Mediacorp's release of voting results of SG idol little comfort for Taufik fans

While earlier being bombarded by the media for not being transparent enough, Mediacorp decided to come clean with the voting results of SG idol. Taufik won by a large margin, which was not surprising to me. However, this yet provided little comfort for Taufik fans who were enraged when Sly got the recording contract from BMG. Now, they are further incensed that when Taufik was the undisputed champion, Sly got an equal share of the pie, as it seems. lol, my eplanation for this seemingly unfair treatment was covered in the previous blog. For those still unconvinced, let me draw you a clearer picture. Imagine Taufik's album among others in Europe and America. Then imagine Sly's album among others in China, Taiwan and HK. Which is more likely to come off the shelves? Anyway, just got "I dream" by Taufik from me friend. Looking for Sly's version, which i think is much better. Taufik was flat throughout the song, though he hit the high notes pretty okay...Anyone got Sly's version, please send me. Meanwhile, the lyrics....very meaningful....

I Dream

In my mind
I can climb
All the mountains that surround me
My spirit's there, where eagles dare to fly

In my heart
There's a spark
That can light the world around me
An open door, where I am sure dreams are

Doesn't matter if I win
Or the colour of my skin
Cause the race is all about
Believing in yourself

And I dream
I can run
Like the wind
And be strong
When my heart just wants to give in
I dream
I can be
The hero that's in me
When I dream, I dream

If there's a time
In your life
When the odds are so against you
There's no defeat, if all you keep is pride
First or last
Slow or fast
There's a dignity that makes you
Keep driving on, when worlds have come apart

It doesn't matter rich or poor
Or the things you've done before
Cause the race is all about
Believing in yourself

And I dream
I can run
Like the wind
And be strong
When my heart just wants to give in
I dream
I can be
The hero that's in me
When I dream

I dream of a moment
That forever will be golden
When the torch is passed
Only dreams will last
That are shared by everyone

And I dream
I can run
Like the wind
And be strong
When my heart just wants to give in
I dream
I can be
The hero that's in me
When I dream, I dream

Though togetherness is already impossible, your one smile still warms me, your silent protector. And while you sing in the festive seasons and cry in the slumps of your life, I will watch over you, share your joy and feel your pain......Till that day comes where you find someone who could take care of you better than I do, then will I walk away.......thats what love is all about.....

"我会学着放弃你,是因为我太爱你"

hi ppl, I'm back and I'm 16 already. A milestone of my life, a landmark on my history. Yet for a such a significant event, 24hrs seem so short and unable to match up to the occasion. There is just so many things to do, to reflect, to plan and so on....Time is a factor we are fighting against. This time round, I invited both my pri sch and sec sch friends to a chalet. A perfect reunion, one would muse, yet it ended up as a beautiful disaster. U knoe like the scene from Deep Impact, where the father and daughter stood at the beach and watched the meteorite crashed into the ocean and the tsunami approaching, then they hugged each other. Such was the feeling then. I had forgotten a important detail in my planning, that is the discriminatory slant to elitism, noting that discrimination actually happens both ways. I always tot discrimination was a one-sided affair, yet now I understood why discrimination stood, becoz ppl are unwilling to adapt, ppl are unwilling to move out of their comfort zone, and thus discrimination becomes the simplest excuse they can give to avoid the other party. And thus, the chalet party became a obvious split between 2 factions, each engrossed in what they are doing and treating as though the other faction wasn't there. Well...I as middleman was trying to bridge the obvious gap but after a while, I gave up and the beautiful disaster sets in. Why was it beautiful, you may ask. Well...for simple events such as these....My pri sch friends and I sat outside while the "RI contigent" was busy in the gambling den and we just talked for 2hrs non-stop. It has been 4 years since so many of us got together and just talk and crap. For events like.....the second barbecue....jx trying to start the fire for the second time and ended up with his face in ash...richard trying to take a picture of a cockroach...for the morning stroll and soccer and breakfast...For such priceless and beautiful memories, they are beautiful...Still, I have to apologise to those who felt left out or offended, hope that in view of such beautiful memories, u would accept this as a beautiful disaser..... My birthday closed with laughter, smiles, nostalgia and without a girlfriend....(last part was added on special resquest:X)

Singapore Idol
Yes, we have just witnessed the birth of our very own SG idol, Taufik, it seems to be have won the competition, yet these few days, the media threw up fantastical suggestions and debate on who is the real winner. One reader says that he suspect that it was rigged for Mediacorp would not reveal figures of the voting and he demanded his money back. lol, that was the closest suggestion to who really won and the rest of the articles were babbling on how taufik won and yet slyvester stole the limelight. Firstly, they are missing the point. Secondly, I suspect foul play. And thus I present to you my take on the true winner of SG idol.

