Ran

7 minutes ago, Zorral said:

And Haaretz says the Israelis are not told.

Where? Haaretz is an Israeli paper. Israeli protestors were protesting outside of Sde Teman last month, how do they know to protest if they don't know about it due to the government censorship you claim exists?

For that matter, the UK sent observers to Sde Teman after the initial reports.

And Joost has been disqualified, per the EBU. The Dutch broadcaster has protested that the punishment is disproportionate, but knowing Sweden, they probably have some very strict code of conduct in place.

This is a first, no one has been DQed during competition before. Belarus did get DQed before the finals started awhile back.

The police have now made a statement, that a person working on the production of Eurovision filed a complaint against a man (this must be Joost Klein) for making "unlawful threats" (acts or statements that make another person feel afraid for their safety), they have completed their investigation, and have provided all the evidence to the prosecutor who will decide if there are to be any charges.

Eh, Zorral is speaking nonsense on that claim regarding Israelis not knowing anything about it. Look up Haaretz, claims of abuse at Sde Teman were reported a month ago there.

Just now, The Dragon Demands said:

...unless you saw something I missed, it seems the new Greens sigil is updated to use a more realistic two-legged dragon, while the Blacks use the olde version --- running theory being that after the Dance they'll "combine" the two sigils by using a red, two legged dragon to symbolize the end of the split.

The badges they're coloring up green and gold at the 33 second mark have four legs. And the embroidery on Aegon's doublet has four legged dragons, too.

Jury performances done. Not too much to report, though people say Switzerland knocked it out of the park, France had a slight shakiness but overall good, UK was a little pitchy but probably the best performance he's done so far. Angelina Mango and her dancers have changed costume to something darker, but in a similar vein to the previous costume. 

And in the mystery around Joost Klein, SVT and Dutch media now indicate that Malmö police are involved and are questioning people about whatever is said to have happened. Multiple reporters are stressing that, contrary to rumors, the incident did not involve a member of the Israeli delegation or press.

Latest update is that Netherlands is not performing today. It seems that the juries will be shown their semi-final performance to judge by. 

Rumors are that the EBU are taking the matter very seriously and are still investigating the situation between Joost and what's been alleged to be a female member of the TV production, and they're apparently talking it over with the Dutch public broadcaster AVROTROS which is responsible for the Dutch delegation.

45 minutes ago, AncalagonTheBlack said:

I would like future Joe Abercrombie audiobooks to feature Ineson.

Make it happen Joe! 

Damn, that's a great idea.

Huh, WB apparently thought better on the copyright strike, it's now available again.

High drama right now. The first grand final dress rehearsal was to take place. Joost and the Netherlands delegation were there for the opening flag parade... but then when it was their turn to perform, they were skipped, and now word is there was some sort of incident that is being investigated, with claims going all the way up to Joost having been disqualified and the delegation being told to leave. That last seem like wild rumors to me, though.

SVT claims the incident involved Joost and a photographer, Sweden's Aftonbladet (a tabloid) says more specifically it was a "physical incident" between Joost and a female member of the Swedish television production staff, but take that with a grain of salt.

In less than 2 hours, the jury performances are happening. If Joost doesn't take the stage then, I don't know what's going to happen.

They still can't decide between 2 and 4 legs on the Targaryen dragon! Even within the same faction!

52 minutes ago, Mladen said:

BU banned Russia and I understood that, but then Israel came with "October Rain" song That moment EBU should have disqualified Israel,

They have told delegations that songs were too political before and requested that they change them. Israel has done that.

52 minutes ago, Mladen said:

but alas... Hypocrisy runs deeper than sense of decency,

It'd only be hypocrisy if the EBU had also  prevented Ukraine from participating due to being involved in active hostilities. On the contrary, Ukraine received and continues to receive everyone's support.

Well. There are some surprising developments since the finale, according to the odds. Croatia is still comfortably #1, but Switzerland has tumbled, Italy has tumbled more... and out of nowhere, Israel has jumped to the #2 spot, and signs are the jump will go higher.

I couldn't understand why, but a visit to the Eurovision Reddit explained it all: RAI, Italy's broadcaster, revealed the results of the Italian televote for semi-final #2... and Israel took nearly 40% of the total vote. (Why did they reveal it? By law they are required to reveal the results of their voting, but this is supposed to only be done after the final. This was a prepared crawl that went over the final minutes, which suggests someone thought they had to do it immediately... or, well, something else, I'm sure there are conspiracy theories.)

