Tonight I got to see Anna Bergendahl’s performance in the Eurovision semi-final that I wrote about yesterday.
The crazy thing from my perspective is there’s half a dozen songs from the Swedish selection process, Melodifestivalen, which are heaps better than songs which have made it through to tomorrow night’s final.
I agree with the assessment of Julie and Sam on SBS tonight that Lithuania and Sweden were robbed.
Good songs miss out, and yet the big four countries can put up any rubbish (and have done for many years) and be guaranteed a place in the final. Ah well, if you have deep pockets and are willing to pay I guess that’s your privilege.
This year’s Norwegian presentation team is very good. Their presentation style lacks some of the showiness of last year in Moscow, but it’s “tight as” and lacks so much of the clunkiness you often associate with the event.
And they seem to have a good sense of humour, too. “Norway has won 3 times, but has also come last 10 times”, Erik, the co-host noted, leading into a series of clips from performers who’ve failed to make the grade.
Although he was described as the Norwegian Josh Thomas on tonight’s broadcast, I thought Erik was very “Niles Crane” from Frasier :)
My favourites tonight were the double-piano song from Romania (very “Captain and Tenille”); the shorts-reveal from Lithuania (loved how they re-assured Julia they were straight) and of course Anna Bergendahl from Sweden.
I also loved the old-style ESC quality of Netherlands.
Along the way, I tweeted, “Is that Wil Anderson doing the interpetive dance for Azerbaijan?”
And in response to @donandcarol who asked who I was supporting with Sweden knocked out, I told her… ” I’m supporting Iceland. Partly because of the song, and partly because they need a break.”
I’ve just been reading tonight that former Sydney Blogger, Mark, is having a bit of a crisis – maybe that’s too strong a word – about his imminent return to Sydney. Mark studied in Sydney last year, but returned to Perth because he wasn’t really that happy here, missing family and friends. I understand this totally, as I felt the same living in Perth. Now, he faces the prospect of returning to Sydney to complete his studies.
His reflections on his blog about the dilemma he faces in addressing the difficulties of finding a balance in life struck a chord with me, so I sent him a message which I hoped might provide some insight, and which I thought I’d share here too, as they are also important issues to me.
(STARTS) Although sometimes I don’t like Sydney – like at the moment, but I’m heading bush this weekend to get some fresh air – deep down I know it’s where I want and need to live.
I think it’s because the small country town in which I grew up doesn’t offer me the freedom Sydney does. And it’s not the cliches you’d think, not the expected stuff, it’s the “choices” Sydney offers, the ability to be me.
When I go home to Lismore, I become “Jimmy” again, the eighteen year old who left there, and who, in the eyes of my family and friends will always be “Jimmy”.
But I don’t want to be Jimmy, I want to be James. Maybe in some ways it’s like Muriel who changed her named to Mariel when she moved to Sydney in “Muriel’s Wedding”.
Sydney offers me the chance to be James, the grownup, to have a life that I can enjoy, and to have the career choices that I can’t back home.
That said, when I was living in Perth, pursuing my career, I felt like I was a thousand miles from home – four thousand kilometres actually – and I often felt alone, although everyone was very friendly.
So I totally understand what you’re saying Mark…
The question you have to ask yourself is where you want to be in five years time, or ten, and what you need to do to get yourself there, fulfilling the desire to balance both work and life. (ENDS)
Having recently discovered the delights of the “Blue Travel 10”, I’ve been catching buses a lot lately. In preference to walking and trains, I’ve been making use of Sydney’s bus system, which I’ve found to be fairly good by and large. My favourite part about living and working close to the city is that if the first bus that comes along is overly crowded, I can catch another soon afterwards.
Crowded Bus
That wasn’t really the case tonight, though, when I caught a bus from Railway Square to Surry Hills (Cleveland Street). The bus was very crowded and I had miscellaneous bottoms and crotches in my face. It was then, I realised, as a result of having lived in Sydney for over 12 years, my “personal space bubble” has contracted. Having lived most of my life in the country, it would have nearly killed me to be in such close proximity to others. And now it doesn’t worry me anymore…
There’s a laneway near home which I use at least twice a day on most days of the week. Actually, I’m not sure if you would even call it a laneway, because the word laneway would imply it has a name. I checked on Google Maps for the thoroughfare between Crown Street and Wiltshire Lane and it doesn’t appear to have an official name, though unofficially I call it “The Pee Lane”.
