After a year without much of the ol' Paparizou, I thought I'd upload her discography... so here goes...
2003 - Aναπάντητις Kλήσεις (Unanswered Calls)
2004 - Tρελή Kάρδια (Crazy Heart)
2004 - Aντιθέσεις (Antithesis)
2004 - Kάτσε Kαλά (Just Sit Down)
2004 - Στην Kαρδιά Mου Mόνο Θλίψη (Sorrow In My Heart)
2005 - My Number One
2005 - Light In Our Soul
2005 - Mambo (Greenglish Version)
2006 - Υπάρχει Λόγος (There's A Reason)
2006 - Mambo (English Version)
2006 - Gigolo
2006 - Φως (Shine)
2006 - Aν Eίχες Έρθει Πιο Nωρίς (If You'd Come Earlier)
2007 - Mαζί Σου (With You)
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Eurovision voting changes
Here's my two ideas to change the voting in Eurovision.
1) Points given to each competing country from each competing country
OK, so pretty self explanatory really, but each country gives points to every other country taking part in order of how well each country scored in the televote. This would mean votes given out in the final of between 1 and 24 points from each country. The points 22, 23 and 24 could still be announced as 8, 10 and 12 are now, whilst the lower points flash up automatically on the screen as points 1 through 7 do now.
The benefit of this system is that it gives a fairer representation of the success of each competing country. It ensures that a country needs to do better across the board than get a few high points from a few countries to still do well.
2) In the semi-final, the qualifiers should be the countries with the votes from the largest amount of other countries, irrespective of their actual score
In this way, a country with votes between 8 and 12 points from eight other countries, wouldn't qualify over a country receiving votes between 1 and 10 points from sixteen other countries. Tie-breaks could be split by using the current points system (or the points system above). In the 2007 semi-final under this system, the qualifiers would have been:-
Serbia - 38
Hungary - 35
Belarus - 29
Latvia - 29
Turkey - 27
Bulgaria - 27
Slovenia - 26
Georgia - 19
Andorra - 19
Poland - 19
Portugal - 15
Norway - 15
Moldova - 14
FYR Macedonia - 13
Albania - 11
Iceland - 10
Cyprus - 10
Denmark - 10
Switzerland - 10
Croatia - 9
Netherlands - 9
Estonia - 6
Montenegro - 6
Israel - 6
Malta - 3
Belgium - 2
Austria - 2
Czech Republic - 1
It doesn't make a difference at the extremes of the table, but does stop some countries having an unfair advantage of qualifying every year.
What do you think?
1) Points given to each competing country from each competing country
OK, so pretty self explanatory really, but each country gives points to every other country taking part in order of how well each country scored in the televote. This would mean votes given out in the final of between 1 and 24 points from each country. The points 22, 23 and 24 could still be announced as 8, 10 and 12 are now, whilst the lower points flash up automatically on the screen as points 1 through 7 do now.
The benefit of this system is that it gives a fairer representation of the success of each competing country. It ensures that a country needs to do better across the board than get a few high points from a few countries to still do well.
2) In the semi-final, the qualifiers should be the countries with the votes from the largest amount of other countries, irrespective of their actual score
In this way, a country with votes between 8 and 12 points from eight other countries, wouldn't qualify over a country receiving votes between 1 and 10 points from sixteen other countries. Tie-breaks could be split by using the current points system (or the points system above). In the 2007 semi-final under this system, the qualifiers would have been:-
Serbia - 38
Hungary - 35
Belarus - 29
Latvia - 29
Turkey - 27
Bulgaria - 27
Slovenia - 26
Georgia - 19
Andorra - 19
Poland - 19
Portugal - 15
Norway - 15
Moldova - 14
FYR Macedonia - 13
Albania - 11
Iceland - 10
Cyprus - 10
Denmark - 10
Switzerland - 10
Croatia - 9
Netherlands - 9
Estonia - 6
Montenegro - 6
Israel - 6
Malta - 3
Belgium - 2
Austria - 2
Czech Republic - 1
It doesn't make a difference at the extremes of the table, but does stop some countries having an unfair advantage of qualifying every year.
What do you think?
Thursday, May 17, 2007
MUU & Being interviewed on Finnish TV
Kiitos Heli ja Tomi!!!
