The Amazing Race Asia 2 Finale Party

Ok, today is officially crap. First of all, organisers I was going with to the finale party for The Amazing Race Asia 2 in Singapore took us there by bus.

Ok actually, if they had told us that leaving our cars parked in their damn office block would be charged by HOUR - I suppose much of the antagonising would have been lessened! Gila ke haper nak biar keta 36 jam or so camtuh.

In the end, moved my car to friend's place nearby and left my car there and popped in a cab to go back to where kita nak berlepas together.

On the bus, the driver lemau nak mampos. Da la bak slower than a snail with a sprained whatever it uses to glide along - dia siap leh borak borak ngan co-driver dia without looking at the road. Uh oh... mayhem waiting to happen.

Tried to sleep but it didn't work. Dozed off after a while. Tapi awoke to a commotion. Yeap.. driver tatau jalan ke our hotel!

Pathetic.

So aku dok diam jerk malas sebab da irritated kalao tak aku ngamuk kang kalao bukak mulot. Can you believe it? It took us about SEVEN freaking hours to get to the hotel. Dimwit! The hotel itself, Park Hotel Orchard smack in the middle of Orchard Road wasn't too bad, tapi not enough nak cool me off.




Pastuh sampai da lambat, so we managed to check in and freshen up sebelom we were to wait in the lobby to hang out and wait for our transport to Clarke Quay. Tunggu punya tunggu, I got irritated and grabbed a cab. Senang idop. Matilah organiser blur. Sampai ke Clarke Quay nak ke Indochine, saw a sign. Merasalah! Felt like I was in the race itself nak carik jalan ke venue. The ambience kat the area cooled me off I suppose.




Bumped into Vince. Chatted a little then masuk ke Indochine. Wow! This wasn't the same place I remember being in years ago. Ingat tempat sama... Love the decor.





The stage was set, tapi none of the contestants in sight. Until Van and Pam popped out. Smangat!!!!



Took a family photo of the Chongs, minus one brother yang tak hadir and of course the two girls yang standby in the holding area. Also bumped into a familiar face. Remember her? As the night progressed on, started snapping pics of the girls and the other finalists.

The Strong Chongs


Ingat tak sapa dia? (clue : 1/2 of last year's winner - and our very own)


Foxy!!! Ke Cheetah Girls???





Another Chong - but not by birth


One of the moms with a real mom - mommy Chong.


Mark from Philippines


Rovilson's shiny dome


Adrian and Collin from Singapore - the champs


The show began, after the other contestants of the show were announced to be in attendance. Hampir semua hadir, tapi ada la beberapa orang not about. Erm.. don't mind these pics, bawah ni goodie bag yang meka bagik.




Congrats to Adrian and Collin, though I still wished Pam and Van had won, though I think Mark and Rovilson deserved the win a little more. Still, all three pairs were awesome in their own way, and it didn't realy feel like competition. The three were presented with their prizes. Tak menang pon takper la. At least Van and Pam won FOUR mobile phones, that's two each for winning two legs before. Ni some other pics of the guys chilling out.

So officially, Collin and Adrian of Singapore in first place, van and Pam of Malaysia in second and Mark and Rovilson of Philippines in third.

Oh by the way - we saw the show an hour before it was broadcast. Heh... sayang time tuh malas nak update... kalao tak leh spoiler tuk korang.

The winners celebrated!





Pas abih lepak with all of them, and hugging my two sisters who did Malaysia proud, left Indochine.



Went back to the hotel and chilled out a while and then ke Mustafa Centre to have supper.



Jalan jalan just looking about and headed back to the hotel by 2am. Ngantuk. And need my medication. Apapon... congrats Van and Pam.

You two girls did us proud to cme in second no matter what. And for all of us, you're always first anyway no matter what.

To Anne and Diane, you guys did Malaysia proud as well.

As Rovilson was saying, "Malaysian chicks are tough!" You betcha! Two pairs and one finishes second and one finishes fourth. Malaysian chicks are hardcore, period!

So I guess... in that department, Malaysia memang boleh!

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Menuju ke destinasi...yeah yeah!

Alahai...comeinya si Samihah nih main topeng lak time amik pic nih. Heh... amik ko!

Keluangman? Keluangwoman? Apapon, Misha looked good masa aku bumped into her backstage ketika Muzik Muzik separuh akhir Pop Rock kat Sri Pentas 2, Plaza Alam Sentral malam tadi.

