#Started watching eurovision fully

[punainenmarlii]

[beauty-and-passion]

Eurovision 2023: the show of unfairness and the triumph of people’s hearts

My god, this year left me exhausted.

It’s 1:30 am, the Eurovision Grand Final just ended and I am starting to write this post now, because I need some time to calm myself before going to bed. And maybe putting down some thoughts about this year will help me find some peace - at least for a couple hours.

This year has not been what was supposed to be, starting from the show and ending with the winner.

But let’s start from the beginning.

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Ukraine: robbed of their own show

We all know Ukraine couldn’t host Eurovision in their country because of the war, so they asked the UK to do that.

And the UK tried to be a good host. They reminded us of the reason why Ukraine couldn’t do it, they tried to call Ukrainian artists and make the show about them... only to systematically forget it two minutes later and start acting as if they won and this was their show.

I hope now you understand why last year I said to not give them power over anything. The UK has a tiny little problem called “massive ego” and if you give them a little crumb, they will immediately scarf the whole cake down.

This year should’ve been 70% Ukraine themed and 30% UK themed. What we had instead was the other way around: the UK gave us a tiny little interval show in the semifinals about Ukraine, then a massive show all about the UK.

The Gran Final has been the icing on this disgusting cake. It started with a bang, featuring all of our favourite Ukrainian artists in the span of five minutes: Tina Karol (I had no idea she was Ukrainian, what a nice surprise!), goddess Verka, my beloved Go_A with The Only Queen That Matters, aka Kateryna Pavlenko. And, of course, our favourite winners: the Kalush Orchestra. Man Carpet is still an icon and I still wonder what the singer sees behind that pink hat, but I don’t care. It’s perfect, it’s great, I want this but 200x more. I want them to steal the show, I want them in all interval acts. But no worries, I’m sure they will definitely appear more during the final. I mean, there’s no way the UK called them just to appear for 20 seconds, right? Right?

Oh sorry, my bad. I forgot this isn’t Ukraine’s show, this is UK’s show. We should definitely have Sam Ryder in the interval act and we should definitely make it all about English songs. I mean, it’s not like there are four of the most beloved Ukrainian artists in Liverpool. Let’s make it all a huge masturbation session of the UK instead.

I apologize if my metaphor offended someone, but this is what I felt while watching the UK celebrating itself. Like... can’t you do this in a private room? Do I really have to watch it? This is just one step below Portugal’s show, which showed a massive ego as well and tortured me for three nights straight, by repeating how cool they were and how nice they were and how I would’ve done a great choice visiting them.

But even if that was torture, at least Portugal was the winner of the previous year, not a host masturbating over the fact they are allowed to host a show they didn’t win.

The only choice I fully approve of in this show is the postcards idea: that was very elegant and respectful and I want to thank the person who thought about it. The cards show Ukraine’s beautiful places, UK’s beautiful places and every country’s beautiful places. It’s all beautiful and it’s a great way to both honor Ukraine and emphasize UK’s hosting role, since it looks almost like the UK acts as a “connection” between Ukraine and every other country.

Unfortunately for us, this is the last proof of elegance we will see for the rest of the show.

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Danemark and Poland: robbed even before starting

Do you remember Danemark’s and Poland’s entries? I know, me neither. Bland, forgetful, two huge balls of nothing.

Well, I have a good news and a bad one. The good one is that Danish and Polish people are not insane and their musical tastes are actually way better than this. The bad news is that the two entries we got (Bejba and Tiktokkid) were not supposed to win their country’s competition, because the public’s favourites were different. But, like, VERY different.

Same thing happened last year for Spain, but at least Chanel was able to put on a great show - even if her song was boring. Danemark and Poland didn’t have that either: one gave us a meme, the other gave us nothing. Disappointing.

So let’s clean Danemark’s and Poland’s names, by listening to the artists they were actually supposed to bring. Let’s start with Danemark and please, tell me if the tiktok kid is better than this (if you dare):

And before you think: “oh my gosh, this could’ve been a great entry for Danemark!”, please listen to what Poland was supposed to bring:

I love this song. I love this cute nice boy. I love the classical vibes. And when I played this song for my father, my 70-year-old father told me, with no hesitation: “Oh, this is way better than the other one!”.

So if a 70-year-old can recognize how good this song is, then there’s no generational gap and it’s not true that people are accustomed to the same boring stuff. If a song is good, is good. If a song is bland, is bland.

By now you probably already heard from Polish people about how the voting system of their competition was rigged and how Blanka won thanks to the power of nepotism. So our duty as Europeans (and as people with some fucking taste) is to stream Gladiator, listen to all of his songs and shower this boy with love because he needs to know the world loves him.

And for you all, Polish people: thank you for making us know about your true winner. He really looks like one and we love him too.

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Germany: robbed while trying

I really cannot understand why people keep hating Germany this much. Is it still because of WW2? What did they do, to deserve the bottom of the chart? I know it’s funny, I know it’s for the memes ah ah ah, but also... come on. Come. On. Are you really telling me that Poland was better than Germany? Are you really telling me that the UK was better than Germany?

I can assure you that if Sweden brought this exact same song, the jury would’ve given this song 300 points. But hey, ThE jUrY iS iMpArTiAl, right?

German people: I don’t know why the world hates you. I think you would’ve gotten more votes, if only the system wasn’t so stupidly rigged and forced everyone to choose one winner only, hoping to defeat the jury’s sheer power. Personally, I enjoyed your song and I enjoyed Lord of the Lost and I will definitely listen to more of their songs to add to my playlist.

However, I also understand your frustration. So you know what? Just go nuts. Choose whoever the fuck you want to represent your country, attend Eurovision whenever you want and do whatever you want, give us insane shit and amazing stuff. You will be treated the same either way, so why give a fuck? Have fun showing your insane side, I will support you 100%.

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Italy and Israel: what did they ever do to deserve these places?

As an Italian, I am honored people gave so many votes to Italy. Seriously, thank you all, nice to know people appreciate our singers.

But also: why so many votes? Why? I know Mengoni is a good singer, he has a great voice and if this was a real singing competition he would’ve probably deserved to win.

But since Eurovision is not a singing competition, why all these points? Were people really so in love with this ballad? Why? What does he have I cannot understand?

Even more important: why Israel, with their stupid unicorn song, got all these votes? Why? Is it because she’s good-looking? Seriously? Are we still stuck thinking with our genitals, instead of using our brains? I thought Europe moved past the need of thinking with genitals only and started developing some good fucking taste.

Or did her amazing “dance moves” get the public? Ok, she’s very flexible... but do I really really have to remind you of Chanel? A small dance segment is really worth so many points, when last year we had someone who was able to sing AND dance as she did for the entire song? I didn’t even like Chanel, but I am mature enough to recognize that THAT was a show, while the unicorn lady did nothing more than a small dance. Definitely not worth 185 public votes.

At least I know that my country didn’t go insane and the true points (aka the public’s points) didn’t go to the unicorn but to Moldova. Thank god, we are still able to recognize what’s good.

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Finland: the real winner

When Eurovision started, I was sure Czechia would’ve been the winner. However, their performance wasn’t enough to grant them victory.

Finland, however, had everything a winner needs. And now I will explain to you why, because I love this funky green man and you should love him too.

1) “A little man from Vantaa”

Käärijä is a rare gem, not just for Eurovision, but in general. He’s a simple, genuine, silly guy, who comes from a city few people knew before. He doesn’t speak English too well, but he tries and fails in comically sweet ways. He’s a huge fan of Rammstein, so he’s a man of culture. He became besties with Bojan from the Slovenian band Joker Out and their bromance has been the best part of this Eurovision: these two share one single braincell and I love them for this.

But, most of all, he’s humble. He never considered himself above all others, even after his victory. He knew right from the start that it would’ve been a battle between him and Loreen and yet, he never grew arrogant about it. He always talked about their rivalry in funny ways, through memes and by treating her nicely. But he also never underestimated her: he always put his whole self into every performance, knowing full well he had to give everything, to reach the public’s hearts.

And he did. He reached the public’s hearts and like many others all over the world, I also love this little man. He’s genuine, he’s honest, he’s a fashion icon (Finland changes their flag to green when), his dancers are funky and nice like him. You look at him once and all you can think is: “I want to protect him at all costs”. It’s just impossible to hate this man.

2) His song is a banger

Not only his song is a fusion of three genres (industrial metal, hyperpop and hip-hop/rap), so he’s already serving you three songs in one, but the language he used is Finnish.

I’ve heard Finnish people saying that they never used their language because it’s “too weird”. People, that’s exactly because it’s weird that you should use it! You have this gem and you hide it to us?!

If you don’t know why Finnish is so great, please consider that while all other European languages are part of the Indo-European family, Finnish, Estonian and Hungarian are not. They are part of a completely different family (the Uralic languages).

That means they have nothing similar to any other European language. They are something completely different and new, a whole new world to explore. And they’re here, in our continent!

In addition to that, Finnish is an agglutinative language, which means words are formed by stringing together morphemes. How fucking cool is that? I love this kind of language!

As someone who studied English, French, German and Russian, Finnish is something that gets my attention. I can recognize similarities between Germanic, Slavic and Italic languages and I love them, but Finnish is an unexplored world. It’s made of sounds that well, sound familiar even if they’re not. It’s a constant surprise, you know?

Also, I love that it’s a language full of vowels because it makes me think of my own mother tongue (Italian). It’s a bit like feeling at home, even if our languages have nothing in common <3

3) The best performance of Eurovision 2023

I love the Croatian daddies like the next person (and I’m glad the public gave them the top 10 because they deserve it), but Käärijä’s performance had everything: it told us a story (i.e. how Käärijä slowly emerges from behind his barriers to join the party), he gave us the best stupid dance moves and there’s even a family-friendly human centipede. What else do you need, to start dancing?

