I spy with my little eye

Wink wink.

Yesterday was Joyce’s grand 21st at Costa Sands in that sandy paradise we call our second home - Sentosa - and it was so unexpectedly fun as I had imagined myself to be sitting in a corner, sipping on iced beverages while inconspicuously checking my handphone for yet-to-be-received messages. That is the usual scenario of birthday parties whereby the host invites friends from all over the years: the Clique 5 of sorts - Brose and I being one of those, with the Besties, the Barbeque Patrol, Mingwei busy shuttling back and forth as the host, and this shawl-wrapped woman who was doing yoga amidst the dunking of girls into the pool, observing the festivities with an eerie and inappropriate calm.

And yet when names started exchanging over expertly cooked satay sticks, “good dogs” and cold pizza slices, the conservation came much more easily with these new faces. Fabian was tending to the fires and serving up sumptuous food for everyone, while his girlfriend - whom I can only describe as petite with a meek look - Karen backed him up. Conan the Entertainer got us involved in a debate about what constitutes “indie” music - do people associate themselves with it purely due to the romantic charm of simply different? These guys are like fellow music junkies, picking from a eclectic smorgasbord consisting of Modest Mouse, Latin gothic, Maksim, Keane and Jason Mraz (the latter received much praise during our discussion, I’m tempted to sample some of his tracks)!

While Ain, the girl with the ready, impish grin, and Norissa, her music buddy with the subtlest of winks were plugging in to their iPod and belting out tunes of decades past, including a semi-butchered version of Mariah Carey’s Hero, Nirwan was struggling to deal with the irritating voice of Sean Kingston, and Mingwei was attempting to squack Hero in the contorted voice of Maroon 5’s lead. It was a bewildering cacophony of voices, and yet it all seemed to blend in so well with the ambience, light-hearted yet deeply engaging. Beer and marshmallows - they don’t usually go together well, and I dare not attempt combining the two for fear of a Coke-Mentos explosive marriage - were passed around the circle, which gradually grew to incorporate the girls who just freshened up after getting themselves chlorinated in the pool.

Joyce, the birthday girl; Josephine, whom I had already met during the night of the Champions’ League final at Mingwei’s place; and two of Joyce’s best friends (apologies because I don’t know their names, so I can’t list them here). With the circle completed, it was time to start reverting to a tried-and-tested method of keeping people awake: telling ghost stories. Conan’s persuasive attempts to explain things logically did indeed serve to debunk some urban myths and legends, while Mingwei mentioned several weird occurrences at his camp, which freaked Fabian out so much that he actually contemplated deferring from reservist next week. Yet it was Norissa who stole the show with her creepy Cambodian experiences: the first one was rather comforting as it involved guardian forces, while the second was just plain weird. The most spine-tingling of all was still the “Sweet” one, which had Nirwan, Ain and Norissa herself all shivering synchronously in chills.

The others were conspicuously silent throughout this whole time, partly because they were probably distracting themselves with the music in the background, which had a very important purpose: to lighten up the mood when the night was growing darker and the circle was huddling closer and closer till we couldn’t swing our arms without whacking someone in the face. After that, we decided to head into the house to entertain ourselves, and what resulted was a 4-hour long session of winks, blinks and distorted faces. Murderer was the game, but the outcome was certainly not the same as before.

Conan and Norissa had the whole nudging, semi-erotic thing going on while lying in bed, with Ain in the middle displaying an ambiguous look such that we couldn’t tell whether she was actually enjoying herself or was feeling awkward between the two. Fabian cosied up with Karen at the corner, as if partners in crime, their gazes coordinated in the same direction such that it was hard for the killer to off one without the other catching it. Joyce and Mingwei employed the same strategy rather subconsciously, with the latter distracting the rest by constantly exclaiming that he was the detective. That started off a chain of events and a sequence of patterns that we observed after a few rounds:

1. If the killer strikes within 10 seconds of the cards being distributed, then it’s Fabian.
2. If Josephine isn’t “killed” within 10 seconds of the cards being distributed, then she’s the killer.
3. If there happens to be heavy rocking of the bed, then either Conan, Ain or Norissa is the killer.

Everyone had their own style of play, with distinctive ways of winking and convincing/conniving. Conan with his deliberate winks, one of Joyce’s besties with her evil side wink, Karen with subtle ones, Norissa and her leg-play, another of Joyce’s besties with those huge peepers of hers. Apparently, it was a night of nine lives as murderers found themselves blessed by the fact that villagers were killing each other off courtesy of their own paranoia and inability to distinguish between a wink and an eye being irritated, yet having to kill villagers several times over with confirmatory shots. Some killers became a bit bored and dare I say, depraved when they started shooting corpses for no particular reason. Marksmanship wasn’t the strongest suit for some of the killers when missed winks translated into shots that went awry. Josephine tried to kill with her half-winks, Conan kept thinking that Mingwei was killing him, Norissa chewed on sweets while lackadaisically picking off targets with her sleepy-eyed look.

While I caught Josephine winking at Mingwei at the beginning and decided to out her right there and then, I decided to go for a speed kill the next round - and ended up killing Josephine the policewoman within 5 seconds! Talk about payback, eh? Other instances of payback included Conan and Norissa basically killing each other through leg-playing - whether they were really the killers didn’t matter!

All in all, it was a really great time that we had at Costa Sands, and I want to thank Mingwei for being such a good host and going through all that work just to make Joyce’s day perfect. I believe it was a perfect night for all of us - just to chill, relax and wink our way through a night without forty winks. Happy Birthday, Joyce! May your 21st year be one of happiness, contentment and fulfillment - because nothing is more important than that.

