IDOLS SA: DOES IT ALL BOIL DOWN TO SONG CHOICE?



The Top 10 SA Idols 2012



Have you ever watched one of these talent contests where the viewers and the contestants fans have to vote for their favourites via SMS or online? There are a lot of these reality shows on the small screen and people sit glued to their couches as they watch contestants make complete idiots of themselves or can actually sing and become top singers. At the moment on South African TV we have the popular Idols contest where at the moment seven young people are battling it out for the title of "The Next SA Idol", people vote like mad, probably 10 times a day, hoping to save their favourite. Whilst the official SA Idol's Facebook page is filled with comments from armchair judges giving their opinions on who should go and who should stay. Some of these people even judge the judges, cause whilst we don't always agree with what the Idol's judges say, it's the votes from the public that count. I have often wondered myself if by acquiring a large fan base one could actually win the competition with votes and not with talent. It would seem that way with some of the contestants. Just tonight one young man landed up in the infamous "bottom three" of the results show for the third week running. Unfortunately for him, Dominic Neill got the least amount of votes and was sent home. Let's be fair here the past preformances of his have not been great and one wonders after hearing his horrendous version of the Coldplay hit "Utopia" how on earth he made it this far. Contestants who were far better than him were getting voted off. Some of the names that spring to mind are Chloe Kiley, Nosipho Mngomezulu, and Obakeng Ramaboa. So how could Dominic have lasted so long in the competition? Maybe the three ex contestants mentioned above made the wrong song choice? Or did not enough "fans" vote for them? As I said before it is possible to get all your aunties, uncles, cousins and siblings to vote for you because from what I hear one can vote every hour. According to the T&C for Idols every viewer can vote a maximum of 100 times which if you multiply that by 10 family members, that's already 1,000 votes for one contestant. Get the whole neighbourhood behind you and it's a hell of a lot of votes! Methinks that this was the case for Dominic, but then who am I to judge? Well now that he has left, I think the real competition is about to begin. Who is next to go in theTop 6? We will have to see what song choices are made by the remaining 6 very talented contestants!

BREAKING NEWS:.............OR IS IT?

You have probably at some time or other opened you local newspaper to see some shocking revelation about your favourite celebrity. "KATY KITTYKAT HAS AFFAIR WITH TOP DJ" or "LOCAL MALE MODEL IS A CROSSDRESSER BY NIGHT". These are the type of headlines that cause sensation and nine times out of ten the story is untrue and just made up so as to sell newspapers. It's called sensationalism and usually the journalist involved gets a pat on the back and sometimes some sort of promotion as well. And the sad thing about it is that they don't seem to care whose reputation they ruin along the way. I could ruin reputations and name names here as far as a certain local newspaper goes. But my motto is: "Never believe what you read in the papers!" unless of course it comes straight from the horse's mouth so to speak. With that being said let's look at some real news headlines that nearly ruined real people's lives. Recently a local gay socialite was accused of having a "fling" with a local singer/muscian. The socialite cried foul and the singer said he was "straight", but who are we to believe? And where does the reporter get his imformation from if both parties involved have said that it was untrue? Sometimes someone "spills the beans" so to speak if they are jealous of one of the persons, and want to get back at them for some wrong doing. Well if that's the case then I should "spill the beans" on a lot of people if I wanted to, but I'm not that kind of person. Some people make the "front page" for all the wrong reasons too, like our imfamous "Spear" painting. Newspapers need stories that will sell their publications and there's nothing better than a bit of sensational gossip to fill the pages, boost the sales and start the tongues wagging! My advice to all of you out there is: "Never believe what you read in the papers!"

DURBAN GAY PRIDE 2012

You may wonder why this blog has gone all pink and colourful? It's time for a change, a time to stand up and be counted. I have always believed that one of the reasons people especially teenagers are bullied is because they are gay or lesbian. Some people will say that "being gay" is un-Christian and that those people will burn in hell. To that I say: "What utter nonsense! God loves everyone!" I could support my theory by talking about Adam & Eve, which according to scientists never existed because we evolved from apes. A whole lot of other facts are freely available to support this theory, but we are not here to prove anything. Everyone to his own belief!
    As lady Gaga sings:
"Don't be a drag, just be a queen

The Deo Gloria Church at the march.

Whether you're broke or evergreen

You're black, white, beige, chola descent

You're Lebanese, you're orient

Whether life's disabilities

Left you outcast, bullied, or teased

Rejoice and love yourself today

'cause baby you were born this way.

Some of the "ladies" signing the pettition

On the 30th June, 2012 a few thousand members of the LBGT community took to the streets in the annual Gay Pride in Durban, South Africa. With support from a few political parties, the Democratic Alliance was the only party to actually take part in the march. It was a colourful event, with the drag queens out in full force wearing shoes that looked impossible to walk the route of the march in. Most participants wore outfits with vibrant colours. And there was a lot of photographers taking photos of just about anything that moved. This year the violent "hate" crimes were highlighted and in the opening speeches all speakers agreed that the goverment must put a stop to this. The DA had taken the initative to organize a pettition and get people's signatures so as to make the government aware that this is not something that can be simply swept under the carpet. For more photos of this colourful event click on the tab above.

