Tag: video

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Eurovision 2nd Semi-Final

More entertaining than Tuesday night with the added bonus that the UK got to vote for its favourite acts (hence Croatia and Latvia getting through).

Here’s a rundown of the good, the bad and the SSOO bad it’s good!

First off, I have to say I exercised my right to vote and voted for Turkey. A good traditional rock sounding song. They sung in Turkish but it sounded good. The music style was a but Manic Street Preachers. Quite good.
[youtube=http://youtu.be/riMSxOc7ZyA]

Something else not traditionally Eurovision was Bulgaria’s entry. I liked it, but I think it got a little lost in the mix.
[youtube=http://youtu.be/MLLkumF7EkE]

Lithuania was BAD BAD BAD!!! The guy looked like a cross between Potsy from Happy Days and Nick Cave! He belted the song out like Meatloaf and a had a mullet that I haven’t seen since 1988!! Awful awful awful. BE WARNED!
[youtube=http://youtu.be/NDz92qPVTsI]

The Czech Republic did a song called “Have Some Fun”. Probably the most incorrect song title of the night. I won’t even tortue you with a video.

Georgia got through to the final with a song sung by a blind Shirley Manson lookalike called “Peace Will Come”. It was sung in English which (I know I shouldn’t take the “piss” out of someone’s grasp of English, but…) made the song title sound like “Piss Will Come”, which had me in stitches. Tiny things pleasing tiny minds and all that…
[youtube=http://youtu.be/rVMFZu39tmY]

At least the song had a political slant and wasn’t just another boring love song.

Now the “so bad it’s good” category. This belongs to Latvia and Croatia. A haaaarrrrr me maties! Here’s Latvia’s entry! Avast!!! Pieces of eight, pieces of eight!!
[youtube=http://youtu.be/zHLqfkU_0xA]

Croatian entry. 75 cent, you rock!!!!
[youtube=http://youtu.be/KkHL5tULoWw]

Onwards to the final…

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Eurovision 1st Semi-Final.

Well there wasn’t as many “gems” as I was hoping for. Of course there was Dustin from Ireland. I don’t think I’ll spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen the semi yet by telling you he didn’t get through 🙁

Estonia was a stand-out. They were singing a song called “Leto Svet”, which by the English translations we were getting on the TV screen was all about having too much food and enjoying the summer light.
[youtube=http://youtu.be/2r2LrMaAquE]

Another stand-out was Bosnia and Herzegovina with a song called Pokusaj by a guy called Laka. Really WEIRD presentation of the song, but the song itself was catchy. I watched a clip of it in English, but it wasn’t as catchy as it was in the native tongue.
[youtube=http://youtu.be/FHlKhhNLo4w]

Belgium’s was a bit funny. The song was done in a “non-language” (IE: gibberish), but it was sort of catchy.
[youtube=http://youtu.be/X5F8ZNMCRB4]

Azerbaijan – I think they thought they were Linkin Park or something. Not my cup of tea. The presenter kept saying one of the guys singing looked like a TV presenter here in the UK, Jonathan Ross. I LOVE the guys window-shattering falsetto at the start of the number though. The presenter last night said something like “If you have pets around at the moment, you might want to watch out”. Amazingly – they got through to the final!
[youtube=http://youtu.be/eo0VrY5C-ow]

I don’t know what was going on with the Finnish entry. I think they were trying to recapture the win they had in 2006 with Lordi. Lordi were a heavy metal act in full masked costumes. They did a song called “Hard Rock Hallelujah” and it was brilliant. This year Finland went for heavy metal again, without make-up and singing in their native tongue. It didn’t really work.

Russia’s song was awful. The guy looked like one of our “pop idol” serial wannabe’s Darius Danesh. They got in the final, but only (I think) from the help of Evgeni Plushenko skating around the stage!

That’s it for now. More gems in the days to come I’m sure. Including the Spanish, Croatian and Latvian entries.

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Favourite Music Artist – H

An Oz act now – Hoodoo Gurus

I absolutely loved them in the 80’s. Probably one of my all-time favourite 80’s acts. Here’s a YouTube clip of one of my fave song of theirs.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/QD9JjwWhAoY]

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It’s Eurovision Time!!

Man, I love this time of year! Two of my most favourite TV events happen each May. The start of Springwatch, but before that, this weekend is the Eurovision Song Contest. 

Guaranteed to be gayer than Elton John in his Marie Antoinette costume at his birthday. Camper than a row of tents, Eurovision highlights the world of cheesy pop like no other festival can!

It all kicks off tomorrow night. In the UK the first semi-final airs tomorrow night (Tuesday) at 8pm on BBC3. The second semi-final is on Thursday night at 8pm on BBC3. And the final is on Saturday on BBC1 at 8pm. 

In Australia coverage is on SBS all weekend. Friday and Saturday nights have the 1st and 2nd semi-finals on at 7.30pm, with the final airing on Sunday at 7.30pm. 

For those of you wanting to see the show but haven’t got any TV channels in your area showing the contests there will be live webcasts at Eurovision.TV

Anyone having a Eurovision party over the weekend? Have a hoot!