Feeling restless, unlike the other two semifinals, aku merayap jer, catching most of the show either backstage, or in the wings itself to get a closer view, diselit ngan sesi gosip sana sini ngan kengkawan yang ramai ada.

Hah... ni dalam wardrobe room... tengok intense tak bebudak layan TV kicik ala ala kedai kopi gituh nak tengok competition camna.

Hazami dan group dia bernama Hybrid ada, si Fiq...ramai lah. Aku join meka kejap layan the earlier part of the show.

Time commercial break, mula ler mengular lagik. Memula jenguk our Datin Seri Siti Nurhaliza, or Datuk kalau nak kira title dia sendiri (independent woman gituh ada title sendiri ok!) yang final touches gituh. Pas borak jap, went back down to catch the show from backstage, in my seat and various other spots (gatai tol takleh dok diam) and caught Jac yang baru abih perform. Rock chick chic gituh...


Pretty much settled down pastu to enjoy the show. After dropping by the various areas one last time. Leh? Tu la akibat commercial break banyak. Jalan je keja aku.

Caught Vince tengah dok relax join layan the TV set in the changing room pas abih performance.

Hah..jangan ingat nak wat show easy ok. It's a lot of waiting about that takes up most of your time. Sempat ler layan Mawi dan Felix gak, tapi time tuh tak amik pic.

Sat awhile to watch the rest of the show...

Masa time debaran nak umum, aku lepak ngan Audi and Aidit.

Aku dah speculate my choices sudah masa tuh.

I had already drawn up my four confirmed songs nak mara, and two yang aku rasa would fight for one last spot.

So far, I've been pretty accurate in my prediction, taking into account not just quality of compositions from various aspects, but also the popular appeal sekali ngan programming needs, all of which are enough to predict a line-up of tunes which will make Anugerah Juara Lagu 2007 (ironically enough held in 2008...leh?)

As they assembled everyone on stage just before the commercial break, aku pun snap some more pics. Hah...time nih tense abih dah. Artis semua atas pentas dah dag dig dug da jantung memasing.

Aku amik beberapa angle...sambil closer to home, Audi and Aidit were chatting away. Such a sense of urgency and priority gituh.

This is what it looks like from another angle, if you guys were catching the action from backstage.
Looking front - the audience, back to the stars on stage and looking from behind the artists, their...erm... butts? Meanwhile, Audi Mok and Aidit Alfian find something better to do than snap pictures.


The commercial break seemed really long this time, so dalam nak layan bosan (suspen ilang pas the first two minutes di ganti ngan bosan). All three of us (Audi, Aidit and abang Eidil from Maestro), found out that we were wearing Crocs! Erm.. how interesting. Pop Croc night?

Er...what a load of croc? Ok, I'll stop now.

So they announced the songs, and ni la lagu-lagu yang layak. Instead of five, of course those of you who watched the show would have known that TV3 wat kejutan ala Akademi Fantasia, kata there would now be six songs from the Pop Rock category yang akan layak Anugerah Juara Lagu 22.

The songs that qualified are Farhana (Bumi Kenyalang) (composed by Denai, with lyrics by Andy Rahman and performed by Jinbara), Janjiku (Taja & Tass/Sofaz), Sembunyi (Aidit Alfian/Loloq/Misha Omar & Andy Flop Poppy), Itu Kamu (Estranged, Richard Lawrence Gimbang/Estranged), Angan Dan Sedar (M.Nasir/Loloq/Mawi) and Destinasi Cinta (Lin Li Zhen/PSNN/Datin Seri Siti Nurhaliza).

Woohoo! Aku teka betul, with Sembunyi and Farhana my fifith choice. Turns out both dapat, walaupun aku geli sikit lagu Farhana (sori ler sapa yang minat - aku tak minat tol lagu tuh)

Apapon, happy that Siti and Mawi especially akan berentap dalam final sebab kengkawan kan...tapi yang lebih penting, excited abih Estranged too akan berentap. Especially proud of Rich, walaupun memacam kutukan (termasuk dari aku...ngaku nih) time Akademi Fantasia, he's really proven himself, with HIS song in the final with HIS band. Cool!

Speaking of Rich, perasan tak apa-apa dalam pic nih.


Hah!!! Remember... you saw it here first! Kalau nak curi pic ni (or any pics here for that matter) jangan lupa kredit aku dan link kan. Do you see my object of interest in this pic?

