Saturday, August 09, 2008

MTV Asia Award 2008 Commentaries

(You can watch the videos online at the Official MTV Asia Awards website.)

Instead of me just rambling on and on by myself about the awesomeness of the MTV Asia Awards, why not I compare my opinions with that of a professional (or maybe not that professional. We'll see)?

With reference to this article in Utusan Malaysia, written by Shazryn Mohd. Faizal on the 4th of August, there's plenty of issues that are arguable and debatable.

Before I go on, the above statement of me questioning his integrity as a reporter is only thanks to one statement:

Masalah besar yang dihadapi oleh pihak media tempatan adalah apabila media tempatan telah dilayan seperti kelas kedua dan seolah-olah dipinggirkan.
Right. Because media reporters need to be given special priviledges. *rolls eyes* Reporters are supposed to tell the people who did not go to the event what happened, what special moments occurred, how well it went, and their opinions on the matter. None of which, mind, requires special seats nor special passes. Heck, I'm doing a reporting on the event now myself. And we had horrible seats to boot (ugh, I hate standing on the sides of any stage... Sitting on the right side of the stage made us unable to see the podium properly).

Well anyway, YES I was unhappy that only one Malaysian act performed, I was unhappy that the event, which in my opinion was created to showcase Asian music to the world, ended up doing the opposite (showcasing foreign acts to the Asians), and I was unhappy that there was nothing new and fresh brought by the awards.

But why dwell on the bad? One can and should complain to the organizers about the lack of local performances and hope they fix that in next year's event (Jac not performing? At all? WTF?), but hey, one can and should praise the wonderful performances that the artistes gave, too.

The Pussycat Dolls were explosive, and gave an excellent opening to a wonderful evening. They wore less revealing attires too, after last year's (was it last year?) slip-up. Not that it mattered much. They're the PCD after all.

One Republic and Lewis were my personal highlights of the evening. Being lucky enough to be able to hear their (Ryan Tedder and Leona Lewis) voices live is alone well worth the efforts of getting the tickets. Not to mention Leona owes me that much, thanks to my persistent voting for her while I was living in Ireland ;)

Panic! At the Disco, I wasn't too impressed with. The recorded version was good, but when it went life, it turned sucky. Maybe because Brendon kept running off-key.

Another highlight was the performance of Project E.A.R., specifically Marabahaya. Damnit, that song is absolutely awesome. It has energy, sing-along-a-bility and dance-a-bility. Which made me even more frustrated as this song has such huge potential to be marketable outside Malaysia, and beyond just the Nusantara. I can absolutely imagine this song being played by DJs in clubs and whatnot. Damn it, it's not happening right now. Urgh. Come on people, wake up and start marketing this song!

On a personal note, thanks to our fortunate placement, we sat behind the VIP seats. Which of course led to lots and lots of flashes everytime the celebs come back from performing or receiving and award. Too bad near the end the international celebrities failed to return, so we couldn't get hold of (physical term also applies) them. But we got the local ones. Best part was I could shake hands with awesome people like Jac, Ella and Dina. They make superb music that it was an absolute honor to have been graced with their presence (and willingness to pose for a fan's camera). You guys rock!



Friday, August 08, 2008

The MTV Asia Awards

Too lazy to say anything atm. Spent a couple of hours uploading the damn photos... Will update when I have the mood...

For now, enjoy the pics!!!

http://flickr.com/photos/11981458@N07/

2nd August, Part 1

Pre-MTV Asia Awards at Genting.

The MTV Asia Awards itself deserves a post of its own.

I thought punctuality was one of my strengths, one that I can offer to my future employees to show my capabilities in the workplace.

Not today, apparently. Sorry Izad. I blame the panic on the hotel thingy.

Anyway, so I arrived late at KL Sentral, which meant we missed the bus to Genting (we didn't book any tickets), which eventually meant we'll be taking the 3 p.m. bus to Genting. Whee.

Considering we had time to kill, we decided to hop on the RapidKL and went to the PC Fair at the KL convention Centre.

Near KLCC we managed to pose with some Jedi Clones (haha, get it?). I want a lightsaber.

I had no intentions of spending much money that day... but oh well. At least (or I dearly hope) it was well worth getting the new headphones, a pendrive and a laptop vacuum (don't ask). On second thought I think they are.

3 O'Clock came, we took the bus, slept on the bus, and arrived at the skyway thingamajig. I'm not sure how long I haven't been to Genting, but I do know (or I think I know) that I haven't been on the Skyway Cable car, ever. or maybe my memory sucks. I faintly remember when I was a child (OMG THAT WAS AAAGES AGO) we usually took the Awana cable car.

Izad, on the other hand goes on an annual sabbatical to Genting, so he wasn't that impressed. Only difference this time is that he went with me instead of his family. Not that there's much difference; I nag just as much.

So we arrived and checked into the hotel (First World, and a cheap one at that. Oh well, at least we got a room), and also met up with our new (but absolutely wonderful) friend, Anas. Knew him when I sold him my spare ticket + hotel room, but I found it totally awesome that we had lots in common (we both went to MCB, for example) and we hit it off beautifully. I met him through an online friend too. So who says you can't make friends online.

And thus, ends my pre-post. Now I'm just figuring out how to stuff all the MTV Asia Awards pictures into one single post...