Taylor Hicks, The Choosen One in AI5

Taylor Hicks has won American Idol 5, becoming the second male to claim the title, and at 29, the oldest.

Kayaknya semua org tahu deh kalo dia yg bakalan menang! Akhirnya ini dia Ringkasan Result Show selama 2 jam disiarin di KODAK Theatre yg sangat amat keren ini! Gak bisa bayangin ntar RCTI apakah bakal muterin 3 jam (Finale & Result) secara penuh atau dipotong habis2 an.. kasihan deh! Sebagai pembukaan, 12 Idol dgn baju ‘putih2’ bawain medley lagunya Barry Manilow. Dan dilanjutin oleh kolaborasi Carrie Underwood bareng 2 finalis Idol, Taylor & Katharine bawain single “I made it through the rain”.

Result show yg penuh bintang ini dilanjutkan dgn duet Paris Bennett dan Al Jarreau dgn “Breakin’ away” dan “We’re in this love together”, lalu Chris Daughtry dgn Rock Band Live. Juga ada cuplikan ‘kebegoan’ Kelly Pickler & Puck. Show kemudian lanjut dgn bintang tamu lain Meat Loaf yg duet ama Katharine McPhee dgn single dari Celine Dion “It’s all coming back to me now” (Nah! Ini mestinya penampilan Kath yg bagus banget! Kenapa gak dari dulu2 ya! Kath emang cocok bawain tipe2 kayak gini.. Broadway).

Di American Idol 5 juga ada Awards “Outstanding Female / Male Voice” buat para peserta yg gak lolos (dan tentunya yg jelek & unik dong..) kemudian dilanjutin dgn penampilan 5 Finalis Cowok AI5 bawasin Randy Bachman “Taking care of Business” dan “Jefferson Airplane Takes off / Tobacco road” kemudian Taylor muncul sambil main harmonica dan bawain Fleetwood Mac “Don’t stop”, Habis gitu acara penyerahan kunci mobil “Ford Mustangs” yg super keren kepada 2 finalis Idol, Taylor & Kath, lalu pembagian award “Proudest Family Moment” yg dimenangin oleh ibunda Elliot yg disusul dgn penampilan Elliot Yamin & Mary J.Blige “One” wah asyik banget ya…

Pemenang AI4, Carrie Underwood bawain single barunya “Don’t forget to remember” yg masih diambil dari album debutnya “Some Hearts”, kemudian giliran Taylor dan Toni Braxton bawain single Elvis “In the ghetto” (sayang banget penampilan Taylor ini dinodai oleh Toni Braxton yg gak niat nyanyi!). Kini gantian giliran Finalis cewek yg nyanyi, di mulai dari Katharine dgn “Man! I feel like a woman” nya Shania Twain!. Dan dilanjutin ama Paris Bennett & Lisa Tucker “I’m evil” nya Roy Buchanan, dan Melissa, Mandisa, Kellie bawain single “Cause I’m a woman”, lalu nyanyi bareng2 medley “(You make me feel) Like a natural woman dan “I’m every woman”. Sekali lagi kerennn… abis! Acara Award berlanjut lagi, kali ini “Best Impersonation” yg dimenangin oleh Michael Sandecki yg meniru ‘Clay Aiken’, dan dia akhirnya disuruh nyanyi “Don’t let the sun go down on me” kemudian ‘Surprise’, ada Clay Aiken kluar dari belakang dgn “Rambut barunya” yg kayak artis2 Korea jaman sekarang! Hehe.. Korean Fever nih??

Udah gak kerasa acara dah tinggal 40 menit, tapi masih ada bintang tamu yg gak kalah serunya! Burt Bacharach yg baru aja menang Grammy yg ke-6, main piano dgn Taylor & Kath nyanyi “What the world needs now is love”, lalu berturut2 para Idol lain Ace Young & Melissa“The Look of Love”, Kellie Pickler “I’ll never fall in love again”, Bucky Covington “Raindrops keep falling on my head”, Mandisa “I say a little pray for you”, dan banyak lagi… ah jadi panjang nih! Lalu muncul Dionne Warwick bawain “Walk on by” dan kemudian kolaborasi bareng semua Idol di lagu “That’s what friends are for” ! Sebelum Result diumumin, Ryan masih sempet bagiin Award terakhir utk “Best Male Bonding” yg dimenangin “Brokenote Cowboys”, 3 kontestan yg gak lolos arghh.. jelek2 in acara aja! Prince kluar di akhir acara sebelum pengumuman dgn 2 single. Penghujung acara udah dekat nih, Taylor & Katharine tampil lagi bawain “I’ve had the time of my life” dilanjutin dgn Ryan yang mengumumkan sang pemenang (dgn tanpa bertele2, gak kayak Indonesian Idol yang super jijay kalo bacain pengumuman!) Taylor menang! Dan kayaknya semua org udah pada tahu, gak ada kejutan yg berarti! Hehe..

