Cav's Place

Seems like I am getting around to adding what was missing from the previous post on Monday, so let me get right to it, starting with comments about the top five acts in the actual classification. The comments about the top ten in mine will follow right after them. See said previous post for the links to the performances.

Must say I like what Ukraine’s win means in terms of politics, especially considering the clearly stated message of the song. Or the message clearly stated by the artist, I mean, as I’d have never known after simply listening to the song, the only message I got out of it being overwhelming but quite generic grief. However, while I can recognize the artist’s vocal abilities and the overall value of the composition, the genre always made me pretty much turn around and walk away. Couple that with the admittedly theatrical but nevertheless static performance and you have something that ended up at the bottom of my classification, 24th out of 26 finalists.
Australia had a nice overall package, one of the better songs of the competition being paired with making fairly good use of what the organizers offered to provide a decent show value despite also only having one person on stage. The topic of the song wouldn’t have really allowed for more than one person anyway. So it wasn’t the best in any aspect, but it was among the top few in each and it deserved a high position.
Russia was in a league of its own in terms of show value, so much so that, while a few others showed they understood that this was a television show as well, it wasn’t really worth watching anything else after seeing this. In terms of listening, there were at least a few better songs, but the overall result was quite clear when the elements were put together. Sure, rather relieved that it didn’t win, considering what it’d have meant in terms of politics, but if you leave that aside and simply judge the performance, things are different.
Bulgaria had a nice, upbeat entry which put ticks in a fair number of checkboxes. To me it didn’t stand out, but it was one of the better ones out of the crowd of more or less expected sort of entries and my classification may not have done it justice, so I don’t mind seeing it obtain a good position.
Do mind seeing Sweden so high up, on the other hand. I guess there may be a somewhat interesting beat and general sound there if you happen to hear it once and not pay much attention but, to put it bluntly, I can’t find the song in that little rant placed on top of a background too basic to save it in any way. And pretty much no show value either.

As I already said, I placed Russia first thanks to the show value, as from that point of view it was one of the best entries ever in the competition, if not actually the best. And the song wasn’t bad either. Not standing out, but probably right below those that did, so if you judge the overall package and ignore politics, the choice seems clear to me.
Poland, on the other hand, crushed the competition thanks to the guy’s voice. Had some issues with that generic beat that pretty much covered the rest of the instruments and say the song would have been better even if it’d have simply been removed, without adding anything else in its place, but the rest of the song is quite good and that voice is simply awesome. Sadly, only the voters recognized this, as the juries somehow placed it next to last with a mere seven points, which can’t be justified in any reasonable way. Even in spite of the low show value, this was at least a top five performance either way you looked at it and wouldn’t have minded to even see it winning.
Australia is another entry I already commented on, so I’ll simply say again that here it was a matter of the overall package. Not the best in any aspect, but one of the best few in each and another entry I wouldn’t have minded to see winning. Would have sure complicated matters in terms of hosting next year’s competition though.
In case of Italy, I quite liked both the song and the way the stage was used, though the performance was entirely static. That said, after thinking of it a while longer, it was an entry which may have ended up pretty much anywhere, depending on the others in the competition and personal tastes. Don’t really mind that it ended up so low, wouldn’t have minded if it’d have been even higher. Winner may have been too much though, despite the fact that I gave it the same ratings as I gave Australia.
The Czech entry may be said to be typical, but in that case it’s a very good typical Eurovision entry, and I liked the song even more when I heard it again. The song rating was 7 at first in the semifinal, then I changed that to 7.5, then in the final I gave it an 8, putting it on par with Poland and I may even rank it above it if I’d compare, for the reason I mentioned above when it came to the Polish entry. Sadly, very little show value to speak of, which dragged it down, but definitely shouldn’t have dragged it down so much. And zero points from televoting, so not in the top ten for the voters in any single country, is something I can’t explain in the least. But at least it made it into the final, unlike last year, when I considered the Czech entry one of the best in the entire competition and it didn’t even get that far.
Cyprus tops the long list of entries I consider more or less average thanks to the genre. Not that I liked it too much, but it was the only one that could be considered at least some sort of decent rock, obviously not counting whatever that thing from Georgia was. Wouldn’t have placed it this high if the Romanian entry wouldn’t have been kicked out, both of them likely to have ended up around the middle of the classification in that case, but under these circumstances I have to admit I gave it a boost that wasn’t quite on its own merit.
Continuing that long list of more or less average entries, Azerbaijan did seem one of the better ones of the bunch. That’s almost entirely thanks to the chorus, however, and it could have been performed better as well, so I don’t mind that it ended up as low as it did. If I were to rate again now, I’d probably drop it a few places myself.
Israel was a surprise, as I had listened to the original version and thought it was pretty crappy and then I didn’t bother with the new version after it was changed, so I definitely didn’t expect what I ended up hearing in the competition. This was far better and I definitely stand by ranking it significantly higher than where it actually ended up. Not top five, but should have quite clearly been in the top ten.
I started with a poor opinion of the German entry because of what didn’t end up in the competition due to it winning the national selection there, but when I tried to judge it fairly I considered it decent enough, as far as that long list of more or less average entries goes. There were several better songs and voices, but add what it was to doing something with the stage and her quirky style and I think it should have at least been around the middle of the classification, and definitely not last.
As for Armenia, that spoken start bothered me and I’m not keen on this sort of sound, but it was still a fairly decent song, the voice was obviously good as well and it also had some show value to add to the overall package.

