Cav's Place

At least this year we had a competition again, albeit with recordings used for Australia and Iceland, and also for Duncan Laurence’s interval act, these last two because of positive test results. The level of the performances was relatively low, however, definitely lower than those entered in what should have been last year’s competition, a few entries being particularly unpleasant surprises from this point of view, the same artists being selected again but the songs being nowhere near the level of those they were meant to perform last year. Then again, I thought it’d be even worse after the first semifinal, since there were only three songs I could say I liked in it and two of them didn’t make it. The second was better, however, albeit not by that much, and just one of the better songs, in my opinion, didn’t make it, and then most of the automatically qualified entries added to the level of the final… Even if the results didn’t agree with my assessment at all when it came to the four I ranked higher… Yet instead placed the two I ranked lower, France clearly being the last in my classification, as the top two. Either way, I wouldn’t say there were any actually good songs, but there were a handful of pretty nice ones, and also a few acts with a pretty good show value. I do, however, continue to dislike using camera tricks and overlaid images instead of actually doing something on stage, even if the current circumstances probably make the practice somewhat more excusable.
The impression I got after the semifinals was even more important this time around because I didn’t even listen to all the songs before the competition, just checking snippets after they were all selected and only actually listening to a few that drew my attention, plus some of the first ones that were selected, since I happened to check a couple of times when only a handful were clearly known. So I went into the competition almost blindly, without following news or updates or looking for other videos, knowing next to nothing about potential show value, and the only other songs from any national final that I happened to stumble into were Jorn’s and KEiiNO’s from the Norwegian one.

I must say that I’m pretty glad that Italy ended up so much higher than in my classification, considering the genre, but at the same time, I really didn’t see it as one of the potential top songs, not to mention a potential winner. I was sort of tempted to rate it higher, and considering the small differences that’d have caused a jump from 19th to fifth in my classification, since I doubt I’d have placed them above Finland even if the score would have been tied, but in the end I guess it seemed too much for me, and the fact that it wasn’t in English also weighed against it.
France, as I already said, was last in my classification… Meaning that for the second actual competition in a row I rank the act that ends up second as last, this actually happening just with Italy in 2019. I guess I can sort of see what the juries saw in the performance, but have far more trouble explaining the points received from the public. Then again, I guess it’s a matter of taste, and it was just that sort of, well, typical French performance that I simply can’t stand.
Things are somewhat similar with Switzerland, but definitely not to the same extent. It’s clearly the sort of entry that’s likely to impress juries and also had some amount of show value, unlike the French entry, so I can see the objective value, can understand the jury score, and the public one seems somewhat less exaggerated, but in my opinion it remains way too much overall. I mean, I wouldn’t have even picked it to make it out of the semifinal…
Iceland’s result was also surprising, especially since they didn’t actually perform, what we saw being a recording from the rehearsals. But that might have actually had something to do with it, drawing some sympathy. Either way, I can’t say the performance isn’t interesting and memorable in its own way. Not something I’d select as a top entry, even in a weaker edition such as this one, but at least the difference between the actual result and my classification isn’t quite so extreme in their case.
As for Ukraine, this is the only entry from the top five that I really agree with. I actually ranked them even higher and feared they’ll end up much lower, such an entry being quite a risk and the language also being a possible problem, so fifth seems like a fair place for them.

Since for the past few years I’ve been thinking of changing my ranking system, giving more weight to the song, possibly even separating the song itself, in terms of composition, from how it is performed, or perhaps having one mark and modifiers for other aspects, such as show value, personal impression and maybe even voice, that can raise or lower it by up to a certain amount and are weighted in a certain way, this edition would have been a good opportunity to give it a try, considering the circumstances… But I still didn’t do it, sticking to the same system I’ve been using for so long, giving one mark for song and another for show value, plus a positive, neutral or negative modifier, and ranking first according to the overall mark that is the result of averaging the song and show ones, then according to the song mark and then, if both marks are equal, according to the modifier. In case all three are equal, the ranking is the result of me trying to quickly compare the performances in question at the end.
Once again, still largely for my own use, I’ll list all the information here, with the first number being the position in my classification, the one between parentheses that follows it being the actual position, the first number that follows the country name being the overall mark, the second being the song mark and the modifier, if not neutral, being listed at the end. All links are from the official channel, so they shouldn’t vanish.