 

The Varsity Results Show

It’s finally here, and not too soon too. Trying to keep my mind off this eventuality wasn’t difficult, what with all the outings, meetings and the fun to be had so far during the holidays, which I’m beginning to appreciate more and more. The nerves only began jangling yesterday, creeping up ever so slightly. I had to meticulously perform my daily motions a little slower today so as to refrain from clicking “Refresh” on the browser at 5:58. 5:59 and 6:00 and then exclaim - beyond logic - that the results just HAD to be released precisely at 6pm and not any earlier. That was what was stated in black and white, no?

And so it was a few months back, as I surveyed the aftermath of what seemed like a pretty uncertain semester and decided upon a new strategy to tackle the new semester’s challenges. I accomplished better results than what I had last semester, and I maintained my CAP with the tightest of margins. On the positive side, I had managed to pull some of my modules up by a grade from the assignments, maintaining a respectable A- for my core modules. On the not-so-sunny side, I still am perplexed by the invisible barrier that has prevented me from achieving a solid top-notch result for my core modules.

Still, I’m taking this as a vindication of my current strategy, and I’ll seek to improve it and tweak it for the next semester, which will be spent in UCLA (maintaining a level-headed tone without succumbing to the temptation of running around hysterically and going into paroxysms of exhilaration is difficult). I also managed to secure another good grade for an exposure that I was taking, so I’m contented.

The only problem is that I didn’t get a satisfying result for my Computing module. Despite the positive signs at the beginning, middle and end, despite Larissa cautiously advising me to have a little more faith in the leniency of the markers, and despite it being open-book, the result was pretty distasteful. And all that work put into what can justifiably be termed as one of the most time-consuming breadth modules ever. I’ll be smarter next time in picking these modules.

Ah yes, the sweet aroma of release. I’m contented at what I’ve achieved so far, and I won’t allow myself or anyone else to downplay my results. Nobody said it was going to get any easier, and neither did I let myself think so even for a second these few months. The fact that I made it with a few battle scars and still be intact, refreshed and raring to go is something I’m grateful for and proud of.

 

Everlasting 20th

For our birthday girl, Evon.

After an early mix-up caused by stolen handphones, delayed telecommunications and baseless assumptions (” I thought we were supposed to meet there?!”), the six of us - Clara, Sixiang, Rebacca, Justin, Evon and I - finally met at City Hall, hungry and indecisive. Walking through Raffles City and rejecting out of hand Clara’s very limited choices of Thai Express and Din Tai Fung, we decided to head to Miss Clarity Cafe at Purvis Street.

While some of us listened in to embarrassed admissions by others about romances and scandals, the very helpful, self-appointed Sound Effects Director, Clara Pay injected her “whoo”s all over the place at the smell of something scandalous. Yet when it came to her Portuguese boyfriend, Christiano Not-Ronaldo aka Old Man, she was all denial and less whoo-ish. Miss Pay, some things don’t need to be spoken aloud to be understood. I don’t think any of us will let her get away with her PDA on Batam (”Don’t do it in Singapore!”) story.

Sixiang underwent some serious traumatic stress, having to break up with Mas Selamat and then hook up with Clara on the same night - seriously, I don’t know which is more disturbing: the fact that he was actually interested in the bearded fugitive or that Clara had to coerce him into accepting her courtship. Now, our dear SeX has to look at Miss Pay’s face wherever he goes. How romantic!

Sixiang also suggested having Clara’s birthday in Bangkok with Bangkok Birthday Bash, while he somehow sabotaged himself since his birthday this year will be held at either Mos Burger or Mac. Take your pick! That wasn’t the end of Alliteration Night, since at TCC we conjured up a whole lot more, with Miss Pay yet again stealing the limelight from all of us by writing tributes to her wonderful self: The Cool/Cheeky/Cute Clara, but our favourite was probably The Clarity Couple, which was enough to get her all flustered again.

While Justin fussed over the shoddy workmanship of his $99 white Pedro loafers, we were riveted by the story of another mextrosexual at campus (not telling who it is! Sworn to secrecy). Rebacca spent a good 3/4 of the evening trying to surgically extract all the garlic from her White Wine Vongole (which was superb!), while Clara spent that exact time trying to convince Rebacca her dish didn’t taste like it came out of the next-door pharmacy. My “Pork Combo” Paella (say Pah-ay-la!) was actually really good, what with the fragrant cream paella simmering on a hot pan, topped with succulent pork and sausage shavings, with a pinch of onions and capsicums. Just amazing compared to the pungent red wine risotto I had the previous time!

In an amazing stroke of coincidence, Chao Ching turned up at the Esplanade to greet Evon with a smile and a seriously sticky cake! Honestly, the cake was pretty good, but it was a tad too chewy. Sorry, Evon and Chao Ching for not finishing my slice of the cake! Still, we did a mini-photo shoot with the luminescent Fullerton as the backdrop. Trooping - and I use the word because that’s what we did - from the Esplanade to Clarke Quay, we were generating “body water” (less gross euphemism) in buckets before settling at TCC and having refreshing fruit sodas with fanciful, “passionate” names.

We finally bidded goodbye at the bus stop, with each successive Night Rider taking from us another friend who had to go home and rest for the night. Yet I believe that the night of floating trees, whispered secrets and surprises (planned and unplanned), spent over sumptuous food and light-hearted drinks was a memorable one for us all. Most importantly, I hope it was just as memorable for our birthday girl, Evon!

