Dnl

Facts, important......

I think Capitalism is currently the best way to resurrect the economy....  most of the currencies have become very unstable and the importance of handling it is crucial 
Biden/Harris will have great pressure on them, especially since they want to get back the Chinese market in, a move that will harm a lot of middle class Americans 

rybak: "I Want More Traditional Songs"
 


As long-term TISC supporter, rybak has lead Poland to numerous notable results. This includes an impressive run of three consecutive Top 10 placings (2017 Open - 2018 Open).
 
Poland, however, will not be represented by a single person jury in Holland. For the first time in a long time. WIll this cause them to shift away from their usual far anti-establishment patterns?
 
Q: How do you go about evaluating TISC entries? Do you use a specific system when picking out your Top 12?
A: No, I don't have a specific system, I just listen to all entries, and I choose those ones which sound good for me.
 
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: Usually there are few songs at the beginning, to which I would want to give 12 points, just like at this contest I had 4 songs which IMO deserved to have my 12 points. I needed this time four listenings to make a final decision about top 4.
 
Q: Do you have a favorite music genre? Is there any genre you would like to hear more of on the TISC stage?
A: I prefer Pop, rock songs and trance music, but time to time I also listen to other music genres, all depends on the current mood. I still listen every day the song which represented Hong Kong at the TISC Special Event.
 
At TISC I would want to hear more traditional songs, like Balkan ballads, folk songs and so on.
 
Q: How important are lyrics to you?
A: Music, sound, rhythm for me are more important than lyrics.
 
Q: And finally... How can we get 12 points from rybak?
A: Well, the answer is simple, choose the song which I will like/love, hints are above.
 
If rybak's musical preferences still feel like a jigsaw puzzle - maybe this will help. Our resident Polish juror has outlined the following entries as favorites during the most recent editions...
 
 
 
Stay tuned for more user interviews to come, as we count down to TOISC 2020...

Yeah, Trump was an arch enemy of Chinese economy so Biden & Harris will now roll out the red carpet for Chinese market to make up for the lost four years IMO.

We can be any state except Pennsylvania.
 
While we won't push you to victory, we'll give you just enough points to feel good about yourself

We will have to review it on case-to-case basis, but for what it's worth, there are 5 pro-establishment and 2 anti-establishment nations voting in the final session.
 
But how can we define these anyway? Suggestions?
 
Establishment - light rock / polished pop, English language, solo artist / duet ?
Anti-establishment - anything else ?
 

Vektor: "Send Something Interesting and Original!"
 

 
Vektor has enjoyed similar track record to Cobi. Two Top 10 results in as many participations, during which all previous Hungarian national records got obliterated as well. As fellow stakeholders, however, we may still be catching up with Vektor's musical compass. Maybe this interview will help put us in the right direction...
 

Q: How do you go about evaluating TISC entries? Do you use a specific system when picking out your Top 12?
A: I make a nice, simple Excel sheet with all the songs listed, and as I listen to the songs for the first time one-by-one via the playlist, I make a provisional ranking of them. After that, I do a couple rounds of reevaluation with my top picks for a few days before I submit my Top12. One thing I have learned about myself over the years is that I rarely change my opinion on a song or movie after the first impression. When it happens, it's far more likely that a song goes down on the ranking than up. So if I find a song boring on the first listen, then it's pretty much done and won't come close to my Top12. 
 
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: Well, I have participated in TISC twice so far, and both times the song that had my 12 points after the first impressions was able to keep the 1st place after a few days of reevaluation. Usually, there aren't many changes to my first provisional ranking, I am good at instantly picking up on what my preferences are when it comes to art.
 
Q: Do you have a favorite music genre? Is there any genre you would like to hear more of on the TISC stage?
A: If I would have to pick one broad genre, it would probably be electronic music. But while I prefer some genres more than others, it's not like I am obsessed with one and don't listen to anything else, or that I will always give more points to one particular genre of music. I have only been part of TISC for one year, so I am not exactly sure which genres are less likely to appear. I will give you a diplomatic answer: I just hope that there will be a wide variety of genres for each contest. 
 
Q: How important are lyrics to you?
A: Depends on the song. Let's use films as an analogy because I am more of a cinephile than... um, musicphile? Is there a fancy word for music nerds? Anyway, when I am watching an action movie like John Wick I won't complain about how even a 13-year-old can write the dialogue of that film, because who cares as long as the action scenes have great choreography and I am having fun. Same applies to music. I can appreciate a dumb song if it executes well what it's set out to do because not every song has to have the deepest of lyrics. But for example, I can't rate a rap song highly if the rhymes are terrible or way too obvious.
 
