#i heart Vučić

[dekulakization]

I hate these fuckers

[eurovision-revisited]

Eurovision 2005: The Scoreboards

This year's scoreboard is an unfussy affair. The graphics are utilitarian - back to the spreadsheet chic of 2000 albeit with little wormholes in the graphics for the spokesperson and the voting country's flag.

There's no room for the hearts of last year, this is a scoreboard that means business and promises no messing about, let's get straight to the results. Of course, the voting sequence takes just as long as it always does with the same tomfoolery from all taking part.

For the semi-final there is one small innovation. The envelopes are still present with the names of the countries who've qualified for the final, however this time as the hosts randomly select envelopes the successful acts are added to the running order of the final sequentially.

The first drawn country gets the first available slot. If you're drawn first, you have the relief of knowing you're through, but you get an early draw - possibly even the death slot! If you're last out, then you've had a minor heart attack, but you get the prime later running order slots. Genius!

It's 2005 Spoiler Time!

The ten countries that qualified are (in a very particular order):

Romania - 235 points

Moldova (on their debut!) - 207 points

Denmark - 185 points

Croatia - 169 points

Hungary (on their return!) - 167 points

Norway - 164 points

Israel - 158 points

Switzerland - 114 points

North Macedonia - 97 points

Latvia - 85 points

Poland missed out by only four points in eleventh place. This is also probably the place to point out that the two smallest countries taking part, Monaco and Andorra finished second-bottom and third-bottom in an televote semi-final. For countries without large diasporas or huge numbers of neighbourly friends, it would appear that the televote has drawbacks.

As is going to become the norm, the points scored were revealed only after the grand final. The contents of the envelopes were the only place I noticed where the heart symbol appeared this year - the flags were printed inside hearts on those cards.

In the grand final, once again, the voting sequence was not that tense. At around the halfway mark, there was no clear leader, in fact the country that qualified from the semi-final in tenth place, Latvia, was leading but after that, Greece slowly pulled away. The result was obvious a long way from the end.

Although there were no nul points this year, there is one glaring aspect of the final scoreboard to address. The bottom five places were occupied by the host country and the Big Four. In fact, of the bottom twelve in the voting, that is the entire right-hand side of the scoreboard, eleven of them hadn't performed in the semi-final. Is this a new and perhaps unexpected aspect of the semi-final system? It's something to keep an eye-on. It's not going to stop some commentators yelling it's all about politics though.

Here's the full rundown of the 2005 Eurovision final scores:

Greece - Helena Paparizou - "My Number One" - 230 points

Malta - Chiara - "Angel" - 192 points

Romania - Luminița Anghel and Sistem - "Let Me Try" - 192 points

Israel - Shiri Maimon - "HaSheket SheNish'ar" - 154 points

Latvia - Walters and Kazha - "The War Is Not Over" - 153 points

Moldova - Zdob și Zdub - "Boonika bate doba" - 148 points

Serbia and Montenegro - No Name - "Zauvijek moja" - 137 points

Switzerland - Vanilla Ninja - "Cool Vibes" - 128 points

Norway - Wig Wam - "In My Dreams" - 125 points

Denmark - Jakob Sveistrup - "Talking to You" - 125 points (joint 9th)

Croatia - Boris Novković feat. Lado members - "Vukovi umiru sami" - 115 points

Hungary - Nox - "Forogj, világ" - 97 points

Türkiye - Gülseren - "Rimi Rimi Ley" - 92 points

Bosnia and Herzegovina - Feminnem - "Call Me" - 79 points

Russia - Natalia Podolskaya - "Nobody Hurt No One" - 57 points

Albania - Ledina Çelo - "Tomorrow I Go" - 53 points

North Macedonia - Martin Vučić - "Make My Day" - 52 points

Cyprus - Constantinos Christoforou - "Ela Ela" - 46 points

Sweden - Martin Stenmarck - "Las Vegas" - 30 points

Ukraine - GreenJolly - "Razom nas bahato"- 30 points (joint 19th)

Spain - Son de Sol - "Brujería" - 28 points

United Kingdom - Javine - "Touch My Fire" - 18 points

France - Ortal - "Chacun pense à soi" - 11 points

German - Gracia - "Run & Hide" - 4 points

[littlelightingstriker]

Disclaimer: this post is not made to cause anger or to insult the Serbian government, it is simply made to report on the news what has been going this past days. Some of the information might be to strong, so please read on your own risk. People who are mention in this story will remain anonymous for their own safety.