Happy 20th, girl!

 

A Triumph Over Popularity

David Cook wins American Idol 2008!

I must say, though this was the supposedly closest finale ever between two powerhouses, the votes certainly did not reflect that: 12 million votes separated Cook from Archuleta in a massive 90+ million votes cast in last night. Part of it was due to the seriously biased comments given by the judges the previous night, which made it seem that Archuleta had already won. But most of it has been due to Cook’s unique ability to turn a normal night into a heartfelt, powerful and emotionally charged tour de force - which he showed promises of, beginning with Always Be My Baby.

This is probably only the second time that my favourite has won Idol, the first being the amazing Carrie Underwood, who turned up at the finale in a cream, four-buttoned coat cut way above the knees and a beautiful shawl draped across her back. First thought - she looks thin! She should really put on some weight. Second thought - she looks so gorgeous that we’re all left speechless. If anyone could have stolen the show tonight besides the Davids, it would be Carrie. Singing “Last Name” with such attitude, flicking her shawl back and forth in fierce (had to borrow Christian Siriano’s lingo), uncompromising strokes, hitting the high, high notes, maintaining that pristine, country-girl demeanour while tempting the audience with her veiled smile…

I’m speechless. And diverging from the main point, which is Cook.

Cook totally deserved to win this season: count the number of unforgettable performances that will most probably stand the test of time. Clay Aiken’s string of hits on the show created almost impossible benchmarks for the rest to follow: Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me, Bridge Over Troubled Water, Solitaire, among others. Fantasia’s Summertime has been left untouched. Carrie’s rendition of Alone, Independence Day, Angels Brought Me Here. Elliott Yamin’s Moody’s Mood For Love. Melinda Doolittle’s My Funny Valentine among others.

Cook has had Hello, Eleanor Rigby, Billie Jean, Always Be My Baby as stand-outs. He will be remembered fondly as the rocker who could do Music of the Night and still pull it off effortlessly. He will be remembered for daring to take on I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing and have it outsell all other contestants’ songs on iTunes by a few times over. He will be remembered as the finalist who defied Simon’s rules by choosing NOT to sing a previous song as the closing one in the finale. He is a risk-taker, and he can seriously sing.

Most of all, Cook will be entitled the first Idol contestant, if not the first music artiste, to kickstart a new era of competition in the field of music sold online, via iTunes in this aspect. Cook has managed to significantly outsell all other contestants this season with his amazing - and I’m not exaggerating - studio recordings. Before even creating a new album, his selling power and accessibility has been proven time and again. Only Archuleta managed to outsell him by a margin on “Rock and Roll” Night, and Castro with his Hallelujah. Otherwise, Cook outsold them flat out.

Let’s not forget Michael Johns, who has taken on the giant of giants: Bohemian Rhapsody - and earned raving praise from the judges, thereby setting a serious benchmark. His rendition of We Are The Champions, including the fantastic It’s All Wrong But It’s All Right will remain seared in the memories of this season. And so will his untimely exit. Carly’s Superstar is a stand-out by itself, and the fact that she was eliminated in the same week for THAT performance will keep people talking about it long after the final curtain call for this season. Castro as the awkward performer with the lackadaisical attitude, Brooke with her heartfelt, behind-the-piano performances such as Let It Be, Love is a Battlefield and You’re So Vain. Syesha being technically great and yet landing in the Bottom Zone for the most number of weeks.

And young Archuleta for his numerous ballads - Smoky Mountain Memories does stand out. As aforementioned, Archuleta didn’t win because America perceived that he didn’t take enough risks to challenge the boundaries, and watching him play it safe week after week was a smart but boring move. It still didn’t win him the competition, and it won’t help him post-Idol due to the one-dimensionality of his style of singing. I won’t take anything away from him, because he has done a pretty good job of securing his place in the finals. He has acquired the title of Balladier for this season, and will henceforth be remembered as so.

After the Champions’ League Final in the wee hours of the morning whereby Man United won by a saved Anelka penalty and a missed Terry penalty, I didn’t expect another nail-biting finale in the form of Idol. Judging from the pimping this season, Archuleta seemed destined to bag it all. And yet iTunes and the word on the street - everyone I know who is watching Idol is in love with Cook - gave hope that perhaps America will vote for the most talented, and not the one who needs it more. Yes, it’s Rand-ish theory, but it has been vindicated so many times and with such traumatic frequency in the weeks whereby Johns and Carly were eliminated way before their time that you can’t help but feel that Cook has won not only the votes of the people, but challenged the draw of popularity by insisting on his standards that he performs to. He put forth a rational argument of versatility, of unpredictability, of fresh innovation almost every single time he belted out a song, and he finally got the message through to America. And that is worth celebrating a million times over.

I will be anticipating, as many will be, for Cook’s first album (apart from Axium), but meanwhile, I shall indulge in the unforgettable tunes of this season. And Carrie.

 

Widow’s Web

Talk about breaking the mold.

Micronesia provided the stage for possibly the most entertaining and unpredictable seasons of Survivor ever - as the list of “most…” continues: blindsides, number of girls in the Final 4, number of people who had the Idol in possession. And the finale delivered with a tribute to these accolades accumulated by the twenty players, some fantastic, some hilarious, some simply naive.

