#but in the past i was also spanish and finnish and icelandic

[beauty-and-passion]

What Eurovision 2021 taught us

1. That a nice, enjoyable show was possible (even if 4 presenters are still too much)

Of course nothing can beat Love Love Peace Peace (even if Ja Ja Ding Dong does its best), but this year's intermissions were very enjoyable.

We expected something flashy and over the top because hey, The Netherlands. Sex, drugs, gays and all that jazz.

But instead Covid surprised us. And then The Netherlands surprised us even more, by making a very enjoyable show, despite the restrictions. My personal favourites were:

The water intermission of the first semi-final. I loved the mixed feelings, how water is both scary and respected, for being such a powerful, unstoppable force.

The rooftop concerts during the final. Social distancing? Sure, no problem, let's make the past winners sing on top of some roofs all over Rotterdam. That was pure genius, I loved it so much.

On the other hand, the presenters were basically all useless. We could've had just two of them instead of four. But hey, at least they weren't as cringy as the three scary ukranians from 2017 or the useless four ladies from Portugal. The true highlights of the show were the intermissions, the guests and especially the songs themselves and this is perfectly good for me.

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2. That we can live in a world without boring ass ballads

I’ve never been so proud of the Eurovision public, especially during the second semifinal: that evening was PACKED with ballads. Boring ballad after boring ballad, with just a couple more funny songs in between.

The ballads were all left behind. Even the two Amen. And I love the irony we chose El Diablo and the finnish band for the final, but no Amen. No saints allowed, only the norwegian angel. As it always should be.

And so we had the best final I've seen since I started following Eurovision in 2014. Catchy songs, dance songs, upbeat songs. And power ballads. Yes, ballads can still have a place, but only if they're good.

Because yes, Switzerland and France were good. Very good. Just not as good as the ones the public wanted.

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3. That we want Eurovision, not Englishvision

Every year, the same message blasts from all Europeans: send a song in your native language. This show is supposed to make other people from Europe (and the rest of the world) to know more about your own country, to enjoy its rhythm and to listen to something we don't usually hear. So why waste this huge opportunity, to bring a generic song in English?

Because the English song wins. Because we all understand English, so English has more chances.

Flash news: GUESS WHO WON THIS YEAR. No, it’s not the generic English song.

The public has been crystal clear, the final poll is even clearer: the top five includes an italian song, an ukraine song, two french songs and only one english song. We want different styles and rhythms, we want to listen to Europe.

So I want to give my full thank you to:

Albania: amazing song, great voice, wonderful language. Do it again.

Serbia: these ladies are fantastic, their song is great and they sang it in their language so I love them

Switzerland: thank you for leaving English to the side to give us some good french

Spain: the song wasn't as good as Universo, but it was in sexy spanish, so thank you for using it almost every year

Danemark: the song was terrible, but it was in your language and this alone deserves everything

France: I know we all make fun of you for being France, but your language is perfect for songs, so thank you for always using it

Ukraine: take note, Ukraine, because Europe is madly in love with your language and your rhythm

Italy: our language is beautiful, so thank you for delivering every year

While my biggest biases go to:

Greece: a generic pop song with no balkan rhythm and no greek either? An absolute shame, greek should always be used for songs.

Russia: russian language is very melodious and yes, we got something this year, but what about bringing a full russian song? We want it!

Germany: I may sound crazy, but I honestly think german language is good for songs. It's not like the mediterranean languages, but it still works. So please, do not be scared and show what you can do with it!

Scandinavian countries: why do you never want to bring your own language? Do it, don't be scared! Yes, Sweden, I'm talking with you: you still never tried to bring something in swedish, so do it.

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4. That we don't want Americans to play with us

For reasons we still have to understand, Flo Rida was competing this year. And he was competing for San Marino, the smallest European country.

I'm pretty sure they took some time to explain to him what was going on, where he was, where San Marino is, wtf was happening, why there were sexy italians and ukranian witches and a norwegian angel and loads of beautiful women everywhere.

And I loved how we all send memes about this, about ahahah why is Flo Rida here, what if San Marino wins where would they host Eurovision, all while enjoying an actual catchy song.

And then, in the end, Flo Rida basically disappeared. Who remembers Flo Rida, when we got Ukraine, Italy, Finland, Iceland, and the UK? And Germany being wholesome? And the love story between Norway and Azerbaijan? We collectively forgot about him and I think it's very sexy from Europe to just say "nope" and push America away, even if for just one week.

And this isn't the first time: we basically showed Madonna in a corner in 2019, thanks to Mans, Eleni, Verka and Conchita. Once again, Europeans knows what they want: we don't want Americans. Australia can because they're like that little brother we took under our wing for no reason and now it's part of us. But not Americans.

The rest of the year is all yours, but one week is ours.

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5. That we can lose like bosses

This year, the voting results have been absolutely insane and FOUR COUNTRIES got zero points from the public, while the UK got both zero points from the public AND the jury.

Don't get me wrong, the song was bad. And yes, Brexit played a role in this. And yes, hating England is Europe’s favourite sport.

But can we please all take a moment and appreciate how James Newman reacted? The public gave him a round of applause and he celebrated this achievement like a boss.

And he had all the reasons! He achieved something incredible, he unlocked something that this new voting system was supposed to never lead to. But he did it. So hats off to you, my boy: My Last Breath was better.

Germany is also used to the bottom of the chart, but this year I really thought Jendrik could have a chance to achieve a higher position. The song was funny, carefree, lively, the hand costume was the kind of trash we need and the message was nice as well. But he still got 3 points.

Despite that, Jendrik celebrated like a maniac and seeing his this happy made me happy as well. I really wish him the best.

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6. That FUCK YOU JURY

Again, same message every year: the jury vote should be eliminated. It's a fucking farce and their votes have nothing to do with what the public want.

The jury focuses on the voices, except when they don't, and clearly giving points to your neighbours is because you like the song, not because they're your neighbours.

I usually make fun of Greece and Cyprus showing eternal love to each other, by giving 12 points to each other every year, but this time, it sounded even more stupid than usual. It really looked like a farce. Why should we see this farce? Why can't we just choose what the public wants? So at least we would blame ourselves for our shitty musical tastes.

Even if I'm pretty sure we all have great musical tastes. Let's not forget that in 2019 the public's winner was Norway, with a song that mixed english, a catchy rhythm and an amazing part in yoik language. Arcade is good as well, but we cannot deny the norwegian entry was a lot more interesting.

And this year, the public's taste was flawless:

Look at this beauty: italian glam rock, ukranian techno folk, french powerful ballad, finnish hard rock and whatever that thing was with Iceland.

There's variety, there's everything for everyone. And there are native languages. Italian, Ukranian, and French on top three, followed by English.

Moral of the story: the public is great and the jury should be abolished forever.

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7. That Ukranian technofolk is all we needed in our lives

I didn’t see enough love for Go_A, so as italian, I think it's my sworn duty to give my appreciation to them and their amazing entry, because this band is awesome and Shum is currently on top of the Spotify top 50 - as it should be, because everyone should listen to it and join this slavic rave party.

I already liked their entry for 2020, Solovey. But I also liked My Last Breath from the UK and Universo from Spain. And this year they brought two of the worst songs. So I was very wary of Go_A.

But Shum is an absolute blast. Katerina Pavlenko's voice is unique and the song is even more, because based on ukranian folklore and traditional dances to summon the spirit of spring. They managed to teach something to all Europe in a three minute song and I think that’s incredibly sexy of them.

And so, I searched for other songs and OMG, I don’t know how it’s possible, but they are all great. Rano-Ranenko, Zhalmenina, Tanula, they all are perfect and I’m in love with this band.

And if all of this is not enough, THEY DID A COVER OF DANCING LASHA TUMBAI. The most iconic Eurovision song, sang by our god Verka. And this is the coolest, most badass cover ever in the whole universe. Please listen to it HERE everyone needs to hear this.

So thank you, Ukraine, for giving us Go_A. We all had a small empty place in our hearts and this place has ben perfectly filled by them.

And yif you think you don’t need ukranian technofolk, is only because you still haven’t listened to it. Please listen and enjoy Shum. You’re welcome.

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8. That rock and roll never dies (and Italy’s well deserved victory)

The last time Italy won was in 19-fucking-90. 31 years ago. I was just born.

And now, they finally won again. And what a song! Despite being italian, I've never listened to Maneskin before, but oh damn, this song is good. Not all their songs are, but this one is. And also Morirò da re.

Their show was perfect as well. This post is really eye-opening about how well they put on their show. The use of the stage, the movements, everything has been part of a great performance, even their clothes. Damiano's voice never faltered, despite having an entire continent watching him. They handled the stage like bosses, despite being only in their twenties. And they gave us some good fucking rock.

And so the public said a loud "FUCK YOU" to the jury and chose its winners. The sassy, sexy italians.

And yes, I know that there has been a lot of petty polemics because those youngsters are having drugs!1!! as if they were a bunch of idiots who used drugs on international TV, with their manager sitting next to them.

Of course it was a pointless accusation and honestly I don't care if some people are sore losers. The drug results were negative anyway, what a shocker.

What we should truly think about is how strong the Maneskin's bladders are, because they spent the whole evening of the final drinking the entire alcohol supply of the Eurovision and, at the end, they were still happy and cool. Hats off to you, you sexy people.

This man is just iconic, why did I miss him before.

Also, have some more Maneskin. You know, as a treat.

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9. That solidarity and wholesomeness are the biggest winners

It's just beautiful to see these nice people, from all over Europe, bonding, having fun, taking photos together and being friends.

The true winner of this, is probably Norway: Tix wanted to have a good time and he had a good time. The video of him vibing with Ukraine and Germany while listening Hard Rock Hallelujah is the best (HERE). His love story with Efendi from Azerbaijan is even better (please, check the video on his youtube channel, it's hilarious). I don't like his song, but he's a great guy and deserves everything.

The italian and finnish rock relationship is also great. Maneskin and Dark Sides found each other, considering they were the only two rock bands in the competition, so mutual appreciation was inevitable.

But Damiano is also a man of culture and he appreciates Ukraine's entry. And Ukraine appreciates both Finland and Italy. Is this what world peace looks like? Because I love it.

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10. That Italians will be Europe's clowns again (and you're all allowed to make fun of us)

Beware, Europe: we Italians are messy and chaotic, our presenters don’t know a single word in English, we are homoerotic AND homophobic at the same time, our musical competitions are so fucking sloooow... let’s say next year’s Eurovision is going to be interesting.

