Of course Sweden got through. (And a good thing too.) Very happy that FYR Macedonia did too. Malta's "This is the Night" feet dancing was so much fun!

The disappointments of those who won through to the finals: Ukraine's hotel advertisement song (although it did have some nifty virtual dancers) and Turkey's lackluster stage piece (even if it did effectively have a "hey nonny nonny" bit to it). Also Lithunia's number, which randomly had the silhouettes of lots of pole dancers posing behind the singer - if they'd dropped those and added in more of his dance moves, I'd feel a lot better about the song being through.

Half-time performance: LOVED seeing/hearing the last five years' winners singing along to each others' songs. Lena particularly made her song seem fresh and really go into "Waterloo".

Very glad to see Cyprus and Iceland making the final. Cyprus' song was easier to focus on without the distraction of the Snow White video. Ireland was, of course, much more expected, and their stage show was fantastic! With a large on-stage water fountain!

Really surprised Albania made it through. Their singer has a spectacular voice, but the staging was deeply underwhelming, and the song still doesn't do a whole lot for me. Russia and Greece were givens.

Among those that didn't make it through: Just as glad that Austria's entry is out. Israel's clown video boded ill but the stage show was rather charming and brought out the personification elements more. Belgium was sweet, the second-best, lyrically, of the broken relationships song, but I'm not surprised it didn't get voted through. Latvia's is the entry I would most like to have seen in the final which didn't make it; really charming meta-song.

Nina Zilli, Italy's singer, is a really, really good interviewee.

Ten years ago on a cold, dark night, today, I set up this account, here on LiveJournal. Ten years already!

It wasn't a social action, but one of self-accountancy, a purpose for which I still use it; although the social elements are even more of a use for it these days in my life. Then, the only person I knew using this service was offline for a month with her newborn - V's birthday is always an advanced reminder to me that this account anniversary is coming up!

These days, despite all the gloomsayers of the end of LJ, there's lots for me to read here on a daily basis, especially from friends whom I know both in spite of LJ and because of it. Thank you all who write it for me (among others) to read.

It's time for my annual pre-Eurovision video watching!

This year's themes: black-and-white videos and costumes, songs about broken or ended relationships, and fantastically-staged cellists.

If the winner were a mystic: Sweden - Euphoria (Loreen)
If the winner were the best of the ended relationships songs: United Kingdom - Love will set you free (Engelbert Humperdinck)
Best Use of Folkloric Motifs: Iceland - Never Forget (Greta Salóme & Jónsi)
Highest-quality novelty song: Latvia - Beautiful Song (Anmary)
Most likely to be played in normal rotation on the radio: Italy - L'Amore È Femmina (Nina Zilli)
Best celebration of multiculturalism: Romania - Zaleilah (Mandinga)
Gratuitous Snow White video: Cyprus - La La Love (Ivi Adamou)

A downside of judging songs by their videos is that almost everyone else will be judging them by their stage performances. (As, indeed, I will for voting purposes!) And songs can vary drastically between video and stage.

( Eurovision 2012 songs... )

I hope some of you who live in and around Bristol will be able to see the SS Great Britain afloat on a sea of lime jelly* on the May 18th and 19th, 6pm to 9pm, 500 tickets only each night, thanks to Bompas & Parr.

The press release says "Mermaids are planned, but not yet confirmed."

* i.e. "jello"

Sometime this summer, London will have a cable car system running across the river. This terminus runs from the Victoria Docks (about a five minute stroll from the Royal Victoria DLR station, more like a 15-20 minute stroll from ExCel) to the south side of the river.

The terminals will be the first stations on the TfL map which are commercially sponsored: this one will be "Emirates Royal Docks", connecting to the O2 on the Greenwich peninsula. There's no current promise that it'll be ready for the Olympics, only "this summer".

I was particularly impressed by the pylons over the Thames. Of course major ships must sail underneath the wires - but I hadn't *really* thought about the consequences of that in terms of their sheer height.

A young man to an elderly woman, possibly grandson to grandmother:
"No, it's not a war movie. It's about a bunch of superheroes who get together."

One middle-aged man to another:
"Funeral directors are like builders: they can do anything."

It was a good day. Among other things, we had dinner at Wahaca, coincidentally ran into ewtikins on the Underground and briefly caught up, and saw the very entertaining Marvel's Avengers Assembled. (Speaking of which, I am certain my f'list promised me *two* scenes during the credits, and there was only the one.)

But the highlight of my day that I really want to tell you about is this word: drumbledairy.

The "drumbledairy" is a sixteenth-century spelling of the word which would eventually settle itself on "dromedary".

1570 P. Levens Manipulus Vocabulorum sig. Iiv/1, A Drumbledarie, Dromedarius.

C is working on killing his second orchid, but this one has rebelliously put out the tiniest sprig of green. Orchid watering is theoretically complicated and so I'm not sure how best to encourage it - with or without watering. Actually, wait. It's not even my plant to water; if neglect is why it's now a smidgin green again, then it should be left alone.

Some of PopCap's gardening advice today: "Use only organic fertilizers like vinegar and gasoline." Also, "Give plantz plenty of water: for best resultz cover garden with swimming pool."

Drought continues in the UK, where it's been pouring rain all week.

Poll #1834514
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 74

Which is grammatically correct?

To keep this poll simpler: take as read that whether or not it needs a definite article for this year, it'll be "an Eastercon" speaking more generally.