Right from the beginning, the fans entered the game with rather questionable credentials. Of all the fans in the game, I can safely say that only Tracy had any sort of plan from the beginning. Chet was way too physically weakened to even contemplate any form of plan. Kathy had to battle the elements before battling her contestants. Mikey B and Joel disregarded the important lesson of keeping athletically strong people around to deflect the target from themselves by going after each other as early in the game as possible. Mary - whom nobody really got to know - left the game rather anonymously via the first blindside. Alexis and Natalie cruised through the merge, allowing Parvati to arrange a Final 5 with a dominant 3-people core without preparing for any contingency should they need a swing vote: they just trusted Parvati would do the right thing. Natalie was just delighted to play the villianous role and take the heat for ridding the tribe of Jason. Erik - being the most enthusiastic fan there - committed mistake after mistake by firstly, consistently betting on the wrong horse (Ozzy, Alexis, Natalie, then Natalie again) and giving away Immunity at the TC that he was voted out of. Jason was just content on playing a tougher physical game than Ozzy, with his social game in ruins. He was too fixated on beating Ozzy that he didn’t realise he was creating an even bigger target for himself.

Needless to say, I was not impressed with the fans in terms of strategic gameplay - though it might have been expected of them since they call themselves “super-fans” of some sort. I guess that you can’t really know how to play the game until you’ve played it.

The favourites provided most of the entertainment this time, but the premature exit of Jonathan and James - two of the most watchable players of seasons past - certainly took some punch out of the season. Nevertheless, the sheer genius of Cirie’s masterful, unparalleled strategic gameplay was displayed for all to see: from the ousting of Yau-man to remove the greatest Jury threat to her; taking the opportunity to get Tracy, Chet and Kathy to swing it against Joel; suggesting the perfect timing to get rid of Ozzy - possibly the greatest Immunity threat then; coming up with the idea to get Natalie to persuade Erik to give Immunity up at F5. Basically, she managed to take control at every juncture in the game despite people knowing her style of under-the-radar strategising. The only flaw - and this is certainly not her fault - was that it was F2 and not F3 this time.

I had no doubt Amanda would pick Parv for the F2 when I noticed that the Fallen Comrades march didn’t happen at F4, that Jeff didn’t tell the F3 that the next day was to be their chance to speak to the Jury. At that point, I kind of predicted that Cirie would not advance to the F2. How disappointing, because she would have won hands-down! Yet again, Amanda did not succeed in selling her story to the Jury, all because of the perfect acting performances of past TCs that slowly but surely chipped away at her credibility and believability. Her performance was pretty much pathetic at the Finale, just like last season’s. So while Amanda played it loyal, her game just wasn’t good enough. She didn’t own it.

And I believe that the fans would respect the game more than the person, which is probably why Alexis and Jason voted for dear Parv, who had the killer smile to disarm, to charm, to flirt to great advantage in order to get what she wanted. The love confession - no, not the Ozzy-Amanda one - from Natalie to Parv was akin to one femme fatale-wannabe to a pro: teach me the ropes, honey! Tell me how you managed to rein in two of the mosy physical threats in the game into your alliance at the beginning, and then ruthlessly dispose of one. It was necessary, and she did it knowing full well that if she didn’t and just played it safe like she did in Cook Islands, Ozzy would be smooching Amanda at the Final TC in a slobbering mess. If Ozzy wasn’t so smitten with Amanda, he might have seen that Parv’s gameplay was worth rewarding. But that’s Ozzy - emotion over logic.

True, Parv’s gameplay may have been secondary to Cirie, but you have to admit that she managed to coopt Alexis and Natalie, basically giving flesh to the female alliance that dominated the game post-merge. It would have been much riskier to stick with the favourites and just duke it out with the fans. That would have meant the girls would have to rely on James and Ozzy to win Immunities, and if either had reached the Final 5, there would have been no question Ozzy would have found himself with the necklace week after week in a repeat performance of Cook Islands. Also, Amanda’s use of the Idol to kick Alexis out mitigated against any backlash that Parv might have been at the receiving end for. Natalie knew and respected Parv’s decision to stick to her alliance, even though both had a close bond.

In the end, all that mattered was who would own up to the game they played. Parv embraced the schemer’s role as gleefully as Todd did in China, as Hatch did in Borneo - harping on her bold moves that Cirie actually engineered, but she had a crucial part in. While Cirie was the engineer, Parv was the facilitator. You can choose not to give credit to her, and instead reward Amanda for her amazing ability to act during TCs, that she managed to save herself by using the Idol wisely, that she won the final two Immunity challenges - but the truth is that she wasn’t part of any major move that ultimately affected the outcome of the game this time. She did not seek to remove Jury threats as actively as Cirie or Parv did post-merge. She was willing to stick to the end with James and Ozzy. Just like in China, she seemed a sure bet for the win. Just like in China, she fell short of the million.

I’m proud of Parv because she managed to redeem herself, breaking the stereotypical mold of a flirt without any other strategy than to use her looks to further herself in the game. Unlike in Cook Islands whereby she was stuck with a losing team that constantly got pounded into the earth by Yul’s Strong Four - I can still recall vividly Parv’s “I can’t believe it” and “Why does this always happen?” expressions of defeat and misery during those challenges - and waited around before she was voted off, she decided to take control of the game right from the start. You can say what you want about her, but she did a heck lot more than most people ever did this season. She thought ahead, she executed, and she owned it.

An unpredictable finale the likes of which nobody would ever have foreseen, Parv - the goat whom everyone wanted to bring to the final - is the last one standing, duly rewarded for a game that Cirie and her shaped and manipulated to maximum effect. Eradicating the Jury threats left and right, buffering against blindsides while creating their own, they outwitted, outplayed and outsmarted the rest with methodological ruthlessless and efficiency.

