Culturally Preconditioned

I’ve decided to do a little revamp for the blog. It’s not entirely done yet though. I might put a tagbox and a calendar here.. you know, typical blog nonsense thingies. Started out with my new blog banner. Culturally Preconditioned (thanks to Kelly for the original idea.. I miss getting our regular discounts at Midvalley’s Starbucks). I used several different fonts for that. I wanted to use jawi for Malay, so I settled for those Arabic fonts. Also squeezed in a couple of Chinese calligraphy (from my mother’s side) and Sanskrit characters (from my dad’s ancient Javanese history). And a little bit of Thai fonts, cause I just think it looks cool.

Okay, actually I was inspired to use the Sanskrit characters because of the upcoming Puteri Gunung Ledang (Princess of Mount Ophir) epic film. I am SO looking forward to the movie. (You can view the trailer here - filesize 13 Mbytes). The music is so infectious. And I have always been fascinated by the legend.

As mentioned in my King Arthur article, nobody knows for sure whether these characters were true characters or just mythical ones. And that’s what’s so fascinating about it.. it’s open to so many different kinds of interpretations. There are loads of interesting ancient Malay literatures out there. No doubt most of them are fictional but there might be some real historical facts thrown into them too. It’s surprising that not many of our local younger generations have heard these books, including my personal favourite “Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa”.

Anyway, back to the Puteri Gunung Ledang movie. I’m glad we’re doing an article on them for next month’s issue. I think we missed out big time by not doing a write-up on Suhaimi Baba’s Pontianak Harum Sundal Malam. I think we may be able to get an interview with Tiara (who plays the title role for PGL). That would be superb. I have very very high hopes for this movie. Now, if only we could clinch M Nasir for an interview too.

Another star bites the dust. My homegirl Zarina got fucked but I’m gonna refrain from whining too much since I didn’t cast any votes for her this week. But dayumm… I felt so bad for her as much as I did when Rosma was booted in the first Akademi Fantasia. *sob* I’ll have to do a quick recap since I’ll probably have to come in for work tomorrow (a SUNfrickinDAY!).

Mas - Semakin Hari, Semakin Sayang
Mas is Mas. She’s so unique. Single mother and very Unique in her own way. She reminds me a lot of Fantasia Barrino. I don’t think she’ll be crowned the winner, even though she has lots of fans out there. Her vocals were much better this week, compared to her rendition of Cant Get You Out Of My Head last week. But that’s not really saying much.

Kaer - Epilog Cinta
I honestly don’t get what is with the public’s fascination with this guy. He is
such a Momma’s boy (and his Spock ears are really peculiar). He impressed me with his fluent Thai last week, but that’s as much as it goes. His voice is average to me.

Farah - Ya Maulai
She started off weak.. a bit warbly, if you asked me. But she really picked it up halfway through the same. It ain’t easy singing a traditional Malay song. I’m not a big fan of hers but she did a great performance tonight. But please stop it with the Prit Prit thingy. It’s annoying.

Bob - I Can See Clearly Now
His ‘mesra’ thingy is as annoying as Farah’s prit prit. QUIT IT! His performance was good and enjoyable. Though I wished he’d cover his hairy man cleavage. Yuck. I still see him as a badut, though.

Adam - Keroncong Untuk Ana
LOL.. he fumbled with ‘kechorong’. That was funny! But I’ve never taken a liking to Adam.. I mean, the guy fucking cried when the doctor took his blood sample. ssts. Anyway, he always looked uncomfortable during his interviews with Aznil. What’s up with that? His performance tonight was average.

Zarina - Penantian
Zarina. oh my Zarina.. how I wished you’d won this season just so that you can shove the trophy up Khai’s pompous ass. Zarina is possibly the second best female singer in the competition. She got robbed just as Rosma did last year. I agree that this was a bad song choice for her (her performance last week was so hauntingly good!). Really bad. But I don’t think that’s the main reason why she got kicked off. I don’t think she has many fans out there. She has never been in the Top 4. There must be a reason behind this. But whatever. I hope she makes it out there (though I’m no longer holding my breath for Rosma’s long overdue solo album).

