IDOL!

OK. time of the week again.

this week's idol was a little irritating for me. although some contestants improved, i just wish some wld break out of their comfort zones. while i'm takin time off to get this off my chest by not doin my assignment for 20 mins, i have to say, the most exciting part for me was knowing that Kimberley Locke will be singing tml. =)=)=)



everyone is buzzing about David Cook at the moment. but he still hasnt won me over. he's been doin one too many obscure rock versions of good old classics, so much that it felt like he's tryin to trick the Americans into thinking that it's HIS own rock version! this week he picked the classic MICHAEL JACKSON song, BILLIE JEAN. EVERYONE. LOVES. THAT. SONG. and to sing that rock version, it gives ppl who might have missed Seacrest's small disclaimer the false impression that "wow, he can make that song rock?!" but the credit was not his. just like "the kid is not my son", as the song goes.
although i do give him credit for takin a potential risk, but still David Cook hasnt won me over with his rock credentials. AND he seems smug. i hate smugs.


i wish i can strangle DAVID ARCHULETA. huge potential. wasted on a theme park song. Simon was spot on. i sorta knew tt was coming. David A is proving to be the Melinda Doolittle of the season. started out as the strongest front-runner, then fizzled when it comes to top 12 week. at least Melinda still managed to dazzle and prove impeccable week-after-week, albeit without a vast breakthrough. but for david A, it felt like he's tryin to milk the teeney-boopey vote now by pickin that totally commercial and catchy song. yes, he's got millions of adoring teenage girls behind him. but at some point he's gotta come out and give tt classic idol moment in the reins of past winners, if he ever wana win. he needs to put on a coat, a tie, look smart, and give a CLASSIC CLASSY performance.



i thought Carly might come close to having her moment with TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE EHART. but she didnt. for me, Carly has the most potential to win. and most deservingly if it's purely based on singing(even thou she's a forsaken recording artist before). Carly needs to tery to be less fierce and more tender. it might just work for her.


TWISTY SEA MOOKS. smart song choice la. thou i CANNOT STAND that she is tryin so hard to milk it. when she said in her video that her siblings wld ask her to stop singing in the car, i secretly envision her havin a terrible performance and simon wld use tt video clip to prove the point. INSTEAD, tables were turned. oh well. Josh Gracin nailed tt song in season 2 and no one has done it since. i dun think it was gd, but it sld be gd to keep her 1 more week.

Ramiele. STUPID OR WHAT?!?!! to pick ALONE, a song Carrie Underwood OWNED with gusto is just idol-career suicide. Ramiele has done it for me. she's like a weaker Jasmine Trias with the same body movements and mouth movements week after week after week after week. yes. sweetness and tear ducts can onli bring u thus far girl. i see bottom 2 beckoning.


Michael Johns. can a non-queen song make u good?!?!?! i didnt like it still despite judges' props. u seem like u were struggling at some points. gd voice thou.

SYESHA. SHOCKIN! OMG. BEST IMPROVED. syesha can be the dark horse tt makes it into top 3 like Elliot and Kimberley! impressed.

Chekezie. ya defeated look after the performance might have just bought u ya ticket home =*(




Brooke white and Jason Castro. the guitar-strumming odd ones of the season. not ya usual idol stereotype with the big voice. still, they've proven to be evry endearing. Jason with his killer smile didnt nail FRAGILE. and it's getting irritatin cos i am still waiting to see him bloww but he is still so jack-johnson laidback!!!

Brooke i totally love. i think she might win it. love her song choice thou i was hopin she'd give it her own spin. still waiting for a GREAT performance thou.

at this point of the competition, all u need is a STANDOUT PERFORMANCE that will seal ya fate. i havent seen a standing ovation fr Randy in a long time. and i haven seen Simon give the seal of approval to anyone to certify their front-runner status. David C's come close with "just might win". none has had the Carrie-Underwood-you're-gonna-win-and-sell-more-records-than-any-other-artist, a Fantasia-master-class-in-singing-MAGIC! or a Jennifer Hudson-Latoya London standing ovation yet. it makes me miss the good ol' days. but heck. idol is idol. nothing is certain. u'll only know as well as the next tv-watching buddy.

watch these 2 and u'll see.
Carrie Underwood - Alone


Fantasia - Summertime. if u dun get the buzz bout it, watch the next vid of her winning performance of I Believe.




I MISS AMANDA OVERMYER.

