Post by uptowndragon on Feb 9, 2008 23:35:32 GMT 7
Episode 12 (Top 5) Review.
It's been a week since Episode 12 (Top 5) was recorded and I simply could not find any time to write my weekly review with so much going on over the week that was. Most of you may have observed that just like my fellow Rentaker Bong, I skipped writing on a couple of episodes simply because I could not find any inspiration to write about them. That's all changed this week. And thanks to this long Chinese New Year weekend, I am feeling rather refreshed and energized, and find myself with enough time and renewed enthusiasm to chalk up some of my own observations regarding the Top 5 show.
It's just past 12.05am, and CNY has already moved into day 2. Amidst the constant joyous screams of my younger neighbours in my condo block who seemed intent on keeping the CNY cheer going on into the wee hours of the morning with multiple sessions of every single card game conceivable to mankind, I find my self facing the 17¡± screen of my trusty year old Celeron D based desktop. Its reliable LG DVD drive is busy spinning an original copy of Latin Melt, a CD compilation described as ¡°Where Electro-Latin Flavas & South American Hip Hop Collide¡±, which I gladly purchased on Tuesday at Tower Records for a mere RM 9.90. Flowing through my cheap but decent Sonic Gear headsets into my inner ear, the sweet sounds of Orishas¡¯ (a renown Cuban hip hop band) ¡°Orishas Llego¡± stirs & stimulates my senses & mind, along with the Nescafe ¡°O¡± kosong I had consumed earlier. Sheer bliss. The perfect blend to make one feel so satisfied and justified in keeping the faith in things that we love and are passionate about.
And that's exactly how I felt during the recording of Episode 12 where the Top 5 were jostling for the top spot in the competition, where at least 4 of the Top 5 finally brought their A game to the stage, and justified their relevance to a competition worth a cool RM 1 Million. I really wouldn't want to go into cryptic detail as Bong has done a pretty decent job of it in his personal review, and my own candid observations are not far off from his. The bottom line was, the competition finally saw most of the competitors changing gears and charging forward, and showing us all that they may just have what it takes to make it.
There was little doubt in the quality of Sarah, as she is clearly the most accomplished of the lot, and is certainly intent of making sure everyone knows it as she powers on towards the final lap, so much so she made her duet partner, the credible Damien Seet of V.E., look like a rank amateur on ¡°Janji Manismu¡±.
Right from the start I was already concluding that Shila was this year's equivalent to season one's top 3 finalists, Alif. So it was no surprise to see them performing together on stage. The pairing of Shila & Alif on ¡°Khayal¡± was clearly designed to milk the ¡°high school musical¡± factor of their performance with the absolute intention of raking in maximum mileage from all who are enamored with the HSM branding. A brilliant move on Shila's part, for making such a calculated & highly beneficial alliance, with one of the most adored contestant from season one. The fun & energetic performance by the pair is guaranteed to win Shila a ton of votes, although it was clear that, Shila, vocally, as I mentioned many times before, is still in transition from a child star as opposed to Alif whose vocals have matured considerably. Once those vocal chords of hers swell up and loose their ear piercing sharpness, I am certain she will be a serious contender in the industry.
AB finally showed his vocal magic on ¡°Keliru¡± along side his usually upbeat and fun stage play but it was unfortunate that he was paired with a sensational singer like Noorul whose soaring vocals easily outshone him. Nevertheless, Ab hardly seemed intimidated by such luminous company and churned out a crispy & sun charged performance that will certainly ensure him a ticket to the next round. That is, if the viewers vote wisely & fairly.
Mark has been consistent for the last few episodes. Consistently misfiring that is. What looked destined to be a decent effort from Mark at the start of ¡°Sempurna¡±, failed miserably to materialize in the end, and was fortunately rescued by the totally unwell & heavily medicated Farah Asyikin who managed to keep it from falling apart at his hands. Mark by his own admission has been out of sorts for far too long, but has somehow managed to get by every week, thanks probably to legions of admirers with a soft spot for his adorable puppy dog like magnetism. Even the extremely sensible & critical Mrs. Dragon (my missus) seems to have fallen into his clutches, when she remarked after the airing of his performance last Friday, "Terrible but I hope he will be around next week". All I can say is that Mark has been given one chance too many, and if he so happens to miraculously survive the cut in the next episode, he better not disappoint Mrs. Dragon, and all his loyal supporters, and most of all not disappoint himself.
