Dr Faridah's Blog

Ahhhhh....how nice it is to have a break in the working week. Tomorrow is Labour Day so I get to wake up late, spend time with my wife and kids at home (or outside - no plans yet) with no CT/MR/mammograms/etc to report, no ultrasounds to do, no urgent requests from doctors for examinations, etc, etc. Wifey has already planned to make pancakes, scrambled egg and sausages for tomorrow's breakfast! Yummy!

As I was checking out my blog referals from Nuffnang, I noticed a referral from this site. This blog's author is Dr Faridah, a Malaysian doctor who has previously worked in UMMC (where I am now). She is currently on leave from her post in the Ministry of Health, Malaysia and is with her husband and child in Windisch, Aragau in Switzerland. She is apparently now a hausfrau (surirumah dalam Bahasa Jerman/ housewife in German) and is enjoying her life over there.

I am deeply touched and honoured that she has a link on her blog to my blog! You see, unlike most bloggers, I blog about mundane stuff and my daily hit is only starting to be about 80-100+ hits a day. This pales in comparison of course to the famous "alternative media" Malaysian political blogs which each can easily claim to have thousands of daily hits.

Anyway, this may explain also the hits I've been getting from Windisch, Switzerland.

Dr Faridah, if you are reading this - thank you for visiting my blog and linking my blog. I enjoy reading your stories on your blog. Enjoy your time in Switzerland with your family. Should you come back to Malaysia and start being a doctor all over again, you know that you probably won't have the time you now have with your hubby and son, so enjoy every moment while you can.

Kalau ada rezeki my family & I sampai ke Switzerland, maybe we'll meet you folks up?

Ciao!

Amir Fuad.

So many things to do, So little time...

I always get swamped with stuff to do. Stuff at work, family stuff, personal stuff, etc, etc. Being a chronic procrastinator doesn't help either!

What I need is a good knock on my head plus a loud in-my-face reminder of my 2008 New Year's Resolution.

Although I have tried, I have on many occasions slacked on all of them! When will I ever learn?

Hey, AMIR FUAD - GET OFF YOUR LAZY B*** AND START DOING SOMETHING!

OK then, everything is cool now. I shall relax tonight, and take a breather. Come morrow, I will pull all the recalcitrant the bulls by their horns and make all of them kneel by my smelly foot. HAHAHAHAHAHHAAH!

Ciao!

Amir Fuad.

Akademi Fantasia 6 - Concert #6

It's getting tiresome to watch Akademi Fantasia. I feel that the quality of the students are generally low and despite weeks of lessons some of them are just....oh well...! Maybe I am just getting older. Thank God for remote controls, one flick of a button and the screen can change to something else more pleasant - like the DiGi RM 100, 000 contest advertisement (The Fear Factor spoof), Nigella Lawson (she's one hot high-BMI lady, don't y'all think?), Discovery Travel & Living, National Geographic. Heck, even the cheesy Mayfirst ad can seem more interesting than some of the students' performances.

I didn't catch last week's show as I was in Singapore. So Saida went out, huh? OK lah 'tu!

Anyway, the show started with everyone in traditional Malay costumes. Later, we discover that it was part of a surprise bersanding ceremony of AF season 1 contestants, Khai & Rosma. Hmmmm...time to change channels!

Anyway, the critics tonight were Ogy Ahmad Daud, Adnan Abu Hassan & Adlin Aman Ramlie. Ning Baizura is away.

Stanly gave the first performance. Singing Hazami's "Kata", I thought vocally he was as lousy as the past 3 weeks. His dancing was better, an improvement of a whopping 0.95%.

Alif was as boring as he was since the first concert. I do wonder how he managed to one of the top votes-wise. As a kejutan, Farah Diana Anuar of AF season 2 (a.k.a. Breep Breep) brightened up the Alif's performance both visually & vocally. Mmmm....more channel surfing!

Nadia did a better-than-average job of Ella's Rama-rama. No Ella copy-cat style here although I don't quite think that this song really suits her voice. Anyway, her effort shows through. She is one of my favourites to be in the finals.

Toi tried to improvise by performing with a guitar however I didn't think it managed to inject an extra feel to the song. Sometimes, I do wonder whether Toi is mumbling because he has a problem opposing his lips or he has forgotten the lyrics. Not that good, but I thought better than his previous performances.