Really don’t have the time to write the usual kind of post tonight, was even considering just throwing my classification here and nothing else, but I’m squeezing in the few other comments as well and leaving the comments about the top songs, both in the actual classification and in mine, for a later time. May be Monday, but I’m not making promises at the moment, so let’s just say I’ll post it when I’ll post it.

Overall, it was a decent edition, and that assessment applies to the majority of the entries. There were a few particularly good voices that weren’t, in my view, helped enough by the songs, and this also applies to the winner. Past this, in a couple of cases a great voice was paired with a fairly good song but sadly lacked show value, while on the other hand one act was in a league of its own in terms of said show value. Very few acts were actually poor, and that’s also counting those that didn’t make it into the final, as from those that did I was only actually bothered by one.
Once again, though I didn’t start following as early as in some other years in the past, I knew all songs before the competition, though one or two that were modified quite late did surprise me with the new versions that were actually performed. Also knew pretty much nothing about the performances, as I didn’t even glance at anything about rehearsals or any of the updates posted in the days right before the competition, and that’s because I didn’t follow the other developments that closely after Romania was thrown out. Won’t comment any more about that at the moment though, since I already did so at the time of the announcement, but I do want to post a link to “Moment of Silence” here as well, as it deserved to and should have been performed along with the rest.

My ranking system is still the same, 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. (3.) Russia (7.5, 6.5)
2. (8.) Poland (7, 8)
3. (2.) Australia (7, 7)
4. (16.) Italy (7, 7)
5. (25.) Czech Republic (6.75, 8)
6. (21.) Cyprus (6.75, 6.5, plus)
7. (17.) Azerbaijan (6.75, 6.5, plus)
8. (14.) Israel (6.75, 6.5)
9. (26.) Germany (6.75, 6.5)
10. (7.) Armenia (6.75, 6.5)
11. (13.) Austria (6.5, 7, plus)
12. (18.) Serbia (6.5, 6.5, plus)
13. (4.) Bulgaria (6.5, 6.5, plus)
14. (23.) Croatia (6.5, 6.5, plus)
15. (11.) Netherlands (6.5, 6.5)
16. (12.) Malta (6.5, 6.5)
17. (19.) Hungary (6.5, 6.5)
18. (22.) Spain (6.5, 6.5)
19. (9.) Lithuania (6.5, 6.5, minus)
20. (10.) Belgium (6.25, 6.5, plus)
21. (24.) United Kingdom (6.25, 6.5)
22. (15.) Latvia (6, 6.5)
23. (6.) France (6, 6.5)
24. (1.) Ukraine (6, 6, plus)
25. (5.) Sweden (5.75, 6, plus)
26. (20.) Georgia (5.75, 5.5)

My ranking didn’t match the actual results for any entry, but was only one place off for Australia, two places off for Austria, Hungary and Russia, and three places off for Armenia and the United Kingdom. On the other hand, I was at least ten places off for Azerbaijan, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Germany, Italy and Lithuania, and even 20 or more places off for the Czech Republic, Sweden and, obviously, Ukraine.

