Culturally Preconditioned

It seems that most people I know think that this season so far has been a total snoozefest. Can I blame them? Not really, because certain episodes in this season has so far been kinda lame and tonight was one of them. Is Survivor losing its steam? Sure, the lack of eye candy may be a major factor in what’s making the season boring (all the hotties have so far been booted), but personally after Survivor All Stars, this is a VERY welcome change. And if you are a Survivor nut like me, you would notice that the editing patterns in the castaways this time around is really different. Almost everyone in the game is getting a Complex edit instead of a clear cut Over The Top or Under The Radar edit, which is highly interesting because you never know where the character’s story arc is heading. Again, it’s a balance. Okay, back to the game.

Episode 6 : Castaways Impressions

Yasur Tribe

Ami - The emotions she showed over her little brother at the Reward Challenge softened this angry lesbian’s edit. I can’t quite put where Ami is. First she says it’s all about the girls, then last week she had to go mental on Lisa, now it’s back to the girls again? I don’t know. Ami is either going all the way, or she’s headed for a big fall. It was interesting to hear her mention that she was worried that Julie (or Twila) might be voted off. Julie was never in Ami’s equation before this, was she?

Eliza - Oh thank god there was very little of her this episode. I had a good laugh at the Reward where everyone was pointing to pictures of their families, and all that we got out of Eliza was “Oooh that’s my dog”. I was mildly surprised her dog wasn’t a Chihuahua (as it should be).

Leann - We got almost nothing out of Leann during the Reward except for the part where Scout mentioning how good she looked in one of the pictures. Her performance at the Reward Challenge wasn’t spectacular either, which was surprising because after her rather ‘bad’ performance during last week’s challenge, I would’ve thought she’d buck up a bit. I have written Leann off from the list of possible winners, but she’s Ami’s second in command, so if Ami goes far, so will she.

Rory - Rory’s editing is the most interesting out of the bunch. His ass was on the line in every single episode so far, and yet, he’s outlasted eight people. Makes you think, doesn’t it. His edit earlier on started as the unlikeable brother and a loser. Even Jeff called him out in public on how he sucked at the challenges and how no one gives a shred of respect to him. And now? We actually see Jeff giving compliments to Rory. Talk about a 180 huh? We also see him gunning for Ami - the head mafia herself. Rory’s editing is baffling. Is he the underdog that we’re supposed to root for? There is INDEED magic on Vanuatu. I am almost afraid to say that he just might end up in the Final Two and winning this game. Seriously.

Scout - Not much out of Scout this week. The part where she showed the pictures of Annie, her partner, was endearing. Is Scout on the outs of her alliance now? We know she doesn’t like Eliza. Ami’s got Leann, will she start a pact between herself and Rory? Or will she join Twila and the guys when the merge comes? That could very well be the case.

Lopevi Tribe

Chad - We finally get more than 5 minutes of Chad. We are shown him strategizing, or at least, his attempt at strategizing. I’m surprised to hear that he, out of all the guys on Lopevi, didn’t trust Julie because they seemed pretty chummy earlier in the game. Chad’s storyline is just beginning. It’s also interesting to note that this is only the second time that his ‘disability’ and the possibility of him winning the Final Two based on sympathy votes was brought up. But personally, if it was me out there, that so won’t affect how I’m basing my votes on. Nobody should deserve sympathy votes - disabled vs non-disabled, poor vs rich, unpopular vs popular. As far as I’m concerned, everyone is on a level playing field when they sign up for Survivor. So if I feel my gameplay is better than Chad’s, I would NOT hesitate to bring Chad with me to the Final Two at all. But then again, that’s just me.

Chris - For the third time we see Chris working his wiles again. First it was how he managed to make his tribe not vote him up when he fucked up the first challenge. Then we see him tell Sarge that “it is not the time” to vote off Rory. Now, we see him talking to Chad and managed to talk to him into voting off John instead of Julie. Chris gets his ways. His quote in episode 1 “(paraphrasing) Men - I can manipulate. Women - I’m not sure”. So far, he’s been dead on. Will a merge with the Yasur women spell his demise? It is interesting to hear John giving Chris props and rooting for him to win even though John KNEW that Chris lied to him.

John K - John K had no chance. It was rather smart of him to at least start scrambling with Twila and Julie. Well at least he tried so I give him props for that. But Twila likes Sarge, Chris and Chad, and why would they want to force a 3-3 tie and show the 3 other guys her disloyalty? So John was in a no win situation. His days are numbered anyway. Honestly speaking, I never thought he was gonna last this long, though.

Julie - Finally, no more Darrah edit for my Julie! We finally get to see her scheming ways. I thought it was really brilliant of her to pull that sly move on Twila (lying about being offered a Final Four place by the guys). You go girl! And talk about adapting, she is really smart to have that pact with Twila, knowing how Twila is in with the guys. Julie managed to put her differences aside and made a pact with an ex-formidable foe, and that’s how you play Survivor. Fuck interpersonal relationships, you gotta do what you gotta do to keep ahead in this game.

Lea - Not much out of Sarge this week. In fact, he is suspiciously absent from all voting-related discussions/confessionals. Is this indicating that, like Scout, Sarge is no longer in an influencial position in his tribe?

Twila - If anyone other than Rory who’s getting a 180 degrees turn in terms of editing, it’s Twila. I like her. Like Julie, she managed to put personal differences aside and do what she gotta do to stay in the game. She was constantly being dotted on during Tribal Council. Jeff and several tribe members called her out on her great work ethics. It was the same when she was at Yasur, only difference is that while at Yasur, it was talked about as though it was a bad thing. Here at Lopevi, Twila really happy when people are talking about the same thing - her work ethics. Same subject, totally different receptions. Very interesting indeed.