1. (10.) Greece (7, 6.5)
2. (18.) Norway (7, 6.5)
3. (5.) Ukraine (7, 6.5, minus)
4. (6.) Finland (6.5, 6.5)
5. (25.) Germany (6.5, 6, plus)
6. (26.) United Kingdom (6.5, 6, minus)
7. (24.) Spain (6.25, 6.5, plus)
8. (11.) Bulgaria (6.25, 6, plus)
9. (23.) The Netherlands (6.25, 6, plus)
10. (12.) Portugal (6.25, 6, plus)
11. (7.) Malta (6.25, 6)
12. (4.) Iceland (6.25, 6, minus)
13. (8.) Lithuania (6.25, 6, minus)
14. (21.) Albania (6, 6.5, plus)
15. (14.) Sweden (6, 6, plus)
16. (3.) Switzerland (6, 6, plus)
17. (19.) Belgium (6, 6, plus)
18. (15.) Serbia (6, 6)
19. (1.) Italy (6, 6)
20. (16.) Cyprus (6, 6)
21. (22.) San Marino (6, 5.5, minus)
22. (17.) Israel (6, 5.5, minus)
23. (9.) Russia (6, 5)
24. (13.) Moldova (5.75, 5.5)
25. (20.) Azerbaijan (5.75, 5, minus)
26. (2.) France (5.5, 6)

My ranking didn’t match the actual results for any country, was one place off for San Marino and Sweden, two places off for Belgium, Finland, Portugal and Ukraine, and three places off for Bulgaria and Serbia. On the other hand, it was at least ten places off for Italy, Moldova, The Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Spain and Switzerland, and even 20 or more places off for France, Germany and United Kingdom.

The time being what it is, I’ll leave the comments about my top ten picks for the next post, but before finishing this one I’ll quickly mention the semifinals, starting with the fact that picking ten entries from the first one was something I did just because I had to. Still, seeing all but one of the entries that ended up below tenth place in my classification making it through, and therefore five of those from the top ten failing, was quite baffling, and what made it worse was that I actually liked North Macedonia’s and Slovenia’s songs, yet they didn’t make it. Otherwise, I had Ireland and Romania in the top ten, and Croatia and Lithuania tied for tenth, ending up choosing Croatia there at the end, the other entries I would have left out being Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Israel and Russia. That said, I didn’t exactly mind Cyprus making it. And the second semifinal seemed fairer, my classification having Denmark, Estonia and Poland in the top ten and Moldova, Serbia and Switzerland outside of it, but I can find reasons for things being the way they were.

John Kerry’s statement that half of the necessary emissions cuts will come from unspecified technological fixes that are yet to be invented and people won’t need to change their way of life to cut emissions should put to rest any hopes so many had that the solution for the environmental crisis, or for any other major problem I might add, may ever come from any representative of the political mainstream, even one supposedly known as supportive to the cause, right? Something like this should snap those who were still taken by that mirage out of it, finally allowing them to start looking for and supporting real solutions and the radical or, in the eyes of most, “extremist” voices that advocate for the fundamental changes required in all aspects of life, starting with the economy and politics but also including the day to day lives of people… Or is this just as much a case of entirely unfounded wishful thinking on my part as that belief in potential mainstream solutions is for so many?

And yes, I am adding this here as a quick post because I just sent it to The Guardian as well, since simply commenting on articles doesn’t really seem to be an option anymore. And while I’m at it, I’ll also add that other comment I mentioned sending almost a month ago, since it’s rather along the same lines:

“Seeing the article about Germany’s surging Green party, I’d say that it should speak of a party that falsely lays claim on the name of Green and further reduces the already infinitesimal chances of any who might just actually be worthy of it. Of course, that’s nothing new for Germany’s Greens, the article itself also stating that for decades they’ve been altering their doctrine and methods in order to be more likely to obtain power, their desired direction aiming more and more to just delay the inevitable a while longer, probably somewhat better than the (even more) mainstream parties but definitely no longer presenting real solutions.
Let me know when some real, radical, Greens, and most preferably Green-Leftists, will be in a good position somewhere by actually relentlessly pushing for the real and desperately necessary solutions to the world’s biggest problems, putting the environment first at all costs, having something like the principles of Deep Ecology as the foundation of their doctrine, closely followed by the dismantling of capitalism and replacing it with a new system guaranteeing a decent standard of living for all and rewarding being economical, altruism, collaborating, preserving and fixing, from little day-to-day things to the entire ecosystem and human society, instead of consumption, greed, competition, exploitation and wastefulness. Now that’d be worthy of an article… Or, people being people, at least a well-written “what if”…“

A month ago, things looked bad over here, but then our authorities actually implemented some good measures, which made a significant difference for the vaccination campaign, the vaccination marathons and drive-in centers being successful even beyond expectations and the fact that now people can just show up at any vaccination center and get vaccinated as long as enough doses are available, which is usually the case, also making quite a difference. So, if at first I did suspect some, shall we say, creativity in the low numbers that were reported before and around Easter, the constantly improving epidemiological situation reported since then seems to make sense if you pair that with the, albeit limited, restrictions which had so far been imposed. The Indian variant did start showing up around here too though, so it remains to be seen how that will affect things.

