No more champagne and the fireworks are through … The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 wrap-up

(courtesy Eurovision.tv (c) Corinne Cumming) We have a winner! Switzerland’s non-binary identifying Nemo took the top prize this year with his empowering song “The Code” in a contest that was, unfortunately, marked as much by controversy as inspiring moments. Nemo romped away with the jury votes with a clear majority Continue Reading

#Eurovision cultural festival 2024 book review: Stolen by Ann-Helén Laestadius

(courtesy Bloomsbury Publishing) Stolen by Ann-Helén Laestadius (translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles)is that most universal and yet achingly specific kind of novel. At once a coming-of-age tale of one young Sámi woman battling to find in place in a world that holds obstacles and antagonism within and without, sometimes violently so, she Continue Reading

#Eurovision cultural festival 2024 streaming review: Love & Anarchy (Kärlek & anarki) S1

(courtesy IMDb (c) Netflix) Ah but it’s a good and glorious thing to have your expectations thoroughly and robustly thwarted! Especially when it comes to a TV/streaming show such as Love & Anarchy (Kärlek & anarki), a Swedish series which presents itself in its whimsically light and frothy trailer as Continue Reading

#Eurovision cultural festival 2024 movie review: Thank You, I’m Sorry (Tack och förlåt)

(courtesy IMDb (c) Netflix) If you have ever struggled to find a way to describe how grief feels in all its complexity and lostness, then you likely should embrace and adopt one pivotal line in Thank You, I’m Sorry (Tack och förlåt) where a character observes something along the lines Continue Reading

Road to Eurovision 2024: Week 7 – The Big 6 – France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, UK (Grand final)

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 2024: Week 6 – Malta, Netherlands, Norway, San Marino, Switzerland (Semi final 2, part 3) + Eurovision stage revealed!

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

Songs, songs and more songs #93: Mia Nicolai, Sigrid, Georgia, Molly Burch and Genesis Owusu + Eurovision 2024 update!

(via Shutterstock) Love is a messy powerful thing – sometimes it works in our favour, sometimes it doesn’t. When it does, and our romantic dreams crumble into dust, it can feel like the world has fallen apart, it can feel like indescribably words, emotions so big and damaging they somehow Continue Reading