Predictions : Brain/Heart/Gut

Brain : I think the tribes might be merging next week. Please, no more fake merge. If there is a merger, I can’t really predict what the tribal dynamics will be. Will Rory return to the guys and continue gunning for Ami? Will Julie go back to the Yasur girls? Who knows. But IF there is a merge, there will be individual threats, and out of everyone left in the game, I would say Sarge might their biggest threat. So I think Sarge might be booted next week.

Heart : Eliza

Gut : Sarge

Stickies for the Sevent Episode :

- the shot of the spider devouring its victim, moments before the conversation between Chris and John K. (that just proves that imagery in this show really DO mean something)

(will add more stickies later tomorrow)

Taking a six month hiatus from my regular computing job last year was truly a blessing in disguise. If I didn’t have the courage to leave my job when I realised there was not an iota of inspiration and satisfaction, I probably never would’ve seen my name in writing. Well, actually that is a blatant lie cause I already have had my name published in writing prior to my short stint with the publication company as an editorial executive.

I have always loved writing. It may sound cliched but it’s true. When I was in Darjah Satu and Miss Mynah, my class teacher, was filling in the “Cita-Cita” fields in our individual forms. Mine was clearly stated : 3.Guru 2.Saintis 1.Penulis. I was in Standard One, mind you, and it’s a known fact that kids say all kinds of crap, so nobody was really surprised by that list.

I won my first essay writing competition in Standard Five. I wrote about “Kisah Telaga Tujuh”, something I vaguely remember now, except that I think I mentioned something about fairy princesses “mandi berkemban” or something to that extent. LMAO. What a perv. Anyway, I got second place, and that really boosted my confidence in writing.

The next ‘big break’ come in Form Five when my friend Rina and I were called out by a teacher during one of those dreaded morning assemblies. That’s not usually a good thing, but it was. It appeared that our articles that we sent in to The Star were published. My name in print! That was one of the best moments ever, to see my own name in print. It was printed in one of the BrATs! sections (the BrATs! were fairly new that time and they didn’t have any workshops then like they do now). My article was about life in a boarding school.

My story also included some urban legends like langsuirs and pontianaks roaming around the school, and how every night we became ghostbusters - only to be chased by THE head langsuir itself. Messy hair, red eyes, foul breath and all, we sped off in different directions as our warden yelled at us telling us to stay in bed. And believe it or not, I actually received one ‘fan mail’ from a student in Perak who had some good comments on my article. Oh my. Kembang bontot sekejap.

In the same year, myself, Rina and Shahrizal wrote a script for an inter-class scriptwriting competition, and we won first place. That was really good feeling too. The drama was entitled “Memoirs of an Old Silhouette”unds profound, right? As if. I still don’t know how we got away with such an out there title when all the script was about was of an old lady in an elderly home reminiscing her younger times. Since we were in Form Five, the script was given to the students in Form Four to act out in the Regional Drama Competition. Our school won first place for the drama, but we lost out to MRSM Kuantan for best script (”Search For The Lost Spirit”). But I felt good all the same.

I had a short stint in the editorial team in our yearbook when I was doing my International Baccalaureate, but the yearbook never surfaced because of financial reasons. Which is just too pathetic.

Fast forward to my university days. I didn’t think I did much writing back then, but I had a poem (”Threads of Derangement”) in the British anthology “Expressions of the Heart”. Anyway, initially I just sent it in as an entry to a competition, but the publisher compiled everything in the anthology and sent us a free copy. Even though there’s no royalties, seeing my name in print, in an actual bounded volume, is so much better. And on top of that, I didn’t even have to purchase the damn thing.

Then real life greeted me. I was stuck in a dead end computing job. It has its own kicks, of course, but somehow I was itching to write again. At around this time, I discovered themestream.com - a site for writers and authors to post their articles online - and you can actually earn cash from there. I realised then that that was a place where I can write stuff and get immediate feedback from readers. I wrote about the current affairs.. in other words, I did Survivor commentaries. LOL.

At that time Survivor: Outback was showing on television. My favourite (and most read) article was called “Will The Real Outback Villain Please Stand Up”. No, the article wasn;t about Jerri. It was about Tina. I published that article some time around the merge episode, and I had pegged right there and then, that Tina was going to be the winner. The feedback that I received was awesome. I received more than a thousand unique readers. Unfortunately, because of the dot com crash, themestream closed it’s door soon after the Survivor: Outback season ended.

Then in 2002, The Star’s InTech published an article about blogging. Curious me just had to log on to cyberspace and find out what the hype was all about (check out my very first blog entry in the archive!). I thought this would be an incredible way for people to write, write, write! (I can’t remember why I stopped soon after, but my blogging resurgance came right around Malaysian Idol was about to start)

Last year, I was demotivated and feeling down in the dumps, work wise, so I took a break from my regular computing job. I didn’t have a proper job at that time, so I wondered if that was the right time for me to start fresh. Start doing something that I would really honestly enjoy. At that time, I was open to anything. The hotel industry, a food catering business, the tourism board maybe. My options were limitless. But one day, I got a call from the magazine.

I later got the job as an editorial executive with the magazine. I was surprised that I even got that job because I have no formal experience in that field at all. So I had to attend movie press conferences, previews, screenings and launches (those are four different things), and something getting all papparazzi-like taking pictures of Yusry and Era (Yuck. The things I do for work). But the best thing was.. no, not getting free movie tickets, popcorns and drinks.. but the best thing was, I was finally doing something I really love - which was writing. You’re getting paid for something that you like to do? It’s a dream job. They say you stop working when you love your work, and it’s true! The brainstorming, the themes, the magazine deadlines. I love it!

But there was a disadvantage. The salary is not as much as that of my previous computing job. And let’s face it - I already have liabilities. Car installments, house rentals, credit cards. Those damn credit cards. It’s a dream job, except for the pay. I had to make one of the hardest decisions ever. I had to leave the editorial work and go back to my roots. But miraculously, the editors were willing to engage me as a freelancer for the magazine. Joy to the world! All is not lost after all! So I have been doing some freelance work for them ever since. And I had a total of seven cover articles for the past year, not bad eh?

