P. Ramlee The Musical

Ok, you know how you have a throbbing head (as in a headache, not the other kind of throbbing ye), and you have to go through a whole day of work. Yeap... that's what I had to do today.

Pala da pening , berdenyut - felt like splitting open. Must have popped a dozen Panadols or so, sebab memang ada deadline nak abihkan, two covers and my column. Aduh... still, pushed on and in the end finished.

Ingat nak balik tidur terus - or just hang out nak make up for the torture of the whole day, tapi suddenly Adly came to me, kata Aqidah tak balik dari kampung lagi.

Meaning, someone had to go for P. Ramlee The Musical punya opening night. This cold, icky feeling crept over me.

Like it or not, teamwork ma, so terpaksa lah aku volunteerkan diri nak gi cover.

Don't get me wrong. I love musicals. I love theatre, Tapi after the overrated Puteri Gunung Ledang, which was substandard for me at best, aku cam horror sikit nak gi layan this one.

With a migraine, it's not going to be a pretty sight.

Still, duty calls, so hauled my ass to Istana Budaya. Sampai awal sangat, about 7pm. Muzaffar brought along Panadols to help kill the pain - thanks... tapi perlu ke siap explanation pelbagai ada memacam variety (apparently skang ada for fever and cold variety, plus a half a dozen others). Seb baik tak belikan Panadol Menstrual da.

Tu la akibatnya orang letih pas balik gym katanya (pengsan sat ada ngaku ke gym katanya).

So anyway, at about 7pm, it was werid sebab kalau observe the pic, this was one of the scenes I saw, which is workers still putting final touches on the posters and such around the lobby area.

You'd think all the cosmetics would be sorted out sooner, tapi sedang orang dah mula masuk untuk menyaksikan pertunjukan malam pertama, this was still going on.

A little bit of an omen for me, sebab sepatutnya malam pertama ni la yang meka nak all out to impress. Lagikpun first night ni khas buat media, artists and invited guests, so I assume they would want to put on a good impression instead of showing that things are still kelam, kabut kan.

But then again - I suppose this would only be important if they had tickets to sell, because the next thing I saw was an A4 sized paper yang dilekat pada this huge backdrop there which read SOLD OUT.

Erm... so the hype is there. Sampai sold out sebelom buat satu show pun. All three weeks worth, 18 performances, all sold out. I got another chill - is this another sign it's going to be overrated like Puteri Gunung Ledang? Ever the skeptic kan....


Tunggu kengkawan memasing sampai sorang sorang, and then enjoyed jamuan yang disediakan di tambah keenakkan gosip teman teman yang hadir before we made our way to the grand circle kat tingkat atas after, which were better seats than the floor level yang seat ala hanj gituh. Hate nose bleed seats,. And they do call these nose bleed seats for a reason ok, sebab kami paling atas sekali. Check out the view we go while waiting for the doors to open.

And wait we did. While the show was supposed to go on at 8.30pm, the doors were opened only at 8.45pm!!! Saw Datuk Khalid Jiwa and kids who were sitting not too far from us.

Masuk je, Muzaffar twho sat to me, and I, found that kita kena apit kiri kanan oleh seniman seniwati veteran. Alamak... ni kena sopan lak nih. Damn... that goes my whole evening. At least if I could b***h about the show ok gak.

Here's the bird's eye view we had.

And then the show began...at about 9.15pm. Thank God!!! I was just about pissed with staring at the stupid LED subtitle feed that read, and I swear this is true - P. RAMLEE THE MUZICAL!

Er... ok then. So anyway, enjoy these pics I getched from mstar (sebab tak larat nak function sebagai photographer ketika show). Enjoy the pics before you have to put up with my b***hing.
The four women of P. Ramlee - Azizah (Siti Nurhaliza), Junaidah (Atilia), Norizan (Melissa Saila) and Liza Hanim (Saloma)



Don't cry darling - I know how you feel... it IS a horrible dress.


I can't take this... why the dresses so ugly???