And yes, you’re allowed to make fun of us. We don’t care, we won, so we deserve to be Europe’s clowns once again.

And I don’t know who the presenters will be (my bets are on everyone’s favourites: Fiorello, Amadeus and Malgioglio), I don’t know how we will ridicule ourselves once again, I don’t know where will we find the money to put on the show, I don’t know how ungodly long it will be... but I know that Mans Zelmerlow will be part of it. This man loves Eurovision just like all of us, so I can already see him packing his suitcase and planning his flight to Italy. Come to us, Mans, we will wait for you. We actually need an English presenter, so if you have nothing else to do...

[fantasynamesbymeforyou]

Hey guys, it's my first Character Inspo post! This was an anonymous request for 2 characters, I've added their descriptions to distinguish them. Thank you anon for the request, this was fun! I hope I gave you some names you can use :-)

CHARACTER 1 male, albino, dark elf, magic user, good, loyal, determined, fond of animals (especially dogs and wolves), psychotic tendencies BUT not heartless, cares for everyone's safety, cares for his sister and foster family, rescued, adopted, and named by mercenaries who live in a wasteland

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If the mercenaries are literal and named him based on how he looks:

Albion - m (English) white

Alpheios - m (Greek) whiteness. Also: Alphenor

Átuay - m/f (Banjal) the white one

Báine - m/f (Irish) whiteness, pallor

Belián - m (Hungarian) white

Bled - m (Albanian) pale. In English it is the past tense of bleeding

Fingal - m (Scottish Gaelic) white stranger. Also: Fingall, Fionnghall, Finn, Fynn

Hayan - m/f (Korean) white, pale

Shirako - m/f (Japanese) white child

Wynn - m (Welsh) white, fair, blessed. Also: Wyn, Wynne

If the mercenaries are poetic and gave him a name with a pretty/magical meaning:

Abera - m (Ethiopian) light, he shines

Fannar - m (Icelandic) snow drift

Galdur - m (Icelandic) magic chant

Garanwyn - m (Welsh) white heron

Lebanah - m (Hebrew) white. A poetic name for the moon

Melrakki - m (Icelandic) arctic fox, white fox

Rajnish - m (Sanskrit) lord of the night. A poetic term for the moon

Ren - m/f (Japanese) white silk

Sengphet - m/f (Lao) light like a diamond, light as a gem

Yeong-Ho - m (Korean) reflecting bright light, luminous

If the mercenaries want him to be a good person or gave him an affectionate name:

Admase - m (Amharic) my diamond

Cuán - m (Irish) little wolf, little hound

Faolán - m (Irish) little wolf

Hyeon-Jeong - m/f (Korean) shining and loyal, glittering and virtuous

Ikhlas - m/f (Arabic) sincerity, devotion, loyalty

Inayat - m (Urdu) care, concern

Sabu - m (Bengali) strong and loyal person

Sy-raykuo - m/f (Nganasan) little white one

True - m/f (English) real, honest, factual, trustworthy, loyal, faithful

Veran - m (Serbian) loyal, faithful

If the mercenaries are very aware that they are mercenaries living in a wasteland and want this baby to be strong:

Ahtimer - m (Chuvash) white iron

Amastan - m (Tuareg) protector, defender

Báiláng - m/f (Mandarin Chinese) white wolf

Blācwulf - m (Old English) pale wolf

Conven - m (Breton) white dog, white warrior

Hatim - m (Arabic) determined, decisive

Matoskah - m (Lakota) polar bear, white bear

Spinzar - m (Pashto) silver. Literally white metal

Tanwyn - m (Welsh) white fire

Warin - m (Ancient Germanic) guard, protect

CHARACTER 2 female, cat girl, sweet, kind, brave, determined, helpful, psychotic tendencies but wants to save the region and take down the evil organization, deeply cares about her foster family and brother, likes the moon and stars, flowers, and animals (especially cats, she can communicate with them), rescued, adopted, and named by mercenaries who live in a wasteland

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If the mercenaries are literal and named her based on how she looks:

Billee - m/f (Hindi) cat

Catta - f (Gaulish) cat

Kissa - f (Finnish) cat

Maew - f (Thai) cat

Mayet - f (Ancient Egyptian) the cat

Mee - f (Hmong) cat / noodle

Miem - f (Limburgish) cat

Mineko - f (Japanese) beautiful cat

Piris - f (Khakas) cat

Popoki - m/f (Hawaiian) cat

If the mercenaries are poetic and gave her a name with a pretty meaning:

Ayla - f (Turkish) moonlight, halo

Briallen - f (Welsh) primrose

Dahlia - f (English) a flower with large blooms. Also: Dalia

Eirlys - f (Welsh) snowdrop flower

Estera - f (Spanish) star. Also: Estere, Esteri, Esfir, Esther, Ester, Estee, Esti, Essi, Hester, Hettie

Gülay - f (Turkish) rose moon

Haneko - f (Japanese) cat amongst flowers, flower cat

Huraka - f (Sanskrit + Mandarin Chinese) tiger under a full moon

Lasy - f (Yi) tiger flower

Stelara - f (Esperanto) constellaion. Also: Stella

If the mercenaries want her to be a good person or gave her an affectionate name:

Āwhina - f (Maori) help, support

Canan - f (Turkish) sweetheart, beloved

Dulcinea - f (English) sweet. Also: Dulcie

Faria - f (Urdu) beautiful, kind, loving

Katida - f (Esperanto) kitten

Koneko - f (Japanese) kitten. Literally little cat

Latifa - f (Arabic) gentle, kind

Miela - f (Esperanto) sweet like honey

Minette - f (French) kitten

Sayen - f (Mapuche) sweet, lovely

If the mercenaries are very aware that they are mercenaries living in a wasteland and want this baby to be strong:

Ari - m/f (Hebrew) lion. Also means kind, compassionate, friendly in Arabic.

Brava - f (Esperanto) valiant, brave

Kephirah - f (Hebrew) young lion

Klāua - m/f (Thai) brave and kind

Léonine - f (French) lion like

Meihu - f (Mandarin Chinese) beautiful tiger / rose tiger, gemstone tiger / younger sister tiger

Nhiriri - f (Shona) wild cat

Shere - m/f (Persian) tiger, lion

Tahmina - f (Persian) strong, brave, valiant

Torako - f (Japanese) tiger child

[nyaheum]

My yearly list of Eurovision songs after the first impression (I mean, for like, half of them. I heard snippets of some songs.). Judged on music videos, because...if I only listen to the songs on Spotify, my eyes get bored. :’)

(oh, and don’t talk to me about iceland’s placement, I know this might be unpopular)

X. Belarus

Fuck Belarus, all my homies hate Belarus. Not even going to grace them with a rating.

Norway (TIX – Fallen Angel)

...no. :( And it’s not even because Keiino didn’t win, I just wholeheartetly hate this song. And I’m kinda sorry to TIX, because he seems like a cool dude and his stage outfit is absolutely hilarious, but oh my god do I hate this song with an absolute burning passion.

Poland (RAFAL – The Ride)

eye emoji mouth emoji eye emoji – well, this is a non-qualifier if I’ve ever seen one. Can we just...skip this?

Belgium (Hooverphonic – The Wrong Place)

Nap time! This song annoys me. I cannot explain it, but it gives me a headache and my whole body is revolting against this song. I am not kidding. Objectively, I don’t even hate it, but there’s just something about it...that makes me go...hnghgng…

North Macedonia (Vasil – Here I Stand)

eye emoji mouth emoji eye emoji ver. 2 – I am not trying to sound mean, but does North Macedonia do any music that is not dramatic power ballads? I’m serious. (And I don’t like it, sorry. :((...except for the high notes, I like them. When he can hit them live.)

Estonia (Uku Suviste – The Lucky One)

This (the music video)...is soft porn. I am slightly scared of Uku. I don’t know why. But, uh...this is better than last year’s song? Still, it wouldn’t qualify under my watch, whoops.

Georgia (Tornike Kipiani – You)

He stopped yelling angrily at the microphone. :((( Nah, but this isn’t my thing. It’s great that they are doing their own thing, it’s just not really my thing...it also reminds me of a song I know, damn.

Austria (Vincent Bueno - Amen)

He looks like a german youtuber. I don’t know hich one, but he looks like one. I also canot tell if he’s 18 or 38, lol. (For some reason he also reminds me of Alex Albon, which is even weirder.)...oh, uh, the song? Idk, I don’t care for I. It’s fine.

Spain (Blas Cantó – Voy A Querdarme)

Confession: I’m probably the only person who actually doesn’t like the sound of Spanish all that much. Whoops. Apart from that though, I’m not the biggest fan of this song. Can’t really say more about that. Meh.

The Netherlands (Jeangu Macrooy – Birth Of A New Age)

Listen: I really like the tone of this voice. It’s great. I am not a fan of the song. There’s something just very off about the loud percussions (?) in the background that make me go absolutely crazy when listening to this. My sensory-overload-prone ears hate it, and I’m sorry...the part before the last chorus on the other hand I love. The whole song could have sounded like that and I would have loved it. (...and I can’t unhear “You are my broccoli – You know my broccoli!” ;-;)

Azerbaijan (Efendi – Mata Hari) Whenever I see Efendi, my brain still goes “Cleopatrrrrra!”, oof. This song sounds like a song I know. Which...is super unprecice, but I genuinely don’t know which one. I do like that they kept the weird pre-chorus thing from Cleopatra (and reference the song later on), but I must say that I liked Cleopatra more...but it’s a party song, so I think it will be fun on stage!

Romania (ROXEN - Amnesia)

I didn’t like her song last year, I don’t enjoy this all too much and I’m kinda sorry but also...I don’t want to apologize for my taste in music, lmao. I want her hair though. Give me her hair.

