alrighty, it’s idol time for me today…

first off, consider how pia is as a performer: 1) extremely elegant with bouncy lustrous hair, glowing face and a pretty smile, 2) mostly stays put in one place or, if moving, seems to calculate steps, 3) a bonafide belter who always takes advantage of the upper register of her voice, and 3) hardly any back story worth picking at or quirky backstage habits the press can have a ball with. she is undoubtedly talented, she is beautiful, she did deserve all that obsequious adulation from the judges, how they always say she is “great”.

then consider the female chart-toppers, the most saleable artists these past few years as performers: 1) in-your-face with big loud hair, multi-colored faces and fleeting smiles, 2) mostly toss themselves all over the stage, use the shock factor in performances to the fullest, 4) hardly use the upper register of their voices, and 3) dense with back stories that we obssess over and wacky idiosyncracies that the press fall all over themselves to cover. in short, the utter opposite of pia toscano.

so why is it so hard for some people to believe she was sent packing last friday?

for a long time, an awful lot of jaded viewers, including most of the people in our own household, considered her the frontrunner. i don’t think she consistently garnered the most votes, but i never imagined her to suddenly fall to the bottom with a big thud.

here, i have compiled the theories going around (i have better things to do, really, but this is very crucial):

1. the worst thing the judges can do to ruin a contestant’s chance is to make voters complacent. because every week she is “great”, everyone probably thought everyone else was voting for her. thus many of her fans likely didn’t bother to lift their phones, assuming all other fans would vote enough to save her anyway.

2. she was getting really old, really fast. she’s like a stepford wife: flawless, talented, perfectly poised. and absolutely devoid of emotion. at least that’s how she struck a lot of viewers. in this generation where talent is measured most by stage presence, poor pia didn’t stand a chance.

3. people love the underdog. and would vote like crazy for him/her.

4. she is greatly admired, but not liked enough. the most plausible theory comes from a commenter, buck, in rickey.org: Is it THAT surprising? Look at this this way. I’ve read through this entire thread and it seems like a dozen times I’ve read “she’s not my favorite, but….” or “I didn’t care for her really, but….” – you get the drift. As gifted a singer as she was, America just wasn’t enthusiastic enough about her to get their asses off the couch and vote for her, plain and simple. She was admired for her ability, but not liked. At least not enough. touche!

5. the internet is changing how the public vote and ultimately perceive the artists. from commenter rlarski in rickey.org: Example – my mom loves Pia, “she is so elegant and has a delightful voice”….so she called in and placed her single vote. Meanwhile people like me used the “internets” to vote 50 times for Casey because it only takes a few minutes, plus he’s awesome and looks like Will Ferrell from the cowbell sketch.

from sophia in reply: One of the reasons Paul has such an inexplicable following (myself included) is that he’s done a remarkable job branding himself with Twitter and social media. You may notice that everything on YouTube has been named “Paul McDonald and the Grand Magnolias.” I also think that he and Casey are some of the more active Tweeters in the bunch… This type of thing is changing the industry, as evidenced by Justin Bieber and TMZ on the show tonight. People pay attention when artists take the time to update their webpage, take pictures, etc. To me, that’s a sign of how committed they are to the music… Anybody with the slightest understanding of entertainment knows that you can’t just sit around and wait for somebody to “discover” your awesome talent. You have to be out there marketing and selling all the time…

right? right?! i mean look at rebecca black…

6. not many people fancy her style of singing. indulge me this one little rant. i still don’t understand why many people think good singing inevitably requires vocal belting. i know a few who can’t stand listening to it. personally, i don’t hate it, but i’d take adele over celine any day. not to say one is better than the other. simply means different people have different preferences. perhaps not too many preferred pia’s singing this week despite her effortlessly hitting those high notes… is that really unimaginable?

all of a sudden this morning, reports surfaced that pia signed a recording contract with interscope records less than 24 hours after her elimination. which was eventually clarified by her rep as “all rumor”.

how i feel about the whole thing? pia is far from my favorite, she was just too pageant-y to me, but i feel a little sad that she was eliminated this soon. inasmuch as i don’t favor belters, i thought it was necessary to have one in the mix for diversity. one rock (james), two country (lauren, scotty), one pop (stefano), one r&b (jacob), one soul (casey), one blues (haley, my new favorite since motown week!) and one… uh, i don’t even know how to classify paul. i guess that’s why he’s my favorite male this year.

