Michael Jackson.

A Living Legend. The King of Pop. The Greatest Icon of his Generation. Michael Jackson.

On June 25, 2009, 2:26pm in the United states, Michael Jackson passed away, at the age of 50.

I woke up today, and the first thing i heard on the local FM through my radio is that Michael Jackson passed away. And the first thing that raced through my mind was: IMPOssIBLE. NO FREAKIN' wAY. but the sombre tone of the DJs were telling me otherwise. And then I went: "Fuck."

Everywhere. Everyone. In the whole world. People are talking about it. they can't believe it. neither can it.

Throughout the whole morning, i was getting the goosebumps. My eyes were welling up. For realz. and i listened to him on my ipod. on the radio. and hearing people talk about him.

He brought the meaning of "Pop" to a whole new level. He was a performer. a breakthrough singer whose songs are still relevant in today's society.

He was an idol. he was my inspiration. he will forever be loved. by the world.

Major Improvement!

This post title is so gonna sound like high school, like when your teacher commends you for making improvements in your studies, but, whatever. Ok, this past few days have been major, man. A lot of things have been going down and at the end of it all is GOOD NEws for me!

so, a couple of days back, i found a job as a thermo-scanner at the National University Hospital. so.... it wasn't exactly the best job in the world, but i figured i needed the cash pretty badly... And it wasn't until i started work the very next day, that i realized how sucky the job really was. Ok, it's a combination of a being a sale-person (having to stand for hours), a nurse (having to take temperatures of every visitor) and a pest controller (having to don face-masks and PPE and gloves) all rolled into one. That's how bad it was. And for some crazy reason, i chose not to take Lunch that day... I was THIs close to being sick at the end of the day.

and the following day, when i woke up, i received a phone call from a recruit express consultant i met way back in Feb (the very first one actually, and whom i have no recollection whatsoever...) that I'm shortlisted for a position in NUs' Health Centre. she asked me whether i could make it for an interview with the client that afternoon and THAT wAs IT - right there and then, i had to choose between going for my job in the afternoon or skipping it for the interview... Of course, I chose the latter and i thought i had made the wrong decision when i didn't received any phone call from the consultant for a long time. AND at 5 plus, while i was watching my daily dosage of Ellen's, another consultant named Jazel (pronounced Jay-zel, as in Hazel, Jazel... don't be ashamed if u thought it's pronounced Giselle... I did) called me and informed me that because the client couldn't do the interview, she's taking over the interviewing. and couple of moments later, i was told that i had been offered the job. O~M~G. F~I~N~A~L~L~Y... And i say this in all thankfulness, to Cheryl (THANK YOU for remember that interview w~a~y b~a~c~k), to Jazel Leng (GREAT NAME~~)

and to my Apple MacBook, I'm coming to get you!

Sweet Must-Have

Now... not that i want to do free promotion for Canon, but look at that!!! Seriously... a digital camera in HOTHOTHOT RED?!?! now, that's a must-have! a die die must-have! How often do we see a commercial camera that comes in red? and at 12.1 MP, that camera can freakin capture every f**kin' pore on my face. Woah! (Haha, although that shouldn't be something to be excited about...) When i first saw it in commercials, i thought to myself that I GOTTA have that! although the first reviews for the camera wasn't that great, being the non-tech freak that I am, the appearance of it is probably more important to me... Hey, it was the HOT-RED color of it that caught my attention here N I saw we have a winner here!

I'm a Reader.

Oooo... I love the smell of new books. Ironically, they smell like old paper, like something ancient, something with an abundance of knowledge to impart. That's the beauty of books. I'm sure i'm not the only one with a fetish for the smell of nice books though. You know who you are... ^.^

(my BRAND NEW copies of New Moon + The Reader!!)

