heywoodu

We can't help those Germans can't play korfbal even if their life depends on it.

Welcome to the Veluwe For TOISC 2020, we find ourselves on the Veluwe, located roughly in the middle of the Netherlands. The area is rich with forests and the wildlife one would expect to find there, especially deers and boars find a good home on the Veluwe. Apart from forests, there are other kinds of nature, as you'll have seen in the introductions so far and you can see in the following video:

Basically except for Hungary, for whatever reason

Oh...oh no. Something seems to have gone wrong, our greatest of apologies to our friends from Slovakia and Slovenia, we have no idea what happened there. We might have found a hint though, when peeking underneath the door of the server room where TOISC 2020 is being hosted from...

They can only be taken off for a short moment when at a distance from others and just to eat bitterballen and drink something

Oh boy, I thought the Veluwe was free of....them.

Parade of Nations Ladies and Gentlemen, it's time to meet the nations of the 2020 Totallympics Open International Song Contest!! ARGENTINA ARGENTINIË TISC Appearances: 15 Jury Member: konig Artist: Enanitos Verdes BRAZIL BRAZILIË TISC Appearances: 15 Jury Member: titicow Artist: Tom Jobim BULGARIA BULGARIJE TISC Appearances: 14 Jury Member: stefanbg Artist: Orhan Murad CANADA CANADA TISC Appearances: 12 Jury Member: intoronto Artist: MAGIC! CHINA CHINA TISC Appearances: 4 Jury Member: Vic Liu Artist: Hua Chenyu DENMARK DENEMARKEN TISC Appearances: 15 Jury Members: Agger, Wumo Artist: Savage Rose GERMANY DUITSLAND TISC Appearances: 10 Jury Member: catgamer Artists: Robin Schulz & Jasmine Thompson EGYPT EGYPTE TISC Appearances: 9 Jury Member: thepharoah Artist: Egyptian Project FRANCE FRANKRIJK TISC Appearances: 15 Jury Members: Benolympique, Bohemia Artist: Woodkid GREECE GRIEKENLAND TISC Appearances: 15 Jury Member: Janakis Artist: Nikos Ganos HUNGARY HONGARIJE TISC Appearances: 6 Jury Member: Vektor Artist: Anima Sound System IRELAND IERLAND TISC Appearances: 15 Jury Member: OlympicIRL Artist: Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová INDIA INDIA TISC Appearances: 14 Jury Member: Fly_like_a_don Artist: Bethsy, Pensy, Temi Sailao INDONESIA INDONESIA TISC Appearances: 10 Jury Member: Griff88 Artist: Potret ISRAEL ISRAËL TISC Appearances: 2 Jury Member: Dnl Artist: Idan Raichel ITALY ITALIË TISC Appearances: 15 Jury Members: Gianlu33, Henry_Leon, Pablita, SteveParker Artist: Francesco Baccini & Ladri di Biciclette KAZAKHSTAN KAZACHSTAN TISC Appearances: 11 Jury Member: Ruslan Artist: Kamshat Zholdybayeva CROATIA KROATIË TISC Appearances: 13 Jury Member: dcro Artist: Gabi Novak LITHUANIA LITOUWEN TISC Appearances: 15 Jury Member: Werloc Artist: Daddy Was A Milkman MALTA MALTA TISC Appearances: 15 Jury Member: Glen Artist: Airport Impressions MEXICO MEXICO TISC Appearances: 15 Jury Member: mrv86 Artist: José José MOLDOVA MOLDAVIË TISC Appearances: 8 Jury Member: Ionoutz24 Artist: The Motans NEW ZEALAND NIEUW-ZEELAND TISC Appearances: 13 Jury Member: Wanderer Artist: Ladyhawke POLAND POLEN TISC Appearances: 15 Jury Members: rybak, Vojthas Artist: Budka Suflera PORTUGAL PORTUGAL TISC Appearances: 11 Jury Member: kungshamra71 Artist: Senhor Galandum ROMANIA ROEMENIË TISC Appearances: 13 Jury Member: IoNuTzZ Artist: Angela Gheorghiu SERBIA SERVIË TISC Appearances: 15 Jury Member: NikolaB Artist: Irish Stew Of Sindidun SLOVENIA SLOWAKIJE TISC Appearances: 15 Jury Member: justony Artist: All Capone Štrajh Trio SLOVAKIA SLOVENIË TISC Appearances: 15 Jury Member: hckosice Artist: I.M.T. Smile SPAIN SPANJE TISC Appearances: 10 Jury Member: Cobi Artist: La Casa Azul CZECH REPUBLIC TSJECHIË TISC Appearances: 8 Jury Member: Michal Hroch Artist: Aneta Langerová TUNISIA TUNESIË TISC Appearances: 14 Jury Members: amen09, tuniscof Artist: Hassen Doss GREAT BRITAIN GROOT-BRITTANNIË TISC Appearances: 14 Jury Member: Dragon Artist: Manic Street Preachers UNITED STATES VERENIGDE STATEN TISC Appearances: 15 Jury Members: dezbee2008, Olympian1010 Artist: Monsters Of Folk NETHERLANDS NEDERLAND TISC Appearances: 13 Jury Member: heywoodu Artist: DJ Paul Elstak

