Preparing for the Eurovision final

We usually have a big party at our house for the final, but other commitments mean I'll be in front of a friend's TV set tonight. But I still plan to live-blog during the show, so stay tuned!

The bookie's huge favorite is Alexander Rybak from Norway. I like Denmark, but frankly, the guy can't sing that well, and there are fantastic voices in the competition.

Last year's winner (Russia), and the big four countries (France, Spain, Germany and the UK) all go straight to the final, so I've seen them only on video. Apparently Patricia Kass from France is a well known singer (although the song's a little slow for me). Germany is supposed to have Dita Von Teese onstage for the performance of "Miss Kiss Kiss Bang". Indeed. Spain, I know little about, but Soraya sure is cute.

That leaves us Jade from the UK. She's grown on me, and she can sing at least, which puts her in the top half automatically. And Lord Lloyd Webber will be playing the piano onstage which shows we're taking it seriously, which we haven't been the past few years.

The voting system is half popular vote, half professional jury this year, in an attempt to dampen geopolitical voting and support for novelty acts. This means the better songs and singers have more of a chance than in previous years.

So, without further ado, my prediction is that the winner be... one of Azerbaijan, Norway, Iceland, the UK, and my dark horse, Portugal, who sang a traditional song, beautifully. My hunch is that an "old-school" song like these may well fit the current mood. We'll see.