Here we go, here we go, here we go...

Yep, they've not caught up with me yet, despite my brazen stroll from Riigi Heights this morning.  No-one told me it rains sometimes here.  But nevertheless (I'm gonna push the button, oops, sorry, wrong year) it is still surprisingly pleasant.  I've been avidly looking at some of the runners and riders for the second semi-final, and we've had some good stuff today.

Latvia's PeR were/was first on.  I've always got on with my Baltic brethren but they try your patience sometimes.  They mean well, but, seriously, who's going to vote for this?  They can't even rely on Phil's UK of stuff who likes to vote for quirk.  The highlight was the piano on a stick.

San Marino's rehearsal drew a massive crowd in the cinema and I don't think it disappointed.  She sang it as it's meant to be sang.  She stopped part way through one attempt for some unknown reason.  Her outfit change did the job and it was, all in all, very good.  I realise that some quarters see this is wanfank.  Or this year's Thane erotas.  But I'm going to stick my perfectly formed neck out and say it will qualify.

I tried to pay attention to Macedonia (FYR), but it's lost something for me.  Lozano needs to sing in Macedonian, not English.  He needs to wear something instead of the red jeans as they do not help at all.  Esma looks like you'd expect a Balkan woman of a certain age to look, but dressed up.  Imagine Zdob si Zdub's granny but glamorous and you get the picture.

Finally this morning we saw Azerjiban Aberjizan Azerbaijan.  They don't want to win again, so they tell us.  by crikey they do.  For those of you expecting him standing on a box like in his preview video, you're in for a bit of a disappointment.  He sits atop a glass box, that has a man inside.  His shadow we're told.  The box looks like it's something from a 1990s Saturday night game show in the UK.  And it has flying rose petals..  Farid schmoozes around the stage matching his 'shadow' move for move, before the love interest appears.  She's in a long long long red frock that has her spine on the outside.  I'm no expert on anatomy, but it looks pretty realistic to me.  It's a cert with a capital CERT for the final.  Will the EBU 'place' it second in the running order perchance?

I'll be back with more stuff later.

R x