knowing, is subjective

Around six months ago, I was introduced to a song by a friend, who said that it was practically the best song ever written. (!) Quite a big fat compliment don't you think?

The song, titled 'What More Can I Say?, is from the musical Falsettoland by William Finn.

At that time for me, the song was far too melancholy. Delivered by a vocal that clearly isn't my cup of tea. Vulnerable, fragile, thin, borderline whiny. I didn't know which character sings this song in the musical, nor what's the song really about. Sometimes I even skipped it when it played on my iTunes.

So I questioned my friend's credibility. (Sorry, mate!)

In order to prove myself wrong, around a month ago, I borrowed the vocal selections from the local library, checked out a CD as well, listened to it, and got acquainted to the hero of the musical, named Marvin.

And you know what, just like the song stated in its 67th and 68th bar, Damn it! Even I'm surprised..

Reading Marvin's story, this vocal performance is actually one of the most perfect vocal for a modern musical that I have ever heard. I admissively said that I was wrong, jumped to conclusions too soon, and was plain judgmental.

Until now, there is no single day went by without me listening to Marvin's numbers. My favorite number is actually 'What Would I Do?' with its haunting piano outro. If there is such thing as an outro.

So Ace Young, need a gig?

American Idol 5 Contestant of the Week

Without further ado.. here goes our AI5CotW ..

[in order of appearance]

1. Bucky Covington.
Was that eye shadow? After the Jessica Simpson issue, you applied eyeshadow?

2. Ace Young.

Ryan: Was there a bit of an uncomfortable moment, though.. I mean, watching the tape it seemed like, you got a little uncomfortable at the end. [asking about the situation when Brian May disagreed strongly on Ace's arrangement]
Ace: I felt cool. I mean, I just want to come out and feel the crowd over on the right.. bla bla bla.. [answering Ryan and thought that he asked why was Ace acting so weird on the right side of the stage]
Ryan: All right..

He can won Puteri Indonesia pageant for sure. If he thinks the first B in the 3B criteria is body. Just like our beloved Puteri Indonesia 2001. Oops, apparently she calls herself Miss Indonesia 2001. *rollingeyes*

3. Kellie Pickler.
Commenting on some first lines of the song: How can you read my mind on what I wanna do to you? Let's hope the rumors are true.

4. Chris Daughtry.
Paula (trying to be musically adept): That last note, that was like, what? A high C?
Chris (trying to be your-alternative-rock-kinda-guy): I don't know..
Paula: (All right, you're married, I get it.)

5. Katherine McPhee.
She went to the same high school (or was it college?) as Constantine Maroulis. She said that she adopted his smoldering looks. When she slowly lifted her arms wide, I said, "Oh my, are those pit stains?" (I suspected that Constantine sport a pit stain when he sang 'You Made Me So Very Happy'. But I haven't come up with any proofs) Thank God, they were only shadows.

Not so much make-her-look-good, dear lighting directors.

6. Elliott Yamin.
He's a nice guy. I won't make fun of him.

7. Taylor Hicks.
He sang, "Crazy little thing called!". He kicked the microphone stand. He kicked it again because it wasn't falling the first time and thought, "Damn, those stage acts aren't as easy as it looks.."

8. Paris Bennett.
I honestly don't know whether she sang it happily, sadly, or anthemically. Simply puzzling.

All and all, it was a great night. It was. I was highly entertained, and I thought the kids (minus Ace, of course) performed one of their best. And the best thing about it all, Mandisa was shown in the middle of training season with Queen! I miss Mandisa.

So consider this post of a tribute on a very entertaining episode. By entertaining I mean, rocked, funny, corny, interesting, etc.

By the way, the eyeshadow thing, I think it is due to HDTV. Because it was also visible on Ace and Chris.

Update: I just found out that that thing is called eye-liner, not eye-shadow. Gosh. Dragon-Dinosaurs.

easter [non-egg] hunt

Current books read: The Secret Supper by Javier Sierra

Monday is easter. If you are like me, that is, having no idea what to spend on that day. Or not being with your family on the holiday. Or not having a yard to make easter fire. Or not having a backyard to do some easter egg hunting. Or being in Hamburg. How about turning Hamburg into your big backyard?

