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As a die hard follower of the Totallympics International Song Contests I can say I was deeply saddened upon hearing the decision to remove Turkey from the upcoming 10th edition Jubilee. For me TISC has always been mainly about fun, about bringing users together like only Olympics could do. Decision to remove Turkey, based on seemingly plain technicalities and loopholes, is not what makes these contests great. It’s what kills them in fact. One could argue that Turkey’s slightly belated votes caused major problems with organizational duties, such as voting order draw and templates, but I’ll ask you to look at the bigger picture of this decision. Instead of bringing all interested parties together, one of them was removed for the sake of templates and voting draw. I’ll be the first to say that I’m interested in templates and I always enjoy to see the new designs that the organizers have carefully crafted. However that should not be the point of these events. I’ll rather have the votes delivered in a single line, using the default Arial font with 14pt height, than having one of the users removed, no matter how fancy and eye catching the templates may turn out to be. The path where templates become more important than the actual users is highly worrying, but also not that surprising for this sometimes unusually autocratic forum. Templates, draws, schedules, deadlines, ceremonies, scoreboards, stats, podiums, and even songs… That all counts for absolutely nothing without users. It’s rather simple, no users = no contest, and not the other way around. Speaking of TISC rules. They are there for a reason, of course, but also there is no reason to have them strictly implemented. TISC is there for fun, and fun doesn’t need rules that come in the way more often than not. Let me remind you that a new, highly influential rule has been introduced for this edition. A rule that excludes certain users from contests based on their forum activity. Whether one agrees with it or not, it has to be acknowledged that there was no public discussion among interested parties whatsoever before introduction of this rule, or even a public announcement about its introduction for that matter. Such introduction of new rules is actually fine, as long as the rules are not there to be strictly implemented, but rather to serve interests of each and every user (with participation of every interested party being of the paramount importance) and preserve basic integrity of the contest. Back to Memo, who received plenty of critics, some of them justified, some of them most definitely not. One of the users in fact suggested that Memo is not even one of the “people who care just a little little little little bit” about TISC. So, to elaborate, a user who entered a song for two consecutive TISC editions and has invested hours to listen and rank a total of 75 other songs is not even “little little little little bit” interested? I can only hope to see Memo coming back at some of the future editions, although with this outcome I’ll also find it quite understandable if he doesn’t register again. With all this in mind, I’m afraid this Jubilee may not be as special as I thought it would be. But hey, life too is one long Jubilee, right?

Lithuanian juror and a former Committee member Werloc shares a few cents as a response to the recent entry of Bestmen into the 10th edition TISC jubilee. “Honestly, as a person that has been with this contest from the very start, I am absolutely, horribly disappointed with how this forum has NO SPINE whatsoever.” “You’re basically telling to every other participant that we can do whatever we want and as long as we have some graphic skills, we’re welcomed with open arms.” “May I remind you all, that there is message proof where our beloved Bestmen says himself THAT HIS VOTES ARE RIGGED and his decisions are PURELY RANDOM. Not to mention the harassment of other TISC hosts year after year on top of many other instances of ludicrous behaviour.” “The lines with ‘we can’t have a song contest without Algeria’ are a bit ridiculous to me, because we’ve had them before (without Algeria) and they were great.” “If we’re okay with a person that shows constant signs of disrespectful behaviour and even admits to breaking the rules of this very contest, well then this 10th edition of TISC is not in any way special to me. I’m a person that values music, a person that values honesty, a person that respects the rules and probably a person that takes this way too seriously, but I love everything that we have done here and it hurts me that a single snake is trying to ruin everything year in and year out, yet no action is taken. If you do not think that this is serious, the last contest was won by 5 points.”