Also, for those who are unaware, I was also interviewed on Finnish TV twice in Helsinki, so I'm now something of a Finnish icon having sung Shanghain Valot at the top of my voice in a Finnish Karaoke bar. It was possibly not the finest hour of my life and sadly evidence of this exists on the internet, but you'll be hard pressed to get the website address from me.
Suffice to say it was broadcast on YLE extra. Oh dear!
They then invited me and Markku to the studio to film a segment of a chat show, in which I was asked about 6 questions to do with Athens and 2 about Helsinki! Go figure! This included the painful question "so which is nicer... Athens or Helsinki?" If ever an interviewer was gonna pick a dumb question this was the one to pick!! I think I just about held it together - well they weren't burning effigies of me in the street so we must've done ok... funniest moment having me singing Salvem El Món and trying in vain to get Markku to play the bongos on live TV.... only in Finland!!!
Quick plug for the muu café below!
http://www.muu.fi/eurovision2007
Pics of Helsinki
ME WITH ANONYMOUS FROM ANDORRA To view all the pictures I took in Helsinki click on the link below....
http://www.box.net/shared/kftm9ih666
Glad that's over then....
...came back from hospital earlier today after my Tympanoplasty op.
It went well... I feel much better now than I did 24 hours after my last two Mastoidectomies... a bit dizzy and spaced out, but that's to be expected after a good few hours of surgery on me head!!
The cut's really small and just goes around the top part of my ear, not all the way round like the last couple of times... and big bonus.... my facial nerve's still intact so no facial paralysis, which is excellent.
Just gotta get better now and hope that it's a bit longer than 2 years before the tumour comes back again... fingers crossed!
For now though, things are good.
It went well... I feel much better now than I did 24 hours after my last two Mastoidectomies... a bit dizzy and spaced out, but that's to be expected after a good few hours of surgery on me head!!
The cut's really small and just goes around the top part of my ear, not all the way round like the last couple of times... and big bonus.... my facial nerve's still intact so no facial paralysis, which is excellent.
Just gotta get better now and hope that it's a bit longer than 2 years before the tumour comes back again... fingers crossed!
For now though, things are good.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Back from Helsinki
We arrived back from Helsinki on Sunday afternoon... it's now Tuesday and I've had a couple of days to digest what happened over there.
OK, so what did I learn? Well most importantly I learnt a lot about friendship and what it takes to be a good friend (and also what traits I value in friendship). Secondly, I learnt that Finnish food isn't as bad as M. Chirac believes it is!!! We tried reindeer and I can tell you it's bloody good! Thirdly, I learnt that the Finns are a friendly, organised people, who are generally reserved (until Saturday night that is when I saw more drunks and more blatant drunkeness than I've ever seen in my life). Fourthly, I learnt that for right or wrong the Eastern European countries have become a major powerhouse in this Eurovision Contest.
The semi-final came and with great expectation we went to the Hartwall Areena wrapped in Andorran flags, convinced this was the year Andorra was certain to get out of the semis and make it to Saturday's event. I have to say that the semi-final was slickly presented and I can't find fault with the way the Finns presented the Contest. My only gripe was the empty seats given free to VIP's who failed to turn up.... this was bad, but at least it allowed us to move down and get a great view of the semi.
Watching all 28 semi-finalists perform, it was hard to pick the ten that would go through. It was possibly the strongest semi-final fielded so far... there wasn't one duff note and everyone really gave their all... We cheered hard for Andorra and given the reaction in the hall I was absolutely convinced they'd walk it.
Then came the announcements of the 10 qualifiers... Belarus (OK it was slick), FYR Macedonia (for the 4th year running and I really don't get this), Slovenia (yep she had a huge voice), Hungary (again yes, this was possibly the most credible song on offer), Georgia (well not my thing really, but a memorable show), Latvia (this was just bad opera to me), Serbia (not my thing, but she has an amazing voice), Bulgaria (this did sound massive in the arena), Turkey (again a great show and performance of a great RnB effort) and finally Moldova (yeh again she nailed this). So nothing from the west of Europe and no Andorra.