Surry Laneway
Even though it’s not all that exciting, it’s a surprisingly busy thoroughfare. And not just for residents, but people – err men – who are walking along Crown Street late at night and who need to “relieve” themselves. I guess it’s one of the downsides of living in an area with so many bars, and a bit of a “party” culture: if you’re a man, the world is your urinal. I’m not being judgemental. I, too, have been known to use the odd laneway in Surry Hills for a little bit of urinary relief. On odd occasions, as I’ve been wandering home late at night, I’ve encountered an individual or a group taking advantage of our local laneway. Although on most occasions, I look ahead and ignore the offender(s), there was one occasion where I said to a group of young men “will you stop pissing in my laneway”. They laughed.
Young men were the group I assumed to be the greatest offenders. They’ve gone out, had a few beers, couldn’t find a public toilet, and so they used the first available space. As I headed to work in the morning and recoiled at the smell of fresh urine, or walked around a fresh puddle, I always assumed it was young drunken men who were responsible/
Until a few months ago when I saw an older bloke (seventies, maybe) relieving himself in the lane way as part of his morning “constitutional”. The following day I saw him again, at about the same time, doing exactly the same thing. On two separate occasions since then I’ve “caught him” doing exactly the same thing. So yeah, while I’ve been heaping the blame on nameless young men, I now know it’s an older bloke on his morning who is the culprit responsible for all of those pools I walk around as I make my way to work on weekday mornings.
So….. Dear Sir – if you’re reading this post, will you please stop pissing in my laneway.
There was something I forgot to write about yesterday, a film I watched called, “The Queen and I”. It’s a documentary made by a Swedish film-maker who grew up in Iran. She was a communist in the days of the Iranian revolution, which brought about the end of the reign of the Shah and the establishment of the Islamic republic. Thirty years later she’s living in Sweden, and is very sad about what has happened to her country. In this film she meets the widow of the Shah, who is living in Paris these days.
The former queen maintains contact with many people who live in Iran, and she has a strong band of followers who want to see the return of the monarchy there. In contrast, the film-maker doesn’t want to see the return of the monarchy, but she does become quite close to the former queen. She struggles, however, about how honest she can be with the queen as she makes the film, given her strong anti-monarchy feelings.
Thus. it’s a fascinating film on many levels, including ideas around where the documentary maker becomes an active participant in the film itself. I thought it was a very compelling film, and quite touching as you see the women become friends, despite their political differences, and one which I enjoyed very much.
As for today… well, I arrived home tonight feeling a little restless. I suspect it’s because I didn’t work all that hard today. Having put in more than my fair share of hours over the last few weeks, I found myself with not all that much to do at work today. Or so I thought. It’s amazing how an “empty space” fills itself quite quickly. Still, I left work a little early today (4.30), and went for a walk along Oxford Street. I was in the mood for a bit of window shopping. Unfortunately, most of the windows were pretty boring. The only excitement I found was in picking up a copy of the Mardi Gras guide which, interestingly, has a few things which I might attend this year. The only purchase I made was some pate.
For the last few months I’ve been watching bits and pieces on Youtube of a Swedish TV show called “Så mycket bättre” (literally, “So Much Better”), a television program where famous Swedish musicians perform the songs of other Swedish musicians.
My attention was first brought to the show by the performance and hit song, “Mikrofonkåt” by September. It was a dance cover version of a rap song by Swedish performer, Petter. The song became a number one hit for several weeks in Sweden. The song has since been translated into English, and will soon be released internationally. I absolutely loved the associated video clip which featured September singing her version of Petter’s original song to him (and to see him sing a long to the song).
But tonight I’ve been watching some other clips from the program which featured a range of Swedish musical legends, as well as some new performers including: Lasse Berghagen, Barbro “Lill-Babs” Svensson, Petter Askergren, Thomas Di Leva, September, Christer Sandelin (from Freestyle) and Plura Jonsson.
The program is a “reality show” in the sense that, according to Wikipedia… “The artists spend eight days together at a hotel in Gotland, Sweden, where each person has a day dedicated to themselves with the other artists performing cover versions of his or her songs. A compilation album was released on December 1, 2010 as CD, digital download and on Spotify.”
As you watch the video clips on Youtube, you see the people are in an old stone house when they perform together.
The two clips which have touched me most tonight have been songs by Petter and Lasse Berghagen.
