[Christomir Rackov]

Haha… what a crazy discussion, and an interesting read all of this is :O Especially after Miss Lisa has already posted her reply 😉

Hello, everyone. For those that might not be aware, I am that Itso guy that Mike has mentioned quite a few times in this thread (thanks, Mike)…LOL Yes, “Itso” is the short version for Christomir in Bulgarian, believe it or not. And I can confirm the things Mike said I would. But I digress… Well, I won’t try to reply to each post in this thread separately…

You guys all brought up many points and arguments, and I agree with many of them, and disagree with some of them.

I will say this, just to clarify it, because it got brought up several times – the Eurovision Song Contest is NOT a reality show, or a talent show! It is exactly what its title says – a contest for *SONGS*! Not for artists, let alone – for aspiring young musicians. Of course, the performers also do get a lot of exposure, when their song gets chosen to represent their country (or sometimes – a foreign country, as was the case with Celine Dion). But the main focus is supposed to be which is the actual best SONG, among all those entered from the different countries (or rather  – from their national TV stations) for a certain year… And just a small reminder here, although I am sure all of you know it – MLT excel at writing great songs of their own. Every year. 😉

And no, the countries (i.e. their national TV stations) don’t really send their best and most commercially successful ARTISTS (i.e. those that have achieved the most success in charts, record sales, have the largest following, etc.)… at least not very often. Especially – not the Western European countries, and those with the most established and profitable music industries, like the UK, Germany, etc…. if they did that, they would often have to send the same artist to represent them several years in a row; and that doesn’t really happen. 😛 And those superstar artists would refuse to do it anyway. So yeah, from those countries, a young and up-and-coming artist could indeed use the Eurovision Song Contest as a trampoline for their career, if they are so lucky to have one of their songs chosen to represent their country, and get all the exposure from that, as an artist (and hopefully as a songwriter) too. And we are talking millions of viewers here… (Although, while I say “lucky”, there are actually many various ways and procedures of choosing the countries’ representatives, and they can even vary for the same country for different years, so I won’t go into detail there.)

I am generally fascinated by the whole concept, and it is great in theory, with even greater potential. So, I watch it almost every year (even those years when there is no song representing Bulgaria), and I usually discover at least 1 or 2 (sometimes even more) songs in it that I like or even love… and hence I start paying attention, sometimes even – start  cautiously following the careers of the artists who wrote and/or performed those songs. However, there are many things that I dislike, in the reality of what happens in and around the Eurovision Song Contest, and many of those things are those or similar to the ones Lisa mentioned! So yeah, I can absolutely understand why MLT dislike it, and they wouldn’t want to invest ANY time, effort and finances into trying to get themselves to represent the UK, or Austria. That is – if that would indeed require them to waste any time, effort and finances; in that case, I 100% support their decision.

However, IMHO, if the system of submission of candidatures for the UK and/or Austrian entry for a certain year happens to allow them to apply by simply sending a new (and not-yet-released) original song to the BBC or the ORF for consideration, and it doesn’t require them to do anything else than that, then I do believe it would at least not hurt them to do it…

And, as Lisa said, if they get an unsolicited direct invitation the BBC or the ORF to be the representative for 2020 of one of the 2 countries, then they could definitely do it… and it would be SO MUCH fun to show to all those “Eurovision junkies” what actual great music is… ^_^ …and that it doesn’t matter if it sounds “dated”, and whether it fits the stupid stereotypes for “proper Eurovision-style” songs (fortunately, there have been a few such songs entered in the contest in recent years too, and I liked some of them)… But yeah, as Lisa also said, that scenario, of them getting invited, is highly unlikely – I am sure the BBC and the ORF have no idea who the MonaLisa Twins are, despite how they have had many opportunities to learn about them (and obviously, that’s their own loss… but also the loss for millions of people in their audience, who haven’t heard of MLT either :().

So yeah, if one of those things happens, and MLT get one of their brilliant self-written songs right in there as the UK or Austrian representative for 2020, without spending any money, time or effort for that, then that would be a GREAT scenario, because from that point on, they could only benefit from it and all the exposure it would bring them – they would NOT have to give up any rights to the song, or compromise their creative freedom in any way (like sign any binding contracts); they wouldn’t even need to pay for the promotion of their own song – the BBC, and the ORF respectively, would sponsor them, including tours to promote the song around Europe, a high-budget video, heavy airplay of it, etc. – everything possible to popularize it and help it become a contender for doing better in the vote at the actual Eurovision Song Contest and its Grand Final. ^_^ ALL of that would be paid by the respective national TV station, because MLT’s song would also be THEIR representative at the ESC (though they wouldn’t own the song), so it’d be in their best interest that they make it popular! And MLT wouldn’t have to pay for that, but AFAIK they also wouldn’t be required to do anything they don’t want to – I believe they would have the final say about those promotional tours, the way the song is presented during them and at the ESC itself, etc. Basically, that’s a win-win situation! The only thing they would need to invest, from a certain point on, is the time and effort for all that promotion of the song… but think about it – they will invest those for a great new song anyway, even if it’s not chosen for the ESC, except in that case they will also do it with their own limited resources of an indie band/project, as per usual… So those are not really any extra “expenses”, right? 😉

