Daydreamer

Stronger Than Ever

2012-01-28T23:19:00.004+08:00

Currently Listening To: Kelly Clarkson - Mr. Know It All

I know, I've completely forgotten about reviewing Kelly Clarkson's latest album but after several months, I finally remembered to listen the album so here it goes.

Stronger - Deluxe Edition

Even after 11 seasons, Kelly is still the best American Idol and I think this album more or less proves it. I've never actually listened to her previous albums, only her released singles, so I must say I am pretty impressed with Stronger. It's a solid album, and most of the songs are really pleasant to listen to. If you love Kelly Clarkson, then you will definitely love this album. It's a great pop album, much better than a lot of stuff out there right now.

Track Listing for Deluxe Edition
01. Mr. Know It All (3:53)
02. Stronger (3:42)
03. Dark Side (3:45)
04. Honestly (3:36)
05. You Love Me (4:04)
06. Einstein (2:59)
07. Standing In Front Of You (3:59)
08. I Forgive You (3:04)
09. Hello (3:00)
10. The War Is Over (3:57)
11. Let Me Down (3:24)
12. You Can't Win (4:20)
13. Breaking Your Own Heart (3:49)
14. Don t You Wanna Stay (4:20)
15. Alone (3:01)
16. Don't Be A Girl About It (3:27)
17. The Sun Will Rise (3:33)

Overall: 8.5/10
Highlights: Mr. Know It All, Stronger, Honestly

As for American Idol, I will be blogging about it once they reach the Hollywood rounds. The auditions this year are slightly less eccentric, with more promising contestants so hopefully it'll be a good season.

On a side note...I've succumbed to the Hallyu Wave *waves K-pop banner meekly*
2PM fever still raging high, and of course I went to see F.T. Island live in Kuala Lumpur! That was a great concert by the way, Lee Hong Ki sounds excellent live and the other band members are amazingly talented!

Season 11

2012-01-19T21:50:00.002+08:00

Currently Listening To: Florence + the Machine - Strangeness and Charm

American Idol is back!
Looks like my blog will be back in business.

Ceremonials

2011-10-31T20:17:00.006+08:00

Currently Listening To: Florence + the Machine - What The Water Gave Me

31st October '11: Florence + the Machine's second album Ceremonials is released!

Sorry but I'm so skipping Kelly's Stronger, reviewing Ceremonials first.

Track Listing
1. Only If For A Night
2. Shake It Out
3. What The Water Gave Me
4. Never Let Me Go
5. Breaking Down
6. Lover To Lover
7. No Light, No Light
8. Seven Devils
9. Heartlines
10. Spectrum
11. All This And Heaven Too
12. Leave My Body

Bonus tracks:
13. Remain Nameless
14. Strangeness And Charm
15. Bedroom Hymns
16. What The Water Gave Me (Demo)
17. Landscape (Demo)
18. Heartlines (Acoustic)
19. Shake It Out (Acoustic)
20. Breaking Down (Acoustic)

Nice album cover, but not as interesting as Mylo Xyloto's cover design. The songs however, sound a lot better than Mylo Xyloto! Love love love her voice, definitely one of the more unique voices in the music industry now.

Ceremonials does not disappoint, Florence Welch has produced a very haunting album indeed, with some very well-crafted songs, but is it better than Lungs/Between Two Lungs? I really can't say that it is, mostly because I find the songs from both albums very ethereal and dramatic, which is something that I'm fond of.

To sum it up, I think she did a great job on her sophomore album, so all hail Florence Welch! *worships*

Overall: Must listen if you love indie-folk music! 9/10
Recommended: Shake It Out, What The Water Gave Me, Never Let Me Go, Spectrum, Leave My Body, Strangeness and Charm, Heartlines (Acoustic version)

Coming up (for real this time): Kelly Clarkson's Stronger

P.S: Oh i forgot - Happy Halloween y'all.

Mylo Xyloto

2011-10-24T21:42:00.004+08:00

Currently Listening To: Coldplay - Princess of China

Newly released, Coldplay's 5th studio album Mylo Xyloto.

Track Listing
1. Mylo Xyloto
2. Hurts Like Heaven
3. Paradise
4. Charlie Brown
5. Us Against The World
6. M.M.I.X.
7. Every Teardrop is a Waterfall
8. Major Minus
9. UFO
10. Princess of China
11. Up in Flames
12. A Hopeful Transmission
13. Don't Let It Break Your Heart
14. Up With The Birds

Another cool album cover. The album has 14 tracks but it's only about 44 minutes long, with 3 songs lasting for like, only 30 seconds each. I see they took a leaf out of Linkin Park's odd intermissions from A Thousand Suns O.o

Anyway, who would have thunk it, I was pretty excited for Mylo Xyloto after listening to Paradise. Was really disappointed with their last album, so I had high hopes for this one.

So how do I feel after listening to all the 14 songs? Mixed feelings I guess. Mylo Xyloto is like Coldplay + Keane's synths. Every Teardrop is very cheesy but not too bad after a few listens, while Us Against the World (there's a Westlife song with the same title I believe) is just very tedious. It's the Fix You of this album, so naturally I can't stand the song. Some of the other songs have really strange beats, like Up In Flames, which btw, reminds me of one of Keane's B-sides...

Frankly speaking, I think this album has shades of Perfect Symmetry in it, you know, that sort of 80s synth feel. Only a few songs remind me of the typical Coldplay song, the rest of it is like a mixture of various different bands. It is more X&Y than Viva La Vida, don't know if that's a good direction or not, but I definitely dig Mylo more than Vida.

Overall: 7/10 (FINALLY a Coldplay album that doesn't leave a sour taste in my head)
Recommended: Paradise, Hurts Like Heaven, Major Minus, Princess of China, Don't Let It Break Your Heart.

Coming up: Kelly Clarkson's Stronger.

P.S: Keaneofficial.com is having this really weird contest right now. I'm super excited to see updates about the upcoming Keane album!

Evanescence (2011)

2011-10-22T23:48:00.005+08:00

Currently Listening To: Evanescence - Whisper

Wow, their last album was released like, five years ago. I'll have to admit that I was pretty excited when I heard about this album. So glad to see them at the number 1 spot on the Billboard Charts!

01. What You Want
02. Made of Stone
03. The Change
04. My Heart is Broken
05. The Other Side
06. Erase This
07. Lost in Paradise
08. Sick
09. End of the Dream
10. Oceans
11. Never Go Back
12. Swimming Home

Love the album cover, it's so royaldarkness =P I think the songs are pretty solid, still very Evanescence-ish. The only problem is most of the songs sound the same. I guess they could have added a little more variety? Anyway, it's still a decent album so do listen to it if you're an Evanescence fan!

Overall: 8/10
Recommended: My Heart is Broken, Lost in Paradise, Made of Stone, End of the Dream

Waiting impatiently for Florence + the Machine's second album and Coldplay's Mylo Xyloto next. (Finally something for me to write about. Blog revival FTW!)

A to Z Reading Challenge

2011-10-18T23:01:00.013+08:00

Currently Listening To: F.T. Island - Hello Hello

Saw this in another blog:

A to Z Reading Challenge

How does this reading challenge work? Choose the option that works best for you...

Authors -- Read alphabetically by author. Commit to 26 books.
Titles -- Read alphabetically by title. Commit to 26 books.
Authors & Titles -- Commit to reading 52 books

Challenge Accepted!

A: Amulet of Samarkand (Bartimaeus trilogy) by Jonathan Stroud - Perfect, I just finished reading that a few days ago. (Completed Oct-15)
B:
C: Children of Hurin by J.R.R. Tolkien (edited by Christopher Tolkien)
D: Drowned Ammet by Diana Wynne Jones (Completed Jan-30-12)
E:
F:
G: Golem's Eye (Bartimaeus trilogy) by Jonathan Stroud (Completed Dec-17)
H: The Harmony Silk Factory by Tash Aw
I:
J:
K:
L:
M: Moonshine by Christina Jones (Completed Dec-24)
N:
O:
P: Ptolemy's Gate (Bartimaeus trilogy) by Jonathan Stroud
Q:
R:
S:
T: Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella (Completed Dec-7)
U:
V: Virgin Earth by Phillipa Gregory
W:
X:
Y:
Z:

Woohoo

2011-09-03T14:15:00.005+08:00

Currently Listening To: Keane - Clear Skies

Wooohooo it has been quite a while since I was last here!

So much has happened since then - I've graduated (just attended the ceremony in Perth, Australia last week!) and I'm already working (I'm not really liking the job...).

Woohooo that's all for now kbai.

Battle of the Country Darlings + Results

2011-05-26T00:04:00.010+08:00

Currently Listening To: Haley Reinhart - You've Really Got A Hold On Me

The American Idol Season 10 finale is finally here, and it is...*drumroll* a Country-fest, courtesy of Wittle Wauwen (Lauren Alaina) and Scotty McCreery (otherwise known as Mr. Baby-lock-them-doors)! Are we excited or what? I know I'm not but what the heck, it's still fairly entertaining to watch.

Let's run through the performances chronologically again, where Scotty won the coin toss but allowed Lauren to choose the performance order, and she chose to go second. So we're stuck with Scotty first.

Round 1 - Reprise

Scotty chose to sing Gone from the Top 5 night, and I guess he sang it well? It's a fun song, not one of the boring country ballads so I suppose it will work in his favour. Vocals, check. Stage presence, check. Is that good enough though? Honestly I don't know, I thought he had it in the bag but after hearing the both of them sing...I'm not so sure anymore.

Lauren's choice was Flat on the Floor, one of her better performances in my opinion. I think she sounded better the first round though. She sounded pretty breathless again, but she had more spirit this time so that too will work in her favour. After all, it's The Chosen One Wittle Wauwen. All that pimping - I'm really worried for Scotty now. It's VERY obvious they want Lauren to win, and they're not beating around the bushes about it. Lauren had a problem with her voice, boohoo, but she's all ready to sing, says the American Idol doctor so no problem there!

Was that even necessary? Yeah? The answer to that question is NO. Hella no. The bus is coming for Scotty and it's travelling at almost-full speed...

Moving on to Round 2 - Idol Hopeful's Idol's choice

Ah yes, I don't know who George Strait is but apparently he's Scotty's idol and he chose a song for Scotty to sing. Check Yes Or No is the title of the song and um...well, that's a really sad title. Check yes or no for Scotty this round? I'm gonna go with...maybe no. It was not a bad performance, but like Scotty's many other performances, it was boring. Whattup man? Choose a better song for the poor boy Mr. Strait! Or did you get the memo for the bus...? The bus is speeding up...

Lauren's idol is Carrie Underwood! Why am I not surprised? At any rate, Carrie chose a really nice song for Lauren, Maybe It Was Memphis. It suited her voice perfectly and guess what, Lauren actually sang it very well. Oh dear. Bad news for Scotty...will his gigantic fanbase save him from the unstoppable Lauren train????

Ding ding ding Round 2 goes to Lauren...hands down. And I don't even like her.

Ready for Round 3?

Here we go. Round 3 - Their first single!

Scotty my dear, that song title is gonna kill you. Love You This Big sounds like a song a little 5 year old kid would sing! Who wrote that song? Why that title? I think Love You This Much would be a much better title. Don't you think so? Anyway, the song wasn't that bad but it sure wasn't catchy. I really wanted Scotty to beat Lauren, but that is definitely going to be be an uphill battle for him. What with the song choices, and the way they're pimping Lauren...he's gone I tell you, gone...(please surprise me tomorrow America, PLEASE! I beg you T_T)

As for Lauren, well, she got a song that will win her casual votes for sure. Like My Mother Does is going to be Lauren's first single if she wins and guess what? It's a Kristy Lee Cook song! I'll be posting a link after this whole thing, read it and you'll see why that whole Kristy thing is soooo important. All right, back to the song. I really won't call that singing, cos the entire performance was a pimping session for Lauren. Song that will touch the audience, check. Lead her to her mother (led by Ryan Seacrest! Zomg), check. The endless praise for Lauren no matter what happens, check. Oh geezus. OKAY fine, I'll be fair, the song was not too bad but that was definitely not Lauren at her best. But who cares? She was wearing prom dresses! She sang to her mother! She cried! Her mother cried!!

What did Scotty do? Well yeah he sang too, unfortunately he did not get any pimping. The judges already named Lauren their idol, so what else is left?

I have to admit that Lauren sang better than Scotty tonight but er, the thought of her winning just pisses me off. Why? Because I don't want the bloody producers to get their way! All that manipulation - it's disgusting I tell ya! Thanks to them, I actually miss JAMES (of all people!) and of course, Haley (robbed! ROBBED!). They should have been the final 2 dammit.

Sigh.

Read this for some fun info and of course, the Kristy Lee Cook curse!

Idol Superstitions

P.S: I was looking forward to David Cook's performance, but meh. That wasn't very good. David dearest sang well but the song? Yeah, the goodbye song that plays in the background when someone gets eliminated? That song. Doesn't sound good at all. Poor David, please do more covers of Rolling In The Deep if those are the kind of songs you're stuck with, k? Oh and Taio Cruz sucked.

P.P.S: Holy shit all the way to the Top 2, and not a single pimp spot for Scotty! That's the end of the pimp spot myth I guess. It doesn't work hahahahaha. Yeah.

P.P.P.S: Oh oh read this review! It's a good one, cos he was actually in the audience. So yeah.

A Review by NGH from idolforums

~.~

Please don't read this section if you don't want to be spoiled.

Scotty won!

Best news ever. (Why am I happy? He's not even my favourite!)

Take that Nigel Lythgoe! Looks like the bus got de-wheeled and de-roofed.

122 million votes. That is insane!

The Prophecy has been fulfilled! All hail Kristy Lee Cook!

And seriously, Lauren fans? Scotty was pimped? Please. He may have been given a free pass for boring performances but no way in hell was he pimped, okay? Lauren was, and all that pimping pissed off other fanbases.

On the bright side, I love the attitudes of the contestants.

It's pretty obvious that they all get along.

However, now I'm worried about his single...Love You This Big sucks even more than No Boundaries.

I must have missed it, Scotty kissed Lauren romantically? On the lips?? Serious???? Holy crap.

American Idol Top 3 or Country Week Redux? + Results

2011-05-19T20:06:00.008+08:00

Currently Listening To: Didi Benami - Rhiannon

With the exception of Led Zeppelin, there seems to be a theme for the Top 3 night - Country. What on earth? I mean I'm expecting that from Scotty and Lauren's personal picks, and also the judges (plus Jimmy Iovine's) choices for them, but for Haley too? That's not fun man, no variety in the music genre. Thankfully all three contestants had their good and bad moments so I guess that evens it out a little.

I'm just gonna go with this chronologically.

Contestant's Choice

Scotty McCreery - Lonestar’s Amazed. I like the song and I thought Scotty did well with it. Then again it's not that difficult to sing. Still, it's a pretty boring song so I don't think it was suitable for a semi-finals performance. And it took Randy about like 10 weeks to finally give some sort of criticism to Scotty about his pitch. Whattup with that dawg? He had pitchier moments in the past and Randy did not have any comments about those moments.

Lauren Alaina - Faith Hill’s Wild One. Oh man that was a pretty bad one. There was just something off about her vocals. Now that I'm reading other reviews, I guess it was a problem with breath control. She just sounded tired and the performance was uninspiring. J.Lo gave a raving review as usual, but to me it seems like she didn't really believe in her own comment. Sad for you J.Lo. And I used to think she was a good. Sad really. -1 for Lauren.

Haley Reinhart - Led Zeppelin’s What Is and What Should Never Be. Now that was a perfect performance for a Top 3 night! Haley rocked the stage with her DAD. Oh yes, they allowed her dad to play the guitar for her. Vocally she nailed it, and she just seemed so happy to be there, on the stage with her dad. And I liked how she dealt with that trip, just continued on as if nothing happened. You go girl.

For once, the judges were actually quite fair with their comments. They should have commented on Lauren's breath problem though. The poor girl has not gotten any feedback about that, and it's gonna cost her something. I can tell Randy was aware of that, but he didn't say anything about it and commented about her having fun instead. Well Randy, it's a singing competition, fun or not she still has to sing well. Anyway. Round 1 goes to Haley for sure!

Jimmy Iovine's Choice

Scotty - Thompson Square’s Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not. Oh wow he nailed the vocals and it sounded beautiful. As you might have noticed, I'm not really a Scotty fan but that was an excellent performance by Mr. Baby-Lock-Them-Doors. Jimmy Iovine made a great choice with that song.

Lauren - The Band Perry’s If I Die Young. She kinda lost it half way through the song. The first half sounded great, but then I guess she got caught up with the depressing lyrics and just...drifted away until she forgot the lyrics or something. She stopped, there was a blank, and then only did she continue. AND the judges (especially J.Lo) skirted over the issue, and J.Lo went around praising her for forgetting herself. Seriously?? If Haley did that, she would have been torn to shreds.

Haley - Fleetwood Mac’s Rhiannon. I loved that wind thing. It made her look absolutely stunning. Loved what she was wearing, and her earrings! Beautiful. However, her performance wasn't that beautiful. Mostly because of the song choice. I love that song, Rhiannon and I love Haley, but she was just okay. Didi Benami sang it so much better last year. I still get chills thinking of HER performance. Too bad for Haley, that was a tough song to sing (darn you Iovine!). Randy seemed okay with it though, get this - he actually bantered with Haley without being mean! Incredible. And poor Haley just looked relieved that none of the judges were bussing her this time around.

I'll give credit when credit is due - Randy finally stopped picking on Haley. New note from the Mr. Nigel Lythgoe? Stop dissing her, it's backfiring! And now he seems genuinely okay with Haley while I get this weird sense of dislike from J.Lo, despite her friendly-cheery facade...with that, I'll have to say Round 2 goes to Scotty.

Up till now it's pretty fair huh? Haley won Round 1 (the judges agreed unanimously) and Scotty Round 2. Moving on to Round 3...

Judges' Choice

Scotty - Kenny Rogers’ She Believes in Me. Not a bad choice from the judges. Suited his voice. It was just okay though, nothing great. Again, not very encouraging for the semi-finals. Are they trying to bus Scotty now? Or so I've read from other review sites (we have some really paranoid fans this season). Honestly I doubt they're actually doing that, it just didn't work out that well for dear Scotty. LOL at Steven's deja vu comment though, really funny. I think he was just being Steven Tyler, the REAL Mr. Nice (not Miss Lopez. Or should that be Mrs Anthony?).

Lauren - Lee Ann Womack’s I Hope You Dance. NUTS OF WONDER OMG. Scotty should have sang this song instead LOL. So J.Lo declared her the winner of this round before Haley's performance. Whaaaaat. That wasn't very nice, coming from the supposed Miss Nice. Maybe it was because she knew that their song selection for Haley was meant to sink her? Rofl there goes the conspiracy theories again. I swear I did not come up with that, read it somewhere in Idolforums. Like I said, paranoid fans. Personally, I thought that was Lauren's best performance of the night. For once, she had some control of her voice and sang with real spirit. The prom dress she was wearing distracted me though...she looked like she just walked out of Glee's set for the Prom episode.

Haley - Alanis Morissette’s You Oughta Know. #$%@ that's a hard song to sing man. Haley totally lost the verses. All I heard was mumble mumble mumble, and it was NOT in tune. At least she nailed the chorus, it sounded great. But the song as a whole? One of her worse performances. Loved the way she delivered the chorus, hated the verses. Not her fault though, the judges picked a hard song for her to sing and she still made it through the song with high spirits and a big smile on her face. The good thing is, once again the judges were being quite fair. I guess they thought they could bust her with a hard song and watch her die, but she didn't quite...die. Conspiracy? I'm beginning to believe it.

I think Round 3 goes to Lauren. Scotty was boring, and Haley was...fighting demons. At least Lauren more or less nailed her song. J.Lo did not look happy when Randy was giving Haley a thumbs up for the choruses. Steven looked delighted, but J.Lo?? She had this 'DRAT she nailed it' look on her face. I'm telling you, watch this video and you'll see it. Of course she said something nice (she had to, Nigel pulled the brakes on the bus), but that look on her face? Not very...friendly. I'm starting to have second thoughts about Jennifer. Seriously.

Who's gonna win this damn thing? Honestly, I don't know. I don't really mind who wins, but Haley and Scotty deserves it more than Lauren, based on their performances all season long. Lauren will be fine even if she doesn't win. She'll get a recording contract with Nashville and they'll market her like there's no tomorrow. Scotty is a bit tricky, since he seems to sing only old school country. But hey, if Garth Brooks can do it then so can Scotty. Haley? I love the girl, and I want her to win. But will she? It depends on America I guess. Most reviewers think she's going home tomorrow. Sad but potentially true. Here's hoping for the odds. Fans of Haley, I hope you voted enough.

P.S: One thing bothers me - Scotty has yet to get the pimp spot. By pimp spot, I mean the last to perform. If he goes home, then he would have lost the chance to do so. I can't remember if Lauren closed the show before, but I think she did. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Edit: Results

Looks like we're getting a country finale after all. Haley's gone =(
It's sad but well, not unexpected. I say good luck to Scotty and Lauren. Not sure if I'll be watching the finale though. I don't like country music at all, and a third round of country night scares the shit outta me.

First time I don't have a favourite in the Final 2 since Season 6 (oh wow Haley was Melinda'd!) but errrr honestly Jordin and Blake were a lot better than Scotty and Lauren. Scotty will probably win, and he should over Lauren.

So it's almost ending...

2011-05-14T15:34:00.003+08:00

Currently Listening To: Fleet Foxes - English House

We're down to three contestants now, and what we have is one bluesy-singer sandwiched between two country darlings.

Yes that's right, HALEY REINHART IS IN THE TOP 3 TO WIN IT Y'ALL!

I'll have to admit I didn't really see that coming, thought she'd be the one booted out instead of James. It's a bit sad for James because Scotty was the least interesting performer this week so yeah...still, it's better than Haley (who deserves to win!) leaving. Honestly, I do feel bad about James...his exit was mainly due to the incompetent judges not giving him good advice, and criticism when he needed it. Instead, they decided to throw another contestant under the bus and got the voters into a voting frenzy for that bussed contestant. Sucks for both of them.

Anyway, an analysis of the Top 3:

Let's start with Lauren. I'm gonna assume that Lauren is still the 'chosen one', cos she's been performing pretty well lately and to top that off, she seems like a really nice albeit naive girl. It was nice of her to defend Haley and call out the judges for not being fair. At least the girl has balls! (Can't say the same for the other dudes).

So what is her advantage? A decent voice, the Barbie-doll looks and obviously her singing COUNTRY music. America loves that (look at Taylor Swift, Lauren can sing circles around that chick. With her voice, surely she'd do better?). However, I think some Lauren fans are pretty delusional. Look, the girl can sing and all, but really she hasn't been that great. She didn't really get any criticism, okay? They gave her ONE advice and she made a face. Haley got trashed REPEATEDLY and THEN ONLY did she make a face. See the difference? On a side note, I actually like how she sounds in the studio recordings. Out of all the contestants, Haley and Lauren have the best recording voices, so go girls!

