Better start this time, but srsly. thesong is no good. The performance is fun though..:)  latvia, you are different. I like you for reasons… and sequins

San Marino… Is this the same girl as last year??? wut? the only way is up. She is not singing well enough for the song… :S

MAcedonia… Well. If a song in this competition was to be diagnosed with schizophrenia this is it. what way is up?

  Azerbaijan… This is sooo much better now than in the preview! niiice…

Can we discuss the way we, the Swedes, do Eurovision?

Ok.. Let’s find an arena for this glorious moment! Should we build one like Azerbaijan did? naah…

National final, four million viewers at home. What about in the national arena with 27 000 people there? ok cool. That’ll work.

Eurovision Song Contest? 120 million viewers in 44 countries… Does an arena for 12 000 people in Malmö sound ok? yes? Let’s do it!

sherlcko:

applauds Denmark who got to the finals without help from neighboring countries voting

Well this is not entirely true… Sweden voted tonight. And we like Denmark. Allegedly.

Moldova…ok.. Lithuania? What the hell? Ireland. Yes! Estonia.. alright. Belarus? What? I’m dying! Denmark. Of course! Russia. Snoozeville.  Belgium! Yeeees!!!  ukraine. Sooo strange. The netherlands!!!! yep. it is all good.

Thanks Europe. You picked all the cherries at least.

See u Thursday!

Haha,and Petra is awesome! “Tack och förlåt Europa!”. Haha.

Cyprus. I firs thought that her dress was see-through… singing well though. sounds like: Ammat i vassen!

Belgium… I hope he can sing well….. oh yes. it sounds good. I’m voting for this.

Serbia. What are they wearing? and no i am not impressed. If I had a gif-folder, i would use it now.

Please Europe… Show some proof of good taste now.

Moldova. It is better with your eyes closed, or when you are live blogging… just sayin’. wohooo. I missed her grow! is it the giant from Ukraine again?

Ireland. Good. But what is up with all the drums this year? I should calculate a percentage. or not. just sayin’.

Belarus. a mix of sertap and charlotte perelli anno 2008, but with a bad voice. :S the woorst.tick off all the eurovision boxes….

Lithuania makes me want to sing along… to “I’m fucking Matt Damon”.

Ok. I just realized why i am watching this. The freak show.  Montenegro… wtf?

And it has been four songs and i am booored. Denmark! better.

Took this snapshot of Cesare being the commander of everything and everyone, going; “Burn it!” ,and it seriously looks like he’s holding a gun in his hand….

The second semi-final, here we go!

1. Albania: Kinda catchy song… nice with something a bit ‘rocky’. 3/5
2. Azerbaijan: Expressionless guy. Boring song. 2/5
3. Bulgaria: drums? bad singing? check. 1/5
4. F.Y.R Macedonia: No. Just no. better than the worst though… 2/5
5. Finland: Catchy and she is charming. And it sticks out a bit… 3/5
6. Georgia: Duet. We have seen this before…But ok, it is decent. 3/5
7. Greece: Balkan- ska. Probably the genre I hate the most. But this is charming in comparison to everything else I have seen so far.3/5
8. Hungary: Considering the song, it might have been nice to understand what they are singing. Cute though. 3/5
9. Iceland: Oh, what was that? I fell Asleep. 2/5
10. Israel, uninteristing as always. But she is sorta fabulous. 3/5
11. Latvia: Skinny white dude rapping and a keytar? This is fun! 3/5
12. Malta: This is chaaaarming. gosh. this will be nice to see on stage. 4/5
13. Norway: This is fresh. Modern. Sounds like music produced in 2013. Cool.I like you and Margaret you are fierce. 5/5!
14. Romainia: Bad opera and a dubstep/dance-track? Please leave. 1/5
15. San Marino: You can only do better than last year. This is ok. 2/5
16. Switzerland: This is ok too. Like the guys and tha song is decent. :) 3/5

Missed one song. That will be a surprise then. :)

The songs all ready in the final:

1. France: The first song that smells blues. ice. She is great! Nice voice. 4/5
2. Germany: Ok, you can send Cascada. it is cool. But is she the best in eurovision? No. 3/4
3. Italy: Maybe the best ballad, but not good enough singer. 3/5
4. Spain: Country feeling. Not my cup of tea. 2/5
5. Sweden…. Because of youihihohouoiihiho. He’ll fit into this mush that is Eurovision 2013. He sings well though. 3/5
6. And the UK is sending Bonnie Tyler! Hitting hard. I think that this will be great on stage! 4/5

Since I am bored and Swedish i guess I am doing this review.

