...Yes, I've seen it. I wasn't going to, but...
What can I say? It was pretty amusing and some artists actually quite impressed me. Turkish rock band was pretty good as well as Viking guys from Finland. Azerbaijan was original, I thought they would rank higher at least. Denmark wasn't anything special, but it was a nice cheerful song and I personally liked it.
It's hard for me to judge the chicks, most of them have good voices and nice moves. The young ones in short dresses, with catchy pop songs and hip-swayng dances (Armenia). And the older ones in long gowns with powerful vocals, they were as good as all those American divas, really (Norway). But I was trully impressed only by the Serbian performance. It was graceful and spiritual, reminded me of those grand stage musicals. All in all, one of my main criteria was keeping national identity and singing in country's own language. It's no fun when every damn country sings in English. There were several performances worth watching, but if I had to choose one, I'd undoubtedly go for that lad from Israel. The voice, the language, the song.. I found it really powerful and touching. (Btw, music and lyrics by Dana International)
On a side note, I totally can't understand how come the artists from the grand four usually suck. Esp. it concerns Britain, the home of European music industry, both pop and alternatiive.
Generally, I try to ignore the points and the rankings. Even so.. It's kinda sad to see that Europe has such a bad taste. I mean, I wasn't hoping any of the artists I like would win, but this... At least it gave me a feeling of high intellectual superiority.
General info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurovision_Song_Contest_2008
Hey, anyone needs downloads, check this site. Reading comments below highly not reccomended though)
http://www.cwer.ru/evrovidenie_2008_vse_pesni