely Andorra. Year in year out they come back and still don't qualify. Me thinks that the same thing is gonna happen this year.....whoops did I just say that out loud.....

As many swedish friends and Swedish supporters read this blog I better be kind. Okay. I'll try. Well she changed the male backing singers to female and that worked better BUT this is going to struggle. Her voice seems perfect for opera and then it all goes a bit ropey when the "normal" vocal starts.....she may be holding back but we will just have to wait and see.

HOWEVER......the dress is fan-bloody-tastic.....and she does look good on stage...obviously a professional and just a bit out of her comfort zone at the ESC

Just love this picture and had to share it with you....shame about the song really. Daniel loves it and how it is staged but as he's in the shower getting ready to go out I can just say what I like HA HA HA HA HA HA...

Errrruuummmmm.....Belarus........yes.....well....no not really!!!!!
Actually this was the surprise of the day. Simply staged, well sung and no real dramas. Still has not got a hope in hell of getting to the final but that's life I suppose

We missed Montenegro 'cos we were in bed but here's a pretty picture of her anyway. I'm sure the other blogs will keep you upto speed with her performance...

Oh how did that picture get in there.....MR Press conference host.....with the most we might add. Funny there was a long queue of men waiting to take his photo.....wonder why

And finally here and in their semi is Czech Republic.......fun if you like that sort of thing, but sadly we don't

That#s all for today folks 'cos I have to get ready to go to the Euroclub......now where's my Jack Daniel's and coke.......

Hugs

M+D

We dont wanna put in......

2009-05-02T14:12:00.010+01:00

The most bizarre thing here in Dimalandia are the lookie-likies all around Red Square, some of which are better than others. We really liked this guy 'cos as soon as we took the photo he called out to us and said in a deep Russian accent, which I can't impersonate, "Come here and give me money".......seems to me like something the real thing would say as well....

As you might have guessed from the photo above today was tourist day but all our well thought out plans came to nothing 'cos we didn't get out of bed this morning....well we are on holiday, that's our excuse and we are sticking to it. However this meant that we didn't get to the press centre until quite late....more on that drama later on but first the tourist stuff........

First stop was the local branch of the Ruskie version of Tescos.....the various members of the AKOE team and other assorted ESC revellers are coming to our place tonight for drinkies and nibbles, hence posh shopping was called for.....well Mr Mills is well known for his penchant for M&S foodstuffs so we could not let the side down.....

It was actually a truly amazing building, like something straight out of the history books this Yeliseyev's "shop"...more like an emporium....with prices to match Harrods in London. Won't be going their again in a hurry....now which way was LIDL's and we don't care if there are black bits on the food we are cheap and proud of it!!!!!!!

So food was done and had a free hour so we decided that the day was sunny and perfect so we should go to Red Square and do a bit of sightseeing....not too much you can say and I guess you've all seen the pictures before so will just leave you with the one iconic image of Russia that in the flesh is not as impressive as it's seems.....

SO BACK TO THIS MORNING'S DRAMAS

Accreditation is never a pain free process and this year the Russians seemed to have outdone all previous years with the picking-up-the-badge-procedure!!!!!

First we were told that all the cards would be ready and yes that part was true but when you went to collect them they had been put into boxes according to last name....fine I hear you say, until they can't find your card and wham, bamb out comes the other box of unsorted cards (approx 400 or so) and somewhere in this pile is your lovely badge....it just takes an age to find.

Whole process took about 45 minutes but we were first in the queue of people and when we left the building the queue was trailing out the door and down the street. In fact some old Ruskie babushka had joined the end of the queue 'cos the rumour was going around Moscow that they were handing out free bread.....she's gonna be disappointed when she finally gets to the front.....LOL

That over it was time to check out the press centre....which seems very well equiped and very spacious.....take a look for yourselves and the eagle eyed amoung you we see a very busy member of the press hard at work in the corner.....if you look real close....
And so the final joyous task of the day was to finally check out the stage in real life. Yes yes yes I know it's only a stage but take it from me this year it is very very very impressive.

A departure from the usual ESC stage with a more industrial feel about it...when all the gizmos start working it will probably be rated as one of the best in years. I was worried that the performers might get a bit lost but as you can see the focus is on them in the centre and the rigging accompanies them rather than drowns them out.......we also met the pufferfish.....can't wait to see them in action.....

Anyway that's all for now......madness starts tomorrow so check back in for the
OMG's
LOL's
ROFLMAO's
and the
That was so bad it might actually win's

M+D

Visa's, Pig Flu and lots and lots of funny writing....

2009-05-01T19:10:00.005+01:00

OUR NEW RUSSIAN FRIENDS

Ha!!!!!!!
So we have arrived in Dimaland, but there are, as always, stories to tell and dramas to recount......

First arrived at Heathrow and all seemed well, plenty of time to do the booze run and cigarette haul and still not have to run for the plane.....but oh no, life is never that easy or straightforward. Innocent little us just turned up clutching our beloved passports containing very expensive tourist visa's only to be told that they had to be checked. No problem I hear you ask, except that we did the cheap tourist visa NOT the even more expensive business one and there has been this fear at the back of my mind that we would run into trouble 'cos of this.......but all was well....apparently it's standard practice to check all departures from UK to Russia.....

The flight was uneventful, but being the red-eye, it was high time for a bit of shuteye....again I hear you ask, what's the problem? Well, very nice chap though he was, the guy next to me insisted on taking most of the flight about how hot his Russian bird was and how he couldn't bear to be apart from her......blah blah blah......please I'm trying to SLEEEEEEPPPPPPP!!!!

