If employees can get fired because of Facebook...

...then maybe students can also get into trouble because of their blogs and social networking sites...?

Wala lang, naisip ko lang. It has been at times a dilemma what to do about inappropriate behavior of our students outside of school - in the malls, on the Internet - places where supposedly we do not have jurisdiction over them anymore.

I've seen kids in uniform (not necessarily Pisay) in the malls, smoking, very publicly displaying affection, cursing...and it always bothers me - if I were there teacher, could I tell them off even if we weren't in school anymore? Or if I read a particularly rude or even offensive blog entry, do I have the right to scold the auther if he/she were a student of my school?

People can get really defensive about this, always subscribing to the "freedom of speech" idea. But I believe that freedom comes with responsibility, and what you do outside of school or outside of your home is still a reflection of the values that your teachers and your family are trying hard to instill in you.

Andrew, who teaches in a Catholic school (and you know how Catholic schools place a premium on forming morally upright children of God), believes that we still do have to be vigilant about our students' behavior outside the campus, especially if they are in uniform or obviously displaying that they belong to a particular school. He says that wherever they go, our students carry the good name of our school, and they must take care not to do anything to smear that good name. Besides, as a person, you should always be a respectable and responsible individual, whether or not a teacher or parent is watching your every move.

Oh my, I'm turning into an adult. I'm one of THEM now. Hehehe.

Hindi, wala lang, it's just that sometimes when I read updates on Multiply, the blog entries of some kids make me flinch (don't worry kids, I'm not filing IRs or anything; I just flinch). Of course, they're emo, and high school's got them angsty and stuff. Sure, I went through the same thing 10+ years ago. But there are some words, ideas, and behaviors that the kids have today that I never would've even touched when I was a teen. I don't wanna sound old-fashioned or anything, but still nothing beats just being a good person, right? :)

Impromptu adult blog entry, inspired by today's headlines, hehehe.

Virgin Atlantic sacks 13 staff after Facebook criticism

3 eps of AI and 19 eps of Heroes

THREE EPISODES OF AMERICAN IDOL

This is how screwed my view of AI6 is: I've only watched 3 episodes: the one with Sanjaya's audition, Bon Jovi night, half of the Finale.

That's why: I thought Sanjaya was great and I like neither Jordin nor Blake.

Sanjaya's audition with his sister was cute and sad (when his sis didn't make it). Which is why I was rooting for him - kala ko magaling siya. Apparently, he didn't do well in Hollywood. Nung Finale ko nalang nakita yung mga outrageous hairstyles niya, at nung Finale ko na rin nakita na hindi naman pala siya magaling kumanta. He sang "You Really Got Me" by The Kinks, which, to me, is forever Marty Casey's (from Rockstar:INXS) song, so I totally didn't like Sanjaya singing it.

So since I didn't see anyone worth watching in the auditions, I decided not to follow this season through. Besides, I'm almost always not home yet when the show is on, tapos nalilimutan ko na yung mga later replays. Kumbaga, walang drive na sundan itong season na ito.

The only Hollywood ep I watched was Bon Jovi night because, well, it's Bon Jovi! :D But then, I failed to catch the results show for that, kung saan nagperform talaga yung banda. That night, Jordin and Blake were horrible. Jordin's "Livin' on a Prayer" was the wrong key for her so it didn't come out right, and Blake's beatboxing (which I wasn't aware was his thing) was cool but I hated how "You Give Love A Bad Name" came out (na ngayon ko lang nalaman through Wikipedia na kinanta rin pala niya sa Finals).

Watching the Finale tonight was an accident. Nadaanan ko lang while I was channel surfing. Si Tony Bennett na ang naabutan kong kumakanta =P Some comments about the Finale and Season 6:

Si Kat McPhee lang from last season's Top 4 ang di nakabalik this season.
Bette Midler wasn't singing well, was she...
Thank God no more choir sa final song ni Jordin.
It was nice to see Taylor Hicks onstage again!



- - - - -

NINETEEN EPISODES OF HEROES

Had a Heroes marathon - 19 episodes in two days.

Bakit 19 episodes lang? Eh yun lang yung meron sa DVD eh. So maghahanap pa ako ng kumpletong DVD bukas, hehehe. I didn't realize the DVD we had was incomplete until I checked my co-teacher's blog and Peyups.com. Apparently, there's a character I haven't even met!

I like this show. I especially like the narration at the beginning and the end (if there is one), all that talk about evolution. Can somebody point me to some transcripts of the show? I'd like to use that stuff in class, if I could.

I don't really latch on to TV series like this. I hate missing episodes, so if I can't stay faithful to the show, I won't even start it at all. However, Heroes got me (thanks for the tip, Drew!!!), so yeah, I watched all I could in two days. Now Drew wants me to watch Prison Break, so maybe I'll do that soon. Ang hindi ko natuloy na suggestion ni Drew was Lost - I think I only watched maybe six episodes tapos tinamad nako. Maybe I'll get back to that later on.

If only I could do CSI marathons. Kaso kasi ambigat talaga dalhin pag sunod-sunod mong pinanood, hehe.

As for Heroes:
Claire Bennett (Hayden Pannettiere) is so pretty!
Micah Sanders (Noah Gray-Cabey) is so cute! And he's a trained classical pianist! And he's been on "My Wife and Kids" and "Lady in the Water" but I can't seem to remember him there, though his face really is familiar.
Peter Petrelli (may typo sa Heroes.com - PATRELLI daw!) (Milo Ventimiglia) reminds me of my Rockstar:Supernova crush, Phil Ritchie. Mukhang matagal na siyang actor kasi nakasama pa siya sa "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" and "Sabrina the Teenage Witch". He's also been on CSI but again I can't remember where there.


Milo Ventimiglia & Phil Ritchie

- - - - -

I hope the next AI season has more talented contestants; AI5 was the bomb, which is why I didn't even bother with AI6 anymore.

Also, I hope I get to watch the remaining Heroes eps soon. And I hope the next season would be as great!

My own summer, Gary Sinise is mine, and remembering Kurt

Argh. It's summer. And I'm busy as hell :(

But I guess I shouldn't complain, 'cause I'm the one who got myself into this, with the hopes that summer will be a challenging and exciting learning experience. And I still do have those hopes up high for the coming weeks, really :)

- - - - -

Coming up for Summer 2007:

1. 42nd BIOTA (Biology Teachers Association) National Convention & Scientific Sessions - 12-14 April 2007, at the University of Santo Tomas (makakapasok na rin akong UST hehehe)
   - will be attending this with my Bio co-teachers
   - will be conducting a seminar-workshop on an activity on the 3-domain system of classification
   
   
2. Field Biology 2007
   - April 16 to May 6, 2007
   - Hundred Islands and Bolinao in Pangasinan; Subic in Zambales; Candaba in Pampanga
   - to be conducted together with my co-teacher Sir Espinas
   - to be participated in by 20 selected Batch 2008 students (incoming seniors)
   
   
3. Intel training
   - I still don't know the details on this one; I just know that it's gonna be conducted in Pisay
   - will be attending this with a couple of co-teachers, though kami lang ata ni Ma'am Cheng from the Bio unit

Now because of all this academic stuff, I risk missing my good friend Ei's wedding on May 5. I will miss as well Ilang-Ilang '07's Baguio outing on May2-5; tsk, Baguio pa naman (a place that has a very special place in my heart).

No worries, though. I'm really looking forward to Field Bio. I hope we have fun with the kids, aside from learning a lot of cool stuff about our local shores =)

- - - - -

In the meantime, I still set aside an hour on Monday (10pm) and Wednesday (9pm) nights for CSI. Siyempre. Basta ba gising pa ako nun. More often than not kasi I can't catch the Sunday replays eh.

So it's a new season of CSI NY.

