#but i see so many pieces of mike being all edgy and shit and i DoNt LiKe It

[thefandombringer]

breaking my silence: i absolutely hate it when people make mike’s new personality/style (especially style) an eddie munson rip off LET MY BOY BE HIS OWN PERSON PLS

[sole-cuore-amore-e-droga]

Denmark brings the non-modern 80s sound to Rotterdam 2021

Filler review in between me doing a shit ton of things at the same time and saving two of the writeups I at least wanted to do before Semi 1 or so, plus there’s a Turquoise carpet underway. Lessgooooooo Denmark

ARTIST & ENTRY INFO

Fyr og Flamme is a collective of two men, singer Jesper Groth and instrumentalist Laurits Emanuel. Together they don’t have much history as they formed in the Ben & Tan year 2020, but they have a couple of succesful (and their only prior to Eurovision) singles under their belt already, like, their first one, titled “Menneskeforbruger”, reached number one on a Danish radio top list once. Prior to the DMGP lineup release, amidst a bunch of few song and talent show wonders, they were the only act I’ve heard of and coincidentally even liked their music somewhat.

Their song, titled “Øve os på hinanden”, is about dancing. Fitting because their entry, which is more of an 80s rehash than an 80s throwback (as in, 80s but with a little something modern a la Dua Lipa), is all about the groovy music that would probably come all out after disco decade became over. Moreso, dancing of two partners and practicing the dancing on each other, somewhat. Lyrics are in Danish - first time a Danish entry is fully in Danish since 1997! History right there! Most other acts would mostly translate their Danish song into English once the language rule went abolished, but not these guys, because why they need to do a TIX and make an English song in their 3 song discography anyway. Good ^^

REVIEW

Sounds like one of those songs this year that can elicit the “guilty pleasure” reactions. Like Poland, which is mine. But for me Denmark is an actual pleasure, in a way?

The instant intro of the first few seconds really makes it a good blast of energy, because who isn’t resisting towards a nice little 80s synth. I don’t really fancy the verses being in a major key but they still feel very 80s in nature. And the chorus is really catchy, and so is the bridge, which is kinda maybe the best part of the song alongside the instrumental super 80s bits. I don’t know if Jesper is able to emulate an 80s vocal sound with his voice, but the whole band at least looks their part, at the very least, for Eurovision?

It also incorporates clapping. Just for the edgy “I don’t clap along to Soldi but I will clap to this” crowds out there. I love me some Eurovision clap songs.

But Denmark is kinda too prone to sending throwbacks that don’t add much new? Like, we got this 70s-esque throwback song from 2015, it can be very well argued that Lighthouse X were throwbacks to early 2010s boyband music that wasn’t as loud as the one of One Direction, 2014 had shades of the classic Bruno Mars of the time who himself have upgraded to sound like smooth R’n’B man for the ladies who sings about getting it with the ladies... are people in Denmark a little too nostalgic for their own good sometimes? Let me go there one day when panini subsides and check if they have a spare DeLorean, just for the fun of it, and if they keep the Deloreans as their biggest prized possessions in a way.

Overall a pretty standard dance song to dance to, if I expected some other mood being projected throughout it I’d straight up look at Gjon’s Tears staging. *orchestral music* Tout l’univeeeeeers *proceeds to moves arms like he’s performing “Rap God” in a talent show*

Yeah I like it, but I absolutely love the orchestral version posted above?? The big gall of DMGP to include orchestra on their NF while Albania’s NF traded it for a while just to have artists perform in the freezing cold outside instead... of course everything sounds better with orchestra. Smh at those who think otherwise

This is how the studio version sounds like by the way. All that review was for this. How does the studio pale in comparison to the orchestra, do you think

