this AF thing

I was never a big fan of a certain reality TV show, like the Akademi Fantasia, as I had mentioned it here in my blog before.

I mean, I understand the objectives of such programme, in order to dig out the young singing/performing talents that might have hidden among the current generation of kids. What I just couldn't understand is the sort of fanaticism that comes with it, among the viewers of the TV show, which somehow overshadows the real important effort of un-earthing such great talents, IF there WERE any in the first place to start with.

In my opinion, as long as the judges had done a good joob in narrowing down the contestants during the preliminary rounds, then the latter part should be too hard to deal with. Unfortunately that doesn't always seems to be the case.

For most of the times, the producer seems to be just happy to rely on mere good looks, sans any singing talents at all. Of course when it comes to show like Akademi Fantasia (AF), or any other show for that matter, THAT's what seems to sell. Millions worth of TXT messages sent by these so-called fans, to ensure that their favourite singer stays in. Don't worry if he/she couldn't sing in-tempo, or sings out-of-tune, or didn't even have a nice personality to start with. If they're cute, keep them in!

Sad. But that's the truth which you can see, really happening.

In the current season of AF, based on my short observance during my recent trip back to KL, I was sad to find out that among all their contestants, there were only (at least in MY opinion) 2 or 3 of them (all girls) who really deserve to be there. There rest were only filler, to maximise the SMS-voting money-return potentials.

And then, there was also this Mawi phenomenon. He's an under-achiever whom many, well at-least a significant portion of the viewers, want to win the contest. I'm not sure why, but it must be in context of all this Malaysia Boleh chant, to prove that no matter what your background is, you CAN do it if you try.

A noble thinking indeed, but ONLY made sense if it really has substance.

I personally don't think Mawi was such a hot contestant to start with. His singing was just mediocre, and at times quite restricted to a certain style. And don't even think of mentioning the fact that he had sang out-of-tempo on a few occasions during the concerts.

On the other hand, there are others who actually GOT the potential, like the youngest among them all, Amylea, who deserves to win, but probably won't because she couldn't rake in the votes needed. LOT$$$ of them.

The funny thing was, even all my sisters had joined this Mawi-world (don't ask me, THAT's his favourite tagline) bandwagon. And not forgetting my Mom too *face-palms*, although she much prefers if he keep himself stay doing the qari (quran reciting) thingy, like any other Malay mothers would love their kids to be, rather than indulging in the so-called sinful life of the popstars. Oh the horror! ;-)

So even when I returned to Perth, I managed to satisfy my curiousity of what happened to the latter part of AFs, through the writings that I could find in the blogsphere. The musings from this person is my favourite, since it's always bias-ly entertaining (haha) and informative too. (Thanks fiebie!)

The latest news is that they are up to the final four contestants, which means the Grand Final is just around the corner. And as expected, Mawi's in; along with Amylea, Felix and Marsha (to loosely^ quote from fiebie, fighting among themselves for the first, second and third runner-up places!)

Frankly speaking, all is still not lost. What required now is some pro-active actions from the factions of voters who do NOT support Mawi.

(Hehehe.. sorry-lah Along, Angah and Usu.. I STILL don't think he's THAT good a singer! :-P)

It's a well known scenario that Mawi got the most number of supports in term of SMS votings. So the only way to deal with it, is for the remainder of the voters to group together, and decide which one among the three other finalists (being Amylea, Felix and Marsha) truly DESERVES to win, and concentrate voting on THAT person instead!

It's probably still a long way shot, but still worth trying, I think.

And of course, if you ask me, I still think Amylea is the best bet. But then, THAT might be the hidden fanatic side of me doing the talking. We'll never know!

AFundi AMYLEA!!

;-)

*****

^EDITED 3rd August 2005: Because this was what he really said in his entry..

"... At least ada jugak le 3 orang yang berbakat besar dalam AF tu akan memperjuangan tempat ke dua, tiga dan empat..."

Malaysia Boleh indeed!