Well, Congratulations Taylor ‘Soul Patrol’ Hicks!

They Just Went Home

wanita yg sangat ku sayangi. love u mome.

After having vocation in Jakarta for 4 days, my mome, sista, and my little cute nephew, Mike just went home this morning. My Mome leaving for Medan and my sista and her son, Mike to Kupang. I took 4 days off to take them enjoy Jakarta for days. I brought them to everyplace I know - Hotspot, Food Court, Mall, etc. including to our families' house. kliling Jakarta lah. Tp yang paling sering itu ke rumah tante, abis cuman dia yang masih punya anak kecil, biar ada teman Mike main katanya. Lucu juga sih sepupu gua ini, kocak. Yang pake baju kuning masih SD tp sudah bisa mandiri, yg di tengah TK-0. Mereka smart bgt, englishnya sudah lumayan loh.

Nah ini sepupu gua. KiKa: Bryan, Jacob, Patria

Slama mereka di Jakarta, aku berikan servis yg terbaik yg bisa ku lakukan. Doku simpanan ludes, gpp lah. Money is not everything asal nyokap gua senang. I've been waiting this moment for so long. Memang saat inilah yg tepat. Selain waktuku yg sangat sibuk menyebabkan aku tak pernah pulang ke rumah (Home sweet home - Siantar), minggu ini aku punya kesempatan cuti slama di Jakarta. Jadi, seluruh waktu cutiku hanya buat mereka senang. Khususnya bereku (keponakan), Mike. His surname is Michael - Who is like God (Hebrew) Einstain - Who is blessed (Greek) - Manurung (family name). Dia cute bgt loh, cakep lg. Kyknya dia termasuk magifo jg (manusia gilak difoto) . Lucunya pas nangis, eh..giliran difoto diam dan langsung focus. hehe.. dasaR!

ini bereku, michael. umurnya baru 2 bulan

Sekali aku membawa nyokap ke Lapo Ni Tondongta - The best batak resto in Jakarta, but what did my mome say, "I didn't get the taste, the andaliman was lost". Emm.. emang lidahnya gk bisa kompromi sih sama makanan khas. Gitu tuh..klw nyokap gua diajak makan ke resto mana pun, pasti ujung2nya komentar. Karena menurut nyokap gua, Nothing but her cook. Klw dipikir-pikir emang betul jg sih. Semua makanan yg dijual sudah tidak orgi lg, banyakan misin alias MSGnya.

Gitu jg klw gua ajak nyokap ke tempat2 hiburan, Hotspot dan shopping, yg duluan ngajak pulang itu pasti nyokap gua. Bising katanya, capek pulak lg. Buat nyokap gua, waktu yg paling bagus itu adalah ketika semua keluarga berkumpul dirumah dan makan bersama sambil cerita2... Feel like home.

Aku bujuk nyokap supaya tinggal lebih lama krn aku mo ngajak nyokap ke Bandung, tp apa boleh buat. Tanggungjwb sebagai guru tidak boleh diabaikan. Hmm..Mome, you've never changed. Dan aku mengantar mereka pulang, nyokap ke Medan, kakak ke Kupang, dan aku ke Makassar.. Akhirnya kami pun berpisah di airport.

But It was fun actually. I plan to take the air together with them soon.

Yang Ini Masih Junior

Semalam pas aku pulang, eh.. bareng copet lg. Mereka ber-6 atw ber-7 gt lah. Biasanya copet kalo di bus itu kn gk bayar ongkos, nah mungkin si kondektur orang baru kali, baru terjun di dunia perkondekturan.. jd dia mendesak supaya ongkos dibayar dgn uang pas. Nah pas dia minta terus dan tidak dikasih, weleh.. si copet kira kondekturnya bakalan tau isyarat kalo dia adalah copet. Gerombolan copet kemudian marah dan meloncat satu persatu dari bus ketika masih jalan. Pas giliran yg paling belakang melompat, si kondektur ditarik dan akhirnya terjatuh ke jalan. Disitu dia digebukin (dipikuli) sampe babak belur oleh semua copet tadi. Yg di bus maupun di trotoar pada menonton terbelalak, dan cewe-cewe mengatakan, "ditolongin dong.." Tp tak ada satu pun yg menolong krn gk ada yg mau ambil pusing, nanti urusannya malah makin panjang. Biasah org-org metropolitan skrg.

