World of Chig   

11.10.08
Yakshimash? Selem!

We make cultural learnings for the good people of Kazakhstan at 17:15 today, hopefully for make benefit glorious nation of England, as the Kazakhstani football team comes to Wembley, to play England in a World Cup qualifier.

The oil-rich country of Kazakhstan is probably fed up of seeing Borat (left) and his mankini, but it's worryingly warm in London today, so what's the betting a few England fans will go for it? Sacha Baron Cohen in a mankini is disturbing enough, but England fans will probably look more like these two below. Nice!

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9.6.08
Euro 2008 - top totty

The three top reasons so far for keeping a close eye on the footie. Unless you know better. (We'll accept other nominations.)

#1 Mladen Petrić - Croatia



#2 Łukasz Piszczek - Poland



#3 Václav Svěrkoš - Czech Republic

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7.6.08
The Serbs are coming

Ana Ivanovic's Eurovision appearance must have done her the world of good. She's just won the French Open. She will also climb to be the world's number one woman tennis player when the new rankings are announced on Monday. Her compatriots Novak Djokovic (who started the scoring in the first Eurovision semi-final) and Jelena Jankovic also made the French Open semi-finals, giving Serbia three of the last eight in the singles events.

If you didn't see her in one of the Eurovision semi-finals, you were probably watching the BBC version. I haven't seen it, but I don't think they showed Ivanovic's filmed 'Welcome To Belgrade' tourist information piece, which was shown in countries where they don't have adverts, while the other countries were seeing the ads. I'm told that the UK showed Paddy instead. Never fear. YouTube to the rescue! This produced massive cheers from the locals, even in the sparsely attended rehearsal I attended, when it appeared on the screens.



In other sporting news, Curtain Call and Kandahar Run have just failed to make me any money in the Epsom Derby. I've also bet on Germany (realistic) and Croatia (14-1 outsider because I'm in an ex-Yugo kind of mood) as my each way bets for Euro 2008.

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Who are you supporting?

Euro 2008 starts today, with not one of the five British Isles teams taking part. England joins Bulgaria, Denmark and Latvia as the four countries who took part in Euro 2004 but haven't qualified this time around.

The BBC, inevitably, given the amount of money they've invested in covering the tournament, has been plugging it by asking who people will be supporting. But you can't answer the TV and radio trailers, so let's ask the same question here. I'm curious to know what affects people's choices in a competition that's devoid of British and Irish players. Are you supporting a country because a player from your club team plays for them? Are you supporting the team of your parents' country, or digging even deeper into your family ancestry to find a link with another nation? Are you supporting a team based on who has the better looking players? (As if we would ever condone anything so shallow!) Are you taking the Wogan-in-Eurovision line and just having an unfounded prejudice against all of the Eastern Europeans? Or are you just not bothering with Euro 2008 because your country's not in it?

In order to explain who I'll be supporting, I present this highly technical version of my family tree:



So, due to being 1/8 French, I will be supporting France. Allez les bleus!

The only fly in the ointment is that I drew Romania yesterday in the work sweepstake. Unfortunately, France and Romania are both in Group C, the group of death. I softened the blow of drawing the team that will probably finish last in the group (with Italy and the Netherlands also above them) by using it as an excuse to blu-tack this picture of Vlad, my very favourite Romanian in the whole wide world (sorry Cheeky Girls), to the side of my monitor at work, next to the Romanian flag. It will make work just that little bit easier to have his lovely face looking down at me for the next three weeks.

Who are you supporting in Euro 2008, and why?

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26.3.08
Bienvenue, mais le match n'est pas en Londres!

Bienvenue en Angleterre à Président Sarkozy et sa belle femme, qui sont venus pour faire une visite officielle avec le gouvernement brittanique.

Mais, pourquoi aujourd'hui? La France et l'Angleterre jouent un match de football ce soir (donc le thème français de ce page-ci en ce moment, et le photo ici du footballer français Florent Malouda). Mais le match a lieu dans le Stade de France, en Paris. Il n'est pas stupide, Président Sarkozy. Je crois que la Reine Elizabeth a un écran plasma énorme dans le château de Windsor!

