It's Eurovision today too!

Good morning! Well, I'm up and about at a rather ungodly hour, thanks to the bright sunshine and loud kids. We may have had a little bit of wine at Eurocafé last night (it's just around the corner from our new and swishy apartment, it'd be rude not to, really), and obviously ended up wrapped in blankets, tearing Eurovision Weekend leaflets up to make new words and/or putting Lou's head on mad cat. As you would.

We're getting one step closer to the big final on Saturday, and today we'll see who will join the six automatic qualifiers and the ten qualifiers from Tuesday on stage. I managed 8/10 in semi 1, and wasn't awfully shocked about the ones I missed - I thought both Serbia and Croatia were in danger after the rehearsals we've seen, and Belgium was very much the one I thought might push them out. Positively surprised about Lithuania, but several of us felt it worked much better on Tuesday than it has all week - it somehow managed to stand out.

As always, my own views on the songs will shine through to a certain extent, and definitely influence some of my predictions, but this is how I think the results will look tonight - not what I want:

1: GREECE - They do have a habit of winning semis, don't they? Might be voted down by juries, but I need something to put on top...
2: NORWAY - I really want to put this one first, but don't dare to. Don't wanna jinx it! Unlike many entries, I'd say this pretty equal chances with both juries and televoters. Possibly Norway's best entry ever...?
3: ISRAEL - She was great last night, which is what matters for the juries, and I'd say this is a very likely jury winner.
4: AZERBAIJAN - Still gives me gooseberries every single time, love it to bits. The act might come across as a bit over the top for the average Norwegian or Icelandic housewife, though.
5: ICELAND - Yami thinks this could win the semi based on last night's run-through, and I'm not really disagreeing. It's working very well on screen, and should appeal to juries and televoters alike.
6: GEORGIA - Not as good as it could've been, but it's just so according to the book that it's bound to do well. Not a winner in any sense, though - there's just not enough people that love this.
7: FINLAND - Stands out a mile, and certainly not for everybody (me included), but would be surprised if this misses out tonight.
8: MALTA - Sweet and happy - there's always an audience for stuff like this, even though I sometimes wish there wasn't.

This is where it starts getting difficult... None of the remaining nine would really shock me if qualified at this point - possibly apart from Latvia. I've had Hungary and San Marino in during most of the season, but it might be time to do some changes...

9: ROMANIA - About as mad as mad cat. I have no idea what to make of it and how viewers will respond, but it would be quite amazing if it was in the final on Saturday. My head says no way, but could it manage it, somehow?
10: HUNGARY - Not at all confident about it, it's just not connecting quite as it should, even if it's a fab little song, and a great backdrop on stage. So please, you in countries voting tonight, help me be right and put this through!

11: SAN MARINO - Might well qualify on jury swaps alone, seeing as we have pretty much all the usual suspects for that in this semi. But apart from in Malta (where I assume this could well have gotten their douze anyway - weird cheese in Italian sounds just up their alley), are the televoters going to go for it at all? I don't really think so, and especially with the new voting system, this might suffer.
12: BULGARIA - A horrible piece of noise to me, but it's coming together nicely on stage, and is different from everything else. Needs a KISMET sign.
13: ARMENIA - Good staging, average song, not too many friends in this semi... Armenia used to be a surefire top 10, but I think we'll have have our third final in a row without them.
14: ALBANIA - They're making the most of it, but I don't think it's enough.
15: MACEDONIA - I hope I'm wrong, but sadly, I don't think many out of Esma & Lozano's target group will 'get' this. And most of said target group got lost in semi 1, so...
16: SWITZERLAND - Would've had a much better chance if they were participating with their video. As it is, this comes across as dulldulldull, no matter how hard they try to convince us they're having a great time.
17: LATVIA - Not helped by an absolutely unimpressed audience close to the stage. Can't see neither juries nor televoters having any time for this after they've gone off stage - could we have our first zero since Aven romale?

So, do you agree or disagree? Correct me and/or give your own predictions below - and most importantly, enjoy the show tonight!