• I missed the first ep of the season :(
  
  
• Claire Forlani has joined the cast as a medical examiner. I used to like her; I found her real pretty before. But maybe it's because she playing Gary Sinise's love interest, I don't like her anymore. Hahaha! No really, those pouty lips and sensuous eyes don't work for me anymore - I find them pa-cute na. And she really isn't convincing as a medical examiner, unlike the other med examiners on the other CSI shows. Hahaha, selos-jealous :P Though I guess I need not worry much, though, because I accidentally (really, it was an accident) stumbled upon a review of later episodes in the season, and it appears that Mac Taylor can't really commit to Claire's character so she'll eventually leave. Yey for me. Hahaha :D
  
  
• Yahoo, they're finally giving more substance to the Danny-Lindsay love team! See, it's not that I'm against love teams on CSI. In fact, I'd like to see Mac and Stella get together, too. Just not Claire Forlani :P So anyway, last night's ep has Lindsay's character in a dangerous (though stupid - I bet against proper protocol talaga yung ginawa nila dun) life-and-death situation. And at the end of it all, Danny finds Lindsay and hugs her real tight, extremely glad to see that she's alive. And then AXN shows us the next ep where Danny supposedly reveals his feelings towards Lindsay. However, she apparently isn't as ready as him to say what she really feels. Awww.
  
  
• Oh shit, I just realized that I'd be in Pangasinan by next Monday! Waaah! I wanna know what happens to Danny and Lindsay! :'( (Contemplating a visit to CSIFiles.com, where all the evidence lies ;) )

- - - - -

In loving memory of Kurt Donald Cobain
(February 20, 1967 - April 5, 1994)

See one of my favorite Kurt pics - he's with his daughter Frances and his wife Courtney, and he's holding a feeding bottle. Awww.

Only in the Philippines

This is madness!

And, no, this is so NOT Sparta.

- - - - -

I was supposed to introduce this post some other way, but I first visited a co-teacher's blog and found this. Thus, the 300-esque intro =)

- - - - -

Damn, we were LIVE on CNN today. And all because some day-care center guy decided to hostage his own wards to fight for education for the poor.

Madness.

Even though he had food and air conditioning for the pre-school kids, he did have with him hand grenades and a gun.

And who acted as negotiators? Sen. Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr. and Mr. Chavit "Whistleblower" Singson. Tsss. Showbuzz.

As I was watching the live coverage on GMA7 around the time the hostage-takers promised to release the children, here comes some school (I can't remember which one, so I'd rather not say) to the rescue, promising that if the hostage-kids were freed then they'd take care of their elementary and high school education.

Hellooo?!!! Eh di lahat nalang tayo mang-hostage ng mga toddler para puro scholarship yung mga kabataan ngayon pagdating nila sa grade school at highschool. D-uh!!!

Look, I'm not against the kids being promised an education. Pero pang-eepal nalang talaga yun nung school, hindi ba? Eh, on the news pa talaga sinabi, at the height of the situation when all the world was watching.

Furthermore, what Jun Ducat did was totally friggin' madness. WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD YOU SUBJECT SUCH YOUNG CHILDREN TO POSSIBLE SOUL-SCARRING TRAUMA???!!! At kamusta naman kung sumabog yung hawak niyang granada???!!! Winner diba???!!! (O sige fine, fake pala yung mga hand grendades.)

Grabe, kumukulo ang dugo ko. Trying to fight back the expletives. SHIT. (Ooops, couldn't keep that one in. Mild lang naman yan eh.)

- - - - -

Ok, so if you've been living under a rock for the past 24 hours, or you've been busy at work like me without any access to TV or radio, here you go:

Our madness on CNN.com, Philstar.com, and Inquirer.net.

And, of course, on YouTube.



Onliindapilipins.

Which would you rather steal: music or computers?

An interesting read from CountingCrows.com. It's a well-written piece by Charlie Gillingham, who plays keyboards and accordion for the band. In the following essay, Gillingham explores how computers and technology in general have affected the recording industry. I hope you get to read through the whole article :) My answer to this blog post's title is at the end.

- - - - -

A couple of weeks ago a fan asked us this question: "As a band that's been around for more than a decade, how have you seen the internet affect the business of making music?" I'm going to try to answer a closely related question: How has the music business been changed by the fact that people can play, store and share music with their computers? I apologize that this is such a long answer to a short question. I wrote a couple of glib responses and threw them out and then finally decided just to give you all of my thoughts about it.

Before I was lucky enough to play piano for a living I worked in the software business, managing projects at an artificial intelligence company called Aion in the spinal cord of Silicon Valley at 101 University Ave Palo Alto. I've also been in the music business long enough to have some idea how it works. I'm hoping that my unique perspective will allow me to show you a few insights that maybe other people have overlooked. If you get bored with the economics and technology lesson at the top, just skip down. It gets more interesting.


The Music Business Is In Trouble

Let's start with the facts:

(1) People spend less on recorded music than they used to. The average person spends only $22.53 on CDs or records or iTunes out of every $10,000.00 they spend. Back in 1994 they spent $37.21. That's a drop of almost forty percent. The difference comes to around eight billion dollars a year.

(2) There has been heavy consolidation and downsizing in the music business since the middle 90s. Historic labels like Def Jam and Motown have been shut down. A huge number of people were laid off as label after label disappeared.

(3) Retail record stores have been steadily closing their doors for the last ten years, culminating with the demise of Tower Records this last summer.

That should convince you that the record business was seriously wounded by something around the same time that most people started using computers to play and share music. Many different things have been blamed: including downloading, burning and sharing CDs, changes in the retail world, changes in radio, compilation CDs, lot's of other things. No one is sure. But here's something to think about: it would be a hell of a coincidence if computers weren't involved -- the timing is just too perfect.

How Computers Changed Music

In 1991, it cost about $2,000.00 to store 100 songs on a hard drive. By 1996, the price had dropped to $86.50 and people started using Napster and swapping files. By 2001 the price was down to $1.50 and you could put a computer in your pocket (an iPod is really just an inexpensive computer in hip new clothes). Today the cost is just pennies. That's the way the computer business works: things get better incredibly fast. Something is science fiction and then it's possible and then it's easy, all in the course of a few years.

In 1996, exactly the same year that it became cost effective to store music on computers, music spending dipped for several years. When the iPod came out in 2001, CD spending starts to sink as steadily as the Titanic did. The timing is, as I said, perfect.

It was clear from the beginning that people just plain liked storing their music on their computers. People don't really want to have hundreds of CDs in bright plastic jewel boxes. They just want to listen to music. All those CDs clutter up the living room, it's impractical to carry them all in your car and it's impossible to carry them all when you're jogging. As soon as it was possible to use a computer to store music, people started doing it. As soon as it was easy, everybody started doing it.

The music business was very slow to recognize what was happening. Late in the game the RIAA (who speaks for the recording industry) cracked down on people who got their music for free. This seemed cruel and pointless to most people, and worse, it hasn't stopped CD sales from continuing to slip.

I agree with those who have suggested that the real problem was never downloading -- it's borrowing CDs. Only 3% of the music on the average iPod was downloaded -- the other 97% comes from CDs. We can't tell if the CD has been paid for by the same person who owns the iPod. You can load in all of your parent's Beatles records and then burn some of them to a mix CD for your new girlfriend and she can share it and so on. Most people don't even think of this as stealing at all, but it is. You've just stolen about $150.00 worth of music access. The RIAA has spent a lot of effort trying to make sure that the 3% is paid for but they've done nothing about the other 97%: we still sell unprotected CDs and people can copy them all they want and there's no way we can stop it.

Why Apple Is Our Friend

In fact, the only place where no one is stealing music is from the iTunes Store. iTunes has excellent top-to-bottom DRM (digital rights management). You can't steal music from it. When some hacker breaks in, they can download new software into all those iPods and fix it. No one else can do this. (Maybe we should only release our music on iTunes and just chuck the CD altogether. But then the problem would be this: not everyone can afford to buy an iPod. Maybe we could talk Steve Jobs into giving away iPods for free so that we could sell more music, rather than Steve Jobs trying to talk us into giving music away for free so that he can sell more iPods.)

