This topic is part of a weekly series. It is meant to be a place for users to discuss their week.

If you have any plans, goals, accomplishments, or even failures, whether they be personal or work related, I'd love to hear about them. This is a place for casual discussion about your week, past, present, and future.

A list of all previous topics in this series can be found here.

So, what (or how) are you doing this week?

It's been a while since we've had a thread like this and our active users have cycled around a bit (plus there's a lot of dead links in the old threads), so who here is on the fediverse?

Connecting with some more people from here sounds nice :)

(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.

In honour of Australia Day, here's my favourite Australia-themed song.

About 40 years ago, the Australian government ran competitions and surveys to decide what our national anthem should be. It was a 10-year process, in fits and starts, but in 1984 they finally announced "Advance Australia Fair" as the new anthem to replace "God Save The Queen" (which is now used only as the royal anthem).

"I Am Australian" hadn't been written back then. It was written in 1987, just prior to our Bicentennial celebrations in 1988. If a similar competition/survey was run now, "I Am Australian" would be one of the top contenders for our new national anthem. It's a very popular song.

I don't relate to "Advance Australia Fair" at all. But "I Am Australian" makes me emotional every time I hear it. It might not be our official national anthem, but it's my anthem for this country.

Here's:

• A studio recorded version, complete with lyrics.

• A live performance, performed in 2000.

I am, you are, we are Australian.

What have you been doing lately for your own fitness? Try out any new programs or exercises? Have any questions for others about your training? Want to vent about poor behavior in the gym? Started a new diet or have a new recipe you want to share? Anything else health and wellness related?

This topic is part of a series. It is meant to be a place for users to discuss creative projects they have been working on.

Projects can be personal, professional, physical, digital, or even just ideas.

If you have any creative projects that you have been working on or want to eventually work on, this is a place for discussing those.

A list of all previous topics in this series can be found here.

I've been listening to Iron Maiden's Rock in Rio album on loop for a couple of days (I'm learning a bunch of the songs), and it's such a great album. Really wide selection of their hits from across their career, some classics, loads of new stuff, some deeper cuts (the Blaze tracks). It sounds amazing, to say it was all recorded on a single night. Absolutely amazing album, I can't think of a live effort that I enjoy more.

What's your favourite live album?

This topic is part of a series. It is meant to be a place for users to discuss creative projects they have been working on.

Projects can be personal, professional, physical, digital, or even just ideas.

If you have any creative projects that you have been working on or want to eventually work on, this is a place for discussing those.

A list of all previous topics in this series can be found here.