Yes, look at the set - not our dancing - no... that would bore you!


One funky cinema!


So there's a train - why are we pushing the carriages?


Ok... I know you said we couldn't hold hands...


Hiburan Minggu Ini - with a better set


Yes, I can't act - yet I beat Syafie Naswip,m my understudy, to play P. Ramlee!


Erm.. I like this scene actually...


Now I could go on forever, so to make this review, or more like thrash fest more simplified. Let me get this straight. I did not go into Istana Budaya wanting to hate the show. Just somehow I detest the fact that they overhyped it and sold it for more than what it's worth, like Puteri Gunung Ledang.

It's not all poison sebab I did enjoy parts of the show. It could have been better if they trimmed part of it - like the whole first act which was a waste of over an hour.

Not to mention get the subtitler working (and please check the errors sebab some of it is laughable)

Now, let's break it down.

Acting - Apart from Sean Ghazi, and Liza Hanim, no one really caught my eye, or managed to evoke any emotion. Melissa Saila was the best though for the night as watak Norizan ni memang dia bak sampai kami sanggup ni nak overlook the fact that she can't sing to save her life. That woman however, despite that handicap, saved the show along with Sean and Liza. Atilia was ok, and so was Siti (tapi part sikit sangat susah nak judge) as were the Shaw Brothers in Colin Kirton. Chedd was ok as the adult Sukardi, but wish they'd decelop the charater properly.

The others? Mediocre at best.

Yang budak yang mainkan watak P. Ramlee masa kecik, Mikhail Merican was HORRIBLE!!! Felt like b****h slapping the kid. Patutnya bagi je kat understudy dia si Syafie yang lakon Mukhsin.
Sure it would have been better. Lakonan Kihail ni kayu dan cam mangkuk jamban tul... pening tengok.

Didn't like Joseph Gonzales as BS Rajhans too - but the BS part worked in response to his acting at least (gelak lawak sendiri).

For most times, in the first act - I felt like aku tengah nonton pementasan Hari Penyampaian Hadiah.

By the way, erm... Sean kena la jantankan watak dia tuh sikit. pelik sikit aku tengok P. Ramlee lentik ayu sana sini. Butch it up babe!

Singing - Vocals had to go first to Liza Hanim for working her Saloma character well enough despite lack of any real depth to what they had written. Siti too was pleasing, while Sean.. well, what can you say. The man has it down to a pat.
Most horrible was Melissa Saila, but then again, that woman is forgiven based on the sheer magic of wanting us all to be Norizan. Er.... you know what I mean.

Script/Direction - It was all over the place! Skrip cam lahar kekadang. Mana taknya...
First act tuh bazir sejam lebih for what? Underdeveloped on the essentials, and merapu meroyan on the unnecessary.

Not enough on what role Azizah played in P. Ramlee's life, and too much on Junaidah without even delving into her character.

And not only did they make P. Ramlee look erm.. cheap...jumping from woman to woman, they didn't bother to think audiences would enquire the fact that how the hell did he give up his fancy for Junainah so easily. Or how he could have gone to Norizan so easily after the heartbreak he endured masa Junaidah tinggalkan dia... or how the hell Norizan came into the picture.

We know the stories... tapi hello? Your musical has to to find subtle way of relating these to the audience. Nak sensitivity salah tempat tol. Sampai impede the storyline.

The Shaw Brothers were actually a waste of time with too much focus on them, and the whole Singapore independence was also more useless space-taking moments. If the ensemble leh act or sing or even dance ok la gak...

Direction was inconsistent at best - and biasa biasa aja.

Songs - Honestly apart from lagu lagu evergreen NOT ONE of the songs other than that stuck in my head. Almost all of them were so typical Dick Lee, and I actually think he recycled some stuff from the Emperess Dowager play in Singapore as songs here la. Hard to tell... because nothing from him sounds any different....buang masa tul amik composer yang tak paham the whole Malay culture or much needed elements to be true to the period and spirit of P. Ramlee.