Anyway, I also understand Lisa’s point about how it’s a matter of taste, and I actually agree that the overall impression from the ESC is of it favoring “cheesy” music – shockingly, there have been a couple of editions of the contest (I can’t remember which years those were exactly, and I won’t check now), where I watched the entire Grand Final and didn’t really like ANY single song in it! :O And obviously, on the other occasions, besides the 1, 2 or 3 songs that I liked or loved, and besides the several songs that I thought were OK, there were also many songs that made me think “Ouch!! Seriously? THIS is the best new song that this country was able to send to represent it this year?!?”. So yeah, I think you guys can now get the big picture here… and there are definitely many perspectives to view it from…LOL

[Christomir Rackov]

LOL!

[Christomir Rackov]

Saba!!! Welcome to the club! ^_^ (And yes, I know I am almost 1 month late with this…LOL But I actually don’t have time to hang out here in this groovy community every day, and the several times I did come, I somehow missed your thread in this particular section of the forum.)

My recommendations for movies and books would be the same ones that I always tell people about, and which I sent as gifts to Mona and Lisa too (LOL)

– the 1996 Tom Hanks movie “That Thing You Do!” (because it did something similar to what MLT were going to 20 years later – revived the epic music of the ’60s with great *new* original music in the style of that era; and also – it never fails to put a big smile on your face, while you watch it, just like MLT do 20 years later with their music);

– and the high fantasy book series “Riyria Revelations” by my favorite fantasy author Michael J. Sullivan (because it has great characters, great story-lines, and it’s not too dark, cynical and depressing like it has become so trendy in bestselling fantasy fiction in recent decades, unfortunately; but it’s not too naive either – it actually has great balance between darkness and *light*, and even between flaws and virtues within the characters); Michael also has a new on-going fantasy series (though all 6 books of it have already been written – they just haven’t all been released yet) – “The Legends of the First Empire”, which is set in the same world 3000 years before Riyria, and judging by the first 3 books, is shaping up to be brilliant too.

 

Obviously, you and I probably already discussed “That Thing You Do!”, when we chatted before, and you probably told me you had seen it…LOL Can’t remember, sorry 😛 Oh, and when it comes to books, I also need to mention that my absolute favorite books of 2017 and 2018 are respectively “The Martian” and “Artemis” – both by Andy Weir (and yes, that is despite the fact that Michael J. Sullivan has released books in each of these 2 years too – his were close, but not quite my favorites of each year); those 2 are both in the so called Hard Sci-Fi genre, so if you don’t like science much, they might not be your kind of thing… But you’ve probably seen the movie “The Martian” and know what a great character Mark Watney (its protagonist) is; well, the protagonist of “Artemis”, Jasmine Bashara is exactly as great as him – she is around your age, Saba, and she’s an adorable rascal LOL

As for my favorite MLT songs – I have posted my full Top 23 ranking many times before (and asked the other fans to post theirs) in the MLT IFC, and I’ll probably post it here in the MLT club too, in a separate thread, at some point… Or does a thread like that already exist? :O Seriously, I need to explore this club and it’s forums more, at some point…LOL

[Christomir Rackov]

Looking forward to your questions, and Mona’s and Lisa’s answers, Mike 🙂

[Christomir Rackov]

That one is still my #1 favorite MLT song, with “June” being #2, even though the Orange album is slightly better overall than “When We’re Together”, IMHO.

Believe it or not, I usually like happy songs, so the fact that a sad song is my #1 favorite only comes to show how great I think it is. Actually, it is my personal all time Top 10, by any artist!

