Snooze time

Oh have mercy. Ngantuk gila nih...

Tadik siang gi lepak ngan group Celepets.

Who are the Celepets? Bukan group pop pompuan yang baru ok.

These are the Celepets. Part of the group anyway, short of two members masa memula lepak. Takde Dynas Mokhtar and Serena C saja.

So we have, from left, Atilia Haron, Sazzy Falak, Aishah Sinclair, Daphne Iking and Yasmin Hani.

The Celepets are kind of like a sorority kinda thing. All these beautiful actresses and singer (Atilia sorang) and model/emcee/numerous other talents are a bunch of real friends in a very fake industry.

Suka sangat tengok meka bersama, and kaki layan aku gak on Twitter and Blackberry Messenger (but Daphne jerk pakai Onyx while Sazzy tak kisah sebab obsessed ngan iPad)

They into causes, from environmental to kids to everything you can think of, and salute aku kat meka nih.

Anyway hajat jumpa meka tadik ada la... tapi takleh cita skang. Dynas joined us later after Aishah left sebab ada hal. By the way, all the best to Dynas on her coming baby - two months to go, and we're sure it's a girl!

Prayers for a safe and healthy baby coming your way, babe.

Baru nak wrap session ada lak familiar faces masuk Alexis where we chilled for like over five hours! Abih la makan minum je keja bloated (tapi still lapar and nak melantak some more at the end of it).

Hah ni menarik sikit. Kiri skali sapa tak kenal Ramli MS. The dude in blue is Fadzli from TV3 and the lady sapa lagik kalao bukan Rozina the head honcho of Astro Awani.

Aiks... weird combo kan. Sampai berbisik benda. Ni leh wat gosip. Kelas... wakil Media Prima dan wakil Astro dok semeja. Er... korek!

So dari nak balik dok le layan agik.

Pastuh move lak ke Rasta layan minum borak jap ada informal meeting. The last of an early day that started out at the bank (yang best time nak Raya nih, utang semua orang da bayar, so sapa ada utang with anyone celebrating Chinese New Year, mesti bayar kalao tak suwey!)

Bumped into Alyah and friends. Layan lagik borak ...

Aku da ngantuk tahap gaban da at this point. But had one more meeting to go. Big, big plans for 2010.

But for now, I have a packed few days ahead. Later today, ada dua event kat TV3, one being signing of MOU between TV3 and promoters for Rossa's concert here coming up and the other being a cheque presentation for winners of Anugerah Juara Lagu.

Sabtu nak bawak orang tua lak gi beli belah sikit nak prepare for Chinese New Year.

Sunday I have Anugerah Industri Muzik punya judging session round one. Dua minggu kemudian lak aku masuk round two. Tahun ni all the way aku judging... praying for quality stuff to judge kalao tak... berdarah la telinga.

Monday there's Kris Allen (yeay!) and Tuesday ada press conference pengumuman pengetua, tenaga pengajar and hos Akademi Fantasia 8. Bab tuh nanti aku speku, but for those of you following my column in The Malay Mail pretty much can guess the names involved dah kan... tapi tatau la ada perubahan ke tak sebab biasa la Astro semua akan sign contract last minute (walaopon sesi fotografi rahsia semua for publicity shots, Aksi, and interview Astro Awani da wat sana).

So... me swamped! Aku kena abihkan stok story by Saturday gak... so pening gila nih. Right now.. I just seriously need SLEEP!

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Puking Versace

Went to Rootz just now at the rooftop of Lot 10 for the Anugerah Juara Lagu press conference. It was jammed going into KL something really bad. But yang kelakar nya, got to the city je, it was ok.

Apparently everyone stayed away from the Golden Triangle area sebab of all the announcements mentioning the road closures there because of the the marching band championships or other... which was majorly delayed. But while they were supposed to close the roads at 6pm on, the rain caused them to push the start time, I guess, so the roads were empty.

Which was good for me. Got there at 8pm sharp.



Never been into Rootz before, and I must say the decor was...well... different.





At the entrance was a whole bunch of angled mirrors and changing LEDs that went from white to red. Would have thought of it as a techno club if I hadn't gone in. Once inside, it was pseudo luxury.