I'm now thinking that if it is still a two horse race, it's between Croatia and Israel.

Ineson's getting a lot of that sort of work, which is great for him. Very distinctive voice.

I had no idea this film was going to be set in the 1960s. That's pretty cool. There'd better be at least one direct homage to Kirby's illustrations.

Long time, no see, Sertab! Harem pop needs to come back. 

ETA: Interesting, Latvia was dead last in the odds but made it through. Belgium was the country in the top 10 of the odds that lost its place to them, the rest were as expected.

@Slurktan

The report is that Embracer is involved, and per Deadline:

Quote

The financial terms of the acquisition [of the Saul Zaentz Company's rights by Embracer] were not disclosed. But the deal means Embracer Group will pick up the motion picture, video game, board game, merchandising, theme parks and stage production rights relating to The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit franchises as well as matching rights in other Middle-earth-related literary works authorized by the Tolkien Estate and HarperCollins, which have yet to be explored.

Emphasis mine. Sound to me like UT stuff that takes place within the bounds of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are part of the rights that have been acquired.

If the War of the Rohirrim is a succees, I'd be interested in seeing "The Battles of the Fords of Isen" adapted (in animation, not film).

The Spaniards really love Nebulossa. I think maybe if someone half Mery Bas's age had performed it, it might have worked better for me. It's too camp with her. But then, it's Eurovision, does "too camp" really exist?

ETA: Oof, Estonia. The bookies say they'll qualify, but ... uhm. I hope not.

Jeez, Slimane's knocking this out of the park. Wow. The Barbara Pravi school of just putting it out all on the line. I think he may be a top 5 in the final, especially if he repeats or builds on that performance.

Now, Austria. She's right on the bubble according to the odds.

Have to say, Czechia's entry may be the most improved from the national finals. Really catchy choreography and Aiko is selling the hell out of it. This wasn't expected to make the top 10, but I am presently less sure about it.

And now semi-final two.

Reports were that the Greek singer had a fever and laryngitis, and maybe there was something to it, but I have to say the stage performanc and the the revised orchestration/sound mix really lost all the charm of the original video.

Nemo has chosen something less unfortunate to wear -- the last outfit looked like they'd skinned a muppet -- and the vocals were strong, as they've always been. I feel like "The Code" seems like the only song that may actually come ahead and beat Croatia at this juncture. The odds are increasingly making this a two horse race.a

Not exactly DCEU, but EW has a first look at Bruce Timm's Batman: The Caped Crusader, featuring Timm and character designer James Tucker discussing character designs, the influence of 1940's noir on the series, etc.

I'd consider this semi-canon, but from page 16 of The Official Game of Thrones Cookbook, the Maester Alton presents a brief biography:

Quote

I was born in a time of peace, the only son of Ben Beesbury, Lord of Honeyholt...

But late in the reign of King Aegon V, the harvests were bountiful and summers long, and there was litle need for famed warriors. Eventually.... I arrived at the realization that I was not suited for a warrior's life. My accomplishments would be with the quill...

I resolved to travel to the Citadel and forge my chain, despite the protestations of my father who had no other son to inherit lands and title, which instead passed to my cousin Warryn upon his death.

I'm guessing they cleared these details with GRRM, but without confirmation, yeah, semi-canon.

An ad popped up here? There should be no ad pop ups.

Have you guys heard about Animal Well? It's out today, or something. I hear it's Halo 2 meets Halo 3. 

In all seriousness, reviews look very good for a puzzle-focused Metriodvania that's drawn comparisons to Fez (the developer has cited it as a strong influence.) First completion time seems to be 5 to 10 hours, depending on the player, but per the IGN review that initial run is more like an introduction and there's at least as much time left before you get to the true finish (IGN's reviewer said it took another 25 hours on top of her initial 5 to feel like she'd truly completed the game, and was another 10 hours in puzzling after some of the more complicated puzzles and hidden areas of the game.)

Presumably based on the extended account of "The Hunt for the Ring" in Unfinished Tales. Are we getting Viggo Mortensen digitally youthened to look like he did back in the early 2000s, or are they casting someone else? That's what I'm curious about.