Kalau takde Siti ke Liza ke Sean, I would have gone through the play with earplugs shoved against my cochlea.

Choreography - OH MY GOD!!! Where did Pat Ibrahim pick up his moves???

No, no, no...I am not about to puji because one of the most horrible aspects of the show was the stinking choreography. It was like watching Hiburan Minggu Ini, with better sets. Considering the colourful period he had to play with, you would think he would be more creative, but nope....

Bosan nak mampos siot!

Set - OH MY GOD!!! This time, it's a good exclamation. Ok, so I am not about to give it a five star effort but still... this is worlds apart dari Puteri Gunung Ledang yangs et bosan, recycle manjang, and had only one praiseworthy backdrop yang pakai sekali jer.

The whole set-up for the different scenes in the musical deserve a thumbs up, even if the occasional item seemed out of period, or from Ikea's bargain section.

To get more than a few bonus points after the other horrible elements, this time, they used the stage and the working of it really well. For once, selain Chang & Eng, I saw a musical yang bebetul utilise all the amenities that Istana Budaya had to offer.

In fact, dari aspek ni, aku rasa it even beats out Chang & Eng because of the sheer fluidity of the planned moments. The way one set changes into another, the semaless transition.
Memang korang kan tengok la penggunaan hidraulik kat istana Budaya tu.

Cuma geli je team movers meka dalam buku program berangan Transformers katanya.

Wardrobe - Mmmm... this part I don't really have a problem with. Except some area mana nampak sangat kemalasan costume desginers in doing their homework and research of the era.

They seemed to rely on the stereotypical nature of what they knew about the period. Lain kali, buat homework betul betul ler dan kaji the look to make it authentic.
Some of the dresses and adornments, and also footwear memang salah sangat!

Music - Erwin Gutawa and his team of musicians were the only ones I have absolutely nothing to b***h about! Perfect! Well.. as perfect as they could be with the limited crap they had to play.

Technical - Firstly someone do something about the subtitler or whatever you call that LED screen which flashes the subtitles. Horrendous!
Dah lah most of the time it doesn't work. Omputeh belakang aku dok merungut tak paham apa yang berlaku.

Secondly, the sound guys. Were you asleep? The mix was totally funky and for most parts especially in the horrendous first act, we couldn't make out the dialogue or lyrics being sung because everything was boxy and muffled. Argh!!!

Dah la subtitler pun tak fungsi... at times even orang kita pun clueless what was being done or said.

Lighting was another issue. I found it distracting the way they used the follow spot so unsparingly. I know ler nak highlight the main characters in the scene to stand out from the ensemble, but it's just... so.. wrong! Plus it cheapens the whole thing. Subtlety la at least when you hit on that spotlight. And also the lighting people have to talk it over to the directors to know who's the focus of the scene sebab siap ada one part glaringly enough, they focused on Saloma mid way je. Blurred out ke fell asleep. Plus the whole lighting of the night, at most times just didn't complement the rich set-up and made the cheap ass costumes more Factory Outlet meets bundle.

So is it worth a watch?
Not to mention the fact that tickets are sold out, does it even matter anyway kan?

I mean kalao korang da ada tiket, I doubt you can get a refund. And kalau nak gi and takde tiket lak... what you going to do? Sneak in?

Honestly, yes, I hated Puteri Gunung Ledang. There were too few moments were mentioning, but for P. Ramlee The Musical, this is worth a watch (but if you can get tickets - settle for the cheaper ones so you don't feel it's a waste).

The plus points in summary are Sean, Liza, Melissa, perhaps even Atlia, apart from the wonderful efforts of the whole set (who cares about the train or the Cadillac they brought on stage - that's so eye candy, the actual workings of the change of scenes is where it's at!)

Then there's also the good ol' magic of P. Ramlee songs that work.

The negatives are too many, and I don't want to repeat myself...

Is it overrated? To be positive... not as much as Puteri Gunung Ledang was.