Nubhan performed OAG's Generasiku. He has a nice tone and his vocal performance has been consistent. Consistently shaky and lifeless, that is. AC, please stop with your Negeri accent evertime you talk to Nubhan - it's really sounding more boring the more we hear it! Anyway, thanks to Nubhan's performance, I managed to channel-surf again during his performance.

Stacy performed No Doubt's Don't Speak. Vocally the best performance of the night. Another one of my favourites for the finals. GO STACY GO! (Alamak, terlebih sudah!).

Riz did Imran Ajmain's hit Seribu Tahun very well with maybe minimal mistakes. Simply executed yet very original. Again I don't understand Ogy's comments (What's wrong with you, Ogy?). IMHO, another apparent finalist.

Rina did really well! Her vocals are really not that fantastic but she does really well as a performer with hard rock numbers. She doesn't do well on ballads and numbers with a strong melody. With this performance, Rina, I hereby declare you a potential finalist! Ogy comments to me are AUTA!

Rina got kicked out! Well voters were not so smart this time round. If I had to pick one, it would be Toi.

Anyway, hopefully Stacy, Riz and Nadia become finalists. I think the rest should just leave the show - they have not really improved after 6 weeks.

OK, time to sleep.

Ciao!

Amir Fuad.

Radiology humor

1. Radiology Definitions

Barium: - What you do when they're dead.
Cystogram: - An e-mail sent to your sister.

Mammogram: - An e-mail sent to your momma.

Angiogram: - An e-mail sent by Brad Pitt to his missus.

Sinogram:- An e-mail written in Chinese.

Multislice: - The type of bread most Radiologists buy.

Archiving optical discs: - Those CD like things that just won't play music after you put them in the CD player.

Artifact: - Something on the image that the Radiologist doesn't have any clue about.

Isodense: - What a Radiology Master student says to himself after sitting for an exam.

Echogenic:- Someone who looks good on ultrasound images.

Preliminary report:- What the Radiology Trainee writes.

Full report:- What the Radiology Trainee writes and the Radiologist blindly signs.

Addendum report:- What the Radiologist adds to the full report after a mistake in the full report is pointed out by the ward House Officer.

Cingulate: - One.
Pleural: - More than one.
Sacral: - Holy.
Sella: - A good place to keep your wine.

Happiness: - The CT machine is on the blink and the 30-over cases for the day has to be postponed.

2. What's the difference between a physician, a surgeon, a psychiatrist, a radiologist and a pathologist ?

The physician knows everything and does nothing.

The surgeon knows nothing and does everything.

The psychiatrist knows nothing and does nothing.

The radiologist knows the inside story and does nothing.

The pathologist knows everything, but always a week too late.

*******************************************************

Ciao!

Amir Fuad.

Irish Joke

Picture taken from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/osebo/448589708/

An Irish daughter had not been home for over 5 years. Upon her return, her father cussed her. 'Where have ye been all thistime? Why did ye not write to us, not even a line? Why didn't ye call? Can ye not understand what ye put yer old mum through?

The girl, crying, replied, 'Sniff, sniff...dad....I became a prostitute....'

''Ye what!!? Out of here, ye shameless harlot! Sinner! You're a disgrace to this family!''

'OK, dad -- as ye wish. I just came back to give mum this Chinchilla fur coat, a title deed to a ten bedroom mansion, plus a savings certificate for £5 million. For me little brother, this gold Rolex and for ye daddy, the sparkling new Mercedes CLK350 Convertible that's parked outside, plus a Membership to the Castleknock Country Club....(takes a breath)....and an invitation for ye all to spend New Year's Eve on board my new yacht in the French Riviera, and.....'

''Now what was it ye said ye had become?' says dad.

Girl, crying again, 'Sniff, sniff....a prostitute dad! Sniff, sniff.

''Oh! Be Jesus! Ye scared me half to death, girl! I thought ye said a Protestant'. Come here and give yer old man a hug!'

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Ciao!

Amir Fuad.

P.S.: Thanks, Anushya for e-mailing me this joke!