It looked like someone threw up Versace prints and nothing went well with anything else. It was nice in a weird sort of way. Really weird...

On to the opening and it was time for the main event. The draw to see sapa akan perform dulu and in what order and all.

Ni turutan persembahan malam Anugerah Juara Lagu nanti.



Tak sempat amik semua orang nya pics sebab keja nya pasal nak interview bagai. But this is the pics aku sempat.







Just some very basic info. Faizal Ismail, Ally Iskandar and Cheryl Samsd will host the night, dan selain Juara Lagu dan naib juara, the prizes up for grabs will be Persembahan Terbaik dan Persembahan Vokal Terbaik.

The theme is 'Music Unfolds' and the stage is very origami inspired. Literal translation.

This is how the stage is going to look like.




Lepak kejap ngan kengkawan after it was over. Ni sempat cam whore ngan Michelle. Da lama menggila ngan dia.



Pas abih, gi Hartamas Square melantak ngan kengkawan. Si Aishah dan Aril ada, so join borak. Tak lak aku amik pic. Nanti nanti je la... ni letih. Nak tidur dulu. Esok full day.

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And the finalists are...

So malam tadi semua da tau kan sapa yang layak ke Anugerah Juara Lagu.

Well... sebelom I get on to the full list of songs that made it, I want to wish congratulations kepada semua lagu yang layak berdasarkan kualiti komposisi dan bukan atas sebab sebab lain ye.

Laser semacam kan? Well, hakikat kan? At the end of the day, some songs yang qualified (memasing paham la mana satu) memang don't belong in the elite league of compositions which will face off kang masa di AJL.

To friends, I personally congratulate Alya, Estranged, Stacy and Misha kerana meka akan perform kat pentas akhir. To Aizat - I am especially proud of you cause it was a fitting tribute (whether you thought of it or not... and I'm sure she would be really proud too, bro, if she was here... cuma pasni jangan emo ke focus sangat sampai hanyut lupa lirik). To Hafiz and Akim - bangga ada gak anak-anak murid yang akan beraksi pentas AJL.

Aku happy for them personally.

To Yuna and Hujan, congrats - and pada orang kampung aku, Bunkface, you guys are the future of our music where there are talents who also sing their own compositions. You guys, Estranged and Aizat definitely deserve in for the new breed of talents we want to lead the way.

Sebelom nak link pics... ni senarai penuh meka yang layak.

Senarai Lagu-Lagu yang layak ke Anugerah Juara Lagu 24
(Lagu/Artis/Komposer/Penulis Lirik)

Aku Skandal/Hujan/Noh/Noh
Tak Mungkin Kerna Sayang/Alyah/Ajai/Habsah Hassan

Aurora/Estranged/Estraged/Estranged
Bengang/Akim/Amir/Sheikh Qalam
Aku Rindu Sayang Kamu/Black/Yuzai/Yuzai
Dan Sebenarnya/Yuna/Yuna/Yuna
Rindu Terhenti/Tomok/Aubrey Suwito/Tinta
Pakai Buang/Stacy/Edry KRU/Edry KRU
Kau Aku/Aizat/Aizat/Aizat/Aizat
Pergi/Aizat/Pete Teo/Amran Omar
Situasi/Bunkface/Sam/Sam
Bencinta/Faizal Tahir/Audi Mok/Faizal Tahir
Adam Dan Hawa/Misha Omar/Azmeer/Loloq
Masih Jelas/Hafiz/Aidit Alfian Ad Samad

Aku tanak wat prediction sapa akan menang ke haper. Wat skang, personally tuk aku, aku rasa lagu paling kuat adalah Pergi dan Bencinta (tu pun kalao Shila tak nyanyi yang menyakitkan telinga sampai tahap Akim wat tuk konsert Akademi Fantasia JAUH lebih meletop! Shila pon meletop - ala Altantuya uols.. pasang C4 lebih sikit... cam hanjeng sangat!!!!!!!)

Aku sakit hati tol serious dengar Shila nyanyi. Nothing personal against her, but I think she is so unsuited for the song. Sora dia tuh sesuai stakat lagu Britney Spears yang feeling overproduced in the studio je.

