1859hrs

Listening to: Tanya Chua - Wu Di Dong


My college is having its Senior Dinner & Dance (otherwise known as the graduation prom) tonight. Thinking back, I can still remember mine quite clearly.

(Yes... my memory is quite good. Haha.)

Unlike subsequent graduating classes which had their SDD at the swanky Ritz-Carlton, poor us had ours at the stupid Pan-Pacific (n). Haha... proms. Spending lots of money for lousy food you don't even eat much of, the whole evening is like one long photocall. Taking pictures with people you will probably not see for the rest of your life. Et cetera.

But there's also good stuff I remember about that fine day, five years ago. Opening the door to a room on the 55th storey of the Westin and taking in the spectacular view. Walking to the Pan-Pacific in evening wear, much to the amusement of passers-by. Taking lots and lots and lots of pictures. Finishing half a bottle of XO on the hotel room balcony at dawn...

Ah well... that was a long time ago. And at the risk of getting killed by someone, here's a pic from my prom:



Hohoho. Yes that's me on the right there omg... yucks =X

1100hrs

Listening to: Taufik Batisah - I Dream


A star is born.


                                                                 ST photo

TAUFIK IS THE MAN. Coming through confidently with all three of his songs at the Singapore Idol final last night, he totally outclassed his opponent Sylvester Sim. Sly probably had no complaints about being edged out by "the Soul Man", who showed that he could break out of the tag and deliver a funky classic, a rousing ballad and a slow-burner with much aplomb and style.

The atmosphere at the Indoor Stadium looked pretty electric (though the "red carpet" segment was quite stupid lol... except for the appearance of Nadya, omg). From the pink brigade of Sylvester the Cat-toting teenaged girls to the all-white troop of Taufik fans (those five media whores in white veils... buay pai seh man tsk tsk), everyone seemed to be having a good time.

At home, the situation was kinda tense too. Dad, the über-Sly fan, pretended to be nonchalant about the proceedings, coming to the TV set periodically to make anti-MediaCorp comments, but not really sitting down to watch. My sister relieved her teenage years all over again ("Taufik is so good/versatile/he has such nice eyes/did I mention he has nice eyes?"). And as for me, well I have to admit that I was quite kan cheong just before the results were announced... a bit like before O level results, haha.

While the show was pretty slick by MediaCorp standards (thank goodness they upped the audience volume level after the first couple of songs), there were many laughable moments. Is it just me, or did the opening sequence look like something out of a very bad workout video? Haha. And Jerry is still annoying. :X But the string section from the NUSSO and the backing vocals from the VJC Choir (yeah!)... not bad not bad at all. (y)

So it's finally over after almost three months. No matter what grouses you have about the show, I guess Singapore Idol has been a success for the very fact that it is the talk of the town, and probably will still be for a while to come. Whether you are a Taufik fan, a Sly fan, or even a Lemon Tree dude fan like myself (lol), SI has given Singaporean kids some fellow heartlanders to look up to, and made Singaporean adults (like my Dad) behave like kids all over again.

0933hrs

Listening to: Band Aid 20 - Do They Know It's Christmas


It's December.

The Band Aid 20 single is out in stores now! Personally I prefer the original with its rolling bassline and general good cheer; this new version starts slow, builds up, and goes slow again... not really my cup of tea. But The Darkness' screaming electric guitars is the saving grace of this track, which is still worth more than a listen or two.


Was in town yesterday and saw quite a few familiar faces... but not all of them saw me haha. Saw one of my cousins(she walked right past me), and also germ's brother and girlfriend (her brother's, not hers hahaha) at Suntec. While at Gelare (yes, I finally made it to Gelare on a Tuesday! :)), Lesley from VJ days walked past and I was a little surprised that she recognised me, haha.

Then finally, while eating I kinda noticed there was this familiar looking person behind me, but decided that it wasn't my friend... but it turned out to be xiggy with a new 'do! Muahahaha. Anyway she asked me about Friday and we're on! Will be good to check out live local acts again... (y)


Finally, I was told that one of my friends was promoting Lumix cameras at the recent Sitex, haha... more on that later perhaps.

2359hrs

Listening to: The Wallflowers - I Wish I Felt Nothing


Trying to while away a couple of hours in school today, I decided to Google "The Nanyang Chronicle", and found some highly interesting matches. The most surprising and entertaining hit by far would be the blog of wifflewiffle, a friend from Chron who is currently in the US on holiday, and heading to Laos of all places in a few days time, lol.

You know how some people are so quiet and meek on the outside, but hidden within is a fountain of wit and humour? This guy is one of them, haha. Check out his post on fun Laotian facts here. :)

2309hrs

Listening to: Amanda Marshall - I'll Be Okay


Am still sick... but getting better. There's quite a number of people I wanna meet before the hols are through... hoping to do so before the Christmas season comes along. There's:

1) Ghim Lay and chron pH for dinner (sorry for rainchecking you guys...)
2) Daphne for coffee
3) ash and yann to pass them their certs (still waiting for you two to arrange a date leh...)
4) the MSGs for Electrico (this Friday at Youth Park, 9pm. Free?)

... etc etc.
And that's not counting all the birthday parties this coming month! This weekend is filled already. So make your appointments fast...

2334hrs

Listening to: Oasis - The Masterplan


Everything happens for a reason. If it's good, we will be happy and count our blessings and good fortune. If it's bad, we wonder why such misfortune has to befall us.

But at the end of the day, I guess someone out there has a masterplan for all of us. And I'd like to believe that higher power has our best interests at heart. It may not be obvious at first, or ever, but perhaps things are better this way.

So I'm the unforgivable sinner now. But what I did was because all I wanted was to be happy. Am I happy now? I don't know. But I hope it will be obvious soon that things are better this way.

Sorry is such a useless word, isn't it. And sometimes explanations are futile.

1838hrs

Listening to: 10cc - I'm Not In Love


The OST of Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason is highly listenable, with a good mix of contemporary pop, 70s hits and covers of old songs. The radio may be raving over Jamie Cullum's "Everlasting Love", but I prefer the nobody-does-it-better originals like, err, Carly Simon's "Nobody Does It Better" (though Radiohead once did a kickass version, found here) and one of my favourites, 10cc's "I'm Not In Love". Check it out ! :)

So, Singapore Idol fever culminates in midweek... it's quite amazing how much attention this has generated since the debut episode aired on National Day (the one with my pal the Lemon Tree Man, muahaha). Frankly, I don't really mind if everyone's talking about it; perhaps it'll get all the "news" about Huang Na off the front page (enough already, please).

In cyberspace, many a byte has been wasted spent on the two finalists, Sylvester and Taufik. A check with Mr Google generated about 1,510 matches for "Sylvester Sim" (and also 44 for "Slyvester Sim", lol), and just 343 for "Taufik Batisah".

So who will win? Well one could probably argue that the people who bother to write about their favourite idol will also be moved enough to vote for them? Hmmm. I just hope that the one who sings the best on the night itself will win the competition.

For all you closet fans out there, here are the fansites of Taufik and Sylvester for you to drool over. ;)


In other news, is it just me... or are the new ST photo bylines really, really ugly?



I mean, wassup with the blue space?! And this is one of the better ones already. There's another one (which i am not putting up 'cos ugly people do not appear here, thanks very much) which has the journalist sorta looking over her shoulder at the camera. Wah piang eh... really, ugly people should not have photo bylines. Caricatures would do nicely! (y)

The blue background also reminds me a bit of the photo bylines in a certain newspaper not so long ago:

 

Heheheh. :)