#Serbia now:

On the 7th of July,2020, president Vučić announced that Belgrade will be closed and have a curfew between Friday and Monday and that more than five people should not be in the same space together. He talked about a lot of things like how many people are being tested, the possible 'lies' the government has been saying, Novi Pazar, a city located in south-west Serbia, who is in a critical situation because of COVID-19, respirators and many more. He talked about how people need to understand that this virus in not a joke in any possible way and people need to take more action and protect themselves and their family. The problem is half of the population does not believe the virus is either real or that it does not have the affect to enter the human body that fast. People are confused and keep asking the same question that nobody can answer. When he announced the possibility that people will have to stay the whole weekend in their homes, many people were frustrated with the decision and did not want to take his words for real. At the evening, massive numbers of people gathered at the National Assembly and started protesting. The protesting was not in anyway ' peaceful ' but ended being a disappointing vandalism.

Three cars and a police van were on fire. The damage was immediately posted. Hundreds of thousands of dinars are worth of damage.

Torches, tear gas, oysters and glass bottles were being thrown between the protesters and police.

Many people were injured and many police man were hurt. "It was a disaster. We tried stopping them but there were to many." said one policeman.

One of the protesters wanted to break in the National Assembly but were thrown out by the police.

Two men stopped an ambulance that was driving to the hospital with rotations. The two men were punished for their actions and many were disappointed with them.

Protesters DID NOT WANT any politician to join them and act like they care for citizens' rights.

Ana Brnabić was disappointed to see citizens' of Belgrade acting like 'h**li**ns'.

Kosovo was/is also another reason why people turned against Vučić.

Vučić was in the National Assembly but quickly evacuated with the situation going around.

A video of three men being hit and be*ten by the police after rejecting to leave the park was filmed and posted on different sites. The three men were laying on the ground in pain as the police left them.

A man, lost his father due to COVID 19 and blamed the government for lying about having enough respirators. He claimed his father was not given the treatment that was promised and was one of the most critical patient (and many other) in Belgrade. "This is for you, dad. I know you are watching and you are proud. I love you,dad. This is for you!" Said the man. After this video resurfaced the internet, everyone was angry that president Vučić lied about 'having enough respirators' and many left comments that they were not surprised and what a disappointment this country is for believing the words that come from the television.

Protesters are being accused of spreading COVID 19.

97% had masks but still did not distance.

Lockdown will be decided by the crisis staff.

The 8th and 9th of July,2020:

President Vučić has decided he will NOT make the decision about Belgrade. He admitted he has no right to make a decision he isn't to sure how to control.

Many faces were supporting the protest and they were not citizens' of Serbia. -Vučić.

Criminals were mention that they were the ones who were 'trashing' Belgrade.

COVID 19 has no connection with voting, football games etc.

Vučić kept bringing people down while making his people 'world leaders' and 'only hopes for Serbia'.

05.10.2000. is a wish protesters want to come true. ( The fall of Milošević)

Vučić is in shock why people keep bringing his country down while he is doing everything to make it 'grow'.

There will be rules for Belgrade no matter what.

Novi Sad, Niš, Kragujevac also started protesting.

Tonight (9th July.) protesters are peacefuly protesting and tend to keep it that way.

Politicians are calling out h**li*ga*ns and cri**na** after 'destroying Belgrade' and doing vandalism 'on purpose'.

Many people are angry that Belgrade is being in the situation where it's not safe anymore and being trashed by some idiots who don't even live there or came from a different city. They are accused of 'pretending to be Belgraders'. It is proven that they are more than 80% Belgraders in the world then in the own city. Belgrade is composed from all citizens' across Serbia.

Students are protesting after being told they have to leave their dorms for the third time because they need to be prepared for COVID 19 patients. "We don't feel safe. We want our rights!".

Protesters are being called out for fighting for their rights.

Politicians are calling protesters 'criminal slaves' for wanting to remove Vučić.

"We aren't allowed to stand for our rights. They tend to keep us locked when we thought everything is going undercontrol. They are playing for our rights. I lost my friend because she was told to stay home even though she had other medical problems. Instead of celebrating her birthday, I was mourning her name and crying. He (Vučić) doesn't care about us, he just wants the money. He has it. He is building Belgrade on Dunabe and he still thinks we care about some stupid project. How are we not going to protest? I do not like and I am against harmful and disgusting behaviour some people showed the first day and even now, but we can't just stand here and pretend everything is okay. He stole votes and as soon as he secured his seat, this country got even worse. How are we suppose to live here? How can we try and stay positive after everything he has done. My family lives in Kosovo. He gave it. He just sold that land like nothing. He doesn't care about people. He acts like a human but even the facade can't cover his personality. No one can look up to us and that's okay. We don't want '99 again. We want peace. We all want, all of us, we want to breath not to feel pressured. We tell our kids to get the hell away from this country and to never look back. There is no future here. We all know that. He always breaks his promises. Kids grow up and become adults, what children is he talking about?! Where is their future if he is only building Belgrade? What about the South? East? West? Where are their rights?! We are all equal and we all deserve so much more. We have to pray and hope for the best, but in this life we are always going to be left down. " a woman gave her thoughts about protesting.