To say I was gutted would be an understatement. I was obviously in agreement to the rest of the audience due to the booing, which even drowned out the presenters. We chatted to the UK and Austrian commentators afterwards and both agreed with us that never has bloc voting been this extreme. On reflection, I can understand why 7 of the 10 qualified and I do believe that they were decent qualifiers, but FYR Macedonia, Georgia and Latvia? I just don't get it. How could they qualify over Andorra, Netherlands and Denmark? It's just odd and they way it came across was that the West is helpless against this blatant Eastern bloc voting.
This was backed up in the final, when the remaining Western countries competing:- Ireland, UK, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden and Finland found themselves in the last third of the scoreboard come the end of the night. Surely they weren't ALL so bad? Ireland and the UK I can agree with (the performances were shockingly bad), but Germany? Sweden? Finland? they rocked and were light years ahead of Romania's, Bosnia's and Latvia's attempts. I dunno, the EBU seriously needs to sort this out before the West just thinks enough is enough and pack their bags.
However, it takes more than Eastern bloc votes to give a good placing and the Western countries are also voting for the Eastern countries. The reason? On balance they send better songs. They have better, more original performances. They know how to put on a show. It means much more to an artist from Belarus or Armenia to compete in Eurovision than it does an artist from the UK or Norway. And this is also part of the problem. How do we in the west convince a generation of people who still consider the Eurovision to be a contest of schlager music that it no longer is this? Schlager has had it's day and that was proven so dramatically in the semi-final.
On balance the top ten in the final all deserved their place there. There isn't one duff song (save the Ukrainian effort, but even that is cleverly camp, unlike the UK's naff camp). There isn't one duff performance in that top ten:- Serbia, Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Belarus, Greece, Armenia, Hungary and Moldova all nailed their performances and all deserve their top ten placings. There's no denying that bloc voting helps, but where was Bosnia, Slovenia, FYR Macedonia, Latvia, Georgia or Lithuania in this list? They were further down the table - proof that you need more than just having a lot of neighbours to do well at Eurovision. If all it took was having lots of neighbours, well Russia would win every year. Russia's never won. If Finland - a country never having got higher than 6th - can win in 2006, then surely all it takes for the West is to come up with a great song, a great act and a great performer. Sadly, the East just did this better than the West last Saturday night. The West still thinks of Eurovision as stuck in the past... the East see it as very much in the present and therefore they are always going to do better until the West realises this.
I'm still gutted for Andorra... they had a great song, a great performance and quite frankly, they were robbed. But, they got 12th place in the semi-final and were only 12 points behind qualifying. Similarly, Portugal shockingly came 11th in the semi - just 3 points behind qualifying - Portugal's best result for years. My advice to RTVA and also RTP.... don't give up. You were close this year and proof that with a little effort the West can do well. With a crap song you will always do bad - Montenegro (part of the former Yugoslavia) bombed big time in the semi-final.
All this talk of broadcasters withdrawing is bad sportsmanship in my opinion. Yes I agree that the EBU needs to look closely at the bloc voting (which is blatant) - especially in the semi-final where it is far more decisive I feel. But to simply have the Western broadcasters give up is bad taste. They just need to make more effort.
So... 2008... Belgrade here we come!
Download the winning song Molitva by Marija Šerifović below:-
OK, so what did I learn? Well most importantly I learnt a lot about friendship and what it takes to be a good friend (and also what traits I value in friendship). Secondly, I learnt that Finnish food isn't as bad as M. Chirac believes it is!!! We tried reindeer and I can tell you it's bloody good! Thirdly, I learnt that the Finns are a friendly, organised people, who are generally reserved (until Saturday night that is when I saw more drunks and more blatant drunkeness than I've ever seen in my life). Fourthly, I learnt that for right or wrong the Eastern European countries have become a major powerhouse in this Eurovision Contest.
The semi-final came and with great expectation we went to the Hartwall Areena wrapped in Andorran flags, convinced this was the year Andorra was certain to get out of the semis and make it to Saturday's event. I have to say that the semi-final was slickly presented and I can't find fault with the way the Finns presented the Contest. My only gripe was the empty seats given free to VIP's who failed to turn up.... this was bad, but at least it allowed us to move down and get a great view of the semi.
Watching all 28 semi-finalists perform, it was hard to pick the ten that would go through. It was possibly the strongest semi-final fielded so far... there wasn't one duff note and everyone really gave their all... We cheered hard for Andorra and given the reaction in the hall I was absolutely convinced they'd walk it.
