dcro

Yeah, I strongly suggest you use Firefox.

JURIES VOTED: 0/38 UNITED STATES 0 NEW ZEALAND 0 SPAIN 0 PORTUGAL 0 MOLDOVA 0 URUGUAY 0 AUSTRALIA 0 MEXICO 0 LITHUANIA 0 BRAZIL 0 INDIA 0 SWEDEN 0 INDONESIA 0 POLAND 0 SERBIA 0 ITALY 0 KAZAKHSTAN 0 CHINA 0 ISRAEL 0 SLOVENIA 0 TUNISIA 0 GREECE 0 GERMANY 0 BULGARIA 0 UKRAINE 0 IRAN 0 CANADA 0 IRELAND 0 NORWAY 0 CROATIA 0 DENMARK 0 MALTA 0 HUNGARY 0 NETHERLANDS 0 ROMANIA 0 FRANCE 0 ARGENTINA 0 SLOVAKIA 0 Good morning and welcome to the Grand Final! We have a long and fun day ahead of us. Without further ado, let's get down to the business. First up are the United States. May we have your votes please? PROVISIONAL TOP 5 1 TBD 0 2 TBD 0 3 TBD 0 4 TBD 0 5 TBD 0

Good Morning Ladies and gentlemen, we are now only about 15 minutes away from the start of the Grand Final. We will take this opportunity to present a couple of Croatian singers of the olden age. They are Vice Vukov and Josipa Lisac.

It regularly hosted ski jumping events until the early 1980s. Then there was a short-lived reanimation around 2006 or something, but not so much since. There are talks about renovation every once in a while... But only "talks".

Grand Final will be held in the Zamet Hall. We are respecting the social distancing measures, therefore this year the Grand Final is invitation-only. This sadly means no crazy Dutch fans (except @heywoodu).

I can't believe I forgot to mention this. Believe it or not, I entered the year of 2014 when standing in the middle of that ski jumping hill. It almost seems unbelieveable now.

Good morning

Maybe. And there is also the fact that English-speaking nations tend to have more famous artists/songs. But anyway, my conclusion kind of was that while you are not guaranteed to get a personal best with an English song, you can probably expect better average placements if you enter them in a longer run...

Ehm... I compiled detailed analysis on this. It clearly shows that English songs on average tend to collect about 50% (!) more points than the non-English songs. Average points-per-jury (2013 Open - 2019 Open) English songs - 2.77 non-English songs - 1.80 50% is just too much. Even statistical tests strongly suggest that this is not some random outcome, but rather a clear sign that English songs get better results. And before you say "There are many more non-English songs". That's not really the case. About 40% of all-time songs are in English. But if we narrow that pool... Percentage of English songs in the Top 10 - 68%

Thanks everyone for joining. It took a little longer than I expected. But then again, we have had almost twice as long live draws, so I hope it wasn't much of a drag.

I got one more. Birds flying after the ring is found - points flocking when you pick the right song.

When I became the host.

#DontMissABeat - Opening Ceremony Recap Welcome Opening Act Lijepa Naša Parade of Nations Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Behind the Checkers Dubrovnik 2CELLOS Adventures: Game of Music Osijek South Dalmatia Slavonia Dalmatia 2CELLOS Adventures: Totallympics Zagreb Musical Break: Mia Behind the Checkers North Dalmatia Central Croatia 2CELLOS Adventures: Ode to the Champions Lika 2CELLOS Adventures: Worth the Wait Gorski Kotar Istria 2CELLOS Adventures: The Committee Kvarner Bay Rijeka (1/2) Rijeka (2/2) Emotions The Oaths Closing Act The Scoreboard Nessun Dorma This will be available in the Opening Post.

Nessun Dorma We are now just one night away from the Grand Final. But for many, it will be just another sleepless night. This is for everyone who is directly fighting this dreadful pandemic.

The Scoreboard JURIES VOTED: 0/38 UNITED STATES 0 NEW ZEALAND 0 SPAIN 0 PORTUGAL 0 MOLDOVA 0 URUGUAY 0 AUSTRALIA 0 MEXICO 0 LITHUANIA 0 BRAZIL 0 INDIA 0 SWEDEN 0 INDONESIA 0 POLAND 0 SERBIA 0 ITALY 0 KAZAKHSTAN 0 CHINA 0 ISRAEL 0 SLOVENIA 0 TUNISIA 0 GREECE 0 GERMANY 0 BULGARIA 0 UKRAINE 0 IRAN 0 CANADA 0 IRELAND 0 NORWAY 0 CROATIA 0 DENMARK 0 MALTA 0 HUNGARY 0 NETHERLANDS 0 ROMANIA 0 FRANCE 0 ARGENTINA 0 SLOVAKIA 0 Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the Opening ceremony of the Totallympics Annual International Song Contest 2020. On behalf of the Organizing Committee, I wish everyone involved good luck. Thank you and good night.