No? Tuh...cover muka sikit sikit tuh sambil gelak. It's... Velvet! Hah...amboi bertahan agik dia dan Rich 'teman tapi mesra' ek! Sampai mai support. Not really a surprise sebab masa launch In Hating Memory, album Estranged kat Laundry Bar pun Velvet ada. Tapi time tuh takleh cakap apa sebab ramai kuarga Akademi Fantasia hadir sekali.

Kali ni, nampak Velvet with family members (family sapa ek - heh!)
Apapon, doakan terbaik bagik meka. Selain Khai dan Rosma, nampaknya hanya Rich dan Velvet jer bertahan antara couples dari program tuh.

It was now time for press conference. Sempat tuh dalam soal jawab, amik pic nih. Time tu, si botak tengah dok signal sigal saja carut mencarut. Merasalah ko Mawi. Happy ek masuk! All the best ler.... janji show meletop!



Apapun, before I wrap up this entry, ada lagi pics yang saja story story happening masa semifinal tuh. Layan more pics...



Pada peminat Siti, suka tak rambut dia? Aku suka gila tengok style ala Farrah Fawcett from the original Charlie's Angels dia tuh. Rambut lentik ke belakang gituh.

Yang penting, yang wat rambut adik dia si Saerah tuh. Buat ngan begitu semangat sampai tangan melecur wo. Tu ler lain kali rilek, Saerah oi... heh...semoga sembuh cepat. Biar luka tangan, sempat posing sakan ngan injury. Makan hati ler tajuk albumnya pose maut tuh.

By the way, little trivia bit - Siti make-up sendiri ok! Tetap meletops.

Apapun, ni senarai penuh lagu lagu yang layak ke Anugerah Juara Lagu after the three weeks punya semifinal.

Irama Malaysia & Etnik Kreatif
Samudera (Johan Nawawi/Ahmad Fedtri Yahya/Nora)
Kasihnya Balkis (Adnan Abu Hassan/Moharis Yaakup/Aishah)
Dirgahayu (Radeen Sri/Hairul Anuar Harun/Ramlah Ram)

Balada
Kasih Tercipta (Ajai/Shuhaimi Baba/Faizal Tahir)
Mahakarya Cinta (Audi Mok/Mohd Shariza Shamsiri/Faizal Tahir)
Ceritera Cinta (Ross Ariffin/Habsah Hassan/Jac & Lah)
Izinku Pergi (Azlan Abu Hassan/Sulu Sarawak/Sahri)
Harapan (Hazami/Hazami/Fazli Zainal).

Pop Rock
Farhana (Bumi Kenyalang) (Denai/Andy Rahman/Jinbara)
Janjiku (Taja & Tass/Sofaz)
Sembunyi (Aidit Alfian/Loloq/Misha Omar & Andy Flop Poppy)
Itu Kamu (Estranged, Richard Lawrence Gimbang/Estranged)
Angan Dan Sedar (M.Nasir/Loloq/Mawi)
Destinasi Cinta (Lin Li Zhen/PSNN/Datin Seri Siti Nurhaliza).

Ok ler..turning in. Dreaded Monday morning. Esok packed day. Besides, maybe nak take off worse come to worse sebab my aunt kena admit ke hospital and I since I don't like my mom driving anywhere she's not familiar with, nor will I allow her to take public transport, aku mungkin hantar kot and might end up taking the day off.

Apapon for those yang tunggu review America's Next Top Model and Heroes, sorry ler sebab sibuk these past few days tak sempat.

Promise esok aku post review ok apart from normal entry.

Janji ANTM memang result sial - and I just want to b***h s;ap Bianca and Saleisha. And Heroes? One of the best episodes this season! Very touching too...,

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Panic!!!!

Semalam kat event yang membosankan (the actual event boring, tapi the after fun sebab ramai kawan kawan ada) memang naik gila snap la.

Pada sapa minat Datuk Siti Nurhaliza (or even Datuk K), hope you like the couple of pics available.

Aku nak bubuh pics dulu so senang, with that out of the way, I can get to sharing cita yang nak dikongsi.

Ramai gak yang hadir as you can see from the event. Let me see, wakil Akademi Fantasia camp, ada Vince, Shawal, Dafi dan Ebi. Apart from Siti, Ziana was the only other female artiste. Yang lain semua guys.

