I must say that tonight I really enjoyed Twitter for the first time properly – I felt I was participating in a Europe-wide party of appreciation (or something) for the show, granted with a geographical spread of, er, from the Netherlands to Ireland, but still broader than I would have got by other means.
#spain: “algo pequeñito” love the choreography, tho a bit isolated on big stage. Not so sure about the song, grim accelerando. #eurovision
#norway: “your heart is mine” lovely song and presentation, but as so often the poor chap just can’t sing. #eurovision
#moldova: I loved this! Great make-up + costumes, and boppy! Until the guy with the saxophone started. Still, best so far. #eurovision
#cyprus / #wales: valiant effort, let down by tuneless backing singers. Will get 12 from #Greece anyway. #eurovision
#bosnia surprisingly evangelical christian in tone. Brave but unsuccessful attempts at harmony towards end. And key change. Ow. #eurovision
#belgium: “me + my guitar” can’t vote for it as a belg myself. But I think this is brilliant. #eurovision
#serbia: sorry, this is just awful. No redeeming features at all. #eurovision
So it actually *is* by goran bregovic, but loses by not being sung by him. Awful. #eurovision #serbia
#belarus “butterflies” lead inaudible, backup vocalist has comedy mustache. Otherwise unremarkable except costume punchline. #eurovision
#ireland nice haunty tin whistle even if vocalist (and song) not so special. Odd grammar. #eurovision
#greece Very odd and threatening choreography with happy bouncy Balkan music. Will get 12 from Cyprus, not much elsewhere. #eurovision
RT @clanwilliam: RT @RFLong: “Opa” = Greek for “My Lovely Horse” #eurovision
#uk “anything is possible to do” – apart from winning this evening, methinks. #eurovision
#uk not a bad song (for once!) but as so often let down by all vocalists – lead *and* backing singers – being out of tune. #eurovision
#georgia very *red*. Lovely song and singer but stage show is very *busy* and male dancers rather sinister. #eurovision
#turkey too stroboscopic. Bring on the robot! #eurovision
#turkey on second thoughts, turn the robot off. #eurovision
#albania can actually sing, which puts them ahead of the pack. Sadly song is not much good. #eurovision
#iceland #eurovision stirring nonsense. Actually a rather good melange of styles. Many Viking women wearing red. Probably gets my vote.
RT @kevmcveigh: Oh Iceland, wrong Bjork. #eurovision
#ukraine very brave. Again, good singer but song is nonsense. #eurovision
#france sounds like a football chant which of course it is. Good fun without actually being, y’know, good. #eurovision
#romania singers both playing keyboards, courageous. Means we lose physical chemistry, shame as otherwise promising. #eurovision
#romania sadly let down by costume design at end. #eurovision
#russia fake snow which would impress anyone except the Norwegians. #eurovision
#russia was he looking at his next lines? No, at her photos. Will he really burn them? I think not. #eurovision
#armenia as with Georgia, nice singer and song but stage show too busy. And patriotism not really suitable for #eurovision .
#germany What accent is she trying to sing with? Otherwise rather fun, sexy, unpretentious. #eurovision
RT @mickfealty: That poor German girl looks like she needs the toilet. #eurovision
#portugal oh, this is rather lovely. I think my loyalty has shifted from iceland. They can sing and I can’t understand it. #eurovision
#israel sadly utterly lost it on the high notes. It you can’t sing ’em, don’t put ’em in the song. #eurovision
#denmark awww, rather sweet and ABBA-like! Totally what a #eurovision winner should be! Complete with key-change and wind-machine!
#spain why are we getting this again??? It isn’t any better. #eurovision
have now cast my vote for #iceland #eurovision
Judging on the pieces in the Hugo packet alone is probably the fairest thing to do
Not at all! It’s what I did, because it’s what I had handy. But those who have better knowledge of the nominees’ entire output in 2011 will be in a better position to cast an informed vote.