HEADLINES: TRUE WINNER OF SG IDOL IS DRUMROLL.....MEDIACORP AND THE TELECOM COMPANIES
gasp*how is that possible? A Taufik fan claims incredulously. Taufik won SG idol. She insisted. Yup, I would agree that Taufik won SG idol competition, but everyone seems to be missing the point that the TV station and the telecom companies are truly the ppl benefiting from this event. Guess the idol fever haven't died done. Look, they tell us 3 million votes were casted throughout SG idol and 1.1 million on the finals. Do a bit of maths and you'll see that they add up to 1.5 million bucks for the show and 0.55 million for the finals. lol, thats assumong that they are telling the truth. Plus, viewership on the finals skyrocketed. Count the no. of commercials they put in. Considering that they charge more for the peak in viewership, count the profits yourself, not forgetting that they do have sponsors that fork out money for the event. At the end of the day, what happened? One, SG's economy gets a boost due to the sudden activity of cash transactions. Two, many parents would scream at their children when they receive their telephone bils. Three, there is no World Idol, so the competition was in vain. And finally, Sly stealing the limelight with his "equal treatment" as the SG idol.
heyhey, will just share a few lines on what i think about this equal treatment. You can't blame BMG coz they are driven by capitalism. They are bound by contract to give Taufik a contract and they'll lose lots of money if they do not. They gave Sly a contract coz they knoe that Sly would bring in much more money than Taufik and they need money... You cannot deny that Taufik's market is much more limited and restricted than Sly's. Just imagine his album side by side with all other english albums that come from Europe. Can he make an impression? Though he has a good voice, can he draw in mass appeal? For Sly, it's another story. SG idol proved that if he produces a album, it'll be snatched off shelves in a flash. He has the ability to generate public interest and public's extreme opinions, including those that hate him throughly. Yet to a recording company, when someone is extremely loved and hated at the same time, omg, its free advertisement.

lol, its 1h 30mins from my birthdae and yet I am here writing for u ppl out there, how sad can I be? Firstly, thank you to all those reading my blogs and I promise you that there would be one long one after my birthday, too busy these few daes. Heres a recollection of some events.

Nike Fearless 5
Haha, a bunch of 5 ppl, from 4 diff schs, had only 2 trainings together, yet had the audacity to go up against the best in sg. Obviously, it was a futile attempt but 1 thing for sure, it was an invaluable experience. Qualifying rounds was a "Sink your Fears" competition, shooting basically. Our team "untitled" only managed a 27 when the qualifying mark was 60. lol, can't really blame us, a no. of factors was responsible as well. First, the weather, raining, ball was wet, board was wet, floor was wet. Second, they gave us a stupid rubber ball. lol, i mean u got see anyone of us there using rubber balls. Thirdly, they insistently placed us in court D, when the outside courts the hoops are larger and shorter, courts are smaller. lol, but at least we can be sure that we bagged the most 8-points shots, a little dist. further away from 3 point. Alvin, our team's pt guard, actually shot 2 in a row when we never saw anyone sink 1 in the whole qualifying rounds. The crowd was like cheering, damn shoik...So, the next day, we came back for the 3 on 3 competition. lol, after a walkover and a win, we were supposedly in the finals, yet due to some unforeseen circumstances, we in end lost the semis due to some team joining in the middle of the competition. lol, at least we beat the team Fusion, they were featured in Newpaper I think. lol, claim to be best in Marine Parade and come in jerseys yet lose to us wearing home clothes "rojak" team. haha, after that stayed to watch slam dunk comp and the first rounds of the fearless 5. The under 20 was damn nice to watch, a lot of action and pro basketball. Not to forget the girls category where the champs i think could beat many of the guys flat. They actually chalk up 95 pts for the qualifers lor.