Also, another shoutout to his dancers, because I live for those shocking pink dresses and for their immensely creepy expressions. And I live for the public always welcoming them with screams: they deserve it.

I know you already enjoyed it 200 times, but you know what? Let’s fucking destroy the views of this video and let’s watch it again. And also, let’s notice how much the public enjoys it. How much they screamed, how they sang with him, how they enjoyed this party.

Even without knowing Käärijä, you can feel he put his whole self into this. And the public felt it too.

And the final result was astonishing: he got 376 points from the public. It’s the second-highest public score, after Kalush Orchestra, who got 439 points.

If you notice, Käärijä’s percentage is even higher than Kalush Orchestra’s! And such a high result means one thing and one thing only: the public has chosen its winner. He is the winner. People are sovereign and people’s will has been very clear about it. So when I say he’s the winner, it’s not because I want to indulge him: it’s because it’s the fucking truth.

Also, please notice the kind of songs the public chose as their top 3 favorites: songs with nothing mainstream and native languages. All while the jury thinks what we want is the same boring shit we can hear on the radio 24/7.

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A painful evening

Let me start by making something clear: I don’t hate Loreen and I don’t hate Sweden. It’s not their fault if they win. They are just exploiting the situation, because they learned what the good formula is and keep using it over and over.

Loreen knows that if she sends another song that is just like all the others she made, she will get a high position. And now, thanks to yesterday’s victory, she knows she doesn’t even have to try. Why should she do something different, when doing the same thing twice made her win twice? Why try something different, why step out of her comfort zone? If she does the same thing, she can win. So she will keep doing the same thing.

Same goes for the entire country of Sweden. They learned that if they bring the most boring, generic pop song you can listen to on every radio on planet Earth, you will win. So, they will keep sending it. After all, a bland pop song is what the world is more accustomed to, so why change? Why do something different, when they can be teacher’s pet and always get a high score? This isn’t being stupid, this is being clever.

But is it elegant and fair too? Oh honey, absolutely not. This is the exact opposite of what elegance and fairness are.

On Saturday evening, when we reached the voting part of the show, the crowd literally CHEERED AND SANG Käärijä’s name or “Cha Cha Cha”. Multiple times.

Once the public clearly states who they want to win, then the competition is over. When the consensus is unanimous, there’s no competition anymore. The winner is already here. Everything else is just white noise and bureaucracy.

That’s what I felt, while I was forced to keep listening to a bunch of people loudly kissing Sweden’s ass. The public had already decided, we already have a winner. Why are we still wasting time?

And if forcing us to keep listening to this pitiful charade was not enough, the hosts decided to lose that shred of elegance that was still left on this joke of a show and not only shushed the public all time but even said “just ignore everyone”, as if their voices didn’t really matter. It’s not like this is a music competition and the public is the final receiver of said music, after all.

I don’t know you, but I don’t like to see the sovereign public being silenced and told they do not matter, all while a bunch of people takes the decisions for them. Maybe the Brits are accustomed to being silenced because an old rich man has to decide for them, but other countries don’t work like that. Like, you know, the one they’re hosting the competition for.

There was nothing democratic about Saturday evening. There was nothing fair in silencing the public and pretending they haven’t chosen their winner one hour ago, because teacher’s pet had to win again.

Do you really think Sweden deserved this victory more than Finland? Do you really think that a country that won six times needed to add this victory to their list, so they can say “ah ah we won as many times as Ireland”? Or just because they can do their stupid ABBA anniversary next year? Is this the reason why we choose our winner, now? The past glories of a country? Well, then in 2048 is the anniversary of Dana International’s winning song, let’s all go to Israel! And in 2056 we’ll go to Finland, because it’s the anniversary of Lordi’s winning. And in 2071 will be 50 years from the Maneskin’s victory, so let’s come back to Italy.

What, does that sound ridiculous? Tell that to the jury, then.

I feel immensely sorry for the Finnish people, because I read online how much this victory could’ve meant for them. This could’ve been so important, such a good chance to shine for a country that considers their language “too weird” and who hasn’t won in 17 years. And since they are stuck between that ticking bomb that is Russia and the always perfect Sweden, they really needed something that gave them more positive attention.

And it broke my heart even more to see Käärijä suffering. He even apologized to his nation. He did something amazing and he still apologized. He literally won and apologized for not winning. That’s unfairness to its finest.

And if all of this is not enough, the results of the public’s vote came out and oh, look, not a single country gave 12 points to Sweden, while almost every country gave 12 points to Finland. Wow, who would’ve fucking guessed that teacher’s pet won because of the teacher.

Again: does that seem fair and democratic to you?

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Oligarchy masqueraded as democracy

Let’s do a little bit of math, shall we?

Each national jury consists of five people + one backup juror. They supposedly vote for the best singer and performance- AHAHAH great joke, very funny.

But let’s not focus on this, now: let’s focus on numbers.

37 countries participated this year. So 37 x 6 = 222. The jury is made up of 222 people in total.

The entire population of Europe is around 451 million people, but let’s keep it low because Eurovision isn’t watched by all Europeans. Let’s take just the number of views on the Youtube streaming of the Grand Finale: 9.5 million people. Let’s round up to 9 million, okay?

Okay, so now we have 222 people on one side and 9 million people on the other. Let’s pretend that less than half of them voted at least one time.

Okay, now look me straight in the eyes and explain why the votes of 222 people should have the same weight as the votes of 4 million people. Please, explain to me how democratic this decision is, can’t wait to hear it.

But you know what? Even if it was 1 million voters only, that wouldn’t have been fair either. In no universe is fair to put one million voters on the same level as 222 voters.

There’s only one possible scenario in which this is fair: if Eurovision was a talent show specifically centered around performances and voices, with a jury made of vocal teachers and choreographers, and all I have to do is passively watch it on my couch.

But from the moment you gave the public the power to choose who the winner could be, then why do the votes of all the people from Europe (and Australia) have the same weight as what 222 people decided?

This isn’t a democracy. This is an oligarchy masquerading as a democracy: a bunch of people decides what you should like, basing their decision on their own interests. And you have no way to oppose them, unless you focus all your votes on one single artist, hoping it would defeat the one the jury chooses.

But this deprives Eurovision of the competition aspect. It’s not a competition if I have to endure a tug-of-war against the jury. It’s not a competition if I am forced to give all of my votes to one artist only, instead of spreading them out to all my favorites. And even in that case, basically all of Europe should vote for that specific artist to try and overcome the sheer power the jury has. Again: does this sound democratic to you?

Now you may say: but the jury is made of experts. Oh, you mean the same experts that proved multiple times they base their votes on politics, who their neighbor is and who can corrupt them better? Or do you mean the same experts that in the past made their choice even without listening to the songs?

The truth is that we have 222 people who can easily be influenced by anything and their power is as strong as the power of 4 million people at least. Four million people, who got invested and followed the entire show from start to finish, if I may add. Please, tell me about the fairness of this system again.

And before you say “but Eurovision is a music competition and we need experts”... sorry, but no. According to Wikipedia, the jury was present before televoting was born, but once televoting was extended to all competing countries (1997 ca.), the jury was no more. It came back only in 2009, with this unfair compromise of 50/50 between jury ad public votes.

So there was a period of time in which there wasn’t a jury and in that period we had the first win for Estonia, Turkey, Latvia, Greece, Finland, Serbia and Russia. How weird that, once the jury isn’t there, other nations have a chance to win too.

The thing is: Eurovision isn’t a simple music competition. It’s more like a window. A window where anyone can have their chance to shine. No matter if you’re from a well-known country and everyone knows who you are or if you’re from a tiny piece of land in the middle of nowhere and all you can do is speak your native language: if you have the right combination of song+performance+voice, you can win.

And it’s beautiful we have this window, because it allows us to see something we’ve never seen before: rock bands, silly songs, folk songs and straight-up weird songs. In Eurovision, you don’t have to listen to just the same generic bland song, but you are allowed to listen to different artists and different cultures - and if you like them, you are free to choose your winner, no matter how not mainstream it is.

And we Europeans need this. We need to celebrate the diversity of Europe and embrace them. We need to see people from different countries hanging out, having fun and becoming best friends. For a continent that has always had (and still has) a problem with wars, we need something that allows us to look at each other and not see a piece of land to conquer, but a place full of life and culture to learn about.

And since we pride ourselves to be the continent where democracy was born, let’s put this democracy in the show we’re so proud of. Do we really need the jury vote? Do we really need the vote of this bunch of people? Okay, let’s have them. But it’s not acceptable to give them the same weight as the public’s vote. 50/50 isn’t acceptable anymore. 20/80 is fairer. I’m feeling nice, we can even do a 30/70. It’s just not acceptable that 300 people should have power over millions over something those same millions will enjoy. As always, the public is sovereign.

And if the public’s taste is shit, at least we will be free to blame ourselves for something we brought unto ourselves - and not feel sick and angry over something others forced upon us.

Or everything can stay the same and the 50/50 system will keep going. But at least, be honest enough to not waste everyone’s time, by pretending the public can do something more than watch what a bunch of people decide for them. Do not pretend to be righteous and democratic, when you’re not.

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The triumph of people

This finale drained me. If it were just a little fairer, I would’ve been thrilled to see Luxembourg coming back after years. But right now I don’t feel like watching next year’s show. I know it will probably be amazing, because Sweden is very good at hosting. But I don’t want to see them masturbating over how good they are and how much they deserved to win - even if they didn’t win.

