The girl who just watches

I had 9 out of 10 for the first semi final! I've never been that accurate. This one is harder, though.

The 10 I want:
Sweden!
Serbia
Slovenia
Estonia
Turkey
Malta
Norway
Macedonia
Belarus
Croatia

The 10 I think:
Sweden
Serbia
Slovenia
Estonia
Turkey
Ukraine
The Netherlands
Norway
Malta
Lithuania

I honestly have no idea how this'll go. If Sweden doesn't make it, I'll cry bitter tears.

Eurovision is less than an hour away! I am so stressed, and don't actually have time to watch it, but I will anyway. Haven't been following the chat about the rehearsals, so I have no idea what's going on, who's looking good and who's not, which is depressing. I'm not really feeling it this year, people, but I'm trying to get in the mood.

So, these are the ten songs I want to move on to the final:
Iceland (really the only one I'm passionate about)
Albania
Romania
Cyprus
Denmark
Moldova
Russia
Israel

Oh, I need two more? Eh, Finland and Switzerland, I suppose.

The ten I think will make it:
Iceland
Ireland
Romania
Cyprus
Russia
Greece
Moldova
Denmark
Albania
Switzerland

(In case you want to watch the songs, I can recommend this playlist)

( Thoughts on the second semi-final )

It's that time of the year again, people! Eurovision Song Contest time! Wohoo!

In case you want to watch the songs, I can recommend this playlist

( Thoughts on the first semi-final )

I have sewn together the first two of my 165 granny squares! \o/

Yuletide authors are revealed!

Thank you so, so much to htbthomas, hanelissar, listedheart, bold_seer and summerstorm who wrote my lovely gifts. I have been back to re-read every single one of them, and oh, they're so amazing!

I wrote Cow Stretching Time, which is a Holy Flying Circus fic.

Now, if you're not familiar with Holy Flying Circus, then please, if you have 90 minutes to spare, watch it! It's a television film from October this year, about the controversy surrounding Monty Python's film Life of Brian, in particular the television debate between John Cleese and Michael Palin, and Malcolm Muggeridge and Mervyn Stockwood, the then Bishop of Southwark.

It's so brilliant! It's hysterically funny, very clever, and surprisingly sweet at times. It's incredibly Pythonesque, constantly breaking the fourth wall, and it has a wonderful cast. Charles Edwards is lovely as Michael Palin - the nicest man in the world, Darren Boyd is perfect as John Cleese, Steve Punt was clearly born to play Eric Idle, Tom Fisher is spot on as Graham Chapman, and I absolutely love Rufus Jones as Terry Jones (and, wonderfully and bizarrely, Michael's wife). (I didn't like Phil Nichol as Terry Gilliam, not sure if it was the acting or the direction, but it just seemed off to me.) For the Torchwood fans, Tom Price is hilarious as Tim Rice. And Stephen Fry is God. Of course.

I was excited when I got the prompt, because my recipient, Aramley, seemed to like all the same things about Holy Flying Circus that I did, and that just made me so happy. I think I managed to fulfill it fairly well. I wish I could have put a bit more Michael/John subtext in there, but ah well.

The big question for me writing this fic was: "How many Python references can I put in there, and still have it be an original work?" The answer is very, very many! I have no idea how many I ended up with, I'm slightly scared to count them.

It was so much fun to write, though. I really enjoyed it. My personal favourite bit is the letter from John Cleese's neighbour.

Yuletide Madness is open! And omg, I ended up with three magnificent treats! Yuletide has been so generous to me this year, it's almost ridiculous! But brilliant!

Like love we seldom keep is Downton Abbey fic, and it's Edith/Lavinia, which made me clap my hands in glee. They never really interacted in canon, but they would be perfect for each other, and this fic shows that in a beautiful way.

Mirror and Your Opposite is also Downton Abbey, and it's the most perfect drabble, in which Edith finally steps out of her sister's shadow and looks forward to life.

run the show is Sirens fic, Maxine/Kirsty, which I never thought anyone would actually write me, and it's brilliant and flirty and fun and just delicious!

So, that makes five fics this Yuletide, all for me! *beams* I always fret about my requests and Dear Author letter, because I always think they suck and will make my author run away in tears, but I'm going to take this as a sign that I'm doing something right.

Also, all five fics are all about women being awesome! I can't even tell you how happy I am about that!

I do feel slightly guilty now though, about the fact that I only managed to write one story... So I'm trying to make up for that by commenting a lot. I usually never do, because it makes me all self conscious, but I do make an effort for Yuletide, and this year more than ever. There are some absolutely brilliant fics out there!

YULETIDE!

(I didn't default, go me!)

I received two absolutely brilliant stories! I am not worthy!

A Road to Choose, which is Downton Abbey fic, all about Edith, and it's gorgeous and a wonderful mix of melancholy and hope and I love it to bits!

And One Time Melody! Brilliant Fresh Meat fic, in which they start a house band, and it's hilarious and absolutely spot on and I love it to bits too!

Go, read!

Also, there's a treat waiting for me in Yuletide Madness! Whee!

Someone nominated Anno 1790 for Yuletide!!! And it wasn't even me!


Now I have to rethink my requests...


ETA: And Warhorses of Letters!


I was worried the restrictions on nominations would lead to it being hard to find things to request and offer. I was so completely and utterly wrong!

Oh! Covington Cross!

Wow! How about that? That was actually properly exciting!