Other reason's why people want to dismiss Vučić:

He promised everyone 100 Euros when COVID 19 became serious in Serbia. He realised his mistake and ended up giving the money to retired people and people with special needs. Other had to register. He went from helping to you have to do this so I don't embarrass myself.

People were paid to come and cheer for Vučić when he would give speeches.

He lied about the respirators.

People believe that the number of positive patients fell just so that elections could happen.

After elections, Serbia became the worst in numbers of positive cases.

Before elections 50-94 cases, 10-20 respirator patients, almost everyone is cured, Serbia is almost done with COVID 19.

After elections 300+ cases, 120-130 respirator patients, 1000+ in hospitals, 1000+ in isolation, Serbia the most critical on Balkan.

He knew Novi Pazar was going to blow up. He did not do anything.

Belgrade hospitals do not have respirators.

Belgrade has a population of 1 million residents and yet doesn't have the medical needs.

He doesn't have a full government. What kind of country is Serbia then?!

Something that cannot be answered:

Why do people who die from other reasons are COVID 19 victims?

How come the number of cases grew?

Did the government lied all this time?

Was professor Kon right all this time?

Why are people not in hospitals if positive?

How to isolate if you do not have your own bathroom and kitchen?

Why are there no punishments for not wearing a mask?

Is there really a vaccine?

Is the virus real? Is it possible to make it disappear?

Opinion:

Vandalism is not the answer. People have every right to judge Vučić. He is not that bad, but he is not a sweetheart either. Luckily people are peacefully protesting and want to learn to have manners. The police is trying everything to not fight the protesters. Punishing other people for the damage is not right. Being called disgusting names from politicians needs to STOP! We are all people with a heart, we say and do things we should not but that is not the point. Being called a cri**na* is disgusting. Everyone is frustrated with the virus going on but we have to be reasonable. If you are someone who lost a loved one due to COVID 19, my heart goes for you and everyone you love and care about. This is a scary year. It's breaking my heart so many people died not only because of COVID 19. The virus is not the main problem here. People are. This going on in Belgrade is eye opening. It shows people want a break. They want freedom. They want, like every other country, to feel safe. I totally understand the point of view from some people. I ,too, also know there is no future in Serbia until someone really comes and actually cares for people. If territory and fake promises are more relevant then a person breathing, my God save us.

Comment's about Vučić

We are a small country and we never were known for good things, but honestly, how can we have that if we don't have a leader?

Lies and lies. Breaking promises. Being disgusted with people that don't like your way of ''handling" a country. Manipulate people and bringing them down. Having politicians spit on your people?

Is that a joke or is Vučić going to take this seriously.

Kosovo is more important than people?

How cruel do you have to be?

How disgusting that sounds.

We are told people are dying for God's sake and yet you talk for 2 hours and that is it.

Tito is rolling in his grave.

Liar!

Why does anyone expect something good from Vučić?

Oh Serbia, poor little Serbia.

- comments from different sources.

For more information of these protests, feel free to look them up. I gave my personal opinion and I missed a lot of information about this protests but I shared the ones that needed to be put here.

If you are someone from Serbia, feel free to speak and to be free. If you wanted a change and did not get it, either run or keep blessing this country. You deserve much more. You'll get past everything. Keep running. Fight peacefully. Be normal and be mature. I wish everyone so much and pray everyday we get some peace and actually feel like people.

Don't look up to politicians. Nušić told us everything we need to know.

Be safe while protesting! Keep yourself safe and don't let a politician ruin your life. Bring back the rights and the light we all need.

Bring Serbia where she should be.

Not underneath.

[travllingbunny]

Quarantine tag game

Thanks for tagging me, @sometimesrosy!

ARE YOU STAYING HOME FROM WORK/SCHOOL? I am staying home but not from work, because I work at home. Not just now, I always work at home, so there hasn’t been any change in that respect. The volume of work was the same as always during the last few weeks, too. I haven’t had any new work since Friday, so I’m enjoying a few days of rest, but I don’t know if this has anything to do with Corona. A few days of rest and no work has happened before. It will give me more time to clean my apartment.

IF YOU’RE STAYING HOME, WHO IS THERE WITH YOU? My two dogs and two cats. They are probably happy that they get even more time with me than usual. I think that some people don’t consider pets real company - probably people who don’t have pets - which I find funny. They are amazing company and I never feel lonely or bored. It’s never boring with them. Taking the dogs out two times a day, having to feed the cats 6-7 times a day or however often they start mewing and asking for food (especially the kitten - the young one is just 9 months old), having to stand guard to make sure dogs don’t steal cat food :D and all the petting and displays of affection.