And, honestly, I don’t care about ABBA either. I don’t give a damn about them, nor about their anniversary. I’m definitely not looking forward to that either.

I will listen to the songs as always, then I might give it a try and watch the semifinals. It depends on how bitter my grudge will be, after one full year. If it will still be very bitter, I will probably spend my time better, by listening to the songs more times, watching the performances and making my own personal final chart. I won’t have ABBA or funny interval acts, but I can try my best to make it enjoyable to read. And it won’t be a fucking charade, at least.

Sorry, but I will keep being bitter for some time. And if you feel bitter too, you have every right to be, no matter what people say. Your voice has been silenced and ignored and numbers don’t lie. It’s very understandable you feel bad.

But you know what you can do? Use your anger in a positive way. And no, that doesn’t mean sending death threats to Loreen. You can accuse Sweden of its lack of elegance and decorum if you want, but always be polite. Don’t be like some of them, who are such sore losers they had the guts to be angry at Finland because it didn’t give Sweden any public points. Bo-hoo, may I add.

What you can do instead is make some noise: ask for the jury to be abolished or for this shitty system to change. And, even more important, support your winners. A lot of amazing artists have been wronged this year, so shower them with love.

And send your love especially towards our winner. Stream Cha Cha Cha, check his other songs, shower him with love and support, make a statue for him in Vantaa, pay me a plane ticket because I need to tackle him in a hug and tell him how much the world loves him. Let’s show the world that he slaps, Finnish slaps and we want more of this.

Do you still need more Cha Cha Cha in your life? Good news: Lord of the Lost made a cover for Cha Cha Cha and OH MY GOSH it’s insanely good. It has a lot of Rammstein vibes, it’s cool and it slaps even harder. Check it out because it’s amazing!

Also because the German singer learned some Finnish, just to spell every word correctly and, according to the Finnish people in the comment section, he did a great job. What a wholesome guy, I love and stan him and his band - and you should do the same, because they are amazing and they don’t deserve last place <3

And if you need more Käärijä in your life, there are amazing Youtube channels with great collections of his moments, like Eurovision Is Ambition and Uni Dash Corn. I especially suggest you see his bromance with Bojan - and speaking of him, another shoutout to Bojan! He’s such a nice, wholesome guy with great charisma, you cannot hate him. I am not head over heels for his song, but he’s so fucking wholesome, he deserves good things only.

And I also suggest you see how Käärijä has been welcomed in Helsinki. He has been welcomed like a fucking hero, a national treasure. And of course he was: he is the true winner after all, he deserved the welcome only winners get.

It’s a bit like he said in his apology: the better one won. And so he did.

You know, I think the only good thing that came out from this shitshow that was Eurovision 2023, is the people’s heart. People showed their kindness, their love, the best of humankind. We saw acts of friendship, we saw empathy and appreciation. The hug between Käärijä and Bojan, despite its sad meaning, is also a perfect example of what we all should be: kinder, softer, more empathetic, together, no matter how far and different our countries are.

In a way, I am happy that Ukraine’s message of unity was still carried out, even if indirectly and definitely not the way the UK wanted.

And in the end, the trophy isn’t so important: it’s just a piece of glass after all. And no piece of glass is worth the impact one little man from Vantaa left on so many people all over the world.

I know you will never read this post, but I wish you a lifetime of success, Käärijä. You have everything a winner needs and, in fact, you are one. So don’t be too hard on yourself, because the world still needs to show you how much it loves you. Take your time, relax, have fun and come back when you’re ready - just don’t leave us hanging for too much, ‘kay?

And you, Finnish people: please treat our beloved winner with love for us too. We will do our best from afar, so let’s be together on this as we should <3

[1-jar-of-stars]

Eurovision (I thought y'all was boycotting that shit because of how it has spent YEARS siding with Azerbaijan and Israel, perpetuators of on-going genocide) and The Met Gala (a glorified fashion show that is genuinely just a display of celebrity from the upper class) are trending in the number 2 and 3 spots on Tumblr at the time of me typing this. Where is the fucking noise about Eurovision taking focus off of Palestine? Why are there people in the tags still watching that show?? And The Met Gala is trending, as it does every single year. But that's CERTAINLY not being called out for taking focus off of Palestine. I've seen bloggers talk about how the Met was their ''little treat'' to distract from the on-going horrors, but Kendrick murdering Aubrey (exposing him as a child predator who associates with documented sex offenders) is somehow '''taking focus away from Palestine'''? Why is it that you think this is different from the Met doing the same thing? And why are they not acknowledging the severity of what's being discussed here (which is why it took so many tracks to fully level the accusations) and instead treating it like some superficial cat fight between rich people. If anything should be treated like superficial celebrity nonsense, it's The Meta Gala.

One is honestly an unimportant showing, the other is a Pulitzer Prize holder exposing damning secrets and sickening allegations against someone with a track record of being inappropriate with women and minors. But as soon as the '''beef''' escaped containment on Black Tumblr, everybody and their colonizing mamas wanted to come out the woodwork and 1.) talk about shit they know nothing about because they don't fuck with black music and 2.) act like this ''beef'' is just ''millionaires angrily writing at each other'' and not someone FINALLY addressing the years of verifiable allegations of misconduct on someone who is a culture vulture imitating the worst parts of black american lifestyle. ''They Not Like Us''? More like ''This Shit's Not For You''. Not only are they talking out the side of their neck up and down the tags, they're being racist as hell about it. If you don't know enough to treat this shit with the gravity it deserves AS AN OUTSIDER LOOKING IN, you need to shut up and sit down. Too many people on the ''white fujoshi website'' have unacknowledged and unpacked racism that bleeds over into everything they interact with and it's SO damn tiring to see.

Either give the same grace to this as you're giving to the Met Gala and whatever week-long trends on Tumblr that have appeared over the past 8 months, or stay out of black business. Period. I'm ready to start biting fr

ANON YOURE SO REAL!!! ALL DAY PEOPLE HAVE BEEN SAYING KENDRICK IS A DISTRACTION JUST FOR THEM TO BAIL ON THE EUROVISION PLAN

AND IT’S DIFFERENT??? HOW???

[ominoose]

𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐜 𝐌𝐨𝐨𝐧 𝐊𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐒𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐇𝐂'𝐬

Character(s): Steven Grant, Marc Spector, Jake Lockley Summary: Not x reader, just random silly thoughts about the lads. Kinda summer themed. They're still in London. This came out more British than intended. Warnings: None

𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭

Now that he's not constantly tired and getting two hours of sleep every fifth night if he's lucky, the Brit goes between quiet moments with a book on the couch to hyperactive spiels with no warning.

The newfound energy also takes his sass and mischief to the next level. If Marc or Jake (usually Marc, Jake's too scared) piss him off he will not drop it. For days Steven will slyly bring it up, make offhand remarks or fully kick up the argument again. It's never serious, he's still the one to step in if the other two are at arms, but Steven is no pacifist. "Y'know I just bought all these ingredients to make a lovely homecooked dinner with enough leftovers for Jake's taxi shifts and Marc's workouts... But-" "Steven please, we're starving, come on." "Since my cooking apparently tastes like a grannies garden!" "Por favor, I didn't even say it, Marc did-" "But you didn't disagree bruv!"

Takes Eurovision seriously. He made a point of not watching the BBC broadcast this year, although he's kept tabs on it through other websites. He's still not over last year. Jake tried to look into it and made a small comment about listening to the winner, commenting on Sweden's contestant being good. Steven went on a rant for a good twenty minutes about how it was rigged before Jake learned this was a lot more than a friendly song contest.

Whines when its hot out and forces Marc or Jake to front outside. Then forces them to buy a Mr Whippy for him to front and eat.

𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐜 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫

Gets really into British football. It started with hearing chants and noises outside on match days, the comradery and stupid sing-songs from fans in matching team colours bringing him a sense of nostalgia. He's still a diehard cubs fan, but going to the local pub to watch the match, getting a healthy outlet to yell and bang a table amidst others oddly suited him. Steven's just glad he's socializing.

Secretly folds up Stevens more "colourful" shirts and hides them.

Loves British chocolate, hates British crisps. He see's a packet of pickled onion Monster Munch and physically cringes away.

While Steven fronted and browsed through a charity shop, Marc spotted an old ds, just like one he had as a kid. The Brit could physically feel him eye it up from the inside and bought it. Now Marcs post-workout routine includes playing Pokemon.

Marc gets visibly sad and sighs whenever they phone in pizza because its never like the ones back home in Chicago.

Loves a greggs sausage roll.

𝐉𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐞𝐲

Half the reason the other two found out about him was when the old lady that Steven scared off in the elevator to the point she avoided them like the plague suddenly smiled and offered them tea. Turns out Jake had been helping her carry the shopping back to the flat when they bumped into each other. Their odd tea and biscuit afternoons helped Jake keep tabs on the boys.

Naps in front of the telly, usually to some reality tv like Eastenders, snoring away. The moment Steven or Marc slowly try to control the arm holding the remote he jerks away, pulling it to his chest and telling them off because he's still "watching" it.

Knows Marc folds and hides Stevens shirts that he hates. He puts them at the top of the pile just before Steven fronts. Marc has no clue and it drives him nuts.

His favourite passengers to pick up are drunk women. They're always either very funny or tell the most downright devious gossip, never afraid to openly include him in it too.

Made a solemn vow to himself that if he ever drove past Rishi Sunak he'd egg him.

Since he prefers night-shifts, the cat distribution system seemed to give him an 90% chance of meeting kittens on the street. If he has a passenger when he spots the little critter he'll make a mental note to return after drop off, Jake Lockley will not pass a chance at checking up on and cradling a gatita. Marcs learnt to be somewhat present during these shifts to stop Jake sneaking home with several kittens in his coat.

