Chez Wombat

Congrats Josh! The song wasn't for me but I suppose it makes up for the narrow loss Rebecca Black had against my own entry the last time she was entered (I knew I was on to something in the mod forum xx) and of course, wonderful to see another first time winner after some time! I voted for a lot of that top 10 overall, Volta and Telephone getting there is a nice surprise given they were quite subtly effective entries. Absolutely love Eledan 18ing their way to the top 5, reminded me a bit of Ethel Cain's most recent project. Much as I want to still be bitter (and looking at the song that joint-beat me to 20th in the semis, I might still be... ) this was a really high quality contest which I made some great discoveries from. I see David Holmes did about the same/a little bit worse than my own entry by him pre-deduction so good to know I was onto a middling hit either way! Persephonia definitely shouldn't be last though and Aesthetica's entry was my favourite from them in some time (I had a different song from that artist as a potential a few months ago) and should've been higher. Thank you for the great and colourful hosting throughout, Klumzee (and Leww)!

Two more of my big pointers out with Da Funk and Light My Fire, the latter I discovered way too late after only knowing Will Young's cover for ages, it's 60s psychedelia done best and the former is a great anthem to listen to while walking around dressed as a dog x The two modern songs were good picks and that feels about right for them both, Angel of my Dreams probably the most interesting song to come from an X Factor winner,

The backlash to Ziegler is quite unwarranted for me, what she said has been a bit cringey but harmless, and largely taken out of context, not to mention there's very clearly a racist undertone to a lot of the backlash just like Halle Bailey as well as the standard sexism that outspoken women in the spotlight face (and Palestine support because God forbid x). I support the backlash towards the film itself in every way though. These live action remakes are the most soulless, corporate cash-grabs in the movie industry. I'm not against an updated version of an 88 year old film that is just a tad dated despite it's groundbreaking nature (we had a wonderful version of Nosferatu recently that was over 100), but I don't even need to see this to know it will have the typical live action formula of a loose following of the beats of the original and what changes there are feel unnecessary and underdeveloped, and ultimately feeling just completely superfluous next to the groundbreaking original. This one additionally seems to have horrifying CGI, awful acting and another set of seven characters (?!). Nothing about them feels like they genuinely had a new vision or even respect the original at all, just how marketable they can make it to today's audiences. Disney have produced some of the best animated films of all time, I know in recent years (though they've often got dumped on Disney+), they still can release some solid flicks, yet they continue to just rehash the same things. Any remote failure that makes them reconsider pumping out more of these is a victory for cinema in my book.

I’ve never found Be Mine to be a very memorable or standout song by Robyn, it’s still one of the best here but much prefer No Doubt which has always been a lot of fun (Love is Gone is one of Guetta’s best as well)

Week 24: Best: fun. - We Are Young (feat. Janelle Monáe) Lorde - Royals Rihanna - We Found Love (feat. Calvin Harris) Taylor Swift - Blank Space The Weeknd - The Hills Worst: Eminem - The Monster (feat. Rihanna) John Legend - All Of Me Taylor Swift - We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together Week 25: Best: Billie Eilish - bad guy Camila Cabello - Havana (feat. Young Thug) Kendrick Lamar - HUMBLE. Post Malone and Swae Lee - Sunflower The Weeknd - Starboy (feat. Daft Punk) SICKO MODE also great, hadn't heard it in full until then x Worst: Ed Sheeran - Perfect Duet (w/ Beyoncé) / Perfect Lewis Capaldi - Someone You Loved Maroon 5 - Girls Like You (feat. Cardi B)

Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors is another big loss, although I'm pleasantly surprised it made it all the way to the final given it's not really that remembered very much these days, at least from my perspective.

