Time to catch up on the #Eurovision semis after a ridiculously busy week! Unlike last year I’ve only listened to each song once so the performances are going to be like new songs for me, except for #Croatia (the only melody that stayed in my head).
Arp Laszlo
More Notes & Asides
One thing that really bugs me about #ChatGPT and #LLMs for #copywriting is they’ve been trained on a web full of crap articles written for #SEO purposes by people in #India who write in a forced style of conversational English. (NB: I’m #IndianAmerican.) Their writing is oddly long with way too many filler phrases and ChatGPT copies this garbage to a T. The second I see any sentence online start with ‘As you know…’ or some other filler garbage I know where it originated. Granted, how #Indians write English is just a variant of the garbage academic writing style in the US, which uses different and snootier filler phrases with even longer sentences. It’s writing meant to impress someone for a grade or a pat on the back, and it took me a couple of decades to write more concisely & to the point. I just wish I could figure ...
I love #lofi #retro #analog art and I love #lofiMusic. What’s the connection? A sense of reality? Physicality? Authenticity? #Music
We need more focus on ‘collective intelligence’ vs individual genius. Encouragement of collaboration & cross-pollination. Being around other creatives, in varied disciplines, is meaningful for the growth of one’s own #creativity. I recognize now that I lacked creative peers for most of my life so I was always flying solo, not getting ideas from others nor getting any useful feedback. My friends would sit around and watch movies while I preferred wandering the Metropolitan Museum of Art and seeing what caught my eye. #BrianEno #POSSE Photo credit
Fuck #TicketMaster / #LiveNation, $82 for a general admission ticket to the see the #ViolentFemmes is just plain WRONG. I loathe living in a country designed expressly for the greediest of the greedy. #music #90s
Good info from #TrueGritTextureSupply on how to protect your #art from #generativeAI. https://www.truegrittexturesupply.com/blogs/news/how-to-protect-your-art-from-ai #MastoArt #Ai
The influence of a vital person vitalizes, there’s no doubt about it. The world without spirit is wasteland. People have the notion of saving the world by shifting things around, changing the rules, and who’s on top, and so forth. No, no! Any world is a valid world if it’s alive. The thing to do is to bring life to it, and the only way to do that is to find in your own case where the life is and become alive yourself. #JosephCampbell, from The Power of #Myth #Mythology
Man, the stage is CRAZY. We’re gonna have to see this live some day. #Eurovision #ESC #ESC2024
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So #Cyprus is starting, but the running order had them 8th?
This is a solid song. Not groundbreaking but not bad. Kinda generic tho.
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The visual fx for #Serbia are stunning 🤯.
The song, not so much. Great voice but it feels like I’ve heard this song before.
Trying to remember the video, was it just her & some rocks & water?
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#Lithuania’s not too bad, I dig the energy after Serbia tried to depress me into sleep. But it feels like I’ve heard this song before too, it’s generically catchy.
Plus his performance is blah, they’re using lots of camera motion to mask it.
#ESC
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Alrighty, been waiting to see what #bambiethug
was gonna do!
Finally someone taking creative risks. She & her song are weird & concerning & I AM HERE FOR IT.
Wait – where’d her black outfit go?!! Replaced by #trans colors? NICE!
A HUGE improvement over their faceless entry from last year. I’m adding this to my playlist.
#ESC #ireland #realtime #reaction
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#BambiThug is the best thing about #semi1 so far.
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#UK next, I remember the video was 1-2 clubby guys in a black hallway. I remember it now – the song is an ultra generic dance choon.
Dude’s voice ain’t all that, kinda weak and little whiny. The vocal performance is soooo bland. You gotta do better than look good, dude.
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Bridgy Response
#Ukraine now, a nice step up from the meh UK song & performance. The song isn’t anything amazing but the performances are making it.
I dunno wtf the song is about (Mother Theresa, the horrible human being) but the women performing are killing it, and the fx really set the stage.
