Today I will wear my least favorite outfit of the bunch. Why I don't like it? It is not well made and it does neither look coherent nor is it flattering for any body type. But as luck will have it, it was today everything had to happen. But let me start at the beginning... Firstly we enjoyed bbqed vegetables for breakfast. Those were delicious but marinated in garlic. Really yummy but maybe not ideal to chat to contestants or press of Eurovision. We did a bit of sightseeing and went to a Georgian restaurant (cheese overkill) before heading to the Israeli party, that was supposed to start at 8pm according to euroclub but according to Israeli organizer kicked off at 9.30pm At the location we were the only crazy ESC dress ups (closest to our level were some Maltese with Malta flags) Because Israel is known for their awesome parties there was quite some media turn up. And no wonder we were asked to get in front of a camera more that once. Worst though was the moment the Ukrainian television show asked us for an interview. It started out really good. They asked us for our favorite and I said I would support Ireland because the song is so sweet and Montenegro because he is just weird but owning it. Then they asked us to sing on of our favorite songs (henny had mentioned Sweden) so we started singing. Unfortunately, two sentences into the song we could not remember the lyrics it was really bad. Now for the worst part: the reporter then announced that robin will be in their show and they will show this to him. I am mortified. And while we're at it, why stop embarrassing ourselves then. 30 min later we saw the German delegation and got the selfie with Levina. Because she was still being interviewed we had to wait for the foto opp for a bit and talked to the delegation. We showed them the picture of my German and Irish dress and one of them took a picture of those dresses (if we have those dresses as merchandise next year or we see Barbara schöneberger wearing one... They stole that from me. Henny also revealed her dream of wanting to present the points from Germany at Eurovision. She told that she had already written to the broadcasting station and got rejected. In the letter the guy was really polite. This time henny was not that lucky and they looked up and down on her and said they could understand why the station would prefer Barbara :( The party itself was quite good as the Israeli delegation had managed to receive a lot of rsvps from performers. With that we had France, Germany, Netherlands, Austria, Malta, Romania, Austria, Cyprus, Serbia, Bulgaria, Macedonia and of course Israel perform. And for the most part we where second row. I recorded the Dutch singers during lights and shadows and a Dutch fan from behind me, physically attacked me because my iPad was blocking his view. Now I do understand patriotism and that you want to see something but pushing someone and pulling ones hair is not cool. I mean I had the hairy arms of the guy in front of me in most of my pictures and videos as he just goes wild for all acts. But I did not attack him. Later we wanted to get a drink. However, the staff was so in over their heads that we gave up after not being served for 30min. We went home with a sweet party gift. While we did not get the flashing head pieces they handed out, we did get some really nice body butter from Israel. I know it is now after the first semi so I will upload this and start writing to upload the next post asap.
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Having a slow start into day 3 of Eurovision. But I am hoping for a great day. A) Helly is arriving. B) it is wiwibloggs party in euroclub. The club should finally be packed.
