UMK 2023 Song Review - Robin

LA NUIT BLANCHE

The event of the year or at least of my MTL year is just around the corner and I've made a list of activities I'd like to do during the night between March 1st and 2nd. 

I can't believe I was able to narrow it down to this short, out of over 200 activities all over the city! And these are admission free kind of stuff!! 

RENDER & REACT: APPROACH TO A SUBCONSCIOUS SENSORY SYSTEM: is an immersive installation by Tryggvadottir in which a moving “forest” is created out of coloured liquids trickling from organic sculptures. Little by little, the space and its objects are transformed by drops and textures. 

TRAVEL BY TRAMWAY AT THE OLYMPIC PARK! Exploring the Olympic Park with horse-drawn characteristic San Francisco trolleys!

OLD MONTREAL | OF ICE AND LIGHTS: Performances by ice sculptors, creating impressive illuminated works of art in the great wintry outdoors of mighty Place Jacques-Cartier.

VINYL SCRATCHING NIGHT

Vinyl “scratching” workshop in the studio space where public is able to create etchings on vinyl records, while listening to the music of a live DJ. Participants will be treated to a demonstration of intaglio printmaking and can take their own creations home with them.  

+ Food trucks are back!! 

In the tradition of the streets of San Francisco, food trucks are thriving at the Olympic Park! They're there every first Saturday of the month from La Nuit Blanche on so not a necessary thing to do now but.. 

+ Play at the City Hall 

Montreal as a gaming capital, featuring board and video games as well as quizzes are presented at the City Hall. The Hall of Honour in City Hall will be divided into a number of game stations. 

More info here: http://www.montrealenlumiere.com/nuit-blanche-en/default.aspx

Top 10 reasons why Turin is the best Italian city to host Eurovision 2022

The Eurovision 2022 is officially open as any song released since September 2021 can be considered to compete in Eurovision next year. Usually this has been accompanied by the news of the location and exaxt dates and possibly to go with the logo, theme of the upcoming contest. However this year the wait was fashionably late as customed in Italy- the winning country of Eurovision 2021. 

17 Italian cities competed to host world’s most watched TV contest for example the Italian capital Rome, fashion and business hub Milan, culinary and musical center Bologna and of course the city where Eurovision itself origins : San Remo. Turin made it’s way to number one spot and Eurovision Executive Supervisor Martin Österdahl describes it is the perfect host city!

Here are my top 10 reasons why Turin, this dark but festive city is the best choice to host Eurovision 2022! 

1. Turin is the capital of Piedmonte and significant cultural and business center in Northen Italy. All together 2,2 million people live in the city’s metropolitan area. 

2. Turin is no stranger to great international events and is best known for hosting Winter Olympics of 2006. Actually the venue is the very same PalaOlimpico (13 000 capacity). 

3. The city has an excellent location up North close to the French and Swiss borders and other major Italian metropol Milan. Besides city has it’s own iternational airport 16 km from the city with direct connections from Paris, London, Amsterdam, Munich, Barcelona for example. 

4. Italian espresso, TV, automobile industry and telecommunications have all their origins in Turin. 

5. RAI - the Italian broadcaster has significant amount of production in the city which eases the steps to organize the event. Turin has been mentioned frequently as a potential host city in Italy over the years whenever Italian artist (almost every year) has come up close to winning. 

6. Turin was the first capital of Italy. 

7. Turin is popular among Italian and international tourists and it’s famous of its multiple museums such as National Museum of the Italian Risorgimento, National Cinema Museum and National Car Museum. 

8. Turin is known by a nick name “Little Paris” or “The Paris of Italy” for its natural beauty.  

9. Besides Eurovision you can also squeeze a day trip or two to the Alps! 

10. Mole Antonelliana - the iconic tower from Italian two cent coins is in Torino!. 

Turin is definitely on my travel to do list! Do you agree with my choices and with the selection of the ESC host city 2022? 

Welcome is a cry and a comfort

So finally in CANADA!!

Toronto was huge and confusing with all of its different cultures.  Didn’t see much of it though.. gotta go back someday and figure out what’s that city is all about.

Because of the flight stuff I also missed the orientation at the local SWAP office which was the reason why I decided in first place to stay for the couple of days in the city and not continue straight to Montréal. But the staff was really helpful and they gave me all the information afterwards. I stayed in a hostel called Backpackers Inn and it was comfortable just for the one night but I was glad to go to Montréal and have a proper home there.