Right, after this short and possibly legal distraction, we can hear footsteps approaching, with roughly two meters in between each set of feet, obviously.

That's what I've gone for, yes. Since there's a few major producers in the Netherlands and all are called 'sewage water' or 'owl piss' by the fans of the opposing brands, so...yeah, Belgian beer it is And wine. There's lots of wine. Also port, which is basically stronger wine.

Breaking news We interrupt this ceremony for a troubling reason: one of the national jurors has just had the audacity to ask where the vegetables are 'in all this', whereas another dared to suggest there could be olives inside the bitterballen. This is fine, but the president of the 2020 Totallympics Open International Song Contest Host Delegation insisted on a sudden recount and possible redistribution of all the votes.

It's closed, due to the COVID-19 restrictions, but we've installed minibars next to everyone's seats

Anyone waiting for a snack? During the proceedings of tonight, all those present will be enjoying a light snack which has been a staple of Dutch festivities for ages: the bitterbal, a meaty little fried snack. Not to worry, they're not actually bitter at all, the name comes from a very strong alcoholic drink - a bitter - which in earlier times was often accompanied by these snacks. The insides of bitterballen are generally very hot, so take care not to burn your mouth when biting into one a tad too enthusiastically. The inside is made with a mix of several kinds of meat, which has been made into a sort of very thick stew, while the outside is a crunchy and also very tasty crust. They're generally served with mustard and we'll make sure to have a good amount of bowls ready for everyone! The inside of a bitterbal will not always look exactly the same, but the general idea is that it's meaty...not to worry, there's plenty more!

This, by the way, was the last significant bit of fireworks in the Netherlands in the foreseeable future, since the government has imposed a fireworks ban for the upcoming holiday period Just a sidenote right there.

Opening act - Caro Emerald Caro Emerald brought TISC to the Netherlands for the very first time when she took the win in Denmark a year ago, today she has come down to Apeldoorn to perform for everyone and throw back a little to that wonderful night in Odense! Miss Emerald does of course have a bit more to offer, we'll see her back in action in a little bit!

2020 Totallympics Open International Song Contest Opening Ceremony And with that little announcement, we would like to welcome each and everyone to the 2020 Totallympics Open International Song Contest, coming to you live from the sold-out Omnisport in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands! We are proud to welcome everyone to what is already the 15th edition of the fabulous event that is TISC, it is truly wonderful to be a part of the rich history of this event. To get things underway, here is another little message, once again please press the button below - buttons are made to be pressed, after all.

The snacks are still being fried.

There is a tiny bit of a delay

Just realized there's only 12 minutes to go

Maksim Mrvica says hello

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

I feel like your five last posts or so are all after a long absence Hopefully that means life is going well?

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

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.

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/

Yeah, next year's side program around the GP's has taken quite a hit, with not a single GP (!) having both F2 and F3 anymore MotoGP has it's system up so much better with Moto3 and Moto2 travelling with them every race, and Red Bull Rookies Cup now and then. Hopefully at least the W Series will have grown a bit and be more interesting than the often quite dull 2019 season.