Saturday, November 13, 2004
this sounds sensible (: gonna be a loonngg one ah.
*got from SI forum. tahnks whoever u are.
There are so many issues here. I have been an observer for many weeks, and reading all the many comments in various posts just makes me want to step in and say my piece. This may be long, but they are about issues i think need addressing. If u feel its too long, just skip it, altho i think the issues are pertinent. One disclaimer: this is a GENERAL COMMENT on GENERAL ISSUES and not directed at anyone in particular.
Firstly, I kind of agree that while anti-sly fans ask for a reason why sly fans like sylvester, when they do get a reply, they usually (though not in all cases) don't accept the reason, and still say that sly supporters have given no reasons even though they have. There are and have been so many reasons given in this post and in so many others why sly-fans support him. Now whether you agree or not is a totally separate issue from what the reasons are. Are there reasons? Yes. Do you agree? Depends. Some anti-sly fans purport to be objective and fair, but the phrasing used and the tone of language does not give the air of objectivity. Some replys (for both sly fans and non-sly fans) are just asking for a rebutt from the opposing camp. If sly fans answer legitimate questions abt why they support sly and say "cos he's cute", sorry, even i will have an issue with that. If anti-sly fans just say endlessly "he ####s", it is also asking for a rebutt. Phrasing and tone of language is important here..."he ####s" vs "i don't like his singing/how he sings" are quite different. Afterall, we are expressing opinions...and yes while we are all entitled to our own opinions and strengths of convictions, some sensitivity, and definitely mounds of logic are in order - for both camps.
Secondly, the demographics of sly's supporters. I agree that there may be many teenagers supporting him. But time and again in this post and many others, and in the media and papers, people who are not in their teens are found to be supporting him. In my independent inquiry, many many non-teens support him - uni to adults and onwards. Therefore, yes, while many of his fans are teenagers, non-sly fans who continually say that his fans are immature, childish teenagers are seriously making a sweeping statement. I for one, am not a teenager, and certainly don't consider myself immature or illogical. So please be aware and take consideration before making sweeping statements.
Thirdly, why is there a disproportionately high number of anti-sly people compared to anti-whichever-other-idol people? Quite simply, the media coverage that has been heaped on him. Initially, the coverage was because sly was voted as people's choice. This makes him the perfect target of media hype and gossip because if he is the people's choice, who better to cover and make money from then sly? True enough as you have all seen, rumours galore have emerged. Pls remember that it is not by any choice of sly's that he gets the media coverage, so no one in their objective mind should criticise him for getting so much attention. As we have seen, some of it has worked against him. Realistically, its a game of dollars and cents. The media sees that he is popular, and so will use him as the centre of their stories and tabloids to make people buy magazines, etc. Also, as the media coverage develops, controversies begin to emerge, and especially because many people think that his fans are purely crazed teenagers, the rift between supporters for and against sylvester increases. It is an oft used argument that teenagers are senseless and illogical in their choices of idols and people who think themselves as beyond that stage in life or above such behaviour tend to shun idols who are supported by large contingents of teenagers. I personally have never chased or followed any idol in my life (this is very out of character for me to be writing this). However, I do think that we can just leave teenagers to do what they want, and that how they behave should not influence how we think and feel, nor should it affect our opinions on who we support. Somehow, there seems to be a taboo, a kind of social judgment, if we are known to support an idol that teenagers also support. People think that if you support an idol that teenagers adore, it makes you a bimbo, stupid, unsensible, etc. Not always true. However, probably as a result of this belief that sly has many insensible supporters and as a result of his high prominence relative to other idols making him an easy target, multitudes anti-sly fans have emerged and almost everyone has an opinion which usually lies on opposite ends of the spectrum - people tend either love him or hate him. This polarization, in my opinion, is really the result of media hype and skewed media coverage. I feel that it is quite unfortunate.