Denkmark (Fyr & Flamme – Ove Os Pa Hinanden)

Ring ding ding, native language bonus. This is also way more fun than I thought it would be, hah. VERY retro, but I don’t hate that? :D (this and sweden really aren’t any different in terms of how much I like them)

Portugal (The Black Mama – Love Is On My Side)

I can appreciate this. I just wish it was in Portuguese, honestly. I don’t really know if I like the English for this song. That being said, I don’t know if you can make these very specific tones (you know what I mean) in portuguese without it sounding super off, so…

Ireland (Lesley Roy – Maps)

Okay, you do you Ireland. :D

Israel (Eden Alene – Set Me Free)

This exists. :D

Cyprus (Elena Tsagrinou – El Diablo)

Cyprus came to party, and I can’t be mad at that. I just don’t know why everybody in the YouTube comments loves this SO MUCH that they are sure that it will win if it gets the jury votes. I don’t think it’s as good as Fuego or She Got Me were, but maybe I just have no taste in party music. I don’t party. (Only if you got a 2000s playlist and some iced tea.)

France (Barbara Pravi – Voilà)

FRANCE sending a BALLAD? In MY Eurovision? It’s more likely than you think. It’s good, objectively. Personally, I don’t really care for it all that much and feel like I already know it.

United Kingdom (Embers – James Newman)

A good, modern song? In my british eurovision song? What happened on the Isles over quarantine? Are you guys okay? Did you find yourself? Have you taken your last breath (breath!) and looked at your past results? I’m impressed enough to put this relatively high, wow.

Serbia (Hurricane – LOCO LOCO)

*adore delano voice* party! Oh, and native language bonus...for a party song! I’m...impressed, actually. I cannot decide wheter I prefer this or Hasta La Vista, but I think it’s this one? The flows smoother, if that means literally anything.

Bulgaria (VICTORIA – Growing Up Is Getting Old)

*shrugs* I think a lot of people will like this. And I get that. I think I even understand it...yeah. I didn’t like her song last year either. It’s just personal preference, I think. I just want to have fun during Eurovision, hah.

Finland (Blind Channel – Dark Side)

Finland: FUCK YOU!!! Germany: Fuck you. <3

That’s all I’ll say, we know how the Finnish are, this is not surprising, lmao. (And I’m one of those children that grew up on Rammstein, so I legally cannot dislike this.)

Croatia (Albina - Tick-Tock)

Tick-tock, can you hear me go tick-tock? My heart is like a clock, I'm steady like a rock-...oh wait, wrong tick-tock! Still, really enjoy this song’s chorus – I actually enjoy it so much that it makes up for the utter loss of interest I experience once it’s over, chrm.

Sweden (Tusse – Voices)

I mean...let’s be honest, it’s a generic swedish pop song. It sounds like every other Swedish entry, and I think that bothers me. I know, that sounds kind of...weird, looking at my choices higher up in the list, but...meh. I think this will easily qualify for the Final and place high, and I am totally okay with that. It’s just not...what I wanted, I guess? :D (and i’m sorry but as a german-speaker I cannot get over the name “tusse”) (oh, and tusse seems to be super cool)

Albania (Anxhela Peristeri - Karma)

Oh, we’re going to war in 130 A.D.? Fine, let me just pack my spear and- oh, Albania has already sent a singer? Ah, well, might as well give up and just vibe.

Czech Republic (Benny Cristo - omaga)

This sounds fun. Not a winner or anything, but fun. I’ll probably still be on Twitter when he’s performing, whoops.

Slovenia (Ana Sklic - Amen)

Wait, there’s TWO songs called Amen? And why do I actually kinda like this? Oh well, might as well just accept it. (Her voice though...mhmmhmhm…yes please)

Iceland (Dadi og Gagnamagnid – 10 Years)

We just vibin’. I liked Think About Things more, but I’m very much biased here...because I’ve known that song for a year now. But this is still very good, and very on brand. (And I understand like...half of the lyrics, but I am okay with that.)

Australia (Montaigne - Technicolour)

not australia flexing at all of europe that they can hold big gatherings! D: oh, but I like this way more than last years song. I feel like Montaigne can show her GREAT voice way better in this song. (Even though her outfit and the sound of the song reminds me of the UK song that had...a dude run on the stage. I can’t think of the word for it right now.)

Malta (Destiny – Je Me Casse)

Destiny’s voice is just….wow. This is very different than All My Love, but it’s fun. The topic of the lyrics kinda remind me of Toy, and I like that…..I don’t really like the music video (especially the dancers in the colorful dresses? idk), but I’ll just ignore that.

Germany (I Don’t Feel Hate - Germany)

Confession time: I actually actively enjoy this song. Everybod is shitting on it, but it’s FUN and it has a good message, and Jendrik seems like the nicest dude ever and...it doesn’t deserve all the hate it’s getting? It’s completely self-produced and just fun. Stop being mean. :(

(...also someone on youtube said “pewdiepie” and I can’t unsee that now so fuck you >:((...no, no I don’t feel hate, just rethink your life choices)

Moldova (Natalia Gordienko - SUGAR)

What in the “Eis.de ist in der Kiste” is this music video? And I thought I would absolutely hate this song, but I actually don’t mind it all that much. It’s actually fun. Oh no, I’m splipping, someone catch me, aaaaaahhhhh….(and that poor cake dude. Is this song about cannibalism? Does she want to eat him?)

San Marino (Senhit – Adrenalina)

Catch me hum the chorus of this song at least once a day...but honestly, without any malicious intent: what the actual FUCK san marino? This is so much better than Freaky, and even though I do not believe for one second that this will win, the simple outragiousness of bringing Flo Rida to Eurovision deserves attention. (Bringing someone like Flo Rida to ESC sounds more like Scandinavia/Bulgaria, doesn’t it?)

Russia (Manizha – Russian Woman)

Not gonna lie, I miss Little Big, but at least they are sending something that’s at least as weird. I love that. Russian Rap is cool as fuck anyway, so I’m fully here for this...but I’m glas this song doesn’t have a music video, this just has to be a live performance. (Oh, and another strong woman!)

Ukraine (Go_A – SHUM)

I’m SO glad Go_A are back. But, let me be completely honest: I know why they had to change the lyrics, but I still liked the first version better. BUT I feel like the new one will grow and me and it will climb one or two places, because the Instrumental just slaps SO HARD. (Makes me feel like putting on a Cybergoth outfit and start dancing at a German industrial park, lmao.)

Latvia (Samanta Tina – The Moon Is Rising)

Does this count as my guilty pleasure this year? I loved her song last year, and this sounds similar, so...I like this too. It sounds modern as fuck (well, for Europe, you know) and I can definitely...”vibe” with that. I genuinely really enjoy this, and I don’t know why. (Even though I prefer last years drop.) A lot of “strong, independent women”-songs this year, and I’m not complaining.

Switzerland (Gjon’s Tears – Tout l’Univers)

Just so we’re clear, this and Italy share the exact same spot. I just cannot compare them at all. Gjon’s voice just takes me hostage throughout this whole song and won’t let me go. And everything that isn’t english/is in the countries offical language immediately gets plus points from me. As if this song needed them anyway.

Lithuania (The Roop – Discoteque)

Aaaaaand...dance break! Good, I just love them so much, it’s not even funny anymore. And I’ve been singing this song randomly since it came out. I can’t stop. It has burned itself into my brain. Let’s dis-co-teque right at my home! *waves arms around with no sign of coordination*

(and does anyone else feel like he’s serhat, just with a different alignment? Like, they are both chaotic, but serhat is chaotic neutral and he’s either chaotic good or chaotic bad, it really depends on the way he looks at the camera)

Italy (Maneskin – Zitti E Buoni)

Italy delivers, as they do every year. Not only do I really like this song (it is very much my genre), THIS is an aesthetic I can get behind! Knowing Eurovision, I doubt it will win, but damn if it won’t be super fun! (I am so glad this won Sanremo, hah.)

[winterballads]

I was tagged by @shiremaiden and @legoilas in two ask games, thanks so much! 💘🌸

20 songs I’ve been listening to lately

As I’ve been doing a lot of these in the past weeks, thought I’d simply put my yt favourites (from the past ten years or so) on shuffle and see what happens 👀

Bruxa Theme  (from The Witcher 3)

Kodaline - Shed a Tear

Il Volo - Questo Amore

Avenged Sevenfold - Nightmare

Paolo Nutini - Iron Sky

Alec Benjamin ft. Alessia Cara - Let Me Down Slowly

House Targaryen Theme (from Game of Thrones)

The Strokes - You Only Live Once

Thomas Bergersen - Soulseeker

Dancing in the Rain (from The Tudors)

Stand Strong, Stand Together (from Mass Effect)

Tum Ko (from Rockstar)

Sabrina Claudio - Messages From Her

Mystery / Regis Theme (from The Witcher 3)

Thomas Bergersen - Into Darkness

God Particle (from Angels & Demons)

Rhapsody ft. Christopher Lee - The Magic of the Wizard’s Dream

Avril Lavigne - Tell Me It’s Over

KALEO - Vor í Vaglaskógi

Sigrid - Dynamite (Acoustic)

5 things about myself I want my followers to know

I have a huge Tolkien collection 💗 The inventory I did the other day revealed I own 22 CDs/DVDs/cassettes and 64 books in total, and that doesn’t even include the many other items and mementos I have 🙈 

The movies I’ve watched most times at the cinema are AVATAR (about ten times, I think) and Mad Max: Fury Road (five times) 🤓 Obv I also watch the LOTR trilogy every time they do a cinema marathon sdfgsd

If I had more time and energy, I’d spend it all learning languages! I’m more or less fluent in French, English, German, Norwegian, Danish and Swedish and have some (mostly very minimal) knowledge of Quenya, Old English, Na’vi, Sindarin, Irish, Welsh, Spanish, Italian and Russian 🌈 Next on my list are Finnish, Icelandic, Faroese, Old Norse, Arabic and Portuguese 🥰 

After thinking about this much too long and seriously, I finally decided the other day that my Patronus / spirit animal is the raven (thanks @mugglemirror for our nice chat about this 💕)

As a teenager, I had super intense AFI, Avenged Sevenfold and Tokio Hotel phases 😂

Tagging @amantisegreti @technicallysideacc @sunflowrhaz @mugglemirror @le-chardonneret @spellboundzouis @going-there-and-back-again @feanarofinwion @valaruakars @houseofmaedhros and the people who tagged me to do whatever part of this you want 💛✨

[songlordsbug]

Lost in Translation Prompts

I got the book Lost in Translation a couple of Christmases back. It’s a book of words that don’t have direct translations in English. It’s a gorgeous combination of descriptioin and illlustration. I thought it would make a fabulous prompt list.

