Mr-Paul

Decided not to vote for any of the faves. Went for Georgia and Lithuania. They might need my votes more. They were cute. Don't usually vote but have gone wild this year!

Italy. This is expected to do well. It does nothing for me at all. My top acts. TOP TIER Georgia Russia Sweden Latvia Lithuania NEXT TIER Hnnnngary Estonia Israel Slovenia Norway Belgium Serbia . . . DEAD LAST: UK and Poland.

Not a ballad fan, but Russia's is a good song. It has gravitas. Stands out from the other ballads.

Georgia. Marry me. Wind machine. Check. Smoke Machine. Check. Heavy eyeliner. Check. Powerful. Dramatic. Love it.

I wasn't a fan of his voice. Good chorus though. Australia was a decent pop song, but not my kinda thing. Should've sent Kylie.

I liked Norways! Out of the ballad-y duets, it's one of the best. Could easily be from a Disney film.

I actually loved the Lithuanian one. Still hate the British one, though.

Blooming hell, longest opening segment ever? GET ON WITH IT, I WANT THE MUUUSIC. I love the unashamed happiness of it all.

If they win they have to find a European country to host for them next year, and they get to participate again. If they don't win, they're out!

No party for me this year, watching it at home, either alone or with my bro. Will treat myself to a beer or two, will definitely be checking KNEE for the banter. I see Sweden and Russia are the bookies favourites, wouldn't be upset if either won. Latvia or Estonia an outside bet for something a bit more edgy. Belgium will do well too, as will the Aussies because they're newbies and I've heard their song is pretty decent. I'd like Georgia to do well too. Wouldn't be surprised if Britain come very low. We deserve it.

Loved it. I want a full version of Rastafarian Targaryen. And they clearly went to Chicken Cottage for lunch.

Latvia also gave us this classic in 2008: That year Britain came last. THIS CAME 12TH! Love it.

That Dutch one was a good song, just a bit boring for Eurovision for me. My favourites last year had to be Hungary - Running and Ukraine's hamster wheel lady. Plus Poland of course. Poland's song this year couldn't be further from the titfest of last year Never heard that a cappella one before!

@Grazza Dum tek tek is brilliant, would've been a hit if it was Shakira singing it! Second semi was quite disappointing. Too many ballads. Not a lot entertaining this year. Where's the milkmaids, grannies and transvestites? Sweden has winner written all over it. Not even that special, but easily could be something put out by David Guetta or Avicii. The visuals are what makes it stand out. Also quite liked Israel, even if it was a bit 90s boyband, and Latvia's was good. Haven't listened to the pre-qualified songs apart from the British one, which is awful.

Just getting around to watching semi 2 now. Said I'd come back with some more old favourites, here's another two from 2010! Turkey! Greece!

I think I was quite generous when I gave Gates to Infinity 6/10 when it came out! If you read the review, I clearly wasn't inspired to write much!

I don't envy you at all @Serebii for having to play this game to exhaustion! Played the last one and hated it! I guess it's a good seller and not directly made by Game Freak... I want a decent Wii U Pokémon game, whatever it is, not just Rumble! Not demanding a full RPG like a lot of people want, but something of quality that could sell well!

I think the only difference will be with the ranked mode - it's unlocked from the start for me, although I still had to reach Level 10 and wait for enough people to reach that level to actually be able to get a game! Getting 8 people together out of a small set of people is actually quite tricky! Lobbies will undoubtedly fill quicker after release. It's probably sensible that they won't be unlocking it until there's enough people that level - they don't want people waiting around unable to get a game. It shouldn't take that long for people to reach Level 10 - I reckon they may leave it for a week to give plenty of people the chance to get there before opening it up.

It may partly be to stop any potential negative impressions from affecting sales, but most reviewers only received the game last week and due to the online nature of the game, and the low numbers of people actually playing it right now, I think it's more likely to be to give everyone a chance to get plenty of playtime before they write their reviews. Although the servers are on all the time, it's quite hard to get a match, so they've designated certain times where Nintendo staff are online too to make it easier to get a match. It's likely the game wasn't actually ready to go out any earlier - the code for Yoshi came only a couple of days later despite being released a month later. And even then, the code is for a pre-release copy - I doubt there'll be much, if any difference, but I'll receive a full retail code when it's released next week and this review copy will stop working, meaning I'll have to level up all over again!

Next Weds, 3pm UK time I believe

Some great choices there, @Grazza Had forgotten El Chiki Chiki! Looking back, 2010 was a great year. Sweden's 2012 winner was a belter. We don't need a well known singer, we need a decent songwriter/producer. Get a banging dance track from one of our top dance artists: Calvin Harris, Sigma, Chase and Status etc. Anyone could sing on it if it's a good song. Don't know who they're trying to appeal to with this year's track, or any from the past decade, really! Will share some more of my faves in the coming days!

Belgium sounded too much like Lorde. But not as good. Eurovision faves, everyone? Germany 2010, Lena, was my favourite winner of recent years. Ukraine 2007, Verka Seduchka is definitely my favourite of the cheeses. Came second. It was robbed. Going to spend my evening on Youtube remembering all the classics. Double post. Oh god. This from last year. Yes Poland.

I was basically agreeing with you, just putting it in a way that Ronnie couldn't argue back against There's no way I would call amiibo a success until they are actually well stocked in shops and selling from the shelves to a wide audience. Selling a small amount to collectors is not a success.

Of course it's false to say that if you don't get them Day 1, you won't get them at all. But you'll have to be bloody lucky. Hell, you need to be lucky enough to get them the first day. You can't deny that they've under produced these figures and it's making customers unhappy. They aren't even really available to who they really should be targeted towards - kids. Only the luckiest of collectors, or those with the most money, are getting the amiibo they want.

Wasn't too blown away by last night's songs. Liked Georgia at the end, but may also come down to her looks, smoke and wind machines too, but that's part of it, right? Also quite liked Russia. Britain's entry is shit, though.