The 2006 Eurovision Song Contest is just days away now, and things are shaping up nicely. The dresses are appropriately tacky, the hosts are traditionally wooden and Terry Wogan is growling insults into a mirror as we speak.

So far, the details on each Eurovision routine haven’t been disclosed. We know that the UK is doing that stupid schoolgirl dance, and we’d expect that – as usual – the girl who takes the most clothes off will win the contest. And we wouldn’t want it any other way.

Here are the latest Eurovision betting odds for Poland and Portugal, with help from PaddyPower.com…

Time for another Eurovision Song Contest betting odds explosion – where we try and pick the singers that will gurgle and shriek their way to Eurovision glory in Athens.

Don’t forget that there’s a lot of fun to be had betting on the Eurovision Song Contest – it couldn’t be simpler to do, and it could inspire a lifetime’s worth of hatred for several European countries. And how often do you get to say that?

Here are the Eurovision betting odds for Moldova and Monaco, with help from PaddyPower.com…

LL Cool J featuring Jennifer Lopez

Control Myself

Mercury

Oh Jennifer, did it have to come to this? After last year’s Rebirth album bombed, the pelt-sporting, scent-flogging, movie-cursing Latino diva is reduced to a cameo spot on a record by a rent-a-rapper. Thing is, this single might just save Lopez the way Mariah Carey’s collaboration with Busta Rhymes- I Know What You Want, name fans- saved her. For Control Myself is Sharon Stone circa 1992 sexy: a lascivious slice of electro R&B which, at times, threatens to break into the Eurythmics’ Here Comes The Rain Again. And, you know what, even Lopez’s Fergie-off-of-Black Eyed Peas impression is kinda appealing. Expect a blockbuster comeback album, The Liberation of J.Lo, early in 2007.

More? More singles reviews? More singles reviews by Daz Sampson, The Beautiful South, Hot Chip, Gear, Neil Leyton, Pet Shop Boys and Boy Kill Boy? After the jump? OK then…

Everyone knows never to judge a book by its cover, but your brain tells you several things when you see a black CD cover decorated with a glowing-eyed bird of prey by a band called Orbit Service.

Then your brain tells you several other things after you’ve see the song titles. Wolves. Asphyxia. A Hallucination. One of these songs is 11 minutes long. Now your brain tells you “Uh-oh!”

But when have you ever listened to your brain, right?