America got it WRONG.

Or did she?

For those of you who follow American Idol, AI2009 was considered by many an upset. Small town boy Kris Allen won, defeating a much more talented Adam Lambert. The blogosphere was just ablaze with rude comments about this upset.

Was America wrong? Are these rude comments about Kris' win warranted? Who should have been the real American Idol?

In my most honest opinion. America got it right.
I don't know where it says that American Idol is a "singing contest". I have never seen it anywhere. The contest title is... AMERICAN IDOL. So, in my eyes, you are looking for someone who is American who you can "idolize"... with a focus in the talent of singing.
That's POINT ONE.

POINT TWO.
Look at the 2 finalists... if you were to say the words American, who would you mentally picture more? Adam or Kris. The answer is obvious.

POINT THREE.
Simon often mentions that AI is not a popularity contest. Well, I actually like Simon but whenever he makes those comments, I think he is talking bullcrap. If this was not designed to be a popularity contest, then, you (Simon and the other creators) should never have designed it with the audience view in mind. In addition, if they wanted to hear the audience view, then it should have been a "one man, one vote" view. Otherwise, the decision making methods of AI are methods used in a popularity contest and you cannot say it is not a popularity contest.
POINT THREE A
Because this is a popularity contest, I have one theory... if you come from a small town, and small state, you almost definitely always emerge victorious taking on someone from big cities in big states... like San Diego. Just like in pro sports and college sports, people in smaller towns tend to care more about their "people". Big cities like LA, NY, SF, San Diego, Miami (just to name a few), are firstly filled with non-native residents and secondly filled with people who are just too caught up with other things in their life to be concerned with sports and entertainment. LA no longer has a pro football team for that exact reason. They just don't care. SF is about to lose the 49ers to Santa Clara for the same exact reasons. Why would I spend my Tuesday nights calling in for my favorite "idol" when I could be out clubbing with the guys and networking or calling on clients or whatever else I do in the rat race... But look at the pride in the middle America.... Midwest college football is a good example.
Therefore, since it IS a popularity contest, why are we so surprised Kris won?

POINT FOUR
Adam Lambert. He has a awesome voice. He is vocally extremely talented, in fact, in my opinion, probably the best participant on AI ever. He is DIFFERENT. Some say he is gay. But, that's not my point. We won't know if he is gay till he opens his mouth to say. So, let's take that off the table. He is just DIFFERENT. He wears guy-liner. He wears black nail polish. He is sometimes almost gothic looking. He is just DIFFERENT. I like that. And many others do too. But for everyone who likes Adam being different, there are probably two who not only dislike it, they probably DETEST IT. Being different is not easy. Being different also causes you to lose votes and even in such a progressive world we live in, unfortunately, impression counts more than even the talent and work you are able to produce. Adam got bitten for being different. His loss is Kris' gain. But different also does not make you look like the next "American Idol".

Lastly POINT FIVE
Why should Kris not be the American Idol. He is what every mother dreams their son to be. Good looking, God fearing, humble... the list goes on. He is the dream American Idol. Not like the title was given to Joe Shmoe who was tone deaf. Kris can sing, just not as well as Adam. But Kris also has talents that Adam does not... he plays the piano and guitar... and sings.

So, I think that the way AI was designed, America made the correct choice. BUT, if this was a pure singing contest, Adam should have won. It doesn't really matter at this point anymore. I believe they are both going to be big stars. In fact, I think more contestants in this season than ever before are going to be stars. And at the end of the night, we were all winners because we got to witness what could possibly have been the best entertainment in years.

Labor Day Weekend Fishing Getaway

Labor Day Weekend, in Singapore, Labor Day is on May 1.
My Dad, Jessica and I accepted an invitation to go to Rompin, Malaysia on a fishing trip.
Rompin is supposedly the sailfish fishing hotspot in this region. However, aside from spotting a school of them somewhere in the 2 days out in the ocean, the actual sailfish run does not heat up till the August/September period.
So, we were relegated to catching whatever else there was in the ocean... which is a lot, but it really depends on the boatman.

There were 2 boats and the other boat caught a whole lot more than we did... much bigger fish too. Oh well, it was a fun weekend...



Jessica posing with a big fish she did not catch... LOL!!




Jessica reeling up the tiny fish she did catch. She did catch a lot of those. They are small but good eating. She was the queen of catching those fish.




Posing right as we were headed out to sea.




This is actually a sunrise. The first morning we got there, after just 3 hours of sleep...




The "chalet" that we stayed in. I reserve all other comments.