Then came the announcements of the 10 qualifiers... Belarus (OK it was slick), FYR Macedonia (for the 4th year running and I really don't get this), Slovenia (yep she had a huge voice), Hungary (again yes, this was possibly the most credible song on offer), Georgia (well not my thing really, but a memorable show), Latvia (this was just bad opera to me), Serbia (not my thing, but she has an amazing voice), Bulgaria (this did sound massive in the arena), Turkey (again a great show and performance of a great RnB effort) and finally Moldova (yeh again she nailed this). So nothing from the west of Europe and no Andorra.
To say I was gutted would be an understatement. I was obviously in agreement to the rest of the audience due to the booing, which even drowned out the presenters. We chatted to the UK and Austrian commentators afterwards and both agreed with us that never has bloc voting been this extreme. On reflection, I can understand why 7 of the 10 qualified and I do believe that they were decent qualifiers, but FYR Macedonia, Georgia and Latvia? I just don't get it. How could they qualify over Andorra, Netherlands and Denmark? It's just odd and they way it came across was that the West is helpless against this blatant Eastern bloc voting.
This was backed up in the final, when the remaining Western countries competing:- Ireland, UK, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden and Finland found themselves in the last third of the scoreboard come the end of the night. Surely they weren't ALL so bad? Ireland and the UK I can agree with (the performances were shockingly bad), but Germany? Sweden? Finland? they rocked and were light years ahead of Romania's, Bosnia's and Latvia's attempts. I dunno, the EBU seriously needs to sort this out before the West just thinks enough is enough and pack their bags.
However, it takes more than Eastern bloc votes to give a good placing and the Western countries are also voting for the Eastern countries. The reason? On balance they send better songs. They have better, more original performances. They know how to put on a show. It means much more to an artist from Belarus or Armenia to compete in Eurovision than it does an artist from the UK or Norway. And this is also part of the problem. How do we in the west convince a generation of people who still consider the Eurovision to be a contest of schlager music that it no longer is this? Schlager has had it's day and that was proven so dramatically in the semi-final.
On balance the top ten in the final all deserved their place there. There isn't one duff song (save the Ukrainian effort, but even that is cleverly camp, unlike the UK's naff camp). There isn't one duff performance in that top ten:- Serbia, Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Belarus, Greece, Armenia, Hungary and Moldova all nailed their performances and all deserve their top ten placings. There's no denying that bloc voting helps, but where was Bosnia, Slovenia, FYR Macedonia, Latvia, Georgia or Lithuania in this list? They were further down the table - proof that you need more than just having a lot of neighbours to do well at Eurovision. If all it took was having lots of neighbours, well Russia would win every year. Russia's never won. If Finland - a country never having got higher than 6th - can win in 2006, then surely all it takes for the West is to come up with a great song, a great act and a great performer. Sadly, the East just did this better than the West last Saturday night. The West still thinks of Eurovision as stuck in the past... the East see it as very much in the present and therefore they are always going to do better until the West realises this.
I'm still gutted for Andorra... they had a great song, a great performance and quite frankly, they were robbed. But, they got 12th place in the semi-final and were only 12 points behind qualifying. Similarly, Portugal shockingly came 11th in the semi - just 3 points behind qualifying - Portugal's best result for years. My advice to RTVA and also RTP.... don't give up. You were close this year and proof that with a little effort the West can do well. With a crap song you will always do bad - Montenegro (part of the former Yugoslavia) bombed big time in the semi-final.
All this talk of broadcasters withdrawing is bad sportsmanship in my opinion. Yes I agree that the EBU needs to look closely at the bloc voting (which is blatant) - especially in the semi-final where it is far more decisive I feel. But to simply have the Western broadcasters give up is bad taste. They just need to make more effort.
So... 2008... Belgrade here we come!
