Over the weekend I came across the recorded musical output of my first band: the Territorial Mercenaries. The Mercenaries consisted of me and my friend Simon. I played the keyboard (and Spectrum loading sequence, etc.) and cobbled together the music; …
Sketch for Eurovision linked data
I’ve been looking around to see if Eurovision data exists as linked data, or openly in any format. I can find relatively little, mostly just data about one of the recent contests, or about UK performances. None of it is…
Eurovision 2010: post mortem of the United Kingdom entry
Just before the results started to be announced during Saturday’s Eurovision Song Contest, I made a couple of predictions: I wonder if Greece might be a good compromise candidate. I’ll say Greece. Possibly Germany. Null points could well go the…
Thoughts on Eurovision 2010
A good year, although some good songs, especially the Dutch entry, didn’t make the final. Anyway, my vote goes for Germany. My anti-vote goes to Israel: it was better performed than the semi-final but still makes me want to wince.…
Best songs of the rock and roll era (Belgium ; 1)
Before the GPSOE’s recent expedition to Brussels, Stuart very kindly gave me, Tim, Andy, and himself £10 Amazon vouchers each to buy what we thought were the best songs of the rock and roll era. I shall infringe Stuart’s intellectual…
Some thoughts on Eurovision 2009
Out of the Eurovision semi-finalists, I liked (three from each semi-final): Montengro: Boney M’s Rasputin in Eurovision form, although not as good as that should sound. Iceland: a proper song and a rare naturally attractive singer. Bosnia: interesting song. Hard…
Thoughts on the Eurovision 2008 second semi-final
The second Eurovision 2008 semi-final was somewhat disappointing after the first one. It got off to a reasonable start with Iceland’s stock Eurovision entry and, after the inexplicably popular Swedish entry, seemed to be getting strong with Turkey’s very good…
Thoughts on the Eurovision 2008 first semi-final
Some thoughts on last night’s Eurovision 2008 first semi-final in Belgrade which was, generally, very interesting. The outfits made a fairly strong showing, especially with leather worn in a scantily-clad style, although Slovenia decided to be more chaste with all-over…
Eurovision 2007 final
My thoughts before the voting starts: Vote for Belarus Serbia will win Armenia to get null points Where oh where are Israel?
The influence of Lordi
Watching the Eurovision 2007 semi-final, the influence of Lordi, last year’s winner, is clear. No one dressed up as monsters or dabbled in the dark side (bar Switzerland perhaps, although they smiled too much), there are: Too many guitars: Croatia…