UK – The BBC has confirmed that its national selection programme, Eurovision: You Decide, has been dumped for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest and an exciting new partnership with the record company BMG will help select the UK’s representative instead.
The BBC says that BMG share the vision of “selecting a song with broad international appeal and securing an artist who embodies the spirit and values of the Eurovision Song Contest.”
Do you think this is a good approach for the UK?
The Eurovision Times 
WOW Stuttgart to Munich by train and only a 30 minutes delay. I guess this qualifies as on time for Deutsche Bahn.
I spent the day in meetings and am catching up on the latest news.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/imageserver/image/methode%2Ftimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2F5459b140-deff-11e9-9f61-dcefea5f5359.jpg?crop=1500%2C1000%2C0%2C0&resize=758
Mr. Trump is speaking again. It’s truly sad to see a person who could not care less abiut anything or anyone but himself being President of the USA. The founding fathers and Crèvecoeur must be fuming wherever they are.
Things just keep getting worse here everyday, and the population is just becoming even more divided.
I’ve to confess I’m a bit baffled that the impeachment train is suddenly picking up steam (if it doesn’t turn out to fizzle like so many others); this seems like a relatively minor scandal compared to e.g. the blatant profiteering and bribery; siding with Putin vs. allies, non-stop lies, and essentially admitting to obstruction of justice in, among other things, the firing of the self-righteous Comey. Hope dies last as the Germans say – after all Susan Collins is once nmore “concerned”. What a sad spectacle in both the USA and the UK,.Hpe you’re holding up – you’re relishing NYU, right?!!
I’d say the reason the Ukraine controversy is picking up more steam than the Russia controversy is because:
1) The proof is right in front of our eyes, Trump can’t run away from it when it’s words he’s on record saying.
2) A lot of Americans were not able to understand the Russia controversy and found it confusing, which allowed Trump to manipulate them into believing what he wanted them to believe. The Ukraine controversy is much more clear cut and easy to understand for people who may not have understood Russia.
I don’t think Trump will ever be removed from office regardless of what he does though because of blind partisanship with the Republicans. If evidence comes out being too damning then maybe they might, but I don’t know, it’d take a lot considering how strong his base of supporters are (and how willing they are to believe whatever he says). My dad thinks the Republican elite might abandon Trump and start backing Pence for 2020, but I think that’s wishful thinking.
But yes, at times like this I’m thankful to be in NYC and at NYU. It’s like an ultra-left enclave within a center-left enclave within an ultra-conservative nation. But then I go on social media and see all the white nationalists I left behind in high school spewing their nonsense again. Politics aside, NYU is great and I’ve been having a great time this semester. My class load is super light right now so I’ve been having a lot of time to have fun. Definitely love living in my own apartment too. Dorm life was horrible lol.
I also think he’s too much of a narcissist to resign like Nixon did.
Glad you’re enjoying uni! And yes, it will never resign but will have to be dragged from the White House kicking and screaming (and then probably have a heart attack from the unusual physical exertion of doing that lol).
Glad to learn that you enjoy your time at NYU. I attended NYU too when I lived in NYC. :)
Really?? That’s so cool. My parents met while attending NYU. My dad was doing an MBA at Stern and my mom was doing undergrad.
We are sort of family then, Lina. :)
The Ukrainian affair is proving that facts matter very little; it’s all about partisan lines. Democracy is the big loser here.
Lindita’s entry for Kenga Magjike this year:
Sounds like a bad JLo remix…
It just sounds sterile and dead. I hope there are more ineteresting songs on offer.
It just started last weekend…usually there’s a couple good songs but the winner ends up being a likeable compromise winner since the competitors vote for the winner. Last year the best song won though. A lot of bad stuff too though every year.
19 years after coming third for Latvia in Eurovision, Brainstorm win VFoS with “Ogles”, a song brought by Arpatilaos! Well done :)
So, where in Latvia are we heading to? :)
I don’t know yet but Latvia is not huge :-P
I wish we go to Jurmala, enchanting seaside town with old wooden villas by the endless beach, truly magical place oozing Baltic charm.
Plus from googling it, I see they boast a concert hall and an annual music festival! But that is all up to Arpa to decide :)
Yes, they do and yes it is :-)
I’ve been in Jurmala couple of times and must say that during the high season Latvian beach boys are very easy on the eye!
Yianna’s new video:
I am very torn about the impeachment proceedings in the US. Of course in this case the president is clearly caught in an impeachable offense with no ifs and buts (for anyone who cares about facts) but on the other hand for a rapid basis that cares little about facts, impeachment proceedings are very likely to boost his popularity as they did with Clinton.