Anugerah Planet Muzik 2008

Anugerah Planet Muzik, a Singaporean-initiated awards event, uniting the music industries of the "Malay" world - Indonesia, Malaysia & Singapore is into its 8th year. This year, it was held in Kuala Lumpur at the KL Convention Centre.

The host is Indonesian lady, Sarah Sechan. She's quite a witty and funny host. I like her style. Much better than the over-the-top style used by the likes of Ogy Ahmad Daud, etc. There should be more hosts like Sarah.

There were performances by Faizal Tahir (with many references made to his recent buka baju episode), Sofaz (good), Bunga Cinta Lestari, Aliff Aziz, Meet Uncle Hussain (good!), Ahli Fiqir, Ferhad (oklaaa...) & Mila AF5 (nice performance but jumpy vocals especially when she danced).

There was also Anuar Zain who sang Bidadari. Singapore first Idol winner Taufik Batisah performed Terkeliru (or something like that) - nice!

In a tribute to Malaysia's mega-rock group Search, Siti Nurhaliza sang her version of Fantasia Bulan Madu excellently, despite some problems with the microphone. Judika, Hady Mirza & Dayang Nurfaizah sang songs nominated for Best Song.

Anyway, here is the list of the winners:

1. Best New Artist (Female)

Farah Asyikin (Malaysia)

2. Best New Artist (Male)

Faizal Tahir (Malaysia)

3. Best Group/Duo

Meet Uncle Hussain (Malaysia)

4. Most Popular Song

Itu Kamu (Performer: Estranged, Composer: Estranged, Lyricist: Richael L Gimbang) (Malaysia)

5. Most Popular Group

Estranged (Malaysia)

6. Most Popular Male Artist

Faizal Tahir (Malaysia)

7. Most Popular Female Artist

Dato' Siti Nurhaliza (Malaysia)

8. Best Male Artist

Anuar Zain (for album Anuar Zain) (Malaysia)

9. Best Duo/Group

Gigi (for album Peace, Love & Respect) (Indonesia)

10. Planet Muzik Cinta Award

KRU (Malaysia)

11. Planet Muzik Special Award

Search (Malaysia)

12. Best Song

Nakal (Performer: Gigi, Composer: Gigi, Lyricist:Arman) (Indonesia)

13. Best Female Artist

Kris Dayanti (for album Kris Dayanti) (Indonesia)

14. Best Album

Peace, Love & Respect (Artist: Gigi, Producer: Gigi) (Indonesia)

The whole show ended with a song with lyrics penned by the late Loloq, Cinta Itu Syurga- performed by Ajai & Mawi.

All in all, a lukewarm show. I have seen more exciting APMs.

Ciao!

Amir Fuad.

4th Singapore CT Coronary Teaching Course 2008 & 2nd ASCI Congress.

This is the reason I was in Singapore - attending this event. On the first day, it was the teaching course for CT coronary angiography. Well organised with a good faculty providing quality lectures & workshops. I enjoyed the lectures very much. It was nice to see so many Malaysian radiologists & radiographers attending this event.

After the first day, the good people from Toshiba brought some of us to Mount Elizabeth Hospital, which is just behind Paragon Shopping Centre in Orchard Road. The Toshiba people wanted us to see their flagship 320 multidetector row CT- The Aquillon One- machine which had all of us salivating. There were 3 live vascular CT cases (2 cardiac & 1 neuro), in which the cases were broadcast live into a nearby lecture hall.

After the live broadcast, we were taken on a short tour of the CT machine. This is one of the Mount Elizabeth radiologists giving participants a run-through on the capabilities of Toshiba's Aquillon One system.

The actual machine.

The following 2 days was the ASCI congress in which many aspects of cardiac imaging was discussed (CT, MRI & nuclear medicine mainly). There was a good turnout of about 400 over participants from all over Asia consisting of radiologists and radiographers and professionals in related industries.

One thing I appreciate about this conference hall is that 2 additional screens were placed on the side in the middle and back portions of the hall, so latecomers & backbenchers (like me) didn't need to strain our eyes trying to comprehend what's on the screen up front.

Got back on an afternoon flight. Managed to squeeze a fair bit of shopping and together with my colleague, Yang, we made our contribution to Singapore's already robust economy. Heck even at the airport, we managed to make some last minute purchases!

Ciao!

Amir Fuad.

