I almost can't believe it's here already, but yes, today is the first semi-final for Eurovision 2009.
I will be covering it "live"* as per usual, and for my final Eurovision in USA post, I'll be watching it on not TVE International, but on RTP Internacional. I've swapped Spain for Portugal. I have no idea what to expect commentator-wise, I don't think RTP will have the droll and slyly sarcastic commentary that TVE has, but one holds out hope.
* In other words, unedited, but the post will go online around primetime EDT.
Sadly, I don't see TVE-I airing the 2nd semi, so it'll be online fun on Thursday.
And apparently Pooty-Poot's Sing-a-long organisers announced hosts.
The semi-finals will be presented by Natalya Vodyanova, a model, and Andrey Malakhov, who is touted as "one of the most stylish presenters on Russian television" (based on that picture at Eurovision.tv, the bar is very low). I think Natty & Andy will be their nicknames, and I have suspicion that Natty will probably do a better job than Andy.
The final will be presented by Alsou (who represented Russia in 2000 with the Britney Spears-esque Solo, and got an ultimately well-earned 2nd place) and Ivan Urgant, who is an actor and presenter (mostly labouring on some real pulpy shows, judging by his bio, but he has a good picture, and Russian ego is at stake here, so he must be something). I'm think Al & I for nicknames, but I may have to resurrect Will & Grace...because I just have a hunch they will be the Russian counterparts to Maria & Sakis.
Finally, instead of coming up with a top ten or so, I'm just going to list the ones I hope qualify:
I admit that I'm quite keen to poke fun at the Kiwis, but I also have no trouble praising them either.
For example, Tamati Coffey, the out (and quite handsome) co-presenter (think Al Roker and less Matt Lauer) of TVNZ's Breakfast,has won NZ Dancing With the Stars. His chosen charity? Rainbow Youth, an organisation helping gay youth.
Since Coffey's win, the charity's website has experienced a major jump in traffic, and hopefully in donations.
One thing I have come to appreciate about Australian media is that the networks only just barely try to hide their contempt for one another. (As opposed to here in the US where the modus operandi is to ignore each other's existence publicly beyond the phrase "another network.")
Case in point: The recent "Was Karl Stefanovic Drunk on Today?" kerfuffle which appeared on Seven's Today Tonight recently.
Some background: Today airs on Nine and is the former morning show ratings champ. Its arch rival is Sunrise(which is affiliated with NBC's Today Show--just to confuse matters) which airs on Seven. Think of this story as if Dateline covered one of those Good Morning America Ken dolls slurring their words the day after the Emmys. Yet I don't think that even Dateline would show their fangs as much as Today Tonight does.
For the record, I think he was drunk...no matter what he says. It's like he's the reverse of Tsuyoshi "What's Wrong With Being Naked (and tweaked)?" Kusanagi"
Law & Order: SVU is back, although it's still up in the air if Meloni & Hargitay will be back. Friday Night Lights, The Office, 30 Rock, and The Celebrity Apprentice(?) are also returning.
They won't talk midseason shows because that would hurt Jay Leno's feelings...or they just don't have a sodding clue about those either.
Ghost Whisperer: The only disagreement I have with Hinckley, who called it pass its freshness date. I think it's got one more season in it. Killing off and "resurrecting" Jim (David Conrad) has livened up his character beyond the mere sympathetic husband archetype. That said, I just get the feeling that Conrad wants to switch from regular to recurring. The addition of Jamie Kennedy has also helped the show, mostly because you don't get the same potential love triangle setup they were trying to do with Jay Mohr's professor.
The Game: I stumbled across The Game when BET started airing episodes midday, and I think it's got a very good premise. The only problem is that over 3 seasons now, the show still feels like its trying to find its direction. The writers keep bringing together and breaking apart the central couple of Melanie & Derwin, and putting the focus on their relative immaturity. This may be what it's like in the real world, but for a primetime sitcom, it just drags. I also think that they are ignoring real comedic skills with the supporting cast (especially Wendy Raquel Robinson and Coby Bell). According this article, the creator is considering saving the show by turning it into an hourlong comedy-drama (The CW is apparently trying to make their whole slate of shows hourlong dramas). I don't think this is a good idea on The CW's part nor on [creator]Mara Brock Akil's. I'd suggest focusing more on the comedic side and leaving it as is, just to have some genre diversity on The CW. If that's not possible, I'd try to move it to BET for one or two more seasons.