Finally the last but one drama on this journey into Dimalandia was the announcement by the crew just as we were coming into land that the plane and passengers had to be checked for PIG FLU!!!!!! Visions of nice young Ruskie policemen boarding the plane flashed through our minds....to be suddenly replaced by, "WHAT IF THEY DON'T LET US IN?????"

All, however, was fine and all they did was remove the 2 Mexican passengers from the plane before the rest of us.......funny we didn't see them again.......

Then the crunch came.....will the visa work.....won't it.......and despite my best efforts to look terrified of not getting in, the nice young man on the desk just looked at me, then the passport, looked at me again, and then stamped it......we were in.....

I visited Russia many many many years ago and it was LADA land then so imagine my shock at seeing all these very flashy cars all over the motorway going into Moscow......maybe it's not as bad as we thought and then flash, bang, whallop a beaten up old Lada appeared from nowhere, swerved in and out of the 2 lanes of traffic and normal order was restored!!!!!!!

Apartment.......could it be described as nice......errum.....NO.....cooker didn't work and it was very very smelly!!!!! Deceided the best option was to go to bed and see what things looked like in a few hours......and funnilly enough they didn't seem to be as bad.....the smell had gone (or were we just used to it) and a quick phone call to the emergency line (everything is closed today so only option really).....and the cooker was fixed......time to venture out into big bad Moscow...

Walked for about 15 minutes and suddenly we found ourselves by Red Square, Euroclub and the Kremlin.....some sort of parade was going on today so there were lots of Ruskies around but they all seemed very friendly and not at all intimidating....even the hordes of police/soldiers/burly looking suspicious men.....though my new hair don't did get a few looks.....

THE FLAGS ARE OUT

Next stop Ruskie grocery store!!!! The less said the better...Daniel stayed outside enjoying the sun while I did a bit of a shop.....got most things but it is a bit on the pricey side....

The final task of the day was to brave the Metro.....ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.......dear God what were we thinking....Latin letters???...no way.....it's all in cyrillic script.....great fun was had for the next hour trying to work out how to get to the arena...just wanted to do a dry run today before hordes arrive tomorrow....good job we did 'cos found out accreditation centre is only open until 2pm tomorrow....bang goes our plan of going at 5ish and doing tourist stuff for the rest of the day. The new plan is to get up early and be there for 9am (weeps!!!) and then do the tourist thing in the afternoon.....so on that note we are going to bed and might just have a few Jack Daniel's and cokes to help with the sleeping.......

Hugs for now
I GUESS THIS IS WHERE WE'LL BE GETTING DRUNK A LOT!!

M+D

Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

2009-04-29T16:55:00.007+01:00

Never thought we would say this but last night the musical that we always rated the most was toppled from it's perch. Yes you guessed it from the rather large shoe above, Priscilla now tops our poll.

The whole show from start to finish was one of the most professional we have ever seen, Jason Donovan excluded.......lets face it 20 years ago maybe but now....errumm!!!

To be fair he actually was not too bad, and perfect for the more mature role of Tick. We heard recently that he turned down the original role of Felicia many years ago. Good job too 'cos Guy Pearce was perfect for that role back then.

But the real star of the show was Oliver Thornton as Adam (Felicia)...he can sing, dance, look fabulous and really seemed to be enjoying his role as the spoilt brat of the show.....
For those of you that don't know the story or the film I am not gonna spoil it for you now......just go and see it...you'll have a blast

Most memorable moment....the paintbrush costumes.....we always wondered how they would paint the bus on stage and that was done to perfection

Moment we could have lived without....has to be JD's singing....get some lessons!!!!!

Line of the show, during a discussion about the relative merits of Kylie when she was in neighbours the character of Tick, played by JD, was heard to call out that he always fancied Scott....hahahaha

Anyway enough for today, next time you hear from us should be live and direct from Dimaland

M+D

2009-04-27T11:20:00.004+01:00

Oh that Monday feeling......but today is okay as neither of us are at work and the official countdown begins NOW!!!!

Only a few more days to go and then it's of to Dimaland...it's kind of hard to stop getting too excited and focus on anything else. What a turnaround from last year. We left the arena in Belgrade vowing that we would NOT be going to Russia next year.

Within a month that had all changed and we decided that we would just go for the final.

Within a month that had all changed and we decided that we would just go for the second week.

Within a month that had all changed and we decided that we would go for the whole thing....again...we must be bonkers but now that it is finally nearly

upon us we can't wait.

Just one last thing to do before we go now and that is taking Mike's parents to see Priscilla Queen of the Desert tomorrow evening. Looking forward to this very much and NO we are not going in drag.......shocking

Anyway peeps the next time we post will either be on Thursday when we are still at home bored or Friday when we arrive in Moscow. Hope the internet connection in the apartment works!!!!!

M+D

1 Week to go

2009-04-22T22:39:00.002+01:00

Ha Ha Ha

So we finally relented and made our own little blog spot on the net. With one week to go until we leave good old Blighty and head to Dimaland for the duration of this year's Eurovision madness, we probably left it a bit late....oh well maybe there will be more to read over the next few weeks. You'll just have to pop back once in a while to check us out.

So the plan over the next few weeks is really just to share our thoughts about what goes on during ESC week (actually more like 2 and half weeks now). We can't say that what we write will be interesting or even relevant but we hope that you'll be entertained and feel free to pass comment on anything you like.....so long as it's clean and not too harsh.

That's all for now and expect more next week, but in the mean time here's a few snaps from last weekend's UK preview do in London

Oh and by the way we reserve the right to not post anything at all when we are lying in our beds 'cos we drank too much the night before......

M+D