#lithuania flopped

[captainswanandclintasha]

Lithuania said "BABE WAKE UP" after the first two flops of the night

[escmemesandstuff]

Eurovision 2024: Fan Poll Comparison

A week leading to the final show of the 2024 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, let's look at the results of three major fan polls: OGAE, INFE, and Eurojury. Now, there are numerous polls held all over the internet throughout the season, but I consider these three the most "reliable" due to them not allowing voting for one's own home country. OGAE and INFE are long-running fanclubs, whereas the Eurojury vote consists of professional musicians from member countries and an online vote.

On the table below, I have compiled the final results according to each poll.

One factor that immediately stands out is the lack of one definite favourite to win. While last year, Sweden's victory was pretty much the obvious conclusion (which was also reflected by Loreen topping all these three polls), this year is clearly more open, with each poll having a different country on the top spot. Croatia turned out as the OGAE winner, INFE voters preferred Switzerland, and Italy emerged victorious after combining the jury and online votes of the Eurojury. That being said, none of those three countries could be considered a shock winner or unpopular favourite when looking at all three clubs' results, with all of them comfortably making it to the top five along with Belgium. The consistency continues with France, Ukraine, and Netherlands getting a top ten placing in all three polls; even Greece isn't in a bad place, as they only barely missed the top ten in the OGAE poll.

It gets more interesting when you look at where the polls' opinions differ more strongly. A striking example is Germany, who takes the all-too-familiar last place in the two fan club polls, yet earned the eight place in the combined Eurojury results; a placing largely thanks to the jury vote that placed the song fifth, even higher than the fan favourite Croatia (albeit only by two points). Serbia's lovely ballad, while not being what fans tend to gravitate towards, also earned a decent score in Eurojury and got tenth overall. In contrast, Austria and Lithuania got a significantly colder reception from Eurojury juries, raising the concerns of them ending up as flopping fan favourites.

When it comes to the "un-favourites" of the polls, all three agree on Poland and Azerbaijan being among the weakest final-worth entries, both ending on bottom five. Overall the first semifinal is clearly seen as the weaker one, with all bottom fives being dominated by semi 1 songs. When it comes to borderline qualifiers of the second semi, Armenia, Georgia, and Denmark aren't getting too much love from any camp. (On the other hand, Armenia did get a top ten result in the Eurojury jury vote - a bit surprising considering the general tendency of juries snubbing ethnic entries.) As for non-qualifiers, none of the polls would give a place in the final to Iceland, Moldova, Australia, Malta, Czechia, Albania, San Marino, or Latvia. Interestingly enough, Finland got a decent result in the INFE poll, getting 16th. Said poll seems to be fonder of "funny" entires, considering they also have Estonia following suit.

Could these polls give a hunch about the overall results? We should remember that the fan bubble can differ from the general public's taste, and the eventual live performances can have a huge impact towards either direction. That being said, Eurovision winners rarely come out of the blue, and if I had to pick a most likely winner based on multiple factors, it would be either Italy or Switzerland. However, the Eurojury jury winner France also stands a chance - you shouldn't underestimate the power of good-looking men singing romantic ballads, as we saw with Marco Mengoni last year - and despite all of the worries about Croatia flopping in the jury vote, their victory is still within possibility. And based on what we've seen, Ukraine is ready to deliver a magical performance that could very well touch the hearts of both viewers and jury members.

I might revisit this post after the contest and check how the polls compare to the actual results. Exciting times are ahead, for sure!

[paleangels13]

maybe I'm still salty about Germany getting last place so now you'll have to deal with the stats from this article by esc kompakt

Sorry, my English might be a bit wobbly here but we move

✨

Order of the countries on the lists (translation): Albania, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Greece, Island, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom

The jury vote:

Yes, lord of the lost really didn't do too well here BUT they only ended up on the last place in two countries... (Latvia & Malta) overall they are kinda in the lower middle I'd say, definitely didn't do so well but that was expected I guess (I am a little disappointed by Finland tho, shouldn't you like metal/rock guys? 😔)

Anyway on to the brighter side of this...

The televote:

Yes, yes, I know how the voting system for Eurovision works. Can we still talk about this?? The audience liked Lord of the Lost! Yes, they only got actual points from Switzerland, Austria and Finland, but looking at this the last place really wasn't deserved... Germany would be somewhere in the middle according to this and definitely not last place.

I know this happens often and it's due to the voting system but it bothers me, especially because Lord of the Lost are facing quite some backlash and hate since Eurovision for "embarrassing the country", "being a huge flop", "being shitty musicians", etc (oh and of course a bunch of homophobic comments as always and some other things that are so, so, SO wrong, I don't even wanna talk about it).

Anyway, rant over.

Last stats are the ranking Germany (and everyone else) would have had according to the numbers above and how it differs from the actual ranking during the show (Jury left, televote right; -x meaning being x ranks further down in the final's results (show) / +x meaning x ranks better in the final's results (show))

(translation left to right: country, mean value by rank, ranking/place by rank, ranking/place by points, difference)

[council-of-beetroot]

This might be one of my more sillier asks. But any headcanons on pets of your fave characters. E.g Poland's horses?

Since the one thing I can't deal with is animals dying i make them all immortal.

