Happy 40th birthday Kylie! There now follows a rather sexy advert.

Labels: 40, Agent Provocateur, birthday, kylie, YouTube

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Did you watch Doctor Who on Saturday? I thought it was a superb start to the new series. I fell in love with the little adipose creatures, even if they were invented to become the nation's most popular toy at Christmas. Cynical, moi? If they're available next month, I'd like one for my birthday please. (Subtle.)

I thought the adipose cuties looked vaguely familiar, but it took Mike on Saturday night to point out why. Compare and contrast the adipose creatures (in this News 24 preview of Saturday's Doctor Who) with the cute little milk carton from Blur's wonderful 'Coffee & TV' video. What do you think?

The Adipose in Doctor Who on BBC News 24:




Blur - Coffee & TV:

Labels: adipose, BBC, Blur, Doctor Who, YouTube

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Plucky little San Marino (©) revealed their début song for Eurovision on Tuesday (above), after hosts Serbia chose their sure-fire top six song on Monday night. After Russia, Portugal, Armenia and Belgium all chose at the weekend, that means we now know 42 of this year's 43 songs. That just leaves Sweden, and it's anybody's guess! The Melodifestivalen final takes place tomorrow, without Carola (hurrah!) but with almost everyone I know in attendance (or so it seems at times).

Carola and her foolhardy duet partner Andreas Johnson were knocked out of the second chance Andra Chansen heat on Saturday night by gnarly Nordman, so they won't be appearing in the final and he will. She probably had the fear right from the start, when she realised Nordman was singing a song about burning witches. Luckily for Carola, she kept away from the set and they found someone else to play the part instead. (Quite horrible it was too, with a woman disappearing into the flames, which were thankfully only digital. You can see it below, if you like that kind of thing.)

Most people think the Swedish winner is between song 1 and song 10. 'Hero' is a schlager stomper by 1999's Eurovision winner Charlotte Perrelli (formerly Charlotte Nilsson). Because she's had her turn, I think I would prefer to see BWO (formerly Bodies Without Organs) have a go and bring some contemporary pop to the contest. It would also give BWO a realistic hope of a follow-up hit to their UK #69 smash from two weeks ago, Sunshine In The Rain, which dropped straight out of our top 100 this week after its seven day stay, which was largely due to playlisting on BBC Radio 2.

However, both Charlotte and BWO's songs are superb and Rongedal's is a great pop track too, in the vein of Mika or Scissor Sisters (or any other current male singer who sings in the higher register). Personally, I love Linda Bengtzing and her song, one of only three in Swedish, is a belter too. Even the gorgeously cheesy 'I Love Europe' by Christer Sjögren would probably do quite well in Beograd if the Swedes have a collective moment of madness come the televote. Sanna Nielsen has the big ballad, except that Sibel came through the Andra Chansen, so she also has a big ballad, which may well see the way clear for Charlotte to win. That's not my theory, it's the theory of two "brittiska experterna" quoted in the Swedish press this week:



That's funny, they look amazingly like the two blokes whose house I stayed at last Saturday after watching the Andra Chansen and the Spanish marathon...

Here are all ten finalists, in the running order for tomorrow. Which one's your favourite? Who do you think is going to win? If you're thinking, 'Oh blimey, I'd really like to watch all ten of these videos, but my busy lifestyle only allows me time for nine', I can help. Don't bother with 'Upp o Hoppa'. It's crap.

1. Charlotte Perrelli - Hero
2. Sibel - That is where I'll go
3. Rongedal - Just a minute
4. Linda Bengtzing - Hur svårt kan det va?
5. Christer Sjögren - I love Europe
6. Amy Diamond - Thank you
7. Sanna Nielsen - Empty room
8. Nordman - I lågornas sken
9. Frida ft. Headline - Upp o hoppa
10. BWO - Lay your love on me

1. Charlotte Perrelli - Hero



2. Sibel - That is where I'll go



3. Rongedal - Just a minute



4. Linda Bengtzing - Hur svårt kan det va?



5. Christer Sjögren - I love Europe



6. Amy Diamond - Thank you



7. Sanna Nielsen - Empty room



8. Nordman - I lågornas sken



9. Frida ft. Headline - Upp o hoppa



10. BWO - Lay your love on me

Labels: Eurovision 2008, Melodifestivalen, San Marino, Sweden, YouTube

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Was kann Ich sagen?