P.S. Quachee if you are reading this - No, I did not go on the Singapore Flyer - I saw it though from the cab on the way to my hotel from the airport. Well, maybe next time!

In Singapore

Arrived yesterday in Singapore.

Waited for Yang at the airport. After we got to out hotels, we went out for lunch at Ngee Ann City at Orchard Road (we went to Mcdonald's) and then did a bit of shopping.

Went back to the hotel around 4pm and rested.

Missing home already. Sigh......

Ciao!
Amir Fuad.

Marcell - Hidup

I don't think too many Malaysians would remember this Indonesian R&B artist, except for one number he did with fellow Indonesian, Shanty - Hanya Memuji - which received quite a bit of airplay around 2003 on local radio stations.

I remember a few songs from his previous albums, Firasat, Semusim, Jangan Pernah Berubah, Rindu, Sudahlah & Andai Ia Tahu which I really liked. It's been many years since I heard anything from this singer-musician-actor. Anyway, after returning home from work, I dropped by The Curve to get some Singapore Dollars for my trip to Singapore tomorrow. I popped by "Rock Corner" at the ground floor and was pleasantly surprised to find this 2008 offering from this guy.

This is Marcellius Kirana Hamonanga Siahaan(what a mouthful - no wonder he goes by the stage name of just Marcell)'s third outing (fourth if you consider the fact that his first album was released twice- the second time as a repackaged edition containing 2 bonus tracks). There are 10 tracks in this album:

1. Candu Asmara
2. Berhenti Berharap
3. Bukan Lagu Cinta
4. Pantaskah
5. Dirimu dan Diriku
6. Tersiksa
7. Keinginanku
8. Malam Ini
9. Hidup
10. Tak Biasanya

I've already downloaded this album into my iPod. Going through a few listening rounds of this album. So far so good. Good tracks with Pop & R&B feel. It's hard to believe that the first track, Candu Asmara began life as a dangdut song! Nice music and vocal arrangement, the lyrics do however have that strong dangdut aura.

Berhenti Berharap in this album is NOT Sheila on 7's hit song. It is a nice soothing ballad about what else but love. In Bukan Lagu Cinta, Marcell duets with Karen Pooroe. Pantaskah showcases Marcell's smooth and soulful vocals accompanied by acoustic guitar. Tersiksa is another nice ballad.

On the whole, this is a nice album but Marcell doesn't really venture far from his previous outings. But then again, he doesn't need to - he is very good at what he does. As the saying goes, If it ain't broke, blah blah blah....

My rating: 4 out of 5
Message: Get it!

Some Marcell-related trivia:
1. He is of Batak-Ambon-Javanese descent.
2. Born a Catholic, he converted to Buddhism a few years ago and has also become a vegetarian.
3. He is married to Indonesian singer-songwriter-writer, Dewi Lestari.
4. He apparently has admitted to be a fan of our local singer, Ning Baizura and made attempts to record together. However, due to technical problems related to the different recording companies that Ning and Marcell belong to, the plan did not materialise.

Ciao!
Amir Fuad.

Akademi Fantasia 6 - Concert #4

After Ramli MS's outburst during the last Diari AF, I'll bet all the students are on the edge. Even more so Faisal, as Ramli MS said that if he goes off-key again, he will stop his performance on-stage! But to be fair, he also threatened other students that if he feels that a student performs badly, he will get the student out of the Akademi even though he/she was not voted off. Alamak..tensionnya!

AC is getting better at being the host. In fact, I am kind of glad that Aznil is no longer around as after 5 seasons, his style was getting a little stale. Asides from Ning & Ogy, Adlin Aman Ramlie was there as one of the pengkritik. Aiii...pengkritik jemputan ke pengkritik tetap? Ning is getting more honest while Ogy.. I still don't understand what on earth she says sometimes.

Faisal, singing Halil Chik's Joget Bunga Melati obviously played it safe. It must be hard to live up to Halil Chik's standard (wasn't he dubbed Malaysia's Tom Jones, or something to that effect?). I thought his voice was a little pitchy, although he did not go totally off-key. And this is despite the threat of his performance being abruptly terminated by the Pengetua. His dance was so-so.

Toi sang Spider's Laukku Cukup Masin. Toi's performance was boring and directionless. Vocally, a bit off-tempo but otherwise OK.




