Notes on the Mision Eurovision 2007 Preview Show

• I love Paula, she's like Crazy Patty from 2005, but competent with a lisp.
• Apart from Nazaret, I can't tell any of the female candidates apart.
• Carola still batshit crazy, and living under the delusion that she is Catherine Zeta Jones.
• Spain will flog Massiel the way that UK will flog Bucks Fizz until the end of time.
• Massiel looks like a refugee from an Almodavar film, and yet her performance of Busco Un Hombre is actually quite good, hitting all the right camp notes, and you can tell that she's in on it.
• They really shouldn't change the lyrics if NASH wins with it. Some of those boys look like they are game for singing the original lyrics.
• I have my doubts as to whether any of the candidates could do as well as Nina does on Una Lagrima.
• The second I heard I Love You Mi Vida (and who was the Spanish Donatella Versace on the writing team? I like her), I thought "Ricky Martin," and lo and behold who do they bring out to sing it? Raul, the Canarian answer to La Martin.
• Raul's gotten paunchy and he's doing Beth's choreography to Dime.
• It's rather cruel that TVE doesn't adhere to the 6 people onstage rule. It makes the songs look bigger than they're ever able to appear on the Eurovision stage.
• Oh, I do love the authors of La Reina de la Noche. Queen out, chicas!
• NASH looked very nervous when the clip of that was played. I think I have my favourite song/performer combination, if only to see if they will sing it in drag. The blond looks like he could do it.
• Mikel Herzog is performing La Reina? Oh my, how did he morph into John Waters? It is rather appropriate that he is performing it, I guess. This song will totally need over-the-top staging.
• I'll be happy with Tu voz se apagara or Busco Un Hombre winning. It helps that Miguel Linde is swarthy with big dose of puppy-dog cuteness. (FYI: Cute does nothing for me sexually. Swarthy does, however.)
• NASH would probably murder this song though.
• Tu voz wins for best staging. If they keep it and give it to NASH, they really should keep the shirtless male dancers. (If you're going to go for the gay vote, go all the way.)
• The only trouble with Tu voz is that it's really a song that the staging and performance make or break it.
• It's looking like Tu voz and Busco are the audience favourites. Or is Gisela that popular?
• I will miss Beatriz and her bemused commentary when she goes. I really will. Is Paula getting the job? I don't know whether I'd be able to make out a word that she says. (I do like the way she says "a-Spain" when speaking in English.)
• That said, I love Paula's stumbling over Cvet z Juga.
• If Alenka can keep up the diva flourishes, the song does stand a chance of getting to the final, even with the bizarre choreography--which is not on display here. Quite honestly, it wouldn't be that out of place in a Spanish selection.
• Olivia Lewis had better have some better choreography in Helsinki. The song is surprisingly good. (And this is coming from someone who only likes three Maltese entries: 1972, 1991, and 1996.) It doesn't have any of the Maltese blandness. Strong chance to get out of the qualifier.
• Either Paula is really tall or most of the women onstage are very short. I'm inclined to believe the latter.
• Natalia Barbu looks scarily similar to Gracia of Germany 2005 infamy.
• Fight starts out strong, and Natalia has got the vocal chops, but the song doesn't really go anywhere. Somewhere La Podolskaya is laughing at this. 80% chance of getting out of the qualifier.
• Natalia is flippin' arrogant based on her interview. "I expect to get a lot of support from the countries I visit." Lady, please.
• Note to Natalia & Alenka: If Guri & The Jet Set brought backing dancers, then you ought to as well.
• Viewed in the context of a Spanish show, Ven a bailar conmigo looks rather shallow. Good staging though.
• Perhaps my Spanish gave me up, but it certainly seems like Ven a bailar conmigo got one frosty reception at least by Beatriz & Massiel.
• God help me, but I don't mind The Jet Set. It looks like someone took the choreography to Loca and gave it a better song. The slow jazz portions do muck it up though. The Polish qualifier curse will probably be broken with this.
• Where is David from The Jet Set from? He sounds like English isn't his first language with all that stumbling. Are there black Poles?
• Dmitry has now dropped his first name and is just calling himself "Koldun." Why? He looks like Sergio Dalma in 1991 down to a T. I'm still shocked to hear a Belorussian entry that actually has comprehensible English.
• Massiel is also beginning to look like Ruth Jacott as the night goes on.
• Mirela apparently is the brunette with the big voice. In fact, from what I heard, I like her version of My number 1 better than Helena's. Though this Oye mar song just drags.
• Crap, NASH are singing a ballad. It's a good thing they're a group, because they have got some weak voices individually. Sort of like an Iberian Westlife. Those last notes were horrific.
• Nazaret is the blonde with the deep bass voice that takes up the entire hall. Is she a flamenco singer? It certainly shows when she sings I Will Survive, which is not flamenco-friendly even in Spanish.
• Good grief, she's singing My Way (in Spanish). She does an excelent job, but it's My Way! Blech. On with the uptempo songs, please. Two ballads is too many for me.
• I'm calling Mirela, Nazaret, and Yanira the "Glory Note Triplets" since that seems to be all they do.
• Christ on a stick, Yanira is inflicting another ballad on us. In the interest of saying something positive, I will say that over all the vocal quality of this group is excellent than any Eurovision national final I've ever heard. I'll give Yanira credit for allowing herself to have a crazy moment, which is necessary for any ballad in my view.
• Evil TVE, the show runs long and my DVR cut out.