Were you a cynical person, and honestly where is the fun in all that pooh-poohing and condenscening scornfulness, you might think that all songs entered for The Eurovision Song Contest are cut from the same earnest cloth. They’re not, of course, as this year’s diverse crop of tunes showed only Continue Reading
Eurovision 2019
Dream over or just begun? Eurovision 2019 – who won, who lost and who’s sweeping up the glitter?
One of the fun things to do as you watch the Eurovision Song Contest, and trust me “fun” is a relative concept in this instance, is to try and divine which songs Europe will, and just as importantly, won’t like, and thus which will progress from the two semi finals Continue Reading
#Eurovision cultural festival film review: Maktub
Comedies with heart are not exactly a new thing under the cinematic sun, but Maktub, a film about two lower level mobster enforcers who have a distinct change of heart about their careers and life in general after a traumatic event, does it far better than most. It accomplishes this Continue Reading
#Eurovision book review: Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente
Way back on 12 September in 1962, President John F. Kennedy announced that humanity, well, Americans really were going to the moon: We choose to go to the Moon! We choose to go to the Moon…We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not Continue Reading
#Eurovision cultural festival book review: One Night, Markovitch by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen
One of the fascinating things about life is how it can be intensely-intimate and majestically-epic all at once, and how these two extremes, as far apart as the poles of the earth, can be so closely related that one cannot exist without the other, nor keep themselves from influencing what Continue Reading
Road to Eurovision 2019: Week 7 – France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Spain, UK
What is the Eurovision Song Contest? Started way back in 1956 as a way of drawing a fractured Europe back together with the healing power of music, the Eurovision Song Contest, or Concours Eurovision de la Chanson – the contest is telecast in both English and French – is open to Continue Reading
Road to Eurovision 2019: Week 6 – Norway, Romania, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands
What is the Eurovision Song Contest? Started way back in 1956 as a way of drawing a fractured Europe back together with the healing power of music, the Eurovision Song Contest, or Concours Eurovision de la Chanson – the contest is telecast in both English and French – is open to Continue Reading
Road to Eurovision 2019: Week 5 – Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, North Macedonia
What is the Eurovision Song Contest? Started way back in 1956 as a way of drawing a fractured Europe back together with the healing power of music, the Eurovision Song Contest, or Concours Eurovision de la Chanson – the contest is telecast in both English and French – is open to Continue Reading
Road to Eurovision 2019: Week 4 – Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Croatia, Denmark
What is the Eurovision Song Contest? Started way back in 1956 as a way of drawing a fractured Europe back together with the healing power of music, the Eurovision Song Contest, or Concours Eurovision de la Chanson – the contest is telecast in both English and French – is open to Continue Reading
Road to Eurovision 2019: Week 3 – Poland, Portugal, San Marino, Serbia, Slovenia
What is the Eurovision Song Contest? Started way back in 1956 as a way of drawing a fractured Europe back together with the healing power of music, the Eurovision Song Contest, or Concours Eurovision de la Chanson – the contest is telecast in both English and French – is open to Continue Reading