ARE YOU A HOMEBODY? Not really? But I’m also not not a homebody? LOL Normally, I enjoy going out and meeting people; I have salsa classes two times a week, which are really fun; I go clubbing on weekends; and my favorites are the Language Cafe type events, which used to be up to 3 times a week before the Coronavirus situation started (these are events for people to meet and practice languages, where you can just come, choose the table with the language you want to practice, introduce yourself and join the conversation). I go to concerts, film festivals, public lectures/debates etc. 

But at the same time, I don’t mind staying at home, and I’ve had experience in having to stay for a week or two when I had a ton of work and tight deadlines. I talk to people a lot via phone, Viber, Whatsupp and social media, exchange memes and satirical articles about the current situation, etc. I’m online a lot, and I’m trying to finally catch up/check out some of the many TV shows, movies and books I have on my watchlist/readlist and do other stuff I never had enough time for.

AN EVENT THAT YOU WERE LOOKING FORWARD TO THAT GOT CANCELLED? I don’t think it’s been officially cancelled yet (?), but I doubt that the Tindersticks concert in early May is gonna be happening. I had already bought the ticket so I hope it gets postponed. I’ve also bought a ticket for a Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds concert in early June (it’s probably too optimistic to hope that will happen?) and a Pixies concert in early September (I don’t have to worry about that one, do I?)

WHAT MOVIES HAVE YOU WATCHED RECENTLY? Since the curfew started, I’ve watched just a few movies that happened to be on TV  - which were all very different, but I wasn’t impressed by any of them (Divergent, Ironclad, and Francis Ha). 

The last time I was in cinema was for the FEST film festival, which ended on 8 March, and I watched Jojo Rabbit on the closing night. I really loved it. Before that, at the same festival, I watched Apocalypse Now: The Final Cut, Blood Quantum (pretty good Canadian horror that’s a different take on the zombie epidemic genre, as it takes place in a First Nation reserve, most characters/actors are First Nation and it deals with social issues), Spanish period drama by Alejandro Amenabar  Mientras dure la guerra (During the War) about the Spanish Civil War and Miguel de Inamuno’s role in the events, The Lighthouse (really good, really dark psychological horror drama that can have a bunch of interpretations) and Dead Don’t Die (Jim Jarmush’s zombie comedy with some very on-the-nose social commentary).

WHAT SHOWS ARE YOU WATCHING? The list is pretty long! Some shows I’ve been watching on TV include: Peaky Blinders (really good!), Babylon Berlin (still in season 1), Penny Dreadful (I’m almost finished - I didn’t like season 1 that much but it got much better in seasons 2 and 3), Wynonna Earp (not great but it’s just a fun show with some cool actors/characters). I'm about to finish S1 of The Witcher and I want to rewatch it immediately to figure out the timelines. I’m finishing my rewatch of The 100 and I’m going to resume my rewatch of Agents of SHIELD (hopefully I can finish it by its premiere date, 27 May). Also watching Outlander season 5, Harley Quinn, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, need to catch up on Roswell: New Mexico, Prodigal Son and Stumptown and finish The Outsider, and have recently started The Plot Against America and Mindhunter (the latter because my best friend has recommended it). I’ve even checked out the pilot of Lucifer, which I may or may not continue soon, and I’m continuing with 12 Monkeys season 1. And I intend to check out Kingdom. Quite a mix of genres there.

WHAT MUSIC ARE YOU LISTENING TO? I haven’t listened to that much music lately as I used to, but my routine for putting myself to sleep is to turn on MTV Rocks (or the Rock Alternative radio channel) on my TV, in low volume, program the sleep function for 2 hours, and go to bed. It works like a charm. I always have trouble falling asleep in silence. 

Other than that, I’ve been listening to a lot of Haelos since I first discovered them when I heard their song “Alone” in season 6 of The 100, and I’ve listened to othe songs from The 100 and Tree Adams’ soundtrack for season 3.

WHAT ARE YOU READING? Before all this, I borrowed 3 books from the American Corner library: Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and Beloved and Tea Obrecht’s The Tiger’s Wife.  I’m reading The Bluest Eye at the moment, but I’m also going to finally start reading GRRM’s Fire and Blood, which I had never found time for.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING FOR SELF-CARE? The usual stuff I do - a bit of exercise, nurturing bath once a week, regular skin care. But last week, I also had to make an effort to relax and try to lower my level of stress and blood pressure, thanks to something that happened last Sunday. 

Rant incoming....If you don’t want to read about my bad experience with the police and idiotic government measures, stop now.