Fourth, the issue of versatility. In my opinion, it is quite clear from simple observation, that very few professional singers out there are truly versatile in the full sense of the word. Most singers tend to stick to one genre of music quite simply because everyone has preferences, and also because their voice tends to suit one type of music better than others (it doesn't mean they can't other types of music well, probably just means that relative to their pet genre, it won't sound as good). Nobody expects Norah Jones to do hiphop, nor expects 50 cent to sing smooth jazz. Everyone has a niche. And in fact you find in the music industry, those with clearly defined identities and genres (or maybe more than one genre but definitely not covering the full spectrum of genres, and usually the genres are closely related) tend to do better in the long-run, and tend to develop a large following of their own. Truly, the jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none thing applies here I feel. Therefore, I feel that while sylvester has his own musical preferences, we should not hold that against him. I believe that when the competition is over, he will stand out as the most successful, even if he loses (which..in my opinion might be to his benefit..for reasons too long to explain here).One reason why some singers are more versatile than others is really because of the type of voice they have. Some with specialised voices tend to sing more limited genres (think rock singers who's voice can have an edge, rappers, super smooth jazz vocals..-my examples may not be perfect, you can think of your own). Some singers have less specialised voices, meaning they can have nice sounding voices (really really good voices even), but because it doesnt have a quality that makes it very unique (and this is not a bad thing also..its just that some ppl's voices more unique than others) they can fit into more genres. In my opinion, I think this is why Taufik can do so many genres. He has a really good voice! I always readily admit that! But its not a voice that has a "limiting" quality (which is not bad, as I shall take great pains to repeat), so he can do many genres. But do rem, even Taufik has genre preferences - he likes r&b - just that his voice doesn't limit him to that.Therefore, it is my personal stand that in terms of SI, if the idea is for the winner to go on to World Idol and needs to have the ability to be versatile, Taufik would definitely be a good choice for the winner of SI. I do think Sylvester won't do as good a job overall. But I do think that Sylvester will make it big regardless. Its kind of an analogy between SI and AI. I have heard someone say (this may not be your opinion) that many think Ruben Studdard has the real good, smooth, solid voice - they think he is talented. That is why he ended up as the AI winner. But Clay was popular (he had many teenager followers too), and even though he lost out to Ruben, he is still very successful, and I daresay more people know who Clay is than who Ruben is.
Fifth, whether Sly is rock or not. I think that he personally, as a choice and as a preference, is a rocker. However, it may appear as if he has compromised that identity. My opinion..he has no choice he if wants to do the competition. So many different genres..to do it well you have to follow the genre and not throw in the rock element. (And i'm pretty certain that if he threw in the rock element week after week, someone will complain about that too). While I think he is trying to follow the genre, thereby appearing as if he is detracting from his rocker image, I personally believe that he can still remain true to himself within. He can do all the different types of music, but at the end of the day, still be a rocker at heart. I think you all know what i'm trying to express. I'm sure you experience it yourself in your own lives. Also, many rock bands, in fact most rock bands, sing love songs and love ballads. Rock bands have some of the greatest and most heartfelt love songs around (in my personal opinion)..think november rain, always, i'll be there for you, don't wanna close my eyes [and for the record, I can objectively say i didn't thk sly did a good job on this one], etc. So sly's singing love songs is really not so much out of character. It's very in the blood of rockers to sing love songs, along with all their other rock stuff.
Sixth, consistency. I think most of the idols have their up days and down days. And this is not true of all anti-sly people, but i sometimes find that because of his prominence, many tend to remember sly's bad performances only and not the good ones. So many still refer to "lets groove". It's over, move on, he's done some good songs since then. And if reference is going to be made to the past songs, then also rem his good (my own opinion) performances like "he ain't heavy, he's my brother", "when i look into your eyes", and "hound dog". Pls don't have selective memory. It's infuriating, because it shows inobjectivity. Also, rem that other idols have had their bad days too. They somehow don't get as much flak as sly (i think this is because of the polarized opinions that exist as explained above - sly's the one we love to hate cos he has so many followers). Seventh, the judges are not always right. Please learn to discern on your own. Sometimes they say sly is good when I don't think he did well. Other times they say he is bad when I think he did well. Similarly, sometimes they say Olinda or Taufik is bad when they were good, or good when they were bad. Honestly, i get equally irritated with the judges in all cases. I could go on but I really think it's too long now =) So i'll just end with 3 main reasons why I like sly:
1) i personally think he does have a good voice. It's smooth, and powerful - and he knows how and when to use the power, and he has a wide range. While anti-sly people may not like it, i urge that u give him a fair hearing, and if u still don't like it, so be it. As least u gave him a fair chance. But don't because you don't like him even after giving him a chance, go on to slam him endlessly. I respect ppl who respect opposing opinions.
2) I think he has a charming personality that, i feel, is unpretentious. You are free to hold you own opinions.
3) I think he is quite good in how he handles media and public attention, and I think he knows how to play his cards right - important for the music industry (i shall not elaborate specifically how here). I personally feel that people shouldn't fault him for having so many fans, or knowing how to retain them..its part of the industry. Again, you are free to hold you own opinions. As said my first point above, these are reasons. Whether non-sly supporters accept them is another thing. Don't therefore say that no reasons were presented to you.Also, I have taken great pains throughout my entire (yes long) comment to be moderate in my claims and expressions, making clear when it is my opinion. So I am not personally attacking anyone, this is a general response to a whole lot of comments I have read over the weeks in other posts and this one too. I have gotten quite irritated that many seem, in my opinion, to miss the main issues (not all of which are elaborated on here... )
Daphne shook my hand!