Tak berlangsung lama, si kondektur akhirnya berhasil melepaskan diri dan berlari mengejar bus. Slamat dah, untung aj gk dikejar. Ada penumpang yg baru perdana melihat kejadian seperti itu tercengang dan penuh penasaran dia menanyaki kondektur yg lg membersihkan dirinya. Dengan sabarnya si kondektur menjawab setiap pertanyaan org itu dan menceritakan dari awal.

Mas..mas.., seharusnya kebiasaan kondektur itu ditanyai dulu sama seniornya.

The Da Vinci Code

Last sunday, I finnaly got the chance to watch Tom Hanks new movie "The Da Vinci Code" after delayed for a week. Saw the movie lastnight with my girl friend at Cineplex - Planet Hollywood. The stories it self was very complicated, a film to make you angered.

Three major innovations introduced by Howard's movie:

First, his film portrays Opus Dei and the "shadow council" of the Vatican as really being in cahoots, really conspiring to kill people in the name of God, really trying to supress intellectual inquiry, really turning its back on truth and righteousness. In short, Ron Howard turns the Catholic Church into a genuine villain. Shameful.

Second, the movie further fabricates ancient history, making the charge that history is unclear whether the Roman Empire or the Christians were the first agressors. Please!

Third, and most importantly, the film invests significant energy in validating the Magdalene myth. While in Brown's book Marie Chauvel basically leaves the existence of the Sangreal documents and Magdalene's bones to the world's imagination, Howard has Langdon and Neveu discover plenty of material evidence to back up the claim.

Where's the mystery that feeds the soul? Where's the adventure? You'll have to find it in the book, I'm afraid. There's no codebreaking here, just polemic.

And in the end, Brown's book, whatever its faults or strengths, worked far better as a book than Howard's film works as a movie. The packed house I saw the movie with — a completely partisan crowd that didn't have to pay a dime to get in — was underwhelmed. They didn't giggle and hoot the way the crowd at Cannes did, but they were hardly enthusiastic.

I would not be surprised to see this film crashed and burned.

We Just Met at Landmark

I just met my ex-favorite lecturer, ms.Anast in her office this morning. She was surprised of my arrival. But actually we have appointment previously at Landmark. She said that I'm thin looked to be. Mm..really? I guess nobody tells me like that. Cuz my weight has increase about 5 kgs. Hehehe.. She was tricked by my new hair cut and dresscode.

She is a nut-freak so I brought her a KG of mede nut (Kacang Mede/jambu mente) from Soroako. I don't think she will finish the nut, cuz it's so nauseated and fatty. Talking bout mede nut, I have a funny story. When I bought it for my friends, they suddenly attack and ate it. At the end, they said the nut is not good already, not crunchy. When I say, "Yes of course it's not crunchy, it still raw, man", they vomit it. They didn't read the pack, It have to be braised beforehand then fried. Hehehe..

Mmm.. I'm hopeful ms.Anast wouldn't missed to read the pack.

Katharine Vs. Taylor in AI.5

Elliot is going home!

"American Idol" hopeful Elliott Yamin was voted off the talent competition Wednesday, leaving Katharine McPhee and Taylor Hicks to face off in the finale. McPhee and Hicks will compete for the title next Tuesday in a live broadcast from the Kodak Theatre in LA.

Kemarin ada 50 juta Votes yg masuk utk AI.5 episode 40 ini! Edan… Indonesian Idol aja gak nyampe 3 juta votes! Ini dia hasil vote yg cuma beda tipis, Taylor 33,68%, Katharine 33,26% dan Elliot 33,06%.
Kayaknya kepergian Elliot tuh tdk begitu ‘shocking’ dan sesuai dgn perkiraan gw sebelumnya. So, di Final American Idol 5 mendatang bakal ada Taylor Hicks vs Katharine McPhee…

AI.5 - Top 3 Elimination

Setelah tereliminasi di babak 4 besar, Chris Daughtry malah banyak tawaran! Yang jelas2 bikin penawaran buat dia jadi Lead Vocal adalah band Rock FUEL! Setelah ditinggal Vocalistnya Brett Scallions, kini Fuel lagi mencari2 penggantinya! Apalagi setelah Chris bawain singlenya Fuel “Hemorrhage (In My Hands)” di Top 24 lalu! Masih belum jelas apakah Chris bakal menerima tawaran tsb!