There was Farid Kamil, Fahrin, Arash, Ashraf Sinclair, Awal, Rashidi Ishak dan Alan Yun (ingat Gubra tak?) .Yang lain semua, aku tak penah kenal and probably will bother like John dari Project Superstar (who the...), Dylan dari I Wanna Be A Model (erm...), dan Andrew hos stro Wah Lai Toi Astro Talent Quest (yawn).

So korang enjoy je la general group pic ek of everyone.

And thus concludes the end of the nicer looking pics.Sebab pics aku amik dari phone semua for some reason, mungkin sebab lampu keadaan yang lampu kuning kot jadik cam kelakar lak. Aduh...merasalah yellow fever.

Sebab ari tuh da ada solo Shawal banyak gila...kena la balance, so kali ni focus a little more on Dafi dan Ebi. Sapa minat Shawal, kang aku slow slow letak lagik pics ek.

Merasalah....kan I told you guys mesti kekuningan!
Selain pic ni ada ler a few more pics aku amik.
Cam Pic Fahrin yang belah kiri ni.

Merasalah stress dan tertekan (tekanan perasaan ok, bukan tertekan punat kat camera cam some people) sebab kena bombard soalan soalan biasa la pasal hubungan dia dan Linda.

Kecian lak...tapi merasalah kan!

Seb baik kengkawan yang interview bagik can nak perah otak, bokan soal kalahkan bom Hiroshima dan Nagasaki combined into one.

Cam masaalah dunia kan kalao ikut rupa Fahrin.
Jangan kedut sangat moka tuh...kang start developing wrinkle lines lagik stress, ok!

Last last kena gi Hatyai nak buang segalanya, lagik stress kalao story kuar.

Apapon, biasa la jawapan standard.

Paham je statement kawan kan (matila aku kena pukul ngan Linda pasni - I love you bebeh!)
Kalao bab interview tengok cam si Awal ni kat bawah.

Rilek terlampau lak rilek. Sampai da cam tak betui sengih cam kerang busuk (aduh...pas Linda bantai aku, Awal lak beluti kan aku carut dia la ni).

Kalau tak wat muka cam Vince (lama tak jumpa dia... sejak launching album dia), feeling innocent dan sengih waras sikit rupa....tapi sikit jer!

Or even cam Siti ngan Datuk K, rilek je handle interview. Heh...tak peloh pon. Maintain je kalao ikutkan.

Oh by the way, nak wish awal awal pada this happily married couple happy first anniversary, with just over a month to go.

Dengar Siti dan Datuk K akan ke Bali in August for their first anniversary... tapi tak confirm. Happy second honeymoon ler tajuk albumnya.

Erm... bila lak nak gi Bali ni.

Eh taip bebanyak lupa lak nak nak letak pics. Sori bebanyak...

By the way the last pic of Siti aku letak besar sikit walaopon kekuningan sebab Siti pose tuk blog nih ok. Merasalah...

Direct mintak tuk blog jerk. Siti kang ada masa, jenguk sini, ni la hasil kuning ko posing. Salah kamera ek, bukan tukang amik pic.

Ok...ok...sambung nak posting pics semua habis supaya aku leh move on to the next story nak merapu meroyan sat.

Sengih nak endorse iklan ubat gigi ke


Erm... ok Vince. You may stop now... no really!


Cool je meka berdua ni handle interview...


Apa jeling? Ko ado pose istimewa tuk blog ko? Merasalah dinch pic curi tangkap ok!

Ok so that covers the pics part. Now on to the actual story nak share.

Sebenarnya camni. Semalam, pas semua da abih event, aku gi ler makan ngan si Farihad dan Zul dari Berita Harian dan Rudy dari Harian Metro.

Dak dok sebumbung senang la idop nak jumpa dan discuss pasal keja. You see, our social life and our professional life is the same thing.

Orang tatau kita keja siang malam... so memang takde masa sangat nak enjoy pelbagai like people who work 9 to 5... or even people who don't work at all for that matter.

So bab keja ni la yang kami jadikan our enjoyment.

Anyways masa makan, Farihad dapat SMS dari Arif dari Utusan. Statement cam saja usik ler...something like korang tak cover ke wedding Pak Lah.

Before you can say drama queen, immediately dialog dicipta, dan Farihad SMS balik kata kami ada photoshoot fitting baju ngan Radzwan Radzwill esok.

