| Eurovision Song Contest News - 2008 Belgrade, Serbia 

Björn Lin.

Hello! I'm a huge ESC fan from Sweden, it was we who got the idea to give plants and animals Latin names, invented the reality show, the Celsius temperature scale and the periodic system, the dynamite and best of all-Melodifestivalen
The first ESC I saw was Stockholm 2000, but I first got intrested in ESC when I watched Riga 2003, which was the best show until that day, according to old clips at least. It was an extremely tight 3-horse race, as we know, and even if I didn't like neither of the three back then, I was amazed by a show seen from Iceland to Kazhakstan, yes even on the International Space Station!

But HOW to solve the problem with the shameful neighbour/diaspora voting? The 2 semis won't help a great deal, but I think got it!
My suggestion is to split the 2 semis in four different categories: Northern, Souther, Western and Eastern. All songs are performed in the same of the two shows, and all can be voted for by those countries who compete in the specific semi. BUT the qualifers are not the 10 highest ranked countries, but those who got most votes of the countries in their regional category.

Example:
Estonia are seeded into the Northern division. They only finish 12th in the semi, but 2nd highest of the North countries. So they qualify.
Macedonia, on the other hand, are 8th in total, and 6th among the Eastern countries (as there are 2 semis, only 3 or 4 Eastern countries will pass from each). Result: they don't qualify.

This gives us countries from all over Europe in the final, and countries that always qualify because of neighbour votes must work harder to get their spot in the final. Also, there should be a limit of 2 calls/household phone and 1 call/cell phone.

My favorite ESC songs:
2003: Sweden & Turkey
2004: Malta, Sweden & Ukraine
2005: Lithuania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Iceland & Hungary
Congratulations: Waterloo, Hold me now & Ne partez pas sans moi
2006: Sweden, Belgium & Lithaunia
2007: Denmark, Iceland, Belgium & France

As a Swede, Melodifestivalen is of course almost as important as ESC to me!
Here are my favorite MF songs:
2003: Crazy in love, Give me your love
2004: It hurts, La dolce vita, C'est la vie
2005: Du och jag mot världen, Higher Ground, Att älska dig, Med hjärtats egna ord
2006: Evighet, Sing for me, Silverland
2007: The worrying kind, Trying to recall, För kung och fosterland

BEST MOMENTS OF EUROVISION

Songs:
First ever Eurovision winner, "Refrain" with Lys Assia: url=http://youtube.com/watch?v=vxv-Q-JKkTo]http://youtube.com/watch?v=vxv-Q-JKkTo/url]
One of my fav songs, "Power to all our friends": url=http://youtube.com/watch?v=iYa3UTyn2mE]http://youtube.com/watch?v=iYa3UTyn2mE/url]
ABBA with "Waterloo" in '74 (officially the best, u know) : url=http://youtube.com/watch?v=cjt7eU88xUA]http://youtube.com/watch?v=cjt7eU88xUA/url]
Israel '87 with "Hupa Hulle" : url=http://youtube.com/watch?v=uTt3U8aI8t0]http://youtube.com/watch?v=uTt3U8aI8t0/url]
Switzerland '88 with Celine Dion: url=http://youtube.com/watch?v=8pEYw8PcBas]http://youtube.com/watch?v=8pEYw8PcBas/url]
Italy '90 (Insieme:1992 with Toto Cutungo) : url=http://youtube.com/watch?v=GxWL6s7OnLI]http://youtube.com/watch?v=GxWL6s7OnLI/url]
Sweden '98; best ESC ballad ever, it's about princess Diana: url=http://youtube.com/watch?v=kUHSCavuWsE]http://youtube.com/watch?v=kUHSCavuWsE/url]
Sweden '01-Friends-Listen to your heartbeat: url=http://youtube.com/watch?v=Gy6kpFLZlbk]http://youtube.com/watch?v=Gy6kpFLZlbk/url]
Lithuania '06-LT United-We are the winners : url=http://youtube.com/watch?v=puka5XaVIyI]http://youtube.com/watch?v=puka5XaVIyI/url]

Openings and interval acts:
Gothenburg 1985 (Lill Lindfors "drops" her skirt): url=http://youtube.com/watch?v=QZJlFIdG8R8]http://youtube.com/watch?v=QZJlFIdG8R8/url]
Dublin 1994 Riverdance performance: url=http://youtube.com/watch?v=X5Mc03_rlWo]http://youtube.com/watch?v=X5Mc03_rlWo/url]
Opening of Stokcholm 2000: url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMB_HwsL7lk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMB_HwsL7lk/url]
Athens 2006 Semi-final : url=http://youtube.com/watch?v=7ATauv6XE3k]http://youtube.com/watch?v=7ATauv6XE3k/url]
Helsinki 2007: BEST OPENING EVER!!!!!: url=http://youtube.com/watch?v=-o-vDAgwTfs]http://youtube.com/watch?v=-o-vDAgwTfs/url]

Thriller votings:
1988: url=http://youtube.com/watch?v=QNu-yXv6J5U]http://youtube.com/watch?v=QNu-yXv6J5U/url]
1991 (part I) : url=http://youtube.com/watch?v=nwNHfbk0nls]http://youtube.com/watch?v=nwNHfbk0nls/url]
1991 (part II) : url=http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZxlJVGTtCZo]http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZxlJVGTtCZo/url]
1998: url=http://youtube.com/watch?v=5X08gPNNIt8]http://youtube.com/watch?v=5X08gPNNIt8/url]
2002: url=http://youtube.com/watch?v=wc34RvsKiuw]http://youtube.com/watch?v=wc34RvsKiuw/url]
2003: url=http://youtube.com/watch?v=FydN1w8lR2A]http://youtube.com/watch?v=FydN1w8lR2A/url]