I just picked up two new copies of fresh read for the following weeks to come, given the bad relationship i have with public libraries and my outstanding fines with them. And these two books can't be more worlds apart - New Moon and The Reader by Bernhard Schlink. One of them, i know beyond a doubt, that it'll be a good read, just based how much i liked the film adaptation of it and the other, i am so sure that I'll be cringing at every flip of the page, based on how cheesy Twilight was. Really, how much more different can they be? And i don't really know which to start with. Should I indulge myself in my favourite, The Reader, first or get New Moon, over and done with first? Pardon me, but the only reason i got New Moon was because of all the hype it was getting and of my desire to find out what happens before the movie came out, not that Stephenie Meyer is a terrific author.

I can't stress enough how much I loved the film adaptation of the Reader, with Kate Winslet, David Kross and Ralph Fiennes being so awesome in it. Really, when Ralph Fiennes sent those voice tapes to Kate Winslet's Hanna, that scene was so touching, it moved me.

I haven't read it yet, but I'm sure i'll enjoy it.

I getting all Hot N Cold...

Nope. I'm not grovving to Katy Perry but I'm feeling Hot N Cold. Literally. and I'm gonna blame it all the weather. So these couple of days i 'm in my tank top, since it's so damn hot in the day. but then, it'll be like all cold all of a sudden. and before you Know it, it'll be freakin' hot again. either my body system is all screwed up or our earth is.

Damn. I'm bored to hell at home. Meanwhile, i've been trying to find work but up till now, there's been no luck. Wow, i mean, i really did learn a lot just going through the process of job searching. I'm planning to do a full blog post just based on that only. But I think i'm only going to do after i've landed a job. And i've got a LOT to share, man. Meanwhile, a lot of stuff have happened these couple of days.

First things first, BoA's Debut English album came out on Tues, March 17. Yeshh!!!! I wanted to do a post immediately after listening to it on that day, a first-hand review, but procrastinated. but anyway, i'm going to do that later on. First, let me get to American Idol.

These week was Grand Ole Opry week. Ok, actually i learnt about this week's theme from rickey.org quite some time ago.... or was it votefortheworst.com... can't remember for the life of me. these two sites are so similar. Ok, my first reaction was WTF was "Grand Ole Opry"?!?! but then i looked at the songlist... Martina McBride... Carrie Underwood... Garth Brooks... and after reading some of the comments by visitors, i realised it was country, which in American Idol history, it hasn't come down too good many times before. However, surprising, the performance night wasn't too bad. No one did particularly bad, though there were a couple or so standouts, such Kris Allen's and Matt Giraud's. Matt's cover of Carrie Underwood's So Small was particularly memorable and emotion-invoking. His bluezy, smoky, rough coverage contrasted with Carrie's silky vocals. Whenever a performance cause the hair on my body to stand on ends, i would know that it's a great performance. and matt's So Small did just that.

Here is his Studio recording of So Small:

Now the frustrating part. Dirty Diana a.k.a Alexis Grace got the lowest votes for the rendition of Dolly Parton's Jolene. Now the EVEN MORE frustrating part: the Judges mentioned right before Alexis sang for her life, that she was the one (between her and Michael Sarver) the judges would consider saving using the Judge's Save. That got Alexis' hope and you could see while she sang, she was on the verge of tears, desperation, her voice was breaking. She really wanted it bad. And I thought she would deserve another chance. After all that, the judges REFUSED to save her, with Simon putting it simply: It was good, it just wasn't good enough, EFFECTIVELY dashing her dreams. WTF! ok, she had a bad performance (and it wasn't that bad actually) but i think she has one of the most promising potential among the top 11, and she didn't deserve to go home just yet. f*ck, she will not even get the chance to go on the AMI summer tour because she's not part of the top 10. WHAT?!?! first Joanna Pacitti got axed from the Top 36 and now Alexis Grace?! Man, i'm not watching this show anymore (the thought of seeing Danny Gokey every week turns me off)... ok, i'm just kidding.

Next, seeing how there isn't many reviews for BoA's new english debut out there, i'm going to do one.

