Spectacular 5 - results

The judges were asked on their opinion on last Friday's rock performance.

Paul said that "Ash was half-good, Farah was okay, and Daniel was Daniel. The rest was a flop."
Amazing! Same conclusion as what I blogged. But I get nervous when Paul agrees with my observations. It makes me doubt the independance of my thinking.

Predictions....who will be out?

Roslan: "Adam or Nita."
Kak Jee: "Adam, Nita or Ash."
Paul: "It's gotta be Adam or Nita."

The six cointestants were divided into two groups; the feminine group of Adam, Nita and Farah, and the masculine group of Ash, Baby-faced Elf Daniel and Fat Kampung Rocker. How do you like that, voting by sexual characteristics? The most idiotic way to vote, if you ask me.

And the voters have decided that the bottom three would be the feminine group.

Farah was called to step forward. You could see the air expelling from her lungs when it was announced that she was safe.

Leaving us tonight is......Adam.

Adam was tearful. It does not matter who leaves, he would still have cried. He broke down a bit as he thanked the judges for their comments.

So now that leaves five.

Malaysian Idols 2 – Spectaculars 5

This time, the theme is ‘rock’ songs. This is theme that Malaysian singers don’t seem to do well. Last year, during Malaysian Idol 1, all the singers did teruk, except for Jac. None of them have the raw edge in the voice to carry it off well. This year was not much different. I’m going to ignore most of the judges’ comments this time.

Farah: Luv her hairstyle. And her voice. But she was not convincing as a rock singer.

Adam: I dunno what it sounded like, but no, it did not sound like rock. It was just indescribable.

Nita: She came out looking like somebody from the “Matrix” movie. Didn’t move or sound like a rock singer. She has not improved at all despite all the singing and music coaches. I think she is set in her style already.
Paul said, “It is never a good idea to sing in a different key from the band. You’re in big trouble this week.”

Daniel: It was a watered down rock song. Much like a teeny-bopper version. There was no angst. As usual the girls will go goo goo ga ga over him.

Ash: Pitchy. But he was at least semi-convincing as a rock singer. However, the raw emotion was not quite there.

Faizull: He looked like some Fat Apache Red Indian Squaw from the Oonga Woonga reservation. He had the sound and style of rock. But it was odd to hear him sing in English. Faizull suffers from a kampung image. So he had to sing an English song to break out of the mold. Sadly, it did not work. Beyond the words “Not tonight” I couldn’t hear anything else. Shall I vote for him? Not tonight, darling, I got a headache.

My voting this week is not based on the singing, for the obvious disappointing reasons. It will be based on looks. Yep, giving them to Farah again.



*Sunday afternoon update*
I caught the repeat show over TV3 on Sunday. I know, I know, I ought to get a life, but I had to be home because of something so I thought I may as well watch the repeat.

My conclusions? The best two performers were Farah and Ash(surprise surprise!) The worst was Adam, Nita and Faizull. Adam had a bad flat song choice and is definitely out of his depth in rock. Faizull can't pronounce English words and should stick to Malay songs. Nita had peaked and could not improve any further. Weeks ago I had expected Nita to be the front runner. But she is looking vulnerable now and losing voice control. Daniel as usual, I dunno what he was singing, but at least his effort was not as bad as the rest. Ash surprised me this round by giving an 'okay' rendition.

Farah sang a dfficult Alanis Morisette song, was the first singer, and pulled it off without too many errors except for the body motions. Yep, she deserves my votes this week.

Spectaculars 4 – results

The last seven are about to become the last six.

The judges were asked about their impressions on Friday’s performance.
Roslan: “Everybody okay except Faizull.”
Kak Jee: “Same. All okay except Faizull.”
Paul: “Nobody okay, except Nita and Daniel.”

It is weird to find Paul coming to the same conclusion as I did.

I had voted for Nita and Daniel based on their performances.

At the last minute, just before voting closed, I voted for Farah as well.

Now for the forecast by the judges. Who will be out?

Roslan: “Faizull.”
Kak Jee: “Ash and Faizull.”
Paul: “The girls are splitting the votes between them. Nita, Farah and Xerra will be in the lowest three.”

Paul is getting prophetic. Nita, Farah and Xerra turned out to be the three with the lowest votes.

And leaving the show is …………….Xerra.

She sang her song as the show ended, and she announced, “For Paul”.

On Friday, Paul said that we would hear that song again on Sunday as she leaves. That was so on target. Among the 3 judges, Paul has proven to be more spot-on than the rest. He’s not as retarded as he looks.

Malaysian Idol 2 - Spectaculars 4

Tonight the theme was local songwriters.