Let's scour Hamburg for some of the things on the left. It is a structure of neon lights representing soccer goalposts to welcome spectators and 2006 world cup in Hamburg. It's called blue goal. I know, it's kinda weird..

Make a hunt and dare yourself of how many can you find on a limited time. Put your subway tickets and digital camera in your pocket, and take a snapshot of it like I did when I found one at Rathaus. But don't cheat!

Happy easter, anyway..

Update: Shit, I thought they have the online version. On Sunday, I read that Hamburger Abendblatt printed a shot of Hamburg from the top of St. Michaelis church at night with (yes, of course) most of the blue goals on it. :-( And of course it was one gajillion times better than pocket digital camera snapshots...

American Idol 5 Contestant of the Week by Request

Nggak deng.. Hehehee..

Another weird week in American Idol 5. I don't know why or how, but I think top 9, 8, 7 are always the most boring show of Idol thingie each season. I always lose interest in those episodes and almost always find it boring. It's like Survivor when it's two or three episodes pre-merge.

To be frank, actually I was thinking of talking about this week's American Idol 5 contestant last week. Because eventhough none of the performances amazed me, theirs was actually the most remembered by me, as I raised my eyebrow when they open their performance.

This week, she was kicked out. I'm talking about Mandisa.

Mandisa entered the competition destined to be the gay icon of this season. Dan Renzi once stated (in TVGasm if I'm not mistaken) that he wanted to be Mandisa when he grew up. Once, I saw a video in YouTube made by a gay guy reviewing current episode of AI5 saying that gay guys want to be a plus size black woman when they grow up.

Heck, she even reminds me of gay-friendly alumni, Kimberley Locke of season 2. Mandisa has secured a block of votes right there.

Only one problem. She is conservatively religious.

She opened her last week's performance by saying a now-very-often-quoted sentence: "This song goes out to everybody that wants to be free. Your addiction, lifestyle, or situation may be big, but God is bigger!", with a boldface on lifestyle. At that time I understood lifestyle as whoring for designer jeans, watching reality TV rather than praying five times a day, and so on, you know what I mean. :)

Shortly after, an article stating that Mandisa noted a anti-gay writer as her idol surfaced and was blown out. It was there all along on Idol website, so why was it picked up six week after? Those and then a so-so performance snowballed into her being voted-off.

Is it solely because of this issue? I don't think so. She just lost a block of vote. And perhaps it's a quite big block. Does she deserve 9th place? Absolutely not. She is much more talented than some people that is still singing next week (*coughAceBuckyKellieCough*).

I'm so gonna miss Mandisa. From the start it was clear that she is one of the people that survived through it all because of her enormous talent.

By the way, Simon commented on Mandisa's last week performance as indulgent. Until this second, I still don't get it. Anyone?

spot the difference (?)

Current book read: Close Range by Annie Proulx - watched dvd: The Life and Death of Peter Sellers and Betty Boop sumthing

Can you see how images labeled 1, 2, 3, and 4 are different?Another one.
This is a simulation run on vischeck.com to see how images (or websites) may be viewed by people who have color deficiency.

1 is how it looks like without deficiency
2 is how it looks like with deuteranope (red/green color deficit)
3 is how it looks like with protanope (another form of red/green color deficit)
4 is how it looks like with tritanope (blue/yellow deficit)

Now I see what my friend in junior high meant everytime he told us a classic story how he painted people's skin with a color that he called green in kindergarten. His friend asked him, why he painted it with red. And he answered, "Are you color blind? I'm painting it with green!" He told us this story everytime color deficiency came up as a topic. For a harmless laugh.

Color deficiency always amazes me. It's just so cool how one can see the world so different than others. Gino looks so good tritanope-ish. But perhaps, I should be careful with what I wished for.

By the way, one small tip. If you got acquainted with people having color deficiency, stop asking them, "What color am I wearing?" or "What's this color?" while pointing to a turquoise table cloth that even you will call it green. There are times when they got tired of it. And you don't wanna be the man on those times.

Have a nice weekend.