February, 2022 ‣ The Gayly Mirror

Sheldon Riley is Australia’s representative for Eurovision 2022

26Feb

By JorgeNo Comments

closeUp, Culture, Entertainment, Eurovision

Sheldon Riley is Australia’s representative for Eurovision 2022

Sheldon Riley won 'Eurovision - Australia Decides 2022' and will represent Australia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 with the song "Not The Same". Australia's national final - Australia Decides 2022 - took place today's morning (or tonight in Australia) at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Gold Coast. 11 acts competed in order to represent the country in Turin for the Eurovision Song Contest 2022. Sheldon Riley, despite not gaining the favoritism of both the jury and televote, was crowned winner with a total of 100 points (50 points jury vote + 50 points televote). Voyager with "Dreamer" finished second with only 3 points less, followed by Jaguar Jonze with finished the top3. You can watch below the live performance of "Not The Same", by Sheldon Riley. What do you t...

Russia is banned from Eurovision Song Contest 2022

26Feb

By JorgeNo Comments

closeUp, Culture, Eurovision

Russia is banned from Eurovision Song Contest 2022

The executive board of European Broadcaster Union has finally decided on excluding Russia from Eurovision 2022, following an increasing pressure by several European broadcasters. Earlier, EBU has stated that Russia was still welcomed to take part in the contest, after Ukraine's broadcaster UA:PBC having sent a letter to the president asking Russia to be suspended from the event. Denmark, Sweden, Norway, The Netherlands, Iceland and Lithuania had also requested EBU to rethink about the decision. Ultimately, Finland and Estonia threatened not sending a representative to Turin, if Russia takes part. Citi Zeni, Latvia's representatives, also urged EBU to kick out Russia from the contest. Eurovision has always stood as as a safe place where unity, dialogue and diversity are common values...

25Feb

By rebeccaNo Comments

closeUp, Culture

Film recommendation: Rūrangi

Caz Davis (Elz Carrad) returns to his New Zealand home town to reconcile with his past, his father and his friends. Since leaving the dairy community of Rūrangi ten years earlier, he has come out as transgender and is an activist in the city. But he hasn’t been in touch with his family or friends since leaving, so they don’t recognise him, and his father also needs to forgive Caz for missing his mother’s funeral. Caz also catches up with his best friend Anahera (Awahina Rose Ashby), who is reconnecting with her Māori heritage, and former boyfriend Jem (Arlo Green), who now finds himself reassessing his sexuality as he learns the truth about Caz. Adapted from a New Zealand web series, this moving and informative story is the epitome of why we need broader representation in the cinema....

Road to Eurovision Song Contest 2022: Interview with MARO

25Feb

By RaffaNo Comments

closeUp, Entertainment, Eurovision

Road to Eurovision Song Contest 2022: Interview with MARO

Her song is one of the most listened amongst those participating in Festival Da Canção 2022 - for the National Selection of Portugal at Eurovision Song Contest 2022. So we decided to know more about MARO's song, dreams and future projects. On this Road TO Eurovision Song Contest 2022, we had a chat with MARO - who's competing in Festival Da Canção 2022 with her song "Saudade Saudade". She told us about her dreams, her future projects and how the song she's taking to Festival Da Canção was born. It is a very persona page of her life, something that was almost unavoidable, like if a stronger and outer force was taking MARO to always right songs about this person: "Sometimes we need to understand that even if someone is not with us any longer, we need to cherish the moments we spent t...

Eurovision Australia Decides 2022 – Sheldon Riley tells us about his song and his dream to participate in Eurovision Song Contest.

24Feb

By RaffaNo Comments

closeUp, Entertainment, Eurovision, Gay Pride

Eurovision Australia Decides 2022 – Sheldon Riley tells us about his song and his dream to participate in Eurovision Song Contest.

Sheldon Riley will be competing in Eurovision Australia Decides 2022 for his chance to fly to Turin for Eurovision Song Contest 2022, and he told us about his song, the challenges he had to overcome and the future projects. 7.30 AM in Australia, 9.30 PM of the previous day in the UK: we waited for this moment to finally be able to have a chat with the one and only, super sweet and fashion Sheldon Riley. "Everyone wants a slice of the pie [Eurovision] and I want mine now!", said Sheldon talking about Eurovision Song Contest, a contest and an event that he defined like the real "safe place for everyone, and not only for LGBT+ people" He added that seeing Conchita Wurst on the stage of Eurovision in 2014 blew his mind and in that moment he understood the power, the greatness and th...