Approval factor: Yeah, maybe there’s some of it in me for this one too! Follow-up factor: Another broadcaster being cunts to their former act. Public outcries have been done ever since DR revealed the DMGP lineup and made them realize there’s no Ben and Tan in it, eventhough they said they would not send an entry to the next DMGP, but yet they did because they felt like it, and it was revealed in an ultimate dickish move that Ben and Tan were never allowed to re-enter in the first place. :’) Some say it’s because of prompting sympathy votes (as if Aksel and The Mamas needed any to win their NFs, OH WAIT.), some might even say it was because DR was too scared to do well and Ben and Tan were just *that* awesome. Songwise, I like their both entries equally, and it’s a nice Danish marketing move to go from one background music to another (but in 80s style). So it’s a move to an interestingly straight decent line, I guess. Qualification factor: In semifinals like these, when there are just that many good songs that cannot miss out on a final spot, some of them actually do end up in that unfortunate position unless they don’t... Denmark has a little bit of a chance? From the possible hopeless bunch I can only see one of Austria, Portugal and Denmark making it. Poland, a fellow 80s-like Nordic song, is too comedic to be taken seriously by the up-and-coming televoting community. Georgia is too mellow. Denmark stands out with a fun way of their own 80s, Portugal and Austria have decent live performances and stagings at the same time, one of which Fyr og Flamme might lack lol, but that doesn’t mean housewives don’t vote for something that reminds them of their youth years, no?

NF CORNER

Thankfully that apart from Ben & Tan fiasco you’re not missing out on much.

DMGP chose a weird kind of way to reveal entries - during 3 separate radio shows in between two channels amidst all kinds of random world&Danish popular music. During which presumably both radio stations played the soon-to-be-winning Fyr og Flamme’s entry a second time after the premiere. Like if we don’t know who’s winning already, huh, huh???

Well, there are at least some above-the-par entries, and a couple of my favourites were Emma Nicoline (synthpop in Danish which in her case of victory would’ve likely been translated in English???? hopefully not so we could’ve had a win-win in case Fyr og Flamme didn’t win) and Mike Tramp (yeehaw in English, and much different than what he did in Eurovision 1978 with the group Mabel and yet another song about rhythm, enough to incorporate live drum playing from a band member itself during the performance... their own prop drum, mind you). They probably sound a whole lot better in orcestra than they are in these studio versions, so go check them out on Youtube as well, if you’re willing. Much cheers

Also the funny thing about them - Jesper is from a little barely heard of island called Ærø, who coincidentally shares a flag with Lithuania’s, but their colors are much brighter than ours. I bring it up that it’s barely heard of because some Danish viewers (and the international ones that could’ve gotten a hold of the stream) were confused as to why Fyr og Flamme waved “Lithuanian” flags in the DMGP greenroom. I’ve heard about that as well. I know a person from Ærø. I was confused too at first. I’ve been there. And it’s thanks to that person I’ve heard of Fyr og Flamme. Ærø supports Ærø, it seems

ANY LAST WORDS?

Honestly, if they qualify (and so does Portugal), I lowkey hope for their NF to have more songs in their native language? Leonora went on to start something when singing a piece of her song in Danish, Fyr og Flamme continued the iniciative, lord knows if it continues to continue and give them a fruitful outcome in the end.

As for why I mentioned Portugal and language variety, well... there can still be winners in the Portuguese language, just it would be an initiative to RTP to invite more English-singing Portuguese songwriters who’d otherwise not really participate in FdC if they were asked to only sing in Portuguese? I don’t know, really. But yeah. Maybe.

[fromtheringapron]

ECW Anarchy Rulz 1999

Date: September 19, 1999.

Location: The Odeum Expo Center in Villa Park, Illinois.

Attendance: 6,000.

Commentary: Joey Styles and Cyrus. 

Results:

1. Lance Storm (with Dawn Marie) defeated Jerry Lynn. 

2. Jazz defeated Tom Marquez via disqualification. 

3. Nova and Chris Chetty fought Simon Diamond and Tony DeVito to a no contest. 

4. Three-Way Dance: Yoshihiro Tajiri defeated Super Crazy and Little Guido (with Sal E. Graziano). 

5. Justin Credible (with Jason) defeated Sabu (with Bill Alfonso). 

6. Three-Way Dance for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship: Mike Awesome (with Judge Jeff Jones) defeated Taz (champion) and Masato Tanaka to win the title. 

7. ECW Tag Team Championship Match: Raven and Tommy Dreamer (champions, with Francine) defeated Rhyno and Steve Corino (with Jack Victory). 

