Lega....ni kat office da setibanya dari Genting Highlands. Kejra pun da habis cuma sana sini sikit nak abihkan, and of course my overtime for last month yang kena file in claim lak.
Then...it's OFF!!! I'm planning to take two weeks off, tapi tu lah, tengok dulu keadaan. Lagipun, I need time off to recuperate (because unlike some who will find the most menial excuse for a claim to fame, I actually buat kerja). Tapi dalam masa tu, aku ada lagi tiga projek berjalan serentak.
Ni lak nak wat research sikit sebab masa kat Genting pas abih ABP semalam, lepak kat Starbucks, ada lak approach nak bisik sesuatu which I cannot repeat here.
Kang confirm aku announce...tapi ada ler yang sentap bijik kalau benda tu jadi kenyataan.
Merasalah akan dijadikan alasan nak carik pasal lagik sebab dengki dan carut dalam hati (a national hobby for some people...a cheap one too, befitting the characteristics of the folks who practise it). Whatever....bukan cari makan pun ngan orang orang camni...utang pun tak. Don't know if it's the reverse though. Pepandai sendiri ler time tuh kan...matilah become the bigger person dan halalkan jer.
Karma again...has a strange way of ending up smack right in the face.
Anyways, kembali cita Anugerah Bintang Popular. Besh siot.
It was the busiest award show for me so far dalam lebih 10 tahun aku ulang alik setiap anugerah nak wat liputan...sebab kali ni bukan je aku bertugas membuat liputan seperti rakan media yang lain, I also had another job. Yes, job. Not gila glamour past-time to validate my pathetic existence. Oops...did I go too far? Well, if the shoe fits? And if it doesn't, it's probably because someone didn't realise it was not referring to anything physical.
Moving on...
Cadang nak ke Genting awal, tapi sebab duduk sampai 7 pagi nak pastikan bebudak nya baju semua ok, akibatnya, sedar dari tidur pun da about 12pm. Packed, and shot to KL, picked up Ted, and then naik Genting terus. Sampai kul 3pm.
None of the kids had reached so grabbed a bite kat Burger King, before the trumpets blared, announcing the arrival of Juan Danza.
Pastu ingat nak rehat kat bilik sat sebelum bersiap, tapi had to drop in and check on Felix yang sedang disiapkan Nizam. Lawak gak layan Felix nih...lama da tak lepak ngan dia.
Compared notes on some stuff, helped Nizam out a little and got him ready.
More and more calls later, lari ngan Wanie ke bilik Mawi nak siapkan. Alamak...dak tuh tunggu sambil main PS2. Abih da...ni kena tunggu nih. Tambah agik especially abang Wan dan dia tengah lawan WWE katanya.
When we got started, we actually ran into a simple problem. Mawi punya belt semua yang had these huge buckle heads, yang actually kurang sesuai ngan baju formal. The only one yang kena was this D&G white belt for the red carpet suit, tapi tu lak dia pakai besar sikit sebab, al kisahnya, da beli, tak lak pakai pakai, lubang short satu tak tebuk.
Last last si Nasser korbankan belt dia sebab pinggang meka lebih kurang. Sebab aku lak takde white belt, and aku pakai suar putih, aku pun dapat ler belt baru.
Merasalah opening ceremony katanya tuk belt Mawi.
Got ready, si Wanie hopped in the limo ngan Mawi, Nasser and one more guy for security purposes. I took the second vehicle to avoid the fanfare.
Sampai je Theme Park Hotel, kami ke lower level where there was this holding area for artistes. Gegas lak nak settle barang kemas sponsor Habib.
Mawi, Rosyam, Ning, Nikki, Erra Fazira....tu antara meka yang pakai baju from the guys.
It was chaotic, but simply fun despite itbeing a tad stressful.
For the first time gak, thanks to Bill Bora yang memang veteran (mati aku, veteran katanya..) kat event camni, aku diperkenalkan pada the judges yang akan menentukan sapa best dressed personalities for the night. Bill ingatkan tuk nak bak perkenalkan artistes dressed by all the designers I'm working with, ngan designers sekali.
My first time jumpa the current president of MODA, which is the Malaysian Official Designers' Association. Best gak sembang ngan dia...and I'm proud to say she approves of my views when we traded opinions.
It's always a good thing to meet people who are accomplished to change views rather than know-it-alls who hardly have any claim to fame for their so-called pearls of wisdom.
Jumpa a lot of freinds within the industry yang aku only get to meet time time anugerah ni, so dalam kerja, kelam kabut, with two jobs going on at once, it wasn't all that bad because it was made bearable by the fun folks around.
Plus, because there really was maximum security at the event, memang kureng sikitler leeches or groupies around.
Ni some of the pics for the red carpet portion of the evening. Sebenarnya, aku penah jalan red carpet dalam time keja, tapi nothing could have prepared me for this madness.
Jalan ngan Fie, with some of the wardrobe for change during performances, tapi memang kita nak elak sana sini. Problem is, traffic jam siot. Mana taknya. Ko takleh overtake orang lain kat red carpet (though we did overtake Sazzy and Co. midway), so kalau orang depan henti, mampus ada traffic jam buildup all the way to the entrance of the red carpet.
Fie and I were sandwiched between Ning, Nikki, Yanie along with Azmi, Lucas dan Vernon in the front, and Sazzy Falak and her hubby.
Tapi bila da sampai pintu masuk ke Arena of Stars, terus traffic jam gila punya.
Amik ler peluang nak hoo-ha dan amik pics. Misha was behind us, along with Yasmin Hani and many more...so mingled and socialised where we could.
Yerlah nak tunggu giliran turun tangga to the actual arena lagik satu hal, memang nightmare on Elm Street.
Imagine walking down this steep and narrow staircase with hands reaching out at you. Erk...takut siot. Finally made it down jer, run backstage terus tuk bersiap.

