The 2016 Eurovision Song Contest - The Second Semi-Final

It's Eurovision week and we're in the midst of the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest from Stockholm Sweden (last year's winner). The First Semi-Final was Tuesday, The Grand Final is on Saturday, and today was The Second Semi-Final.

By the way, this edition of the Contest had an introductory explanation song of what Eurovision was all about

Eighteen nations competed in The Second Semi-Final with only ten going through to The Grand Final. The links below are to the song's video, and not their Eurovision performance, and I'll give you my impressions as they performed…

Latvia - "Heartbeat" by Justs - Cute boy in a leather jacket always equals points in this contest. He's so earnest, and rules the stage as he sings. Tis one is a good opener and has good chances.



Poland - "Color of Your Life" by Michal Szpak - Johnny Depp as a Redcoat? Though, this might be weird enough to go through… just based on his jacket…

Switzerland - "The Last of Our Kind" by Rykka - She's smoking… on my, is she on fire? No, but let's face it, it wouldn't be the first time at Eurovision. Not a bad song, very hopeful, and anti-war songs always do well in the Contest, but the performance is a bit lacking.

Israel - "Made of Stars" by Hovi Star - I like the retro-hair, but not the song so much until it kicks in, but I do kinda dig the spinning acrobats in the big Hula-Hoop. This is definitely one where the performance is better than the song.

Belarus - "Help You Fly" by IVAN - Naked guys and wolves, always a winner. Wow, he got dressed quick. Great use of effects and illusions, Belarus is always good at that, even though it looks like they cribbed some of Russia's act, but that might be reversed, depending on the order of performance. Lots of charisma, I liked it.



Serbia - "Goodbye (Shelter)" by Sanja Vučić ZAA - There was a lot of buzz about this one, but really the song and Sanja don't do much for me. A lot of leather on that stage.

Ireland - "Sunlight" by Nicky Byrne - This was one of my early favorites before the Contest, very catchy and fun, but it’s Ireland, which doesn't usually get many votes, ever.



FYR Macedonia - "Dona" by Kaliopi - This was actually another early favorite, but after a while it began to grate on my nerves, much like her waving her arms has in this performance. If she keeps flapping her arms, she's going to take off… On a serious note, this is one of the few songs not in English, so I have no idea what it's really about. It could be quite important.

Lithuania - "I've Been Waiting for This Night" by Donny Montell - Another pretty boy trying to own the stage, but unlike Latvia's Justs, he has more energy, hotter dance moves, and better effects… he's just not as cute.

Just a word about the song intros, this year they are very simple, just the artist(s) chilling and posing in Sweden. Usually the intros are very arty, so much so that they leave you scratching your head more than the performances themselves. These are pretty basic, almost disappointing from what we've come to expect from Eurovision.

Australia - "Sound of Silence" by Dami Im - This is Australia's second year in Eurovision, but like Ireland and the UK, its chances of winning are slim. I like the sparkly dress, the levitation effect, and the holograms, and she's got quite a voice. She is very Eurovision.



Slovenia - "Blue and Red" by ManuElla - This has a interesting country music vibe underneath, and that's quite a dress. She's even yodeling, always welcome at Eurovision.

Bulgaria - "If Love Was a Crime" by Poli Genova - Oooh, is she from the future? Kidding aside, this is actually pretty good and catchy, and it ends with a choir, she might qualify for The Grand Final.

Denmark - "Soldiers of Love" by Lighthouse X - Is it just me or could these guys be David Tennant's kids? Just average Eurovision boy band garbage.

Ukraine - "1944" by Jamala - As I mentioned above, anti-war songs always do well, and seeing as Russia invaded Ukraine recently causing much Eurovision controversy, this tune definitely raises some eyebrows. She's not playing around, this one is definitely going through.



Norway - "Icebreaker" by Agnete - Is this Frozen? This one has its moments but it's a bit schizophrenic as a song with its stops and starts.

Georgia - "Midnight Gold" by Nika Kocharov and Young Georgian Lolitaz - This was another of my favorites, mostly because it's one of the rare rockers. Pearl Jam meets Bush with none of the balls, and a retro sound that doesn't quite fit their image or Eurovision. I like it, but I'd be surprised if it goes through.



Albania - "Fairytale" by Eneda Tarifa - Another song called "Fairytale"? I guess they want history to repeat itself. I didn't like it, and in a way, I was happy my streaming went out during the song.

Belgium - "What's the Pressure" by Laura Tesoro - This tune is a great closer, even with its derivative disco rifts. It has great dancing, energy, and performance. If there's anything that unifies Eurovision fans more than an anti-war song it's mindless fun. This one is a score.



Those going through to the Grand Final on Saturday are Latvia, Georgia, Bulgaria, Australia, Ukraine, Serbia, Poland, Israel, Lithuania, and Belgium.