That is my worry too (and the same worry many Democrats had). However, I will say that the reason Clinton was impeached was seen by many Americans as too minuscule, and many thought that it was actually a witch hunt against him. You cannot ignore what Trump did, and I’d say public support is much higher than it was for Clinton’s, so hopefully it won’t have the same effect.
Lets hope you are right.
Ms. Pelosi has to be very careful and not let the most radical wing of the Democratic Party take over the process. She is skating on very thin ice.
We disagree of course on the premise (I wish representatives like Alexandria Ocasio Cortez et al would be the norm in the democratic party so that US citizens had a real option between a right wing to far right party and an at least center left party). Pelosi is a pragmatist and does what the majority of her caucus wants.
Agreed, and this “radical wing” is not very radical at all. That is where the Democratic Party originally stood until the Clintons moved the mainstream to the center. They are just trying to revitalize the party to where it’s supposed to stand.
Exactly. It is the same with the labour party in the UK right now where they accuse Corbin of being “far left” and “radicalizing” the party. Corbin is simply re-positioning the party to where it was before Blair turned it into Tory-lite.
Remember how Labour fared in general elections before Blair? If they do that, the door is wide open for the Lib Dems to become the party of common sense. With Labour and the Tories living in fantasy land, the Lib Dems and the Greens will most likely see their share of the vote grow substantially.
I can see why you disagree. Ms. Cortez has a bright future and she represents her district well, but the rest of Amrica is very different. The main target is the White House. The Democrats have to win and to achieve that goal, they have to win the majority in the elctoral college. That is why democracy works in the USA. Ms. Pelosi knows how the game is played. Anyway, Mr. T. will most probably manage to get himself replaced by someone much worse – Mr. Pence. He will be harder to beat.
Winning to do what ? Apply a fiscally right-wing agenda ? Whats the point then ? Republicans can do that. AOC is a common sense politician but in a country such as the US this is hard to see for a large part of a population stuck in simple minded branding of “socialism” on anything not private and unregulated by the government.
Trump wont be impeached as the senate does not have a simple majority let alone a 2/3s majority to do that.
Winning to do what the American voters want them to do. If American voters lean to the right wing, they get what they wished for. AOC does wonders in her environment. A general election reflects the will of the whole country. Trump will keep doing illegal stuff, because he thinks the world revolves around him. The Republicans will ditch him when they realise he will hurt them more than they are expecting.
I agree that Trump likely won’t be removed from office, but apparently as many as 30 Republican Senators agreed in private that they would vote to remove him if the vote was anonymous. It still probably won’t happen, but I haven’t given up all my hope.
*That is how….
I understand your point, but I think this more so is just pinpointing how problematic our two-party system is. Yes, there are conservative Democrats and independent centrists who do not support AOC or other progressive Democrats’ vision for the country. However, the same goes the other way. Like myself, there are many progressive Democrats who will never support conservative Democrats or independent centrists. The same goes for the center-right and right-wing factions of the Republicans.
Basically, it is impossible to contain the population into a broadly left and broadly right coalition when the political spectrum is so much more complex than that. You will not receive the votes of progressive Democrats if you are playing a Bidenesque game (and yes, this will happen, just like how progressive Democrats refused to vote for Clinton). Everyday I wish that our two-party system would split up.
Guess who’s doing the Doha world Athletics championship stage. Yes,it’s Florian Wieder and he’s not half bad to look at, tbh:
That should be interesting and hot to watch:
Anything would have been miles better from last year’s halftime show lol
Is Shakira still relevant?
Of course. Much more than J Lo anyway
Oh come on!
Monster.
Outfit looks great on you!
Meh…
France – Serbia, volleyball european champs 1/2 final in Paris start now.. :))))
So far the French team has been brilliant! and we want a rematch of the Slovenia-France 2015 final ;)
Not without a battle, we want a revange with Slovenia too, for Basketball european final defeat. ;)
the way they beat Russia and Poland, Slovenia is definitely the favorite, Serbia or France in the final!
We will see now, it is open..
In qualification tournaments this summer we lost to Italy, they qualifued for Tokyo, France and Slovenia lost to Poland, they qualified for Tokyo.. Interesting…
There is one place more for Tokyo reserved for Europe, qualification tournament Will be in January 2020, 8 teams Will compete in Berlin.. I suppose Serbia, Slovenia, France, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, Bulgaria and Finland/Turkey..
yes the volley international federation is a huge mess, no one gets how they get to host so many competitions and let the country double WC not qualified for Olympics, therefore taking a spot in TQO to Serbia, France, Slovenia, Germany, Bulgaria…
I really though European champion will qualify for Tokyo, that would be logic.. But no, they have to play qualification tournaments..
