Lilac Colored Glasses

So I forgot to tell you yesterday but CB’s computer died Monday night.

We’re not sure what’s wrong yet, but it doesn’t start up and this computer, the only one between us, is not super new or even moderately new. Since CB often works from home and is also still working on his doctorate and I am now working 4 days a week and am rarely home during the day this computer is sort of defaulting to CB until we’re able to afford a new one or able to get the other one fixed.

Sadly, my ability to upload digital pictures died along with CB’s computer so I won’t be able to participate in Jientje’s “A Thousand Words in Idioms” for a while, but I hope some of you do. It’s a really fun meme. I have pictures sitting on my memory card for this week and when we do get a new/fixed computer I’ll be sure to catch myself up.

In the meantime, I have what some of you have been waiting for (except for Goofball, who was watching “Mijn Restaurant“): our picks and pans from the first Eurovision semi-final! After 8 hours of house cleaning, two buses, a tram, my biweekly maatschapelijke orientatie class and a bike ride home, I sat down with CB(who had dutifully taped the show on the DVR) and recorded our reactions to each of the 18 songs showcased in the first semi-final. Embedding them all here would be a pain in the ass, but I’ll link to the videos and you can watch whichever ones you like.

1. Montenegro
   - Disco lives in Montenegro! And it’s very, very horny.
2. Czech Republic
   -Super Mario and Captain Marvel had a love child…and it’s doing a bad Borat impression.
3. Belgium
   -You could tell Patrick had a cold.
4. Belarus
   -These guys have been watching waaaay too many Monster Ballad infomercials.
   -Is that chick naked under that sheet? And is she holding sticks?
5. Sweden
   -CB’s comment was “ABBA goes Pet Shop Boys” and “her dress looks like a jelly fish”
   -I say pop-opera can only work in The 5th Element. They need to pick one or the other.
6. Armenia
   -Egyptian goth
7. Andorra
   -CB says they should have spent an hour teaching the girls how to pretend to play the guitar.
   -I don’t think they could afford fake guitar lessons…they couldn’t even afford costumes.
8. Switzerland
   -GooGoo Doll wannabes…they tried waaay too hard to be cool.
9. Turkey
   -Hadise doesn’t have a stellar voice to begin with, but it was really lacking for her performance. I liked the costumes though…very cool despite the magenta.
10. Israel
    - Themessage was good (unlike their song “Push the Button” a few years back, but their voices just didn’t blend well, and that’s sort of important in a duet.
11. Bulgaria
    -It’s like Conan meets the Legend of Zelda. On stilts!
    -Said CB? “Woah. Her hair.”
12. Iceland
    -CB says this is classic Eurovision style and we both thought it was a very pretty, very nice song and performance. I think the fact that Iceland was able to afford costumes and enough plane tickets to send the whole group is a miracle in and of itself.
13. Macedonia
    -When they opened, we started laughing. Then CB told me I really should have a drink because his beer was making the whole thing much funnier. After a minute or so though, we realized the song itself actually had a decent sound.
14. Romania
    -Pretty costumes but not enough of an instrumental section.
15. Finland
    -CB called this Eminem meets New Beat. I call it further proof that white people shouldn’t rap. And what the hell is up with the fire jugglers?
16. Portugal
    -CB really liked her voice, which I also thought was very nice. The music was really fun and they get extra props for working an accordion in there.
17. Malta
    -The song was written by a Belgian. We thought the singer had a unique voice and presence.
18. Bosnia-Herzegovina
    -The music was okay but it was more theater than song…would’ve fit well in Les Mis.

So, there you have it. Our picks and pans from Tuesday’s semi. The ten countries in green are the ones from this round that are moving on to the final. We’ll be watching tomorrow night for the other half of the competitors and I’ll try to get a review in there for you too.

It’s Eurovision time!
Woohoo!
Unlike most Europeans, I’m not yet jaded by this competition so I still get extreme amusement from watching the different videos and wondering who’ll win. The first round of semi-finals will be tomorrow night, the second is Thursday night and the final is Saturday. I’m pretty sure you can catch the final via streaming on the official website.

So anyway, I already gave you a preview of Belgium’s entry this year. Now I’d like to show you the 3 songs that are predicted to be most likely to win. Keep in mind that winning doesn’t neccessarily mean it’s the best song. It just means it gets the most votes from viewers. I already discussed last year how bloc voting has sort of taken over Eurovision (which has sucked the fun out of it for the Western European countries somewhat…though plenty of people will tell you they could care less anyway), but I have to say, the first two songs (Turkey and Norway) I’ll show you I actually like. And the third one (Greece) is sort of growing on me.

First is Turkey. The singer, Hadise, is actually a Belgian of Turkish decent.

Next is Norway. They’re actually favored to win this year and I can see why. First, the singer is from Belarus (coughblocvotingcough) Second, he plays the fiddle really well and he’s adorable. Third, the song is actually pretty cool.

And last is Sakis Rouvas from Greece. Again, I like the other two favored songs better, but this one is sort of okay too.

So what do you think? See anything you like? I’ll try to post again tomorrow after the semi-final to give you my picks and pans for round one.

Patrick Ouchene, a self described “rockabilly” was chosen by Wallonia (the southern French speaking part) to represent Belgium in the 2009 Eurovision this year.

You may recall my post about the fun that is Eurovision last May wherein I explained the basic principles behind the contest and also that in the case of Belgium the two sides of the country alternate in choosing the artist that will represent Belgium*. Last year Flanders (the northern Dutch speaking part where I live) chose the artist, Ishtar and if you want to see that performance it’s in that post I linked to from last May. I have to admit that the song grew on me after a while, but so does armpit hair so I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not.

Anyway, this year was Wallonia’s turn. I was sort of looking forward to seeing their choice since they are the ones that picked Sandra Kim, the only Belgian winner of Eurovision (albeit in 1986) and when the song was finally announced, well…um…take a look:

I almost ruptured a sinus I was snorting so hard. Cause a French speaking rockabilly is bad enough, but the lyrics, if you can understand them through his thick accent? They’re even worse. I mean, I thought it was sort of odd that Ishtar’s song had lyrics that were in a made up language, but it’s a bit better than lyrics that are flat out stupid.

So, yeah, that’s who’s going to this year’s competition in Moscow. Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to update you on the results (or how to watch it via the internet) closer to the final round in May.

*Heaven forbid the two sides of this country agree on anything. Having the whole country choose a musician to represent the whole country? In Belgium? Nevah!