Melodifestivalen

Ever wanted to see Dolph Lundgren (he's the Swedish guy who played the big blond Russian in one of the Rocky movies) sing "A Little Less Conversation" while he chops ice and wood blocks in half with his bare hands? No? Well, the Swedes do, and now so do I!

It's all part of the annual magic that is the insanely popular Melodifestivalen. Melodifestivalen is the Swedish run-up to the Eurovision Song Contest. Each week you watch 8 performers sing some of the greatest and most horrendest pop songs ever and vote for your favorites. Then there's a finale in Stockholm at the Globe theater and the winner gets to be Sweden's official entry at Eurovision in the summer. The cheeze! The fashion! The Swedish pop! We have been watching on Saturday nights with the kids, who tell us whom to vote for. Julian always likes the blond ladies with big boobs and flashy clothes, like the lady from the Alcazar in the picture above. Ava actually picks songs she likes, for example this catchy number called Kom from a band called Timoteij (and yes, the girls in the band do all look like those old Timotei shampoo ad girls).