Why Apple is Our Enemy

Which brings up another issue that rarely gets talked about. There is a conflict of interest between computer/software industry and the recording industry [emphasis mine]. They want to make computers indispensable to everyone and music is part of that. The recording industry wants to have enough money to promote new artists and buy big houses. The computer business would prefer that music cost nothing -- it's in their interest, it helps sell computers and software. So we can't expect them to help us get paid unless they are forced to; they don't care if artists get paid or not. Software executives are just as ruthlessly selfish as record executives -- they're in business to make money, too. I don't think it's right to cast the music business as the bad guy here. It's a little more like David and Goliath -- the recording industry is worth a little over 12 billion, whereas the combined personal computing industries are probably worth trillions.

To summarize: Microsoft wants to make money selling you Windows Media Player so you can listen to free music. I want to make money selling you August and Everything After. Consumers would rather keep their money and have everything for free. Are you starting to get it? It's really all about the money. That's it. Don't let anyone tell you different.

The Magic Land of the Future Where Music Is Free and Software Costs Money

There are people who make some kind of moral argument that recorded music should be free -- that everything on the internet should be a kind of free hippy wiki where we all share and no one uses money and the evil record company Man is banished and all bands are equal and we all get day jobs and live in lofts and make art for love not money. It suggests that no one is morally justified in making money here except the computer business. (The people buy this line tend to be from the computer business.) This is usually accompanied by the gloating observation that this future is inevitable since there's no way we can stop it. The computer industry will absorb the recording business as it once absorbed the typewriter business as a kind of digital manifest destiny ... so embrace it: resistance is futile (as the Borg used to say on Star Trek). This is a dumb argument made by some very smart people.

Standing There to Sell Plastic Ware

I'll say it again: it's about the money. Everyone wants the money -- the record business, the computer business and yes even you, the consumers. I don't think the record executives are even the greediest people in the game, despite what most people think. We're accustomed to thinking of them as vipers and confidence men, but I don't think that's really fair. The ones I have met are mostly just people who love music and want to be close to it. Over and over again, record company executives have put their careers on the line to support artists just because they liked the music. That's why original and challenging artists like Jimi Hendrix or Nirvana were signed, it's why Joni Mitchell and Marvin Gaye got to make records their own way. It's why Neil Young didn't get dropped when he had that dry spell in the 80s. It might be why American pop music has always been so full of change and soul and energy; it wasn't shaped by market forces as much as by the tastes of the record company executives who controlled it. Yes, they had the power to force down our throats any music they chose, but the interesting thing is that they tended to use these powers for good rather than evil. I think this fact would surprise most people.

You might have noticed that around the same time that record sales started to drop, music on the radio began change -- you heard a lot of attractive pop stars or music connected to sex and violence (like some rap or hardcore). I think this might be because dropping record sales forced record executives to concentrate more on the bottom line after the layoffs left everyone in fear of losing their jobs. In this climate it seems to me it would be hard to risk your reputation by spending precious promotion money on anything but a "sure thing." I think they may have had to throw out their famous instincts and look for "products" that "test well" in market surveys. Now pop music is far more subject to market forces than it was and the quality has suffered. So it's possible we have experienced an unexpected tragedy -- the death of American pop music as we knew it back in the day.

We're Going to be Okay

The record business as we knew it is dying, changing and being reborn. It is slowly being dismantled and folded into the computer business, like a dozen other industries before it. Tell the telephone and movie businesses to get ready --- they're next.

Luckily for us, we actually have two businesses, a touring organization and recording organization. The touring company has continued to do better and better and we make most of our income from it. The recording business hasn't done as well. We used to tour to promote records -- now we release records to promote tours.

So here's one thing you can do to help out -- go see as much live music as you possibly can. It won't save the record business but it will keep musicians from having to get day jobs.


References

My statistics on music sales come from http://www.riaa.com/news/marketingdata/purchasing.asp. I've divided these numbers by consumer spending numbers from http://www.bls.gov/cex/csxmulti.htm. This should correct for some of the effect of "a bad economy" -- I'm not counting cases where somebody didn't buy a record because they lost their job or whatever; I'm counting people who had enough money but just didn't spend it. The "8 billion" is derived by calculating what people would have spent if they still spent the same percentage on music.

The extraordinary improvement in computers is governed by something called "Moore's Law." if you're interested, you can read about it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore's_law. The actual numbers I used for hard drive prices are derived from http://www.littletechshoppe.com/ns1625/winchest.html. (I picked the cheapest drive of the year and then figured how much it would cost to store 100 mp3 songs at 5 megabytes each.)

These are studies that show downloading hasn't caused the (whole) down turn in the music business: http://news.com.com/2100-1027_3-5181562.html and http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070212-8813.html. Note that these don't prove that computers haven't hurt the music business; just that downloading didn't hurt the computer business (much). As I say above, I don't think downloading is the real problem either.

At http://www.azoz.com/music/features/0008.html there is someone who thinks that the problem is that the record business is releasing fewer records. Of course, he has it backwards: the music industry is releasing less records because they don't have the money to promote more records.

The statistics for iPods downloads comes from http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughtsonmusic/ where Steve Jobs gives a great rundown of the DRM issue. You should also note that he takes a couple of jabs at the music business, illustrating my point about the conflict of interest.

The size of the recording industry is also from http://www.riaa.com/news/marketingdata/purchasing.asp . I guessed at the size of the computer businesses (sorry!).

The "music should be free" argument is all over the net but the most recent place where I saw it taken for granted was in the Atlantic where Michael Hirschorn writes "[I] accept as an article of faith ... that the existence of digital media means that everything will eventually be available everywhere for price that will approach zero." See http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200701/hirschorn-radio/2.

The rest of this drivel is strictly my own opinion and doesn't represent what Adam or the rest of the band thinks, or for that matter what our management or Universal Records thinks, either.

- Charlie Gillingham

- - - - -

As for the title I gave this blog post, I kinda changed it a couple of times but I can't get to make it sound right. I decided on "Which would you rather steal: music or computers?" - computers referring in general to the technology we use to listen to music these days, which includes both hardware (PCs, iPods) and software (P2P file sharing, CD burning).

My answer would be: I'd rather NOT steal.

Why I hate Star Wars

I heard that. That shocked gasp. I saw that. Your eyes widened as you read the title. But before you prosecute me, read on ;)

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Stumbled upon an interesting thread over at Peyups.com:

Movies you hated but everyone else loved

- - - - -

Based on their answers, I guess I'm part of "everyone else", because I do like most of the titles mentioned there. But I do agree with the people who posted "Star Wars" :D

Not that I HATE Star Wars...I just don't get it. The first Star Wars movie I watched was Episode 1. And then I saw 2. And then 3.

I haven't watched 4 to 6 yet :P So, yeah, I'm in the correct chronological order based on the story.

I guess it's because I haven't watched the first 3 eps yet so I can't really appreciate the story. I wasn't there when this whole Star Wars thing started. Actually nabubuhay na ako noon, pero hindi ko napanood yung 4 to 6 noong bata pa ako - wala siyang sentimental value sa akin. Isama mo na ang Star Trek.

I guess it doesn't help that movies of this genre are mostly not my type. So sue me =D


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For those who aren't Peyups members, maybe you'd like to post your reply here? ;)

Evs!!!

I haven't been blogging about RS:SN because I stopped watching after Josh was booted. Hehehe. Josh was my favorite vocalist, but he wasn't my bet. Hindi talaga siya bagay sa Supernova.

- - - - -

This is what I wrote a couple of weeks back about Storm Large:
Malas ni Storm. Frontrunner sana, biglang pinakanta ng "Bring Me to Life". C'mon America, kala ko ba gusto niyo si Storm? Then you give her *that* song? A real rocker like Storm shouldn't do those kind of songs. Check her out on YouTube to find out who the real Storm is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_SpZ8oldxg

- - - - -

So now it's down to the Final Four, so napapanood ako ulit tonight (despite the work I had to do *evil grin*)

Ever since Season 2 of Rockstar began, I kept lamenting that the Season 1 Rockers were so much better. Tonight's show, however, changed my mind about that.