So recently @fluffyhallokitties and I have been using it as such. I thought other people might like them as well, so I’ve typed them up, though it doesn’t include all of the description or of course any of the wonderful illustrations. If you like the list, go ahead and create, but also consider checking out the book, it is amazing!

Palegg, norwegian- n. Anything and everything you can put on a slice of bread.

Commuovere, italian- v. To be moved in a heartwarming way, usually relating to a story that moved you to tears.

Mangata, swedish- n. The road-like reflection of the moon in the water.

Samar, arabic- n. Staying up late long after the sun has gone down and having an enjoyable time with friends.

Gesellig, dutch- adj. Describes much more than just coziness- a positive warm emotion or feeling rather than just something physical- and connotes time spent with loved ones, togetherness.

Glaswen, welsh- n. This leterally means a “blue smile”; one that is sarcastic or mocking.

Meraki, greek- adj. Pouring yourself wholeheartedly into something, such as cooking, and doing so with soul, creativity, and love.

Kilig, tagalog- n. The feeling of butterflies in your stomach, usually when something romantic or cute takes place.

Pisan Zapra, malay- n. The time needed to eat a banana.

Jugaad, hindi- n. Ensuring that things happen with minimal resources, if they happen “by hook or by crook.”

Fika, swedish- v. Gathering together to talk and take a break from everyday routines, usuallly drinking coffee and eating pastries- either at a face or at home- often for hours on end.

Hiraeth, welsh- n. A homesickness for somewhere you cannot return to, the nostalgia and the grief for the lost places of your past, places that never were.

Tima, icelandic- v. Not being ready to spend time or money on a specific thing, despite being able to afford it.

Komorebi, japanese- n. The sunlight that filters through the leaves of the trees.

Razliubit, russian- v. To fall out of love, a bittersweet feeling.

Kummerspeck, german- n. Literally meaning “grief-bacon”, this word refers to the excess weight we can gain from emotional overeating.

Boketto, japanese- n. Gazing vacantly into the distance without really thinking about anything specific.

Vacilando, spanish- v. Traveling when the experience itself is more important than the destination.

Karelu, tulu- n. The mark left on the skin by wearing something tight.

Jayus, indonesian- n. This refers to a joke so terrible and so unfunny that you cannot help but laugh.

Shlimazel, yiddish- n. Someone who seems to have nothing but bad luck.

Ubuntu, nguni bantu- n. Essentialy meaning “I find my worth in you, and you find your worth in me.” Can be (very) roughly translated as human kindness.

Gurfa, arabic- n. The amount of water that can be held in one hand.

Trepverter, yiddish- n. A witty riposte or comeback you think of only when it is too late to use. Literally, “staircase words”.

Struisvogelpolitiek, dutch- n. Literally, “ostrich politics”. Acting like you don’t notice when something bad happens and continuing on regardless as you normally would.

Wabi-Sabi, japanese- n. Finding beauty in the imperfections, an acceptance of the cycle of life and death.

Mamihlapinatapai, yaghan- n. A silent acknowledgement and understanding between two people, who are both wishing or thinking the same thing (and are both unwilling to initiate).

Resfeber, swedish- n. The restless beat of a traveler’s heart before the journey begins, as mixture of anxiety and anticipation.

Tiam, farsi- n. The twinkle in your eye when you first meet someone.

Ya’aburnee, arabic- n. Meaning “you bury me”, a beautifully morbid declaration of one’s hope that they will die before another person, as it would be too difficult living without them.

Feuillemort, french- adj. Having the color of a faded, dying leaf.

Poronkusema, finnish- n. The distance a reindeer can comfortably travel before taking a break.

Warmduscher, german- n. Refers to someone who would only take a warm shower (not an icy cold or burning hot one), implying that they are a bit of a wimp, and unwilling to step outside of their comfort zone.

Nunchi, korean- n. The subtle, often unnoticed art of listening and fuessing another’s mood.

Akihi, hawaiian- n. Listening to directions and then walking off and promptly forgetting them means that you’ve gone “akihi.”

Murr-Ma, wagiman- v. The act of searching for something in the water with only your feet.

Goya, urdu- n. A transporting suspension of disbelief -- and “as-if” that feels like reality -- such as in good storytelling.

Drachenfutter, german- n. Literally, “dragon-fodder.” The gift a husband gives his wife when he’s trying to make up for bad behavior.

Szimpatikus, hungarian- adj. When meeting someone for the first time, and your intuition tells you that they are a good person, you can refer to them as “szimpatikus.”

Iktsuaropok, inuit- n. The act of repeatedly going outside to keep checking someone (anyone) is coming.

Forelsket, norwegian- n. The indescribable euphoria experienced as you begin to fall in love.

Tretar, swedish- n. On its own, “tar” means a cup of coffee and “palar” is the refill of said coffee. A “tretar” is therefore a second refill, or a “threefill.”

Tsundoku, japanese- n. Leaving a book unread after buying it, typically piled up together with other unread books.

Sgriob, gaelic- n. Refers to the peculiar itchiness that settles on the upper lip before taking a sip of whiskey.

Kabelsalat, german- n. A word to describe a mess of very tangled cables, literally a “cable-salad.”

Naz, urdu- n. The pride and assurance that comes from knowing you are loved unconditionally.

Luftmensch, yiddish- n. Refers to somone who is a bit of a dreamer and literally means “air person.”

Saudade, portuguese- n. A vague, constant desire for something that does not and probably cannot exist, a nostalgic longing for someone or something loved and then lost.

Cotisuelto, caribbean spanish- n. A man who insists on wearing his shirt tail untucked.

Waldeinsamkeit, german- n. The feeling of being alone in the woods, an easy solitudeand a connectedness to nature.

Cafune, brasilian portuguese- n. The act of tenderly running your fingers through the hair of somebody you love.

Kalpa, sanskrit- n. The passing of time on a grand, cosmological scale.

[obsessivelollipoplalala]

I'm not a linguist, I am a language enthusiast, so my opinion isn't academic. However, UG doesn't seem to have a strong basis. Modern English is a confused mix of tons of languages and has changed over the centuries, making it very difficult to be the base of all grammar. Besides, English grammar is over simplified, languages such as German, Greek, Icelandic, Finnish, etc. have really complex grammar nothing in comparison to English. Translation, as you mentioned, is also an issue 1/2

I'll use Greek as an example. Translating Greek to English, can be quite a difficult task. Its grammar and syntax is so free and complex not to mention the language itself is very metaphoric that translating from one language to the other may sometimes result in misinformation. Context is really important for translations and I'm not even talking about historical texts Additionally, comparing English to certain languages (native-american or African languages and dialects) is impossible.

———————-

I copied and pasted your second message above, so let’s begin. There are basic features which appear across the world’s languages and while I understand the basis of wondering if there’s one base framework from which all languages are derived, the numerous, important differences between languages’ grammars are a bit too much to ignore, as you’ve mentioned. This might be a nitpick lol but I’m not sure if we can describe overall grammars as simpler or more complex than others—but maybe we can compare certain aspects. For a quick example, Spanish inflectional morphology has a lot more to it than English. I have a Greek friend following me so I’ll have to ask her about the comparisons between it and English grammar lol, but yeah I feel like no matter what the language is, context is incredibly important in translations. Direct translations are very flawed and miss a lot of nuance in the original text. If UG were totally true, then wouldn’t we be able to sort of do raw computations in translations and get a more accurate result? It’s all interesting to ponder.

And oh yeah, I don’t know much about African and indigenous languages, but the fact that the Japanese military and government weren’t able to figure out Navajo was being used as code during WWII goes to show just how wildly different languages can be.

[mourningmoth]

20 quebtions

answer 20 questions & tag other 20 bloggers that you’d like to get to know more.

tagged by @mushroomhater420 sgdjghfgf

1. name: zanna

2. nicknames: zanna isnt my legal name so technically its a nickname, just NO ONE EVER calls me my legal name lol but i also get called zenno, zan, zippy, basically many variations of zanna. also voryn

3. zodiac sign: Cancer

4. height: 5' even. MAYBE 5′ 1″?? idk either way short kings rise

5. spoken languages: JHKJHJG OH BOY HHHHH: english and angloromani are my native languages.

i can also speak varying amounts of japanese, finnish, and kalderash romani.

i can also speak itty bitty baby amounts of irish, dutch, spanish, and hawaiian.

in the past ive studied MORE languages, i just didnt retain a bunch of knowledge of them. they are: hungarian, xhosa, mandarin, icelandic

i can also read many many different variants of runic alphabets (diff cultures had difference variations on common runes and some were different entirely!)

i also love conlang and i have a working knowledge of a few fictional languages, depending on how developed those conlangs are (i know small amounts of ayliedoon, aldmeris and dunmeris from TES, quenya from LotR, and darnassian and thalassian from WoW) (i LOVE languages jkhjgjhg)

6. nationality: stinky USA american

7. favourite season: autumn bc im big bitch

8. favourite flower: OOOOOOOOOOOH i like snapdragons, hibiscus, hydrangea, orchids, and bleeding hearts!!

9. favourite scent: mmmm many, i like the smell of fresh bread and rain and trees and leather

10. favourite color: bro im a slut for All colours p much but i LOVE greens and also burgundy and i LOVE dusty, pink-infused purples

11. favourite animal: TIGERS and also MOTHS and CICADAS and MANTIS and CATS IN GENERAL

12. favourite fictional character: HHHH bro i cant decide ok so heres a small sampling: Envy (FMA), Voryn/Dagoth Ur (TES), Almalexia (TES), Vivec (TES), Daryl Dixon (TWD yes i know leave me alone about it), Angel (Borderlands), Amara (Borderlands), Zer0 (Borderlands), Link (LoZ)

13. coffee, tea or hot chocolate: coffeeeEEEE but only cold blended coffees i dont like hot drinks in general. i also like various iced teas, mostly citrus green tea or peach black tea, but ive never been huge on hot choc

14. average sleep hours: 6

15. dog or cat person: kitty..............

