The last and final LORDI: Everything Euro

OK. So why do I actually care about an event like the Eurovision - where there was no hip music during the last 32 years since ABBA?

Well, actually there was. At least in some of the last 6 Grand Prix. Ok, I confess now: I did watch Eurovision during at least some of the last years since 2000. And, I confess secondly - I mostly had a favourite. Well, not in 2005, that year way a major downer and the trend was between a major backlash towards the so-called good old times and the division of Europe into the disco-pop and naked ladies-loving countries and those old-school schlager affictionados. Unfortunately neither Wigwam nor Vanilla Ninja were an exception. Only things I could stand that year: Zdob si Zdub.

Ok, ok - if you're German you couldn't even watch the Eurovision without getting deaf dumb and blind before Stefan Raab took over in 2000. Well, after that it was the turn of the lame again, but it was a start... that there's other music than soft'n'sleazy pop ballads and boring pseudo-entertainment called Schlager. Yes, and there's Anoraks in Germany as well, starting with the commentator of the national television, Peter Urban (Commentary in German about him). These Anoraks didn't even get the humour of Silvia Night or LT United. I think all those Anoraks are fossiles and will not be there for long - the next Eurovisions will be about different musical genres, and the traditional Schlager will be the least of it - like Lordi already commented on their press conference. By the way, I posted my personal best of the last 10 years in Eurovision on iTunes.

Politics are seeking the sides of the monsters - Matti Vanhanen is cited even in Süddeutsche Zeitung.

After I already pdf-ed the German tabloids in the past postings, here's the best of the German press: The TAZ was pretty close to it in their prelimenary report:
"The conservatives are furious, that those Gothics show the world in Athens, what Finland is, too: A strange place on earth."

And were the most precise in the analysis afterwards. DER SPIEGEL is amused that Lordi still could shock - "when Alice Cooper dreams of Orks and Ozzy Osbourne of Klingons" same to another coverage in the same magazine.

More Eurovision, more LORDI!

Tonight LORDI celebrated their Eurovision success with a free concert in the middle of their hometown Helsinki (like already announced in Finnish television the day of the win) - while the "scandal" about the unmasked pictures in several European tabloids, especially in the Finnish tabloid "7 päiväauml;" is causing bigger outrage.

On the same time CHILDREN OF BODOM and their fans are outrageous about the posted canard on Englands THE SUN and "set things straight" on the band's homepage. Yes, COB are no LORDI. Who could fall for that seriously???

Funny enough by the way that no one really took care of the high-res pics published in BILD... But to get back to some serious coverage: Helsingin Sanomat went shopping with LORDI in Athens - and is still linking to the earlier article in which Finland was facing an apparent identity crisis. LOL!

As Janne Jalkanen put it: Anyone who promised to move to Sweden if Lordi wins: You don't have to." Right!

Some people brought up the question about how Lordi actually could win, even though there's big communities of Russian or Turkish or former Yugoslavian supporters are spread all over Europe: First of all, there was a "I vote for Lordi" sticker spread in every bigger Heavy Metal magazin all over Europe (f.e. Rock Hard, Metal Hammer Germany, Metal Hammer UK...). Second, even though the sales of their past albums were not this overwhelming, there is a certain sympathy in the whole metal scene all over Europe - and several people who have never watched the Eurovision did it this year. So LORDI wasn't a dime pathetic when saying: This is not only a victory for Finland but a victory of rock music. A victory of the minority!"

Appendix:
Links to all the videos of Lordi:

• Official LORDI video page at their label - watch "Hard Rock Hallelujah" as a clip
• The Eurovision gig on YouTube
• Press conference after winning the Eurovision
• Direct link to the press conference at BBC media

LORDI at the ESC: Would you love a monster man?

Would you?! Hahahahahaha! This is a big, wide, grinning cheers to Finland: Congratulations, Tomi, for winning the EUROVISION Song Contest!