As for the semifinals, I must say they were similar to last year, in the sense that they were rather different from each other.
If not quite so clearly separated as last time, the first was again pretty clear, though my system had the Czech entry outside the top ten and I really wanted it through, so I kept considering adding an additional half a point after the fact and eventually did so when it was announced that it did get through, knocking Iceland outside the top ten. Admittedly, that’s a bit of cheating, but I’ll go with it and say that, this way, the only difference was that Hungary made it instead of Bosnia, but I guess that rapping part justifies that, as I pretty much pretended it wasn’t there when rating the rest of the performance.
In the second, on the other hand, while I was able to select a top ten, the last two, Ireland and Denmark, were in it just to get to ten and another one, Belarus, purely due to the show value. Would have liked Norway to make it, but it was outside the top ten in my classification and couldn’t in all honesty give it the needed boost. Either way, out of those that did end up in my top ten, only five qualified, the differences being that Belgium, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine made it instead of those I already mentioned and Macedonia and Slovenia, these two being performances I’d have liked to see through. Or at the very least Macedonia instead of whatever that thing from Georgia was, since Ukraine and Latvia were probably objectively pretty good but simply not my thing and Belgium and Lithuania pretty average and in a sense quite interchangeable with some of those I ranked higher up.

A journalistic investigation first revealed on April 25 that neither the authorities nor the hospitals ever check the disinfectants used, merely trusting the information provided by the manufacturers. Then, as more details were released over the following days, it was also revealed that disinfectants manufactured by Hexi Pharma are very diluted, having as little as a tenth of the listed concentration, yet the prices are increased several or even more than ten times compared to the purchase price of the substances used, through off-shore operations. In addition, many of Hexi Pharma’s contracts were attributed directly and not as a result of a call for bids, and there were also discussions about ties between this firm and the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI).
Several other groups joined the investigation over the coming period, both journalists and activists striving to dig up and release as much information as possible. The groups of activists also included The Romania Initiative (IR), which can be said to have taken a break from focusing on the upcoming local elections for this reason, even though that was their obvious goal for this year. Other activists, however, tended to mostly just follow the story and before May 5 mostly alternated between posting about this and issues related to the upcoming elections, calls for action being rather uncertain and definitely disorganized, the only clearly visible actions being those meant to support the now-former Minister of Culture. Some did say that the issue with the Minister of Culture was probably just an attempt made by the authorities to take attention away from this far more serious problem, though.
It was only after the Minister of Culture was revoked on May 3 that, while obviously unhappy with the result even though he was replaced with the person he supported for the position when initially announcing his resignation, many seemed ready to leave that issue behind and take visible action regarding this other matter. At the same time, considering both the weather and the continued stream of information, this delay was likely for the best and some were even saying that a little more time would have been needed to better prepare a proper protest.

As far as the authorities are concerned, the initial reaction was to request a hasty and basic internal investigation into the efficiency of the substances, continuing to ignore the concentrations and prices, and it was reported that less than 5% of samples revealed ineffective disinfectants and that applied to those not produced by Hexi Pharma as well. Since the Minister of Health announced this as if it should have settled the matter and there were also some obvious lies regarding which hospitals used Hexi Pharma disinfectants and, as it was also admitted even by some officials, the real number of hospital-acquired infections is dozens of times higher than what is reported, adamant calls for a resignation immediately followed. A few did manage to remain rational, however, pointing out that the resignation of a Minister who only quite recently took office will do nothing to solve a problem that has existed for many years and affects many parts of the system, but may in fact be used as a way to defuse the situation without actually doing anything about the real issue.

