Yahoo!

Just finished my exam, and it's the end of this semester for me. My last paper was at 5:30PM until 7:30PM. To be honest, I was not so confident with the exam, but I think the overall mark for the unit should be ok lah!

Now I can concentrate on the holiday...lol!

Will be going to KL this Sunday, a 1-week field trip to visit various media companies like Astro, TV3, BERNAMA, News Straits Times, and the rest of the time would be... enjoy~~~~. I'm not pretty sure what would the activities would be besides visiting those places, but we have received invitation from TV3 to watch Muzik-Muzik recording session (it's on Thursday isn't it?). Hopefully Astro will have something good for us like..... *hint*AF*hint.... hehehe. At least if we can see the live recording and editing of the AF diary would be more than superb. Hehehe. Takyah tengok concert pun takpe... I'm more interested about the production thingy.

Will buy new computer stuffs as well. Lowyat.... here I come!

Anyway... I watched the AF Diary for the day, both the afternoon and the night episodes. It was amusing that the teachers stand up for their students (regarding the critics they had during yesterday's concert). I would agree to that because, all the performances are already approved by the teachers, but still there were some things which was wrong at the eyes of the critics (Adlin to be specific), so the students are not those to be blamed, at least not 100%. What I think is, critics have no rights to blame the direction of performance towards the students as performers because all the directing were choreographed by the teachers (Corrie and Linda), but some critics just could not accept that. Anyway, as overall I think it was a good concert yesterday, better than the previous 2 weeks.

Songs/assignments for this week:

Zila - These Boots Are Made For Walking (Nancy Sinatra/Jessica Simpson)
Amirul - Khatulistiwa (Blues Gang)
Faizal - Wo! (Zahid)
Farhan - Tak Ingin Lagi (Misha Omar)
Diddy - Nusantara (Kembara)
Salima - Senandung Hidup Berbudi (Ramli Sarip)
Velvet - Dikir Puteri (Noraniza Idris)
Lotter - Bertemasya Desa Gemalai (Ramli Sarip)
Haziq - Buat Sang Puteri (Spider)

Well, it's not a lucky day for Rich today since he was eliminated at the 3rd AF concert. Actually I would say his performance of 'Mustika' was one of the best after Farhan's 'Still Got The Blues'. Darn he got out so fast! Anyway, if you guys want to meet Rich and Velvet tonight, be sure to find them around Hartamas because they're gonna watch football match tonight.

Anyway, I just heard Estranged's Malay song called 'Kembali'. I was stunned to hear such modern Malay rock song, with a different kind of music that we can hear by the local Malay pop-rock bands nowadays.

Here's the sample (or should we call a full version sample) of the song. There are three other songs up on their Myspace (www.myspace.com/estrangedinfo).

I've ordered one copy of their CD titled "In Hating Memory", a 2005 release, off www.eastern.com.my, and I think you guys should grab one too. Not bad from an independent band/artist.

p/s: Gotta prepare for my last exam paper tomorrow evening, Business Communication 101.

Here is the full version of assignment giving session yesterday. So funny!

[Xvid MPEG-4, 33m58s, 66.98MB]

* Please make sure that you have Xvid codec installed to view the video properly.

Just now I was on my way home, back from RHB Boulevard. It was at Pujut-Lutong highway, just around 1-1.5KM after the Saberkas roundabout. I was cruising at 90km/h (max speed limit) on the right lane. It was around 10:20PM. First there was a Mercedes overtaking my car so I slowed down a bit to around 80km/h. Then I rev up back to 90km/h (always ngam-ngam). A few seconds later came this black Myvi like mad chicken came from behind. At that time, on the left lane was a white Civic EG. Then I noticed through my left side mirror that the black Myvi had no sign of slowing down. I was at constant speed, and almost side by side with the white Civic and yet the goddamn pig Myvi just overtake me like nobody business almost got sandwiched between us. Luckily I stepped the brake quickly and I noticed the other car was kinda almost steered away as well. Then I saw that stupid car still potong-potong other car like nobody's business. Luckily I didn't catch his registration number or else....

