Last Day Of 2009...

And what a year it has been....

Big things happened in 2009, but I've been so wrapped up in Idol and the kids, I can't remember past Obama's election (wait, that was last year!), Michael Jackson's passing, Oprah announcing the end of her show, and Lady Gaga's Bad Romance being played everywhere. But more than anything in entertainment, for me (and for you too I hope), this year was about Singapore Idol.

Tonight will be the last time your Top 12 will be performing together (technically 10 + Idol Airi, cos Justin Jap's missing from tonight's line up, he's flying off to the U.S. to go be a doctor!). Celebrate 2010 will see them performing a new song - shall not spoil the surprise - and its the first time they worked together on their own, without vocal coach Ann, to sort out who would sing what on the song ;)

In the meantime, here are some backstage pics from rehearsals at The Float @ Marina Bay (click to enlarge). If you haven't decided what to do yet for tonight, come on down and join Celebrate 2010. Tickets are available at sistic counters islandwide for $30. If you've still got your Singapore Idol Grand Finals ticket stub, bring it along to sistic and you'll get a $10 discount! Awesome not?

Last round of rehearsals start today at 2pm at The Float. There will be road closures tonight, so grab public transport k! Preshow starts at 8pm - don't forget to catch Idol-related bands - Juxtapose (Airi's band) and heregoesnothing! (Farhan's band). Also worth catching - our very own 'idol' ex-intern, Syarif and his partner-in-crime Alif, who together form the fab duo 'Sleeq' - they'll definitely be performing their hit song 'Moviestar'. The Idols themselves have got some pre-show items too, so don't be late.

11pm, we go LIVE, so those at home can tune in to Channel 5. Catch your Singapore Idol Sezairi Sezali with your Top 12, they should be comin' on early, and they'll appear again for the countdown just before midnight.

Thereafter, its a danceparty to welcome in the New Year, all the way to 3am! Come on down and rub shoulders with the artistes! The very hawt Michelle Chia, Jade Seah and Nat Ho have hosting duties alongside our very own Gurms. :)

So, ok folks, last moment to catch your Top 12 all on stage together - really something you don't want to miss if you can help it!

xoxo, s.

ps. I won't be able to be at Marina Bay tonight, gotta be with my kids, but I'll be passing my camera to Izked so that he can film what he can of the pre-show. Definitely Sleeq, Juxtapose and heregoesnothing! So either one of us will put those up later.

pps. I'll be posting the rehearsal vids tonight but only after they've performed (don't want to ruin the surprise song choice), should be before midnight, so watch for them on my Youtube channel, summerr77. (if you know what they're gonna sing, ZIP IT, so others can still be surprised).

ppPs. PLUS, look out for my post featuring vids of the Idols with their New Year's Resolutions for 2010!

Brand New Trailer Shoot

Top 6 - Thats more than halfway through!

Singapore has sent 7 of the top 13 home, so that means we're just over the halfway mark of the Spectaculars, and just over a month shy of the grand finale at the Indoor Stadium - cue echo-ey boom when I say 'Indoor Stadium' <-- cos that's how it sounds in my head when I say it - that performing space is a BIG DEAL.

What do you do when you get to the halfway mark? You cut brand new awesome trailers thats what! Everyone's look has changed over the last 7 weeks (more in fact, since the last trailer shoot was in September!) and I think so has their confidence and personality in front of the camera. These new trailer should reflect their newfound on-cam maturity. Even if it doesn't - haha, excuse to look glam as hell! :) Check out these pics (click to enlarge) and behind-the-scenes (very random!) vids I grabbed (I had about 2 hours with them :P) on Sunday.

The first person I meet on set right outside the studio is Sezairi, scarfing down some fried chicken :) I record this after he's wiped his teeth clean :)

Next up, Producer Jolene asks Tabby and Duane to show her around the set and explain what they are doing. Since most of the footage is usually edited into a 20sec vid for the show, I tagged along so you can see what was recorded in full NG glory with pauses and rubbish dialogue ;) - Farhair are you missing the Broom & Mop show now?




Here are some shots of Charlie and Airi doing their 'holiday' liners with a Channel 5 producer. Every year Channel 5 records tons of greetings with celebs for the holidays and it gets edited into lil 'Season's Greetings' promos that air during the holiday season.



Ok this is so random, I was talking to Airi about dunno what and then he just said, look at Tabby in the light - LOL!

This is the group shot for the trailer - have no idea what the concept is, but omg they all look so good!!!! Its like a cast shot for 'Melrose Place' or 'Gossip Girl' even! LURVE IT! Can't wait to see the end product!

Four brand new concept trailers were shot with all 6 Idols, each for an upcoming Spectacular theme. As usual, as the weeks pass, and someone gets eliminated, they will be edited out, or more appropriately, 'not-edited-into' the trailer. Sigh. Its tough even typing that. I don't want ANY of them to go :(

Anyway, hope you enjoyed whatever footage/pics I got. The shoot started early at 7am and ended at 9pm. I only got 2 hours with them in the afternoon (had prior commitments) so I only got to see wardrobe/shoot for 1 concept - however Producer Jolene was kind enough to let me peek at her cam and woot! there's a hip-hop concept *wink* that looks awesome. I quote Sezairi : "the girls looked DAMN HAWT man!" <-- lets hope they last long enough so we can see them in that outfit for whatever theme that was for! (or if I manage to sweet talk the promo producers enough - they'll give me some screen shots of the girls beforehand! *fingers crossed*)

Some other quotes from Airi and Charles who were drooling, oops, I mean 'talking' about the girls...