It can probably be said that the first clear action taken by a significant number of activists and protesters was the result of an article published by VICE Romania on May 5, asking people to submit freedom of information requests to demand the release of the list of hospitals using the disinfectants shown as being inefficient. The article included a guide and a sample message and, while initially the requests were denied with the claim that the information was part of an ongoing investigation, the Government is not in the position to make that assessment and the High Court stated clearly that there was no reason to withhold that information. As a result, the list was released on May 6 and it included nearly a fifth of the hospitals in Romania, though many, even in the mainstream media, expressed the opinion that even that number may only include those willing to admit and take measures to solve the problem while the rest continue to attempt to hide it.

Back to May 5, a small group of activists known for such actions painted the area in front of the Ministry of Health red, claiming that the paint used was diluted ten times with water and showing how easily it can be washed off, being as ineffective as those disinfectants. The stated intent was both to raise the alarm about the situation, depicting in a very visible manner the fact that the Ministry is responsible for so many deaths by not solving this problem and continuing to protect those directly responsible, and to promote the bigger protest which had by then been announced for May 6, from 7 PM, at the University Square fountain.
This bigger protest wasn’t created by one of the known groups or activists, but it was quickly picked up and promoted by pretty much everyone and the time seemed to be picked well as well, not only because it was Friday evening but also because the weather finally seemed to allow it. The demands were less clear at first and there didn’t seem to be any plan other than gathering around the fountain, but proposals were made and polls were posted, the one attracting the most attention and the highest number of responses being the one posted by the United We Save Community. As a result, while some obviously still disagreed or had other ideas, some things more or less fell into place.

Still annoying that the interest on-line seemed far greater than that suggested by the perhaps about 1000 people who actually showed up, but it could have been worse. In fact, it would have been worse if the activists who usually lead such protests wouldn’t have stopped waiting for those who kept lashing out against them and demanding that they stay away to show some leadership instead and make the people gathered there actually protest, because pretty much nothing happened until they took charge at 8:15 PM, people simply splitting off in small groups and chatting, and some were starting to leave. Not that this spared them from continued attacks, of course, Claudiu once again being the main target and on the receiving end of the usual litany of accusations and insults both during and after the protest, despite the fact that it was in large part thanks to him that there was an actual protest that evening at all.
Personally, I missed those first minutes after they decided to get things going because I “managed” to hit my head quite hard on a metal bar I was trying to pass under in order to reach them and take a few more pictures, so I went to the bathroom in the underground passage to see how it looked and wash the area a little, since the skin was scraped and I already had quite a lump. Then, after finally making my way back when Claudiu had the loudspeaker and people were gathering in a circle to actually protest, I spent much of the time keeping my hands cold and pressing them against the area to reduce the swelling, but I was otherwise there until the last stop in front of the Government and tried not to miss much else.
It was about 9 PM when there was a call to march to the nearby Ministry of Health, though people took a while to get moving and some even stayed behind. The gendarmes, on the other hand, didn’t try to stop us in any way, the only incident I’m aware of being that one asked the activists who started using loudspeakers to get the protest going to keep quiet, but then walked away when asked if he’d still feel the same if he’d get injured, which is likely in his line of work, and end up with a hospital-acquired infection due to diluted disinfectants. In fact they were even clearing the way to the Government for us while we were still at the Ministry of Health and, though some definitely were asking for it, there was no real plan to go there yet.
Then again, it was only this march to the Government, which took perhaps 45 minutes or so if you count from the moment we returned to University Square and took to the street, that can be said to have caused any inconvenience, because the area we marched through until then was mostly closed to traffic anyway due to the Spotlight Festival, which attracted far more people than our protest. For that reason, there were moments when it was difficult to figure out who was there for one thing and who for the other and there obviously were attempts to persuade some of those watching the light shows to join us, but while it’s possible that a few of them did, for the most part they were just enjoying the show and either ignoring the protest completely or looking on sort of as one would at a bunch of circus freaks passing through. Because, you know, some pretty lights are so much more important than what will happen if they or their friends or loved ones will ever end up in hospital and those who try to do something, little as it may be, for a cause are just crazies getting in the way of all the rest who’re just trying to live their lives without giving a fuck.
But to return to the march to the Government, some may have joined us on the way but even more left, as it was pretty clear will happen under the circumstances, so I heard estimates of the number of people who gathered in Victory Square at the end ranging between 300 and 500, which seems fair enough to me, though I didn’t try to make one myself at that time, as the head of the column was there around 10:30 PM and, after taking a few final pictures out of which I only kept one, by 10:40 PM I was already at the metro station, leaving. There were probably more gendarmes than protesters there anyway, such a strong presence, especially since it was rather surprising after what had happened until then, prompting a few reactions from protesters, but I’m not aware of any incidents and by 11 PM people had cleared away.