Without A Trace: CBS has basically created a Cold Case vs. Without A Trace situation due to the economic climate. I'd rather both stayed, but if there has to be a cut, I vote Without A Trace, which has one of the best casts on television, and manages to have a procedural show with actual character depth and back story.
Fringe: It seems like the show is actually getting somewhere (as opposed to the early episodes where it was more shock and awe as opposed to story), and I think it deserves another season. I do think though that the premise might not last more than one or two more seasons.
Axe
Cold Case: Some people like those ending montages, but I'm not one of them. I think the show needs to get a touch grittier and less PG, more PG-13. It airs at 9 pm (ET), you don't have to be that wholesome. (Though again, I'd rather see it survive, but not at the expense of Without A Trace.)
Gary Unmarried: Just basically a poor retread of Everybody Loves Raymond.
The majority of NBC's programming: I don't know what they're doing at the Peacock, but the Law & Order family is about all they've got going for them these days.
The world distribution of wealth and income is highly unequal. The richest 10% of households in the world have as much yearly income as the bottom 90%. Wealth - total assets rather than yearly income – is even more unequal. The rich are concentrated in the US, Europe and Japan, with the richest 1% alone owning 40% of the world's wealth. Poverty, on the other hand, is widespread across the developing countries - which have five-sixths of the world's population. But it has fallen sharply in China.
Club T can probably take all of those profits for themselves as Johnny's is unlikely to ask for a piece of the pie, because it just wouldn't look right. (They are in ignore it--and ignore Tsuyoshi--mode at the moment.)
Meanwhile, Tsuyoshi gets all charges dropped (even with a blood alcohol eight times the legal limit)* because the police felt he was sorry enough...and he has fans rabid enough that they would threaten to attack the station and bust him out.
Happy May Day. * and I still think he had some additional chemical aid.
Despite traveling to New York City frequently since my toddler years, I reckon that the real inspiration for moving here was not for theatre, not because I saw Seinfeld/Sex & The City/or even Throb, but because of MTV's Street Party.
How I stumbled across Street Party is mostly because I outgrew ABC's lineup of syrupy sweet sitcoms on Friday. (Full House, Family Matters, etc.) I wanted to feel a bit more sophisticated and hip, and a 2 hour block of dance music certainly fit the bill.
I don't know if this was the first ever video I saw on Street Party, but I certainly remember it like it was.
I know that time moves forward, but if I have nostalgia for any period of time, it was for the early 1990s (1990-94), at least musically. It was a time when dance music had old school rap, the big dance producers, and the beginnings of what would develop into today's electropop.
The funny thing about nostalgia, is that you can start colouring everything differently just because of the passage of time. Take the classic Pump Up The Volume. When it first came out, I thought the video was dull, and the song just kind of dragged. I see it now and I remember being back in the living room of my home dancing, because it's Friday and the weekend was just starting.
I still never bought the single though. A single I did buy and played to death was Everybody Everybody.
The US didn't get that flower happy version. No, we got what I will go on record (no pun intended) as the fiercer of the two. We got the Le Freak mix.
When that whole scandal came out about how Loleatta Holloway's vocals were used by both Black Box and C+C Music Factory, but not "visualised" by her, my little 11 year old self was just stunned. I truly think Katrin sold Everybody Everybody like nobody's business. To this day, whenever I try to do stare someone or something down I think of the way she mouthed "ow" at the beginning of the video.
As for C+C, I did not care all that much for Gonna Make You Sweat, but Do You Wanna Get Funky (which featured Loleatta finally getting her due) will always be killer in my book. It was a damn shame that the video never got as much play as I think it deserved. (But hey, it was 1994 and we were about to become a flannel nation.)
It's rather remarkable the songs that have stuck in my head from this period, but I suspect that it is mostly due to the fact that from 1988 to 1994, dance music was an escape for me. It took away a lot of the isolation and conformity that surrounded me in Wisconsin and gave me 4 to 6 minutes in my own personal Emerald City.