Aliff's performance was forgettable. It was sad because it was a nice song with a nice music arrangement.

Saida actually gave her best performance so far I thought. It must be difficult performing a song which was meant as a duet (Hati Kama originally by Siti Nurhaliza & Noraniza Idris), what with overlapping parts of the two original singers. The effort was there, but not enough. Perhaps she is one of those singers who will do a good studio recording but won't perform well on stage. Noraniza Idris made a special appearance.

Stanly spoilt Faizal Tahir's beautiful song, Kasih Tercipta! One would have thought with all that musical and classical voice training, he would be able to carry off this song effortlessly but it was the total opposite. It was a disaster.

Rina sang Sharifah Aini's Terbang Helang. I understand that Rina has trouble shaking off her lounge singer technique. All in all, I thought it was not too bad though not fantastic. She played safe and the result was also "safe".

I thought Nadia performed Saloma's song (Mengapa Di Rindu) pretty well! Granted her voice is not exactly zapin-friendly but I must give her credit for her effort - much better than all of her fellow students.

Nubhan sang D'Lloyds oldie Cinta Hampa. He was not too bad. He is less shy, went down and gave a flower to Ogy and all! Ended his performance terbaring and all! When he gave the flower to Ogy he went a bit off-key for a while!

Riz sang Pop Shuvit's Marabahaya. His performance overall was quite good! Sadly, he did the rap parts quite well, but the chorus was vocally weak and he was breathless a few times during the song. Still overall, the best and most energetic performance - 2nd goes to Nadia. But of course one would expect more energy from a hip-hop/pop song rather than a zapin number, right?

Stacy, as expected gave the best vocal performance of the night. Given an original single (Cinta Terhalang), as a recognition for her performance in the past AF concert, she did the song well but with some pitching problems here and there.

Faisal was out this week. I expected this although he did try his best for this concert. Voters seem to be smarter this time round.

I really like this season's speedy elimination without the draggy emotional elimination scenes associated with past seasons of AF. Congrats AC and the production crew!

Ciao!

Amir Fuad.

John Legend - Live from Philadelphia

I don't know why but I am feeling a little down today and have no mood to work. I am just trudging along and I feel that nothing is quite going my way. Everything, even the slightest thing seems to upset me. I feel like running away from everything and curl up in bed listening to my iPod. Bak kata pujangga si-Lenny Kravitz. " I wanna get away, I wanna fly awaaaaaaay...yeahhhhh yeaaahhh yeaaah..."

OK enough complaining. On yesterday's lunch break I was very productive. I sneaked out of the department at 12.30pm and went to Tabung Haji in Kelana Jaya to update Julina's, Dayana's, Hilman's & My passbooks. That done, I went to Mid Valley Megamall to get my car washed. Then I went to Maybank and updated my children's savings account passbooks. Had lunch at Super Sandwich - I had a broccoli & cheese sandwich on brown bread. After lunch, went to the Gardens Rock Corner Outlet and bought 2 CD's - one is Lenny Kravitz's latest studio album - It's Time for a Love Revolution and the other is the one I will be talking about. After that, I went to Borders and bought a Bahasa Malaysia novel for my daughter, Dayana. Managed to get back to work at 2.15pm after collecting my car. Not bad huh?

Here it is - John Legend's Live From Philadelphia Album. Released in January in the United States of America, this live album features songs from his 2-album career history plus a remake of the 1970s classic Where is the Love featuring Corrine Bailey Rae.

I am sure most people would identify him as the guy who gave us Ordinary People , the piano & vocals number about love relationships that got him the "Best R&B male vocal performance in the 2006 Grammy Awards. Anyway, that's how I was introduced to his music. Have bought both of his studio albums and I must say there is not one single song that I disliked from the two albums.

His old school take on R&B with contemporary musical arrangements and elements (e.g. hip hop courtesy of Kanye West, Snoop Dog and the like) makes him rather unique. This singer-songwriter has the ability to sing straight from the heart (Again, Ordinary People) and yet tickle you with his cheekiness on songs like Number One, PDA (We Just Don't Care) and Used To Love You.