Mahmood and Blanco fully naked on the cover of Vanity Fair Italia

23Feb

By RaffaNo Comments

closeUp, Entertainment, Eurovision

Mahmood and Blanco fully naked on the cover of Vanity Fair Italia

Mahmood and Blanco are on top of the world now, and after winning Sanremo 2022, they are heading to Eurovision Song Contest 2022 and tickling their fans with this full-naked picture on the cover of Vanity Fair Italia. That Mahmood could get everyone else’s eyes on him because of his beauty and his voice, but also because of the character he created around him, was something we all knew about, but since he started this cooperation with Blanco things have a reached a much higher level of interest. Mahmood and Blanco started their cooperation for their song “Brividi” that since the very first time was clearly going to win Festival di Sanremo 2022… and since this happened, they will be representing Italy at Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

14Feb

By rebeccaNo Comments

closeUp, Entertainment

Film recommendation: Flee

Celebrate LGBTQ+ history month and Valentine’s Day today with the animated documentary FLEE, the first film ever to be Oscar-nominated for Best Documentary, Best Animated Film and Best International Film in the same year. The film tells the story of Amin (a pseudonym), who fled Afghanistan in the 1980s, eventually reaching Denmark as a teenager. Now, as he prepares to marry his partner, Kasper, he is finally ready to tell his story to his friend, Danish filmmaker Jonas Poher Rasmussen. Using animation allows Amin anonymity, and also humanises the story, which intersperses Amin telling his tale with his childhood in Kabul, the traumas of his flight and the years he spent in Russia with his family. He also discusses how he realised he was gay – he was fantasising about Jean-Claude van ...

Cubita from Festival da Canção 2022, opens up about her passion for music and her dreams.

11Feb

By RaffaNo Comments

closeUp, Entertainment, Eurovision

Cubita from Festival da Canção 2022, opens up about her passion for music and her dreams.

We had a lovely chat with Cubita from Festival da Canção 2022 on this Road To Eurovision, and she told us about her amazement for music and her dreams as a singer and as girl. Cubita, participating in Festival da Canção 2022 in Portugal, is a very shy but sweet girl. Her tough appearance is only a mask that covers one of the most gentle and kind girls we’ve ever had the chance to interview on our Road to Eurovision Song Contest. We asked her many questions and talked with her about her participation in Festival da Canção and what would mean for her being part of Eurovision Song Contest too. What really surprised us, and gave Raffa teary eyes (always so emotional, ed) - was the answer she gave to our tricky final question, showing us what a sweet and strong woman Cubita is. Watch...

Road to Eurovision 2022: Brooke wins “Eurosong 2022” with “That’s Rich”

5Feb

By JorgeNo Comments

closeUp, Culture, Eurovision

Road to Eurovision 2022: Brooke wins “Eurosong 2022” with “That’s Rich”

We're feeling rich, honey! Ireland has chosen Brooke Scullion for Eurovision Song Contest 2022! The Irish broadcaster RTÉ held their national final "Eurosong 2022" on the broadcast of The Late Late Show, and after a combination of studio jury panel, international jury and televoting, Brooke was decided as the winner and the representative of the country at Eurovision 2022 with the song "That's Rich". Six artists were competing for the chance to represent Ireland on Turin's stage via a national final, organized for the first time since 2015. Check below the scoreboard of the Irish selection: Brooke - That's Jury - 28 points (4+12+12) Miles Graham - "Yeah, We're Gonna Get Out of It" - 24 points (10+16+8) Janet Grogan - "Ashes Of Yesterday" - 24 points (12+8+4) Patric...

Road to Eurovision 2022: Andrea represents North Macedonia with “Circles”

5Feb

By JorgeNo Comments

closeUp, Culture, Eurovision

Road to Eurovision 2022: Andrea represents North Macedonia with “Circles”

North Macedonia has decided on their representative. Andrea will be bringing the song "Circles" to Turin in May. Six songs were competing in Za Evrosong 2022, MRT's national final, in order to represent the Balkan country at the Eurovision 2022. The voting consisted on 50% international expert jury and 50% online voting and the highest number of points landed on the song "Circles", by Andrea, written by Aleksandar Masevski and Andrea Koevska. Although there was a tie on Top 2, the jury voting prevailed which secure Andrea's victory. The entries in contention were as follows: Kaly – Love and Light Yon Idy – Dreams LARA – Flower of Sorrow Viktor Apostolovski – Superman Andrea – Circles Ris Flower – Flying To Berlin What do you think of North Macedonia's entry f...