The best song won, right? If you like power ballads so mawkish they are slapping you into submission.
I stopped clutching my betting slip early on, because my chosen punts on Ukraine and Armenia obviously wouldn't be paying out. But Eurovision's not all about spending money in William Hill, and I'm sort of happy for Russia (but would have been happier for Ukraine). I once spent 30 days in Russia, so I feel some sort of deep connection to the country. Not that it cares about me.
The performance was, of course, ridiculously overblown. Dima sexing it up in white shirt and trousers was not enough for Russia. Oh no. He also needed Olympic figure skating champion Evgeni Plushenko and Hungarian violinist Edvin Marton. Playing a Stradivarius. The performance felt like it was shouting 'this clenched fist - it's emotion! This miniature ice rink - it's passion!' and so on. Perhaps such obvious signifiers are necessary when English is a second language for the majority of the ESC community?
Why did Russia win? Maybe, after 53 years of Eurovision, it was their turn. Maybe all those former Soviet states didn't want to enrage Gazprom, as Terry Wogan suggested. Maybe the power of Dima's non-threatening sex appeal is too irresistible for Europe.
Oh well. Here's to Moscow 2009.
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