As both will be in the afternoon I am hoping to save some energy for later. By now I got dressed in today's outfit and updated YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. Now I will need to go to the shows again buying some bread and cheese. Can you feel my excitement? The day itself was pretty restful and Henny arrived with just one hour delay. Apparently there was a guy with a heart attack on her flight... But now they she is here we are getting ready for the wiwi jam at the euroclub tonight. Before the party we went to a raw food restaurant and Henny and Dan were not impressed at all. Well, at least it was healthy. Won't be going there again though. To avoid last nights awkwardness of nobody being at the party we wanted to get there later. And while we arrived about an hour later than the first act was supposed to be on stage, we had to wait for about another hour before the first act- 2015 Ukrainian participant of the junior ESC. There is not that much to say though about the acts though. I felt really bad for Lucie from the UK. They had to change the running order and Lucie had offered to go on next. However, the soundguys were haven trouble again and the track wouldn't start. Like the pro she is, she cracked a joke about it and tried to keep the audience entertained by singing abba, asking multiple times for help before William from wiwibloggs got on stage to save her -a knight in rusty armor. Once the track was finally on she couldn't finish the song without more sound issues. What was no issue was her voice though. Lucie was brilliant and the nailed her song-even in an attempted dance version. There are things that you should keep classic. Lowlight of the evening was without a doubt San Marino. While Valentina was fun and definitely was musical potential, her duet it terrible (songwriter Ralf Siegel was in the club-when will he finally call it quits????) and worth that the song itself was valentinas' duet partner. He performed one of his own songs and it was even worse than the ESC entry. He is sleazy and fake and his mouth is moving very weirdly while singing. Switzerland also performed that night and were underwhelming. The Timebell singer was wearing a dress you probably can by at Ann summers. In itself that would have been okay, really, had she not opted for a bra underneath that was way too visible in the back (and I don't think she wore the bra visible on purpose). On the contrary I was impressed with Bulgarian und Serbian entry. Serbia did her rendition of 2007 molitva and it reminded me of how great this song was. I tried to upload the videos yesterday but YouTube aborted the uploads ad I gave up after 4 videos. After the concert, the party really started with the OGAE dj playing one ESC smash hit after the other. Well, towards the end the song choices were a bit more questionable but then again they usually try to make you leave by playing "party stoppers" We arrived at home around 3am. It was a good day overall. The next morning (I was really hoping to sleep in) I got up at 7ish. My friends slept until 10am-lucky bastards. Because the weather forecast predicted rain for the following day, we did some sightseeing, leaving we with quite a sunburn on my shoulders (except for where the straps of the dress were) In the evening it was then time for the red carpet. With the experience of last year, we had something to live up to. Man, were we disappointed. As you already know from Instagram or can see below, we had great outfits (designed by myself). From the last years we knew we might not be able to get into the fan section but there is usually a little spot for the public. Not this time. The closest we got was about 200-300m away from the entrance to the red carpet. And we were advised by volunteers we should go to the village to watch it on the big screen. Now, be honest: we are not watching the red carpet for interviews but to be there and support the artists, cheering them on and maybe even taken some pictures. The worst news about this. We learned about the OGAE section that we could go to if we had out OGAE membership card with us. But guess what Marcus had never meet up with me yet to give it to me. So that was our entry ticket and we didn't have it on us. So frustrating. We watched a bit of the red carpet though live stream and it made us fairly angry. It was so empty along the sides of the "longest red carpet". What is the point of a long red carpet if there is nobody on the sides to support the artists. And even worse: those few fans that were there, didn't even bother to dress up like us or like we have seen from full on fans like us. Instead of torturing ourselves, we went to a close by restaurant and had Ukrainian food. It was really good and our waitress even spoke German with us rather that English. After dinner we decided to watch some vintage Eurovision: 1983 with UK commentary) It is funny to see how much has changed between then and now. Back then the host has to read out the conductor (they had an orchestra), the composers, and artists in German, English and French before every entry. they actually phoned all the countries for voting and all points had to be read. No wonder it took that long. Also it was funny to hear the comments like: Luxembourg has always been doing so well. Or how they thought the Spanish performance was quite ethnic and out there. We imagined what they would have said if this years Montenegro would have performed that year. The audience was all seated and you could not even see one flag in the "crowd". When they went wild, it meant that one or two actually got off their chairs. We imagined how many would have fainted had lordi performed that year. Later we also watched all German entries between 1956 and 2015. We now have a maffay-theory. Germany seems to be doing very poorly for about 7 years, before we do quite well (top5) again. We had some pretty decent years. With that in mind it is completely okay for Levina to come in bottom5 because we will be up on top again. As promised (or threatened) my first impressions of Kiev. Arriving at the airport I had to go through pass control. I was delighted to see that they had a counter just for ESC guests. You would imagine that they would post English speaking staff there. Well, they don't. We tried to communicate but she then had to get a colleague to support her and in the end they let me enter without too much hassle. My luggage arrived fairly early so I could get into town quickly. I was surprised to see an old acquaintances in the arrival hall though. Hüseyn was already working with me as volunteer in 2011& 2015. Now, again he is the delegation host of Germany and he was picking up the German delegation. He is going to have the best of times.
