It’s all for free, here’s part 12 of the run through of this year’s contestants! Will they be beautiful butterflies, or rather moths that have to hide away in the dark? 
First of all, a bit of framework for the judging – I’ll be looking at the song, the vocal performance and the stage presentation (or concept of the video if we haven’t seen a stage performance) and I’ll round up by putting them to the DIMI test (do I think it’s Dramatic, Intriguing and/or Modern enough to Include in my iTunes library?). I’ll score the entries from 1 to 5 on each of those points, resulting in a score out of a possible maximum of 20.
9. Greece – Koza Mostra feat. Agathonas Iakovidis – Alcohol is free
The Song: Yay, ska! After Turkey (Athena) & Moldova (Zdob şi Zdub) it’s Greece’s turn to explore this particular genre @ Eurovision and the lads have a very clever approach by going for a perfect symbiosis with the traditional Greek sounds. They take the playfulness one step too far with that empty chorus however, it might come across as a casual rebellion song while it’s musically rather accomplished. Well, it’s fun anyway but perhaps a tad too borderline youth movement.
Verdict: 
The Voice: Not the most important of factors in this equation I’d say. Let’s just keep it at ‘fits the picture’.
Verdict:
The Performance: The most important thing for them is to get the fun across. I don’t think that’ll be an issue.
Verdict:
The DIMI test: I liked Athena & Zdob şi Zdub and the only reason I rate this lower is because of the chorus. It’s fun though, so I might leave the ffwd button alone when this comes along.
Verdict:
PERSONAL TOTAL: 12/20
PREDICTION: Of course this will easily make it to the final. Might be too casual to do any big things on Saturday.
10. Israel – Moran Mazor – Rak Bishvilo
The Song: OK, by now I’ve had it with all the ballads in this year’s Contest and this one tests my patience Big Time. As a ballad this is quite OK, the build-up is rather nice and even though the sound is a tad mechanical I’m not exactly screaming in agony. Unlike Moran. I do have a problem listening to this entry and it might have something to do with the harsh sounds the Hebrew language produces: sometimes it can work wonders for an entry (Hasheket shenish’ar, Milim), other times it’s simply too much to take. In this case, it’s the latter for me…
Verdict:
The Voice: As impressive as Moran sounds in the first half of this entry: the second half simply kills it for me. I am not at all impressed by that wailing I’m afraid.
Verdict:
The Performance: Rather standard, but as it’s a ballad there aren’t a gazillion options and I prefer simple to overworked. Lots of visual tricks to distract from Moran’s full figure though, or am I reading too much into it? Doesn’t really matter after all. I’d go for a cheerier colour coding if I were them, it’s all a tad too funeralesque for me.
Verdict:
The DIMI test: I’d like to cut this entry in half. Which I guess doesn’t make me that much of a fan.
Verdict:
PERSONAL TOTAL: 9/20
PREDICTION: Less female ballads in this semi so this might work to her advantage. Can’t really predict how people will respond to all the drama though. I’m leaning towards a no at the moment.
Tomorrow: Armenia & Hungary
Dimivision 