Cav's Place

Been spending some time playing The Lost Vikings for the past week and a half, since it was recently released for free without requiring those who want to download it to have or create any account. I’m currently at level 35 out of 37 and have to say that whoever created these final levels, starting from 31, was a sadist. Admittedly, in 35 it’s more a matter of figuring out what to do in one spot, and 33 was decent as well, but 31, 32 and 34 were a matter of somehow managing what was obvious I needed to do and losing count of the number of deaths before making any headway.
Other than this, I haven’t been doing much at all this week. Meant to read Time of Contempt and didn’t even start it, definitely meant to go over the three sections of my story that I finished since I last checked anything and didn’t do that either, been writing very little as well, didn’t add any more of those books I meant to add on Goodreads either…
Next week, there may be some protests to go to, though those I tried to attend lately failed so completely I’m not sure there’s any point in even mentioning them in another “report”, plus that I’m currently pissed at the activists for this utterly idiotic, to say the least, campaign to persuade people not to vote or cast invalid votes. Then, towards the end of the month, there will be the book fair to go to, but also the court date for contesting that fine, and my mind still can’t wrap itself around the concept of taking part in a trial, which obviously has a significant influence on how messed up I am lately. No idea how that will go, nor how it’ll be a week later, when I’ll need to go again in order to be somebody’s witness.

You might have noticed the new image that appeared on the sidebar last evening, promoting the WePromise European Action Day, which aims to demand that the next European Parliament defends digital civil and human rights. Of course, this doesn’t mean I’m not aware that today is a big day for the fight for Net Neutrality in the United States as well, but we’re talking about very specific and directed calls for action in each of these cases, aimed at citizens of the respective states involved, so I can only actually get involved in the actions that have to do with the European Union.

The WePromise.eu campaign consists of a Charter of Digital Rights that candidates can sign and a pledge to vote for one who did so that voters can take. Sadly, at the time I’m writing this only 3197 people have taken the pledge, so the fact that a total of 366 candidates from 25 of the 28 member states signed the Charter seems to indicate that politicians may be more interested in the issue than the voters. That can’t actually be the case, the real cause probably being mainly a mix between the general lack of interest towards the European elections and the fact that many of those claiming to want to fight for Internet freedom unfortunately tend not to vote anyway because they reject the way representative democracy is currently implemented, but I’m not sure that’s not even worse.
Actually, this latter mindset seems to be quite widespread among activists and regular protesters despite the fact that it only serves to simply rule them out of the equation, to take away an obvious “weapon” they could clearly use. Especially when there are a fair number of options available, including small parties and independent candidates that claim to adhere to an at least somewhat acceptable doctrine, I simply can’t understand how intelligent people who truly want to fight can honestly believe that not voting, or casting invalid votes, may help them in any way, yet I’m looking at many activists, regular protesters, bloggers, journalists, union leaders and other somewhat influential people joining hands here in Romania these days in order to persuade even the few who would want to vote to change their minds. Some admit that a few of those who have no chances may be worth voting for, yet they still claim that casting a valid vote, regardless of who it’s for, merely legitimizes the current system and that shouldn’t happen, while in fact not showing support for those who may be somewhat different by casting a valid vote for one of them is what will actually strengthen the positions of those who have every interest in continuing to enforce this system in the future as well.
Still, that’s a different rant on a different topic. The point I’m trying to make here is that people need to get involved, obviously including by voting but also by asking politicians hard questions, demanding firm pledges and holding them accountable for their promises. In addition, speaking strictly of today, you should also see whether any debates on the matter of digital rights are or have been organized in your country and perhaps also follow the last Presidential debate, which is set to start later this evening, at 9 PM CET, to see whether the issue of digital rights will be tackled and what the leaders of the major groups in the European Parliament have to say about it.

Overall, there have been better editions, but I wonder whether I’m not actually saying this because I’m comparing all other songs to the winner, or in fact to the top two. After all, this edition featured two songs I got completely hooked on, one of them being, at least in my opinion, the best that entered the competition in many years, so that probably makes up for plenty of other issues. Still, the final would have been better if not for some odd decisions made by voters and juries in the semifinals, but I guess that’s always the case.
This time around, I only tried to listen to the entries once, back in March, and I think there were a couple I couldn’t find at the time, so I didn’t quite know them at all before the actual competition. Otherwise, just like last year, I didn’t bother to try to follow any other news or reports, nor did I watch any images from rehearsals, so what happened on stage was largely new to me, unless the performance was very similar to that from the national final and I had watched a video of that back in March. There was just one particularly pleasant surprise in terms of show value, however.