Note that I definitely am saying dance music instead of house, because at this time you did have danceable rap, which is damn near non-existent these days. I regret never being in a club when this song came on. (He name checked Lanie Kazan!)
I may go to hell for suggesting that this is dance rap, but I'd put Slow Down in this category. (Years later, I used to love saying "smack you with hose full of sand.") The message of course totally went over my head as a preteen.
And of course, Kid'N'Play (their cartoon on NBC aired once in Milwaukee before being pulled).
Martin Lawrence owes them. Big Time.
One last one, because it would be a sin for me to not include some Bobby Brown. (This video, along with Jane Child's I Don't Wanna Fall In Love contributed to my view of New York, and why I was somewhat dismayed to find post-Giuliani NYC so anti-septic.)
I could seriously dwell on this period for nigh on an eternity, but it's time to bring today's edition to a close.
Closing out today is Vanessa Williams, who in the late 1980s pulled off the greatest career resuscitation that I can ever recall. (I was also too young when the photos came out for them to even register in my mind. So she's always been a singer/actress to me.)
Her ballads are still played often these days, but I think her dance songs were pretty impressive. Hopefully she'll release some more one day.
Two enka performances from this past year's Kouhaku. One very emotional. One extremely campy.
First, Jero performs Umiyuki(and yes, I got a little misty watching it the first time)
Secondly, Kiyoshi Hikawa closed out the show with his verging on irritating, but still catchy Kiyoshi's Zundokobashi with some of the most OTT backing dancers/shouters I've ever seen.
Granted the Tsuyoshi Kusanagi story has mostly disappeared from the global stage, but I found this article from Kyodo News rather interesting (plus, it's Showa Day):
His lawyer, who also attended the press conference, stressed that he has no memory of the incident, but probably ''felt high for some reason'' after drinking and stripped naked at a central Tokyo park in the early hours Thursday... ...Kusanagi said that he had once stripped down to his shorts at his home when he was drinking with Shingo Katori, another SMAP member, but had not stripped naked in public...
...Asked how he will handle alcohol from now on, Kusanagi said, ''I don't feel like drinking at all now'' but added that he hopes one day he can enjoy drinking ''as an adult.''
First, I think Shingo & Tsuyoshi might have some sort of A Separate Peace thing going on. He was screaming out Shingo's name on the night he supposedly drank all the al..al..al..alcohol. (Apologies to anyone who doesn't have Jamie Foxx's Blame It running through their head the way I do at the moment.)
Secondly, drinking to the point of near nudity? The armchair therapist in me says that's verging on repressed desires. It's clear he was frustrated.
Third, I don't think it was just alcohol that made him do it. The man is 34, and in one of the most successful boybands of all time. He's been around some chemical substances of dubious legality, and closed blinds cover most lies.
Japan being the way it is, it's unlikely the full story will ever come out.
I truly laboured under the belief that Japan managed to escape the teased and permed look of hair rock, if not the sound.
Apparently not as the HIPS collaboration Let's Soar Through The Night proves. (Look for Keiko's fake tattoo which is very...um...skankalicious for its time. So was Keiko herself, at least in terms of performing.)
I'll admit that there might be a cultural difference, but should the opening to a children's action cartoon have lyrics about spending the night together, having a license to live, and doing things for the sake of thrills? It's pretty clear they're not talking about playing with Hot Wheels.
Catchy tune, although it's not as good as the first opening, Don't Look Back(video featured here in all its 80s glory) .
A special encore Swing Out Sister performance. This is one that must be heard to be believed: Now You're Not Here blending seamlessly into No Scrubs. (Yes, that No Scrubs.)
As Day One illustrated, there's a bit of irony in the Goodbye Festival songs, in that the vast majority are by non-American artists, much less ones that are New York-based. Well, my countrymen will get their day, but for the moment, we're going to keep that non-American theme with today's featured artists: Swing Out Sister and Pizzicato Five.
