(no subject)

Well, I'm not sure when this changed, but it appears that LiveJournal now shows ads when a guest user (i.e. someone not logged in to a LJ account) views a journal of a Paid account user (except these days that's an "account with Professional package of service").

Sigh.

One of the perks of a paid account always used to be the complete removal of advertising - not just from pages you viewed, but when anyone else viewed your journal. Sadly that's not the case anymore - and FAQ 262 is wonderfully self-contradictory as to when viewers actually see ads or not.

boggyb's highly inaccurate guide to the Eurovision Song Contest

Anyway, enough disappointment about how these days LiveJournal's more interested in third-party advertisers than their userbase (that said, they do at least offer the option of paying to remove ads - that's more than Facebook does!).

Instead, it's time for boggyb's highly inaccurate guide to the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Final! Yes, it's that time of year again wherein us Brits get to collectively snark at the artistic endeavours of Europe. This year $work's decided to run an office sweepstake and so I have a whole £2 running on it - so let's hope Romania or Norway does well.

So, on with the show, the pseudo-liveblog, and most importantly the snark!


This years theme: glitter and sparkles, judging by the flag intro and the presenter's outfits.

1. Israel: Good opening act.
Mini-rant: is it just me, or is there practically no bass in the sound mix? I recall the past couple of years having similar sound mixes.
2. Poland: Almost a good one. I think it would work better with more singing and less shouting. Did like the Freedom birds though.
3. Belarus: What.
4. Austria: Pretty background video, meh song.
5. Armenia: Interesting. The choreography has a certain style to it that is so often lacking.
6. The Netherlands: Female barbershop triplet with surprise electric guitar!
7. Moldova: Microphone flower bouquets? Okay...
8. Hungary: I see they've gone the traditional dress route - at least, I'm assuming this is traditional dress and not merely excessive gold braid.
9. Italy: Surprise dancing gorilla with a bow-tie! Otherwise, meh song, decent (if incomprehensible) video.
10. Denmark: I rather like this one.
11. Portugal: Wow. Just wow.
12. Azerbaijan: Not quite sure what to make of this. Seems like a macabre goth song... except somehow not.
13. Croatia: Meh.
14. Australia: Meh.
15. Greece: Um...
16. Spain: A nice upbeat song.
17. Norway: Daft Punk lite!
18. United Kingdom: Almost an excellent entry - I don't like the way the vocals become a bit harsh when she tries to put too much power into them.
19. Cyprus: Full marks for use of the floor video display.
20. Romania: Bonkers combination, but it seems to work. Slightly disappointed that the cannons didn't do anything.
21. Germany: Meh.
22. Ukraine: It's Andross!
23. Belgium: Hmm. This one has potential.
24. Sweden: Ok Go! Except nowhere near as convoluted.
25. Bulgaria: Surprisingly good.
26. France: Stunning background video, meh song.

Overall I enjoyed Armenia and Norway, Portugal's entry is pure understated awesome (it's rather like an inverse Lordi), and Belarus wins the WTF award. I struggled a bit to pick favourites this year - Denmark, Poland and United Kingdom I almost really liked, but they're let down by harsh vocals which is a shame. Portugal aside, this year's collection seemed somewhat underwhelming and few songs really grabbed me - or perhaps it was that last year had some particularly good and epic entries in it.

And as for my £2, well I'm not holding out much hope but you never know (after all the bonkers entries have been known to win - like the Russian grannies from a few years back...).


First interval act: pretty decent.

Second interval act: interesting mix of modern synths and traditional instruments. And whatever bizarre (possibly made-up) drum-with-a-tail thing they've got in the middle. Overall I rather like it.

Third interval act: um... well someone apparently wanted their 5 seconds of TV fame. Full marks to the singer for carrying on regardless, but nil points to whoever was on the TV mixing desk and failed to switch away. Interruption aside, a reasonable song though I preferred her Eurovision entry last year.


( Time for the voting! )