Namely, the idiotic government of my country has imposed “measures” which are supposed to be against the spread of Coronavirus but mostly don’t make any sense - they are constantly extending curfew and changing the time of it, and have changed the times when dog owners are allowed to walk their dogs. At one point, it seemed like there was no allowed time for that in the evening or afternoon. You had to listen to the news all the time (and listening to news and the President’s speeches is one of the things that annoys me the most) to figure these things out. And the weekend before last was their first experiment in an extra-long 3 day curfew, which I wasn’t even aware of, when they actually had the police patrol and arrest people for just walking on their own (or, in one case, a young farmer in his tractor - two days after the minister of agriculture said on TV that farmers would be exempt from the curfew - they changed it). So I got manhandled, put in handcuffs and taken to the station for walking my dogs all on my own, with no one else around (which is endangering people and helping the spread of Corona - how exactly??!) where i had to sit for 2 hours while a cop was writing stuff down from the records, and about 60 other cops walked right by me, 10 of whom didn’t have masks, while 3 had but pulled them up/down, then in a police car with 3 other people they picked up - who can’t sit any further than half a meter from you as there’s not enough room, then about 1.5 hours more at the court, with a bunch of other people (and everyone was sitting right next to each other - I was the only one who was like “Nope” and stood a couple of meters away from the others), where they passed the judgment that I have to pay a fine of almost 450 EUR - the amount that’s prescribed for everyone. (And in Serbia, that’s about 1.5 of the minimum wage. I can pay my bills for 3 months from that amount.) Turns out, they arrested some 700-800 people that weekend, so I guess they’re gonna extort a lot of money from the people - if all of them are able to pay it within 15 days (which I doubt. I can withdraw the money from the bank, but I don’t think everyone can). My temperature, pulse and probably blood pressure went up immediately and took an entire week to come down - due to stress, a lot of anger and fear - I had my mask and gloves, but that was still the most close contact and exposure to a lot of other people, much more than I’ve had in weeks. I yelled and ranted and told them that they’re the ones putting others and themselves in danger of contracting Corona, and they probably knew I was right, but it makes no difference -  President Vučić is either an idiot who actually thinks the virus is lurking outside in the air to jump at people, but only during the hours he decides, or, more likely, he doesn’t care, but is a wannabe dictator who likes to act self-important and playact at imposing “strict but necessary measures”.

/end rant. Sorry about that. But that’s why I bought a temperature meter and blood pressure meter, because I was having high temperature, heart palpitations and pressure in my chest, which hasn’t happened to me in a long time (I was also starting to feel PMS, which added to it and didn’t help, but is normally nowhere near as bad when I’m not stressed out) so I needed a lot of self-care last week - which included tranquilizers, but mostly trying my best to relax and feel better. And I’m finally well now and close to how I was before the whole arrest idiocy.

Tagging @jeanie205 @kizo2703 @weareagentsofnothing @turtle-paced @wolfheartgirl @theatre-steph @selflessbellamy @mytly4 @katersann @linzzmorgan100 @immortalpramheda @iishallbelieve @misskittyspuffy @marshmallow-the-vampire-slayer @justbecauseyoubelievesomething @angearia @ladyofthefrostfangs - I know some of you have already been tagged, I’m sorry if you’ve already done it but I haven’t seen it, in which case I’look for it on your blog. Sorry to everyone I didn’t tag, too. 

[mexicaneurolover]

Eurovision 2016 my top 42

Hello and welcome to another episode of this ESC top series, as I go back to May 10, 12 and 14, 2016, when the 61st edition of the contest was held in Stockholm, Sweden, after Måns Zelmerlöw’s victory in Vienna last year. 42 countries took part, while Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Croatia returned to the contest, Portugal withdrew and Romania was disqualified because of a debt after they submitted a song. This year we saw the voting system change, now the jury votes and the televote are added separately to make the final result, and I must say this was a brilliant idea because it makes the contest way more exciting. The contest was won by Ukraine and Jamala with the song 1944, making this their second victory overall in the contest. Also this year is so special for me because it was the first year I saw the contest live in YouTube and it was the first one where I got involved with the fandom, and now this contest has a special place in my heart. And now, let’s review the songs in this amazing ESC year. 

1st Place: FRANCE/Amir-J’ai cherché (Real Placing: 6th-257 points) 

Oh sweet sweet Amir Hotdad, this song is perfect, I love him so much, and his voice is so beautiful, the music is amazing and the lyrics are perfect, and this was my winner back then and my love for this song grows with every listen because it’s very awesome, and it was so close for a top 5 result. YOUUUUUU 

2nd Place: UKRAINE/Jamala-1944 (Real Placing: 1st-534 points) 

At first I didn’t like this song, but it slowly and steady grew on me, and in the day of the second semifinal I fell in love with it, Jamala has such an amazing voice, the song is so sad, but powerful and the music is so perfect, and when it was the final I was thinking on a possible Ukrainian victory and it happened, and i was so happy for her, I think this is a 100% deserved winner and now I listen to Jamala in a daily basis because she’s so awesome. 

