Totallympics Open International Song Contest 2020

[konig 1,504]

3 hours ago, dcro said:

  konig: "Don't Be Ashamed of Your Language People"

 

 

Whether peacefully or in a coup, Argenitian national jury has recently transitioned from "All About LDOG" to "All About konig" model. Indeed, while LDOG tended to get more recognition and thank-you notes from fellow participants, Argentina has now become a safe haven for konig's unique musical selections and preferences. Konig is no Videla, but beware of entering joke songs...

 

 

 

Q: How do you go about evaluating TISC entries? Do you use a specific system when picking out your Top 12?

A: I try to listen to all the songs at least 3 times, [before] knowing for the first time where are they from. There were cases of listening to all the songs ten times, for reasons of music and languages that are not common to hear in this part of the world. Sometimes it happens that a song I didn't like the first or second time, starts to be nice after some "accustoming". In very few cases, it is the opposite.

 

After 3 listenings (or more) I make 3 tables: the "sure top 12 songs", the "repechage songs" and the songs that won't be in the top 12. Another thing is that I watch the clip (if there one is) and give some more points if it is good, and only "deduct" points for what I call "joke songs".

 

Q: And what about the maximum 12 points? Can you recognize it immediately? Or do you take a certain amount of time before deciding on it?

A: Probably in one half of TISC, I recognize with the first listen. In the other half: there were TISCs where I needed to define it between two or three songs.

 

Q: Do you have a favorite music genre? Is there any genre you would like to hear more of on the TISC stage?

A: My favorite music genres are rock (of course I like some sub-genres more than others) and rap/hip hop, very difficult to see a song of this genre here, I count with fingers of one hand haha.

 

On the other hand, I hate reggaeton, salga and merengue (fortunately, we have very few examples of those genres). The pop is in a neutral place, but definitely, the classic pop songs in English from countries where English is not their native language are in the last places of my consideration, only defeating the genres I mentioned before.

 

Q: How important are lyrics to you?

A: Considering we have many types of languages and not being fair to, respect me, because I can appreciate easier the English, Portuguese and Spanish. I don't pay too much attention, only if there is a song of "unknown" language I like enough and I have the curiosity of what is saying... But I believe that you can enjoy a song without understanding the lyrics, that happened with the English songs when I was young.

 

Q: And finally... How can we get 12 points from konig?

A: Don't put a joke song (a song that is not serious about participating in this competition), have something original, something different from the common pop song of the competition, if it is rock or rap/hip hop better and.......DONT BE IN ENGLISH IF it is from a country where English is not the native language. Don't be ashamed of your language people.

 

If konig's musical preferences still feel like a jigsaw puzzle - maybe this will help. The Argentinian juror has outlined the following entries as favorites during the most recent editions...

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

 

 

Stay tuned for more user interviews to come, as we count down to TOISC 2020...

 

Ha Ha, you make me laugh with that intro, thanks @dcro

[mrv86 3,138]

Can't wait for the Openning Ceremony and the Contest 

[heywoodu 15,135]

13 hours ago, kungshamra71 said:

I know i already shared one about the food, but given the weather we had today it made me wanna watch this one as well 

 

 

P.S - The (extremely accurate!) rain app is among the best ideas one could ever had 

Those apps are fantastic  

 

"It's going to rain from 13:35 until 14:05", alright, I'll go to the supermarket half an hour later and stay dry  

 

By the way, a lot of Dutch people like to complain about the weather, when in fact it's really not that bad (unless you count hot as bad, which I do, then summer is terrible). One dude once heard a colleague complain about it always raining, so he made a website called It almost never rains: he went cycling to work 4 days a week, for a total of 2x45 minutes per day, for 11 years and 3636 rides. He stayed dry in 3285 or a little over 90% of them, so his point was made, including yearly graphs of how often he got rained on during his daily trip  

 

https://www.hetregentbijnanooit.nl/site/

[kungshamra71 892]

2 hours ago, heywoodu said:

Those apps are fantastic  

 

"It's going to rain from 13:35 until 14:05", alright, I'll go to the supermarket half an hour later and stay dry  

 

By the way, a lot of Dutch people like to complain about the weather, when in fact it's really not that bad (unless you count hot as bad, which I do, then summer is terrible). One dude once heard a colleague complain about it always raining, so he made a website called It almost never rains: he went cycling to work 4 days a week, for a total of 2x45 minutes per day, for 11 years and 3636 rides. He stayed dry in 3285 or a little over 90% of them, so his point was made, including yearly graphs of how often he got rained on during his daily trip  

 

https://www.hetregentbijnanooit.nl/site/

 

Actually i think i've read sometime ago that it actually rains less (in quantity) than in Lisbon, for example. But while there it rains A LOT for some short time, here it rains less during much more days.