Like I said I definetely didn’t see that much of Toronto, only bit of the downtown area. The only sight/attraction I saw was the city hall or halls since there are two of them. The most recent one built in 1960’s and it was actually designed by Finnish architect Viljo Revell – never heard of him before though but all the publicity is for good right? Oh and I did see the CN Tower of course but you can see it from pretty much everywhere.  

I came to Montréal by train on Friday and I was super glad that I had the flat all worked out. I’m not a big fan of staying in temporary accommodations. The flat was as good as it sounded and most importantly not a false one! I like my room even though it’s small..but the size has obviously been taken account when decorating it.

Small things matter, I have a big mirror, trash can and a bedside table. I’ve never had those things in my room while living Spain. My roomies seem nice. All French! Don’t know anything about the rest of the people living the same building or in the flat downstairs where I’ll be moving in September.

I absolutely love the area of Mile End where I’m living. My home street is so pretty. There are lots of restaurants, cafés, grocery stores in the neighbourhood. The subway is at 15min walking distance and there are a lot of bus connections as well. I’ve got a bank around the corner and also Starbucks(!).  It’s a small town of its own. The landmark of city, “the mountain” of Mount Royal is also close.

I’ve given myself these couple of weeks just to adapt the change, the city and the language around me. I won’t even try to look for the job yet. I’ve just been shopping (because all my clothes were in the lost luggage), getting canadian phone number, bank account and sightseeing. This goes for a full-time day job, you know :D No problems getting a sleep in the nights.

The challenging part with the French quebécois is that the language is very old. They have an accent of their own, some expressions which don’t go together with the European French. Québecois won’t have a problem understanding Europeans francophones but it doesn’t work the other way. So I’ll have a bit of work to do there.  

Though they aren’t as unflexible as I had imagined. Lots of people seem to be quite comfortable in English and there are of course some English speaking natives as well in the city. I do try always to start at least in French even though I’d have to change the language along the way. There are lots of tourists as well whom they “have” to speak English naturally. But otherwise it’s very French here. The emergency exits, stop signs etc everything is just in French.

Things are different here than what I imagined but definitely not disappointing. 

ESC19 songs that I don’t love but which will probably do great

AUSTRALIA / Kate Miller-Heidke / Zero

The song has improved along the with the staging and even I have to admit that this is pretty cool. I'm pretty sure this goes to the final. 

CYPRUS / Tamta / Replay

As there was much hype around Cyprus last year Tamta's entry was highly appreciated. However I was disappointed with the song because I find it a bit overproduced and lacking personality. But I don't hate it and I have an open mind what comes to the live performance. 

PORTUGAL Conan Osiris / Telemóveis

I wasn't a fan. And still isn't but I give credit for uniqueness and individuality. These kinds of performances bring diversity and develop the contest which is why I hope Portugal will be in the final.  

CZECH REPUBLIC / Lake Malawi / Friend of a friend

I seem to have a problem with Czech entries since I didn't like last year's entry but everyoneo else did. However I see why people do love this. It's a perky, modern, colourful performance which is why this probably will go to the final. 

BELGIUM / Eliot / Wake up

This is such a great song but with a weak chorus. I'm not the only who thinks so however this entry also gets a lot of love. 

RUSSIA / Sergey Lazarev / Scream

Russia. Do I have to say anything else? Russian entries usually enjoy great popularity year after year and they do have massive production. There's nothing wrong with this song but for me something is lacking. VERY IMPRESSIVE staging! This will go far - no doubt. 

North Macedonia / Tamara Todevska / Proud

The song has grown for me but still this isn't the top 10 track for me. I'm interested to see this live though cause the staging looks cool! 

Spain / Miki / La venda

Everybody loves this. However I don't. It's too cheerful for my finnish taste. Fun track though. 

Slovenia / Zala Kralj & Gašper Šantl / Sebi 

Another one everybody loves except me. I get it why. The atmosphere, the stars, the couple. However it's too repetitive and too bland what comes to the singing and her facial expressions (there's none). I'm not into the staring each other's face thing either. I'd like to see them interact with the audience but this can still happen.

And...more!

Some shots from my weekend trip in Nazaré a while back. This where the surfers come usually for the biggest waves during the winter season. 

I did not spent more than just a few hours in Braga nor did I have a local showing me around and telling me stories of the city... but I was missing that lively spirit Porto had. I might go back though for an event or if I had a local or someone to prove me wrong. The churches were nice though and I’m glad I went. It was also cheaper than Porto clearly.  

Évora, located in the hot Alentejo is full of history and culture! Don’t hesitate to visit! 

I just love to wonder around in Helsinki... gonna miss this.