Ivan

Cat person but is fine with dogs

He sees dogs as useful but cats as more of pets

His cat is the type to just flop on people's faces

His cat doesn't care if Lithuania claims to dislike cats Russia's cat will still fall asleep on top of lithuania

Feliks

Feliks thinks he likes nature like Lithuania but he definitely is not

Large animals freak him out especially dogs

I could see him legitimately afraid of dogs.

I think an incident with an attack dog would definitely leave him fearful of dogs (Feliks i definitely see as one who has been on the run so I can see this hypothetically)

Definitely more of a cat person i mean obviously it's his motif to contrast Liet's dog motif

Poland's the type to randomly take home some random ass cat he finds in a dumpster ( I wrote a fic about this though)

He likes horses of course

He likes horses because he can interact and form a relationship with each individual horse.

Also he can braid their hair

They all have either dumb as heck names or have regular polish names that you'd name a person

He is probably better with dealing with horses than people. Horses he can figure out people are more complicated

He has winged hussar figurines on his desk that he plays with

Tolys

Definitely had horse themed toys as a small child (idk what toys they had from the 8-12 centuries ish but yeah) listen remember the Halloween episode and him and that toy horse?

Claims he hates cats... This is a lie.

Look at him and his doggo

I like the name Rūta for his dog

The one thing Liet and Gil can agree on definitely is dogs

Tolys will bring in any animal he finds that needs help

He knows what it's like for no one to be there in one's time of need so he wants to be there for these animals

[aijamisespava]

THE EUROVISION 2024 RANKING!

The time has finally come for me to rank the Eurovision songs we have this year. But before I do, I do want to make a couple of points because there are, I feel, a couple important comments that need to be made.

For one, you'll notice that I ranked only 35 countries while the list has 37 songs. There are 2 countries that should not be competing this year, and I decided not to include them in my ranking or any other posts I make here on Aijamisespava, especially as a heavily opinion-based platform. Second, this was a REALLY hard year to rank. So if you see a song ranked super low, it's not that I hate it (I don't really hate any of these songs), it's just I liked some more than others. And finally, I won't be providing explanations for my rankings quite yet. I have a fun 2023 vs. 2024 post for next week planned where I will explain things.

Ready? Set? Here are the first Aijamisespava Eurovision Rankings!

35. Finland: "No Rules!" by Windows95Man 34. Latvia: "Hollow" by Dons 33. Albania: "Titan" by Besa 32. Cyprus: "Liar" by Silia Kapsis 31. Ireland: "Doomsday Blue" by Bambie Thug 30. Luxembourg: "Fighter" by Tali 29. Sweden: "Unforgettable" by Marcus & Martinus 28. Netherlands: "Europapa" by Joost Klein 27. Austria: "We Will Rave" by Kaleen 26. Australia: "One Milkali (One Blood)" by Electric Fields 25. Iceland: "Scared Of Heights" by Hera Björk 24. Germany: "Always On The Run" by Isaak 23. Malta: "Loop" by Sarah Bonnici 22. Czechia: "Pedestal" by Aiko 21. Moldova: "In The Middle" by Natalia Barbu 20. United Kingdom: "Dizzy" by Olly Alexander 19. Spain: "Zorra" by Nebulossa 18. Greece: "Zari" by Marina Satti 17. Portugal: "Grito" by Iolanda 16. Armenia: "Jako" by Ladaniva 15. Estonia: "(Nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (küll) midagi" by 5MIINUST & PUULUUP 14. Italy: "La Noia" by Angelina Mango 13. Ukraine: "Teresa & Maria" by alyona alyona/Jerry Heil 12. Denmark: "Sand" by Saba 11. Switzerland: "The Code" by Nemo 10. France: "Mon Amour" by Slimane 9. Poland: "The Tower" by Luna 8. Lithuania: "Luktelk" by Silvester Belt 7. Georgia: "Firefighter" by Nusta 6. Slovenia: "Veronika" by Raiven 5. San Marino: "11:11" by Megara 4. Norway: "Ulveham" by Gåte 3. Croatia: "Rim Tim Tagi Dim" by Baby Lasagna 2. Serbia: "Ramonda" by Teya Dora 1. Belgium: "Before The Party's Over" by Mustii

Final Verdict: This year started off a tad underwhelming. Maybe this was my saltiness at my national final winners not winning. However, as I listened to some songs more and more, I started really liking a lot of the entries. And then the internally selected songs came out and I was utterly blown away by some of the songs we got. Was this a good year? Absolutely. I can't wait to see all these songs fight it all out in May! *oh yeah, may I note that my opinions may change? My winner has been flip flopping between Serbia and Belgium for a while and may continue to do so until the end of time*

Congrats to Belgium for winning my personal Eurovision so far, and scoring their 2nd victory in my rankings (having been my winner for 2015).

Okay, I'm gonna go now, bye!

[bettyg196]

Here we go again !

[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.

[calicoaidan]

Eurovision 2023 - the (pre-show) verdict!

So a few weeks back I fired my Eurovision takes for the first half of 2023's songs, it's time for round 2 with the full rankings from 1-37 down below!