Left to right, top to bottom : Rosyam ngan Nizam, walking behind Sazzy dan laki dia. Next, pemandangan kat red carpet, followed by pic Ning yang memang one of the loudest called for celebrities.Nikki dan Hazami di interview TV3 and Lucas sempat pose ngan Yanie. Yamin pose vogue ngan aku, dan si Linda dan Fahrin tetap...ehem. Next pic...sapa kata aku gaduh ngan Misha (keji kan statement) and followed by the 'walk of death' jalan turun tangga ke arena. Last two pics, Erra dan Ning masa kat area red carpet.
                                      

Pening sikit at that point, and apparently, silly me forgot to get  a drink handy, and knowing me, malas nak lari keluar, memang tambah agik teruk keadaan aku. The only relief nak dok puffing away, stick after stick of Marlboro.
Nak amik banyak pic kat dressing room takleh lak...for obvious reasons kan? I mean I could, but they wouldn't be decent for publishing.
Takkan orang salin baju nak amik pic kan?
Kalau dari dressing room, ni je aku sempat amik, sebab I was running between there, stage front as well as the nearest exit to smoke masa stressed. That and toying with my laptop tengah type story on the spot wat review show. Merasalah tempted nak update blog, tapi sebab takleh focus, malas.

Ziana ngan make-up artiste dia shared with Siti Nurhaliza, Nurul Shukor yang meletup, Dayang baru abih touch-up makeup and siapa lagi kalau bukan Datuk Siti Nurhaliza herself. Siti!!! Ko gorgeous ok, malam tu!!! (merasalah carut Nurul mak esah lak) I think Siti is starting to look more matured and sesuai umur dia, and yet still adorably cute and sweet. (puji sampai langit nih....thanks Siti ek for posing for this pic - dapat curi tips make-up...)
     

Tapi around the bacstage banyak ler sikit. All throughout the event, sampai abih, ni the collection pics of some of my favourite people yang aku sempat amik pic. Korang enjoy, puas-puas.
Again kalao ada pics yang korang suka, korang nak letak memana, please kredit my blog ok...letak laa link...jangan kemut!!!

Apek, Apek and more Apek. Selamat kembali Apek! Semoga cepat sihat kembali 100% tip top ok! First with Aznil, then satu agik ngan Fasha and last call ntah merajuk ngan Fara Fauzana (merasalah pandai jer cakap padahal aku pun tatau pose haper dalam pic tuh) Then there's Nikki with Faizal and Nurul.
                 More pics from the backstage area. Zahid posing macho, Mawi tengah di interview, Nana pose seksi, Marsha, Amylea dan Haziq and I (lama tak jumpa!), Fasha dan si Jac.
                          

So that's about all the pictures I can share. Ada ler lagik, tapi aku rasa tak perlu. Ni pun pada sesiapa yang slow connection entah berapa hari nak buka page ni tuk load semua pics.
All in all it was a fun event. Kecoh sikit time kita kat backstage tunggu transport ke Genting Hotel tuk post party, which was thankfully by invite so no gatecrashers. Tight gila...sampai Wanie pun tak dapat masuk sebab Mawi lupa passingkan pass. Got in, got the pass, and brought Wanie in.
Anyway tengok ler kerenah artis berpusu pusu tunggu transport.
I didn't stay long. Lapar tapi tak berselera. Chomped down some shrimp and that was it. Strange though kan...pakai baju beribu raban ngan batuan segala...but you get served Ribena and Cordial. Matilah aku mencarut...
Tapi sebelum aku kena carut, biar aku cakap, the food was excellent...not that it mattered, cause it was the EXCLUSIVITY of the event which was more industry related, hence the absence of groupies or people yang takde kena mengena.
I buggered off about 15 minutes later selepas mereka announce the winners for the best dressed.
Incidentally, kalau sapa nak tau siapa menang, here are the results :

Best Dressed Male Artiste ABP 2006 - Fahrin Ahmad
Best Dressed Female Artiste ABP 2006 - Erra Fazira.