Two country singers in the Top 2, fancy that. I suppose Scotty is more country than Lauren? He'd do better if he varies it a bit. All those country ballads are boring me to tears, and those cheesy country songs are just disastrous. He needs to find some sort of a balance. Who cares though, no matter what he does, he'll be safe anyway. That's a conclusion we've all come to.

As for Haley, well Haley. I don't know. One part of me wants her to win while the other part is just glad that she made the Top 3. If she doesn't do well next week, and is eliminated, I won't be sad. I'll be proud of her for overcoming all that ridiculous bussing and proving them wrong. It's obvious that the judges don't like her that much, so I doubt she'll be receiving any sympathy from the judges...Steven might not be rude to her, but I get a feeling that he's not exactly her biggest fan.

It's really strange though. Before they entered the Top 12, the judges were all over Haley. When she oversang (I seriously hated that performance, was actually pissed off when she made it through), they were completely delighted and declared their love for her. When she started to improve, they just criticized her to no end.

I don't mind them criticizing her if she wasn't good, but they should do the same to the contestants when they suck too. Not praise them to the skies and then diss just one contestant just cos you're not suppose to support her (that happened to Pia too). I guess they were afraid that her progress would be a threat to one of their chosen ones (well it backfired, James is gone now...)

Looking back on the results show from yesterday, I think J.Lo DOES like Haley, but Randy hates her and Steven is just indifferent I suppose. All I have to say is, poor Haley for the double standard. It sucks to be in her position, and for that reason alone I WANT HER TO WIN.

Also, this is the first year with two female contestants in the Top 3 in a long, long time. The last time it happened was Season 6, I think. Jordin, Blake and Melinda right? Here's hoping Haley won't get the Melinda curse...BEST OF LUCK HALEY, please kill it next week! You have my support.

Damn It

2011-05-14T01:05:00.001+08:00

Currently Listening To: Lady Gaga - The Edge of Reason

My blog entry for the American idol Top 4 is gone dammit.

Will blog about the results later today - James is gone! *celebrates*

Top 4: The Judges Suck

2011-05-13T00:03:00.000+08:00

Missed the show earlier, so only watching now.

James - Don't Stop Believing. Lea Michele and company sang it better. It wasn't bad but it wasn't great. As usual, the judges praised him for something that did not deserved to be praised.

Haley - Earth Song. Interesting song choice, she sang it pretty well in my opinion. However, J.Lo and Randy basically just ripped her apart. It may not have been great, but those criticisms from J.Lo and Randy were uncalled for. Poor girl looked like she was about to cry. Normally I don't support contestants talking back, but she did the right thing. Love her attitude, I would have punched the judges in their faces. Thank God for Steven's support!

Scotty - Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning). Hmmm he sang about Jesus. Not sure how I feel about that, but he sang it pretty well. He should be receiving some criticism about choosing boring songs but whaaat Randy's praising his LYRICAL choice WTF. WHAT ABOUT HALEY SINGING ABOUT CARING FOR THE ENVIRONMENT? THAT'S NOT A GOOD LYRICAL CHOICE???? CAN I PUNCH HIM IN THE FACE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE??? AND J.LO'S IN LOVE WITH HIM! I WANNA PUNCH HER TOO. Bloody hypocritical jackasses!

Lauren - Anyway. Her best performance in weeks. And she actually reached for that high note. Good job Lauren, at least she's showing more balls than Scotty for Round 1.

Round 1 goes to Lauren, surprisingly!

~.~

Haley - I (Who Have Nothing). Loved the dress she was wearing. Didn't really love the song, but I thought she sang pretty well. Oh so now they're giving her a standing ovation
for a performance that wasn't so great. WTF?? At least it earned her a 'SHE'S IN IT TO WIN IT!' from Randy-Jackass. I'm sorry Haley, but the second round 'praises' sounded disgustingly fake.

Scotty - Young Blood. That sounded like a drunk uncle performance. What on earth Scotty? This season's cheesiest performance. Is he trying to be Taylor Hicks? I mean, I know that dude won but where is he now? Yeah? BAD MOVE SCOTTY (but he'll be safe anyway so who cares =_=) And you know what? The judges praised the damn performance. Where's Simon? I want him back.

Lauren - Trouble. Dear Lauren, please scream at the stylist cos you look like a freaking bag lady! Awful outfit. Aged her about 50 years. She looked like Tina Turner on a bad day. Boring performance, but vocally it was good. Once again, she reached for that high note! Good job again Lauren.

James - Love Potion No. 9. CHEESY CHEESY CHEESY. Love Potion No. 9??? Are you serious? On the bright side he sang in tune - most of the time. INDULGENT ENDING. Hated it. A moment every single week? Seriously Randy Jackass? Delusional as well as rude. Screw it Randy.

Round 2 goes to Lauren again, with Haley a close second.

Darn it, Lauren's rocking it this week! Haley wasn't too bad, but her song choices were a bit dull. Scotty was definitely the weakest for me this week. Either him or James should go home this week, but I doubt they will. The girls are in danger =(

Also, I love how the previous Idol contestants are standing up for Haley! Thank you Adam, Michael Sarver, Allison and David Cook. Let her haters know that you love her too! Lauren too, she stood up for Haley.

P.S: I don't think I can't stand James anymore. Something about him ticks me off badly. Asperger's or not, he's annoying.

American Idol: Top 5 + Results

2011-05-05T19:14:00.004+08:00

We've hit the Top 5 of American Idol Season 10!

The remaining five contestants sang two songs each, and what was the end result? Why, there were some impressive performances while some of them faltered. Horribly.

There's no doubt as to who's the worse of the night:

Jacob Lusk

What more can I say? His first song was Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown's No Air and it SUCKED. No other word can describe that trainwreck, honestly. Horrible from start to end.

At least he sang his second song choice pretty well...that is, until the screaming started. Sounded like some cat wailing, and the judges PRAISED it. Like seriously. What the hell? I wanted so badly for Simon to scream at Jacob 'STOP BEING INDULGENT YOU MORON!'.

Moving on to...

James Durbin

For sure he did not live up to expectations. I have no idea why he chose those songs. 30 Seconds to Mars is not exactly the best choice one can make for a competition, and he made that dumb choice. Very mediocre.

Then, he decided to go all emotional on the American Idol audience with a tearful rendition of 'Without You'. Vocally it was weak, and I couldn't understand what he was singing. Sorry man, I don't wanna be mean about a performance that he was so emotional about, but that performance was -almost- painful to listen to.

Scotty McCreery

Both song choices were boring and bland and country, so yeah, that about sums it up. Anoop Desai's version of Always On My Mind was waaaaaay better than Scott's. I doubt Scotty will be in trouble, but he should be worried.

Lauren Alaina

I thought Little Lauren was pretty good tonight. At least the songs she chose suited her? Vocally strong, but her eyes were like blank. I kept thinking 'BARBIE!!!' whenever they zoomed in on her face. She really is like a chubby blank Barbie...

...so that leaves us with...

Haley Reinhart
Haley! Oh gosh, Haley. The last contestant I felt this excited about was ADAM LAMBERT, and that was two seasons ago!

Haley rocked the stage. Her rendition of 'House of the Rising Sun' gave me goosebumps, seriously! Absolutely stunning performance, that was. She got a standing ovation, and she damn well deserved it!

Okay, so she sang an unreleased Lady Gaga song first and got negative responses from Randy and J.Lo. Steven was unperturbed though, he loved it although he had never heard the song before. Let's hope America agrees with Steven? Cos she SLAYED that song! Her vocals for both songs were spot on! Hard to believe that I used to be anti-Haley, she has improved so much over the weeks and I think she deserves to win the competition. Or at least, get second place. The runner ups seem to do better than the winners anyway...

I really hope Jacob will be eliminated tomorrow. Sorry but the other four contestants are way better than him, even with drab performances (ahem Scotty). Please vote wisely America! Don't give us another Chris Daughtry moment.

P.S: I got a new toy to play with today gahahaha! Samsung Galaxy Tab ftw!!

EDIT: Results

Jacob's out! Finally. Was afraid he'd make the Top 4. Poor Lauren was in the bottom two and she bawled. Honestly, I think she should be going home next week....

Helplessness Blues

2011-05-03T18:39:00.007+08:00

Currently Listening To: Fleet Foxes - Grown Ocean

I think I'm in love with Fleet Foxes now.

There's just something about their songs. Very haunting.

Thanks to Grizzly Bear, I've become a fan of indie folk music, and also Fleet Foxes. I can't remember how I discovered them, but it is definitely a good discovery. I loved the songs from their self-titled first album and the Sun Giant EP - lovely songs with meaningful lyrics and the wonderful harmonization of their voices. Not to mention the haunting, lilting melodies of their songs.

Anyway, their second album Helplessness Blues just came out today and I've just finished listening to it.

Track Listing:
01. Montezuma
02. Bedouin Dress
03. Sim Sala Bim
04. Battery Kinzie
05. The Plains / Bitter Dancer
06. Helplessness Blues
07. The Cascades
08. Lorelai
09. Someone You’d Admire
10. The Shrine / An Argument
11. Blue Spotted Tail
12. Grown Ocean

As far as I'm concerned, it's a beautiful album. Loved most of the songs. Without a doubt it's the best album I've listened to so far in 2011. Lykke Li's Wounded Rhymes is a close second (I will be reviewing that later).

Ratings: 9/10
Recommendations: Bedouin Dress, Sim Sala Bim, Lorelai, The Shrine/An Argument, Grown Ocean

Top 6 and Duets + Results

2011-04-28T19:11:00.004+08:00

Currently Listening To: Lykke Li - I Follow Rivers

It's another good week for American Idol, with Carole King as the theme. Nobody sucked cos at least the songs are guaranteed to be good, right? Also, for some weird reason, they decided to pair the contestants up and make them sing duets. A good way to fill up the 1 and 1/2 hours I guess? Better than random fillers.

The worst performer of the night was definitely Lauren. Girl has no soul whatsoever. She sang the theme song from Gilmore Girls, I think. And um, it wasn't good. She wasn't really in tune, and she obviously did not feel the song at all. I like that she is trying to spread her wings a little but honestly, she IS too young for the competition. Out of so many 16 year old girls who made it to the Top 12 (or 24), Lauren is definitely one of the more immature ones. Too emotionally fragile, and therefore not ready for the stage.

Jacob's performance wasn't bad. It just wasn't very good compared to the other four. If anyone other than Jacob or Lauren goes home tomorrow, I swear I'll scream and rant on every single American Idol forum I can find! Dude's just not killing it. Better than Lauren, but still way off.

Casey was all jazzy again, and I liked it, didn't love it. Casey's deal is...well, he's not very mainstream now is he? His last 'mainstream' song choice (Harder to Breathe) was very strange. I can't decide whether I like him or not. Oh well, there's always...

Scotty! Excellent performance for our resident country dude. Whatever the song was, it wasn't very country and it worked for him. I prefer Scotty when he isn't singing country. His voice may be perfect for country music, but he actually sounds better when he's singing something else. Maybe a little R&B or rock next week? That'll rock my socks off!

I'm officially on the Haley train now. Loved her song choice! Very unusual, and it really suited her voice. She looked absolutely gorgeous too (Steven agrees with me, HAH! Does that make me a dirty old man then?). Haley Haley Haley! Seriously, if Haley's in the bottom 3 (or eliminated) tomorrow, I will scream and rip someone's hair off.

*cough*It looks like I'm in the mood to scream...maybe I'll be the next James Durbin/Jacob Lusck.*cough*

Anyway, despite my sudden devotion for Haley...I'll have to say that James gave the best performance tonight. Mostly because he stopped screaming/screeching/wailing unnecessarily (he didn't quite hold back for his duet though), and actually sang a good song, with an unusual arrangement. Kinda like David Cook lite I guess? It was good, and I actually enjoyed listening to his performance for once. (Also, the studio recording of Uprising is good! -Almost- better than the original. And I don't like that song).

Did I forget something?

Oh yes, the duets.

Duets hmmm. I guess Haley and Casey's duet was the best, they look so good together. And they sounded good together too.

Lauren and Scotty's duet fell flat, unfortunately. Scotty was better than Lauren, I'm not sure what's up with Lauren but she's drifting off the Idol stage for sure. Her individual performance wasn't good, and neither was her part in the duet so...I hope she'll be in the bottom 3, if not eliminated, tomorrow. Sorry Lauren, I think your time is up.

James and Jacob's duet was...odd, to say the least. What on earth was that? The Odd Couple live on the Idol stage? (I'm pretty sure Steven hated that performance LOL) Lotsa screaming and two boys behaving like kids drunk on rock and roll...alright, I admit it they looked like they were having fun.

P.S: Crystal Bowersox is performing on tomorrow's result show! And Bruno Mars! I'm actually excited for the results show!!!

...

Oh snap, the royal wedding is tomorrow so I guess I'll be watching the repeat for the results then =/

Edit: Results

I suppose I should be screaming now cos Casey's gone instead. Oh well...I'd rather him go than Haley so yeah, no screaming.

And it looks like Jimmy Iovine threw Haley under the bus. I only have two words for the AI producers (Nigel Lythgoe, to be specific): F*** you!

Waiting...

2011-04-26T15:30:00.001+08:00

Currently Listening To: Fleet Foxes - Ragged Wood

It's almost time...

Just a little over a month left...

Can We Send the Judges Home, Please? + Results

2011-04-21T21:50:00.006+08:00

Currently Listening To: Adele - Rolling in the Deep

I'm serious. I've had enough of them, even J.Lo. Send all of them home, and we'll judge the singers ourselves. What's the point of employing three mindless goons, Nigel Lythgoe? Screw them and save some money!

Anyway. The theme this week is 'Songs of the 21st Century', and it's another drab night.

So I don't know who was worse - Scotty or Jacob.

Scotty - Now that was almost awful. Not a swingin' performance dawg. Totally. Not. I don't know about everyone else, but I think he really needs to step it up. Doing something non-country would be interesting, but we all know he won't be doing that so at least put some effort into your performances, Scotty. Just do it. Otherwise you will find yourself in Pia's shoes. (Then again she got a recording contract. Why not just give up eh Scotty?)

Jacob - Yawn. Boring. Geez. I guess he should be the one going home since Stefano actually sang with -some- soul this week.

James - Look I know people like his enthusiasm but that incessant screaming has to stop. Especially if the screaming is NOT in tune. Good lord he was screaming like someone stepped on his stupid scarf-tail or something. The entire performance was just mumble mumble sing SCREAAAAAAM mumble mumble sing SCREAAAAAAAAAAAM. Honestly I'd give him a B for effort and D for execution.

Casey - I think Casey kinda lost his mind by the end of the song. WTF with that kiss? A sudden peck on the cheek for J.Lo, courtesy of Casey! It started off good but ended up really strange and awkward.

Stefano - Dang it! I wanted him to go home but he pretty much nailed it this week with Neyo's Closer. I thought it was a solid vocal performance, but his antics during Haley's interview package kinda got on my nerves.

Lauren - Well well, Lauren was just...Lauren I suppose? Not very impressive but it was pretty decent compared to the others. Pretty vocals but without any real emotion (as usual). And you know what, her mother looks younger than her! That's sad, Lauren. Real sad. Great for her mum and all but for Lauren? Yeah, she's 16 not 40.

Haley - Haley wins the award for the best song choice and best vocal performance of the night, thanks to her rendition of Adele's Rolling in the Deep. Good job for choosing something current and then totally rocking the song. I wouldn't say it was perfect, but she was definitely better than everyone else this week. Sadly, it looks like she's gonna be the under-the-bus candidate this year. She WILL be criticized and thrown under the bus regardless of her performances so yeah. GET RID OF THE DAMN JUDGES ALL THREE OF THEM.

Right now I can sum up the season in three words - I MISS KRADISON! =(

EDIT: Results

STEFANO'S GONE! *celebrates* okay so he didn't really deserve to go home this week but...he's gone! YAY.

Another Night of Mediocrity + Results

2011-04-14T23:07:00.005+08:00

Currently Listening To: Secret Episodes (Rekishi Hiwa Historia OST) - Yuki Kajiura

I should be doing my Retail Marketing essay right now, but let me get this out of my system first:

Welcome to American Idol without Pia Toscano!

This week's theme is a theme that I seriously detest - Songs from the Movies. (For crying out loud, NOBODY chooses good songs for this theme EVER. Except maybe Adam Lambert...)

Definitely not one of my favourite Season 10 nights. Like every other Movie theme night from previous seasons, the contestants failed to choose songs that are at -least- interesting (I think Casey and James came close, but not close enough).

And so we begin...

...with Paul, dear lord. So he has two rose suits - one in white and another in black. Seriously. Get rid of those damn suits Paul! They're quite ugly. If Steven Tyler digs your outfit, and you're a guy, it means you have no fashion sense k? SOMEBODY GET HIM A STYLIST! Oh wait, I should be talking about his singing! I wonder why I forgot...maybe it's because...he didn't sing well? America, if you have any heart, please just send this guy home.

Next on the chopping block would be Stefano. Try as I might, I just can't get into this guy anymore. I feel sorry for him, I really do. I mean, he looked really nervous and awkward on the stage and he sang decently, but his song choices are killing me. If Pia was eliminated because she was boring, then Stefano should have been eliminated like 3 weeks ago. So what's the difference between him and Pia? Oh yes, he's SAUSAGE and she's not. Right.

Again, Haley failed to deliver, and got 'heavy' criticism from the judges. I say heavy because NOBODY ELSE received any criticism even when they deserved it (ahem Paul). Compared to the criticism from any other season however (unbelievable! Just a few weeks ago I would have said this season's judges rock), this is like...what, a small prick? Performance wise, it was pretty out there. Kinda like Steven when he's drunk. I didn't think she sounded bad, maybe just...unprepared and a bit all over the place. Poor Haley, she's getting the Pia treatment according to crazy Idol fans. Will their predictions come true? I guess we'll find out tomorrow...*cue horror music*

Our country darlings Scotty and Lauren gave rather uninspired performances this week. I don't know what to say. Vocally, both were decent and well, in tune, but I don't know. They kinda fell flat for me. Nothing different, nothing interesting. Scotty's song choice was super boring, and that almost made him as bad as Stefano, while Lauren did a credible job with Miley's The Climb. Unfortunately, it had no punch so Kelly Clarkson she's not. Sorry kiddo. But it seems like both of them have the most fans (Or so I read from idolforum's NGH)? That should keep them quite safe.

So Jacob, he was safe last week, even though he made a really stupid comment. Did he redeem himself this week? I would have to say...sorta? It is one of his rare controlled performances, and he sounded good enough but geez, Jacob's wearing me out at this stage. He looked quite nervous himself, on the stage and off. At least he didn't oversing this time? Oh well. To quote Michael Slezak from tvline.com: If Jacob ends up in the bottom three this week, it won’t be because he sang the song badly, it’ll be because America didn’t want to look into the troubled water and see their own reflections.

I know most people prefer James' performance over Casey's tonight, (judging from Slezak and NGH) but I beg to differ! I loved Casey's song choice! I like how he disagreed with Jimmy Iovine (the music director or whatever) and his why-is-he-there-sidekick Will.i.am, and stuck to his own choice. I mean seriously, Phil Collins? Pfftt. Good job Casey! Loved that jazzy arangement! And the song sounded awesome. James? Well, he screamed his way through his 'heavy-metal' song choice and apparently it sounded really good to everyone else but me (I think).

Is there anyone who agrees with me? Casey Abrams over James Durbin this week?? Leave a message!

P.S: I really am curious to know why Will.i.am is always there beside Iovine? Are they using his recording studio or something? Or did he blackmail Nigel Lythgoe to keep him on the show?? Insane. I demand an explanation!!

EDIT - Results:

NAILED IT! Bottom 3 as predicted, with the correct person going home. Goodbye Paul, see you again on some cruise ship somewhere.

Unbelievable

2011-04-08T23:46:00.005+08:00

Currently Listening To: Haley Reinhart - You've Got A Hold On Me

Thanks to the American voters (most probably silly teenagers and horny middle-aged women), Pia Toscano is no longer a contestant on American Idol.

Screw it America don't you know how to vote??!! $#%*@

Edit:

And for God's sake America stop blaming the judges.
If you wanted her in you would have voted for her all right?
The judges may be guilty of being lenient, but they are in no way directly responsible for ANYONE'S exit. Stop blaming others and blame yourself for not voting, PERIOD.

I can't get over the looks on Stefano and Jacob's face when Ryan announced who was going home. They were just shocked. I bet they're not feeling very good about being IN the show now, those two. DARN IT!!

Rock & Roll? I Think Not...

2011-04-08T01:04:00.000+08:00

Currently Listening To: Emiliana Torrini - White Rabbit (Sucker Punch OST)

I seem to be disagreeing with a lot of the reviewers tonight? I normally don't fancy Lauren that much, but didn't think she did that badly this time O.o

Anyway, welcome to another night of American Idol.

The theme was 'Rock & Roll Hall of Fame', but sadly the night wasn't rock & roll for me at all. In fact, I think this is my least favourite night so far mostly because I did not like the song choices made by the contestants.

Lemme start with...

Jacob. I think this is unanimous. He was the first to perform, and the worse too. Dull song, and I'm pretty sure he missed most of the notes he was suppose to sing. On top of that, he was being an arrogant brat. I mean, I get it he's singing 'Man in the Mirror', but to actually say what he said in his introductory video? Just. Bad move. He's better than Paul vocally, but right now I wouldn't mind if he goes as long as it's a guy.

Stefano never recovered from his fall from grace...he has been mostly -sucking- for the past few weeks and I don't think he's ready to take any risks whatsoever to keep his ass in the competition. Another lacklustre ballad from the former frontrunner. It's not gonna do him any favours, honestly. Right now I'm just waiting for America to get tired of keeping him IN the competition...

I was really hoping for Haley to rock this night but she did not. Rock the night I mean. Sure it wasn't that bad, and I liked the song choice. Unfortunately she was shouting her way through the song. A bit harsh on the ears...my mum was complaining about her in fact, so...yeah. I'm sure the studio version will be awesome though. She always sounds good in the recorded versions.

As for Lauren...well, when I first watched her performance, I liked it and I thought it was one of the better performances tonight. Then I saw some other reviews and re-watched it...and then I kinda got what they meant by lack of emotion. It's true, the girl has bad taste in songs and 'Natural Woman' is probably the last song she should have chosen this week...cos she sure wasn't a natural on stage. The song is just way too old for her. And what about her outfit? It made her look like a 40-year-old hooker and she's SIXTEEN for heaven's sake. From what i heard, Gwen Stefani styled the contestants this week. What was Gwen thinking? She needs to stay away from their wardrobe.