Q: And finally... How can we get 12 points from Vektor?
A: Send something interesting and original! I also always appreciate it when someone sends a song that represents the culture of their country. That's my backup plan for when I can't find a good popular song to submit. I know that, even if everything else fails and I can't compete with Western countries that have a vast talent pool in popular genres, at the very least I will always have Hungarian folk music that I can proudly submit. There won't be anything else quite like it in the contest.
 
If Vektor's musical preferences still feel like a jigsaw puzzle - maybe this will help. Our new Hungarian juror has outlined the following entries as favorites during his two TISC participations...
 
 
 
Stay tuned for more user interviews to come, as we count down to TOISC 2020...

Werloc: "Lyrics Are Extremely Important, but You Can't Sacrifice Sound for Lyrics"
 

 
Unlike most of us, Werloc took his TISC experience to an entire new level. Werloc entered his own work. While "I'll Be There" was not particularly well-received (39th), with more fine-tuning and mileage, "Acceptance" was able to record a more respectable final result (14th). But that is not where the story ends. Under Werloc's tutelage, Lithuania achieved a record-setting five consecutive Top 10 placings, including the fan-favorite victory aboard "Song About Love".
 
Clinics with Werloc (pictured above) are notoriously hard to get in. We did manage to sneak in an interview, though...
 
Q: How do you go about evaluating TISC entries? Do you use a specific system when picking out your Top 12?
A: I start with an Excel spreadsheet where I have all countries listed and rank every song from 1 to 5. A 4 and 5 will get you to the upper bracket (usually no more than eight songs), and a 3 will get you in the lower bracket. A 1 and a 2 gets you out of the competition, and I usually lose 10 songs like that.
 
The second stage is ranking each individual bracket. If you don't get into the top 12 in the lower bracket, I'm probably saying goodbye to you, unless I feel potential of growth from the song, whilst the upper bracket ranking is where the high points are at.
 
The third stage is the first time the songs are evaluated together, listened in the previous rankings order to see if the order holds up. This is usually the stage in which lower bracket songs have the best chance at moving past the upper bracket songs and really gives a good vibe of what the final ranking could look like. Some of the songs at the bottom get dropped.
 
The fourth stage is randomizing the order of the songs and ranking them again. If there are any irregularities with the previous ranking, listen again and again until doubts disappear.
 
For example, the last annual contest took 7 listens for all the irregularities to disappear since there was a lot of drama between places 10-14.
 
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: I think that is a question that is best answered with some statistics. During 2020A, 2019O, 2019A, 2018O, 2018A, 2017O and 2017A (the excels that I have on hand with me right now), the maximum 12 points were decided in the very first upper bracket ranking, and it was immovable during every listen. So I guess it's fair to say that I recognize it immediately. I think it would be more fun if it was a closer battle, but one song is always head and shoulders above the rest. I think the last contest was the closest top 3 that I've had, but even after those 7 listens their order didn't shift apart from Ireland stealing the third place in the fourth listen from Brazil, which ended up being passed by Malta and Netherlands as well.
 
Q: Do you have a favorite music genre? Is there any genre you would like to hear more of on the TISC stage?
A: I think I've experienced a lot of musical growth throughout my youth because the concept of a favourite genre was everchanging. I had a Pop phase, went through a Rock phase, went onto lighter things and listened to a lot of Alternative, then came Indie, afterwards it was a huge Soul, Jazz and R&B stage. Then I started listening to a lot of Folk.
 
Suppose I had to name my favourite genre now. In that case, I think it would easily be Folk and Indie Folk with Pop/R&B being a close second. However, I also really love Jazz, Soul still, and lately, I've been roped back into heavier music as well, with some friendlier rock-inspired acts like Sam Fender, Nothing But Thieves, Royal Blood.
 
A genre that I would like to see more represented on the TISC stage? Perhaps Folk is indeed a bit underrepresented, but stuff like R&B and Jazz is also not something that you get to hear too often. but there's also probably not a huge demand for these last two genres in the TISC community. I feel that light rock and polished pop are the front runners of our contests.
 
Q: How important are lyrics to you?
A: Lyrics are actually extremely important to me, but you can't sacrifice sound for lyrics. Folk singer-songwriters are probably my favourite, because of their attention to lyrics. Although there are times where the song is just that good, that you don't have to care what it's about. I remember Austria getting twelve points from me, and to this day, I have no idea what that song is about. (Well, I'm lying, due to the video, I can at least guess that it's about a machine).
 
One thing is sure that, since lyrics are important to me, it's the English songs that are most in danger for this category. I have pummeled songs down the rankings more times than I could count if the lyrics were awful.
 