So with that done, we came out of the theatre with very mixed emotions.Much discussion over it, though I'm not going to say who said what because I know most people would gush in their blogs about it for the sake of jaga hati orang and be diplomatic (at least I know what you guys really think).

Managed to speak though not at length with Afdlin and Erwin as well as several other people.

Also agreed on a lot of points with friends in the media who came out with mixed emotions about the whole do.

Eh, ni some pics from the after event...malas sebenarnya nak amik, so here's all I have.
Sean and Liza (hidup orang Klang!!!)


Melissa (this woman can act! - drama queen alert!)


Siti dan Farihad Shalla Mahmud of Berita Harian (AMIK KO!!!!) - aku baru colour rambut tak abih agik process so no pics of me


Erwin and his family from Jakarta. Eh..sapa tuh!!!


Heh!!! Gita Gutawa!!! Puteri Erwin! Love her... she is just so cute!!!


Headache like hell, tapi sempat go supper with the guys and girls kat Cheras. Headed back at about almost 4am, and finished my review and emailed before I crashed. Ngantuk... effect of pain killers kicking in....

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Jakarta - Day 2

Hari ni second day started a little different. Had breakfast....ok so I'm lying... it's not even brunch. More like a slightly delayed lunch.

Mana taknya kalau da membadak sampai sehari suntuk kan. If there's anything that made the Jakarta trip a tad sucky was because I couldn't seem to get enough sleep.

Still, had lunch in the hotel wih Vern, and Ning with a special guest in Erwin Gutawa yang dropped in sebab he couldn't make it the night before. Yakked a bit, as I incessantly gushed about his daughter in Gita Gutawa yang perform kat the last Anugerah Planet Muzik. Awesome! I absolutely think the world of her and I think she's on the right footing to become the next big Indonesian export if she continues with what she's doing.

Erwin was as usual all humble and quite down to earth. Amazing how someone of his position as one of the biggest producers in the region can be so non-assuming about his status. True stars...genuine from inside out.

One belief that he confirmed is that despite his fame and all, he started out self taught, being from the field of architecture originally.

Yeap, passion in one key element that makes someone who they are, and I definitely have to thank someone like Erwin for inspiring me with his improptu revelation of his past and how he gradually did what he's been doing all this time.

Honestly, aku tak pernah jumpa orang cam dia ni... well, actually, aku rasa MOST Indonesian names are humble from the start no matter how big they are.

That's how they eventually make their names a permanent fixture in the business.
Apart from the likes of Ratu (Mya Dhani jer) and Agnes Monica, who have the amazing undeniable reputations as bitches in the business.

Anyway... how sweet of Erwin to even consider having lunch with us!

Ning had a little photoshoot with a publication, and ni lah some pics of Ning as you've never seen her before (or at least not all that often!). The attire diminta oleh the journalist herself who wanted to feature Ning, tapi all covered up.

Kalao korang nak tengok how the photo shoot worked out, korang kena carik this publication called Nurani or something like that kat sana ler.

Terkejut... then sempat pose.


With the people from Nurani (something like that lah nama piblication tuh)


Pose ayu ler tuh...

Obviously after we checked out, shopping had to be a priority!Jovian, who met up with us from the night before at the gala premiere, played tour guide, ferrying us about to go shopping. In fact, not only that, he extended his hospitality further to stay with him at the grandmother's home in central Jakarta.

Thanks Jovian and family for making us feel so at home and giving us a taste of the family business (they run the Beautika chain of restaurants yang serve the best Menado fare - and I mean awesome sebab we had it at lunch the next day in their home - takyah ke restaurant pun!)
We traipsed about Pasar Baru, which is a new spot where I haven't been, which sells almost everything and anything, but most especially textiles and a lot of other things at quite fair prices.

The key attraction here was the variety!
Sekali imbas, cam somewhere in Japan lak. Siap jumpa Barney and Venom outside a toy store (kesian berejam meka pakai those costumes!)


Someone after snapping the sign of Jalan Gereja Ayam (chicken church???)


The dingy parts of the market (recognise anyone in the picture?


Euro Moda pun ada. But not the best...


