The year in pictures

2013, a year in pictures
Music: American Authors - "Best Day of My Life"

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Malmo 2013 Eurovision Final Night

So tonight is the final of Europe's favorite song contest.

Here's a sneak peak!

This is the final order of the 26 songs:

1. France: L'Enfer Et Moi by Amandine Bourgeois
2. Lithuania: Something by Andrius Pojavis
3. Moldova: O Mie by Aliona Moon
4. Finland: Marry Me by Krista Siegfrids
5. Spain: Contigo Hasta El Final (With You Until The End) by ESDM
6. Belgium: Love Kills by Roberto Bellarosa
7. Estonia: Et Uus Saaks Alguse by Birgit
8. Belarus: Solayoh by Alyona Lanskaya
9. Malta:Tomorrow by Gianluca
10. Russia: What If by Dina Garipova
11. Germany: Glorious by Cascada
12. Armenia: Lonely Planet by Dorians
13. The Netherlands: Birds by Anouk
14. Romania: It's My Life by Cezar
15. United Kingdom: Believe In Me by Bonnie Tyler
16. Sweden: You by Robin Stjernberg
17. Hungary:: Kedvesem by ByeAlex
18. Denmark: Only Teardrops by Emmelie de Forest
19. Iceland: Ég Á Líf by Eyþór Ingi
20. Azerbaijan: Hold Me by Farid Mammadov
21. Greece: Alcohol Is Free by Koza Mostra featuring Agathon Iakovidis
22. Ukraine: Gravity by Zlata Ognevich
23. Italy: L'Essenziale by Marco Mengoni
24. Norway: I Feed Your Love by Margaret Berger
25. Georgia: Waterfall by Nodi Tatishvili and Sophie Gelovani
26. Ireland: Only Love Survives by Ryan Dolan

From those, these are my favorites for tonight (in alpha order):

• Azerbaijan
• Germany
• Denmark
• Iceland
• Ireland
• Netherlands
• Norway
• Russia
• Sweden
• Ukraine

With no Balkan countries in the final, and a with Scandinavian and Northern Europe countries in, is difficult to predict a solid winner... or a swing vote. Not to mention former USSR countries that usually do bloc voting also.

That being said, I strongly think the contest will stay in Scandinavia for the next year. Either Denmark or Norway will win tonight, I don't think Sweden will repeat the win. My heart favorite, Ireland, will maybe place in the top 5, and Germany will be the Big 5 top scored country, followed by Italy or France.

Do you agree with me? What do you think?


:: Shaken not stirren

Eurovision 2013

So this is finally Eurovision week: 39 songs will battle to be Europe's song for the year 2013.

If you are not familiar with this Song Festival Contest, I may suggest you to look it up in the Wikipedia, it has a fascinating story... or you can browse my previous postings of other years.

Back to this year: as you may be aware, Eurovision this year will take place in Malmo, Sweden. This is because last year's winner (Loreen) is from this country.

So... 16 and 17 songs will compete in the Semi Finals, only 20 will join the Big 5 and Sweden for the Grand Final, which will be this Saturday 18 May. For a complete revision of the 1st and 2nd semifinal songs, you can watch these youtube lists:

Semi Final 1

Semin Final 2

And these are my predictions for the final performances, not necessarily all of them are my favorites but it is what I think Europe will kinda vote. Let's see how many countries I get right.

Semi Final 1

1. Estonia
2. Denmark
3. Russia
4. Ukraine
5. Netherlands
6. Lithuania
7. Belarus
8. Ireland
9. Belgium
10. Serbia

Semi Final 2

1. San Marino
2. Azerbaijan
3. Finland
4. Malta
5. Iceland
6. Greece
7. Hungary
8. Norway
9. Switzerland
10. Romania

Finally, these are the ones already in the Final: France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden (the host) and the United Kingdom.

:: Shaken not stirren

My life according to U2

Back in 2007 I received this 'test' in my Facebook. Today, I found it and amused myself on these answers. Recapping them, I certainly made a few changes...

So, the thing's like this: all of your answers (all!) have to be the title of one song from one artist, only. And you should not repeat them. You can try it if you want, it's fun but a little harder/trickier than you think. Re-post as "My life according to [artist]" and share it.

Photo credit: SteBo - 360° tour in Gelsenkirchen, Germany (3 Aug 2009)

• Pick Your Artist: U2 
• Are you a male or female? "Fortunate Son" 
• Describe yourself: "Original of the Species" 
• How do you feel: "Discothèque" 
• Describe where you currently live: "City of Blinding Lights" 
• If you could go anywhere, where would you go: "Until the End of the World" 
• Your favorite form of transportation: "Running to Stand Still"
• Your best friend is: "Wake Up Dead Man" 
• You and your best friends are: "Magnificent" 
• If your life was a TV show, what would it be called: "Vertigo" 
• What is life to you: "Elevation" 
• Your current relationship: "Even Better Than the Real Thing" 
• Breaking up: "I Will Follow" 
• Looking for: "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" 
• Wouldn’t mind: "Moment of Surrender" 
• Your fear: "Endless Deep" 
• What is the best advice you have to give: "Walk on" 
• If you could change your name, you would change it to: "The Wanderer" 
• Thought for the Day: "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" 
• How I would like to die: "Last Night on Earth" 
• My motto: "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own"

:: Shaken not stirren

Something funny I found while on FB

Something funny I found in my Facebook timeline, worth "stealing and posting" for you all to enjoy, specially for my music fan friends and performers...

:: Shaken not stirren