Closing Act We will unveal the scoreboard in just a bit. But before that, let's enjoy one last official act of this ceremony. Having covered the whole of Croatia with them, it is only right that we welcome once again our 2CELLOS friends. This time, however, they are joining us in live, here in Rijeka!

The Oaths Ladies and gentlemen, in the spirit of fair play, the official oaths will now be taken. Competitors' Oath Reni Orsovai, Hungary In the name of all competitors, I promise that we shall take part in this Contest, respecting and abiding by the rules that govern TISC - committing ourselves to a competition that values respect and the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of music and the honor of our nations! Jury Members' Oath @Pablita, Italy In the name of all the jury members, I promise that we shall adjudicate in our deliberations at this Contest with complete impartiality, respecting and abiding by the rules which govern TISC in the true spirit of sportsmanship! Hosts' Oath @dcro, Croatia I promise that I shall organize this Contest, respecting and abiding by the rules that govern TISC - committing myself to overseeing a competition that values respect and promotes the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of music and the honor of our nations!

Emotions We continue the official part of the ceremony with a very special guest! That's right folks, even the pandemic could not stop this lady from coming. Ladies and gentlemen, please rise for the official anthem of the Totallympics International Song Contest!

Behind the Checkers: Rijeka With its name literally meaning "River", Rijeka is the third largest city in Croatia and the host of the TAISC 2020. Pictured below is the main street, Korzo, with its Clock Tower. Rijeka is the main shipping port of the country. Here you can find one of the five preserved lifejackets from RMS Titanic, the only one in Europe. RMS Carpathia, the ship that came to rescue surviving passengers from the Titanic, was at the time travelling from New York to Rijeka. And here is the Trsat Castle once again. It is the oldest part of Rijeka. It will host the Closing Ceremony.

Behind the Checkers: Rijeka Welcome to Rijeka!

I thought it generally looks similar to California too, which I wish to visit one day.

Behind the Checkers: Kvarner Bay It is time for one last stop before we reach Rijeka. Let's take a look at the islands of the Kvarner Bay. For starters, we have the Lošinj island. It is a rather long and thin, but also a high island. Pictured below is the view of the island from its highest point Osorščica (588 m). Lošinj has been a regular host of the MTB Downhill World Cup for several seasons now. We do miss sport competitions here on Totallympics... Town of Rab on the island of the same name is known for its tiny old town. Having already visited the island of Krk during the team presentations, tonight we will only take a look at the Moon Trail near Baška. Gotta find out why they are called the Moonwalkers anyway. And there it is... In the distance, behind the Krk Bridge, we can see the lights of our host town calling us!

That is correct.

A wise man once said: "Keep you friends close and your enemies closer." Someone that every aspiring TISC participant needs to keep close is the Committee. While they are known for their excellence in recognizing the winning material, the inner workings of the Committee remain shrouded in mystery. All we know is that Italy currently rules this secret society. It is time to visit one of Istria's estates and maybe dedicate a song to the Committee! Rumor has it this is how @Agger and @heywoodu got removed from their Committee duties during the 2018 Jubilee... *Disclaimer: We are not asking for trouble. Any mention of the Committee is met with purest intentions.

Behind the Checkers: Istria We are getting really close to our host town Rijeka now. Next up is Istria. Istria is the largest peninsula of the Adriatic Sea. It is the most Italian-influenced part of Croatia. Some of the Istrian points of interest include: the Pula Arena. Constructed between 27 BC and 68 AD, it is now the sixth largest surviving Roman arena anywhere. Croatia is the birthplace of neckties. Back in 2003, the Pula Arena was dressed into one. Town of Rovinj is known for its old town, which is seemingly placed on a perfectly symmetrical hill. Motovun is a quintessential hilltop town of Istria. Every summer it hosts a renowned film festival. Istria is generally known for its fresco paintings. Pictured below is Danse Macabre from Beram. Brijuni Islands can be found just off the coast of Istria. They used to be a summer residence of the Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito. It is a place where Tito stored his gifts, which resulted in Brijuni turning into a very weird place today. One of those gifts is Lanka the elephant. Imported in 1972, she was (and still is!) Indira Gandhi's gift to Tito.