As I said, if Austria wouldn’t have won tonight, something’d have been quite odd. My memory may be playing some tricks on me and, of course, it’s always a matter of mood and circumstances as well, but it certainly seemed to me to be the best Eurovision entry in a long time. Little additional show value to speak of, but honestly, considering the singer, was it even needed? Granted, that was also some cause for concern, as plenty of people might have been bothered by it, but thankfully that wasn’t the case.
The Netherlands also had a great entry, though I needed to listen to it a few times before I realized it. That doesn’t mean merely that I had completely ignored it after first listening to all of them, but that I was still uncertain about it at the end of the semifinal. It was only after I listened to it a couple more times later that night that I realized how great it truly was and got completely hooked on it… Until the second semifinal, when Austria blew me away, of course.
Sweden had a pretty good song, but there were several others of similar quality and at least a couple, not counting Austria and Netherlands, that were even better. Add the almost complete lack of show value and I am rather wondering why it finished third, though I don’t necessarily mind it.
What I definitely do mind is Armenia finishing fourth, seeing as I had ranked it last out of all 37 entries. There may be a passable moment there, when the song changes pace, but otherwise we’re talking about a poor song, a pretty average performance and little additional show value to help any of it along.
Hungary being fifth was another unpleasant surprise for me, seeing as I considered it a pretty average and, to put it bluntly, boring entry, with little to recommend it above even a few others that may have sounded slightly worse but which had at least one element that stood out in some way.

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. (1.) Austria (7.5, 8.5)
2. (2.) Netherlands (7, 7.5, plus)
3. (7.) Russia (7, 7, plus)
4. (19.) Montenegro (7, 6.5)
5. (23.) Malta (6.75, 7.5, plus)
6. (24.) San Marino (6.75, 7, plus)
7. (12.) Romania (6.75, 6.5)
8. (6.) Ukraine (6.75, 6.5)
9. (8.) Norway (6.5, 7)
10. (25.) Slovenia (6.5, 7)
11. (10.) Spain (6.5, 7, minus)
12. (13.) Switzerland (6.5, 6.5, minus)
13. (22.) Azerbaijan (6.5, 6)
14. (3.) Sweden (6.25, 7, plus)
15. (17.) United Kingdom (6.25, 6, plus)
16. (15.) Iceland (6.25, 6, plus)
17. (9.) Denmark (6.25, 6, plus)
18. (5.) Hungary (6.25, 6)
19. (20.) Greece (6.25, 5.5, minus)
20. (16.) Belarus (6, 6, plus)
21. (11.) Finland (6, 6)
22. (21.) Italy (6, 6, minus)
23. (14.) Poland (6, 5, minus)
24. (18.) Germany (5.75, 5.5, plus)
25. (26.) France (5.75, 5.5)
26. (4.) Armenia (5.5, 5.5, plus)

My ranking matched the actual results in case of Austria and Netherlands, was one place off for France, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Spain and Switzerland, and two places off for Ukraine and United Kingdom. On the other hand, I was at least ten places off for Finland, Hungary, Malta, Montenegro, San Marino, Slovenia and Sweden, and even more than 20 places off for Armenia.
As for the semifinals, I’ll just say which entries I’d have wanted to qualify instead of which others regardless of the actual rankings that resulted from using my usual system, because there were some, shall we say, calibration issues. In the first one, I’d have put Belgium, Estonia and Moldova through instead of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Hungary, though if I could pick more than ten I’d have added Azerbaijan back in, along with Latvia and Portugal. The second was different, in the sense that I wanted no more than eight to go through, but Ireland and Israel were among those eight, while Greece and Poland definitely weren’t, and while needing to pick two more I had also placed Macedonia among them instead of Finland, though I don’t mind that it was the other way around.

