Rinse & Repeat: Getting on a Jet Plane Again

Tuomo writes: So my dear friends, my two weeks in Finland are up - almost. I won't be leaving until Friday afternoon, but between now and then is Vappu, or First of May, the Anti-Halloween - six months till Halloween. To celebrate Vappu to its full extent, one has to wear a white cap so that one can get drunk, buy a balloon, and wear a fake nose in public; in essence, Vappu differs from other holidays in the sense that at Vappu you buy a balloon and wear a fake nose :-)

But I digress... There will be a three day hiatus because I have to return my broadband modem later this afternoon (stores will be closed on Vappu), so the next time I'll be posting is on Saturday - at the earliest. Hopefully I'll be posting my ruminations on Eurovision soon enough - and then the real speculation starts...! And hopefully I'll be able to move on to topics that have a broader interest among my readers - all five of them! :-) Oh and pictures...

So it's bye for now from Helsinki; talk to you soon from Langley!

Eurovision 2008: Latvia

Tuomo writes: Latvia, along with Estonia, its Baltic neighbour to the north, has managed to write a Eurovision success story in a relatively short time: in less than a decade after participating for the first time, Latvia hosted the competition in 2002 (though not in my opinion thanks to great winning song...). Now if only Lithuania also were able to figure out the winning code, we could start suspecting a Baltic conspiracy - or something in their diet or something...

In 2008, Latvia introduces Pirates of the Sea and Wolves of the Sea:

Here or


Ummm… Excuse me… Hi… The auditions to the Disney musical is… somewhere else.

OK so much for a Baltic success story for this year. Oh how the might have fallen...

I’ll the first to plead guilty of buying dance remix albums of Disney’s best of tunes (note to self: stop buying them – that just encourages Disney to release some more). And I'll be the first one to admit that more often than not the outcome is annoying, if not downright awful, an insult to both genres.

In other words please: somebody… please… tell… me… how… to… get… this… tune… out… of… my… head!

Eurovision 2008: Belarus

Tuomo writes: This is the second time Belarus participates. Sitting behind a group of Belarussians cheering for Koldun and the Belarus entry last year in the Hartwall Hall, you would have thought it was government imposed. Hmmm, considering that we're talking about Belarus, maybe it was... :-) At any rate, the cheer worked, and Belarus did fairly well for a newbie and placed in the top 10.

So here's Belarus for the second time in 2008 with Ruslan Alehno and Hasta la vista:

Here or

Seems like Belarus has figured ESC out: entries have to be cheesy to succeed. Like Koldun last year, the singer is cheesy, the lyrics are cheesy, the choreography is cheesy. If it were any cheesier, mice would be having a field day! :-)

Speaking of cheesy, I'm a little surprised that Dave didn't showcase Belarus from 2007 and Dmitry Koldun: “Work your magic SHOE...!” And that cheesy move that you can see at 03:05 :-) If there's a song from 2007 that Dave enjoys - be it for its cheesy nature or what - Dmitry is it!

Eurovision 2008: Czech Republic

Tuomo writes: The Czech Republic was last year’s newbie in Helsinki, but no beginner’s luck for the Czech. Though 2007 was the year of heavy rock inspired tunes, the Czech macho rock entry did not get much support – much like the other countries who had thought that Lordi’s monster rock romp from the year before would be a promise of things to come. Cyprus, Iceland, and Montenegro all got eliminated in the semi-finals along with the Czech Republic, and even Finland, already pre-qualified for the final, didn’t make it to the top 10 (what a big surprise). So much for a new trend… other than for Finland :-)

This year, the Czech Republic tries again by sending in Tereza Kerndlová to perform the Czech entry Have Some Fun:

Here or

For a moment I thought this was the Egyptian entry :-)

This video clip confirms two things: 1) if you’re thin, you get to prance around in hot pants and wave pompoms; 2) otherwise you’re relegated to the choir and forced to wear black. :-

In terms of music, this was somewhat boring in my ears although normally I would go for the more pop-infused tunes. What's wrong with me???! At any rate, an improvement from last year... I'll learn to like this one too - I promise! :-)

Eurovision 2008: Switzerland

Tuomo writes: Switzerland is one of the founding members of Eurovision, but the prestigious legacy has waned a lot since Celine Dion belted out Ne partez pas san moi in 1987. When the rules dictated that the songs would have to be performed in the official languages of the countries, Italy was one lucky bastard with four languages to choose from: German, French, Italian, and Romansch. Needless to say, like in the case of Belgium, all languages were not treated alike with French or Italian being statistically better choices for success. However, ever since Switzerland has gone for English as their language of choice, success has been even more elusive…

In 2008, Switzerland has sent in Paolo Meneguzzi whose song is called Era stupendo:

Here or


Swoon! First, years go by without a single song in Italian (with the exception of Romania trying to squeeze a phrase here and there) - and now this is the third one this year! Mamma mia!

In terms of musical qualities, Era stupendo is pure Eurovision heaven: slightly raspy voice and pianos -and tons of emotions. I’m not sure if I like the change in tempo halfway through the song though; my mind almost would like to process this as two separate songs.

Last but not least, just in case people want to know what I think about the singer: he's cute too. Cute in a gouge your eyes out with this rusty fork kinda way :-) Is this some kind of prerequisite if you want to sing in Italian?!

Eurovision 2008: Albania

Tuomo writes: For a country that used to be synonymous to reclusion, secrecy, and boorishness, Albania has fared well in the Eurovision Song Contest since their entry in 2004 (?). I'm thinking in particular of Albania placing in the much coveted top 10, who were guaranteed a spot in the final, in their first year! This year, Albania is represented by Olta Boka, and her song is called Zemrën e lamë peng:

Here or

My Albanian is kinda rusty (!) if not downright nonexistant, but clearly she sang very solefully about something that was giving her a lot of grief. In terms of music, this was pure Eurovision ballad material, and I would imagine her exuding a lot of stage presence once she gets on stage in Belgrade. I kinda liked it, but I'm sure to fully appreciate it, I would have to listen to it a couple of more times... which I will, trust me :-)

Eurovision 2008: Lithuania

Tuomo writes: Lithuania seems to be the New Finland (not that the Old Finland would have gone anywhere): a country that has submitted all kinds of songs without much receiving much international renown. Amazing when you consider that Lithuania's fellow Baltic countries, Latvia and Estonia, have both won and have both had a relatively amount of success before and after their victories. Could it be something in the water or what?

In 2008, Lithuania is represented by Jeronimas Milius who will sing Nomads in the Night:

Here or


Good voice; boring though. Apparently International Male delivers to Lithuania.

Hercules: Eurovision Heaven

Tuomo writes: I think I was in Eurovision Heaven - or Hell depending on your view on ESC...

Last night (Saturday) a bunch of us was supposed to get together. Unfortunately things didn't work out according to planned, but at least I had a delightful dinner at Himalaja, one of the Nepalese restaurants in Helsinki, and then got plenty of exercise exploring Eira after dark, one of the more fashionable parts of Helsinki. After a cidre at O'Malley's, I continued the evening by going to Hercules - also known as Herccu, or Herkku ("deli" in Finnish) - all by myself (another friend was supposed to show up there, but in the end, he sent me a text message to let me know that he wasn't coming after all).

At any rate, the place was hopping! When I walked in (there was no line when I got to Hercules, but before I got in there was one right behind me!), they were playing this year's Swedish entry Hero. As I sipped on my omenasiideri, or apple cidre, the DJ played one Eurovision entry after another. Invincible. Qele qele. Sata Salamaa. You name it - the DJ played it! Too bad I had no one to dance with...

