ASIAN MISSION TO EUROVISION!

ON DINA TV

2007-05-24T18:01:00.000+08:00

Maybe someone missed our live performance on TV the minutes before the show started. Here it is!

BACK TO REALITY!

2007-05-14T19:03:00.000+08:00

What an incredible week!

I've finally fulfilled my lifelong dream of going to a Eurovision Song Contest. Watching clips of the show on the internet, I must say that it definitely is much much MUCH better live!!

Only 2 days later and many details of next year's ESC have emerged:

Here's what we know so far:

Eurovision Song Contest 2008 will be held in Serbia thanks to Maria Serifovic
Most likely it will be held in Belgrade, although there are debates about whether they should host it in some other city.
If it is indeed Belgrade, the venue will most likely be at the Beogradska Arena sks Belgrade Arena which seats approximately 23,000 people.
Palestine seems to have launched their own "Palestinian mission to Eurovision" too! No doubt someone took the "Tea Bags" lyrics a bit too serious!!!
Several late submissions to the EBU for this year's ESC will try to make it again - these include: Italy, Luxembourg, Azerbaijan and Tunisia.
Other countries that have shown interest in taking part in the event include the likes of Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein, Slovakia, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Syria and even Iraq!!!
Lebanon tried for ESC 2007 but failed - the EBU has banned them until 2009!
The Kosovars are apparently keen on joining in on the fun too!

A lot of people seem to think the suits at the EBU have gone mad and need some geography refresher lessons, but hey, think about the whole point of the Eurovision it was to unite countries that were previously against each other.

I for one support this... this however means that they whole format of the Eurovision needs to me reworked!

More on that next time... jet lag is starting to kick in!

Thanks again to all the lovely Finnish people! Helsinki is a really great place and I was really impressed by the whole event!

AM2E have also become minor superstars in our own right! We appeared on TV in several countries... apparently a tiny picture of us appeared in the free "Metro" paper of Moscow... we went live on Web TV and most importantly, we spoke to Verka Serduchka!

Yay! In the words of the crazy mirror-headed Ukranian... OK! Happy end!

AND THE WINNER IS!!!

2007-05-13T08:23:00.000+08:00

Congratulations Serbia and Maria - the win was well deserved!

Looks like it will be Belgrade 2008!

HERE WE GO!!!

2007-05-13T02:47:00.001+08:00

So much excitement! All the planning and work leads up to this moment! Let's get it started!

GO THE ARK!!

2007-05-13T01:45:00.001+08:00

MF on GREEK TV!

2007-05-13T01:31:00.001+08:00

2 HOURS TO GO!

2007-05-13T01:12:00.001+08:00

We've arrived at HartWALL. Crazy atmosphere!! Tanzen!

PREPARATION!

2007-05-13T00:02:00.001+08:00

Only 3 hours to in and we prepare by filling ourselves with one nice Chinese food!

Imagine MF walking into a shinese restaurant with his costume on! B-)

A SERIOUS THOUGHT

2007-05-12T17:43:00.000+08:00

Yes, we do love Verka (Ukraine) and her highly addictive song. Yes, the whole Hartwall Arena will stand up and dance to her song this evening. Yes, this is party and great fun and everything else the Eurovision should be about... BUT...

AM2E are seriously wondering how the ESC will look next year if the winning monsters will be followed by a winning Verka. Will ESC be flooded by too many characters who will do anything to have the craziest, weirdest and most sensational show both on and off stage? How fun will it be if half the contestants are Verkas??

Maybe the future of ESC will be better if Serbia claims victory tonight. A normal girl with a great voice, powerful performance without gimmicks and a song that really reaches out to people.

AND THE WINNER IS... ACCORDING TO AM2E!!!

2007-05-12T05:52:00.000+08:00

Back from the final rehearsal for the final! Great show!! Don't miss Lordi and the hysteric show by Apocalypse (Can someone smell the pyrotechnics!!!).

So who will win?

First a list of competitors we would LIKE to win:

Spain: Boyband with G:son's signature catchy song and colorful performance

Serbia: Sometimes less is more...