I...voted Robyn, lol x

Three points then pfft, let me just pretend I did end up sending this David Holmes track and masquerade as that in the final x This contest and last are definitely giving me reminders not to check the odds thread (or odds in the semi thread in this case) :') I'm honestly a bit miffed, Snapped Ankles have been my favourite discovery of the year and I was really hoping more would be into it, most people I had in mind as fans did vote for it so I guess I just got really unlucky with the draw again, hopefully was a good discovery to those in the opposite semi anyway x Pleased at least to have most of my votes through in what was a very strong semi.

oh....

Going to riot a bit if I'm one of the last two DNQs as that's three of my votes out now </3 Jadakissnia/Cumulonimbia both great qualifiers though

Lotunia another one of my votes out :'( Had a really wholesome synthwave sound.

Well, already lost one of my votes with just six possibilities, Skall was my 4 pointer </3 Didn't deserve last at all. Pleased for Macromia though despite the mixed predictions! Oops at Taahino, didn't quite make my votes but one of their best entries recently x

Marshmello and Bastille - Happier twenty one pilots - Heathens twenty one pilots - Stressed Out

Renewed for a third season, hooray! Hopefully doesn't take three years this time x While I did prefer Season 1 as a finale and overall, this was a quite spectacular finale just about everything thrown in and a fantastic top off to the season. Innie and Outie Mark having that recorded conversation was so hypnotising seeing two completely different mindsets not quite seeing the other's perspective despite being the same, he made each one so distinctive as well so real credit to Scott. The ending cliffhanger felt like a real culmination of that and sets things up well. As well as all the drama and action, it did bring the humour too. The office fighting with the band thrown in was wonderfully bonkers and Milchick was on top form. Cobel's intentions remain a real mystery to me, and I'm interested to see where she goes from here. If there's one flaw in this season, it's that I found her focused episode to be less of a convincing back story, certainly not compared to Gemma's devastating and stunning hour before that, and she clearly still can't catch a break! My heart was in my mouth for poor Emile, a true GOAT in every sense x I too am a little unsure what it will do from here, especially as the whole concept has really been a bit upended by the diverging paths of the main four, but the quality of this season has certainly given hope it can continue.

Not the best start to this with Let Your Love Flow and Strange & Beautiful out so early </3 two very different moods, but both my go-to songs when I'm feeling that way x

Finally released in the UK! (Go see it over Snow White x) I think if there was ever a film I was going to love, it was this and for sure it didn't disappoint, gonna take a lot to beat this for film of the year - animation was beautiful, the animals looked and acted just like realistic animals would for the most part which added a sense of authenticity that's really missing from generic Disney/Pixar movies yet they were still so expressive as personalities, and the long takes and slow (ahem, flowing) camera movement was amazing in immersing you in the dreamy feel of the world. It was clearly based on Earth but felt like it was in it's own space of time which added to it (The Secretarybird in general felt like a spiritual being in an otherwise lifelike setting). Moreover, what an incredible success story this has been for both independent filmmaking and the Latvian film industry - it's already going down in history there, and was clearly a labour of love taking over five years to make, animated all through an open source software and made for just 4 million. It's stories like this that really keep you going in a time where success in the film industry is so often just seen in big studios. Need @Jade and @Brer to see this in particular x (not sure there's another film where a cat and a capybara are the lead roles x)

Everyone's entitled to consuming their own way. I don't buy physical music much as I just don't have the money or space so streaming works well for me, I'm not claiming anything else. But don't be under any illusion that streaming is making a real difference in any other way than convenience for consumers though, it's very well documented how much the streaming giants exploit artists and it really does not pay them much unless it is a significant amount or you get a lucky break via social media, it's an uphill battle for lesser known musicians. If I discover smaller artists on YouTube crawls/playlist recommendations, I do at least try to buy the download or use Bandcamp in a way that helps them just that little bit more.