Q: And finally... How can we get 12 points from Werloc?
A: I think the secret is to find the combination of everything that I love.
 
At the forefront, there has to be a good vocalist (hitting notes, having a nice timbre).
 
The instrumental has to be good, and it has to compliment the vocals well. I'm a sucker for live instruments, though, so your trap music and hip-hop are probably not going to resonate with me as much.
 
The mixing and mastering of the tracks, basically the production. With a good set of earphones, you can hear a lot of extra details in every song as well as you can hear small mistakes, some of which can be irritating to the ear and might lose a point or two. Sometimes it could be the bad balance of sound, instruments or some vocals too loud or too quiet in the mix. Sometimes it can also be the tone of the reverb used that sounds off-putting and doesn't compliment the vocalist well, or you can hear that there's too much autotune.
 
Harmonies. I really love harmonies. If your song has good harmonies and vocal layering, you have an excellent chance to end up in my top 12
 
Lyrics. If you're writing in English, then it would be cool if you would understand the language and avoid grammatical mistakes. The rhyming scheme is pretty important, too, as well as rhythm. Lastly, I like meaningful songs, so if you're singing about having sex all night long and drinking till blackout, doing drugs and all that good shit, you're probably not going very high up my list.
 
If Werloc's musical preferences still feel like a jigsaw puzzle - maybe this will help. Our resident Lithuanian juror has outlined the following entries as favorites during the most recent editions...
 
 
 
Stay tuned for more user interviews to come, as we count down to TOISC 2020...

Wow, how a diferent point of view, for me is the best american president i have ever seen since Ronald Reagan.

Yes, here you have a provisional result which es organizated by the goverment and the judiciary count the votes oficially with the presence of people of all the parties.

So that was all for Donald.
 
See you on christmas eve at Home Alone 2 

I dont know if is because is "Trump" or the users for developed countries cant conceive the posibility of electoral fraud like something real........ 

I feel like by now he'd tie himself to a table leg in the White House or something in order to not leave (one of them tables one can easily lift up)  

America does know how to make good drama, and headlines 

It yet again proved what I wrote, he might be right in some states, meaning that there were cases of election fraud, but when you do this for 4 years it’s become, unreliable and annoying so I get him a bit but his critics as well 

Trump shots himself in the foot , he cried wolf so much that even if he is right, and there are evidence for that, it’s seem so obvious and so unbelievable, which is not a smart move by him.
again I think Haley is the future of American politics she is below 70, ambitious woman who had fair amount of time in politics and represented the US impressively.
At the democratic side,
I think that a lot of democrats voters vote for Biden to get Harris , the American people chose to ignore her past but yet again I think she is the leader of the Biden-Harris ship.
 

Not that I think it happened, but one can try to make a case that someone used 'magic turnarounds' to throw in some illegal votes as well.

The leftism in the world are more or less marxist, the diference is between the moderns vertions of Mensheviks and Bolsheviks and nothing more and, at least for me, the democrats are part of that, i disagree with the marxist doesnt exist in the US society if you see organizations like BLM or the Antifa and, casually, their members support Biden.
 
I didnt listen nothing about you say in the second paragraph, do you have any link to read?
 
Well, they are  the first power after the world war 2 and they will continue with that hegemonic form to rule, that is clear and wont change, both know like latin americans what is the meaning of the Monroe doctrine "America for the Americans".
 
 

Well, Trump is SO evil that the democrats need to have the most part of the press, the social networks and even do fraud to defeat him.....
It so important the image in this time that some people prefer a candidate of a goverment which made a big disaster in economy and foreing policy, atacks many countries militarily than another which dont atack ANY......
 
Big triumph for the international marxism.

We could have our own electoral college. Only instead of population, we use the number of participations / result history to determine who gets how many electoral votes for the Team Challenge.
 
Basically, Ireland would be our California, the Netherlands would be our Pennsylvania, while someone like Israel would be our Rhode Island.

Wanderer: "I Learned Kitoks Pasaulis Lyrics in Lithuanian by Heart"
 

Would you take this class?
 
On surface, the formula of Wanderer's voting patterns appears simple. Just enter the most obscure song you can find and you will get your reward. But then again, if you are aiming to win, New Zealand is probably not your target audience.
 
Wanderer, however, argues things may not be quite that simple...
 

Q: How do you go about evaluating TISC entries? Do you use a specific system when picking out your Top 12?
A: Well, there is no specific system, it is just what I like and what I find as a quality song, totally subjective thing. Sometimes I am drawn by the music, sometimes the lyrics are the stand out point, and occasionally the voice. If all there catch my ear, heart, all the senses after the first listening, there you go, you pass the first round. I am often done after the second round when I pick my top 12 When there are a couple of songs that are on the verge to get points, I give additional hearing and then decide based on circumstances - the creativity, the historical background, the meaning of the song, and if it is about the songs I know from before or the new one - I would award the new one. 
 