Stupid black Myvi driver.... you think you can show off la? So lame... you think Myvi so tough ha. Luckily I brake quickly or else tonight will probably your last night living in this world before you meet Saddam Hussein or Hitler, or Elvis Presley. Curse you die accident tonight! If not tomorrow! Idiot! Baka!

To all Myvi drivers out there... please be responsible. Do not show off on the road. Myvi is not a tough car. No need to mention about car with car collision, just imagine when you're driving fast suddenly your suspension arm snapped and you lost control of your 'precious' car.... mati loh. Drive your Myvi safely, it's a lovely car, not a race car.

Anyway, takziah to Joe's family (Johari Wahap) for the lost of his mother a few days ago in a car accident (it was a Myvi).

Hehe.... I broke my record again (bragging mode). The one before this was around RM190-ish.

No cheating hor... just RM30 top-up every 30-days and rarely use my phone. I don't really call or sms people anyway. Just that it's extra lucky for this month that I've got extra 50% reload for birthday bonus.

... oh by the way, it's just a Nokia 5210.

It seems that LIME Fansubs may have dropped their subbing project for “Fighting Beauty Wulong” and “High School Girls” anime. The current status for these two series are "STALLED" as mentioned on their website. I'm dropping them from my collection as well since these series aren’t not that great either. Hopefully they wont drop "Angel Heart".

             

Fighting Beauty Wulong

High School Girls

 

Public Relation final exam on next Monday.... *sigh*.... I haven't really revised everything yet.

This is some short summary of what was happening after the first concert.

After the elimination of Nora last night, the kids were at first quite sad, showed sorrow faces especially Karen who was very close to her. However Dr. Fazley was able to cheer them up by getting them an outing. They went to Taman Warisan Pertanian Putrajaya. The funny part was when Rich referred 'buah kedondong' as 'kekondong'…. Hahaha.

Anyway, when the kids got back from their outing, they had a small jam session which they dedicated to Nora. Not that great but kinda fun to watch. These clips were ripped from AF Xtra. Only for your own personal use, do not resale at any cost.

Pergilah Sayang.avi [DivX, 5m14s, 11.49MB]

Belaian Jiwa.avi [DivX, 4m37s, 10.08MB]

The theme was the 60's/P.Ramlee's songs. Heck... even the background music for the set was sounded like from the score of a 60's film. Since the theme wasn't my thing, so it was a boring concert to me. Don't blame me about that, it's not that I don't appreciate what P.Ramlee did for the local entertainment back then, it's just that I don't listen to this kind of music.

The show was started with Rich, singing "Ai Ai Twist". He's actually one of my favourite since he had the rocker persona (for those who did not know, he was the vocalist of the local indie band called "Estranged" which plays funk-metal type of music like old-school Incubus, as well as "Psyklone" which I actually have not heard before). As what I had expected, this song was just not his style. He sang quite okay, but there wasn't any vibe from his performance. It was a 'twist' song but he lacked the steps, like what was being said by Adlin.

Zila came in as the second performer, performed "Jangan Tinggal Daku". Before that, there was a v.t. shown, a clip from the diary that showed a one-on-one session with the principle Ramli Sarip. I think it was a cheap attempt by Astro trying to play with audiences' emotion by exposing how Zila came from a broken family and stuffs. It's a cheap publicity okay, not to mention it affected Zila's own feelings. How would she feel that viewers knew about something within her own privacy? Seriously this kind of controversy would attract sympathy votes for the students, Zila to be particular. Anyway, regarding her performance it was rather plain and lacked of emotion portrayed from her movements but her singing tone did displayed a sad tone. She had problems with low notes where it was hard to listen to her singing in the lower range. Aznil did tried to make fool of himself by impersonating Kassim Selamat playing a saxophone in the background.

Next was Nora. She had been a controversy all over the forum for displaying a 'gedik' behaviour (they said, not me...) simply because she was being graceful or like to dance. I think it was just her personality. I have seen a lot more worse human being than that. Give her a break, she was just being herself. Who really wanted to act annoying when he/she knows cameras were everywhere and the people who would be judging were watching. Anyway, she sang "Perwira". Her singing was okay, but the only problem was that her pronounciation was not clear enough as if she was mumbling all the time. And the sailor man gimmick was lame.... I think it was better if that part was left out of the performance. Eh... wasn't that sailors are stereotyped as gays in the American entertainment? LOL!

