Asian Idol? More like ASININE Idol

I think if you go by the Ten Commandments - two were broken in last night's Asian Idol results show.

There goes the 'thou shalt not worship false idols' with the win by Singapore's Hady Mirza and 'thou shalt not steal' with the robbing of the glory of three VERY MUCH more worthy talents in Mike Mohede Prabawa - the Indonesian Idol (the best!!!), our very own Jaclyn Victor, the first Malaysian Idol (simply amazing as always) and even Mau Marcelo from the Philippines.(not really into her but she kicked ass!) who so deserved the title more than the pretty boy who tried to sing.

Urgh!!! As if!

Aku memang tak kesempatan tengok pon the results show sebab aku kat Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre tuk Malam 1001 Gemilang tuk show M. Nasir, Jamal Abdillah dan Mawi.

Tapi news reports asik masuk katanya, and the moment they announced the horrific results - berduyun masuk SMS yang terkejut!Z

What can I say? He sure as hell wasn't the least deserving of the win - but he was hardly the choice for the Asian Idol title (setaraf jer ngan Vietnam Idol dan Indian Idol tuh) So apparently, being a pretty boy with a Redbox karaoke quality voice is enough for a win.

No thanks to the weird percentage count that they adopted. Yeap, it was 100% SMS vote - silap aku sebab the only announcement pasal format tuh mengatakan terlibat pemarkahan juri.

And I think that worked in his favour. In fact - thanks to some meaningful conversations from those around town - and juga di Jakarta, here are speculation on how hell froze over.

SPECULATION (yes, mere speculative theories) on 10 reasons how Hady Mirza won Asian Idol:

1. He got 'vengeance votes. With Mike, Mau and Jac being amazing, their own fans in the home countries probably voted for the horrible losers they never expected to win. Example - in Malaysia, someone could have voted for Jac, and given the second vote to someone hopeless like Hady - to avoid giving leverage to Mike and Mau. Bad move. In other words, they all voted the loser to avoid the best to be winners.

2. There are really a lot of uncontrollable horny female fans who are tone deaf and just ooze at the sight of Hady, sending them into temporary loss of sanity (as well as hearing) sending them into a voting frenzy.

3. The damn Singaporean currency is bigger - and Singaporeans don't really have anything better to spend on than a two-bit karaoke wannabe.

4. It was like watching a train wreck - you had to pity the victim, thus sympathy votes after his crap performance ("Aw... poor dear... he's from Singapore - he won't win, let's vote him")

5. No one in their right mind bothered to vote simply because they knew that the Idol is series is simply crap. After all - the best almost never wins.

6. Malaysians voted for him because they're sick of him peddling his album here, because sales in Singapore are as amazing as watching paint dry. We love Taufik Batisah more and wish at least we was there in Jakarta - the win would at least be deserved.

7. Fremantle Asia, the rights owner to the Idol series is based in Singapore thus possible inteference in making sure Hady won to make things easier (mere speculation - don't get your panties in a knot - we all love conspiracy theories)

8. Ken Lim aka Mr Anal, who never had anything nice to say (except to the Vietnam Idol who never stood a chance) to anyone else except Hady. Mr Anal is also the managing director of Hype Records, Hady's label. In other words, his boss! More conspiracy theories?

9. Idol isn't all that popular and doesn't have that much reach in the other countries (a truth in Indonesia, Malaysia and India at least, don't know about the others) while in Singapore - it's the only thing they have (in Malaysia, Akademi Fantasia is bigger, while in Indonesia the similar Akademi Fantasi, and Kontes Dangdut Indonesia is so much more popular)

10. Everyone had a twisted sense of humour in wanting to see Hady win.

So did my list match yours? Did you have others? I've been scouring the Internet nak check tengok sapa agik setuju. And it's unanimous. Except for Singaporeans (not all though), Idol fans all over Asia insist that it should have been Mike, Jac or Mau.

Oh well - the fans get what they deserve. After all - Hady's not going to go anywhere.
Yakked on the phone and had a couple of hours with various people who all expressed shock and horror at the results (Former MTV VJ and actress Fazura being the best - won't even go there since I'm sure people would be interested to know how she felt since she and Hady were an item).

Tapi at least Fazura takde la gembar gembur pun benda tuh sebelom ni. Masih tak gemar perangai Hady yang berangan, plus mai Malaysia nak promosi album jerk, terus guna nama Fazura, dalam interview nak sebut beriya dia penah couple ngan Fazura. Puke puke puke!
Setakat berapa ribu jual kat Singapore album, mai sini gak nak promosi album. Yawn... sodih.

