Malaysian Idol .... 1st spectaculars

The first Malaysian Idol spectaculars kick started tonight, 11 contestants vying for the title sang their hearts out (or at least attempted too) in order to win the votes……

I like the current crop of singers, overall as a group they’re definitely better than last year’s…. And what’s exciting about this is it’s almost anybody’s game, last year Jac was the clear winner from the very first auditions. These contestants are pretty much on equal footing…….

The show started with them singing Fame…. A bit of a cliché or perfectly suited for the occasion, depending on which way you look at it ;-) It was a decent try, it’s their first try so I’m not going to be too harsh…..

Here’s a brief re-cap of how the contestants fared tonight…….

Atilia - This was the one Paul had commented looked like a wedding singer during the workshops (does any one else think the names are a bit weird… workshops & spectaculars, I mean who comes up with this stuff)…. Anyway, I digress….. She sang You Had Me by Joss Stone. It was a very good attempt, she certainly has powerful vocals. She’s a great singer, no doubt. She attempted to give a sassy performance, although I think she meant it to be sassy but it came off a bit “aggressive” or “garang” as per the judges comments. However, overall it did not impress me much…. It did come off one-dimensional…. Joss stone has a bluesy earthy voice, and the song has a bluesy earthy feel… which to me did not suit her style……

Ash - I nearly voted for Ash during the workshops, primarily because I thought he was pretty cute. Yes, I can be shallow. ;-) But the idea was abandoned as once as I heard him sing…. Tonight he attempted “I Don’t Want to Be” by Gavin Degraw, one of my current favourite songs…… And of course, Bo Bice’s excellent rendition came to mind, will Ash be able to perform up to par…? NO…. His voice was lost in the music, it was out of tune and it was all over the place. I also wrote short notes during the performance in anticipation of writing this blog, and I wrote “rock star wannabe, but tak jadi”… a few seconds later, Roslan says he simply does not have a rock star voice but he’s attempting to sing rock star songs….. Paul said Ash sounded like he bought the book “Rock Star for Dummies”… hey I can be a judge on Idol! ;-) anyway, truthfully this was a man who should have made it to the final rounds. The judges were correct….. His Idol stint will be short lived…..

Azam - Another pretty boy, he’s cute and can sing relatively well…. The only thing is just that found him to be a tad too cocky…. There is a fine line between confidence and cockiness, and he’s just crossed it. He sang Salsabilla, it was pretty good with just an off pitch here and there… The judges were also right in this aspect, he does not seem to have a connection with the audience… And dude, just putting a scarf around your neck but wearing a work shirt & khakis does not a “middle-eastern-vibe” outfit make……..

Trish - I love her, she’s bubbly and funny, she exudes a warmth that just attracts you to her….. Her vocals are good, not fantastic but her personality more than makes up for it…… But tonight singing a woman’s worth, her personality did not shine thru… and thus her vocal limitations stood in stark contrast…….For the record, I liked her outfit……

Adam - I must admit, I love Adam… he has a beautiful voice, I love his tone… the only problem with Adam (aside from not being macho enough) is his tacky moves… we saw it during his Januari performance, and again tonight. He sang Mentera Semerah Padi (wearing a better “middle-eastern-vibe” outfit than Azam), it was good but it wasn’t great….. I expect better things from him next time!

Farah - The woman has the complete package, she’s a hot babe, she’s sweet & nice and a nice voice to boot. The fact that she’s had a single out before is a tad iffy but who am I to argue against pursuing one’s dream…. She sang Cobalah Untuk Setia, another favourite of mine…. Her vocals were good, she has good voice control.. Unbidden comparisons to Marsha of AF came to mind (she did the same song last Saturday). Honestly, Farah has a better voice control than Marsha but the better overall performance would have to be Marsha….. She had more style, she told the story more effectively……

Ejay - Ejay, Ejay, Ejay… We Belong Together… really….? It’s a tough song to sing, for one it’s Mariah Carey but it is also one of her tougher songs…. We attempted it at Karaoke, and we failed miserable… I mean we don’t profess to be of Idol standard but take it from me it was really really tough…….She did mumble her way through it. I have no doubt she can reach the high notes, but that song requires you to have a good tempo, or ‘groove” as Kak Jee put it……

Faizull - I must make another confession, I simply do not hear this pure voice that Faizull has….. I simply don’t think he has a good voice… Perhaps I’m not such a hard core rock person, I don’t know….. But it was a certainly energetic performance, I’ll give him that…….

