Eurovision 2008 - 2nd Semi-final - who goes through?

Right, well I'm not going to be 'live-blogging' this evening exactly, but I am preparing this post whilst watching the acts, so should be able to publish it very shortly after the evening's entertainment has run its course.

My views of the songs tonight:

Iceland - Quite nice loooking male and female lead singers in a very Icelandic 'ice-gods' way. Good voices. Traditional 'Europop'. I like it. Bill says 'YES' Voters says 'YES'

Sweden - Strange looking female in a Scandinavian ice-maiden way. Again traditional 'Europop' sung in English. Bill says 'YES' Voters says 'YES'

Turkey - Nice looking male lead singer with a band. Good voices. Rock ballad. I quite like it, but not sure it is quite the right sound for Eurovision. Voters says 'YES'

Ukraine - Very beautiful female, singing in whatever(?)/English. Backing good-looking male dancers. Good beat, good voice. Bill says 'YES' Voters says 'YES'

Lithuania - Striking-looking long-haired man. Good voice singing in English, powerful ballad, but not Eurovision material in my view.

Albania - Quite a pretty young woman, but too much make-up (!!) - sung in Albanian. Good voice singing a ballad. Not certain. Voters says 'YES'

Switzerland - Stylish black-suited/shirted male singing in Italian. Good, but not perfect, voice singing a ballad. I like it. Bill says 'YES'

Czech Republic - Quite beautiful female with similarly-beautiful backing female dancers. OK song, but voice no good.

Belarus - Cute-looking male singer (black satin shirt and pants), female dancers. Nice boppy voice, but his voice is not great. I think not.

Latvia - Pirates (male and female). Very much a traditional 'Eurovision' song of the old school. Very amusing. Voters says 'YES'

Croatia - White and black suited males. Sung in Serbo-Croat. Excellent voices. Seemed to be a witty song. I like it. Bill says 'YES' Voters says 'YES'

Bulgaria - Heavy-metal/Hard-rock band (you see how out of touch I am?), very beautiful female singer with good, but not perfect, voice. I liked it though. Bill says 'YES'

Denmark - Good looking laid-back male singer. Excellent voice. Ballad with a good beat - basic 'Europop'. The best song of the evening! Bill says 'YES' Bill voted for Denmark! Voters says 'YES'

Georgia - Very beautifull (blind?) female, disguised as Goth. Goodish voice, beat ballad. Voters says 'YES'

Hungary - Very beautiful female (voice 'a la' Celine Dion!), male pianist. Very nice slow ballad. Bill says 'YES'

Malta - Very beautiful female with very nice-looking male dancers. Good song with a good beat. Bill says 'YES'

Cyprus - Beautiful (coquettish?) female. Nice song and good beat, but not really 'Eurovision' material, I think.

F Y R Macedonia - Trendy males and females, all nice looking. Song with a beat. I like it. Bill says 'YES'

Portugal - Female singer, excellent voice. Not really 'Eurovision' material in my view. Voters says 'YES'

In summary I'd say the general quality of the songs this evening was rather better than on Tuesday. However, perhaps because there were more good songs to choose from, I was somewhat less successful in choosing the 10 to go through to the final as I got only 5 'correctt':
- the 5 I chose which didn't get through were Switzerland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Malta and F Y R Macedonia;
the 5 which the voters chose (and I didn't) were Turkey, Albania, Latvia, Georgia and Portugal.

I can't say I'm too unhappy with any of the choices this evening - the poorest songs (in my opinion) didn't get through, and those that did (even those I didn't choose) were all at least reasonably good. However, for me the 'star' of both Tuesday and Thursday was Denmark; we in the UK could not vote on Tuesday, but at least I was able to vote for my favourite from both semi-finals, Denmark, tonight. I like the Danish song a lot!

To recap from the 1st semi-final, here are the 10 countries from Tuesday who, like the 10 successful nations high-lighted in green above, go through to the final on Saturday:

Israel
Azerbaijan
Norway
Poland
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Armenia
Finland
Romania
Russia
Greece

Roll on Saturday!
PS/ I think for me it will probably be a choice between Denmark and France - obviously I can't vote for the UK entry with Andy Abraham, but even if I could I don't think that would affect my choice - but I'll make up my mind between those two, Denmark and France, on Saturday ...