“May the fourth be with you!”(get it? fourth – force – hahahaha)
People say it every year – but why?
Star Wars fans have claimed it as their own saying, but it was actually coined way back in 1979 when the UK Conservative Party put an advertisement in The London Evening News on May 4th that said “May the Fourth Be with You, Maggie. Congratulations.” This was after Margaret Thatcher’s famous victory in the UK general election, which saw her become the UK’s first and only female prime minister (to date).
The first semi final for the Eurovision will be on Tuesday 22nd May.
Here are the entries (in order) for the first semi final. Underneath the video I have said a little about each one. In bold are the ones I hope to qualify.
Montengro: 3/10 – Very Balkan. A little too odd for my liking.
Iceland: 9/10 – Great duet. Jonsi is back after performing for Iceland a couple of years ago.
Greece: 6/10 – Back with more of the same. It’s like Eurovision-colour-by-numbers.
Latvia: 7/10 – Awful song, but it’s catchy and she has something very endearing about her. It sticks in your head FORVER!
Albania: 1/10 – I HATE this. Ouch! But it seems to be popular with lots of fans and might do well in Baku.
Romania: 8/10 – Great party song. Romania will do well with this.
Switzerland: 7/10 – Rocky number from the Swiss. Shame that the vocals are a bit odd (strong accent).
Belgium: 2/10 – DULL as dishwater!
Finland: 6.5./10 – Singing in Swedish…. Topical. This number bounces along, but doesn’t take me anywhere.
Israel: 6/10 – Odd doesn’t start to explain this. It sounds like it comes straight from Eurovision 1975.
San Marino: 5/10 – This deranged singer ruins every concept of Facebook. She turns it into some stalking seedy site. So wrong.
Cyprus: 9/10 – I L-L-Love it……
Denmark: 8/10 – Again, Denmark hit it big. They’ll do well with this, although I have preferred their previous two entries much more.
Russia: 10/10 – THE ONE TO BEAT! I think these grannies are gonna win it BIG!
Hungary: 4/10 – 80s retro. Not my cup of my tea.
Austria: 5/10 – Woki mit deim popo ‘Wiggle those bums” – no words to explain it.
Moldova: 6.5/10 – Hot guy sings a swinging song.
Ireland: 10/10 – JEDWARD! I hated their song last year but LOVE them this time around.
This year, for the fourth time, Amsterdam was the host city for the biggest pre-Eurovision concert. It has become quite an extraordinary event with more than half of the contestants coming to showcase their entries. There are only a few weeks before the contest goes to Baku in Azerbaijan. The countdown is on…
This year the event was held on Saturday 21st April 2012 in the Melkweg, a popular venue for bands when playing in Amsterdam. The organisation was much better than last year, which had a series of sound problems which created endless issues for the evening. The Melkweg was fantastic and the evening went without a hitch! Perfect!
The hosts for the evening were Cornald Maas and Ruth Jacott, the Dutch performer in the 1993 Eurovision. She strutted her stuff in Millstreet and belted out Vrede coming a very respectable 6th for The Netherlands.
BEST PERFORMANCE: Spain. Pastora blew away the crowd with her live performance of Quédate Conmigo. What a pair of lungs she has on her! I expect (and hope) Spain to do very well this year in Baku.
MOST ENTERTAINING: Ireland. Jedward really know how to entertain a crowd. I really didn’t like them last year in Düsseldorf, but with Waterline as their comeback I love them.
MOST EMBARASSING WARDROBE MALFUNCTION: France. Poor, poor Anggun wore a lovely red dress, which for those on the first 6 rows of audience (me included), got a perfect view up… I rather feel that someone should have advised her against white pants with a red dress… oh la la…
HOTTEST PERFORMER: Moldova. Hello, Pasha! That’s all I have to say on the matter.
MOST CRINGEWORTHY: San Marino. Deranged doesn’t even begin to describe this. San Marino decided to ‘test’ the rules of Eurovision. A song all about ‘Facebook’ although it’s not allowed to be called that now. I think Facebook should sue!
MY FAVOURITE: Slovenia. Eva’s song is my far my favourite for Baku, although on the night it didn’t come across well. Unfortunately, her backing singers weren’t there and they play a vital role in the performance as one sings the gentle aaaah bits.
THE ONES I MISSED: Sweden and Russia. Oh how I would have loved them to be there. Sweden has the song of the year and a great performance (but will it win?) and Russia have the grannies who I adore.
1. To remove someone from your Livejournal, MySpace, Facebook, or other social networking site. Doing this is often seen as a passive-aggressive move, telling the person without telling them that you no longer want to be friends. It’s also commonly a response to drama. Defriending someone often causes more drama. There are sometimes valid reasons for doing this.