[borisbubbles]

Eurovision 2024: Last Place

37. ISRAEL Eden Golan - "Hurricane" 5th place

Decade Ranking: 150/153 [Above Noa Kirel, below Roxen]

Where do we start?

Let's begin, perhaps by stating the obvious. Israel's participation in this year ruined the contest. You encounter an entrant or two that completely warp the meta around them at every contest, but never to an extent this cataclysmic. Every sour note of this contest, and there were plenty, sprouted from the decision to allow Israel into the year. That was the tipping point. I believe that makes "Hurricane" the worst entry of all times in terms of the sheer negative impact its presence had on the edition it parttook in.

The ESC discourse -on asocial media- completely revolved around the conflict in Palestine either to denounce the war crimes perpetrated by the Israeli goverment and the subsequent silencing of critical voices calling it out, or to make a stand against the Poor Young Girl who was unfairly maligned by radicalized leftists for a conflict she had no hand in.

So was it any surprise that Israel won every Western televote? Be honest. I know that the Twitter manchildren claim Israel cheated, but they are in denial. The televote was genuine. The scalpel slices both ways, sadly. For every heckler booing Eden or protesting for Palestine or announcing a Eurovision boycot or lecturing the general public to not vote for Israel, a sympathy vote for her arises because "Aw She Doesn't Deserve So Much Negativity, Poor Thing". That she willingly chose to rep israel at THIS time with THAT song is blissfully ignored. Eden Golan is not a child. She's fully accountable for the effects that her participation caused, and is perfectly a-OK with it.

So, wake the fuck up. The sympathizing nutcases were OPENLY mobilizing to vote for Israel without even watching a second of the contest, to prove a point against you know, "insane leftist wokery" or whatever they call it. "You can't make me think what you want or do what you want, TAKE THAT". It's the same principle that led to Brexit and Trump beating Clinton. Similarly, they attempted to hijack the results like a particularly nasty species of asian hornet because their 'Freedom of Speech' is more important to them than fair results in an entertainment show, or a potential genocide. Or maybe they were just indoctrinated. A smaller sample size due to boycots + 20 votes per crazed zionist, it's honestly a miracle Croatia STILL beat them in the TV overall.

In other words, pretty much every opinion about Eden revolved around the politics that accompanied the flag she flew under.

And I'm sorry, but Eurovision is not supposed to be about Israel. Why should THAT country get more attention, or even preferential treatment in this otherwise excellent line-up? That's not what it should be about.

It is THEM who it should be about:

None of these artists asked to be a part of this shambolic display. So in that sense, let's do something many have FAILED. Let's do what we're supposed to dp: Discuss the SONG, outside of context.

Frankly, there's remarkably little to say. Even without the context, "Hurricane" would have been bottom of the barrel for me regardless? It's a mediocre sappy ballad aimed to Make People Cry. We see such ballads pop up all the time in NFs (most recently Krick in Luxembourg and Noble in Portugal), where -more often than not- their sucktitude catches up with them and manifests a loss.

I've seen people be outraged that Norway's jury gave it points but I mean, look at any recent scandi NF and tell me a Hurricane wouldn't fit within its ranks. It's Undo, What if, A Monster Like Me, all the tacky soulless ballads with poor narratives preying on the soft-hearted and the guillible with cheap emotional manip. "Hurricane"was cut from the same dementor-esque, sympathy-craving cloth. Call me old fashioned, but I was taught that sympathy requires a modicum of respect, which needs to be earned, not begged for like a dog's dinner. (I hope the Europapa fans are reading this because this also applies to him, and that ghastly outro). If your song was written with the idea in mind of pinkwashing the deaths of a few thousand children, then perhaps you may have not fully earned the benefit of the doubt, jussaying.~

In terms of performance, Eden was vocally good, at least. It's her voice that carries it although i don't find her particularly likeable as a lead. Then again, she is a Russian nepo brat whose family emigrated to Israel after the Ukrainian war so that her daddy to secure his financial assets and the Golans could continue their lavish, privileged lifestyle in a safer country. It was always a challenge, so to say, to consider Eden Golan a likeable individual.

Also what is UP with the choreography? Why do the dancers look like they are loading air rifles? A Choice, to say the least.

So all in all, a pretty weak entry that always would have been in my bottom 3 for any country, but that probably had a ceiling of lower top 10 in a normal, generic year of ESC.

However, this was NOT a generic ESC. There's NO imagining "Hurricane" without its context which makes it so, SO much worse. It was specifically written in support of the Israeli victims in the war (why go through that trouble and not simply withdraw and spend the participation fee on providing for the families of the hostages? Isn't that more effective charity? But hey, what do I know.) There is no "depoliticizing", no matter how often you retcon the lyrics into gibberish. Hurricane's intentions are present in its rhythm, its instrumentation, the keys in which it is sung. The notion that you can separate it from its context is absurd.

And yet, that is precisely what the EBU were hoping for when they allowed it in, and it exploded into their face like a firework. I can't say they didn't deserve it. Ultimately, the full blame for all of this rests with them. If a certain entity threatens the integrity of your being, you get rid of the threat. You don't passively sit back crossing your fingers they leave at their own volition. The Israeli's would understand the reasons for exclusion, surely, as they've been applying the exact same principles to the Gaza Strip since mid October.

The EBU allowed them in, officially to prove Eurovision wasn't political and United By Music (in reality because they're cowards and didn't want to be the first organization to ban Israel from an international event, and be branded antisemites as a result). The result was the most politically charged and divisive contest of all time, rife with incidents that were as avoidable as they were outrageous. It couldn't have been further away from "apolitical unity" if it tried.

Hurricane was NEVER worth the price of admission. All the controversy, the security risks, the boycots, the antisemitism and xenophobia, the censorship, the harrassment of other delegations (which the Israeli delegation EAGERLY participated in) and of course the Israeli embassies in participating countries OPENLY advocating to vote for Israel as "a signal". Even the tensions that led to Joost's dubious DQ which I doubt would have happened at any other contest. This could all have been foreseen and avoided by excluding the country that clearly would have brought the contest into disrepute. Eurovision is now on life support. Congratulations EBU. You KILLED your own contest.

It briefly looked like Israel could win (leave to RAI to be woefully incompetent and blasé), which would have been the final nail in Eurovision's coffin but then they magically lost the televote (thank you SO much Eastern Europe, you are SO real for this) and stranded themselves in 5th place. Instead of being the Worst Winner of All Time, Israel are merely a mediocre also-ran, which I can live with. It makes "Hurricane"' marginally less appalling than "Unicorn" and "I.M" for me. Let their fifth place serve as a grim reminder for future editions that Hatred Breeds Hatred, and also, thankfully, that Love Can indeed Prevail.

THE RANKING

[nanoa1foryou]

Helsingin Sanomat did an interview with Windows95Man. Here are some of the main points, translated and summarized for you who don't have access to it since it's paywalled.

Note, There is a section talking about his stance on Israel's paryicipation in esc as well as his own.

He is currently waiting for a chance to get to therapy, after everything that has happened recently

He has not really had the chance to eat or sleep properly since the victory

The win was very much a surprise to him. he didn't think they had a chance until he had the trophy in hand

He is a big fan of Sara's song (it has been stuck in his head)

The topic of Israel was brought up and I'll translate that part fully here, because I think it is important to get in his words:

"Even though Keisteri said on Saturday, before the UMK win that he would be ready to represent Finland at Eurovision regardless of Israel partisipating, he also siad he wishes that Israel wasn't allowed to. The matter is not so simple now that he has actually won UMK.

'I'm not in this alone but with Henri. We got on this project to spread joy. That's what we want to do at Eurovision too,' keisteri says seriously.

'Everyone who's in this has to be comfortable.'"

And later in the text:

"At the moment Keisteri doesn't want to take a stance on wether his and Piispanen's trip to Malmö is certain. There is no date on teh calendar when they must have an answer.

'Were stalling it now. We want to have a few rest days, so that we can think in peace.'

You can see from Keisteri that he has ended up as the target of a rough social media beatdown as the result of the Israel situation.

Keisteri has already formed one clear opinion. He wishes that every artist chosen for Eurovision could sign a petition, that demands Israel's removal.

'I'm gladly furthering something like this.'"

Back to the other things in the article:

He has always intentionally gone against the current and against the rules. He has for years carried the "No Rules!" attitude towards life. He got it from his parents.

He was actually already a big name in underground art following circles due to his illustrations.

Particularly his 2008 designed character, Ukkeli, has gotten decent notoriety.

The denim look started from a joke video he made for a friend.

The windows95 outfit was inspired by said video and became his Flow-outfit (I'm guessing referencing Flow festival, but it is not specified.)

Windows95Man developed from there for his first ever gig, and the artist name was chosen because Dj Windows95 already existed

The artist picture taken for his first show (the one of him lying on the bed in the get up with super bright flash) has made some wild rounds on the internet as a meme completely unrelated to him

He eventually got hired for a mini gig at a bar at Flow festival. The pay seemed unreasonably bad so he intentionally played bad music like Crazy Frog. The place became totally packed. This then resulted in a huge amount of small gig offers .

He recently watched the final performance with his wife and son. His son laughed and him and his wife cried. He apparently hadn't realized the affect that their performance had had on the crowd.'

He had wanted to perform naked, in a Kalevala creation story type of performance.

Once he gets a break from all this madness, he wants to sit down with Käärijä. Apparently Jere reached out to him after the victory.