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21.11.07
Wanted: one football tournament

Group E: Final table

P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Croatia 12 9 2 1 28 8 20 29
2 Russia 12 7 3 2 18 7 11 24
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3 England 12 7 2 3 24 7 17 23
4 Israel 12 7 2 3 20 12 8 23
5 FYR Macedonia 12 4 2 6 12 12 0 14
6 Estonia 12 2 1 9 5 21 -16 7
7 Andorra 12 0 0 12 2 42 -40 0


Next June, the footballers of England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland have nothing to do.

Bring back the home internationals! (With the Republic of Ireland also included this time.) The campaign starts here.

PS. Out of eleven people in our office, not one person predicted a 2-3 win for Croatia tonight. This has saved our manager from having to buy a bottle of champagne.

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17.10.07
Step Back In Time

[17:35] Chig is currently listening to Five Live's commentary on the crucial Russia v. England European football qualifier. The BBC apologised for the sound quality before they handed over to their commentators in Moscow. They started the match commentating down their mobile phones, moving to a landline after about twelve minutes. They haven't explained why the Russians haven't provided proper broadcasting facilities. I'm sure we'll find out when the BBC team gets back home. In the meantime, we are having to strain to listen to commentary which sounds like it's coming from outer space, with cotton wool over the microphones.

All is not lost though. As several listeners have mentioned, it's just like the olden days. Football commentary always used to be like this when I was little, so I'm feeling quite nostalgic.

On the downside, England are losing 2-1, having taken an early lead on the artificial pitch.

UPDATE: England have lost, 2-1. There is now a very real chance that they won't be in Austria and Switzerland next year for the European Championships. The maths are complicated, but we may have to hope that Israel beat Russia and FYR Macedonia beat Croatia; two very unlikely results. Suddenly, despite the fact that there's not a drop of Scottish blood mingling with the English, French, Welsh and Irish blood in my veins (as far as I know), I'm feeling very Scottish. Off to watch their game with Georgia now. At least this one's on the telly.

Photo courtesy BBC News.

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14.8.07
Happy 60th Birthday, Pakistan!

As we have one person of Pakistani descent in our office and one of Indian descent, with the two countries' big anniversaries coming up today and tomorrow, Chig playfully suggested last week that it might be a good idea if said colleagues each brought in some food as a celebration. This was a blatant attempt to have some good, authentically ethnic nosh for free in the office, but it was hailed as a good idea all round.

A shame then that my colleague of Pakistani descent forgot all about it and only realised this morning that it was Pakistan's 60th birthday. Also a shame that my colleague of Indian descent has taken tomorrow (the official 60th anniversary of India's independence and partition) as holiday.

Still, I did have a curry tonight. Does that count as marking the occasion? It was in the unlikely location of a corporate box at the ground of our third best local football team, shortly before watching them (West Bromwich Albion) beat Bournemouth AFC 1-0 in the third round of the Carling Cup. It was a dull game, in which neither team really seemed to be trying until the last ten minutes, but the goal was one of the best placed, nearly-impossible efforts I've ever seen.

So, why was I in a corporate box for free, being fed, watching two teams I care little about, on a Tuesday evening? All will be revealed at the weekend, when I'll be back there...

In the meantime, we'll be back with something irrelevant to India's big day tomorrow, and on Thursday we'll be asking where you were exactly 30 years ago, when Elvis Presley died. Like it or not, Chig will reveal where he was. It's not that interesting and won't take very long, but these morbid anniversaries are there to be 'celebrated' and Elvis does have two singles out this week. And a lovely box.

Pakistan photo from BBC News website.

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Home


Eurovision 2011
Düsseldorf, Germany
10th, 12th, 14th May



Eurovision 2008

Semi-Final 1 – Tue 20 May

01 Montenegro - Zauvijek volim te – Stefan Filipović
02 Israel – The Fire In Your Eyes (Ke’ilo Kan) – Bo'az Ma'uda
03 Estonia – Leto Svet – Kreisiraadio
04 Moldova – A Century Of Love – Geta Burlacu
05 San Marino - Complice - Miodio
06 Belgium - O Julissi - Ishtar
07 Azerbaijan – Day After Day – Elnur Hüseynov & Samir Javadzadeh
08 Slovenia – Vrag Naj Vzame – Rebeka Dremelj
09 Norway – Hold On, Be Strong – Maria Haukaas Storeng
10 Poland – For Life – Isis Gee
11 Ireland – Irelande, Douze Pointe – Dustin The Turkey
12 Andorra – Casanova – Gisela
13 Bosnia-Herzegovina – Pokušaj – Laka
14 Armenia – Qele Qele – Sirusho
15 Netherlands – Your Heart Belongs To Me – Hind
16 Finland - Missä miehet ratsastaa – Teräsbetoni
17 Romania – Pe-o Margine de Lume – Nico & Vlad Mirita
18 Russia - Dima Bilan - Believe
19 Greece – Secret Combination – Kalomira