古巨基 - 勁歌金曲2 - 情歌王 MV

k i think i was too psyched to see this MV and hear the song that the eventual product turned out a lil disappointing. personally, what made the first 勁歌金曲 such a hit was how it was jam packed into a power ballad tt was an extended climax throughout. it also had a more cohesive theme in each segment. this one, thou with a love story background to it, felt a lil slow, draggy and overwrought, amounting to 2 mins longer than the canto version. there wasnt a clear breaking point from each section (if any).

is this a sign tt canto songs r better than chi songs? hahaha. i cant help but notice that chi pop is currently littered with females without a distinct voice. it seems that they all come out from the same factory tt devoted all good genes to Rainie Yang. everyone is goin along with cheesy songs, act cute personality, easily forgettable and cheesy names, and bad singing. No one had an ethereal voice like Faye, the tenderness of Sandy, the low growl of Sammi, or the poignance of Tanya. it all felt abit mediocre. and after goin to the S-POP concert yesterday, it onli cemented this notion. singers with names like "mei xin" who act cute, or "jin sha" who's restricted to singing harmonies with JJ, and tt s-pop song-writing winner, whose name i forgot, was a total gross out moment. i am appalled at ehr abd singing, and at how such a common ditty can triumph the heartfelt and better-sung UMBRELLA. sigh.

back to 勁歌金曲2. of cos there were great moments. for the longest time Leo has neglected the chi market. and this could be the song, after tt "clock tt forgot time" song, that Leo wld make a comeback and make it big in chinese music again.






勁歌金曲1 - Canto version. one of my fav ktv songs.

Ken Leeeeee

YY, i miss Felicity too. i have season 1,2,4 dvd. we sld marathon la. wa lau we got so much to marathon la. when man! 40yrs old isit?!?!?! sighh. and i love Waitress la. i hope Keri Russell makes a i'm-gonna-make-it-duper-BIG-someday pie soon. it wld be a feast.

and Belle, zoo outing sounds coOl. u organise k. =)

so anyways i jsut came back from Celest bday celebration at Rice Table. wa the buffet bagus, eat till i wana puke. full to max, then cam whored alot. yes i will post the pics here, before the mention of my name reminds u of how i didnt send so many ppl the pics i took. (who started this accusation in the first place?! i got send lorrr....albeit VERY SLOWLY)

this vid is damn funny. go watch.



ok i should be blogging about my FAVOURITE FAVOURITE HOT FAVOURITE ROCKER NURSE Amanda Overmyer's shocking, unfair, and premature departure from AMERICAN IDOL. but i'm so tired now. so a pic tribute shall suffice for now. pardon the terok broken eng. lazy.

IDOL!

ok, i wld have blogged a long entry bout the 5 performances i managed to catch on idol. but i figured i sld watch the entire show first before i comment on the ghastly new designs, futuristic and distant new set, the performances, and the judges.

but i HAVE TO SAY. "Misty Sea"/"twisty tree" Kristy Lee's performance was SO bad, SO contrived, SO mismatched, that she made me think of last season's worst contestant Hayley Scornato (spelling might be wrong). at least Hayley showed off her nice long legs every week while singing boringly. Kristy made Hayley sound good! the arrangement swallowed her whole and tt country thing did not fit the song at all. no one wants to see a rehash, and she tryin to sound like Carrie is so contrived she sld be gone tml.

and i'll tell u why one sld not repeat past idol contestant's history on idol, esp on live tv.

next entry.

but here i'm gonna make some bold predictions as to who the mentors will eb b4 it's revealed tml:
- TINA TURNER. after a glorious grammy night, she might be thinkin of a comeback.
- Sheryl Crow. see: NEW ALBUM.
- Carly Simon. with the huge influx of singer-songwriter hopefuls this season, and the Brook comparisons, it's very plausible.
- Alicia keys. see: NEW ALBUM.
- Sting. see: legend needed.
- Mary J Blige. see: new album, R&B singer powerhouse needed, CURRENT.
- Paul Simon / Bruce Springsteen?!>!! see: legend needed.
- BON JOVI. everyone loves BJ. rocker needed.


anddddddddd. will Nigel Lythgoe finally get his wish of asking BARBRA STREISAND to appear on stage as a mentor?!!?!!? tt wld be ROYALTY man. but given that it's a no-holds-barred season with the wide range of talents and revamps, it's highly plausible, and much anticipated. =)

"I FEEL ALIVE!!!"

that's the phrase the lead got us to shout out twice in the entire show. BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE KICKED HARD ASS MAN. i first heard of them on the Half Nelson soundtrack, thinkin that they'd be some soft-emo band. turns out they're a rollickin bunch of middle-age man who seem like they've been rockin for the longest time! only 6 turned up tonight. One looked like a skinny Will Ferrell, one had antics and small actions tt reminded me of The Doors frontman, with those slithery hand actions and KT Tunstall album cover-esque poses. The lead reminded me of a rocking Damien Rice, the trumpet player reminded me of Masi Oka. thou without Feist or Mas Silamat, as the voice-over at the beginning cleverly puts it, it was one of the best gigs i've been to.