Tracklist:
1) I Did it for Love (ft. Sean Garrett)
2) Energetic
3) Did Ya
4) Look who's talking
5) Eat you up
6) Obsessed
7) Touched
8) Scream
9) Girl on Top
10) Dress Off
11) Hypnotic Dancefloor

My First Listen Impression: Not Good. i would give it a 3/5 rating. BUT considering that i'm a HUGE BoA fan, i'm going to be srsly biased here. OK, on first listen, it just wasn't working for me, as an entire album packaging. sure, there were some standout tracks, but the entire album just doesn't cut it. I've been listening to American pop music for quite some time now and when i first considered the idea of the american public listening to this album and getting to know this artiste, BoA, just based on this one album, i don't think it's going to make any big impression on them. Furthermore, in comparison to some pretty strong recent American pop artistes i.e. Britney Spears, Rihanna, BoA would really pale out.

Now the Second Impressions: (after listening to it more)
1)I Did it for Love
I've loved this track right from the start that it was released. There's really nothing much to comment on this track really. Brilliant. Dance. Track. I still can't figure out whether this is the second single or Look Who's Talking is. But if i were to choose, this would definitely be a stronger second single.

2)Energetic
the title of this track caught my attention, considering how i like grovvy tracks and Lady GaGa's Just Dance and Poker Face immediately came to my mind. course, that was before i listened to it. really great as well.

4) Look Who's Talking
One of the standout tracks. Courtesy of Ms. Britney Bitch herself. she co-wrote this song. of course, it feels very britney-ish. especially in the chorus. think Circus or If U Seek Amy.

7) Touched
this isn't a standout nor is it one of my fave. in fact, i quite hate this song, due to the fact that BoA didn't actually really sing the chorus, if i'm not wrong. At first, i was shocked when i heard this song, because it didn't feel like BoA at all (after listening to her for 8 years now since her Jap debut, i would definitely know) I was positive she didn't sang that song. when i listened closely, i realised the chorus was sung by background singers (most probably) and BoA was doing all these vocal theatrics (as i would like to call it). So, in a way, the roles were switched and i didnt like it. This is one of the controversial songs for me, in a way.

8) Scream
Ok, by the time you reach this track, if you listened to it in chronological order, you would probably realise that she sounds slightly different on every single track (thx to the vocal tweaking), every single track FEELS (i'm not saying SOUND) the same and you can't really tell what the heck BoA's singing (hey, she's Korean, but really, who will care to listen to the words?). Although i have to give her credit for the tremendous improvement in her English. So in a way, what i'm trying to say is that Scream just feels like the other songs on this album, but nonetheless, i quite like this track.

9) Girls on Top
I was quite a fan of the Korean album with the same name, due to the fact at that time, BoA broke away from her squeaky clean image as this silky hair lass and following her My Name album, she continued to give this edgy, rock-ish, dancey look which reflected in her music as well. So i was particular glad to hear that this american version didn't butchered the original song. in fact, it sounded great and better, i would say. i was worried i would be a little squeamish to hear her sing one of her old songs in English, but it wasn't as bad as i initially thought it would be.

10) Dress Off
~ so all u wanna do is take my Dress Off ~ take my dress offfff ~ dress offff ~ offfff ~
one of my FAVE tracks in this entire album, mainly because of it's ADdictive, Catchy, Grovvy, Electrosynth sound. LUrves it. and considering that the lyrics are so flirty and dirrty, it's no surprise it's gonna be one of my faves.

My Final Verdict: 4/5
on my fourth or fifth run through the album, i can't believe that BoA actually just sang an ENTIRE album in English AND it actually sounds AWESOME. it's not like those previous English covers of her own songs, where u will get squeamish listening to how bad her English sounds. Ok, considering that I can get over how MUCH they tweaked Britney's voice in Circus, I am definitely lurving this album right here. Of course, the comparison is there, BoA has long been hailed as Asia's Britney. In the past, i couldn't see the similarities but now i Do. Hello? Bloodshy & Avant were one of the producers on Britney's Circus and by recruiting them to produce on THIS album, we couldn't make them sound more similar. In fact, BoA SOUNDS so much like Britney on this album on SO MANY tracks. But if it's a sure-formulae to success and they want to reproduce it on BoA, i certainly wish her the best. Depending on how the critics see it, they could churn out either very positive reviews or pan her down. (again, it's whether they will compare her to Britney's Circus) I've always liked BoA for her dance tracks, her energy in her dancing and her unique voice. So in this album, i'm getting only the first two. I don't really know whether to love or hate the vocoder in the album because it took away the voice that I lurved so much since ID; Peace B.