Semalam adalah malam terakhir American Idol 5 sebelum pindah ke KODAK THEATER utk Final Show! 3 Finalis bakal bawain 3 single, yg pertama pilihan sang Produser ngetop banget! dan juga pemilik Arista, Clive Davis! (Bisa dilihat di pembukaan Show, artis2 sapa aja yg udah ditemukan dan ngetop bareng Clive, mulai Whitney Houston, Alicia Keys, dll..) Lagu kedua, adalah pilihan para juri.. dan lagu ketiga pilihan sendiri! Gimana show malam ini ? Check this out!

1.Elliot Yamin: “Open Arms by Journey” Clive’s Choice
2.Katharine McPhee: “I Believe I Can Fly by R.Kelly” Clive’s Choice
3.Taylor Hicks: “Dancin in the Dark by Bruce Springsteen” Clive’s Choice
4.Elliot Yamin: “What You Won’t Do for Love by Bobby Caldwell” Paula’s Choice
5.Katharine McPhee : “Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Judy Garland” Simon’s Choice
6.Taylor Hicks: “You Are So Beautiful by Joe Cocker” Randy’s Choice
7.Elliot Yamin: “The Sun is Going to Shine Again by Ray Charles” Elliot’s Choice
8.Katharine McPhee: “I Ain’t Got Nottin But the Blues by Ella Fitzgerald” Katharine’s Choice
9.Taylor Hicks: “Try a little tenderness by Otis Redding” Taylor’s Choice

Gimana nih? Pilih Elliot atau Katharine.. utk tampil di babak Final?
Berdasar penampilan semalam, Katharine 1 bagus banget, 1 jelek, 1 biasa… kalo Elliot 2 bagus, 1 biasa.. sama dong! Secara ‘X-Factor’, Katharine lebih cakep… good looking! hehe.. tapi masa Idol nya cewek lagi ya? Tahun ini jauh lebih seru ketimbang thn lalu…

So who will be going home next? One thing is for sure is that it won’t be Taylor Hicks. However, it’s going to be so close between Katharine McPhee and Elliott Yamin that we can’t make a prediction. Elliott Yamin clearly had momentum going into tonight, but Katharine came back strong. It might very well be the first tie for second place in Idol history.
So, who’s going to go home? Who’s your choice, guys??

She moves to her new environment

In this early morning, I just woke up by the phone at about six. My mom call me and said my sister has moved to her new environment and working atmosphere. She has found her new job in Kisaran. During the time, she was working in Siantar. Many things happened while she was there and I still at college at that time. She help, support, and pray for me. That was unforgetable moment. When she phoned me this morning, I felt so sad besides she'll leaving for Kisaran, I guess my beloved mom soon will get her lonelyness. She talked to me and asked me to pray for her and mom. She never forget to say me, "Be good there. Always say hello to mom. Dont forget to pray. And look the people around you. I always pray for you, Danie". And than I said, "Okay, thanks sista. I'll pray for you too".

Although we are so far for the past a year, but I can still remind her beauty when she advised me. We used to share each other. Talking about many things of ourselves, our problem, and the happiness we shared. Because we loved to. Oh sista, I miss u so much. I'll wait the good news from you soon.

Wish you the best of luck ever, sista. And you will.

Second Trip to Malili

The jouney started

The beauty of Tolala

Daylight BBQ

The Sand Castle Competition

Chris Daughtry's Final Songs in AI-5

Another Shocking Moment! Well... Chris "Rocker" Daughtry have to go home tonight. Emang ini mengejutkan sekali, but what can we say.. This is American Idol! hehe..

Yesterday, para finalis bawain lagu2 dari The Real American Idol "Elvis Presley"!!! Semua org pasti dah tahu single2 nya, trutama Amrik, dan singlenya pun dah banyak di bawain ama artis2 lain juga.. Gimana penampilan para 4 finalis AI5 kali ini? EHmnn, OK banget kok.

Kalo dilihat dari penampilan mereka yg bagus2 semalam, cukup susah juga nentuin sapa yg bakal pulang. Jadi bakal adu otot antara Fans yg vote buat mereka. Tapi siapa yg nyangka kalau seorang Chris akan pulang hari ini. What a bad news...huuuu

Acara malam ini Dibuka dgn ke-4 Finalis menyanyikan lagu Medley Elvis utk terakhir kalinya! Mulai dari lagu slow, ampe yg goyang abis.. liat aja tuh cuplikannya!

Lalu ada bintang tamu "X-Men" Rebecca Romijn dan pasangannya Jerry O-Connell, kemudian Rebecca minta Request khusus buat Taylor utk bawain 'Jailhouse Rock' sekali lagi! Wow...! Abis itu langsung Ryan Seacrest manggil semua kontestan dan dibagi dua group, Taylor & Elliot dan Katharine & Chris.

