ushering toys

Toy Story 3 is an awesome movie. Almost made me tear up; walking out of the exit a dad asked his little daughter if she's crying, and the mom herself made an audible sniff.

Anyone up for catching Usher next week?

What's a good video worth?

Whew! What a week. Hasn't been feeling well this past week, but today I've been feeling much better and think I'm almost fully healed. Had a bit of fever, cough, running nose etc since Sunday. Think maybe it's cos of all the sight-seeing I've been doing last weekend when Alvin dropped by from UK. It was really cool and fun though, and it's always nice to see the familar face of an old friend, and I have to chuckle at the irony that both of us are from Malaysia and we ended up meeting somewhere in between as a compromise - Spain.

Anyway, I'm a big fan of OneRepublic and heard they've got a new song coming out. I've heard their new song, "All the Right Moves" on youtube a couple of times, but have yet to hear it on radio (back in Malaysia). So anyway apparently they now have an official music video up, which unfortunately I'm not allowed to embed here, so here you go:

One Republic - All the Right Moves

When I first saw the director of the video is Wayne Isham, I can't help but smile. I've noticed his names quite a few times, and he's worked with many of the biggest pop stars in the past like Britney Spears, N'SYNC etc. I like that his videos always seem to have an artistic feel to it, and also quite a good production value. I know music videos these days are a dime a dozen, but I think a good video can really enhance the enjoyment (and sales) of a song, and I quite appreciate videos which are not the typical cheesy storylines, corny dancing, or slo-mo sexy poses, or the endless girls in skimply clothing dancing around some (usually ugly) rapper/hip-hop singer.

For this video, I really enjoyed it and think it's a good video. I like the ambience of it which fits the mood of the song, and the well-choreographed dramatic dancing which blends with the song's tempo. Of course, there are still bits of "artistry" in this video which I can't quite figure out yet. And yeah, I really like the slick feel and overall good production of it.

Here's another old video by Wayne Isham which I find is a bit more creative and fun:
(Damn these official videos! Can't embed them..)

In Barcelona

Arrived here yesterday. Checked into the hostel. Pretty nice room, with bathroom and kitchen some more. Slept a lot to get rid of jet lag.

Made dinner today - first time too as I've never had a self-kitchen before. Made a simple spaghetti with tomato sauce (sofrito de tomate) and added in sausages (cos it's convenient). Tasted decent. And felt damn proud too.

Kris Allen's New Single

The new single from American Idol 2009 champ, Kris Allen: Live Like We're Dying. Get an early listen of the full song!

New kid in town

I've never been a religious follower of reality TV, though I do enjoy regular doses of *cough* America's Next Top Model, and sporadic views of others like American Idol, Amazing Race, Hell's Kitchen and Project Runway. So anyway, a few weeks back I caught some of this season's American Idol (AI), and got a bit hooked. I've kinda lost track of AI, only briefly aware of the winners once it's all over.

Anyway, I was deeply interested in one of the participants - David Cook. Yup, the dude who went on to be crowned the Idol title last Thursday. I watched the grand finale this week between the two Davids - Cook and Archuleta. A nail-biting and grand contest between a boy wonder of crooning ballads and a mature rocker.

Frankly, I can't see the fuss over Archulete - he's a great singer, I grant him that. But he's just a really good pop/ballad teen prodigy. Compare this with D. Cook who proves himself beyond a rocker. I mean, c'mon, any guy who can pull off a brilliant cover of a Mariah Carey song gets top marks in my books. Check out his performance here:



I didn't watch the actual episode for the Mariah Carey week, but some information net-prowling revealed that apparently the girls had a tougher time. I can sorta understand, it's a tad tough to match the diva's legendary sixteen-octave range. Most girls (and guys too) chose her power ballads, and well D. Archuleta chose When You Believe. It was quite good, but predictable and boring; and doesn't hold a candle to D. Cook's performance. He was smart enough to realise he couldn't match Archuleta's vocals, so he picked one of MC's most pop-ish song, rearranged it and came up with something totally awesome. And as Simon said, being really brave about it too, as usually most people would pick songs that allow them to show off their long breaths and glass-breaking voices. Like in the finale, D. Archuleta performed 2 ballads, and for individual choice, chose to perform 'Imagine" which he did a few weeks back. D. Cook started off with a crowd-rousing pop-rock "Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" by U2, followed by a power rock song, and finally for individual choice; chose a totally new song and performed an acoustic version of it. His choice song was panned by Simon Cowell, but thankfully it did not influence the voters much.

And as to proof himself that he's not a flash-in-the-pan, check out D. Cook's rendition of a song from Phantom of the Opera. Not that I'm music expert, but I think he has excellent vocal control. He sounds breathier and craggy during the rocks songs, and yet can sound polished and soaring for musicals. Just compare the craggy screech he did for Always Be My Baby and the rich, soaring vocals reverberating in Music Of The Night. I find it refreshing to see a singing contestant who exercises control and not try to shatter eardrums at every chance.

A more than deserving winner of American Idol; with proven versatility and star quality beyond that of just a singer. And I'll be keeping an eye out for this dude in the future.


p/s: Try checking his other renditions of Billie Jean and Hello too.