And now, as usual, let me briefly explain my top ten picks.
I believe I already said enough about Austria, but just in case I didn’t, I’ll add that it brought tears to my eyes and I’d have even given it a 9. However, it seemed to me to have been performed slightly better during the semifinal, so I deducted half a point for that difference. Otherwise, just listen to the crowd singing along and that should tell you everything you need to know.
Regarding Netherlands, I’ll once again shamefully admit that it took me a while to recognize the quality of the song. Admittedly, that rhythm did make me start muttering “every breath you take…” at first, which may have initially put me in a negative frame of mind regarding it, but I still feel rather bad about it, because it’s a great song and the fact that the way the two singers look at each other and at the camera significantly adds to the show value is quite a feat as well.
With Russia it’s rather weird. Of course, it’s a nice song aided by a pretty good show and what’s going on right now isn’t the fault of the singers, so I didn’t let it affect my opinion of the performance, but I still feel quite rotten for ranking them so highly and was rather pleased to hear how the crowd reacted whenever they were given many points, and also when it was announced that they qualified from the semifinal.
Montenegro is the entry that, for me, stood out thanks to the show value added by that skater, and I actually deducted half a point from that because the way the camera seemed to make a point of focusing on her when her skirt was lifting during pirouettes seemed rather tasteless. I may have given the song another half a point as well, if it’d have been in English. Then again, adding anything would have put it into second, and it definitely didn’t belong there.
Based on the song alone, I’d have placed Malta third, but they had little additional show value other than the simple fact that they filled the stage with band members playing instruments, so that brought them down a few spots.
San Marino’s entry was nice, but it also was one I kept having second thoughts about and it may be that the good opinion I had formed back in March, after listening to the studio version, made me add half a point to the song mark now. Then again, she did sing it better than during the semifinal, so that also helped.
Romania had a decent song, but what boosted them in my classification was the show value, which included the chemistry between the two singers. I gave this quite some thought, wanting to make sure I didn’t favor them simply because they’re Romanian, and can say I have good reasons for placing them where I did.
Ukraine is in a similar situation, including the part about trying to make sure I didn’t give them additional points for reasons that have nothing to do with the actual performance. What made me place this entry behind Romania’s is just that chemistry, in Ukraine’s case the whole thing being much more obviously just an act.
Norway had a nice song, but the fact that the only show value was the simple fact that they had filled the stage with people playing instruments dragged it down a few spots. The fact that it was a male singer didn’t help either, since I respond much better to female voices.
As for Slovenia, I actually changed my mind regarding the song mark several times, but eventually decided it was nice enough after all, and this ended up placing it tenth. If I’d have cut half a point from it, it’d have gone down to 14th and Spain would have ended up tenth.

The title comes from the fact that not much happened during this month that passed since the previous “protest report”, but also from the flash mob that took place on April 17, when about 20 people gathered in front of the University Square fountain to raise awareness about the fact that about three million lambs are slaughtered in Romania for Easter, simply because that’s the tradition. Since this movement or the known activists weren’t involved, I only learned about it when I saw a couple of others post a few messages after the fact, but I will include the event here because the issue is important, and because I wrote about it before as well.

What many known activists were busy with on April 17 was the event that marked the end of that exhibition I mentioned before, which opened on March 27 and aimed to be a retrospective of the protests that started last September, the plan after that date apparently being to take at least some of the signs and banners, not sure if other materials as well, and start something of a tour of the country. Other events that took place in that location during the period covered by this post, being considered as part of the exhibition, were debates on April 8, 10 and 15, and one other concert on April 11. It’s also possible that this and the one on April 17 weren’t the only concerts during this period, but they’re the only ones I’m aware of.
Otherwise, some activists made the best of the “Scoala Altfel” (literally: “School, Differently”) week, which started on April 7, by organizing a series of workshops about activism in general and Rosia Montana and fracking in particular in a number of high schools. This was obviously an important development and I should be writing far more about it, but pretty much all I know is that it happened and that, according to a few brief messages, not only students but also some teachers showed great interest.

Moving on, the group that focuses on the issue of fracking organized two events during this period, namely a protest on April 25, starting at 7:30 AM, and a discussion on May 5, starting at 6 PM. According to a few pictures I saw, probably around 15 people attended each time, a message about the protest also stating “at most 20”. I also gathered that, though said protest was scheduled to last for up to two hours, it ended sooner than that, those who did attend scattering relatively quickly.
In between those two events, on April 26, a group of NGOs, most of them representing cyclists, launched the “You Are the Traffic!” campaign, part of the “Green Roads Bucharest” project, by taking the Bucharest version of the “Space Taken By 60 People” picture. This was done between 10 and 11 AM and traffic was obviously stopped on that portion of Victoriei Way during this time, the event being authorized. Then, starting at noon, people were invited to cycling lessons in Izvor Park, those who were more experienced being asked to teach those who wished to learn.