Daniel - the other pretty boy…. The one that’s supposed to be Vick’s replacement… I liked him during the initial auditions, but I did not really like him in the workshop… He also has the same “mumbling” disease…. He sang True by Ryan Cabrera, perfect for his voice, style and range……… but I thik he has the potential to go far, based on all the girl votes he’s probably getting……..

Xerra - the memorable pink haired girl… She sang Karma by Alicia Keys… She’s a natural onstage, not surprising since she’s already a lounge singer….. Again, her vocals are good, not great but her style more than makes up for it… She lost focus several times during the performance, but it was a good effort.. However, Paul was right best we leave the hip hop to the blacks……..

Nita - Left Outside Alone, the song arrangement left out the high pitched intro that Anastacia did… thus it lacked the big bang intro which is probably the best part of the song…… This song needs powerful vocals, attitude, a bit more sass which did not really come thru Nita tonight…. She’s also a natural on stage, her experience also a contributing factor…..

There you have it, all 1 contestants….. A pretty good effort overall since this is only the first show……. My pick as to who will leave, it’s a toss up between Ejay & Ash based on tonight’s performance but I’d probably say Ejay will be the first to go….. We’ll see if I’m right! ;-)

A Friendly Trip Down Memory Lane

I had read two articles from my friend’s blogs, both of whom were my university mates…. Adzwan had written about his university days, and all the cherished memories that he held so dear. Javard had written about Turning 30, which also included his days at university…. I had the idea of writing something similar, however for some reason the spark of inspiration was not there……

Then I watched season 10 of Friends… Let me backtrack a bit, I had bought the final season of Friends as soon as it came out….. I kept hounding the DVD guy, even leaving my handphone number for him to call me as soon as it came out! Anyway, I found myself with some free time last week and I decided to watch the whole final season all over again…….

Anyone can safely say, that Friends is without a doubt one of the biggest (if not the biggest) show of the late 20th century…. Everyone loved watching them….. 6 virtual unknowns (well except probably for Courtney Cox whom up until that point was immortalized as the girl Bruce Springsteen pulled up on stage) became huge megastars, commanding huge paychecks….. An almost unprecedented $1 million (apart from Frasier & Seinfeld) per episode….. The beauty of Friends was more than the fact that it was a funny comedy about 6 good looking people living it up in New York City…. At its core, it was a show with a lot of heart….. Here was a bunch of people who were the best of friends, who genuinely loved each other and would do anything for each other…..

I would remember Friends more for its poignant moments than its funny ones, Ross secretly volunteering to take Rachel to the prom, Ross missing out on an appearance with Discovery Channel to help Rachel out, Phoebe’s little speech to her triplets, Chandler screwing up the marriage proposal until he went back to the apartment to find Monica to what turned out as one of the best season endings ever…..

Suddenly a wave of nostalgia hit me…. HARD….. A kaleidoscope of memories came flashing through my mind….

I remember renting Friends from our local Blockbuster and watching it with my friends…..

I remember watching the latest episodes of Friends which one of our friends had taped on Sky (to the uninformed Sky was the “Astro” of British television, something us poor undergrads had no access too) : (

I remember certain happenings on Friends mirrored what had happened in real life…… For example, there was an episode where the three girls had pored over a copy of Playboy…. I remembered some girlfriends and I had borrowed one of our friend’s copy of Playboy just to see what the fuss was all about (surprisingly there were a lot of interesting articles in it … I KID you not!!!!)

I remember the episode where Monica, Phoebe, Joey & Chandler were stuck in Monica’s room and the girls had performed a waxing job on Joey… One of my allegedly more macho guy friends had asked us to do the same, just to see how painful it was……The expression on his face was PRICELESS!!!!

I remember endless conversations with my friends about each episode, laughing over the jokes, imitating the characters.......

I remember a particular conversation with Javard where he said Monica’s scene with the “7s” was probably one of the best scripts in the whole entire show….

I remember C (bukan nama sebenar) and myself used to quote Friends all the time, which led a lot of people to think that we were really really weird…..

I remember searching for similar clothes that Rachel had worn on the show, I thought she had a phenomenal wardrobe!

Friends, without a doubt, played an instrumental part in our lives…… Yes it was only a TV show, but a major part of our lives revolved around the show….. no we are not sad people… really :-)

Even until now, Friends references crop up in our daily conversation…..