That protest didn’t initially seem to be followed by another on May 7, but the Alliance of Medics announced one and, despite the short notice, the event was shared and promoted by some known activists that day. However, even though the time and place were the same as the day before and, following a brief storm around 5 PM, the rain stopped and the wind calmed down, even some of those activists failed to show up and there was no protest to speak of. Admittedly, I left at 8:30 PM, but it doesn’t seem I missed anything that happened later, so I can say that there were around 100 people, including the medics, split in groups around the fountain area, without shouting or chanting anything and having brought a grand total of two signs. There was also a larger banner, but that was not related to the topic of the protest, having been brought by a group that tends to always show up to promote their own agenda while accusing others of manipulation and stealing protests.

Then, following a relatively quiet Sunday, today, May 9, brought a number of significant new developments, including the resignation of the Minister of Health, which was desired by many but is in my view at best meaningless and possibly even dangerous. More information was also released, revealing that Hexi Pharma isn’t even in the top ten companies that benefit from directly attributed contracts in the medical system, but also that SRI was aware of these issues for a long time. While the current Prime Minister claimed he never received anything of the sort since taking office, the Service reacted by releasing a statement claiming that they informed the authorities many times over the years about the problems plaguing the health system, including the matter of inefficient disinfectants and the resulting hospital-acquired infections. At the same time, however, their own hospital purchased such products directly from Hexi Pharma, regardless of the result of the call for bids.

Following a scandal at the Bucharest Opera, which did admittedly seem to have been poorly managed, our Prime Minister asked the Minister of Culture to resign, the latter announcing on April 27 that he will do so. However, this Minister was in the particularly unusual position of enjoying significant support from activists due to a number of decisions and statements made ever since taking office, the most relevant of them from this point of view being finally listing Rosia Montana as an UNESCO World Heritage candidate. Showing up on a construction site in an attempt to stop work that caused significant damage to a historical monument helped as well, though it had significantly less actual impact and efficiency than several other things he did.

As a result, activists were obviously unhappy with this decision and many voices suggested the Opera scandal was merely an excuse, the Rosia Montana matter being the real reason, especially since there had been worrying developments not long before this happened. In addition, in a letter that was made public on April 30, the Minister of Culture himself backed these statements, claiming he had been under intense pressure due to that and other decisions that threatened the interests of others, although he didn’t name those who pressured and threatened him and, after first sharing the article that included the letter, quickly deleted that post and published a statement claiming the letter was only intended to inform an organization he’s a member of, albeit suspended for the duration of his term in office, and never meant to be public.
Either way, to return to April 27, a petition was launched and protest was announced for that evening, in front of the Government, as a quick reaction to the announcement of his resignation. More exactly, three different protests were announced, but they all listed the same time and place, so in fact it was a single event, starting at 7 PM. I didn’t attend myself, so I only know what I gathered from the posts I saw, but while the first news pieces that appeared in the media claimed only dozens attended, those present and a few articles published after the fact estimated a couple hundred participants. What’s clear is that the Prime Minister did come out to speak to the protesters, or according to many to simply restate his position on the matter, and then the gendarmes didn’t care to allow the protest to continue, stepping in to ask people to leave or at least move to the other side of Victory Square, in front of the Antipa Museum, where some did go. Those who remained in front of the Government were carded and likely fined.
Protests asking for the Minister of Culture to stay in office, and obviously also for the Prime Minister and the President, who had criticized the handling of the Opera situation unusually harshly in a statement mentioning that “few imaginable mistakes were not made” there, to allow this to happen and apologize, were announced for April 28 and 29 as well. However, in part also due to the weather, not many people showed up on April 28, with the predictable result of the gendarmes being even more determined to get them to leave, while the plans for April 29 were canceled. Still, on that day the protesters felt there may be some hope, the Minister of Culture announcing that he hadn’t actually formally resigned yet and had agreed with the Prime Minister to not do so before Easter.
After the Easter break and in spite of the Prime Minister’s quite angry reaction to the letter that was published on April 30, the Minister of Culture actually seemed quite emboldened by the continued support and appeared to wish to keep his position, no longer resigning. However, the Prime Minister had none of it and revoked him on May 3, although he did name the successor the now-former Minister of Culture had supported when initially announcing his resignation in his place and claimed he’ll ensure the projects and reforms started will not be negatively affected by this change. He even specifically mentioned the Rosia Montana matter that time, though the topic was strangely absent from the first statement made, after the announced resignation, when he first attempted to offer similar assurances.
There was a protest announced for May 3 as well, but the demands weren’t quite so clear anymore, as some maintained the original ones while others seemed to accept that the Minister of Culture will change even before he was officially revoked and seemed mainly interested in ensuring that he will be replaced with the person he supported for this position and that his reforms and projects will actually be continued. Not that it mattered much, however, since due to a mix of this confusion and, perhaps more importantly, the bad weather, only a handful of people showed up in Victory Square that evening, once again being carded by the gendarmes.