Oh and the bar was teeming with dark, swarty, and slim Italians and Spaniards. They seemed to be having a fun time hitting on the willing Finns. Unfortunately, none of them had the audacity to approach me; I mean, what does that make me, chopped liver?! :-)

Or could it be that I was actually looking for an excuse to go home early (which I got with that text message from the friend who I was expecting to meet at Herkku) and I didn't quite look like I'be fun to be with - or even available? Nah :-)

Eurovision 2008: Ukraine

Tuomo writes: Ukraine is yet another Eurovision newbie with less than 10 years under the belt but this has not prevented them from winning (in 2004 as their second year in the competition). Not a bad feat for a country when Finland at that point could only dream of such glory!

In 2007 ,Ukraine put on a show of a life time when Verka Serduchka got on stage in Helsinki and belted out Lasha Tumbai in her crazed-out drag outfit – and came in second! In fact even my parents loved Verka… though I strongly suspect that they did not quite get the joke – like that Verka was a dude in silver dress… To date then, Verka’s performance has been the best in the category of unorthodox Eurovision performances, which unfortunately has apparently given the green light this year for other countries to pull the same off. They do say that imitation is the highest form of flattery, but for the time being, I don’t think that Verka can be beat.

At any rate, here is Ukraine in 2007 with Ani Lorak and Shady Lady:

Here or

After Ukraine’s romp with Verka last year, I was expecting to be disappointed. But no: I just love dance music like this: I look forward to working out to this. Also a great stage show based on the YouTube clip. But is it Eurovision? And what’s with the Lordi monster rip-offs? And do something about the owowowoowww in the beginning.

And for those who want more Verka, enjoy!

Eurovision 2008: Turkey

Tuomo writes: As my/our readers may recall, I love listening - and shaking my bootie - to Turkish music. I don't think I would ever become a fan of performers such as Tarkan or Sezen Aksu if it hadn't been for Eurovision. Ever since Turkey entered the Eurovision scene, I have been fascinated by the Turkish entries. Like Finland, Turkey was practically a staple among the lowest places - until televoting became the way the Eurovision champion would be elected, which undeniably has had an influence on Turkey's relatively high placings in recent years

From day one, Turkey was lightyears ahead of time and occasionally out of place (whereas Finland still remains lightyears out of place): exotic sounds of both the music and language were difficult to digest until pop music in general started to incorporate eastern sounds. And then the parameters changed - elements in Turkish music became maisntream - and bam, that was it: Turkey won in 2004! This year Turkey is represented by Mor ve Ötesi, and their entry is called Deli:


Here or

Alrighty - this has to be the best rock song this year, hands down! I hope people haven't got the impression that I'm against rock music in the Eurovision Song Competition. In the contrary - it just has to be good rock music (what ever that means - which will open a whole new can of worms, but we'll leave it at that for the time being). And this one was good rock - inTurkish. I have to say that this is a bold move for Turkey and possibly a healthy reminder to us all that there is more to the Turkish music scene besides Tarkan and Company.

Admittedly, kinda confusing that the only thing Turkish about this one was that it was in Turkish. Always a good move in my book of Eurovision music. On the other hand, once again, perhaps not a future evergreen but what the hey :-) İyi şanslar, Türkiye!

Hell has frozen over! or "Dave submits a blog post"

Dave Writes: Well when my dear hubby reads this, he is going to have a heart attack. Not for what I say, but because I actually wrote an entry for “our” blog! ;-) Yes boys and girls, I have not completely faded away into the great white Canadian North. It merely took me a while to start feeling normal again and “at home” in my new surroundings. Is British Columbia my home yet? Not quite. Will it ever feel like home? Of course it will! It will just take a little more time and a few good vacations with visiting friends (from Rhode Island and Finland) and a trip to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware USA. I am learning that friends are only a flight away. But enough of this dribble! Why am I writing to you now? Well I need to do some translating for our fabulous North American readers. I have no doubt that some of you, dear readers, are asking yourself “What is this thing you call Eurovision?”

Well Eurovision, or more accurately the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC), is the most fabulous of all international song competitions in the whole wide world. Yes, I’m sure that song contest that those Von Trapp kids sang at was good too, but ESC is the bestest of the best. Of course I say this having seen absolutely no other real song contests ever! But I know in my heart this is true.

So what is it that makes it so great? The music, when it is good, is really good. The costumes and dresses are fantastic (or delightfully horrible and that, my dears, can be even MORE entertaining). But the best part is the audience – when you are in a group of ESC fanatics (Kuka?) you can’t help but fall in love with the contest. All it took was one year for me…1999. The year Sweden won, yet again, for big boobs and that damn kalang kalang kalong piano riff stolen from Abba’s Waterloo and used in every Swedish entry since 1974. This was also my first trip to Europe and the first time I was fortunate enough to be introduced to Timo and Tytti (Pekka had already interrogated me in Washington DC in 1996). Since then, ESC has been in my life the same way Christmas or a birthday would be when marking the passing of time. It helps that Tuomo is also a fanatic (can you tell?).

Although I have many many favorite entries, I have narrowed it down to a few. So without further ado, I present you with the top three Eurovision Song Contest entries ever submitted (by my humble opinion):

Number Three: United Kingdom, 1981 “Making Your Mind Up”
Sooooooo campy!



Number Two: France, 1991 “C'est Le Dernier Qui A Parlé”
My God! She can actually sing 16th notes! And its beautifully haunting.



Number One: Iceland, 1999 “All Out of Luck”
True, the dudes in raincoats don’t help. But this song just makes me very happy!

Eurovision 2008: Iceland

Tuomo writes: Oops, I got Iceland and Sweden in the wrong order; in reality Iceland will be performing before Sweden – just in case somebody cares…

Iceland has been on Eurovision stages for a hair over 20 years without much success. However, in 1999 Iceland came second by which time the highest Finland had ever placed was sixth. And in 1999, another instance of Eurovision-cide took place, i.e. the Wrong Song Won, when Iceland should have won but came in second beaten by… Sweden and… Charlotte Nilsson (a k a Perrelli)!!

1999 was also the year when Dave had his Eurovision baptism of fire. Poor guy, had no idea what was awaiting him when he got on that train from Paris to Luxembourg… Iceland was represented by Selma with All Out of Luck (here in the preview release because the sound quality is better) which to date is one of Dave’s all time favourites – mine too! In fact, many years later I was able to get hold of Selma’s album (with All Out of Luck in it) on the UK version of Amazon.com; it cost me an arm and a leg – it’s was a special Japanese edition – but worth it every single track!

But I digress. Here’s Iceland with Eurobandið and This Is My Life:

Here or

Well executed, cute male singer, annoying dance moves. Perhaps to clubby? The singers will be devoured by Charlotte Perrelli - and thus unable to perform - to avoid any head-on competition that might divert any points away from Sweden:-)

Eurovision 2008: Sweden

Tuomo writes: Ah Sweden… whose sole function in the Eurovision contest over the years has been to make Finland look bad. Oh wait… we Finns have done a pretty damn good job at it all on our own :-) Sweden has been one of the most successful countries ever since ABBA, and ABBA has been one of the few artists and groups to actually have had a mainstream career beyond Eurovision - though does one really need more in life than the love and devotion of Eurovision freaks like moi? :-)

Nary a year has passed without Sweden in the top 10, and in years when Sweden has placed below the top 10, crisis support groups have been set up in Sweden to heal bruised Swedish egos in:-) All joking aside, Sweden takes Eurovision seriously, and Finland and Finns (and – ahem - this year a couple of other countries for that matter!) could learn a thing or two. In fact, I don’t think Sweden will ever stoop anywhere as low as those unmentioned countries (you know who you are!!) I was referring to above – for better or worse. So then here’s Sweden in 2008 with Charlotte Perrelli (nee Nilsson; winner in 1999), and Hero:

Here or



Immaculate composition, arrangements and modulation? Check.
Catchy tune? Check.
Goddess with flowing hair? Check.
Legs that go up to there? Check.
Boobs? Check (though somewhat uneven)
Botoxed alien look? Check.

