Today

Nearly half the year is gone. Do I have anything to show for it?

My life is mostly uneventful. A lot of times I like to keep it that way. I dislike dealing with too much drama, though I admit the mundanity of things can be taxing on my mind if I allow it.

It's the hottest time of the year right now. There hasn't been much rain in the last few weeks. It's so hot I start sweating the moment I step out of the shower. It's insane.

I still find myself having a lot of stuff to do and not having enough time to do it. It's frustrating but I'm slowly working on it. I have to make it work somehow, or I'll start looking at myself as a failure.

The other frustrating thing is the idiocy of people in general. Like the morons who smoke in public toilets when they can just go outside and do it. Like the imbeciles who have to text and drive at the same time. Like the cretins who have to play with their phones while watching a movie in the cinema. It's pretty obvious that cigarettes and cellphones are the two worst inventions in our history. People smoke even when it kills them and everyone around them. People buy expensive phones just so they can play with them, not to call people with them. If you've taken a ride in a Singaporean MRT, you'll know what I mean.

I just hope that if I ever end up in an asylum, someone who follows this blog will visit me and tell me I'm right.

28

Marion Raven turns 28 today. Many happy returns of the day, God bless her always.

Goodbye Hollie

It's been a long time since I've blogged about American Idol. That's probably because it's not a healthy thing to get too worked up on the show. It's unfair more often than not, and the wrong person usually ends up winning. The winner hasn't been a favorite of mine for the last three years.

But anyway, I wanted to talk about the contestant they voted off this week: Hollie Cavanagh. She was born in England and raised in Texas. She actually auditioned last year but didn't make the top 24, and Jennifer Lopez encouraged her to come back this year, and so she did.

She has an amazing voice, and from what I know, if you give her a song requiring big vocals, she'll nail it. However, Idol is never easy when it comes to song choices, so she struggled through the middle part of her journey through the finals. She lacked confidence to carry herself, but slowly she built up her strength and as a result, survived many stints at the bottom two. One might even say that despite her growing skills, she kept ending up at the bottom because the producers perceived her as weak.

There's no doubt in my mind that Hollie was given a tough time by everyone. No matter how many of her fans voted for her, she always ended up at the bottom. This is the unfair part about Idol. If someone doesn't start out strong, they don't get a fanbase strong enough to hold them. More importantly now, with the absence of Simon Cowell, the current judges tend to apply favoritism and make some singers look better than others. And Hollie suffered because of that.

Despite the odds, Hollie made it to the final four, and this is where her luck ran out. She was beaten by guitar wielding Philip Phillips, gospel style guy Joshua Ledet and Filipino favorite Jessica Sanchez (who really has zero personality in my opinion). I, like many others were sad to see her leave, and she did so with class, more class than anyone ever showed her. She was a humble soul who took criticism without complaining, and even in defeat she kept herself steady.

Many times I had refused to get attached to any Idol contestant (especially since this is an American thing), but there was something about Hollie that made her special. She was a petite, adorable firecracker who could sing amazingly. Her performances of Rolling In The Deep, River Deep, Mountain High and All The Man That I Need were awesome. Even her rendition of The Climb was better than Miley Cyrus (though I admit Miley sucks on any song), she actually made me like listening to it.

I hope that someday Idol gives its honor to someone who doesn't have to oversing or scream their head off just to make a point. More importantly, if Hollie's loss is anywhere similar to the reason why the awful Scotty McCreery and the dull Lee DeWyze won in years past (i.e. vote rigging by the producers, possibly), then everyone in charge of bringing this show to the masses should be ashamed of themselves.

For those of you who haven't heard Hollie sing, here's an early recording of her singing Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah.

Listen To This : Safe & Sound

I was never a fan of Taylor Swift, and I'm still not. But I like this song. It has a haunting and sentimental feel to it. It's taken off the soundtrack to The Hunger Games. Taylor actually looks pretty in the video too. So here's Taylor with The Civil Wars.