"Wahlao Trace, you missed it man! Tabby and Sylvia damn hawt man in that hip hop concept!"

"I was like looking at Sylvia and just ....*mouth open & pupils dilated*"

"She was wearing shorts and I've got this hotpants and legs fetish man!"

Your guess on who said what ... I'm not giving it away hehe.... both guys are attached! (oops, sorry boys, did I get you all into trouble? Hope not - cos I know your gfs are WAAAAY more secure than that right!)

On to the scheduled posts for tonight y'all!

xoxo, s.

Charity CarWash @ Dempsey Hill

Workin' at the carwash....

85% pictorial post....:) Cos a picture speaks a thousand words LOL!

10% : Today, your Idol Top 8 pitched in to raise money in a charity carwash organised by MediaCorp. Broken up into teams, they were up against other teams like The Polo Boys (who raised the highest amount of cash) and Idol Alums, from season 2 - Nurul Mydeen, Paul Twohill, Gayle Nerva, Joakim Gomez and one more guy in green but I couldn't recognise him, only saw him for a split second! (Will check and get back to you... :P so sorry! - was it Norman?)

85% : Here are the pics!

5% : Just got a text from Promo Guru Suresh, the highest bid the Idols got was $500 from a fan of Mae's - the fan's Daddy paid the $$ without hesitation apparently - good on ya Sir for helping out the charity! :)

Well done Idols - you worked hard today, and guess what folks - TOMORROW (SUNDAY), is the first 'off' day the Idols will get since Bootcamp! Nothing scheduled - it says 'REST DAY' on the schedule ! Woot!

Have a great Sunday my LODIs!

xoxo, s.

ps. A very special word of thanks to the fans on facebook who posted their 'carwash pics' which I 'borrowed' here in the post - Siti Rahayu and Sariah Aiera. All credits to those pics belong to them.

pps. Idol off day = Blogger's off day! = DOUBLE WOOT! :)

More random vids from Keycheck

NOTE : I prepared this post yesterday afternoon, but it took FOREVER to upload the vids, so here it finally is more than 24 hours later pfft.....

Last week at Keycheck after the show, I got some vids of the guys singing the songs that they're planning to sing for this week - then I ran outta batt!

So here's the 2 vids of Airi I recorded before my cam died and Mae's reaction to finally getting to sing her #1 song choice :) Enjoy.

Its a hot and lazy monday afternoon - I am sans babysitters today, so won't get to join the Idols at their choreo session today though :(

They've been at mediacorp all day for radio interviews, wardrobe imaging (this is where they sort out what they will be wearing on Idol Day) and later choreo with Zaki @ 5pm.

Group song this week

Iz is with them (all day every day :)), so look out for his tweets and pics here.

xoxo, s.

IT'S IDOL DAY! The One With All The Vids

Its' Idol Day y'all!

(cue Idol music te ne ne ne ne ne ne ne....)

OMG, today we will know who the other 6 of the Top 12 will be. No pressure Group 2. No pressure at all.

In the spirit of 'No pressure', I'd like to share with you all a couple of vids and pics that were taken during Group 2's Vocal Training last Saturday (mostly of those who were hanging around, waitin' for their turn) and Choreo on Monday.

Its really just vids of the LODIs bein' themselves ie silly.... so sit back, relax, have a laugh...

Jon was a little tired and blur when I recorded this - but he still looks kinda adorable right girls? Aw, give the poor soul a hug and some reassurance.

You're not a noob la... (whatever that is...testament to my age that I have no idea what noob is)

I loved that one of Mae - she is hilarious I tell you.

Next up, Justin decides to be the Idol Behind-The-Scenes reporter. Ahem, pass or fail? LOL!

Mae - fail! Very difficult (to) interview!

All funny stuff aside, here are some pretty awesome clips of a Sezairi/Justin showcase. Gabby later takes the guitar over too with Linger (check it out on Youtube if you didn't see it in my earlier post).

Hope you enjoyed that? I certainly did. Its a pity we don't have much of Sam and Sylvia who went off earlier. You can see vids of Ben, Duane and Gabrielle taken from the same day from my earlier post here. Or browse summerr77 at Youtube.

Today's D-Day for Group 2. Everyone's due at Mediacorp first thing in the morning and they'll be spending the day there doing run throughs for tonight's show.

I'll be at MediaCorp later this evening to catch up with Group 2, and also Group 1 who will be coming in to support their Idol friends too. Look out for my tweets and twitpics this evening!

Lets all hope for a great show (no dead air, no bad jokes, no bad performances) and hope your favourites go through - VOTE ppl!

xoxo, s.