[hxllfires-gifs]

PAIRING. bojan cvjetićanin x fem!reader

SUMMARY. eurovision was a stressful time of the year and it was unlike anything bojan had dealt with before, but he was thankful to have his lovely girlfriend along with him to help him.

WORD COUNTER. 847

THE JOURNEY TO the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool hasn’t been easy and it had been pretty stressful. Bojan Cvjetićanin was attempting to make the best out of any stressful situation but he started to feel like he was emotionally and physically drained. Joker Out had just finished their rehearsals for the day and he was ready to go back to the hotel.

He walked backstage and was met with his girlfriend Y/N. The two started dating three years ago and he loved every minute of it. Their relationship was one of the best things in his life and he never wanted to give it up. She was his number one supporter. He was beyond grateful for her and he was the happiest knowing that she was experiencing all of this with him and their friends.

Y/N enjoyed watching her boyfriend’s performance, feeling so proud of him every single day. She felt so lucky to call him her boyfriend and she would be the first person to express that. Her lover always worked so hard, as did his band mates.

The H/C haired girl stood up and walked closer to her boyfriend to hug him. She was honored to have gotten to come along with him to Liverpool, but she could tell that he’d been more tired recently. The girl didn’t fully understand the pressure but she wanted for him to know that she was there for him.

“You guys killed it!” She complimented.

“Thank you,” Bojan responded with a small but exhausted smile.

He went to change into more comfortable clothes before sitting down on the nearby couch, soon being joined by his girlfriend. It was no secret that he was excited about the contest but he was also feeling a little more nervous now that it was just a week away. He hid behind a calm and energetic demeanor but inside he was going through everything all at once.

“Are you ready to go back to the hotel?” A gentleness was laced in the girl’s question. She was always like this with him when he got like this.

Her boyfriend didn’t speak in response, only nodding his head slightly. He was really starting to feel the pressure of wanting to do well. He wanted to have fun and he was doing a good job with that, but Eurovision was the biggest thing in Europe, at least music wise. Representing Slovenia was a huge honor and challenge.

Y/N kissed Bojan’s cheek before she leaned her head on his shoulder. She could tell that he needed something to cheer him up and get him back in good spirits, which is something that seemed like her specialty when it came to her boyfriend.

“You are doing amazing, my love. I know that it’s hard sometimes but you’re here for a reason. You guys were selected for this so everyone else knows how great you are. You just have to let yourself believe this too. I am so proud of you.”

Her words made the brunette feel better, a lot more than he was before. She had that effect on him since she always seemed to know what to say in any situation. He did not know what he would do without her and he never wanted to find out. She was the one for him, he was sure of that.

She lifted her head back up when she felt Bojan turning his own to look at her. He leaned forward to press his lips onto her own in a gentle, loving kiss. There was this deep trust that had been established between both of them. Neither of them ever wanted the other to feel negative feelings and they would always be there for each other.

The H/C haired girl moved away slightly, wanting to take in the Slovenian’s features. One of her hands reached up to play with his hair. Bojan enjoyed the feeling and it was something that could put him to sleep in the right situation, one such as this.

“We should go back to the hotel.” He was the one to suggest since he didn’t want to fall asleep with so many people around. He just wanted to be in his lover’s arms, which she honestly wanted as well.

Y/N didn’t blame her boyfriend for wanting to leave the venue. “We will, I just need to tell the guys first. You guys do not have any press today so all should be good. We can watch some tv and cuddle until we fall asleep. You look like you could use a little nap.”

“That sounds great.” He loved the idea a lot more than he let on.

“Alright,” she whispered before pecking his lips and standing up, going to find and talk to his band mates.

It didn’t take long for her to come back, the both of them leaving as soon as they could. Staying true to her words, once they got back to the hotel, Y/N turned the tv on and the couple cuddled, eventually falling asleep for the next couple of hours.

[wumblr]

Hello! I have seen the discourse about Eurovision around here and I just wanted to ask you, since I have seen the post about someone’s friend’s dad having alzheimer and Eurovision being a tradition they are keeping alive I guess, did the person who wrote that watch Eurovision too? Because if he/she/they did then I agree with your statement about responsibility, but if he/she/they didn’t and are only showing why some people might have wanted to watch Eurovision, then I don’t fully understand your post bashing that person. I wanted to ask you becaue I’ve seen people get crazy about the topic but never really saying anything, and I think you’re pretty honest so I just wanted to know. I didn’t watch it as a boycott, and I have a co-worker who did watch it because he’s been doing it every year for like 5 years or so, and I was confused after reading your post because I understood him but was mad that he couldn’t understand why I was boycotting, and I want to know what’s your take on this, if you would give it to me. Thanks!

there's this implication here that the most important thing in the world is politeness that i really don't like. if we can have a civil discussion about two million people dying of starvation, they're going to die while we're having it! the illusion of civility has collapsed. i never bought into it in the first place, but i am capable of recognizing that other people did

note that i am not telling you how to treat your coworkers! i am pointing out that jumping into the discussion online to only say that we should respect them is a ludicrous way to behave, and it makes you look monstrous in a really particular way: unwilling to take responsibility for your own viewpoint, you have to couch it in an absent third party. "but they're so nice and sweet, would you really be rude to them too?" YES! people are dying of starvation! hello?

this comes across as nothing more than a weak-willed way to check if your perspective is really that reprehensible without taking responsibility for yourself. it's hard to believe that you genuinely don't recognize which side of the conflict arguing this point places you on. "but some people --" ok well let me know when they show up so i can dress them down directly to their face too! until then, it's just you and i having the discussion. "but i didn't watch --" then what's the issue, exactly? you are not thoroughly comfortable with your decision not to watch tv? you don't know how to engage in a tv show boycott and still go to work without starting an argument that loses you your job? you're scared of losing friends for doing the right thing? welcome to the shitshow. glad you finally made it. if you could figure it the fuck out for yourself, things might move quicker than they will if you keep asking other people to explain the basics to you over and over!

the third thing i have already said that i would like to reiterate once again is that i'm ashamed this is the location of the frontline. i don't want to have this conversation either! i didn't pick this! but we are in an information war. the weight of the world's 100 trillion dollar pool of capital is bearing down upon us, and they have figured out how to operate in unilateral lockstep aligned with their class interests. you are walking up to the frontline and saying "why are you fighting? can't we all sit down for a nice dinner together?" shut the fuck up! are you joking? people are dying of starvation! if you would get out of the way, the frontline could advance to somewhere less fucking trivial!

[petitelepus]

Hey is it alright if I ask for a normal human and demon matchup? If you can’t do both, then I’d like a normal human matchup. I’m a 23 year old (24 this June) straight, 5’8” Mexican American female who’s currently in university as a history major. I’m a Catholic who’s trying to improve my faith. At first I can be quiet and shy, but once I warm up I’m pretty fun and chill. I overthink, fear getting judged, and can get sad from time to time, but I’m going to therapy for it. I listen to different kinds of music, but my favorites are 80’s, a bit of Eurovision, and kpop (mainly girl groups. I’m even in our club's dance group). I watch anime, youtube clips, some family guy and south park, older disney and nick shows/movies I grew up watching, and a few dramas/documentaries (started shogun and need to finish it, along with quiet on set). My guilty pleasure clips/shows include maury, jerry springer, and dance moms. Something I’d like to get back to doing again is reading since I don’t as much as I used to. Thanks in advance!

I match you with Kyojuro Rengoku!

Kyojuro probably is kind and happy so when you met he most likely introduced himself loudly and this can be a little intimidating to some people. When he notices you flinch a little, he lowers his voice immediately and introduces himself more quietly.

He will praise your beauty and your faith also, so count him excited when you feel comfortable enough to smile and have a chill conversation with him. He is still loud, but now you know that it's not on purpose.

The Flame Hashira loves history! The man likes to think that we can learn from the past so the next generations don't make the same mistakes as people living before them did.

Kyojuro is happy that you are seeing a therapist and always encourages you to go and meet them if there are things he can't help you with or if there are things you don't dare to share with him.

He just wants you to know that no matter what you do, he won't judge you. He knows what it's like to have your own inner Demons haunting you, so he tries to support you in slaying that inner Demon of yours!

Kyojuro has a little hearing problem so you may have to play your music a little harder for him to be able to fully hear it, but you don't mind since it's your favorite music. He will smile and nod quietly as he listens to the songs you like and then nods and exclaims, "You have good taste in music!"

He is also interested in the different series you might be watching. Kyojuro loves cartoons, like anime and Disney movies, but he can see the appeal in all the drama that happens behind the scenes.

The Flame Hashira will gladly help you to find and obtain copies of your childhood series and movies because those things hold the most memories and can act as a temporary portal back to your youth.

That, and he is also interested to see what shows you grew up watching. There must be something he likes also and wants to see with you!

I also match you with Kyogai!

The Demon likes you immediately. You're quiet and barely speak, but you are a good listener and once you get comfortable around him, you start to show your relaxed nature more and he enjoys that also. You're also very pretty.

Kyogai knows better than no one how it feels to be... Sad and judged. His writing and drum playing have always been criticized, but you are the first one to show him kindness.

With his obsession to become stronger and be worthy, it's up to you to go to him and tell him that he is perfect as he is. Maybe you could ask him if he would like to come to see your therapist with you? But he feels that he can trust his feelings and insecurities to you because you understand him.

Kyogai is a little old-fashioned so he doesn't necessarily understand your taste in music, but as he listens he learns that the music you listen to may reflect on you and he grows to like them because you do. He may try to copy some of your favorite songs with his drums. Sometimes he fails, but he does succeed also and all the work is worth it when he sees you smile.