Realitinya tak ke mana jua.

Lain kali kalau nak sangat wat pertandingan SMS based tuh, baik kita hantar Mawi jerk... at least leh menang (matilah aku....bukan mencarut ek... realiti!)

Nak gelak gak pikir yang dulu kritik Akademi Fantasia katakan bakat lahir dari program tuh bukan kualiti tapi populariti. Last last tengok Idol pun dua kali lima hampeh dot com nya (merasalah!)




Ok da abih meroyan bab Asian Idol... tadik sapa yang ada kat Malam 1001 Gemilang, just to say hi, kalau aku tak tegur sorry. Sebab rushing and a little flustered.

Plus - sebenarnya ada hal nak settle ngan Mawi (yer yer je cam serious padahal bab magic jerk). Botak call aku pas show... sempat ah gayut jap ngan dia sambil tunggu Vern sampai Pelita kat Bangsar for a drink to b***h about Asian Idol's results show.

Pas gayut ngan dia, dan call Fazura tuk carut - called My Boo yang hantar SMS bengang ngan result too. Anyway to backtrack, tak sempat amik pic apa pon, ni jerk pic kat atas tuh of M. Nasir tengah feeling joget in the audience gituh.

Moving along, Faizal Tahir kebetulan lalu ngan manager dia Helmy masa kita melantak (well, aku minum jerk sambil carut keja aku).

Faizal passed his album sebab aku lum dapat pun - siap sign tuk aku... awww... how sweet.

Bagus gak dapat album dia - baru nak beli (merasalah saving terus).

Setakat nih aku da dengar album dia for most parts sebab Audi did a lot of work on it and I have to say, it's one of the best male solo albums of the year.

Aku predict Anugerah Industri Muzik 2008 nih dia ada harapan nak menang besau nih... paling tidak pun meriah pencalonan.

Anyway - nanti jer la kalao aku sempat dan rasa ada masa terluang aku review album dia.
Can't stay on too long to post this entry (just really needed to get Hady's stupid win off my chest).

Esok ada press conference kedua tuk Anugerah Industri Muzik 2008. Siang sebelom tuh ada keja sikit nak settle. Tengah prepare proposals nak siapkan ASAP sebab 2008 memang tahun sibuk bagik aku. Memacam dalam perancangan dan banyak kerja nak siapkan kalao nak betul-betul open the year with a bang.

Anyway - before I end this - I want to say a few things.

To fans of Mike Mohede - keep supporting that teddy bear. He is talented - and has soul to him like no other I've heard. He is one of the most beautifully honest voices I've heard in a long time and he will go places.

To fans of Jaclyn Victor - we know she rocks and that's what's important. Her time will come.

To fans of Mau Marcelo - she is talented, and I hope she ill break the regional market at least, though I think she needs a shift in musical direction.

To fans of the other Idols - erm... good luck?

To fans of Hady Mirza - deal with the endless b***Hing on the Internet from all over Asia. He just didn't deserve it.

To Singaporeans - keep supporting Taufik Batisah as he is one of the best Singaporean talents and should have rightly been in Asian Idol.
Toodles for now (preparing for the hate to come my way from Hady lovers)


PS - That Hady pic is not mine. Googled it. Think it comes from The Straits Times. My tribute to the first ASININE Idol! (Someone please teach him to tuck his shirt in properly)

PS Pt II - Autoplay is set on to the new version of Yanie's new song - I'ms ure you guys recognise the tune. Don't forget to also check out Ning's new song in Melankolia.

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Asian Idol - vote for MAL and INDO

Did you guys watch the Asian Idol malam semalam?

Lupa sebenarnya it was the show tonight on TV. So as it came on, called Leo in Jakarta (actually he was on holiday of sorts in Bali) and gabbed about it for awhile.

Besh gila tengok the best of the best onstage, and proudly enough to see Jaclyn Victor, our very own Jac up there to compete with them.

The production itself didn't look grand for me - tapi ok ler. At least loved that humongous video wall thingy in the background. Kira makan hati gak aku opt to stay here sebab beberapa event ujung minggu nih instead of going to Jakarta to cover the event.

