Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Italy has scored an overpowering win in the OGAE Poll 2017. Out of 43 possible 12 points Italy scored 37. Only Hungary, Latvia and Macedonia placed Italy second, Belarus and Russia third and Armenia 4th. Think about that Loreen, Rybak & co. Even if the results have been rather questionable in this pure fan voting Italy is also overpowering favorite in the betting odds and generally everything. If Italy won't win this year, something really weird must happen.... and I'm so pleased to see Finland at 10th place. Similar result is possible come the final night tbh. Italy: 497 points Belgium: 335 points Sweden: 308 points France: 277 points Estonia: 242 points Portugal: 122 points Bulgaria: 120 points FYR Macedonia: 107 points Israel: 102 points Finland: 64 points

The oldest OGAE fans organized contest, OGAE Song contest has come to its 30th edition this year and is doing better than ever. Wolrdclass acts like Adele, Delta Goodrem, Mariza and Enya battling it out along with Eurovision stars Anna Vissi, Dina Garipova, Sirusho, Amir, Kati Wolf, Eva Boto, Marija Serifovic, Lena Philipsson, Daniel Kajmakoski, Helena Paparizou and Softengine and all the others the local clubs have chosen to represent themselves. A total of 28 great songs to choose from - what would be a better past time? You can listen to all the entries here and have a look at the voting here .  The past few years the victories have all went to same nations: United Kingdom (2009, 2010, 2011), Spain (2013, 2016) and France (2014, 2015), only Italy breaking the trend in 2012. And these four countries do have the most wins ever in the contest anyways. At least the Big5 is ruling here.... One can only wish and hope Alvaro Soler would be one of the shortlisted and invited a...

Five hours. That's all I had in the wonderful Eurovision bubble. Just enough time to meet some dear friends and fellow bloggers, delegation members and OGAE friends and enjoy the glittery sunlight in Stockholm. But now back at home and enjoying the event from home sofa......  Amir's J'ai cherche welcomed me to the Globen area on tha music bridge, there couldn't have been a better start for the day. Next two hours were spent next to Sanja, Frans, Amir, the guys from Minus One, Francesca Michielin, Gabriela Guncikova, Ivan, Månz Zelmerlöw, quite a few head of delegations and commentators, waiting two hours for Ira Losco who didn't show up, and all things Eurovision. Life's good. Next stop EuroClub/Fan cafe meeting Justs and Aminata.  The most famous Eurovision beard  Frans Justs Then I had just enoug time to check out Eurovision vilage, NK's lovely Eurovision windows  and their very, VERY sad "Eurovision shop"..... and wo...

France wins again OGAE Song contest when Kendji Girac follows  Indila 's footsteps proving once again France could also do very well in the Eurovision song contest if they only sent some of their most popular and current artists. And check out the point difference! There really was no competition for the winner..... 

The OGAE contest for runner ups and fan favorites from national final is finally over for this season and Italy completes the well deserved third place in the Eurovision song contest with the victory in here for the Sanremo runner u Nek and Fatti avanti amore . The rest of the top is dominated by the Nordic countries Sweden, Denmark and Finland proving that at least Finland should have sent the runner up instead of the nonsense that we did send..... Watch the voting here and the entries here . 

BBC has revealed more information on the selecting process for their 2016 entry for the Eurovision song contest and OGAE members have a key role (so, Brits and fans alike can only blame themselves is they don't hit success this year! Clever!) OGAE is the world's largest independant Eurovision fan club founded in Finland in 1984 (this blogger was the member no.15!). The UK branch alone has around 1.000 members while there are over 40 national clubs today.  The submission of anyone over 18 (and not 16 like in the Eurovision generic rules state) will be accepted until November 20, 2015. Then BBC will use the help of the OGAE UK to shortlist the songs. Also BASCA (The British Academy of songwriters, composers and authors) is called in to join the fun. The shortlisted demos will be then presented to a special panel that has the final say of those that will get to be the final group of songs that the puclic may choose their winner for Stockholm 2016. Hugh Goldsmith (linked to At...

OGAE or the Eurovision fans club aka Organisation Générale des Amateurs de l'Eurovision was founded in late 1984 in Savonlinna, Finland by Jari-Pekka Koikkalainen. This blogger read about it in a newspaper and joined in in early 1985 (if my memory serves me right) and became the member number 15. Fifteen! Imagine! I still have each and every OGAE Bulletin that at the beginning wee nothing but photocopied pages put together. Then later on I may have had something to do with the founding of the Italian club that's another story.... Today the 43 sub clubs all over the world count nearly 10.000 members. How time flies, how OGAE grows. Congratulations! More information on OGAE here . 

After two days of greatly done PR it was time for Valentina to enjoy some free time wandering around Helsinki. The day started with rainy clouds and very local showers ("... Dalle nuvole si sa, poi la pioggia scenderà, d’improvviso succederà...") but soon the sun came out.... Valentina checked out the cathedral and the Senate's Square, the venue for the Helsinki 2007 Eurovision open air party, remember Krisse ? Then it was time for some local flavors and typical fish plate in the market place, the venue for the Lordi's post-victory celebrations ( here ) Havis Amand... err, Valentina! Kappeli is always good for coffee and cakes! Espan lava... hmm, maybe next summer a gig here? It may have been September 1, but somewhere in Helsinki it's always Christmas.... An artist has always an open ear for another talent..... like incredible bottle player! Maybe she will bring him along to Copenhagen 2014? And then there's t...

Valentina Monetta aboard Silja Europa at 4th annual Eurovision Cruise organized by OGAE Finland. Here's a Youtube .    Time to get a bit crazy among the fans.....