The concert hall was fully booked. from the first voiceover, u sorta knew it's gonna be great. Never in my life have i seen an audience that willingly stood up without prompting even before the first song came up. my seats were the second closest to the stage, and i could see every single action the members made. we got it at a good $62 bargain, all thanks to Ms Ivy. We gave two 1min long cheering led by the band. THE CROWD WAS HYSTERICAL. i never expected so many fans in Spore.

basically Broken Social Scene derived its name from the state or relationships nowadays. i snapped some pretty nice pic, but somehow cant post them up today. will post more once Ms Ivy sends me her delicious DSLR pics. i sld get one myself. BEST CONCERT OF THE YEAR SO FAR!

next up, it's time to invade the SIFF!!!!! I'm Not There!!!

(Singapore International Film Festival)

FEIST

I was soooooo pleasantly shocked when i saw this video! it totally brought a smile to my face. never will i imagine the seemingly shy and indie Feist to come up with something so racous and jubilant! albeit a tad commercial, it still maintained that lil edge as an indie artist. LOVE LOVE LOVE.



MY MOON MY MAN. another great vid. props to the director man!



and i LOOOOVVEEE this song. ONE EVENING. she sld have won something at the Grammys. anw i've been listening to the album for a long time already, so this post is kinda belated.

idolatory

gosh tonight's idol episode flew by faster than i can say whoa! come friday, two guys will be eliminated, and i actually like 7/8 of the guys! damn!

and i have to say this: didnt anyone notice how Jason Castro was rushing thru the verses and how his voice cracked and he gave a semi-grin on the last 2 notes of Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah'?! i LOVED it initially and almost cried during the first part of the performance, but after that i was disappointed. if he had nailed that song, it wld rank close to being one of the best idol moments ever! that song, the Jeff Buckley and k.d Lang versions, was one of my fav songs of all time. and thou i give him props for the courage for choosing that song, i'm disappointed he didnt NAIL IT! still, he gets the coolsville/indie vote of the season.

and despite David H's offscreen reports, i still loved his version of 'It's all coming back to me now'. i hope he stays.

and David A. i love how he changed the phrasing and made every song his own. yes the constant lickin of lips was a tad confusing/distracting, but to get a piano up at this stage of the competition, that's a FIRST. props man.

looking forward to Amanda Overmyer and Carly Smith tml. WHOOHOO!

Zoo

"He circled along in his warm skin, happy again because he was free and because he belonged. All of one's life is a struggle towards that; the narrow path between freedom and belonging. I have sometimes sacrificed freedom in order to belong, but more often I have given up all hope of belonging" - Winterson


I went to the zoo today. The last time i was there, i was in primary school and time froze in this auditorium. all we could do was observe some plants. it was at least a decade ago. today, i returned with a different culture shock at a more commercialised zoo, and left with a heavy heart.

i was quite excited to see the polar bears actually. with the current rising awareness in global warming, so much has been said about how the polar bears will become extinct in 50 yrs. therefore i wanted to see how our own panda sld count its blessings. instead, i arrived at an empty cage. i'd imagined there to be ice and white-washed enclosure. instead, all i saw was merely a few boulders and what doesnt seem like ice water. the ground the bears walk(ed) on seemed plastic-ky, and it wasnt the winter-wonderland one'd imagine. it was such a tiny enclosure i instantly felt pity for the bears.

i read about lions and their unbelievably high sex drive(when i finally see 1 lion and 3 lioness just lazing ard, i was confused if they were all shagged out from the sex, or has the zoo disolved all sexual desires and interests), fell in love with the girrafe and ostrich and cheetah, was awed(as always) and terrified by the size of crocodiles, and wanted to bring one of the cheetahs home.

this trip renewed my interests in animals, and seeing how Steve Irwin could dedicate his life to the wild only makes me appreciate it more. i used to think zoos are noble in trying to preserve the little and extinct wildlife we have, while allowing us to study them upfront. I could scrutinise the scales of the crocodile without getting chomped, and touch a pony without gettin neighed. yet the paradox lies in how i felt a sense of pity for the animals. i cant imagine myself being a cheetah without the serengetti. i cant imagine myself being a polar ebar without ice-berg. nor can i imagine life as a penguin, forced to swim for all.

the things we do for "preservation". in the name of "saving" them, we prob also tamed whatever animal instinct they have and deserved.