IDAHO

Today is the International Day Against Homophobia. An awareness day to celebrate the great variety we humans come in and to communicate that everyone has the right to love and be loved equally.

Eurovision has stirred up some controversy on this front, as Georgia and Greece have reacted negatively at Finland's Krista Siegfrids kissing her female backup singer at the end of the performance. Now, this is a competition where there are no rules when it comes to who people can be - the most obvious example being a trans woman from Israel, Dana International, who won the competition in 1998. That's a decade and a half ago! Attitudes have changed a lot since then, and still being gay is incredibly hard in this world for far too many people, and several westerns countries, that are seemingly very tolerant, are still making a fuss over equal marriage and finding too many excuses not to start amending the marriage law.

The Culture & Arts sector has throughout history attracted a big variety of different people with different interests, personalities and values - one similarity being that they are creative souls and willing to push the boundaries of what is considered acceptable. The Eurovision Song Contest is no exception. Every year we see entrants from all walks of life, and from all cultures (naturally). Some can be obnoxiously camp, others sensibly open-minded, and some plain vanilla, and they are all equal on that stage (let's forget neighbour-favouritism for this). That's what it's about.

Giant moths, stalker girlfriends and rocky horror opera dubstep

So... I was having dinner during the first four performances, so my notes on them aren't quite as extensive as the rest of it. And because I have a 6.30am alarm tomorrow morning again I can't be arsed to google and re-watch just for the sake of writing a better blog post. So there. But overall I can say that this was the real semifinal. Tuesday must've been just a test run, a little warm up.

I don't think there are no ladies who will give you cuter babies.

Latvia. Mirror ball Jedward.

San Marino. Red cult lady.

Macedonia. What the hell happened!?

Azerbaijan. Hey, it's Eric Saade! Finalist.

Finland! YAYY! It's super catchy, I've had the song stuck in my head for a week already. OH-OH OH-OH-OH DING DONG! (And ps. I know the girl who kissed her) Finalist.

Malta. I'd listen to this on a summer picnic! Very much a feelgood tune. Finalist.

Bulgaria. Giant moth headpiece.

Iceland. Hot man. Probably a really lovely song if I understood any of it. Iceland is good at emotional big melodies, anthemic slow songs. Finalist.

In Greece alcohol is free. Making a mental note to add Greece to holiday destinations list. And you get to drink listening to ska. I will have fun on this holiday! They're like less colourful Gogol Bordello. Finalist.

Israel. That's a very tight dress. I wish I knew what she's singing about because some corny lyrics might be able to salvage this from boring.

Eurovision rock from Armenia! The lead man could be Kevin Richardson's (of the Backstreet Boys fame) twin and the band could be Creed. Finalist. (Really now? Who voted?!)

Hungary is quite sweet. The guy looks like a radio DJ. Finalist.

Norway has brought an actually a good song that could stand on its own, not restrained by Eurovision bubble. Finalist.

Albania has lots of men who look metal (by Eurovision standards) but the sounds doesn't live up to their looks. I don't know what this sounds like, it's a bit of folk, bit of Disney, bit of rock, lot of Eurovision. Although they have a fire shooting guitar.

Georgia. Duet ballad. Rather boring. Finalist.

Switz. AWWW of the old guy playing fat bass* he's 95. The song is quite pleasant, if not too 'even' from beginning to end - it doesn't travel at all and gets boring quickly. *I've been informed it's actually called double bass in English but I don't care, I prefer my Finglish fat bass.

Romania. Man in a dress, finally! And lots of sequins! Naked dancers. He's invented a new genre: transvestite-opera-dubstep. I wonder if he's seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show a few too many times.  It kinda sounded like he's actually singing Bon Jovi's It's My Life but deceiving everyone with opera! Finalist. (would be a crime if he wasn't)

I remember doing the time warp

In memory of rapping spacemen

It has begun! The annual festival of kitsch. THE EUROVISION SONG CONTEST!

My ramblings while watching the live show tonight. It was the first semi-final and so this is just a quick one. Will write a more thoughtfully (well, technically this is 100% thoughts running through my head, but you get me!)  constructed post about the final on Saturday. It's a damn shame that Montenergo isn't there. Or Serbia.

We're in space. Rapping to dubstep.

Austria. She's The Voice winner. There are a few of those this year (Finland on Thursday!). Quite a tame start. I'm slightly disappointed, this is too normal!

Estonia threw a pregnant lady on stage. The song was nice, if not unlike a million slow songs in this world. She had fog and wind though, like any self-respecting Eurovision entrant should. Finalist.

Oh dear, Eurovision dubstep by Slovenia. With a trio of dancing iron masks. And she's dressed head to toe in club wear leather. Here we go, this is Eurovision! I wonder if dubstep will be this year's fad genre to try at ESC.

Croatia has a male choir wearing something Napolean. I do not mean the city in Italy, but the short man with the white horse. The song was called "Misery" apparently, but sounds very tame and peaceful.

Seizure coming up! Denmark warns us about strobe lights and flashing. The girls is channeling Shakira on her knees, interestingly. The flashing wasn't very noticeable, if you ask me. Finalist.

Russia. The Voice winner again, they apparently call her the new Adele. What's up with this abundance of female singers with ballady songs and big melodies and ball gowns? A ballad won't win unless it's Irish. Finalist.

Ukraine. A giant carries this pocket rocket of a girl on stage and here we go, another woman in a long dress but this one's got more of a beat to it. This strangely reminds me of Lion King. There was a disturbing lack of Giant Igor (I learned his name is) after the very first few seconds. Finalist.

The Netherlands brought back Anouk! She seems to have grown out of her Nobody's Wife days. This could be on a movie soundtrack, featuring Thom Yorke. It's interestingly different for this event. Finalist.

Montenegro has recruited... wait for it... SPACEMEN! Rapping astronauts! Oh yes. And a little space fairy with a powerhouse voice. I like the greenness on stage. Hmm, quite like fairy washing liquid. Another Eurovision dubstep entry but far better than the other one, whoever that was.

Lithuania. Is this going to be Eurovision rock? He looks like a British musician, and it's kind of trying to be Eurovision rock but his voice isn't powerful enough. This is ... average. Although, he did sing "because of the shoes I'm wearing today, one is love the other is pain." That earns him some Eurovision points. Finalist.

Belarus. Now this is more like it, the whole show seems to have picked up now and we're firmly on Eurovision territory. Underwear model looking girl in a tiny shiny dress and Jessica Simpsonesque dance skills. Finalist.

Moldova's girl's hair looks like lasagne and she has the white backup dancers that are a compulsory accessory for at least four performances each year. Up she goes! I've seen this trick on Super Sweet Sixteen. Finalist.

Ireland has a younger Adam Lambert! I like the shirtless drummers, who are probably actually not drummers but male models, but that's not important. Finalist

Belgium's dancers were weirdly protective of their ovaries in between of imitating chicken walk. The song sounds like something you'd hear on the radio but never remember who sings it. Finalist.

Serbia. Now these girls are rocking the Eurovision uniform! They've sort of dressed up like creepy living candy floss. I'd imagine Japanese Bratz dolls to look similar. What exactly is going on? It looks like there's some sort of story to this song, there's a bit of drama and sudden dance moves. It's like a pantomime where you can't understand a word!

Oh yes I'm wearing marshmallow, what of it?