16. number of blankets you sleep with: just 1 comforter

17. dream trip: oh dang idk id LOVE to visit a lot of places in europe and asia

18. blog established: august 2011 bc im CRUSTY

19. how many followers do you have: 336 on this blog. 332 on my art blog. 1845 on my TES blog

20. random fact: wow idk uh i have fucked up finger joints, almost all of my fingers are double jointed and i have hitchhiker’s thumbs, and my wrists can also bend so far that i can touch my arm with the thumb of the same hand. i also have the MTHFR gene mutation.

i dont really feel close enough to a lot of people to tag them for this im sorry just yoink this from me and we’ll say i tagged u skjgdjhf

[rogeredtaylor]

okay so I decided to make an oc to ship present day roger with (super super inspired by @siriuslymooned‘s ophelia + these headcanons in particular :’)) SO yeah. silly headcanons under the cut.

her full name is dagný rebecca adler. her mother’s icelandic, her father’s english. both are jewish, though not particularly religious. she celebrates the more important holidays.

her parents split up when she was three years old. they’d never been married. very close to her mother. mostly cut her father out of her life when she turned eighteen.

she has three half siblings. despite her difficult relationship with her father, is very close to her siblings (one sister and two brothers).

was a child actress. was in a soap opera for a few years, until a plot line made her leave. did some movies, and did some dubs for films in icelandic. by the time she was thirteen, she quit acting to focus on school.

huge nerd. she doesn’t particularly seem it, but she loves learning. literally anything!!!! but her main thing is languages. english and icelandic are her main languages, and she took french and spanish in school. then she threw latin onto the growing pile. she can also speak hebrew, german, finnish, swedish, polish, italian, is learning mandarin and knows a very small amount of japanese. so she’s uh super fixated on languages.

rants about misuse of words

loves painting her nails. especially with super bright colours.

she wants tattoos but is really scared of needles.

started her music career when she was 19. mostly she’s a singer, but she also plays guitar and a little piano. her voice is kinda a mix of hayley williams and tori kelly. her english accent pretty much goes away when she sings.

is either very chill or very dramatic. there’s no in between.

has two cats, a girl called hella and a boy called astro

met roger for the first time in 2015. it was a pretty small event she’d been invited to. they only briefly talked, and didn’t see each other for a few months.

met again at a new years party. may or may not have shared a new years kiss 👀

dagný’s past relationships haven’t been very good, and she’d never dated anyone with such a significant age gap, so she was a bit nervous about starting anything serious. so for a little while it was more of a friends with benefits situation.

they took things pretty slow at first, letting her set the pace. didn’t tell any friends or family they were together until about a year into the relationship, and took a few months to go public.

after they went public, she posted so many photos to instagram.

likes flirting with roger in different languages. especially icelandic.

got back into acting, had some small roles in films + bigger roles in a few english tv shows. eventually got a lead role in a big film or something. also a lil’ cameo in borhap :’^)

uh major sweet tooth. wants to play literally any disney princess in a live action adaptation. jumps around a lot, v energetic. bisexual icon.

[bisebise]

Tagged by @lempeimmin & @tahtisadetikku thanksss!

1. Nickname: Rausku, Rousku, Rane (Rakkaudenhedelmä)

2. Gender: Woman

3. Zodiac: Aquarius

4. Height: 165 cm

5. Age: 27

6. Time: 21:41

7. Favorite bands / Solo Artists: Frank Ocean, The National, Bloc Party, FKA twigs, Empress Of, The Hearing, ABRA, Keaton Henson, HAIM, Grimes, How To Dress Well, Syd, SBTRKT, Scandinavian Music Group... just to mention a few.

8. Song stuck in my head: Lykke Li - sex money feelings die

9. Last movie I saw: Honey (yesss I love cheesy dance movies)

10. Last thing I googled: Indya Moore (she’s my latest crush, do watch “Pose” on HBO/etc. if you haven’t already!!)

11. Other blogs: Not active anymore.

12. Do I get asks: Nope, but wouldn’t mind getting some!

13. Why I chose my username: “Bise” means a small kiss in French and since I love the language (and kissing haha) I wanted to have something cute in French so voilà!

14. Following: 206

15. Average amount of sleep: Varies a lot and my sleeping schedule is pretty fucked up currently buuut I’d say average is something around 7 hours??

16. Lucky number: Don’t really have one but 8 is a nice number

17. What am I wearing: Black biking/roller derby shorts, sports bra, a loose top

18. Dream job: Helping the victims/survivors of domestic and/or sexual violence.

19. Dream Trip: Train ride through Siberia and Mongolia etc., Iceland, New Zealand.

20. Favorite food: Home made pizza.

21. Play any instrument: I used to play the trumpet for a while like 10+ years ago but I think I could still get a sound out of it hehe. Can play piano with one hand lol.

22. Favorite song: Right now it’s Forget About Life by Alvvays.

23. Play(ed) any sport: ROLLER DERBY <3 (Started like 4 months ago and I loooove it!!) Also, did basketball in the past.

24. Hair colour: Blond with a hint of light red/orange from dyeing it in the beginning of this year.

25. Eye colour: Green.

26. Language you speak/are learning: Finnish, English, French, Swedish + basics of Spanish & German

27. Random fact: I like cooking & baking for a large group of people but get super lazy when I need to do it just for myself.

28. Describe yourself as an aesthetic/things: Floral tattoos, pastels, melancholy, biking, nightless nights, light pink sky, skinny dipping, long train rides, softness, feminism, overalls, nail polish, not shaving, poems written on phone notes, bold dance moves, vulnerability, playlists, solitude.

Tagging @usvaisaa @sunnuntaioloja @punaviinimaria @kajsakarolina yay! <3

[nordic-language-love]

3, 4, and 11 please ✨

Thank you!

3) Are there any languages that you’ve studied in the past but don’t anymore? Why did you stop learning them?

Soooo many:

French - the first foreign language I learned, I stopped studying when I was 16 because my teacher/classes were boring af (I was like B1/B2 level and it was supposed to be A-level [basically intermediate] French, but we were going over possessive pronouns) and I had too much else going on in my life so I stopped going to classes. Eventually my teacher told me to either come to class or drop the subject, so I dropped it (he then begged me to come back lol). I've tried picking it up since but all the grammar that used to come naturally to me is just gone, and I don't want to have to relearn it.

German - another language I learned at school and just stopped after I left

Latin - also learned in school, dropped in favour of doing Theatre Studies

Russian - I only really learned the Cyrillic alphabet before I got bored. Pretty much only wanted to learn it because I had a crush on a Russian guy in my class but then I went off him so there was no reason to learn anymore lol

Gaulish - briefly dabbled while I was at school, stopped learning because it was basically impossible to learn back in 2007 with limited resources

Polish - stopped because it was difficult and I wanted to focus on Norwegian

Dutch - stopped because it was getting confusing with Norwegian

Danish - stopped because it’s basically Norwegian anyway and it seemed pointless to learn both

Spanish - stopped because my teacher wasn't very inspiring and because my dad was pressuring me to move to Tenerife with him

I'm also kinda taking a break from Finnish/Icelandic to focus on other things (Norwegian & Japanese) but I love them too much to say I've "stopped" learning them.

4) What things would you change about the Langblr Community if you could?

I'm not sure really. I think langblr's evolved and matured a LOT since I first started out in 2016, and more and more I'm seeing sensible discussions instead of ~*dIsCoUrSe*~, which makes me happy. Mostly I wish people were more active atm, my dash is  d e a d  right now. And maybe if people could stop describing certain learning methods as ineffective or problematic just because they don't work for them personally, that'd be cool.

11) What are some things that you don’t like / find frustrating about the language you’re learning?

Norwegian - the word “brystvorte”. Eww.

Japanese - katakana. Why. You already have hiragana. Why katakana.

Finnish - plurals. I have never wanted to cry because of a language so much as when I started learning the nominative plural.

Thanks for the questions! :D

[bisexual-in-every-gender]

Language related survey

1- I can do Australian accents

2- I know where Madagascar is

3- Je peux parler français

4- I can’t speak French

5- I am partially Russian

6- I like Swiss cheese

7- I have lived/am living outside the States

8- I have tasted REAL Chinese food

9- I have attempted to learn Japanese

10- I know what the South African word ‘Tskudu’ means

11- I know someone who speaks fluent Norwegian

12- I can say ‘I love you’ in more than five languages besides English (ich liebe dich, te amo, ti amo, je t’aime, minä rakastan sinua,我爱你 )

13- I have in the past fallen for the story, “Haggis is a three-legged rodent”

14- I have always been aware that Haggis is actually sheep gut

15- I can read the Cyrillic alphabet

16- I understand slang from other countries

17- I have tasted Belgian chocolate

18- I have a penpal who doesn’t speak English

19- I have songs on my iPod/MP3 that aren’t in English (a lot! I have songs in German, Spanish, French, Finnish, Italian, Mandarin, Japanese, Norwegian and Icelandic!)

20- I know what ‘croque-monsieur’ is

21- I know where Helsinki is

22- Minä puhun suomi (by the way, this is grammatically wrong. It’s supposed to be “minä puhun suomea)

23- I don’t have a clue what language that’s in

24- I have been lost in a foreign country

25- French wine is the best

26- I can cuss in multiple languages

27- I understand the Greek alphabet

28- I think Swedish is a pretty language

29- I have never heard spoken Swedish

30- I can play bagpipes

31- I think Scottish accents are cute

32- I have been to Hong Kong

33- I think anime would be better if it was in Japanese with English subtitles

34- The majority of my friends are not from my home country

35- I often think it would be cool to speak Polish

36- I don’t have a clue where Thailand is

37- I understand the term, “fucking British weather”

38- People speaking in foreign languages unnerve me

39- I can speak other languages besides English fluently (namely German and Spanish. I also speak Finnish and Mandarin but by no means fluently)

40- English is not my first language

[gwyvian]

Secrets about Gwyvian

Tagged by my awesome friend @differentrunawayengineer!

I pass on the tagging stick to @reignitedn7 and @kunoislayr (only if you want to of course), and I invite my fans to post, too, tag me if you do!

Name: Lucy/Luca (Hungarian version).

Nickname: Gwyvian/Gwyv, Widdershins/Widders/Widd (fairly old one, what I used to go by on the internet), Faewydd/Fae, crazy person (just kidding... not.) and some others.

Zodiac sign: Taurus.

Height: 163cm-ish? People keep telling me I’m wrong...

Language(s) spoken: English, Hungarian fluently (bilingual), passive conversational German, active basic Italian, started learning a gazillion other languages (Japanese, Gaelic, Polish, Finnish, French, Turkish, Spanish, Romanian, Turkish, Arabic, Norwegian, YES I’M A LANGUAGE NERD, OK)... etc. I study languages academically.