~woahhhwoahhyeayeaaa...
its true its true! haix.. its the last time she's gonna shake someone's hand as Singapore Idol but she shook mine! yay!
was waiting at the reception ytd. there were quite a number of other ppl (mostly lyk mi, girls.) oso there. haha desperate cos no tickets (: and den when singapore idol started we got the auntie at the counter to switch on the volume. it was still quite soft though but at least better than mute. so we sat on the floor there, eyes up at the tv screen up there.
ohman my heart was beating and beating. and i was halfholding nattehs hand, half letting go, den beating natteh's lap. i couldn't stand the tension i was so nervous. and when gurmit said sly was unsafe, together with daphne, i leaned on yen/nat lap and wanted to cry! i was thinking "I hate daphne i hate daphne i hate daphne.." nat started walking arnd (this time round, not like a sexy woman anymore. she looked sad too..) and i just sat there and closed my eyes. stupid commercial break was supposed to ease my nerves but made me even more nervous. den when the show came back gurmit screened this music video. haha the whole reception was luaghing their way. cos it was realli funny. sly was in mostache! haha.. we were all hyperventilating. at least that could make us be more calmer (not like the stupid advertisments.) den it was back to the studio. i din wanna listen to the results anymore. just kept saying.. I wanna go home! den gurmit was like. "Sylvester, daphne. Sylvester, daphne, good luck. Sylvester. Sylvester. Sylvester. You are SAFE!" We screamed (pratically the whole reception screamed) and den mi nat and yen hugged together and all. there were these daphne fans behind who din look very happy after that. they were slumped into the chair, pale-looking, silent. we din wanna ci ji dem anymore so we went "eh, lets watch ren wo ao you la" so we went to the Channel 8 tv. and den this girl came and switched on the tv volume manually really loud. from 0 became 35? den the reception uncle came and said "softer softer". haha duhh? who wants to hear toro speak? anw yilin ah.. tsk tsk.
anw i just read my e-mail. realised that actually the one who should be out was sylvester instead. the e-mail was sent 2 hrs before the show started, and it said that sly got the lowest votes, losing daphne by 500/600+ votes. lucky i din see that at that point of time. i wun have the mood to do ANYTHING! good thing there was that 2 hrs to the show which allowed more fans to vote.. (actually i voted around that time too) and let sylvester catch up and win daphne.
oya back to the reception. so we started queueing at the place where the mediacorp staff go in and out. we were standing right in front lor. den douglas came out. so some girls were talking to him and all. stupid me forgot to ask next wk genre. den after that he said he had to go back and rushed back into the carpark again. so we waited and waited and waited there for quite long. den someone shouted DAPHNE's coming!
ya i hated daphne and all last time. but now its different. she's out. i really felt guilt and sympathy for her cos i kept insulting her last time. so i started to like her. nat and yen too. they were writing i love you daphne on their notebooks.
anw. she came out and i was screaming "dAPHne!" so she stood there and looked around. den she went over to the reception table there. before she came out, and she started signing. i put my hand there waving waving frantically, my fingers were drumming in the air! den she spot my hand and SHOOK IT! woohoo! that few seconds was great. i kind of shook it too tightly, din want to let go. but in the end she let go. i was going "AH! daphne shook my hand! my hand! AH! daphne shook my hand!" and de ppl around me were sort of rolling their eyes. or maybe not. they may have been trying to get daphne to shake their hands too. den nat put her notebook and marker there and shouted DAPHNE SIGN! daphne saw and picked up the pen and signed. den daphne went off to sit down at the chairs to continue signing. nat rushed there. dno wad she did there or seen there. mi and yen just stood where we were, going "NATTY! where are youuu!?" funny ah we were the onli ones shouting nat when the rest were going daph! haha.. den natt came back with her camera and showed us this realli cool picture. she took and photo wth daphne! we were so jealous kae? so i was admiring the photo and all. i almost wanted to smash the camera on teh floor. i was too jealous!
anw. sry yen and nat gotta leave u guys first. AGAIN. sry sry sry..
