The Off Topic Topic

[Threviel]

Just once I want to see a punk band with a song objecting to the very idea of eurovision

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA5-DaCmDWw

I loathe the Eurovision song contest with the heat of a million suns. Always have and I always will. These last 20 years it's been a huge thing in Sweden, the national competition lasts 5-6 weeks and then there's months of speculation before the finals. And many people take it seriously.

Also the quality of the songs are abysmal, no wonder that every artist with a career stays away.

[Jacob]

My elementary school music teacher won the Eurovision, which was pretty entertaining to me. It was years after I left for Canada, though, so I don't know if he was still a teacher at the time.

[Liep]

My elementary school music teacher won the Eurovision, which was pretty entertaining to me. It was years after I left for Canada, though, so I don't know if he was still a teacher at the time.

Noller or Jørgen?

[Liep]

The trve cool cover is the authentic Mongolian one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D51SkjpNC4Q

I still prefer Moskau, though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjCY9MFnrZ8

Quality stuff.

[Barrister]

Poking around on the Disney+ Stars material (basically everything they got from Fox) I started watching The Orville.  The sci-fi show starring Seth MacFarlane.

I know certain parts of Star Trek fandom have spoken highly of the show, but I did go in expecting a Star Trek parody show.  But no, it's basically an homage/rip-off to Star Trek with a handful of Seth MacFarlane-style jokes thrown in.  Like it's practically a carbon-copy of TNG (though with a better budget).  Even down to wanting to be cutting edge in addressing the social issues of the day (Episode 3 deals with transgenderism in a typically Star-Trekian awkward and painfully earnest way).

I mean I think I kind of like it, but it's just weird too.  Like Seth MacFarlane just wanted to cosplay being a Star Trek captain and someone let him.

[Liep]

A chimney sweep is trapped in one of the chimneys at Cronhammer's "Elia". I hope they turned off the random fires.

[Josquius]

Poking around on the Disney+ Stars material (basically everything they got from Fox) I started watching The Orville.  The sci-fi show starring Seth MacFarlane.

I know certain parts of Star Trek fandom have spoken highly of the show, but I did go in expecting a Star Trek parody show.  But no, it's basically an homage/rip-off to Star Trek with a handful of Seth MacFarlane-style jokes thrown in.  Like it's practically a carbon-copy of TNG (though with a better budget).  Even down to wanting to be cutting edge in addressing the social issues of the day (Episode 3 deals with transgenderism in a typically Star-Trekian awkward and painfully earnest way).

I mean I think I kind of like it, but it's just weird too.  Like Seth MacFarlane just wanted to cosplay being a Star Trek captain and someone let him.

Didn't realise it was on Disney plus.

I like it. It is very very good. I was expecting galaxy quest but instead... Yeah. Its a fairly earnest star trek rip off. Albeit in the flippant style of stargate.

I love the astrology episode.

[Jacob]

My elementary school music teacher won the Eurovision, which was pretty entertaining to me. It was years after I left for Canada, though, so I don't know if he was still a teacher at the time.

Noller or Jørgen?

Jørgen

[Syt]

Poking around on the Disney+ Stars material (basically everything they got from Fox) I started watching The Orville.  The sci-fi show starring Seth MacFarlane.

I know certain parts of Star Trek fandom have spoken highly of the show, but I did go in expecting a Star Trek parody show.  But no, it's basically an homage/rip-off to Star Trek with a handful of Seth MacFarlane-style jokes thrown in.  Like it's practically a carbon-copy of TNG (though with a better budget).  Even down to wanting to be cutting edge in addressing the social issues of the day (Episode 3 deals with transgenderism in a typically Star-Trekian awkward and painfully earnest way).

I mean I think I kind of like it, but it's just weird too.  Like Seth MacFarlane just wanted to cosplay being a Star Trek captain and someone let him.

I liked it a lot, and I thought it gets better over time. I liked the show best when it tries less for full on comedy and rather goes for Trek style episodes with humor layered on top.

EDIT: Over here it's on Amazon Prime, not Disney+/Star.

Also, season 3 is filming.

[Grey Fox]

Stars is Hulu for the non-USA Or Japan market.

@BB I did not know it was on there. I will watch it. Thanks.

[Zanza]

BERLIN (Reuters) - Support for German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives has slumped three percentage points in a week to its lowest in over a year, a poll released on Wednesday showed, with the ecologist Greens just four points behind them.

Facing a federal election in September without Merkel, who is standing down after four terms, her Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian CSU sister party - together dubbed the 'Union' - have dropped to 26%, the Forsa poll showed.

With popular frustration growing over the Merkel government's management of the coronavirus crisis, the conservative alliance has seen its support fall nine points in a month to a level not seen since early March last year.

"Union in free fall," ran a headline on Focus Online, an online magazine.

The CDU suffered historic defeats in two state elections earlier this month, dogged by frustration over the slow rollout of COVID-19 vaccines and extended lockdown measures, as well as a scandal over the procurement of face masks.

Support for the Greens rose 1 percentage point to 22%, according to the RTL/ntv-Trendbarometer survey conducted by pollster Forsa, which canvassed 2,511 voters on March 16-22.

The left-leaning Social Democrats (SPD), currently in an awkward 'grand coalition' with the Union, were steady at 16%. The business-friendly Free Democrats (FDP) rose two points to 10%. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and far-left Linke were unchanged on 10% and 8% respectively.

The poll would leave Merkel's conservative Union without sufficient support to form a coalition government with the FDP, their preferred ruling partner.

The Union could team up with the Greens, or the Greens and the FDP. After the 2017 election, the FDP walked out of coalition talks on such a three-way tie-up.

The fractured electoral landscape could also open up the scenario of an alliance between the Greens, SPD, and FDP, dubbed a 'traffic light' coalition after the parties' colours.

The outcome of Germany's federal election in September is wide open. No obvious ruling coalition. If the Conservatives continue with their current corruption and incompetence, the Greens could still become the biggest party.

Or the Greens might form a coalition even I if they are just the second biggest party.

Let's see who Merkel's successor will be.

[Sheilbh]

Chances of a traffic light coalition or are the FDP too far away for that?

[Tamas]

No wonder Merkel declared a free-for-all for Easter.

[Josquius]

I like the idea of a green victory.
German greens are sane right?

[Tamas]

I like the idea of a green victory.
German greens are sane right?

I wouldn't assume so. Merkel is not a Green and she shut down all nuclear power plants in Germany because a bloody island on the Pacific got flooded by a rare tsunami.