Fav fruit: can’t pick just one I love most fruits deeply! In no particular order: any and all citruses in massive quantities, blueberries, strawberries, watermelon, mango, etc.

Fav. season: spring. Love autumn, too.

Fav. scent(s): rain, lilacs, roses, cinnamon, coffee.

Fav. color(s): changes all the time, but purple and black are at the top most of the time.

Fav. animal(s): cheetahs, cats of all shapes and sizes, hummingbirds, owls, most other birds, camels, elephants, whales, geckos... I really like animals.

Fav. drink(s): water (believe it), coffee and tea (obsessed with both), orange juice.

Avg. hours of sleep: mostly 6-10 because I try to be normal and sometimes fail.

Fav. fictional character(s):  right now at the top of my list in no particular order would be Bayek (a littleextremely obsessed with Assassin’s Creed Origins right now), Evfra (of course), Akksul (of course), Jaal (shocking, I know), angarans in general (...), Iorveth, Javik, Garrus, Solas, Dorian, Abelas, Tali, Triss, Altair, Egwene (and most Wheel of Time characters), Spock, Data, Odo, Capt. Picard, Detective Joe Miller (and pretty much anyone and everyone in The Expanse), the entire Discovery crew past and present, Takeshi Kovacs, and I could go on and on and on and you’d never reach the end of this post!

Blankets: minimum one. That’s all I ask.

Dream trip: Egypt, Italy, Australia, Morocco, UK, Iceland, Turkey, I could probably list most countries in the world because I pretty much want to go everywhere and visit friends around the world, and if it were possible I totally would visit the Renaissance, Ancient Egypt, and so many other historically significant places/eras. Also if it were possible, so many fantasy/sc-fi lands I’d love to visit/inhabit because above all else I am a huge nerd.

Relationship status: wouldn’t you love to know! I’m kidding, I’m married. With benefits!

Ships: well anyone who can’t guess my top ships needs to acquaint themselves with my Tumblr, but apart from the obvious (Evfra/Akksul/angara/quarians) right now I’m (still) shipping: ShepardxJavik, CirixAvellac’h, LorcaxMichael, GeraltxIorveth, KovacsxOrtega, and so many more it would take an eternity to list. Probably my list of favorite characters is a good guide...

Last song: Sound and Vision, from the album Low by David Bowie.

Last movie: The Titan on Netflix. Honestly, I was a little disappointed; it had some truly good ideas I really liked on the surface of it, but I have issues with it.

Fav. show(s): The Expanse, Mr. Robot, Colony, Gotham, Stranger Things, all Star Trek and Stargate, The Magicians, The Good Place, Episodes, Altered Carbon, Ascension, Battlestar Galactica and Caprica, Once, Cosmos, Midsomer Murders, Death in Paradise, Vikings, Game of Thrones, Fringe, Dark Matter, The Indian Detective, I could keep going, but you get the idea.

Currently reading: A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking.

@differentrunawayengineer CHALLENGE ACCEPTED - CHALLENGE DONE.

[cromulentbookreview]

Definitely Not Chocolate Wine

Because life in late 19th century Paris was basically just Another Period but real.

To my fellow non-French speakers out there: vin de coca does NOT mean “chocolate wine.” It really doesn’t.

And by that, I mean: Sensational, sequel to Spectacle by Jodie Lynn Zdrok!

Paris! June, 1889! The same year as The Gilded Wolves! The year of the Exposition Universelle! It’s almost time for the 100th anniversary of the Storming of the Bastille! The Eiffel Tower makes it’s grand debut! Vincent Van Gogh paints The Starry Night! The Wall Street Journal is established! Seattle, in spite of the incessant rain, somehow manages to catch fire! Bustles are slowly on their way out, but weighty ornaments added to dresses is super in! Ribbons! Flounces! Lace! Bows! All that, plus corsets laced far tighter than they should be and no air conditioning! Sounds great! 

Anyway: it’s been two years since the events of Spectacle, and our heroine Nathalie is now 18. Things are going pretty great: she no longer has to hide her identity writing her morgue column for Le Petit Journal, she has a steady boyfriend in her fellow insightful, Jules, and she’s even found a workaround for the memory loss caused by her visions: she keeps extremely detailed journals, keeping a record of everything she does in case she forgets later. With the support of her family and friends, Nathalie might just be able to pull of this whole “insightful who witnesses the deaths of murder victims from the perspective of the killer for some reason then reports those visions to the police but suffers memory loss as a side-effect” gig work. 

Just so long as she ignores all the lingering looks she gives to her friend, the morgue’s police liaison Christophe. And her lingering guilt over the death of her friend Agnès at the hands of the Dark Artist serial killer. And her institutionalized aunt’s deteriorating mental health.

But besides all of that, Nathalie’s life is going pretty well. She’s 18 at the height of Belle Époque, routinely attending the Exposition Universelle with her boyfriend and her best friends. Life is good!

Until Nathalie and her friends stumble upon a severed head among the sculptures of the Galerie Rapp. Then, to make things worse, a spectator jostles the pillar on which the head is sitting, knocking it over. The head falls and, without thinking, Nathalie puts out her hands to catch it.

Much more than una catastrofia con una pelota de beisbol.

Anyway, this causes Nathalie to have a vision, and, faster than you can say “cocaine wine,” the whole of Paris is gripped by the both the spectacle (first book title drop!) of the Exposition, and the rampage of a new serial killer who dumps his victims on Exposition grounds. The killer is soon dubbed Le Rasoir by the press, as they behead their victims with a guillotine. 

Fun fact: the last time France used the guillotine to execute someone was in 1977. That seems far too recent to me, but, I mean, I guess it works...?

So far as sequels go, Sensational gives us more of Nathalie’s story without being bogged down with exposition and questions. We get to jump into the action right away, but there are plenty of callbacks in case you may have forgotten a detail or two from Spectacle. My favorite part, of both Spectacle and Sensational is all the detail we get about what life is like in 19th century Paris. Paris is a fascinating place in general, but Paris during the late 1880s, early 1890s? During the era of the Third French Republic, Belle Époque and the birth of Cabaret? If time machines were a thing, I would definitely go and party in late 19th century Paris - hang around Montmantre, get wasted at Le Chat Noir...

Speaking of which: one of the things I will freely admit is that I don’t speak French. Like, at all. I know a few words here and there, but Deutsch ist immer noch eine wunderschöne Sprache. So, in Spectacle there’s a scene where Nathalie is hanging out with her friends Simone and Louis along with her boyfriend, Jules, at Simone’s apartment. Simone has managed to get her hands on a bottle of vin de coca. Now, for some reason, I immediately thought “oooh, chocolate wine!” 

Yeah, vin de coca is not chocolate wine. That much became obvious as the scene progressed, and I felt like a total moron. 

Vin de coca is wine with cocaine in it. 

Because in the 19th century, that was just fine. I mean, just watch The Knick if you want to see just how much late-19th and early-20th century medicine relied on cocaine. (Seriously, watch The Knick - I’m still pissed that show got cancelled). 

Still, whenever I see the word “coca” I think chocolate. Because chocolate is great. Even though I know a “pain au chocolat” literally translates to “chocolate bread” and coca refers to any of the four plants in the family Erythroxylaceae, but mostly Erythroxylum coca, which is where cocaine comes from. It’s where the “coca” in “coca cola” comes from. Seriously, how did I miss that?

Speaking of pain au chocolat: fun fact, the Japanese word for bread, pan (パン) is a word they lifted from the Portuguese after the Portuguese went to Japan in the 16th century. Pan means bread in Spanish, in Portuguese it’s Pão (I guess the Japanese had a hard time with the tilde and went with the Spanish version instead) and it’s barely a step away from the French word Pain and the Italian Pane.

Meanwhile, in Germany, we say Brot because the Romance languages are insane and we want nothing to do with them. Hurray for the Germanics! In Dutch, it’s brood, in Danish it’s brød, in Swedish it’s bröd, Norwegian? Brød (you’d think it’d be the Swedes to copy the Danes since they’re literally right next to each other but...nope). Icelandic? Brauð. English = bread! And in Afrikaans, Dutch’s weird, long-distance cousin? Brood. Yiddish? ברויט (broyt). Even the Welsh went with “bara” for bread. 

And in Finland, bread is called leipä, because Finnish is it’s own special brand of insanity. Same with Hungarian (kenyér = bread).

Damn, I’m kind of hungry. Maybe I should go and get some bread. Mmm. Gluten.

Anyway, my point being before I got off onto a bread tangent, the word “coca” instead of “cacao” or “chocolat” should’ve been a pretty big clue that what Nathalie and her friends were enjoying was NOT chocolate wine. Also the fact that they started to get really high while drinking it should’ve been a tip-off. 

Also, there’s a scene in season 1 of The Terror where the Goodest Sir, Harry D.S. Goodsir, offers the increasingly frantic Mr. Collins wine of coca as a treatment for his lead-poisoning-and-ice-diving-vision-induced crazies. Wine of coca is mostly, wait for it: 

How that would’ve helped a man going absolutely insane, I have no idea. I mean, wouldn’t cocaine wine make him more agitated? I don’t know, don’t ask me how 19th century medicine worked. Frankly, it’s a miracle anyone lived past the age of thirty back in those days. 

This whole tangent was an excuse for me to include some glorious gifs of the world’s Goodest Sir and King of all the Sideburns, Goodsir:

Watch season 1 of The Terror. Seriously, it’s amazing. How have you not watched it yet? Also, watch season 2 while you’re at it, both will hit you right in the feels but in different ways.

Anyway - the whole time I was reading Sensational, I was laboring under the delusion that this series would be a trilogy - I kept looking everywhere for the setup for book three, and finished the book fully believing that there would be another book.

Then I learned that this series was to be a duology. Not a trilogy. And that Sensational was to be the end of the story. Honestly? I was disappointed. I kind of wish I had looked that up going in, rather than blithely assuming that all YA serieses end up trilogies (or quartets. Or just, you know, never end at all). 

So while this book does give our characters a nice ending, there are still so many unanswered questions that could very well be answered by a third book. We never did find out what exactly caused Nathalie two-days worth of memory loss that made up the cliffhanger at the end of the first book. Like, what about all the other people who were affected by Dr. Henard’s magical mystery blood transfusions? How many people out there who, like Nathalie, inherited powers from their parents who took part in the experiment? Acgh, there’s just so much out there that can’t be covered in two books! Bah. That and I just need more YA mysteries set in late 19th century Paris. More, I says!

