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:

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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:

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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:

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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:

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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! :-)