At the same time, I have also had a short story “The Unlikely Angel” published in the North American compilation called “Angel In Disguise”. If you have an Amazon.com account, you can actually read my published story from Amazon.com (search in book : “Kuala Lumpur”.. my story starts from page 142 to page 149). I got to know Barb, the editor from an online forum and she has been a great tutor and confidant for the past year. She has been MY writing angel, and now, it’s my turn to give her a challenge.

I just sent her an email asking her if she was up for the NaNoWriMo challange. What’s NaNoWriMo? It’s actually short for the National Novel Writing Month. The objective of NaNoWriMo is to write at least 50,000 words in 30 days. What do you get if you pass the challenge? Nothing except self satisfaction - and if you are a writer, you know that is the best reward that anyone can possibly offer. Some may think that this is sadistic, to put yourself through hell for the next 30 days.. I mean, what the fuck, right? Well, to quote them, “NaNoWriMo is all about the magical power of deadlines. Give someone a goal and a goal-minded community and miracles are bound to happen.” The power of deadlines. I have always succumbed to procrastination - my biggest enemy, and I believe that is my greatest weakness. Besides, they are targetting 40,000 participants this year, and if this really will be hell, well.. misery loves company, right? I’m seting up another blog for my ‘novel in progress’ - Daud In Distress. Good title, no? Anyway, are you game for this challenge too? Let the author in you come alive!

Daud In Distress - coming to a blog near you. November 1st 2004

ps. win or lose the challenge, it’ll at least get you started on the novel that you know you have it in you. By the way, less than 500 people finished the challenge out of the 20,000 participants last year, so don’t feel compelled that you NEED to finish this.

What the hell happened? ntv7 finally decided to show us the short 30 second recap at the beginning of the show! Yay! And there was no more of that annoying Digi advertisement during the show! Yay! And the pig scenes were not censored! Yay! But Julie’s bare ass scene was. Boo! And they still left out next week’s preview! Boo! Oh well, you can’t win em all.

All in all, I thought this was one of the more interesting episodes yet. The reward challenge was interesting. The pig herding challenge reminded me so much of the sheep herding challenge from Africa. It was comical. I’m just glad that ntv7 has decided not to censor the entire challenge though. As for the immunity challenge, it looked exhausting! Kudos to everyone who made through that challenge. I doubt I could’ve done any better than Leann, what with the strong tides and all. The character editing this time is rather curious. There have been a shift in some of their editings which I will explain in detail below.

I noticed the THEME this time around, is not just BALANCE. But it’s also “Screwed the challenges? Don’t worry. You’re still in the game”. How many times have that happened, huh? Oooooooooooooooohhhhhh.. and again! As I have mentioned last week, about the Ami vs Chris in the challenge? Where Ami came in second, and losing out to Chris? Well, the same thing happened again THIS week. It was Ami vs Chris again in the immunity challenge. Okay, these two incidents might be coincidental. HOWEVER, I find it VERY interesting that the editor’s decided to put Ami’s “I’m not used to coming in second behind a MAN” in Episode One. Could this be Mark Burnett’s foreshadowing of our Final Two? I for one would LOVE to see this happen.

Episode 6 : Castaways Impressions

Yasur Tribe

Ami - Interesting. That about sums it up on how I feel about Ami at this point in the game. On one hand, I think she’s starting to get a pseudo-villainish editing. The editing is leaving me the impression that people are scared of her. The lady with the iron grip over at Yasur. And after that episode, if there was any doubt as to whether Scout or Ami was running the camp, it seemed pretty obvious now. Her actions tonight reminds me of Lex’s witchhunt in Africa. Not so good. She seemed extra paranoid than necessary which may not be a good thing. On the other hand, it is also very clear that Ami is the only woman on the entire island, really playing the game. She’s constantly strategizing, and her confessionals have been nothing but talk about the game. And for that, she gets extra points in my book.

Eliza - Doe eyed bitch. Man I hate her. So she screwed up at the pig challenge. Big fucking deal. There’s no need to put on a fucking tiara and be a big drama queen. And on top of that, she’s trying to put the blame on Scout. If Scout wasn’t there, SHE could get the easy tasks, and someone other than her can do the dirty stuff and take the blame if they lose a challenge. I mean, SHEESH! Ami said it best, she’s just trying to come up with reasons. Get over it. She ain’t contributing much to the tribe. Why the ladies are still keeping her is still anyone’s guess. If the ladies think that Eliza is not going to wile her way into the men’s side after the merge, they’ve got anothing thing coming. On a side note, it IS interesting to hear the guys on Lopevi questioning why Eliza is still in the game too.

Leann - I’ve come to the conclusion that Leann will be a non factor in this game. Why? Because of her confessional after losing out the Immunity Challenge. (Paraphrasing) “I feel like I should be going home because I lost the challenge. But I want to stay, and I will feel bad if someone else goes”. She gets a gazillion negative Survivor points in my books. First of all, you never say that you should be going home. Not even to yourself. A quitter never wins. And second of all, Survivor is a selfish, cutthroat game. You never EVER feel bad if someone else OTHER THAN YOU leave the game. This is an individual game for a million dollars. Fuck em all. Never get emotionally attached in a game like this. So, that said.. No. Leann might make it to the merge. Hell, she even might make it to the Final Four. But one thing’s for sure. Leann is not going to win.

Lisa - I thought Lisa’s ouster was a tad unfair. But then again, it’s her own fault for saying “just in case”. It was a stupid move (thought not quite as stupid as Bubba’s “Think merge” remarks) and she should’ve covered it up with something like “just in case no one’s around camp when I get hungry” or something like that. When she stops at “just in case”, it leaves an open ended interpretation - which Ami practically striked her down with. I personally thought Lisa was one of the likeable people on the tribe. Such a shame.