Anyway, a few horrible songs aside, looks like Muzik Muzik kali ni memang planned out well. For the sake of production - memang kali ni a good mix of bands, solo vocals yang power, mellower delivery and pop offerings. All in all, production heaven. Is that good for music in general... entahlah.

Anyway.. cukup panjang aku meroyan. Ni some pics.

Tuah anak... Rich and Velvet bawak anak meka

Hafiz masa PC

Estranged and Stacy

Smart dressing Alyah... anggota kelab Pelita baru...belanja Pelita woi da layak! Heh!

Anak-anak murid.. bangga aku!

Cantik sangat Misha Omar tadi

Tuh dia... make up flawless!!!


So tuh je la. Malas meroyan agik panjang. Nak siapkan artikel tuk paper yang meroyan sepenuh nya dengan penuh analysis yang mendalam. Fuh! Katanya...

Heh... anyway korang perasan tak pas Shila nyanyi semalam. Pastu Ezlynn puji puji when done, pastuh dia kata... "... walaupun..." Pecah perot kami kat sana gelak.

Dalam berdarah telinga... gelak gila babiks kita semua. Eh ok la.. panjang lak kang meroyan.

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Muzik-Muzik Separuh Akhir

Wanted to upload this earlier, but tak larat sebenarnya. So here it is. Semalam gi separuh akhir pertama Muzik-Muzik di Sri Pentas 2, Plaza Alam Sentral di Shah Alam.

Tahun ni sebab takde kategori, it's supposed to be harder competition, tapi sebenarnya tuk aku, pecahan separuh akhir lak kali ni, at least for the first semifinal ni, tak begitu sengit. Leh tangkap da sapa akan mampu layak.

Ni lagu-lagu yang bertanding malam semalam.

Mirage /Pesawat/Jipie/Jipie
Kau Aku/AizatAizat/Aizat
Dia, Aku Dan Kamu/ Nadia & Red Peanut/Eddie Hamid/Ahmad Fedtri/Yahya
Oh Anok Anok/Reshmonu/Reshmonu/Farasha Osman
Tak Mungkin Kerna Sayang/Alyah/Ajai/Habsah Hassan
Aku Scandal/Hujan/Noh/Noh
Enjut/Noraniza Idris/Cat Farish, Roxy Tail & Illegal/ Ahmad fedtri Yahya, Cat Farish & Roxy Tail
Gila/Mila.Audi Mok/Nur Fatima
Dan Sebenarnya/Yuna/Yuna/Yuna
Raja Gelek/One Nation Emcees.Damien Mikhail.Daminal Mikhail, One Nation Emcees
Bertamu Di Kalbu/Jaclyn Victor/Anjang/Anjang

Disebabkan judging kali ni berdasarkan 30% markah dari persembahan secara langsung dan baki 70% daripada pemarkahan yang dilakukan sebelum, atas penilaian lagu from every aspect termasuk composition and lyrics, I already had my choices.

And after tiap persembahan, it was proven that my predictions menjadi la gak.

I wanted Mirage by Pesawat in, and I thought they deserved to be in. Entah haper yang juri pikirkan as this was one of the fresher sounds in the semifinal this time. On top of that, Pesawat has an appeal to them ramai tak berpeluang nak hear lagik. But knowing some other songs would get be focused on, based on whatever merits memang peluang meka kureng la sikit.

So walaopon semalam diumumkan, Raja Gelek, Kau Aku, Dan Sebenarnya, Tak Mungkin Kerna Sayang and Aku Skandal... ni cuma lagu lagu yang lima teratas berdasarkan pemarkahan as of yesterday. Seperti mana lima teratas ni tak janji masuk Anugerah Juara Lagu, gitu gak peluang bagi lagu lagu lain masih terbuka.

I already had a feeling that Mirage wouldn't make it. In the top five that is...

In fact aku da agak da kelima lagu teratas berdasarkan beberapa faktor.