Last year, it was hard to pick a favorite 'cause most of the Rockers were really good. Even the insufferable JD Fortune. This year, most of the Rockers failed to impress me. Until tonight.

The Final Four definitely deserve being there (would've been great to see Storm there, too). Lukas, for his showmanship. Dilana, for her rocker-chick vibe. Magni, for his dedication to his craft. Toby, for his hotness. Hahaha! Kidding about Toby - he's hot indeed, but he's a good vocalist too and that's what got him in the top four.

Except for Lukas, who I liked immediately, my initial impressions of these Final Four were so much different. Dilana scared me. Magni's very first performance was really bland. And Toby (along with Phil Ritchie) was just another pretty boy for me.

At this point in the competition, all four have shown that they really want this gig, and it's showing in their performances. Dilana may have stumbled with the press, but it's hard to deny her talent. Lukas, who at some point came across as a one-trick pony, has shown a different side of him. Though Magni's interaction with the House Band sometimes seems awkward, can't deny too that his vocals are powerful and intense. And Toby, from being just eye candy, has upped his performances each and every time he took the stage.

You can tell by now that I'm rooting for the Aussie dude. But it really won't bother me much if he doesn't get it, because, as I said, all Final Four folks have a fighting chance in this. Sayang nga lang kung hindi si Toby, kasi that would be the second Rockstar heartbreak for Australia, hehehe. Also, if Supernova ever comes to Manila, I think I'd only watch if it were Toby fronting. I like the other folks, but not enough to spend for tickets to their show.

- - - - -

So lemme pimp my Oz guy here, just like I do with all my favorite musicians:

Visit Juke Kartel's (his band's) website. His original song "Throw It Away" (which is actually a Juke Kartel song, just like Marty Casey's "Trees" was a Lovehammers song) is available there for streaming.
http://www.jukekartel.com

Juke Kartel on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJv_DqAm7nA

Listen to more Juke Kartel:
http://www.myspace.com/jukekartel

Rebel Yell is my favorite Toby performance so far (I missed out on quite a lot, gotta catch up on that later pag wala masyadong trabaho hehehe). I crush Toby, and it's a wonder I wasn't jealous of all those chicks he pulled up onstage. I was more amused I think that this guy has really got this gig going - interacting with the fans that way was really the way to go.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk0dz3VlhT0

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Alam ko na! Magbbirthday leave ako tomorrow. Di ako papasok to watch the Finale hehehe :D Evs!

Rockstar:Supernova Week # 6 (Top 10)

DILANA - Won't Be Fooled Again (The Who)
If only for that, Dilana should win this thing. She was the only one among the Rockers who had the guts to perform with Gilby. What's more, it was even a song she didn't previously know! The greeting-vid-on-the-phone thing was a bit cheesy for me though, hehehe. And Dilana actually looked pretty tonight, with her hair tied back like that. Loved the red leather pants.

JILL GIOIA - Mother Mother (Tracy Bonham)
One of my fave tunes from the 90s. Jason was right on the dot with his comment - great stage presence but the vocals suffered somewhat. There wasn't much power to match the bite of this song, which is quite sad because Jill's got power vocals (as long as she doesn't overdo things...maybe that's what she was trying to avoid tonight).

RYAN STAR - Paint It Black (Rolling Stones) [Done by MiG Ayesa last season]
Great theatrics. It was a real good way to connect with the audience (especially the coming-from-the-crowd intro), and that's good because I haven't seen Ryan do just that in his previous performances. Vocals were just aight for me. For the first time, in my opinion, a performance this season actually rivals a performance of the same song from last season.

STORM LARGE - We Are The Champions (Queen) [Done by JD Fortune & MiG Ayesa (or was that Suzie McNeil? Or they all did it?) last season]
She's so pretty (like I said before, she kinda looks like Lindsay Lohan). At least she didn't murder this song like JD did last season - for that alone it was a really BIG surprise for me that he wasn't booted from the show! Hahaha, sama talaga ng loob kay JD eh - MiG and Marty fan here! :P

ZAYRA ALVAREZ - All The Young Dudes (David Bowie)
Bowie pala 'tong song na 'to. I only know it from the Clueless OST (on my personal list of best ever soundtracks!) Shining-shimmering-splendid gold outfit aside, it was actually a good performance (at least my brow wasn't crunched up in a wtf manner; though Gilby said she was off-key most of the song). So no Zayra in the Bottom Three tomorrow, hehehe.

JOSH LOGAN - Interstate Love Song (STP) [Done by Suzie McNeil last season]
I sooo looooove Josh Logan! That was his good chance to rock out - and he did, though having a guitar strapped on you won't let you move around the stage much (as T Lee pointed out). Though there were moments when his voice disappeared when he was supposed to sustain a note, I still loved this performance. Great song choice (one of my ultimate faves from the 90s - STP rocks!). As for Tommy Lee's "impromptu" drumming - that's not really on-the-spot, right? I think as far as surprises go, the band must be in on it. Kasi they don't do the studio versions of the song for Performance night - the songs have to be cut into shorter bits to fit the one-hour show. So T Lee must've practiced with the band beforehand. Wala lang, just thinking out loud...

MAGNI - Dolphin's Cry (Live)
Hehehe, doesn't he look like Live's vocalist, Ed Kowalczyk? This was a pretty good performance from the Iceman - the acoustic guitar allowed the power of his vocals to shine through. Up till tonight, I wasn't totally convinced about the quality of his vocals. Good show, Magni! It was so sweet seeing his wife and kid, too! Hehehe, naka-earphones yung baby niya sa audience nung live performance. Iba talaga pag inspired :)

PATRICE PIKE - Instant Karma (John Lennon)
One of Patrice's better days, though I'm really not too hot about her vocals on any performance. It was a good thing too that she moved up front with her mic and guitar - as we said earlier, it's hard to rock out to the audience if you're a guitar-slinger, so at least minimizing the physical distance between you and the audience helps.

LUKAS ROSSI - Creep (Radiohead) [Done by Marty Casey last season]
Lukas' gig was quite a different approach to the song. He kept it down through most of the performance, then brough it up totally in the end. It was aight for me; I won't rave about it like Supernova did. I prefer Marty's version last season (lagi naman eh - I think I'm too biased, hehehe), which was brooding and intense the whole song through.

TOBY RAND - Burning Down the House (Talking Heads)
I absolutely crush Toby and his Aussie surfer dude accent :D Alright, bring out the megaphone! (Isn't it also called a bullhorn?) Was that an Aussie or American flag draped on it? (Just caught the replay - Aussie flag! Cool, represent!) I don't care about what Dave said - the megaphone was cute (it worked last season for JD's Pretty Vegas - panalo yung SEQUINED megaphone the second time around for Pretty Vegas!). It was kinda awkward though because Toby was holding the megaphone AND the mic - mas comfy kasi tignan kung nasa micstand yung mic eh, hehehe. The siren at the end was mighty fine theatrics, too. Cool way to end a good show!

- - - - -

When I found out song choices last night through the Rockstar Supernova Yahoogroup (ok, loser ko talaga hahaha), I was gonna blog my fearless forecast and advance raves because there were some great song picks - especially for Josh, Magni, Jill, and Lukas. As you can see, that didn't happen, hehehe.

And now, watching tonight's RS, I am PC-less because my dad's using the TV in front of the PC, so I'm watching from my sister's room, and "blogging" old-skool style - using PEN and PAPER! Hahaha, yes, I hear the L-word again. So sue me! :P Have you ever tried writing on paper at the speed of thought? Ang hirap! My handwriting was hardly legible :P

On second thought...why didn't I just whip out the laptop and "blog" there?! LOL :) Pakahirap pako sa old skool...

At sa kakasulat sa papel, I missed out on the Bottom Three. Good thing my friend Lod texted me about that when he watched the "live" telecast this morning: (in Lod's words) it's Patrice, Jill, and Lukas in the blender tomorrow.