I find it very much hysterically obnoxious and unbearably hypocritical that people are slamming Parv, saying that she shouldn’t be a role model, and that her winning somehow means that little girls everywhere will seek to emulate her:

Parv winning is disgusting! This gives a message to youth and those outside of the U.S.A. that lying and loose morality is the way to success. Why didn’t the rest of the jury hear what Ozzy had said. Shame on you that think your actions on world wide television is only a game and that Americans are OK to be seen as totally untrustworthy if not immoral. My grandchildren live in Parv’s hometown and I warn them to stay away from such a deluded person.

Success in the real world and success in the game of Survivor are NOT defined and determined by the same standards. I cannot believe that for once, a woman who won by playing an extremely man-like strategy is being discredited because she should have stuck to her morals, she should have played nice like all the other women before. Just look at how many women in Survivor history have won BECAUSE of strategy rather than the fact that the other person sitting opposite them was more unlikeable. Who can you list?

Let me see. Kelly in Borneo lost to Hatch because while she played a strategic game like he did, the Jury viewed her game as uncharacteristic of a woman. Tina in the Outback won because she was such a nice person. Kim J in Africa was seen as shady and deceptive, losing to Ethan in the F2. Jenna in the Amazon won despite an absence of strategy the likes of Rob Cesternino. Sandra beat Lil in Pearl Islands because people thought Lil was being too deceptive, when she looked ahead and had to kick out Burton and Rupert - both of whom would have beaten her easily in the finale. Nobody rewarded her for that, did they? Instead, they decided to give their votes to the opportunist who treaded carefully around camp.

Let’s not even talk about Amber. As for Twila, her deception was just as serious as Chris’, but she lost in Vanuatu. Katie in Palau was forgettably pawn-ish. Nobody wanted to acknowledge Becky’s role in Yul’s masterplan, seeing her as a stooge in the Cook Islands. Danielle was just a pointless afterthought on Exile Island, with seemingly zero strategy. Cassandra was too tainted in her association with Dreamz to win in Fiji, while Amanda didn’t want to own up to her gameplay in China, fearing that people might see her as scheming.

And the classic case: Steph in Guatemala played an extremely ruthless game in which her own alliance members were systematically eliminated by her - a true display of female strategic play. Did the Jury reward her for it?

Unprecedented that the Jury finally rewarded a female for playing the game so well. It should have been Cirie, but it shouldn’t have been Amanda’s. So congratulations, Parv!

 

Rock on or knock off

The Top 4 perform on the night of “500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll”!

Let’s start off with Archuleta - I congratulate the young ‘un for having masterfully defined what type of artiste he is going to be: the Josh Groban-esque, ballad-ish type who will be marketed like Charlotte Church was, with that cute, boyish face plastered on the front cover. His first performance of Stand By Me was great indeed, proving again (as if we needed any confirmation) that he can do ballads effortlessly. The second one bored the heck out of me. Archuleta is sticking to what he knows best at the crucial juncture, and that is understandable. The problem is that he has done so for almost all of the weeks since Top 20, which makes one wonder if he can do anything else except sing ballads.

I sure as heck ain’t going to buy an album of all ballads. Unless it’s Clay Aiken.

Next up - Syesha Mercado! Her first was not impressive, while the second was actually really good. It showcased those huge vocals - as she has done every week as if to remind America that she should stay in the competition solely due to the existence of her amazing technical skills (which I agree) - again, yet Randy said something that left her in tears! I guess she is feeling the frustration of having tried so hard, listening to the positive feedback from those in the blogosphere, and yet not being rewarded on Results Night. It’s getting very traumatic for dear Miss Mercado.

Jason Castro - the first was pretty good, along the lines of Travelling Thru’. He flubbed his lines on the second one, and it was uninspiring. It’s pretty funny why Rickey would say that Jason, having forgotten his lyrics, has his fate sealed after that performance. Compare to his reaction after Archuleta flubbed his lyrics TWICE in the Top 12, and Rickey had nothing but positive feedback for the young man. Yet it is a matter of preference and of taste, so I shall not bother to point fingers and reveal biases.

And now we arrive at David Cook’s performances: the first did even less for me than Day Tripper or last week’s I’m Alive ever did. It was rather boring as a rock song. The second (Baba O’ Riley) was fantastic, much like last week’s All I Really Need Is You. I do pray they release the studio recording of the second one, and NOT Hungry Like The Wolf. Cook redeemed himself for sure with that second song, and I would wager that Simon is going to offer the same comments to him after tonight: above average for the first, amazing for the second.

Shock elimination this week? If Jason or Syesha goes, that won’t be a shocker. If Archuleta goes, THAT would be a seismic wave right through America. If Cook goes, American Idol will go up in flames. Surely.

Like the graphic says, Cook FTW!

 

Conditional Transparency

(cross-posted at The Possum Bistro)
Only the guy who isn’t rowing has time to rock the boat.

An apt quote from French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre to describe the state that Myanmar is in right as we speak, reeling from one of the most devastating cyclones ever to strike this once-prosperous “rice bowl” of Southeast Asia. The situation is becoming increasingly dire as thousands of poor Myanmarese seek basic amenities such as food and shelter, and the flooding of the deltas implies that crops - already so meagre given the pathetic subsidies granted by the junta - have been ruined, harvests wiped out.

