Before Britain's Got Talent; before American Idol; before any of these talent shows, there was Eurovision.  Founded in 1956, Eurovision is a hugely popular song contest in Europe.  Each country submits a song and singer(s) and then the countries vote their favorites (but you may not vote for your own country).  The Wikipedia entry states that it launched ABBA's career when they won it in 1974, and also that Celine Dion won it for Sitzerland (I thought she was Canadian?).  Whatever, the case, it may well be one of the most popular events you've never heard of
(it's supposed to be one of the most-watched non-sporting events in the
world).

I caught a lot of this year's finals this past weekend, which Russia ran away with.  Yes, I'm not sure why Russia is considered part of Europe either.  Ditto Israel.  The article states that Eurovision can be dismissed as tacky and kitschy.  And how.  Latvian pirates, anyone?  The winning Russian act involved a figure skater skating around the singer.  There were some quality acts too but, often, the voting has as much to do with national loyalties as with the talent.  For instance, the Scandic countries tended to support their own.  The former Russian republics always being sure to vote for Russia in the top 3, which begged the quip that they did so to keep their electricity on the next day.

Great Britain, Germany and Poland all tied for last place.  The Reuters article describes how this led to consternation in Germany, which had submitted one of its most popular bands.  My theory is that those 3 countries also happen to have participated in the Iraq War.

Given the popularity of the format, they should extend it to other continents and then have a 'world cup' every 2 or 4 years.  You read it here first!

I spent a little more than 24 hours in Budapest this past week on a short trip for work.  Luckily, I had a few hours to walk around what I consider to be one of Europe's more picturesque cities.  Hungary and its people have a rich culture and history, which is manifest in the buildings, statues and monuments of Budapest and befits a State that has been around for more than 1000 years. 

As you may know, Budapest is actually the combination of two towns across the Danube.  Buda, on the hilly Western side is where the Buda Castle is situated on the hill with an accompanying district with charming cobblestoned streets.  Pest is on the East and is where more of the action — it's where a majority of the population live and houses the Government.  To the left is the Parliament, which has got to be one of the most spectacular government buildings in the world.  Below is a view of the Castle from the Pest side. 

Unfortunately I wasn't able to go into the monuments and sights given the time constraints.  Next time I'd like to go on a proper guided tour.  Besides walking around the old part of Buda, I took a cab to Heroes' Square, and then went on to Liszt Ferenc Square with its outdoor cafes and restaurants. 

My hotel recommended Dio for modern Hungarian food.  Give it a miss.  The food was fine and the service was good, but I didn't think it good value for money.  Moreover it was a bit empty and there seemed to be few locals there.  I really enjoyed my (albeit quick) lunch at the Gerloczy Cafe.  I had a traditional potato soup with sausage, which was hearty and tasty followed by a veal stew.  Both dishes were flavorful without being too heavy.  It had a nice Bohemian feel and I would go back again.

Someone I talked to before my trip observed that Hungary is an interesting place in that the people are justly proud for their rich and varied history but have been humbled in the past century through the World Wars and Communism with a brighter outlook in recent years with its entry into the EU and growing economy.  That makes for a complicated psyche and I definitely felt that in the people I met and how they were almost embarrassed when talking about the Hungarian market.  There are magnificent buildings but a lot of them have a faded glory look to them, having seen better days.  Some are outright abandoned, like this one below, which was a 3 minute walk from my hotel in the heart of Pest.


All in all, I was very impressed with Budapest and would definitely like to return and spend more time, seeing the sights, visiting one of its famous baths and generally getting a better feel for the place.

According to Opera, Mocospace (whom I advise) is the # 3 mobile website in the US and #5 in the UK.  Obviously the sample set is limited to Opera browsers but they are on 44 million phones so that's a pretty good sample size to me.  The others on the list are as follows.  Keep up the good work, guys!

Top 10 sites in the U.S.

1. www.myspace.com
2. www.google.com
3. www.mocospace.com
4. www.yahoo.com
5. www.facebook.com
6. www.live.com
7. www.hi5.com
8. www.wikipedia.org
9. www.itsmy.com
10. www.ebay.com