Ok I'm going straight to the review. I'm sure you guys can find a blow-by-blow report of the event through the links available on this blog, so I wont waste time going into details.

AKMA - Looking sweet and modestly demure, she looks sooo leggy with that red pants. She started quite alright. She obviously could handle the song. I think she is pobably the most consistent female students at the moment. Her performances so far shows how determine she is. The only bit she needs to work on is her camera play the way Marsha does, I'm sure she'll find a lot of attention. 3.75/5.

AIDIL - I guess its a pretty much a safe performance. I still find him stiff and botoxicated (if theres such thing). The song is just right for his vocals so it aint so much of a challenge. He seemed quite excited, maybe happy with Aznil teasing him about Amy. Anyways, an average performance. 2.5/5.

MARSHA - She looks sweet in tudong when they showed that clip of her teasing Mawi. Mawi didnt even seem to recognise her at first but I think Mr. Werrll likes the look. Anyways, Marsha finally lets her voice out. Even Ning says she has an original voice. Some people has been saying that she has a squeky voice but I guess thet've been proving wrong. Her usual inviting glances made her act quite enjoyable and captivating too. 4.25/5.

AMY - A very disappointing effort. It seems she couldnt hold herself together. She slipped a tone and then somehow never recovered her composure. I wonder what was she thinking about. She was out of tune and all over. Even Abg Man said he cant feel it. I guess she had herself to herself for her exit. 2/5.

REZA - Quite a lively performance but I think he over did it with those unnecessary blabbering in between his "singing". His act probably crossed over a bit to the Senario vibe. He is lucky that this song doesnt really need so much vocals technique. I admitt it was an enjoyable but I dont think it did much to repair his previous performances 2.5/5.

YAZER - Overdoing on the facial expression dude. Its getting a bit boring for me now. He did alright with this song and finally theres none of his usual husky-rocker tone. I'm sure he was tempted to belt it out though. A very safe performance. 3/5

AMYLEA - Shes definately the best dancer in the Akademi this time around. And vocally she is packed with suprises. This candy-pop song doesnt seem so much of a challenge to her, despite being a duo number. The rap bit is just too little, should've been longer. I noticed shes still gobbling her pronounciation, I hope she'll work on that. 4/5.

MAWI - His first try at an english number. Not bad at all but I dont really understand why he messes up at the most critical part of the song. I thought it was just a one time error but it happened throughout the song! But despite the multiple error, he still got the
fanatical cheers and maintained his percentage by the end of the show. if it was anyone else, I'm sure they'll get a backlash for this under-performance. It was suprising to me to see Kudsia having that Adlin critical mode, reminding mawi that despite his seluruh malaysia popularity, it would be better if he is popular because of his performance, not just because of popularity sakes. You might say its not his fault but of his blind fanatics vote. True but Mawi should also rise to the occasion and try to match that support given to him by giving a faultless performance. I see nothing special in his performance last night. 3.5/5.

EKIN - She really made an effort this time around. I think we've probably heard the power of her voice and the highest note she can handle. I was so scared she might tergelincir physically with those high heels and also vocally when it came to that high pitch bit, but like Ning said, she sounded like a professional singer. She showed a fair amount of attitude but I hope to see that more. Ekin just needs to work on her diction more. 4/5.

KEFLI - A rare powerful performance from him. Will this be shortlived? I hope not. The feel he projected for this song is so touching that he made Kudsia cried for the first time this season. Honestly I was very doubtful (& I'm sure thousands more too) that he would survived the song but I'm glad he proved me wrong. Kudos to you. I hope this performance will lift his spirit to do even more better. Definately, the best performance of the night. 4.5/5.

FELIX - After that touching performance by Kefli, Felix managed to bring back the smiles on everyones face. This song seemd to be perfect for him, is there any song that he cant handle? His effortless style somethimes makes you geram right? Hoepfully for the next concert, he'll be given an english song, since vocally he is almost dominating, lets hear him try to concentrate on such things as diction. 4/5.



And I guess the rest as they say is history, Amy & Reza was eliminated. I just dont quite understand why the double exit though. But I'm sure quite a number of people are satisfied with this result and I myself can see the logic in this. Although I would've preffered seeing Aidil joining Reza instead. Oh, the cheering when Reza name was announced,is really unnecessary.