Songs I adore from the second half: • Finland - Cha Cha Cha is purely a banger. It manages to be both aggressive and catchy with the staging just amplifying that. I don't have any more notes to offer, I just adore this. • Netherlands - Burning Daylight - With a lot of bands and general up-tempo stuff featuring this year, there's a window for a good ballad (strong emphasis on the word good) to catch the eye. Burning Daylight pulls it off, if the live version in Liverpool is this clean then we'll have a hit. • Sweden - Tattoo - I don't think this is as good as Euphoria and I'm a little dubious about how much of a bookies favourite it is, but jaysus the staging they used at Melodifestivalen looked so good. • Austria - Who the Hell is Edgar? - Fun with a deeper point, I worry that the point might be missed without some clever staging in Liverpool but I can see this being a hit post-Eurovision. • Germany - Blood and Glitter - Industrial Metal meets Eurovision in a way that just works, I really hope this gets a decent televote.

Songs I'm not so keen on: • Poland - It's bland, the national final performance was dreadful, and there's allegations that TVP (the Polish equivalent of the BBC) really tipped the scales in favour of this song. I'm not going to link to every song I dislike but have a gander, you be the judge. • UK - Sorry Mae, even with this song being put last in the running order (which typically helps for public voting), I just don't think the song itself will stand out (it's not an issue with the artist, I just don't think the tune works) - expecting a bottom 5 on Grand Final night. • Serbia - This has a lot of the fan love right now and it's unique, but I just get very little from it. Remember when Portugal sent Conan Osiris (who I loved) in 2019 and it flopped with the televote because the general public seemingly couldn't engage with it? I fear the same here, especially with it being the third song in semi-final 1 (which is an absolute bloodbath this year because of the overall song quality).

Anyhoo, enough of that...

It's ranking time!

Here's 11th to 37th in order: 11: Estonia 12: Greece 13: Iceland 14: Croatia 15: Ireland 16: Spain 17: Malta 18: Portugal 19: Latvia 20: Italy 21: Azerbaijan 22: France 23: Serbia 24: Ukraine 25: Switzerland 26: Norway (I know for a fact this will finish way higher, it just doesn't do anything for me personally) 27: Israel 28: United Kingdom 29: San Marino 30: Armenia 31: Moldova 32: Cyprus 33: Denmark 34: Albania 35: Georgia 36: Romania 37: Poland

I'll do the top 10 in reverse order:

10th (1 point) - Austria

9th (2 points) - Lithuania

8th (3 points) - Belgium

7th (4 points) - Sweden

6th (5 points) - Germany

5th (6 points) - Netherlands

4th (7 points) - Slovenia

3rd (8 points) - Australia

2nd (10 points) - Finland

1st (12 points) - Czechia

The whole top 10 is fantastic and no matter the way the semis break down, the Saturday night in Liverpool is going to be a great occasion.

The above is all subject to change as some folks will massively elevate their performance for the live shows while others struggle, but oh my - what a Eurovision we have to come!

If anyone has some face value tickets going, I'm all ears. 😅

[six-paths-of-jeanmarco]

OGAE Second Chance Contest 2023 (My Top)

inspired by @residentraccoon's post and this one video yt keeps recommending me even tho I haven't enjoyed the lame karaoke party they also happened to host the contest at that much

1 OLLIE - Venom (Estonia) - best song that hasn't been sent to Eurovision this year imo 2 Ulrikke - Honestly (Norway) - they should've went with this one if they really wanted a safe choice for the win 3 Jann - Gladiator (Poland) 4 RODAN - Introvert Party Club (Czechia) - very biased about this one; I mean, come on, it's the ultimate introvert party anthem 5 Vicco - Nochentera (Spain) 6 Lazza - CENERE (Italy) - I'm still surprised they haven't sent Il bene nel male instead giving how obsessed the fandom was with it 7 Filip Baloš - Novi plan drugi san (Serbia) 8 Ruta Mur - So Low (Lithuania) 9 Chérine - Ça M’Ennuie Pas (Belgium) 10 Elsa Lila - Evita (Albania) 11 Marcus & Martinus - Air (Sweden) - overrated tbh, Six Feet Under is so much better 12 Andreea D Folclor Orchestra - Perinița mea (Romania) - typical Romanian wedding song and I happen to hate weddings but this grew on me way more than I want to admit lol; genuinely wondering if they would've flopped just as hard as D.G.T. or it would've been the most unexpected dark horse of the year, had it been sent to Eurovision instead 13 KUUMAA - Ylivoimainen (Finland) 14 Jerry Heil - When God Shut The Door (Ukraine) 15 Will Church - Hold On (Germany) 16 Ryan Hilli - In The Silence (Malta) 17 CONNOLLY - Midnight Summer Night (Ireland) - still weirded out by the moves she made in the middle of the performance; no seriously, was she feeling good or 18 Harmonija disonance - Nevera (Lei, lei) (Croatia) 19 SunStroke Project - Yummy Mommy (Moldova) - I like the beat and that's kinda it; very disappointing compared to their other entries and tbh Du-mă would've been a much better entry 20 Edmundo Inácio - A Festa (Portugal) 21 24.Avenija - You Said (Latvia) 22 Langi Seli og Skuggarnir - OK (Iceland) 23 EYJAA - I Was Gonna Marry Him (Denmark) - not a fan of the lyrics in the least, just wait for the guy to come back or go with him lmaooo; they should've sent Freedom instead imo

[maester-of-spreadsheets]

someone give that yuletide fic a reflection post!

I've never really done one of these Yuletide reflection posts before, but this year I have SO MUCH TO SAY OMG that I'm making one of these to get it out of my system.