He is eager to watch the cartoon and reality drama with you. The Demon likes the music in anime and Disney movies and how there is a happy ending to most of them. He hopes he can get his happy ending with you.

[spicysix]

🏏 - Stobin besties headcanons! I love hearing people's thoughts on them

steve truly, actively, honest to god tries to teach robin how to drive. he does his best, he swears. robin, however, is the single most uncoordinated person in the world. get that and smack it with her crippling anxiety, and she cannot do a single thing behind a steering wheel, ever, without sweating and trembling and almost shitting her pants. they both decide she'll be better off as a forever passenger princess. steve doesn't mind, at all

they're obsessed with eurovision. watch it every year, keep up with their favorite contestants, know every single rule by heart

they also really really love golden girls. and seinfield.

(they also, eventually, get really obsessed with sex & the city, dawson's creek, gilmore girls and one three hill)

steve definitely takes Robin to her first gay club in Indy. if he has an awakening of his own there, that's for you to decide. but he deffo takes robin

just like joe keery said in that interview, i fully believe steve calls robin 'bobin' and tries to gaslight people into thinking that it's her real full name. argyle actually buys it and only figures it out like months later

they are each other's first roommates once they leave their parents' houses, obviously. but once they get together with their respective partners, they're still inseparable because they rent/buy apartments/houses right next to each other and become neighbors

steve lets robin practice makeup and nail art on him, and once he starts liking it, robin lets steve practice makeup and nail art on her

that's a given but they borrow each other clothes all the time. and not just like sweaters and jackets, but steve's first really short jeans shorts are ones he stole from robin. so is his first skirt. so is his first dress (if stevie gets really gender euphoric on the sleepover nights she invades robin's wardrobe and pretends to be a model and catwalks all over, well that's her own secret. anyway genderqueer steve my beloved)

[ominousmotion]

Thank you for the tag @sparkly-skies 💕

9 people you’d like to get to know better!

3 Ships: Ghost x soap in call of duty all 6 of the blind channel guys polyamory and you know what fuck it more cod shit (and polyamory) task force 141 all those boys need a fucking hug especially soap rip

First Ship: i basically only read x oc fan fic untill a couple of years ago but if i had to guess it was probably rose and the tenth doctor

Last Song: Undertow by archetypes collide absolutely fell in love with them after seeing them with wcar and allegedly became their #3 listener in the world after a month of listening so yeah there very good and the guys are very nice and funny

Last film: I think it was into the spiderverse cuz the new one is on Netflix now so i was catching up and never actually ended up watching the new one

Currently reading: fan fic always but specifically call of duty fanfic truly everytime i try to consistently stuff in other fandoms i keep coming back to cod especially with how mw3 ended i need fix it fics

Currently watching: at this point if im watching tv just assume its critical role related so ive been keeping up with their 3 campaign and i started watching candela obscura the circle of needle and threat also by critical role its quite good

Currently consuming: fucking haribo (i fully typed put hasbro and to google the actual name 😅) gummy brears they are the shit like ive been buying a pack once a week which is very bad for my cavity but they are so good

Currently craving: a huge but like the kind of hugs that olli gives where its soft warm and firm and makes you feel comforted and like surrounded and like you want to ask to be squeezed bc you just kown it would like totally reset your sympathetic nervous system and you can just relax into it and feel safe an warm

Im tagging: @jupiter-balls @askeataiho @there-is-just-me-myself-and-i @man-made-misery @because-its-eurovision @concretenoah @deathblacksmoke @transmutethegold

if youve done this or just dont want to do it feel free to ignore me 💕

[kald-dal-write]

that's a good point actually with katniss not knowing Victor's names.

tho i do need to reread that part. i felt it more like katniss doesn't care about them much. she know their names, at least now i scroll through pages and every time some victor show up she names them. when its someone important like wiress and beetee she names them and sometimes tell how they won, but with d6 she just call them morphling guys. in the movies she makes a note that she doesn't know female morphling name, but I can't find that in the book (it isn't in death or anthem scenes). maybe it somewhere later? anyway katniss and peeta rewatched the games of every potential tribute who was alive at the moment, so katniss probably knew them by the time of second book? i will wait for you reread or find it later by myself (i reread tbosas now actually) (well, relisten, thanks yt for free audiobooks)

tho its actually not really affect my point as you dont really need to remember victors name to notice how mentorship works in general. like we don't always remember every Eurovision winner but we still know the process if we watch it every year.

Katniss is also have a weight of responsibilities and in second book she more concerned about saving her family's life... So i can see how she can miss some details. And also from writers point i think Susan Collins doesn't want to infodump on us so that's why katniss just forget shit or sometimes just doesn't know... and in second book there is already enough repeating of the first with game process so some things and described very briefly. again in the first book she think about viewers and gamemakers everytime, and in second she more like SAVE PEETA SAVE PEETA.

i starting to losing the core of our discussion /not negative im just lost in thoughts like.. where are we going.... who are we....

anyway thanks for this conversation!! It gave me a lot of brain worms /pos

as an apology i try to send you soon another anonymous ask where i try to analyse who would win the 1qq in your fic. i kinda struggle with keeping my thoughts straight so it takes a lot of time.

sincerely, your crazy little brainrotting anon

What I meant that she doesn’t seem to know their names before the Third Quell, not that she doesn’t know anyone’s names at all (which tbf she doesn’t know the names for the D5, D6, D9 or D10 Victors), she only bother to learn the names of the Victors she directly interact with. Which is mostly because she has different prioritisies that mostly includes keeping Peeta safe.

Also with rewatching the games I think Peeta paid more attention to them than she did, she does aknowledge that she recognised Lyme from the tapes when she meets her in MJ though.

It’s only a movie line that Peeta aknowledges that he doesn’t know the morphling’s name “She [F.Morphling] sacrificied her life for me and I don’t even know her name”

Fair with the Eurovision comparison though, you do get a sense of how things work after watching it for years, but still you wouldn’t know everything that goes on behind the scenes of the competition if you are just a casual watcher (especially with this year’s ESC 😭)

but as mentioned the OG post was just that I think people thinking it’s a set in stone rule every male Victor have to mentor a male tribute and every Female Victor have to mentor a female tribute doesn’t seem to be fully a thing with Mags being Finnick’s mentor with her being both a Woman and D4 have had way more Victors after her as they are a Career District known for being good.

As mentioned maybe I get more insight when I finally get to Catching Fire lol

Fun to discuss stuff like this haha

[eurovision-revisited]

Eurovision 2004: The Interval Act and Other Performances

Two shows, two intervals! It's the first bit of new programming needed for this year's Eurovision. You can do the same postcards in both contests. The scoring sorts itself out, but what are you doing to do about the musical bits? You need something different for each show.

Starting with the semi-final and one of the weirdest interval acts there's ever been - and also one of the hardest to see today in context. A six-minute long comedy film featuring ABBA as puppets made by the Jim Henson workshop. It features the band auditioning in 1974 for a record company executive played by Rik Mayall.

Having this in the middle of what is a thoroughly Turkish show featuring traditional drumming is a bit odd to say the least. 2004 was the 30th anniversary of ABBAs win and since their fractious split in the 1980s, their popularity and pull was only increasing. The demand for appearances, reformations and shows was getting louder all the time - so how to achieve this when they were no wanting to appear publicly? Why not puppets?

The entire short was called ABBA - Our Last Video Ever, a title that carried with it the air of something celebratory, momentous, and definitively final. Something that had been wanted for more than a decade and was here. The reality didn't meet those expectations, it being more of a comedy sketch and with very little actually in the way of the members of ABBA.

If you bought or saw the full semi-final after the night it was show, the ABBA short wasn't there - you had to buy it separately, and for a while was exceedingly hard to find.

The Grand Final stuck more to tradition with lines of dancers, instrumentalists and drummers. All aspects of Turkish musical culture were covered in a presentation by the group Fire of Anatolia, a huge dance ensemble. The scale and tradition of it did harken back to Riverdance in terms of ambition, although the result didn't have the same impact.

The one other musical number was Sertab Erener opening the show with a reprise of her winning song Everyway that I Can as well as another of her songs Leave. The first song had the same choreography as her win, but with male dancers and Sertab herself was fully dressed in gold. For the second half of the show, a group of Sufi sama dancers spinning and whirling around her.

There was a mid-run break in the grand final - but this served as an attempt to go around watch parties being held in Europe, although the link-up mostly failed leaving the hosts to fill while adverts aired on TV.

[gemsofgreece]

Some complain that we should make a Greek song for Eurovision but we already had one in 2018, but we were disqualified even though it was a pretty song. Maybe because it a soft ballad or something but it was something to send a song in our native language.

But i think we should start first...voting for the candidates who will represent us and second mix both traditional and modern rhythms.

Bre make a Pontiac song and see how much on top we would be, would make the whole crowd dance 😉

Oh my God Anon 😂😂😂 You are young, right? Or started watching Eurovision recently? This is not condescending, I just want to cheer you up. I am asking because Greece retains a honorary title of being a Eurovision powerhouse due to its mostly consistent success throughout 2001- 2013. In all those years, almost all the songs that succeeded had either Greek music or both Greek music and lyrics. The 2014-2019 dry spell had mostly entirely English songs except for two, which had very bad performances. The 2021-2022 successes made people hopeful that Greece was coming back but long time fans complained that Greece should also return to its authentic sounds.

When it comes to the 2018 song, have you watched the stage performance???? I think even Victor two days ago was better than Yanna, and that says a lot! It had nothing to do with the song or the language or it being soft. She sang terribly and supposedly her whole freaking equipment for the staging was stuck at the customs and never arrived at Eurovision (that’s what she said)!!!Have you ever heard of such an occurrence before? 😂 One more suspicious person would say there were barely any ideas for the staging at all and she had no better way of excusing it.

