In Kerala and in touch with ISS season 4

Oh, yes! I try best to stay in touch though ISS Season 4 is filled with "cringe" moments.

I wanted to post regularly about the best talent on ISS 4 but many singers about whom I wrote big failed in their second performances althoug some did manage both their first two performances well and some who failed in their first did well in the second. One of those was Danny who gave a splendid performance yesterday with Hariharan's song from "Garshom". Neetu about whom I wrote earlier did well in her performance round yesterday too. Both of them scoring 80+ though Danny was the big star yesterday.

Arun Naik, scolded by judges runs the gauntlet on ISS Season 4

Sometimes I even wonder why I am watching this show. Most of the time I am only listening to it from the adjacent room unless it is something I like to watch, particularly a good performance. But eventually I end up watching more parts of the show.

I wanted to write this post earlier appalled by the way judges were taking Arun Naik for a ride during his second introductory performance but time was a constraint. I am sure Arun's rating would have only gone up and would have only won him more sympathy from the thousands who watched him early this week.

True, it wasn't Arun's day that day but being told things like "...ahangaaram koodi ..." by M G Sreekumaran and Sharath's, (translated into English) "...could have practised when you were getting calls from new fans.." were just too much even for the audience to take. Imagine all this being told in the presence of Arun's mother. The judges wouldn't stop and one after the other it looked they enjoyed whipping the poor guy. Only Chithra's words didn't seem that harsh. I think Shwetha did one good thing by giving him an affectionate hug and consoling the sobbing Arun. It looked so sad. Asianent is sure selling this emotional roller-coaster. So are they encouraging judges to scold competitors.

And as usual, Ranjini was at her usual worst during such incidents. Don't know when she is going to shut her mouth or get out of the show. Why can't there be a voting for her?

Unusual rain in mid May

It has been raining cats and dogs here for more than half an hour accompanied by thunder and lightning. My Tata sky set hasn't been receiving any signal. So what do I do? Go out in the rain, of course. I miss Chaithu. Cannot describe how it felt to wash away that sunburns in the refreshing soothing rain. Wonder how long it will last but the rains are coming down harder now.

So soothing for the kind of weather we've been having. I was so envious that in the Malayalam channels umbrella advertisements were already showing.

Shane Fitzgerald's prank exposes the state of journalism today

Last year, April, 2008 to be precise, I wrote a post about how The Hindu had copied or lifted an article from Wikipedia and claimed it was an authentic article of theirs as they had an author's name below the article. They then replicated the same on their online edition too.

Click here to read my post.

After this The Hindu has been doing it repeatedly (I am sure they were doing it before too) but it is only now that I realise that newspapers all over the world have been doing it.

The expose came when Shane Fitzgerald a student in Ireland deliberately made a fake entry in Wikipedia about the late French composer Maurice Jarre. According to Shane the late Maurice is said to have made the following quote:

"One could say my life itself has been one long soundtrack. Music was my life, music brought me to life, and music is how I will be remembered long after I leave this life. When I die there will be a final waltz playing in my head that only I can hear."

Though Wikipedia did its best to authenticate it and even remove it, the damage was already done. Newspapers and blogs around the world lifted the hoax quote and published them. The Guardian was one.

Once the hoax was revealed The Guardian even apolologized for the error.

You can read the entire article of the hoax here on Wikipedia or here on yahoo news.

And worst of all. Here is something I am going to predict. The Hindu may innocently copy even this report from Yahoo or Wikipedia into their papers not knowing how many out there know they are copying articles, posts and news items from the internet. Let us see if my prediction will come true.

What a way to show off that you voted!

That's my picture of the picture that appeared in The Hindu of one of India's popular families "showing the finger" to the press after they cast their votes.

Am I to believe that Amitabh, Abishek and Aishwarya are so naive they don't know what that gesture of their finger means? At least Aishwarya's and Amitabh's finger-showing doesn't look so bad but Abishek is actually and clearly showing the finger. Did he do that on purpose?

Well they could have simply got the indelible ink on their forefinger and it wouldn't have looked so bad.

And why is the press trying to take picture proofs of people casting their votes.

For a leading newspaper such as The Hindu that published this picture I wonder if any thought of editing took place to inclulde that pic. Don't tell me that the people at The Hindu are also so naive they don't know that gesture of the hand or did they?

Coldplay in trouble again

In January 2006 I wrote a review of ColdPlay's album X and Y on Amazon.com. You can check the review here where I wrote how Colplay is nothing but a overly hyped U2 clone. I did a song by song comparison of their music and the music of the originals from where things have been lifted. Coldplay did credit the German band "Kraftwerk" for lifting some of their tunes.

Now a third artiste has accused Coldplay of plagiarism. First it was a band from New York, then it was ace guitarist Joe Satriani and now Cat Stevens.

I actually wonder whether these guys are capable of anything original. Beats, keys, bass, guitar, singing, group vocals, piano notes are all lifted from the music of other bands, particularly U2. The most copied element is the singing style of U2's frontman Bono's vocals.

If U2 sues them it will not surprise me.

When to mute your TV while watching Idea Star Singer

I only wonder why the people behind the show cannot watch other reality shows elsewhere on other channels to find out how they are being conducted and replicate the same or make improvements to the very popular show where so much of talented singers are participating.

Apart from the garish sets, the uncomfortable judges seats, these are the moments when I mute my T.V's audio -

1. The moment they have that ominous sounding music just after a performance and before the judges give their verdict where the judges are seen pretending they are in a big discussion. This is a new feature totally unecessary.

2. Another sick new feature when they ask one of the members in the audience if the marks given to a participant was good judgement. None of the members so far have said anything contrary to marks given by the judges so as to give an impression that everything was done fair. Totally Sick! The whole thing looks so phony and rigged too.

and "of course" When Ranjini does her talking.

Instead of making this show better why do these guys have to resort to such sick tactics?

More good talent on ISS Season 4

The first female talent and what a stunner, Shika from Trishoor gave a splendid performance of L R Eswari's tamil hit "Pattathu Raani". I loved her confidence.



Then comes Anu Jos with her 10,000 watt smile and brimming with confidence as well.
Anu's song selection could have been better but her performance was lovely with small but elegant dance moves.



Earlier Vishnu Kurup gave a commendable performance adding to the competition among the men.

ISS season 4, good male competition

From the singers I have been watching so far from the new set of singers, the first three were really good namely, Arun Nayak, Jithendra Varma and the athletic Srinath who sang beautifully with a great voice.

On the contrary none of the girls have been impressive so far. But that looks like it will change today.

ISS Season 4 gets off to a nice start, Arun Naik already a star?

I didn't watch IPL yesterday. Chennai Super Kings gave Deccan Charges a thrashing. Instead I watched Idea Star Singer Season 4. Somehow I was curious to see the new version. The sets are more atrocious with some lawn like thing in the foreground and some fruits (or are they fruits?) and balloons in the middle.

Chithra shouldn't have emoted the crying part of the song she was asked to sing.

But the guy who stole the show was Arun Naik, truly a star in the making for now. So I am curious to see what the other singers are made up too.

Couldn't locate the song he sang at ISS yesterday but here's another from the programme.



Somehow Ranjini didn't seem as obnoxious as she does or is it that I am getting used to her too.