Remember to grab your copy. It's worth it.

AMI Top 13 Performs and Conspiracy Theories...

Alrite, so, it's that time of the year again, when I get to enjoy my dose of AMI. after all the crazy-shit funny auditions of course. This year's a Top 13, as compared to the previous years' Top12 and a new twist this year is the Judge's Veto - i.e. to say That means if someone is sent home whom the judges think should stay, they can have the power to keep them there. (no one is voted off that week but the following week, two goes home)

As said by Ryan:
“The judges can save one contestant from elimination just once. Once they’ve used the save, they cannot use it again the entire season. The week they use the save, no one will be eliminated but the next week, two will go.”

wow. first a top 13. then two goes home for the first episode. now this. anyway here are my last night's favourites: (in order of preference)

Michael Sarver - You are not alone
- Great ballady song. I didn't know if the original was as ballady as his', but i'm a sucker for ballads.



Alexis Grace - Dirty Diana
- It's was not over the top as Simon had put it to be. I didn't think that she got the credit she deserve for her performance though. Or maybe it was over the top but i liked it...



Kris Allen - Remember the time
- OMG. i thought that he sucked last night. ok, maybe it wasn't as bad as i put it to be... but in the middle when he got too excited, he was like all over the place. i'm only putting his performance here because i like him. i don't think he's going to make it far though, even with all his screaming female fans.



Allison Iraheta - Give in to Me
- Great Rocker chick with a great rock performance. She's like an ugly duckling turning into a swan. i don't think she has marketability potential though.



P.S. : Stop supporting Danny 'douchebag' Gokey. He's pimping his deadwife to further his stay on AMI and getting sympathy votes. so what if he can sing? he's got no market appeal whatsoever. period.

Now, the fun part. since who knows when, there's been like conspiracy theories floating around regarding AMI. now, here's one that caught my attention recently - The Red Lights Theory. So here's the thing: During performance night, whoever's performance got the Red lights flashing in their's, it means that judges want them gone. So going by last night's performances, Jorge, Kris, Allison and Jasmine got the red light treatment.

At first, i was a bit fascinated by this theory as it definitely got me interested and left me pondering. but in the end my conclusion: it's most likely false.

Why? from what i've seen on AMI since the start of Season8, Simon has always thought that Jasmine has got marketability and compared Allison to when Kelly Clarkson was in the same stage in the competition. Furthermore, Jasmine was saved by the Judges, first by putting her into the wildcard round, then putting her through to the Top 13 (even though IMO, other more qualified contestants such as Ricky Brady failed to do so) So, to support the Red Light Theory would be to say that the judges wanted Jasmine gone in less than even a week, which is highly contradictory.

Of course, i'm only elaborating on Jasmine here but there's also Allison. Though i wouldn't say the same for Jorge, who doesn't have the appeal to cut a record, even though he has the chops.

All in all: i think the lights just add to the dramatic effect of their stage presence. that's all...

It's Almost Here

I've supported her since she debut with the album, Listen to my Heart. From the smooth silky hair girl to the sultry mature singer that she is today, I think that BoA's one of the most hardworking Asian singers out there. Sure, she's the result of a combination of smart marketing from SM Entertainment, lots of make-up and styling and great dance choreography, it's easy to neglect the fact that she's a pretty decent singer with a easily recognised voice that differentiates her from other singers.



Hot off her eponymous U.S. debut album, I Did It for Love, is a sure-winner over Eat You Up. This song features Sean Garrett, whom i best remember in Enrique Iglesias's Away. Freakin' catchy, a great electro sound (thanks to her using a vocoder), and a hot, sexy image in the MV. this song is a definite hit in the clubs, even before the remixes start to appear.





Her us debut album is slated to be released on MARCH 17. MARK THAT ON YOUR CALENDER! Be sure to pre-order your copy from Amazon or iTunes, or from your local music store.

Finally, here's a teaser for her I Did It for Love MV.