1. Austria: Decent song/girl and show, though it looks like she have found her blouse at the local supermarket. 2/5
2. Belgium. Cute guy with a song that is, let’s say, dubstep-ish at times will probably go nowhere because: snooze-ville… Best thing from Belgium for a long time though. 3/5
3. Croatia. Didn’t you get the memo? It is 2013.And haven’t you heard? Walking randomly around on stage in suits does not count as dancing.1/5
4. Cyprus:  She sings well but should get a new producer. Her song sounds like could I say ‘plastic’? 2/5
5. Denmark: Shouldn’t you be sleeping in that? What style of music is it? Sounds good though…. 4/5
6. Estonia. Try to top last years song. Just try! Oh, it sounds like you couldn’t. 2/5
7. Ireland: Whow! No Jedward? But it is a decent dance track! Go figure? 3/5
8. Lithuania: Is there no hope for you? The guy is totally uncharming and the song sucks. Were you thinking about the final? Forget about it. 1/5
9. Moldova: WAHT IS GOING ON? ah well, her singing is decent. 2/5
10. Montenegro: Dubstep-rap? Meets strip-club? This is like a musical Harlem shake. You just do whatever you think is the craziest and throw it in…2/5
11. Russia: poor girl, following Montenegro, but she seems like an angel after that other thing… And she is totally forgettable. 2/5
12. Serbia: Three girls and the costume designer has gone wild! Only one girl looks remotely invested in this… but cute. 3/5
13. Slovenia: Even more dubstep? But I like it. It is clean and modern. She sings well. I could dance to this. 4/5
14. The Netherlands: Have officially given up. The song is different though. 2/5
15. Ukraine: The song has no structure. But if they can recreate the video on stage. I will vote for them. 3/5
16. Belarus: Sertab Erener wants her watered down song back (See Eurovision 2003). Plus for shirtless men. 2/5

Banning Cars from Manhattan is an essay by Paul Goodman and his brother Percival, published in the book ‘Utopian Essays and Practical Proposals’ in 1962. It is all about the possibilities, through the banning of private cars, to create a more beautiful and healthier city to live in. Their vision is a city-landscape covered with recreational areas and closed neighborhoods, for people to live in and enjoy, not the road-network that it is and was in 1962. 

The two brothers envisioned it possible by existing means, with democracy at its core and structural planning as its tool. The banning of private cars would give important and immediate “relief of tension, noise and anxiety; purifying the air of fumes and smog; alleviating the crowding of pedestrians; providing safety of children.”. This would lead to a beautification of the city and a ‘more integrated community life’.  

Instead of private cars that are relying on parking space and that slow the traffic down, roads would be closed and certain high-speed streets, serviced by taxis and buses, would work as the ‘arteries’ of the city. All other roads, except for the broad commercial cross streets, would be pedestrian one-way streets that could be used for practical reasons such as mail, garbage collection etc. More room for leisure time outdoors would be created instead of being used as parking spaces.

Goodman’s idea was to create a basis for communities to form at Manhattan based on neighborhoods that would be governed locally. All this for a lager integration of the individual into ‘mass society’. The first major step in this community building project would be to ban cars and reshape the roads that separate us. 

As the two brothers envision, legally there would be small difficulties to ban cars since the roads can be closed off for other purposes, and the benefits with such an endeavor would show to be much greater than the downsides. It would also inspire people to do things differently, reconsider the way we live our daily lives and inspire the search for ideal solutions. 

Through a new view on big-scale planning and politicians that dare to make the proposal apart of their program, the voter can get a new choice to vote for, not based solely on ‘personalities, ethnic and  political groupings’. Any other choice would be ‘vague and identical’.

So, for all of you out there, concerned about the environment and willing to imagine what a sustainable, community driven society would be like, you are not alone. The Goodman brothers thought about it fifty years ago. With energy being more scarce, the climate threatened and with politicians that does not take our concerns seriously enough, large scale utopian thinking could be the solution.

For all my three followers out there… I’ll stop posting for a while until I find out what I really want to post about… until then, feel free to head over to my other blog (my main one): vanhainen. Peace out!