Would it be too much to ask for the Swedes to submit anything that basically suck, just sucks from here to high heaven? I had a hard time grasping the tune in the beginning until the refrain though, and in the end I was just annoyed by the perfection. Or is it just a case of sour grapes, eller hur? :-)

Eurovision 2008: Germany

Tuomo writes: Germany, the second Big Four to participate in the televoting on the night of the first semi-finals, has been a member country since the beginning. And yet, with a couple of close calls and a lot of top 5 successes in the 1980s, actual victory and getting to host has been possible only once. Lots of bad luck and some years of displays of absolutely bad taste – that has been Germany’s legacy. So here’s Germany in 2008, No Angels, and Disappear:

Here or :


The singers display a lot of legs, and the boob factor is halfway decent? Check.
Immaculate arrangements and nice voices? Check (Spain, take note!).

What? This wasn't Sweden?! Oh dear... :-)

Innocuous and likable - and still a little blah. I hope this one breaks the "Big Four Curse" of recent years though by not placing in the bottom four, the places reserved predominatly for the Big Four in course of the past couple of years...!

Ironically, in the light of the wreck that Spain has submitted this year, Germany almost submitted this, performed in Spanish (!) and which could have been so much better - either for Spain - or Germany for that matter!!

Eurovision 2008: Spain

Tuomo writes: Recall that according to the current Eurovision rules, only the winner and the Big Four, i.e. United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Germany, make it directly to the final, and thus will not be performing during the semi-finals. However, since televoters in Spain and Germany will be casting in their votes on the night of the first semi-finals, I will be reviewing their entries at this point.

So first Spain. As one of the Big Four, or the biggest sponsors of the event, Spain has not gained first place since 1969 (I believe), and even then it was a four-way split. Victory has unfortunately remained elusive ever since with a placing in the top 10 every once in a while. The entries that Spain has submitted over the years have been marked by typically Spanish music culture: a delicious display of musical tapas on a platter of flamenco, gypsy sounds, lost of guitars, castanets, and clapping hands… :-) So here’s Spain, Rodolfo Chikilicuatre, and Baila el chiki chiki:

Here or



Honestly ¡Dios míos! ¿Qué fue esto? I mean – honestly??! Is this the year of the freak shows?! First Ireland, then Estonia, and even Finland (how else is one to characterize Teräsbetoni’s macho posturing)…

This got me so upset that I had to do some research on how this came to be, so I hope I got the facts right. It turns out that once again the Spanish national broadcasting company TVE had invited performers to submit entries on MySpace websites. This fresh twist to selecting a candidate to represent a country brought in over 500 applications, among which voters could then vote for their favourites over four days on the Internet. Five of these would make it to the final, and five others would be selected by a jury.

Unfortunately, this allowed anybody to vote – including from abroad – as well as opened to door for hackers and other retards. A rival TV station allegedly wanted to sabotage the competition and encouraged people to vote for a clearly lame entry. As a result, the final top five initially contained two clear cases of “sabotage,” but one of them was disqualified. But damage had been done, and Roberto ended up as the winner even with a jury having a word to say.

I just can’t understand what makes some people feel so bitter or whatever by a song competition that they have to ruin the event for everyone. What do these people hope to achieve by voting for a candidate that does not have much of a chance – hopefully – to place much higher than the other entries Spain has submitted in recent years?! Does this mean that Eurovision fans have now been given the legitimacy to sabotage other cultural events like soccer games just because the fans don’t happen to like them? :-)

Now I have to admit I'm not a big fan of reggaeton or rap, but Rodolfo's performance did little to expand my range of music I like. Though annoyingly catchy and the lyrics require skills beyond the first five units in Spanish 101 (typically the words la luna, el sol, la playa, and yo te quiero mucho have been part of the lyrics one way or the other !), I can’t find a better word to describe Chiki Chiki than amateurish – at best. What a shame, Spain! ¡Qué lástima España! :-(

And in the context of trying to be funny, I wish I remembered what my initial reaction to Verka's "weird business" in 2007 was. I loved it, and though I can't perceive it ever being considered a Eurovision evergreen, it did not come across as mockery of the Eurovision genre. In contrast, all the honestly weird ones this year do exactly that: they mock Eurovision and transitively everything that Eurovision fans consider close to heart. Does this mean humour should be off-limits. Absolutely not! Just don't mock - whatever that means :-) I mean, I don't know where and how to draw the line. Maybe someone with more refinement in esthetic analysis can pitch in at this point...

To add even more insult to injury, consider this entry by La casa azul "La revolución sexual" could have represented Spain but placed third. Now this is something that would have given even Romania run for the money for my douze points - delightfully irreverent (smart lyrics) and a deliciously catchy tune to dance to!!! Now if only I knew how to get hold of more La casa azul – I love them! 90% of my Spanish is comes from listening to Mecano in the early 90s; maybe La casa azul can help me move on and improve :-)

Eurovision 2008: Greece

Tuomo writes: Of all the countries, when White Daphne Eurovision Club (membership by invitation only – or marriage) was still alive and kicking (another bagel Moment coming up …), Greece was the country whose entries were among the most anticipated, if not the most anticipated one. We would debate back and forth on whether this would be the year that Greece would NOT give twelve points to Cyprus; like is the Pope Catholic? :-)

Usually on the more kitschy end of the fabulousity scale (it’s a word because I say so!), this particular Greek entry from 1993 in particular has been etched onto our hearts forever. Oh the way how Kety Garby sashayed onto the stage and put on a kickass performance. And that outfit… ordinary mortals would have had flesh oozing out of the slits in the dress without even moving a finger, but oh no: not on Ms. Garby. Ellada ora tous photoooos…! :-)

Otherwise Greece used to belonge to the Old School of Eurovision losers until their victory in 2005. Even before that as well as ever since Greece has fared fairly well, so this is Greece in 2008, Kalomoira, and Secret Combination:

Here or


Ok sweetie (Ενταξι, μορο μου…) you have a rocking body with legs to boot – but please: it’s OK to wear an outfit that covers a bit more of your pudenda. We get the point: you’re hawt. Keep in mind: less is more! And don’t divert my attention away from the dancing boys :-)

Contemporary with strong ethnic southeastern flavours: not your run-of-the-mill Eurovision material, but I’ll root for this one! ΟΠΑ!

Mom Turned 80 Today

Tuomo writes: Today's my mom's 80th birthday!

Last night, after my folks had decided to go to be, I was finally able to wrap the presents, put them in cute bags, and tie spiffy bows as the final touch. I had the tv on with a Gwen Stefani concert playing on low playing in the back ground to cover all the rustling and wrapping noises I was making. When everyhting was ready, I snuck into the kitchen: first to hang up a happy birthday streamer (the least I wanted to do just in case either one of my folks would wake up as I tippytoed past their bedroom) and then all the presents... Then it was time to go to bed.