On my way to the bus (which is a 2min walk) about 15(!) taxi drivers asked me if I want a ride. Fairly annoying. People here don't really speak English. So I was not sure if I was actually on the right bus until the end of the trip. And what trip it was. It reminded me a lot of Bratislava except that the buses to Vienna were more modern. At the train station I did not see the metro entry at first. I can now relate to my mother when she visited me in Ireland and didn't want to do anything on her own. If you don't speak the language and get lost it is darn nerve-wrecking. Arriving at kreshchatyk I had to find guidance to get to Mala zhytomyrska. It is one thing if you have a map but another if the street signs are in Cyrillic. But I got here in the end and what can I say, I basically live within the Eurovision fan mile. I literally just have to walk down my street. Today I will walk to the euro club to see if this is really 25min or even less. The apartment itself is quite hidden and fairly old. I was a bit scared to walk up the iron (or whatever metal) stairs as they looked ready to collapse. The pictures I already uploaded yesterday. But the apartment is really cute. It has a kind of winter garden/balcony. What is missing though are window blinds. The daylight woke me up at 4am. I really like the area we are staying in because it has all those historic buildings. At the same time, I know, my legs will be complaining tomorrow from all the uphill/downhill action going on. After taking a few deliberate detours on my way to Lviv handmade chocolate cafe (my mom really wants that chocolate) I tool an accidental wrong turn. For about 20min I was completely lost, wandering around, hoping to find something I could recognize on the map I had with me. When I finally did, I was just one block away from the cafe. I guess my sense of orientation isn't completely off. My mom had send me a picture of the chocolate the wants, however, they did not have the wrapped version anymore. So instead I have now two huge chunks of chocolate blocks. I can't wait for my moms face when she sees that. She better be happy. I spent 420 UAH on chocolate. That is 15 euro worth of chocolate. My whole shopping I did was less than half of that. Talking about shopping. They have a billa here, which I know from Austria.so I went in and I am telling you it is difficult to buy groceries when you have no clue what you are buying. I mean I recognized the apples and the cereal. But my biggest problem was milk. So here they sell some in bottles and some in bags. And while I can read the 2.5% or 0.5% indicating whether this was full fat milk or not I had no idea what the difference between monoko and kedpip and whatnot is. I tried the first one and did tasted alright with the granola I bought and I did not have to visit the bathroom afterwards. Meaning whatever kind of milk I bought, my body is at least not revolting against it. Now, I walked to the euroclub location arriving around 3pm. So I went to the cafe first as the club was only opening at 8pm. At first my plan was to just sit and relax and writing this. Looking for a place to sit the sofas were all occupied and I was about to just take a chair. Then I changed my mind asking a guy at one of the sofas if he'd mind if I would sit there too. 5h later we walked to euroclub together. Dan is from the UK and we talked about ESC,ESC and a bit more ESC. He was only there for a meet and greet that was canceled last minute and about ready to leave when I arrived. What really bugs me about the night though: I am such a chicken!!! When we stood outside euroclub Estonia arrived and I did not get a picture :( and it would have been so easy as I had taken one for Dan. Then Brendan Murray surprised us on stage and thanks to Dan I now have a pic with Brendan. But I behaved so awkwardly! What is wrong with me? Why am I sort of star struck? I don't think it's really that but more the idea that I am not a 15year old fan girl. But whenever it come to Eurovision this 30year old turns to a kinda groupie. Then again, I have been walking a fair amount in the sun (yes, the weather in Ukraine is warm and sunny) so maybe I had a sunstroke rather than a starstroke. From this years ESC we had also Romania and Czech Republic perform. I did not even attempt to get a picture. Real highlight of the night was verka serduchka. The 2007 entry has become somewhat of a ESC legend and to see verka perform live was amazing. The house was on fire! Great finish for this day! I uploaded some videos to YouTube as I cannot upload them on my blog. https://youtu.be/-oYxJPgxMyA https://youtu.be/p5RS5TpmQiI https://youtu.be/HQUiexXxpsE https://youtu.be/Upp948ctc8w Btw:I just tried the other milk and I believe this is what buttermilk tastes like. In anyway it is disgusting. In my last post I started writing about my opinion about the songs and was side tracked by my purse gone missing. As I will have time on my flight I will continue my review now.