Friday, November 12, 2004
Singapore Idol- 121104' asian pop
haha. my favourite genre (: *haa dun mind me using multicolours. i m bored*
anw i think ytd taufik and SLYY! did very well. surely go finals de. taufik sang this malay song- so nice! i wana download it! its so romantic but too bad i din understand the lyrics? why mediacorp nv put subtitles de? anw taufik's second song was eVonne's wo yao qing qing wei ni chang shou ge. so nice also. think he did better than eVonne though.
daphne- *raises eyebrow* she doens't sound chinese ): sounded like some kind of dialect when she sang ni yao de ai. poor dai pei ni nice song became so ..
oli- haha why she sing so auntie song?! actually, she sang it very nicely. but i dn like the song! but her coco song not bad..
SYLVESTER SIM (vote!) was soooooooo OMG nice! i melted during his an jing la. budden i din hear it properly becos *ahem* my cousins were going "shhh" when i was trying to sing along with him. but nvm dun blame them. i noe i spoil the song. and i noe sylvester is definitely much worth listening to than me. see la! i din catch "shi yin wei wo tai ai ni" part. but at least i got the rest. sooooo wonderful man. think he sang better than jielun (yunting listen to this man!). oyea oyea i lovee his rendition of that song.
"ni yao wo shuo duo nan kan
wo gen ben bu xiang fen kai
wei shen me hai yao wo yong wei xiao lai dai guo
wo mei you zhe zhong tian fen
bao rong ni ye jie shou ta
bu yong dan xin de tai duo
wo hui yi zhi hao hao guo
ni yi jing yuan yuan li kai
wo ye hui man man zou kai
wei shen me wo lian fen shou/kai *ops* dou qian jiu zhe ni
wo zhen de mei you tian fen
an jing de mei zhen me quai
wo hui xue zhe *VOTEVOTE* ni
shi yin wei wo tai AI NI!"
yea! dick ah.. realli duno whether he liked the performance or not. one time he said sly sounded like singing karaoke (he soo did not.) and the other he said he was sure sly was going to have a chinese career (duh. he's going to cut an album with lze fier next yr wad.). anw florence so nice! she said "will keep it simple. i'll see you in the finals" woohoo! doug also very nice! said that he will make it big in the chinese industry. its so true.. with muuuaaa support. ken was nice too! "ni yao zi bi zhou jie lun qing chu" YESH! YESH! i knew he was going to say that. (cos none of the other judges said so. dots.) wooohoo! sly u are so gg to make it into the finals. i am soo going to cheer for you tonight.
ahem. but my parents still dun allow mi to vote! asked my father jsut now but i was SO stupid i dropped the remote control while asking. den my father was kind of pissed at me dropping the remote control. so the answer was definitely no la. den den. if i din quarrel with my mummy ytd maybe she will brainwash my father abit to let mi vote. ahhh. i have to vote ON THE SLY, FOR SLY this wk AGAIN. ohmaaann when can i not be sooo stupid?
kay back to black. colours are making me dizzy.
happy belated deepavali! happy advanced hari raya! now i noe why ytd theme was asian pop. festive season (:
ytd was watching MY GIRL (the thai movie). was in thai (just mentioned that) so i din understand. had to read the subtitles. i think the "ahboy" and "jeab" looked like gary. haha.. actually i think gary looks thai. anw ahboy and jeab very cute! they have big big eyes and nice skin (thai skin colour rocks!) hmm. can i ask them to be my godbrothers? my brothers *ahem* are cute enough but not as cute as them! the show was so hilarious i was laughing thru. haha i like the part when he said "when i was in grade 2, he was in grade 4. when i was in grade 3, he was in grade 4. now we are in the same class". and the part when the fatty said "look there!" and started licking poor ahboy's ice cream. then the singing guy spat all over the ice cream. could see the saliva. argh. oya oya. and the part when noi nah's father cut hair. haiyoo.. take lao ban tian man. oya oya reminds me! "half of the market cuts hair from my father, the other half cuts hair from her father" nice right? den de 2 fathers are sooo enemy-like, when the mummies are best friends. haha.. "i couldn't sleep last night cos.." *husband SNOREEEEE* so cute! but it was quite a sad story. haix.. you qing ren bu neng zhong chen juan shu. sad rite? but it was not those kind of korean cry cry movie lar. at least the ending was quite happy..