3rd Place: RUSSIA/Sergey Lazarev-You are the only one (Real Placing: 3rd-491 points) 

Another hot and handsome man, he’s like a dream... and the song IS SUCH AN AMAZING ONE, the music is epic, he has an amazing voice and the performance, THAT BLOODY PERFORMANCE IS PERFECT, I was rooting so hard for this one in 2016 and I was sad because he lost, despite winning the televote, I’m so in love with this song and I hope he returns for revenge. 

4th Place: ARMENIA/Iveta Mukuchyan-LoveWave (Real Placing: 7th-249 points)  

Another song that captured me when it was released, her voice is so stunning, she’s so beautiful, the music is very dark but it’s epic, and the performance is so perfect, I loved the lighting and the whole package is stunning. I also love the music before the chorus. Such a stunning entry. 

5th Place: BELGIUM/Laura Tesoro-What’s the pressure (Real Placing: 10th-181 points) 

Yeees this is a very good song as well, this always put a smile on my face, she has a lot of charisma, the music has a retro vibe which is lovely and her voice is so cool, also the performance is amazing and it’s perfect. I LOVE THIS SONG SO MUCH. 

6th Place: BULGARIA/Poli Genova-If love was a crime (Real Placing: 4th-307 points) 

POLIIIIII YOU’RE BACK, and with a very beautiful song, I love the music so much, her voice is stunning, she’s so cute and the message of the song is perfect, I always dance to this song and the chorus is so amazing, of course this was a powerful return, and what a result she had: a top 5 result, and I was so happy for her. 

7th Place: CZECH REPUBLIC/Gabriela Gunčíková-I stand (Real Placing: 25th-41 points) 

Awwww the first time they were in the final and they scored 0 points with the televote, which is a bit unfair because this is a very good ballad, she has an amazing voice, the performance was cute, maybe the number 2 position wasn’t the best idea for this song but still I like it so much, and I screamed when I saw they were going to the final. 

8th Place: MOLDOVA/Lidia Isac-Falling stars (Real Placing: 17th SF1-33 points)

I know this might be an unpopular opinion, but this is one of my guiltiest pleasures ever, I love the music, her voice is a bit flat but still is good, and the song is cute, maybe the performance was a bit boring, and this needed a brighter background, anyway this is a very good song and I love it so much. 

9th Place: AUSTRALIA/Dami Im-Sound of silence (Real Placing: 2nd-511 points) 

The runner up from the night, and I think it was a very good result for them, Dami’s voice is perfect, the performance was flawless, the song is so good, the music, the lyrics are fine and I was a bit shocked when I saw that she wasn’t going to win the whole thing. It would’ve been an amazing winner. 

10th Place: SPAIN/Barei-Say yay! (Real Placing: 22nd-77 points)  

Another song I can’t understand how it finished so low, the arena was on fire, the music is so good, she has an amazing voice and it’s a very catchy song, maybe the performance wasn’t the best one for this song, it was a bit lame, but still I always dance to this song and it’s one of Spain’s best recent entries. 

11th Place: AUSTRIA/Zoë-Loin d’ici (Real Placing: 13th-151 points)

I loved this song from the beginning, it has a French vibe that makes this so enjoyable, her voice is so sweet, the music is perfect, the staging was awesome and she looked like a princess on that stage. I was so happy when I saw her qualifying and getting in the televote top 10, a very deserved result. 

12th Place: GERMANY/Jamie-Lee-Ghost (Real Placing: 26th-11 points/last) 

Why this song came last in the final? I never saw it coming, the music is so mysterious, her voice was a bit shaky that night but I still think this entry is so good and deserved much more on the final, maybe her clothes were the problem here. 

13th Place: LATVIA/Justs-Heartbeat (Real Placing: 15th-132 points) 

So many hot guys this year, and Justs is not the exception, the song is so modern and perfect, the music is so amazing, his voice is so special, mostly in the chorus, the performance is amazing and I’m in love with his voice. I think this deserved a higher place on that night. 

14th Place: CYPRUS/Minus One-Alter ego (Real Placing: 21st-96 points) 

YEEEEES ROCK, this is a very powerful rock song, I love the main singer’s voice and he’s handsome, the performance is a bit weird, and full of light and cages, but still it’s according to the lyrics of the song, and I love the music so much, and I think I’ve heard this before somewhere, still I like this song so much. 