BORN THIS WAY? (The Final Chapter)

This is an open statement to all those people out there who have suddenly decided to "play" God by judging others just because they don't conform to their morals. The other day a lady and I were mentioning a friend in our conversation, and who should walk into the room but the friend. "Speak of the devil!" I said to the lady I was speaking with. Now does this mean the friend is evil? I'm sure a lot of you have heard the expression: "Better the devil you know, than you don't" or something along those lines. My point is that the word "devil" according to the dictionary has 10 different definitions. There is the so-called ruler of hell, which no one has said does or does not exist. No living person has been there yet unless you watch TV series like "Supernatural" with images of fire and brimstone. One of the other definitions says "An energetic, mischievous, daring, or clever person" which by the way is what Lady Gaga is. She is a performer and an excellent one at that. It's called art. People want to see a show that has dramatic stage entrances, outrageous costumes and not some conservative looking lady standing in front of a microphone, some forgettable song. Cliff Richard, a practicing Christian, always sings "Devil Woman" at his preformances whilst gyrating his hips and dancing with his scantily clad female dancers gyrating behind him. Does that make him the devil's child? Or is he a satanist in disguise? I think not. I would like to put this whole matter to rest and make a few final satements. We were not all made the same, as everyone has different opinions, different ideals. If we were all the same and liked the same things, this world would be a very boring place to live in. As for saying that South Africa belongs to Jesus, what load of hogwash? Jesus came from Jeruselam. Nowhere in the bible does it state that he travelled to South Africa. He would have been attacked by tribes on the way. As for trying to stop Lady Gaga from coming to South Africa with Jesus, may I remind you by your rantings that Jesus loves everybody and he does not discriminate! And with that said I hope we can all carry on with our normal lives, I think I'll play my Lady Gaga CD.

BORN THIS WAY? (Part 2)



Grace Jones Preforming at the Queen's recent Diamond Jubilee concert.

Whew!!! What a week it's been on the social networks, what with fans queueing online to buy tickets to Lady Gaga's upcoming tour to South Africa and causing the site to "crash". Then on the other hand the "happy clappys", as my late father would call these "bible punchers", trying to gather support to ban her tour from our shores. Their reasoning? She's a she-devil! Well some people's mother-in-laws are also called that too. But aren't they forgetting that Lady Gaga has had record sales (excuse the pun) of her CD's and DVD's already? Surely the FPB (Film Publications Board) would have had her music banned a long time ago if she was as evil as these religious "loonies" say she is. Their quest is so newsworthy it hasn't featured on any of the local news channels or appeared in any local newspaper. Back in the 80's we used to listen to another outrageous singer/artiste/performer, the legendary Grace Jones, whose costumes and stage antics were just as bizarre as Lady Gaga's are. Even some of her lyrics were considered erotic at the time. Now at 64 she recently preformed for Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, wearing a dress that looked like she had borrowed it from Lady Gaga's wardrobe. So why wasn't she banned from South Africa? Her music and Dvd's are freely available. I would go as far as to say that Lady Gaga is the next best thing to Grace Jones, cause soon  Ms Grace might decide to retire and then someone would have to take over her fan base. I don't know if some of these people who are trying to protest against Lady Gaga realize that in the 60's, Elvis Presley was also "banned" by Christians and bible punchers for gyrating his hips and singing "devil" music with lyrics like "I'm all shook up" and "And don't you......step on my blue suede shoes". They publicly smashed his records and announced that "rock and roll" was music of the devil! I could go on............but let me leave that for another chapter in my blog. As Lady Gaga would probably say "Have a fun filled fabulous day!" 

BORN THIS WAY?

I am angry, well that's putting it mildly, I'm more than angry. How dare someone tell me what sort of music to listen to, which artists to support? Just because international singing star, Lady Gaga, announced that she was going to perform in South Africa, a few nutcases have decided to try and stop her coming here "in the name of Jesus". Isn't that being a bit blasphemous? How on earth are they going to stop her? This is a serious case of bullying in my eyes, and I will make sure this gets posted on my Ant-Bullying page on Facebook. I'm sure a lot of people will agree with me when I say that fans will not be bullied into not liking Lady Gaga and then telling them she is the devil! That's hate speech, isn't it? Lady Gaga is a humanitarian as far as I know.  A staunch supporter of the LBGT movement worldwide, she and her mother started "The Born This Way Foundation" which focuses on youth empowerment and other issues like ant-bullying and mentoring. She also contibutes in the fight against HIV and Aids, by educating young women about the risks of the disease. The sales of Gaga-endorsed Viva Glam lipstick and lipgloss have raised more than $202 million to fight HIV and AIDS. And that being said, surely Lady Gaga is a christian herself; why call her the devil? I think the majority of South Africans will buy their ticket and dance the night away. Maybe because she supports gays and lesbians, these protesters want to stop her fom coming here. Well I have news for them, there are thousands of gays who will be buying tickets, I mean 52 million likes for her Facebook page says something!

THEY'RE BACK!



This was a really "Bad Romance". 

 Yes, you heard correctly: "They're Back!" Who is back I hear you say? Randall, Unathi and Gareth. The three SA Idols judges are back on our small screens or if you have a widescreen TV -our big screens. This is probably the best part of the competition, because thousands of hopefuls stand in front of these judges and end up making us the viewers, laugh or cry. Depending on how good or bad they are. The really good ones get a golden ticket to Sun City, whilst the really bad ones can compete for the "Wooden Microphone"who are are voted for by the viewer. Like this girl who tried to sing "Bad Romance" and she was not the only one who thought she could sing either. Actually this girl stands the chance winning the Wooden Mic hands down. I feel really sorry for some of the contestants, like the one youngster, Thabiso, who actually had a promising voice. But I think it was his cocky attitude that made the judges all vote a resounding "No!", and made the youngster burst into tears and blame poor Randall for "ruining my life forever". Come on kiddo, don't be such a baby. Think of it this way.......you are now famous and will be the talk of Durban in years to come.You won't win the Wooden Mic that's for sure as you were better than the Lady Gaga wannabe. Try again next year! You could be a future SA Idol! LOL