 

But I think in general the weather is bad, not only because of the rain, but because is SO DEPRESSING  Those weeks where for many days you don't even see the sun.... or when it's "sunny" but the sky is not actually blue because there are some clouds above.... i would say that - maybe apart from the food, and mountains, and the beach - it's the only thing i miss from Portugal: vitamine D 

 

P.S - This is what it usually looks when the airplane reach the netherlands haha, i took this one the last time i flew here

 

 

[heywoodu 15,135]

1 hour ago, kungshamra71 said:

 

Actually i think i've read sometime ago that it actually rains less (in quantity) than in Lisbon, for example. But while there it rains A LOT for some short time, here it rains less during much more days.

 

But I think in general the weather is bad, not only because of the rain, but because is SO DEPRESSING  Those weeks where for many days you don't even see the sun.... or when it's "sunny" but the sky is not actually blue because there are some clouds above.... i would say that - maybe apart from the food, and mountains, and the beach - it's the only thing i miss from Portugal: vitamine D 

 

P.S - This is what it usually looks when the airplane reach the netherlands haha, i took this one the last time i flew here

 

 

The only times when I find the weather to be depressing is when yet again the summer is burning hot for weeks and a single step outside makes the body overheat AND when it's supposed to be winter but yet again there is not a single sign of actually having a winter  

 

I think it's easily 5-6 years ago since I actually experienced a winter in the Netherlands, and that was only for a short period of time as well. I don't have high hopes for this year, winter is not coming no matter what Ned Stark says.

[kungshamra71 892]

29 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

The only times when I find the weather to be depressing is when yet again the summer is burning hot for weeks and a single step outside makes the body overheat AND when it's supposed to be winter but yet again there is not a single sign of actually having a winter  

 

I think it's easily 5-6 years ago since I actually experienced a winter in the Netherlands, and that was only for a short period of time as well. I don't have high hopes for this year, winter is not coming no matter what Ned Stark says.

 

Being from a southern country i obviously enjoy the heat, not inside the house as this houses accumulate heat and it becomes hellish, but outside near the lakes/sea/rivers.

 

This past 2 years were great as i think we were able to go a few times to the beach or lake, the first year we only went once 

 

As for winter, any chance of snow, even if for a few days, is a proper winter for me as we never have snow in Lisbon.

 

This last year was the first where it not even snowed once, which was quite sad, but I loved the previous ones! Last year it filled the Amsterdamse Bos with white (pics below) and two years ago it even froze the canals in Amsterdam, i walked on some of them! (also pics below)

 

 

 

 

 

[heywoodu 15,135]

34 minutes ago, kungshamra71 said:

 

 

 

 

Ah, that reminds me of the one time I went ice skating on the Amsterdam canals with a buddy. The ice under a bridge was too thin, so we had to walk onto the street and across, he went first (he had those protectors for his skates) and then threw the protectors towards me...one ended up slightly under the bridge on his side, which he thought he could get without breaking through the ice.

 

Spoiler: he could not. I can still see a big chunk of ice breaking off and him just falling away  Which was not exactly hilarious at the time of course, but it did become so once someone safely got him out (I couldn't get there, since I was on the other side of the bridge), he managed to get some dry clothes on a nearby market and we were warming up with hot chocolate  

[kungshamra71 892]

3 hours ago, heywoodu said:

Ah, that reminds me of the one time I went ice skating on the Amsterdam canals with a buddy. The ice under a bridge was too thin, so we had to walk onto the street and across, he went first (he had those protectors for his skates) and then threw the protectors towards me...one ended up slightly under the bridge on his side, which he thought he could get without breaking through the ice.

 

Spoiler: he could not. I can still see a big chunk of ice breaking off and him just falling away  Which was not exactly hilarious at the time of course, but it did become so once someone safely got him out (I couldn't get there, since I was on the other side of the bridge), he managed to get some dry clothes on a nearby market and we were warming up with hot chocolate  

 

They locked the canals so it was easy to get thick ice, but still for us who almost never had walked on real ice (and the only images we had on our mind was from movies when people fall into the water) was a bit scary at first. But then it was really fun 

[heywoodu 15,135]

20 minutes ago, kungshamra71 said:

 

They locked the canals so it was easy to get thick ice, but still for us who almost never had walked on real ice (and the only images we had on our mind was from movies when people fall into the water) was a bit scary at first. But then it was really fun 

Wait until there's a real winter and the lakes freeze over instead of just the 'easy' canals  

 

Skating on the Veluwe Lake, now that's some childhood memories  

 

 

Several years ago the Dutch marathon championships on natural ice (there's also one on artificial ice) where on the Veluwe Lake near Elburg, that was awesome  

[dcro 10,210]

Three last interviews coming up today...