Did France qualify in Handball for Tokyo already?
yes, as World Champions in 2017
Great! :)
and the girls as World Champions 2018 :p
You Will have teams in all team sports in Tokyo.. Maybe only not in women volleyball. :)
yeah that one, not a chance, also field hockey is unlikely…
We have to play qualification tournament in basketball.. :/
the girls are also European Champions! they beat Norway for the World trophee (the 2012 Olympic winners) and Russia for the European trophee (the 2016 Olympic winners) so everyone hopes they can now win the Olympic gold in Tokyo!
handball is way more logical anyway, European top teams and WC top teams qualify!
Τhat’s no half-time, that’s latin MILF-time. I’d take Maroon 5 again anytime!
Mehhh. They can never reach Shakira’s artistry.
Ireland opens Eurovision 2020 call for songs and artists: https://eurovision.tv/story/ireland-opens-eurovision-2020-call-for-songs-and-artists?fbclid=IwAR0QeSkzgNqXC_atrtL_9urUmEjXQntZ_bQAbql3pqRQ_U8Sc3q12rjwM_w
Shout out to my favourite (out of those I have chosen) ETSC and FDLC artist and her new single :
This girl deserves much more worldwide recognition and attention than what she gets imo.
the “strongest man” on Earth is also one of the sexiest, no?
Pretty
I saw “Bangkok” and automatically liked the video 😅
*25 songs of the Norwegian preselection have been chosen. 5 weeks will produce 5 winners. Those winners alongside 5 songs chosen by the juries will compete at the Norwegian final.
* There’s going to be a televised final for Czech Republic this year:
“Only” six shows for the Lithuanian NF, no televised jury (they will vote but they won’t be talking) and only one song for each artist will be allowed.
Plus, televoting results will only be shown at the end and not during the show.
All these are interesting step forwards for Lithuania! With the usual level we already had 2 or 3 very nice songs in their nf so maybe more now?
Luca’s new video:
And for greeks here:
I watched it the other day but now i think i like it more. Donnie’s favorite “Monkey Dance” in full display. :P
Thought it was a Coca Cola ad
Lol I thought the product placement was only in the greek version.
Thanks to the credits, I now know his name: david lei brandt :p
oh my I’m not the only one who liked him:
Good game, French volley team. It was close in the first two sets, but the team seemed tired afterwards – of course having 1 day less than Poland to take a rest. Another schedule and who knows what could’ve been?
I’m still quite shocked Poland did not win against Slovenia, which is therefore the favorite for the title!
True. Poland has always been a volleyball nation and it’s actually my favourite sport, so I was very disappointed they did not make it to the final.
They’ve won 3:1 against Slovenia in August and qualified for Tokyo, but Poland seems to struggle with Slovenia in sports lately. Their latest defeat (0:2) in the Euro Qualifiers was actually against them.
Slovenia was very impressive in the tournament, and my favorite to win it! I think Serbia was only slightly better than France, when both Poland and Slovenia were better: probably the true final! France is not a volley nation at all, it was almost anonymous here and you could tell not a lot of passion in the audience, sorry about that! We’re more into handball!
Same here in Germany. It’s a niche.
Slovenia lost two matches in their pool (one against the strong Russians), Serbia did not lose any. The Serbians are definitely deserved winners.
Are you joining next VFoS?
Yup :)
Srbuk’s first single after Eurovision
Is anyone else following that insane pole vault competition?! :o
Moi. :(
wasnt it amazing and exciting? Thought Morris looked the best through her jumps, but the last one… and of course, Bengtsson, image of the night!
A si said below i wanted Morris and not Sidorova to win in case Stefanidi was out.
Agreed! Morris and Stefanidi were my favorite, the Canadian was great, and by the end I was for Bengtsson lol
And what a competition in Triple Jump.
it was ok but Taylor outshined the competition yet again!
Yes, I did. Waiting for the 100 meters final now. Am I right that the event will take place without a single US American lady? I am rooting for Ms Talou. :)
Talou is hugely popular here :) We lost Pierre-Ambroise Bosse, but he was still amazing in his interviews after his loss!
I was sad that Mr. Bosse didn’t make it. He is a handsome man.
But perhaps we will see a medal for BiH in 800 meters. :)
He is handsome and extremely nice, not at all the “dumb athlete” type, very funny in interviews! loves talking about his cat too ahah
Handsome, intelligent and a cat lover. What more can you ask for?