That’s the definition of ‘defriending’ from Urban Dictionary. I think it quite hits the nail on the head.
We didn’t have these issues before Facebook. But, finding out someone’s not interested in being friends because they’ve removed themselves on FB is always gonna be a shocker.
I have always heard that certain drivers of certain cars can be prone to displaying unsavoury characteristics… The other day I was in the car heading to the shops when I saw some typical ‘Porsche’ behaviour…
I have to say at this point that the driver was, unsurprisingly, male and was, unsurprisingly, short-fused.
The roads were quite busy as they went from two lanes into one. The car in front (a small hatchback – I think it was a Fiat Punto) was going along nicely when the Porsche flew up beside us and tried to push in front of the Fiat driver. The Fiat driver was having non of it as they clearly didn’t like being cut up so aggressively. We expected the Porsche driver to ease back and slot in front of us – but no… He slammed forward full speed and tried to get even further ahead. When that didn’t work he swerved to bully his way in front of the Fiat driver once again.
By this point we were so impressed with the Fiat driver. It was a ‘David and Goliath’ moment and boy we wanted David to win this battle too. The people in the Fiat kept their cool and drove on. The Porsche driver’s ego was dented and he – was – FURIOUS! Next he swung in right behind the Fiat and beeped the horn then swung his fists about. The toys were well and truly out of the pram by this moment.
Our cars arrived at a set of traffic lights. The Fiat was directly in front of us again (driven by a couple in their early 60s) and the Porsche pulled up right beside them. The 30-something, Porsche driver, leaned over his ‘girlfriend’ (I hope she had more taste than to have married him) and he started yelling, cursing and sticking his fingers up at the couple. I was stunned. I couldn’t believe that he actually thought he was right. I couldn’t believe that he was so easily and so quickly enraged. He was so caught up in the moment that he didn’t realise that he was making a total pr*ck of himself (excuse my language, but he really was…). He hasn’t happy until he’d ranted at them. The couple stayed so calm and ignored him. Brilliant!
Go Fiat couple! You guys made my day!
So, next time you all see a Porsche driver, think about my story… You may also like the little joke below.
This blonde looking for work sees a sign on a house: “PAINTER WANTED.” So she goes to the house and knocks on the door, telling the owner, “I’m here for the paint job.” “OK.” The guys hands her a couple of cans of latex. “Here’s the paint. I want you to paint the porch.” She says, “No problem,” gets the paint and sets off to work. It’s not very long until she knocks on the door again. “All finished.” Handing over the money, the owner exclaims, “That didn’t take very long!” “I even gave it two coats,” she says, pocketing the money. “And oh, by the way, it’s not a Porch, it’s a Ferrari.”
It’s not hard to find websites and pictures mocking Porsche drivers – they’ve clearly made a rod for their own back. Here’s a good one for you.
After all my years of watching the Eurovision Song Contest I don’t remember the UK sending an entry to match this. The first time you hear it you may dismiss it, but ‘The Hump’, Engelbert, has got an amazing voice. At 75 years you cannot discount him. Age has nothing to do with his very obvious talent. He can carry a tune – very well. The song is a gentle ballad with a big finish. The lyrics are beautiful too…
In May he will be first up in the final, hoping to bring the contest back to the United Kingdom: It’s a possibility. He is currently 4th favourite to win - after Sweden, Russia and Denmark (however the betting odds will surely change between now and May).
Engelbert had so much negative press after his name was announced as the UK representative. People joked that the BBC were mocking Europe by sending him. I think quite the opposite this year. If the British public are left to make the choice then they send ‘something Eurovisiony’ – Scooch, Andy Abraham, Daz Sampson and Jemini…. all of which prove to be disasters in Europe. The British public do not ‘get it’ when it comes to Eurovision. They still harp on about the bloc voting; they claim that ‘nobody likes the UK’… It’s pretty untrue. The last time the UK actually made an effort they came 5th, in 2009.
This year the UK will do well. Mark my words. Here is the video of the UK’s 2012 Eurovision entry.
Don’t sigh. You know to expect this sort of post from me by now.
The Eurovision National Final selections started way back in November and are in full swing now.
Slovenia picked their song at the weekend and have chosen a rather epic sounding entry, ‘Verjamem’.
It might not be to your tastes but I think it has a good chance of standing out at the Eurovision Song Contest in Baku (capital of Azerbaijan – time to check out GoogleMaps).
Oh and another thing – I had a weird dream last week that Slovenia won this year. I don’t know why I dreamt it – random I know. Who knows……….
Watch and enjoy! (You’ll all be wanting one of the white head decorations too – so don’t deny it).
RT @Charles_HRH: Camilla, if you don't stop asking "is that a magic wand in your pocket...", one will never wear these Harry Potter pyja ... 7 hours ago
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