I've just watched Germany choose her Eurovision song, live on t'internet. The show, Grand Prix Vorentscheid 2008: Wer Singt Für Deutschland?, was much shorter than its title. Only five songs, all in very different genres and all unheard by me until watching tonight, so I was judging as most viewers will be on 24 May for the Eurovision final. There was one standout performance and one standout song. Carolin Fortenbacher did a really strong performance of this song, 'Hinterm Ozean'. The other four songs were just fillers. (One of the fillers was co-written by ex-Blue boy Lee Ryan.) This is a classic, first-time friendly, orchestral ballad, with a key change! The best ballad this year, by a mile. She's not exactly ugly and she has stage experience from appearing in Mamma Mia. A guaranteed half-decent result for Germany, as good as any Big 4 country can get.



And then Germany chose this instead. Gott in Himmel! 'Disappear' by No Angels includes the lines;

"It's just not fair,
That it won't get better"

My thoughts exactly. It's far from awful, but don't be fooled by the slick video. Their live vocals fell well short of this recorded version and Carolin Fortenbacher was ten times better. Such a shame.

Labels: Carolin Fortenbacher, Eurovision 2008, Germany, No Angels, YouTube

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Well, I appear to have spent too much time last night catching up on everyone else's opinions on the UK's Eurovision hopefuls, via various fora and websites and the clips that Scott Mills played on Radio 1. So mine will have to wait until tonight. It's been worth it though; I've made a new Facebook friend via ESC Today and, more importantly, discovered that The Revelations released this a year ago. How the hell did this gem pass me by? It's wonderful! If their potential Eurovision song, 'It's You' is anything like this, they'll sail through.

The Revelations - If I Called You On The Telephone

Labels: Eurovision-Your Decision, The Revelations, YouTube

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I knew it would get onto YouTube pretty quickly. Here's Carola's reaction last night. She's trying to look pleased that her duet with Andreas Johnson has only finished third or fourth and won a place in the 'second chance' heat, not the final. Her face tells a different story.



You can make up your own mind about their performance last night here. It's not a bad song, but there's quite a bit of screeching from Carola and three or four of the other songs were better.

Labels: Andreas Johnson, Carola, Eurovision 2008, Melodifestivalen, Sweden, YouTube

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Apparently, it's Christmas. Chig is escaping the madness. Here's your present, courtesy of Dutch 'bearband' Bearforce One. Ho ho ho(mo).

Labels: Bearforce One, Christmas, YouTube

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No wonder Ziggy was unhappy with the quiz on Sunday. The bits they showed in the highlights programme were bad enough. Here's a bit they didn't show:



While we're here, shall we declare the final order for Big Brother now? Why wait for Friday?

6th Carole
5th Jonty
4th Ziggy
3rd Liam
2nd Brian
1st Samanda (The twins)

I can live with any of the others winning, but not the twins. Why? Why? Why? What do people see in them? I can't even understand a word they say, most of the time.

Vote for Mr Entertainment! Vote for Mr Grateful! Vote Brian!

09011 21 22 16

Labels: Big Brother, YouTube

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Happy Europe Day!

Now I know what you're thinking. 'I'd really love to have an opinion on all 28 songs in tomorrow night's Eurovision qualifying round, but I really can't be bothered to listen to them all or watch the videos'.

Help is at hand! Some clever person has edited all 28 songs together, in tomorrow's performance order. Have a look at this, and then tell us:

(a) which ten songs you would like to go through
(b) which ten songs you predict WILL go through

Chig will be back later to do those two things.

Labels: Eurovision 2007, qualifier, YouTube

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On Saturday, we were busy looking North and South, watching Sweden's 4th Melodifestivalen heat and Spain's Mision Eurovision final. Meanwhile, over in the East, something astonishing was happening. Bulgaria, until now amongst the also-rans of Eurovision (19th and 17th in the qualifier in their two appearances so far), suddenly woke up. They picked this performance for Eurovision. I am gobsmacked. I absolutely love it.

Turn this up LOUD!

Labels: Bulgaria, Elitsa Todorova, Eurovision 2007, Stoyan Yankulov, Voda, YouTube

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God bless the Bulgars! This is one of the songs in this year's Bulgarian final to choose their Eurovision entry. The group, S-lavina, seem to have bought 'The Eurovision Book of Rhyming Clichés', but it was the misprinted edition which only includes the entry for 'fire/desire/higher'.

And we all feel a lot better for it. Someone needs to make up for last year's Eurovision, where the fire/desire rhyme was curiously absent from all countries' songs. S-lavina are certainly trying their best. Despite a total absence of 'desire', they have more than compensated, with the following word count (roughly):

'higher' x 22
'fire' x 9



Thanks to Roy D. Hacksaw for finding this.

Labels: Bulgaria, desire, Eurovision 2007, fire, higher, YouTube

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