I had no idea why I only see phantoms rarely. Nice.

He’s got a really interesting vibe, but the guy can’t sing.

The collabs I’ve seen were all pretty fun.

I’m pretty sure Tommy is Estonian. He’s got a bonkers video with Käärijä, too.

Italian had a great presence this year, with their own good song (#5), the unexpectedly fun San Marino (#26) entry, and the fake Italian song from Estonia (#3). I hear Italians were pretty pleased!

I had expected Sweden (#4) or Finland (#11) to win, but my favorites were Albania (#8) and Latvia (#13).

Austria performed really well and I knew the jury would love it, but I only really rooted for him toward the end of voting because the alternative was infuriating.

La la la lava!

Watching the national finals starts to feel like work. This year there were, I think, three Super Saturdays with several multi-hour shows to watch. Oof.

Benidorm Fest from Spain is usually good. San Remo (Italy) is great, of course, since they’re the template on which the ESC was based and because the Italians view THAT as the real show. Ukraine’s Vidbir is interesting because you can tell they have no budget and are often bombed during the show. Portugal’s Festival de Cançâo has some amazing songs, because they don’t care about winning ESC, they’re just focused on highlighting the best Portuguese acts.

I have some favorites from 2025 that didn’t make it out of the national finals - From Ukraine I loved Future Culture’s Waste my Time Vidbir Live - Music Video . From Finland I’m still listening to Goldielocks’s Made Of UMK Live - Music Video . Germany sent the wrong song again, they should have gone with Feuerschwanz’s Knight Club is super fun. NDR live - Music video .

I found the Eurovangelists podcast, and they’re a lot of fun to follow along with. Taking in too much media ABOUT the contest can color your enjoyment of the songs, though.

I listen to the music I liked as a youngin: grunge, 90’s alternative, nu-metal, weird Al, and sea shanties.

I also watch and listen to the Eurovision Song Contest every year since I found it a few years ago. That gives me ~40 new artists every year that I might like. I follow a few favorites and see what else they’ve made. Watching some of the national final competitions gives me dozens more songs.

Wayfair, maybe? Online furniture store.

Probably not! A simple manual solution may be best.

True enough! The shades that came with the house have no handle or loop or any obvious way to close them. We have no idea why the previous owners installed them!

Interesting - I’ll give it a try.

Caffeine addicted. It is a problem.

Room is low 70s (23C?).

No device.

Big dinner at 8, bed at 11 or 12. Sleep quickly if no phone.

I’m probably going to take the scissors to the long chunks again. I end up looking like the first day practice dummy at a barber school, but at least my hair doesn’t touch my ears anymore.

I have woken up aware that I dreamt perhaps a half dozen times in my adult life.

Alcohol: no

Medicine: no

Drugs: no

Never tried loading magnesium.

Terrible sleep hygiene.

Comfy bed, dark room.

Is that something like vinyl on a board? Pre-mounted linoleum, almost.

That’s tremendously funny.

That sounds awesome! Do you post on woodworking or diy communities?

Woodworking is so fun, and it covers an enormous range of activities.

Favorite project?

You could make cheese!

I played this as a yoot! the main voice actor is Bruce Cambell. Just bought it for $2.50.