Tag: moscow

A Moscow State of Mind

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It would be wrong to say that I’ve spent the weekend in Moscow, because most of my time has either been at the Eurovision Stadium, or at the various parties organised by each country, but I’ve been travelling around a fair bit both on foot and on public transport. It’s impressive that on the escalators in the Metro nobody is running up one side, like you see in London – everyone just stands there. Okay they’re as long as the escalators at Angel, but still this is just weird. I also had to raise my eyes at the amount of

Arrived in Moscow at the Eurovision Stadium

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A quick post just to let you all know that I’m now all sorted in Russia, I’ve found my bed for the week, I’m all checked, tagged, rfid’ed and handed the Eurovision equivalent of the SXSW Big Bag at the Olympic Stadium. I’m also wondering if it was just wrong of me to thoroughly enjoy the trip in on the Airport ‘Express’ train in a carriage that rattled like the old Cowdenbeath to Edinburgh rickety diesel I remember from the late 70s?

Starting My Next Adventure – I’m Off To Moscow and The Eurovision Song Contest

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This Tuesday, I left a rather cryptic message on Twitter: I have in my hand a piece of paper from the Russian Consulate. Now very happy. That piece of paper was my Russian Business Visa. It joins a number of other ‘pieces of paper,’ including return tickets on British Midland from Edinburgh to Moscow; a reservation for a central Moscow hotel, a guide to the Moscow metro and specifically how to get to the Olimpiyski Stadium, and full press accreditation for a certain music event… I’m going to this year’s Eurovision Song Contest!!! Naturally I’ll be bring coverage from Russia

A Big Weekend For All Eurovision Fans

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But it’s not just the UK that’s doing Eurovision stuff this weekend, there are 43 countries that have to select a singer and song. Not everyone is choosing this weekend (although Finland’s final starts just as the UK’s reaches its conclusion) but there are always national finals for you to find through the delights of P2P television. And if you want to keep track of them all, then the Official Eurovision Website (www.eurovision.tv) is for you. Yesterday saw the Eurovision team choose the countries to appear in the two semi-finals (the running order will be drawn in late March). While

Jury Voting Returns To The Eurovision Song Contest

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Interesting decisions from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) from their meeting in Moscow to discuss the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) 2009. Apart from the almost formality of confirming Russia’s capital as the host city next May, the voting system to decide the winning song will now be made up of a mix of pre-selected juries and telephone voting of the general public. This is similar to the recent Eurovision Dance Contest, where roughly 25% of the available points were awarded by four judges in the venue (they were given the weight of four countries, so instead of their top cote