Casey delivered another solid but rather safe performance. It's nice to see him with that upright bass again. Somehow it makes him more complete. Less growling, more singing and no weird antics. Plus, he just seems like a really nice guy. I'll never forget his face when he was almost eliminated two weeks ago...that was genuine emotion and my heart really went out to him then.

Paul on the other hand, chose an interesting song and more or less rocked out (darn it! He was my pick for elimination) the idol stage. However, I can't help but sigh when I hear him sing. Dude just doesn't have much of a voice. It's a bit frustrating.

I don't know about Pia but um 'River Deep, Mountain High' is not exactly the most upbeat song ever. Seriously, it's better than those boring ballads she has been singing for the past 5 weeks or so, but really it is not as funky as she thinks. Let's face it...Pia is amazing but she is also EXTREMELY boring. Also, for the first time in the competition, her vocals for this song wasn't perfect. Not a good thing if she's gonna falter when she sings songs that aren't ballads...and J.Lo is right, Pia needs to work the stage. She's being called a 'pageant queen robot' and that's not good.

James and Scotty, I can't decide who was better. In fact I didn't think they were that great or memorable either but at least they were more interesting than the others. James finally did something other than a full-on rock song and Scotty was Elvis, and he sounded convincing! I was actually impressed with Scotty's voice (not the performance - now that was cheesy).

I have a problem with James' voice though. There's just something about the quality of his voice. At first listen, you'd think about comparing him with Adam. When you really listen to him sing (not scream) though...his voice comes off as a bit weak and thin, sadly. Not quite like Adam after all. Listen to his studio recordings and you'll notice it too. Without the noise, he just isn't that great so...I don't know. Can't seem to get into him. Well at least he's enjoying himself eh?

We're moving on to the Top 8 and I still don't have a clear favourite at this point. I'm inclined to Haley or Pia, but both girls have very glaring flaws as well. It's hard for me to decide...I don't fancy any of the other contestants. They're all quite good but uh, nobody is trying anything different. No David Cooks, no Adam Lamberts/Kris Allens, not even a Lee Dewyze (mediocre, fairly unknown, but surprisingly popular).

I can just sum it up five words: I DON'T CARE WHO WINS as long as it's not Paul or Jacob. Seriously.

Listen to this for a much better version of Natural Woman.

It's Happening Again

2011-04-01T23:48:00.005+08:00

Currently Listening To: Thia Megia - Daniel (Studio Version)

Thia and Naima were sent home this week, and Paul joined them in the bottom three. Once again, I can't say I was surprised with the results (my predictions were wrong though!).

And with that, we're left with 6 guys and...3 girls.

Seriously! I think the 3 remaining girls are better than the 6 guys, but with America...who knows? Lee Dewyze won last year, yet Crystal Bowersox was the frontrunner all the way through.

Will history repeat itself (for the fourth time)? Or will the 6 guys drop like flies starting from next week? Honestly, I don't think any of the guys deserve to win except for maybe Scotty or James.

I don't think Haley is as good as Lauren or Pia, but she's growing on me for sure! I love the studio recordings of her songs, and she actually sounded better live for Bennie and the Jets. Amazing. Three/four weeks ago I was complaining about her being in the Top 13, and now I'm supporting her! Talk about changing lanes...

Anyway, I think Naima deserved to be booted out since she was way off this week, but Thia was actually decent this time around. She should have left like...three weeks ago, at least she deserved it then. I found the studio version of Daniel very lovely, even though her live performance wasn't that impressive.

Oooh on another note, they got rid of the group performance for this results show! Lauren and Scotty sang a lovely duet (am I the only who thinks that they'd make a perfect country couple?), and naturally it was a country song. Naima and Jacob sang another duet, which wasn't that good. The remaining four guys (James, Paul, Casey and Stefano) performed as a group, but it wasn't that great (it was bordering on horrible actually). Same goes for Pia, Thia and Haley's rendition of Teenage Dreams - a bit too cheesy, that one.

And what was up with that Jamie Foxx/Will.i.am performance? Now that's what I call a trainwreck. All dazzle and nothing else. Fantasia's was pretty good, she may not have been my favourite for Season 3 but that girl still sounds good now. Her appearance however, not so much...

Anyway, this week has been a good week for Idol...nice performances, no -complete- disasters, the right (sorta) people went home, a positive change for the results show...hopefully next week will be just as good! (Personally, I think it's time for Paul to leave the show.)

P.S: I kinda like Fantasia's new song O.O

American Idol Top 11 - Round 2

2011-03-31T23:30:00.003+08:00

Currently Listening To: FictionJunction - Hoshikuzu

Hmmm where do I start? Well this week's theme is Elton John, and I personally I love this theme! One can never go -that- wrong with Elton John.

So how did the contestants fare this time? Honestly I thought all of them were pretty good this week. Except for a few...namely;

Naima. Oh dear lord please tell me she did not just reggae-fy Elton John. C'mon my good woman, it's Elton John! His songs are not suitable for strange arrangements. On top of that, her outfit was totally OMG. If I'm not wrong, the colorful stripes on her dress are the colors of the South African flag right? She has turned into Karen - constantly focusing on her African heritage instead of giving good performances. Vocally it wasn't -that- awful, however the arrangement killed it for me.

The other marginally bad performance, for me, was Stefano's. It wasn't exactly a trainwreck, but it was definitely not memorable and not impressive. Vocally there were no notable flaws, unfortunately the performance had nothing. I have a feeling he's in serious danger again this week...

...which leads us to Jacob's oversinging. Again. Dude has never been in the bottom three before but with the backlash he has been getting from reviewers lately, I think he should be worried. He's such a great singer...sadly he has to ruin everything by being overdramatic. Somebody really needs to pull a Simon and just flat out call him out on that.

I guess Paul wasn't any better than Jacob either? Another one guilty of being overindulgent. James suffers from the same problem as well. Both of them were okay in terms of vocals and performance (James was very dramatic with the special effects though. Piano on fire WTF). I think Paul and James should really try to shake things up a bit. And by shaking things up I don't mean setting the stage on fire or wearing ridiculous outfits (Paul's Elton John tribute outfit was just...ridiculous). I mean they should choose a song that no one will expect them to choose, and then do something totally different with it. Otherwise known as, take a leaf out of Adam Lambert's book and shock the audience!

I suppose that applies to Pia and Scotty too? Try something other than ballads/country music? Scotty gave a solid performance, but honestly I thought it was very boring. I was like, okay please end the song now so I can listen to the next person. And he was the first to perform! Way to start the show Scotty.

Thia sang surprisingly well this week. The song suited her voice, and she actually sang in tune this time, with less pitch problems. If her fanbase picks it up this week, she should be bottom-three-free.

Casey stopped growling this week and it paid off! His voice isn't very strong, but that was a solid performance of 'Your Song'. At least he connected emotionally with the song? He is one lucky dude...for getting that second chance last week. Hopefully this performance pays off and he won't get the boot again...

I don't understand the praise for Lauren this time. Yeah I know it was a good vocal, but errrr exactly what was so great about it? I couldn't sense the 'connection' the judges and some other reviewers were talking about. Some parts, she sounded quite flat to me so...yeah. I no understand hype? D= BTW she seriously looks like she should be in the Miss Teen USA competition instead of American Idol...she's starting to resemble Barbie now! *shudders*

And now we're down to the two best performances this week!

Haley was trending on Twitter today, for a very short period of time, so I knew that she was either fantastic or terrible. When I finally saw her performance, I was impressed because - it was really really good! I got the shivers when they showed the clip of her singing in the studio. Believe it or not, but I'm kinda favouring her right now. At least she's courageous enough to try new things every week. I loved the song (Bennie and the Jets), and I loved her voice! She worked the stage, sang beautifully and to quote Steven Tyler, sang SEXY. Kudos to Haley for slamming it this week! Say goodbye to the bottom three honey.

Although I kinda preferred Haley's performance, I just can't fault Pia's outstanding vocals. It. Was. Perfect. As usual! I'd prefer her to try something new but hey, if that ballad sounds good go ahead and sing it girl. Pia's in it to win it! (Why am I quoting RANDY now???)

Thank you Elton for the awesome week!

R.I.P. Diana Wynne Jones

2011-03-26T23:41:00.016+08:00

Currently Listening To: Keane - A Bad Dream

The saddest thing happened today. Diana Wynne Jones passed away after battling lung cancer for the past two years. I can't even begin to describe my feelings right now...she has been my favourite author ever since I discovered her about ten years ago. I had always wished that'd she'd trend on Twitter one day but...not for this.

There is not a single book of hers that I do not love. I swear to you that woman was just magic. Heads and shoulders above every other author I've read so far and believe me, I've read a lot. She opened up a whole new world for me, a world of pure magic and fantasy, a world I wished I lived in instead of this miserable place we call home.

I was looking forward to her new book too and now...I'm just really sad =(
As a tribute to Diana, by hook or by crook I will complete my collection of her books, including A Sudden Wild Magic although I don't know where I'll find that. I
will also be re-reading all her books this week.

Sigh I've been looking all over Penang for Aunt Maria and The Ogre Downstairs but I can't seem to find them anymore so if anyone sees any of those books around please let me know! (Even tried hunting at the Popular Warehouse sale at Midlands Park yesterday but no luck...)

List of DWJ books I still don't have (Just to remind myself what else is left)

The Ogre Downstairs
Aunt Maria
The Dalemark Quartet Vol. 1 (Cart and Cwidder & Drowned Ammet)
The Game
A Sudden, Wild Magic

Rest in peace Diana, you are dearly missed by all your family, friends and fans. There is no one else like you, and there will never be another author like you.

http://brynnemckay.com/2011/03/26/diana-wynne-jones/
http://whatever.scalzi.com/2011/03/26/diana-wynne-jones/
http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2011/03/being-alive.html
http://www.tor.com/blogs/2011/03/remembering-diana-wynne-jones
http://robinmckinleysblog.com/2011/03/26/diana-wynne-jones/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/mar/27/diana-wynne-jones-obituary
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2011/mar/29/diana-wynne-jones-chrestomanci
http://rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com/216212.html
http://teabagcentral.blogspot.com/2011/03/exciting-and-exacting-wisdom-in-tribute.html
http://bookaunt.blogspot.com/2011/03/loss-of-diana-wynne-jones.html
http://bellaonbooks.wordpress.com/2011/03/28/diana-wynne-jones/
http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Letter-Blocks-The-BN-Parents-and/Diana-Wynne-Jones-1934-2011/ba-p/924028?cm_mmc=Twitter-_-BNBookClubs-_-letter_blocks-_-diana_wynne_jones_RIP
http://girlsjustreading.blogspot.com/2011/03/in-memoriam-diana-wynne-jones.html
http://jennydavidson.blogspot.com/2011/03/i-am-mournful.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/8421501/Diana-Wynne-Jones-More-charm-and-wit-than-Harry-Potter.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/8414691/Diana-Wynne-Jones-a-wizard-writer-whose-young-life-was-far-from-magical.html

And Here We Go Again... + Results

2011-03-24T19:06:00.008+08:00

Currently Listening To: American Idol performances

I'm watching Idol right now. Typing as I'm listening. Motown night again. It's much better than last week but there are still some screw ups. Also, they need to get rid of the background singers. They're drowning the contestants out.

Initial thoughts:

Stefano - #%^@ what the hell is he thinking? He freaking sang Hello, the song David Cook made famous back in '08. Bad decision Stefano, VERY big fall from last week mate.

Scotty - No shit, this is the direct opposite of Adam's Ring of Fire performance. Turning motown into country is just stupid, enough said. It's interesting, but at the same time it sounds really silly. Taking chances? Sure, but it still sounded totally off. And Ryan's really freaking me out - 'Is the voice inside of your head that deep as well?' SERIOUSLY WTF.

Thia - Slight improvement from last week, but still very far off the mark. Everyone else is way ahead of her in terms of stage presence and all that jazz so...I'm really wondering how long she'll last.

Haley - Interesting performance this week. Surprisingly good vocals, excellent song choice (I loved it anyway). However, in terms of outfits, she is seriously morphing into Haley Scarnato aka skimpy-outfits. Not sure if that tactic will work for this Haley though?

Casey - It was okay performance, nothing to shout about. Better than last week definitely. He really needs to step it up though, otherwise he'll be going the Danny Gokey/Andrew Garcia route..

Paul - Oooh an even more interesting version of Tracks of my Tears. Of course, Adam did it SOOOOO much better, but I guess Paul wasn't that bad either? Motown meets alternative rock woot.

Pia - She's really good but at the same time she's also very boring. She needs to stop singing ballads! Great vocals as usual, but something about her is off this week. And like Lauren, she's kind of pageant queen-ish. Not necessarily a good thing...

Lauren - Hmmm she sounded really good this week but er, she doesn't have much of a stage presence either eh? I noticed that she didn't really know what to do on the stage either; randomly place hand on hips, walk around a bit, cock head a little - honestly I think both she and Thia are too immature for the show. Unlike Allison Iraheta, David Archuleta or even Aaron Kelly, they don't seem to realize that they're live on stage, in a show that is shown all over the world...

Jacob - Finally, another performance that he did not oversing. Okay maybe he did oversing a bit towards the end but overall it was a solid performance. And what was with that random hugging?? What is wrong with Ryan this week??? Jacob looked confused when those girls just went up on stage and hugged him.

Naima - Excellent performance from Naima this week! The dancing was a bit over-the-top but at least that was interesting. Vocals - spot on, song choice - awesome, and great timing too or else she would have been eliminated.

And the number one position this week goes to...drumroll please...

James Durbin rocked it this week, I thought. Still not a big fan of him but he sang well. He still can't stop screaming though, the entire song was like way too high for him.

And that's it for this week. I wonder who will be going home tomorrow...

P.S: My mum liked James, surprisingly.

~*~

EDIT (Results):

I didn't watch the episode yet but holy shit Casey Abrams was almost eliminated from American Idol!

Oh yes, almost eliminated! The judges saved his sorry ass.
To be honest, I wasn't that shocked about this 'shocking elimination', and anyway he's still in the competition now so...no fuss right? Unfortunately the judges won't be able to save anyone else if there are any other unexpected eliminations (*cough*LaurenPiaJames*cough*).

Bad Song Choice Night Returns (+ Results)

2011-03-17T23:59:00.005+08:00

Currently Listening To: Keane - Let It Slide

Before I continue, I just have to say this:-

None of the song choices made on American Idol tonight was good. Seriously. Not. One. Single. Song.

And because of that, I'm having a really hard time trying to find something nice to say about the contestants so let's just..get on with the seriously horrible performances, starting with

Karen Rodriguez. Girl gots to go. STAT. Horrible song choice (one of those super boring ballads played on a loop on Lite.fm), terrible execution...and she's younger than me?? She looks so OLD. She is definitely the contestant I dislike the most in three seasons. THREE SEASONS and last year really sucked. Honestly, I'm done with her, and I hope America is too.

Thia Megia fared no better than Karen this time around. She gave a completely uninspiring performance of 'Colors of the Wind' and as I've mentioned before, GIRL CANNOT HIT THE HIGH NOTES. As if that's not bad enough, she is bland, boring and totally flat in her delivery so if she's not gone within the next few weeks, I'd be surprised.

Naima Adepapo was slightly better that Karen and Thia, but still bad overall. Who'd have guessed that she'd just crash and fall like that? Two weeks in a row. At least last week was entertaining. No excuses for this week - she made a bad song choice, couldn't sing in tune and wasn't memorable. She's in serious danger, IMHO.

(Note that the bottom three are all FEMALES! I thought this was suppose to be a girl's year? Femme fatales crashing and burning badly.)

Haley Reinhart took a step backwards this week. She has been improving lately, but this time was a no go for her. Vocally, a very weak performance and well, song choice sucks obviously.

As for Casey Abrams...well I thought the song choice was not too bad, but the actual performance was absolutely uninspiring. He sang 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' but it sounded more like the Smell of Dispirit. Compared to the others though, he was still okay.

Jacob Lusk was just as bad as Casey. I think he's the first male contestant who sang Heart's Alone and um, I thought that was a really bad choice because so many other previous contestants sang the song much better than him. Once again, Jacob's guilty of oversinging, and that about sums up his whole performance.

Paul McDonald was sick, but er didn't really hear that in his performance. He sounded the same to me. Song choice was decent (for tonight), and he was generally okay I guess? No progress.

Personally, I felt that James Durbin went down quite a few notches this week. Mostly because I'm starting to feel a little bored with him? He is the only 'rocker dude' left though, so I shouldn't be expecting much variety. At least the song he sang was okay, vocally it wasn't so great but overall it was good enough to put him head and shoulders above the other 7 aforementioned contestants.

Lauren Alaina is really immature, isn't she? I take back what I said a few weeks ago about her being older. She actually has the maturity of a ten-year-old and Ryan Seacrest is doing everything possible to encourage that. On the bright side, at least she sings well? That is about the only good thing I can think of to say about her. I'm sorry judges, I don't think she should be excused just because she's what, 16?

And as expected, Scotty McCreery went country again. At least he pulled it off well? One of the better song selections of the night, although I don't know the song.

Pia Toscano sounded awesome as usual, but I really hated the song she sang. Seriously, aren't there any better songs to sing? From 1988? Or is that year such a bad year? (Gosh we're the same age...I'm embarrassed). She needs to be more creative. It takes more than just good vocals to get through American Idol ya know. Work it girl, show some versatility.

So Pia was okay and all, but the best of the night was definitely:

Stefano Langone! Let's give him a big round of applause, for being the one shining star tonight (despite the questionable song choice. Or should I say, in spite of the song choice?). Brilliant vocals. Absolutely perfect. Now he kinda reminds me of David Archuleta hmmm.

Anyway, a very disappointing week. Jennifer Lopez is as awesome as ever though. The only judge giving constructive criticism. I say, give her a round of applause too for being so gorgeous and awesome!

~*~

EDIT (RESULTS): Karen's gone. FINALLY!

Ooooh, Lee performed? Gotta watch that then. I thought they'd forgotten about him heh.

American Idol Top 13 (EDIT: Results)

2011-03-10T23:23:00.004+08:00

Currently Listening To: Nicole Atkins - Cool Enough

The performances of the 13 American Idol finalists was shown tonight, and honestly I think it is one of the strongest Top 13/12 ever. Compared to last year, everyone in this season sound like professionals. Seriously.

Anyway, to me the bottom of the pack this week would be:

Ashton Jones - Oh dear. Wannabe diva. I didn't think she was that bad, but when you're in American Idol and you don't stand out...I think you're screwed. By standing out, I mean being memorable or at least having a mediocre performance. Unfortunately for Ashton, she was forgettable. And apparently without a fanbase.

Naima Adepapo - She sang Umbrella for heaven's sake! Bad song choice. Danced more than she sang. To top it off...she's a wild card contestant so that means she does not have much of a fanbase either. I think it's sad, cause I actually like her.

Karen Rodriquez - Vocally it wasn't that awful, but it sure wasn't good either. And something about her seems so...fake. Everything she sings is just flat, kinda like Taylor Swift with a better voice.

The rest of them were pretty good in my opinion, seriously no comparison with any of the contestants of Season 9. Unbelievable!

Paul McDonald - I'll be honest here, I didn't 'get' his performance. Sure it wasn't bad, but it was boring. Lacked integrity and passion, I feel.

Thia Megia - I won't deny that she has a voice, but seriously this girl is just as flat and emotionless as Karen. The only thing better about her is her voice, and her looks. Overall, a decent performance and thus she'll be safe.

Haley Reinhart - That was a pretty good performance for Haley. The yodelling(??) was weird but vocally I thought she was spot on. Boring song choice though.

Lauren Alaina - She and Thia needs to learn a lesson or two from each other. Thia should infuse some of Lauren's confidence in her performances, while Lauren should learn humility. I mean seriously, it's just a slight critique and there she was making faces at the judges! Really shows her age. Time for Little Lauren to grow up a little. As for her performance, it wasn't that bad but it was boring. Great voice, bad attitude, so sorry I do not like her at all.

Casey Abrams - Thought his performance was just so-so yesterday. I mean, I do like the guy and all but he has no...oomph factor. It's like, Kris Allen or Taylor Hicks. Consistently decent performances but no strength somehow.

Stefano Langone - Awwww isn't he cute? He sounded okay, the song choice was okay and had an interesting arrangement but he lacks oomph too. I would, however, sign him if I were music producer or something. He has the perfect voice for Bruno Mars-ish songs, and that seems to be the in-thing now so, yeah.

Jacob Lusk - He sang I Believe I Can Fly, believe it or not! And he sang it quite well too. Usually that song is like the death kiss. A bit over the top at times but generally pretty good performance.

Scotty McCreery - I still find his deep voice disturbing, but that was an excellent song choice. Should be signed up by a country music record label asap! The perfect male counterpart for Taylor Swift...and definitely better than her. Baby lock them doors...

The Top 2 for the night:

James Durbin and Pia Toscano! Congratulations for being consistently good, and for delivering stand out and vocally impeccable perfomances. Okay, maybe not impeccable but close enough! And to think, I didn't like any of them a few weeks ago. So I'm still not a big fan, but at least I'm really warming up to them now. James' song choice was excellent, a Paul McCartney song I've never heard before but it suits him really well. And Pia's voice is just amazing! Definitely the best female of the bunch.

~*~

Soooo...I'm still pretty impressed. Jennifer Lopez, I think she's an awesome judge. She actually gives constructive criticism! I remember liking her when she was a guest judge a few seasons ago, so yeah she is the perfect replacement. Steven, on the other hand, is so Paula. Half drunk and too nice for his own good. And as for Randy? Well, Randy's just Randy. Curious to see who'll go home tomorrow.

EDIT: Results

So I was right about Ashthon, no fanbase whatsoever. I was very sad to see her go though, she has the potential. May she do well in the future.

Also, please pray for Japan everyone. It was hit by a really bad earthquake and that resulted in a terrible tsunami. The damage looks terrible and I was shaking when I saw the news. This goes out to all the countries that might be affected by the tsunami too.

Lucky Thirteen

2011-03-05T00:27:00.002+08:00

Currently Listening To: Bruno Mars - Marry You

I haven't blogged this much since...a long, long time ago? But American Idol kinda deserves to be blogged - don't ask me why, I just have this urge to blog about it (every single year since 2009! Amazing).

So anyway, the judges decided on a Top 13 instead of 12 because of the overwhelming talent this year and you know what, that was actually a good decision.

And the lucky thirteen are:

(Thanks to America)
Lauren Alaina
Pia Toscano
Thia Megia
Haley Reinhart (the horror!)
Karen Rodriguez (the most undeserving person in my opinion. Poor Lauren T. and Kendra!)

Paul McDonald
Casey Abrams
James Durbin
Jacob Lusk
Scotty McCreery (Baby lock them doors and turn the lights down low...)