Ukraine: Sometimes over the top with extra everything is even better

Sweden: Ola is Ola is Ohlala

SK's choice: Bulgaria: A banging song by banging of 100 drums

MF's choice: Germany: Super cool, classy, big band schlager

Despite our failiure of picking the right songs in the semi we will give it another try.

This is what we think will happen:

5th place: Spain

4th place: Bulgaria

3rd place: Latvia

2nd place: Ukraine

1st place: Serbia

Of course our predictions are based on what we have seen at the reherals and we would not be surprised if any of the 2nd-5th place predictions actually win... however we feel that there is a big threat from 6 men with high hats (Latvia) to grab 1st place!!

Anyway, here are some pictures from the finals rehersal:

Greetings! From the land of Hope and Lordi!

I Love you mi Vida!!

THEEEEEEEEE AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Suave and sophisticated Roger Cicero!

Too many sparkles and lights and too bombastic... but we love it! And we love Verka!

GO EAST! BUT WHERE'D THE WEST GO?!

2007-05-11T18:19:00.000+08:00

It as a great Semi-final show last night which lasted a whole 4 hours at the Hartwall Areena!!

As for the results, AM2E made 3 correct predictions while the others all seemed to qualify against the odds!!!

Belarus
FYR Macedonia
Slovenia
Hungary
Georgia
Latvia
Serbia
Bulgaria
Turkey
Moldova

Looks like the final will be a real battle of the East and West!

This year's results have brought up some speculations that the funding countries i.e. the Big 4 might decide to pull out due to the imbalance in votes!

We understand this because even the countries we thought were only medicore in the semi-final reherals really stepped up for the live performance and deserved to go through but did not!

Even though they did not go through, we feel the following performances were absolutely brilliant and deserve a mention:

DJ Bobo - Vampires are Alive - Switzerland

DJ Bobo must have been very shocked to hear the results as he was tipped as a favourite to go through to the final! The performance was great and everyone was impressed!

DQ - Drama Queen - Denmark

At the end of the performance, Peter Andersen, performer of DQ received a standing ovation!! Everyone was singing along, therefore it is difficult to understand how he was not able to go through!!

Cyprus - Comme ci Comme ca - Evridiki

This was AM2E's hot facourite to get through... the performance was absolutely stunning and it is a real shame that she did not go through!

Iceland - Valentine Lost - Erikur Hauksson

In a competition full of over the top ballads and such, it is nice to see someone who still believes in real Rock n' Roll. Erikur's performance was definately worth a better destiny!!!

Norway - Ven a Bailar Conmigo - Guri Schenke

Guri's performance was sensational and it really got the crowd going!!! But it obviously did not move the rest of the European voting crowd. This song was great! Catchy! Fun! Too bad it's not in the final!!!

Anyway, what's happened has happened. We are off to see the rehersals for the final performances tonight which will be great!!! AM2E can't wait to see Lordi again! And The Ark, Les Fatals Picards, Sarbel, D'Nash and of course, the lovely, Verka Serduchka......... etc!!!

A last note about last night - we are happy that Hungary got through. Her performance was flawless! The same goes for Serbia which also got a standing ovation!!!

Good Luck to all the performers in the Final!!!

(Here is a picture of the winner from last night who have qualified into the Finals!)

IT'S VERKA!

2007-05-11T00:00:00.001+08:00

We ran into the Ukraine's Verka Serduchka! Klyova! She was very lovely and signed my fanbook!

Spaciba Verka!

AM2E's FAVOURITE QUALIFIERS

2007-05-10T23:04:00.000+08:00

We have just watched the final rehearsal for the big semi final show tonight. These are the songs we hope will qualify for the final (in order of appearance)

Bulgaria: Powerful song and a powerful performance. Heavy drums and a nice voice!

Cyprus: Will also be one of the favourites in the final

Belarus: Nice performance with climbing girls!

Iceland: Only just, but Eirikur gives his very best on the stage!

Switzerland: We were expecting more from the vampires but still a qualifier

Denmark: Drama Queen really gets the audience going!

Serbia: So nice, so soft, so powerful, so... great!!!

Norway: Most impressive dress change ever!

Hungary: A song we did not expect much from but it was a really pleasant surprise. What a voice!!

Belgium: Love Power! Swing it guys!

Closest to qualify to this list was Andorra, Poland, Turkey and Macedonia.

