odajoana

So... I guess Portugal is serving cante this year.

#FestivaldaCanção #Eurovision

I've been so out of tune with the #Eurovision fandom's tastes since 2023, that it's not surprising that while the whole fandom is busy despising the new UK song, I'm here actually digging it.

It's not without its flaws, but that Kraftwerkian sound in the verses is very clearly after my own heart.

『ONE PIECE』全世界累計発行部数6億部突破記念企画「ONE PIECEとは？」 YouTube video by ONE PIECE公式YouTubeチャンネル

I genuinely want someone to spend a small fortune finding out where this thing is, diving for it, open the chest and have the paper just read:

"Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you".

#OnePiece

I know this is a very unpopular opinion, but he's not wrong.

The only sure-fire way to deal with Israel (and potentially Azerbaijan) in #Eurovision means also dealing with Ukraine, regardless of how much the fandom gaslight themselves into thinking their presence is not an issue.

Gotta love the YouTube algorithm. Just listened to a song called "Little Caeser", immediately another one appears in my recommendations called "Brutus".

Between this, the praising of a fake messiah, a missing-limb-sword-fighting soldier, a figure of authority being mocked because of his way of speaking... I feel like Oda must have gone through a Python phase around this time. (2/2) #OnePiece

Screenshot of episode 699 of One Piece. An extra is seen holding a fish during a battle.

Maybe I'm reaching, but there's this extra in #OnePiece apparently using a fish for a weapon during a battle and I'm ever more convinced that Dressrosa is full of tiny love notes to Monty Python. (1/2)

Anyway, I still need to go through Señor Pink's origin story, which has its own set of issues. Not looking forward to that either.

Law's flashback better make me bawl my eyes out again to make this whole thing worth it again.

And Whole Cake Island cannot come soon enough. (9/9) #OnePiece

robert downey jr. is wearing a purple sweater and looking at something . ALT: robert downey jr. is wearing a purple sweater and looking at something .

(Sidenote: Her weapon is a vacuum cleaner, because of course it is, why wouldn't it be.) (8/9) #OnePiece

Screenshot from One Piece, episode 693. Franky steals a kiss from the factory manager.

Screenshot from One Piece, episode 693. The Tontatta jointly exclamate "The manager just became a bit more feminine!", after she was kissed by Franky.

Screenshot from One Piece, episode 693. Senõr Pink reacting to Franky kissing the factory manager by saying "how else can we seal her mouth?"

Screenshot from One Piece, episode 693. The background girls in bikins, plus the factory manager swooning over Señor Pink's "hard-boiledness".

And on top of that, the whole encounter with Kyuin, the factory manager, is just... icky and wrong. Someone seriously needs to add this whole chapter/episode to the Sanji/Absalom stuff in Thriller Bark, put them in a pile, and burn it all with fire. Twice. Erase it from existence. (7/9) #OnePiece

And then he's paired with Señor Pink. And everything just... sours.

I'm aware the hard-boiled gag is a very famous Japanese trope but none of it lands for me. Just thoroughly unfunny and goes on for way too long (and it's not an anime pacing thing, I felt the same in the manga too). (6/9) #OnePiece

Screenshot of One Piece, episode 661. Franky, through a snail phone, talking to Luffy about the Tontatta situation. Subtitle says "Luffy, I..."

Screenshot of One Piece, episode 661. Franky, through a snail phone, talking to Luffy about the Tontatta situation. Subtitle says "I can't abandon them."

Screenshot of One Piece, episode 661. Franky, through a snail phone, talking to Luffy about the Tontatta situation. Subtitle says "Luffy. It doesn't matter what you say..."

Screenshot of One Piece, episode 661. Franky, through a snail phone, talking to Luffy about the Tontatta situation. Subtitle says "I won't back down."

And the moment he states, in tears, that he is going to help the Tontatta, in defiance to his own captain, is just stellar.

Both moments just wonderful depictions of his wisdom and immense sense of empathy. I missed this Franky, he hadn't had the opportunity to shine in a while. (5/9) #OnePiece

Screenshot of episode 632 of One Piece. Franky saying "Thinking of what Doflamingo said, this is probably a trap."

Screenshot of episode 632 of One Piece. Franky saying to Luffy "Don't let this chance slip away!"

Screenshot of episode 632 of One Piece. Franky saying to Luffy "You'd just end up regretting it."