The guest judge was non other than Izham, the big shot of 8TV. He looks a bit of a nerd to me, although he talks confidently.

Here are the comments:-

Nita - I thought she was pitchy, and somewhat lacking in power.
Roslan: "You sang like the beauty you are."
Kak Jee: "Very stunning. Lebih lagi. Menjiwa lagi."
Izham: "Some pitchy probelms. But crossing over to become a star."
Paul:"You sing naturally with emotion. It could have been more intense. Not bad."

Adam - Did a lot of prancing on stagelike a school girl before puberty. I did not like the scruffy dressing .Sang OK as usual. But boring.
Roslan: "Seronok. I enjoy."
Kak Jee: "Good one."
Izham: "You are an entertainer."
Paul:"It could not have been more feminine if a girl had sung it. Didn't like it. The key was too low for you."

Ash - I wasn't impressed.
Roslan: "Good effort."
Kak Jee: "Steady." (But I could tell she was being polite.)
Izham: "You are a normal singer. Not a star."
Paul:"Generally weak. Patchy and pitchy"

Daniel - I thought he sang well. In fact, he should sing Malay songs instead of English songs.
Roslan: "Saya suka."
Kak Jee: "Semua ada. Very good"
Izham: "You should sing this type of songs." (My sentiments exactly.)
Paul:"You did it really well"

Faizull - fat Kampung Rocker sang like someone with a bad second hand karaoke set.It wa horrible. In the end, he cried becaus he felt the song too much. Clearly, that was a loss of control.
Roslan: "Boring."
Kak Jee: "apa jadi? Halfway through, you lost it!"
Izham: "Concentrat and deliver!."
Paul:"I know that is not you!" (Paul thinks it is an alien cricket singing in his place.)

Farah - She sang from a seated position most of the time. I wasn't impressed. A seated position does not allow one to bring out the lungs fully into play.
Roslan: Thinks she should pick songs that are more suitable.
Kak Jee: "Flow must be suitable."
Izham: "If I have a record company, I will sign you up straitaway." (Huh?)
Paul:"It was weird!"

Xerra - It was sweet. The crowd loved it.
Roslan: "Bagus."
Kak Jee: "Bagus."
Izham: "Your high is not too high."
Paul: I think he said something about the possibility of Xerra leaving this Sunday. I did not quite catch it though.

I have not quite made up my mind on who to give my votes to.

One other thing: Cheryl talks fast. Like a train without brakes. She must be auditioning for a part in the "Gilmore Girls".

* Sunday update *
I caught the show again on Sunday on TV3 (because I did not feel like going out in the balmy weather,) and this time I listened to the 7 contestants with my eyes closed. Just wanted to know which contestant could get me to sleep. Since my eyes were already closed, I figured that I have already done half the work for them.

and my conclusions?

The best two vocals were performed by the Baby-faced Elf Daniel and Giraffe Genes Nita. Nita had the disadvantage of being the first singer, so I factored that little factoid in.

The worst two? Ash and Fat Kampung Rocker.

Spectaculars 3 – results

Impressions of the judges on last Friday’s performance:
Roslan: “didn’t give us 100%”
Kak Jee: “Luarkan semua yang ada.”
Kak Je’s comment reminds me of going to the mamak shop and saying, “Semua taroh.”
Paul: He said a lot of things and I have little idea what he was talking about. Something about projecting your identity and knowing who you are. Paul does not like people who don’t know who they are. Luckily, among the contestants, we don’t have any amnesiacs.

Of the contestants, all three judges said that Farah had improved the most.

Now for the predictions on who’s leaving tonight:
Roslan: “Semua boleh keluar except Faizull.”
Kak Jee: “Daniel”
Paul: “Ejay, Xerra and Ash.”

And leaving us tonight is………Ejay.

Ejay was not crestfallen. She was probably surprised she lasted so long. There were no hugging scenes this time, unlike last week. Personally, I would have preferred to see a group hug.

Malaysian Idol 2 – Spectaculars 3

The guest judge tonight was Anuar Zain. And the theme is R&B

Faizull- Appeared in dreadlocks. The singing was pitchy all the way. R&B is not his thing. Judges comments:
Roslan: “Unik, tapi tak sedap.”
KJ: You lok good….yadda yadda….good try.”
Paul: “…typical kampung rock star”

Ash – He sang okay, but I wasn’t blown away.
Roslan: “Saya suka.”
KJ: “Bagus.”
Anuar: “I like it.”
Paul: “I see a merchant banker who’s riding his luck.“

Adam – We were told that he is good friends with Nita and Azam. “Nita, you’re my kakak,” he said. I bet Nita says the same thing to him. There’s nothing different in his songs from one week to the next.
Roslan: “Baik.”
KJ: “Suka sangat.”
Anuar: “Bagus.”
Paul: Actually, I can’t remember what Paul tried to say. Something about the cheeky side of Adam which we never get to see. Although it sounded like Paul would like to see a monkey on stage or something to that effect.