I will bore you by giving you my opinion on each and every single entry by running order. Sweden. Robin was not my first choice during the national selection, however, I really like the song. Perfect to start of the ESC 2017. It is a good song to dance to and even if his freaking beautiful sign means asshole in some countries I think he will be top 5. I mean we CANNOT have Sweden win AGAIN!! Georgia. Keep the faith is an okay song. I do not fast forward when it comes on but I don't see it qualifying. Australia. I still don't understand why they are still taking part but as they are, the song is cute and I like it but I would not vote for it. I believe the bookies have it in top10. Albania. World or originally bote is also good and her sound great but I would not have it qualify necessarily though. Belgium. The last few years Belgium has always provided really good songs and maybe it is time for them to win. Now, I love the studio version of this song. Blanche's voice is awesome. Unfortunately, during the rehearsals she has shown to be nervous and this could ruin her top10 position in the final. Hope she gets it under control. The live show can be very nerve-wrecking. I was just a volunteer and I cried when Ireland qualified in 2011. Montenegro: don't laugh but I like the song and his braided hair is too funny. The lyrics are just ridiculous at times. Overall not sure about qualifying. Finland. I want Norma to qualify. Blackbird is so wonderfully moody. Nothing more to say. Azerbaijan. Not a fan of skeletons. It is okay and I liked the choreography as it reminds me of the Russian entry last year but taken the piss with it. But I don't want this to qualify either. Portugal. No. 9 and the first song not in English. In fact I believe it is the only non English song in the first semi. For that I give the song credit. However I do not understand why this is top 5 for bookies. I really don't like this and I would be surprised if the audience will call for him- but the jury is probably liking it. Greece. I don't even remember this song. And I have not seen the rehearsal so I am not going to say anything about Demy. Poland. Once again a nice song but not something I would desperately need to have in the final (I am sorry petzi, Poland had better songs) however, I won't be angry if they qualify. Moldova. I think this is the fist song out of the first semi that I love, love, love to go to the final. Though I have listened to it so many times I am close to having heard it too many times but: hey, mama!!!! Iceland. Svala is great. I want her to qualify. I think it is a shame that Iceland chose the English version of the song though. Czech Republic. When I listen to the song I think: yeah this is nice enough and afterward I have already forgotten about it. Cyprus. Somebody on YouTube made a joke that he is like an embarrassing dad at the party but I like the song. Probably because it has some rocky elements. Armenia. Fly with me is cool. I don't listen to it that often but whenever I hear it I really like it. Slovenia. Alright, he has a good voice but come on, I don't like the song. Maybe the emotion during the live show will win me over. Latvia. This song I like again, but this could have difficulties with the esc audience To summarize, in an ideal world I would want Sweden, Belgium, Montenegro, Finland, Moldova, Iceland, Armenia and Latvia to qualify. As you can see I do not even have a top10 to qualify... Serbia. With this song the 2nd semi starts with a song at this stage I do not have to see going through. Austria. I love you Austria but this song is so boring. Nathan is good but I am missing something. I am sorry. Macedonia. Not much to say about this. I like it I guess. But don't care if it qualifies or not. Malta. Now breathlessly is breathtaking. Qualification accepted. Romania. yodel it might be stupid but I think it is funny and I wouldn't be upset about hearing it in the final. Netherlands. Looooove og3ne. Harmonies and a beautiful song. Looooove! Hungary. Now, I have heard some bad reviews about this but I love the ethnic sound of this song and I am always happy when it comes on on my iPod. Denmark. I think it is the weakest entry from the Nordic region. Not a qualifier for me. Ireland. Oh Ireland! Why does everyone hate this song. I remember my first time listening to it but I have listened to it a thousand times and I just love it. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE qualify. San Marino. I have a feeling Ralf Siegel will never stop until he actually drops. And I do not like the song. Next. Croatia. I like it and I hate it. Let's move on I don't wanna go into detail ;) Norway. Okay maybe Denmark is not the worst Nordic entry. I think I liked grab the moment at first. Oh, maybe I like it again listened to it live. Switzerland. Everyone who read my blog knows I dislike Apollo. And I still don't like it. But whenever I listen to it I sing along and weirdly enough I like it as long as it is on. Just to dislike it afterwards. I know I'm a weirdo. Belarus. I used to loooove this song. And I still like it and want it to qualify but I think I'm oversaturated with this song. Bulgaria. This does not even get close to poli even if people seam to like it. And he is to big of a competition for Brendan. Have to dislike this. But it is no2 for the bookies :'( Lithuania. Don't like it. Not my cup of tea. Estonia. I really get a good feeling every time this song is on.... Lost in Verona!!! Israel. Yeah, again not angry if it goes either way I'm afraid. Again I cannot find 10 songs I want to go through. I want Ireland! Netherlands, Hungary, Belarus and Estonia. For the big 5: Ukraine can stay at home. Dislike. France is great! I wanna hear more of that. Italy overrated but good. Seriously the only reason this Wilson is because there is no AMAZING song this year. Germany Song sucks- sorry but true! I actually hit skip every time. But i like her voice. Hopefully she won't strain her voice before the final to have a good performance. Spain is okay but not the best song ever. U.K. I really like, very emotional. Will it do well in the competition? Probably not. Unfortunately. By the way below you see what I am wearing today. Rather boring but a beautiful reminder of the past. Building bridges. There you have it. My opinion. Remember it is just the opinion of one very opinionated person. Don't sweat it ;) By the way, I arrived in Munich. Rather sad, my first time in Munich and all I get to see is the airport. But a pretty nice airport. Omg. Now I feel really bad. I am on the same flight as levina. Even worse, when I went to the toilet she was there getting changed and I addressed her like this: I know it is highly inappropriate, however I just want to say good luck, I will be in the arena too.... She said thanks and continued changing and I left. Because of the situation I did not ask for a picture ;) Now she is sitting in 10F and I am in 12A. I am like a stalker. I feel bad because I don't like her song. I think for that reason alone I will not become a complete creep and report on every move she makes. Will it be too creepy if I try for a selfie at the airport? It's ESC and I am an ESC fan after all. I should have worn the German shirt :D Arrived in Kiev. I did not get that picture because the delegation was stuck at the pass control for too long. And what happened in Kiev will not stay in Kiev but I will write about tomorrow. But here are some pictures already... Good night (yes I am ahead of time;) Two weeks since my last day at PayPal. I miss the team greatly. Luckily I get updated almost on a daily basis by my former coworker and now neighbor-friend. I am glad I'm still in touch with some teammates.