Either way, the point of this post is the fact that those good measures risk being undermined by the premature relaxation that started yesterday. There were vaccination targets announced for each month and promises that relaxation measures will follow if they are hit, but then, instead of at least waiting for the end of the month and taking the first such steps from the start of June, the relaxation began on May 15. Masks no longer need to be worn outdoors except in typically crowded places such as markets, fairs, public transportation stations or locations where protests, concerts or other such gatherings take place, though a local decision also makes them still required if standing within 50 meters of an educational institution in Bucharest. The curfew and the restrictions on the opening hours of businesses are eliminated, only restaurants still needing to be closed for a few hours, between midnight and 5 AM, but otherwise being allowed to have clients indoors as well, up to 50% of the maximum capacity normally but possibly even above that limit if all clients are fully vaccinated, unless there are more than three confirmed cases per one thousand people over the past two weeks in that area. With that same condition, cultural, artistic and entertainment activities can be organized outdoors, with up to 500 spectators, as long as at least two square meters are available for each. Drive-in shows are also permitted, as long as there are no more than four people from different families in a car, which strikes me as an almost irrelevant limitation. And spectators are again allowed for sports that take place outdoors, up to 25% of the arena’s capacity, and only if all are either vaccinated or show a negative test. It had initially been announced that those who can prove they had the disease 15 to 90 days before the event could also take part, but the removal of this option seems to be the only step back that, I assume, medical advisers managed to get politicians to take.

Seeing as, despite this positive trend, the numbers are just now, just because of the low number of tests done over the weekend, getting to the level of the worst days we had last spring, during the state of emergency, this strikes me as too hasty, and done for political rather than medical reasons. Yes, things are moving in the right direction, but this crisis is far from over, and won’t be until and unless we’ll have a truly effective and readily available cure, not just vaccines. Besides, three quarters of the population is yet to be vaccinated at all, only about one in six got both doses, and new variants may well undermine the efficiency of vaccines anyway, plus that the resistance developed as a result of the vaccines, not to mention going through the disease, goes away in time, possibly even within months. So a hasty relaxation such as this is likely to have negative effects that will be seen in time, and when more such measures will follow on June 1 and again on July 1, with what will be nearly a “return to normal” scheduled for August 1 unless the situation will worsen drastically by then… Well, they make it far from certain that said condition will be met.

Sunday I couldn’t stay on-line to listen and pick, but the next non-personal post still has to be another quick addition to this series, so I’ll get right to it, starting with Liliumdust, which is a new band that currently just has one lyric video uploaded, for Survivor, so that will have to be my first pick and it’s what made me pay attention to them. Now that I did, however, I’ll say that their best song so far, at least in my opinion, is Dusk, and overall they’re a promising band, with a good sound and members that are sufficiently experienced to get right to it, without seeming hesitant or uncertain of their desired direction. To put it bluntly, they’re clearly the best of the three bands included in this post.

The second band is Epinikon and it doesn’t even have an entry on Metal Archives yet. But they did release two songs, In the Middle of the Night and Strangers in the Dark, so I can include them in such a post. That uncertainty when it comes to the sound is quite obvious in their case, however, so what I can say at this point is that there are good parts in those songs and the vocals are better than I’ve come to expect from such bands, and it remains to be seen which way they’ll go and how well they’ll smooth out the rougher edges… Assuming they’ll last long enough to do so, of course, inexperienced people launching a new band at this time still facing even more hurdles than they’d have faced before the start of 2020, even if the world is in a better situation than it’s been in since then.

The third band is Era of Ephemeris and, while I heard of them thanks to their recent release, Secret Garden, they’ve been around for a few years and the one earlier song that they properly posted separately is Ancestral Vision, so that will have to be my second pick. This latter song again reveals itself as an early effort, but there are good elements and, while not as much as I’d have liked, I’m noticing some improvements between the two, so they at least seem to be on the right path, more or less.

The plan for today was to write another “New Finds” post, since dad had said he’ll be away most of the day, but after I started eating at 3:15 AM last night, around 4:20 AM, when I was finishing, I checked my e-mail and saw one from him, telling me he won’t be leaving anymore, and instead will stay here and cook, and also asked me to take some things out of the freezer for him, so instead of checking the things I usually check on-line, I spent 20 minutes taking most of the things out of the freezer and then putting them back, since what he had asked for wasn’t there, so I just placed some other things I thought he might be able to use in front of the rest. This obviously means I can’t stay on-line today in order to search for bands and listen to songs, and it’s a good thing I had one more “slot” for a personal post, so I can just throw this here as the week’s second post.
Then again, I really should start reading if I want to have any chance to finish Capital in the Twenty-First Century without needing to extend it, so the plan is to do that this evening, since I won’t be doing anything else… And can’t play Bound by Flame either, since MilkyWay@home has been down since Friday and it’s not expected to be back up before Monday, so I had to grab a little more work from Africa Rainfall Project again, which means I have no RAM to spare, even browsing being an issue if I have more tabs open.
Will definitely need to start next week with a non-personal post now, so maybe that will get me to write that review for Venetica, but let’s see what happens. I sort of have a first paragraph for it, but that’s not really about the game and I have over 900 words of notes to arrange and expand into a proper review, so it’ll likely be another long one and if I’ll also need to spend a few hours per day reading, it doesn’t look good. But there’s always the option of another “New Finds” post, so if I’ll get to Friday without being at least close to finishing that review, I’ll resort to that again… And I may do that even if I will post that review, the personal post covering the whole week likely taking too long to write on Sunday, or at best over the weekend.