Month: July 2004 (Page 2 of 2)

Ayah turns 65 today. Happy Birthday, Ayah!

There’s an onslaught of reality entertainment shows going on
over our local terrestial and satellite television stations at
the moment. More than any other country would have ever had at
any one time, I think. But despite what they claim about these
shows being “real” talent competitions, the reality is that
these shows are more of an approval rating or popularity
contest than anything else. I doubt the public as a group is
capable of assessing talent objectively like those who have
been involved in the industry for years, or decades for that
matter. Hence, any unearthing of talents would have actually
taken place way before any of the so-called “real” stage of
the competition begins, i.e. during the audition stage. After
that, week after week it’s all about which contestant has more
appeal (and not necessarily by means of talent) to the masses
out there to garner enough votes to keep them alive in the
competition. But that’s just exactly how the entertainment
business works, isn’t it? Talent alone is not enough (or in
William Hung‘s
case, even necessary!) to guarantee a place in the industry.
It has happened before on American Idol,
it is happening right now in Akademi Fantasia
and we can pretty much be assured that it’s going to be the
same on case on Malaysian Idol
as well. Irregardless, I reckon it’s currently THE way for the
music industry to generate money once again, especially in the
face of piracy and all. If you’re in the music industry,
wouldn’t you want to make money without even having to cut an
album out upfront and risk bad album sales, piracy and all?

We Malaysians are a lazy bunch of people, aren’t we? Parking.
When we park our cars, we really like to park our cars close to
the entrance of the premise to the extent of illegal or double
parking instead of at an available lot that may take a bit of a
walk to get to the entrance. Airport moving walkways (or
walkalators whatchamacallits). Those things are meant for you
to speed up your walking instead of actually helping you move
100 meters without swinging your legs (you can walk faster than
those things if you’re merely standing on it, trust me). And
when you’re standing there, you’re blocking those who really
need to rush at an airport. Elevators. Just what is wrong with
taking the steps if you’re only going up or down by one floor?
Unless you’re disabled or carrying loads of stuff with you,
there’s no reason why you have to keep others waiting for you
or you even wait for the elevators in the first place. And the
greatest laziness of most Malaysians: Flushing. All it takes
sometimes is just a push of a button to flush. Maybe some
people find that too streneous that they even got auto flushing
ones too but heck, there are those who are even too lazy to
aim! I give up, really.