The diplomatically isolated junta finally decided to allow international aid groups and the UN to coordinate relief aid to cope with the aftermath of the disaster, an unprecedented move given the fact that the military has chosen to embrace its pariah standing rather willingly, relying on funding from China and Singapore to prop up the ailing regime. However, the lack of proper communications infrastructure and transportation routes will mean that relief aid cannot be delivered as fast as possible to the hardest-hit areas. I cannot even begin to imagine what the lack of vaccines from water-borne diseases such as cholera will do to the starving, homeless people of Myanmar.

The generals have taken a backseat approach to all of this, right from the moment before the cyclone struck (the state-run media failed to issue warnings that the cyclone was approaching) till now, apparently happy to let the international aid groups do the work for them. Now, in Southeast Asia, the relationship between state and citizen does not seek to emulate the Western concept of the social contract. Here, the citizen is obligated to serve the state, not the other way around. Yet governments in the region have been sensitised to the needs of their populations, knowing that without their implicit approval or acquiescence, the government cannot rule. Also, the key to domestic resilience is ensuring that the country’s workforce is productive, taken care of and satisfied - the result is domestic legitimation of the regime.

Myanmar’s generals do not seem particularly concerned about their population, mainly because it has found it useful to rely on external funding to sustain the regime, without relying on the population’s productivity (which in turn leads to redistribution of economic power from the state to the people, thus this may empower them to lobby for political power) to continue insulating themselves from the prospect of revolution and civil activism. The failure of the government to address the fundamental needs of its citizens has degenerated to such a low level of depravity, yet the ideology of pragmatism dominates. As long as I don’t have to feed my people, as long as I keep them near death so that they have to rely on the junta, as long as they are desperate and submissive, then the regime will never be threatened.

The US has decided to commit $250,000 to relief efforts despite its foreign policy stance towards Myanmar, and promised that more will come, but that it feared that the junta would reject the aid. This is certainly indicative of the US’ own concern about the humanitarian crisis, and its vested interests in limiting the scale of destruction that might easily result in significant levels of migration from Myanmar, thereby inflicting costs on its neighbours, particularly Thailand. The latter has already begun to send aid to Myanmar to cope with the crisis for this very reason, while India has also sent two naval ships with stockpiles of supplies.

Now, the contradiction is this: why have the generals so willingly reported the actual death toll rather than masking it, given that they control the media outlets? Knowing that the failure of the government to effectively handle the crisis by warning the people and implementing some form of contingency emergency plan would be broadcasted, the generals still decided to come clean despite the political costs to the referendum to be held very soon. The truth is simple: if they chose to maintain the policy of silence and prioritise regime security over individual security of the thousands of dislocated Myanmarese, foreign aid would have been less than forthcoming, which would have resulted in swathes of Myanmarese dying from thirst, hunger or disease. They chose to be transparent, exploiting the altruistic nature of foreign aid groups and depending on them to repair the damage, and thereby preserving regime stability.

Thus, do not be fooled into thinking that transparency displayed by the junta was a shift towards liberalisation of state control of power, or democratisation of the subtlest form. Behind that decision lay the doctrine of pragmatism - choose to follow the rules when it suits our interests, but do not hesitate to override them when they come into conflict with our goals. One can wonder how long the junta can survive while maintaining this foreign policy stance, but it has served them for decades - the motivations that lie behind the decisions of China, Singapore, Thailand and India, among other players, lie entrenched in the common interest to keep Myanmar stabilised.

That the US actually offered aid is surprising enough, but it is also indicative that Bush and his administration have somewhat learned from their experience with North Korea. Adopting a policy of zero tolerance and communication, rejecting the proposal to send foreign aid to NK, but most importantly: having to rely on China to use its privileged position vis-a-vis NK to leverage for concessions at the six-party talks - all these experiences have socialised the US into the detrimental costs of containment, and the potential to build dependency and leverage within Myanmar by competing with China in providing humanitarian assistance. The US certainly seeks to wean Myanmar away from China’s orbit and develop a more conducive environment within the country in accepting the potentially momentous event of elections in 2010.

How much China has committed itself to helping Myanmar tide through this crisis is still very much under wraps, as no specific information has been given. What is clear, though, is that China will not hesitate to emphasise the contrast between its own aid to Myanmar and those by the US, raising suspicions of the latter in attempting to influence civil society elements to adopt a more proactive stance vis-a-vis the junta. Whether Myanmar rejects or accepts US aid is thus very much dependent on the effectiveness of Chinese persuasions on the junta.

ASEAN, of course, has pledged to help out Myanmar as a neighbour and fellow member of the regional organisation, despite criticising it for its repression of the Saffron Revolution in 2007. Myanmar is poised to continue exploiting the goodwill of regional and extra-regional actors, all of which have interests in mitigating the consequences of this disaster. We should be unconditional in giving humanitarian aid because it is about saving the lives of our fellow human beings, that I do not contest for a second. Yet do we stop and ask: is it sustainable?

 

Floored

Oh my goodness.

That was exactly how I felt after watching two Lost episodes back-to-back, and the magic is flowing back into the storyline, I must say. Before speculation goes into the deep end whereby crazy theories fly around, let’s review what we already know from this season:

1. SIX people return from the island: Hurley, Sun, Sayid, Jack, Kate and Ben (?). The question mark beside Ben’s name is that whether he time-travelled back such that he wasn’t included in the manifest for the returned survivors. Perhaps the sixth is Aaron, or another person they haven’t revealed yet.
2. Jin somehow dies, either in the real world or on the island. Sawyer decides to stay on the island instead of returning (Jack’s tirade this week in his flashback), but Kate promises to help him take care of either Aaron or Clementine, his daughter. The rest either will perish (hopefully not) or somehow decide not to leave the island. What I propose is that even though Jin told Charlotte (the redhead) to leave without him if the helicopter came back to rescue them, he somehow was rescued but then died in the real world.
3. Hurley begins to talk to Charlie’s apparition, ends up being labeled as crazy.