All in all, it was one of the best episodes yet for this season. Glad to see these rockers are stepping it up this time. Song choices were pretty much cool tonight and I think that helped a lot.

- - - - -

I'm getting to dig The Who more and more because of this show (this is their official site, but the link doesn't work with me right now - http://www.thewho.net). I first found out who they were through Baba O' Riley, which was constantly played at 106.3 Rock Radio, a kick@ss local radio station here in the Alabang area (I'm still mourning its untimely demise). I've heard the tune before that, pero sa Rock Radio ko lang nalaman yung title and artist.

My love for CSI also brought me closer to The Who's music - all three series (Vegas, Miami, and NY) use The Who songs for their themes (credited to Pete Townshend, guitarist of The Who). I was especially delighted because NY featured my crush Gary Sinise AND Baba O' Riley, which was slowly turning into a favorite song of mine.

Baba O' Riley was also used in House. It was a fun scene: Gregory House, M.D., was listening to the song in his office, and acting out as if he were playing the cool keyboards part.

In Rockstar, Baba O' Riley has been performed in both seasons: Jordis Unga did a mighty fine version in Rockstar:INXS, while Dana Andrews tried her best to rock it out for Rockstar: Supernova (to no avail).

And now, Dilana just sang another The Who song, which I will most probably research and come to love as well.

I guess I'll be scouring the record stores soon for The Who CDs. It's been a while since I've been to Tower Records ;)

Rockstar: Supernova Week # 5 (Top 11)

Patrice Pike - Higher Ground (Red Hot Chili Peppers cover)
Chris Daughtry did this 1,000x better in just over a minute.

Josh Logan - Santeria (Sublime)
Hehe, Josh gets away with a reggae song on a rock show. I reeeaaally love his vocals.

Dilana - Can't Get Enough (Bad Company)
I'm getting to appreciate Dilana more. The more she performs, the more I see that she actually has talent, hindi lang puro rocker effect.

Toby Rand - Pennyroyal Tea (Nirvana)
I liked this version! I wonder whose arrangement it is. Nice one, Toby. I hope you stay on the show longer, wala na si Phil Ritchie eh, hehehe.

Zayra Alvarez - 867-5309/Jenny (Tommy Tutone)
Omg, Zayra actually rendered Supernova speechless sa sobrang panget ng performance niya, hehehe. Zayra go home. Supernova boys, please get over your crush on her. She gotta go.

Magni - Clocks (Coldplay)
Magni keeps getting better. And it's so touching to hear him say that he really wants to do this, else he'd have gone back to his family in Iceland, where his son took his first steps without Daddy. Tommy's announcement that Magni's family is gonna be flown to the US was the best thing ever. Nakakatouch naman.

Jill Gioia - Don't You Forget About Me (Simple Minds)
I liked Jill the first time I saw her. But she tends to overdo things. Sayang yung ganda ng boses niya. Dave's comment was a slap on the face - he said that Jill's performance was one of those moments in a rock show when you'd want to get up and get a drink or go to the bathroom. Tsss.

Ryan Star - Losing My Religion (REM)
Nice, angsty piano version. Way to go, Ryan! I think that'll go down as one of the best performances EVER this season. Suzie McNeil did a great job with this one last season, too.

Lukas Rossi - Celebrity Skin (Hole)
Yet another song recycled from Season 1. Lukas kept eating his words; I think di niya kabisado lyrics.

Storm Large - Changes (David Bowie)
I prefer the high energy Storm. Her vocals are one of the best this season, though.

Dana - Baba O'Riley (The Who)
This was also performed by Jordis last Season (Jordis and Dana are both the youngest in their batches). Jordis had more power. I love this song, but Dana just didn't bring it.

- - - - -

I think Lukas just might end up in the bottom 3 tomorrow. I hope Zayra will be there, too. And I think Jill's gonna be part of that. Though Jill being there would only give Zayra yet another week on the show. Unless they just send them all home, hehehe. Come on, Zayra go home.

And yeah, Ryan's definitely getting that encore.

Rockstar: Supernova Week # 4 (Top 12)

I watched this in the hospital, and I had to go the bathroom in the middle of the show so I missed quite a lot of performances.

So this week we say goodbye to my crush Phil Ritchie. Too bad, 'cause he just had one of his best performances. Admittedly, though, he really isn't as good as the other rockers; hindi talaga siya tatagal dito. Do check out his band, Lennex, though. They've got some rocking stuff here - http://www.lennex.com (Click on MEDIA).

I still don't like Zayra. I hope she goes soon.

And I still can't get over the INXS Rockers. Their batch was waaay better than the Supernova bunch now. I still think Supernova will end up with either Dilana or Lukas. People are saying Lukas comes across as arrogant - well, JD Fortune was the same, and he ended up the winner. Though I like Lukas better than JD.

Lastly, I don't care if Josh Logan doesn't cut it for Supernova. His songs as an individual artist are way hot! Funky! Listen to the samplers:
http://www.joshlogan.com
http://www.myspace.com/JoshLoganBand

- - - - -

The nice thing about shows like Rockstar and American Idol is that I get to discover these musicians that otherwise would be unknown to me. Check out what these Rockstar and AI alumni have to offer. Listen to their songs, especially their originals:

Marty Casey - http://www.lovehammers.com
MiG Ayesa - http://www.migayesa.com
Jordis Unga - http://www.jordismusic.com, http://jordisonline.net
Chris Daughtry - http://www.absentelement.com

Flies in the vasoline, we are

Missed last night's Rockstar: Supernova Results Show. Watching the vids now from the website.

Jenny did Vasoline from STP. I love the song, I love the band. I didn't like her performance much. I think she's the type of rocker who's more comfy performing with a guitar around her neck.

Dana did High Road Easy (from?). Oh my, she looks like a Kat McPhee trying to rock things up. Hehehe, sorry. I still believe she's not rocker-chick enough to front the Supernova guys. Vocally, she was good though.

Josh did Heart-Shaped Box by Lithium. Awww, my boy has a hard time rocking. Parang hindi masyadong bagay sa kanya mag-rock out. I appreciated his laid-back look the first time I saw him, but now he's gotta show Supernova he can rock it out more - something that doesn't look so right on him.

Based on the Bottom 3 performances, Jenny did have to go. I liked her guitar-strapped rocker-chick look, though.

- - - - -

Off to somewhere in Luzon in a few hours to check out sites for this summer's field bio :D

Rockstar: Supernova Week # 3 (Top 13)

This show is drama.

Crush # 1 - Phil Ritchie - did very well tonight. He's not that good a singer, but he definitely delivered this time. The intensity of the performance was oozing with hotness.

Crush # 2 - Toby Rand - wasn't as good this week. He got the encore spot last week, but I guess song choice worked against him this time. I didn't like his version of Runaway Train.

My pet peeve, Zayra, kinda did well with REM's Everybody Hurts. She had her own arrangement of the song, and it worked. Good for her. I still don't like her though.

My other pet peeve, Dilana, closed the show with a rockin' Zombie by the Cranberries. She still freaks me out.

My best bet, Josh, didn't do too well today. I looove his voice, but I'm pretty sure Supernova's not too hot about it.

Baby of the season, Dana, just can't cut it for Supernova. She's too sweety-tweety, even if she tries hard to rock it out.

Tommy Lee is such a flirt. This show is drama.

- - - - -

Caught CSI tonight, too. Awww, I hope they don't kill Brass off the series... I can just look it up on the net, actually. But I wanna be in suspense for next week's season finale (read: walang magkukuwento sa akin ok?!). Parang ang bilis, parang kailan lang yung Tarantino season 5 finale ah.

Four-and-a-half-day-weekend

It was just supposed to be a 3-day weekend, because Pisay had its annual fumigation yesterday, July 14.