Saja nak bagik member kat Utusan panik.

Tak sampai lima minit masa kami makan tuh, Syazwan lak call Farihad tanya benda sama.
Nak cantikkan plot, si Rudy call Arif dan marah konon benda ni exclusive dan kecoh kenapa Arif heboh kat Syazwan.

So it went back and forth ler...kami berempat gelak pecah perut je. Biasala...manipulasi emosi katanya kengkawan kat paper lain yang panik takut termiss story gituh.

Elok elok si Zul lak gatal...bermesej ngan Zie dari Utusan. Apa lagik..drama swasta la. Konon pas event kat atas tuh yang semua gerak balik, kami ke PWTC. Terus skrip diwujudkan konon ada reception tuk Pak Lah coming up kat PWTC, dan sebenarnya tadik abih je event yang Siti patut gegas ke KLIA tuk flight ke Singapore, dia sebenarnya singgah PWTC kerana dia nyanyi tuk reception tuh kang.

Memandai lak bebudak ni wat skrip kenakan kengkawan. Si Zie panik teramat la, apa lagik takut miss story.

Si Farihad lak sambung ngan Arif, konon Rudy marah sebab benda tuh eksklusif tuk Harian Metro, dan Berita Harian numpang.

Aiyo... the plot thickens. Kalao ko da confuse apa yang realiti dan apa bukan...semua nya drama lah. Saja je nak kenakan kengkawan panik konon ada news lelebih lak.

After over an hour and a half, Farihad last last bagitau Arif dan Syazwan. Merasalah sentapan cinta light light kena April Fool bulan Jun. Keji kan?

Then call si Zie lak. Tapi bukan nak bagitau dia direct, kejakan dia kata nak sotry ke nak pics kena bak KFC la pelbagai mai office. Nak nangis dengar sora Zie kat phone.

Last last bagitau... tension lak dak tuh... kena mainkan.

Heh...moral of the story pada kengkawan wartawan (especially Syazwan yang baca ni) sabau ek bab keja. Kang high blood pressure kang stress overdose.

Hah...anyway pas pulang ke opis, kami lepak la jap kat area ruang keja si Farihad dan Zul nak sembang.

Beramai ramai bukak blog seseorang makcik ni yang molot poaka suka menjarum Dia ni leh kata satu industri tapi feel bagus. Anyway, kami dapat blog peribadi dia... apa agik, gelak sakan ler the heartless bitch meroyan ratapan naluri pelbagai.

Tapi yang terkejut nya...kalao selama ni dia tak namekan 'skandal' dia, akhirnya dia ada sebut satu nama yang familiar pada kami semua.

Memula semua tak perasan... aku put two and two together sebab penah nampak meka bersama.

Rupanya dia ngan member aku emo emo. Keji!!!! Aku kata keji sebab makcik kertu ni da memang seasoned dan dak ni jarak umo dia memang jauh. But that's not the point. Tapi aku gelak sebab tau background dak tuh ler.

Bila aku da explain sapa kat bebudak lain... meka lak horror jap...sebab dak tuh, yang member aku, kisahnya dalam diam (to me lah) couple ngan budak sekerja Farihad dan Zul.

OOPS!!!!

Merasalah the plot thickens lagik!

Aduh... ni la namanya karma! Yang ko keji ko hina pelbagai... last last...ambik ko. Adik adik veteran jadik jamuan ko ek.

Tu la... be careful what you say, or it's as good as wishing it upon yourself.

Life has a strange way of working things out.

Bukan nak kata heartless... sebab aku bab cinta ni I woudn't wish the worst on people, sebab when it comes to matters of the heart, I wouldn't wish it even on my enemies. Hurts too much.

Tapi ni kes buku bertemu ruas. Sesuai gak they teach each other a lesson.

Heh...so it was quite an eventful night. I stayed up and got all my work done so today kat office rilek je. Siap tertidur jap sebab kurang tidur abihkan keja the night before.


Oops...sebelom move on, since it's official as of today, congratulations to our Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi akan mendirikan rumahtangga baru bersama Jeanne Abdullah, The wedding is set to be on Saturday.

Isn't that sweet... weddings just make me shed a tear.

Aku nak undur diri sat nak makan and get a few things done, and unwind. Malam ni aku update, then nak tidur awal sebab pagi buta da kena gerak ke Singapore(merasalah Mid Year Sale!!!)

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