Ok, I hope this relatively short review is alright for all. I have a theory about this why this double elimination. I'll cover it sometime soon, I wanna do some evaluation about its sensibility first. Till then, cya!

AA022415 

Lucky No More

Current standings (time check 11:55 am);

BOB - 19%, ZAHID - 16%, ADAM - 15%, KAER - 14%, FARAH - 13%, MAS - 12%, LINDA - 10%

Another disappointing concert. Nurul got evicted from AF2. Finally unlucky after sitting bottom of the charts for weeks, infact from the start of the 1st concert, her lucky charm ran out. I dont think its because she was was losing voters but I think its just because people are voting more for someone else because they want to get back at the so-called "Mr. Evil". Bob is ontop and I guess he earns it after last nights' show, extra votes maybe for that tilting MJ routine.

At this moment of typing this review, its 5 mins to midday. I'm @15 watching MAS performing her Tamparan Wanita from last nights concert. Its evident that she is totally out of tune, especially when hitting the low notes (even Zainal pointed out this matter), no breathing skill and no improvisation. Instead she is busy trying to play the camera and be cute, winking and all that. The song passed with such pain for me. I cant imagine how it would be like if that quality of performance and voice goes into the finals. MAS was ontop again at the start of the concert last night, how not suprising huh?

As pointed out by HeY in the tag boardI think it is agreed now the votes MAS are getting are mostly not for her talent. Mostly now its votes of pity for her constanrt ragging at the Akademi and also anger votes towards Ramli MS. People are trying to get back him and really to piss him off by letting MAS stay so that he will have a much more harder time coaching her. I think anyone with a right sense of mind can see this all happening.

Irma pointed out that ZAHID has been getting extra attention. His improvements has been given too much focus. I think thats true but I guess thats not his choice. I think you can see he doesnt let it get to his head. He is still his playful self and taking in the coaching a lil more serious as I think he really has that urge to win now. The producers of the daily Diari should review their highlighting segements. But maybe its all marketing technique, focus on the good & the bad. They know ZAHID has a big audience and MAS has a fan base of people who feel for her, so why not focus on them to get people more hooked right? Tthats a safe assumption really.

I'm dragging this review, I'm hoping to blog while watching the Imbasan, which is 15mins away, so I'm taking a short break *hehe*

Back! Imbasan just started.....

Saiful Apek is on, he was one of the judges last night and he brought some good humour seriously needed to the critics board. He gives a good view of what he thinks of the Akademi, the complexity of emotions and the hardships that the student must've gone through being isolated in a "golden cage" as he would put it. When asked for his personal view if NURUL's eviction was correct, he strayed and eventually did not answer. I guess I can safely say, he disagreed. Break....oh damn its that Intimate ad again! My frens were having a good laugh about the add saying like the girl should go for a check up as shes seems to be getting more Intimate every week, her cycle must be going crazy! Hahahaha.... we laughed till we were in tears actually.... ok advert over....

Oh my Ramli MS is on! Gosh! I bet the swearing and kutukan must be starting now in most households thats supporting MAS. Aznil asked again if NURUL's eviction was right, he didnt answer too. He does said that she had the will to learn eventhough she is not quite a confident person. Clips of Ramli MS giving his own standings of improvement in the Akademi is shown, ZAHID top, MAS bottom." They dont know music, I know music" he said defending his ratings. Wow! that would go down as arragonce to some but I guess I'll go with him on that point. Peratus Undian clip from previous concert started was shown of how NURUL has always been on the last spot. Aznil asked if its a trend or nasib? He said its hard to tell, again its unpredictable. He said his standings doesnt matter as people has their own way to vote any way they want. And we are on a break again... Coke....LongJack...Lion Toothpaste....Coke....Vnce & Azza advert, the girl in red needs to shave/wax her upper lips........and we are back...

Started with a clip of NURUL during the audition, she looks soooo different...her eviction last night...clips of her in the Akademi...her singing that Sanisahuri song that I like...and then NURUL is on. She said she is unhappy with the english song as it was her first time singing one. Asked if the fans might be tired of saving her, she answers cleverly saying that maybe they might have cast to their votes to better students and also said that everyone still AF has their own talent. Asked why she is happy last night when announced as the one to walk out. She said shes happy because she misses her parents eventhough she was sad to leave. She said her time was up in AF and the rest deserves to stay because they are favourable to the voters. Asked who will felt most of her eviction, she said FARAH as they were close. Another breakie....boring digi cam ad altho informative, i bet they are selling more units lately....coke...bml (weird smile that lady, almost robotic)...Vince & Azza again, I still dont know by heart that song....and we're back!