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: Oh, yes, it is usually immediately there. I think there was no game where I did not have a song that stood out, only in a couple of games when there were several such songs. From the recent memory - I wanna be adored, Ma Soeur (one of the recent French entries), The Communions, Kitoks Pasaulis (Werloc will always be remembered because of this song ), two Russian entries: Перемен and Песня Про То, Как Гусь Нашёл Омлет (И Что Из Этого Стало) from vovanA... Sometimes I need more time, but all in all, it is love at first sight.
 
Q: Do you have a favorite music genre? Is there any genre you would like to hear more of on the TISC stage?
A: Not really. I like rock the most, which is veeery wide. Turned 31 recently, so I had a lot of different phases. Still, over the last couple of years, I am mostly into post-punk, garage rock, Dunedin sound <3, jazz punk, jangle/Brit-pop, alternative rock, indie pop/rock, rock and jazz fusion and had been investigating a lot of music from other countries finding many interesting "species" and sub-genres where rock fused with folk, blues music. 
 
On the TISC stage, I get constantly disappointed by USA's choices, German, Canadian, frequently Italian and French as well. They have so much to offer, but somehow they nominate the song I don't like. Obviously, the songs nominated are often quality ones but not something I personally would value highly enough. I would like to some older songs coming from these nations, songs that made some impact on society, music in general. I appreciate Portugal's nominations very much. Always original and kungshamra really showed us the diversity of Portugal's music scene. I would only like to have less generic pop songs. That is all Oh - and I encourage songs in native languages!
 
Q: How important are lyrics to you?
A: To me, they are more important than the voice to be honest Sometimes even decisive. I learned Kitoks Pasaulis lyrics in Lithuanian by heart (I find Lithuanian a beautiful language, Werloc may disagree) and thanks to the Werloc's translation and my additional research, I instantly fell in love with the lyrics! Italy won my 11 (or 12?) points when they won the contest thanks to the lyrics as well.
 
Q: And finally... How can we get 12 points from Wanderer?
A: I think people often believe the more obscure, the better when it comes to my 12 points but I'd say no. Be quirky, daring, unconventional, lo-fi, perhaps lean more to the genres I usually listen to, and your chances are high. If you got meaningful, deep lyrics and awful voices, don't worry, you are on the good road As the definition of atomic orbitals states, we can talk only about probability, so aforementioned conditions increase it highly! And yet, there are no rules, just exceptions! So be and exception that turns into the accept-ion!
 
If Wanderer's musical preferences still feel like a jigsaw puzzle - maybe this will help. Our New Zealand, juror with anti-establishment tendencies has outlined the following entries as favorites during the most recent editions...
 
 
 
Stay tuned for more user interviews to come, as we count down to TOISC 2020...

You're pro China and pro trump at the same time 

I hope not.

Wonderful to have 35 nations, which makes for five equal sessions  
 
TISC Open 2020 - Voting Schedule
 
Position Nation Voting time (CET) Voting time (Jury time) 1   Israel 09:00 10:00 2   Denmark 09:15 09:15 3   Italy 09:30 09:30 4   Slovenia 09:45 09:45 5   Poland 10:00 10:00 6   India 10:15 14:15 7   Spain 10:30 10:30 Coffee break 8   Moldova 11:00 12:00 9   China 11:15 18:15 10   Bulgaria 11:30 12:30 11   Brazil 11:45 07:45 12   Lithuania 12:00 13:00 13   Ireland 12:15 11:15 14   Slovakia 12:30 12:30 Lunch break 15   Great Britain 13:30 12:30 16   Tunisia 13:45 13:45 17   Romania 14:00 15:00 18   Argentina 14:15 10:15 19   Croatia 14:30 14:30 20   Portugal 14:45 13:45 21   United States 15:00 06:00/09:00 Snack break 22   Netherlands 15:30 15:30 23   Serbia 15:45 15:45 24   New Zealand 16:00 04:00 25   Germany 16:15 16:15 26   Egypt 16:30 17:30 27   Indonesia 16:45 22:45 28   Canada 17:00 11:00 Dinner break 29   France 18:30 18:30 30   Czech Republic 18:45 18:45 31   Hungary 19:00 19:00 32   Kazakhstan 19:15 00:15 33   Greece 19:30 20:30 34   Mexico 19:45 12:45 35   Malta 20:00 20:00

Tomorrow, my country decides it’s future.