While a more established ¡°diamond¡± in the competition has unfortunately faded away several weeks ago, the newly discovered ¡°diamond in the rough¡± has begun to sparkle, and rather brightly at it. Even the ever so daunting singing machine, Jaclyn Victor, failed to envelope the shine that is emanating from our new rising star. The petite yet confident Ayu, was simply sensational this week, and hardly took a step back in the company of the first Malaysian Idol who is such a celebrated vocal powerhouse. She matched Jac note for note, and at times took the party up a notch, with her raw energy and full blooded delivery. It was clearly Ayu's show and not even the technically sophisticated Jac could steal it from her that night. She has grown from strength to strength over the weeks and has clearly showed us that she more than deserves a place in the final 3. Anything less, would surely be a travesty.
It is now 2.06 am and a seriously funky version of ¡°Guantanamera¡± performed by Azucar Letal (a Cuban-German collaboration) is steadily streaming into my head and making my shoulders sway in tempo, as I come to the conclusion of this week's review. OIAM 2 is finally shaping up to what it should be, with at least two of the frontrunners throwing down the gauntlet and preparing to battle it out to the end. Two others are straddling tightly along for the ride to the finale and are determined not to be left behind. The last one has been mostly off target throughout the competition and has to really come out fighting bare fisted & screaming if he is hoping for any chance at all in making the cut. Amazingly he keeps getting his foot caught in the saddle and gets dragged to the next round even though he keeps falling off his horse.
Shone (who actually shone last week in his farewell performance and sounded a lot better than his duet partner Andy Flop Poppy) was unfortunately given the boot last Friday. One of the remaining finalists from the Top 5 will be joining him shortly on the sidelines, next week. If performance and performance only where the measure of things, then it would be fair to say that the final four slots should belong to Sarah, Ayu, Ab & Shila. But the reality of it is that it may actually be either Ab or Sarah who are unceremoniously shown the exit next week. The decision is in your hands, but unfortunately the voting lines are now closed.
It's been a week since Episode 12 (Top 5) was recorded and I simply could not find any time to write my weekly review with so much going on over the week that was. Most of you may have observed that just like my fellow Rentaker Bong, I skipped writing on a couple of episodes simply because I could not find any inspiration to write about them. That's all changed this week. And thanks to this long Chinese New Year weekend, I am feeling rather refreshed and energized, and find myself with enough time and renewed enthusiasm to chalk up some of my own observations regarding the Top 5 show.
It's just past 12.05am, and CNY has already moved into day 2. Amidst the constant joyous screams of my younger neighbours in my condo block who seemed intent on keeping the CNY cheer going on into the wee hours of the morning with multiple sessions of every single card game conceivable to mankind, I find my self facing the 17¡± screen of my trusty year old Celeron D based desktop. Its reliable LG DVD drive is busy spinning an original copy of Latin Melt, a CD compilation described as ¡°Where Electro-Latin Flavas & South American Hip Hop Collide¡±, which I gladly purchased on Tuesday at Tower Records for a mere RM 9.90. Flowing through my cheap but decent Sonic Gear headsets into my inner ear, the sweet sounds of Orishas¡¯ (a renown Cuban hip hop band) ¡°Orishas Llego¡± stirs & stimulates my senses & mind, along with the Nescafe ¡°O¡± kosong I had consumed earlier. Sheer bliss. The perfect blend to make one feel so satisfied and justified in keeping the faith in things that we love and are passionate about.
And that's exactly how I felt during the recording of Episode 12 where the Top 5 were jostling for the top spot in the competition, where at least 4 of the Top 5 finally brought their A game to the stage, and justified their relevance to a competition worth a cool RM 1 Million. I really wouldn't want to go into cryptic detail as Bong has done a pretty decent job of it in his personal review, and my own candid observations are not far off from his. The bottom line was, the competition finally saw most of the competitors changing gears and charging forward, and showing us all that they may just have what it takes to make it.