So I wrote this fic with Subwoolfer fans basically trying to bend time and space to win Eurovision. Because whomst among us has not wanted to do that for a Eurovision fave at some point? (Eurovision juries turn on your location I just want to chat about the scores you gave Keiino) Except longterm subcubs are also space wolves (probably?) so they don't quite get it right.

I will ramble about the music aspects about this fic, but I also do want to talk about the writing parts! Basically I'm actually... a relative newcomer to Eurovision. I'm an American who started tuning in in 2018, but I really got on board last year when 2021 was so freaking fun and culminated in one of my actual faves that year winning! This somehow translated in me keeping up with the 2022 contest from early on... I think I started following along when Lithuania's song was announced and never quite let up. There's a lot of downtime in between Eurovision events, though, so I also became obsessed with Eurovision data vids. The ones like "biggest flop between semifinals and the final" or "songs with biggest differences between jury and public vote" (again, justice for Keiino.) This had me backtracking into Eurovision history a LOT over the spring and retroactively falling in love with a lot of different songs/moments.

Then, of course, 2022 Eurovision itself also had a lot of meme worth moments. Like the broken kinetic sun fiasco absolutely killed me. But there's a whole Eurovision 2022 iceberg meme that nailed the chaotic vibes of that contest in general.

So basically the writing of the fic was an attempt at a loving/joking synthesis of my times in music related fandoms in general, but also everything I'd absorbed in Eurovision fandom in particular. (And yes the author note about needing a VPN was a joke about how I have to use one to watch any of the performances on youtube.)

As for the music aspects of the fic... So, I've wanted to get into music editing/remixing/production etc for years now but kept getting cold feet about it. Eurovision this year was actually the thing that pushed me to finally go ahead and just do it. And I'm so glad it did! It also meant it felt appropriate to actually work on some music for this assignment.

I mostly only have things to say about the two full remixes.

First the bardcore cover. So, this one most involved just finding piano sheet music and then painstakingly programming the notes into midi files on my DAW. I quickly found out that just recreating those exact notes wasn't going to cut it, though. First the chorus... In the vocals, it's pretty much just a repetition of the same note over and over. That's fine in the original song because the point of the chorus is the intense beat drop. You don't really have that going for you in bardcore, though, so I spent a lot of time yeeting the vocal notes around... across octaves, across different stringed instruments, etc. I also put in a lot of movement in the instruments functioning as the bassline to create more interest.

Although, regarding the beat drop... I also spent an embarassing amount of time trying to reverse engineer what was going on with the drum beats in the song and reflect hem in the drums I had in this. There definitely came a point one night where I was giggling to myself over looping the second chorus over and over and over to try and figure out whether the drumming was different from the first chorus and if so how? and how do I reflect that?

And of course the final chorus does stuff with instruments that's really... not bardcore at all. The string instruments there sound more like orchestras from centuries and centuries later.

But, hey, these remixes were made by space wolves. They can't get everything right!

The lofi beats mix was almost the opposite experience. Instead of meticulously recreating the song, here I was basically... scrapping it (and several others) for parts and seeing how many times I could use the same small melody in different ways. This was because all of Subwoolfer's songs get incredibly bombastic early on and never let up. I'm not yet skilled enough at getting stems to, say, pull out of just a synth from one of the loud parts and slow it down. Limitations can be fun, though, and I definitely had a great time exploring these snippets of the songs from different angles.

It did make me a bit sad I really couldn't find a way to incorporate Grace Kelly or especially Turin. I say especially Turin because of the line "we're here to win that Eurovision/but with a broken kinetic sun it might tough." But then I was able to use audioclips from those in the mix, so that was something, haha!

Probably the most bonkers thing I did was isolate audio of Subwoolfer dropping those plastic balls with questions in them, and then using them as audio texturing for the lofi remix haha.

Okay, that's probably enough rambling from me! So, yes, tl;dr I got a fantastic assignment this year and had a lot of fun working on it.

[icefirewolfdragon]

My thoughts on ESC 2023

Austria: Edgar Allen Poe Poe Poe Poe Portugal: This is fun Switzerland: Should have been a rock song Poland: Not my style and we don’t need dance breaks Serbia: Vampire Techno Neon Genesis Evangelion France: Elle est le tour Eiffel Cyprus: Wolf wannabe Spain: Different Sweden: Euphoria was better Albania: The Albanian Family (but her brother looks like he’d rather be elsewhere) Italy: A ballad? How original. Trampolining to a ballad? Interesting choice Estonia: Haunted piano but alas… another ballad Finland: This is Eurovision. Fun. Crazy. So out there you don’t need a there. Czechia: Lots of pink and lots of hair Australia: I really like this. Love a good bit of rock Belgium: So upbeat and fun and lively Armenia: Ariana Grande wannabe (and, once again, we don’t need dance breaks) Moldova: EPIC FLUTE GUY. Really enjoyed this Ukraine: Matrix style Norway: I like this. Reminds me of some stuff I listen too just more electronic Germany: YES! I need my full-on rock metal act!! Lithuania: Nice song Israel: Another Ariana Grande wannabe… and yet another unnecessary dance break Slovenia: Looks like they fell out the 60s. Sounds like a pop punk group. Not complaining Croatia: I am so glad this made the final! It is perfect Eurovision! United Kingdom: I once again apologise. We are ending with a flop. I am so sorry.

[no-gays-in-russia]

Some ESC 2023 predictions

Since my predictions for last year were a fiasco (I predicted Spain flopping oops), I’m keeping myself more generic this year. Let’s see if my aim has gotten better.