One of the areas in which TISC traditionally excels is bringing together various music from all over the World. Indeed, year in and year out TISC continues to deliver all music genres, from pop and jazz to metal and instrumental. Sometimes we really like the songs that finish on top of the leaderboard, but then again, sometimes we don’t like it as much. Very rarely we see participants always liking the winning entry. Rarely, but not never… The Committee is quite simply a group of nations that have a perfect record of recognizing the winning material. Therefore the membership rules are straightforward – as long as you award any number of points to the eventual winner, you continue to be a member of the Committee. In a sense, the Committee is a group of individuals who seemingly decide the winner between themselves, as scoring high points from the Committee usually means the song will also be scoring well accross the board. First theories about the Committee’s possible existence came to light during the run-up towards the 2016 Open. TISC Analytics Team were performing some TISC-related analyses when they accidentally stumbled on a fact that there are several nations who have always awarded points to the winners: Australia, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine and Vietnam. With bolded nations being scheduled to take part at the upcoming 2016 Open, TISC Analytics Team was quite eager to check if all theories about the Committee were actually true… And true they were. As one might suspect, number of songs that the votes of the Committee had in common were shrinking with each new set of votes. Until the very end, when quite incredibly Ireland remained the only nation featured on all of the Committee’s templates. Ireland’s “Runaway” won the 2016 Open with 198 points. The Committee has proven its point and since then it has gained quite a reputation within TISC community. 2017 Annual was a new test for the Committee. There was a lot to prove going into the Grand Final, as several sceptics still believed that the 2016 Open outcome was merely a fluke. The Committee however wouldn’t hear of it and yet again they completed the contest with each and every member awarding points to the British winning entry (“Human”, by Rag’n’Bone). The Committee’s perfect record has however come to an end during 2017 Open held in Tunisia last fall. It became apparent very early that something was wrong with the Committee that day, since their early votes were unusually all over the place. And indeed, Ireland went on to win yet another contest, even though it has not scored any points from three Committee members: Canada, Estonia, Lithuania. This became the first documented case of Committee members not voting uniformly. Agger, Danish jury member and alleged Committee president, was not given much choice other than kicking out the three nations who violated the Committee’s codex. Lithuania’s removal was considered to be the biggest shock of all. Along with Denmark and Italy, Lithuania was the only nation who have served the Committee on every previous TISC edition. Generally speaking, not much is known about the Committee’s codex and organization, since barely anything is being shared with the outside World. Over the years, however, the Committee has grown to have mafia-alike reputation since there seems to be zero tolerance for not following the Committee’s instructions. Some rumors in fact suggest that Canadian, Estonian and Lithuanian Committee members who failed to deliver at the 2017 Open were punished by being thrown into the sea with cement shoes on. They were miraculously saved however by a group of unnamed individuals. Newest part of the Committee saga has surfaced just recently, when Lithuanian former Committee member Werloc went public and exposed an alleged Committee’s secret recipe for the TISC victory. The Committee has more to prove than ever before at the upcoming Jubilee to be held Saturday. With various scandals surfacing during the past few months, TISC fans will sure be following Committee’s every move. Overall, 2018 Annual Jubilee edition will feature seven members of the Committee: Italy (vote #7), Iran (vote #8), Switzerland (vote #25), Denmark (vote #32), Norway (vote #34), Tunisia (#38) and Netherlands (vote #42). Committee additionally has 9 more members (AUS, CHI, HUN, LAT, MAR, TUR, UKR, URU, VIE), all of whom are inactive for this edition. Two debutants, Austria and Venezuela, meanwhile have an opportunity to join the Committee, if they award points to the new Jubilee Champion. 2018 Annual Committee Line-up

Guest columnist and Lithuanian national jury president Werloc took some time to explain in a nutshell what one needs to do to win the prestige TISC title. It’s rather simple actually, as you are about to see… We‘ll take you on a music venture It‘s full of all sorts of neat adventures It‘s famous all around the globe The stage is lit with hundred strobes The spring is starting, great time to chill So let us gather in Brazil Let‘s have some tea, the drink‘s on me We‘ll celebrate the Jubilee We have some new faces in our family Some things might seem uncertain, I‘ll explain to thee I‘ll share some ideas, I‘ll show you some perks I‘ll explain how TISC participation works Let‘s start with explaining how we have to vote The points go from twelve to one on a note It might feel really tempting, but remember what I wrote Slovenia and Slovakia are not on the same boat There‘s three weeks of voting, there‘s still time to play The hosts love it when you vote on the very last day Simply listen to the songs and go with the flow Two hours till deadline, the Dutch said “Hello” The first time you enter, you can only guess If your place in the ranking will be a success? And if by chance your song is not in the first row You try again next year and “Let It All Go” The next time you enter, you want to perform Whilst picking your song you’re “Brewing Up A Storm” And if lady luck is not kind on the day I’ll tell you some tricks, so do not “Runaway” If you‘re feeling the need to score all the good points An emotional lady will not disappoint Try to bring them to tears, go beyond and above It‘s always better to try with a “Song About Love” If your song about love did not make you the leader Try your national language and choose the song “Lieder” Some users might say that you have to play smart But I advise you to “Listen To Your Heart” If you‘re still wondering what‘s the key To your first contest victory TISC tends to love diversity When one winner is “Human”, the other – “Zombie” If you followed instructions, but it’s not going as planned You entered this contest as solo and band And the choices of songs can’t get anymore grand Then tough luck mate, you’re just not from Ireland The most important thing is that no one ends in zeros Let’s face it, we’re not all “Superheroes” Let’s celebrate that the penguins are no longer mean With a giant feast of tangerines