#Isaak

[christliche-kunstwerke]

Abraham opfert Isaak, 1635 von Rembrandt van Rijn (1635, oil painting)

[tascha1905]

Kommunikation ist wichtig, aber fast noch wichtiger ist Verständnis. Du kannst dich stundenlang erklären, aber wenn dein Gegenüber das nicht versteht und dir nicht den Freiraum für deine Sichtweise gibt, dann wird es immer wieder Missverständnisse geben.

[redrosecut]

Germany receiving points from the juries? What is happening this year?

[dwarffeed]

Only handsome dwarfs

[laforzadelvoila]

✨ Some Eurovision 2024 artists during PrePartyES 2024! 🇪🇸

• Source: Eurovision San Marino 🇸🇲 •

[ars-theurgia]

Anarchy & Apathy (things we should probably learn from Eurovision 2024)

(tl;dr – a review of the voting process is critical; Croatia should have won)

It’s a rare year that sees a consensual Eurovision winner. It is to be expected – the contest is not only a competition of musical taste, but also of musical identity. There is more than simply genre, melody or vocals at play, as these are often filtered through the lens of national sensibility. At face value, a stereotype of geopolitics; at a deeper level, the actual cultural wealth of each European region. 'Our neighbours', etc. To which of course, theatrics and gimmicks are added, in the hopes of standing out from the rest of the crowd.

This is what makes, or should make, watching Eurovision a positive experience. Which this year, failed spectacularly on all counts, leading to a problematic, underwhelming and polarising edition, derailed on Thursday night and crashing its way through apathy and anarchy all the way to the grand final.

Apathy, because it seemed to want to get away with being apolitical. Anarchy, because it failed to carry out apolitical acts.

And from each side, its worst attribute, resulting in what feels like a bland and uncomfortable watch.

This year, Eurovision attempted (and in my view, failed) to manage itself by allowing too many paradoxes to take place. Glaring inconsistencies, arbitrary exclusions, aloof silences, inability (or lack of desire) to address core issues and legacy accusations – a broken code. A program in error, glitching and ineffectual, all under the symbolic and literal guise of “neutrality” – which doesn’t stick. And worse, seems to negate the actual positive aspects of the show, this year neutralised themselves.

This isn’t to say Switzerland did or did not deserve the win – the voting conditions of both jury and public are clearly stated, and in theory were applied. The jury voted, the people voted, and the winner was chosen.

But unlike other years where a similar pattern of voting distribution could be considered ‘curious’, and where ‘the safer song’ wins over the public favourite – see Käärijä 2023 – this year’s jury results feel unjust not only to the runner-up, but to the vast majority of contestants. And by extension, the viewers.

Stage presentation was ignored (see UK for the extreme example, and Ireland for a less radical, visually incompatible result).

Vocal performance was ignored (see Norway’s Gunnhild/Gåte for the extreme example, along with Portugal’s Iolanda; Germany’s Isaak, possibly the strongest vocalist in the competition this year; Israel’s Eden Golan for the complete disregard of vocal ability over nationality).

Radio-friendly potential was ignored (see Luxembourg’s ‘Fighter’, Cyprus’ ‘Liar’, Italy’s ‘La Noia’, Austria’s ‘We Will Rave’ even).

Resulting once again, in a surprisingly cohesive jury vote that deems Switzerland’s ‘The Code’ as the winner, over the fifth place that the public attributed it.

Being neutral is not the same as being objective. And while objectivity is difficult to gauge in a contest where musical taste and national identity (not to mention global politics) are part of the formula, there is a case to be made for the fact that Eurovision and the EBU’s passivity and top-up decision making reflects poorly on the Eurovision experience.

Recurring discrepancies between jury and public voting should be addressed. Because a jury’s role (in Eurovision and elsewhere) should not be of neutrality, but of objective action.

In objective action, a contestant cannot be excluded without a proper justification, to date only explained through vague declarations and heavy speculation (see Netherlands).