Semi-Final 2 – Thu 22 May

01 Iceland – This Is My Life – Eurobandið
02 Sweden - Hero - Charlotte Perrelli
03 Turkey – Deli – Mor ve Ötesi
04 Ukraine – Shady Lady – Ani Lorak
05 Lithuania – Nomads In The Night – Jeronimas Milius
06 Albania – Zemrën e lamë peng – Olta Boka
07 Switzerland – Era Stupendo – Paolo Meneguzzi
08 Czech Republic – Have Some Fun – Tereza Kerndlová
09 Belarus – Hasta La Vista – Ruslan Alekhno
10 Latvia – Wolves Of The Sea – Pirates Of The Sea
11 Croatia – Romanca – Kraljevi Ulice & 75 Cents
12 Bulgaria – DJ, Take Me Away – Deep Zone & Balthazar
13 Denmark – All Night Long – Simon Mathew
14 Georgia – Peace Will Come – Diana Gurtskaya
15 Hungary – Candlelight – Csézy
16 Malta – Vodka - Morena
17 Cyprus – Femme Fatale – Evdokia Kadi
18 FYR Macedonia – Let Me Love You – Tamara, Vrčak & Adrian
19 Portugal - Senhora do Mar (Negras Águas) - Vânia Fernandes

Final – Sat 24 May

02 United Kingdom – Even If – Andy Abraham
04 Germany – Disappear – No Angels
19 France – Divine – Sébastien Tellier
22 Spain - Baila el Chiki Chiki - Rodolfo Chikilicuatre
23 Serbia - Oro - Jelena Tomašević ft. Bora Dugić

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Chig's Gigs & stuff 2007-2008

Coming Up:
11/12 Steel City Tour: ABC, Heaven 17, The Human League - Wolves Civic

Gone Down:
21/01 Sing Live! - B'ham Symphony Hall
05/02 Mika - Berkeley Square, London
13/02 Shayne Ward - Nott'm Arena
21/02 X Factor - Nott'm Arena
04/05 Scooch-Nightingale, B'ham
12/05 Hosting Eurovision night @ The Nightingale
17/05 Jason Donovan-Nott'm Royal Concert Hall
25/05 Pet Shop Boys - Wolves Civic
26/05 Liberty X - Nightingale, B'ham
27/05 Scooch & Björn Again - B'ham Pride
16/06 Muse, The Streets, Dirty Pretty Things, Rodrigo y Gabriela & Zane Lowe - Wembley Stadium
28/06 Brotherhood of Man & Buck's Fizz - Nott'm Royal Concert Hall
14/07 Sing Live! - Summer in the '60s & '70s - Royal Leamington Spa Centre
14/09 Rise - Leek Wootton Village Hall
16/09 Erasure & Onetwo - Wolves Civic
17/09 The Twang & The Priory - B'ham Carling Academy 2 (private gig - Janice Long's Radio2 show)
20/09 Turisas & Abgott - B'ham Carling Academy 2
27/09 McFly - Wolves Civic
10/11 Buck's Fizz & Futureproof (The X Factor), Nightingale, B'ham
17/11 Vengaboys & Andy Williams (The X Factor) - Nightingale, B'ham
01/12 The Human League plays Dare! - Hammersmith Apollo
10/03 Gary Numan Replicas Tour & Daggers - Wolves Wulfrun
15/03 David Gray - Symphony Hall, Brum
18/03 Russell Howard, Alexandra, Brum
20+22+24/05 Eurovision Song Contest, Beograd, Srbija
10/06 Eurobeat-Almost Eurovision, B'ham Hippodrome
12/06 Yazoo - Wolves Civic
14/06-16/06 Bingham Cup, DCU, Dublin
24/06 Westlife & Hope - Nottingham Arena
07/07 Duran Duran & The Duke Spirit - NIA, B'ham
01/08 kd lang - Symphony Hall, B'ham



Who is Chig?
Contact me: chig at cmdh dot freeserve dot co dot uk

My Wish List

Front page
Archive
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Chig is Nicki French's official stalker...but she doesn't seem to mind.