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
oyea forgot. thanks yen yunting weiting! for the cow+milk (niu+nai hehe) keychain. ur speech was soooo long man. wanted to make mi die of suspence isit? haha. anw realli THANKYOU all! i knoe its realli expensive u all shouted the price lor. haha.. thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks i love u all!
also to yunting if u can read this. enjoy ur japan trip ah. u are so gonna have fun! and if u see sensei there dun forget to say how much we miss her!
woah yea. tmr thursday got SI. anw i saw the advertisment on wad they are gona sing tmr ytd (hmm? my grammar scuks) on the bus.still dunno if yen wants to go reception tmr or friday. i wanna hear sly sing an jin loudly (makes no sense right. sing quiet loudly? hahaa.) from my tv screen. slyslysly u rock! haha. at SI forum now. its been 3 days since i last went there and already i have to keep up with the threads liao.
today morning was rosyth jumble sale! too bad couldnt go help that primary sch of mine da qi jia you.. but i think surely very re nao lah. haha. miss those times at rosyth man.
reminds me: yesterday's 601 class party! woohoo! it rocked man was realli nice. went to amk mrt station to wait for kaile, jane and yingqi. they were late cos the bus din come. anw we took a long ride from amk to city hall (yingqi left us on the way at dhouby ghaut) and den from there we transfered and took a long ride to tampines. the train was realli crowded had to stand throughout. onli near tampines den we had somewhere to sit and rest. at tampines station we were trying to look for the bus interchange. the sign said it was straight up but we just couldnt find it. so we went to ask the customer service (?) guy and den he said it was right ahead. err.. so we just took his words and went straight. and we found it. haha.. the berth for bus 29 was so far away we had to walkk. walkk. walk.. anw the bus 29 ride took super long. and plus we din noe where to alight. so we kept asking the bus uncle. think he got kind of pissed (after all he's trying to drive lor) anw when we finally arrived at the bus stop there was this kind guy who wanted to help us find our chalet. we at first thought we found it so we sayed nvm to him. budden after that we got LOST. so we started walking up and down the slope, in and out of the area. it was tiring la. pluss. i can smell all the bbqed foodd! anw when we were walking around and saw that kind guy again. he told us to walk up the slope and turn when we see the nursing home. spot on man. we finally found the chalet after soo long. we went in and saw the guys at the lounge area playing ps. sherwyn told us to go up to room 2 for the girls. woah so many ppl were in the room! was so happy lor.. could see my darling 601-ers again. anw we had to stay put in the room cos there was no where else we could go. den we had dinner. so unfair could onli eat chicken rice.. haix i rather eat prawn mee. anw after dinner we finally could use the lounge area. watched xi lin men dere. was scolding jiafu lar.. he should take alook at himself man wanna zhui yaxi? @$%$%&^$#$!! den when the show ended we went upstairs. they wanted to play murderer in the dark. but when it is dark it is realli dark. and also. jialin kept freaking us out by pointing out the removed mirror and all.. we din dare play anymore. den after that we went down to watch aiyoyobaobei. shun bian promote my darling sylvester. the guys had this lime magazine with sly on it la. and dey din want to give it to me. budden in the end i still got to see my darling in the magazine. yingqi kept saying i was crazy haha. crazy in love wad! den i oso started obsessing abt the realli cute babies on the show. haha was saying that me and sly baby will look liddat (: anw watched ren wo ao you also. and de guys kept changing channels halfway to play ps. so we were like. screaming at them. err.. not me i dun watch ren wo ao you i was looking at sly magazine. haix just that few hours passed so quickly. if onli i could stay over. none of the girls slept over so nevermind anw. 601 rocks!
oya had guides precamp training today. was tough i was so tired when i went home. had to slice wood into 2 pieces. woah.. i was so afraid of the axe lar. so i was very careful- so careful until i din use much strength. and den the wood refused to budge. couldn't make a notch haha. onli was successful at splitting it. oya knottings were tough too. always got lost half thru a knot. i even forgot my clove hitch bleahs. gotta practise on chopsticks soon. anw i still can't get some knots right. must jiayou and practise too. haha.. looking forward to camp. just hope weather is fine and all. dun wanna sleep on muddy muddy ground.
Sunday, November 07, 2004
blood boiling. can't stand cutsie-wootsie daffy duck *according to yen*.
short and sweet.(jus like dd)
no offence!
yunting going japan liao. will miss her dearly man. anw.. hope she gets over the LOSER THIEVES thingy. cos i m still super angry with the theives for stealing my dear friend's bag and making her pay 56 bucks for wad they did. aah. deleted the msg yen sent me. she cursed the losers thru 3 sms pages kae! she said smth abt letting tem go to jail, get caning, no toilet to shee shee so they niao niao on themselves, which attracts worms to eat their infected wounds. -till no more flesh! and den and den. the jail warden will come in and see nothing around, accidentally stepping on their hearts. HA! serves them rite man for stealing my darling yunting's bag and making her pay 56 bucks! anw.. this time round yunting's not in singapore for this wk's singapore idol, haix, den she dun haf to experience heart attacks (i experienced 3! she hasn't even experienced [1] one!!!!)