There has been quite a lot of rain here lately, plus a fair amount of wind and even some hail, but I managed to squeeze two more runs on Saturday and Monday, despite the continued lack of a working stopwatch. Initially meant to run once more Wednesday or today at the latest, but that’d have meant doing it under pouring rain or even in a storm, so I’m still waiting for a decent moment and right now I’m thinking of having a look tomorrow morning, to see whether I may be able to use that free hour, between 7 AM and 8 AM, for another ten kilometers on the track on no or next to no sleep. Will need some sort of stopwatch for that though, even if not that one.

Back to those two runs, they were on a seven-kilometer route through the park, created by adding what Google Maps says are 650 meters after two laps around the lake, so 6.4 kilometers. That final portion also included a climb, on a quite steep path listed as being about 90 meters long instead of the stairs, which added a bit to the difficulty, and I also once again finished at the park exit and went first to one side of that wide path and then the other to add just a little more to the distance. Plus, with Orthodox Easter being last Sunday, there were plenty of people in the park on Saturday and even more on Monday, so I once again had to find my way around them and at times slow or even briefly stop.
I also tried to get some rough times by taking my phone with me, even if it doesn’t have an actual timer and only shows hours and minutes, plus that it definitely made me slower while I was looking at it. For that purpose, I started right after the minute changed to one divisible by 10, which actually in both cases was 40, and then looked again as I was finishing each lap and also at the end, trying to count the seconds from the last or to the next change of minutes, depending on whether that change was after I started looking but before crossing the line or after. This obviously means there’s quite an error margin and when I wrote down the times I approximated the seconds to the nearest number divisible by five.
Either way, the total time on Saturday, when I actually made a point of taking it slowly, was about 39 minutes, with a first lap covered in about 18:10 and a second one in about 17:25, making for about 35:35 for two laps and about 3:25 for that final section. As for Monday, the total time was about 37:15, with a first lap covered in about 17:15 and a second one in about 16:55, making for about 34:10 for two laps and about 3:05 for that final section. I obviously have no other sector times, as I didn’t even try to check at other points.

Otherwise, I actually advanced just a little more in Hordes of the Underdark, though I keep thinking I chose a less useful weapon upgrade as the last one now, plus that I keep wondering about buying some awesome items. Or one awesome item in particular, as I pretty much decided against the other remaining one and bought the rest, but that one costs over one million and would leave me without quite enough for all options somewhere else, according to what I gathered after carefully glancing at a guide, trying to just catch these things I should really know about while still avoiding most spoilers.
That’s the sort of thing that makes me stop playing games, though it’s usually a matter of character development or choices made in quests or dialogues with consequences that only become obvious much later. But this is also a choice with consequences that are only obvious much later and leave you with pretty much no way to change the outcome when that happens, so it’s the same idea and it really doesn’t play well with my perfectionism. But I really mean to actually finish this game, so I’ll try to push through one way or another and maybe this time it’ll actually work.