I had a major bimbo moment last week, and as I was telling the story to my friends I ended it by saying I felt like Joey …..

Two days ago, we had a conversation about clothes and A (juga bukan nama sebenar) had mentioned that she would line up her work clothes and wear them in that order….. We had likened her to Monica……..

My boss had asked me whether he can borrow my latest season of friends….. (guys the cool one not the other one kay)

Friends was more than a TV show, it also brought people closer together….. It certainly did with my own set of people…. And as I was watching the montage I was suddenly reminded of my own life, and my own cherished memories with my friends…. And for that I am deeply grateful……..

Desperate Housewives

I bought the entire first season of Desperate Housewives today from a shop in Hartamas..... Yes yes I realise it's showing on both star world & 8TV starting 5 July, but I just couldn't wait ;-)

According to the shopkeeper, the only store to carry the series at the moment...... I was intrigued by the show, it was the highest rated new show in US having only ended its run there a few months back. It also infused life into the beleaguered ABC network which had several failed seasons over the past few years. It has captured the imagination of people (especially women) in good ole America, even the First Lady judging from the promotional ad that kept running on tv. Oprah is a big fan too, even landing herself a guest stint on the show..... My mother has also been hankering over it (hhmmm I wonder which desperate housewife she imagines herself to be ;-) the official ABC website even has a little quiz so you can see which one you are......

After getting the DVDs, I went to have coffee with some of my friends (Javard, N and C) as a mini celebration of Javard's birthday (again, sorry for not giving you a ride your present was in my car in plain sight! Happy 30th). The topic ventured to our newly purchased Desperate DVDs. One of our friends, C had already watched about 7 episodes already and she's dying to talk about it. We asked her how it was, was it any good... and I guess since it's a story about 4-5 women (their lives, loves, relationships) the inevitable question followed..... is it better than Sex & the City.....

C answered it was good but no, she preferred SATC. But one of the reasons was she had felt she connected better with the characters in SATC. But bearing in mind all four of us sitting there in Coffee Bean was neither married nor did we have any children (Javard, in fact, is totally the wrong gender). Hence we are certainly not desperate housewives....

Anyway, I have watched the first episode of the series..... and it is interesting.... it chronicles the exploits of 5 main characters...

Susan Mayer

The single mother, whose husband left her for his secretary..... Now trying to move on with her life with a little prodding from her daughter.....

Lynette Scavo

Once a high flying career woman, who traded it all for domestic "bliss"..... Now the mother of three screaming brats and a baby.... hubby seems to be away most of the time.... probably the character a lot of women would identify with......

Bree Van De Kamp

The official website had the perfect description of her .... Martha Stewart on steroids, which seems very apt..... Sickeningly perfect, and seems to have tremendous amounts of energy to do anything and everything (Didn't you have someone similar in school...? someone that seem so perfect, and so well put together you either felt like hiding your comot self in a cave forever or bashing her in the head) ;-) haha I do believe I have issues...

Gabrielle Solis

The trophy wife, gorgeous and whose main function is to look good by her husband's side.... Of course all is not well is paradise, her husband is always busy and too caught up with his career leaving poor little Gabby to screw the gardener .....

Edie Britt

Resident slut, think Samantha in suburbia (albeit a much more toned down version, this is primetime mind you). Did not start off as a main character in the show, but I suspect her role will grow as the series progress.... Main role is to be the arch-nemesis to Susan's character.....

The story started off literally with a bang, and I do mean literally since in the first few scenes you have a woman shooting herself in the head. Then she becomes the narrator of the series, bringing us into the lives of each of the characters...... The pilot had enough twists and turns to keep me glued to the seat... and I suspect I will continue to be glued as the series progresses......

The show has won numerous awards, including best new series and also grabbing a best actress award for Teri Hatcher, a self proclaimed has been whose career has been (pardon the unintentional pun) "resurrected" by the show.... as with the careers of nicolette sheridan (remember knots landing? - oh God did i just spill how old I might be), marcia cross (melrose place) etc etc....

In the void that has been left by great shows Friends, SATC, Frasier, Buffy (yes I know I can be weird), Desperate Housewives look set to fill that void. Perhaps not entirely, but it's certainly a good start ;-)

Gagal IT day

I am quite upset...... for some reason I am unable to load my blog page. Which is really weird because I can access the site thru blogger.com, edit my post and stuff... BUT if I type lady-athena.blogspot.com - it shows unable to download or site not found... ggrrrrrr

me being gagal IT does not help!