There was little doubt in the quality of Sarah, as she is clearly the most accomplished of the lot, and is certainly intent of making sure everyone knows it as she powers on towards the final lap, so much so she made her duet partner, the credible Damien Seet of V.E., look like a rank amateur on ¡°Janji Manismu¡±.
Right from the start I was already concluding that Shila was this year's equivalent to season one's top 3 finalists, Alif. So it was no surprise to see them performing together on stage. The pairing of Shila & Alif on ¡°Khayal¡± was clearly designed to milk the ¡°high school musical¡± factor of their performance with the absolute intention of raking in maximum mileage from all who are enamored with the HSM branding. A brilliant move on Shila's part, for making such a calculated & highly beneficial alliance, with one of the most adored contestant from season one. The fun & energetic performance by the pair is guaranteed to win Shila a ton of votes, although it was clear that, Shila, vocally, as I mentioned many times before, is still in transition from a child star as opposed to Alif whose vocals have matured considerably. Once those vocal chords of hers swell up and loose their ear piercing sharpness, I am certain she will be a serious contender in the industry.
AB finally showed his vocal magic on ¡°Keliru¡± along side his usually upbeat and fun stage play but it was unfortunate that he was paired with a sensational singer like Noorul whose soaring vocals easily outshone him. Nevertheless, Ab hardly seemed intimidated by such luminous company and churned out a crispy & sun charged performance that will certainly ensure him a ticket to the next round. That is, if the viewers vote wisely & fairly.
Mark has been consistent for the last few episodes. Consistently misfiring that is. What looked destined to be a decent effort from Mark at the start of ¡°Sempurna¡±, failed miserably to materialize in the end, and was fortunately rescued by the totally unwell & heavily medicated Farah Asyikin who managed to keep it from falling apart at his hands. Mark by his own admission has been out of sorts for far too long, but has somehow managed to get by every week, thanks probably to legions of admirers with a soft spot for his adorable puppy dog like magnetism. Even the extremely sensible & critical Mrs. Dragon (my missus) seems to have fallen into his clutches, when she remarked after the airing of his performance last Friday, "Terrible but I hope he will be around next week". All I can say is that Mark has been given one chance too many, and if he so happens to miraculously survive the cut in the next episode, he better not disappoint Mrs. Dragon, and all his loyal supporters, and most of all not disappoint himself.
While a more established ¡°diamond¡± in the competition has unfortunately faded away several weeks ago, the newly discovered ¡°diamond in the rough¡± has begun to sparkle, and rather brightly at it. Even the ever so daunting singing machine, Jaclyn Victor, failed to envelope the shine that is emanating from our new rising star. The petite yet confident Ayu, was simply sensational this week, and hardly took a step back in the company of the first Malaysian Idol who is such a celebrated vocal powerhouse. She matched Jac note for note, and at times took the party up a notch, with her raw energy and full blooded delivery. It was clearly Ayu's show and not even the technically sophisticated Jac could steal it from her that night. She has grown from strength to strength over the weeks and has clearly showed us that she more than deserves a place in the final 3. Anything less, would surely be a travesty.
It is now 2.06 am and a seriously funky version of ¡°Guantanamera¡± performed by Azucar Letal (a Cuban-German collaboration) is steadily streaming into my head and making my shoulders sway in tempo, as I come to the conclusion of this week's review. OIAM 2 is finally shaping up to what it should be, with at least two of the frontrunners throwing down the gauntlet and preparing to battle it out to the end. Two others are straddling tightly along for the ride to the finale and are determined not to be left behind. The last one has been mostly off target throughout the competition and has to really come out fighting bare fisted & screaming if he is hoping for any chance at all in making the cut. Amazingly he keeps getting his foot caught in the saddle and gets dragged to the next round even though he keeps falling off his horse.
Shone (who actually shone last week in his farewell performance and sounded a lot better than his duet partner Andy Flop Poppy) was unfortunately given the boot last Friday. One of the remaining finalists from the Top 5 will be joining him shortly on the sidelines, next week. If performance and performance only where the measure of things, then it would be fair to say that the final four slots should belong to Sarah, Ayu, Ab & Shila. But the reality of it is that it may actually be either Ab or Sarah who are unceremoniously shown the exit next week. The decision is in your hands, but unfortunately the voting lines are now closed.