NOTE: this doesn’t reflect my personal opinion on the songs (the potential winners aren’t necessarily my favourites, I don’t necessarily dislike the potential flops etc.), but just how I predict the outcome of the competition will be. Also note that I am an idiot and my opinion doesn’t count for shit so no reason to get pressed over it lmao.

POTENTIAL WINNERS: Sweden or Spain

TELEVOTE SMASHERS: Finland, Norway, Croatia, Austria

JURY VOTE SMASHERS: Sweden, Spain, Estonia

POTENTIAL DARK HORSES: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Croatia, Portugal, Slovenia

POTENTIAL FLOPS: Norway, UK, Israel, Czechia, Armenia, Georgia

POTENTIAL SURPRISE NON-QUALIFIERS: Israel, Armenia, Georgia

POTENTIAL SURPRISE QUALIFIERS: Poland, Belgium, Denmark, Latvia

DEAD LAST PLACE CONTENDERS: Azerbaijan, San Marino

MY PREDICTION FOR LAST PLACE IN THE FINAL: Belgium or Poland

MY PREDICTED TOP 10 (IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER): Sweden, Spain, Finland, Norway, Austria, Czechia, Estonia, Croatia, Serbia, France

[glittery-ishfish]

Fanmade "Having Friends Is Nice...♫" translation

(Feel free to use as long as credit is given)

日本語

「本当に気の許せる友達　かぁ～

いいなぁ僕あこがれるなぁ♪」

ほしいな　ほしいな　本当のお友達ほしいなぁ

友達が出来たなら暖かい草原で寝転んで

ゴロンゴロンゴロンゴロンってして遊ぶんだ☆

「うふふ♪」

どうしたら　どうしたら友達って出来るのかな

[♪♪♪]

ほしいな　ほしいな　本当のお友達ほしいなぁ

友達と一緒ならコサックダンスも楽しいよ

ポコッポコッポコポコリンってしちゃうんだ☆

「わざとじゃないよぉ？」

どうしたら　どうしたら友達って出来るのかな

「皆が笑いあって、皆が、許しあって。

ホカホカのボルシチを熱いねぇ〜って食べたら

圧力とか、プチッ!とかしなくても

ずっとずっと手を繋いでいられるかなぁ〜？」

友達が出来たんだ

こんなにたくさん出来たんだ

リトアニア　エストニア　ラトビア　仲良しだよ

（リトアニア　エストニア　ラトビアー♪）

ほしいな　ほしいな　もっともっとお友達

ん～

ほしいな　ほしいな　本当のお友達♪

うふっ♪

Romaji

“Hontōni ki no yuruseru tomodachi, kā~ 

ī nā boku akogareru nā♪”

Hoshī na hoshī na

Hontō no o tomodachi hoshī na

Tomodachi ga dekita nara 

Attakai sō gen de nekoron de-

Goron goron goron goron tte shite 

Asobu nda~a ☆ 

Ufufu~

Dōshitara, dōshitara

Tomodachi tte dekiru no ka na? 

[♪♪♪]

Hoshī na hoshī na 

Hontō no o tomodachi hoshii na

Tomodachi to issho nara 

KOSAKKU DANSU mo tanoshī yo 

Poko poko, poko pokorin tte 

Shichau nda~a ☆

“Wazato janai yo~?”

Dōshitara dōshitara 

Tomodachi tte dekiru no ka na? 

“Min'na ga warai atte, min'na ga yurushi atte

Hokahoka no BORUSHICHI o atsui nē tte tabetara

Atsuryoku toka puchi toka shinakute mo,

Zutto zutto te wo tsunaide irareru ka nā…?”

Tomodachi de kita nda

Kon'na ni takusan de kita nda

RITOANIA ESUTONIA RATOBIA

Nakayoshi da yo ☆ 

(RITOANIA ESUTONIA RATOBIA~♪)

Hoshī na hoshī na 

Motto motto o tomodachi 

Mm~♪

Hoshī na hoshī na 

Hontō no o tomodachi♪

Ufu♪

English

"A true friend I can trust? Ka~ 

That sounds nice, I'd love to have [someone like] that~!"

I really want, I really want

More than anything else in the world, I want a real friend

If I made friends, 

we'd lie down in a warm meadow.

Falling back, with a flop, we’d lie back

and hang out all day☆

Ufufu~♪

I wonder how, I wonder how

How can I find myself some friends?

[♪♪♪]

I really want, I really want

More than anything else in the world, I want a real friend

If I had some friends

Cossack dancing would be more fun

Here, and there, and here, and there

And around again☆

“I didn’t do that on purpose, okay~?”

I wonder how, I wonder how

How can I find myself some friends?

"If everyone laughed together, if everyone forgave each other

Then we could all eat hot borscht together.

I wonder if then, without any pressure or breaking, 

could we hold hands forever and ever…?”

(T/N: 'pressure' as in his (terrible) methods of getting others to spend time with him and 'breaking' as in breaking someone's hand, or could imply hurting someone on accident)

I finally found some new friends

I have found so many wonderful friends!

Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia

Are my close good friends☆

(Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia~)

I really want, I really want

I want to find more and more friends

Hmm~♪

I really want, I really want

All I really want is a true friend♪

Ufu♪

[brookston]

Holidays 5.31

Holidays

American Copyright Day

Barter Black Day

Bicycle Race Day

Big Ben Day

Brothers & Sisters Day (EU)

Castile-La Mancha Day (a.k.a. Dia de Castilla la Mancha; Spain)

Covfefe Day

Flores de Mayo (Philippines)

Gawai Dayak begins (Dayaks in Indonesia, Malaysia)

International Blondes Day

International Enjoy a Cigar Day

International Flight Attendant Day

Jumatul Bidah (Bangladesh)

Jumat-ul Wida (India, UK)

Lady Godiva Day

London History Day (UK)

“Make My Day” Day

Mike the Headless Chicken Festival begins (Fruita, Colorado) [Ends 6.1]

National Autonomous Vehicle Day

National Dam Safety Awareness Day

National Fisherfolks Day (Philippines)

National Flip Flop Day

National Foster Parent Appreciation Day

National Meditation Day

National Smile Day

National Utah Day

Necrotizing Fasciitis Awareness Day

Rabbit Rabbit Day [Last Day of Every Month]

Reconciliation Day (Australia)

Red Shirt Day of Action for AccessAbility & Inclusion (Canada)

Royal Brunei Malay Regiment Day (Brunei)

Russian Advocates’ Day (Russia)

Save Your Hearing Day

Speak In Complete Sentences Day

Take This Job and Shove It Day

Tulsa Race Massacre Anniversary Day

Web Designer Day

What You Think Upon Grows Day

White Stork Day (Poland)

World Foster Day

World Meditation Day (UK)

World No Tobacco Day (UN)

World Parrot Day

Woundwort Day (French Republic)

Food & Drink Celebrations

Beer Judge Day

World Macaroon Day

4th & Last Wednesday in May

National Senior Health & Fitness Day [Last Wednesday]

World MS (Multiple Sclerosis) Day [Last Wednesday]

World Otter Day [Last Wednesday]

Independence Days

South Africa (Union of South Africa declared, 1910; Republic of South Africa declared, 1961)

Feast Days

Basketball (Muppetism)

Camilla Battista da Varano (Christian; Saint)

Cantius and Cantianus, and Cantianilla (Christian; Sibling Martyrs)

Desecration Day (Church of the SubGenius)

Ellsworth Kelly (Artology)

Genevieve of Paris (Positivist; Saint)

Hermias (Christian; Saint)

Insect Appreciation Day (Pastafarian)

Petronella (Christian; Saint)

Syaday (Discordian)

Stella Maris Day (Pagan)

Visitation of Mary (Western Christianity)

Walter Sickert (Artology)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Fortunate Day (Pagan) [20 of 53]

Prime Number Day: 151 [36 of 72]

Sakimake (先負 Japan) [Bad luck in the morning, good luck in the afternoon.]

Premieres

Back to Bataan (Film; 1945)

The Brave Little Toaster (Animated Film; 1989)

Discovery, by Electric Light Orchestra (Album; 1979)

Dragonheart (Film; 1996)

Eye of the Tiger, by Survivor (Song; 1982)

Fletch (Film; 1985)

Godzilla: King of the Monsters (Film; 2019)

Good Girl Gone Bad, by Rihanna (Album; 2007)

Good Omens (UK TV Series; 2019)

Got To Get You Into My Life, by The Beatles (Song; 1976)

Man in Black, by Johnny Cash (Album; 1970)

The Muppet Movie (UK Film; 1979)

Now, Hare This (WB LT Cartoon; 1958)

Now You See Me (Film; 2013)

Overload, by Arthur Haley (Novel; 1979)

Peppa Pig (Animated TV Series; 2004)

Rocketman (Film; 2019)

Soapdish (Film; 1991)

The Sum of All Fears (Film; 2002)

The Sum of All Fears (Film; 2002)

Undercover Brother (Film; 2002)

Today’s Name Days

Helma, Mechthild, Petra (Austria)

Krunoslava, Marija, Petronila, Vladimir (Croatia)

Kamila (Czech Republic)

Petronella (Denmark)

Elga, Helga, Helge, Helgi, Helja, Helje, Heljo, Helju, Olga, Olli (Estonia)

Helga, Helka (Finland)

Pétronille (France)

Helma, Mechthild, Petra (Germany)

Eremitas, Magos (Greece)

Angéla, Petronella (Hungary)

Felice, Ferdinando, Giovanni (Italy)

Alīda, Jusma, Jusmins (Latvia)

Anelė, Angelė, Gintautas, Petronėlė, Rimvilė (Lithuania)

Pernille, Preben (Norway)

Aniela, Bożysława, Ernesta, Ernestyna, Feliks, Petronela, Petronia, Petroniusz, Teodor (Poland)

Ermie (România)

Alexandra, Faina, Julia (Russia)

Petrana, Petronela (Slovakia)

Petronila, Visitación (Spain)

Pernilla, Petronella (Sweden)

Petrina, Petronella, Petrunia (Ukraine)

Camilia, Camilla, Camille, Petra, Petronella, Pier (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 151 of 2024; 214 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 3 of week 22 of 2023

Celtic Tree Calendar: Huath (Hawthorn) [Day 17 of 28]

Chinese: Month 4 (Ding-Si), Day 13 (Ji-Chou)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 11 Sivan 5783

Islamic: 11 Dhu al-Qada 1444

J Cal: 1 Sol; Oneday [1 of 30]