Rory - Again, Rory’s theme? “There’s magic on Vanuatu”. He had been receiving votes in every single tribal council that he’s gone to, and yet, he’s still here!! Rory’s editing this week has been very curious. Is MB setting him up to rise like a phoenix from the ashes? The slave remarks were indeed kind of cheesy. I am concerned that MB really is trying to edit him into a likeable character ala Kathy’s editing in Marquesas (the ultimate underdog). I don’t think I can fathom the thought of him being in the Final Four. Unless of course we see a serious turn in his gameplay in the weeks to come. We’ve already seen a spike in that this week. Is Rory likeable? Not so much. But interesting? Yes indeed.
Lopevi Tribe

Chad - We hear him talk about the co-ed situation at camp, and him glancing a few lookos down Julie’s nekkidness. But that’s about as much as we got out of Chad. Why are the editors hiding him? Does he have a bigger storyline in the coming weeks? Or is he just plain boring?

Chris - Again, not much out of Chris this week. It’s interesting that he has several interesting confessionals during teh first few episodes, then .. nothing. Is he just plain boring (like Chad)? Maybe. But I did catch one thing out of him this episode. The conversation about Yasur winning the pig challenge (while they were dissing Eliza). Chris was bitching about how they didn’t try hard enough and “even when I failed the balance beam, I never stopped trying”. That gave me major hinkies. It was also a direct contrast to Leann’s non-winning remarks I mentioned earlier. I may be over exagerrating but I’d like to think that these are the subtle hints that the editors are providing us.

John K - John K is back to becoming the invisible man. It is very clear now that he’s the odd man out in the tribe. Chris-Chad-Sarge are a team. His only hope, if there were a tribal council is if he forces a tie with Twila and Julie, but his chances may be slim considering that Twila has become quite chummy with the men. John K - Dead Man Walking. Only a merge may save him.

Julie - Aaahhh finally some obligatory Survivor nudity. I’m trying to keep track (what a perv. LOL) In Marquesas there was John at the waterfalls. In Thailand there was Ghandia’s “Bigfoot” shot. In Amazon, there were Sticks and Twigs with the peanut butter thingy. In Pearl Islands, there were Andrew, Osten and Ryno and the aptly titled “Morgan Behind”. Of course, there was Richard who was “not so impressive down there” in All Stars. And now, Julie! Too bad ntv7 censored it though. Aaaaaanyway, I think Julie was very smart to initiate the “why the hell did they keep someone like Eliza on the tribe” talk at Lopevi. She’s thinking far ahead into the merge. She needs to get rid of the only other eye candy left. Genius. She still is in a precarious position now. She needs to hope that Lopevi keeps on winning challenges until the merge. Just in case.

Lea - I will still say that Lea is a Deena edit. He still seems in a strong position, but perhaps not for long. He seems to get waaay to attached with Twila, which may not bode well with his other allies, but who knows.

Twila - I am finally starting to like Twila. She is 200% more at home at Lopevi than being in an all female tribe. I think she would’ve been in a much stronger position if the tribes started out with both men and women. I fear that Twila will suffer the same fate as Sarge though. The whole “best friend in 20 years” talk gave me major hinkies. Either these two will last long in the game, or they will become best friends as the early jury in Loser’s Lodge.

Predictions : Brain/Heart/Gut

Brain : If Yasur loses, wow. God knows. I would like to think Eliza. Rory and Scout has expressed interest of booting Eliza. But chances are Eliza-Ami-Leann could take down Scout instead because she is not much stronger than Eliza herself. If Lopevi loses, I think John K will be gone for sure. The men are already thinking merge, and they nee to vote out the remaining individual threat. And they also need to keep their word to Twila.

Heart : Eliza

Gut : John K.

Stickies for the Sixth Episode :

(will add the stickies later tomorrow)

Whoa. It’s been two weeks since my last Survivor update. I blame Malaysian Idol. LOL. To tell you the truth, I only managed to catch last week’s episode of Survivor (the Brady boot) an hour before the new episode started tonight. I had downloaded the episode last weekend but was too caught up with work (I finally finished the Top 10 Serial Killers article. Phew!)

The producers must’ve been toasting champagne when the earthquake happened. How often do you see that on reality shows? Almost never, right? Other than that, I have been waiting for a tribal switch to happen, and thankfully it did. How the switch was done was pretty much Thailand style.. by choosing a chief from each tribe. It was an interesting twist to let one chief divide the castaways, while the other decides who gets which tribe.

So.. introducing the new tribes :

Episode 5 : Castaways Impressions

Yassur Tribe

Ami - Nice. Now we get to see the lesbian claws come out. LOL. Ami proved to be athletic despite losing out to Chris in the diving challenge (Flashback to week one’s herring quote : “I’m not used to coming second behind a man” - she just did. I got major goosebumps cause I have both Ami and Chris pegged as the Final Two). And despite nominating Scout as the chief, it’s kinda clear that she’s a leader too. It is also getting more obvious that she is the only one really playing the game from the Yasur tribe. She was right to question Bubba on his actions at the Immunity Challenge. If Ami doesn’t make it to at least Final Four, I’m gonna quit watching Survivor.

Eliza - Seriously, I hate Eliza with a passion. with her overly exaggerated facial expressions (particularly, the shocked big round eye look) and annoying bimbo talk. STFU already! She’s just pissed she’s not on the other team so that she can flirt with the boys. And her talk about not wanting to get rid of the boys? Stupid move. If anything, that goes to prove to Scout and Lisa (and whoever was there at the time) that Eliza is not that happy with an all girls alliance. She needs to go.

Leann - Again, not much of Leann this episode. I do, however, loved it when the earthquake happened during one of her confessionals. That can NOT be rehearsed. LOL. I don’t know if we’re ever gonna get a storyline out of Leann. In her first tribal council, Jeff pointed out that she might be a target because she’s too UTR. I wonder if she’s doing anything about it.