[Christomir Rackov]

I am happy to report that this problem no longer exists for me – this time I was able to open each of the early access posts, without being asked to log in again 🙂

Just a note – apparently, when the problem existed, it wasn’t an issue of my login having timed out, or anything like that – as I said, back then I actually WAS logged in (that was evident by the left-most of the 3 buttons top right saying “Logout” – if I hadn’t been logged in, that one would have said “Log in”, right?) It’s just that DESPITE being logged in, the site asked me to log in again, when I tried to open that early access post. Maybe I should have tried to open the other early access posts, to test if I had the same problem with them? Sorry I didn’t think of that… Anyways, I guess it’s no longer important, since the issue hasn’t reoccurred. Thank you! And sorry, if I wasted your time with this 🙂

[Christomir Rackov]

Oh, I use the Firefox browser too! (Though it’s Windows 10, not 7) I’m guessing that’s not a coincidence. Maybe the Web host should focus on making the cookies remember logins better for Firefox in particular…LOL I mean – not waste their time with testing anything else. And yes, I will try to come back in a few days (and log out and then log in again, if need be), to see if it works better, and will let you know. Thank you very much, Rudi! 🙂

[Christomir Rackov]

When I tried to access the “Headless On Halloween” post from the link in the video description on YouTube, I got the dreaded screen saying:

“Restricted Area:
We’re sorry! This content is only accessible to MLT Club Members.
If you’re already a member please log in and continue.”

And that was despite me being already logged in (which was evident from the relevant button at the top saying “Logout”). And then, even if I logged in again (which I shouldn’t really have been asked to do), it didn’t even redirect me to the particular page I was trying to view – it redirected me to the home page, which was a bit frustrating…LOL

And I had exactly the same issue, when I tried to see the same post from the “Read more” button in the Clubhouse.

 

Now, after a few minutes have passed, the site already remembers that I am logged in, and it lets me see the post with no problem. But I think it should happen immediately, when we log in (or if we are already logged in), rather than having to wait several minutes. Rudi, can you please teach the cookies to remember people that are logged in right away?…LOL

Or maybe it is a problem only with my browser/computer? If the latter is somehow the case, sorry for me being a nuisance here. And keep up the great work! 😀

[Christomir Rackov]

Yeah, many of us would pay to watch. ^_^ It was around 3 or 4 years ago, when I first suggested the idea of a live webcast concert (with viewers paying virtual tickets and possibly being able to tip extra money/tokens during the concert too). I had watched online gigs like that by two other favorite indie artists of mine – Mike Masse (who did it in his basement, with bassist/backing vocalist Jeff Hall) and Juliana Daily (who did it in her living room, with just her guitar and her great voice) – and they both worked out great. MLT haven’t gotten to to doing one since, but that’s understandable, considering all they have had going on.

But if they can eventually do it, that would be awesome, as it would make many of their fans happy… especially those living in countries too far away, who won’t have the chance of seeing them live in person any time soon; seeing them in a live webcast would be the next best thing for such fans (especially since such webscasts allow for some interaction with the audience) 😀 It would also bring some much needed revenue for the MLT project, which is important too. For a great platform for such webcasts, I would suggest Stageit.com, where I attended Mike Masse’s webcast – it has tips during the show, and allows paying with PayPal.

[Christomir Rackov]

LOL! That was hilarious, indeed, Rick…

[Christomir Rackov]

Haha, thanks, Howard! 😀 And you can now see what Mike meant, when he said I was also level-headed about things? And yet, I can write this unwisely long and passionate rant, urging MLT to give a chance to something like the ESC, despite how I myself dislike many things about it, and realize and understand all of its shortcomings. 😛

But the thing is (and I hope I have been able to convince you and others in this too) – most of those flaws and negative things about the ESC are not really the fault of the organization, and especially – not of the artists and songwriters, who submit their songs for it every year! At least – not most of them. It is mainly the fault of those “Eurovision junky” type of fans, viewers and “experts”, who misunderstand the main purpose of it, get too carried away with the competitive aspect, have narrow-minded views of what music is about in general, and especially – those who take their national pride too far, and turn the competitive aspect of it (which was supposed to be just for fun) into an ugly battle of nationalism and politics… 🙁

Fortunately, those are by far not ALL the viewers and fans of the ESC, I can guarantee you that. So, indeed, we shouldn’t be prejudiced to it and judge it based solely on those people. 🙂

Have a great evening, Howard.

[Christomir Rackov]

A lieutenant? :О Nah, I was just a draftee soldier, a private. And I only spent several (difficult) months in the army…

[Christomir Rackov]

Mike, I believe the adjective derived from the name “Liverpool” is “Liverpudlian” 😉

As if the city was named a “Lifer puddle”, instead of a “Lifer pool”…LOL True story.

[Christomir Rackov]

LOL!

[Christomir Rackov]

Howard, translating text on the internet is very easy:

 

Just open a new tab or window with this site – https://www.bing.com/translator/ – then go back to the tab with the text you were looking at, copy the text, then go to the new tab, paste the text into the left text field of the Bing translator and it will immediately show you a translation in English in the right field. All of this takes just seconds. 🙂 Automated translations like this are not very good, as you can see from what Mike posted, but are usually still usable.