But since classes were suspended Wednesday afternoon and the whole of Thursday, well here we have our 4.5-day weekend :P

Which is just swell because Wednesday night had me starting up a fever, and my temperature actually escalated to a 40.3 high right about Thursday noon. So sakto lang talaga sa bakasyon yung sakit ko. I believe I haven't felt so down in ages. It was like there were two fists permanently pressing against either side of my head. Ugh.

The problem now, though, are the class days missed. Hehe, yup, I am now on the other side of the fence, and lost class days makes me more irritated than jubilant. And that's because it ruins the schedule for lessons and exams, so now I have to figure out how to make up for lost time.

So what have I done so far with the 4.5-day weekend?

- - - - -

Rockstar:Supernova

I'm still not as impressed with the new rockers as I was with the INXS batch.

I'm still disappointed that it's only the 2nd episode of the 2nd season, and they've already recycled so many songs - quite a lot of them performed by Marty Casey.

I'm still not digging Zayra. She can't sing on-key!!! Oh ok, so she did A BIT better during her bottom-three performance. But I still wish her out of this show. And I've quite warmed up to Dilana. Her take on Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" was cool. Her deep voice suited it well, and she didn't freak me out as she did when she sang "Lithium".

I'm glad Magni did better this time around. I kinda like to see him stick around quite longer, if only to see him make Iceland proud. It's not everyday that country gets a share of the international spotlight, right?

I'm still rooting for Josh, even more than I am for Lukas. He's got the best voice among the rockers, though I'm not quite sure it's what Supernova is looking for.

And yeah, I still crush Phil and Toby. Woohoo, Toby got the encore spot this week :) I doubt if Phil's ever gonna get that, hehe.

Lastly, I'm not surprised to see Chris go. Though I really would've preferred Zayra out.

- - - - -

Walk the Line

Speaking of Johnny Cash, I finally got to watch his biopic, "Walk the Line", starring one of my all-time celebrity crushes, Joaquin Phoenix.

Though it appears that Johnny's marriage to his first wife Vivian broke down because of his relationship with June, I can't help but feel kilig over Johnny and June. Though Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon do not bear any resemblance to Johnny and June Cash (or do they?), I'd say they were perfect for the roles. They've got that great couple chemistry between them, and they were awesome using their own voices for the singing parts.

It's so nice that Hollywood makes movies like these. If not for this movie, I most probably wouldn't know of or have any interest in Johnny and June Cash. Except for Johnny Cash's version of NIN's "Hurt" playing on NU, and his songs being used in Rockstar ("Ring of Fire" - Dilana) and AI ("I Walk the Line" - Chris Daughtry), I wouldn't have known about him at all. And it's great that a biopic like this comes along because it introduces these great legends to a new audience, at the same time (hopefully) making long-time fans happy.

- - - - -

Ever After

Since it was my sis picking the VCDs to watch, for the nth time she popped in Ever After *rolls eyes* Though I don't mind it that much because I like the movie as well. Drew Barrymore is such a beautiful and talented actress, and Dougray Scott was just the perfect Prince Charming for her Cinderella.

- - - - -

Clueless

This was the third movie I've watched over the break, though, like Ever After, it's something I've already seen before. Sakit ko yun, actually - I tend to watch the same movies over and over, when there's so much more I haven't seen yet, and we actually have VCDs or DVDs of those movies.

Alicia Silverstone is so endearing in this movie. She was perfect for the part, and it's always so amusing to watch her.

- - - - -

So there, so far I've seen 3 movies while trying to get some work done over the break. Hopefully I get a lot more work done before trying to finish any more movies :D

To all Pisay folks out there, I hope you're enjoying your vacation as well. And I hope you're in good health ;)

Rockstar:Supernova - A clash of stars? (Part 1)

Looooong post. Proceed at will.

Was typing as the show went on, so most of my thoughts here may be disjointed 'cause I just typed them as they came. Bear with me :D

ROCKSTAR:SUPERNOVA

Caught the first episode of Rockstar:INXS last year by accident, and I ended up religiously watching the whole series til JD was chosen as the lead singer of INXS. This time, I made it a point to catch the first episode of Rockstar:Supernova. However, it only made me miss the Rockstar:INXS rockers more. I haven't quite warmed up yet to this new bunch of rockers.

The Reality Show:
Cool bit during the Reality Show part. Bigla ba naman pinasalang yung mga Rockers, giving them just about 10 minutes to come up with lyrics and a tune to accompany one of Supernova's recordings.

General comments about the show:
* Parang ang scripted ng lines nila.
* Parang ang OA nilang lahat - the contestants, at lalo na si Tommy Lee.
* I missed the house band.

Cutie alert:

* Toby Rand


* Phil Ritchie


Comments on each performance:
(Check out the Rockers' bios to know more about them and their music careers.)

STORM LARGE (Portland, Oregon)
Pinball Wizard by The Who
Yup, that's her name. Stig no? Reminds me of a deep-voiced Lindsay Lohan.

RYAN STAR (Long Island, New York)
Iris by Goo Goo Dolls
Didn't quite work for me. They're definitely playing up the loner-thing on this guy. Though I did like what he said in his intro - about just being honest, being yourself, and the rock+star bit. Hehe, smart boy.

TOBY RAND (Melbourne, Australia)
Knockin' on Heaven's Door by Bob Dylan
Knockin' on Heaven's Door again?! That's its 3rd time on the show (first two times were during Season 1 - Dana Robbins and Jordis Unga). Last season, Dana got booted after the very first episoded after she did a weirded out version of this song. Hehehe. Let's hope for a better fate for Toby.

PATRICE PIKE (Austin, Texas)
Somebody to Love by Jefferson Airplane
Good stage energy. Nice powerful voice. Somehow reminds me of Suzie McNeal. This song was also done by Heather Luttrell in the first season.

MAGNI (Reykjavik, Iceland)
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction by The Rolling Stones
Yikes, Dave looked really bored by Magni's performance. As for me, I didn't feel his gig. At ayun nga, during comments time Supernova did imply that Magni had to work his stage vibe. He's gotta do better than that to stay on the show and make Iceland proud.

- - - - -

Magni's band is currently topping the charts in his homeland. Naisip ko tuloy si Basti. What if buhay pa rin Wolfgang at sumali siya sa Rockstar? Pero sasali nga ba siya? I know Kevin Roy seriously considered auditioning for the first Rockstar. Or so I've been told.

- - - - -

ZAYRA ALVAREZ (Dallas, TX; originally from Puerto Rico)
Bring Me to Life by Evanescence
Ok. First, I don't like the song she did. Never did. Secondly, she's kinda off. Off yung dating niya. Off yung boses niya, nawawala sa tono, or nawawala altogether. Strangely though, the Supernova guys liked her. And Jason proposed marriage. Hahaha :P

JENNY GALT (Montreal, Quebec)
How You Remind Me by Nickelback
Sweet-sounding voice. Not my type. But let's see. Seeing her playing guitar there kinda reminded me of Heather Nova, though they don't even have the slightest resemblance. Hahaha, Heather Nova, Supernova. Whut.

JOSH LOGAN (Manchester, New Hampshire)
She Talks to Angels by The Black Crowes
I like his voice. And he looks comfy onstage, with a laid-back kinda groove. I just can't pinpoint whose voice his reminds me of. I initially thought he reminded me of JD Fortune, but then he sang and all similarities evaporated. In the looks department...maybe Adam Levine? Ewan.

MATT HOFFER (Chicago, Illinois; originally from Denver, Colorado)
Yellow by Coldplay
Parang he didn't know how to rock out to Yellow. Bad song choice? Possibly. Gotta see more of Matt to judge him more clearly.

DILANA (Houston, Texas; originally from Johannesburg, South Africa)
Lithium by Nirvana
Oooh scary piercings and tattoos. Ano ba, Dilana does Nirvana. And yeah, Lithium na naman. I preferred Marty Casey's version. Hehe, Dilana messed up the lyrics. Ewan kung sadya. So ok, she stood still in her hooded presence for most of the song, and then burst into frantic ewans at the end. She scares me. But Supernova loved her. Haha, will I even like this band? Sobrang iba kami ng tastes (like, they liked Zayra...)! :P
P.S. She's so short! Hanggang tenga lang ata siya ni Brooke Burke!

