At a quarter past six -- a quarter past midnight Belgrade time -- the connection incomprehensibly re-established itself. I hastened straight to the Eurovision site, just in time to see the Russian singer Dima Bilan marching victoriously to the stage to sing their winning song, Believe.
Oh, I believe, all right. I believe in demons. Mysterious creatures in the ether that exist to rob people of the things they enjoy, just for their own amusement. I mean, come on, I lose my Internet connection for the three specific hours of the Eurovision Song Contest? My one little weakness, my one tiny indulgence? Not fair.
But at least I got to see the last five minutes, the screaming crowd, the ecstatic replay performance, the absolutely blissful Russian singer bellowing, "See you in Moscow!"
And thank God for Mike Burger, who is getting me a copy of the BBC broadcast, complete with Terry Wogan's acerbic commentary. So I won't miss it, really. I missed it live, that's all.
As for the winning song... eh. Your basic boy toy singing your basic Eurovision boy-band pop ballad. Unthrilling, even although is a violinist (with a real Stradivarius!), which is kind of fun. And I do like the fact that there's an Olympic skater (who looks remarkably like Carson Kressley) skating around with great drama and emotion on actual ice skates during the performance.
Hmm.
Well, I'm eager to see the final scores: maybe one of my three picks made it to the top ten, anyway.
But the Eurovision Song Contest in Russia in 2009? Now that's exciting! That's going to be a serious show.