Lisa - Lisa’s facetime had a significant growth in last episode’s and this episode. This might not make me popular, but I kinda like Lisa. She had remained very positive for the last two episodes. People say that her pleasantries are fake, but genuine or not, the jury’s still out on that. I hope she will, at least, outlast the fricking chatterbox.

Rory - ROry’s theme? “There’s magic on Vanuatu”. We have not seen anything really positive from this guy. He’s a sourpuss, terrible in the challenges and his social skills are highly questionable. And on top of that, Jeff have been quite snarky with Rory personally (in last week’s Tribal Council, as well as during and after this week’s Immunity Challenge). And yet, he still is in the game. I’m at a loss for words.

Travis - What a dumbass country hick. Fricking doofus. I’m not mad he’s screwed his chance in the game, I’m just pissed that he might’ve screwed Chris’ chance to by planting seeds of doubt with the Yasur after his idiotic signalling at the Immunity Challenge. Hell, it wasn’t even signalling. He didn’t even mouth it. It was clearly audible that he said it out loud to Chris : “Think about the merge”. I mean, how mind numbingly stupid can you get? I know CBS only takes A type personalities for this show, but did they ditch the IQ test or something? To quote my favourite Survivor contestant, Shii Ann : “Stupid People. Stupid, stupid people”. Idiot. As much as I didn’t like MamaKim from Africa, she at least was smart enough to give SUBTLE hints to Kelly at the Immunity Challenge (she signalled the L sign to indicate Lindsey had prior votes in case of a 3-3 tie at the new Samburu). I mean.. wow. People like this shouldn’t be allowed to play this game. That spot was totally wasted on him. Colourful hillbilly my ass. Go back to your farm and milk the cow or sumthin. Imagine, if he didn’t do that utterly stupid thing, Rory would’ve been gone by now. Idiot.

Lopevi Tribe

Chad - We get to hear more from Chad on his approach to the game in last week’s Tribal Council. And he wasn’t too bad with the diving challenges too (I kept looking out for shots of him swimming in the water cause I was curious to see what his prosthetic leg would look like in the water). I also noticed he’s gotten a bit chummy with Julie after the switch. Not sure if that amounts up to anything though.

Chris - I dont think there was a strategic confessional from Chris this week. He did however pulled one for his team when he got the final marker for the Reward Challange. (The Ami vs Chris, along with Ami’s quote is totally giving me goosebumps. Please let them be the Final Two). He looked comfortable to be around Twila. I’m not sure how his chances will be with the rest of the Yasur women now, after that stupid hick pulled the idiotic move. How will the women perceive him?

John K - John K proved to the tribe that he’s not all talk (about being athletic and stuff) but he really does have what it takes. I think it was a bit naive of him to think that the core men’s alliance’s is gone though, but I think his chances are good if he sides with the girls soon.

Julie - We should rename Julie to Who?lie. Why do native americans speak so little on camera? Julie = Darrah version 2.0 I’m not sure what her chances are in this tribe now. I think she’s the most vulnerable member, but we see from the previews next week (well, not if you watch ntv7, that is) that she might use her wiles and charms to get in favour with the men. But will it work?

Lea - Lea is totally getting a Deena edit. He may seem like he’s the leader and in control of everything at the moment, but I smell mutiny on the horizon. Lea will not make it to the Final 4 (or even Final 6 if he’s lucky).

Twila - Okay, I’m gonna eat my words here. So, Twila CAN indeed go along fine with the men. My bad. She does seem like she has softened up a bit since Mia’s departure. But I think her storyline is over. Her biggest story arc, in my opinion, is about work ethics and that has been dealt and done with. If she makes it to the merge, she’ll be an early jury.

Predictions : Brain/Heart/Gut

Brain : If Yasur loses, Rory takes the walk of shame. If Lopevi loses, I dont think they will boot off the women. After seeing Travis voted off, it’s clear that the women are still sticking to the original alliance. And if they’re talking about the numbers game, the men are now on the losing side. It would be in their best interest to prove to Yasur that the old alliance doesn’t exist anymore (in hoping get on the positive side with the ladies) by voting one of their own out, which will be John K.

Heart : Eliza (and Rory as my secondary choice)

Gut : Eliza

Stickies for the Fifth Episode :

(will add the stickies later tomorrow)

It was one of those rare occassions that lived up to its hype on our local scene, the Malaysian Idol Grand Final results show was certainly one of the most satisfying event on television this year so far.

The pre-show was kicked off by a solo performance by none other than my girl, Shima!I was very happy to see her on stage. It’s quite an honour for her to be the only non-Finalist (good ones, that is) to be invited for a performance that night. Her rendition of Alicia Keyes ‘Fallin’ was good but I still loved her ‘Careless Whisper’ from the workshops. I was hoping they’d bring Yin back but that was not the case.

The other non-finalists to make it onto the show was Lee Kar Wei (the poor girl who messed up the theatres rounds - I was really hoping she wouldn’t forget her lyrics this time and thankfully she didn’t. Her performance was just alright for me though) and Julian (the guy with the quivering cheeks whose performance didn’t show much improvements).

They also did an excellent recap of te show, from the auditions to theatre eliminations to the workshops and on to the spectaculars. We were treated with recaps of some of the colourful characters from the show like Thalia (who told the judges to go ‘down there’), Firdaus (the over dramatic Kelantanese guy who I think really hates girls with flowers in their hair) and the weird JB girl (who is probably the only person in the show who’s more rude than Roslan himself). Oooh which brings me to Fantasia dissing our judges.

Fantasia dissing Roslan : “Hey Roslan, stop shoving pencils up your nose and start judging!”. That was absolutely hilarious. But in all fairness, I really thought Roslan was quite funny with his selamba, couldn’t careless, bored shitless facial expressions during the horrendous auditions with the pencils up his facial crevices. It was also funny when Fantasia dissed Gee by sarcastically saying : “Hey Kak Gee, it’s not ALL about pitching, okay?” Too fucking funny.