Although I was aware of Petter doing a version of “Stockholm i mitt hjärta” (a song made famous by Lasse Berghagen as the theme for “Allsang pa Skansen”, the legendary Swedish TV show), I wasn’t aware until tonight that Lasse had responded with a version of “Längesen” by Petter, a song which I really love very much.
The lyrics for Längesen, which I mentioned a few months ago, about a relationship in youth and reflected on many years later are particularly poignant, delivered by an older man (Berghagen)…
“Du var gammal
Jag var äldre
Och nu sågs vi igen
Gått så lång tid så länge sen
Decennier tillbaka
Men jag minns det såväl
Varför kärleken brunnit
Utav olika skäl
Varje gång är som den första gång vi sågs
Även om det är över nu
Allting har förändrats
Men du finns kvar
Allt var svävande men nu så ser ja klart
Jag var ung du var yngre
När vi sågs första gången
Rusade förbi mig snabbt på perrongen
Blev hjälplöst förälskat
Obeskrivligt tagen
Som om jag låg ner på marken och blev slagen
Varje gång är som den första gång vi sågs
Även om det är över nu
Allting har förändrats
Men du finns kvar
Allt var svävande men nu så ser ja klart”
which translates – very roughly – as…
“You were old
I was older
And now we are again
It’s been a long time, long time since then
Decades come back
But I remember it well
Then why has our love burned?
There are different reasons
Every time is like the first time we met
Even thought it is over now
Everything has changed
But you are left (behind)
Everything was suspended, but now I see clearly
I was young, you were younger
When we were together the first time
You rushed past me quickly on the platform
I became helplessly in love
Indescribably taken
It was if I lay down on the ground wand became beaten/smitten (?)
Every time is like the first time we met
Even thought it is over now
Everything has changed
But you are left (behind)
Everything was suspended, but now I see clearly”
And then Petter does a version of “Stockholm i mitt hjärta” which translates as “Stockholm in my heart” which was and is the theme song for the popular television program, “Allsång på Skansen” (literally “Sing Along at Skansen”) which is a bit of a love song about Stockholm as a city.
“Stockholm i mitt hjärta, jag besjunger dig min vän
-samma, samma, du ska brinner igen”
“Stockholm in my heart, I serenade you my friend
-the same, the same same, you will burn again”
So anyway, I hope you liked the clips, because I think they’re both quite special.
And what a lovely idea for a television show. It sure as hell beats the crap that was delivered up tonight on “free to air” television in Australia.
As much as I love dance music, I gotta say I’m a little bored with it, as it hasn’t really changed much in the last ten years. It still sounds the same now as it did ten years ago, as it reverberates through my apartment block.
Yes, once again, tonight, there’s a party on my rooftop. And yes, I’m sure I received a notification about it a couple of weeks ago, and I’m sure I read it. But of course, I didn’t take much notice, as I assumed I wouldn’t be home at this time on a Saturday night.
No doubt it’s someone moving overseas. Or maybe they’re turning 30 or 40 or 50? And isn’t it great they’ve given all the neighbours advance notice, so they should make alternative arrangements?
What, of course, they failed to mention, however, is that like every other party that’s ever happened on my rooftop is that, they’d be playing exactly the same music as every other party has. Doof, doof, doof. Bop, bop, bop. Why doesn’t music have words anymore?
Yes, the same old beat, the same old rhythm. It’s just party muzak, where the words, the tune, the rythm doesn’t matter anymore. Of course, the same old finger-food doesn’t matter either. Ten years ago it was turkish pizza (it was soo exotic)… what is it now, sushi? Of course, it’s sushi, the food you eat when you’re not eating food.
What time is it? 11pm. God forbid, we can probably expect a drag show at midnight. Ten years ago, it would have been Kylie or Madonna. Now, of course, it’s… it’s… it’s probably Kylie or Madonna, too.
Yes, I’ve had these parties, myself. I’ve made these noises, myself. But isn’t it time for them, these young folks, to re-invent the rooftop party, instead of playing out the same old party that forty year olds, like myself, have already done?
Damn, I wish I’d read that note properly. And no, I don’t wish I was invited.
P.S. The doof doof was still coming from the rooftop when I woke at 5.30am Sunday.
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I loved Erik the co-host, he was perfect!!!!! Rod and I watched some of the semi-finals (and the final) and were disappointed Lithuania didn’t get in either.
I loved Erik the co-host, he was perfect!!!!! Rod and I watched some of the semi-finals (and the final) and were disappointed Lithuania didn’t get in either.