Thursday, May 24, 2012

Ampalaya and American Idol 11 Results


For the last time this season- Ryan Seacrest said ‘dim the lights, here we go!’ which, as we know signals the announcement of this year’s American Idol garnering over 132 million votes- the highest number of votes casted in the show's history.

Viewers particularly in the Philippines and in Mexico, which are used to watching the Miss Universe, were waiting for Ryan to say 'In the event that the winner would not be able to fulfill his/her duty, the runner up would take his/her place', but it didn't transpire.

Not even after the replay of the episode. So yes, there's no way to dethrone the winner!




Many people thought that the 132 million votes were bloated because of the popularity of one of the finalist in facebook, text, Skype and Magic Jack! But that was not necessarily the case.

The first Asian-Mexican-American winner was not called to the stage and as expected, many citizens of the social network,  expressed their extreme disappointment- crying expletives which are lavishly colored with commentaries ranging from ‘racism’ to ‘rigged’ voting system.

While all these were happening, CJ Corona has been enjoying the diverted attention and hopes that Season 12 would start immediately tomorrow and that a Filipina would once more participate so the nation can tune in to ETC or Star World instead of local Filipino news which broadcasts the impeachment trial live!



Going back to the American Idol results show, I found this article from rappler.com very revealing and interesting:http://www.rappler.com/world/5864-why-phillip-phillips-won-american-idol

The article basically points out that after a careful analysis of tweets favoring the finalists, they found out the Philipp was indeed America’s idol and that Jessica’s influence was mainly attributed to territories outside states (ehem! Mexico! Ehem! Philippines!)

Maybe that's the reason why facebook citizens are declaring her 'World Idol'!



While I want to give our kababayans the time to grief over this lost bragging opportunity (or what majority would say ‘national pride’) I can’t help but ask how do you deal with a competition that was designed to be a ‘popularity contest’ from the start?

And I came to a compelling realization: Why do we find the results shocking when we, as a nation, installed senators like Bong Revilla, Tito Sotto and Lito Lapid? We almost made Joseph Estrada president – NOT ONCE BUT TWICE! (borrowing lines from Susan Roces- no plagiarism intended!)



The point is- when you leave the decision to the populace you have to respect their preference. Yes- it is a matter of preference so ultimately the definition of who has the better voice or if it matters at all resides in the voters. That's democracy as its purest- take it or leave it. 

The premise of a popularity contest such as AI is that whoever garners the highest votes is assumed to have the fan base which would later translate into sold-out concerts and albums. 

So, if Filipinos really want to vindicate Jessica- buy her records post American Idol stint! Sadly for us, CDs purchased at Divisoria, Baclaran and Makati Cinema Square would not catapult Jessica to the Billboards.

On other news, past presidential candidates cried 'foul!' claiming they are far more superior intellectually compared to the one who was voted by the majority in 2010 to which PNoy replied – ‘and you, and you, and you! You’re gonna love me!’ (while playing Diablo 3!)

To which Jennifer Holiday responded: NGA-NGA!




1 comment:

  1. I couldn't agree with you more! The mere fact that Josh Badet, uhmmm Ledet rather, was voted out was a subtle preparation to an easy AI Finale results "rigging." Flush the African-American out and let it be a no brainer decision between the American and Filipino-Mexican. America is voting.

    While it is true that the AI winner, in this case Phillip, is determined by the number of votes, should it have been more acceptable and credible if votes by demograhy was showcased? This could have eradicated all the doubts and suspisions to a now tarnished AI tabulation.

    If majority of voters in the Philippines is concentrated in Maguindanao, are we now to conclude that the South and NorthEast catapulted Phillip to his throne? Or was is it the Midwest? Maybe even the Mountain region? Oh jeez, the whole US did, minus CA of course! Definitely he got Texas because of the battle in Alamo. Alam ko yan. :)

    Whatever happened to Chris Allen? Lee Dewyze and Scotty McCreery? Now welcome the new flavor: Phillip Phillips. Remember that the US only has 3 summer months. There is no need to stock pile on Frozen Delights!

    Jessica showcased and gave her best, that's enough. The world came to know of her lineage, even better. Now waiting for her songs to hit the charts soon would be BEST.

    It does pay to occasionally be bitter. After almost 2years of being mentally idle, it creates an avenue to squeeze out the juices of the still-active neurons in my brain.:)

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