And then there was of course the performances by the 10 finalists. Sufiah and Fazly sounded surprisingly good together. But then out came Rydee with Prince’s Purple Rain. WOW! That’s what I’m saying, y’all. This is the kind of song that they really should’ve sand during the 80s week. Rydee’s performance was so fucking awesome. But what was up with the hair? If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve thought she’s auditioning for Cats. No offense, Rydee.

The performances by Victor and Fahmy was pleasant, though I think they were really trying to imitate Innuendo a tad too much. Zamil came on to sing his best song ‘My Baby You’ - I’m still waiting to hear him sing a fast number. Hee. Much to the delight of many viewers, Nikki came on stage singing ‘Emotions’. She didn’t quite pull it off as well as she did in her audition, but nonetheless it was a damn good performance.

Saiful also sung his personal best song, Yassin’s Mimpi Laila. And finally Vick and Andrew came on last singing Man Bai’s Kau Ilhamku. If Vick wasn’t there to sing the song with him, Andrew would probably put me to sleep once again. Seriously.

After the Final 10 contestants, Jien and Aleya introduced Mohd Izwan, the PBSM guy who sang a dangdut song in the audition. That guy sure got some BALLS! At first I thought it was going to be oh so tacky, and will set a precedent for other people who’s going to audition next year. People who will audition and do the craziest thing just for the sake of getting their 15 minutes of fame, which is just kind of sad. But the PBSM guy’s performance was still pretty comical, and I don’t think Malaysians should start worrying that he will ever get a recording contract like a certain Mr Hung.

Before they announced who the winner was, Jac and Dina had a final duet together, singing ‘Signed, Sealed, Delievered’. I was not at all happy to hear them singing that song. YOu know why? Because it will once again set off alarms in clueless people’s head when they once again satrt comparing Jac to Fantasia (who sang this song in her first round of American Idol). I really hope Malaysians will come to terms and realise that Jac and Fantasia are as different as Monica and Macy Gray. Please stop the comparisons NOW!

Finally the results were announced. Jac winning Malaysian Idol with a staggerring 76% of the votes were simply overwhelming. It’s nice to know that Malaysians have not completely lost their common sense (and sense of hearing) yet. Thank you Malaysia for making Jac our very 1st Malaysian Idol.

And to Jac, a very well earned Congratulations are in order. You totally deserve it!

Oh wow. What a show! I never thought I’d EVER say this but I’m kinda glad I skipped watching a Survivor episode for another show. Believe me, you will never hear me say that again. But.. whoa! The Malaysian Idol grand finale is the total shiznits! (Survivor recap will be posted on Monday)

The show started off with a rather ambitious Red Carpet kinda thing. That was a great effort - giving the show a glorified pseudo Hollywood-ish kinda feel. What’s lacking was the lack of celebrity. I mean, Sasi The Don.. Phlowtron..? Okay, so they are artists in their own rights, but come on! I’m sure they could get more, you know, bigger and better celebrities. But overall, I liked their effort. There’s always time for improvements next year.

The show started off with a group ensemble of the 10 other Malaysian Idol finalists. “Ku Bawa Sinar” was a feel good song, and granted that the 10 weren’t exactly AF students and it seemed pretty messy, it was quite a fun performance (for the finalists - I can’t speak the same for the viewers). What? Give me a break. This is going to be the last time I’ll be criticizing their performances. Let me rant, okay? LOL Anyway, out of the 10, I see big things for Sufiah, Nikki, Saiful, Vick and Zamil - I’m not overtly worried about those five. Oh, and to the producers, where the heck was Shima? She was so robbed.

Jien gave me a glint ray of hope when he asked Gee if she “was going to miss sitting in between the two guys”. I take that to mean, either she WON’T be here next season, or better yet, the baldy next to her won’t be in the judges seat next season. And I would like to slap silly the idiots who replied “YES!!” when Roslan asked if they wanted to hear more pantuns from him (And Jien.. STOP encouraging him). Urghh enough already with the pantuns. But I don’t know, to be fair, Roslan’s comments on Dina and Jac’s capabilities (the one recorded while he was in the recording studio) proved that he knows what he’s talking about, music and talent wise. I just don’t know why he comes across as an ignorant fuck during the shows. His comments during the show come across as one dimensional, shallow and well, pretty much useless - as though he’s trying to hard to give these ‘controversial yet meaningful’ comments to woo the viewers. Meh. Whatever. Hopefully that’ll be my final rant on him. Ever.

Other highlights of the show.. hmm… well I really like Dina’s quote of “Rock chick don’t play with Pooh bears”. That was pretty witty. Oooh and I looooved the special guest ‘appearances’ by Fantasia, Bicurious George and Boomquisha. They rock! And I am still wondering, why do people keep saying that the Malaysian Idol winner will be up against Fantasia in the World Idol? I thought it was Ruben’s turn to perform in the World Idol. Well whatever it is, Fantasia/Ruben may not be the best in the World Idol stage. There could be a Kurt Nielsen Part Deux too.

Okay, on to the performances. I’m going to keep these very very brief :

“Gemilang” - Dina (the Malaysian Idol single)
Dina hit excellent high notes but she fell a tad short near the end, In some parts, I feel like her voice was drowned out by the loud music. But it was a very pleasant performance. An 8 and a half.

“Tunggu Sekejap” - Jac (Judges’ Pick)
I can’t honestly say that I’ve really listened to P Ramlee’s version prior to Jac’s first performance. And after hearing the original P Ramlee version, her rendition tonight was just WOW! How did she ever manage to turn that P Ramlee original into a song like that? Her ending was excelent. A 9.

“Jelingan Manja” - Dina (Her pick)
I wasn’t sure if Dina was going to sing “Jelingan Manja” or “When You Believe” for the finals cause I thought these were her two best performances. Her rendition this time was very nice, but not nearly as nice as her first rendition. Gee stole the words out of my mouth. She lacked that certain cheekiness (and that cheeky laughter) that made the first rendition so excellent. But it was still a good performance. A 9.