RECOMMENDED FOR: Fans of YA Historical Fantasy Fiction, 19th century Paris, murder mysteries, and badass girl journalist protagonists.

NOT RECOMMENDED FOR: Anyone familiar with the term hemolysis, anyone thinking that this was going to be a three-book thing, Lillian and Beatrice Bellacourt.

RATING: 4/5

RELEASE DATE: February 11, 2020.

TERROR RATING:

KNICK RATING:

ANOTHER PERIOD RATING: 

PARIS RATING:

ANTICIPATION LEVEL FOR THIRD BOOK THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN: Makalu.

[mysticmarsh]

Languages in Italian

(translation of @malteseboy‘s vocab list of languages in Maltese - grazzi!)

_____________________

albanese - Albanian

arabo - Arabic

armeno - Armenian

basco - Basque

bielorusso - Belarusian

bosniaco - Bosnian

bulgaro - Bulgarian

ceco - Czech

cinese - Chinese

coreano - Korean

croato - Croatian

danese - Danish

ebraico - Hebrew

estone - Estonian

faroese - Faroese

finlandese - Finnish

francese - French

georgiano - Georgian

giapponese - Japanese

gaelico - Gaelic

greco - Greek

hindi - Hindi

inglese - English

islandese - Icelandic

italiano - Italian

latino - Latin

lettone - Latvian

lituano - Lithuanian

lussemburghese - Luxembourgish

macedone - Macedonian

maltese - Maltese

norvegese - Norwegian

olandese* - Dutch

polacco - Polish

portoghese - Portuguese

rumeno (or romeno)** - Romanian

russo - Russian

serbo - Serbian

slovacco - Slovak

sloveno - Slovenian

spagnolo - Spanish

svedese - Swedish

swahili - Swahili

thailandese - Thai

turco - Turkish

ucraino (or ucraino)*** - Ukrainian

ungherese - Hungarian

vietnamita - Vietnamese

zulù - zulu

When referring to languages, these adjectives are used in the masculine form with the articles il, lo or l’ (e.g. il francese, lo spagnolo, l’italiano).

*In everyday language, Dutch is most commonly translated with olandese, an adjective deriving from “Holland”; however, there is also a more general term, i.e. neerlandese, which includes both the Dutch and the Flemish varieties [source: here].

**Both are equally accepted (personally, I hear the form rumeno a lot more - I think I’ve only read romeno in the news) [source: here].

***Again, both forms are mentioned in the most influentian Italian dictionaries. This duality stems from the fact that, in the past, the stress was on the I in Ukrainian, but in Russian it was on the A. Nowadays, as the form Ukraìna is used in Russian as well, the most correct form would be ucraino; however, the other form is still widely used [source: here].

[jonathanbogart]

Melodier: Nordic Corporatist Pop and New Wave

Part IV. Youtube. Previously (I, II, III). Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, and Finnish pop between 1981 and 1987. Tracklisting below, notes after that.

Elisabeth, “En sømand som dig”

Doe Maar, “De bom”

Belaboris, “Kuolleet peilit”

Lustans Lakejer, “Diamanter”

Lillie-Ane, “Meg selv”

Arbeid Adelt!, “Lekker westers”

Geisha, “Kesä”

Det Neodepressionistiske Danseorkester, “Godt nok mørkt”

Cherry, “Vang me”

Tappi Tíkarrass, “Kríó”

Eva Dahlgren, “Guldgrävarsång”

Svart Klovn, “Knust knekt”

Het Goede Doel, “Net zo lief gefortuneerd”

tv-2, “Vil du danse med mig (nå- nå mix)”

Lolita Pop, “Regn av dagar”

Cirkus Modern, “Karianne”

Madou, “Witte nachten”

Tuula Amberla, “Lulu”

Grafík, “Þúsund sinnum segðu já”

Klein Orkest, “Over de muur”

Di Leva, “I morgon”

Melodier: nordic corporatist pop and new wave

So far in this survey, I’ve been looking at pop scenes in languages I may not entirely speak, but am at least comfortable with. Moving into northern Europe means I’ve left the Romance family behind, and am at the mercy of fan transcribers and Google Translate if I want to understand the lyrics to the songs I enjoy. Lyrics aren’t everything (I couldn’t tell you what some of my favorite songs in English are about) but they’re enough that I’ve at least tried to look up everything I’m presenting for you in this series.

This entry collects together a bunch of nation-states that aren’t necessarily related culturally or historically. Scandinavia only refers to three countries: Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Adding Finland and Iceland makes the “Nordic” countries; but adding in the Netherlands (and Dutch-speaking Belgium, or Flanders), as I have, isn’t anything as far as UN statistical calculations are concerned. They all fit together in my head, though, because they are all stable, prosperous, and socially liberal Western nations with Germanic linguistic roots (except Finland), NATO (except Sweden and Finland) and EU (except Norway) membership, and an extensive welfare state linked to strong unionized labor and government oversight of business: the “corporatist” social organization of my subtitle.

They are all also collectively central to white supremacists’ imagined European identity, and their liberal welfare policies are frequently cited (by racists) as unworkable in more heterogeneous societies. So i’m a little hesitant to be extremely fulsome in my praise here, lest anyone get the wrong idea. For the record, money, access, and individual creativity have far more to do with making great pop music than genetics.

Still, there is undoubtedly an enviable Northern European pop tradition. A lot of that can be traced to a single act: the Swedish ABBA, who borrowed liberally from US and UK pop forms to build a global pop empire based on careful production and universal sentiments. Thanks in part to their pioneering efforts, as well as Dutch acts like Shocking Blue and Golden Earring, a great deal of Northern European pop music was produced in English, with local languages often reserved for traditional folk, comedy records, sentimental ballads — or punk rock. There was particularly a gender-based split here: female Dutch, Danish, and Swedish pop stars were, like Frida and Agnetha, more likely to sing in a universal and generic English, while male rockers could afford to be poets and philosophers in the vernacular. (This is a generalization; but the phenomenon is by no means exclusive to northern Europe, or even across languages.) But regardless of language, there was a Nordic emphasis on slickness of production that means that this mix may, record for record, sound the most expensive of any in this summertime European excavation.

Which is another way of saying it’s the most pop. The low-density Scandinavian countries have few urban populist music traditions like Portuguese fado, Spanish flamenco, French musette, Greek rebetiko, or even Italian canzone napoletana: Protestant hymnody, fishing songs, and a rather austere nineteenth-century European concert repertoire are the most prominent native cultural influences. When American, and especially American Black, music made its midcentury European Invasion (far stronger and more lasting than any Invasion US pop ever suffered), it gave Northern European youth an emotional as well as a physical pop vocabulary. This, the second generation of European rock, made it perhaps more political and personal, but by no means less international.

Because pop is an international language, even when the lyrics are not. Although the subfocus of these mixes has been “new wave,” meaning the sometimes eccentric and often electronic music made under the twin influences of punk and disco, there was less of a noodly self-important rock tradition in these nations than in the English- (or Italian-) speaking world for a new wave to rebel against. Pop thrills remained consistent; only the tools changed.

“Melodier” is the Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian word for “melodies,” and it came to mind because the annual pre-Eurovision national pop contests in the Nordic countries are mostly named some variation of the Swedish Melodifestivalen.

The linguistic breakdowns in the mix, roughly following population counts, are as follows; six Dutch (of which two are Flemish), four Swedish, three each Danish, Norwegian and Finnish, and two Icelandic. Fans of twenty-first century Scandinavian pop may hear some material that presages later developments: a lot happened between ABBA and Robyn, and I’m excited to possibly introduce you to some of it.

1. Elisabeth En sømand som dig Genlyd | Aarhus, 1984

The coastal peninsula-and-archipelago nation of Denmark has been a seafaring one since the Vikings, etc. — but this song isn’t about those ancient sagas, but more recent colonial history, as the lover “Jakarta Danny” is presumably a merchant marine in the service of the Dutch East India Company. Elisabeth first became known to the Danish pop audience as the frontwoman of Voxpop, a Blondie-like pop group, and her first solo album in 1984 is a quiet classic of sultry mid-80s pop moves. This, the leadoff track, uses naval metaphors for sex: the title means “A Seaman Like You,” and the next line is “sailing in me.” The video makes it even more explicit, in more ways than one. She’s still active (her whole catalog is on Spotify), and often does children’s music now.

2. Doe Maar De bom Sky | Amsterdam, 1982

The two-tone wave in the UK had a corresponding wave in the Low Countries and Scandinavia: goofy white dudes are drawn to ska music, as Orange County can attest. Doe Maar (“go ahead,” with connotations of anger or sulkiness) were the Madness of Holland, with a string of skanking, socially observant hits. “De bom,” one of their biggest, means “The Bomb,” and is about the hideous irony of being told to go to school, get a job, and save for retirement, all under the threat of nuclear annihilation.

3. Belaboris Kuolleet peilit Femme Fatale | Helsinki, 1982

The Finnish girl group Belaboris (named for Lugosi and Karloff) was manufactured by producer Kimmo Miettinen, a Malcolm McLaren-esque figure who hired girls to sing and look pretty while a hired band played new wave music. “Kuolleet peilit” (Dead Mirror?) is a minimal-disco jam with a detached vocal by Vilma Vainikainen that looks forward to spacy twenty-first century house: in Finland, such synthpop was known as “futu,” short for futurist. When Belaboris had a second big hit in 1984, it was as an entirely different set of pretty girls.

4. Lustans Lakejer Diamanter Stranded | Stockholm, 1982

In the twenty-first century, Swedish pop is synonymous with a certain ruthless muscularity, often considered the result of pop producer Max Martin’s heavy-metal past. But even here in the early 80s, fey New Romantic band Lustans Lakejer (Lackeys of Lust) takes time out from frontman Johan Kinde’s baleful sneering about diamonds being a girl’s best friend for a flashy guitar solo that fits into glam, post-punk, and metal traditions. Lustans Lakejer were a novelty in late-70s/early-80s Swedish pop, a well-dressed band who proclaimed that their clothes were as important as their music; when Kinde had finally had enough of posing, he dissolved the band, only returning to the name occasionally as a solo act over the years.