#ESC
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Ah – I like #Poland’s song, it’s got good energy. They did well drawing from the #80s and the #90s without overdoing it.
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Finally #Croatia, easily my favorite song in contest! I love it when folk music is adapted so you damn well know a song is from a specific place. Fun, good sense of humor, catchy, memorable, an adorbs one-eyed cat, & wistful thoughts of the cow he sold.
Kickass song’s an earworm, great performance.
#BabyLasagna is this year’s #Kaarija, he better win.
#RimTimTagiDim #ESC
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LOL #BabyLasagna knows he killed it.
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I was happy when I saw #Iceland’s video the first time, it’s nice to see someone over 25.
An uplifting dance track needs a vocal performance make it and she delivers.
Thumbs up.
#ESC
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YouTube has been trying so hard to make me play #Isaak videos, but it hasn’t worked so far. Maybe I’m remiss because this guy has a helluva voice. Plus, he likes dogs.
This is not my kind of music but he’s really selling me on it. He’s pouring his heart into this performance.
#ESC #Germany
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#Slovenia had the video with the blindfolded guys running around? This is heavy handed.
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#Windows95Man hits the #wtf / #weird target on the bullseye. Be ridiculous and lean into your ridiculousness as hard as you possibly can 👊🏽.
Bonus points for the dancers in #JNCOs 😆
#ESC #NoRules #Finland
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#Moldova is one track I don’t mind only because the wobbly synth bass during the chorus. I’m literally just waiting to hear that sound.
Did I ever tell you how much I like #synthesizers?
#ESC
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Fucking #Sweden, gifted a victory last year so they could host on #ABBA’s 50th anniversary.
These were the 2 guys I thought were from the UK before, they’re still stuck in their hallway.
This sucks, mainly because their voices are whiny af. The synths can’t save this song, despite some really nice sounds.
I’m assuming they keep repeating she’s unforgettable so they won’t forget?
This song, singers, and performance is forgettable.
ftr, Abba
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I have minimal idea where #azerbaijan is (blame my US Ed) but this song is not inspiring me to figure it out.
I could have sworn I already heard this song tonight. This is truly pedantic.
Being earnest while looking like a space garbage man does not help.
Two thumbs down. I wish I had 2 more thumbs to contribute, this is the worst song so far.
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Ah – #Australia’s bringing the classic house piano stabs. This is a good song – voices, driving beat, housey vibe.And the #digeridoo seals the deal.
Two thumbs up.
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This isn’t all that but her voice & the synth bass (occasionally, for some reason) are keeping me interested. I vaguely recall it sounding better in the video.
#ESC #Portugal
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I dig the old school vibe to start the song. Not bad, some creative risks that paid off.
Solid overall.
#ESC #luxembourg
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On to #semis2 & #Malta. It’s taken me so long to decide if I dislike this song or not that I’m sticking it firmly in the middle. Neither good nor bad, not adventurous nor staid.
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Hmm #Albania. I got excited because I thought it was #Armenia, which is in my head as the first song I heard this year. But no.
I feel like I heard someone else sing this in the other semifinal, but better.
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#Greece is an interesting melange of sounds.
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I think #Nemo was the dude in the train. I dig the musical vibes, this is better than a run of the mill pop song.
#ESC #Switzerland
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I might have confused Poland with #Czechia.
I LOVE the goth-y #80s vibe. The message is really hitting you over the head but the song’s just too damn good, building to a nice climax.
A solid #2 for me after #Croatia.
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Not a fan of ballads, but the dude’s got some pipes.
#ESC #France
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Omg #Austria 🤦🏽♂️, this feels totally manufactured. #Eurodance is back and there’s some words anyone can sing along with.
Despite the tasty 303 & the #90s breakbeats, 2 thumbs down.
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I remember #Denmark. Run of the mill song but the singer is so, so, so good. She carries it all.
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Bridgy Response