“When I Fall In Love” - Jac (Her pick)
I was over the hill when Jac chose to sing this song, because I still believe that her performance for this song from the 3rd concert was her best performance so far. Well, until tonight, that is. I didn’t think she could’ve made the song any better, but goddammit, she DID! She can even pull the notes while sitting down. INfuckinCREDIBLE. A perfect 10. That performance just blew Fantasia’s (overrated) Summertime the fuck away.

“Hit Em Up Style” - Dina (Judges’ Pick)
Well, Dina was clearly in her element with this song. Though she sounded good, I think her first rendition was much better than this one. And I think she shrieked a note somewhere in the middle. An 8.

“Gemilang” - Jac (Malaysian Idol single)
Jac looked elegant in that all black dress. Her rendition is this song is much superior than that of Dina’s. And Paul summed it up just right. It was a perfect ending to this season. A 9 and a half.

So, who you’re gonna vote for? You have less than 10 hours to vote now, so get your asses on gear and vote vote vote!

This is getting ridiculous. I know we keep having tv stations filling up half the screen with advertisements and/or chat messages while the TV show is showing, but ntv7 takes the cake! The actual tv show was shrunk to less than 40% of the total screen for the Digi advertisement (the one where it seems like you are watching the show from a mobile screen). Oh my. Well, at least we’re still getting the show almost at the same time as our counterparts in the US, so I should count my blessings. (But, honestly! Sheesh… shrinking the tv screen in that advertisement was just ridiculous beyond words)

And.. wow! My gut prediction was actually spot on. W00t!! That almost never happens.. but from the previews last week, I think everyone knew that Mia was a goner. My choice of John Paylok from Lopevi was just a crapshot. I must say, so far, Survivor Vanuatu has not disappoint. Three episodes and not a single one made me yawn. This week’s episode was particularly interesting where they voted out two contestants instead of one. Pretty fast way to cut down the number of contestants but it seemed like they had 18 contestants in the first place specifically just for this ‘twist’, which kinda sucks. And Mark Burnett promised after the Outcast twist, no two survivors will be booted in a single episode. But still, you gotta love that lying, evil genius.

It was a pretty exciting episode. The challenges was kept to a minimum. They had both reward and immunity back to back. And half of the episode was focused on the tribe dynamics, which is the heart and soul of this game. You see people scrambling to save themselves. Alliances switch back and forth. Granted that the only real ‘fight’ we’ve seen so far was between Mia and Twila, that was good enough to make a shit-stirrer like me happy. Oooh and I was laughing my ass off when the subtitles displayed “Modder” when Mia said ‘martyr’.

Episode 3 : Castaways Impressions

Yassur Tribe
Ami - I think I may have fallen in love with this lesbian lady. Ami scored huge points for (i) getting individual immunity from John K (ii) being regarded as ’safe no matter what’ (iii) being very diplomatic in the Tribal Council (iv) taking some shots at Twila without really offending her (v) making excellent confessionals based on her observations. Oh boy, I know I said that I don’t want to have a favourite, but I can’t help it. I love Miss Ami. And there’s more to Ami than you might think. Some of you may have come across her pictures in Playboy (which puts Jerri, Jessie, Heidi and Jenna to shame), and that’s kinda telling what she’s like in real life (daring, no-nonsense, brave, outstanding etc), but you almost see none of that in her character in the show. For Ami, game is definitely ON in Vanuatu. I’ll be brave and declare that she will be Final Four, at least.

Eliza - LOL. John K summed her up very well. “Just shut up already!” and he’s only spent less than a day with her. Oh my. I thought Eliza was playing a good game last week. Not anymore. Her waivering loyalty backfired this week (thanks to Lisa). Eliza is now back again in the minority. Heaven knows how she’s gonna defend herself this time. And not only is she a chatterbox, can she be more obnoxious? I like what the ‘young-ins’ asked her when they were having a discussion with John K : “Are you teetering?”.. Aiyo.. the muka must be very de tebal to do that kind of thing. Uninvited and yet she still shows no shame. She’s getting desperate and it’s becoming laughable (but annoying at the same time). Get off my screen please.

Julie - *sigh* Julie, Julie, Julie. At least we got more than just a couple of lines out of you this episode. You were shown to be strategizing, but not as much as you should’ve. But I’m sorry sweetheart. You are so screwed and I don’t know what can save you now. It’s a real damn shame.

Leann - After her comments last week at Tribal Council, about being too quiet might play against her, I was kinda surprised to hear only one sentence out of her from the entire episode. But she’s in a safe position right now and I expect her storyline will grow in the weeks to come.

Lisa - I don’t know what they hell Lisa was trying to do by voting Mia off. Did she figure Eliza was gonna stick to the oldies alliance, and she would be better off siding with the majority? Hmm.. I don’t know. I think it was a big mistake because regardless who she votes with, her days are numbered.

Mia - I like Mia and I’m not afraid to say that out loud. Why? She’s the only one who has balls in that tribe. I get why she’s upset. After being called out in public by a condescending feminazi, she has every right to have that catfight. Again, it’s a numbers game and she lost because of that. Scout’s comments at Tribal Council (also calling her out) about getting rid of chaos and disharmony out of the group? Well, it takes two to tango baby. As Ami had also pointed out, Twila was at fault too. I guess some people just prefer to avoid confrontations and would rather eat all their problems inside. Sad, really. Well, I don’t care what the majority of the viewers might say, but I’m sorry to see Mia go. I would rather have someone who speak their mind, than someone who bitches and moans in the confessionals, basking in their own pity parties. Sheesh.