Well it's gonna take something truly remarkable to outclass Outro, one of my favourite songs of all time ❤️❤️❤️ Didn't even come to my mind, but does fit as despite it's wide usage in Media, it was never actually a single. (inb4 Bre 'you've missed a song')

Odds and Hype - rent paid this month *. Semi 2 was a really good semi with some unexpected surprises, I wanted to vote for my whole top 15, but I'm hoping the five I left will be safe anyway.

Westlife, though I'll be gunning for that bottom 2 next.

Beautiful presetation <3 Although I wish I'd picked an earlier colour now as Semi 1 seems a lot better for my song :x David Holmes and Raven Violet showing up here's a bit of a surprise! It was between this and Hope is the Last Thing to Die when I sent that so I'm interested to see how this fares, it's quite Noel Gallagher-esque x

Watched this all in one go too, absolutely phenomenal. An early contender for best of the year. The single takes and real-time filming was obviously really well done, but it wouldn't have worked without a really harrowing, sensitive story to boot. It's a difficult subject matter and they could've easily been overly dramatic with it, but the characters all felt extremely genuine - serious props to the kid who played Jamie as you couldn't help but feel for him sometimes despite what he did, and the changes in character he showed with the therapist was incredibly done. Making the family normal and not abusive with only subtle clues that there was a slight disconnect between father and son was a really good choice too as that could've easily felt cliched. That last part of episode 4 was beautiful and the whole of episode 3 was stunning. I couldn't help but nitpick slightly at Episode 2 as it was a bit more contrived and less believable, working in education myself, but that's minor quibbles in what is a great achievement, and actually quite an important show to watch in our current times as it's hardly the stuff of imagination.

50; U2 - One 49; Editors – Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors 48; Daft Punk - Da Funk / Musique 47; The Doors - Light My Fire 46; Aqualung – Strange and Beautiful (I'll Put a Spell On You) 45; Alan Walker - Faded 44; The Bellamy Brothers - Let Your Love Flow 43; The Bravery - An Honest Mistake 42; Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit 41; R.E.M. - Everybody Hurts 40; Billy Joel - We Didn't Start The Fire 39; The White Stripes – Seven Nation Army 38; Klaxons – Golden Skans 37; Dolly Parton - Jolene 36; Queen - Another One Bites The Dust 35; The Kooks – She Moves in Her Own Way 34; Toploader - Dancing In The Moonlight 33; Wild Cherry - Play That Funky Music 32; Abba - Lay All Your Love On Me 31; Simple Minds - Don't You (Forget About Me) 30; Green Day - Basket Case 29; Jade - Angel Of My Dreams 28; Chic - Le Freak 27; The Cardigans - Erase/Rewind 26; Pulp - Disco 2000 25; Grandmaster and Melle Mel - White Lines (Don't Don't Do It) 24; Radiohead - Creep 23; Amy Winehouse - Rehab 22; Lady Gaga - Alejandro 21; Sugababes – Stronger / Angels With Dirty Faces 20; Gossip – Standing In The Way of Control 19; The Verve - Lucky Man 18; Swedish House Mafia featuring Pharrell – One (Your Name) 17; Oasis - Cigarettes And Alcohol 16; The Cure - The Love Cats 15; The Beach Boys - I Get Around 14; Britney Spears - Stronger 13; Madonna – Get Together 12; Evanescence – My Immortal 11; The Ones - Flawless 10; t.A.T.u. - Not Gonna Get Us 09; Dr. Dre featuring Eminem - Forgot About Dre 08; Pet Shop Boys - Domino Dancing 07; LeAnn Rimes - How Do I Live 06; The Supremes - Stop! In The Name Of Love 05; Avril Lavigne – I'm With You 04; Kirsty MacColl - A New England 03; Kelly Clarkson - Because Of You 02; Al Green - Let's Stay Together 01; Alanis Morissette - Head Over Feet

Daft Punk - Get Lucky (feat. Pharrell Williams) Katy Perry - Wide Awake Justin Timberlake - Mirrors

I'll be on my own for some time, but Lovegame is really not a highlight at all from early Gaga.