Snake in the sand

Check out this fantastic postcard that I got from Switzerland a few weeks ago. Isn't it wonderful? May be my favorite postcard this month. I had to look twice before I realized what it was exactly. :-) I love it. More snakes on postcards!!

I really don't understand how anyone could see this and think that reptiles are horrible monsters or totally uninteresting. These creatures are marvels of the natural world. :-)

SWITZERLAND 2011 - In Love For A While

Switzerland has been plagued by bad luck in the ESC for the past few years ... I mean seriously bad luck, they haven't even qualified for the final since 2006. And even before that they did so badly for years and years and years. Poor Switzerland ... they haven't even been sending bad songs, they just sort of ... shoot above the goal posts. I loved their song in 2008. I listen to it often, it's beautiful, I love it. But it didn't get through. Will they have any better luck this year?

It's hard to say. I'm not an instant fan. I really don't like the fact that they've copied last year's winner ... outfit, choreography, type of song. Plus that it's not a good strategy, because whenever one type of song has won one year, then next year something really different usually wins. So that may, probably will, backfire. What's positive? Pretty girl with a really good voice. Seems to be charming ... although that is obscured a bit for me by the choreography, which I really think they will be penalized for by the audience. Relatively catchy song.

It's a nice and sweet song, and her voice makes the entry memorable, and if they keep this presentation - or at least the type of presentation - they may well score some votes on the simplicity of it. But I am not convinced by this.

Take a look for yourselves though. This is Anna Rossinelli performing In Love For A While by David Klein. He will be competing for Switzerland on Tuesday, May 10th. Against us, among others. I can't help but think that our smiling Stella will make this entry fade into the background ... ;-)



Fullscreen here. Lyrics here.

Adorable postcard

... that I received yesterday when I got home from work, and that actually managed to put a smile on my face for a little while, despite everything.

Sent by Verena in Switzerland.

And belated happy birthday to my dear friend Calyx. :-) It was actually yesterday, but I forgot it ... for which I am very sorry, but she's forgiven me. It's kind of a tradition with us, actually. Calyx: Hugs to you and N. and baby!!! :-)

SWITZERLAND 2010 - Il pleut de l'or

'It's raining gold' ...

It may not actually end up doing so, but this entry really deserves to do well. The Swiss have been sending some pretty good entries in recent years - I absolutely love their song from 2008 - but have been doing badly nevertheless. A little ESC mystery there. It means that even though IMO they should have zero problems getting to the final with this song, I may be wrong. I thought the same about Paolo Meneguzzi.

Anyway ... I like this song. I like it a lot. It's catchy, has a great beat, I love that it's in French ... the singer's not your usual standard-issue pretty boy (check out his ears! :-D) ... it's very melodious, it's ambitious, there's just nothing wrong with this song. It has the potential to do really really well ... and I for one seriously hope that it will. I like it more and more every time I hear it. Fingers crossed for Switzerland ... !! :-)

I would think that the new voting system will work in this song's favor. It has a lot of energy and could well get people to reach for their cell phones while they're listening. Here's hoping. :-)

This is Michael von der Heide performing Il pleut de l'or which he cowrote with Pele Lorriano, Heike Kospach and André Grüter. Good luck to them when they compete on Thursday, May 27th.

A live performance here, nothing freaky about that ...



But here's the official video - lightsabers ahoy ... !! o_O



Lyrics with translation here.

Andorra, Switzerland, Turkey

Andorra:
Singing at least partly in Catalan ... good.
Kinda like what they're doing with the stage.
A very teenybopper performance. May appeal to the younger demographics ... but not much to the grownups, I think.
The song is really catchy. Andorra's best ever IMO.
The crowd in the Olympic Arena were pretty enthusiastic. Yeah, I can see that. But not sure it'll be remembered for long enough.

Switzerland:
A song lacking in personality, IMO.
Nothing wrong with the song. But it's not very original. There's nothing much to it either way.
Bye bye, Switzerland.