DANA ANDREWS (Augusta, Georgia)
I'm the Only One by Melissa Etheridge
When she came onscreen, I thought to myself, "Parang walang mala-Jordis this time (talent-wise)." Strange, kasi si Dana pala baby ng group (she's 22), just like Jordis before. But that's the only thing they have in common. Didn't quite like her performance. Will it be weird to say I preferred Kellie Pickler's version? :D Maybe I'm just missing AI hahaha ;)

PHIL RITCHIE (Ocean City, Maryland)
Cult of Personality by Living Colour
"I decided I didn't want to be a lab-rat. I wanted to be a rockstar." Omg, that is so me! Hahaha :D Ulit na naman ng kanta?! Ty Taylor did this on the first episode of the first season. Ty's was a more powerful version. But Phil Ritchie's one of my two crushes this season, so I hope he stays a bit. Hehehe. He reminds me of Anne Hathaway's best friend's brother (played by Robert Schwartzman) in Princess Diaries.

- - - - -

This led me to Googling up Robert Schwartzman, so now I know that he's now known as Robert Carmine. He's also a member of the Hollywood Coppola family: Nicholas Cage is his cousin, and Francis Ford Coppola is his uncle. Robert's brother Jason, also an actor, is the former drummer of Phantom Planet. And Robert has his own band - he's actually the lead singer of the band Rooney (hey, I've heard of that band!). Ok, so now I'm Googling Rooney...aaah ok, nasa Killer Queen (Tribute to Queen) CD sila...so now I'm digging up that CD and popping it into the player...

- - - - -

JILL GIOIA (Long Island, NY)
Piece of My Heart by Janis Joplin
Ok, this is kinda disappointing. This is the 3rd song to be rehashed from the FIRST EPISODE of the first season. Deanna Johnston rocked this song last season. Jill has the same rockin' husky voice - Joplin really does fit her. And though I loved Deanna's version, Jill has a fuller. Yup, husky pero buo yung boses. Labo noh, hehe. I like this girl. Rock on, Jill.

- - - - -

Ooowkaaay...Tommy Lee reality-TV-shows are taking over the Star Network. Commercial for "Tommy Lee Goes to College" just showed. Ano ba.

- - - - -

CHRIS PIERSON (Atlanta, Georgia)
Roxanne by The Police
He was havin' a hard time with this song during practice. So yeah, bad song choice. The Roooooxaaaanne parts were annoying. I guess only Sting can pull that off, hehehe. Awww, Supernova fried him. Gilbey Clarke actually said his performance (particularly Chris's arrangement of the classic) sucked. Tsss.

LUKAS ROSSI (Toronto, Canada)
Rebel Yell by Billy Idol
Looks awfully familiar...Dong Abay!!! Hahaha! I'm starting to totally believe that Canadians rock - JD Fortune, Suzie McNeal, Deanna Johnston (all three from Rockstar:INXS). And now, Lukas Rossi! Awesome stage presence, man!
Dave: "That was insane!"
Tommy Lee: "Can you say f*ckin' ROCKSTAR?!" (Sabay tapon ng mic, for the second time tonight, hahaha. Andrama talaga niya!)

In no particular order:
EARLY BOTTOM THREE - Chris, Phil, Magni
MY BOTTOM THREE - Magni, Zayra, Chris
MY TOP THREE - Josh, Lukas, Jill

- - - - -

Some more general comments on the show:
* Awww walang Asian. Kala ko ba nagpa-audition sa Hong Kong? Or Singapore ba yun?
* May Dana last season (first to be eliminated), may Dana rin this season.
* Parang wala masyadong standout ngayon. Last season had Jordis, Marty, Suzie, and MiG.
* Ano kayang kakantahin ng bottom three? Wala pa namang kanta ang Supernova?
* They used a lot of songs that were already used last season. I think I've counted about 4 or 5. I know AI does that too. But this is just the 2nd season! Wala na bang ibang rock songs sa mundo?

I just visited the official website. This season's complete title pala is ROCKSTAR:SUPERNOVA (The Tommy Lee Project).

At ito na pala yung URL ng Rockstar:INXS (http://rockstar.msn.com is the URL for the current season):
http://rockstar.msn.com/show/inxs

So I guess this'll be my obsession for the next few months :D Thursday and Friday nights MUST be spent at home. Kung may gimik man, I must be home by 11:30 p.m. for the replay. Hehehe.

EDIT: Going through other forums made me realize what I should've noticed head on - Lukas and JD are both Canadians, hehe. Out there to win, not caring (or so it seems) if they make enemies along the way. I'm not pointing out that all Canadians are such. Though I do like to stress that the Rockstar Canadians (Lukas, JD, Suzie, etc) do know how to ROCK.

Also, it surprises me how quite a lot of viewers liked Dilana and Zayra. I like rockin' wild chick vocals, like Bjork (to whom Zayra was compared), and I like piercings and tattoos and the whole rocker chick look, too (like Jordis). But Dilana and Zayra just plainly weird me out. Zayra even sang out-of-tune! And Dilana's just plain scary. I guess I just have to watch them next week to see if my judgement will hold up.

- - - - -

(EDIT: Fell asleep without getting to post this last Thursday night. Since I was able to watch the Results Show already, might as well add this to the post.)

Results Show:

So ganun pala, the bottom three get to sing A SONG OF THEIR CHOICE to redeem themselves in front of Supernova.

I really wanted Zayra or Dilana out, but of course after all the love they received from Supernova, malabo na yun. I was mildly surprised Magni wasn't in the bottom three (he was, at some point of the voting). And although Chris did become part of the bottom three, he was able to redeem himself with his take on The Doors' L.A. Woman.

So it was goodbye Matt Hoffer. As my friend Ninna put it, choosing to sing Duran Duran for a hard rock band is suicide. I appreciate his staying true to himself though, and him saying that he didn't mind losing to the 14 other wonderful singers left onstage. And I really liked what Tommy (or was that Dave?) said about Matt not losing, that it's just not Matt's time to get that big break yet.

O siya. Next week nalang ulit itutuloy ang kabaliwang Rockstar:Supernova na ito.

Or maybe not. Just looked for the definition of "supernova". I'ma post next on the queer choice for the new supergroup's name...

Is this the beginning of our last dance?

Astig.

I hated Urbandub's video for "First of Summer". I LOVED the song, and when the video came out, I was disappointed with Urbandub for making such a 'pretentious' vid. Andami kong lait dun sa video (storywise, mostly).

And then the video for "Endless, A Silent Whisper" came out. Just caught it a while ago. And I am filled with a renewed awe for the band, and also for the director of both vids, Ms. Marie Jamora.

Ang galing! Endless is actually a continuation of FOS. They pieced stuff together, and showed you why things were the way they were in the FOS vid. Cool :)

Check them out for yourself:
(Thanks to kankungan2001 for uploading these on YouTube)

FIRST OF SUMMER
"this night sky makes city lights shine like diamonds"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LVIU0joK2g

ENDLESS, A SILENT WHISPER
"is this the beginning of our last dance?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfY8tgh3gdo

Artist: Urbandub
Director: Marie Jamora
Assistant Director: Issa Litton
Director of Photography: Odyssey Flores
Production Designer: Christina Dy
Editor: Maui Mauricio
Production Manager: Tetz Salvador

Go Elliott!

"I'm just a counter clerk at a pharmacy. I've been waiting my whole life for a shot like this." The humbleness of Elliott's statements sums up perfectly why so many fans have rallied behind him.
(More at RealityTVMagazine.com)

Elliott's was a bittersweet goodbye. It was so nice to see the support of his hometown. It must've been a very humbling experience for him, and one helluva roadtrip for his mom. Kitang-kita kay Elliott yung gratitude of having this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

And those figures! 33.06%, 33.26%, and 33.68%. The votes were practically split EQUALLY. Sa 1% lang sila nagkalabanan. Just goes to show that the American people think that all of them do deserve to go to the finals.