15th Place: BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA/Dalal & Deen feat. Ana Rucner and Jala-Ljubav je (Real Placing: 11th SF1-104 points) 

Seriously they couldn’t find a group name? This entry is pure epicness, and I fell in love with this song when it came out, and I thought they could be in the final, and I was shocked when they didn’t reach it. They sang it so well, the music is beautiful, maybe the problem here was the staging but this is a very good song. I think this song deserved so much the final.  

16th Place: ISRAEL/Hovi Star-Made of stars (Real Placing: 14th-135 points)

When this song came out I hated it so much, then the revamp came and this was miles better and it had a magical feeling to it, he has such a charming voice and the music is perfect, and I loved it when I saw the live performance, it was so beautiful and I was happy for him when he reached the final. A very beautiful song. 

17th Place: THE NETHERLANDS/Douwe Bob-Slow down (Real Placing: 11th-153 points) 

I love this entry because it has a country feeling to it and it’s very pleasant, his voice is so cool, the staging is so perfect for this song and he’s so cute on stage, that pause at the middle confused me so much but now I find it so lovely. Overall this entry is so good and I’m glad it finished so high on the night. 

18th Place: SERBIA/Sanja Vučić ZAA-Goodbye (Shelter) (Real Placing: 18th-115 points) 

Wow, the lyrics here are so strong, her voice is very good and the music inspires me so much, the only thing i didn’t like here was her dress, it was horrible, anyway this song is amazing and she defended it so well, and I thought she would’ve been top 10 because of that performance. 

19th Place: LITHUANIA/Donny Montell-I’ve been waiting for this night (Real Placing: 9th-200 points) 

Oh hey Donny, this song at first had me in a neutral status, but it grew slowly on me and I liked it so much at the end, and the fact he came 9th was so amazing because it was the second top 10 result for Lithuania, and his voice is as good as in 2012, and the performance is beautiful. 

20th Place: FYR MACEDONIA/Kaliopi-Dona (Real Placing: 11th SF2-88 points)

Queen Kaliopi is back, and sadly she didn’t reach the final that year, and it’s  a shame because the song is very good, it’s a very nice rock ballad and reminds me of the 80′s songs, her voice is as strong and powerful as she was in 2012, the staging wasn’t so good but she’s so stunning. She deserved so much more that night. 

21st Place: HUNGARY/Freddie-Pioneer (Real Placing: 19th-108 points) 

Hello handsome Freddie, this song is very very good, the music is so epic, his voice is raspy and I find it interesting, the performance is so powerful and he is amazing on stage, and I’m always distracted because he’s so handsome. 

22nd Place: ITALY/Francesca Michielin-No degree of separation (Real Placing: 16th-124 points)

Another lovely Italian song, her voice is so sweet, and she reminds me of Laura Pausini so much, the staging is so colorful, is like a garden on stage, the music is very lovely and yeah, I like this song, maybe the running order killed it a little. 

23rd Place: BELARUS/Ivan-Help you fly (Real Placing: 12th SF2-84 points) 

This song has a lot of power, and the music is the best part of this song, his voice is good and the performance is so cool, and when he said he was going to be naked surrounded by wolves I was like what? I like this song so much, it’s very nice. 

24th Place: NORWAY/Agnete-Icebreaker (Real Placing: 13th SF2-63 points)

The song with 3 songs in it, this is a very nice one, she has a nice voice and the music is so good, the performance is very icy and she looked so nervous on stage, and I was surprised when she didn’t reach the final, I was so convinced about it. 

25th Place: GREECE/Argo-Utopian land (Real Placing: 16th SF1-44 points)

This is historic, the first ever non qualification of Greece, and I can see why this failed to impress somebody, but I enjoy this song because it has a lot of Greek elements to it and they make this song so nice, it’s a guilty pleasure. Maybe they had a lot of confidence when they selected this song.  

26th Place: SAN MARINO/Serhat-I didn’t know (Real Placing: 12th SF1-68 points) 

Disco daddy Serhat is here bringing a nice song, I remember this was originally a ballad, but then the disco version came and this is epic, the music is so retro, his voice is so deep and causes me eargasms and he’s such a gentleman on stage. This is one of my biggest guilty pleasures, and the fact he was so high in the semi says something about this. 

27th Place: AZERBAIJAN/Samra-Miracle (Real Placing: 17th-117 points) 

This song is good, it’s very radio friendly, but I think it’s a bit dull and the performance was a bit disappointing, as well as her voice, she was a bit off key in the chorus, the music is powerful. This entry had a lot of potential, but it was a bit overshadowed for other pop songs that were better than this one. 