(Thanks to the kind judges)
Stefano Langone (he's cute in the...muppets kind of way)
Ashthon Jones
Naima Adepapo

I say, America got the guys right but the inclusion of Haley and Karen is mind-boggling. Haley should be following the footsteps of the other infamous Haley (Scarnato from Season 6) and Karen, well, she's just on the wrong stage. Beauty pageants that way honey, not here!

Even though I still don't have a clear favourite for now, I am quite excited about the Top 13. Here's hoping they'll swim and not sink next week.

P.S: Adam's returning to the Idol stage on the 10th of March to promote Aftermath! AWESOME! Now if only James would sing with him...that would be really interesting.

American Idol - Top 12 Girls

2011-03-04T00:08:00.004+08:00

Currently Listening To: Florence and the Machine - Howl

It's official, the girls are much better than the guys this year.
Sadly I'm still not inspired to support anyone in particular, male or female.
This season is so much better than the last, and it's only the Top 24! Promising.

Anyway, moving on - lemme start with the ugly cos that's the easiest...

The Ugly:
Tatynisa was a trainwreck, singing Rihanna's Only Girl. For American Idol? Seriously?!! Insane decision and it shows. The worse performance for both nights.

Rachel was a trainwreck too. I don't know what to say about that one other than it really sucked.

Really disliked Julie's performance too. I can't remember anything about it, again other than the fact that it sucked.

The Mediocre: Haley, Karen, Ashton and Naima were okay. Nothing bad about their performances, but they weren't fantastic or interesting either.

As for the Good...in no particular order:
Boring Kendra turned out to be quite good. Decent song, decent performance AND she's pretty. Might get into the Top 10 if she's lucky enough.

I still think Lauren Turner's the better Lauren, even though she isn't very...attractive. Let's hope her voice is good enough for the Americans, otherwise she won't be making it through to the next round. Great voice, solid performance.

Lauren Alaina on the other hand...well, she is good but something about her just seems off. Is she really 15?? She seems so much older. Sorta like a more precocious and annoying version of Allison Iraheta. And you know what, Allison is so much better!

Another surprising one was Pia. She was soooooo under the radar but when she hit the big stage, she totally nailed it. Much better than some of the other over-hyped contestants (Seriously? The ones listed in bad and mediocre should be eliminated based just on their performances tonight).

Thia Megia was also okay, but I noticed that she couldn't really hit any of the high notes. Powerful voice, most certainly. However, I thinks she's a bit like the Scotty McCreery of the girls - not much of a range.

~.~

I guess 14 contestants will be eliminated tomorrow, and then a wild card round to round up the Top 12. Good luck to everyone, they will definitely need that.

American Idol - Top 12 Guys

2011-03-03T12:58:00.003+08:00

Currently Listening To: Adam Lambert - Feeling Good

Oh boy.
Oh boy.
Wasn't bad as far as first nights go (last year was terrible), but some people I looked forward to kinda sucked and those I didn't really care about did pretty well.

The Good:

Believe it or not, James Durbin. He most certainly is aiming for the Adam Lambert target audience, what with the song choice and the whole rock vibe. See what happens when you sing instead of scream James?

Old man Scotty McCreery, the more I listen to him the older he gets (in my eyes anyway). But yeah that was a good performance despite my lack of interest in country music.

I had faith in Jacob Lusk and he did not fail to impress for sure! The dude who loves to oversing gave a fantastic, controlled and spectacular performance of A House is not a Home. Very old school, jazzy and bluesy. Bravo dude, bravo.

Casey Abrams needed a shave, but he sure sang his heart out! Can't believe he's only 20? He looks about...40. Nice voice, interesting song choices, and also the pimp spot. What's not to love? The judges are in love with him. Let's hope America is too...

The Mediocre:
I couldn't figure out where to put Paul McDonald, so this section is specially for him. Very very mediocre, but he did have the right kind of voice for that song.

The Bad: Tim Helperin (Boring), Jovany (good voice, dull song), Clint (an idiot for doing Superstition), and Stefano (good voice, but Just The Way You Are? Come on man).

...

and The Ugly: Jordan, Brett, and ROBBIE WHY ROBBIE!! They were just all levels of suck.

Oh and Imma be calling Robbie Bambi from now on. If he makes it through. How many people are getting cut again? 7 girls and 7 guys? Then a wild card round? Hmmm.

Can't wait to see the girls later tonight.

First Impressions

2011-02-26T00:19:00.006+08:00

Currently Listening To: Glee Cast - One Less Bell to Answer/A House is not a Home

It's time for Americaaaaaan Idol - again!
And yes even though I'm not that excited about this season, I'm still planning to blog about it. Why would I do that? Well, number 1: I'm bored. Number 2: It's fun to look back on old entries one year later so...yeah.

Anyway, the Hollywood rounds are over and the Top 24 has been decided. I thought they were going to change the format or something, but I guess not? It's still 12 guys and 12 girls. Alrighty, my first impressions of the contestants this year:

From Daemonstv.com

The Guys

Brett Loewenstern - Hmmm, his hair is really distracting. Not particularly fond of him but I guess he's all right...

Jovany Barreto - Agree with J.Lo, great upper range but other than that bleh.

Jacob Lusk - Oversinging much? Overemotional too.

Paul McDonald - TPTB didn't show much of him so...I don't know. He's interesting enough though.

Clint Jun Gamboa - Hate this guy. Jerk, and he's not that great anyway.

Robbie Rosen - David Archuleta 2.0. Not necessarily a bad thing. My favourite for now.

Stefano Langone - Well, he's decent enough. Nothing to shout about.

Jordan Dorsey - I don't see what's so great about him. Deandre Brackensick should have been in over him I think.

Tim Halperin - Another unknown interesting enough to catch a little of my attention.

James Durbin - Oh god. Adam Lambert wannabe for sure. Mr I'm-just-gonna-screamwailscreech-every-word-cos-it-worked-for-Adam! Can't stand the guy.

Casey Abrams - Interesting choices of instruments. A more polished Taylor Hicks perhaps? I do like him though.

Scotty McCreery - He made me hate the song he couldn't stop singing. No idea why he's still in the competition. His so called amazing deep voice is like Taylor Swift's - flat as hell.

The Girls

Naima Adedapo - I like this girl! No overpimping, and she has a nice voice.

Julie Zorilla - Omg this girl is awesome. Definitely one of my favourites!

Karen Rodriguez - Not bad either.

Lauren Turner - Two Laurens this year, and I prefer this Lauren.

Kendra Chantelle - Boring.

Ashthon Jones - Darn I missed the part where they showed her singing, so I have no idea.

Rachel Zevita - I guess she deserves a chance? Weird operatic chick.

Haley Reinhart - I don't get it. She doesn't deserve to make the Top 24. Just plain awful.

Thia Megia - Um. Well. She does have a good voice, but I think she's a little too unpolished for AI.

Lauren Alaina - This chick has issues with Steven Tyler. She just can't keep her hands off him! Seriously! He's 62 and she's 16 for heaven's sake. Good voice, but I don't like her at all.

Pia Toscano - ...who is she again? Sorry no clue who that is.

Tatynisa Wilson - This season's Lil Rounds perhaps.

Don't know them? Watch this.

21

2011-02-21T12:57:00.006+08:00

Currently Listening To: Adele - Rumour Has It

I suppose Adele wrote this album two years ago?
Cos I'm turning 23 today, and we're the same age XD

So I'm not exactly a fan of Adele but I did like some of the songs from her previous album.I was all for Duffy when they were both nominated for the Grammy's a few years back, and was quite upset when Adele won but now I kinda sorta understand why she had won instead. Honestly, Adele's sophomore album is a lot better than Duffy's. Was completely and absolutely turned off by Duffy's nasally Well Well Well. It was so terrible I couldn't bring myself to listen to her new album. (I don't even know the name of the album!)

Anyway going back to Adele, I'm still not a big fan but 21 is a pretty good album. Mostly ballads with a few upbeat songs, such as Rolling in the Deep (the first single) and Rumour Has It (my personal favourite).

Tracklisting
1. Rolling in the Deep
2. Rumour Has It
3. Turning Tables
4. Don't You Remember
5. Set Fire to the Rain
6. He Won't Go
7. Take It All
8. I'll Be Waiting
9. One and Only
10. Love Song
11. Someone Like You

Overall: Pleasant album, not really my kind of music but still nice to listen to. 8/10.
Recommendations: Rolling in the Deep, Rumour Has It, Set Fire to the Rain, Someone Like You.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

2011-02-17T01:14:00.004+08:00

Currently Listening To: Brooke Waggoner - Go Easy Little Doves

I finally bought The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo bookset/The Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larsson for RM59.90 at Popular! They were having some special offer for the New Year celebrations and it was open to everyone and not just the members. The other bookstores are either selling them individually for about RM35.90 per book, or the bookset for RM79.90, so I'd say I got a pretty good deal.

I was interested in the trilogy because the American version of the movie will be out in December, and the books are like, quite famous?

So far I'm about halfway through the first book. Don't know what to make of it yet, the story is interesting but um, I don't think it's written very well. I mean, there are pages and pages of useless information and pointless descriptions of totally random stuff. It reads more like a report of the book, rather than the actual novel.

I know it's originally in Swedish and I'm actually reading someone else's translation of the book but still, the information is the same right? Note to self: don't ever write like that. It drags everything down.

Despite that, I'm still progressing fast, thanks to the intriguing plot and the interesting characters. Can't really tell what the story's about though. Based on the description on the back cover of the second book, it looks like the story's about human trafficking? I guess I'll find out soon.

Still on my favourite topic (books books books!), I'm totally loving this blog right now:
jennysbooks.wordpress.com

The blogger's a huge Diana Wynne Jones fan, and she even hosted a DWJ event on her blog a few months back! Her first ever author's week event in fact, to encourage other DWJ fans to review her books and to spread the DWJ love. It's so rare to find DWJ fans, so I'm like in DWJ heaven right now. I even learnt new things from the blog - for example, I can't believe that I actually missed out one of her books, A Sudden, Wild Magic. Never knew it existed until I came across it in that blog.

Anyway it's getting late, and I should totally get started on watching the 13th episode of Glee Season 2 =P (and it's 1.40am!)

P.S: OMG I'm almost done with Persona 3! I guess I better finish off the final bosses of P3 AND P4 before classes start.

American Idol Returns!

2011-01-21T00:23:00.003+08:00

Currently Listening To: Evanescence - The Only One

I never thought that I'd be blogging about this but...you know what, I am actually impressed with the first episode of American Idol Season 10.

New judges, new contestants...all off to a promising start, surprisingly!
Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez are pretty decent, with Tyler being totally amusing and J.Lo actually being helpful (unlike the other three women who had graced the judging panel).

As for the contestants, well, they are finally focusing more on the good auditions rather than the outrageous ones. Or maybe America finally ran out of crazy people...? Japan seems to have invaded the AI stage though, I think that Japanese dude singing Miley Cyrus was the worst audition for today.

So...it is still way too early to tell whether the season will be good or bad, but a promising start is better than a dull one right?

BSC (Remember what it stands for?)

2011-01-18T18:43:00.011+08:00

Currently Listening To: Glee Cast - Valerie

Does anyone remember the Baby Sitters Club books?
I recently found a blog revisiting (and ridiculing) the books, and now I'm inspired to reread them!
So I rummaged around my boxes of books, and discovered that I only have 4 volumes of BSC left.
Only four!
How many did I have in the first place?
I think I gave the rest to Becky. Or perhaps my mum donated them to some organisation or something...
If I remember correctly, I only had like maybe 10 volumes? Borrowed most of it from Trix, she had like a ton of them. (I wonder if she still has them now...?)

Even though I was a bigger fan of the BSC, I seem to have more Sweet Valley books - maybe about 25 volumes? Or probably more.
So far I've only re-read Stacey and the Mystery at the Mall.
13 years later...I have no idea why I was so obsessed with the books.
I mean, the idea of a baby sitters club is not exactly...cool, so why were addicted to them when we were younger? Probably because it described the lives of American teenagers...

Anyway, I remember liking the characters for silly reasons.
I wasn't a fan of the Kristy-narrated books but I had liked Kristy because her middle name's Amanda.
My favourites were Stacey and Claudia though, Stacey because she's blonde and Claudia for being Asian lol.
Thinking back, I guess I was being kinda shallow? Like I said, silly reasons for liking the characters =P
Seriously, if there is anyone out there still reading my blog, lend me your BSC books if you still have them!

Also, I found blogs for the Sweet Valley books, and the Goosebumps and Fear Street series by R.L. Stine (I'm done with the Goose\bumps one actually), so I guess I'll be spending the next few weeks reading them all XD

And maybe it'll give me something to blog about.

Here are the links to the blogs, if anyone is interested (or too bored):

BSC
BSC 2
Goosebumps
Fear Street
Random YA books
Random 2
Sweet Valley

P.S: Somebody help my obsession with Top Chef! I'm addicted.

It's only a few days into 2011...

2011-01-07T19:28:00.001+08:00

...but life is just too unexpected sometimes.

Today, a classmate of mine was involved in a fatal accident. I don't know the details, but I really hope that it wasn't a...painful affair.

And to think that we were suppose to celebrate our friends' graduation this Sunday...unbelievable. It seems so unreal you know?

We read and hear about road accidents every day but you won't know what it's like until it actually affects you in some way.

I may not know you very well but I do know that you'll be missed by all of us.

May you rest in peace Mun Tatt.

Introducing...

2010-12-26T01:06:00.002+08:00

Currently Listening To: Laura Marling - Ghosts

Another relatively unknown singer I've been listening to lately: Laura Marling

December in Brief

2010-12-22T12:54:00.003+08:00

Currently Listening To: Evanescence - My Immortal

It's the end of the year again, and I guess everyone has mostly abandoned their blogs (including me!).

So what have I been doing this whole month? Well it's holidays and...

I had dinner at Kampachi, the super fancy (and pricey) Japanese restaurant @ The Equatorial Penang for the first time in my life. Celebrated the parents' 29th anniversary there two days ago. 6 pieces of Sushi for RM36! Seriously man.
This is the second year in a row I have not been working during holidays. Sent some resumes out but no reply yet so far (probably cos I'm too last minute bwahahaha...)
I've been playing Persona 4! What a fascinating game. Seriously. That game seriously has everything that's usually taboo in society. Anyone who likes RPG games should definitely play Persona 4.
More house renovations, thanks to the bloody termites. Ate away the kitchen doors so now they have to be replaced.
Glee's on a break! =( Although the second season is not that great, I still love the show and I hate it when they're on hiatus or something. Thankfully it'll be back in February, and Pretty Little Liars in January!
It's a little over two months since Adam Lambert's Glamnation Concert in Malaysia =( Yes I'm still suffering from Post-Glamnation-Syndrome! At least I'm no longer a concert virgin!

I guess that's about it? Some holiday I'm having.

Introducing Mt. Desolation

2010-11-06T16:02:00.003+08:00

Currently Listening To: Mt. Desolation - Bridal Gown

Initially I wasn't planning to listen to Mt. Desolation, since they classified themselves as 'alt-country', but after hearing their single State of Our Affairs I guess I changed my mind.

After all, Mt. Desolation is the brainchild of Tim Rice-Oxley and Jesse Quin from (my favourite band ever!) Keane so I should give them a chance, right? Well I'm glad I did cos their debut album is actually pretty decent for 'alt-country'. I can't stand wannabe-country music (blergh Taylor Swift), so I guess I should say that I'm quite impressed with the Keane boys! I mean, Keane doing country is just odd on so many levels. Strangely enough it works.

Not to worry, the band is made up of more than just the two of them. Members of The Killers, Noah and the Whale, Mumford and Sons and The Staves provide Mt. Desolation with their backing band, and there are other backup singers too (including Jesse's mother!).

I really wouldn't say that they sound very country, safe for a few songs but it's close enough with only slight hints of Keane-ish music. All of the songs in the album are composed by Tim and Jesse, so good job guys.

If you're not a country music fan, stay away from this album. If you're a diehard Keane fan, then go ahead and give it a listen. It's interesting to see them doing something different for a change.

One more thing - Tim should leave the singing to Tom Chaplin and Jesse. It's not that he sounds bad, it's just...well Tom and Jesse are the better singers. I was watching some live videos of Keane's recently completed tour to the USA and Tom is just amazing! That man has a wonderful voice with a great range and a lovely falsetto, and I really hope that one day I'll get a chance to see them live.

I can now happily cross out Adam Lambert from my 'Must See Live' list, and now the only one remaining is Tom Chaplin - both of them are my favourite male singers ever.

Overall: A much better side project than say, Chester Bennington's Dead by Sunrise or Mike Shinoda's Fort Minor, despite the fact that it's COUNTRY music. 8/10
Recommendations: State of Our Affairs, Bitter Pill, Bridal Gown, Another Night on My Side.

Glamnation Tour Malaysia 2010

2010-10-17T16:55:00.003+08:00

Currently Listening To: Adam Lambert - F-F-Fever

Three days later...

I'm still hungover from seeing ADAM LAMBERT LIVE IN MALAYSIA OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!
I CAN'T BELIEVE I SAW THE REAL GLAMBERT!
That man is absolutely GORGEOUS IN PERSON! AND OMG HE SOUNDS FREAKING AWESOME!
Can you believe that I screamed and jumped like mad person in that hot, stuffy pit? Well I did! I didn't realize that there were 13000+ people in that freaking stadium. Seriously, it didn't seem that packed! But the pit was definitely cramped, I think there was at least one thousand people in that tiny area. So glad that I got in the pit early or I wouldn't have seen anything! Thank you Xian Na and her parents!
(The queue to the pit was maddeningly crazy, the seating areas were definitely less populated, sadly!)

Some photos of the concert...
(taken from Wai Yee-Sama and hotxpress.com)

Guess who was spotted at the Glamnation Tour"> ;)

To all those people who protested outside, for all your talk about bad morals and all, at least Adam respects you enough to follow your silly restrictions. You guys on the other hand, have absolutely no respect for another human being and saying all sorts of insulting things about someone you don't even know is just plain classless.

Putting that aside, I really enjoyed the concert! When he comes to Asia again, I'm so going to another country to watch it.

A Thousand Suns

2010-09-14T16:45:00.008+08:00

Currently Listening To: Florence and the Machine - Dog Days Are Over

I used to be such a big fan of Linkin Park, so I am very shocked to discover that they've just not-that-recently released a new single, and their fourth studio album is actually out TODAY. I mean, I only found out about their single while watching the VMAs earlier, where they performed The Catalyst. As for the album, well, Google's my best friend.

What a cover? No album title, no band name...?

Anyway, I've just finished listening to the album and...wow. It is very...underwhelming. It's a bit better than Minutes to Midnight I suppose but I don't know. At any rate I am not impressed. Three years ago, I gave Minutes to Midnight a fairly bad review. I rated it 3.5/5 back then, but you know what, I have not listened that album ever since...well, 2007. If you were to ask me right now how I would rate Midnight, I'd gladly give it a 1/5. There are a few nice songs in there but I really dislike that album in general. In fact, I think it's one of the worse albums I've heard in the past three years or so. I still listen to Hybrid Theory and Meteora occasionally, but Midnight is a big no no.

Now, A Thousand Suns, I really have no idea how it got 5 out of 5 star reviews. It may not be a bad album but it definitely does not deserve a full star rating. I don't see what's so artistic about it, to me it's like random melodies and lyrics. I can't even judge the songs individually cause everything sounds the same! Not to mention all those random ridiculous interludes/instrumentals. What's up with that? There are about 5 or 6 of them, and they serve no purpose as far anyone can see.

Seriously, I can safely proclaim that I am not really a fan of Linkin Park anymore. I still love their older songs, but their new music is just no longer appealing to me.

Overall: 3/10, I will definitely not listen to this all over again.
Recommended: Iridescent, The Catalyst...and that's about it?

P.S.: Florence and the Machine's performance at the VMAs was totally awesome! I've never really listened to her songs before, but I'll definitely try it out now.

It's Like A Dream Come True...

2010-09-13T13:13:00.002+08:00

Currently Listening To: Jojo - Can't Take That Away From Me

I never thought that I'd actually get a chance to do this but....

I'VE GOT THE PITT TICKETS TO ADAM LAMBERT'S GLAM NATION TOUR IN MALAYSIA!!! 14h OCTOBER 2010!!

Like OMG!

Le tickets!!!

Wheeeee! Malaysian Glamberts unite!

A September Day

2010-09-04T13:14:00.004+08:00

Currently Listening To: Bruno Mars - Just The Way You Are

Dear abandoned blog,

It is no longer a trend to blog I suppose, seeing as no blogs have been updated recently. That includes me, obviously. I haven't forgotten my blog at all and I do click on the link -almost- everyday but I'd look at it and then...I just don't have anything to say.

I still don't have anything to blog about but thought I'd say a few words about the lack of activity in the blogdom.

So what am I doing now? Nothing actually. The last few days of my one week study break (study break my foot! No studying done for the past whole week). Client brief for Marketing Professional Practice still untouched. Tutorial that was due last week untouched as well. I pretty much spent my whole 'study break' playing games on Facebook hah!

Need to get my ass moving soon before it gets too big.

What I've Been Up To Lately

2010-08-06T22:40:00.006+08:00

Currently Listening To: Adam Lambert - Strut

I've been listening to relatively unknown bands and singers lately.

Local Natives

Fleet Foxes

A.A. Bondy

Our very own Yuna.

Do support her by buying her new album, Decorate when it's available.

Lissie's amazing cover of Kid Cudi's Pursuit of Happiness.

~*~

I just bought the soft cover of Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol last week, finished reading it within 2 days. Can't say I'm impressed with the book, cos honestly it's extremely disappointing and rather boring. Compared to his other books, The Lost Symbol reads like it's his first ever serious work or something. The problem is...it's not his first book. Nor is he an amateur writer. Heck, he has sold millions of books by now so he should be a lot better than the crap in The Lost Symbol. Terribly disappointing.

Bought Audrey Niffeneger's Her Fearful Symmetry as well. She's the author of The Time Traveller's Wife, which I've never read before, even though it's an international bestseller, with a movie and all. Just bought the book cos there's 20% off if I were to buy two books instead of one.

And they've just reprinted Agatha Christie's books! There's a 3 for the price of 2 offer in MPH on all her books, so I'm really tempted to buy. I don't know if I should though, I mean, I just bought those two other books last week and also new bags and shoes and clothes so...gah. Spending way too much money lately.

That Feeling...

2010-08-04T17:09:00.001+08:00

Irritated.
Annoyed.
How to get rid of this feeling?

Aphrodite

2010-07-14T13:11:00.010+08:00

Currently Listening To: Kylie Minogue - Aphrodite

First blog entry for July!
It has been a while since I've reviewed any music, so I thought I'd start things off for July with a review of Kylie Minogue's new album Aphrodite.

I don't think I've mentioned this to anyone before but I'm actually a fan of Kylie. Unexpected? Haha.