Julian: 18 May 2023

Moon: 86%: Waxing Gibbous

Positivist: 11 St. Paul (6th Month) [Genevieve of Paris]

Runic Half Month: Odal (Home, Possession) [Day 6 of 15]

Season: Spring (Day 72 of 90)

Zodiac: Gemini (Day 10 of 32)

Calendar Changes

Sol (J Calendar) [Month 6 of 12]

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 5.31

Holidays

American Copyright Day

Barter Black Day

Bicycle Race Day

Big Ben Day

Brothers & Sisters Day (EU)

Castile-La Mancha Day (a.k.a. Dia de Castilla la Mancha; Spain)

Covfefe Day

Flores de Mayo (Philippines)

Gawai Dayak begins (Dayaks in Indonesia, Malaysia)

International Blondes Day

International Enjoy a Cigar Day

International Flight Attendant Day

Jumatul Bidah (Bangladesh)

Jumat-ul Wida (India, UK)

Lady Godiva Day

London History Day (UK)

“Make My Day” Day

Mike the Headless Chicken Festival begins (Fruita, Colorado) [Ends 6.1]

National Autonomous Vehicle Day

National Dam Safety Awareness Day

National Fisherfolks Day (Philippines)

National Flip Flop Day

National Foster Parent Appreciation Day

National Meditation Day

National Smile Day

National Utah Day

Necrotizing Fasciitis Awareness Day

Rabbit Rabbit Day [Last Day of Every Month]

Reconciliation Day (Australia)

Red Shirt Day of Action for AccessAbility & Inclusion (Canada)

Royal Brunei Malay Regiment Day (Brunei)

Russian Advocates’ Day (Russia)

Save Your Hearing Day

Speak In Complete Sentences Day

Take This Job and Shove It Day

Tulsa Race Massacre Anniversary Day

Web Designer Day

What You Think Upon Grows Day

White Stork Day (Poland)

World Foster Day

World Meditation Day (UK)

World No Tobacco Day (UN)

World Parrot Day

Woundwort Day (French Republic)

Food & Drink Celebrations

Beer Judge Day

World Macaroon Day

4th & Last Wednesday in May

National Senior Health & Fitness Day [Last Wednesday]

World MS (Multiple Sclerosis) Day [Last Wednesday]

World Otter Day [Last Wednesday]

Independence Days

South Africa (Union of South Africa declared, 1910; Republic of South Africa declared, 1961)

Feast Days

Basketball (Muppetism)

Camilla Battista da Varano (Christian; Saint)

Cantius and Cantianus, and Cantianilla (Christian; Sibling Martyrs)

Desecration Day (Church of the SubGenius)

Ellsworth Kelly (Artology)

Genevieve of Paris (Positivist; Saint)

Hermias (Christian; Saint)

Insect Appreciation Day (Pastafarian)

Petronella (Christian; Saint)

Syaday (Discordian)

Stella Maris Day (Pagan)

Visitation of Mary (Western Christianity)

Walter Sickert (Artology)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Fortunate Day (Pagan) [20 of 53]

Prime Number Day: 151 [36 of 72]

Sakimake (先負 Japan) [Bad luck in the morning, good luck in the afternoon.]

Premieres

Back to Bataan (Film; 1945)

The Brave Little Toaster (Animated Film; 1989)

Discovery, by Electric Light Orchestra (Album; 1979)

Dragonheart (Film; 1996)

Eye of the Tiger, by Survivor (Song; 1982)

Fletch (Film; 1985)

Godzilla: King of the Monsters (Film; 2019)

Good Girl Gone Bad, by Rihanna (Album; 2007)

Good Omens (UK TV Series; 2019)

Got To Get You Into My Life, by The Beatles (Song; 1976)

Man in Black, by Johnny Cash (Album; 1970)

The Muppet Movie (UK Film; 1979)

Now, Hare This (WB LT Cartoon; 1958)

Now You See Me (Film; 2013)

Overload, by Arthur Haley (Novel; 1979)

Peppa Pig (Animated TV Series; 2004)

Rocketman (Film; 2019)

Soapdish (Film; 1991)

The Sum of All Fears (Film; 2002)

The Sum of All Fears (Film; 2002)

Undercover Brother (Film; 2002)

Today’s Name Days

Helma, Mechthild, Petra (Austria)

Krunoslava, Marija, Petronila, Vladimir (Croatia)

Kamila (Czech Republic)

Petronella (Denmark)

Elga, Helga, Helge, Helgi, Helja, Helje, Heljo, Helju, Olga, Olli (Estonia)

Helga, Helka (Finland)

Pétronille (France)

Helma, Mechthild, Petra (Germany)

Eremitas, Magos (Greece)

Angéla, Petronella (Hungary)

Felice, Ferdinando, Giovanni (Italy)

Alīda, Jusma, Jusmins (Latvia)

Anelė, Angelė, Gintautas, Petronėlė, Rimvilė (Lithuania)

Pernille, Preben (Norway)

Aniela, Bożysława, Ernesta, Ernestyna, Feliks, Petronela, Petronia, Petroniusz, Teodor (Poland)

Ermie (România)

Alexandra, Faina, Julia (Russia)

Petrana, Petronela (Slovakia)

Petronila, Visitación (Spain)

Pernilla, Petronella (Sweden)

Petrina, Petronella, Petrunia (Ukraine)