28th Place: UNITED KINGDOM/Joe & Jake-You’re not alone (Real Placing: 24th-62 points) 

This entry isn’t so bad, they sing okay, the music is lovely and it’s a cute song, but sadly this is a bit flat in a quite strong field of songs, still I think it’s a very good song and the performance is so nice. 

29th Place: CROATIA/Nina Krajlić-Lighthouse (Real Placing: 23rd-73 points) 

This song was one of my personal favorites before the contest, the music is beautiful, the lyrics are nice and it was so promising, but then the live version came with that horrible dress and a shaky voice so I can understand how this scored so badly in the night. 

30th Place: FINLAND/Sandhja-Sing it away (Real Placing: 15th SF1-51 points)  

Oh this song is very good, on studio, live it was a mess because she sang a bit off key, the music is so uplifting and the lyrics are so carefree. IMO the Finnish song that year should’ve been No Fear by Saara Aalto, but who knows the result she would’ve had. 

31st Place: GEORGIA/Nika Kocharov & Young Georgian Lolitaz-Midnight gold (Real Placing: 20th-104 points) 

When I saw the name of the group I was like “oh a Japanese themed band” but then I realized it wasn’t the case. This song is weird, but the best part of this one is the last part when everything is like psychedelic. Such an interesting choice. 

32nd Place: ALBANIA/Eneda Tarifa-Fairytale (Real Placing: 16th SF2-45 points) 

Speaking of ruined songs, this song when it was in Albanian and it was the FiK version it was very good, but the revamp came and it was a hot mess, the song lost it’s charm and the performance was so stiff, and I was sad about it because she has a strong voice. 

33rd Place: IRELAND/Nicky Byrne-Sunlight (Real Placing: 15th SF2-46 points)

When this song was released, it was my favorite song at that date, and I thought this had a chance of reaching the final, but then the live performance came and it was quite a mess, and that background was depressive. Still this is a very enjoyable song. 

34th Place: SLOVENIA/ManuElla-Blue and red (Real Placing: 14th SF2-57 points) 

This is like a Taylor Swift song, and she looks a lot like her, her voice is good and the music is pleasant, I must say that this song is nice but nothing special. Still the performance is very good and she knew how to defend her song. 

35th Place: SWITZERLAND/Rykka-The last of our kind (Real Placing: 18th SF2-28 points) 

This song is good, nothing out of the ordinary but I liked the NF performance more than the ESC performance, here she’s only doing squats throughout all the songs and it looked very cheap so I can understand how this song failed to impress somebody. 

36th Place: MALTA/Ira Losco-Walk on water (Real Placing: 12th-153 points)

This song is good, the music is nice and she has such a strong voice, sadly I find it a bit flat and boring at some point. I must admit that I liked Chameleon more than this song, and her 2002 entry was miles better than this song. 

37th Place: ICELAND/Greta Salóme-Hear them calling (Real Placing: 14th SF1-51 points)  

Another song I couldn’t understand the hype around it, the best thing of this song is the chorus, but at the same time almost all the song is the chorus repeated many many times in different ways, her voice is good and the performance was great, so I thought this would’ve reach the final, but it didn’t so I was kinda happy, still I don’t hate the song as I did back in 2016. 

38th Place: MONTENEGRO/Highway-The real thing (Real Placing: 13th SF1-60 points) 

Since the first time I listened to this entry, I never understood it, the music has a lot of changes that I always find hard to process, they aren’t bad singers but this song isn’t my cup of tea. 

39th Place: DENMARK/Lighthouse X-Soldiers of love (Real Placing: 17th SF2-34 points) 

Hmmmm, this song is nice but it’s a bit flat, and it’s a shame because this song had a lot of potential. The music is okay, it’s like a song from a 90′s boyband but they don’t sing so well. Also the performance was a bit of a letdown, which was a bit sad. 

40th Place: POLAND/Michał Szpak-Color of your life (Real Placing: 8th-229 points) 

Another song that many people like, but for me it’s a very boring song, his voice is nice, I love his jacket but still this isn’t very special for me, I try to like it but no, nothing happens. Also I was surprised when I saw the televote result, it was shocking. 

41st Place: ESTONIA/Jüri Pootsman-Play (Real Placing: 18th SF1-24 points)  

Ummmm this song isn’t my cup of tea but I thought it was going to be in the final, but when I saw that performance I was bored by it, the song isn’t so special, his voice is awesome but no, I don’t like this song like most of people do. 

42nd Place: SWEDEN/Frans-If I were sorry (Real Placing: 5th-261 points)

NO NO NO NO NO, this song isn’t good, he’s talking and it makes the song so boring, I thought this song wasn’t a top 10 contender and when I saw it finished 5th I was so angry. IMO one of the worst songs from Sweden, that years Mello had way better songs.