well, that’s that.

oh, and i love pia’s dress during motown week. a long black jersey dress with embellishments along one side of the waist and a very low back. from A.B.S.

reminds me of kate hudson in emilio pucci in last year’s s.a.g. awards.

image from fashion rollcall.

man, how much i used to love stars. it was a minor obsession. i say minor because i wouldn’t die for them, but obsession nonetheless because i spent good money to acquire them and a lot of effort to stick small luminous stars all over my room’s ceiling and all four walls. they were all over me in the form of jewelries, clothes, downloaded logos (remember those pixelated things in the 90′s?), school supplies and tons of doodles that seem to ooze out of every page of every subject notebook.

i’m still very fascinated by stars, though i don’t have the natural inclination to doodle them as often anymore. but i could just imagine how my old self would have burst into spontaneous broadway song at the sight of dolce & gabbana’s a/w 2011 collection.

which reminds me… i do have a billowy chiffon star-spangled short dress myself. it’s from ukay and it’s just as pretty.

oh, and coincidentally, i’m listening to waiting for a star to fall by boy meets girl. honest, it’s all a coincidence. i didn’t mean to have a cheesy stars moment.

top 12. casey abram's head cut-out. is someone trying to sabotage him? oooh conspiracy theory. i'm joking.

anyway, next week is — ta-da! song from the year you were born week. sometimes i wish they come up with other themes, because this one, though innovative when it was used the first time, is starting to get old for me. but i must say it’s quite fun looking through hits the year you were born.

my favorite male and female, paul mcdonald and naima adedapo happen to be the most senior of the dozen. they were born in 1984, the year of george orwell’s dystopia according to his retro-futuristic novel. what 1984 really turned out to be was a year of tremendous hits from larger-than-life pop icons to which all other pop artists in the future will be compared (and will fail to measure up, i have to say).

if only george orwell could have seen michael jackson and thriller… yes, the song that defined a generation was released in 1984. plus my all-time girl inspiration songs, madonna’s holiday, cyndi lauper’s girls just wanna have fun and deniece williams’ let’s hear it for the boy! how about footloose by kenny loggins, caribbean queen by billy idol, all night long by lionel richie and uptown girl by billy joel? my most favorite that year: when doves cry by prince. no pop artist since has been as influential as those who burst into the scene in 1984.

what i wish paul would sing: what’s love got to do with it by tina turner or time after time by cyndi lauper. some of the most remarkable performances are those when male contestants interpret female songs. like andrew garcia and straight up. david cook and always be my baby (hackneyed, but memorable nonetheless). i would really love to see how paul sings any of those classics with his own eccentric spin. i seriously think he will choose something more obscure, though. that’s also why i like the guy, he’s so unpredictable.

what i wish naima would sing: 99 luftballons by nena or here comes the rain again by annie lennox. i just think these are perfect for her weird, non-conformist yet identifiable image. as opposed to last year’s crystal bowersox who, to me, looked hippie through and through (with the area rug and the microphone that looks like a bong).

my other favorite guy, casey abrams, was born in 1991. another very uplifting year for me in terms of music! this is the year when my friends and i started memorizing songs from the radio, dressing up for lip-synch sessions with hairbrushes for microphones. the year when we idolized female singers to the point of worshipping them. i was chynna phillips in our little wilson phillips wannabe moments. we have their album in cassette. we also have amy grant, janet jackson and, gasp, of course, paula abdul!!! to this day, i can sing you’re in love, baby baby, love will never do without you and rush rush by heart. we danced to good vibrations by marky mark and the funky bunch, 3am eternal by klf, things that make you go hmmm… by c+c music factory.

what i wish casey would sing: the motown song by rod stewart. this song is very up paul mcdonald’s alley, but he’s been compared to rod stewart too often, it might seem as if he’s just projecting expectations. casey can do this song so much justice, himself, perhaps even sound more fresh and exciting given his jazzy style. oooooooooooooooooooooh, how about suzanne vega’s tom’s diner with the upright bass that has made him famous?? oh mighty fates, please let casey interpret tom’s diner with the upright bass.