Turkey:
OK ... um, what? What's up with her voice??
She sounds really different from how she sounded in the national final. Or maybe it's vice versa. ;-)
The presentation is different too. Not sure it's better ... but it's certainly memorable. ;-)
Catchy song, and, um, striking outfits. *cough*
This song will definitely be both seen and heard on Saturday. No question. It has now entered the hindbrain of every audience member, and will receive votes accordingly. ;-)

SWITZERLAND 2009: Lovebugs – The Highest Heights

Can I just copy my comments from the post on the Macedonian entry?

A rock/pop tune with nothing wrong with it and nothing much to distinguish it. Easily heard and easily forgotten. The Swiss entry last year was so fantastic - I loved it - unfortunately they didn't do very well, didn't even get through from the semi. Too bad. I think they would have done much better with that song this year, considering the jury votes. But that's water under the bridge and no point considering. I don't see them getting very far this year. Not because the song itself is bad, but because it's such a standard song, no hook, nothing special. Everyone in the audience and in the juries will have heard this so many times before. I have nothing bad to say against it, but I don't really remember it either.

The video's OK, it has some kind of original elements. Compared to the Bulgarian video it's a masterpiece. >:-) The lyrics though are pretty stupid. Bad Engrish.

This is The Lovebugs performing The Highest Heights by Florian Senn, Thomas Rechberger and Adrian Sieber (who I think are some of the band members, but don't hold me to that) ... they will be competing for Switzerland as #8 on May 12th.



Lyrics here.

Some ESC news

On Saturday, January 17th, Azerbaijan chose their representative for Moscow -09: Aysel Teymurzade, selected by a professional committee and with no input from the general public. So that'll be interesting. :-) Now all they have to do is pick a song ...

Switzerland will be represented by a group called (I kind of like this name) the Lovebugs. :-D They've been playing together for 16 years and have released 10 albums, so they know what they're doing, at least. The song is still a secret, so whether that'll be any good remains to be seen. Their song last year was fantastic, even though they didn't get very far with it.

Here in Norway, we held our first quarter-final this weekend - I haven't seen the show yet (egads!!) but I will ... hmm ... tonight, and then of course will share my thoughts with the world. My hopes are not high.

Ukraine, Lithuania, Albania, Switzerland

Ukraine:
This is a shoe-in. Dodgy lyrics and not the best diction, but hey, English is difficult. :-) Seriously cool presentation. This song doesn't start off too well but it gets better very quickly. Me like ... and the rest of Europe will no doubt like it too.

Lithuania:
BURN ... !!!!!!!!
This is the one song in this year's contest that I cannot for the life of me understand how anyone at all can see anything in. Or hear. All the other shitty entries, Ireland, Latvia, even Estonia, and, yes, Sweden, I can see how people may like something about them. They don't do anything for me, but I have no problem accepting that others may. But this? Seriously: This guy's mother must be ashamed to see this. This is so far beyond bad that I have no words to describe it.

Albania:
A lovely ballad, with some elements of rock. Their best ever, definitely. She has a wonderful voice. This is a good entry, well presented. This definitely has a chance for a slot in the finals. I think it's a song that may appeal to a lot of different demographics (argh, that word) in the audience.
Good luck, Albania! They deserve to do well this year.

Switzerland:
Even better than I remembered!! A great presentation! :-) Wow! :-)
They should definitely be in the final. Good song, good singer, good presentation, what more can we ask for. And certainly he got them going in the Arena.
I'm optimistic about Switzerland. :-)

SWITZERLAND 2008: Paolo Meneguzzi - Era stupendo

I've heard commentators around here saying how much they dig this song. (And some who hate it. Of course.)

It is a pretty good song. Too ballad-y, maybe, to get that far this year. In Italian, serious kudos for that. So great to hear the Swiss actually using one of their own languages instead of going for English as they have done the past, what, four years. (Too bad Italy isn't in the contest, the big babies!) But it has a good melody, it's an uptempo ballad, and the singer (good voice) puts some pretty convincing emotion in his performance, so I don't know, it could do well. But on the other hand it is very mainstream and I'm not sure to what extent they will get votes on that. It could go either way for this song.

Great video. :-) When I've heard this a few more times it will probably become one of my favorites from this year.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N3LO3czzgM


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMziHTv6OB8