Zarina singing the vampire inspired song Pulangkan with last year’s finalist, Sahri

Nurul - Ku Mohon
It’s hard to sing a Sheila Majid song without being compared to the Jazz Queen. That said, it was a pretty good effort on Nurul’s part. But let’s face it.. she has the worst voice out of the entire 12 people in the competition. If we’re not careful, she’s gonna pull a Liza and end up in the Top 5.

Zahid - Where Is The Love
Zahid my man! He reminds me so much of my cousin. I’ve always liked this guy since the first show. His popularity has soared like mad since last week. But I think he richly deserves it. He has a good voice and his stage presence is really good. Singing a rap song in a competition is hard to judge, but he was in his prime - with his sk8r boi looks and antics. Zahid is going to win this.

Linda - Panti Asuhan
Well if it’s not Zahid, Linda will win this. My favourite female contestant out of the bunch. She is so beautiful and oh so talented (her accoustic guitar playing while singing Leaving On A Jet Plane was nothing short of amafuckingzing). She delivered her song beautifully tonight.. but, did she forget some of her lyrics or was she just too caught up with her emotions? I’m gonna be biased and assume the later. Excellent job, Linda.

Group Ensemble - Memories
Wow. This was a first.. the group singing a number from a musical. Zarina opened the number with a bang! I was like, no shit! If she doesn’t make it with the pop scene, she better audition for theatres. She reminds me a lot of the girl who was Mary Magdalene in our univeristy’s performance of Jesus Christ Superstar. Bob was surprisingly good as well. I expected Linda to do a bit better, but I blame the teachers for giving her the crappy verses. Zahid.. man. You proved it man! You can sing rock and roll, pop, rap and even this! Wow. Just wow.

All in all.. a pretty good show, except of course for the ending (and the constant shots of Anding in the background). Aznil has again and again proved why he’s our Number One host. I love that kooky bastard! If theer was ever a World Idol for Hosts, he’s gonna bring the title home to Malaysia. Urghh.. and to think I almost had the chance to interview him for our magazine. Aznil, you rock, my brutha!

I must say that the first ever Final Selection show for Malaysian Idol was
quite a disappointment. There’s only a piano accompanying the contestants
(though I think it’s a better way to showcase their voices), there was no
visible audiences (which makes it look like a cheap rendition of Who Will Win),
the judges comments were utterly useless and just what the fuck is up
with the weird awkward silence after the contestant leaves the stage? The only
thing that they got right was the recap. Thank God for the recap.

Anyway, down to business. Originally, there were supposed to be 11 contestants,
but one had to drop out because Emma withdrew herself from the contest because
there was a death in her family. Condolences to her. Well.. here are my thoughts
on the 10 performances of the night.

Nikki (One Moment In Time - Whitney Houston)
Oh gawd… I could not think of a worst way to start this competition than to
start with a Whitney song. It’s not half as bad, though. Nikki has got a great
voice.. evident from her singing Mariah’s Emotions during her audition.
Unfortunately, tonight, she didn’t sound as good and she was clearly nervous on
stage. Can’t fault her for that since she’s the first to perform. IMO, she did
not pick the right song. Too bad. A 7.

Rizal (If You Don’t Know Me By Now - Simply Red)
The most ‘commercial’ contestant out of the bunch, but he said it so himself “People are gonna be thinking, what is a Mat Salleh doing here?”. Technically, he’s probably only half of that, but yeah, I’m not sure if people would feel that he would ‘represent’ us Malaysians in general. And I’ll bet my whole damn house that Kelantanese fella ain’t gonna vote for this ‘Pan Asian’ guy. ssts. What a loser (the Kelantanese, not Rizal). Singing wise, he’s alright, though I think the arrangement has been slowed down a notch (which almost made me nod off). A 7.

Putri (Kau Dan Aku - Ning Baizura)
Ooooh. One of my favourite Malay songs, ever! Too bad she killed it. I felt the
performance was really ordinary though. She didn’t even attempt to up it a
little. Replace her with the rude, over acting, stuck up JB girl, and I probably
wouldn’t even notice it. A measly 4.