Franky is the MVP for the first half of this arc. He has such a good moment with Luffy before the Colosseum fight, regarding Ace's Devil Fruit, as well as a great dynamic with the Tin Soldier in the episodes following. (4/9) #OnePiece

But there are other elements to Dressrosa that I had completely erased from my mind and am now regretting having to revisit again. Franky's entire fight is one of them.(3/9) #OnePiece

There are some elements I've come to appreciate more in this arc so far, either because they hadn't worked as well in the manga (like Pika's high-pitched voice gag) or just overall grew on me, like the God Usopp stuff and Bartolomeu's character, who I now find more amusing. (2/9) #OnePiece

Two months later and I'm still at Dressrosa. I need to ramble and shout into the void. Spoilers, obviously. 🧵 (1/9) #OnePiece

Not even just doing their own gigs. Doing 3 months of intensive rehearsing and touring *before* Eurovision, then the stressful 2 weeks of the show itself and then immediately go into having to tour Central Europe for what, 8-10 concerts in a row? The exhaustion and burn-out would have been insane.

On the one hand, I'm kind of sad about this, because I do think the EBU *should* indeed look into ways to promoting their artists outside of #Eurovision bubble and timeframe. Like, there's a good intention and idea here.

On the other hand, schadenfreude.

I didn't even intend to, but I guess my country's #FestivaldaCanção songs being so lame this year made me entirely check out of national final season and #Eurovision. I have no idea what happened in the last month in this bubble.

Eurovision Song Contest Live Tour The European Broadcasting Union regrets to announce that we’ve made the difficult decision to postpone the Eurovision Song Contest Live Tour 2026. We have encountered unforeseen challenges that despite the best efforts of our team, the producers, and promoters we have been unable to resolve. To the thousands of fans who bought tickets, thank you, we will ensure you will be refunded in full as soon as possible.  We look forward to relaunching the Live Tour when we can ensure the world class experience that our fans expect. Our focus remains on delivering an incredible Eurovision Song Contest in May. The 70th anniversary shows will be celebrated with 35 amazing artists performing to record sell-out audiences in Vienna and hundreds of millions watching around the world.

The goose chasing meme with the text 'what unforeseen challenges'

Luxembourg doing their national final in, like, 6 different languages is just flexing at this point. #LSC #Eurovision

So, in the end, this is Bandidos do Cante's to lose, honestly. Which I guess is the best outcome for RTP, since they're one of the few acts who will accept to go to #Eurovision and will save RTP's face and make them avoid making some really hard decisions.

The lack of big names also doesn't help create any hype for the show, so I foresee that there will be a major drop in ratings and voting numbers, making the family/friends and regional bias stronger than ever.

However, it makes you wonder if it weren't best if, giving the current situation, RTP had fully opened all the FdC slots to the open submission, in order to make sure everyone who takes part actually wants to be there, instead of relying on artists to do FdC as a favor to Nuno Galopim as usual.

Like in the early years of FdC's reformat (2017-2020), it feels like a lot of artists aren't really delivering their best material to the show or don't really want to be here.

Which, I guess in light of the current political and social situation surrounding #Eurovision, it's understandable.

Overall opinion... uff.

Definitely one of the weakest #FestivaldaCanção editions of the recent years. The show has always struggled with genre variety, but this year, this is definitely a lot more blatant. It all just feels very safe, bland and within the same lane, with very few experimentation.

16 | Silvana Peres - "Não Tem Fim"

I feel it's trying to hard to be this dramatic meaningful song like "Cotovia" last year, but it somehow falls short of it. Something's missing and not hitting as hard as it should, but I could see this grow on me with future listens.

15 | Sandrino - "Disposto a Tudo"

Solid voice, the Brazilian vibes are strong, the fast-paced lyrics also stand out. Very, very enjoyable, and so far, the song that has gripped me on a first listen. Does end up feeling a bit repetitive in the last act, but strong effort for sure.

14 | Nunca Mates o Mandarim - "Fumo"

Very typical Portuguese indie stuff, but I'm into that, so I enjoy this. Enjoyable, but still very track 4 of a full album that is likely to have stronger songs in it. Might grow on me, though.

13 | Marquise - "Chuva"

Thank god, some genre variety. The grunge rock vibes are very welcome in this line-up, however, I'm not sure the song stands on its own, especially because of the very lackluster and unfitting vocal delivery.