It was only recently that I came to the conclusion that Pizzicato Five & Swing Out Sister are relatively similar, and have an almost symbiotic relationship in my mind. Pizzicato Five is basically Swing Out Sister if they had continued down that pop pathway and not switched to jazz/soul back in 1992/1994.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Swing Out Sister's It's Better to travel was one of the first albums I remember buying. Everybody knows Breakoutfrom that record, but I found the subsquent songs much more exciting.
Their second album, Kaleidoscope World was even better. Since the videos didn't make major inroads onto US television, my memories of the album are almost completely linked to listening to the album in my Walkman on the way to the airport. (Nearly all the time I was on my way to New York.)
Given my profession, it's odd that Swing Out Sister has no real lyrical hold on me. Quite honestly, lyrics are not their strong suit. They are a bit like Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's, not meant to be deconstructed, but merely enjoyed.
SOS undertook a stylistic change in 1992 with the album notgonnachange, which I'll admit is not my favourite, although jazz/house/pop would probably leave me panting for more today, at the time it was released I was 13, overweight, awkward, and feeling relatively down on myself. (It's amazing I didn't go completely into grunge during the 90s.) The last thing I probably wanted to see was a happy boho Corrine Drewery dancing in some pastel town. Yet, I remember cracking a pleasant smile the first time I saw the video for Am I The Same Girl? So perhaps it was just what I needed.
Roughly around the same time that Swing Out Sister decided to confirm their new sound with The Living Return (the lead off single, their cover of La La (Means I Love You) had one trippy video, but I didn't see it until years later.) Pizzicato Five started appearing in the US music shops. It was like kismet, the same cosmopolitan image of Swing Out Sister combined with 1960s pop influences and in Japanese! (Which meant that I could make the song mean anything to me, since my Japanese was--and still is--not entirely fluent.)
They were definitely a niche band in the US--this was the mid 90s, remember, and got next to no play on MTV which was grunge to the core. I actually was partly on the grunge bandwagon (mostly due to Soundgarden and Soul Asylum), but Pizzicato Five became my "rebel music." While all my classmates were driving around listening to whatever flannel-clad band held the top 40 spot, I was listening to P5 and their poppy music.
(Did one of the chefs in the last video look like Takao Tajima to anyone else?)
Pizzicato Five is also associated with a recent darker period in my life, albeit indirectly. Akiko Wada covered their song Triste (悲しい歌 or "sad song") sometime ago. During a particularly low period, I attempted suicide and had put on my mp3 player to try to enjoy what I thought were the my last moments alive. Well, Triste came on and I found I couldn't go through with it. I don't recall a lot of detail as to why, but what I do remember is hearing her sing the song as if issuing a challenge to any and all who tried to keep her down.
I don't necessarily think I would've gotten the same umph from the original version, though it's pleasant in its own AM radio easy listening way.
For today's closing video, we go back to Swing Out Sister. Their 1997 album Shapes and Patterns coincided with my graduation from high school and from Wisconsin. The lead single Somewhere in the World became my own personal theme for moving on into the great unknown. It still is today.
Reading through today'sAge, I discovered that apparently there's been another one of those World's Most Livable/Quality of Life City surveys, and the results are now out:
Sydney placed 10th. (Still too spread out for me.)
Melbourne placed 18th. (Ouch!)
Perth placed 21st. (Where?)
Adelaide placed 30th. (again, where?)
Brisbane placed 34th! (must be all that corruption).
But the real kicker is that Auckland placed 4th.(And Wellington placed 12th!)
New York placed 49th.
I truly wonder what is their criteria. I know this survey is mostly interested in sizing up each city for the sake of ex-pat workers, so the cheap cost of living might have sent Auckland higher up the charts, but it. is. still. NZ.
A country where coverage of what happens elsewhere garners more coverage than anything that happens inside its borders...mostly because nothing happens there. The local section of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel makes Milwaukee sound more titilating than the National section of the NZ Heralddoes for the entire country of New Zealand. (You can almost sense that they're glad there are a couple of Swine Flu cases in NZ, so they can scream "we're relevant!" to the rest of the world.)
Frequent readers know that I have had several close family members affected by this disease, and I cannot emphasise enough how important it is that we work hard to find a cure.
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