This is what we think. In a few ours we will know what Europe thinks!

SO CLOSE TO THE STAGE!

2007-05-10T18:03:00.001+08:00

We are in! Stage looks fabulous! Only one hour until final rehearsal of the semi starts.

HELLO FROM HARTWALL AREENA

2007-05-10T17:41:00.001+08:00

AND ME TO THE ARENA WE GO!

2007-05-10T17:27:00.001+08:00

Here we go!! Helsinki has made it extremely easy for visitors and we are very happy about it!

Here is MF sitting on the special ESC2007 train!

COOPERATION AND EQUALITY

2007-05-10T17:22:00.001+08:00

Eurovision is not only about silly songs and crazy performances! The EU government has taken this opportunity to promote equal opportunities between the EU countries and to embrace each others diversities!

:-)

Roger Cicero

2007-05-09T20:51:00.001+08:00

This is the guy representing Germany! Roger is a really nice and very friendly guy and 50% me AM2E hopes he will make it at the top 5!

We had a chance to hear Roger sing a swall part of his entry FRAUEN REGIEREN DIE WELT.

Dat war schon!

Here we are!

2007-05-09T20:21:00.001+08:00

Just arrived in Helsinki! The city is full of hundreds of activities for the ESC and we'll be posting all the coolest stuff here!

But now, we're rushing off to meet Roger Cicero, the German rep at the ESC! Stay tuned!

HELLO HELSINKI!!!

2007-05-09T03:15:00.000+08:00

After hours of travelling and a few days of holidays, we will finally be arriving in Helsinki tomorrow!!

AM2E is totally prepared and ready to rock n' roll!

We are preparing for a media storm when we arrive and are currently working to scehdule the meetings with several European newspapers!

Here is a message to all of you who are still interested in getting in touch with us:

HONG KONG - HELSINKI TO SUPPORT THE ARK!

Asian Mission to Eurovision (AM2E) is finally on the way. AM2E is the unusual journey of two Hong Konger's to Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki.

"Since Eurovision has not yet come to Asia we will bring Asia to Eurovision", Mathias Fridholm, co-founder of AM2E says. Totally they will spend 40 hours of travelling in order to see the spectacular show live. It is also a costly adventure.

"Only calling from Hong Kong to reserve tickets and waiting in the telephone queue costed us 700 Hong Kong dollars", says Mr Fridholm.

"But it is worth every cent", says Sai Daswani. "I am really excited about watching the Eurovision live for the first time. I have a few favourites like France's Les Fatals Picards, Romania's Todomondo, Cyprus' Evridiki and I especially like the Swedish entry, The Ark. I find Ola Salo very talented and intelligent and I really look forward to all the great performances!"

AM2E is currently working on plans to get the support of local broadcasters in Asia to consider “EurAsia Song Contest”.

For more information about AM2E please call +46 70 560 62 07.

On our way!

2007-05-08T17:53:00.001+08:00

Here we are at the Hong Kong International Airport! We will have a short stay in Sweden before arriving in Helsinki!

Visit our new blog at this address because we will be posting messages from A brand new Sony Ericsson mobile phone about all the Eurovision happenings in real time!

ASIAVISION... REALITY!!?

2007-05-07T08:47:00.000+08:00

Looks likes someone is actually taking us seriously.

Have a read right here...

Eurovision goes global!!

Eurovision.tv director Bjørn Erichsen has spoken about the plans EBU has to ensure the growth of the most popular musical TV show in Europe, The Eurovision Song Contest. The Reference Group have developed a 2007-2011 a marketing, development and security plan for the contest which has already been approved by the EBU TV committee and has received a warm welcome by the Heads of Delegations during the March meeting in Helsinki.

The future of the competition looks bright as is, with its popularity growing steadily year by year. This has obviously taken a lot of hard work and foresight but EBU is not prepared to leave the fate of its "Jewel in the crown" as Mr Erichsen calls the contest, to chance. He explains the need for constant evaluation of the Eurovision Song Contest format; "You have to protect the core values of the contest (...) But meanwhile, you have to revamp, to attract new and younger audiences."