Chig's life can sometimes be a right pain in the balls...






Chig watches...

Dogtown, The Amazing Mrs Pritchard, Robin Hood, The X Factor, Spooks, Extras, Mock The Week, Popworld, Ideal, Deal Or No Deal, Eggheads, Hollyoaks, Never Mind The Full Stops, Doctor Who series 2 repeats on BBC3, The Bill, Match Of The Day, Ant'n'Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway.

Chig has failed at two attempts to watch the whole series of Invasion, so if you have it on DVD...

Chig still fancies Jesse Metcalfe...


...and Brandon Flowers, Roman Sebrle, Jonas Armstrong, Matthew Fox, Stefan Booth, Stuart Manning, Gary Lucy...

The 50 Number Ones Project.

49= 49= 48 46= 46= 45 44 43 40= 40= 40= 39 38 37 36 35 33= 33= 31= 31= 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Where I live:

Birmingham: It's Not Shit
icBirmingham
BBC Birmingham
The Nightingale
Club DV8

Interests:

Flickr
gaytimes
Popjustice
The Official Charts Co.
Launch (UK charts)
British Hit Singles
Aston Villa FC
GFSN
Eurovision 2006
Eurovision 2005 in Kyiv
Popjustice Eurovision
Friends Reunited
Mr Gay UK

Eurovision 2007:

Official EBU Eurovision
Helsinki 2007 Official
DotEurovision (News)
ESC Today (News)
Eurovision Songs
OGAE Malta
Norway: Melodi Grand Prix
AsianMissionToEurovision(Blog)

Eurovision 2007 acts:

Qualifier:
Albania: Aida & Frederik Ndoci
Andorra: Anonymous
Austria: Eric Papilaya
Belarus: Dima Koldun
Belgium: The KMGs
Bulgaria: Elitsa Todorova & Stoyan Yankulov
Croatia: Dragonfly ft. Dado Topić
Czech Republic: Kabát
Cyprus: Evridiki
Denmark: DQ
Estonia: Gerli Padar
Georgia: Sopho Khalvashi
Hungary: Magdi Rúzsa
Iceland: Eiríkur Hauksson
Israel: Teapacks
Latvia: bonaparti.lv
FYR Macedonia: Karolina Gočeva
Malta: Olivia Lewis
Moldova: Natalia Barbu
Montenegro: Stevan Faddy
Netherlands: Edsilia Rombley
Norway: Guri Schanke
Poland: The Jet Set
Portugal: Sabrina
Serbia: Marija Šerifović
Slovenia: Alenka Gotar
Switzerland: DJ Bobo
Turkey: Kenan Doğulu

Final:
Armenia: Hayko
Bosnia-Herzegovina: Marija Šestić
Finland: Hanna Pakarinen
France: Les Fatals Picards
Germany: Roger Cicero
Greece: Sarbel
Ireland: Dervish
Lithuania: 4Fun
Romania: Todomondo
Russia: Serebro
Spain: NASH
Sweden: The Ark
Ukraine: Verka Serduchka

UK MYMU entrants
Big Brovaz
Brian Harvey
Cyndi
Hawkins & Brown
Liz McClarnon
Scooch(!)

Artists:

Prata Vetra (Brainstorm)
Marc Almond
Pet Shop Boys
Scissor Sisters

Family history:

Chig is directly descended from the following families. If you have one of these surnames, we're possibly related, so feel free to get in touch: Crowe, Harborne/Harbourne, Higgins, Hutchins, O'Sullivan/Sullivan, Talliss/Tallis.

Above: My Gran with her Gran. Snitterfield, Warwickshire, c.1930.

Shameless exhibitionism:

Chig's January 1999 Gay Times article, behind the scenes filming 'Queer As Folk'

People we know:

After The Boyf
B-Boy Blues
Bitful
Daren & Justin
David Belbin
Glenn Ball
I'm Hip To You
Loobynet
Melodimen
Over Your Head
Poplicious
Quarter Hours
Reluctant Nomad
Schlagerboys
Simon & The City
Thoughts From Fish Island
Troubled Diva

Other people we like:

AceDiscoVery
Come Into My World
Club Contact
Following Adam
Diamond Geezer
My Ace Life
Naked Blog
TheSnowInTheSummerOrSo-So
Welshcake
Zbornak

Archives:

February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
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December 2006
November 2006
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