gcreptile

There's been pretty much nothing all around lately. The DDP had, what?, a 109-year old marginally notable man, and a unique hit that Gooseberry Crumble pulled out of his mysterious black hat.

I hadn't voted yet? Raul Castro

I think I agree, UK was not the weakest song. It's a bit like the songs Germany submitted a couple of years ago (thinking of our 2016 song, for example): It's competent, harmless and average. Problem is, you need to make people vote for you, and you've got to stand out. There are only 10 teams you can give points to (12,10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1). You can have the 11th best song in Europe overall, but still end up with zero points, if you are exactly at 11th place in every country. Germany's song was much worse, but I guess some judges liked to be slammed with that wokeness hammer and they gave us three pity points. Other worse songs were those spectacularly cheap, but effective songs like Effendi and Loco Loco (Serbia and Albania). They kind of stood out for their open shamelessness, and I kind of liked that. Also, it helps to have some allies, I guess, really strong allies, like Greece and Cyprus. Or Moldova and Bulgaria. But that only takes you above zero, hardly above 100 points.

Ah well, Germany won in 2010 after pissing off pretty much every European country south of the Alps, and France. UK does bad because the songs were/are bad - which has also been true for Germany most of the time.

Someone has to post it... Love Island's Demi Jones has thyroid cancer: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-9601009/Love-Islands-Demi-Jones-reveals-thyroid-cancer.html A golf ball sized tumour had apparently been growing since 2019 and has now been surgically removed.

I can't believe that Meghan's chaotic, destructive energy has also been wrecking this forum for a while now.

Another case of "I should read my own posts" more...

The princess Michael of Kent apparently suffers from blood clots as a form of long Covid: https://royalcentral.co.uk/uk/kent/princess-michael-of-kent-unwell-with-blood-clots-six-months-on-from-contracting-covid-19-160048/

Ah yes, Oumuamua (or however it's spelt). While I tend towards believing that, yes, there might be the occasional UFO in our sky, I do believe that this cigar-shaped rock is really just a rock. I think there were some good explanations last year.

I was surprised to read that all her albums charted pretty well. So they are more a Miley Cyrus than a Lindsey Lohan.

Lots of news on the UFO front recently. The USA is currently examining the matter. There's a commission or something. And President Obama more or less confirms that, while there are no secret laboratories with extraterrestial bodies, there are flying objects that we can't explain: https://www.nbcnews.com/science/weird-science/obama-ufo-videos-dont-know-exactly-are-rcna963

Apparently, he's had COVID recently. News of his infection are now 3 weeks old, so he might pull through. Could be a potential immortal, if so. https://www.dohanews.co/muslim-scholar-qaradawi-faces-deteriorating-health-after-covid-19-infection/ al-Qaradawi is one of the leading Muslim scholars... if not THE leading one.

Belgium's song would work better on a smaller stage. But the chamber pop quality was there. It was unique enough to get some votes. I would have thought Croatia gets through, too, but then, the general dance pop market was quite crowded, and Cyprus got through instead. After this performance, I think Malta must be a heavy favourite.

Prolific golf course designer Arthur Hills dead at 91: https://golfweek.usatoday.com/2021/05/18/golf-course-architect-arthur-hills-dies/

Terry O'Dea, a former quarterfinalist of the World Cup, dead at 76: https://dartsnews.com/bdo/former-world-championship-quarter-finalist-terry-odea-passes-away

Mila Ximenez in hospital again: https://www.vozpopuli.com/television/mila-ximenez-hospital-cancer.html

French cancer scientist and medical ethics...guy... Axel Kahn steps down advanced president of the anti-cancer league because he has cancer himself: https://www.connexionfrance.com/Practical/Health/President-of-French-anti-cancer-league-Professor-Axel-Kahn-steps-down-due-to-cancer-diagnosis

New albums by St. Vincent (seems alright) and Fatima Al-Qadiri (always at least interesting). Also, this should have made the ESC finals:

Thread for Microsoft founder and general IT guru Bill Gates, also notable for being the son of former DeathList star William H. Gates: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gates He famously started Microsoft in a garage, has been known for working for 90 hours without sleep, and has become one of the world's biggest philantropists. However, now it turns out that his marriage was a mess, he's been having affairs for many years, and he's been frequently meeting with disgraced "investor" Jeffrey Epstein. Until quite recently, I would have said that it's 20 years too early to start a thread for him, but what if his post-career "clean nice-guy" image was just a facade? Could he be a heart attack waiting to happen?

Well, simply because she's one of the worst-looking but still living people I've ever seen - could just be a bad photo! - I suggest Charlotte Knobloch - Holocaust survivor, 88 years old, and vice-president of the World Jewish Congress: She's the one on the right. Source: https://www.spiegel.de/geschichte/marina-weisband-und-charlotte-knobloch-antisemitismus-waechst-weil-die-welt-sich-veraendert-a-a88e3d6a-0002-0001-0000-000177512618 I think her skin got burned....maybe radiation???

Tom Weiskopf will have surgery in June: https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2021/05/16/tpc-craig-ranch-developer-supporting-course-designer-battling-cancer/ Famous last words, but I kind of think now that he'll outlast the year.

Lil Reese got shot, again, gets trolled by 6ix9ine: https://www.xxlmag.com/6ix9ine-responds-lil-reese-getting-shot/

UK's entry gives me 90s-00s vibes. A bit of Lighthouse Family soul. It's not totally bad, but the production is pretty awful. You can hear the different brackets of sound stacked next to each other. Germany's entry...ughh... not a fan of this song, the way the sentiment is carried. I just don't like what it is. Lots of 80s vibes in the competition, thanks to Dua Lipa and The Weeknd, I guess. That Polish song...you think it could be a new A-HA song, except for the boring voice that drowns in the synthesizers. I think that's an affliction of many of these songs actually, but not all of them. I like Israel, and that Tick-Tock song. Iceland has a clever, little number, but they probably are too goofy to win, judging from the video. I actually like the Ukraine song, the singer's voice keeps it together. A very weird mood, especially with the backdrop of the Russian threat. It's building up to something, either a rave or a war, maybe both.

He's engaged now: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-9582471/Broadcaster-James-Whale-70-reveals-hes-engaged-three-years-wife-Melinda-died-cancer.html

"Tiger King"s Joe Exotic says he has cancer, doesn't mean he has it though: https://tmz.com/2021/05/15/joe-exotic-prostate-cancer-prison-pardon/