Congratulations Azerbaijan! I'm not surprised, and I'm very pleased. They've worked incredibly hard at their Eurovision entries in the last few years, and they deserve this. (Ok, the song writers, the choir and the choreographer were Swedish, but so what?) Go Azerbaijan!

My favourite came in last... Aww, poor Switzerland! They deserved so much better than that. Anna, I still love you!

I expected a lot from the Big 5, and they disappointed me. I liked Italy a lot more than I thought I would, but I'm still very surprised it managed to get into second place! Well done! France lacked the impact it needed, the UK sounded awful, I'm sorry to say, and Germany... Lena, you're absolutely wonderful and I adore you, but that was kind of creepy. Sexy in a very disturbing kind of way. It made me uncomfortable.

Sweden came in third. I still don't like the song, but I have to admit it was a pretty damn good performance. Hopefully this'll stop the Swedes moaning.

Charlie Brooker was absolutely hilarious on Twitter. He kept linking to Christer Sjögren's I Love Europe link. And this is what he had to say about the Swedish entry:

I WILL BE POPULAR. I WILL BE POPULAR. I want to write a film where a robot sings that while strangling children.

Perfection!

The Swedish commentators still annoy me. Ukraine gave their three highest points to Russia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, and they complained about neighbor votes. Ten seconds later Norway gave their three highest points to Sweden, Iceland and Finland. The reaction was "yay!"

My predictions were all to hell. I managed to get one song in each fifth correct! Azerbaijan, Bosnia & Hercegovina, the UK, Iceland and Spain. My Top 5 came in at 1, 8, 10, 15 and 18. My bottom 5 came in at 2, 7, 12, 19 and 23. I still don't understand how Stereo Mike got all those points.

But all in all, I've very happy with the result. Yay Azerbaijan! And I'm thrilled for Ukraine (4) Denmark (5) and Bosnia & Herzegovina (6).

See you all next year!

Okay, Eurovision final predictions time! I have absolutely no idea who will win. None whatsoever. My personal favourite is Switzerland, followed by Germany, France (neither of which I have seen on stage yet) and Denmark. I'm unusually pro-west this year, I have to say.

Looking at my predictions now, I think they're probably also a bit too western dominated in the upper half. Maybe I should just switch places on the 6-10 and 16-20 group. But I won't. So yeah, I've sorted every song into the fifth where I think it'll end up. Watch me fail spectacularly and not get a single song right!

1-5
France
Germany
Azerbaijan
Austria
Ireland
(Israel. You suck, Europe!)

6-10
Denmark
Switzerland
Finland
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Sweden

11-15
Hungary
Romania
Russia
UK
Estonia

16-20
Serbia
Georgia
Iceland
Ukraine
Slovenia

21-25
Italy
Lithuania
Greece
Spain
Moldova

Okay, time for semi final 2 predictions! Let's see if I can beat 7 out of 10. I doubt it.

The 10 I want to move on:
Denmark
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Romania
Israel
Estonia
Ukraine
Cyprus
Ireland
The Netherlands
Bulgaria


The 10 I think will move on:
Ireland
Denmark
Romania
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Austria
Cyprus
Ukraine
Moldova
Bulgaria
Slovenia

I left Sweden out of both list. Out of mine because I don't like it, and out of the other one because apparently Erik has sounded rather awful in rehearsals, including the dress rehearsal yesterday, which is what the juries see. I really hope he doesn't make it! I can't stand the song, and I can't stand the number.

I think the Swedish team is worried, because I heard an interview on the radio with Fredrik Kempe (who wrote the song) today, and he was already making excuses. "Well, we all compete on different terms. For us in Sweden, it's important that the song is a hit, other countries just write the song for this occasion, and get the clothes from the dress up box and just treat it like a day of fun." Yeah... Guess which side I'm on? Guess which side most of the Eurovision viewers are on? Fuck off, Kempe! So fucking condescending!

That's the attitude of the Swedes. We just can't believe we're not winning this thing every single year, because we are clearly so superior! This is why I'm not so secretly thrilled every time we fail. Which we have done a lot, lately.

Sweden won in 1999. Then we did fairly well for a few year, 7,5,8,5,6. Then, shock and dismay in 2005 with a 19th place. Back on track in 2006 with 5th. But then... 18, 18, 21 and last year we didn't even make it to the final. I approve of this trend. Let's keep it going!

Only half an hour to go to the first Eurovision semi final! Woo!

The ten I want to move on the the final:
Switzerland
Hungary
Azerbaijan
Russia
Turkey
Norway
Albania
Georgia
Malta
Iceland

The ten I think will move on:
Azerbaijan
Russia
Norway
Finland
Hungary
Serbia
Turkey
Greece
Iceland
Albania

This will, as always, change during the evening.

The big 4 have turned into the big 5 since Italy has decided to return. Can't say I've missed them particularly, but hey, welcome back!

The entries from these countries have been rather pitiful over the last few years, but I have to say, they've really upped their game this year. Thank you!

( I have melted into a puddle of goo )

And here's the second semifinal!

( I'm going to go out and save the world with Hotel FM and A Friend in London! )

GUESS WHAT? IT'S ALMOST EUROVISION WEEK!

I'm not a great believer in capslock, but if anything deserves it, it's the Eurovision Song Contest! And it's almost here! The first semi is on Tuesday, so it's about time I got my thoughts on it together. I know you've all been dying to hear them! :)

( In which I've fallen in love with a girl from Switzerland )

Today I hate all countries using a common law system. It's really fucking annoying, countries!