Farah - She still looked amateurish, but for the first time, I felt goose pimples. The crowd loved her performance.
Roslan: “Tiada complaint.”
KJ: “Lebihkan lagi. Be yourself.” (That’s an oxymoron)
Anuar: “You’re ready to buat album sendiri.”
Paul: “No real re-interpretation. Didn’t like it that much.”

Ejay – This week, her performance borders on the sassy. She did not impress me though. But of course, the Sabahans will be rooting for her.
Roslan: “Saya tak faham macam mana you dapat vote.” (Meaning that the guy does not understand things like the telephone and SMS.)
KJ: “Hari ini bagus.”
Anuar: “Last week was better than this week. The low register was shaky.”
Paul: “I don’t know who’s been voting for you but I don’t think they will be voting for you this week.”
Actually, her family’s been voting for her and yes, they will be voting for her again this week. Will somebody please explain this to Paul? Slowly….and in simple language. Thank you.

Daniel - Frankly, I don’t know what he was singing, and I probably only recognise 10 words out of the whole song.
Roslan: “Hanya boleh nyanyi lagu yang senang.”
KJ: Dunno say what.
Anuar: “R & B susah untuk you.”
Paul: “Your worst performance ever. That was terrible.”

Nita – Giraffe Genes looked smashing in her dress. Great delivery. One of the better performances of the evening. Boring in some parts though. She has not been improving over the weeks. Maybe she has peaked.
Roslan: “Baik.”
KJ: “Bagus.”
Anuar: “You got star value.”
Paul: “Could have been great, but it wasn’t.”

Xerra – Anorexic Pink-haired Girl could certainly move on stage. She was more energetic tonight than previously. I think she specially ate an extra bowl of rice for the performance. Her low notes were a delight to hear. But her high notes were lame.
Roslan: “Tak sedap langsung.”
KJ: “Sempurna.”
Anuar: “You’re ready. Buat album cepat cepat.”
Paul: “It was more style over substance. But it was good.”

My votes this week go to Farah again. If I am in a generous mood, I may even give some votes to Xerra and Nita.

Malaysian Idol 2 - Spectaculars 2 – Results

At the beginning of the show, we learned that it was Paul Moss’s birthday.

Birthday? You mean Paul Moss was born, like all of us? And all this while I thought that he was hatched out from a stone. Man, this whole thing is so fucking weird.

Jien is starting to piss me off majorly by making a big fuss over Paul Moss week after week after week. It’s like he can’t get enough of the Kiwi. Hey Jien, don’t do shit like this on the show! Go get a hotel room! And if you can’t afford a room, the lobby toilets are free of charge. Sheeeeesh!!!

Okay, the predictions about who’s gonna exit this show …..

Roslan: “Daniel and Ejay based on performance. Adam and Azam based on voting trend.”
Kak Jee: “Adam and Ejay”
Paul: “I’m worried for Farah.”

You needn’t worry Paul, cos I voted for Farah. I’m part-Klingon, and one Klingon vote equals 33722 earthling votes.

And the lowest 3 vote getters were:
Nita
Xerra
Azam

And leaving us tonight will be ……….Azam.

I think it was that old fashioned “rose scene” that did him in. And of course, his rasping voice quality played a part as well.

Azam stood stoically. But Xerra, Nita and Ejay were in tears. Adam was sobbing uncontrollably. After Friday’s “almost manly” performance, Adam turned back into his old self again tonight.

Hot Babe, who was watching the show with me, imperiously told me not to act so surprised at Adam’s shuddering sobs. She said that modern males should be sensitive and that I should learn to be a metrosexual.

WTF? I don’t want to be a metrosexual! I don’t want to sob on TV, and I don’t want to use moisturizer.

She said that since I live in a metro, I have to be a metrosexual.

I told her I grew up in a kampung. You know what that makes me? A kampungsexual.

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Malaysian Idol: Spectculars 2

There was a guest judge tonight; a lady called Dayang. She dept parroting what Roslan and Kak Jee said, so I am not going to blog her comments.

Tonights theme is on colour, any song about colour.

Daniel sang “Somewhere over the rainbow”. That’s seven colours. It was a weak effort. He’s still having diction problems.
Roslan: “Anak yang bawa lorry.”
Kak Jee: Better than last week.
Paul: Said something about Judy Garland which I did not get. Who the heck is Judy Garland? Not a porn star obviously. Anybody can explain to me what Paul’s comment on Judy Garland was?