   Jack returns to being a doctor, marries Kate and takes care of Aaron. At the end of the season, he will be broken again and attempt to talk Kate into returning to the island. He buries someone before that, but there’s no significant clue as to whom it may be. It shouldn’t be Juliette, since this week’s episode showed that she willingly backed off when she realised that Jack’s feelings for her weren’t as strong as his for Kate.

   Kate is tried, but escapes prosecution. Marries Jack, then leaves him as he sinks into depression.

   Sayid successfully finds the woman he loved (and tortured before), then marries her. A little while after that, he is denied the chance to live a normal life when someone - probably Charles Widmore - decides to assassinate his wife. He turns to Ben to collaborate and take down their common enemy, thus becoming a hitman of sorts.

   Ben time-travels to Iraq to find Sayid, recruits him and together they attempt to take down this shadowy organisation, the head of which should be Charles Widmore, except that Ben can’t kill him! (”You know I can’t do that”) There’s a theory going around that Charles is Ben’s constant, and thus the latter cannot kill the former. Instead, he’s going to kill Penny, which sounds like a personal vendetta above everything else.

   Sun returns to the real world, gives birth to a baby - but the father isn’t Jin? Hurley meets Sun and comforts her over her loss.

And now for the theories.

Firstly, the time-lag between the boat and the island. This week, the doctor was found with his throat slit, even though the message from the boat confirmed that the doctor was fine. Which means that either the boat people are lying, or that time passes more quickly on the island than on the boat. The doctor is presently fine, but will be killed for some reason later on. This could also explain why the helicopter took so long to return to the boat (because the same amount of time experienced on the island is stretched to fit the time on the boat).

Secondly, the rules of the game - something Ben says in the latest ep, with it being violated. He goes into his secret den through a door that has many inscriptions drawn on it (I’m not that free to try and decipher them), activates the smoke monster that wipes out some of Keamy’s crew (even though there seemed to be 5-6 of them when Frank Lapidus warned Sawyer, Miles and Claire that they were coming: compare to Miles’ own observation when he rung the doorbell to the barricaded door when he presented himself with the walkie talkie in front of Locke and Ben).

Then he confronts Widmore, somehow doesn’t shoot him (the constant theory) and tells him that he will kill Penny instead. Widmore says that Ben will never find Penny - why? Just reassuring himself or does he have a plan? Perhaps involving teleporting Penny into the future? Past? - and adds that he will eventually find the island. Ben asserts that Widmore will never find it, which implies that Ben does have an interest in keeping the island hidden (to protect the secrets, or even the people who decided/had to stay back).

So unless there are greater forces at work, the rules of the game refer to the agreement on both sides not to make it personal. Since Widmore did not instruct Keamy to avoid harming Danielle, Ben sees fit to hunt Penny down. And the game refers to the race to find and secure the island against the advances of the other.

Come to think of it, Sayid did ask Ben how he escaped the island, which confirms that the SIX who escaped did not include Ben. Ben time-travelled to Iraq, tracked down Sayid and recruited him. Refer to the Sayid-centric episode for this season, when Ben instructs Sayid to kill someone. Ben then time-travels to London, finds Widmore and delivers an ultimatum. What next?

Now to rant about something: why are people calling Kate a slut for returning to Jack? It’s not her fault that Sawyer decided to stay back, and you can’t blame her for needing some emotional support while raising Aaron on her own. Logical, yes. But again, Jack fails to deliver on the support part, and reverts to that battered mode. I’m a Kate-Sawyer fan, always have been. Even though their romance may have been short-lived on the island, at least it was passionate and real. It touched a raw nerve between the two, a special bond. Jack and Kate - seemingly perfect, but never will be. Just too many skeletons in the closet.

And Farrady is fun to watch - I wonder how they will even resolve the Farrady-Charlotte romance plot, given that there are just 3 episodes left to the finale. What about Frank Lapidus? Will he betray his boat people and help out the survivors to get rid of Keamy and company? What about Michael on the boat? Sayid and Desmond?

It seems as though they are trying to pack all the material of one season into 3 episodes - which is bad because everything seems so rushed. But that also means that the following episodes will be rife with answers to questions we’ve been asking since the beginning of this wonderful, sometimes hair-pullingly frustrating, but always amazing and fantastic odyssey.

 

Aw shucks

Amanda at last season’s final TC.

Amanda at last night’s TC.

What a blindside. What a performance. What can you say?

That doe-eyed expression, the pouty lips and the resigned disposition - all too familiar, yet all too convincing. People had noted that the Favourites were at a disadvantage coming into the game because they didn’t know how the fans would play, while the latter had much time to study how the former played before. Perhaps a little too well, for Amanda basically repeated last season’s I’m-so-sorry routine at the final TC that cost her the million. And the Widow Sisters bought it hook, line and sinker.

The whole tribe was making it seem as though it was a foregone conclusion that Amanda would be going - even Amanda herself. Natalie with her “telling her she’s going is respecting her as a player” line, Cirie saying that Amanda was a huge threat in front of the Jury and in challenges and so on. More touchingly so, Parvati’s admission that she couldn’t vote for Amanda - which could have either cost her Alexis’ and Natalie’s votes or made it seem like it was solely Amanda’s culpability in ridding Alexis last night.