The scene a few hours later...

We then pushed off much later... much much later, to head back to Jovian's family to shower and freshen up before dinner in Kemang (the Hartamas of Jakarta) but because of the horrid jam (tengok pic kat atas da) tonight (every night - and day too in Jakarta) and we got stuck for ages sampai pala aku berdenyut, we just shot straight to Kemang after singgah butik Ivan Gunawan, who's like one of the biggest names in Jakarta's fashion scene sebab Andi (a friend) who joined us, and works there, wanted to pop in a while.

We took the opportunity to get a feel of what divas dress like in Jakarta, and were quite impressed with the amazing designs he had. From there, we sped to Kemang, and just about fifteen minutes past 9pm, which we promised to meet Leo at.

Ooh... we passed this bronze sculpture, yang aku da tengok berapa kali, sebab it seems a central area tuk lalu, but aku tatau ler, and never got around to asking anyone what it was. By the way, that thing you see sticking out of the statue's butt tuh kain cawat dia pakai. Easily mistaken for a tail... or so on;...

Oh by the way... you know how keta makan minyak tiap kali nak sangkut jam kan... (ni orang KL especially ke yang dok dok ke keja kat bandar paham ler), Yes, there is a miracle solution, or so if I'm led to believe.

Nowadays, we have pills for everything kan... dari sakit to contraceptives... and so on for a million and one other uses;.

Well, thanks to Jovian (or his dad actually) apparently ada pill yang khas buat keta gak. Think of it as multivitamins for the automobile. Look at the pic below for proof of the existence if such pills (dengar KL pun ada.... tapi tatau lak aku tiap kali isi minyak, you pop one into the tank nak up kan prestasi)

Fungsi nya?

So that jimat minyak and bagik keta lagik berkuasa. Does it work? Don't know...

Tapi ok ler since kat Jakarta, that is the only petrol enhancement meka leh enjoy. Kalao kita kat sini spoilt for choice ngan seribu jenis minyak introduced by entah berapa syarikat minyak, kar sana there is only one name you'll see in petrol stations.

If you've ever been to Indonesia before, you would have noticed, there is not much choice as far as petrol kiosks or gas stations are concerned.

In fact there is only ONE brand of petrol to choose from, Indonesian which is the government-owned Pertamina.

I was finally made aware of the monopoly by Jovian when I asked him after realising takde stesen minyak lain.

One thing I knew from my first trip itself, was that there are NO 7 Elevens here. Circle K is the biggest chain of 24 hour convenience stores kat sini, tapi jangan harap nak nampak meka everywhere along main roads, like in Singapore, Bangkok or even anywhere in Malaysia. They're usually off some main road and not that easy to spot.

Tapi back to Pertamina, sedih siot sebab satu company je wujud, and no competition.

Dahler susah nak jumpa stesen minyak dalam kota yang penuh sesak ngan memacam kenderaan, burok lak kedai kedai stesen minyak ni. Jangan harap ler the same level of luxury (clean toilets, convenience stores etc) sebab most of the time, it's something like four pumps,, protected from the elements by a roof, with the 'reception' under a little khemah nearby!

Tak caya? Hah... tuh buktinya!!! That pump is one of four at this station we stopped on the way to Kemang dan yang ala ala gerai tuh ler kedai dia dan tempat bayar. Leh?

When we sampai Kemang punya area, kita berhenti beberapa toko (kedai ler) selling all sorts of funky wear. Couple of them looked very distro (independent punya pembuat baju, a trend that started in Bandung) tapi since it was getting late, most of them pun da nak tutup.
Parked, and walked our way to Food Fest, or whatever it's called, and met Leo.

Tetiba kami semua kena serbu!!! Bukan serbu apa.. kena serbu ngan all these waiters and waitresses! Leh?

Memasing offer makanan meka, campak menu pelbagai on the table.

I swear....menakutkan siot. Cam rusuhan lak!

