Tonight ten songs competed to represent Norway in Eurovision.

Akuvi - Som Du Er

Didrik & Emil Solli Tangen - Out of Air

Kristin Husøy – Pray for Me

Liza Vassilieva – I Am Gay

Magnus Bokn - Over the Sea

Raylee - Wild

Rein Alexander - One Last Time

Sondrey - Take My Time

Tone Damli - Hurts Sometimes

Ulrikke - Attention

(I couldn't find tonight's performance for all of these, so some of them are from the semi-finals.)

The winner was Ulrikke with her song Attention, which will go on to represent Norway in Rotterdam. Did we make the right choice? Let's hear your opinions in the comments!

Tonight was the fifth semi-final of the Norwegian Eurovision national selection (Melodi Grand Prix). This year there are 5 semi-finals, one for each region of the country, plus five songs that automatically qualify for the grand final.

Tonight four songs from Northern Norway competed for a spot in the grand final:

Jenny Jenssen - Mr. Hello

Elin & The Woods - We Are One

Kevin Boine - Stem På Mæ

Liza Vassilieva - I Am Gay

The qualifier was Liza Vassilieva with her song I Am Gay, which will face 9 other songs in the grand final on the 15th of February. One of the automatic qualifiers was also presented during the show:

Tone Damli - Hurts Sometimes

Previous semi-finals:

Semi-final 1 (Southern Norway) - songs and results

Semi-final 2 (Eastern Norway) - songs and results

Semi-final 3 (Middle Norway) - songs and results

Semi-final 4 (Western Norway) - songs and results

I don't watch T.V very often, but do - when I'm up (which is infrequent given I'm outside the U.S) - watch the NBA. Recently I've had a little time so have watched a few games live. Doing so, I was quite taken aback at how commonplace humour and meta advertising are nowadays. Is this just a U.S thing?

Is there any research out there on when and why advertisers started doing this? Seems like every other ad shoots for either humour or "we know you know this is an ad, you're clearly smart enough to realise that, so smart in fact you might want to buy into our brand". Whatever the case, as ever, grateful for resources/discussion from those more in the know than I.

EDIT: A good example that is equal parts humour/meta is LeBron James' Super Bowl Sprite Ad.

Last night was the fourth semi-final of the Norwegian Eurovision national selection (Melodi Grand Prix). This year there are 5 semi-finals, one for each region of the country, plus five songs that automatically qualify for the grand final.

Last night four songs from Western Norway competed for a spot in the grand final:

Magnus Bokn - Over The Sea

Oda Loves You - Love Who We Love

Nordic Tenors - In This Special Place

Hege Bjerk - Pang

The qualifier was Magnus Bokn with his song Over The Sea, which will face 9 other songs in the grand final on the 15th of February. One of the automatic qualifiers were also presented during the show:

Ulrikke Brandstorp - Attention

Previous semi-finals:

Semi-final 1 (Southern Norway) - songs and results

Semi-final 2 (Eastern Norway) - songs and results

Semi-final 3 (Middle Norway) - songs and results

Picard begins investigating the mystery of Dahj as well as what her very existence means to the Federation. Without Starfleet's support, Picard is left leaning on others for help, including Dr. Agnes Jurati (Alison Pill) and an estranged former colleague, Raffi Musiker (Michelle Hurd). Meanwhile, hidden enemies are also interested in where Picard's search for the truth about Dahj will lead.

Taking place 20 years after Star Trek: Nemesis, we'll be finally reunited with Jean-Luc Picard as he takes on the next chapter of his life.

S01E01 - Remembrance

At the end of the 24th Century, and 14 years after his retirement from Starfleet, Jean-Luc Picard is living a quiet life on his vineyard, Chateau Picard. When he is sought out by a mysterious young woman, Dahj, in need of his help, he soon realizes she may have personal connections to his own past.

Anybody can create this thread! If you see the episode first, do it up!

(For the previous two semi-finals, it didn't occure to me that the Danish national selection is also named Melodi Grand Prix, so from now on I'll be adding the country to the title.)

Last night was the third semi-final of the Norwegian national selection (Melodi Grand Prix). This year there are 5 semi-finals, one for each region of the country, plus five songs that automatically qualify for the grand final.

Last night four songs from Middle Norway competed for a spot in the grand final:

Alexandry - Pink Jacket

Kristin Husøy - Pray For Me

Sie Gubba - Kjære Du

Thomas Løseth - Vertigo

The qualifier was Kristin Husøy with her song Pray For Me, which will face 9 other songs in the grand final on the 15th of February. One of the automatic qualifiers were also presented during the show:

Akuvi - Som Du Er

Previous semi-finals:

Semi-final 1 (Southern Norway) - songs and results

Semi-final 2 (Eastern Norway) - songs and results

edit:

Found a better video of Sie Gubba.