Zamil (My Baby You - Marc Anthony)
I now officially dub this guy as Bobot Jr. I knew this guy would be good and he did not disappoint. What grabbed my attention was how he was playing with the camera, unlike the first 3 contestants. This guy’s a pro. Vocal wise, he was really good. He went through his low to high notes effortlessly, and seemed so relaxed throughout. I hope he makes it far. An 8.

Sri (Jawapan Kasih - Amy Mastura)
This girl reminds me a lot of BraMeRah. She has the looks but I think she overdid her body slitherings on stage. Bitch, please. Her vocal was flat flat flat.. and oh so sengau. I was cringing up my nose (is there such a term?) all the way through. Roslan must be out of his mind when he said she sang the song better than Amy. A lowly 4.

Sufiah (If I Ain’t Got You - Alicia Keys)
Biggest surprise of the night. She sang really really well! I don’t think we’ve heard much of her from the rounds of auditions, but man, this girl pulled this one off superbly. Hats off to you, my lady. She certainly has that R&B thing going on, but I’m not sure how she’ll tackle other music genres. An 8 and a half.

Fariz (god knows, who cares)

Urghh… caterpillar brow guy. He’ll have to fight it out with Alex Bell for the title of bushiest eyebrow man alive. And I actually called that one out weeks before Paul Moss’ comments about doing something with his eyebrows. I’m not gonna lie. I don’t like this guy. I don’t know, something about him.. probably his cockiness from the auditions. But he’s got a lisp, dammit. Is that not obvious to everyone out there? Vocal wise.. I don’t know if he’s improved or not. He sang an English song during his audition (which was horrendous), but he sang Malay songs quite well. Not sure if that’s what they call ‘improvement’ but whatever. The judges seem to like him. Whatever. He made a good song choice tonight, that’s all. Whatever. A 7. Whatever. By the way, doesn’t he remind you of this fella?

Vick (My Way - Frank Sinatra)
First of all, I do NOT like how the show has been pimping him from the beginning. From interviewing him at his house, to milking a pity party, to the drama over his lost voice. Second of all, I am frankly sick of this song. Ever since Dr M declared that this was his most favourite song, everybody’s suddenly getting into it. But when it comes down to his singing abilities, I have to be fair. Like him or not, this guy CAN sing. An 8 and a half.

Syima (Trouble With Love Is - Kelly Clarkson)
Pretty bold of her to sing a Kelly Clarkson song, but she did it anyway. I love this girl! She’s my favourite and I will be rooting for her all the way. It was fun when they teased her about forgetting the lyrics during the auditions. Well, she memorized all of it tonight. Her stage presence is great. And man, she’s got a great voice! And I can totally see her singing other song genres as well. My only gripe is that she wore a skirt. Not sure if that will bode well for the makciks and pakciks and kakak-kakaks out there. But I’m giving her a 9.

Dina (Bunga-bunga Cinta - Misha Omar)
Hah! Suka la tu si SC, lagu favourite dia. Dina reminds me of Boomquisha! (She certainly dresses like her) Anyway, I was looking forward to my home girl’s performance. She sang this quite well though she fumbled a bit in the beginning. Her voice has a LOT of soul.. and she has that rock n roll edge too. A weird combination. I KNOW! I think she could’ve chosen a better song. But we’ll see. An 8.

So there you go. My review for our first 10 Malaysian Idol contestants.

My choice and votes will be for these three

Syima, Zamil, Sufiah

Malaysia’s Choice would probably be :

Vick, Nikki, Fariz

The results will be out Sunday night. Can’t wait.

Izad - out.

So, here I am.. back again at my second attempt of blogging. My last entry was checked in around Marquesas! (that’s over four Survivor seasons ago, for you non-Survivor fans). I figured this would be a nice time to rekindle my blogging passion (yeah right) since there are more and more reality shows cropping up on the television. And don’t you know it, everybody’s a bloody critic nowadays. You don’t think I’m gonna sit back and not post my snarky thoughts on these media whorse (intentionally misspelt for my Spoofs buddies out there), did you?

I’ll be back with my first proper reality review this Friday. That’s when our first batch of 11 Malaysian Idol finalists (out of the Final 33) will belt out their voices and whatnots. I wonder if Mr Hung will make an appearance? Perish the thought.

My Pre-Show Picks

ZAMIL , SHYMA


DINA , VICK