Despite all that, the public did keep her in, albeit barely, and gave her the 10th place. She was murdered by the juries who gave her the 16th place and disqualified her. Here’s the thing though: Yanna accused the juries and the production in general of a sabotage. This might sound crazy but something shitty DID happen. There is a point in the song, during the chorus, where fireworks pop. However, inexplicably during the jury show, the technicians chose to randomly shoot the fireworks during the very calm verse. This was so out of place it was visibly wrong, it wasn’t like a detail you won’t even notice. The Greek team requested that the performance should be repeated, since it was the crucial jury show and it was the technicians’ fault, but the production refused and asked the juries to vote based on what they saw, a decision that was criticised by Greeks and other fans of the song alike.

So as you see here not only the singing is atrocious but as if this was not enough, they really just randomly shot the fireworks to her face. I honestly have no idea what happened but this was the unluckiest song we have sent. It was a gorgeous song that did not deserve either Yanna’s live vocals and her lousy team or the problematic production there. And the fact the audience tried to keep it in was solely the song’s and the language’s achievement as there is not any other redeeming quality in this participation unfortunately.

This is a topic I feel strongly about because I loved this song and I had a lot of faith in it and it still hurts. But also - regarding the language thing - it’s a myth, not only for Greek but for all languages I think. It was true in the past, when only English or French songs would win, but ever since 2010s people want diverse songs and more languages. The juries are worse on that but the public does want the ethnic element.

And to prove it, I once made a very passionate analysis on how Greek entries performed and the conclusion was that on average a song that was either fully Greek or at least in a Greek music style performed better than a totally English song. Again, on average. Here’s the link to the analysis:

And then I saved for last a stab to your heart… We have sent a song in Pontic Greek… and it is the third one that flopped 😅😅😅😅😅😅 The notorious Utopian Land by Argo, fam! But it was a bad song, even though I see on You Tube it has developed something like a cult following.

But in stark contrast, Alcohol is Free was a totally Greek song in everything (with freaking rebetiko) and it finished 6th (and 2nd in its semi) . And the reason it didn’t make it to the top 5 was that some hysteric people were clutching their pearls at the title, whining “how they would allow their kids to watch Eurovision now”. I have some very deep into esc stuff friends from Europe and I know for a fact that this was the case with some people. And yet it ended up sixth and some considered it an injustice, which it was, because it should have won, seriously. Oh yeah, I forgot, it would make it in the top 5 in spite of all that, had it not been for the juries. The public voted it 4th and the juries 14th and it ended up 6th. Similarly, Watch My Dance by Loukas Yorkas was half in Greek and it ended 7th (and notoriously 1st in its semifinal, ahead of the Eurovision winner of the year, Azerbaijan, which does raise questions about the final results - see the link above with the analysis). Interestingly, the only criticism I saw the song ever receiving was by people complaining that the whole song should be like the Greek laiko in the chorus and diss the English rap in the verse. Another example, OPA by Yorghos Alkeos, which was also entirely in Greek and finished 8th.

Now an ethnic Greek entry and a cheerful one at that will certainly be butchered by the juries, like they did with the Ukrainian Shum or the Finnish Cha Cha Cha and our own Alcohol is Free. But who cares? Better be butchered by the juries and be loved by the public, than going with bland and bad English ballads that only the juries might like and nobody else. The people have made clear what songs they want from Greece. And in any case, I would rather suck by sending something from my culture that others may simply not get than suck by sending something that doesn’t even represent me in any way.

I know you agree by the way, you just touched a sensitive chord in my heart and I went full rant mode 😇

[esc-is-holding-me-hostage]

The annual pre-show quick-fire "reviews"

Guess who procrastinated for a month and a half on this post!

Albania An Albanian song starting with a woman going "AaAaAAaaaAAAAA"? Groundbreaking. Duje is a very run-of-the-mill Albanian folk power ballad and at this point, I'm kinda tired of these.

Armenia Music good, lyrics clunky.

Australia It is, dare I say, alright.

Austria A song that everyone thought is gonna be a musical shitpost turned out to be an absolute fucking banger, god bless.

Azerbaijan I'm not sure whether I actually like it a bit or it's just me being happy that Azerbaijan has finally let local artists write their song. Now wait until the twins flop and Azerbaijan goes back to swedes-for-hire next year.

Belgium It's fine.

Croatia Is it weird that I don't have much to say about a song like this? Mama ŠČ is shocking the first time you experience it, and I do like the layers of interpretation, but it's not something I want to return to after a couple listens.

Cyprus Imagine Dragons-ass production, ugh.

Czech Republic It's pretty good but I can't fully enjoy it because of the fucking controversy. Look, I think that the girls had the best intentions in mind when writing My Sister's Crown but didn't realize that singing about Slavic unity and "choose love over power" while having a russian member might come off as problematic. Classic ignorance over malice. Still, I wish they had someone Ukrainian-speaking in the band, at least temporarily for ESC.

Denmark This type of "uwu cute softboy" music is not my thing, but eh, it's fine, I'll let zoomer kids have this one.

Estonia Well someone had to fill the ballad quota this year.

Finland It's crazy, it's party, I'm going to throw hands if it doesn't win the televote.

France Fulenn flopped so now we're back to being aggressively French. Evidemment is a bop, I like it.

Georgia It feels like they had a song that made sense in Georgian and then asked a third-grader to translate it. I'm not opposed to silly lyrics in general, but Echo is clearly trying to be meaningful but then fails at basic english grammar.

Germany "We have Rammstein at home". Blood and Glitter is fine but, I dunno, it feels a bit too "smoothed out". It just doesn't go hard enough (bold words from a Slovenia stan, I know).

Greece The most remarkable thing about this entry for me is that I've been watching Eurovision for longer than Victor has been alive.

Iceland Wish Diljá stuck with the Icelandic version.

Ireland I didn't mind We Are One at first but with every listen it just kept getting worse. This is such a formulaic, cliche, cheesy love-love-peace-peace wet napkin of a song. I've already complained about Portion Boys making a generic "eurovision unity anthem" for UMK but at least they tried to be funny. This one feels like a lazy attempt to game the system WITHOUT KNOWING HOW THAT SYSTEM ACTUALLY WORKS.

Israel My god, so much hype before the song's release and we got this? There are so many parts in this song but somehow forgot to put in a proper chorus, it's like Sekret all over again.

Italy L'essenziale is the one Italian ESC song that I always forget about. And now Due Vite is bound to join it. Eh, at least my mom loves it.

Latvia Didn't care about it when the Supernova songs first dropped, but now I'm vibing with it so much.

Lithuania It's okay ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. The "Čiūto tūto"s saved it from being totally forgettable.

Malta Somehow they've managed to find a half-decent song in the pile of garbage that was MESC. It's alright but I wish that I liked it more.

Moldova So "token pagan rave song of the year" is a thing now, huh? Glad to see Pasha's back.

The Netherlands It starts off really boring, but picks up around the second verse and becomes pretty good by the end.

Norway I think I like it but for some reason, my brain doesn't register it as a song??? It's hard to explain, but I don't see Queen of Kings as something you would listen to without some kind of visuals.

Poland Ughhhh. It's basically impossible to judge Solo on its own merit, but I'll try. And my impartial judgment is: I don't like it. Rigged selection or not, I just hate this kind of songs in general.

Portugal One of those songs that I like a lot but don't have anything specific to say about.

Romania The song's okay, and the vocals are good, but the staging is just beyond tacky. Dude, you can't pull off this type of cool, sexy image while looking like a wimpy history major freshman who barely ever shows up to class.

San Marino ... I'm a Piqued Jacks apologist now. Yeah, the lyrics are cringe, but the music? I enjoy it absolutely unironically.

Serbia "I just wanna close my eyes And just get it over with"

Yeah, dude, me too. The most relatable song of the year.

Slovenia I've jumped on the Joker Out hype train as soon as they were announced as Slovenia's participants and I'm riding that train all the way to Liverpool. Favorite song of the year.

Spain Hey, spaniards have finally gotten an artsy song about motherhood as their ESC entry! I have similar feelings about Eaea as I did about In Corpore Sano last year: absolutely mesmerizing on stage, but not something I would listen to casually.

Sweden She's gonna win, ain't she? I mean, Tattoo is fine, and the staging elevates it immensely, but it's such a predictable winner. I want more INTRIGUE, okay?

Switzerland Oh wow, boring AND tone-deaf? Switzerland is breaking new ground this year. I initially placed Watergun 31st but since then it sunk to the very bottom. Like, someone wrote this song, sat on it for several years, and decided that NOW is the best time to send it to Eurovision. Nothing against Remo, but "war bad, i don't want to go to war :c" is uhhh, rich coming from someone living in fucking Switzerland.

Ukraine I can't shake the thought that they first came up with a standard "I'm so cool, you can't hurt me, idgaf" song and then retroactively tried to give it a deeper meaning.

United Kingdom I don't even think it's a bad song and yet I lowkey hate it. It's the beat, it's driving me nuts for some reason. People hate the spoken word part, but I like it because you don't hear that bloody "dun-da-da-dun" for once.

[borisbubbles]

Eurovision 2023: #02 & #01 (Finale)

02. CZECHIA Vesna - "My sister's crown" 10th place

Decade ranking: 5/116 [Above Daði Freyr, below Käärijä]

Finland over Czechia seems like a no-brainer. Some midcarding bitches vs ~K*Ä*Ä*R*I*J*Ä~ come on, how hard can it be? Who is Czechia even for?!