Tentu saja 2 terbawah malam ini adalah Chris & Katharine, dan Ryan tanya ama Simon sapa yg bakal pulang berdasarkan penampilan tadi malam? Simon bilang Katharine.. dari tadi dia tegang trus.. gak ada senyum sama sekali.. hehe.. Ryan kemudian bilang kalo Chris, semua org berpikir kalo kamu bakal jadi American Idol thn ini! Tapi... kamu harus pulang! =Shocking Moment= liat aja sendiri betapa shocknya Katharine & Chris.. dan juga Simon dan para juri lainnya, dan kayaknya Paula nangis tuh.. :P

Dia membawa dua lagu dgn judul "Suspicious Minds" and "A Little Less Conversation". Padahal di lagu pertama Chris sempat PD karna Paula bilang "See you in the finals" dan dilagu kedua jg para juri pada memuji Chris. Hmm.. who knows..

Well.. Chris emang gak usah takut utk pulang malam ini, karier nya diperkirakan bakal tetap bersinar kok! Emang sejarah Idol emang gak boleh ada Rockernya! hehe..

Coming Soon.. Toraja

We plan to go to Toraja by this weekend. Having one night in Toraja city and buy some stuffs. Taking many pics and many more. Hope it'll true. Cuz I dream to go there once.

Please...

The Hidden Paradise - Tolala

At about 08.30am WITA we start our journey to the place named Tolala. There is a famous beautiful beach (I forgot the name) also a maritim park with corals and fishes. It is inside South East Sulawesi's territorial. So we were moving from Soroako - South Sulawesi to Tolala for about 4 hours trip. Huh..I felt really queasy because the road path was zigzag and steep grade. This is the first time I feel such a bad mood like that, whereas I usually go to the place where the road more horrifying.

Before steping out into Tolala, we saw a horrible accident in the jungle nearby Malili. A bike was hit by a big pick-up truck and than the truck suddenly run off nowhere. One victim dead and the others was injured hardly and immediately brought to hospital.

After seeing that occurence and the bloody dead body, we drive slowly till we arrive in Tolala. We break a while and took lunch before going to the next stage - taking a ride Katingting. Katingting is a long boat which have a balance appliance both in left and right side of the boat. It took 2 hours to reach the beach. Hot..hot..hot. I need something to cover me.

Oo..my God.. we done, it was so beautiful. The sand's white and the water's green. Come on..hurry up, take some photos for me! Yeah..great. Than we swam, have fun, and making a sand castle there. After all, we took sun bath (like the white always do in the beach). Haha..the result was.. man with black skin.

The sun start to be embeded, we prepare for home. During the trip, I sleep till I woke up to get dinner in Teluk Bayur - The Padang Resto in Soroako. Hmmn.. so tired.

I'd never forget Tolala. The hidden paradise which not yet been exposed.

My UAT Goes Smoothly but..

I just finished The UAT (User Acceptance Testing) for my software after struggling for about 3 hours in a room which was very chilled.

They said all the functionalities was working well but the report was still outside requirement, I mean not fully covered their need. So by that, starting on Monday next week, I must working in team with them to recover all reports. Oh God, move to another department - Central Planning, The demure one.

I found my world in IT department, here.. Hmm..

Finally, Princess P Says GoodBye

Around about this time, the realization starts to set in for most people - ONE winner, four LOSERS. It’s not that this one is bad, it’s just that they all can’t win. And with that said, say goodbye to Paris Bennett.

Top 5 semalam bawain 2 lagu. 1 Lagu dari tahun kelahiran mereka, dan 1 lagi dari Top 10 Chartnya Billboard (banyak aliran nih.. dari Rock, Country, Jazz, Album, dll)...

Paris Bennet - she is one of my favorite

Akhirnya dia mesti angkat koper semalam, setelah 3x berada di 3 terbawah. Kemarin malam penampilannya emang kurang istimewa. Semalam acara dibuka oleh nyanyi bareng2 para Idol dgn lagu "Together We Are One", yg pernah dibawain juga ama Delta Goodrem di acara "Commonwealth 2006 Opening Ceremony" bln lalu. Asyik banget ya! Kemudian Ryan memberi rekap komentar para juri kemarin, dan memberitahu 2 terbawah yaitu, Paris & Elliot. Seperti yg gua duga sebelumnya sih.. dan yg pulang kemarin malam is Paris! Tapi dia masih 17 thn sih... jalan masih panjang kok. :) Btw, utk tema minggu dpn, kayaknya Ryan nyebutin "Elvis" dan Tommy Motola nih... kira2 apa ya tema nya ?

Hmm.. sejak kapan ya Paris diberi julukan imut Princess P ?? Howcome! hehe..