Damn, I wanted Morris to win Gold in case Stefanidi couldn’t but Sidorova got it. :(
Whereas in my case whowevers wins in 100m and 200m I am happy :p
Did you check Napoles from Cuba in Triple Jump? He’s to die for
Nope. But I have to say Zango FTW!
He own Bronze. I think i brought him some luck. :P
Give me full name of Napoles.
Cristian?
Cristian Napoles
He is OK. Yohan Blake remains my best so far. He is ageing well, like Asafa Powell.
I managed to watch the 100 meters final (ladies). Very colourful winner who won easily.
Togravus, how are the German media alluding to the Austrian elections? The local Popular Party won comfortably. Will they make a coalition with the Greens? The Freedom Party has lost many voters.
All our respectable media are happy that the FPÖ lost big time and that the Greens did well. Slimy Mr. Kurz isn’t popular here at all and that reflects in the media coverage.
I can’t stand Mr Kurz’s looks (tbh, he scares me), let alone his policies :)
He kinda turns me on
To me he looks,like someone who is prone to the rather unfortunate habit of trying to sell you sth you don’t need, a potato peeling machine f. e. …
Seriously?! :(
He would have been cast for Funny Games
lol! he’s more the kind to get molested tbh
I do not engage in that kind of gossip usually especially when it comes to people with disgusting ideas suxh as him but I do know some people around the political sphere and I can say credibly that Kurtz is definately bi and most probably gay. Which makes his stances and policies even on LGBT issues even more hypocritical.
well it’s a joke among my friends that I’m always attracted to right wing bigots (but that’s coz they’re often lil twinks of the bourgeoisie lol)
omg Morgan why are we always into the same guys. My friends make fun of me too for always being attracted to the shitty, sexist, bigoted, horrible right-wing guys and I also think Kurz is kinda hot.
lol yay!
I find it odd that media keep saying the far right has collapsed when Kurz’s ÖVP also has some rather extremist views. They just look less thuggish (tho he doesn’t look trustworthy at all either).
Regarding ‘trustworthy’ you can check my reply to Morgan. I think that it would be quite interesting to have an ÖVP/Green coalition. That would tell us whether or not Mr. Kurz has any convictions or principles at all. My impression is that he hasn’t. It seems to be all about him.
I couldn’t agree more.
He is just like Trudeau. I am not a fan of either of them. The most important thing though is the fact that the Freedom Party has lost ground. I hope he goes for a coalition with the Green Party.
Jon Ola Sand will step down as #Eurovision Executive Supervisor & Head of Live Events for the European Broadcasting Union – EBU next May
Yes!
Be careful what you wish for. lol
Very sad news. He has been the man who got a contest from the brink of extinction and build it up to something much more credible today. He hasnt always made the best decisions recently (see new voting presentation and increased privileges for televoting) but when it comes to his overall contribution since 2009 it cannot be stated enough how much he has done. I hope his successor follows his steps for the most part but renounces some of the aforementioned recent mistakes.
the return of the juries was a huge boost for the contest credibility, and anchored a lot of new and interesting acts to the contest! I just think a decade is long enough indeed and am curious what’s coming up next
So I am guessing that will be after the Rotterdam contest is over. 11 years is a long time, oh my. I wonder who will replace him.
That’s good news; regardless what one thinks of his approach to the contest, it’s been a while and we need someone new (and nost just someone sneaking around already)
It was time to move to the next stage.
And of course the Björkman rumours have already begun ;)
After 20 years of Scandi domination I think that the post should go to a different region. The mellofication of ESC needs to stop imo.
This would be the best case scenario for the future of the contest but only thinking about the pages upon pages of whining we will have to endure here for years is enough to make me wish secretly this is not the case. As long as there aren’t any people handling selections like FdC and FiK I will be content.
Expected.
Very Nina Zilli this
say na na na
Much better than Armenia 19. Armenia wasted an excellent singer on a cold and lifeless song.
how much better is that to her esc entry (which I personally liked ok!)
It suits her much more. “Walking out” wasn’t bad, but it was not the right song for her.
Rumour has it that VRT will announce Belgium’s 2020 representative tomorrow :-o They say they are close to their number one pick saying yes. According to some media reports, that’s Milow who had a worldwide hit with this song back in 2009:
so when Jon Ola became the big esc guy? that’s how dated Milow is… :/
Let’s see what happens. I hope they don’t end up with a Darude situation!
I’ve never heard of this Milow guy before but the first thing that came to mind was the Darude situation :/ Good luck Belgium