Anugerah Bintang Popular - before, during and after

Lega....ni kat office da setibanya dari Genting Highlands. Kejra pun da habis cuma sana sini sikit nak abihkan, and of course my overtime for last month yang kena file in claim lak.

Then...it's OFF!!! I'm planning to take two weeks off, tapi tu lah, tengok dulu keadaan. Lagipun,

I need time off to recuperate (because unlike some who will find the most menial excuse for a claim to fame, I actually buat kerja). Tapi dalam masa tu, aku ada lagi tiga projek berjalan serentak.

Ni lak nak wat research sikit sebab masa kat Genting pas abih ABP semalam, lepak kat Starbucks, ada lak approach nak bisik sesuatu which I cannot repeat here.

Kang confirm aku announce...tapi ada ler yang sentap bijik kalau benda tu jadi kenyataan.

Merasalah akan dijadikan alasan nak carik pasal lagik sebab dengki dan carut dalam hati (a national hobby for some people...a cheap one too, befitting the characteristics of the folks who practise it).

Whatever....bukan cari makan pun ngan orang orang camni...utang pun tak. Don't know if it's the reverse though. Pepandai sendiri ler time tuh kan...matilah become the bigger person dan halalkan jer.

Karma again...has a strange way of ending up smack right in the face.

Anyways, kembali cita Anugerah Bintang Popular. Besh siot.

It was the busiest award show for me so far dalam lebih 10 tahun aku ulang alik setiap anugerah nak wat liputan...sebab kali ni bukan je aku bertugas membuat liputan seperti rakan media yang lain, I also had another job. Yes, job. Not gila glamour past-time to validate my pathetic existence.

Oops...did I go too far? Well, if the shoe fits? And if it doesn't, it's probably because someone didn't realise it was not referring to anything physical.

Moving on...

Cadang nak ke Genting awal, tapi sebab duduk sampai 7 pagi nak pastikan bebudak nya baju semua ok, akibatnya, sedar dari tidur pun da about 12pm. Packed, and shot to KL, picked up Ted, and then naik Genting terus. Sampai kul 3pm.

None of the kids had reached so grabbed a bite kat Burger King, before the trumpets blared, announcing the arrival of Juan Danza.

Pastu ingat nak rehat kat bilik sat sebelum bersiap, tapi had to drop in and check on Felix yang sedang disiapkan Nizam. Lawak gak layan Felix nih...lama da tak lepak ngan dia.

Compared notes on some stuff, helped Nizam out a little and got him ready.

More and more calls later, lari ngan Wanie ke bilik Mawi nak siapkan. Alamak...dak tuh tunggu sambil main PS2. Abih da...ni kena tunggu nih. Tambah agik especially abang Wan dan dia tengah lawan WWE katanya.

When we got started, we actually ran into a simple problem. Mawi punya belt semua yang had these huge buckle heads, yang actually kurang sesuai ngan baju formal. The only one yang kena was this D&G white belt for the red carpet suit, tapi tu lak dia pakai besar sikit sebab, al kisahnya, da beli, tak lak pakai pakai, lubang short satu tak tebuk.

Last last si Nasser korbankan belt dia sebab pinggang meka lebih kurang. Sebab aku lak takde white belt, and aku pakai suar putih, aku pun dapat ler belt baru.

Merasalah opening ceremony katanya tuk belt Mawi.

Got ready, si Wanie hopped in the limo ngan Mawi, Nasser and one more guy for security purposes. I took the second vehicle to avoid the fanfare.

Sampai je Theme Park Hotel, kami ke lower level where there was this holding area for artistes. Gegas lak nak settle barang kemas sponsor Habib.

Mawi, Rosyam, Ning, Nikki, Erra Fazira....tu antara meka yang pakai baju from the guys.

It was chaotic, but simply fun despite itbeing a tad stressful.
For the first time gak, thanks to Bill Bora yang memang veteran (mati aku, veteran katanya..) kat event camni, aku diperkenalkan pada the judges yang akan menentukan sapa best dressed personalities for the night. Bill ingatkan tuk nak bak perkenalkan artistes dressed by all the designers I'm working with, ngan designers sekali.

My first time jumpa the current president of MODA, which is the Malaysian Official Designers' Association. Best gak sembang ngan dia...and I'm proud to say she approves of my views when we traded opinions.