In objective action, and in a self-identified democratic continent, the people’s paid vote should inform the winning result over a closed group of juries (see Croatia’s disproportionate second place).

In objective action, rules must be enforced equally to all contestants (see Ireland, who had to remove part of their presentation, vs. Portugal, who was allowed to show a message through nails).

And in objective action, microphones should not be silenced; contestants must be allowed the freedom to be judged by the people listening, and not on what the EBU determines should be judged.

Until that’s learned, processed, addressed, reformed – why watch for disappointment?

[fumble-art]

A Little Fashion Never Hurt Nobody

Just a doodle of the gayfriends in my 2000s Band AU that I dreamed up over the past few weeks. Honestly it's more or less an excuse to shove Isaak into that specific type of alt fashion and Keeva into tracksuits and a bob. Dude looks like they just got dropped outta squid games and probably feels like it too being the manager of the band.

[smittyw]

a little late to be timely, but! i wanted to make smth nice & community centric for ramadan ❣️ heavily based in a local initiative bringing halal taco trucks to mosque events bc it was so swag it made me wanna jump for joy. been meaning to do more w my ocs who are friends and help each other out

[pansexual-lew]

+ bonus: I fucking love the fact that they have a chat lol

[borisbubbles]

Eurovision 2023: #26 & #25

26. AZERBAIJAN Fahree ft Ilkin Dovlatov - "Özünlə apar" 36th place

Decade Ranking: 98/153 [Above James Newman, below The Roop]

We're nearing that point of the ranking where I'm feeling "okay this is enjoyable moreso than flawed", but there are a few entries on that cusp that just fall short.

And I think Azerbaijan are a very good example of that, actually. If you wanted to know the entry that is the most smack-dab-average of the year's musical representation look no further. "Özünlə apar" is the posterchild of this contest - an entry that showcases its home country's musical traditions while also not being particularly competitive.

On a bad-to-good scale,"Özünlə apar" lands at "Not Bad". Which is... fine? But is that something Eurovision songs should strive for?

Well, staging and context can improve matters, but in Azer's case those worked against them. Semi 1's second half was a weaksauce affair, and I felt like Azerbaijan were one of the main contributers to that. You have this not uninteresting ethnic mugham song with two conventionally attractive vocalists that -by their sheer appearance- exhude massive sexual tension (both of their looks are so gay-coded lmao <3). It can become good, if you give it the right care.

This is not the right type of care:

Those visuals would work for Veronika maybe (god Raiven WOULD kill for that backdrop wouldn't she?) but for an ethnic ballad, eh. Wouldn't it be better to just focus on the main vocalist? Try to make it intimate rather than have him swallowed by the LEDS (i am SO not marking Natalia down for the same thing btw, dwi) The "big prop on an empty stage framed by copious wideshots" staging is not one that suits the genre.

(tho lol at how you can see the crew WHEEL THE HANDS ON THE STAGE in the background of this gif)

We saw with Hersi's "One Night's Anger" and Blas Canto's "Voy a quedarme" how the deadly combination of slow + empty can murder an average song's immersion, and I felt like this was one such example. Staging that outclevers the audience is a thing of the past, Azerbaijan. Back to the "Miracles", I think, or you will not see a final for a long, long time.

And since this one was a short write-up, let's add in a second:

25. GERMANY Isaak - "Always on the run" 12th place

Decade Ranking: 93/153 [Above Malik, below Sudden Lights]

Like Fahree and Ilkin, Isaak is right on the cusp of the Green Zone, but falls just short. I feel like the year was good enough for me to not cling to a "Not Bad" banger.