I’m really looking forward to Ireland’s entry.

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Favourite Music Artist – G

Garbage.

Not so much the recent stuff, but the earlier stuff. My fave albums are the debut and Version 2.0 discs. I turned off them a bit with the later stuff. It wasn’t as “dark” and a bit too cheesy and poppy. They (I’m about to use an over-used metaphor here) seemed to “sell-out”.

Cherry Lips was the one that turned me off, but I didn’t listen to anything else after that, so maybe it was just one song that was off, I don’t know. My fave song of theirs: I’m Only Happy When It Rains.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/esEdC0c3YI4]

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Favourite Music Artist – F

Franz Ferdinand.

As soon as I heard them, I loved them. It’s a kind of retro sound, but I love it. Their kind of “art school” rock, which I like, harks back to New Wave stuff.

I played their 1st album at least 50 times, and the second probably just as much. My single favourite song, if I had to pin it down is this…

Not an official video clip, but it appears Franz didn’t do one for this song…

[youtube=http://youtu.be/c_hE_lviwGY]

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Leighton Buzzard by Bus.

We decided to go to Leighton Buzzard by bus yesterday. I love my Morrisons supermarkets and so really, despite there being slightly closer locals for Morrisons SM’s, going to Leighton Buzzard was the most direct route via public transport. We can get the bus from just down the road and it takes us almost directly to the supermarket. 

Em was umm-ing and ahh-ing about whether we should go. We tried to check what the fare would be, but the bus company’s web site is SO vague. Em was worried it was going to cost us £7.00 return, each! But I was hoping that the bus company was not going to be quite THAT money-grabbing. I tried to ring them, got the old “Press 1 for this, and 2 for that” business. There was a section for fares, but of course, that option rang once then had a message that said “Unfortunately all our operators (right, one person manning the phone – if there were any AT ALL manning this part of the line) are currently taking calls, please call back later, or check the web site.” Erm, that’s why I was RINGING ‘cos the information I wanted wasn’t on your crappy web site!! Geez!!!

Anyway, we decided to take the bull by the horns and just go down to the stop and see how much it would be. When the bus arrived I fell over the step (good start!). After my adept recovery (not adept enough to give the driver a wry smile!) I asked the driver how much a return ticket to Leighton Buzzard would be. He said “£4.50”, well although it was still fairly expensive, it wasn’t £7 a piece, so we got on. It’s probably a competitively priced fare considering LB is about 15 miles away, and our nearest market town Hitchin is only about 6-7 and it costs £3.15 return to get there!

It’s a fairly long journey. The trip takes about an hour, but it’s a pleasant enough trip and it does go through the countryside – which is nice, especially in the type of weather we had yesterday (IE: lovely and sunny). The rape seed fields are at their most colourful at the moment (I wish it was called canola, like it is in Oz, it just doesn’t sound right enjoying looking at “fields of rape”). 

By chance, it was market day at LB. We got a little bargain there. One kilogram of nyger seed for £1.60. The goldfinch food is well stocked. And there was a shop there selling “larger” ladies clothes. I got myself a nice top for £9.00! We went on to Morrisons, had a bite to eat in the cafe` and then went around the aisles getting bits and bobs. 

I took a little video on my mobile on the bus back, trying to capture the countryside, but it was a bit lame. I’ll add it to the post anyway. Mind the sound.

My neck and shoulders got sunburnt (we had a while to wait for the return bus and I got burnt waiting) and they’ve been itchy since then, and a bit tender, ouch. 

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Favourite Music Artist – D

I’m going to cheat and have two here. Firstly, The Divine Comedy. I love Neil Hannon’s voice. My fave song is National Express, which expresses both the joy and despair of coach journeys around the UK. It’s quintessentially British (even though Neil is Irish, go figure).

[youtube=http://youtu.be/TiBI3A2WcrE]

My other is an Oz group. They were called Def FX. I wasn’t into them MASSIVELY, but I did have a 2 CD albums and a single. They were kind of different at the time, so I just wanted to acknowledge them.

Found a video of my fave Def FX song on YouTube, thought I’d link to it.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/vRQJ51bhjzY]

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Favourite Music Artist – C

Despite the general consensus of the “music listening” public, my choice for C is…ta da!!!!

Coldplay.

I bought Parachutes and A Rush Of Blood To The Head and really liked them both. The jury’s out on the new one. Lavender Hill (the new single) already sounds familiar. They were meant to be doing “radical” new work with Brian Eno, but I can’t really hear evidence of that from the new single. But that doesn’t mean I’m disappointed. Even if this album is not on par with the others, I still think they deserve my choice for C (and well, unless I went through all the C names I could think of, they are the best I can come up with at the moment).

UPDATED MAY 25th 2008: Also I must give mention to The Carpenters (I know, but Karen’s voice *IS* amazing) and extremely influential Australian group Cold Chisel (despite the potential for Em seeing this and me giving her grounds for divorce).

Here’s a shining bit of Karen for you to enjoy.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/SJmmaIGiGBg]