Around eight I started to hear some noises in the living room area: time to witness the shock and awe :-) My mom seemed to be totally surprised by the amount of prezzies and the streamer. Oh if only the Hallmark store at Langley Mall had had a less lame selection of centre pieces, there would have been a fabulous centre piece to top everything off. Oh well, I iwas able to impress mom with this so mission accomplished I guess :-)

I had placed my cross stitch present - the one I had finished only two nights before departure - in a present bag with a picture of lots of candles on it; when you pressed the button, you could hear the sound of sirens wailing, i.e. to come extinguish the blaze caused by having so many candles on you birthday cake. When I pushed the button, mom either feigned shock or put on a perfect display of being surprised by this detail.

She liked the cross stitch at lot, but she LOVED the blue Swarovski butterfly that Dave had chosen. Then it was time to get her hair done, so she didn't finish opening the remaining boxes until after her return. The outfits Dave had selected and Joy had approved pleased her tremendously though they were all a little tight around the belly...

For lunch to celebrate the big day, dad had selected Cafe & Bar at Hotelli Kämp. We all had avocado mousse in a roll of tuna and mango dressing as an appetizer. Then as our main courses, my folks had grilled spring chicken with bok choy and leaf spinach in red wine sauce; I had a steak of marbled fillet of beef with béarnaise sauce and French fries. To top things off, the champagne... err, I mean sparkling wine - that we chose as our alcoholic drink made everybody feel even more cheerful! And the dessert was perfect: banana choclate mousse à la mode. Yum! :-) In sum, a most charming venue to celebrate one's 80th birthday - especially as it also happened to be mom's first time there!

In other words, next time Dave visits Finland, I'll have to bring him there :-)

At any rate, much fun was had by all, especially by the Birthday Girl. Pictures to follow -sometime in the unspecified future...

Eurovision 2008: Russia

Tuomo writes: Campy. Trashy. Downright awful. Or even classy. A country that ranges 11 time zones can’t possibly help it: Russia (since 1994) hasn’t left us cold with its entries, so without further ado, here’s Russia in 2008, Dima, and Believe:


Here or



Дима, Дима, Дима, что сделать с тобой…? Dima, Dima, Dima, what to do with you?

Dima represented Russia two years ago with this entry, and then I though his performance was hauntingly captivating with ballet dancers emerging from a grand piano and rose petals all over the stage. In contrast, Believe comes across as almost contrived...

Add Dima's dark Slavic puppy eyes to the equation, and plenty of voters will be seduced to vote for him. He definitely has stage presence, but I'm not quite turned on by the song itself (unlike by Vlad of Romania's singing)...

In terms of guessing who's going to vote for who, mark my words : Russia will get 12 points from Serbia in the finals - assuming of course that Dima seduces the televoters. And why wouldn't he: all the ex-pat Serbians across the continent will be voting for him :-)

Eurovision 2008: Romania

Tuomo writes: The first year or two, Romania struggled to find its way to the top ten, let alone to make it to the following year (like Finland), but then in course of the past few year (with the exception of 2007) Romania has submitted some interesting pearls, more in the genre of club music than in terms of traditional Eurovision fluff. Could 2008 be Romania's year with Nico& Vlad and Pe-o margine de lume:

Here or

Cum se spune la “Come to papa” în limba română?! :-)

Wow, not only one but two entries in Italian – or at least parts of it! Consequently, I’m quivering like bowl of jell-o from the mere pleasure of hearing some more Italian. And then there’s that hunk-and-a-half singing in Romanian, philologically the closest relative to Italian that still retains three genders and cases dating from its latin roots to boot. Basically an equation to make me me feel all hot and bothered. Is it hot in here or is it just you, Vlad?! :-) Oh and the song itself is pure Eurovision heaven: a power ballad on loving the other till eternity with modulations and stuff is just what the doctor prescribed.

In other words, in case you failed to notice, Romania is my favourite and gets my douze points if I had to vote on the basis of the entries heard so far. And my day dreams have now taken the form of someone called Vlad giving me a call. Chiamami - te rog! :-)

Eurovision 2008: The Netherlands

Tuomo writes: One of the original participants in Eurovision, the Netherlands scored the top prize in 1975. Since then the honour of hosting the competition has remain elusive although the Dutch have showcased some absolutely fabulous numbers, like Vrede and Ruth Jacott and her voluptuously rectangular lips in 1993. So this year the Netherlands features Hind and Your Heart Belongs to Me:

Here or

Which country was this again? Turkey? Greece? Slovenia? She’s pretty and perky – like the daughter-in-law who could have made my parents happy if I weren’t so gay...

As for the song, I kinda like though I can’t help thinking that this must have been a very tactical move by the Dutch to attract votes from the eastern parts of the Eurovision zone..

YVR-LHR-HEL

Tuomo writes: Believe it or not, I made it to Helsinki without missing my connecting flight or losing my luggage. I just wonder how much of that can be attributed to London Heathrow having worked the initial bugs out and to what extent it is due to the late departure of my connecting flight to Helsinki…

Despite my impression that there was no way that British Airways Flight 84 (Boeing 747-400 G-CIVP, seat 53J) would be full, it was so and with a lot of families with kids as passangers. Despite this, boarding took place in an organised and timely fashion. We pushed back exactly on schedule at 8:35 PM, and after a twenty minute taxing we were in air taking off towards the west. After a minute or two the plane veered sharply to the northeast on which course we remained most of the flight. Anybody who has ever flown on a 747 knows what I’m alluding to when I say that flying on a 747 feels like flying in a living room – I just LOVE that feeling!

About an hour in air, we were served drinks and a bag of salted pretzels as appetizers. As I mentioned in my previous post, I ordered a gin and tonic as I always do on British Airways (it’s a long yet almost embarrassingly funny story; remind me to bring this up at some time). We had a choice of beef or chicken for supper, so I opted for chicken. It turned out to be a variation of sweet and sour chicken, and although it may not have been the most delicious sweet and sour chicken ever – and I dropped some of it on my sweater (great!) – I quite liked it. Fortunately I had brought some Splenda with me so that I could have something else but sugar in my coffee.

All this time, I enjoyed the channels on the IFE. Among the dozens or so channels, I focused on the comedy channels, and I watched an episode of Will and Grace (where Will and Vince kissed each other!!!), Family Guy, and Friends. Reruns, I know but it was funny to me…! Towards the end of the flight (after my 1.5 hour sleep) I watched two episodes of Ugly Betty, and I think I’m hooked on it now!

I’ve been able to sleep on only very rare occasions on planes – I mean, why waste your money of being on a plane by sleeping – and this time was no exception. The seat was comfortable and all that, except for some reason the foot rest was pressing against my shin. The seat pitch must have been an inch or so tighter than before, so I had some difficulties stretching out my legs. All in all, though I’m 183 cm (6’) tall, at least I had no problems fitting in terms of width, and the pitch issue was not that much of a problem because I wouldn’t have slept very much even if I had been on one of the superduper seats in business class, or Panda Seats as Dave refers to them (thanks to a Finnair ad a couple of years ago!).