That said, I did feel like Isaak was marginally better than the average German entry - half a decade behind the pop curve, as per Germany's usual (I mean, the German jury 12'd Sweden. SWEDEN!!) but catchy enough. The real ringer was always Isaak himself. I don't know why the Germans were so outraged about when the international jury put him first (esp since Isaak also won the Televote? lmao). When in doubt, pick someone who can perform, you dipshits. I saw the German NF live (it was -mothershocker- really bad) . The only two that came anywhere near "serving" (SMFD RYK & MARIE!!) and didn't have a song that made me wish homicide on the composer/performer (DIE MAX!!) were Isaak and Bodine Monet? And Germany were NEVER going to pick an individual with a vision and a personality, let alone if that person is Dutch, not Deutsch, so~

Indeed, it was always Isaak's ability to sing while emoting that made me question whether I just liked him or liked the combo of him + the song, but I now know it's the former. "Always on the run" is -again- Not Bad, but we've had so many fucking Counting Stars pass pver the counter over the years (the fact that I've spent YEARS headcanoning "Counting Stars" as ID despite KNOWING it's a 1R song says enough for how fucking interchangeable these "indie" poprock songs are). How can one be excited by one at this point, I don't understand.

However, if Isaak's live skills were my main draw, then we must also admit that the performance in the Semi (the non-canonical one) was better than the one in the Grand Final. The one in the GF felt like one where Isaak went through the motions of Having To Perform. Maybe it was the backstage tension, maybe it was because Tuesday had a piss-poor line-up that made him look better, maybe it was the bad R/O that put him behind the far more exciting Ukraine, but Finale Isaak was just kinda there for me, singing his song one final time, neither adding nor detracting from the proceedings. That is hand-on-heart a high yellow, not a green, so here we are.

But I do think it's good the juries handed him a 12th place (is 12th the default placement all the generic dated radio pop gets nowadays? Cannot wait to confirm that again with 2025's inevitable Pompeii clone)(sent by Denmark, bank on it), because (1) AOTR was well-staged with respect for its introspective narrative, which is rare for GERMANY (2) Germany needed some sort of pick-me-up after the Ryk fanboys terrorized everyone for not getting their way (3) the surprise left-side result FINALLY PROVES THAT SANDBAGGING RYK WAS THE CORRECT CHOICE, EAT A MOULDY DYK!!! It's MY meta now, and Bubblevision has no time for your shitty also-ran fanfaves...x

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 24 GOOD(ish) ENTRIES OF 2024

The efforts to improve the year despite the ongoing shitstorm have been noted and appreciated. ^_^

THE RANKING

[christliche-kunstwerke]

Issac Blessing Jacob, c.1600-50 von Matthias Stomer (Undatiert, Öl auf Leinwand)

[eurovision-facts]

Eurovision Fact #676:

ISAAK'S earning of 12th place in Eurovision 2024 for Germany broke the nation's four-year last/second-to-last place streak.

[Source]

Germany, Eurovision.tv.

[my-world-my-stories]

And they called it Dragon Love 🏳‍🌈🐲❤

🏹🛡 Todor X Marco

⭐🌙 Zikomo X Apara

✨⚔️ Cosmos X Titan

🔨🐊 Nestor X Bubba

⚒️🦎 Halvor X Isaak

🗡🧪 Asher X Eldrid

☕🕰 Gavin X Lindar

🧸👒 Mudada X Cyprin

🏺🖌 Thor X Gildas

[dwarffeed]

Only handsome dwarfs

[astraalforest]

doodle dump heeheeee

[omegothic]

he was already on his way to receive 0 points and now i am not gonna pity him when it happens. i don't know why the people who don't understand shit keep speaking up on this matter. you don't feel our pain and your don't want to understand us. every goddamn day i listen to the air raid sirens. i am writing this post and one started right now. and it's not like it's just there for no reason. more often than not it means that something's gonna be destroyed, somebody's gonna be killed. we don't really have enough air defense. we simply cannot do anything with some types of missiles. if they are in the air, they are gonna land somewhere. we just don't know where. so when people who'll never experience that complain that they want to appreciate russian culture and be friends with russians but evil ukrainians don't let them i feel so mad and so hopeless at the same time. you think i am a politician? that's why i should suffer and you shouldn't? you think everyone here is a politician?