Also, I focused quite a bit on the nominated documentaries this year... And they are good! The overall quality is much better than usual. I can recommend them all.
Well, I liked Nomadland best. Sound of Metal is good, as is Minari (but with obvious faults). Promising Young Woman is decent. This leaves Judas and the Black Messiah, Mank and The Trial of the Chicago 7 as the obligatory propaganda pieces.
Will watch The Father tonight.
Pesotska, Ekholm, Matelova, Balazova, Li, Shao, Gaponova, Vivarelli
And if North Korea really withdraws, then Balazova and Trifonova qualify via the European QT, while De Nutte is through on rankings.
Well, you know, there was an Algerian official who accused Algerian athletes of taking doping for the qualifiers, and then stopping and performing badly at the Olympics proper...
This "opt-in" option opens all kinds of possibilities though.
If both jurors agree, they can both rank all 35-ish songs and just go from there. No random draws, no special provisions.
Here is a specific example of the USA votes from the 2020 Annual.
Under the revised "opt-in" rules, China would be moved up to earn one point instead of Canada (interestingly, this would have narrowed the gap between the winner and the runner-up).
Under the more radical rules, China would earn 9 (!) points, which would have almost been enough to win the contest instead... That's too radical for my liking. Revised rules should not be that much different than the standard practice (in a sense that historical outcomes could have been made completely different using them).
Well, that seems pretty extreme. Should 1+1 carry more points than 12+0?
Middle ground would be just ensuring that a song which scored from both jurors must be given points from that jury, if not already represented.
So, for example, if a song with 5+0 is 12th combined and scheduled to get one (1) point, but there is another song with 2+2, then that other song gets pushed up to earn the final point. If there is another song with 1+1, then both those move up into the points territory, instead of the two lowest-scoring songs which earned points from only one member.
Started updating the all-time medal tables...
Fun fact: Team Challenge victory meant the United States finally clinched their first ever TISC gold medal! @dezbee2008 @Olympian1010
There were no first-time medalists on the Grand Final podium. Meanwhile, Kazakhstan earned their first Team Challenge medal.
Sitting in 7th after dressage day 1 are Fylicia Barr & Galoway Sunrise.
Her one and only horse, whom she acquired over a suspicious Craigslist ad for $500 over a decade ago.
Just proving for the umpteenth time that the mainstream conception of equestrian sport is just wrong.
Interesting first session.
Shout-out to Karl Slezak. He messed up all four flying changes, as probably expected, but really nailed everything else. Well done! This is the kind of test that has Olympic selection written all over it, provided he delivers in his preferred jumping phases.