One thing is certain, that a great investment is required to maintain the high standard and expand, something that EBU is ready for. "We have developed an investment plan with 12 to 14 new activities, to be introduced in the next couple of years," Mr Erichsen says. Most of these activities will be behind-the-scenes but others will be certainly noticed by the general audience and the hard core of the fan body.

One of the most exciting projects is the contest's expansion to other world markets. "Imagine an American, Asian, Middle-East or African version of the song contest," Bjørn Erichsen says. EBU intends to license the format of the Eurovision Song Contest across the world. The possibility of a World Song Contest does not seem so remote any more. "In the most optimistic mood, in two years, being more realistic, in three to four years," said Bjørn Erichsen.

For 2007 a number of new features are scheduled. Starting with the Eurovision Countdown, a magazine-like television programme in three episodes. It aims at informing viewers on the latest contest related news, keep them updated on the preparations and offer historic background material. An other exciting - and highly attractive incentive for the participating artists- is the Winner's tour. This year's winning entry will be able to enjoy a Winner's tour, a sort of pan European lap of honour. Preparations are already under way with all participating acts confirming availability should they win.

It is a common secret that die-hard fans all over Europe love to collect and rewatch past Eurovision Song Contests over and over again. In a couple of year's time they will have the chance to do this online as EBU is working on a way to collect and put them up for the world to watch. "We want to be present on a number of platforms, and that is why we reserved budget to make that happen," Bjørn Erichsen says. "It's an old dream to put all historic Eurovision Song Contests on the web, but it is a complicated issue and there are a lot of copyright issues to deal with. We have set aside money to clear those copyrights, but it will take a year or two to complete this procedure," he concludes

What are the worst fears of the eurovision.tv director? What is it that makes him sweat in relation to the contest and what measures are taken to make sure nothing major goes wrong? Bjørn Erichsen's number one fear is terrorism. "We are always deeply involved with security measures, closely cooperating with the host city authories who take security very, very serious. We don't see that as audience, and we shouldn't (...) but behind the scenes, there is strong security machine to take care of it," he explains. His second worst fear is failure of the televoting system : We declare a winner and the next morning, we find out that the winner is not the winner. To avoid that, we have triple backup systems, auditors before and afterwards, and we do everything possible to get that right," he says. In the unlikely event of a televoting problem there are always the backup juries standing by in all 42 participating countries.
You can watch the full interview here. (under EXTRA)

3...2...1... AND LIFT OFF!!!

2007-05-04T17:07:00.000+08:00

Finally the Asian Mission to Eurovision is about to start. In 5 hours we leave Hong Kong territory for a Eurovision week in Euroland!

Preparations have been according to plan: T-shirts have been printed, Chinese costumes have been bought and songs have been listened to. We also hear that preparations in Finland are progressing. Yesterday the first rehearsals on stage were performed. The stage looks really amazing!!

We will hopefully be back shortly with news from Europe and our best guesses for the competition.

EUROVISION... HERE WE COME!!!

GETTING CLOSER!!

2007-04-18T18:23:00.000+08:00

Only two weeks until Asian Mission To Eurovision takes off from Hong Kong.

Preparations are on the way, not only in Hong Kong but even more in Helsinki. The construction of the stage has started in Hartwall Arena. There has been many rumours about snow fall, fog screens etc, etc so it will be interesting to see how things develop. The weight of the hundred of lights mounted at the roof of Hartwall Arena will be just as much as the construction can take. If there will be snow fall the snow needs to be removed immediately from the roof. If you want to follow the construction of the stage, check out this diary!

HELP NEEDED FROM UK EUROVISION FANS!!

2007-03-26T13:06:00.000+08:00

Attention Eurovision fans from the UK!!

I need your help! - The last couple of times I had the chance to watch the entire Eurovision show, I was living in the UK and it was the BBC broadcast of the show - if you've seen it, you'd know that the highlight of the show is really Terry Wogan and his 'light-hearted' comments!

So we are asking for help from our readers in the UK to see if someone would be kind enough to record the show off TV so that we gets to Terry's comments (and in the off chance that our faces might appear!)!

In exchange, we will be more than happy to get a souvenir from the Eurovision Finals in Helsinki and send it to you!!

Please click here to send us an email, or just leave a message in the comments section below. We really really appreciate your help!!!