Then it was Haziq's turn. Aznil told him try to sing a song which is not 'Melayu Asli' that wont sound like Ahmad Jais. He tried singing 'Mungkin Nanti' of Peter Pan, but still he sounded like Ahmad Jais. It annoys me.... a little. Haziq sang "Tidurlah Permaisuri" where he slacked at the start, hit the wrong timing and was not able to cover up his mistakes which was obvious to me. He still sounded like Ahmad Jais in this one. Seriously he needs to change the way he sings so that he won't sounded like as if he was singing every song like lagu asli. It's annoying and insults the original singer. He also need to improve his singing skills, off-pitching was quite noticeable. By the way, the nude female doll joke was lame (Aznil tried to remove the doll prop where he 'accidentally' separated the top half of the doll's body, exposing the lower part nude without cloth).

Nothing much to say about Farhan which turn was after Haziq's, performed the song "Hujan Di Tengah Hari". I think it was a great singing by her which the song suited her voice quite well. I think she will do great in any jazzy kind of songs. It was a simple performance but her singing was 'her show'. However, Adlin did commented about her doing the same 'tai-chi' hand movement over and over again.

The only Sarawakian in this season, Amirul performed "Dengar Ini Cerita" (Axion commercial...lol). Different from many other reviews or critics, I actually satisfied with his singing. It was not that great, but acceptable. Somehow Adlin did not satisfied with the direction of background performance. He should have blamed the people who were behind all the choreography and performance instead, not Amirul. It wasn't his idea for sure. Apart from the whole performance, seriously I don't have any idea why would people being too bias against him just because he looked like Daniel or Saiful of MI, or because he was often shown on t.v. sleeping. Well, sometimes we have to have our own common sense when we watch reality shows. There are people who are trying to be fake to get good impression by audience, but there are also times where they could actually be themselves. My point is just that, why would people (these contestants) make themselves look bad to the audience? It's a common sense that the kids are just being themselves, what's wrong with that? Do the audience think that they themselves are perfect enough to judge other people's behaviour? I'm not being bias here, but this is a fact, a true representation by the mass audience of reality t.v. shows.... not only for Amirul, but for other contestants as well.

Salima sang "Apa Guna Berjanji". It was an okay performance but not that impressive. It was just another 'karaoke session'. I dislike her clothing, and she's just the next victim of the Astro's wardrobe section. All the 'tudung' thingy was not relevant anymore since she had tight clothing on her, exposing her body curves. Instead of criticizing her of not to be in this program because of the 'bertudung' image, she might as well opt to have a more loose and proper clothing. But, I hate more about certain dumb audience that thinks Salima is 'alim' just because she's wearing tudung, that's just plain stupid. This is the exact same case applied to Mawi as of the previous season.

Lotter's performance was considered by myself as a funny and entertaining performance especially with his stupid giggly expression when he had Fasha Sandha on stage accompanying his performance. There's nothing much to say, but he does have the funny look eventhough he was not really much of a joker (from my own judging by watching the extended version of the AF Diary). His singing was not that great, a little weak in a sense that he had pbvious problems with pitching in the song "Azizah" which he performed.

Karen performed "Pesta Muda Mudi". I was not really comfortable with her intonation. Her voice was not even clear enough especially during the earlier part, either it was technical problem with the mic's volume, or she hold the mic wrongly, or whether she's just poor at low notes. Pitching problem was noticeable at low notes. Her stage presence and movements (as in dancing) was good enough, but she should improve more on her vocals. Anyway, I think her dress was quite short and looked very 'kabaret-ish'....haha.

Then, it was Diddy's turn with "Aduh Sayang". I was looking for the right word to describe this guy all this while, and Adlin came up with the right term, 'intense'. Yes, I did thought that he had an intense facial expression all the time, as if all the things were hard for him. It even showed in his performance. He did too many movements repeatedly, and crouching too much. I think he had a great voice (he's a baritone) but he had a wrong expression to show in his performance. At the end of his singing, he flatted the note (sumbang giler!).

