Assalamu'alaikum…
One of the few family activities that we indulge in is sitting in front of the idiot box watching this new series on Astro Ria called "Akademi Fantasia". Think of it as the Malaysian version of "American Idol" with a little twist of "Fame" in it (by the way, I miss watching "Fame" on TV, waa!!). They start of with 12 contestants, where they eliminate a contestant each week. They one eliminated is the one with the least votes among them, where votes are taken in via SMS (and only SMS, I think). Like AI, the judges have no say in the votes, it's strictly up to the viewers to vote for their favorite performer. Judges for last week was Kudsia Kahar, Pak Ngah and Azhar Sulaiman, I think only Kudsia and Azhar are the permanent judges, though.
Contestants enrolled in the "academy" can't have any contact with the outside world at all during the duration of the show, at least not until they're eliminated. That means no cellphone, no talking to the fam, no hanging out with buddies, nottin'. They work only with each other, which is kinda interesting because you can see contestants helping each other in their performances, something that you don't see in AI.
So every Saturday all of us would pile up in front of the TV for the weekly concert. My favorite guy contestant: Vince, the one of the mix parentage. Hehe.. cute. He can sit down and read off the names in a telephone book and would still be the most interesting guy alive. His voice: very, very nice  . Favorite gal contestant: Rosma. Her voice is really, really great, lunak sgt bile bawak lagu irama Malaysia. Chubby but cute, she can definitely give Siti Nurhaliza a run for her money sebab suare die sedap sgt, tapi tak macam Siti. Ade gaye sendiri.
Last week Atie kene eliminate. Kesian siot, tapi serious terkejut how die dapat masuk contest tuh in the first place. Pelik betul. Mase die nyanyi, I was laughing my head off sampai Kak Yann cakap "tgk tuh mak, Farah jahat gelakkan orang tuh". Muahah.. tapi die gelak gak. And so Atie went off into the sunset with the free bag that the sponsors gave each contestant who got booted off. Satu lagi guy yang buat lawak is Sahri. Suare die sedap gak, very nice, die chubby pakai specs, which is okay and all (chubby with specs, I might as well have been describing myself), tapi die suke over acting, whether kat die punye own performance or orang lain punye. Haiyak! Spoil betul.
Can't wait for what next week has to bring.

Wassalam…

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