steven tyler, jennifer lopez and randy jackson. steven is always great to watch, but it wasn’t until the other night when they had to bleep him a few times did he become a thrill to listen to, because i wish he were more scathing in his remarks. wait… he was bleeped for things he said that are the exact opposite of scathing remarks; he’s just too kind most of the time. jlo, well, she’s like the next paula abdul, but everyone who knows me knows that there is only one paula in my books. and randy… oh, randy. i think this year he is beginning to sound sensible. is it because he’s the veteran judge?

i miss simon.

last year, my favorites lily scott, tyler grady and jermaine sellers were eliminated too early. when i say too early, i mean as early as prior to the big stage where the dirty dozen moves on to better things like dramatic lights and sliding staircases and humongous led-projected images, etc., etc. and so forth.

so when idol changed the format (yet again) this year, letting only five of each gender move on to the second live show (plus wild card picks), i just put my hands up and thought as usual my favorites aren’t getting through with all the bizarre voting patterns that have been going on.

but, you know what, i was wrong. i may not be a jinxed fan, after all.

paul mcdonald with the disturbingly white set of teeth, the raspy voice and loose swagger (man, this word is used too often in that show) is my favorite and possibly major crush…

…casey abrams, who makes me think of reefers (oh please, admit it, he reminds you of the same things too) and dark corner hipster pubs that allow cats on the tabletops…

…and jacob lusk, the closest to an old school r&b singer as we can get this year (or any other year, for that matter)…

…all sailed through to the next round. as for the girls, i can’t say i have a particular favorite, though for weirdness, i want to say naima adedapo. but she is still no lily scott nor megan joy corkrey. so far.

so, did your favorites make it through?

the worst part of this is the primetime telecast here in fiji is way past my bedtime. yep, i’m like a grade school kid who needs to be in bed at a certain hour. it’s called discipline, bitches. a.k.a. best skincare routine.

why i’d hate missing this year’s oscars: if trent reznor wins best original score for his work in the social network, i would miss seeing him accept an oscar. who would want to miss that??

actually, he looked like this…

 

…when he accepted the golden globe for the same category. along with co-writer atticus ross.

someone notify me immediately if they pull the same upset today.

update: and they did win. now that i think about it, it’s not really much of an upset, is it? well-deserved.

the book, written by sara gruen, itself has gained a following even before talks of a movie adaptation surfaced. but when it was confirmed some time ago that mr. edward cullen himself was playing jacob, the following increased probably ten-fold thanks to the world’s most ravenous fans.

i’m not sure how literary snobs view this sudden popular attention from girls a-twitter to one book destined to be a modern classic (a book most of them would likely not even glance at if it weren’t affiliated with pattinson), but i am all for moving this story from the pages to the big screen whatever which way they want to do it. besides, i can always count on obsessed fans to post behind-the-scenes photos online.

this one, for instance. probably the part where jacob jankowski tries to hop onto a passing train.

directed by francis lawrence (constantine, i am legend), the movie is scheduled for release in 2011.

here’s jacob bruised and bloodied.

playing marlena, the beautiful rider in the circus’ equestrian act, is reese witherspoon.

she and robert play the star-crossed lovers, and, as rumors have it, are creating such wonderful chemistry, it might make the alleged girlfriend jealous.

in the role of the antagonist, august (animal trainer in the book, ringleader in the movie), is cristoph waltz. the one who made our jaws drop in awe as col. hans landa, the ss jew hunter in inglourious basterds.

here are jacob and august in what appears to be a conversation on top of a moving train.

and here they are… uh, probably going on set.

mark povinelli plays kinko/walter, the little man jacob makes friends with.

author sara gruen herself makes a cameo appearance. here she is with tai, the elephant who plays rosie.

since this is a circus movie, expect more animals…

let’s not forget the streets for the big parade.

and, of course, the circus train where much of the story occurs.

and here are my three favorite photos on set, so far.

true to devoted fan form, robert pattinson followers have put up an unofficial website for the movie. probably one of the best fan-made movie sites today, it is the most comprehensive source of information on water for elephants you can ever hope to find. including set photos, casting calls, tweets from people involved in the film and even this very interesting account from an extra. with journalistic tenacity, one blogger even went on location to take photos of the old hotel where some scenes were shot.

my favorite photos from her “coverage”:

head on down to the website for more things water for elephants. even if you aren’t a big fan of pattinson, you would find the goings-on behind the scenes such a magical thing to behold. let the fangirls unfold this spectacle before your very eyes!