Apapon - dapat la gak lepas geram tengok how it went, even though the feel is different.So this is my little review of how I thought they performed, regardless of what the judges' comments were including that very anal looking and sounding no persnality Singaporean judge Ken Lim. Hope I got his name right... though he's hardly important enough to matter. While others were being overly dramatic - he was looking as if he had something permanently stuck up his ass throughout the show.

Every country had a judge - except Malaysia. We had Paul Moss, who according to wikipedia is still very much a Kiwi. But let's even waste space going there.As my title suggests, you can pretty much guess who I support as the first Asian Idol.

Nih kira ulasan aku dari show tadi berdasarkan prestasi mereka.

Phuong Vy (Vietnam)
River Deep Mountain High (Celine Dion)
Luc Moi Yeu
On River Deep, she was like a bad lounge singer. Her diction was as horrible as her showmanship, and nothing seemed to work for her. In the first round after she did this, she was easily the worst of all the idols.
When she did the second - it was cheesy, but it was better, though I wouldn't go as far as to agree with Mr Anal who said she was the most commercial of them all. We can forget her, short of a miracle to get her beyond the sixth spot.

Mau Marcelo (Philippines)
Ako Ang Nagwagi (Dulce)
Reach (Gloria Estefan)
The first attempt was vocally strong, but overdramatic and theatrical. Someone forgot to tell Miss Mau that it's Asian Idol and not Philippine Idol back again as she totally ignored regional appeal and went for what perhaps works back home. Reach was more pleasant - though she seemed to work her voice with a certain limited cockiness.
It just didn't work - and didn't grab my attention. Nak sangat carut baju dia tapi sebab tu merupakan baju kebangsaan mereka I will resist the urge.

Jaclyn Victor (Malaysia)
For Once In My Life (Stevie Wonder)
Gemilang (Jaclyn Victor)
I loved her rendition of For Once In My Life, though her stage presence didn't come across sadly enough. Our Jac was easily up there from the start and set the pace because she was the first to perform, so I can pretty much explain the stress and pressure of going on before anyone else does.
Still she did pretty welll to transfer the pressure on to the others with her performance. Gemilang mungkin membosankan bagi mereka yang biasa, after all lagu tu sudah berapa lama da. Tapi it still works and she was amazing.
She ended on a high - and by talent and appeal I rate her as among the top two without a doubt!

Hady Mirza (Singapore)
Berserah (Taufik Batisah)
Beautiful Day (U2)
First of all I find it funny he should be doing Taufik's song, considering Taufik was the first idol and he was the second. Still - his voice was a raspy boyband wannabe which was boring to say the least.
Beautiful Day was nice, but Paul was spot on saying that he didn't have the right stuff for the song. A pretty boy doing U2? As if... why the hey did Singapore even send him? At least Taufik can sing.

Abhijeet Sawant (India)
Everyhthing I Do I Do It For You (Bryan Adams)
Junoon
His diction on the karaoke evergreen was laughable, and I enjoyed myself in front of the TV cackling away. I have no idea what possessed him to perform it. He couldn't do well in English, has no feel for the song, struggled though it with his mediocre voice and looked like he was just trying to get it over with.
Junoon was better. He did what he did best and it worked. At least it distanced him away from the Vietnamese Idol who was miles below anyone else despite having quite a nice voice

Mike Mohede (Indonesia)
Mengejar Matahari (Ari Lasso)
I Believe I Can Fly (R Kelly)
Oh my God! What can you say about Mike? Masa lagu Ari Lasso, I was close to tears. Mengejar Matahari has never been more beautiful! He worked it so well.
I Believe I Can Fly is tops on the overkill list of tunes for me and I hate the song now - but when he did it, it was like hearing the song for the first time. He made it so his own! I've loved Mike's voice from the start of Idol, with my favourite rendition of his competition days, his take of Dewa's Pupus, and this could be the break Mike is waiting for. Definitely got my vote.

So as you guys can see, I'm voting for Jac and Mike. They rock and they are the best representation of talents this side of Asia has to offer. They have the right mix of vocals, appeal and sheer showmanship and I want either of them to become the first Asian Idol.



So what are you waiting for? Thankfully sebab one vote is for two countries, you and I can vote for the best without guilt!

The instructions are above for those in Malaysia, and friends in the region, find out your local text vote number and vote because the voting closes tomorrow night. Less than 24 hours away.
It's not total SMS as if I'm not mistaken it's also part jury marks, so here's hoping some common sense will prevail.

By the way - things are probably not going to change, but someone smack the hosts. Jien was ok, but the other two were just irritating. And I always thought you couldn't outdo Jien in that department.

