Hi all!
Starting today, the Hoddle will return to a version of what I’ve done in the past: write about whatever you want, including clearer topics that aren’t always related to discrimination and inequality. I will still review those topics fairly frequently, but not every day. However, what I will do every day is a version of what I have done for the past month: I will recommend readings or videos on inequality in a section that I will (at least tentatively) call Keep Informed. You will see it between the walk and the links.
Rambling of the day
I know some of you have wondered about my thoughts on Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of the Fire Saga, the film written, starred and produced by Will Ferrell about Eurovision on Netflix. I couldn’t do it right away because the opening weekend of the NWSL Challenge Cup took up my time for the first weekend of the movie, but it only took me a week to get there.
I had invested a lot in this movie. He was quite concerned that Ferrell might somehow ruin it, or that he would not get the Eurovision singularity. As I watched, they lifted a weight off me – it was pretty good, and the parts about the song contest itself are perfect.
After presenting things, the film really strikes a balance between telling the story of the protagonists, Lars de Ferrell and Sigrit by Rachel McAdams, and giving the audience a behind-the-scenes look at Eurovision. Music is never far away, and it does a bit of storytelling itself: Our first look at the antagonist, Russian Alexander Lemtov (played fantastically by Dan Stevens) is as he rehearses his song “Lion of Love”, and you learn that it is a handsome boy and he knows it.
It’s part of allowing music to really dominate the film, as is the fact that music producers and production and costume designers really understood that Eurovision is a sensory overload. There were elaborate costumes (again, I will refer to Lemtov); there was a human-sized hamster wheel on the stage; and most importantly, the songs were ridiculous. “Lion of Love” is excellent, but another one that I loved was the Swedish entry “Coolin ‘with Da Homies”, performed by the film’s music producer Savan Kotecha as a performer named Johnny John John. Kotecha described the creation of the “Lion of Love” process as such in an interview with Variety, which made me appreciate even more the efforts:
Lyrically, we went above. For me, writing some of the lyrics felt like they were in Google Translate for English. It really isn’t how you would put it and that was the idea for that one.
It’s not a perfect movie by any means: The narrative of Lars’ relationship with his father Erick (played by Pierce Brosnan) seems to have been pushed aside despite being set up as central to the movie. Still, the combination of events is clearly the work of people who appreciate Eurovision, and I am more than happy with that.
TL; DR: I saw the Eurovision movie on Netflix and I really, really enjoyed it.
Stay informed, check this out: the descendants of Frederick Douglass read his 1852 speech, “What do you say to the slave on the fourth of July?”
Links of the day
Colorado Rapids and Toronto FC are delaying trips to Orlando for this week’s MLS is Back tournament over concerns about the coronavirus within their travel groups.
Schalke will launch a women’s team this month, which will start playing at the eighth level according to German soccer regulations.
Transfer overview: Bayern signed Leroy Sané of Manchester City; Manchester City signed Chloe Kelly of Everton
A Longer Read: Kathleen McNamee interviews newly retired Spurs captain Jenna Schillaci about her career and ultimately landed a professional contract at age 35 for ESPN