Kylie Minogue - Aphrodite

Anyway, before I left for my KL trip I listened to the album and I must say I really enjoyed it. Much better than her previous album, X. Also, I was seriously delighted when I found out that one of the tracks on her album was written by Keane's Tim Rice-Oxley. More reason for me to love Kylie and Keane!

If you're looking for fun pop songs, Aphrodite's the album for you. It's mostly dance/electro pop stuff - very typical of Kylie, and that is why it works so well. She isn't trying too hard to be someone different (Xtina anyone?) or aiming to shock audiences (ahem Gaga).

Overall: A great album, in my opinion. 8/10
Recommended Tracks: All The Lovers, Get Outta My Way, Aphrodite.

~*~

SPAIN won the 2010 World Cup!

I can't even begin to tell you how nervous I was when the finals kicked off. Watched it at my uncle's in KL at 2.30am Monday night. Can't say that the actual match was exciting, cos it wasn't, but it sure was intense. I was watching with such intensity, my mum actually asked me 'Why the hell are you so tensed?' (AND YES my mum watched the second half of the match!). And when they won, I was absolutely delighted! In fact, I'm still excited now, two days after the finals! I was really impressed with the Spain squad, I've been supporting them all this while without watching them play.

Although I've been a supporter of both Germany and Spain since the start of the world cup, I was secretly rooting for Spain more cos they've never won the cup before. And after watching the Spain vs Germany match, I was sold - Spain all the way! I feel really bad about Fernando Torres though, I'm a huge fan of his (bahahaha not just for his looks, or the fact that he plays for Liverpool) and to see him play so half-heartedly and then getting that injury...ouch =( Here's hoping he'll recover soon AND that he'll stay at Liverpool FC...if he leaves I think Liverpool's screwed. At any rate, I'll be a Torres fan no matter where he goes...

A few hours later...

I think my obsession with Fernando Torres just went up about two notches, after watching vids of his amazing goals. Sobs, please recover well! You can't let all that talent go to waste!

~*~

My results came out last night, and I'm proud to announce that I've passed all the four subjects, including a distinction for Entrepreneurship! That was unexpected, I had been afraid of not doing well for the assignments. And not surprisingly, Strategic Management was my worst subject, but at least I got more than just a Pass for that! Congrats to me =D

On a side note, I finally found Diana Wynne Jones' Year of the Griffin in Kinokuniya after searching around for it in other shops for...two years? I did see the book two years ago, when I was at Kinokuniya, but the only copy they had then was in terrible condition. Thank god they had a new copy in stock this time around!

Nearing the End

2010-06-21T00:16:00.002+08:00

Currently Listening To: Empire of the Sun - We Are The People

One more paper on Tuesday and I'll be free for a month!
I'm full of plans for the holidays now, but I assure you once it starts I'll be wasting away in front of the TV watching random stuff and football and munching on food that ain't healthy at all.
Oh not to forget wasting away in front of the laptop playing FB games and the Altador cup on Neopets (I know what y'all are thinking, so old d still play Neopets! But it's fun la :P)

Other plans for the holidays include learning how to play the guitar (need to buy a guitar first though), working (HAH now this plan is doubtful), finish several PS2 games (after slacking for so many years, I doubt this too), finish reading all my abandoned books (I've finished reading the newer ones but some books like Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell has been rotting on my shelf for the past 3 years...) and what else? I guess that's about it.

Cheers to all Curtin students cos we have one month off! Woohoo!

P.S.: Xtina's new single is kinda shitty no?

World Cup Fever

2010-06-12T21:57:00.003+08:00

Currently Listening To: Adam Lambert - If I Had You

The World Cup is finally here!
Can you believe it has been four years?
Last world cup felt like just yesterday.
You know what, even my mum's excited about it. Unfreakingbelievable!
I'd love to park my butt in front of the TV but I can't.
Need to -study- for exams.
Can't wait for that to be over!
I'm so not in the mood for studying.
I have plans for the holidays.
Eat, sleep, watch TV and everything else on my still-quite-empty laptop.
Just started watching Parenthood on Starworld.
That reminds me, Fox TV is coming to Astro.
Now I'm not entirely sure but it is most probably that US TV Network.
I mean, there are no other Fox TVs right?
Anyway. I'm turning into a TV addict again!
On seconds thought, scratch that.
I was never not a TV addict!
I guess I'm just gonna be a TV addict-er.
Also, ANTM is now showing on StarWorld.
Apparently Channel V will be replaced by Fox, but I'm not too sure about that.
This is probably my weirdest blog post ever.
Super disjointed.
Oh before I forget, bon voyage Trix!
Have a fun time in the UK, although I know you're not too excited about it!

Desperate Times

2010-06-02T12:54:00.002+08:00

Currently Listening To: Grizzly Bear - Cheerleader

I've kinda forgotten about my blog again. What can I say bahaha.

Anyway, American Idol is over!
Lee won, Crystal was second and to be honest with you at the end of the day I wasn't too bothered about it.
I still can't bring myself to congratulate Lee cos IMHO he really didn't deserve to win the title, then again neither of them were that deserving either.

Let's see if Lee will do better than Kris.

American Idol aside, Finals coming soon!
I'm completely unprepared for it.
Heck I wasn't prepared for any of the assignments either.
Especially the Marketing Research project due this Friday.
I think it's safe enough for me to say that we're screwed. BIG TIME.
Oh what the hell who cares.
Can't do anything about that anymore!
It's time for me to study extra hard for the finals!
Desperate times calls for desperate measures.
Ganbatte Manda!
Let the idea of a one month holiday spent catching up on anime, movies and tv serials inspire you!

Surprise Surprise

2010-05-20T20:55:00.003+08:00

Currently Listening To: Glee Cast - 4 Minutes

Crystal Bowersox and Lee DeWyze are the final two contestants of American Idol.
Surprised? Not at all.
Poor Casey never had the chance, what with his lacklustre performances and drab song choices.
Still, I was rooting for him.
Now that he's out, I say Crystal's the man! Er, woman!
I'm sorry but I've had enough of Lee's whiny singing voice. Dude has no range whatsoever, he growls his way through most songs, and well, his name is my last name what the hell!
Okay so that's not a valid point but whatever!
The most depressing final two ever, in my humble honest opinion.
Even Diana Degarmo vs Fantasia Barrino was more exciting (and they were goddamn boring).
No way in hell would I wake up at 8am to watch the finale this year, especially since Adam Lambert won't be performing.

Who will it be?

Lee?

Or

Crystal?

May the fair maiden win this time.

P.S.: Lee DeWyze is the number one trending topic on Twitter. Interesting but like Justin Bieber...how undeserving.

Early May Updates

2010-05-10T15:33:00.004+08:00

Currently Listening To: Keane - Clear Skies

I've kinda forgotten about my blog, honestly.
My thoughts are kinda in a disarray right now.
Way too many things for me to do lately.
What now?
I have two more major assignments left.
The second part of the Entrepreneurship assignment.
Due very soon and progress is still at 0%!
The entire Marketing Research project.
Quite untouched. Needs to be completed within the next few weeks.
I need to stop procrastinating...but I can't help it!

Bought more books last week.
The Black Magician series by Trudi Canavan.
Thought it was a trilogy until I googled...
There's a freaking prequel and a soon to be released sequel!
Holy crap what have I gotten myself into???
Kinda spoiled myself too when I googled the books...
Nevermind I'll continue collecting the series.
It's very interesting actually.
One of the main themes in the books is actually homosexuality!
How unusual is that?? It's usually a taboo topic or something.
And NO I did not choose to collect the series because of that!

Currently listening to Keane's newly released EP, Night Train.
What can I say about it...
Unusual.
Weird.
Strange.
More 80s stuff.
But strangely addictive.

May Day

2010-04-30T15:45:00.004+08:00

Currently Listening To: Glee Cast - One Less Bell To Answer/A House Is Not A Home

Omg it's the last day of April!
Where did all that time go?
Unbelievable.
Current struggling to complete endless assignments.
I just can't wait for it end.

I give up on American Idol, seriously.
I mean I'll still watch it for fun, but I don't care who wins.
With Siobhan gone, only one red rose is left to struggle with 4 blunt thorns.
I mean seriously. The most snooze-worthy Top 5 ever.
So I give up.

Also, I'm totally loving Glee's last episode, Home.
I just don't get the hateful reviews for the the episode.
What's wrong with a little emotion?
We can't and shouldn't laugh all the time.
After the cheese of Hello and the Madonna episode, the change of pace in Home is really welcomed.
I was actually crying for 3/4 of the episode.

The character development for Finn and Kurt was fantastic.
It's nice to see a different side of them.
I love the songs featured in the episode too, awesome oldies.
I especially love Kurt's A House Is Not A Home and Will and April's duet of One Less Bell To Answer/A House Is Not A Home.
Totally fab.
Kurt is ♥
Kudos to Chris Colfer for his fantastic portrayal of Kurt Hummel!~
You know I love you, xoxo.

(Sorry reading too much Gossip Girls! Speaking of GG, I am like, soooo inspired to collect the whole series now!)

Goodbye, Tim Urban

2010-04-23T14:22:00.003+08:00

Currently Listening To: Tim Urban - All My Loving

I never thought I'd ever blog about this but...
Tim Urban, I'm gonna miss you on Idol.
You may not have been the best contestant, but you did YOUR best.
You had a shaky start, but as the show progressed on you actually improved.
And you've turned me into a fan.
So I say, good job Tim!
Love what you said in your exit interview.
Best of luck to you, hopefully someone will sign you to a record label.

Yours truly,
A Turban Fan.

American Idol: Top 7

2010-04-21T23:47:00.003+08:00

Currently Listening To: Glee Cast - Like A Prayer

Today's Inspirational theme was so inspiring, I was inspired to not blog about tonight's inspirational songs. I mean seriously.

As a result of that inspiration, I am not going to blog about the performances at all because the contestants were super duper inspiring.

Let me just...summarize the contestants in a sentence or two.

Crystal, you're the only bright spot in this competition. So PLEASE stay cool and hang on and don't get overly emotional.

Siobhan, I don't know what the judges have against you but seriously. Don't bother explaining yourself cos they'll just hate you no matter what.

Lee...I think you're overrated. Sure, occasionally you're quite good but most of the time you're just mumbling and whining. Then again, you might actually have a shot at winning this competition cos everyone else stinks.

Casey, dude, time to take this whole thing seriously. You're doing the same old mediocre karaoke schtick every week. Okay, sometimes you're actually REALLY good but that's a very rare occasion so...yeah.

Tim, I like you. I don't know why but I do. Unfortunately you have a limited range and unless you pick the right songs, you kinda stink. Totally not cool man.

Big Mike, nobody seems to like you and two weeks ago you were almost eliminated. So if I were you I'd lay off the cheese and ego and just sing cos you're actually the best male contestant left. Vocally anyway.

Aaron Kelly...it's time for you to go home.

And that about sums up the whole season. Won't be blogging about this anymore unless something interesting happens. Right now I kinda have like a million assignments to complete within the next two weeks so...yeah. I think I'll be seeing y'all in the mental hospital after this.

Really Random Thoughts

2010-04-17T13:49:00.005+08:00

Currently Listening To: Siobhan Magnus - Paint It Black

I believe in dressing properly for the right occasions.
I think those who dress inappropriately are silly, frivolous fools.

Two years ago, I said that I will definitely continue piano lessons.
Two years later, the layer of dust on my piano has tripled.

Somehow I work better under pressure?
My last minute work > My carefully planned and meticulously completed work.

I shouldn't be supporting Tim Urban, he's so not my style.
But I am supporting him somehow. Must be that hair.
Casey's hair is really pretty too. Goldilocks.

Some Inti Penang students are definitely spoilt brats.
If you can't get what you want, whine, complain, point fingers and then do nothing.
Brilliant.

Also, I'm having a stomachache now.
Boo no raw salmon sushi for me today =(

~.~

I was in the school choir for three years.
Wish I had been in a Glee club instead.

Looks can be very deceiving.
Apparently I've deceived everyone yippee.

Elvis Rocks the American Idol Stage

2010-04-14T19:02:00.006+08:00

Currently Listening To: Glee Cast - Hello Goodbye

One of the best weeks this season, definitely.
I mean, how can it not be great with Adam Lambert as the mentor? =P
Fangirl-ing aside, Adam really did give good advice to all the contestants.
Also, the Glee cast was in the audience! Now how awesome is that?
Adam + Glee = Awesomeness!
Since Big Mike was saved last week, it's the Top 9 again so here we go:

The worse this week is Andrew Garcia without a doubt. I don't even know what to say about his performance. The Tim haters are so wrong, Andrew's the Sanjaya of this season. Seriously if he doesn't go home this week, the ones who will be leaving should give him a sucker punch before they leave the stage. Why? Because he stole their spot in the Top 7, that's why.

Aaron Kelly is definitely losing steam. Vocally he was okay but honestly, there's just no oomph in him. Adam was right, Aaron really needs to spice up his song choices and his performances. It's all boring, bland ballads and well, that's just not good enough for the competition.

Casey James. Well, after last week I was expecting more so when Casey gave another mediocre but solid performance...I just kinda went 'That's it? C'mon Casey.' I'm sorry but at this stage, being consistent is just not good enough. Try to be more like Adam!

Katie Stevens, hmmm I actually enjoyed her tonight and y'all know how much I dislike her so, yeah good job Katie. She has definitely improved a lot since the Top 24, but she's rather...dull. Still, she's better than some of the other guys tonight so don't go home yet.

Siobhan Magnus, poor thing. I thought she sounded great but Kara and Simon threw her under the bus like roadkill. What the hell? Matt/Anoop/Kris received the same treatment last year too, so I really hate them for that. I'm not a big fan of Siobhan but damn I'm so supporting after that whole charade. Siobhan, you deserve better than that.

Big Mike. Hopefully he's safe this week cos he doest't deserve to go, not this week nor last week. Solid performance, solid vocals, typical Mike song choice and that SHOULD be good enough...

Tim Urban. Oh wow. A few weeks ago I would have never ranked him this high but he was really good tonight! Talk about proving his critics wrong. And at least the judges gave him credit when it's due (unlike Siobhan!)

Lee Dewyze. Okay so he's still pretty stiff on stage, and Adam was spot-on with his criticism but at least vocally he was pretty good. My second favourite performance of the night.

Crystal Bowersox. It's Crystal Bowersox. End of story. Good job as usual. Loved the bluesy feel of the song.

And that's it for today, I wonder what will they be singing next week? I hope the Glee Cast performs tomorrow too! Would love to hear Lea Michele put all the freaking contestants to shame.

P.S: What was wrong with Ryan tonight? He was behaving like a drunk 5 year old! At the end of the show he was like fangirling over Adam. 'What are you gonna sing tmr Adam? Pls pls pls sing Whataya Want From Me OMGGGGG! Sing it for me Adam, sing it sing it sing it omg!'

Lennon/McCartney and Some Humour

2010-04-08T12:19:00.006+08:00

Currently Listening To: Kalafina - Ashita no Keshiki

It's the John Lennon and Paul McCartney songbook week!
...again. Is it just me or do we have that theme every year too?
Oh wait, just season 7. (David Cook ftw!)

Well at any rate Lennon/McCartney seems to be a good theme for all contestants cos almost everyone sounded okay last night.

The worse performance of last night - Aaron Kelly. He went first and boy was he uninspiring or what? He sang The Long and Winding Road and it really was long and winding. And bland. So bland I almost fell asleep.

Andrew Garcia, back to square one. He was cheesy beyond words, I don't suppose it was that bad but compared to everyone else he was terrible last night. Horrible song choice. No one in their sane mind would have chosen Can't Buy Me Love cos that song is just not suitable for a competition! And he was way beyond stiff in terms of 'performing'.

Katie Stevens, I didn't get her Let It Be at all. And everyone's like, praising her! I know it was a lot better than her previous performances but by American Idol standards that was still pretty weak. So I really don't get it and I still want her to leave ASAP. I swear if she wins this thing I'll...scream.

Lee Dewyze. Hmmm the bagpipes. Good distraction cos vocally he was kinda off last night with Hey Jude. The whiny tone is back and I didn't like it at all. If not for the bagpipes I would have ranked him lower! Just kidding haha. Not good.

Tim Urban. You know what I really liked his version of All My Loving. Talk about perfect song choice. His voice totally suited that song, he was not pitchy, not out-of-tune and best of all - he actually performed that song well. Just Tim and his guitar and it really worked! Great, now I'm kinda rooting for him. Darn it Tim!

Michael Lynch. He wasn't that bad last night but I thought it lacked something. Eleanor Rigby, previously covered by David Cook back in season 7, is not exactly a radio-friendly song and Big Mike kinda made it sound even less...accessible. David Cook's version on the other hand, was awesome and two years later I'm still loving it. Big Mike? Not so much. I feel bad for him though.

Siobhan Magnus. Sleepy is indeed the best word to describe her rendition of Across The Universe. Michael Johns sang it so much better in Season 7. (Season 7 > Season 9 by a hundred times!) Luckily there was no screaming whatsoever (what the heck, Across The Universe is not scream-material) and vocally it was quite incredible.

Crystal MamaSox. I loved what Crystal did with Come Together last night. It was refreshingly Crystal-ish and it sounded nothing like Carly Smithson (Season 7) and Kris Allen's versions of it. Granted, Carly's cover is still the best but at least Crystal's effort to make it sound different worked out well. Yet, she wasn't the best last night cos...

...Casey James was totally awesome! He sang a song called Jealous Guy (I've never heard that song before) and wow, it totally showed a different, raw side of him that everyone loved. Yes, including Simon Cowell! It may not have been pitch perfect but the whole performance was just wow. Very impressive. In fact, I thought that was his 'moment', definitely one of the best performances in this dismal season.

Also I love you Crystal! For cracking me up and for saying what has been on my mind all this time - Andrew and Lee, you guys go ahead and make lovely Danny Gokey babies together. They're this season's Kradam for sure!

One more thing, Adam Lambert will be mentoring them next week!
Unbelievable, he wasn't even the winner last year. Poor Kris.
I love Adam and all but...him mentoring the Idol hopefuls?? Very strange.
Let's see how he will fare next week. Can't be as bad as Miley Cyrus or sth.

P.S: I just got spoiled for tonight's results show! Shit. Damn you America.

Random Thoughts

2010-04-05T13:00:00.003+08:00

Do you know what I do when I wake up from a nightmare?

I create some sort of weird ending for it in my head so I wouldn't be so scared anymore.

Eg:

I had a nightmare about some freaky Ju-On-ish creature chasing me once, and I woke up right before he/she/it caught me.

So I thought to myself, the Ju-On-ish creature fell into a deep hole as the sun came up.

Yes I know ghosts are suppose to float and not run so they can't actually fall into a deep hole but whatever!

And Then They Were Ushered

2010-03-31T23:15:00.003+08:00

Currently Listening To: Owl City - Fireflies

It's a miracle!
Tonight, the American Idol contestants actually sounded really decent for the first time this season. Surprise, surprise.
The theme was R&B and even though I didn't think the song choices were that great, at least everyone sang well (yes even dear old Tim Urban!). Usher was their mentor, and he was not too bad I suppose. Better than Miley Cyrus anyway. So:-

Lee, Crystal and Mike were the highlights of the night, I thought all three of them gave solid performances. Lee was the best, hands down (on R&B night too, what the heck) while Crystal and Mike were their usual selves - consistently good. Crystal's "surprise" for this week turned out to be the piano, and I'll have to say that I wasn't that surprised. I think she really needs to ditch the instruments for at least one week, just for us to see how well she'll do without anything else to depend on, other than her singing.

Casey, Aaron, Katie and Andrew were okay, all four of them gave dull but dependable performances. I can't believe Aaron sang 'Ain't No Sunshine' after Kris' amazing rendition of that song last year. He should have thought of the consequences before choosing that song. Obviously he'll be compared to the former, and the fact that his version paled in comparison didn't really help either. And after weeks of mediocre (bordering on awful, actually) performances, Andrew finally stepped up his game last night with his version of Chris Brown's Forever. It may not have been a great performance but at least he redeemed himself. Also, I've realized that I just can't stand Katie Stevens no matter how decent she sounds. There's something about her that's just really unappealing ugh.

Siobhan, Didi and Tim however, did not do so well tonight. Siobhan was actually quite awful! Believe me, I was really shocked when I heard her off-key notes and all those horrible almost-screams. It was so bad, I almost muted the TV (horrors!). Talk about an off night - when she's off, she's really really off. She'll have to step up her game next week.

I was a little doubtful about ranking Tim last because he wasn't that bad. Unfortunately, out of all of them, he is still the least capable in terms of vocal ability. In other words I think it's really time for him to go this week. For this week though, my least favourite contestant will have to be Didi Benami. I don't know what to say about it, vocally it wasn't that bad but the whole performance was just really, extremely bleh. Ryan was unnecessarily nosey and cruel to her though, I mean he was actually bugging her about her reasons for crying. Come on just let the girl cry in peace mmkay?

Overall, quite a good night for a dismal season.
Now if you'd excuse me, I'm gonna go youtube my favourite Adam Lambert/Kris Allen performances. Have a good night.

Bad Song Choice Week Indeed

2010-03-24T19:09:00.005+08:00

Currently Listening To: Radiohead - No Surprises

Today's episode of American Idol can be described in just one word - HORRIBLE. Someone in idolforums.com joked about this week's theme being 'Bad Song Choice', and I agree - most, if not all, of them made really bad decisions with their song choices. Only one or two of them sang their bad song choices decently and that's really saying something. Also, Miley Cyrus was their mentor, but I'll have to admit that she was not too bad. When I first heard the news, I nearly died because the thought of Miley Cyrus giving them advice on singing is just hilarious. Moving on to the contestants themselves:-

Paige Miles. What the hell, this girl basically screwed herself just by picking that song. Against All Odds?? Seriously?! On American Idol! Worse song choice ever. And on top of that, she sang terribly. Maybe she should suffer from laryngitis all the time cos she sounded a lot better when she was sick. I mean, she was pitchy throughout the whole song. Awful, awful if she ain't leaving tomorrow then the Americans must be really kind.

Andrew Garcia. Man that was worse than last week. Andrew has left the building. What happened to him? It was just awful. I could hardly hear him sing, and I actually heard the audience laughing at Simon's seriously nasty comments. I felt really bad for him but judging from the way he behaved, I think he knew that he stank. If Paige ain't going home, then he should.

Tim Urban. Honestly, I didn't think it was that bad but the judges were really harsh on him. It may not have been his best performance (the studio version of his Under My Thumb's not bad btw!) but it definitely wasn't his worse, nor was he the worse of the night. I'll give him a free pass this week - I hope he stays over Paige and Andrew.

Katie Stevens. She was out of tune, that about sums it up. She sang Fergie's Big Girls Don't Cry and I love that song, but I hated her version of it. Didn't like it at all. On the bright side I liked her hair? Hated her outfit though, it wasn't any better than those 'pageant-horror' outfits she has been wearing for the past few weeks.