After a few "recreational" days I have now worked for about a week in my new part-time job. And the first thing that stands out are once again the people. I think they are all crazy- and we all know how much I love crazy... I have a feeling I will fit right in. Hardest part for me remains the standing. So far I was only "booked" for 4 to 6 hour shifts and I worry a bit about the day I get an 11h shift. In the meantime I learn all sorts of new things about the retail business: from folding shirts to handling customers (which is in fact quite different to the call handling at PayPal) to the bookkeeping in the stores. I am also learning as much as I can about the brand and fall in love with new shirts every day. My current favorite is naturally a 399€ piece. And I want this. Really! Now, as you can guess, with my new salary I am not really in a spending mood. On top of that, I understandably want the shirt to look not only stunning on the hanger but on me. So here is the deal: I will have to loose some inches. I was already on a loosing mission before but now I mean it. The goal is to loose about 30pounds. That makes about 13€ per pound I am loosing. I am hoping to find myself some sponsors who will donate 1€ per pound I am loosing. Maybe my parents are a good place to start... Regardless, because of my mission I have not started on designing dresses for myself at Eurovision. This brings me to the way more important topic than my dietary plans: Was quitting PayPal the right choice- or have i actually started in my fashion label. At this stage I have mainly looked into the options I have for a start up. And really I came to this conclusion: for the first period where the main focus is the design I will not register a company as my goal is not the revenue generation right away. I noticed during the creation of my business plan that a lot of topics in the plan are not really applicable at the moment. I will however need to look into registering my trademark on the German market. While I had already registered the brand k-eleven in Ireland I need to do so in Germany too. At the same time I have - as indicated above- not started designing for myself, however I have completed the German ESC heart design dress for my the friend I am going to Kiev with. My current ideas circle around the Irish dress. This one will be for myself, but I just don't know that I want the dress to look like. Maybe Ireland is giving me some inspiration. That is right. I am on my way to Dublin right now. Last year I had already booked the tickets for the country2country concert in Dublin. I am really looking forward to see Reba live in action and meet up with crazy Karin. I am also looking forward to having dinner with my "vegan group", to going to the movies with my former photographer and friend Lotte and staying at my favorite models' family home. Having to many great meet ups planned I have high expectations for this weekend back home in Dublin. This will probably be my last visit to Ireland in a long time.. Unless Ireland wins Eurovision- then I will be back in May 2018 the latest. Talking about Ireland and Eurovision: I'm dying to try is Brendan's song for this year. My first reaction was not too positive. I thought he sounds like a child (reminding me of Heintje, a Dutch child star in the 60s/70s). And while I did not actively like it at first listen, I wanted to hear it again. And again. And again. In fact I have probably listened to it 50times by now and I like it. I really do. I can already hear my ESC fan-friends disagreeing with me but this is a beautiful song, that is simple at first and gains power later. It has what I call the "idol factor": most winners' songs from singing competitions over the last years have this climax in the song where the music breaks and then a full power restart. I cannot really describe it, but when you listen to it, you'll know what I am talking about. Will it win? I would hope so, but I don't think so. Will it have chances to at least qualify to the final? I need to check what songs are in the second semi with Brendan to say for sure. But I can see him getting to the final or only miss it by one or two places. I will give a better prognosis way closer to the day. It is always fun to see how wrong I am. Second part of my ESC post is all about the music. For the past 2years I have not only listened to the winners of the national selections but actually listened to all ESC entries published. And this is always fun, exciting and really good at times.