ME, motherfucker. This entry is for ME, and FOR ME ALONE!!! and since this is MY ranking, that made the decision very difficult. It took me MONTHS to settle who to put at the top.

Vesna are often cited as one of the more overrated acts in the year. Overrated by whom? Who overrates Vesna? Isn't 10th a correct placement? i've met NO ONE who would even consider putting them as high as second? - and I obv don't count since it took me AN ETERITY to out myself as a Vesna stan!!

I'd counter that Czechia are THE MOST UNDERRATED by the fandom (not by placement - that is Slovenia, as always) and absolutely deserved all the good things that happened to them ^_^

So obviously, there are multiple factors at work here. The song is a fantastic earworm. Like, defo one of the best in the year? In terms of sheer replayability, "My Sister's Crown" is on the same level as "Edgar" (studio only :-/) and "Carpe Diem", and you know how much I value those. The song has four languages (including Bulgarian) and none of them clash. The lyrics are quotable and fun. This is a track with ATTITUDE and ZEST, that managed to criticize the war in Ukraine without beating us over the head with it via a poorly hidden, clumsily written political message. The song is SMART, and respects its listeners.

LOVE'S NOT A MONEY BAG BLOOD'S ON YOUR GOD'S HANDS YOU CANNOT STEAL OUR SOULS

However, going into the year, there were issues - Vesna were messy and dissonant, and the six girls often gave the impression of competing against each other for attention. They were not a UNIT. Although "My Sister's Crown" was always one of the best songs, many (including myself!) were sceptical it could come together.

And it did, spectacularly.

See, one of the things about this year is that the good performances and good songs were often mismatched. Albania, Estonia and Poland had great on-stage glam-ups, but they were severely hampered by the songs being what they were. Other countries such as France and Austria had good songs, but required really good acts to tie them together, and failed or, in case of say UK, has good acts that were performed badly.

If you made a Venn Diagram between the best songs and the biggest growers, there wouldn't be much overlap. Except for Czechia.

To quote Matteo Lane's pearl of wisdom; if there's only ONE GAY, everything gets done! Ahmad Malloun was the One Gay and channeled his bossbottom energy to fuss Vesna into shape. Suddenly, the girls were harmonious and disciplined and that made all the difference. Suddenly, Czechia had an act with a clear vision - Six women united visually through their outfits. Vesna had become a UNIT, united through sisterhood.

SESTRO KRASIVA OI TI SILYNA HOROBRA JEDINA KORONA TVOJA

It really doesn't get mentioned nearly often enough how amazing the Czech staging was. Sure, Loreen and Käärijä, both top notch. But this is my personal favourite of the bunch. It's a visually stunning, avant garde act that fits the music, that fits the thematics, that pulls you in and tells a story without overtly complicating matters. They start as a group of angry hexaplets and then burst into joyful sororian rapture at the end. The staging is both aesthetically pleasing and intuitive. They hit the gold standard for acts that everyone should try to strive for!!

There are times where I wonder whether I really should rank Vesna above Käärijä. My Sister's Crown fully morphed into a me-coded entry. And perhaps, if and when I watch 2023 again, I may do exactly that. For now though, I've decided against it. The argument for Finland is less complicated, so I went with that. And now for the winner of this ranking I am sure NOBODY saw coming ever:

-------------------------------------------------------------

01. FINLAND Käärijä - "Cha Cha Cha" 2nd place

Decade ranking: 4/116 [Above Vesna, below Chanel]

It's Käärijä, bitch.

I rest my case for ranking Finland first. I don't think anyone argues this as invalid? Good, let's pick it all apart because if there's anything Käärijä deserves, it is being talked about. 😉

So um, where to start? Maybe it's best to start with the song - "Cha Cha Cha" was that rare 1-in-500 entry. I always say that novelty always tends to become stale over time - once in a blue moon however, it endures. "Cha Cha Cha" is a novelty song that is also an excellent song in its own right, and it stil holds up very well. It's a fun song to listen to, even without all the circus and theatrics.

The circus and theatrics though, omg <3 Talk about a DELECTABLE act, once again. This is yet again an example of how staging compliments the song and makes it digestible. Cha Cha Cha is entirely in Finnish with only a few loan words tossed in - difficult to get into on paper. The staging however, brings the plot points home.

The song's about wanting to overcome anxieties to dance? So break from the crates

Confront the inner Dance Demons that harass your psyche

make your way to the dancefloor while dodging decapitation via errant wires.

and then, when you overcome all fears transition to that godly, campy key chance, ride your them, having overcome your inhibitions.

AND I GALLAVANT ON THE FLOOR LIKE A CHA CHA CHA AND MY ANXIETIES HAVE NO GRIP ON ME NO MORE

The act is BRILLIANT. The ballroom dancers with their creepy pearly-whites, the dorkopotamus choreography, the styling, the overwhelming sense of triumph once the key change hits... It's the same deal as Vesna and Loreen, just a handful of visual cues that visualize the song's themes (anxiety, rather than sisterhood or desolation) are easy to understand and don't further complicate matters. THIS is how it's done. This is how you Eurovision.

The magical ingredient that tied it all together was the man, the dad bod, the bolero himself - Käärijä. Talk about a personality so massive everything gravitated towards him. It's hard to put the extent of his likeability into words - he's just so disarmingly himself. The key here is that Käärijä doesn't see himself as anything special. To him, he's just "boy from Vantaa who likes queen Loreen". He's just self-aware enough to realize the effect he has on others, but not self-aware enough to understand what exactly endears him to so many people. So when Käärijä plays up for funsies, he magnifies all aspects of his personality which makes him... even more endearing. 😍

(it's the same magic dust that has people flock to Baby Lasagna this year, really.)

It's rare to have a contestant who managed to completely warp the meta around him to this extent. It's even more rare that the contestant in this position then loses the competition. I remember telling my friend André, who was behind on NF news, that Käärijä had won UMK, and he replied with an innocuous "great, I haven't been this excited for a contestant since Verka!". I think I realize in that moment, that was to be Käärijä's destiny. Verka was the Hot Favourite in their year, the breakout star of 2007 - and Verka placed second to a more competent entry (Molitva <3). It was in that moment that I knew that Käärijä's inevitable fate was to come second to Loreen.

And I feel like, we all knew deep down that was where we were headed. We all wanted Käärijä to win as much as we did, because we knew that he would not. He was blissfully cruising towards a loss, and that was too much of an injustice to accept it and not manifest a reality where he beats Sweden.

It even got to a point where some people are now retroactively trying push the notion Tattoo is better than Euphoria (that statement is more offensive than anything I've ever commited to print or speech, including the one time I called Lesley Roy frumpy on cam <3) and the best entry ever (excuse you?) largely because it beat Cha Cha Cha.

So if Käärijä is this great, then why the doubt? Why only fourth for the decade (for the moment)?

Well, it's same deal as Cornelia for me. The best live of Cha Cha Cha that we received was the first one, at UMK, and every other performance we've had since then was not as good. The one in Eurovision had terrible vocals and slightly less impressive staging compared to UMK. I know right? The ESC staging did MORE and yet accomplished LESS. They got rid of all the wrestling references? Where's the close-up at the end? The arena? THE LIFT?

Sure, these inaccuracies didn't detract from my personal enjoyment of Cha Cha Cha. They however did allow for Käärijä to fall behind far enough behind Loreen in the jury vote so that he could no longer catch up with her in the televote, like a death by a thousand paper cuts.

It was a great live, but it wasn't great enough to win. Eurovision Käärijä was not Käärijä at his best, while Vesna without question gave their best performance in the Grand Final. Hence my doubts.

However, I ultimately went with Käärijä anyway because he did something Vesna could not - he gave a concert in my city, and I attended. HE MADE ME LEAVE THE HOUSE AFTER DARK. And god, if you've not been to a Käârijä gig before, absolutely fucking go if you're able to - IT'S CRAZY IT'S PARTY is the perfect catchphrase for this hyperactive, sexually amorphous, adorkable gremlin.

He was his unadulterated self, slapping his belly only vaguely aware of his sex appeal, swooning over a group of Slovene attendees because they reminded him of The Love Of His Life Bojan Cveticanin, ripping one of his merch t-shirts in half and then wearing it as a jacket, airdiving a wayward balloon that floated its way on the stage. The music was also excellent. Exposed to to the FULL scope of Käärijäness, made all the good memories of the 2023 preshow flow back, how could I not rank him anywhere other than first? Maybe I will change my mind and rank Vesna first in a few years from now, but for now, let's savour him while he's still fresh in our minds.

REMINDER THAT THE 2024 ROSTER IS GREAT LARGELY THANKS TO K��ÄRIJÄ.

REMINDER THAT HE WOULD SO WIN ANY FUTURE EUROVISION IF HE WANTED TO:

(May I just name this as my fave song from the 2024 nf season MAY I????*)

He WAS 2023. He WAS Eurovision.

He may have lost the contest, but he has won life. (and paid his taxes.)

ALL RISE FOR THE BEST ACT OF 2023!

The RANKING (completed)

"Novo, Bolje" was my fave 2024 NF also-ran. Obv.

ADDENDUM: ABOUT ESC2024

Yeah, obviously i'm not going to do a pre-show ranking. With all the poison and controversy going on, it's just not the right time. I delayed this ranking specificially so that I wouldn't be temped to do the 2024 one later. (Unlike a certain broadcasting institution, I possess a modest amount of insight, foresight and self-awareness. 🙂 )

Hopefully, ESC 2024 goes down without too many incidents, and I'll able to start my post-show ranking the week after the Grand Final.

See you there, hopefully, if Eurovision isn't dead and buried by then! 💚