Breakfast was served about an hour and a half prior to landing. It felt good to be able to slide open the window shield and let the sun shine in. Sun had risen above the horizon less than four hours after departure somewhere above the northern parts of Hudson Bay. Blasting my brain cells with some photons of pure sun shine made me feel quite freshened after only very little sleep. As for the breakfast, it was heavy on carbs (a ham and cheese croissant, lo fat berry yoghurt, and a trailer bar), but hey, I ate it all! :-)

As we started to descend, we were a good twenty minutes ahead of schedule, but this didn’t go well with the Heather ATC – oh noooo, we had to circle around for a good twenty minutes before the descent proper started. In the meanwhile we circled around a landmark somewhere to the northwest of the greater London area that I decided was a farm for mutant chickens…

So at last we made it to the notorious Terminal Five… By the time I got out of the aircraft I had like exactly two hours to make my connecting flight. I started to follow the signs: first down some escalators to a platform where I got a shuttle train that took me from point A to point B, then up some other escalators, and then immediately down to a depot where I got on a shuttle bus that would take me to Terminal One. During the ten-minute drive that involved going through now more than two tunnels and a video presentation on how to clear security check points without stress (i.e. keep the amount of liquids minimal yadda yadda yadda), which, ironically, made me stress out even more rather than calm me down! Once in Terminal One, once again I had to go first up some escalators, then down until at the end of a log winding corridor awaited the dreaded security check point. Except I didn’t have to remove my lap top from my back pack (let alone the other electronic equipment I was carrying…), and, probably due to a lull in the daily flow of millions of transiting passengers, there was no lines/queues whatsoever…

Then I suddenly found myself in the transit lounge where you have to wait until the monitors tell you when you can proceed to your gate, usually 40 minutes prior to the scheduled boarding time. In other words, I had made it to my destination with 45 minutes to spare before I could go further to my gate. All jet lagged out and trying to keep myself awake, I spent my remaining time browsing the numerous duty free stores and being perplexed by the prices in a currency that didn’t make immediate sense. Except that when it was time to find out where the gate for my connecting flight was, the monitors remained unchanged for another 10 minutes or so – only to find out moments later that the flight had been delayed by an hour! Yay!!! :-(

At last it was boarding time for AY 840 (I had started to nod off in the lounge so I had to keep on moving to keep myself awake), and the boarding started within minutes that the gate number in the transit lounge had been announced. No pre-boarding for families with kids or business class passengers first – just first come first served! I couldn’t help noticing how the seats for some reason appeared bare and even sparsely spaced, but I guess that’s the beauty of the Airbus A320. My seat 23F on Finnair’s OH-LYL was very comfortable, and even though I was in economy class, it felt as if I had more leg room than on the 747. Once everybody was seated, I was glad to notice the seat next to me was empty so that I wouldn’t have to wrestle for arm rest space. Then the captain made the dreaded announcement that we’d have to wait 25 minutes more before the ATC would allow us to push back and start our trek towards the runway… I kept myself amused by working on a sudoku, and let me tell you: it’s fun especially when you can’t keep your eyes focused… :-)

We took off pretty much exactcly two hours behind schedule. We took off to the east and somewhere over Kent veered towards the northeast and the North Sea. The flight attendants were courteous yet inherently stiff – well, they were Finns so what would you expect. The meal consisted of gnocchi pasta (I doubt these even were gnocchi) with what must have been tuna sauce; by default, this could’ve been delicious, but unfortunately the result was not very appetizing as if the meal had been reheated one time too many. Nevertheless, I cleaned my plate (to date, I have not refused to eat my meal in a plane), and probably out of sympathy I dropped some more sauce on my shirt. :-)

Two and a half hours later, we touched down while an almost full moon shone in the sky and created a beautiful moonbeam over the Gulf of Finland. By this time, the sun had set, and it was dark again (again?!). I approached the baggage claim area with a lot of apprehension: would I find my suitcase or would I have to claim lost luggage before I could get to go home and finally get some sleep? Lo and behold: there it was – and it was even among the first ones; in fact, I left plenty of other passengers behind waiting for their luggage.

My folks were there waiting for me. As for them, they had seen on TV that, after first no information on flight AY 840 having even departed, that it would be 30 minutes ahead of schedule! It wasn’t until they got to the airport when they learned the true nature of things, but they took it with stride and sat down to have a cup of coffee.

After a small snack of Finnish rye bread (yum!) and a quick shower, I was ready for bed and some serious shuteye. The lights went out at 1am, and I was blissfully in slumberland moments later. Ahhh…

Eurovision 2008: Armenia

Tuomo writes: Next in line is Armenia, another small landlocked mountaineous country. Interestingly in course of the past couple of days I have read several articles on Armenia. The tone in both British Airways' inflight magazine and this morning's Hufvudstadsbladet made the country appear like an interesting destination for a holiday. As for Eurovision, the oldest Christian country in the world has been surprisingly successful having made it to the much sought-after placing in the top ten to make it directly to the finals the following their first year. And if my memory does not fail me Armenia fared pretty well in Helsinki. This year Armenia features Shirusho and Qele Qele:

http://www.eurovision.tv/medialounge/video/609



I can't claim I know much about Armenian except that it features a bunch of consonant clusters and other sounds that practically require plastic surgery to be able to produce them accurately :-) While I'm sure the the letter in Qele qele represents a stop sound that's produced somewhere in the pharynx while squeezing your diaphragm and turning blue in the face, it still sounds like a boring unvoiced and unaspirated velar stop /k/to me. And therefore qele to me sounds like -kele, the way a certain swearword in Finnish is pronounced when one wants to spare the ears of infants and other weak in mind :-) So this one gets the tee hee hee prize of the year...!

As for the song itself (huh?), this was quite a number: a juicy cocktail spiced with exotic sounds and rhythms. The jiggling boob factor accented by voluptuously swaying hips should push, shove, and thrust this one to the finals...

Eurovision 2008: Bosnia-Herzegovina

Tuomo writes: As perhaps the most tragic country in recent European history, Bosnia-Herzegovina has been a showcase of persistance even in the context of Eurovision. Considering that the first performers for the newly independent countries in the early 90s had to avoid snipers just to make it to the finals alive, Bosnia is in my book the epitomy of striving to succeed. With somewhat uneven rate of success Bosnia-Herzegovina is still with us this year with Laka and Pokušaj:

Here or


This entry has to be the bizarrest stage performace by far this year, even after Azerbaijan. It actually made me think of it as a musical version of Waiting for Godot. Once again this is a schoolbook example of an entry would benefit from a translation to fully appreciate the Bosnian effort. Despite the visual surrealism, I may warm up to this - eventually, but not quite yet.

A live chicken? Now that's a nice touch - this trick should bring in a point or two from at least the Irish who should find this endearing with their related fowl on stage performance of 2008 :-) Birds of the feather anyone?

Eurovision 2008: Andorra

Tuomo writes: Andorra, one the smallest countries in Europe squashed between France and Spain in the the Pyrenee Mountains, is also one of the most recent newbies: only three times with unfortunately not much success. Could it be because the Andorran entries have been performed in a language that is the most widely spoken minority language, i.e. Catalonian (douze points from me for this feat!) or that Andorra hasn't got much votes elsewhere than from Spain? So this year Andorra introduces Gisela and Casanova:

Here or

It seems that Andorrans have decided that promoting Catalonian langauge and culture is not the key to Eurovision success: a boo and a hiss for that :-(

As for musical merits, I have to admit I liked it. Your typical run-of-the-mill Euro pop bang that left me energised. The boobs notwithstanding this entry should guarantee a place in the finals for Andorra assuming the live performance is as energised and engaging - or at the least their highest placing to date. Bona sort, mes amics!

