Have you received a phone call from Azerbaijan from Number +994 50 280 8604. I have received few calls from this number and breathing was heavy and I know they were listening.
So it is true Eurovision 2012 will not be real competition and everyone knows who will win. It is the same in Russian everyone will vote but everyone knows who will be the president.
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Вам звонили из Азербайджана с номера +994 50 280 8604. Я получил несколько звонков с этого номера, дыхание у звонящего было тяжелым, и я знаю, что они слышали меня.

Так это правда Евровидении-2012 не будет реальной конкуренции, и каждый знает, кто победит.
Это то же самое в Россие все будут голосовать за президента, но все знают, кто будет президентом!
И ето распостраняется на Азербайджан.
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With performers from all over Europe getting ready to descend on Baku in May to compete for the best pop act of the year at Eurovision, conservative, tightly managed Azerbaijan is confronting a host of its cultural and political demons.

Money is not an issue here. The hydrocarbon-rich country is splurging big bucks to dazzle viewers with a show worthy of Eurovision, an annual exercise in glitz and disco beats. But the contest will bring along demographics that are not particularly popular in Baku — journalists, Armenians and gays.

Since the contest is known to have a strong gay fan base, some thought it is a perfect occasion to hold a gay pride march. The proposal immediately sparked an angry response. Opponents demanded that Baku keep its streets straight with a “Say No to Gay Pride in Baku” Facebook page, where the merits and demerits of homosexuality are being hotly debated.

Interestingly enough, the head of one organization that deals with LGBT issues in Azerbaijan is also not particularly enthusiastic about the idea of a gay pride march. “Neither our community, nor [the] majority of representatives of sexual minorities are ready for it,” commented Kamran Rzayev, chairperson of the Gender and Development non-profit group, told News.az.

The chances for a gay pride march in Baku may look remote, but many in Azerbaijan hope that the music contest nonetheless will become a catalyst for change. Human rights activists have tried to use the opportunity to draw attention to the country’s poor democratic credentials, while some observers hope that the event will contribute to peace-building between Azerbaijan and its main antagonist, Armenia, which plans to take part in Eurovision.

The government, busy decorating the city for the razzle-dazzle in May, keeps saying that everyone — Armenians, included — is welcome to Baku, but how far that welcome will extend to gays remains a toss-up.

The shape of Baku Crystal Hall will be very similar to these sport venues proposed for Universiade 2011 in Chinese city of Shenzhen.

The difference of Baku Crystal Hall is that it will have a roof and the crystal-shape facade part will not be made out of glass but a special metal material. Further, there gonna be a smaller hall for the representatives of media to build right next to the main venue.

By and large our arena will be very similar to the ones proposed for Universiade 2011 in Shenzhen.
Baku 2012: Take a look inside the Crystal Hall
World Architecture News has given us a peek inside the 25,000 seat Crystal Hall, which will play host to the Eurovision Song Contest 2012, from the Azerbaijan capital Baku.

The hall is described as a pure steel structure, as opposed to the commonly used reinforced concrete, and has been designed by gmp, Alpine Bau Deutschland AG and Nüssli International AG, with a stated completion date of March 2012. The building incorporates an iluminated façade, with 9,500 LED lights being used to create dynamic lighting scenarios within the “membrane” which makes up the exterior of the arena. It is also said that such an arena would normally take four to five years of planning, which makes the eight month construction timeframe for the venue even more remarkable.

The interior incorporates a sprawling space in the centre of the arena, with a single-stage tribune section surrounding the inner floorspace. You can see a picture of the interior below, as well as further pictures from the exterior of the Baku Crystal Hall:
EBU decides venues for Eurovision 2012
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has already selected venues for the Eurovision 2012 Song Contest set to take place in Baku this May.

According to the Azerbaijani media the concert will be organized in Baku Crystal Hall, a sports and concert complex which is now under construction.

The EBU representatives are said to have visited the place yesterday to see the on-going construction work and meet the heads of construction companies.

The construction, carried out by the German company ALPINE Bau Deutchland AG, began in September. The hall of the complex will open in April; it is expected to house 25,000 people.

The Eurovision 2012 semi-finals are scheduled for May 22 and 24. The final concert is due on May 26.

The Azerbaijani singers representing the country in the 2011 contest – Nigyar Jemal and Eldar Gasimov – were declared winners last May, enabling their country to host Eurovision this year.

In May 2012, the Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku at Crystal Hall. Alpine Bau Deutschland GmbH, the general contractor for the project, was contracted on August 2nd, 2011 to design and implement a multipurpose event-venue that is meant to accommodate 25,000 spectators.

This challenging task was undertaken by combining the efforts of gmp · Architekten von Gerkan, Marg und Partner, Alpine Bau Deutschland AG, and Nüssli International AG.

The Eurovision Song Contest takes place every year, which means that this striking crystal-shaped building on the peninsula near the city centre, right in the Caspian Sea and in the direct vicinity of one of the world’s highest flagpoles, had to be designed and constructed within a period of just eight months. The building is not a concert hall in the classical sense but a multi-functional indoor arena, which is intended to be a longer-term facility. Normally, event venues of comparable size, such as a football stadium, will require 4 to 5 years for design and construction.