This was not only the first victory of a heavy Rock band, this was the first Eurovision with a real Heavy Metal band participating (if you don't count WigWam from Norway and everybody a bit softer in this genre, of course)! Further on they won 292 points which is the highest score according to the official press statement by Finnish broadcasting company YLE.

The press statement reads like it was an easy highway to the top - but it wasn't. This victory was against all odds, made up by Finnish Authorities in parts themselves, the Athens organizers and many, many adding up to a big wall which Lordi victoriously climbed:
One really severe step were the pyro restrictions, a bill made by a company of fellow Germans. But the organisers of the Tuska Metal Fest and some other private funders took action to bring Lordi on stage with pyros.

In Germany the tabloids were heavily campaining: Old Schlager-Fart Nicole was given the opportunity to rant about Lordi. An article of it's own was made up against "Monster Awa" aka Keyboardist Leena.

But the frenzy broke loose when LORDI finally won the Eurovision: "Would they have won without the costumes?"
What a question? Would have KISS or SLIPKNOT have had their success without their costumes and make-up? Would some of the last 5 years' winners have won without their sex-appeal? Is earth flat?!?

So that's why everybody seems to be hunting for "unmasked" pics. But the results on that seem to depend. So did UK's THE SUN set their readers for a blunt canard (even though it's funny if you like Children of Bodom). Sweden's Aftonbladet is having really poor pics as well, so seems like BILD has paid lots more, see here the whole coverage. (Yes, it was my first try with the new scan-to-pdf function of our scanner...)

To be fair:
Every heavy metal fan all throughout Europe who at least could stand LORDI a little bit supported them in any way, and if it only was that he bought beer for his or her colleagues on one of the many "I vote for Lordi" parties. So it's a victory against all those Schlager freaks and anoraks, who were too undecided between "the ballad from Ireland" and "the old ugly singer from Sweden". But this is a different story told in a different article...

What's your polical philosophy?

This is quite surprising in the first case: There's a big discussion in the German blogosphere after Dr. Dean classified a bunch of blogs as "left-wing liberal". Well, let's say 10 years ago no one in Germany would have had a second thought about it. Being liberal was rather normal - even conservative used it to describe their standing within the wide range of the conservative spectrum in Germany, f.e. Heiner Geißler was called liberal in comparison to Helmut Kohl.

Nowadays "liberal" is the label of the German party FDP. Note: The FDP is rather on the conservative than on the left-wing part of German policies. Since they got a make-over of their political beliefs under their current chairman the words "left wing" and "liberal" are antagonists in their use. To relativize the meaning of it again, Cynx has found some funny but scientifical games about it:
What's Your Political Philosophy? and The Political Compass. Test yaself.

80 kilometers for a "koniglich" weekend!

There's several ways of celebrating the Koninginnedag in the Netherlands. One is doing like a tourist - go to The Hague or like this year to Zeewolde and do Royal spotting. Or do like the Netherlands' inhabitants do and go to a market first - and then get drunk and orange. This year I did that: Went to Alkmaar and went orange. Don't miss out the "Kaasmarkt" and the "Biermuseum" in the Oude Stad. Or maybe your liver and brain scream for mercy as mine did for a minute? Have the best coffee in town at Australian Homemade Ice Cream and coffee... and chocolade... Don't stop for the chocolade if you don't wanna end up buying the whole shop - I almost couldn't stop...

We stayed in beautiful Egmond aan den Hoef and spent already 35 kilometers on bike only getting there and back again to Alkmaar.

The second day we wanted to take it easy in comparison and to enjoy beach life in Egmond aan Zee. So we took it easy, went there and back again by "fiets", went to lunch... and wanted to enjoy the beautiful and wild nature of De Kerf and went along almost half of "de brede duinenroute". To sum it up: Yes, we had a marvellous Duvel in the dunes, had a chilling cold sundown - and ran 45 km on "fiets" again. And: Don't go there - you'll be lost in the dunes when you've never been there before, and in the late evening you'll be frightened by the sudden appearance of the long horns of the Highland cattle in the darkness. By the way - you don't occasionally need a fitness trainer you didn't know about before? Hire us!