Getting on a Jet Plane

Tuomo writes: Dave will be home in about 30 minutes, and then it's off to YVR. My flight (BA 84) is scheduled to leave at 8:35 PM and to arrive in London (LHR) tomorrow at 1:40 PM local time. Then it'll be a shuttle over from the new but notorious Terminal Five to Terminal One where I'll catch my connecting flight to Helsinki (BA 6080, operated by Finnair). Wish me luck and keep your fingers crossed! For one, I want to show my dad and brother that one can transfer through LHR successfully and intact :-)

And who knows maybe if Aviation Goddesses are benevolent, I might get to upgrade. No matter what, I'll have my mandatory gin and tonic cocktail on British Airways and enjoy the flight.

I'm nervous and excited at the same time. I don't think I've ever packed as much in my carry-on as I've done now. I'm convinced that my luggage will get lost, so I've packed everyhting that is supposed to be my mom's 80th birthday presents in my blue Roots backpack. Honestly, I feel like a beast of burden! In fact, in case I do lose my luggage, I've packed a pair of underwear, socks, and a t-shirt so that I have something halfway decent to wear on Saturday.

So there may be a bit of a hiatus between now and the next post (as if I needed an excuse). The break in the semi-final reviews so far has been due to the fact that I had to give priority to finishing the cross stitch project that I've been working on for my mom's birthday; I didn't finish it until late Tuesday night when I spent the last two hours on the aggravating task of stitching lazy suzans... On Saturday (the day after tomorrow), I'll try to gain broadband access through my folks' cable provider. If this works out, I'll be able to continue my Eurovision semi-final reviews (god I know there'll be plenty of time with jet lag and stuff!). Otherwise I'll be back in the beginning of May.

Ah, I feel a song coming up (to quote Dame Edna)! Ireland submitted this as their Eurovision entry in 1984 Terminal Three performed by Linda Martin:

This one came second (!) and missed the top spot by eight points. BTW for those who care, Terminal Three at LHR is the terminal that serves British Airways, Air Canada, SAS, Singapore Airlines, Turkish Airlines, and Virgin Atlantic Airlines. Fascinating, isn't it :-)

Things That Make Dave and Tuomo Laugh These Days

Tuomo writes: There's more to life than just Eurovision semi-final reviews or reflections on weight loss no matter how difficult this is to admit at times. There's also time for a good belly rolling laugh - as in LMAO style of laughter... especially when you have the belly for it ha ha ha!

Our friend Sean from Rhode Island sent us a YouTube clip that has had a profound effect on our current household language. For fashion, dieting, and make-up tips, check out the following clip:



To fully understand the joke, check out the "original" - hard to believe she was serious about this too!!! Oh those 80s....

I'm Losing It!!!

Tuomo writes: What I mean with it is that I noticed today that I'm losing weight, yayyy! The pair of 36" jeans, which still a couple of months felt quite tight around the waist, are starting to feel loose. In fact today, I had to tighten my belt because I was constantly pulling up my pants. Now that's a good sign of things to come...

Now in terms of weight per se, I still haven't reached the lowest (207.5 lbs), which was a week before our trip to Arizona. This past Saturday at the WW weigh-in, I weighed 208.8 lbs, a loss of .8 lbs from the previous week. I will have to start weight training soon or else I will plateau even before I reach 200 lbs!

I hope to have reached 195-200 lbs by the time Sean and Nate come over to visit us in early June, 190-195 lbs by the time Pekka and Timo come over in early July, and 185-190 lbs by the time we go see our friends in Rehoboth Beach in August. So there - I have a set a plan and a goal. If only I could stick to it, especially when I have a two-week trip to Finland ahead in only a couple of days...

Eurovision 2008: Poland

Tuomo writes: Ahhh back to reviewing Eurovision entries... I would like to remind my reader(s) that I have no formal training in analysing music, so my reviews have to be taken as certainty that is totally guided by sheer ignorance [original quote complements to Tytti L.] :-)

Next in line is Poland, the country that has the honour of having scored the highest placing (second) with their first-year entry performed by Mariah Carrey wannabe Edyta Górniak ("To nie ja była Evąąą...!"). Since then, their success rate has been quite chequered, including one year in "penalty box" in the early 2000s. So here's Poland, Isis Gee and For Life:

Here or


I dunno, I'll have to listen to this a couple of times before I can truly appreciate this without just dismissing this as boring. Hopefully the televoters across the continent will have a better knee-jerk reaction and vote for Poland...

Eurovision 2008: Norway

Tuomo writes: Ah Norway, Norway, Norway, Finland's dear neighbour whose Eurovision track record makes Finns feel good about their lackluster success :-) In their masochistic thinking, Finns think they have achieved the most last positions when in fact this claim to fame goes to the Norwegians, who incidentally also have the most zero points. So Finns haven't been able to achieve even that!! :-) Now on the other hand, Norway has won twice whereas Finland has won only once, so I guess that cancels everything else out and makes Norway more succesful... So here comes Norway, Maria Haukaas Storeng, and Hold on, Be Strong:

Here or

How could I describe this without appearing hurtful? Oh what the heck, this came across as fun and exciting as yesterday's unflavoured oatmeal that was prepared in water to control the amount of calories and served without frozen berries so as not to ruin the natural flavour of oatmeal. OK so that was what I had for breakfast yesterday (I'm still on WeightWatchers, remember?), but that pretty much IMHO described my thoughts about Norway's entry: blah and unexciting. Hmmm, I better start doing something about my breakfasts... Oh well the singer has boobs whereas... never mind... Next! :-)

Eurovision 2008: Slovenia

Tuomo Neuvonen: Success for Slovenia, one of the remnants of Yugoslavia, has been relatively elusive (unlike for Croatia or Serbia). We can be grateful for Slovenia for one key moment in Eurovision history: thanks to Slovenia in 2002 the doors were opened for drag queens to perform as the main act on stage (Norway in 1986 did have a drag performer on stage but not as the performer). At any rate, here's Slovenia, Rebeka Remelj, and Vrag naj vzame:

Here or

At last an entry that got my booty shakin' and dancin'! Not a pretty sight (my booty shaking, that is), I'm sure, but I had been waiting for an entry like this. And as for body parts, Rebeka also has the boobs for Slovenia to succeed :-)

One more (disturbing) observation: if you listen to both links, you will notice that the one provided by eurovision.tv is more clubby (i.e. the one I danced my ass off to) than the one I picked up on Youtube (labeled: official). It will be interesting which one will actually be performed on stage... I like this one a lot (so far my favourite, I guess), but a lot of my judgement hinges on which version of the song will be performed on stage...

Vrag... in Russian that's "enemy" (враг), but what on earth is the naj vzame? Judging by the video (unhappy people running away from each other, etc.), I've hypothesised that the title must be Slovenian for "snake in the grass" or something like that. Any thoughts?

Eurovision 2008: Azerbaijan

Tuomo writes: As I mentioned earlier, this year features two newbies, San Marino and Azerbaijan. So hailing from the shores of the Caspian Sea, here's Azerbaijan, Elnur & Samir, and Day after Day:



Here or

When I read the name of the song, I couldn't help thinking way back to 1982 when the Swedish entry was called Dag efter dag, or "day after day." Elnur & Samir's interpretation of the same concept couldn't have been further removed from the 50s schlager infused performed by Chips (which, incidentally, is the recipe for every Swedish entry tee hee hee). The first 20 seconds of falsetto shrieking made me cringe in fear and pain of what the remaining 2 minutes and 40 seconds would offer...

