The route to fame

A recent photo of my CS group tutorial mates supporting me in my Party World KTV competition shit. Wei Xin, Soon Tat, Nicole and my dear 26/01 family were all there to hear me sing off-key. And once again, I've proven to myself that the self-destruction button IS distant cousin of success. While Colin and Minxiu are all getting disillusioned with this sort of competitions, I'm getting more and more disillusioned with my unique ability to screw up at the real gig. I mean, hey, I haven't even gotten past myself yet.

There was this invitation to a little gathering that Party World KTV organized almost a week later after the semi-finals night for all the semi-finalists. In that room was filled with teens, young adults and adults, all mixing and socializing and thinking they are superstars. I couldn't bear sitting any longer and left soon after. It was a gathering at the lounge which served Siam Kitchen food and the KTV system was open for anybody to sing. Some of the grand finalists took center stage and boy, was I impressed with them. Well, good luck to all of them.

The event was also funny in a sense that it felt like a 武林大会 (martial arts meet) with the different sects coming from different singing schools. We have the 许环许许许环环許環良派，陳彼得派，黎沸揮派 and so on. Very much like the 华華山，昆倫，娥媚派. I'm probably the bloody hell 流浪漢who is 無師自通, that I'm very proud of.




Good old gekleng has got through to the second round of the Superhost, which is not much of a surprise. Please watch out for this guy really, cos he does look the part and when the voting and all that bullshit starts. Go for this guy who's really my choice for Superhost. All the best my dear friend.



Next up is Nicholas Teo Zhi Rong from CS who is in the top 10 male finalists of Star Idol. Although I question his acting ability and his EQ (nah, kidding), he no doubt looks the part with his good looks, muscular frame and intelligence. Well, best of luck to him as well.

And so we've come to the age where everyone can be a superstar if you have the guts to go for it. What is this latest trend of Singaporeans signing up to become superstars or star idols? This is a global phenomena, where your average joes take a shot at becoming someone famous. This is Cinderella rising from the dumps to the riches. The competition I joined was also called, "Be A Star" where so many wannabes an above average singers think they have a chance to do it.



What happened to the good old conventional way of rare commodity where idols and stars are rare, few and difficult to become. All these competitions have cheapen the bare essence of celebrity. The rich and the famous. The dream that is never going to be. The quality of our stars are gonna get worse and so are our expectations of them. These people won't be remembered as icons or legends of their time but merely winners of some competitions that is made to generate publicity and revenue for the TV station.

Celebrities should be made from a twist of fate, a stroke of luck or scouted by people from raw diamonds. The newer celebrities are from singing schools, acting classes who pay money to buy their way to their dream.



A vandalised drinks machine at Boon Lay. Cheap stars. Cheaper lifestyles. A more cheaper life. The route to fame much more cheaper.