Velvet, like many other people I don't agree with this program focusing on her weight. I mean, what's wrong being fat like as if it annoys or offences other people? And how do you expect people to shave weights in just a few days (or in one night like that idiotic Jamal-the AF residence assistant thought)?. Anyway, she performed "Darah Muda". To me, it was an average performance. She had a great voice, but lack of vocal control especially at lower notes. It was hard to hear her low notes, as if she was just singing the high note parts. I just don't like the way she pronounce 'a' in certain way that it sounded like an 'e'. This is the exact same case with Jacqueline Victor's pronounciation. So annoying! I liked her performance during Konsert Prelude, it was much better.

The last performance was by Faizal. I think it was a quite good performance, great singing with minimal mistakes although he's kinda 'kayu' with his movements. His singing covers his poor dance skills. I don't have much comment on this one, it really was a good and smooth performance.

And...like I have predicted earlier, there was an elimination happening. In AF1, Liza was actually eliminated in the first concert but she was 'absorbed' back straight away. There was no elimination in the first concert in AF2 and AF3. Nora was eliminated. My assumptions are, there was not many people voting for her because the audience dislike her in term of her attitude, and if the Sabah voters would route for Sabahan contestants, they were most likely trying to help securing Lotter's place, or maybe Rich's place.... since when the voting was closed, Velvet and Nora placed the bottom rank, each with 6% and 5% votes out of the total.

My personal rating:

• Rich - 5/10
• Zila - 5/10
• Nora - 4/10
• Haziq - 3/10
• Farhan - 7/10
• Amirul - 5/10
• Salima - 5/10
• Lotter - 6/10
• Karen - 5/10
• Diddy - 4/10
• Velvet - 5/10
• Faizal - 7/10

Went to Karnival TV3 site at Boulevard with Sepol. They're still preparing the set and the booths. Then off to Imperial suite, just to check out the crews and celebs (the TV3 guys were staying there), as well as Peter's wedding (he had his wedding yellow racing spec MR-2 in front of the enterance -_-'). Saw Lan Pet-Pet in the shopping mall, like a crazy person waving and greeting (or shouting I rather say) people. Saw abang rambut ketak (Nas Ahmad) buying a porch from a leather shop. Eventhough he had a serious face, he did smiled back at me. I wonder who would he 'terjah' in Miri...lol. Forgot to bring my digicam.... haih.

Sepol was hungry so we went to Restoran Nasi Lemak. Eventhough the nasi lemak there was nice, but seriously we waited for more than 10 minutes to get ourselves order, as if we were being ignored. The same thing did happened a few times, not just tonight. Seriously the shop should train their workers to get alert of any new customers that comes in, instead of waiting to be called for taking orders.

While we both were eating, then came groups of TV3 crews, and the 'Lestari' drama actors.... sitting just beside our table.

Nizam and another friend joined our table later. Me and Sepol left at around 11:30PM.

Nothing much happened lately, except that I've been following the Diari AF Extended on Astro.tv (purchased the coupon via SMS for RM9 worth of handphone prepaid credit, valid for 30 days). Seriously I think it's much better if you can actually watch the extended and unedited diary because there is much more to see compare to the diary that you see on Astro Ria (or Astro@15). The diary only serve about 20 minutes per episode (not including the commercials) for one whole day of Akademi Fantasia daily schedule. You might even see more interesting stuffs that you won't see on TV.

I wont be doing any report for the diaries nor the extended clips since there are many other bloggers who are more than willing to do it (check out the blogs of klubbkidd or sultanmuzaffar for the diary updates). Probably I will only be writing my thoughts for the weekly concert. However I might share anything that is interesting that happens inside the diary extended, but don't put high hopes on it. I need to study for my finals in one week's time. I have not even finished my Konsert Prelude review... *sigh*.

Akademi Fantasia 4th season has already started! Tomorrow will be the prelude concert to choose 12 out of the 20 chosen in the early stage. I wont be commenting much, not just yet until I see their performance. I'll write my opinions and review for the prelude concert probably after the concert tomorrow. Darn, I have an assignment to finish by Monday morning!

Image courtesy of Astro