Ukraine versus Russia on stage will be fun… or interesting at least. See you on Saturday for The Grand Final, which will be broadcast live for the first time in the United States on Logo, details are here. And did I mention the guest appearance by Justin Timberlake? Yeah, be there!

Frozen on Ice

I remember when I was a kid back in the seventies watching commercials for the Ice Capades. I never got to go see stuff like that, although I did get to see the Philadelphia Flyers fight to the Stanley Cup on my big brother's black and white TV on UHF channel 29. So tiny and blurry, it was hard to tell they were on skates. Ice skating escaped my youth because of the lack of a lake I suppose, but I remember sliding on ice puddles in my sneaks.

Yeah, so no background in ice skating here, and the Olympics barely count because they were so boring, to me at least. I think the final nail in the coffin for me was more than two decades ago, I was invited by The Bride and her parents to go see Starlight Express, their favorite show, on ice in Philly. I embarrassed myself badly by dozing off for most of the show. Ice was not my thing.

Jump ahead to now, and The Bride loves the movie Frozen, so when she saw "Frozen on Ice" was going to be at the Wells Fargo Center, former home of the Philadelphia Wings, we made plans to go. Upon sitting down, the first thing I noticed was that the Wings banners had been removed, the team since last season having moved to Connecticut and renamed the New England Black Wolves. So not happy.

Frozen being the little girl phenom it is, we were the only adults I saw there. Perhaps we should have brought a niece or two as a cover, but no one seemed to say anything or stare. The merch was out of this world and everywhere. The Bride got a plastic mug made of Olaf's head to eat a sno-cone out of, and I got Chickie & Pete's Crab Fries. The fries, like the parking, was noticeably jacked up much higher than they ever were when we were Wings season ticket holders.

Despite a barely enthusiastic yogurt commercial for an opening sequence (the one host sounded like. a. robot. as. he spoke.), the show was amazing, even the post-commercial pre-show with the regular Disney characters was cool. The players, through dead on lip sync, brought the movie Frozen to life on the ice. And ice is key here. Everyone was on skates, including seemingly blind animals with no eyeholes.

It's like what folks say about Ginger Rogers. She did everything Fred Astaire did, only backwards and in heels. Here it was ice. These players did everything on ice, in skates, and usually fast, while acting, dancing, running, etc. They were very good. As I mentioned, previously I was not an ice skating guy - now, I would do this again. Great show, and it was fun too.

For more on "Frozen on Ice," check out the latest episode of The Make Mine Magic Podcast right here.

Mickey Mouse - "Get a Horse!"

Last week I talked about Frozen on the blog, and today, the review of the film by myself and The Bride can be heard on the newest episode of The Make Mine Magic Podcast. You can hear that episode here.

In that podcast, you'll hear not only our thoughts on Frozen, but also my assertion that the best part of the movie wasn't even in the movie, but before it. I really dug what at first seemed to be an early black and white Mickey Mouse cartoon called "Get a Horse!," but was in fact, a brand new animated treat. In the cartoon, the characters break through the screen as three-dimensional full color versions and jump back and forth.

The 'toon not only features the return of old school characters like Horace Horsecollar and Clarabelle Cow, but also the voice of Walt Disney himself as Mickey Mouse. I loved this, and recommend you go see Frozen just for this. It's awesome. Here's a taste of the beginning:

Frozen

Frozen ~ Disney's holiday offering this year is the computer animated musical Frozen, very loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen." Co-written and co-directed by Jennifer Lee (Disney's first female animation director), the tale weaves a particularly female perspective on the classic story. It is this point of view, along with the humanizing of the title villainess, that makes this film work.

"The Snow Queen" is a very dark tale, extremely messed up too, even for a fairy tale. Disney has had plans to do an adaptation of it on and off for decades, as far back as the 1940s. The story's dark nature has made it a difficult pill to swallow for the typical Disney approach. Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck break the pattern by creating a new kind of Disney Princess, two of them, Anna and her sister, the Snow Queen.

Kristen Bell steals the film as naive excited Anna, but Broadway's brilliant Idina Menzel dominates the screen when she's on it - figuratively of course, it is animation. Still, these are two fabulous voice talents. And not just speaking but singing as well. Christophe Beck's (Paperman) score is only surpassed by the songs by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, who individually were responsible for songs in Avenue Q, Finding Nemo - The Musical, and The Book of Mormon. Frozen is their first collaboration.

The voice talent is top notch, with Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel as the sisters Anna and Elsa. Bell rocks the house, but Menzel is the true star here, and a real score for Disney, as her resume includes the best parts in Wicked and Rent, as well as a few guest stints in "Glee" when the show was at the top of its game. The singers are as fabulous as the songs themselves.

Frozen was as surprising a holiday treat as the other entries in Dinsey's 'female empowerment trilogy,' Tangled and Brave. Elsa and Anna are fine additions to the Disney Princesses, and Jennifer Lee is a director to watch. Recommended.