It's always a good thing to meet people who are accomplished to change views rather than know-it-alls who hardly have any claim to fame for their so-called pearls of wisdom.

Jumpa a lot of freinds within the industry yang aku only get to meet time time anugerah ni, so dalam kerja, kelam kabut, with two jobs going on at once, it wasn't all that bad because it was made bearable by the fun folks around.

Plus, because there really was maximum security at the event, memang kureng sikitler leeches or groupies around.

Ni some of the pics for the red carpet portion of the evening. Sebenarnya, aku penah jalan red carpet dalam time keja, tapi nothing could have prepared me for this madness.

Jalan ngan Fie, with some of the wardrobe for change during performances, tapi memang kita nak elak sana sini. Problem is, traffic jam siot. Mana taknya. Ko takleh overtake orang lain kat red carpet (though we did overtake Sazzy and Co. midway), so kalau orang depan henti, mampus ada traffic jam buildup all the way to the entrance of the red carpet.

Fie and I were sandwiched between Ning, Nikki, Yanie along with Azmi, Lucas dan Vernon in the front, and Sazzy Falak and her hubby.

Tapi bila da sampai pintu masuk ke Arena of Stars, terus traffic jam gila punya.
Amik ler peluang nak hoo-ha dan amik pics. Misha was behind us, along with Yasmin Hani and many more...so mingled and socialised where we could.

Yerlah nak tunggu giliran turun tangga to the actual arena lagik satu hal, memang nightmare on Elm Street.

Imagine walking down this steep and narrow staircase with hands reaching out at you. Erk...takut siot. Finally made it down jer, run backstage terus tuk bersiap.

Left to right, top to bottom : Rosyam ngan Nizam, walking behind Sazzy dan laki dia. Next, pemandangan kat red carpet, followed by pic Ning yang memang one of the loudest called for celebrities.Nikki dan Hazami di interview TV3 and Lucas sempat pose ngan Yanie. Yamin pose vogue ngan aku, dan si Linda dan Fahrin tetap...ehem. Next pic...sapa kata aku gaduh ngan Misha (keji kan statement) and followed by the 'walk of death' jalan turun tangga ke arena. Last two pics, Erra dan Ning masa kat area red carpet.

Pening sikit at that point, and apparently, silly me forgot to get a drink handy, and knowing me, malas nak lari keluar, memang tambah agik teruk keadaan aku. The only relief nak dok puffing away, stick after stick of Marlboro.

Nak amik banyak pic kat dressing room takleh lak...for obvious reasons kan? I mean I could, but they wouldn't be decent for publishing.

Takkan orang salin baju nak amik pic kan?

Kalau dari dressing room, ni je aku sempat amik, sebab I was running between there, stage front as well as the nearest exit to smoke masa stressed. That and toying with my laptop tengah type story on the spot wat review show. Merasalah tempted nak update blog, tapi sebab takleh focus, malas.

Ziana ngan make-up artiste dia shared with Siti Nurhaliza, Nurul Shukor yang meletup, Dayang baru abih touch-up makeup and siapa lagi kalau bukan Datuk Siti Nurhaliza herself. Siti!!! Ko gorgeous ok, malam tu!!! (merasalah carut Nurul mak esah lak) I think Siti is starting to look more matured and sesuai umur dia, and yet still adorably cute and sweet. (puji sampai langit nih....thanks Siti ek for posing for this pic - dapat curi tips make-up...)

Tapi around the bacstage banyak ler sikit. All throughout the event, sampai abih, ni the collection pics of some of my favourite people yang aku sempat amik pic. Korang enjoy, puas-puas.

Again kalao ada pics yang korang suka, korang nak letak memana, please kredit my blog ok...letak laa link...jangan kemut!!!

Apek, Apek and more Apek. Selamat kembali Apek! Semoga cepat sihat kembali 100% tip top ok! First with Aznil, then satu agik ngan Fasha and last call ntah merajuk ngan Fara Fauzana (merasalah pandai jer cakap padahal aku pun tatau pose haper dalam pic tuh) Then there's Nikki with Faizal and Nurul.
More pics from the backstage area. Zahid posing macho, Mawi tengah di interview, Nana pose seksi, Marsha, Amylea dan Haziq and I (lama tak jumpa!), Fasha dan si Jac.