This live album proves that this guy performs well on stage. His piano & vocal performances on Coming Home, Again & Ordinary People are excellent. Hear the crowd sing along to Ordinary People ( "...Take it slow-ow, oh- ohhhhhh, this time we'll take it slow...). Hear the crowd clap and cheer on the faster numbers, Used To Love You, Number One, etc.

All in all, for me at least, nothing to complain about. The audio is superb. The music and vocal arrangements were just nice, not too flashy and not too bland either.

My rating: 5 out 5.
Message: Go get it!

Some John Legend-related trivia:
1. His real name is John Stephens.
2. He sang back-up on Alicia Keys' hit song, You Don't Know My Name.
3. The song, Ordinary People was initially intended for the Black Eyed Peas. But at one point, Mr Legend decided that he wanted to keep the song for himself. (Hmmmmm, makes me wonder how them BEP peeps would have done it?).

4. P.D.A. in the song P.D.A. (We Just Don't Care) stands for "public displays of affection".

Ciao!
Amir Fuad.

Lenny Kravitz Greatest Hits - Lenny Kravitz

You know you are really growing old when your favourite songs come in an album with the title containing these words - "Greatest Hits", "The Best Of", "Golden Collection", or even "Yester-year" (*yucks*).

I bought this album 3 weeks ago but I just can't get enough it. I have been listening to Lenny Kravitz since my undergraduate university days but all the cassettes that I had were either spoilt or lost. Since the past year, due to my (*ahem*) better financial position, I have been buying the CDs of my favourite songs and ripping them in MP3 format onto my laptop. Since last month, my entire laptop MP3 collection is also in my 32GB iPod Touch.

This is one of the albums in my music collection project. This 2000 compilation (yes, it was compiled a cool 8 years back!) contains only the songs that made it to the charts. Skinflints like me who won't buy each individual album but just want the better and more recognisable songs will be pleased with this compilation.

The tracks in this album:

1. Are You Gonna Go My Way

2. Fly Away

3. Rock and Roll Is Dead

4. Again (*New song - not previously released)

5. It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over

6. Can't Get You off My Mind

7. Mr. Cab Driver

8. American Woman

9. Stand by My Woman

10. Always on the Run

11. Heaven Help

12. I Belong to You

13. Believe

14. Let Love Rule

15. Black Velveteen

I have always liked this singer-songwriter's retro take on soul and rock. His clever and witty lyrics give his songs that certain X-factor which is not easy to imitate.

From Mr Cab Driver:

"......Mr cab driver don't like the way I look

He don't like dreads he thinks were all crooks

Mr cab driver reads too many story books

Mr cab driver pass me up with eyes of fire

Mr cab driver thinks were all one sixty fivers

Mr cab driver f*** you I'm a survivor......"

From American Woman:

".......American woman

I said get way

American woman

Listen what I say

Don't come hanging around my door

Don't want to see your face no more

I don't need your war machines

I don't need your ghetto scenes

Colored lights can hypnotize

Sparkle someone else's eyes........."

Plus, he always looked cool no matter what he wore - those retro large aviator shades, the fur-lined brown leather jacket, dreads, afro, torn jeans, etc. His sound is also hard to pigeon-hole: It's rock but it's also soul. It's neither black nor white. It sounds somewhat "underground" yet it has a very mainstream appeal.

My favourite songs in this album are Fly Away, Are You Gonna Go My Way, Mr Cabdriver, American Woman,It Ain't Over 'til It's Over and Stand By My Woman.

My rating: 4.5 over 5.

Message: Buy it especially if you are a Lenny Kravitz fan. It's definitely worth the money. There is a 2005 version with bonus tracks and a DVD containing music videos of selected songs - but I don't know whether this version is available in Malaysia.

Some Lenny Kravitz trivia:

1. He is half African-American(mom) and half Jewish(dad). His mother, Roxie Roker played the role of Hellen Willis (Louise's best friend) in The Jeffersons, a sitcom popular in the 1970s about a bigot African-American man who made it big and moved from Harlem to Manhattan in New York.

2. He was married in 1987 to Lisa Bonet (she played Denise Huxtable in the famous 1980s sitcom The Cosby Show). They had one daughter and were divorced in 1993.

3. Mr. Kravitz has won 4 Grammys and 1 American Music Awards. He also has won a Brit Award, MTV Award and VH1 award each.

Ciao!

Amir Fuad.