Finally, a somewhat more significant protest was supposed to take place tomorrow, on May 7, when the law that it all started from was to finally be rejected. Of course, that’s a mere formality, especially since most of its relevant aspects are being moved to other laws, so the idea was to remind the politicians that they’re not fooling us. However, an announcement made this morning stated that all votes will take place today, so those who were able to change their plans were asked to do so and gather today at noon instead. Since a few proposals that’d have banned fracking were to be rejected today as well, this may have avoided any potential conflict between those focused on this issue, who may have wanted a protest to be organized today from the start, and the rest, but at the same time ensured that very few were able to attend.
For the first time since April 6, I actually went, but considering the extremely short notice it was almost 12:45 PM before I managed to get there. However, me and the perhaps 20 others who did gather simply wasted our time, everyone scattering only a few minutes after I arrived, when it was announced that no laws will be voted on today due to a lack of quorum, though some reports state that enough Deputies were actually present. After all, the elections for the European Parliament are coming up on the 25th and politicians want to avoid any decisions that may hurt their parties’ chances, not to mention that they were also supposed to vote on whether to allow the arrest of an opposition Deputy who is currently facing corruption charges and any outcome was likely to make them need to offer explanations they obviously don’t care to offer, especially during the campaign.

It’s been nearly 11 months since the previous such post and, despite saying yesterday that it’ll take time I doubt I’ll be willing to put into it, I’m going to try to write another. After all, my list of bands to look into more someday has grown to about 150 by now, and the number of those I know are good based on the songs I did listen to has increased significantly as well. My primary sources remain the Female Symphonic Metal and Power of Female Fronted Metal Facebook groups, related YouTube links or other sources accounting for only a few of the new additions, so I’ll once again recommend joining if you’re interested in the genre.

Let me start with Narwhal Tusk, which is a band that actually made it off that list in the good way after I listened to everything. The lyrics were a factor for me as well, and you can find them on their page on The Metal Archives, but if you want a specific song to listen to first, I’d probably point you to Everfall.
And since I’m at Russian bands, I’ll now also mention Dark Princess. They seem to have been around for ten years, but lost their original lead singer and founder in 2008 and have only released one album since then. However, this album is the reason I found them, seeing as I believe I first heard of the band after somehow stumbling upon The Temple of Darkness, while looking for a few of their older songs in English led to me moving on without as much as listening to one of them start to end. Fans seem bothered by the change, and the significant difference between the new and the old sound makes that completely understandable, but most of the newer songs I listened to seemed interesting to me and the old ones definitely weren’t.

Moving on, the most recent find, which I’m currently quite stuck on, is Dancing with the Ghosts by AngelSeed. They don’t exactly have other full songs available and the teasers you can find on their Reverbnation page don’t seem to be from the final versions of the songs in question either, but at least they’re quite long, as far as teasers go, and most sound interesting enough as well. Incidentally, they seem to be on something of a tour of the area this month, with concerts in Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia.
Another recent find would be Elessär. I’m not exactly keen on most songs, but I first found them after somebody posted a link to their video for The Lonely Warrior’s Fate, which is nice enough, and My Soul, My Life may show something of what they can actually do as well. Either way, you can listen to everything on their YouTube channel, and in case you do like what you hear you can actually download their first, and so far only, album for free from their site.
And that name had to make me think of Arven next, though it’s spelled differently and unrelated. I can’t recall when I first stumbled into them and they’re working with a major label, so not the sort of band I usually include in such posts, but I guess that’s not a good enough reason to ignore them. As far as recent songs go, I’d probably recommend All I Got, but selecting a single song from their first album is harder, since I’m actually just listening to it for the first time right now, while writing this. Let’s just go with the title song and leave it at that, shall we?

As expected, this took far too long, seeing as I had to listen to plenty of songs and choose what to add, and I’m not even as excited about the bands I included as I was while writing the other posts in this series, but there you have it. There are still bands I never mentioned despite being very high on the list, plus plenty that I placed lower simply because they had only released one or two songs when I first listened to them, but many of those have been there for years, I’d have to look into them all over again before thinking of adding them to such a post and the fact that I don’t usually do that is the reason why the list exists in the first place.