the social network, based on ben mezrich’s book the accidental billionaires: the founding of facebook, a tale of sex, money, genius and betrayal, premiers october 1 this year. that’s right, facebook. your favorite cyber hangout has a founding story rich enough for a red carpet premier in tinseltown. a history from six long(?) years ago.

it features jesse eisenberg, andrew garfield, justin timberlake, brenda song and rashida jones. and the score will be written by none other than trent reznor of nine inch nails. it is directed by david fincher (se7en, fight club, alien 3, panic room, zodiac, the curious case of benjamin button). with all these names behind it, it has this tremendous pressure to be cool.

image from manny the movie guy.

the book on which the movie was based was published mid-09 and has been reported as an unreliable resource for straight, hard facts. mezrich, after all, is given to exaggeration (e.g., burning down the house, which served as basis for the gambling movie 21; story here) and many incidents you read in the book never occurred at all. or so write certain sources. say, the part where one of the founders pick up a victoria’s secret model at a party, which is widely known as an embellishment (check this too: says here that the book proposal had saverin making out with the hottie, but the published work had zuckerberg doing that instead. way to make facts hold water).

it is said that mark zuckerberg, facebook ceo, is not a fan of the book nor the movie and has even expressed his dislike publicly.

as for the movie rearing its head in facebook ads, that seems to be very unlikely too, given the parameters of posting ads there (story here).

in any case, i would most likely watch it because i am not so jaded as to believe everything in a film that says “based on a true story”. i did watch 21 and enjoyed it. there’s nothing the matter with simply thinking it was entirely a piece of fiction, even though burning down the house was a long-standing bestseller in the nonfiction genre.

but it’s a different case with the social network. unlike 21 where most moviegoers would likely feel detached from the card sharks since not many of us know how to play blackjack and even less actually gamble in casinos, mezrich’s next book-to-movie work may leave a deeper imprint as, although very little of us understand their coding jargon, we are so insanely familiar with facebook that it’s easy to feel for the founders as depicted in the movie. it’s really up to you whether to believe it or not.

for the reason of david fincher alone, i recommend we watch it. before se7en was released, people were already wary of it being just another silly horror flick, but look at how it turned out. before fight club was released, people were saying it was just going to be a movie with losers beating each other up, but look at how it turned out. for the social network, i would like to put my faith in the david fincher.

trailer here:

anyhow, here are a few facts about social networking sites (sns) i gathered (i swear, i didn’t fabricate anything. i write what i read from reliable sources. or at least i think they are reliable):

• based on the definition of sns, the very first of its kind was sixdegrees.com created in 1994 but defunct by 2001.
• the first sns to utilize features to find and manage friends as we know them now is friendster in 2002. when it went live the first quarter of ’03, it spread so fast and so thoroughly that such publications as time (even citing it as one of the 50 coolest sites), esquire and vanity fair wrote about it and its innovations. its creators themselves appeared in several talk shows.
• friendster was followed by myspace, linkedin and bebo a year later. facebook emerged in 2004 and has since grown to become the largest.
• by 2008(?) it is said that there are over 250 active sns. though this source, written in 2006, claim there are around 650. it is hard to determine how many there really are as scores of them spring up and get put down through certain periods.
• facebook clearly dominates the race for members with over 400 million as of this period. it looks poised to break the 500 million mark soon.
• how about the other popular sites? myspace: 130 million, twitter: 75 million, bebo: 40 million, hi5: 80 million, friendster: 90 million, orkut: 100 million, windows live spaces: 120 million, qzone (china): 200 million. as you can see, no one comes close to facebook.
• facebook was initially meant as an exclusive harvard only networking site.

how about you, which sns are you a member of?

who is he, you ask? he was anton in terry gilliam’s the imaginarium of doctor parnassus. if that performance is not enough to convince you that he has the acting chops to leave an indelible mark in the business, maybe you weren’t really paying attention. or maybe you think it doesn’t really take much acting to pull off the role of the friendly neighborhood spider-man…

he is 26 years old and, like tobey maguire before him, has that schoolboy look that can pass for a high school peter parker. he was a gymnast, so we can be assured that he can hack the action sequences.