HCCO interaction
lol, this yr, they decided to include water and mud as well. The talenttime was normal, nothing much lar. The games that came afterwards were to some extent, sadistic. Explicit details shall be left out but I must say that the organisers are really creative and okae i have to admit the games are fun, but I maintain the stance that they are sadistic. Well...in the end, my group won due to some cheating by our super-enthu group leader. We actually found like 95% of the stuff needed for the scavenger hunt. lol, last yr, my group won also. Seems as if luck is with me as I did not actually contribute much to the team's winning. Final point of interest, HC seems to be practising the billingual policy and implementing it much faster than any other institutions. Their students seem to have a keen sense of billingualism that they must flaunt their ability in every sentence, notwithstanding that it turns out as "rojak". Such intelligence must be invaluable to the ministry, with them trying every way to make ppl learn chinese and yet failing terribly.....(if u take me seriously on this point, you are more loser than I am)

Back from O's, what i'm feeling is somewhat strange for it no different from a normal holiday yet ppl around me are going on and on as if they had a hormone overdose. Lol, after the last paper, went to Swensons to have a good dinner, ate fish and chips and shared a topless five, then went home to slack.

This week is a real busy one for me coz Mon i was out buying grad night stuff. Tues is grad night. Wed got PAE briefing. Thurs and Fri taking part in Nike Fearless Five competition. Lalala, there goes my first week of hols. Now I'm comtemplating between RJ and MJ. I just need the final push from anyone to completely take RJ out of the picture. The open house and their talk by their teachers and principal were bad enough, somehow they are still in the picture due to I suspect my forged relationship with RI. So, any takers?

Sometimes, not having a choice is better

In my spare time while preparing for the last 1/4 of O'levels, I took up a book and read it, titled "Sing to the Dawn". I missed the musical production by our sch and I thought it would be nice to see what the book is about.

After reading it, I was pleasantly surprised, though again like most other literary works that have themes on feminism, the message was just a tad too exaggerated. Nevertheless, it was quite a refreshing experience. Its a story about a girl who won a scholarship in her local school to go to the city to study. Her father opposed strongly against this and when he found out that his son, or her brother had came in second in the exam to win the scholarship, he tries to force the girl to give up her place to her brother. He brother was at first on the side of the father, but as the story proceeds, he was persuaded to take the side of his sister. Finally, after much struggle, the girl was able to go to the city, for the better or the worse, no one knows....

Anw, will jus type out my favourite part in the book, its rather philosophical though... Her goes: A conversation between the girl Dawan and the head monk. Dawan tries to convince the head monk to speak to her father to convince him to let her go to the city.

Monk: But he realised after a long search that no one can stop suffering; one has to go beyond it.
Dawan: How do you go beyond sufferings?
Monk: You learn to stop wanting things. First you realize that nothing that we touch, or see or hear or smell or feel will last forever. Things we perceive will only pass after a while. Flowers fade, parents die, the sun sets.
Monk:Well then, once you realize that things of this world don't last, then you also see that they are not really important. So you learn to stop wanting ordinary things, and are able to concentrate on the higher truths. You...
Dawan: Wait, if ordinary things aren't important, what is then?

The monk talks about Nirvana, the concept of the highest stage in Buddism, where man is freed from the wheel of life, of being reborn, of suffering, or pain. He experiences nothing, nothing at all.

Dawan: No happiness or joy either?
Monk: That's the point child. What's the sense of being happy? In the end you only lose the thing that makes you happy anyway. Nothing lasts forever, you know.
Dawan: Nobody was talking about it lasting forever, sir. But what is wrong with just trying to make it last a little longer?
Monk: A little longer? What for child? What's the sense of going through life always dreading the end of some fragile happiness?

I especially like the last part, evokes a lot of thoughts. Will leave you with a parting thought: Who's right? The monk or Dawan? Why?
Uploaded a new song still from X Japan, this time it is World Anthem(Prolouge), v nice also:)