Nita was next. She looked casual in white slacks. She sang a Malay song and the singing was ordinary only.
R: “Biasa. Tiada creativity.”
KJ: “Overall not bad”
P: “Boring. Should have picked a different song.”
Paul made a comment that most Malay songs are boring. I agree. Malay songs suffer from having not enough composers who are daring enough to experiment. Very few songs actually stand out. Some songs, like “Gemilang” allow the singer to display a wider range of tones but these are the exceptional few. What we really need is an influx of new blood to shake things up. Cantonese songs also suffer from the same syndrome. Not only that, a lot of them sound the same.

Farah sang “Colours of the Wind”. The movement of her right hand fascinated me. Her inadequate mike work caused her song to appear soft at times. But the parts that came out well was nice to listen too.
R: “Bagus”
KJ: “Kasi Oooomph”
P: Commented unfavourably onher dress. Said that it was good for shopping in 1Utama but suitable for the stage. We learned later that it was her mum who made the dress.

Azam sang “Se kuntum mawah merah”. To me, it was polished but ordinary. Azam has a slight rasping quality to his voice which makes a lot of songs unsuitable for him. He sang with a rose, dropped it, sing a bit, picked it up, sang some more. It was so old fashion. And corny. I do not think he learned that move from his father. More like from his grandfather. Then he gave the rose to Dayang.
R: “Buat style lain.”
KJ: “Suara bagus, jelas”
Paul commented that the theatrics with the rose made him want to vomit.

Ash sang “Lady in Red”. It was easy to listen to. But his control of the voice was not that fantastic.
R: “Executed it well”
KJ: “ Much better”
P: ”Who is Ash? I still don’t get you!”
Now that is not surprising. Paul, not being very bright, tend not get a lot of things.

Xerra came next. I liked her delivery but still thing her voice is not resonating enough when compared to Farah’s.
R: “Saya suka”
KJ ; “Feel ada”
P: “You don’t have a powerful voice do you? It wasn’t bad.”

Adam came and delivered an emotional performance. He was not as bapok as he was previously.
R: “Membosankan”
KJ ; “When you go back, look for something.”
P: “I did not like it.”

Ejay tried a rock version of “Black eyed boy”
I couldn’t remember what Roslan said. But KJ said that “song does not suit your voice”. Then Paul argued with her.

Fat Kampung Rocker was last. I did not like his “ronda-ing” around on the stage. Looked like amateur karaoke to me. Paul said that there was too much posing and not enough singing.

I'm voting for Farah.

Spectacular 1 – Results

On being asked to predict the results of Spectacular 1, the judges’ predictions on the ones to exit were:

Roslan: Ash and Ejay.
Kak Jee: Ash and Ejay.
Paul: Ash, Ejay, Trish, Xerra and Atilia.

Of course, my prediction was it will be Ejay but won’t be Ash.

The results were: Trish and Atilia won’t be going on to the next round. Damn, I was only half right.

The reaction of the judges?

Roslan said, “I want Malaysians to wake up!”
Kak Jee said, “What happened?”
Paul seemed less shocked.

Both Atilia and Trish have strong voices. They don’t look that great, being too heavy looking, but they sing great. With their exit, I can predict with a 60% certainty that the next Malaysian Idol will be Nita. The others are not consistent nor capable enough to give a good enough fight.

Let’s go down the list:

Ash: Does not have a great performance to date.
Adam: Can only sing in one language
Azam: Can only sing in one language
Baby Faced Elf: Diction problems
Fat kampong Rocker: Can only sing in on language, and also only rock songs.
Farah: Versatile, performs great, but not very consistent yet.
Anorexic Pink Haired Girl: Does not have a great performance to date.
Ejay: Diction problems

Looks like the only competition to Giraffe Genes will be provided by Farah. It is important that a singer in Malaysian Idol be able to sing in two languages. Otherwise the votes are not going to come in. Malaysian Idol has a more international image than the other local reality shows and fans expect some international flavour.

Why wasn’t Ash and Ejay voted out? I think it was because of the Panic factor as well as the Rebel factor.

Panic factor: Both ash and Ejay’s fans voted in overdrive because they thought that these two were on their way out.

Rebel factor: People voted for Ash because Roslan said Ash shouldn’t be here. We saw the same thing happen during American Idol when Simon Cowell said that Scott Savol should just pack his bags and get ready to go. People are perverse. They like to prove a judge wrong.

On another note, I just wrote a new story on a character called Swordsman Wu. It will be one of the best short stories I have ever written. Go and read it in my other blog and leave your opinion on what you think about the story. Thanks.