Aaron Kelly. The latest laryngitis patient was definitely having some problems with his voice. I really wouldn't say that it was a bad performance, it was just kinda so-so. He sang I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing, and it was kinda karaoke-ish but at least he sang better than the other four.

Casey James. Casey James was Casey James. The same old Casey. Wasn't great, wasn't bad, weird song choice and um, decent vocals I suppose. I think I say the same thing about him every week? Well, can't help it I guess. Casey James is Casey James and he'll always be Casey James.

Lee DeWyze. He was less pitchy and whiny this week, and he actually sounded quite strong. I believe it's just the song though, he didn't have to sing using his upper or lower register so he was in tune. However, that proves how limited his vocal range is. How can people compare him to David Cook?? My beloved Cookie can sing circles around this dude with my surname as his first name.

Didi Benami. I don't know what the judges were listening to cos I thought she was pretty good, for someone who was singing about You're No Good. I'm no longer a fan of Didi, but I think she deserves more credit.

Siobhan Magnus. She needs to stop screaming. Girl ain't screeching like Adam Lambert, she's actually screaming. Like the 'HELP SOMEONE PLS SAVE ME FROM THIEVES' kind of screaming. Again, I blame her lack of experience. Other than the screaming, the rest of the song was quite decent so...rock on Siobhan?

Michael Lynche. I personally thought that his performance was awesome! Once again, I don't know what the judges heard, their comments on his performance were very divided. And I loved how he lifted Miley up with his gigantic bear hug, she looked quite scared!

Crystal Bowersox. Crystal Bowersox is the queen of the world. Or at least the Queen of American Idol. There, I've said it. I'm no big fan of hers, but she is definitely the most consistent contestant this year. In that sense she kinda reminds me of Melinda Doolittle from Season 6. Consistently good, but a tad too predictable. That might sound very unconvincing but at least she's still better than the other 8 constantly inconsistent morons.

Can't believe I lasted through 2 hours of that. At least Miley looked quite amused.

AI Without Lilly Scott

2010-03-17T19:20:00.011+08:00

Currently Listening To: Timbaland ft Katy Perry - If We Ever Meet Again

While I was watching American Idol earlier, I couldn't help but think 'Man Lilly would have rocked the Rolling Stones night!' and after watching the show, I still think the same way. (I miss you Lilly! Still my favourite this season. Not to forget Jermaine Purifory, who didn't even make it to the Top 24.) That being said, I think all of them were actually better than I had expected.

Let's start with who I thought was the weakest tonight:

Andrew Garcia. O how the mighty have fallen. There's no doubt about this - in my humble opinion, he was the worse contestant tonight. There was just nothing in his performance at all. He was bland, he was off-key at times, he chose a boring song, he did not do anything to catch anyone's attention and...well, he's Andrew Garcia. I mean come one, Tim Urban was better than him! Speaking of Tim...

Tim Urban. It was an awkward performance, thanks to the extremely strange reggae arrangement (for a Rolling Stones song! What the hell?). I'll give him credit for the unusual song choice and for his somewhat decent vocals but other than that? It was not good. I still can't believe he made it into the Top 12 over Alex and Todrick! I don't blame those two for being bitter about their exit. Not at all.

Aaron Kelly. All right, it was a lot better than last week BUT still it's not good enough. The problem wasn't his song choice, it's more like his whole performance style is just too lacklustre for American Idol.

Lacey Brown. I love Lacey but that wasn't a very good nor memorable performance. Still love her voice, her looks, her style - she just needs to polish up her vocals a bit and she'll be a lot better. Based on her performances so far though, I don't think she deserves to be in the Top 12. Lilly and Katelyn were better than her in almost all aspects so it's too unfortunate for them.

Paige Miles. So Paige had laryngitis and yet she sang quite well. Overall she gave a decent yet boring performance, but I think she's gonna make it through to next week. She does have a powerful voice after all, she just hasn't fully utilized it yet. Here's hoping that she'll show us more of that voice before she bids farewell to the competition a little too soon.

Casey James. Meh. That's all I can think of to say about his performance and you know what, I think that about sums it up. Vocals - okay, song choice - funky, outfit - um what?, hair - he needs to tie up his hair okay? He looks like freaking Bucky Covington with that hair. Casey's just a bit better looking than Bucky, and well he sounds better too. If you ask me, that performance was a bit karaoke-ish but what the heck the judges loved it.

Katie Stevens. I still don't like Katie. I just don't like her at all. Hated the dress she wore, what the hell was she thinking? Oh wait, she's only 16. Can't blame her. Yet. Anyway, I actually preferred her rendition of Wild Horses over Susan Boyle's version (and just as I expected, Simon mentioned her. Well duh.), solid vocals, but as always Katie Stevens manages to turn every song she sings into a energy-sucking lullabye. I don't get it. Is it her old lady vibe? Or that boring, monotonous voice? Or maybe it's her lack of emotion. I don't know but whatever it is, I hope she snaps out of it soon or else she should just go home already.

Lee Dewyze. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I'll say it again - Lee has serious issues with his lower range. He can't sing a single low note without being pitchy and whiny! The rest of his voice is okay, and he needs to stop being so nervous every time he's on stage, especially when he's listening to the judges or when he's waiting for results. He needs to be more confident on stage, I don't think he's that bad but I don't see what's so appealing about him either.

Didi Benami. Didi sang really well again this week. She's still giving off this boring vibe, but at least there's a marked improvement in her performance. I used to be a big fan of her, right now however I'm not too excited about her. I can't explain it, it's just a weird feeling.

Big Mike. If you were to ask me who is the most surprising contestant to date, I'd have to say Big Mike. When I first heard him, I thought he'd be cannon fodder like the Michael from the previous season (I liked last year's Michael, sadly though I knew that he was not good enough to be a strong contender) but guess what, Big Mike's actually quite good. The best male vocalist by far. The rest of the guys are either just so-so or crappy. Big Mike is the only one with a wide range, and that includes his amazing falsetto. To top that, he has no pitch problems whatsoever and he's hardly out of tune. Totally unexpected. A dark horse perhaps?

Crystal Bowersox. Crystal. Hmmmm. Well, Crystal is still Crystal, she still sings the same kind of songs and it sounds totally awesome. Unfortunately, some people are getting tired of her because she's Crystal. She only does Crystal and nothing else, so some may think that she's boring. Personally I like what she has done so far, she has been consistently good for the past four weeks. Other than Siobhan, no other female has been this consistent so, kudos to Crystal for doing a good job.

Siobhan Magnus. Best vocals of the night, complete with the screeches. I thought she gave a splendid performance, and I loved the ending part of the song (not that screech). The problem with Siobhan is her control of her upper range. Yes, she can hit those high notes in pitch HOWEVER she lacks the strength so when she hits those notes, it comes off as a bit too screechy and thin (I must be one of the very few people who find her screechier than her co-screecher ADAM LAMBERT). As good as she is, I still think Adam's better than her (thanks to all those comparisons). Now I don't claim to be an expert nor am I biased towards Adam, but I think Siobhan lacks experience and that's why she still needs a lot of practice. Well, practice makes perfect right? I don't know who has the potential to win at this stage but if Siobhan keeps improving, she'll definitely go far.

By the way, hats off to Crystal for paying a tribute to her dear friend Lilly Scott! *salutes* I could see it in her eyes, she was still upset about Lilly and Katelyn's elimination last week. Love Crystal for that. I feel like cheering her up somehow, she looks so sad most of the time!

Results show tomorrow - please, please let those who overstayed their welcome go home ALREADY! *cough*TimKatie*cough*

Extras: Jermaine Purifory's amazing audition!

Bitter Taste

2010-03-12T23:08:00.004+08:00

I don't know about you, but I think the American Idol voters are mostly idiots.
The four people who went home tonight actually deserved to be in the Top 12 and thanks to silly teenage voters, four less deserving contestants remained instead.

Those eliminated tonight are:

Katelyn Epperly (Katelyn! I was shocked when I found out!)

Todrick Hall (I may not like him that much, but I think he is definitely more worthy to be there than, say, Tim Urban?? Thanks to last night's performance though, Tim's in. I knew it. Just as I had predicted. At least Todrick left with dignity, and with an awesome swan song. He should have done that last night instead!)

The next two might give you a heart attack if you've been paying attention to the whole season so far because NEITHER of them deserved this premature fate:-

Alex Lambert (I was shocked too! I didn't see that one coming cuz although his performances may have been quite awkward for the past 3 weeks, at least he has been consistently decent vocally. And I thought he had many SUPPORTERS! SHOCKING!)

And believe it or not...my favourite (and the consistently awesome) Lilly Scott went home tonight too! When I saw her up there with Katie Stevens, I just knew that she was going home. The power of the Miley Cyrus supporters is freaking damn scary.

So I wasn't that shocked about Lilly. However, I am seriously pissed off and upset because I won't get to hear Lilly sing every week anymore! *sobs* Lilly's awesome! She didn't deserve to go home, Alex and Katelyn did not deserve to go home either! I like Lacey and all, I really do but she, Paige or Katie should have been the ones to leave!

I no longer have the mood to watch American Idol. This season anyway. I don't really like any of the remaining contestants that much, except for Lacey and Crystal but Lacey doesn't deserve to be there based on her progress so far and as for Crystal...let's face it, she's not going to win unless a miracle happens.

If Tim Urban wins this freaking season I'm gonna throw a fit and stab a Tim-Voodoo-Puppet with a million and one pins! Or fly over to America and shave off his god awful hair! Or seriously disfigure his so-called handsome face with a marker pen! *fumes*

On a side note, Crystal looked really upset for the four FORMER contestants. She couldn't even smile when Ryan told her that she's in the Top 12. Or maybe she's still sick. She didn't look that great during her performance earlier this week.

Gah I hate American voters! I detest that emotionless Katie Stevens with a passion! She knew she didn't deserve to be there, and the same goes for Tim!

Stay tuned for more next week - wait, I might not be back next week. I'm too upset to look at the contestants seriously now. Damn it!

American Idol Top 16

2010-03-11T18:53:00.004+08:00

I really don't fancy composing a super long post for this week cos I felt that it was kinda underwhelming, so I'll just summarize it in two parts - one for the girls and another for the guys.

Top 8 Girls
Best performances of the night: Crystal, Siobhan, Didi, Lacey and Lilly.
All 5 of them gave solid performances, especially Crystal and Siobhan. Lilly was a bit off last night, I'm not sure why but Lacey sang quite well, surprise surprise. Didi returned to form last night, singing Stevie Nick's Rhiannon and I loved it! So much better than Taylor's mutilation of that song at the Grammy's.
The remaining three, Katelyn, Katie and Paige, didn't do so well last night. In Paige's case, she totally ruined Smile! She's so going home tomorrow man, and hopefully Katie too.

Top 8 Guys
Best performances of the night: Lee, Alex, Big Mike, Casey and surprisingly Tim Urban.
Lee sang something really interesting - Owl City's Fireflies. I thought it was the best, maybe not the vocals but as a whole it was quite nice. Alex was okay too but was way too stiff, totally agreed with judges. Big Mike reduced Kara to tears and although the performance was pretty good, it did NOT deserve those tears. And the biggest surprise of the night...Tim Urban was actually quite good! I think he's gonna make it to the Top 12...crap.
Not so good: Andrew, Aaron, Todrick.
Poor Andrew. I feel bad for him. Week after week the judges tear him to shreds for not living up to 'Straight Up', and this week...ouch. I didn't think it was that bad, but they were really cruel to him so...not safe. Todrick ruined Somebody To Love, and Aaron was just bleh. I dunno, I may not like any of the guys but I don't know who should leave the competition at this stage...if I had a choice I'd say all of them.

Anyway, next week we're moving on to the Top 12. Hopefully things will get better? Cos right now Season 9's a snoozefest. They'll be doing the Rolling Stones next week.

Distractions

2010-03-10T23:45:00.005+08:00

Currently Listening To: John Legend - Everybody Knows

I'm too lazy to blog about AI today, so I'll just blog about it after the guys perform tomorrow. Oh and John Park, Jermaine Sellers (finally!), Michelle Delamor and Haeley Vaughan left the show last week - too bad for John and Michelle, good riddance to the other too.

Anyway, lemme blog about my life instead.
One reason why I'm not blogging about AI is because I actually accepted a job to sort out some data thingy for Inti. Email addresses and phone numbers of applicants. Of course I'm getting paid! 5 bucks per hour, not bad what. I went through 270 of them in four hours.
FOUR HOURS! That's why I don't have time to blog about AI la.
Okay fine, partly because I'm lazy too.

Also, I have about a ton of assignments to complete.
I'm so not joking.
The lecturers for this semester seem to be really fond of tutorials and facilitations/presentations so I'll be stuck doing tutorials every week and preparing for the facilitations every other week or so.
Blah heavy work load. Thank god I'm not taking a fifth subject or I shall die of boredom!

Oh oh I can't wait to watch Alice in Wonderland! I've been trying to book tickets for the 3D one for the past few days but it's FULLY BOOKED =( It looks like I'll have to watch the normal one in Queensbay then...well, I'll save time and money by doing that!

Edit: OMG more forms for me to sort out tomorrow! And and I have one tutorial to sorta complete by Friday...waa! But I'm getting paid right! Nevermind, for $$$ I'll do anything! Dare me to strip for $$$ and I'll do it!

American Idol Rundown - Week Two, Part 2

2010-03-04T22:58:00.003+08:00

Currently Listening To: Glee Cast - Lean On Me

I'll try my best to keep this simple and short, cos it took me like ages to compose last night's post which was super long and if you've noticed I have the tendency to be long-winded just like this ridiculously long sentence.

Right, with that out of the way let's move on to American Idol! (If anyone's wondering why I'm so enthusiastic about blogging about Idol...well, think of it as some form of therapy from my soon-to-be hectic college workload. That and the fact that I love analyzing them idol wannabes hahaha...)

So Crystal Bowersox returns to the American Idol stage and delivered a solid, typical Crystal performance. Yes it was good, and to me one of the best performances of the night but still nothing to shout about really. There's just no wow factor yet.

Haeley Vaughn sang Miley Cyrus' The Climb and failed in her bid to impress the judges - again. I didn't think it was THAT terrible, but definitely horrible enough for me to agree with all of the judges. Oh what the hell, even Miley's a million times better than that! Haeley needs to go before she becomes the Sanjaya of this season.

Lacey Brown. Much better than last week, but still a bit off-ish somewhere. In serious danger too. Sad actually cos I do like Lacey, and I loved the song she sang, Kiss Me by Sixpence None The Richer. Oh oh and I think she looks like a red-headed pixie! Something about her hair, eyes and make-up. She has gorgeous eyes, that Lacey.

Katie Stevens is like the female version of David Archuleta - young, but sings and talks like she's 50. Seriously, that girl has a very mature sounding voice so no matter what she sings, it sounds old and kinda forced. I won't deny that she has a good voice but she needs to lighten up a little. Anyway, she was not too bad tonight with Corinne Bailey Rae's Put Your Records On.

I was really disappointed with Didi Benami because she's one of my favourites, but she sounded quite terrible singing Lean On Me tonight. If she was some other contestant then it wouldn't so bad but it's Didi and we're expecting the best from her!

Moving on to Michelle Delamor, with the weirdest song choice of the night - a ballad version of Creed's With Arms Wide Open. Ummmm I didn't think it was that bad but it was definitely a weird rendition of that song. Not the best performance of the night, but not the worse either.

Lilly Scott. What the heck, my mum liked her version of A Change Is Gonna Come. I mean I liked it too but I can't help but think of Adam Lambert's version since I've listened to that one about like a million times already lol. Quirky and unusual, that's Lilly Scott and it worked. The judges loved her and she's still my favourite contestant so, keep up the good work Lilly!

Katelyn Epperly surprised me again tonight, by singing a slower version of Coldplay's The Scientist (and the original version's already slow enough man). Randy and Ellen thought that it was too slow but I actually loved her performance. Best vocals of the night for me, thought the judges were a bit harsh on her. Oh and she played the piano quite well too.

Paige Miles (finally I remember her name!) wasn't too bad this week either. I can see why the judges think that she has the best vocals - she kinda sounds like a mixture of Kelly Clarkson and Allison Iraheta. She sang Kelly Clarkson's Walk Away, and actually managed to change it up a bit in a way that worked well with her voice.

Siobhan Magnus got what we AI fans call the 'Pimp Spot' (meaning last to perform so that the audience will find her easier to remember) and she ended the show with an Aretha Franklin song - meaning booming big voice and super-high-impossible-to-reach glory notes...and she nailed it! The high note anyway, the rest of the song was a bit underwhelming but with Siobhan no one will give a damn. See? I told ya she's like the female Adam Lambert! If there's a high note to hit, she'll damn well hit it.

I liked - Crystal, Lilly, Katelyn and Siobhan.
Disliked - Haeley (PLEASE PLEASE just send her home AI voters), Didi (a disappointment!)

That's all for today, four more contestants will be going home tomorrow - best of luck to my favourites and hopefully Haeley WILL leave us this week.

(I said I'd keep it short and simple, but I guess it's still pretty long and complicated haha...mission failed! =P)

American Idol Rundown - Week Two, Part 1

2010-03-03T23:27:00.004+08:00

Currently Listening To: Rihanna - Rude Boy

So the guys performed tonight instead of the girls because Crystal Bowersox was hospitalized for some complication with diabetes. Poor girl, I hope she's well enough to perform decently tomorrow.

Anyway, on to the guys. I'll just summarize each performance in a few sentences to make it easier. Let's start with -

Michael Lynch aka Big Mike. First to perform. And for the first time in God knows how many weeks he finally performed, if you get what I mean. Easily the best peformance of the night (not the best vocal performance though), even though he was the in 'Death Spot' for the night. Got 4 thumbs up from the judges too. But did he deserve that standing ovation from Randy? HELL NO.

Alex Lambert. Well, he was definitely more confident this week but he still needs a lot of work. He sang John Legend's Everybody Knows, and he sang it well too. Okay, so Alex may not be the best vocalist of the bunch but something about his voice just kinda appeals to me (and to quite a lot of the American audience too it seems). Like what Kara said, you can't help but root for him cos he's just so nervous and lovable somehow.

Lee Dewyze. Okay I'm actually ranking them and as far as I'm concerned Lee Dewyze was the third best tonight. However, his voice has this strange whiny quality to it, and every time he sings a low note it gets all squeaky and pitchy. That's right people, he's out of tune when he sings LOW NOTES what the heck. At the rate he's going, he'll go through the entire pop-rock band catalogue. And enough with the David Cook comparisons. They're not that similar.

Aaron Kelly. Er, weird song choice but at least he sang it well. Simon was being unnecessarily cruel to him. Hey, at least give him some credit for the great vocal performance all right? No need to throw him under the bus this early.

Andrew Garcia. Oh boy. Andrew's really going downhill. His performance wasn't that bad, but it was nowhere near fantastic either. The judges are not impressed with him at all, and I've always thought that he's overrated anyway. His situation now is the result of high expectations and undeserved praises. Definitely this season's Danny Gokey. I'm afraid his fans will be ditching him real soon...

Casey James. Ouch. Kara actually over-criticized her boytoy. Gee I wonder why. Dear ole Casey sang Gavin DeGraw's I Don't Wanna Be with his electric guitar and um, I don't really know what to say about his performance. He concentrated so much on his guitar playing until he totally forgot about singing well. The judges were right about him this time. Another case of complacency.

Todrick Hall. I blame the judges for this. They've always been supportive of contestants rearranging existing songs and making it their own but when it comes to Todrick, nothing he rearranges ever works for the judges. Remember Adam Lambert and Kris Allen's outrageous rearrangements? So maybe not all of theirs worked either but at least the judges appreciated their effort. I may not like Todrick, but I do feel bad for him. That being said, I'll have to admit that Todrick's 'artistry' kinda sucks. Horrible rearrangements week after week. It's still the judges fault for giving contradictory advice though.

John Park. Ah, the Korean dude. Boy is he boring or what? So he actually has a good voice - unfortunately he has ZERO charisma. And that will be the death of him. Even if he doesn't go home this week, he will not last for long.

Tim Urban. Slightly better than last week, but still quite bad. Sorry Tim, you can't sing that well but it looks like the teenage girls will be voting for you based on your good looks. And that about sums it up. Also, I thought Ellen was a bit cruel to him, telling him to consider acting as a career instead (she suggested Glee! Of all things!). Ouch.

Last and definitely the least...

Jermaine Sellers again. Okay fine, he's just awful week after week. Bad vocals, bad rearrangements, horrible attitude. Technically he has quite a decent singing voice but he does not know how to use it AT ALL. He's either trying to hit the high notes (key word TRYING) or sleep-talk through the rest of the lyrics. Please just send him home already!

(I'm ending this abruptly cos it's late, and I have classes tomorrow so I'm going off now.)

At the end of the day...

2010-02-27T00:04:00.004+08:00

Currently Listening To: Keane - Again and Again

...it doesn't matter if you're a female or male competing for the American Idol crown because the contestants of Season 9 are all completely unprepared for the real thing.

Okay so I didn't get to watch all the guys perform but those that I did manage to see were not so good. And the best performance of the night was just really mediocre compared to the previous seasons. That dubious honour goes to Casey James, and he managed to send Kara into crazy-land just by standing there and smiling shyly. As far as I'm concerned, her reaction to his performance was pretty damn freaky. I mean, she was behaving worse than Paula Abdul on a bad day. Ellen and Simon's comments were spot on - STOP BEHAVING like a SILLY HIGH SCHOOL girl you 40-year-old woman! See your husband in the crowd? I hope he spanks you for your childish and pervertic behaviour!

*takes a deep breath*

So, four contestants were eliminated tonight, two girls and two boys and once again, I think America made a wrong decision. Out of the four kicked off, only two deserved to go IMHO, those two being Ashley Rodriguez and Tyler Grady. The other two, Janell Wheeler and Joe Nunez, did not give spectacular performances either but they were a lot better than a few of the remaining contestants (Haeley and Tim Urban I'm talking about you two! And also Jermaine Sellers.)

I seriously doubt the commitment of the remaining 20 contestants. None of them seems to be taking this seriously, I have this feeling that they think they're better than they actually are. And because of that, they're just sailing through the whole thing without much effort.

I don't know if I will continue blogging about this - if anything I'm just tuning in to see how bad they are and well, that's not the point of the show!

It's All About Song Choice

2010-02-24T21:52:00.003+08:00

Currently Listening To: Paramore - Turn It Off

I actually went to Gurney Plaza today with the intention to watch Avatar again (my mum is anxious to watch it in 3D), but since the tickets for the 2.55pm show was kinda limited, we ended up watching the 72 Tenants of Prosperity instead and bought tickets for Avatar tomorrow.