Instead of the usual reinforced concrete construction, the building has been designed as a pure steel structure which consists of three independent parts, i.e. the membrane façade, the modular stadium itself and the interior roof. In order to be able to put up a building of the size of a football stadium in just a few months, design and construction proceed in parallel. An important tool in this complex process is the detailed visualisation of the entire work schedule: it covers and displays each step in chronological order in weekly sequences. A prerequisite for the success of this novel working method is the extensive experience in design, management and construction scheduling provided by the consortium, as well as very good communication between the design team and the construction companies.

The characteristic crystalline shape of the building and its illuminated façade is the response to Azerbaijan’s special request for the creation of a widely visible and visually effective landmark as a bridge between Asia and Europe that will be noticed in an international context. Different dynamic lighting scenarios are currently being programmed for the 9,500 LED lights to highlight the membrane façade and create moods appropriate for the different stages of the events.

Additional information:

Design and construction period: July 2011 – March 2012
Seats: 25,000
Length of hall: approx. 206 m
Width of hall: approx. 168 m
Height of hall: approx. 25 m

Design and implementation of Crystal Hall for the Eurovision Song Contest

Design and implementation of Crystal Hall for the Eurovision Song Contest

Beissoul, won the 1st semi-final. Photo: Naglis Bierancas (Beissoul)

Vilnius, Lithuania – The Lithuanian broadcaster, LRT, revealed at the beginning of the week that their national selection for the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest will include four semi-finals and a final on the 3rd of March. Tonight the first of these semi-finals took place in Vilnius in order to produce three finalists.
Written by Victor M. Escudero. Topics: Lithuania, news, 2012, national selection, Baku.
In Lithuania the performances were already recorded on Friday, when the jury even casted and announced their votes, which are as follows:

Beissoul – Why 43 points
The Independent – Baby 39 points
The Artrace – Fly LT 33 points
Kamile Kielaite – Try 33 points
Multiks – Star 31 points
Indigo – Sugrizk 29 points
Laisva – Nutolk 28 points
Chill Out, Have No Doubt – Until The End 26 points
Valdas Maksvytis – Dar Laiko Yra 20 points
Tonight when the show was aired on LRT, the televote had Beissoul as the winner too, and he will be joined in the final by two more acts. To the final:

Beissoul
The Independent
Multiks
There’s a new feature this year in the voting in Lithuania and it is the results by smart-phones (for free). In that voting also Beissoul ended up as the winner. According to LRT, “the jury noted Beissoul’s beautiful and specific voice yet signalled his somewhat -philosophical- performance might be an obstacle to conquer a wider audience”.

Next Saturday 11th of February the second semifinal takes place, and the six acts that didn’t qualify tonight still have a chance to be saved for a place in the Final on the 3rd of March.

Do you agree with the results in Lithuania?

The Eurovision Song Contest (French: Concours Eurovision de la Chanson)[1] is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries’ songs to determine the most popular song in the competition. The Contest has been broadcast every year since its inauguration in 1956 and is one of the longest-running television programmes in the world. It is also one of the most watched non-sporting events in the world,[2] with audience figures having been quoted in recent years as anything between 100 million and 600 million internationally.[3][4] Eurovision has also been broadcast outside Europe to such places as Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Egypt, India, Japan, Jordan, Mexico, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Uruguay and Venezuela despite the fact that that they do not compete.[5][6][7] Since 2000, the Contest has also been broadcast over the Internet,[8] with more than 74,000 people in almost 140 countries having watched the 2006 edition online.[9]
Studies have been made that suggest voting blocs are a major factor, with certain countries tending to form “clusters” or “cliques”, sometimes due to sharing similar cultural and/or ethnic communities, by frequently voting for one another, and that these blocs on at least two editions of the contest have crucially affected the result of the competition.[10][11]
Artists whose international careers were directly launched into the spotlight following their participation and victory at Eurovision include ABBA, who won the Contest for Sweden in 1974 with their song “Waterloo”, and Celine Dion, who won the Contest for Switzerland in 1988 with the song “Ne partez pas sans moi”.[12][13]

Description of the holiday “Day of Azerbaijan Customs”
By decree of Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev in 1997 enacted a decree on the establishment of professional holiday of workers of the day Azerbaijani customs. The holiday officially recognized, and celebrated annually on January 30. In Azerbaijan,Customs is one of the most important organs of state power to control and protecttheir borders. Daily Customs combats drug trafficking, each year to 200 cases ofcriminal liability for violation of customs control.

The truth is Azerbaijani customs are one of the most corrupt government organizations of Azerbaijan.
Here are few videos of real Azerbaijan customs agency as well as some stories.
They do not need a holiday for them every bribe is a holiday.

Story 01:

Do you want to witness the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest live in the Düsseldorf Arena? You still have the possibility to buy your tickets and be part of the crowd when 43 countries gather to celebrate Europe’s favourite TV-show! The tickets for the Final, on May 14th, and the Jury Final, on May 13th, have currently sold out, but now the tickets for the two Semi-Finals go on sale on www.dticket.de – don’t miss this opportunity!

More tickets for the Jury Final will be available as soon as the exact technical positions have been determined. So, stay tuned!

The regular ticket sales for the First Semi-Final will start on January 18th at 12:00 CET, one day later, on January 19th at 12:00 CET, for the second Semi-Final. Tickets for each of the shows are exclusively sold on www.dticket.de and will cost between 29 EUR and 119 EUR.

The First Semi-Final of the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest will take place on May 10th at 21:00 CET in the Düsseldorf Arena, while the Second Semi-Final is held on May 12th in the same venue. In each Semi-Final, 19 countries will be represented.

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