8. ECW Television Championship Match: Rob Van Dam (champion, with Bill Alfonso) defeated Balls Mahoney. 

My Review

Anarchy Rulz ‘99 takes place at a noteworthy point in ECW history. The promotion launched a cable show on TNN a month before the event. Normally this would be a cause for celebration, a major accomplishment for such a renegade promotion that persisted in the war between the WWF and WCW. However, ECW’s relationship with TNN was rocky from the start and its downfall would be one of the key components in hastening the promotion’s demise. They were also soon to lose its reigning heavyweight champion Taz to the WWF, who they’d been banking on to be a featured star on the TNN show. Stranger days were definitely ahead.

Perhaps reflective of the time period, the show itself is all over the place. It’s enjoyable enough, but there’s a lot of strange booking that totally loses me. It probably doesn’t help that I didn’t really watch ECW in its prime. A lot of it is presented to me completely removed from the context. Brawls transition into matches, matches unravel into brawls. It’s all pretty jarring to watch if you’re more familiar with the structure of, say, your typical WCW or WWF pay-per-view of the time. It also probably doesn’t help that ECW pay-per-views tend to not reveal a whole lot of backstory to the matches on the card. There are some scraps you can piece together in regards to the storylines of the time, but don’t expect the cinematic hype packages of your average WWE production that’ll help clue you in.

As for what works, I enjoy the opener and the two three-way dances quite a bit. The three-way for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship makes the bold choice to write out Taz minutes in, which results in us getting a taste of the Mike Awesome/Masato Tanka feud that continues to receive heaps of praise to this day. Amazingly though, in the trend of strange booking on this show, it doesn’t close out the night. The show lingers on for another hour or so, instead ending with a TV title match to showcase Rob Van Dam. It’s not a bad match or anything, but it can’t help but feel like a flat way to end things.

What really jumps out at me watching this show is that ECW seems to be peaking in terms of popularity and production values. From a commercial perspective, this is one of the most successful shows in the promotion’s history, especially in terms of attendance. The Odeum Expo Center may not be the grandest venue in the world, but it’s a major upgrade from the hole-in-the-wall venues of yore. ECW’s production always looked rough, and the promotion always prided itself on that, but things look much more polished by this point. We’re getting a product that still looks gritty as hell without it seeming they only have a budget of five dollars.

Overall, Anarchy Rulz ’99 sees ECW reaching some serious highs, with a feeling that things are soon to fall apart. There’s plenty of anarchy, and some of it is pretty fun, but there are definitely points where you’ll wish for a bit more order.

My Random Notes

So Cyrus decides to prove he’s brilliant and intellectually superior to everyone by culturally appropriating the bindi. Do I have that right?

Sad sign of the times: Simon Diamond cuts a promo about how women are only good for T&A and the crowd agrees.

I don’t think I’m breaking any new ground here by noting, but it’s amazing how often ECW equates “being extreme” with “being misogynistic and homophobic.” None of this shocks me, mind you, but it’s nonetheless aged appallingly. All the jabs thrown at Dawn Marie in the opening bout alone tells you everything you need to know. Also, how many times does the crowd chant about a male wrestler sucking dick?

Nova is dressed like he’s ready to joust for legions of tourists at the Excalibur Resort in Las Vegas. Tony DeVito, meanwhile, is dressed like he just finished some yard work around the house.

Amazing how many guys here would make up WWE’s mid card in the early to mid ‘00s. Super Crazy vs. Nunzio is definitely something that happened on Velocity once or twice. I don’t have proof, but I’m convinced it happened.

Who the fuck is Johnny Smith? Who the fuck is Judge Jeff Jones? Who the fuck is Tom Marquez?

I always roll my eyes at ECW using insider terms like “heat” or “getting over” or some shit. I’m sure it’s probably something that was seen as clever or edgy back in ’99, but it only makes me think about the cringe-worthy worked shoot garbage Vince Russo loves.

Slightly off-topic, but all the talk about ECW on TNN got me thinking about Roller Jam, which is a show I thought I just imagined but am happy to know it was real. I dare you to check it out. You’ll never dog the acting in professional wrestling ever again.