NURUL's dad is next to her now. Asked if her daughter should have stayed, he said they were actually shocked. Every week the family flew from Kuching and Aznil asked if it was worth it, the dad didnt answer but NURUL said its worth it as its a big boost to her to see them. More clips of NURL getting song assignments, performances and her eviction. Aznil pointed out there was even cheers and hands clappings when the announcement was made. The dad said that it didnt matter what people did or said on the website as they believe in their daughter. Aznil said that before the show, he said to himself that NURUL was gonna be quiet during this interviews but admitted he was wrong as she was a talkative person in real life, finally showing her true colors. Then the results from the voting after the last nights' concert was shown. Quite shocking as Linda was 2nd last! More on that later. The finalist prizes were shown and then Aznil gave her silverman trophy. NURUL then gave her thanks to the voters. She appreciates the support and only Allah can repay all the kindness shown to her by her fans. And Imbasan closes with NURUL's performance last night.

Phhewww! ok doing minute by minute, or rather second by second reporting is tough! Never have I typed fast enough! *hehe* Anyways, here are the standings when voting was closed after last nights' concert. Due to request by some, I'm puting in my personal ratings of each performances.

ZAHID 15% - Rightly so! His performance was flawless, even the critics agreed. It was the only time when Zainal Abidin commented on someone without putting a "but" into his sentence. He looks comfy and if he keeps it up, he is gonna run away with top spot easily. Ooooohhh dat wedding show hosted by Maya Karin is on now *sigh* Ok back to ZAHID *hehe*. I must say I'm envious of this guy, not only he can sing but also because Misha Omar has been on his bed! Hahahaha! I guess thats like every guys fantasy! The property value of his house has risen up with that Misha appearance I'm sure! My Rating - 9/10.

BOB 13% - He deserves this spot. His feel for the song was good and I was really moved. I thought he was gonna smile but he didnt, he was in character and his vocal controls were good. The only flaw was in what he was wearing, the wardrobe poeple needs to coordinate better. Again that dancing bit in Adam's number must've won him extra votes too! My Rating - 8.5/10.

KAER 13% - Back in business again eventhough its evident that he is being too extra careful. He looks so tense. If he had relaxed a lil bit more, his performance could have been great. His tones were good as usual and was right for the song. He is one guy that I would like to see in the finals. Try to enjoy yourself a lil more KAER, I'm sure you'll do fine. My Rating - 8/10.

MAS 12% - Unjustified. Her performance last night was a shamble, its the worst yet. Her voice was all over especially in the low notes. As I said earlier, she was more busy trying to look cute an sexy. Its like she is singing without listening to her own voice! I think last night when NURUL's name was announced, you can see the sense of guilt on her face. MAS knows it should have been her. I think she wants it to be herself, thats why she is acting the way she is in the Akademi. She is hoping people will find her hopeless and not voted for her. But I guess it backfires, people pity her even more being the single mother an all. Again, I'm not against her because she is not appealing or whatever, as in my many previous post, I find her a slow learner and needs a one to one coaching instead of the speedy Akademi style. My Rating - 2.5/10.

ADAM 12% - I voted for ADAM last night due to the fact that I think he was given an almost impossible song to perform decently. Its purely and utterly silly for the Akademi to assign him that song. I must say he handle it the best that I think anybody possibly could. And yet he was critisized for his diction? Zainal, I know you are a talented star, but I dont think you can do any better than ADAM could. Listen to the original song, listen to how it is sang. Did MJ pronounce all the words in full and clearly? I think now because if he did, it wouldnt go with the melody! My congrats to you ADAM, that was a good performance. My Rating - 7.5/10.

FARAH 12% - A safe performance. Clearly she was having fun with that song. Her vocals were credible as usual and other than LINDA, I like FARAH to be the other girl to go to the finals. There aint much I can say about FARAH's performance last night other than it was enjoyable and she deserves to stay. Also I think FARAH is most likely gonna be the next victim sacrificed by MAS's fans. I dare put money on this.My Rating - 7/10.