the next spider-man film, slated for 2012, will be rebooted (that is, the series will start over with new ideas) and sam raimi will no longer be involved. it will instead be directed my marc webb (who was signed into the project last january), renowned music video director who has worked with some of the biggest names in music since 1997. the only movie credit to his name is the critically acclaimed (500) days of summer, a film that shows he can give the mary jane – peter romance angle superb vision, but has yet to prove his mettle in faced-paced action.

going back to andrew… you might also remember him as todd in lions for lambs and francis in the other boleyn girl. for his performance as jack in boy a he won a bafta award in 2008. he has also appeared on television, most notably in the crime drama red riding.

with his male model good looks, he will certainly leave a horde of swooning ladies in his wake as spidey.

speaking of modeling, he appeared in vogue december last year with one imaginarium co-star, model lily cole, in a hansel-and-gretel-inspired photo shoot. no less than annie leibovitz herself is responsible for these ethereal photos. i’m sure you can spot lady gaga in two of these.

images from comic book resources, the independent, fametastic and vogue.

while many girls ogle at carrie bradshaw’s and blair waldorf’s wardrobes, i find fi’s fashion sense more to my liking. first of all, it is by far more accessible than carrie’s or blair’s. and given burn notice is set in miami where the sun shines all year (as it does in the philippines and fiji), her style is something that can translate to our reality. well, that is, if we can starve and exhaust ourselves into her unreal physique…

check those abs then let’s check ours. she just turned forty. pardon me while i nurse my self-esteem.

season 4 of burn notice premiered early this month and we can’t wait to get a load of more michael et al as they work their way through undercover miami negotiating with money launderers, transacting with counterfeiters and dealing with weapons runners.

if you admire fiona as much as i do, you might want to emulate her style. it’s not very hard to follow. here are the key pieces in her wardrobe:

• oversize sunglasses
• tank tops and basic cotton tees
• billowy tops
• scarf tops or scarf dresses
• straight or slim cut jeans
• lingerie as outerwear
• shirtdress
• short shorts (but not hot pants)
• sensible yet stylish wedges
• stacked bracelets, usually rope and beads
• leather strap wristwatch
• that brown fanny pack — i think she single-handedly made this bag look sexy for this generation
• and… uh, guns. do not include in your wardrobe.

here are a few photos for inspiration:

you wouldn’t mess with a girl playing with fire, would you?

i think michael and fi make the hottest couple on tv today.

good news for burn notice fans! the show has been officially renewed for two more seasons! that’s right, we can expect more michael, fi, sam and madeline in the next two years!

photos from usa network, coconut grove grapevine, ign, tv guide, zimbio.

dakota fanning

there was a time when dakota fanning creeped me out. back when she was just 12/13 and she dressed like a big person already. that’s what hollywood does to a girl, i guess. it makes them grow up so fast, average teens will want to catch up at the expense of their health…

anyway, as to style, there is nothing much to complain about. but nothing to rave about, either. although the dresses themselves are pretty, overall i find them predictable and quite boring. as many fashion critics put it, “prom-y”, though i wouldn’t go as low as that because, hey, what’s wrong with a prom, especially for one who just turned sixteen?? in fact, that dress she wore to the “coraline” premiere is the same one she wore in her high school prom.

and the hair. she hasn’t experimented with anything outside of letting it straight down. i think i’d like to see her in an updo one of these days.

naacp image awards

cfda fashion awards

people’s choice awards

palm springs film festival

critics choice awards

“push” premiere

“runaways” premiere

“new moon” premiere

“the secret life of bees” premiere

“coraline” premiere

“runaways” premiere

saoirse ronan (pronounces seer’-sha. one of those irish names… like siobhan)

while having starred in only eight films yet (against dakota’s over thirty), saoirse has garnered enough experience to match skills with some of the veterans. nominated for an academy award and bafta, won a critics choice award and ifta among others, her roles in “atonement” and “the lovely bones” made us all sit up and stare.

style-wise, there is more variety in her wardrobe which makes her more exciting to look at. she seems more open to trying out different silhouettes and hairstyles, i look forward to even her shoes. she may have given me the creeps as briony tallis is “atonement”, but she is such a pleasure to watch on the red carpet.

irish film and television awards

“the lovely bones” premiere

bafta awards

“death defying acts” premiere

critics choice awards

“the lovely bones” premiere

bafta awards

“the lovely bones” premiere

“the lovely bones” premiere

so this one goes to saoirse ronan.

can’t wait to see her in more movies and events.

photos from zimbio and just jared.