Much to my surprise, Day after Day evolved after those ear-piercing 20 seconds into a more melodious, yet heavy metal style (pop?) song. Once again, I thought of Depeche Mode, so by the time I got to the end, I realised that I actually liked this one. In fact, Azerbaijan will almost certainly give Finland run for its money! This was so much better and stylish... But in the end, how will they perform it live on stage. Will they bring down the house (no pun intended) by attracting televoters across the continent - or will it be reduced to sheer cacophony?

Eurovision 2008: Belgium

Tuomo writes: Belgium has a long history of participation in Eurovision, but to date their obly victory dates back to 1985. With ups and downs and a couple of close calls, the second victory has been elusive ever since. So without further ado, here's Belgium, Ishtar, and Julissi na jalini:

Here or

Hmm, Belgium appears to emulate the success of Sanomi from a couple of years ago with lesbian yodeling. Way then the entry was in this artificial language sung to a haunting, yet exotic tune. Only in 2008, they've decide to make it more up-tempo, cheery, and klezmer inspired. I like it, yet I'm thinking, "Is this how Belgium got away without performing in either of the national languages or in English?" Inasmuch I go around telling people to listen to music with their hearts, not their ears only, I feel like I'd like to know what the "plot" for this song is. As for success, it will be interesting to see how this fares...

BTW Julissi na jalini in true ethno-pop fashion includes some ululation, which Dave affectionately refers to as lesbian yodeling... :-)

Eurovision 2008: San Marino

Tuomo writes: There may be a lot of critique against the Eurovision concept - or should we call it brand - for promoting music that is insipid, commercial, of minimal artistic value yadda yadda yadda. Yet, more and more countries express the desire to participate. In fact, the two-night semi-final format can be argued to be the offspring of providing a fair opportunity for as many as countries as possible to showcase their musical talent - or in some cases lack thereof... :-) In this sense, year 2008 is no different with two newbies of which the first one is the lilliputian San Marino (I have to admit that I had to look up some info on it!), Miodio and Complice:




Here orhttp://www.eurovision.tv/medialounge/video/596

It's a pity that Italy, a country of almost systematically almost overqualified but under-appreciated entries, has been absent from Eurovision for a number of years. So now it's up to San Marino to continue the legacy of musica italiana. There have been times where in hindsight I've regretted putting so much effort in college in learning Italian instead of, say Spanish, but it was such a sexy language to know in the mid-80s in - and still is... And Miodio's song just does exactly what Italian to this day does to me: send shivers down my spine à la John Cleese in Fish Called Wanda.

Another aspect that I like about this entry is that it makes me think of one of my favourite pop/rock groups: Depeche Mode. Light pop with dark, mysterious, if not downright sexy undertones: mamma mia!

OK, so San Marino may be lilliputian in size, but could it be this year's brobdignagian surpise? (See, I read more than Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in college...!!)

Eurovision 2008: Moldova

Tuomo writes: A relatively recent participant with only three times behind, Moldova has performed in the final every single time, either directly or through the semi-finals, so here's Moldova, Geta Burlescu and A Century of Love:

Here or

In general, I like this kind of music, jazzy and smoky. However, judging by how jazzy numbers have fared in recent years, unfortunately Moldova has slim chances in making it to the finals in 2008. Though let's not forget that Hungary managed to pull it off last year, so who knows... I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Moldova.

Eurovision 2008: Estonia

Tuomo writes: I used to think way back in the 80s, when Finland's lack of success in the Eurovision was hypothesized to be due to the unusual language, how wonderful it would be if Estonia (or even Hungary) could participate and how we'd exchage 12 points because we'd be the only ones to appreciate each others songs based on the language. Then Estonia participated in 1993 for the first time with little success though and was eliminated for a year. This obviously supported the language hypothesis - until Estonia returned in 1995 with Kaelakee hääl and placed fifth, higher than Finland had ever even dreamt of achieving. So much for that hypothesis. Then in 2001 Estonia went and won the competition with Everybody. Maybe Finland's lack of success was due to lack of talent or ambition or us being põhjapõder, or reindeer (as the Estonians call us Finns) or something after all :-) Even with Finland's victory in 2006, Estonia had managed to crank out entries that have placed fairly well. So here is Estonia: Kreisiraadio and Leto svet:


Here or

Issand, or dear God! What was this? A Dadaist pastiche or what? I have always admired the Estonians for their wry sense of humour, but in terms of Eurovision this is almost inappropriate. By the time I got to the third part - in Finnish (?!) - I simply couldn't believe my ears and eyes. I don't think this is going to do well - even with the scantily clad girls - though an annoyingly catchy tune (I caught myself humming along a moment ago...) might help Estonia make it to the final. In this light, one is almost obliged to consider Ireland's turkey (pun partially intended) high humour. Please make them stop the noises in my head!!! :-(

Eurovision 2008: Israel

Tuomo writes: I'm on a roll - I feel I can publish one more review before going to bed. Introducing Isreal, Ke'ilo kan "As If Here" performed by Boaz Mauda!

Here or


One thing I can say about Israel: they rarely disappoint, and this is definitely no exception! What I did not like was the part in English: sing in Hebrew or in English but not both. And this applies to all other countries who do this - just a pet peeve of mine. A "typical" Eurovision ballad that IMO should do well but, on the other hand, could get lost among the other entries by not having that certain oomph. Lots of velar fricatives in the beginning and faboo ethno drums in the end that made me happy...

But what's up with those tweaked eye brows? And that buff body, which fortunately is not present in the clip (but can be explored elsewhere on the Internet). Sour grapes...! :-)

Eurovision 2008: Montenegro

Tuomo writes: With Ireland and Finland out of the way, I guess the fairest way to continue the review of this year's Eurovision entries is in the order that they will be performed in the semi-finals. In other words, here's Montenegro, Stefan Filipović, and Zauvijek volim te!

http://www.eurovision.tv/medialounge/video/592

My command of Montenegrin (?) is limited (!), so there's not much I can say about the lyrics other than what I was I able to understand thanks to my skills in Russian and my contrastive philological skills. But like Teräsbetoni, I commend them for singing in their own language!

Now for the more musical aspects: I hate to say this, but beyond the first 50 seconds, I lost my interest. Maybe this song will grow on me, but at first listening the genre (rock) didn't quite tweak my Eurovision nipple. It just sounds too 80s big hair arena rock to me, which in terms of visuals ironically clashes with what the Stefan looks like on the clip! My prediction at this point is that Montenegro might be performing in the final - or if not, at the least beating Finland...

(in a whispered voice) We Saw Gay People

Tuomo writes: I guess our most persistant "bagel point" since our move has been the lack of visible gay people in the Lower Mainland. Ironically, just this past week, a report on so-called visible minorities (Canadian for non-Caucasian) came out; I sighed and turned to Dave and said, "I guess we don't belong to that group."

About two months ago, our friends Jerry and Michael (link to their blog on the right) in Maryland, set up a "blind date" with friends of their, Tim and Keith, who had also moved permanently to Vancouver. They were considerate to reach out first, and what do I do> drag my feet for like a month before I respond!!! At any rate, last night we finally got our act together and met. And what a pleasant evening it turned out to be, so many thanks, Jerry and Michael!!!

We had a drink over at their place, then went out to explore Davie Street, the gay area of Vancouver, and had dinner at a Greek restaurant. After dinner we walked around and returned to their place for a cup of coffee. All in all it was exactly what we have been missing since last June: just being able to relate to someone who's gay.