[theliterateape]

Hey, Do You Watch "Robot Chicken"?

By Mike Vinopal

I gotta say, I can’t really decide if I’m alright with all the suicide jokes in Adult Swim’s Robot Chicken. 

If you have no frame of reference, in short, Robot Chicken is a twelve-minute show on Cartoon Network. Think sketch-comedy done using stop-motion animation. It features pop culture icons such as Looney Tunes, G.I. Joe, Transformers, Thunder Cats, Smurfs, and many other action figures, dolls, or clay creations. It’s a fun show and I’ve loved watching it for years. Still do. Just been having this suicide joke thing nag at me for a little while now.

I realize the show has never really been concerned with sensitivity, leaning crass. And I’m not saying crass like dumb shit, either. Just irreverent. Confrontational and typically heavy on the shock. 

To use suicide with this intention of entertainment and comedy could be considered varying degrees of “off-limits” or insensitive while others might consider it therapeutic. Cathartic even for some. 

For instance, the experience of losing a loved one to a pill overdose hypothetically inspiring a joke informing a sketch on the show. I’ve seen an episode of Robot Chicken where they express this very suicide scenario using the classic arcade-style Pac-Man animation. Not only that, they do it in three acts interspersed throughout the twelve minutes of the program.

Act One: Pac-Man chases down Ms. Pac-Man and has sex with her. Ten seconds long, maybe. Act Two: Pac-Man walks in on Ms. Pac-Man in an orgy with three of the ghosts, and he’s devastated — indicated by his tears. Fifteen seconds long, max. When Act Three finally rolls around toward the end of the episode, a scruffy-bearded Pac-Man enters the frame with a prescription pill bottle, pops it and power pellets fall out in a row. He gobbles them just like the game and then he dies.

To do that kind of a joke could be considered totally appropriate to some or absolutely unforgivable, depending on the perspective.

There are opportunities throughout the show’s many episodes of beloved iconic cartoon characters from my childhood blowing their brains out or taking their own lives in some other gruesome fashion. Undoubtedly horrific, yet intended as humor. Some would say “edgy” humor but I’m not sure anybody knows where a line is these days or even if there should be a line. I’ve heard compelling arguments from incredibly intelligent people I respect and look up to from both sides of this particular coin regarding the rules of comedy.

And if I have moral qualms about this type of scenario, then am I to have moral qualms about all the other violence represented in the show, a show that I continue to derive much enjoyment from? Such internal conflict about an animated program twelve minutes in duration, likely only viewed by a portion of the population while the sheer amount of violence that we see represented in American mass media entertainment every minute of every day is inconceivable. 

It may bother me more now because of the amount of time I spend talking about preventing suicide and being proactive with mental health in my professional life working for Hope For The Day. It may be me getting older and just finding suicide jokes in bad taste personally. It may be that I’ve been binge-watching entirely too many episodes of Robot Chicken on Hulu lately. Neither here nor there.

For some people it's exactly what they may need to make it through their struggles. Some people need someone joking about these dark awful things to at least speak them out loud when no else is and acknowledge that they happen. And if something that gives me kind of a shitty feeling when I’m watching it on my couch ends up helping somebody that has reached their breaking point, then I guess I don’t want it to not exist. 

I’m kind of curious to ask the creators, Seth Green and Matthew Senreich directly about it. Not to be shitty and like “What the fuck?” but just to understand their perspective. Perhaps I’ll tweet them or email their people. Perhaps I’ll write a follow up to this piece. I won’t hold my breath for a response but it’s a valid question to explore. 

Maybe they have a story that they would share in more plain terms about loss and how they process it through their work, but then again, maybe it’s not that deep. Maybe I’m just making it that deep right now. 

There’s no doubt that stop-motion is perhaps one of the most painstaking and meticulous artistic mediums, so at the end of the day, Robot Chicken is really incredible art. And to go to all that trouble to create this twelve-minute show of non-stop outrageous comedy and bizarre situations with these memorable toys and characters, to entertain us, to give us something to interpret and experience... well maybe me complaining about their use of suicide jokes is missing the point.