The Old Porvoo, Last Year In Christmas Time 

Helsinki by night.

Random moments 1) beach at Cascais 2) Seeing the show of Under the Stars at Carmo convent in Lisbon that goes through all phases founded at the end 14th century damaged badly in 18th century and being a touristic spot of today. 

Tomorrow #pausini20th

"Why does it feel like it's gonna hurt the same? You gotta live untill you die. Lost in the silence of a long delay. You laugh 'til you cry. Flowers fade. The spaces over our lives. They remind us to forget the pain... We gotta lift our eyes to the dawn through the forest of forgotten tears. Let it all out, let your guard down, let it all fall down and rearrange again..."

Melendi - Tocado y hundido (Videoclip oficial)

Just discovered him #Melendi #UnAltimoMas :)

We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape from us.

Anonymous

http://virtualwayfarer.com/nordic-conversations-are-different/

My negative review of 2018

So this is the part where I tell you how everything went wrong and everything was shitty! If I had to decide based on this experience whether to travel somewhere else for Eurovision the answer would be NO. I’m so glad I didn’t pay hundreds of euros for flights and accommodation in Lisbon and instead just happened to be here. I’m glad I did this - now I don’t need to wonder and I’m happy to continue my Eurovision love by watching it all from tv and/or online! 

Organization could have been better from the fans’ point of view. The lining up hadn’t been planned properly, there were no fences so cutting in line was kind a easy. Inside the arena not all the screens were on so if you were short and didn’t have seat you might have not seen anything. Also sound quality wasn’t on point when the shows started on the May 8th. The difference between Tuesday and Saturday sound quality is like night and day! Missed several performances on Tuesday’s live show because of the screens and sounds problems. And it was my only live ticket! Just seriously disappointed. 

Also the ticket sales went obviously down south. The arena was quite empty for even Semi I live show and Semi II jury show. The standing arena wasn’t nearly full. Blue ticket, the official one had sold out all tickets but apparently the tickets were being sold on other websites three times more expensive! And a lot of people didn’t apparently buy them for Semis even though the Final shows with its jury and rehearsals were sold out in reality. There could have been use for those tickets which weren’t sold. I’m so pissed about this also cause when we got there there were nothing else left than standing area tickets! 

Overall never felt more left outside alone than this year when I was actually in Eurovision! But let’s move on to the actual songs and results! Obviously many of my loves left out already at the Semis but concentrating the main shockers and disappointments.

My ultimate favorite this year, Estonia. I was kind of disappointed that Elina didn’t get more points from the juries since her performance was so technically, vocally on point. And plus the visuals were memorable and standing out from the rest of the performances this year. Can’t believe she got less jury points than so many who were clearly worse singers and had less memorable performance. 

Bulgaria which had an amazing hype around their song the entire spring came 14th! The jury votes were fine I guess but I expected the audience to bring them up. The performance as the song were really dark but I think it all looked really good and stylish. Televoters gave them only 66 points. Wow. But still love their song! 

I’ve loved French entries for quite some years now and especially this year MadameMonsieur were the best find for me! But something goes wrong for France. They’ve had good songs, great singers and performers, also the visuality and the staging hasn’t been THAT BAD! But still they always fall down 10 positions at least in the actual results. Amir placed 6th in 2016 which was an amazing result for France but still kind of far away from the top 3 which he was originally favorite for. Alma (2017) and MadameMonsieur both placed 12th and 13th far away again from the what they were really going for and audience was cheering them up to. They seriously need to look into this. However France and MadameMonsieur remain for me the best find of Eurovision 2018.

My loves Spain and Portugal! I absolutely loved these songs! So beautiful and emotional, especially Spain! You could not watch that without smiling and feeling the song. But yeah.. I guess they took a hit because there were so many songs this year that went with stronger sounds and were instant hits where Claudia and the spanish couple were left behind and not many actually voted for them. Just sad. 

And what about the UK invention! Again! Last year it was the winning artist from the previous year who was intervened. But last year the guy didn’t take the mic. Poor Sury! But seriously what’s up with the security unable to keep the STAGE are safe! It is the stage for god’s sake! 