I don't know if I can make it to watch the Resuts Show tomorrow but I guess I'm going to have to try despite my other engagement.

Wanna watch Taylor Hicks perform! Ok la... nak finish some work (yes, sad isn't it malam minggu dok rumah layan TV dan wat keja) as well as do my entry for the review of America's Next Top Model punya finale.

Takperlah.. ngan memacam khabar angin pasal the Hindraf related disturbance in the city - bagus gak aku tak kuar.

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More Heroes

Ok, this posting comes a late compared to the previous one yang lajus je aku posting, walaopon ngan seribu satu typo dan sebagainya. Malas nak betulkan. Capture the moment gituh when you read it.

Anyways, after popped out for a spot of shopping along Orchard Road ( three bags - Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren and Guess, one towel, Giorgio Armani) and three bottles of perfume later (including another Versace to add to my collection), aku make my way along with my colleagues in Shuib dari New Straits Times and si Faizal dari Kosmo! to make way to the hotel nak gerak ke Vivo City.

We were told to gather at the lobby by 1.45pm. Our watches showed that it was 2.40pm. Erm... oops?

Kami memang cam malas nak gi pon mula mula sebab tak wajib kami hadirkan diri pun.

But in the end, after putting aside our shopping bags dalam bilik, kami pun gerak ke sana by cab memandangkan nak control kami shopping sakan.

The event pun scheduled start lambat by 3,30pm so we had lots of time... which was taken up by the horrendous traffic jam.

Arrived at Vivo City. Aiyo... amik ko!

It was bloody packed! I think more than 5,000 people were huddled together in the mall, to get a glimpse of Masi, Ali, Sendhil and of course, Greg.

Oh well, we made our way to the front.

Alamak... siap ada red carpet ok! Malu siot nak jalan... but tebalkan muka, dan clutch harder at my All Access pass and made my way to the front of the stage are.
Cripes!!!

Seriously, the number of people who turned up, I think signals the popularity of the show, which is nothing short of phenomenal.

We hung out, watched the same promo clips being played over and over again, as Samsons' For You, which is the theme of the Heroes World Tour 2007, the Asian leg Singapore stopover promo tune was played over and over again for a million times.

It was tiring waiting and to keep hearing the 'I hear they're here and will be joining us soon'.
In the ends, screams rang out which marked that the four of them dah pun sampai. Oh well.

Here we go.

Everyone started screaming out like it was some boyband concert.

The most popular? Masi, of course.

The Asian thing.

Next on the popularity chart would be Greg, which is so right, considering he was the only one who seemed really genuinely excited about being there.

Ni some pics of the crowd and the situation there just now. Love the effort by the fans to come up with the humourous lines for their banners and signs they brought along.

The funniest is one girl, who I think had the best idea, by drawing a dotted line on her forehead with a little scissors icon, and wrote below it, 'cut here', Hilarious!

You judge some of the other favourites to see who had the best sign.

The crazy crowd that turned up at Vivo City.



Cute and awesome signs spotted. Were you there?








Joey and Marion handling the event.


You can't really see it, but I think is the best example of a Heroes fan. She had a dotted line on her forehead with a 'cut here' tagged. Cute idea!


The gang arrives.


Messing about...


Greg was the most fun...


More pics of the Heroes.








Greg and Masi having fun with the crowd


Greg taking time to sign an autograph for my friend. So cool!


Leaving... and being followed by everyone




One for the album - with my Topshop shades. Hiding my eyebags of course. Heh!

Wow... just realised I posted that many pictures. Ok lar... it was fun, walaupon lasted about only 15 minutes. Ridiculous, considering some spent hours getting there, let alone camping out there to meet their favourites.

Holler out to my friends from my blog who flagged me down. Tak sangka you ladies leh come all the way kan. Sorry didn't have time to spend chatting with you girls. Another time ek! Kita jumpa lagik lain kali.

Headed back to the hotel, then popped out with a friend of mine. Headed to The Magic Hall and picked up some stuff.

Headed back to the hotel, and slept a little and just messed about.

Then got some news which just totally screwed me up. Oh well... despite being happy (sort of) the past few days, looks like I've hit another low. Don't understand it.... but my mood is so shot.

So spent the remaining few hours until sunrise packing my stuff and staring into space.

I so hate going back because of this, but at the same time, I can't stay here another minute longer being so far away. Talk about being f***ed up!

Oh well... que sera sera.
Out for now.

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