Download the winning song Molitva by Marija Šerifović below:-
Serbian version - http://www.box.net/shared/dpcrla3622
Serbian dance mix - http://www.box.net/shared/e28acoazpl
English version (Destiny) - http://www.box.net/shared/hlmtj58h0p
English dance mix (Destiny)- http://www.box.net/shared/catfao2fhl
Finnish version (Rukoilen) - http://www.box.net/shared/1poacxc847
Watch the winning performance below:-
Monday, May 14, 2007
Best of 2007 national finals:- part four
01 - Monrose - Even Heaven Cries
2nd in the German national final
http://www.box.net/shared/f702dokpen
02 - Jennifer Chevallier - Mon Étoile (My Star)
Unplaced in the French national final
http://www.box.net/shared/zoie57p4qg
03 - Sonya Aldén - För Att Du Finns (Because You Are)
6th in the Swedish national final
http://www.box.net/shared/0kitf0vhy3
04 - Tάμτα - With Love
2nd in the Greek national final
http://www.box.net/shared/knkgsjvkb4
05 - Luka Nižetić - Pusti Me U San (Let Me Into A Dream)
11th in the Croatian national final
http://www.box.net/shared/k0r97m6s9l
06 - Mariza Ikonomi - Ku Është Dashuria? (Where's The Love?)
3rd in the Albanian national final
http://www.box.net/shared/l9mccgb71i
07 - Trilogy - Starlight
2nd in the Maltese national final
http://www.box.net/shared/isyykg1s5v
08 - Johanna Kurkela - Olet Uneni Kaunein (You're My Most Beautiful Dream)
6th in the Finnish national final
http://www.box.net/shared/jsla8usuvm
09 - Hele Kõre & Kristjan Kasearu - Romeo Ja Julia (Romeo And Juliet)
2nd in the Estonian national final
http://www.box.net/shared/ry1ebb4esr
10 - Cyndi - I'll Leave My Heart
2nd in the British national final
http://www.box.net/shared/aex02bumn4
11 - Marie Lindberg - Trying To Recall
5th in the Swedish national final
http://www.box.net/shared/ks5sjmree3
12 - Дзiянa Гypцкaя - How Long?
2nd in the Belarussian national final
http://www.box.net/shared/luuznk75vx
13 - Vanessa & Henrique Feist - Além Do Sonho (Beyond The Dream)
3rd in the Portuguese national final
http://www.box.net/shared/ep0kc5ffnu
14 - Гpyпaтa - Back In Your Heart
5th in the Bulgarian national final
http://www.box.net/shared/jf9e5ycgbs
15 - Re:public - Home
6th in the Latvian national final
http://www.box.net/shared/oqoa2kj1az
2nd in the German national final
http://www.box.net/shared/f702dokpen
02 - Jennifer Chevallier - Mon Étoile (My Star)
Unplaced in the French national final
http://www.box.net/shared/zoie57p4qg
03 - Sonya Aldén - För Att Du Finns (Because You Are)
6th in the Swedish national final
http://www.box.net/shared/0kitf0vhy3
04 - Tάμτα - With Love
2nd in the Greek national final
http://www.box.net/shared/knkgsjvkb4
05 - Luka Nižetić - Pusti Me U San (Let Me Into A Dream)
11th in the Croatian national final
http://www.box.net/shared/k0r97m6s9l
06 - Mariza Ikonomi - Ku Është Dashuria? (Where's The Love?)
3rd in the Albanian national final
http://www.box.net/shared/l9mccgb71i
07 - Trilogy - Starlight
2nd in the Maltese national final
http://www.box.net/shared/isyykg1s5v
08 - Johanna Kurkela - Olet Uneni Kaunein (You're My Most Beautiful Dream)
6th in the Finnish national final
http://www.box.net/shared/jsla8usuvm
09 - Hele Kõre & Kristjan Kasearu - Romeo Ja Julia (Romeo And Juliet)
2nd in the Estonian national final
http://www.box.net/shared/ry1ebb4esr
10 - Cyndi - I'll Leave My Heart
2nd in the British national final
http://www.box.net/shared/aex02bumn4
11 - Marie Lindberg - Trying To Recall
5th in the Swedish national final
http://www.box.net/shared/ks5sjmree3
12 - Дзiянa Гypцкaя - How Long?
2nd in the Belarussian national final
http://www.box.net/shared/luuznk75vx
13 - Vanessa & Henrique Feist - Além Do Sonho (Beyond The Dream)
3rd in the Portuguese national final
http://www.box.net/shared/ep0kc5ffnu
14 - Гpyпaтa - Back In Your Heart
5th in the Bulgarian national final
http://www.box.net/shared/jf9e5ycgbs
15 - Re:public - Home
6th in the Latvian national final
http://www.box.net/shared/oqoa2kj1az
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