Contoh, Aku Skandal dan Dan Sebenarnya. Undoubtedly the favorites of the night and rightly so memang layak, so takyah la nak cakap lagu-lagu ni membawa halatuju bawa dalam pop rock muzik tempatan. Tu kita semua pon da tau. Kau Aku pon was a confirmed choice for me to be in the top, sebab memang Aizat's maturity is songwriting is because he has not stuck to several conventions of market demands, unlike the jaded ones in the business who think sounding fresh - is something eccentric, pulling too much from other influences that simply don't gel, not works.

With three from these batch of youngsters, Pesawat had an uphill battle. Biasala. Judging bukan je wat dari kriteria-kriteria yang dikatakan. At the back of the minds of the producers, they have to think production wise gak. Kena la variety... konon la...

Tak Mungkin Kerna Sayang sebenarnya for me, aku letak dalam kategori sama dengan Bertemu Di Kalbu. Lagu yang bosan dan sebenarnya skema, kalao release 10 tahun lepas pon sama jerk. Nothing new... and boring as hell.

Tapi dua lagu ni, diberikan nafas kerana persemabahan penyanyi yang membawa kedua lagu ni, which is Alyah and Jaclyn Victor. Good for Alyah dapat lagu solo tuk peluang nak masuk bertanding Anugerah Juara Lagu. I think she deserves it walaopon aku rasa lagu tuh very the nan hado. As for Jac, semalam persemabahan dia menampakkan kematangan, a maturity which I've never seen before. There was an emotional connection to the song, without her resorting to merely just blowing everyone away with her powerful vocals. Hopefully... she gets it too.

And Raja Gelek? I think seriously this one memang buang masa. Stuck in the 90s, and predictable attempt to mash-up the sounds to make it sound localised and all. Maybe some like it, but I don't. Still, dah agak memang akan dapat top 5 pon.. so no surprise.

I kind of like the fact that One Nation Emcees appear more polished now than before, but still there's an amateurish air to their performance. Props to them though for trying... effort should always be applauded.

Unlike Mila malam semalam. Hancus... and nothing redeeming about her performance whatsoever. Still, both these names just didn't look like they deserved to be there as they would appear more at home kat Hari Penyampaian Hadiah skoleh menengah mana ntah.

Can't wait for next week, because I think there's going to be some serious competition then, plus on top of that, nak gak tengok carta, how lagu-lagu minggu ni stack up again next week's scoring.

I hope ada la surprise element sikit in the judging (for the better) cause being predictable takes the fun out of competition.

Apapon, ni some pics sempat snap smalam. The first batch ni masa baru sampai. Sapa yang serempak aku snap jer.

Sampai saat akhir, Cheryl the perfectionist touch up skrip


Nadia getting ready


Alyah pon tengah touch up


This next batch masa lepas pengumuman sapa top five for the night...





Masa semua orang tengah celebrate (nak raikan apa...masuk top five atau tidak tak menjanjikan agik masuk Anugerah Juara Lagu ma), aku gi borak ngan Jac kejap. So impressed with her performance. Not because of her usual power, but there was something a little extra malam tu.



Then it was back to the top five photo op session.





Because this is a song competition, of course lain la criteria, tapi kalao ikutkan performance wise, my ideal performers to have made it through (if kalao bukan top 5 je la) would have been Aku Skandal (Hujan), Dan Sebenarnya (Yuna), Kau Aku (Aizat) and Mirage (Pesawat). And either Alyah or Jac for those diva power vocals.

Tapi result lom tentu agik. Lagikpon, every year Anugerah Juara Lagu tiap tahun pun mesti ada yang very the mistake layak tuk bertanding. Heh! Korang ingat tak ada Aiman yang costume bagai? Aiyo... sesuatuh!

Anyway, spent some time talking to Yuna and Aizat, as well as hey hey ngan bebudak Pesawat.

First time borak ngan Yuna.. I like her


Aizat... ehem.. mana dia (matilah aku)


Pesawat rocks!


Can't wait for next week. Meanwhile, I'll leave you guys with Jac's performance. Walaopon lagu aku terbayang cam lagu recycle Ziana Zain yang patut kuar sometime awal 90an, but Jac did amazing. Kalao ada award best performance of the night, it would undoubtedly go to her.

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