LINDA 12% - What a shocker! The lowest position she has ever been. If MAS was at this spot, it would have been believable. I guess its more evidence that the voters are voting by sight and with pure emotion when they should have voted by sense of hearing. Deaf ears syndrome is spreading all over I guess. Wouldnt last night be tragic if LINDA was voted out last night instead of NURUL? Would you fans/voters of MAS be satisfied? I know her performance wasnt that good but she clearly dont deserve to be this low. She does look lost last night and dumb-founded with the precense of Man Kidal & Sham Kamikaze. Those guys stole the thunder from her and she failed to blend-in with the act. She might be on the bottom spot now but I'm sure she'll pick up the pace. My Rating - 6.5/10.

NURUL 10% - Finally unlucky. I think her show was more enjoyable than MAS though. NURUL was more in-tune and showed more improvement than her other performances from previous concert. Its another sad and wrong departure. But I guess she had to go after riding her luck all this time, no one can be so much lucky than she is all this while. Although I think its not by luck she stayed this long, people has voted for her because she showed detemination eventhough it was hard for her to gain the confidence. Thats a worthy cause to vote for. Voting for pityness is not. My Rating 6.5/10.

Ok thats about it for now. I would be glad to hear everybodys comment about last nights concert. Please use the Comment link below rather than the tag board so that you can write even more. Cheers for tuning in peeps!

Goodbye MAS?

Could the wish of those who wants her out tonight be a reality? I guess it aint a cruel request because for the past week she has even shown more signs that seems to show she aint got the learning curve to be a star that is versatile. Sorry to all her fans, I'm not being cruel but its just a common sense evaluation. But then again, look at the standings below, she is somehow on top! Anyways here goes my pre-concert review.....

MAS 14% - At one point of the Temparan Wanita song, she was singing to the style of Seksis! This week has been the hardest for her with the principal really telling her off for her lack of concentration & improvement. But I guess the tears that comes along with it is helping her getting more sympathy votes as people are really pissed at Ramli MS. So I guess theres no stopping people who votes for the wrong reason, more to "perasaan" rather than "pemikiran'. So we shall see, by right she should be the one out tonight.

ZAHID 14% - Still the MAN! This guy has the potential to improve even more and he is showing that to all as the Akademi progress. He is calm, collected and down-to-earth.He might be p[layful but you know that he is learning well. Cinta Sakti wont be much of a big deal. From the rehearsals shown, he can carry the tune and should get by this week still the top favourite.

LINDA 14% - Akan Ku Tunggu should be alright for Linda too. Like it or not, she has talent and a versatile voice. She knows how to play with her voice and has improved with tips from Cikgu Siti Hajar. A musician on her on rights so I can actually see her writings her own songs if she should ever record an album. And as Datuk Yusof Haslam said, "Pesona Bintang", she has the package to go far.

ADAM 13% - Coping well the tough number given to him. If he can pull this off tonight, I salute you my man. I have never seen someone perform Smooth Criminal live, so I'm kinda anxious to see him perform. He has not choice but impersonates MJs style of singing, otherwise the song will go all wrong. Lets hope the judges will have proper consideration as this aint an easy song.

KAER 13% - Bunga Pujaan is within his vocals reach. He will be able to play his voice and squeeze in a little R'n'B-ish to the number, like he always do. I think its quite evident that he has been regaining his confident again and showing the colors he had during that Januari week. He still is a top 5 favourite for the finals for a lot of people.

FARAH 12% - Singing her favourite song, Jangan Kau Mimpi. She should be having fun tonight and let it all out. The song sounds like its been made for her. Her dynamic voice is no fight for this song. She is one of the favourites to be voted out tonight but all this while she has had no really bad performance, so I would be disappointed if she does leave later.

BOB 11% - Another Sudirman number, Salam Terakhir, lets hope it wont be as tragic as Anding when he sang  the late Sudirmans' song. They seem to be no problem for Bob to carry this number, I just hope he wont over improvised this one like he did with his song last week.

NURUL 9% - Little Nurul, always at the bottom but yet still around. This Lucky song might just not be lucky for her if her fans aint getting on showing the support. She doesnt look comfy singing this song but a Britney number couldnt really be that tough too. I hope she still goes through, she has more rights to stay than the person who is currenly on top.

So thats my quickrun down of the past week. The bonus songs will be good to see too as I'm quite a fan of both. Ok till tomorrow, have a good time wacthing the show tonight.