So that's about all the pictures I can share. Ada ler lagik, tapi aku rasa tak perlu. Ni pun pada sesiapa yang slow connection entah berapa hari nak buka page ni tuk load semua pics.

All in all it was a fun event. Kecoh sikit time kita kat backstage tunggu transport ke Genting Hotel tuk post party, which was thankfully by invite so no gatecrashers. Tight gila...sampai Wanie pun tak dapat masuk sebab Mawi lupa passingkan pass. Got in, got the pass, and brought Wanie in.

Anyway tengok ler kerenah artis berpusu pusu tunggu transport.

I didn't stay long. Lapar tapi tak berselera. Chomped down some shrimp and that was it. Strange though kan...pakai baju beribu raban ngan batuan segala...but you get served Ribena and Cordial. Matilah aku mencarut...

Tapi sebelum aku kena carut, biar aku cakap, the food was excellent...not that it mattered, cause it was the EXCLUSIVITY of the event which was more industry related, hence the absence of groupies or people yang takde kena mengena.

I buggered off about 15 minutes later selepas mereka announce the winners for the best dressed.

Incidentally, kalau sapa nak tau siapa menang, here are the results :

Best Dressed Male Artiste ABP 2006 - Fahrin Ahmad
Best Dressed Female Artiste ABP 2006 - Erra Fazira.

Yeap...bangga one of my group dapat. Sebab Hatta yang wat baju Erra. Merasalah ada bragging rights katanya, sekali ngan Wanie yang blushing ala ala lobster sebab Mawi sebut nama dia.

Tima kasih botak....takyah nak ingatkan pun leh ucap ek. Tapi jangan ler sebut sampai perabot rumah. Keji laaa...

Hung out at Starbucks to email my news stories as well as finish my column and other articles.
Got most of my work done, and hung about. Most of the crowd abih post party je mai hangout. Zahid dan bebudak RuffEdge muncul, abang Aznil and gang pun ada. Nak amik pic pun battery phone dedua da flat. So no pics there too.

Balik bilik, freshen up, ngumpat ngan bebudak pasal the night, post mortem sat and then we went for supper cum breakfast sebab kebulur tak sangat kat post party.

Gi mamak yang dekat Resort Hotel tuh....oh my. Rupanya banyak renovation, Nampak sangat so much has changed since aku last naik Genting almost a year ago.

Mamak tuh however tetap keji. Kelakar lak tengok Wanie punya nasi lemak banjir...unintentional of course. Sambal je lebih. Tapi the harga haiyo...mahal nak mampos.

Mana taknya kedai sekecik tu ada CCTV sampai 4 ketul! Merasalah nampak sangat meka ni kaya ngan exorbitant prices meka charga.

Eh...lapar lah...anyway I hope you guys suka this update...because I had fun throughout the whole night last night walaupun berserabut sikit pala nak wat tuh nih...
Got to go for now...look for something EXCLUSIVE news tomorrow. Kalao leh anggap exclusive ler. Lum baca lum tahu kan?!

Gone...

PS - Sebab aku tak minat nak ulas show (korang camler takde TV kat rumah, tak dok mengumpat mengulas sendiri lak show tuh kan - so perlu ke?) jangan harap aku wat keja tuh.
But here are some pages of people yang actually were there, and not in front of the TV too.
Click HERE for MrManager
Click HERE for Sensasi Selebriti

PS Pt II - Jangan lupa nonton Mawi@Mauritius malam ni kat Astro Ria jam 10.30pm tengok kita semua shopping kat sana (sapa yang ikut blog aku, mesti rasa da basi)

PS Pt III - Terimah kasih semua artis yang mengambil khidmat para pereka muda. Senarai termasuk Ning, Nikki, Yanie, Erra, Mawi, Ziana, Dayang, Betty Banafe, Rosyam, Felix, Zed Zaidi dan beberapa nama lagi.
Tahniah pada Hatta (Erra menang Best Dressed pakai baju dia ler) as well as Wanie sebab baju dia tuk Mawi terpampang tuk satu Malaysia tengok.
So to Hatta, Wanie, Rizman & Wan, Nizam dan Zura, congratulations guys.
By the way, ni logo semua bebudak (kecuali Zura yang tak hantar-hantar pun logo dia), sekali ngan last sekali, my own, which is simply K yang kuar kat kredits time abih da ABP.