Friday, December 03, 2004
Pop goes the Idol
If there's one thing I'll say for the Singapore media - it certainly loves its celebrities.
This past week the papers and radio have been abuzz with news of Glenn Ong (who?) and Jamie Yeo (ha?) tying the knot, and with the results of the First Ever Singapore Idol contest.
I won't begrudge that Taufik probably deserved to win - I didn't even watch Singapore Idol, but judging by all the positive feedback, and my own boss's comments (wah, this Taufik guy, not bad huh) I reckon the kid probably has talent pouring out his ears. But honestly... full page (chains of) news articles? I guess that goes to show how little in the way of news we have in Singapore :
Call me a snob (certainly quite a few of you seem to enjoy doing it...) but I don't get the Singa-celebrity thingumagig either. I mean, I've seen Stars like Dido in life, and had friends who met Patrick Stewart, and... wossname. Some blonde chick who lives in Kensington... in real life. And I get that - they're big. They have training, drive, and dare I say it, talent. They've hit the world by storm (even unnamed blonde chick whose name just slips my mind. dammit.) and they're larger than life. Someday, hopefully, Taufik will be right up there with them. (this is called optimism. It is extremely rare coming from re-minisce.) I've read about Taiwanese celebrities and seen their pictures, and I get that. Many of them look... simply inhumanly pretty. Some of them can even sing.
I just don't get the Singa-celeb scene. They're not born. They're created. One Media to bind them all - the media hypes them up and turns them into demigods which they simply aren't. "Acting talent" on the local scene seems confined to chinese soaps. Melodrama belongs there - but on the small screen in English it simply doesn't work. So what we get instead are Generation X wannabe models and starlets trying to act cool / bubbly / rad, and winding-up looking pek-chek / bored / boring / insipid / trying-too-hard.
I'm unsure whether to peg it to lack of talent (but my inner soul screams NOooo... what with fivepointsomething million people on this little dot, there has to be talent out there!!) or inadequate training.
So when I encounter Singa-celeb stories (except in the vein of Really Talented People) in the papers or on the radio, I tend to tune them out automatically. Background noise, slightly less bearable than the incessant music-box elevator music that plays in the hospital every day.
*****
A Strange Proposition
Someone is proposing to hold a BloggerCon(...vention, not ...vict) in Singapore.
He/she/it also mentioned that I'd been aluded to in the comments too, so I moseyed on over to have a look. (narcissist that I am)
Imagine my surprise when I found out just who had mentioned me. Ha. At least in my defence I can honestly say that if and when I do bring this particular individual up in writing, it's usually to cast disparaging pseudosociological allusions towards the state of Singaporean society today. (Funnily enough, the odd weirdo insists that this translates into desperately trying to get into somebody else's pants. Dang. Maybe I shoulda been a sociologist instead.)
What's her excuse?
Anyhow, I think it's an intriguing idea (the Bloggercon) and if not for that fact that I already know in advance that I will either be
1)on call
or
2)post call (ie : walking dead)
regardless of which day they pick (or, at least that's how life feels to me at the moment) I might entertain the idea for a second or two. (before going home to bed.)
I know this makes me sound like a sad git with no life.
Unfortunately, that appears to be the reality at present moment. Thank goodness for the odd friend who lets me bum around her place and watch her telly. (you see, she must be odd. q.e.d.)
Did I mention I have no telly at home either?
Sniff.
*****
Farewell My Concubine
Am currently halfway through Farewell My Concubine (DVD). I wonder how I managed to miss it the first time around. It's good. The chinese opera does get on my nerves occasionally but something about it - not sure what exactly, possibly the cinematography? - is compelling to watch.
*****
Model Mahjong
Hahahahehehehheh. This little anecdote is funny. Dang. Now why don't models ever ask me to play mahjong? (pointed look at the 'dozer...)
Drat. I must be either fugly or dodgy. bugger. heh heh.
This past week the papers and radio have been abuzz with news of Glenn Ong (who?) and Jamie Yeo (ha?) tying the knot, and with the results of the First Ever Singapore Idol contest.
I won't begrudge that Taufik probably deserved to win - I didn't even watch Singapore Idol, but judging by all the positive feedback, and my own boss's comments (wah, this Taufik guy, not bad huh) I reckon the kid probably has talent pouring out his ears. But honestly... full page (chains of) news articles? I guess that goes to show how little in the way of news we have in Singapore :
Call me a snob (certainly quite a few of you seem to enjoy doing it...) but I don't get the Singa-celebrity thingumagig either. I mean, I've seen Stars like Dido in life, and had friends who met Patrick Stewart, and... wossname. Some blonde chick who lives in Kensington... in real life. And I get that - they're big. They have training, drive, and dare I say it, talent. They've hit the world by storm (even unnamed blonde chick whose name just slips my mind. dammit.) and they're larger than life. Someday, hopefully, Taufik will be right up there with them. (this is called optimism. It is extremely rare coming from re-minisce.) I've read about Taiwanese celebrities and seen their pictures, and I get that. Many of them look... simply inhumanly pretty. Some of them can even sing.
I just don't get the Singa-celeb scene. They're not born. They're created. One Media to bind them all - the media hypes them up and turns them into demigods which they simply aren't. "Acting talent" on the local scene seems confined to chinese soaps. Melodrama belongs there - but on the small screen in English it simply doesn't work. So what we get instead are Generation X wannabe models and starlets trying to act cool / bubbly / rad, and winding-up looking pek-chek / bored / boring / insipid / trying-too-hard.
I'm unsure whether to peg it to lack of talent (but my inner soul screams NOooo... what with fivepointsomething million people on this little dot, there has to be talent out there!!) or inadequate training.
So when I encounter Singa-celeb stories (except in the vein of Really Talented People) in the papers or on the radio, I tend to tune them out automatically. Background noise, slightly less bearable than the incessant music-box elevator music that plays in the hospital every day.
*****
A Strange Proposition
Someone is proposing to hold a BloggerCon(...vention, not ...vict) in Singapore.
He/she/it also mentioned that I'd been aluded to in the comments too, so I moseyed on over to have a look. (narcissist that I am)
Imagine my surprise when I found out just who had mentioned me. Ha. At least in my defence I can honestly say that if and when I do bring this particular individual up in writing, it's usually to cast disparaging pseudosociological allusions towards the state of Singaporean society today. (Funnily enough, the odd weirdo insists that this translates into desperately trying to get into somebody else's pants. Dang. Maybe I shoulda been a sociologist instead.)
What's her excuse?
Anyhow, I think it's an intriguing idea (the Bloggercon) and if not for that fact that I already know in advance that I will either be
1)on call
or
2)post call (ie : walking dead)
regardless of which day they pick (or, at least that's how life feels to me at the moment) I might entertain the idea for a second or two. (before going home to bed.)
I know this makes me sound like a sad git with no life.
Unfortunately, that appears to be the reality at present moment. Thank goodness for the odd friend who lets me bum around her place and watch her telly. (you see, she must be odd. q.e.d.)
Did I mention I have no telly at home either?
Sniff.
*****
Farewell My Concubine
Am currently halfway through Farewell My Concubine (DVD). I wonder how I managed to miss it the first time around. It's good. The chinese opera does get on my nerves occasionally but something about it - not sure what exactly, possibly the cinematography? - is compelling to watch.
*****
Model Mahjong
Hahahahehehehheh. This little anecdote is funny. Dang. Now why don't models ever ask me to play mahjong? (pointed look at the 'dozer...)
Drat. I must be either fugly or dodgy. bugger. heh heh.
