Thank you, Juji. *mwah*

Finnish songs can now be listened to. (Since there are the heats the songs were split into groups)

Automatic Eye - I'm not the one who's sorry
Marko Maunuksela - Synkän maan tango
Johanna Iivanainen - Luojani mun
Jonna - Puppets
Cardiant - Rapture in time
http://satumaa.yle.fi/euroviisut/euroviisut-2011-suomen-karsinta-1-alkukarsinta

Soma Manuchar - Strong
Paradise Oskar - Da da dam
Jimi Constantine - Party to party
Milana Misic - Sydämeni kaksi maata
Father McKenzie - Good enough
http://satumaa.yle.fi/euroviisut/euroviisut-2011-suomen-karsinta-2-alkukarsinta

Eveliina Määttä - Dancing in the dark
Sami Hintsanen - Täältä maailmaan
Tommi Soidinmäki - Seis!
Saara Aalto - Blessed with love
Stala & So. – Pamela
http://satumaa.yle.fi/euroviisut/euroviisut-2011-suomen-karsinta-3-alkukarsinta

The Finnish national final will be held in Turku on 12 February 2011.

Turkey will announce their singer in January. The song will probably come a long time later.

Macedonia will accept submissions until the 15th and they'll choose their song sometime in February.

Swiss TV only said who their last contestant would be, but didn't have the song.

Here's the last Swiss preselection entry:

http://www.videoportal.sf.tv/video?id=e9ec8422-32fd-4cd8-8949-693b5fbc2cda

SLOVAKIA WITHDRAWS!! BYE BYE SLOVAKIA

But unlike their Czech neighbors they hope to return 2012 and had nothing but good things to say about Eurovision.

See you in 2012 hopefully.

To be fair, it was a farce that Kristína didn't qualify this year.

+1

Dino Merlin, author of 93 and one half of 99 will go fly the flag.

i love how has always uality songs and their online presence in esc terms

Automatic Eye - I'm not the one who's sorry
Marko Maunuksela - Synkän maan tango ;D
Johanna Iivanainen - Luojani mun
Jonna - Puppets
Cardiant - Rapture in time

Soma Manuchar - Strong
Paradise Oskar - Da da dam
Jimi Constantine - Party to party
Milana Misic - Sydämeni kaksi maata
Father McKenzie - Good enough


Eveliina Määttä (the finnish lilly)- Dancing in the dark
Sami Hintsanen - Täältä maailmaan
Tommi Soidinmäki - Seis!
Saara Aalto - Blessed with love;D;D;D
Stala & So. – Pamela (definition of a Sota song)

i think i am going to love some songs in the finnish preselection again YAY

Either this will be "The Return of Lejla" or Bosnia-Herzegovina have spectacularly gone to shit after such a strong run from 2005-2009 (for me, personally).

Today and tomorrow the EBU will have a meeting discussing a lot of things Eurovision and one of them will be whether or not Hungary (with another TV station) and Liechtenstein (with its brand new station) can attend 2011. Fingers crossed!

The deadline to announce if you're going to be in next year's show is the upcoming weeks. I heard mid-December. So far these countries haven't confirmed anything:

France, As a big 4 it's a definite yes
Russia, As probably the biggest Eurovision superpower Another yes definitely
Belarus, I'm surprised they haven't confirmed anything...maybe it has to do with hosting Junior Eurovision. They wouldn't miss it for anything or the dictator would make some heads roll
Georgia, I doubt any caucus country would want to miss out
Probably a yes from Moldova

Bulgaria, following more flops and Miro speaking out against the whole thing and saying the EBU rigs the voting every year (even in 2007 in Bulgaria's favor) I think the chances are 50/50...we'll see

Liechtenstein and Hungary, it all depends on what the EBU decides this week. I think chances are good since Svante said that he believed Liechtenstein could enter very soon.

Italy, there was a rumor that the winner of their Idol show would go, but nothing was ever mentioned during the whole finale (and that was some weeks ago) so I guess we won't see Italy back.
Monaco, Luxembourg - don't count on it.

Fuck everything I said - Italy applied for 2011!!!

http://www.eurovision.tv/page/news?id=22443

But they could still withdraw before Christmas and not get penalized. So fingers crossed they fly the flag in 2011.

Italy Rumour

After seeing the news about Italy's (almost) sure return, I read on some websites about the X-Factor Winner in Italy. She was already mentioned in September as the Italian representative. Her name is Nathalie Giannitrapani. She is born in 1979 and won the 4th season of the Italian X-Factor.

I looked for one of Nathalie's performances, and somehow she reminds me of Mia Martini, who sang the wonderful (imo) Rapsodia in 1992, for Italy, scoring a 4th place. Let's hope Nathalie can do the same.
If she is the one who will perform in Düsseldorf, she probably won't have to live with the stress and horror of the Semis, since Italy will probably be autoqualified for the final.

A song she sang on X-Factor: Pazza Idea

YAY ;D

Our caucus nation that has no beef with its caucus neighbors (it only has a problem with Russia ), Georgia, is in. No selection details yet. We've now reached the 35 country mark. C'mon 40!

Even though Svante said way back in 2007 that a return of Italy would make a big 5, there's still no confirmation about this and some speculate that Italy will be in the semifinals if they're not willing to cough up a pretty penny to get 'Big' status. A decision will be made later this month.