Sampai Leo dan Jovian pun kata tak penah meka hadapi benda camni bila makan sini. Kalau beberapa orang biasalah...
Tapi this was ridiculous. Aku break out of the huddle nak amik pic of how the mob around our table looked. See?

Ni pun da kira ok... I think at the peak of it, we had about thirty people around us.

Felt that way at least. Erm... cam kena ugut lak nak makan.

The others made their order while Leo and I jalan jalan around the stalls leaving the workers to clear off their respective menus off the table.

Dinner was quite ok... with some local dishes... tapi got kind of embarrasing as someone kept on practising several words he just learnt loudly.

Brondong, leikung, seikung are fine, tapi nggak perlu ya exclaim loudly words like ngesong, ngetot, ngewong and following all that with how ending it all it. Pening ok...

Heh...after dinner, said goodbye to Leo sebab esok dia keja tak sempat see me off (jumpa kat KL masa Raya I hope)

Headed back to Jovian's family home. Met his model aunty (she's gorgeous with long legs and in modelling school) but didn't meet Om Mas, his grandma (met her at breakfast - lunch I mean cause you can guess what time we got up the next day) and his other aunty who runs Beautika.

Showered and got ready to go out. Got a special call from someone in Jakarta. Mmm... panggilan tuh, dan SMS tuh je da cukup nak make the whole trip worth it.

After everyone was all togged up, kami pun gerak ke kelab ni, called X2 in Plaza Senayan which opened quie recently on 25 March 2007.

It's still fairly a new place, tapi besar gila and it's supposed to be THE top club in Jakarta now.

Masa on the way, Andi called his friend, the PR manager there, and got us the password. Tanya password nya untuk apa.. and he said it's kind of like this code tuk tamu dan teman teman masuk without any hassle.

Tonight's password? GUCCI!

Nak gelak gak but when we finally there, sebut Gucci and kami tak perlu pun masuk the commoners line nak beratur and all. Terus masuk the guests lane and walked in,.

The club is made up of several clubs... dalam empat, each playing a different sound, with the main in Equinox playing house, Vintage playing retro club and lao Pier 9 and Ego (know one plays R&B, the other not so sure)

But I only hung out in the main room, dan the retro room. Amazing! Reminded me so much of the glory days of Boom Boom Room in Lebih Ampang.

The main room and the awesome laser display! The bar had these fibre optic chandeliers.


Above the laser show, were amazing wood carvings, making it feel almost like in a cathedral!


The upstairs area of the main room Equinox and the bar area of Vintage.


It was the walls and ceilings of Vintage that made it special. Wood carving panelling! Wow!


Close up of the ceiling...


More of Vintage and the entrance to X2.


The best club in Jakarta! WIthout a doubt. X2!

Partied the night away but left with the general population before the club closed. Had another unmentionable adventure (who would have thought Jakarta would have been so wild!!!!) We love it don't we...

Balik pun da 6.30 pagi. Erm... nak tidur...leave you guys with this Youtube clip of a part in X2.. Sapa penah jadik clubbers Boom Boom Room, check it out if you go Jakarta! By the way, aku pakai clip ni sebab aku suka lagu playing in the background, which is the Ministry of Sound mix of Destination Calabria (Destination Unknown) with the mix by Alex Gaudino featuring Crystal Waters. Excellent tune... danced it in X2 and numero uno club tune of the moment.

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Happy happy happy... or dreams...

It's a little bit ridiculous kekadang...thinking back about how some dreams start, and end up a reality.

A few years ago, I had this vision of what I wanted to do in the music industry, a far fetched vision of wanting to contribute to the local music industry, a continuity to apa aku belajar ketika kat kolej masa amik Sound and Audio Engineering.

I knew I wanted to be involved in all creative aspects of the entertainment field, and I knew I had the ideas.

So I got the basics I needed, and switched to writing! Stuck for years doing more mundane stuff cam news and politics, aku berpeluang untuk merealisasikan impian aku ngan tawaran join my current company.

Since then, my dreams have been growing bigger, and my expectations too. Biasalah, semakin besar impian, semakin besar cabaran.