Not a bad movie I guess. Not something I'd usually watch in the cinema but hey, Bosco Wong's in it! =P

Anyway, thanks to that movie I watched American Idol at 8pm instead of the usual 6pm. As I've said before, I was really excited about the girls this year but errr after watching them sing I am no longer that excited.

Why? Because 90% of the girls sounded terrible tonight.
I'm serious here. I'm not quite sure what happened to them, but the judges were spot on about the song choices. Most of them chose songs that were either too big for them, or too boring and slow for the big stage.

Just awful song choices all around. The award for the worse song choice goes to Lacey Brown. And she's one of my favourites! Unbelievable.

Surprisingly, Katelyn Epperly did better than I had expected. Still not the best singer, but a lot wiser than the others. She picked a song she liked and sang it quite well. Great song choice. The rest, not so much.

Highlights: Lilly Scott, Didi Benami, Crystal Bowersox.
Nightmare: Lacey Brown (WHY?!), Ashley Rodriquez, Haeley Vaughan.
Oh-Wow-That-Wasn't-Bad-Afterall: Katelyn Epperly, Michelle Delamour, Siobhan Magnus.

Loved Lilly's song choice. No idea what that song was but I would love to listen to that again.

I thought Didi sang really well too, loved her voice but the song was a bit bleh. Still one of my favourites though.

Siobhan Magnus is like the female version of Adam Lambert - big voice, great vocal range and the ability to screech on command. I did not like her during the group performance, but she sang pretty well tonight and surpassed my expectations.

And Crystal Bowersox...well what can I say, she has performed consistently well and she did it again tonight. Solid vocal performance, decent song choice but there's something about her that just spells...trouble. I didn't like the fact that she's just doing this for her son. I mean, if you wanna be the next American Idol you have to ENJOY singing too you know. Not just 'Oh it's only for my son. I don't care about this any other way.' A lot of people would kill for the opportunity to stand on that stage, so she could stand to show a little more enthusiasm.

As for the rest of them...I don't think I'd want to listen to them sing ever again. I wonder if they're taking the competition seriously? Ashley Rodriguez was dreadful - I couldn't hear a single thing she was singing AND yet she thought she was wonderful when she wasn't. Haeley Vaughan - poor girl the judges DID NOT love her tonight. She has great range, but needs A LOT of training before she can sing on stage. Lacey Brown was so terrible I don't even wanna think about it.

Those I didn't mention obviously did not leave much of an impression on me. Who did I miss out? Michelle Delamour (sang a decent cover of Alicia Key's Falling but other than that she was uninspiring), Janell Wheeler (what did she sing? I can't remember), Paige something (I can't even remember her full name. Shows how memorable she was) and Katie Stevens (cute, decent voice but boring).

Randy Jackson was another pleasant surprise. He actually gave constructive comments for once. I found myself nodding and agreeing with him for once, while Kara was just...Kara as usual.

So who's going home tomorrow? I have no idea but Haeley, Lacey and Ashley are NOT SAFE from the looks of it.

Next Week: The Boys - hopefully they'll do better than the girls.

So How's The Weather?

2010-02-24T00:01:00.005+08:00

Currently Listening To: Yuna - Dan Sebenarnya

One more week.
After four whole months of doing -almost- nothing, I'll be going back to Inti in about one week.
Technically the new semester begins on Monday, but I don't have classes on Monday so I'm only going back there on Tuesday.
Wheee I'm actually kinda excited to go back (I think I say this after every long break.)

Lately I've been listening to Yuna, a Malaysian singer who kinda sounds Norah Jones-ish.
I know the name 'Yuna' will forever be associated with the Yuna of Final Fantasy X, but this is a different Yuna and she's actually a real life person so it's NOT THE CGI-ed Yuna.

Not bad for a local singer eh?
Oh what the heck I think she's awesome =) Go listen! You can hear her songs on the local radio stations too.

Also, I'm excited to hear the Top 24 contestants of American Idol Season 9 sing tomorrow. Provided if my parents don't drag me off to watch Avatar in 3D.

P.S: Am I the only who enjoys Sora no Woto???

American Idol 2010 - Let the frantic blogging begin...again!

2010-02-19T15:06:00.009+08:00

Currently Listening To: Pink - Glitter In The Air

I never thought that I'd be excited for the latest season of American Idol but guess what, I kinda am. Excited, I mean. Don't know why but something about AI just appeals to me some how.

So anyway, American Idol Season 9 did not get off to a great start either, just like last year. The auditions (yes I actually watched all of it this time) were mostly mediocre or terrible. The guest judges were not as interesting as I thought they would be.

Despite the setbacks, it looks like you'll be seeing a lot of American Idol on my blog again (I really should be getting paid for my hard work) - the Top 24 this year is quite decent. I just love watching people sing their butts off on stage and then trashing them when they sound horrible =P

So, Top 24.
Although I think they're okay this year, I think the judges made a few poor choices (if you're a fan and read the American Idol blogs like me, you'll see a lot of people saying the same thing) by favoring better looking contestants over the more talented ones.

Case in point - Haeley Vaughan and Katelyn Epperley over Angela Martin and Shelby Dressel. Or Jermaine Sellers over Jermaine Purifory. Totally, absolutely unfair! Jermaine P. was my favourite audition-er so I was pretty pissed off when he wasn't chosen. Why did they choose the other Jermaine? He was awful! And he threw the band 'over' the bus to quote Kara. Dumb decision.

Another unlikely candidate for the Top 24 is Tim Urban. Seriously, everyone hates this dude for even making it past the first round because he isn't good at all. Seriously. What did the judges see in him? Okay fine so maybe we shouldn't be judging him yet. I mean, who knows what will happen? He might suddenly bedazzle us next week (I doubt it).

Back to Top 24.

The clear favourite for now is definitely Crystal Bowersox. Everyone seems to love her. Personally I think she's quite good but I have a feeling she just might crash and burn like Danny Gokey. Hopefully not cos I do like her.

Speaking of Danny Gokey, am I the only one who thinks that Andrew Garcia and Lee Dewyze resembles him? I mean, if you combine both of them together you'll get Danny Gokey. They kinda sound like him too. Scary stuff.

Right now I'm kinda favoring Didi Benami, Lilly Scott, Lacey Brown and Crystal. Yes, all girls. Most of the guys this year are just okay. A girl's definitely gonna win this year. Unless someone does a Kris Allen. If I had to choose a guy, I'd go for Casey James (Kara's BRAND NEW boytoy) or Andrew Garcia (the only male front runner so far).

Oh oh and I don't get the hype about that Korean dude, John Park. Based on his first audition (that was the only time we get to hear him sing ya know. Throughout the whole audition. Just one time. Then again a few of the Top 24 weren't even shown at all. Oh well?), he's not too bad but the hype?

Take a look at this website if you're interested to know who's being favored, and who's not - Top 24 Ranking

P.S: There's another A. Lambert in the competition this year ;)

Random CNY Snapshots

2010-02-14T23:10:00.002+08:00

Random pictures I took today.

It's a rare occasion, me taking pictures and posting them here so enjoy it.

Deco made from CNY cards received.
And the annual hamper from my neighbour.
And gift from my cousin.

Wanna show off my outfit but didn't get a decent pic of just myself.

My new heels! (For fancy occasions + presentations)

My new wedges! (For casual wear)

What I wore today close up.

Some Thoughts

2010-02-12T11:46:00.004+08:00

Currently Listening To: Kesha - Tik Tok

You know I really like reading thoughtful blogs.
Sad thing is I can't seem to write anything thoughtful myself.
I'm the write-gibberish kinda person so, any attempt at being thoughtful usually fails.

What am I thinking about now anyway?
Wondering if I should take an extra subject this coming semester so I can finish my degree within this year.
I'll have to write a letter to the relevant authorities explaining why I'd want to do that.
Should I should I? I guess I should. Why wait for another extra semester huh.

That's about as thoughtful as I'll get.

You know what I have way too many unknown 'acquaintances' in facebook.
Like seriously. They're all extra army members for Castle Age, or Metropolis, or Sorority Life, or something else. Think I should get rid of them?

Maybe I should, it's a bit weird allowing random people to look at my profile.
Or read my random status updates.
You know it'll be a really bad idea to link my Plurk to Facebook.
Look at all the crap I plurk about!

And and I can actually remember the words to Kesha's stupid TikTok song.
Well okay, just the chorus but still! It's Kesha. KESHA. She sounds bad. Not bad-ass. Just plain old bad.

Darn.
I just can't blog seriously now, can I?
I always end up crapping some nonsense somewhere, somehow.

ANYWAY signing off now.
Life's on.

P.S.: My foot was asleep last night too Chief.

I'm Back...

2010-02-05T15:10:00.006+08:00

Currently Listening To: Taylor Swift - You Belong With Me

Dear Blog,

It has been a while.
Sorry for abandoning you for two whole weeks - I just didn't have anything to say.
But now, I think I've found something to talk about.
So ladies and gentlemen, today I'll blog about...Taylor Swift's disastrous Grammy's performance with Stevie Nicks.

Let me start this off by saying...Good Lord she was terrible.
Don't believe me? Just watch this.

I really can't fault the critics for dissing her, she really was awful.
The ever so likable Taylor Swift was completely off-key!
I don't understand how anyone can defend her this time.
There are actually people saying 'Oh she's still young, she's still inexperienced, she's usually better,' etc.
Young? She's turning 21 this year. Not that young.
Inexperienced? For crying out loud she has been around for approximately 4 years! What inexperience? She has traveled all over the world, performed in front of huge crowds, sold millions of albums - if that's inexperience I don't know what to say.

Hell, Miley Cyrus sounds better than her live and Miley Cyrus is NOT GOOD.
At least Miss Cyrus isn't off-key.

Face it Taylor fans, this is not the first time she has failed in a live performance. Stop giving excuses, it's not helping her at all.

Now let's analyze that video.
The first song she sang was her own song - Today Was A Fairytale.
BAH. Bad. Taylor honey that's your own song surely you know what it sounds like?
Second song - Rhiannon with Stevie Nicks.
Just...painful to watch. First of all Taylor was...totally and absolutely off-key. Secondly she was swinging back and forth like I don't know - someone desperate for attention. And there are people who claimed that Stevie Nicks was off-key too. I listened to it again to make sure - sorry folks she wasn't, the person who sang it out of tune was Taylor Swift.
The last song she sang was the extremely overrated You Belong With Me.
Okay so that one wasn't so bad. She was singing in the right key for once (apparently it's a different key from the recorded version according to some random comment I saw). But other than that her voice was weak, squeaky, and just not good overall.

If she had auditioned for American Idol sounding like that, even Paula would have sent her packing I think. Taylor Swift you need vocal lessons!
I'm not saying that I'm a good singer or anything but thank God at least I'm not tone-deaf.
Sad to see her win the awards for Vocal Performance and Album of the Year. Sorry, but she just doesn't deserve it.

Right.
Moving on.
AMERICAN IDOL!
Anyone else watching that?
Doubt I'll be blogging about it this year.
Noone really interesting so far.
4 weeks of auditions and nobody really stood out.
Even the 'crazy' auditions aren't that crazy.
Here's hoping that it'll get better next week? Ellen's finally judging!

Favourite Songs of 2009

2010-01-22T14:13:00.006+08:00

Currently Listening To: Keane - Sunshine

I've listened to a lot of songs in 2009, and you know what I thought it was a great year for music. What with the Lady Gaga craze, and the Taylor Swift phenomenon that started in 2008 and spilled over to 2009 with a huge splash, and of cos my personal favourite of the year - nothing US related - Kalafina. Okay so maybe Kalafina was already around before 2009 but I've only heard of them sometime last year. I think.

So anyway here's a list of my favourite artiste/songs of 2009. In no particular order:

1. Empire of the Sun We Are The People

2. Kalafina Natsu no Ringo, Seventh Heaven

Two of the best songs from their first album Seventh Heaven

3. Grizzly Bear Ready, Able

Another weird video from Grizzly Bear O.o

4. Lady Gaga Bad Romance

What an interesting part to pause at...

5. White Lies Unfinished Business, The Price of Love

6. Erin McCarley Pony (It's Ok), Gotta Figure This Out

7. Arctic Monkeys Cornerstone

8. Music from Glee =D

All hail Glee!

9. The Noisettes Never Forget You

10. Jay-Z feat. Alicia Keys Empire State of Mind

11. Yui Again

Can't find any proper videos for this song =(
Copyright issues I believe. Le sigh.
Love it though.
This song is the most played song in my iTunes music player thingy.
No joke.

I guess that's about it?

2010-01-15T16:43:00.002+08:00

Currently Listening To: Adam Lambert - Whataya Want From Me

Lately I've been reading a lot of blogs.
I guess that's just what you'd do when you're bored.
Anyway. Reading blogs is still a lot better than doing nothing.

About the blogs.
Well what can I say.
There are various types of blogs.
Most of them are pretty much journals, detailing their daily lives, or any interesting occurences.
Some are informative, full of...information about anything. I suppose that's for advertisement purposes?
Or maybe that person's just trying to be helpful. Or sharing knowledge?

Personally, I prefer those slice-of-life kinda blogs.
It's interesting to know how other people are leading their lives.
I've noticed most of those bloggers are kinda...rich though.
Jetting off to all sorts of countries. How nice...*ish jealous*

Then again there are some blogs that are just plain annoying.
Boastful, self-absorbed individuals who enjoy putting others down and flaunting their riches.
Making fun of other people who can't afford the same luxury as theirs.
Gucci, Prada, Tommy Hilfiger, etc. I can probably afford that too, geez...*crosses fingers*
Okay fine we get it, you're rich. Feel free to blog about your...rich escapades or exclusive presents or whatever.
But please - do learn something called humility.
I suppose that word just doesn't exist in their vocabulary.

On second thoughts, don't bother. It's entertaining. Keep boasting and showing off.

There are also bloggers who use really...big words.
Like, really, really big words.
Discombobulate comes to mind cos guess what - I'll probably need a dictionary to understand one simple blog post.
Good for literature, not good for interacting with us mortals.
Keep it real dudes.

I'm also really curious about those bloggers who only advertises stuff.
It's kinda boring no?
All about some new product, or some event, or some contest or something.
At least it's informative?

Seriously ppl. The simpler your blog is, the better it is to be honest.
Doesn't really matter what kind of blog it is.

(Do I really have the right to make such um, comments? I mean my blog isn't anything fantastic either. Oh well.)

Here We Go...

2010-01-09T14:04:00.006+08:00

Currently Listening To: Muse - Unnatural Selection

All right, here are the long overdue pictures of my room. Mind you it looks very messy, but I was too lazy to clean it up before snapping the pics. So...

These two pictures were taken back in November though...when I was still waiting for my mattress.

Well, this is my wardrobe. To be honest with you it's not big enough haha.

This is my desk area. Running out of space for my books again...

The next two was just taken a few days ago, when I was attempting to clean up my room.

Super messy! Sigh.

A close-up of my desk. See how messy it is?

Hmmmm after cleaning up for CNY I'll post a new batch of pictures with a...better view so stay tuned for more!

~.~

The Winter 2010 animes are out now and I must say...I think they're running out of good ideas.

There's this anime about lace panties or something, called Chu-Bra.
Lace panties? What the hell man. The creators must be absolute perverts.

Then there's another about breast milk. BREAST MILK people. And the one with the breast milk is a DUDE. I believe the title of that show is Seikon no Qwaser.

Let's just say I won't be watching those two.

Nothing too interesting this time around, so I'm only watching Durarara!!, Ookamikakushi (from the creator of Higurashi and Umineko, obviously I'm most excited about this one!) and So-ra-no-wo-to/Sora no Woto.

Is anyone else watching Kimi ni Todoke? Surprisingly I'm hanging on to this, I don't usually fancy sappy shoujo stuff. And this one is seriously super shoujo.

The characters are maddening, especially the leads Sada- Sawako and Kazehaya. Super super shoujo! I mean, the only thing they do is stare at each other shyly and blush. Seriously, c'mon just confess and get it over with. I find myself skipping parts of the anime because of the lack of action. Only the side characters are doing something, so kudos to Ayane, Chizu and Ryuu. (Ryuu really reminds me of Mori-sempai from Ouran O.o)

And I think Haruhi Suzumiya has ruined Aya Hirano for me. Every time I hear her voice I can only think of Miss Haruhi and no one else. When I first heard Kurumi I thought 'OMG is that Haruhi Suzumiya?!' And indeed, it is her. Why does she voice all the super annoying characters? Kurumizawa Ume must be one of the most maddening 'villains' in shoujo animes ever.

Speaking of Haruhi Suzumiya, the movie is coming out sometime in February. Should I be excited? I kinda actually am excited to watch it, despite the endless second season.

What else? Ooooh The Killers and Muse will be performing in Singapore on the 24th of January and 3rd of February respectively! If I remember correctly Muse came to Malaysia way back in 2007, and I recall being super excited then too =( Too bad I couldn't go back then, I wonder if I'll have the chance this time around? Sigh.

(Once again, I sigh too much. Sigh.)

That's all for now I guess, nothing else I can think of to blog about.

Cheers to 2010

2010-01-07T16:19:00.003+08:00

Currently Listening To: Lily Allen - The Fear

The first post of 2010!
I shall dedicate this to my new blog layout.
Whaddya think of it?
I know it's a very simple layout but I kinda like it.
Easy to read. And to edit.
And the colors.
Black and some shade of bright pink.
I don't know why, but I'm suddenly addicted to all shades of dark pink.
Coming from the person who dislikes the color pink, now that's some food for thought.

So anyway, it's already the 7th day of the new year.
A few more weeks till CNY I believe?
To think that I celebrated my 21st birthday last year.
2 x 2.
Sigh.
Dammit I feel old.

I guess I should start inquiring about enrollment?
It should be soon...the coming semester starts in March, I believe.
Some are leaving for Australia and I can't help but feel kinda jealous.
I wanna leave this country too!
Sigh.

I sigh too much.

Farewell, My Old Friend 2009

2009-12-31T14:49:00.004+08:00

Currently Listening To: Michael Jackson - This Is It

This is it.
The last day of 2009.
Tomorrow, when we wake up 2010 will be greeting us instead.

It has been quite an eventful year.
Not so much for me, but more for the world in general.
A year of ups and downs.

Far too many celebrities passed away this year, most of them from unfortunate incidents.
We lost the King of Pop, Michael Jackson back in June.
Also, Charlie's favourite angel, Farah Fawcett, who died on the same day as MJ.
Just a week ago or so we lost actress Brittany Murphy.
Not to forget Patrick Swayze, our very own dearest Yasmin Ahmad, actress Natasha Richardson...
May they rest in peace, hopefully 2010 will be a better year for the entertainment world.

To be honest with you, I don't recall any...positive events that happened in 2009.
There wasn't any particularly memorable or impressive achievements or milestones, unless Malaysia finally winning some football counts as impressive. Okay, maybe it is impressive but it is extremely insignificant in the grand scheme of all things.

Anyway, 2009 for me wasn't so bad.
Nothing special or exciting, but it certainly wasn't a terrible year.
I can still remember typing last year's 'speech', can't believe that was 365 days ago. It feels like just yesterday.

2009 also marks the year of my Adam Lambert obsession. I think I dedicated about a dozen (or more) blog posts to American Idol and that particular alien from Planet Fierce. I wonder if the new season of AI will inspire me as much as Season 8...January 13th 2010, Starworld Channel 711. Watch people, watch it!

And don't forget Glee, the most awesomest series of 2009! January 20th 2010, again Starworld Channel 711. Watch Glee, non-Gleeks, and Gleeks - watch Glee for the third/fourth/tenth time!

Last year's 'resolutions';

Uh......spend less on books lol.
Right. Get a job, and save up for the NDS! PSP! PS3! Wii! *more wishful thinking*
Lalalala...*mind goes blank*

Yay at least I did achieve the first resolution.
I did spend less on books.
Almost 20 books less than last year, I believe.
Mission accomplished!
Sadly I did not get a job, so I can't save up for the NDS, PSP, PS3 and Wii...
Nevermind, there's always next year.

2010 will also be my last year at college if all goes well.
Then again that means I'll have to grow up and be an adult and get a job...full-time...earn money...no time for slacking, procrastinating...*shudders*
Not exactly fun.

I think I'll skip making resolutions this time around - it doesn't really help much now, does it? Resolutions are for the enthusiastic and ambitious. And I'm neither enthusiastic nor ambitious bahaha.

So are you ready for 2010?
I sure am...not.

Oh whatever, Happy 2010 people!

Random Random Random

2009-12-26T22:48:00.005+08:00

Currently Listening To: Grizzly Bear - While You Wait For The Others

Helloooooooooo everyone!
I know it's a little too late, but Merry Christmas to all good souls in the world.
I don't have a reason to blog today, so everything in this post is totally random.

Um um.
Went to Taiping earlier today to visit my uncle.
Gosh. Taiping's one tiny town.
Leave me there one day and I'll go nuts I think.
Where are the malls? Cars? People? =O
I know I'm usually inside more than out, but still. Taiping. Tiny. Scary.

Hmmm. What else.
It's almost the end of 2009! Just. Like. Six days left.
Need to prepare another end-of-the-year speech!

-is hoping for a livelier year ahead-

2010, I have high hopes for you!

Ooooooooh tried some new card game today.
Monopoly cards or something.
Seriously strange game.
Maybe we didn't really understand the rules?
But it's still weird.
Monopoly in card form.
Reminds me of those Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories' card thingies.

Bahahahaha.

-more random laughter-

...

I'm bored =(

*googles monopoly cards*

PS: I'm laaaaaaaaazy right now but I'll post pics of my purple room sometime soon k. Be patient! Sheesh =_= haha.

Not The Avatar I Was Thinking Of

2009-12-21T23:36:00.003+08:00

Currently Listening To: Grizzly Bear - Ready Able

Today I watched a movie about blue people.

And other than the blue people, I actually found the movie super cheesy.

I don't know why. Everything's so cliche-ish. Blue people rox.

For the entire duration of the movie, all I could think of was...Final Fantasy.

'Omg lookie there, that looks like Macalania forest.

BLUE PPL! Ronsos and Guados anyone?

OOOOOOH those floating islands are so Final Fantasy XII-ish.

HEY they have machina!

Big giant tree that got destroyed? Whoopee where's Zidane and Garnet...'

So now we need Squall's scowls and Cloud's Buster Sword and then the fantasy will be complete.

To sum it up...GFX FTW!

Remind me to listen to the OST. Sounds very FF-ish too.

December Blues

2009-12-10T15:07:00.003+08:00

Currently Listening To: Glee - Proud Mary

It's that time of the year again, ya know?
Holidays, supposed family time, time for relaxation...
I was suppose to get a job for the hols but guess what?
I'm still unemployed.
Mostly because I have zero motivation to do anything at all.
Motivation where are you?
So I've been sitting at home, moping around, occasionally touching my PS2, and not really onlining either.
Oh. My room's done and all, but it's still a little cluttered.
Will take some pics of it soon.
Sigh.
Life's depressingly boring.