This year is no exception. I love the songs. Well as usual I am not always happy about the outcome but you cannot have it all. So where do I start? Though it makes sense to start chronologically, I will not. Let me share my opinion on Germanys' entry first. It's toilet. Well, let me explain. Firstly the show was a bore. Please make it more fun to watch - especially when inviting the world to watch. (Though I admit that some of the jokes made during the show were actually enjoyable). Now, I also think there should have been a group or another male contestant in the show because I am tired of this sweet girl thing we have been trying to recreate for years now. Honestly though, from the cover versions I completely agree with the audience that the Adele song was great. Now the two song choices, they are okay, but need a lot of remastering before sending them off to Kiev. I mean come on the beat is so David guetta it is embarrassing to watch. Plagiarize much? Also I really believe we should send a German song for once. And I honestly believe that a good song in native tongue has chances to win. Having said that I love the Belarusian entry this year. It just makes you smile. Though I am mad at Ireland for it because this song sounds like something Mumford and sons could have sung 2-3 years ago. But then again Ireland has not been making a lot of good choices over the last years. I know Brendan is a good singer but come on! Not a winning voice.... Well I will have to wait for the song, it might surprise me. But can Ireland please send someone like walking on cars or hozier? These are Irish exports that just work internationally. International entries... Let me go through the list and start with the latest news on Albania. Why not send bote, why change it to English? Georgia had great songs this year and I am not happy that they went for a jamala song-alike. I am curiously awaiting the Swedish decision as I am already in love with some of their contestants- and I haven't even seen all. In Iceland I am hoping the votes go for the Icelandic version of whatever song is chosen. Though I could not say that song is, possibly Erna (though a remake of undo), svala, or Arnar and rakel... But I also like Aron and Aron... And then there is Moldova and I am seriously routing for the return of epic sax guy as this will make Eurovision fun for sure. I am not a big fan of the polish entry- which is sad because I generally do like them. That was mostly about semifinal 1 (well except for my rant about Ireland) but then again not many countries in the second semifinal have something to show for yet. Exceptions are Malta, Hungary (again great pre-selection, not sure the best song made it- and I am still listening to Leander kills). Okay, I need to Apollo-gize, but I hate the Swiss entry. Maybe it will grow on me, but I don't think it will ever. As for the big 5, all have announced their entry and from those five I probably like UKs song best- and I think it is boring. Now Italy is growing on me, so I might like it by May. And I have not listened to dance and Spain just yet... So with 14 songs published I think my bet would be for Belarus to win, but then again it is too early to say for sure as all songs can still be changed and too many countries are still about to release their contestant. And looking at the odds, bookmakers seem to disagree and see Italy in the winning position (i don't see that yet) There is no point in trying any longer and finally admit it. It is time to write about Eurovision again. I've been trying to hold off but too much happened. So much in fact I will have to split my entries. So I am going to start with "nightmare Ukraine" and follow by why ESC music is the best yet trashiest music in the whole world.
Why nightmare Ukraine? Let me tell you why. I have not once in my active time in ESC had such negativity happening before an event. With startling news about mass slaughtering of stray dogs to organizational issues leading to resignations all over the place. In between the news that probably nobody cares about and never reached media but is outrages for fans, this year OGAE (the official ESC fan club) members will not get fan packages. Further let-down for us hardcore fans, accreditations will be much more limited than in recent years, probably leading to not getting into the euroclub as I am used. The issues around the ticket sales were just an annoying cherry on top: first the ticket sales date was only published very short notice and at a very late stage (3month before ESC). In addition, the ticket sale did not go smoothly either, and left many people worried. While concert.ua has done a good job in creating an English site, allowing international addresses and numbers to be added, the fear of credit card fraud was high. We will probably only notice in a few month if reports of stolen credit cards emerge again and if I will still have money on my bank account. Talking about bank account, I also spent my last substantial sum of money before unemployment hits my account on fabrics for ESC. I bought several yards of organic fabrics with self designed heart-shaped flag prints. They have partially been delivered and I need to be honest I hate the feel of the organic cotton sateen material. It feels rather stiff and unnatural. Not quite sure yet how to make my dresses, as the designs need to match the fabric. I was hoping for a more flowing material. Also, with one the print is way to big to look good on a small person-good thing I am size extra. On the bright side, I am in love with the the organic cotton knit fabric. It has such a lovely texture. I'm looking forward to getting the stoff'n order containing 3 more organic materials to compare to the spoonflower ones. Well, it is not that bad- I am actually still hyped (and sick) - partially because of my crazy idea (I get to that later). I still need to recap - though a bit delayed- the final. Firstly, I have to address the elefant in the room:
Petra and Mans were brilliant. I loved their songs ( I am really hoping for a ESC 2016 Bonus edition on itunes with Love, Love, Peace, Peace and so on, on it), I loved the jokes and the overall package. Not everything was perfect though: Mans clearly needs to work on his interviewing skills (I know his time was limited but give the girl time to finish her song!) The clip shown about the Nerd-Nation was great in the Semi finals but did not reach its potential in the final. Also the 4min clip before JT was a bit disturbing - while it is great to see so many known acts coming from Sweden, I think they should have mastered that differently. Clip- Highlight was Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Derek Jacobi "the longest night ever" Now to my predictions and comparing them with the Jury, the Tele and the combined vote:
Now I know I was off with a few but overall my prediction was not too bad... who would have thought Poland would do that well? I am pleased about it, but I was already surprised that they qualified. Bulgaria was even better than predicted with is awesome! And I knew it was going to be tight between the top 3 when I made my predictions. Now, I have heard a lot of b***ing about whether Ukraine should have won, and politics and so on. Honestly though, Ukraine portrait raw emotion that touched people, the audience in the hall felt it ( i had goosebumps all over the first time I heard the song live), the people at home picked up the phone for it and the Jury marked the talent. I believe she deserved to win. Was it my personal favourite? No, it was not. I still voted for it. I did not vote for Russia and I liked the song. Why did I not vote? He was such a sure candidate to win that I did not feel the need to call for him. And the song was a great Eurovision song and the performance great, yet in the final I did not feel the excitement anymore. Australia. There is no doubt about the amazing talent of Dami - her vocals rock. So I am not surprised to see the Jury going for her to win. I am a bit disappointed that Israel did not do so well. Having watched the show on television now, I can understand why. In the Globen the whole performance was stunning and the voice so beautiful - but somehow it was not translated to the screen (The same goes for Bulgaria - but here people still voted :) )
Lastly Germany. I feel about Germany's last place the same way as about Ireland not making the final: I knew it was going to happen but did not want to say anything. However, I have to say this is also down to the commentators. when the song is introduced with comments about vomit and dislike it is hard to like the song. Germany, face it: Europe does not like you... Finishing off with a few impressions from the final (at this stage I want to give a big thank you to Benedict Lützenburg, who let me use his fantastic pictures) I did not post anything yesterday as I was too sad ;) Nicky's performance was better and I think he deserved to go through to the final- well I preferred him over Georgia. Also sad about Belarus not making the cut.
Now I do have to report about the Jury Final. As some of you have already seen, friends of mine won VIP tickets for the Grand Final tonight. But we still went to see the show last night and I am glad that we did. Our seats were with restricted view - basically behind the stage. This gave us a nice inside on what is happening in the back. The show started with a fashion show- much to my delight. One of the outfits caught my attention (you might wanna look out for it) as it reminded me of a German expression "einen Bären aufbinden" (roughly to pull s.b. leg but literally "to turn up a bear on someone") :) The show was overall great - i enjoyed the opening number just as much as the individual acts. Though I am not too happy with the running order. If there ever was a chance for DE to get a good score it is now minimalised singing between SW and FR. My personal favourite remains Bulgaria but if I am honest I would think this is how it is going to turn out tonight: 1 Russia 2 Australia 3 Ukraine 4 Sweden 5 Bulgaria 6 Israel 7 France 8 Italy 9 Netherlands 10 Latvia We will see... Now a few impressions from last night ( I forgot to take pictures of my outfit :S) So we watched the Jury final last night and I am sad to say it is going to be tough for Ireland. but I still bet on them to make it... Israels performance was great! Overall a lot of artist have cool dancers on stage with them - I am afraid you won't see to much of them in the televised version.
Australias vocals were a.m.a.z.i.n.g but her performance was slightly off and I wish her all the best for tonight. My personal favourite is Bulgaria: She is just great even with her chicken dance. HIghlight of the day seem to have been my dress. We were stopped multiple times- for fotos, videos and so on. so my flag-heart dress was a full success! Not sure how long we going to last in the next days - I feel a lung infection coming my way :( but I will try to party still ;) Here a few impressions: |
Kate Krausepennyless fashion designer working towards London Categories
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