Camilia, Camilla, Camille, Petra, Petronella, Pier (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 151 of 2024; 214 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 3 of week 22 of 2023

Celtic Tree Calendar: Huath (Hawthorn) [Day 17 of 28]

Chinese: Month 4 (Ding-Si), Day 13 (Ji-Chou)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 11 Sivan 5783

Islamic: 11 Dhu al-Qada 1444

J Cal: 1 Sol; Oneday [1 of 30]

Julian: 18 May 2023

Moon: 86%: Waxing Gibbous

Positivist: 11 St. Paul (6th Month) [Genevieve of Paris]

Runic Half Month: Odal (Home, Possession) [Day 6 of 15]

Season: Spring (Day 72 of 90)

Zodiac: Gemini (Day 10 of 32)

Calendar Changes

Sol (J Calendar) [Month 6 of 12]

[aijamisespava]

My Eurovision 2024 Unpopular (?) Opinions

Hello everyone! And welcome to what's probably an anticipated post (which could get long), the part of the season where I put together my unpopular opinions (which could be popular, but also may be hot takes) and share them for y'all to disagree (or agree) with me passionately!

To begin, I have a couple of disclaimers. For one, I'm going to try and stay positive, but there is at least one that is going to sound negative (which I will get out of the way first). And second, I noticed that while I have a couple of opinions about the Eurovision songs, this may lean more toward National Final territory as I have some opinions about that. So let's get to it!

*The Negative One*: I didn't get the hype for "My AI" or "KABOOM!!!!" - As I was listening through the national final songs and looking at other people's rankings, one BIG contrast is that I would have ranked the two songs mentioned lower than others have. I don't know what it was, but those songs were not for me. However, I'm glad that people did like them.

Serbia NF: "Duga je noć" > "Novi Plan Drugi San" - Don't get me wrong, I liked NPDS (Filip Baloš' NF song last year). It's a very catchy bop that made #33 on my Wrapped last year. But I don't know what it is but I really REALLY liked Duga je noć. As in it was flip-flopping with "Ramonda" for my top spot in this year's NF ranking. Was it the hype I was feeling that Filip was going to give us another banger this year? I doubt it because the effects would have worn off by now and it...hasn't. Come to think of it, I also liked Konstrakta's song AND Zorja's song this year more than their previous songs...

I...don't think Croatia's going to win. As much as I've caught onto the "Rim Tim Tagi Dim" hype and would not be opposed to Baby Lasagna winning in May, I'm not entirely sure if that's going to happen. I'm just really worried about how the juries are going to treat him. Especially with a few jury friendly songs potentially in the mix. I see him getting a good finish though, maybe even getting close to or surpassing Croatia's best finish (with some help from televoting!).

San Marino SLAPPED this year! If you read my first impression of San Marino's song this year, you may have seen this coming. While I am worried about their qualification chances, even understanding that they may not qualify, I'm not letting that rain on the fact that I LOVE "11:11." The song is chaotic in the best way possible, and I also just love the rock elements!

"The Tower" > "Witch-er Tarohoro" - Okay, now I've heard both of them and feel I should add this. The Tower just clicked with me more, although both songs would have great staging potential either way. *side note: this was an internal selection...and we were still ticked about it...? just something I wanted to get off my chest thank you moving on*

Spain had the best NF. While I can see arguments for a few other countries, I'm still set on Spain having the best National Final this year. I liked all the songs, and even if my least favorite won, I would still be like "ooh yes that's a good one!" Basically, if someone played the Benidorm Fest playlist when handed the aux cord, I'd let them play!

Semi Final 2 is the bloodbath. This probably toddles the line between unpopular opinion and not, but there are so many great songs that were put in Semi Final 2. I mean we have Switzerland, Austria, Greece, Belgium, Estonia, Norway, Netherlands, Armenia, Denmark, along with others that I've seen ranked higher than others. Someone in that list is going to shock NQ, and we will likely be talking about that on May 9 after the Second Semi is done. Of the hard-hitters in Semi Final 1, we have Croatia, Slovenia, Finland, Lithuania, Ukraine, Serbia, and Ireland. We may have a shock Q in that list (are these lists biased? Maybe a little. Apologies...).

As for my Shock NQ and Shock Q: I feel like the shock Q will be...Moldova. I just have a gut feeling about that one. I would say Luxembourg here, but I have the feeling people are going to be voting HARD for "Fighter" to welcome them back (which isn't a bad thing at all!). My Shock NQ is...Denmark. It pains me to say it as I like "Sand," but being right after "We Will Rave" which is a fan favorite, and then the super fun piece "Jako" coming right after, I worry that it could get lost in the mix. I've seen people worried about Estonia for some odd reason, but I don't see it. The only thing that could hinder their chances is going after "Before The Party's Over" (which reverse situation for why I'm worried about Belgium NQ'ing). IMO, both songs will qualify rather safely.

For my final one (9 is my lucky number): This year is ranking really high in my list of Eurovision years...like 2015 close. For those new here, 2015 is my favorite Eurovision year. I liked all the songs, even down to my least favorite. And funny enough, Belgium was also my winner that year, which then led to Belgium's representative becoming one of my favorite artists (if anyone has any Mustii song recs PLEASE DROP THEM! I heard "It's Happening Now" and am welcome to dive deeper!)! This year is so stacked with great songs where I could probably come up with a nice thing to say about each entry! Maybe I should try that sometime...