Akademi Fantasia 6 - Concert #3

At last! An Akademi Fantasia concert this season that is worth my staying up for! Was it the "Rock Kapak" theme? Or was it the effort put in by the trainers and the students? It was probably a bit of all of the above. AC Mizal seems to be getting more comfortable in his role as the host. Also, I appreciate that there is less of the draggy dialogue before the results were announced that was prevalent during Aznil's days - probably not Aznil's fault as well as the producers decide the direction of the show, not the host.

Yes, those people who slammed AC Mizal should keep their mouths shut now. I thought he handled the show very well, keeping to his style without mimicking Aznil. Jokes were kept to minimum and his antics fell mostly right into place.

Ogy's back and thank God there's less of her nonsensical comments.

Ning Baizura is more critical now and she voiced out her disagreement with Ogy twice. I expected Ning to say more about Faizal's mostly off-pitch singing but she didn't.

Adlin Aman Ramlie provided good comments and his chemistry with AC Mizal really helped the show.

The show kicked off with Stacy singing Pelesit Kota. Fantastic vocal performance although she was criticised about her "aimless" stage performance. I liked her performance very very much!

Faisal 's Sentuhan Kecundang was off-key for most of the song! I grimaced so many times throughout his performance that my facial muscles felt tired afterwards. Lousy! Keep going on like this, Faisal and you might find yourself booted out next week!

Nadia was superb singing Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart.! Fantastic vocals. Her diction improved too! In one of the diary episodes, I heard her say, "Tawtal eclipse of the heart..." but tonight her diction improved a lot! Nice voice, pitching and dynamics. Congratulations, Nadia!

Alif was just OK for me. The judges thought he was OK but I wasn't moved.

Lufya's performance of Medicine's Tika & Saat Ini was actually her personal best in my opinion. But sadly, even her best paled in comparison to her fellow contestants. I predicted she would be out this concert.

Naim actually has a good voice and I thought this was his best performance. But like Lufya, most of his fellow contestants did so much better.

It's surprising that the tenor of the lot had a lot of pitching problems and his singing style seemed so wrong. Maybe, he will perform better the next time round.

Saida was just not in her element. Maybe rock just doesn't do it for her. Her version of Ella's Sepi Sekuntum Mawar Merah sounded tired. She has quite a good voice though.

I thought Nubhan would do Don Henley's Summer of 69 well as he has this husky voice that is something like Mr Henley's.(Correction: Summer of 69 was originally performed by Bryan Adams and NOT Don Henley - Thanks Alex F for pointing that out to me!) Alas, his diction and lack of power made the song sound a bit weird.

Riz was really good. One of them who made this concert a memorable one.

Toi being his usual selamba self. Nice and cool performance though nothing spectacular.

Rina was the clearly the best performance of the night! She did the Metallica "Sandman" song very well and coupled with a fantastic performance she managed to get loud cheers from the audience form the crowd and thumbs-up reviews from all judges!

The Menuju Puncak song was done with live vocals again. Not too bad, only a few parts that was terbabas. The students also danced with much better precision and synchronicity.

2 bags were brought out. But I wasn't surprised as to who was voted out. I do believe that the voters have wised up!

One bag belonged to Lufya. This is her making her farewell speech.

Naim - as I have said earlier - no surprise!

The best concert so far. Hope future concerts are as entertaining as this one.

Ciao!

Amir Fuad.

Jaguar X Type

I took these pictures last weekend actually. It was on our trip to the Pavillion KL. While my wife was spending some time (more like 1 hour plus) at the Bobbi Brown outlet doing God knows what, I managed to buy two shirts, go to the toilet and slip out of the Bukit Bintang Entrance to take these photos. When I came back from doing all these things, she still was not finished at Bobbi Brown!

The Jaguar X Type - the smallest of the Jaguar sedans, therefore frequently dubbed as the "entry-level" Jaguar. There is also an estate (stationwagon) version of this model. I should think this is the new generation X-type that was scheduled to be launched in the UK in March this year and in the rest of Europe in April.

Anyways, nice car, don't you think? This 4-door sedan/stationwagon is available in 2,1L, 2.5L & 3.0L petrol versions and also some diesel versions as well. I wonder how much it costs?

Ciao!

Amir Fuad.