Sehingga hari ni, I think, I've ventured to feel a little bit of everything in this business, enough to make me a decent well rounded person in terms of the know how of the business.

Biarlah... ada yang nak kata berangan ke perasan bagus. After all, bukan semua orang ada pengalaman kita. Dan biasalah, kalau mereka tahu pun, bukan mereka nak hormat... sebab bagi mereka, ia cuma cerita yang menjadi bahan angan angan mereka.

But today... aku memang puas ati. Sebab another one of my dreams looks to be realised. I have two major things in my minds for 2007.

One to do with Indonesia, and one to do with TV production. Aku takleh dedahkan lagi apa aku tengah buat. Tapi selepas beberapa masaalah yang melanda my earlier aspirations, I've learnt to be mre careful in doing charity, sebab kekadang, they f**k up your dreams.

And so, these twp targets, I've kept close to my heart, with only one or two people aware of what they are. And both are getting closer to realisation. More on that later.

Ari ni memang sibuk bersiap tuk segala yang perlu untuk persembahan Ning, Nikki dan Yanie tuk persembahan Drama kat final Gang Starz.

On Friday, ths was how it looked on the left. A little bit incomplete, and still yearning for the final touches by appointed designer Rizman Ruzaini.

Tapi biasalah ketika fitting, apa yang perlu diperbaiki masih sempat nak repair sebelom terlewat. All in all, proud about how the dresses which were quite unique designs translated from paper to eventual real creations worn by the trio.
Minor modifications, and it was all systems go!

Actually bagi sapa yang minat nak tau, the trio was dressed in my conceptualised theme of post modern Edwardian.
Again, sebab ramai orang gilakan era Victorian, aku ilhamkan the Edwardian period which is sometime after, circa 1900s to the 1920s and thereabouts.

Cuma, again, sebab melibatkan ketiga orang, I discussed with Rizman and Wan how to bring out the different personalities od ach person, with Ning being purely diva, Nikki being more girly and seductive and Yanie just playing androgynous and cutesy like her real self.

After some minor discussion on alterations to be made, spent the rest of the night with the kids to get the wrk done the night before.

Woke up exhausted and panicky. Rushed about to check in kat Quality Inn and dumped my stuff, and rushed to get the remainder of the stuff needed.

Dalam kol 7 petang aku sampai balik kat Shah Alam, and bersiap. Jumpa jumpa the rest of the group kat Stadium Malawati... erm... as usual, police ala security yang bertugas seribu satu kerenah. Oh well... I'm already late. Just take deep breaths... no point getting stressed.

Got the work done, had a fabulous show, sent in my news story, all while juggling playing nanny here and there. Grabbed a bite masa post party and spent the remainder of the time with The Lima, the eventual champions for the night and Mendua sebab the two Indonesian groups were not only the friendliest (especially Mendua yang paling besh pala meka), but also because their dressing room was next to ours.

Tired as all hell...

Who says this entertainment related jobs are glamorous. Met Agnes Monica awhile... but think I've totally gone off her.

So what I've heard from friends in Jakarta are true about her. Heh... aduh...

Tired out as hell, tapi sempat kompol ngan the group back at the hotel room to discuss (gossip actually) about the show, the night... and the one thing that transpired that was erm... well... I think the POSSIBLY the beginning of many things.

Yeap... met Erwin Gutawa, who apart from being one of the BIGGEST names in the industry regionally and also a ttsally humble, down to earth dude.

Selain bercerita pasal anak dia Gita yang aku minat gila sebab album sedap abih, also managed to get some things done. Heh... no details for now.

Should be interesting to note developments... can't say much at all until something solid transpires.

Send your prayers and your good wishes this way my friends... cause I'm going to need it. Who knows where our dreams lead to kan...

The results - Ning, Nikki and Yanie.

Erm... Sarah marah ek aku amik pic kat post party (aku tau ko takkan marah aku, beb!) menuding jari camtuh... and Erwin 'The Man' Gutawa!

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