I loved Slovenian entry this year from the beginning. But apparently Lea felt her song was lacking drama since she added this cut in the middle of the song where no music or lights would work. In the semi it seemed like the host country screwed up but in the final she changed it to look like she stopped it. From the faces of the audience they didn’t get it or find it funny. Neither did I. Totally unnecessary. 

For two weeks I was hanging around the arena and in Lisbon hoping to spot any artist or blogger for an autograph or a photo. I did see Ireland’s Ryan in Belem on Sat one week before the final. He was wearing his sunglasses so wasn’t sure if it was really him. I POLITELY asked about it and he LIED to me that he wasn’t him. Later on saw posts on Instagram with exactly same clothes and in the same neighborhood. And I liked Irish entry and defended it for others who doubted it! Jerk. There goes my points for Ireland forever. He was the only “Eurovision star” I spotted the entire time. Tragic.

Australia! I loved Jessica’s bubly performance and yes maybe her song was a bit generetic but it was so inspiring and uplifting! And the crowds at the arena seemed to appreciate it. But televotes! OMG so low! She did not deserve this even though her vocals weren’t on point on Saturday night.

Belgium! Not qualifying! How is this possible! Sennek’s song was not my personal top favorite but I know many people liked it. Definite OMG moment this year. Found her live performance cool and giving so much life to her song! 

WHO WILL BE THE FINNISH ENTRY AT EUROVISION 2019?

We do have the date and the location (March 2nd, Espoo Finland) but what we do not have is the actual artist. It has been pain to be waiting for the news and here is what I think of the guesses, speculations of the Finnish ESC entry 2019.

WHO IT WILL NOT BE: 

Every year people name these artists who are fabulous and the best what this country could offer musically but give it up. They won’t be doing it!

Alma – she’s already said no. Our brand shining star on an international music scene sees ESC as a competition only and has declined it. Pity. 

Jenni Vartiainen – too popular and will not be humiliated by Finnish press

Vesala, Janna, Sanni, Chisu, Mikael Gabriel – just don’t think that they’re that interested

Nightwish – they already tried in 2000 but didn’t get selected (don’t ask me why)

Old school stars such as Jari Sillanpää, Kaija Koo etc – the time has passed them.

INSTEAD I HAVE FAITH IN: 

Benjamin - Juon sut pois (2018)

Young talents and artists such as Benjamin, Robin, Evelina, Venior, Vilma Alina, Diandra, Ellinoora who are younger and have not labelled Eurovision as the older generation. They could actually see ESC as an oppurtunity even without winning the whole damn thing.

Venior - Sugar Rush (2015)

UMK competitors from the previous years: Mikael Saari and Emma – they’ve got the passion and the spirit. Even though I wasn’t too impressed by Mikael’s singing or songs when he was in UMK (2013 and 2016) and he has actually said that he wouldn’t do it again as a performing artist. But what if he was invited to be THE artist? Emma was my favourite in 2017 but she failed miserabily in 2017 UMK final (singing and technical issues). Emma also competed to be San Marino’s repesentative this year. Despite of the struggles gotta love her anyhow.

Tarja Turunen, the formed vocalist of Nightwish has been on ESC wishlist for being the Finnish entry for quite some time now! She would be such a professional, well known, interesting entry nevermind the song. And I even believe she might have that ESC spirit somewhere there inside of her if we just dig it out! 

Tarja Turunen - Never Enough (2017)

ESC representatives: Krista Siegfrieds (2013) and Softengine (2014). She’s crazy enough and Eurovision fan so no doubt about it that she’d do it again! But she’s hosted UMK so they’d have to find another host….Softengine is our biggest success after Lordi and one of our few success stories in ESC to be honest so why not!

Softengine - Something Better (2014)

Eva & Manu are the hottest rumour out there to be the Finnish entry 2019 and I wouldn’t mind them being so. They could offer some fresh air (from a finnish perspective) and they are not a totally brand new duo since they have released albums. Plus they have an interesting story.

Eva & Manu - Empty (2014) 

What do you think?