Scout - Scout is a total mystery. She has now fucked up THREE group challenges (even Jeff Probst called her out “Are you gonna dance with those keys, Scout?”) and yet, people don’t seem to want to vote her off. The girls all seem to like Scout. Why? I don’t know. Something is not being shown to us, which makes me wonder if Mark Burnett has other stories in store for us in regards to Scout in the coming weeks. However, her voting confessional was something uncalled for. For a woman her age (and academic qualifications) I would’ve expected her to be more graceful.

Twila - Nope. There’s definitely something about her that I don’t like. I mean, seriously.. I don’t get all the Twila love that’s been going around the boards. Refined woman? Gimme a break. She can’t adapt. She WON’T adapt. If numbers were not on her side, she’d so be history and get the Hunter boot (hardworking but that’s about it). Go watch Episode 1 back again. The first shot of her was of her Lil-worthy scowling face. Think she can speak better with men? Oh I very much doubt it. *insert patented mia-eye-roll emoticon here*

Lopevi Tribe
Brady - Not much seen of him this episode, but at least now we know he’s in the minority and possibly the next to go from the tribe. *sigh* why must all the eye-candy go so soon this season? Anyway, I’m kinda amazed that Brady’s not putting his FBI persona and skills in this game. He seems like he knows he’s screwed and is well, basically, scrambling. I’m disappointed.

Chad - Mysterious Chad. Did you guys notice that we have barely seen or heard anything negative from Chad? He is so getting special treatment from the editing crew. I mean, from what we’ve seen so far, how can we NOT like Chad? He hasn’t said anything really strategic in his confessionals, but he has been talking a lot on spirituality and morality, which probably means, he’s in it for the long haul. But will he get the million? His chances seems good so far, but I don’t think so.

Chris - Chris was invisible last week, and this week I think there was only one particular scene with him in it. But it spoke magnitudes! From the episode we are led to believe that Sarge is in control of everything. However, when Sarge asked Chris about letting go of Rory, Chris’s response of “This is not the right time!” managed to shut the drill sergeant up. Makes you wonder who’s pulling all the strings in Lopevi, don’t you? I like Chris. I would be willing to say he’s secured his place in the Final Four, or Final Two even.

John K - He got the biggest spike in face time this episode. He was John Who last week, but he was clearly THE MAN this week. Winning the immunity was just superb. Getting to spend the rest of the day with the women was even better! Who knew this young good looking boyish model would break the stereotype? He’s good at the challenges, and he seemed very strategic during his stay at Yasur. I am highly impressed! But what’s his fate gonna be like within his own tribe? Personally, I think it looks bleak unless the majority think they owe it to him for stirring the shits over at Yasur (and he may provide useful Yasur info with the men)

John P - The reason he was the one to go? Well, just because John K won immunity and he seemed more of a challenge threat (and more annoying) than Brady. To tell you the truth, I always found John P a little weird from his confessionals. I don’t know, he talks like he’s a teenager or something. But the main reason I’m glad he’s gone is that now we can finally go back to referring JP to the REAL JP - Jeff Probst.

Lea - Lea seemed to be the center of Lopevi. He seems in charge of everyone at camp (but not in a drill sergeant kind of way). Brady’s comments on Sarge at Tribal Council might score him some points with the leader, but IS he the real leader of Lopevi?

Rory - What is up with the negativity? He could’ve at least brought back some of those oranges (or limes or whatever) and offered them to his other tribemates. Seriously, this guy has NO social skills whatsoever. And that is the reason why John P took the walk of shame, and not Rory. Rory is the fifth wheel in the men’s alliance. If they were to take a relatively more pleasant guy like John K, John P or Brady, they might switch to the girls when the merge comes. But Rory? Based on the current editing, there’s no way in hell the girls were gonna accept him. Rory is mildly tolerable, but more importantly, dispensable. And that’s why he’s probably going to outlast John K and Brady. Some times, being loathsome can really work for you. Remember Clay from Thailand, anyone? He made it to the Final Two.

Travis - Nothing memorable out of Bubba this episode, although during the immunity challenge, the cameras showed that the women were kinda amused with Bubba’s antics. This might bode well for him when, or if, the merge happens.

Predictions : Brain/Heart/Gut

Previews next week (still missing from ntv7) shows Brady trying to gain favour of his tribe by finding fish using their spear they won from the reward challenge. And the previews also show Lisa defending herself on her vote for Mia, and Eliza calling her a bitch. (Hello, Pot. Meet Kettle. Kettle. Pot)

Brain : If it’s the guys, it’s hard to tell. I still think Rory is safe despite what we’ve seen so far. It will be down between John K and Brady. Since the previews are showing Brady struggling for acceptance, it could be him. However, John K has been in the JohnP/Brook alliance since Day One. So I’m gonna go with John K. If it’s the girls, it’s hard to say. I’m pretty sure it will be between the two ‘traitors’ - Eliza and Lisa. Why would the older group chose Eliza? Why would they choose Lisa? I would say, Eliza would be a good choice, because she’s flipped-flopped twice.. and can anyone really stand that motormouth?

Heart : Rory (still) or Twila (she’ll probably be my Heart pick till she gets voted off)

Gut : John K or Lisa

Stickies for the Third Episode :

* Volcano eruptions galore!

* Chris : Now is NOT the time (with regards to voting Rory out)

* Mia (to Twila) : You keep playing that card (about working hard) - (she will)

* Twila : I’m a tomboy. I talk better with men than women. (uhh.. I doubt it)

* Eliza : They (pointing to the older group) were targetting me
Leann/Ami? : You take that back!

* JohnK (giving immunity to Ami) : Out of everyone here, she’s the only one who won’t get bvoted out no matter what

* Ami unafraid that she might jeopardize her position in the tribe by calling Twila out in the open at Tribal Council. Very very diplomatic. And kinda ironic, how a lesbian is teaching Twila how to be more feminine.

* Scout (voting Mia out) : Good luck finding a husband who will put up with you. (again, very ironic, coming from a lesbian)

(might add some more stickies later in the week)