The Eurovision 2008... The Final

Hooray for Block Voting

So the Eurovision has come and gone for another year, Terry Wogan was back (YAY), the sbs site is up and running and I've had a nights sleep to reflect on its glory. So what observations do I have from the 2008 Eurovision "Spectackylar" live (albeit delayed) from Belgrade, Serbia... Where the most important thing is it's at the junction of two rivers... apparently...
Anyway, Russia won, clearly Vlad decided that he wanted to win it and put the word out (with the choice vote for us or hold this Plutonium please) and the Eastern voting block voted accordingly.
So how did I do?
Well as normal my favorite entry (Finland) didn't win... it didn't even do well, as it came equal 23rd with the shite act from Germany and only beating Poland and the last placed UK. That's normal though (although Ruslana and Lordi did both win...)
My pick for the winner before voting was the Ukraine which ended up coming second with a phenonmenally strong finish. And my traditional 3rd round of voting pick was Greece which looked very strong early on but didn't get the points from the Balkan countries i thought it would, with Russia getting stronger Eastern votes than I thought. So it ended up getting pipped for 2nd by Ukraine just at the end (Russia AND the Ukraine 1 and 2 with a Balkan country 3rd? Voting blocks much?).
Other observations... I don't like how they change the voting display, I can see why they don't read out votes 1 to 7... with 43 countries voting that would take forever. But they should stick to changing the colour or marking the countries that have already voted so I can keep a tally of my progressively changing picks based on which countries have voted.
Otherwise Azerbajian has started its Eurovision career rather promisingly with the insane entry and Spain's entry is definately worth looking at given how hilariously bad it was (a comedy entry trying to be so bad it's good, but going to far and ending up bad, which in turn then made it good). And I think Terry Wogan is correct (as always) when he signed off "good night western europe)... unless there is some big changes Eastern Europe will win every year and the poor ole UK will come dead last each time too...

Love, Hugs and Kisses
ANt