Last night was the second semi-final of the Norwegian national selection (Melodi Grand Prix). This year there are 5 semi-finals, one for each region of the country, plus five songs that automatically qualify for the grand final.

Last week's semi-final was for Southern Norway, and last night four songs from Eastern Norway competed for a spot in the grand final:

Tore Petterson - The Start of Something New

Kim Wigaard & Maria Mohn - Fool For Love

Jæger - How About Mars

Rein Alexander - One Last Time

The qualifier was Rein Alexander with his song One Last Time, which will face 9 other songs in the grand final on the 15th of February. One of the automatic qualifiers were also presented during the show:

Didrik & Emil – Out of Air

Eurovision season is finally here! Last night was the first semi-final of the Norwegian national selection (Melodi Grand Prix). This year there are 5 semi-finals, one for each region of the country, plus five songs that automatically qualify for the grand final.

Last night four songs competed for a spot in the grand final:

Geirmund - Come Alive

Lisa Børud - Talking About Us

Kim Rysstad - Rainbow

Raylee - Wild

The qualifier was Raylee with her song Wild, which will face 9 other songs in the grand final on the 15th of February. One of the automatic qualifiers were also presented during the show:

Sondrey - Take My Time

This is short, but it demonstrates something that's been missing from tv for a while, which is the simple interview with children that recognises they are children but still takes them seriously as humans.

EDIT: Somehow I missed the main link, which goes to a BFI page here: https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-children-and-politics-1964-online

There are some amazing old (1960s, 1970s) British tv interviews with children carried out by Harold Williamson. He asks children a question and then just lets them answer. There's no attempt to laugh at the children, and there's no attempt to say "zomg look at what this cute kid is saying".

A few clips here, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06tq93b and there are probably more on Youtube: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06tq93b

It's showing its age - "what would you do if your husbands went on strike? How would you run a household?" (asked of two girls) isn't acceptable.

This is a British cookery show. They take a bunch of people who cook for a living but who have basic skills. These people are paired with a chef who has four Michelin stars and eighteen restaurants. They visit different restaurants around Europe to have competitions to cook that restaurant's own food.

Things I enjoy about it: it does a good job of showing that people who have somewhat fucked up lives will always find a place in cheffing. They could have stayed in the UK but they decided to go around Europe.[1] There's a couple of incidents of poor behaviour being corrected (some of the women chefs are ignored and spoken over by some men, the women stand up for themselves and get an apology).

Things I don't like: there's some cheffy bollocks around the pressure and discipline of a brigade; it's still a reality-show competition and that introduces some artificiallity; they send people home each week and I always hate that aspect of programmes.

It's available on Pirate Bay.

Here are some reviews which I think are fair.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/jul/30/the-chefs-brigade-review-a-cookery-challenge-worthy-of-willy-wonka

https://inews.co.uk/culture/television/the-chefs-brigade-bbc2-episode-1-review-jason-atherton/

[1] I can't describe how pathologically awful Brexit has been for the UK. :-(

Mythbusters is back, but in a tweaked format.

Adam Savage fronts with a team of six young people. Jamie, Kari, Tory, and Grant are absent, only appearing in video flashbacks to the previous show.

Mythbusters with kids could have been horrific, but they've managed to make this entertaining and informative. They've increased the amount of STEM stuff. We see people doing a bit of math while planning something out. The kids are smart, and the show allows them to be smart while also being children. Adam is a great fit, being a big kid himself but also filling the role of a pseudo parent and giving friendly advice (often around safety, such as the tag strap used to manoeuvre huge steel plates).

The old show had a some problems. They'd have too many pre-break "what's coming next" and post-break "here's what happened before", and they'd chop up the myths being tested into tiny little bits. They still do that, but not nearly as much.

It's a fun, entertaining watch, and it's safe for families to watch together.

Some of you may remember this post from last year. Well, it has happened: the last BronyCon. 10,215 people attended (with rumors that there were enough uncollected badges to hit the 11,000 hard-cap), beating their previous record of 10,011 in 2015. They chose to make this the last year because attendance has been trending downward, and the show it is built around (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic) is in its final season.

I was there, and it truly was the experience of a lifetime. They intended to go out with a bang, and they absolutely delivered. Did anyone else here attend (or want to attend)? What were your thoughts on the event this year? Any other current (or former) Bronies on the site?

Some news articles about the event:

• https://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2019/08/02/end-of-bronycon-in-baltimore/

• https://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/bs-fe-bronycon-20190731-g5zqppemhfa7nb7xnia6vheqcq-story.html

Also, people made a memorial on the 200 level of the Baltimore Convention Center. This was from August 2 at 2:37 PM, and this was from August 4 at 2:05 PM.