Idol Alumni Review

2009-11-24T14:40:00.006+08:00

Currently Listening To: Adam Lambert - Strut

Okay forget the whole Adam Lambert fiasco, I was just listening to his new album (released yesterday) and also Kris Allen's (released last week), and here are my reviews for both albums.

Kris Allen

Track Listing:
1. Live Like We're Dying
2. Before We Come Undone
3. Can't Stay Away
4. The Truth
5. Written All Over My Face
6. Bring It Back
7. Red Guitar
8. Is It Over
9. Let It Rain
10. Alright With Me
11. Lifetime
12. I Need To Know
13. Heartless

Well I'm sure you know I'm not exactly a Kris Allen fan but I decided to check out his album anyway. What can I say, it's not so bad after all. It's not my kinda thing, and it's too The Fray-ish (I don't like The Fray) and my general impression of it is um, kinda boring. Out of the whole album I only like...three songs? Everything else sounds similar. And none of the other songs in the album are suitable singles so...I'm not sure what he should release next.

Fortunately the end result is a lot better than I had expected. Kris Allen fans, just go for it - you'll definitely like his debut.

Recommended: Live Like We're Dying, Before We Come Undone, Is It Over, Let It Rain. (6.5/10)

For Your Entertainment

Can I say...tacky album cover? I don't care about the gay thing though most people would, personally I'm more concerned about how amateurish it looks...take the background for example. I think I'd do better with photoshop!

Track Listing:
1. Music Again
2. For Your Entertainment
3. Whataya Want from Me
4. Strut
5. Soaked
6. Sure Fire Winners
7. A Loaded Smile
8. If I Had You
9. Fever
10. Sleepwalker
11. Aftermath
12. Broken Open
13. Time for Miracles (Bonus)

When I first heard this in Facebook, I wasn't impressed. However, after finally sitting down and listening closely, For Your Entertainment is not bad either. Except the title track, now that song is just...too Britney-ish. Some songs are a bit same-y (For Your Entertainment, Strut, If I Had You) but it's quite varied honestly. In fact, I actually quite enjoyed listening to the album =P

Overall, the main problem with the album is that it doesn't sound very Adam Lambert-ish. It's more like a combination of the songs rejected by those artists who wrote them in the first place (Gaga's Fever sounds like Gaga, the only difference is that Gaga's not the one singing the song. The Matt Bellamy composed Soaked? It's a typical Muse track. Sleepwalker? Very One Republic-ish.)

P.S: On second thoughts, I think Adam should release Aftermath as his next single after Whataya Want From Me. Sounds very mainstream rock-ish, and should do relatively well in the charts.

Recommended: Whataya Want From Me, Soaked, Sleepwalker, Aftermath (sounds Daughtry-ish) Broken Open, Time For Miracles. (7/10)

I think it's sad that neither of them are doing well in the charts after all that hype...Kris Allen, as an American Idol winner? He's not doing too well. The Davids were so much better.

Not Entertained

2009-11-23T20:01:00.005+08:00

I just have to blog about this...Adam Lambert's performance at the American Music Awards? It was terrible!

I know the whole fuss is about the um visual performance, but honestly I'm more concerned about the vocals. A mess, through and through. Out of tune, screechy - I don't know what to say. I mean, it's Adam Lambert, he can sing like hell and yet he does this for his breakout performance???

As for the 'performing' part...it was so Britney and Madonna. Tacky best describes it!

A few hours later...

Omg. I'm still in disbelief. I just can't believe that Adam Lambert just more or less committed career suicide, something that I had hoped both him and Kris would not do.

Sure, he got the attention all right. Just the wrong sort of attention. What the hell were you thinking Lambert? Shock the audience and that's it? Whatever happened to the music? Shock factor aside, the performance - choreography, singing, 'dancing', stage presence - fell flat.

Now parents/conservatives and the horrified audience are gonna be pissed off at him and from what I can see, his fans are abandoning him in droves and that will so kill his career. And For Your Entertainment just debuted today!

Don't get me wrong, I still am a fan but I'm very disappointed with this performance at the AMAs. Bad move Adam, bad move. How are you going to get yourself out of this mess now??

Nothing Entertaining

2009-11-23T11:38:00.003+08:00

Currently Listening To: Adam Lambert - For Your Entertainment

As I'm typing this, they are upstairs in my room with my new furniture. Arranging it. Or maybe not. I think hear some sawing being done.

My room will be ready by tonight! Unfortunately I do not have a mattress yet so I'm still stuck sleeping downstairs for at least two more nights.

My room, minus the furniture. Purple walls!

Okay other than that, I haven't been doing much for the past whole week. Just packed stuff, watching people paint my house, catching up on Gossip Girls, rotting online, occasionally reading a book or two, playing TOTA again...and that's about it. I'd look for a job, but I have to deal with the whole room thing first. I'll also have to think about what sort of job to apply for...more standing at malls? Training at factories? Random office work?

P.S: I'll be reviewing Adam Lambert and Kris Allen's albums next.

Renovation

2009-11-14T16:20:00.003+08:00

Currently Listening To: Arctic Monkeys - Cornerstone

Woohoo my room's gonna be renovated next week!
I think the painters are coming on Wednesday.

Anyway, I'm getting new furniture (not the Umineko kind, though that would be useful...) and my room will finally be painted in different shades of purple-ish gray-ish tones.

As much as I'm looking forward to that, I can't help wondering where I'll be sleeping for the next two weeks or so. I mean, the whole house is gonna re-painted too so it'll stink of paint! I'm sure even the 'odour-less paints' have some sort of scent. Maybe I should start spraying perfume all over haha.

Will take pictures of my room once it's done. I should probably take more pictures of the old design for memories sake...once I'm done packing. My room looks terrible at the moment!

All my books are already in boxes, so I guess I should pack up my clothes next. Not to forget the little bits and pieces of random stuff. And of course, the process of untangling the computer wires. Can all of that be done before Wednesday? I'm starting to have my doubts...

Zombified

2009-11-10T00:35:00.002+08:00

Currently Listening To: Keane - Sovereign Light Cafe

I still don't have anything to blog about, so a few minor updates.

Just finished the Human Resource Management paper a few hours ago.
Yep, another evening paper.
I don't suppose it was that bad, the exam I mean. Answerable at least.

One more paper left - Managing Change next Monday, and then I'll be free for the next few months. Need to get a job, or I'll rot into a pile of ashes by the end of November.

I guess that's all for now, for some odd reason I'm really sleepy tonight so...good night?

Hmmm

2009-11-04T22:55:00.000+08:00

I promised that I'd blog today, but I have nothing =(

Most pointless post ever!

It's Been A While...

2009-10-21T11:53:00.005+08:00

Currently Listening To: Blue - All Rise

...since I listened to music from the 90's and the early 2000s!

I was inspired to check out the videos for all those 90s bands last night.
Sigh, the good old cheesy days.

I remember being a huge fan of Steps (anyone remember them?) and S Club 7 about like, more than ten years ago (omg can you believe it has been ten years and more??) It wasn't just them though, I think I was into every British group that came out at that time - Westlife (apparently they've covered Daughtry's What About Now and will be released sometime in November), Atomic Kitten, 5ive, M2M, Blue and a -forgotten- band called Point Break.

Ahh, the good old days.

Used to be obsessed with this video! They were pretty good dancers...
(wanted to post Steps' Say You'll Be Mine too but embedding not allowed)

I joined a S Club 7 contest once, where we had to design a logo for them and I actually won a CD! Still have it now, and I think I can remember most of the lyrics for all S Club 7 songs =D

They even had their own tv series, I remember watching it on TV back then. It was soooo cheesy, but I kept watching anyway. Anyone else watched that??

Found my first 'lyrics book' while hunting for my old CDs. Can't believe I wrote all those lyrics down! (Oh who am I kidding, I still do that. Think I have about a dozen books dedicated to lyrics...haha) I remember buying those Smash Hits magazines, and they weren't cheap. Should have kept them instead of throwing them away...

Girl Thing - Last One Standing

For some odd reason, I really loved this song. Even after all these years, I still like this song lol. The official video was fun! (Ripping off the Spice Girls though) Too bad they only had one hit...

Gosh I really miss those songs.
Cheesy or not, those songs were fun to listen to!
*goes off to listen to my old CDs*
=D

Fall '09 Watchlist

2009-10-15T22:17:00.006+08:00

Currently Listening To: Kalafina - Fairytale

So it's like the new season for everything.
I have like, a ton of shows to watch seriously.
I know I can choose not to watch them, but then where's the fun?

Downloaded a few episodes of Glee so far, but have yet to even glance at it.
Eastwick looks interesting, but I doubt I'll be watching that anytime soon.
So I guess my main focus is on the existing shows, and even that I'm relying on Astro to show it soon! (Knowing them it's not gonna be soon)

Then there's the fall anime lineup.
Downloaded the first episodes of everything on my watchlist. *pokes list* ->
Have watched most of it too.
First impressions:
Kimi ni Todoke - It's quite interesting, so I guess I'll continue watching this. Shoujo stuff.
The Sacred Blacksmith - Oh god. Not impressed. Probably dropping it unless it gets more interesting.
Fairytail - Well, I like the manga so I'm definitely watching this. First episode is just...normal. Not good nor bad. Can't wait to hear Sayaka Ohara in this (Yuuko and Beatrice rocks so yeah!).
Kampfer - Surprisingly, the one with the cheesiest storyline is better than the rest. Just my opinion anyway. Watch only if you're interested in silly, gender-swapping stuff.
Armed Librarians - The Book of Bantorra - The title seems a little stuffy, but it's actually not bad. When I first went read through the titles, my thought was Sacred Blacksmith > Armed Librarians. I suppose looks are not the only things that are deceiving!
11 Eyes - Uh...kinda weird. And Daisuke Ono again. I swear, that dude is everywhere this year! Cute school uniforms, annoying female lead. Could be interesting I suppose, will keep an eye on this one. Get it? Eye? Haha.

Sigh, it sure looks like my 'currently watching' list is going to expand considerably.

Some Updates

2009-10-14T17:56:00.007+08:00

Currently Listening To: Kalafina - Natsu no Ringo

This semester's ending in less than 2 weeks.
I have one more assignment left - a presentation actually. It's next week.
My fingernails are too long and it's starting to get in the way of my typing. Not that my typing's any good to begin with.
Exams in about a month. Boohoo =(
I only have two papers to sit for this time. Woohoo!
I think I lost weight...
Not impressed with Alison Iraheta's (AI8 third runner up) new single.
Last black screen of death - one week ago. Hope it's gone for good.
Can't wait for tomorrow's episode of Umineko =)
Will be having sushi for dinner.

Ill-fated

2009-10-07T18:04:00.003+08:00

Currently Listening To: Kalafina - Oblivious

I seem to have really bad luck with electronic devices.

Take my laptop for example.

It's only about six months old? But I'm already encountering problems with it.

I can't pinpoint the exact problem, but it should have something to do with the Vista updates. It was working fine until the last update was downloaded. Not installed yet, just downloaded.

And then my laptop just froze. Nothing worked. At that time I only had Firefox and Windows Media Player on, so it must have been either one of them causing the problem. Or the update I mentioned earlier. That's what I thought anyway.

Since I couldn't shut it down the usual way, I had to force it to shut down.

Then I tried to restart it. Unfortunately what greeted me was a blank screen with only the taskbar visible. So I started to freak out. Once again, nothing worked so I had to force it shut, and the next restart in Safe Mode resulted in a totally blank screen with only a white cursor.

I can't begin to tell you how horrified I was then. I mean, my laptop's still relatively new and my mum would so totally kill me if I were to tell her that it died for no reason.

It was already quite late then, so I just did a little research on Vista's black screens of death with my surprisingly well-behaved computer (usually it's as slow as hell, and constantly freezes - not in the freaky Vista way though).

Found out that it's ridiculously common, so I calmed down a bit and told myself to attempt fixing it the next day.

The next morning I was prompted to start windows in safe mode so I did that. Thankfully it worked! After fiddling in safe mode a bit, I restarted the system in normal mode and woohoo no more blank screens.

Was really happy about it until...the stupid thing froze again. And again. And again.

Thought it was a problem with Mozilla Firefox, so I used Internet Explorer instead. And it froze for no reason. Again. Moved on to Google Chrome, and it seemed to be working fine...

...until a few moments ago. Well, Chrome wasn't the thing that made it froze - Ares seems to be the cause this time.

Yes, Vista crashed while I was typing this!
I thought maybe Facebook's the culprit, but I guess not.

Anyone know what's wrong with it?
Something must be causing it to freeze.
Everything was working fine until that update.

Okay maybe not everything? Last Saturday the wireless network was faulty. It couldn't detect any networks, and the wireless switch was on, but the Windows diagnosis kept saying that it wasn't. It only worked again after I left the laptop for 8 hours.

I don't think it's my fault? Or at least I hope it isn't.
Okay probably not. Since Vista's notorious for being lousy.

Gosh this is irritating. My computer's as slow as hell (I think something's wrong with one of the hardwares) and my laptop keeps crashing? Not good.

If anyone has a solution to this please let me know.

I really do have bad luck with this kind of stuff =(

The Resistance

2009-09-27T13:12:00.006+08:00

Currently Listening To: Muse - The Resistance

It's been a while since I've reviewed any music, so here's a review of Muse's fifth and latest album, The Resistance.

This is also the first time I've downloaded a Muse album in full, usually I only go for a few selected songs per album.

Hmmmm interesting cover, can't say I like it though.

I'm actually listening to the album as I'm typing this, so this review would my very first impression of it - so far every single song is super duper dramatic. It's like a very long symphony, and has a classical yet operatic feel to the whole thing.

One thing's for sure - it's very varied. No one can ever fault The Resistance for sounding too samey.

I can safely conclude that lead single Uprising is the one and only more commercial sounding track, cos everything else is just over-the-top, and you can tell that Matt Bellamy, the lead singer, was seriously influence by Queen. Like seriously.

In fact I think the main flaw of this album is that it takes itself too seriously. Or rather, Matt Bellamy takes it too seriously I guess. Didn't really pay any attention to the lyrics yet, but from what I've read it's all very anti-government. Not that I'm complaining, but that is one very heavy subject.

It's nearly the end of the album now, and my head's feeling reeeeeally heavy.
Looking through other reviews for it.
Rolling Stones - not really liking the album, I see.
The reviewer from The Star wasn't very into it either. Both gave it a 3 out of 5 stars.
Pitchfork Media and NME gave it an average rating of about 5.95 out of 10. Which translates to 3 out of 5 lol.
Q magazine and Allmusic loved it - then again Q gives almost everyone 4 out 5 anyway so yeah.

Tracklist:
1. Uprising
2. Resistance
3. Undisclosed Desires
4. United States of Eurasia/Collateral Damage
5. Guiding Light
6. Unnatural Selection
7. MK Ultra
8. I Belong to You/Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix
9. Exogenesis: Symphony Part 1 (Overture)
10. Exogenesis: Symphony Part 2 (Cross-Pollination)
11. Exogenesis: Symphony Part 3 (Redemption)

My final verdict? Well, it's too much. I mean, I do like some of the songs but overall it is way too fancy, way too dramatic, Adam Lambert would be absolutely excited about this album but not me!

The Exogenesis Symphony is like, listening to a rock version of Maksim. Individually, each song is only about 4 minutes long but as a whole it feels like a 30-minute overture.

Would I listen to this album from start to finish again? Yes I would, but only once in a while. It's better than say, Keane's Perfect Symmetry or Coldplay's Viva La Vida in terms of variation, but seriously the other two are a lot more accesible.

Final Rating: 6.8/10
Recommended:
Resistance, Undisclosed Desires, United States of Eurasia, Unnatural Selection.

(Come to think of it, even the song titles are super fancy O.o)

BTW I'm really liking Keane's new song Sovereign Light Cafe. It has an old-school feel to it and I like that. No fancy, trying-too-hard stuff. In other words, no Perfect Symmetry, Viva La Vida or the The Resistance (the whole freaking album, not just the song)!

Kris Allen

2009-09-23T14:33:00.004+08:00

Currently Listening To: Taylor Swift - You Belong To Me

Kris Allen must be the first American Idol to release a cover for his first single outside of the whole American Idol thing.

I mean seriously. Do you know what this means? It means that he's still being thrown under the bus even after WINNING the freaking title.

How sad can it get??

Oh yeah. Kris fans not realizing the significance of that. And insisting that it's all right.

No it is not all right. He's the American Idol for heaven's sake! He deserves his own song, not some stupid cover. Whether the song was released by the original artist or not, it's still a freaking cover. Argument null and void!

All I can say is...poor Kris.

If anyone's wondering about the song, it's a cover of The Script's 'Live Like We're Dying'.

You know what, I think No Boundaries as the winning song is already bad enough. Now this? Just sad. Real sad.

On the bright side, the song's not too bad. The not so bright side - he sounds exactly like the lead singer of The Script. That, is not a good start for his career. You're suppose to sound like yourself, singing your own songs. Not like someone else!

Hopefully the rest of the album won't be covers, or else you are the next Westlife my dear Mr. Allen!

So Kris, once you're done with this album? Leave this record label and find someone else more willing to invest in you.

(If Adam Lambert releases a cover as his first single too I'm so gonna scream!)

Le Sighs

2009-09-18T00:34:00.002+08:00

Currently Listening To: Kalafina - Storia

It's semi-official.
The blogdom is semi-dead.
Meaning nobody's really updating anything anymore.
And that includes me.
In fact, I'm only blogging now because there isn't anything else for me to do.

Aargh I'm damn bored.
It's the holiday season again.
The Raya break's only two days, but looks like all the lecturers are on MC...
So I'm officially free tomorrow until...God knows when.
To sum it up I'm free for two weeks.

I love holidays and all, but I don't really know what to do for the next two weeks.
It's gonna be boring like hell!
On the bright side I just got wireless today.
No longer confined to my messy desk.

Also, for once I'll be attending the Inti prom.
Just got a dress for it today. Might be a little fancy I think, but who cares.
It's a prom! For some odd reason Taylor Swift's dress in the Love Story vid comes to mind. Love that dress.
The next thing to do is to shop for new heels.
A lovely way to waste mummy's money.

Anyway, zoning off for now.
Till next time.

(It's a dry spell for bloggers now I guess)

A Boring Weekend

2009-09-12T23:37:00.003+08:00

Currently Listening To: Akiko Shikata - Katayoku no Tori

Alright, it has been more than ten days since I last updated my blog.

Whatever happened to updating my blog at least once a week eh?

Well at least it's not once a month haha.

Not that anyone's updating their blog often lately anyway.

Now rushing to finish off the case study for HR Management.

Thought it's suppose to be due on the 18th, but it's due on Monday instead.

Just started working on it yesterday afternoon.

Thank God this time I made amazing progress! Only 200+ words to go and I'll be free!

Guess I really do work better under pressure.

Unfortunately when I'm done with this I'll have to start working on a 10 page long case study for Managing Change.

What can I say? Screw assignments!

6

2009-09-01T23:50:00.003+08:00

Currently Listening To:Black Eyed Peas - I Gotta Feeling

Oh my g--!
It's week six already.
That's like...halfway through the semester.
I really hate it when time flies.
It just leaves you feeling...displeased and discouraged.
Well it makes me feel displeased and discouraged anyway.

I finally found the softcover version of The Last Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko in Borders!

I've been waiting for that book for...almost a year already. Unbelievable. Feels like I've just read The Night Watch yesterday.

I have other books in mind too...waiting for my MPH voucher so I can get the softcover version of Inkdeath. Saw this book called Ink Exchange. Looks interesting but it's a series...again.

(Ok this is gonna sound crazy but I intend to do this...stock check on the books I own, and see how much I've spent on them. Thanks Becky for this wonderful idea @_@)

What else?
Handed in three assignments today.
Yep, three in one day. Lovely.
One more due next week.

I guess there's nothing else...

Oh yeah one more thing...

CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S SEPTEMBER ALREADY!

Also, I've finished downloading the first season of The Tudors.
Will watch it during my next main break I suppose.

...Un-freaking-believable!

2009-08-24T23:35:00.004+08:00

...

The left CTRL button on my laptop came off!

SEE SEE???

HOW DID THAT HAPPEN??

One Week of Nightmares

2009-08-23T13:36:00.002+08:00

Currently Listening To: Razorlight - Burberry Blue Eyes

Well, I have a study break this week. Call it a holiday if you want, but it isn't. Too swamped with ridiculously stuffy assignments.

Three due on the same day - 1st September, and I'm only about halfway through the first assignment! Darn it.

Maybe I should have started doing it earlier, but I don't think it'll make much difference cos I'm sort of a last minute kinda person.

I swear to you I can just stare at a blank screen or a blank sheet of paper for weeks, and not do anything until the very last moment.

So right now, I'm staring at my laptop and attempting to finish off the assignment for Managing Change 300, with an online thesaurus on standby haha.

When in doubt, write in tongues - that's my motto.

In A Daze

2009-08-17T13:34:00.003+08:00

Currently Listening To: Kylie Minogue - I Believe In You

Sigh, I can't believe it's already the fourth week of the second semester of my second year.

Last night, I had trouble sleeping because I just couldn't stop thinking about assignments.

Three due in about 2 - 3 weeks, and I don't really know what to do about it yet.

Some crazy dude in my class had already completed his first draft a few days ago, while the rest of us are still half asleep O.o

Well, I'm half asleep anyway lol.

I need motivation!

The only thing that motivates me right now is Umineko no Naku Koro ni, and that's not applicable in real life =P

Unless...there are freaky murder mysteries for me to solve...

Dreary Weekend

2009-08-08T21:57:00.002+08:00

Currently Listening To: Kalafina - Storia

Wanted to blog about Umineko no Naku Koro ni earlier, but got lazy.

Will attempt to compose an intelligent and analytical 'essay' for it when I finally gather my scattered thoughts together.

God it has been raining -almost- non-stop here in Penang ever since mid-afternoon.

Dreary.

Endurance is a Virtue

2009-08-07T22:43:00.005+08:00

Currently Listening To: Utada Hikaru - Beautiful World

I can't believe I managed to endure a 3 hour Consumer Behaviour lecture today, with only the newbies and no one else I know.

Man them newbies are quiet.

And they seem to be a bunch of smart-asses too.

By smart-asses I mean studious people. No goofing off, no sleeping in class, returned SUPER DUPER early from breaks (I think some of them didn't even leave the room O.o) - heck they didn't talk much either.

I mean, they even answered and came up with their own questions!

Studious indeed.

And get this - all of them actually speak decent (almost too perfect) English.

I don't know if I should be impressed or annoyed...

Anyway, that's all for the story of my life today.

(Making an attempt to blog more often. Need to find more interesting topics to talk about...)