Goodbye Zarina
 
A Shocker? Unexpected? Unjustified? I guess that goes through the minds of everyone with the departure of Zarina from the AF2. especially her fans. Personally, I was stumped and was speechless. There I was watching with a couple of friends, shouting out the names of the student that we thought would be out just as Aznil was looking at the bag tag. None of us shouted out Zarina's name as we were very sure  she would stay as;
 
1. She was a model student, 2. Her performances has been good, especially last week,3. And she was never in the bottom spot ever.
 
I guess thats what everyone assumed, she is safe so no one really voted for her. I dont think thats the case though, I think its just that lots of viewers whos favours the other students,  spent more and voted much more. I'd like to see the statistics on the voting last night actually. I'm almost sure that there is no drop in the numbers of voters for Zarina, just an increase in votes for the others. Right now, I'm watching Imbasan, Zarina is being interviewed by Aznil. She just said she has been ready for the moment but she is said because her studies is now over. I think thats a very good reply. She was all composed until that point when Aznil passed her the necklace from Linda and showed when the clip from last night when Aznil made the announcement. Then the tears flow....
 
Aznil then showed us how the voting was when they closed the voting alst night, 1. Linda, 2. Zahid, 3. Bob  4. Farah, 5. Nurul, 6. Kaer 7. Adam,  8. Mas 9. Zarina. Gosh! the standings went all mad! And nearly Mas was out! My request/wish nearly came true.
 
Anyways, back to last nights concert. It started with Mas, suprisingly she did well, she managed to bring the sweetness of the song, maybe because of the props play. She was holding a picture frame and singing to it at times and holding it close to her "heart" and by the end of the song, she showed everyone whos picture it is and its none other than Aznil. So the show started on a high note eventhough the showed the video clip of she getting scolded by Fauziah Nawi. Then comes the critics, Hetty Koes Endang made her mark. She was just excellent and really spot on in pointing out the high & the lows of their performance. I think she should be a permanent critic and the one who has been almost with her two season now should make way *ehem* Oh and the other critic was Hani Moksin of the Roda Impian show.
 
Kaer got his groove back, the number is as if written for him. He played the song well and I'm sure he won back lots of his followers votes and confidence in him. Hetty even said he had the star package but needs to work more. Farah was next and I must say the fashion stylist needs to have some creativity, nuff said! She did well, she hit the high notes like nobodys business. Even Kak Hetty highlighted her abillity, she only reminded Farah to take care when singing the low notes. Bob came along with his version of I Can See It Clearly Now. His cockyness showed and over did it with his add-lip. Highlighted nicely by Kak Hetty again. Man I dont why that guy is getting on my nerves....
 
Adam was up next, his outfit was befitting the song he was about to sing except for his shoes (bright brown/burgundy) and WHITE SOCKS!!! The stylist should be shot! White socks should be only for when you are in a sporting gear or when you are wearing a white suit! Ok anyways, Adam was probably really nervous that he pronounced keroncong to kecorong!!! Man that must've been his worst moment ever, especially in front of millions! That aside he did well, sounding like a very professional "keroncong-er" Hani mokisin took a swag at Adam for his kecorong error, what a cheap shot dude!  Zarina next and she had that Gypsy look going, really sexy. She performed well, stage presence was good... oh and not a bad "gelek" at all girl! *hehe* It was a safe performance as all my friends would put it.
 
Nurul's performance was touching. Suddenly the mood was sombre. She performed well that I knew that shes not the one whos gonna have to walk out tonight. That girl has a lucky charm on her. Zahid's performance brought back the show on a high note. I was right in saying that he is gonna suprise us and oh boy did he! He is beggining to show his colors and his credibility as the model student. Linda performance was really touching too. SultanMuzaffar rated her performance  9.3/10 and rightly so. Kak Hetty was impressed too and gave a lil tip on how she should have ended the song. So that was it and the group performance was next, Memories. Another uplifting performance, touching again but yet very powerful.
 
And I guess we all know what happened next. Mas & Linda was the most tearfull as they were the closes to Zarina. It was as if another Rosma incident. Just when Zarina was on her high and making her talent precense, she was forced out. An abrupt ending to her journey but surely she has a lot coming for her. With her package she will go far. And so thats all she wrote. I enjoyed the show eventhough it wasnt satisfying to some. Till then, AFUNDI dengan BIJAK!