5. Lillie-Ane Meg selv RCA Victor | Oslo, 1983

If I were approaching these mixes sensibly, I’d only be including music that had been reissued on CD, or was available on streaming platforms, or something. But having access to the more eclectic and unremunerated catalog of YouTube has ruined me: once I’d heard Lillie-Ane, I couldn’t not include her. She’d been the voice of Norwegian synthpop trio Plann, but her classical training and avant-garde sympathies made her solo material — what I’ve heard of it, which is not enough — weirder and more galvanizing than the rather derivative music she’s still better known for in Norway. She died in 2004; her swooping voice and dense harmonies on “Meg Selv” (Myself) deserve wider appreciation.

6. Arbeid Adelt! Lekker Westers Parlophone | Brussels, 1983

Flemish Belgium in the 1980s is justly famous for its industrial-music scene, with acts like Front 242 and Neon Judgment pioneering sounds that would form the basis of many electronic-rock hybrids in the 1990s. Few of them sang in Dutch, however, apart from Arbeid Adelt!, whose early records were prankstery lock-groove new wave. Once Luc van Acker (later of Revolting Cocks) joined, though, things got harsher, and “Lekker Westers” (Yummy Westerners), with its satirical singsong melody over dissonant grooves, is halfway between their Devoesque beginnngs and the industrial harshness that put Belgium on the map

7. Geisha Kesä Johanna | Helsinki, 1983

The all-female Finnish trio Geisha only released a single EP during their brief existence, but because it was on the legendary Helsinki indie label Johanna, they’ve been compiled and fondly remembered by Finnish rock fans for decades since. “Kesä” (Summer) is of a piece with the moody, dry sound of Finnish goth rock of the period, but its danceable rhythm and spectacular clattery all-percussion instrumental break suggest that they had a lot more to offer beyond being a distaff Musta Paraati.

8. Det Neodepressionistiske Danseorkester Godt nok mørkt Genlyd | Aarhus, 1986

A Danish band that began as an art-installation soundtrack and ended as a sampladelic pop act, DND (for short; their full title, as might be presumed, translates as The Neodepressionist Dance-Band) were rather inspired by the Talking Heads’ combination of dance rhythms and irony-laden cultural critique; their debut album was called Flere sange om sex og arbejde, or More Songs About Sex and Work. This song, “Good Enough [in the] Dark,” features leader Helge Dürrfeld mutter-rapping about the limits of perception while a passionate saxophone wheels endlessly and a sassy chorus chants the title.

9. Cherry Vang me Vertigo | Utrecht, 1982

Cherry Wijdenbosch is, if not the first person of color to appear in these mixes (which reflects my desire to keep back some key acts from former colonies for later inclusion around the globe more than any unadulterated whiteness of 80s European pop), is certainly the first Black woman. Of mixed Indonesian and Surinamese (which latter is to say African slave) descent, she had a couple of jazz-inflected Nederpop hits in the early 80s before becoming a cabaret act. Her debut single, “Vang me” (Catch Me), is a breezy but clear-eyed love song that borrows some of Jona Lewie’s dry music-hall delivery and adds a Manhattan Transfer kick to the middle eight.

10. Tappi Tíkarrass Kríó Gramm | Reykjavik, 1983

The eighteen-year-old singer, with her clear, youthful, and powerful voice, is nearly the only reason anyone has heard of this post-punk band; if she had not gone on to front bands K.U.K.L. and Sugarcubes, not to mention her own global superstardom as a mononymic solo artist, Tappi Tíkarrass might be an undiscovered gem rather than a pored-over Da Vinci Code by which adepts seek to unlock the mysteries of her sacred genius. This song, which predicts the soft-loud dynamics of 90s alt-rock with almost a shrug, is, according to internet Björkologists, the cry of an elderly man searching for his tern.

11. Eva Dahlgren Guldgrävarsång Polar | Stockholm, 1984

Discovered on a 1978 talent show, Dahlgren wouldn’t be a true pan-Scandinavian star until her 1991 adult-pop classic En blekt blondins hjärta (A Bleach Blonde’s Heart), but I really like her 1984 album Ett fönster mot gatan (A Window to the Street). The title of this slow-burn anthem, the leadoff track, can be translated as “Gold-digger’s song,” and is a reference to an early twentieth-century Swedish hit about Swedish immigrants failing to strike it rich in America: Dahlgren interiorizes the sentiment, making it a song about a streetwalker who dreams of finding a place where she can “kiss my brothers and sisters.” She would come out as gay in the 1990s, and is married to her partner of many years.

12. Svart Klovn Knust knekt Uniton | Oslo, 1983

Probably the most legendary Norwegian minimal-synth (I almost said synthpop, and then I remembered a-ha) single, “Knust knekt” (Shattered Jacks, as in the playing card) is a miniature masterpiece of mood. The lyrics, as far as I can determine, are standard post-punk gloom about moral corruption, but the sound and image of Svart Klovn (Black Clown), the alter ego of Svenn Jakobsen, are among the most striking in all Scandinavian pop.

13. Het Goede Doel Net zo lief gefortuneerd CNR | Utrecht, 1984

Dutch new wave duo Het Goede Doel (The Good Cause) were second only to Doe Maar in popularity, with a string of sarcastic, melodic hits that occasionally remind me of mid-period XTC. The opening orchestral hits belie the crooning tenderness of this portrait of callowness and privilege (the title is “Just So Sweet [and] Wealthy”), only tipping its satiric hand when Henk Westbroek sings on the prechorus that naturally he wanted to marry his mother.

14. tv-2 Vil du danse med mig CBS | Copenhagen, 1984

Akin to U2 in their longevity, success, and consistency (they’ve had the same four-man lineup since 1982), tv-2 are perhaps the most successful Danish band ever. Formed from the ashes of prog-hippy band Taurus and new-wave band Kliché, they started with an industrial sound that gradually brightened: this song (Will You Dance With Me) is one of the signature sounds of mid-80s Scandinavian pop. With muttered verses about how shitty men are after the initial bloom of romance is over, the chorus (and its saxophone riff) returning constantly to the moment when he asks her to dance is a sharp and poignant evocation of memory.

15. Lolita Pop Regn av dagar Mistlur | Stockholm, 1985

The small city of Örebro in inland Sweden was far distant from the Paisley Underground scene swirling around Los Angeles in the early 80s, but a band with the same influences — the Velvet Underground, Roxy Music, the Beatles — formed there, and with crisp Stockholm production seemed to predict the alternate-tuned 90s of Tanya Donelly and Letters to Cleo. “Regn av dagar” is “Rain for Days,” and the lyric is similarly 90s-depressed, while the rock band behind singer Karin Wistrand chimes and chugs along.

16. Cirkus Modern Karianne Sonet | Oslo, 1984

The songs I’ve chosen from Norway are all representative of more left-of-center pop than the more mainstream work I’ve chosen from Sweden and Denmark. Partly that reflects the the fact that Norway was just a smaller regional scene, but partly it’s that Norwegian pop is not well documented online. Cirkus Modern were a moderately successful post-punk act who produced two albums and an EP, which makes them by far the most prolific Norwegian act represented here: “Karianne” is a joyfully raucous (and slightly unsettling) jam that reminds me of when the Cure went pop circa “Lovecats.”

17. Madou Witte nachten Lark | Antwerp, 1982

The Dutch musical genre of “kleinkunst” (literally “little art”) can be compared to the German “kabarett” (cabaret) but includes folk-musical forms and socially critical lyrics. Madou, an experimental Flemish band centered around singer Vera Coomans and pianist and composer Wiet Van de Leest, brought kleinkunst into the new wave scene, with dark songs about abuse, incest, and suicide. “Witte nachten” (white or sleepless nights), despite its vaudevillian bounce, is sung from the perspective of a child whose mother shares her bed to escape the father’s fists.

18. Tuula Amberla Lulu Selecta | Turku, 1984

I may have stretched the definition of new wave to the breaking point with “Lulu” — the jazz manouche violin and general 1930s air (at least until the crisp Cars-y electric guitar solo) might sound too much like a nostalgia act for the rest of this mix. But Tuula Amberla was the lead singer of gothy post-punk band Liikkuvat Lapset, and the lyrics, written by doctor and songwriter Jukka Alihanka after a poem by sculptor and architect Alpo Jaakola, are about the decadent nightlife of modern Helsinki, as the video makes clear.

19. Grafík Þúsund sinnum segðu já GRAF | Reykjavik, 1984

Iceland’s vibrant and highly original music scene has gotten really short shrift from this mix, thanks to its tiny population. There’s lots more to dig into where this came from. But when I ran an initial survey of European music of 1984 some months ago, this sparkling gem of a pop song stood out immediately. Part Huey Lewis (that shiny production), part Prefab Sprout (those lovelorn melodies), all Grafík, perhaps Iceland’s premier pop-rock band of the 80s (at least until the Sugarcubes came along), “A Thousand TImes Say Yes”  is a plea for total romantic commitment that comes across in any language.

20. Klein Orkest Over de muur Polydor | Amsterdam, 1984

One of the key songs of the Cold-War 80s, “Over de muur” is sometimes classed as a protest song, but if so it’s hard to parse which side it’s protesting. Making a clear-eyed examination of the repressive idealism of the Communist East as well as of the gluttonous “freedom” of the Democratic West, singer Harrie Jekkers’ real sympathies are with the birds who can fly over the Berlin Wall at will, as he imagines a day when the people will be able to do the same.

21. Di Leva I morgon Mistlur | Stockholm, 1987

Born Sven Thomas Magnusson, he adopted the stage name Thomas Di Leva when he joined the punk band the Pillisnorks as a teenager. His next band was Modern Art, and he went solo in 1982, at the age of 19. One of the most fascinating and creative Swedish pop stars of the early 80s, he drew inspiration from glam, electronic experiments, traditional pop, and eventually, Eastern mysticism. Those New Age leanings are all over “I morgon” (Tomorrow), which combines an up-to-the-moment U2 chug with Di Leva’s early-70s Bowie wail to create an extended, lightly trippy meditation on being, time, and the unknowableness of reality. He’s since become a New Age guru and life coach; but his early music is still really interesting.

Okay, that’s it. Join me next time when I’ll be looking at the Neue Deutsche Welle (and the Neue Österreichische Welle, and the Neue Schweizer Welle). I’m over the hump: there are three mixes left to go in this series. Thanks for reading and listening. If you want to talk to me about what I’ve compiled, or what I’ve said about it. I’m around.