Easily one of the best TCs of all time, the darn Idol finally was played to excellent use, the way it was meant to be. Natalie’s success in executing the plan to oust Jason last week hinged on convincing him that he was safe, and Amanda’s this week to sideline the other side of Parvati’s supposed alliance hinged on convincing everyone else that she was the target. Fantastic. She even played Cirie into believing that she was gone!

Yau used the Idol during his season because he felt that he was at risk, and he succeeded in kicking Stacey out that episode. And that was basically the only strategic use of the Idol, with the rest of the players using it as a deterrent (Yul, Ozzy, Terry). Yul has to be credited for that ingenious plan to get Jonathan on his side, though. Amanda is right there with him for thinking of ways to use the Idol to maximum effect.

And so right now, Natalie is basically screwed - guess her villianous personality came out a little too soon. Erik has a very good chance to get to the Top 3, but if he does, it would be very difficult to win against him because he will be the only Fan there. Plus, he is easily the most athletic out there now, after James’ unfortunate exit. He could easily storm the challenges, but Parvati, Natalie and Amanda might still give him a run for his money. The best plan for the girls now is to ensure he doesn’t win Immunity, then vote him out sooner than Natalie.

Natalie was defanged last night, since she can’t win at the F3 no matter what - not against Amanda, Cirie or Erik, all of whom seem prime candidates for the win right now. Parvati’s a puzzle - I admit that her strategic game has been impressive, though I wonder if the rest find her culpable. Ozzy certainly blames her for his boot, and perhaps Alexis and/or Natalie will feel bitter for Parvati not siding with them. Still, the fact that Parvati already told them that she had to vote for one of the girls means that she was trying to do some damage control, and I wager that the girls won’t be angry with either of them.

The problem is this: how do you ensure that you stand a good chance of winning? Amanda and Cirie are poised to win the Jury over, being such strategic thinkers and playing the social game perfectly up till now. Crosshairs are pointed at Amanda for being the greatest threat now, and if she doesn’t do something to convince the others that Erik should go, then she’s going to be in deep trouble. Nobody is noticing Cirie at all! The nurse looked delighted when Amanda pulled out the Idol, knowing that it allowed her to maintain that she did stick with Natalie and Alexis, and yet this freed her to return to her alliance with Parvati and Amanda.

If Amanda won, it would be amazing. If Cirie won, it would be one of the most deserving wins ever, along with Richard Hatch, Yul, Chris and Todd. Finally, a female winner rewarded for strategy, and not because she pissed less people off! If Parvati won, it would be pretty sweet too - who would have predicted that the sly vixen would seduce her way to the top with not only her charms but her intelligence too? If Erik won, it would be ok - happy for him that he managed to play the game straight up, but dissatisfied because he would have backed the wrong horse each time and still won (Ozzy, Natalie and Alexis). I’m not even considering Natalie - she’s a spent force, left to wallow in her 15 minutes of self-absorbed fame.

And now, relive the moment again. You’re going to enjoy it as much as the Edgardo’ed episode, trust me.

 

Syesha survives

Brooke White is eliminated!

Yes, unlike the agonisingly long Results Show - which I have stopped watching since this season’s Top 12 started - I’m going to reveal the results at the beginning of this post. No suspense, no exploitation of 5 minutes of footage into an hour-long episode.

Last night’s performances as a whole were pretty ok - quite boring, but some stood out.

David Cook - the first song was a rock number, and I felt the same way when I watched him do Day Tripper. It’s the type of performance that defines him as a rock artiste, so that’s important. The second one was just fantastic, showing off his falsetto and those huge vocals that we’ve heard on Billie Jean, Eleanor Rigby, Hello and practically every other song he has sung besides Little Sparrow. This is the one to beat, Randy.

Not Archuleta. I don’t know what Randy is talking about, but he proved that he can’t do an upbeat tempo song without sounding cartoonish and “amateurish”, in Simon’s words. Yes, by making those runs he is indeed remaking the songs into something contemporary, but it sounds like it came out of High School Musical, not Hairspray. The second choice was a smart one, I must say. But still, nothing he has done so far has wowed me. He played safe, this time he didn’t - which is good. But the risk didn’t pay out - which is bad.

Syesha Mercado - the first was a class act. Just listen to those vocals! The personalities of this season have been so huge and distinctive that powerful singers like Syesha just can’t break through. The second one showed that theatrical side of her, and her attitude just stands out. I can’t wait when she gets hand-picked for Broadway. Rent? Hairspray? Get it on!

Jason Castro - what a trainwreck. I could see the flying pieces from a mile away, after what seemed like a very lacklustre attempt to even get up there and sing the songs. He seemed as though he didn’t want to be there, that he has had enough of the whole competition. The rest of them are just enjoying the ride, while he doesn’t look like he’s trying to stay in it and reinvent himself. Jason is just letting his fans keep him in. Seriously, he’s a unique singer, but at this stage of the competition, we need people to fight with their teeth and claws bared!

Brooke White - I’m a Believer was disastrous. Nobody believed her on that one. The second was uniquely Brooke, and it was a pretty nice song. But it wasn’t enough.

The only thing that puzzled me more than Paula’s flubbing of lines was Simon’s comment that Syesha would be in trouble after her second song. Even Syesha herself quizzically asked “Why?” at Simon. I think Simon did figure out that if he praised Syesha, she would be gone for sure. So he purposely criticised Syesha while not saying anything too harsh to Brooke. America would then perceive that Brooke wasn’t in that much trouble while Syesha was, and would then vote for the latter. The sympathy game continues!

David Cook and Syesha Mercado for the finals! However it happens.