I still think it's anybody's game. Taylor may have the upper hand, but Kat's voters are as unpredictable as her performances. I'd be happier if Taylor wins.

What we all have to realize is that American Idol is a POPULARITY contest. It really isn't just about talent, marketability, showmanship. It's all that, and more. Millions of voters in America have various things on their mind when they vote. Some vote because they recognize talent when they see it. Good for them. But there are also those that vote because they think the person is hot. It's their prerogative.

The sad part about these things is how fans can get so rabid, they lash out at other contestants and the contestant's fans as well (name-calling and stuff - how gradeschool). Or the fans get so egotistic that they think their opinion is so much more important and well-informed that those of other fans. Respeto lang sana. Nakakalungkot kasi magbasa ng mga forums, to see how the posters diss each other and their most-hated contestants. Though I must admit it can be quite amusing :P

Now somebody sign Elliott and Chris please! And make sure their CDs reach the Philippines!

As for Kat and Taylor - may the real American Idol win, whatever "American Idol" means. Personally, I'm for Taylor ;)

- - - - -

Some Elliott links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliott_Yamin
http://www.yaminmachine.com - by Elliot's family and friends
http://www.everythingelliott.com/main.html - lots of pics and info
http://www.yaminfans.com - Elliott audio

- - - - -

Something I read at RealityTVMagazine.com. So true about Elliott.

When Elliott Yamin was later eliminated from the show by only the slimmest of margins, he handled himself with the dignity and grace befitting a champion. Ryan Seacreast said “This is not I’m sorry. This is congratulations for doing what you have done. The top three on this show.” Seacrest also led the audience in a round of applause for Elliott’s mom, and his mom said “I love you Elliott.” Elliott’s exit video also tugged on the heart strings as he told the camera “I’m just a counter clerk at a pharmacy. I’ve been waiting my whole life for a shot like this.” The humbleness of Elliott’s statements sums up perfectly why so many fans have rallied behind him. Elliott might be gone from the American Idol competition, but it is only the beginning for him.

- - - - -

I love Chris Daughtry, but I was more saddened by Elliott's departure (siguro kasi SHOCK yung naramdaman ko nung kay Chris hahaha!). The guy was a superb singer, a devoted son, and a just really a kind-hearted guy. He was real. I wish him luck with the wonderful career that he is about to begin.

American Idol - Final 3

Was gonna give a round by round commentary but figured it won't work (what for?).

Maybe Elvis night was just so spectacular for me (at least for the guys) that I wasn't quite satisfied with last night's Final 3. My expectations were probably too high.

Or maybe I was missing Chris. The show just ain't the same without the rocker dude I've been rooting for. Sayang, his personal pick would've been Aerosmith's "Dream On".

As for Elliott, Kat, and Taylor, eto lang masasabi ko:

Elliott - you shined so much more on Elvis night, but I still hope you pull through to the Finals. You deserve to be there.

Taylor - you're more fun to watch when you dance (never mind Simon); Joe Cocker's song didn't work for me last night. However, your fans will take you to the Kodak Theatre. And I don't mind that one bit.

Kat - you probably knew you were supposed to leave last week. But you definitely proved tonight that you deserve a slot in the Finals. I'm for an Elliott-Taylor showdown, but since you were spectacular with Judy Garland's song tonight, it won't be too bad to see you at the Kodak.

As I said before Daughtry left the show, I'm ready to see anyone go, because I love them all and it's hard to pick who to send home.

Let's see about that tomorrow ;)

- - - - -

LSS - Chris's take on Queen's "Innuendo"

I've never heard the song prior to AI5. Now I'm loving it so much. Along with "Renegade" by Styx and "Suspicious Minds" by the King.

Been listening lately to Chris's AI5 performances and Absent Element mp3s. Still pains me to think he was sent home one show too early.

He was supposed to sing "Dream On"...

This ain't goodbye for Chris Daughtry

Sabi ko na ayoko na manood eh.

When AI Season 5 hit the Top 4, I knew I'd be hating the Results Show, because I like all of them.

From my co-teacher Ninna's prodding, I've been reading stuff from www.realitytvmagazine.com lately, and their predictions hit it right on the dot:

"In all likelihood though, Taylor Hicks will be safe, and it will come down to Elliott Yamin and Chris Daughtry. All the pressure is going to be on Elliott Yamin, but Chris Daughtry can’t afford to play it safe. If Chris loses his voice again like he did last week with “I Dare You,” then he could very well find himself on a fast plane back to North Carolina. Chris Daughtry should not take any chances and should go for broke in his performance, because an inspired performance by Elliott Yamin could lead to an upset." (Elliot DID deliver. And how!)

Another interesting thing I came across was from Rickey.org, who mentioned that the Shock Elimination is coming up soon:

"Now whether or not something is “shocking” is really a matter of perspective:

Most shocking: Soul Patrol (considered the one with the most fans — but did they vote?)

Moderately shocking: Daughtry (will the powers that be let go of the chosen one?)

Somewhat shocking: E-Train (with regards to last night’s performance, yes — with regards to elimination predictability pecking order, no)

Questionably shocking: McPheever (being the weakest on Elvis night, fans will easily accept this result — unless you were brainwashed a couple of weeks ago that Katharine had once upon a time the most number of votes) "

I only blogged about AI5 once before, where I mentioned who my favorites were, but I've been religiously following the show this season (the only other time was when there were Filipina contestants).

Here I am again to talk about AI, and I'm here to express my disappointment. I like the Top 4, and I (thought I) was ready to see anyone go. But after last night's performances, I believed Kat deserved to go. She's had two bad nights in a row, whereas her competition have been doing the best they could.

Too bad Kat has a strong fanbase though, and since the judges pretty much dissed her Elvis performances, she got a lot of pity votes. I don't blame her fans.

Don't get me wrong, she's really pretty and she's got a nice voice. But her performances lately didn't quite go so well.

And since Chris is the rocker dude on the show, I'd have him win the competition if it was all up to me. That's a bias, I know. So sue me ;P Magaling naman siya eh. Fuel actually offered him the position of vocalist after Chris sang their song "Hemorrhage". Wow!

Maybe I was reading into him too much, but on last night's Results Show, you could tell maybe that Chris felt he did well enough to NOT get the bottom spot, and somehow he was cheated of his place in the Top 3. Para ba siyang nalugi (Kat kasi eh! Grrr).

Given the Top 3 now, I hope either Taylor or Elliot would win. Elliot's got super hot vocals, but Taylor's a total performer. I love em both.

As for Kat, I won't be surprised if she wins. But unless she gives superb, flawless performances for the next (two) show(s), I won't completely agree with her being the next American Idol.

And you, Chris Daughtry, go out there and make some noise with your band! Go record an album (that will hopefully make its way to Philippine shores - I've been waiting for Marty Casey and Lovehammers' debut album here in the Philippines since January! :( ). Rock the bars and concert venues just like you did before AI. May you have a wonderful career ahead of you. This is definitely not the end of it.

Check out Absent Element's website to hear stuff they've done before Chris joined AI5. They rock :)

- - - - -

So now I am officially mourning Chris's exit from AI, which got me searching the net for his photos and vids :P

For Chris pics:
Chris Daughtry Web
Chris Daughtry Central: The Gallery

For Chris vids:
Chris Daughtry Rocks

Lots more, actually. Just Google him :)

Here are some of the cool Chris pics I got off the net.

AI performance:


Because I love you too much, baby
(Top 4 Performance: Elvis Night - "Suspicious Minds")



From AllPosters.com


AI Photoshoot:


Sizzling! Tsssss...



Phonographs and memories :D



Ay hotness


Pre-Idol pics:


I love a guy with a guitar
(Performing with his band, Absent Element, at The Clubhouse in 2004)



Chris with his wife (and his hair!)
(Cute din siyang may buhok.)


CHRIS ROCKS! (Hehehe)