Interestingly enough, when we compared notes, we realised that some of our friends' reactions to the news that we were moving to Canada had shared the same tone - incredulity: why, are you sure, how come, almost how dare you... Fascinating...

So hopefully, we'll be able to get together again, and this time Dave and I will be hosting them - in our not as fabulous neighborhood in Langley :-)

Eurovision 2008: Finland

Tuom writes: Eurovision season has begun, as one may have judged by my earlier posting on Ireland's entry for this year. Therefore, I am going to (ab)use our blog to reflect upon all the entries that will be competing in the finals hosted this year in Belgrade on May 24. Hopefully this will encourage my friends Tytti, Pekka, and Timo (and Dave...) to post some comments on my ruminations :-)

Last year, the top 10 finalists automatically made it to the final event of the following year with United Kingdom, France, Spain, and Germany (the Big Four, or the biggest funders of the event) while the others had to qualify for the remaining ten slots or so. This year however, everybody - except Serbia (the winner) and the Big Four - have to qualify for the final. Now, since there are a record amount of 43 countries vying to be in the final, there will be two semi-finals.

Let's start with Finland, participating in the first semifinal on May 20. My hapless home country had a long track of bad entries and sometimes sheer bad luck, rarely making it to the top 10, until 2006 when it hit jackpot with Lordi's Hard Rock Halleluja, a novel approach - a combination of masks, hard rock, and pyrotechnics. Last year's entry (Hanna Pakarinen's Leave Me Alone) came across as a spin-off of what had appeared to be the heavy rock recipe to victory. Unfortunately, this didn't quite cut it , and Finland was reduced back to its usual place, i.e. somewhere between places 11 and 20. Despite this rude awakening, Finns were quick to note that at least Sweden placed even lower... BTW Dave claims heard Leave Me Alone on his satellite radio this past summer!

Once again Finns have laid their trust in the power of heavy rock. At this point, I can only assume that the rationale is, "If we can't win the competition by seducing the audience by means of traditional methods (i.e. sex and showmanship), we might as well scare the living sh*t out of them!" :-)

Finland's entry, by Teräsbetoni ("Steel Concrete"), is Missä miehet ratsastaa, or "Where Men Ride Their Horses." Teräsbetoni's claim to fame is that they perform shirtless; in my opinion, not much there to write home about... At any rate, I have to praise their decision to perform in Finnish; way too often since 1999, the entries have been performed in English by almost every country - and not just in English but in insipid English. Unfortunately Teräsbetoni's lyrics rely on some kind of macho humour that I don't quite get ("Where men ride their horses sheep don't dare graze"); as a result, I don't think anybody who doesn't know Finnish will get much out of this "noise." As for me, I prefer the traditional, almost required A-B-A-B-C-Modulation pattern, which Teräsbetoni - lo and behold - does apply here, but give me a power ballad or something poppy at any time instead of this. On the other hand, there was not much better to choose from anyway, so what can you do? But I'll leave the decision up to the 14-year-old teenage boys across the continent, who hopefully will be watching the Eurovision final on the 24th and televoting for Finland in testosterone driven fervour :-)

Enjoy!

or
http://www.eurovision.tv/medialounge/video/606

Here's a rough translation of the Beowolf-y refrain:
Missä miehet ratsastaa "Where men ride their horses
siinä lampaat ei voi laiduntaa sheep cannot graze;
Missä miehet ratstastaa Where men ride their horses
siinä kuulee suden ulvontaa one can hear the howl of a wolf"

Weight Loss Whine

Tuomo writes: I weighed myself this morning, and much to my pleasure I was down to 208 lbs. Oh to be at a weight where the first digit starts with a 1!

Yesterday I finally had time to go grocery shopping. As suggested by the authors of You on a Diet, I looked for some peanuts, specifically dry roasted and unsalted (because peanuts allegedly help trick the body to feel satiated earlier). Sure enough, the SaveOnFood in Walnut Grove did not have much of a selection of peanuts to begin with, but locating unsalted ones turned out to be a totally useless task. The choice boiled down to two brands of dry roasted, one that was MSG free and the other one that was labeled salted.

Initially, I was prompted to get the one that was labeled MSG free, but out of curiosity, I decided to compare the sodium count of each brand. Easier said than done: one had the nutrition info as per 1/4 cup and the other other as per 1/3 cup! After applying some elementary math skills ("multiply this one by 4, and that one by 3 to get info as as per cup"), I came to the conclusion that not only did the salted brand have less sodium per serving but also had less calories!! No wonder we're fat and confused :-)

Needless to say, I purchased the brand that was labeled salted. In the meantime, the quest for unsalted peanuts continues...

Home Sweet Home

Tuomo writes: It’s good to be back home where tap water tastes good and the sheets are the right size… The weather wasn’t the most welcoming; we left balmy Arizona around 8 on Sunday morning and arrived in freezing Seattle around 11. Fortunately by the time we got to Langley around 3 - after another long wait at the border though not as long as on our way to the States.

At any rate, what about the Grand Canyon?! Words are not enough to describe it!! The three hour drive from Phoenix itself was an experience itself, as we gradually drove higher and higher, starting at less the 2,000 ft and reaching 7,000 ft by the time we got to the South Rim. As the elevation increased, the vegetation changed from saguaro cactuses to bushes on the mesa to dense pine tree forests. In fact, as we approached the Canyon, we could see patches of snow here and there on the sides of the roads and in the forests. And sure enough, when we stepped out of the car, the air temperature had clearly decreased! Oh but the view… wow!

We settled in our hotel room. Dark, yet deceptively comfortable because we learned later on in the night that the sheets were not big enough for the bed, and consequently were wrapped around our necks while we slept. After a brief snack break we decided to go see the sunset at Hopi Point and get on one of the three shuttle bus tours along the South Rim. Future visitors beware, although there are no signs (i.e. not that we could see any) on this, the shuttle buses only allow seated passengers. In other words, we ended up waiting for a quite a while until we got on a bus because there were so many people with the same destination in mind (go figure!) and the buses did not exactly run every 15 minutes as indicated in the guides.

But the view from Hopi Point at sunset was definitely worth the wait! I’ll try to post some pictures this week, but I’m concerned that they will not do service because they probably won’t capture the perspective, the depth, and the subtle hues of the landscape. I mean where we stood we had an almost perpendicular view into the canyon, only to realize that that wasn’t the bottom, that there was another drop until you could see Colorado River rushing in the bottom…

In addition to lots of oohs and aahs at sunset, there were also a lot of brrrs – it really got that cold! Thank goodness that I had accidentally left my pair of gloves in my pockets when I packed my jacket…!

The following day we got on the same shuttle bus route and drive all the way to Hermit’s Rest, the point furthest to the east. The route beyond Hopi Point will closed down on April 1 for renovations, and the entire route in the summer. This particular route, built originally in the early 1900s as state-of-the-art is no longer such - and lemme tell ya, the planned renovations could not take place a moment sooner! There were times when it felt like the rickety bus was going to roll over and plunge into the canyon… But once again, the views at the end were way beyond spectacular!

Oh and fun shopping was done by everyone… Bless America for tourist shops :-

So now we’re back to the same-old-same-old…

My concerns about weight gain turned out to be correct. Yesterday morning I weighed myself, and though the weight gain wasn’t as dramatic as I had anticipated, there had been some: the scale went up to 212.4 lbs. This morning though it stopped at 210 so there’s hope that by Saturday I will have been able to do some damage control

One more thing: It was Dave’s birthday yesterday, so a belated happy birthday to him!!! 29 (again) and still going strong :-