Yeap...bangga one of my group dapat. Sebab Hatta yang wat baju Erra. Merasalah ada bragging rights katanya, sekali ngan Wanie yang blushing ala ala lobster sebab Mawi sebut nama dia. Tima kasih botak....takyah nak ingatkan pun leh ucap ek. Tapi jangan ler sebut sampai perabot rumah. Keji laaa...
Hung out at Starbucks to email my news stories as well as finish my column and other articles.
Got most of my work done, and hung about. Most of the crowd abih post party je mai hangout. Zahid dan bebudak RuffEdge muncul, abang Aznil and gang pun ada. Nak amik pic pun battery phone dedua da flat. So no pics there too.
Balik bilik, freshen up, ngumpat ngan bebudak pasal the night, post mortem sat and then we went for supper cum breakfast sebab kebulur tak sangat kat post party. Gi mamak yang dekat Resort Hotel tuh....oh my. Rupanya banyak renovation, Nampak sangat so much has changed since aku last naik Genting almost a year ago.
Mamak tuh however tetap keji. Kelakar lak tengok Wanie punya nasi lemak banjir...unintentional of course. Sambal je lebih. Tapi the harga haiyo...mahal nak mampos.
Mana taknya kedai sekecik tu ada CCTV sampai 4 ketul! Merasalah nampak sangat meka ni kaya ngan exorbitant prices meka charga.
Eh...lapar lah...anyway I hope you guys suka this update...because I had fun throughout the whole night last night walaupun berserabut sikit pala nak wat tuh nih...
Got to go for now...look for something EXCLUSIVE news tomorrow. Kalao leh anggap exclusive ler. Lum baca lum tahu kan?!
Gone...

PS - Sebab aku tak minat nak ulas show (korang camler takde TV kat rumah, tak dok mengumpat mengulas sendiri lak show tuh kan - so perlu ke?) jangan harap aku wat keja tuh.
But here are some pages of people yang actually were there, and not in front of the TV too.
Click HERE for MrManager
Click HERE for Sensasi Selebriti

PS Pt II - Jangan lupa nonton Mawi@Mauritius malam ni kat Astro Ria jam 10.30pm tengok kita semua shopping kat sana (sapa yang ikut blog aku, mesti rasa da basi)

PS Pt III - Terimah kasih semua artis yang mengambil khidmat para pereka muda. Senarai termasuk Ning, Nikki, Yanie, Erra, Mawi, Ziana, Dayang, Betty Banafe, Rosyam, Felix, Zed Zaidi dan beberapa nama lagi.
Tahniah pada Hatta (Erra menang Best Dressed pakai baju dia ler) as well as Wanie sebab baju dia tuk Mawi terpampang tuk satu Malaysia tengok.
So to Hatta, Wanie, Rizman & Wan, Nizam dan Zura, congratulations guys.
By the way, ni logo semua bebudak (kecuali Zura yang tak hantar-hantar pun logo dia), sekali ngan last sekali, my own, which is simply K yang kuar kat kredits time abih da ABP.

 

Aku letih sikit. Pening, letih tapi puas....esok aku upload bebanyak pics ek. From red carpet, to backstage, to behind the scenes.
Post party tak ada la...sebab masa tuh nak enjoy kan. Wat skang aku keletihanan nak mampos...so korang sabar je la ek.

Today is the last day nak prepare for the big do tomorrow.
Headless chicken ahoy!
Dalam kelam kabut nak siapkan tu nih, dan tuk separuh orang nak korek mana mampu tuk dapat tiket atau jemputan sebab desperate nak gi....I started the day by....going shopping.
Retail theraphy katanya. For some reason drawn to the sales kat 1 Utama. Went with my sis and Jida and picked up quite a few interesting items, including a little suit outfit thingie.
Suka! Aku jarang nak pakai formal. So while orang nak stylo and trendy tuk  buat kejutan...I'll be boring and prim and proper to get my shock value. A challenge for me actually sebab aku tak selesa pakaian yang nampak smart smart nih...aku lebih suka relaxed and casual...but then again I should be thankful, cause at least I have clothes that fit me, and a sense of dressing up unlike a nerdy geek.
Joy to the world....blah blah blah... a few problems cropped up here and there with some of the work, but then again it's out of my hands. Aku damage control pun setakat tu je...sebab hasil kerja orang lain. My work is fine as it is...so up to the individuals nak betul kan apa yang patut. Can't spoonfeed people all the time.
Besides, one of my azam tuk 2007 nih, is to rid myself of my really draggy compulsive caretaking obsession I have of caring more than I should about everyone.
Silly kan..the things you learn when you grow up (ok..fine...when you grow older). I used to think caring for friends and people near and dear was important. Only now I realise it's a sure-fire way of f***** up your life by bothering with some people who belong in the deepest recesses of some unknown region where the light don't shine on their ugly mugs.
Moving on...after retail theraphy, went for first round of servicing for my car. Nak naik bukit ni, nak best of shape. Aku selama ni neglect my car, so got it done today. Kang ada masa nak tukau tuh nih lagik. Wat time ni ada lebih dari cukup duit, nak ler settle all that. After all...it's too seek my fortune as well to be mobile...so gotta take care of my ride. But actually...thinking of pimping it a little. We'll see...
Abih servicing my wheels, bersiap dan lari ke Istana Budaya, sebab nak jumpa Wanie, Za and Juan tuk fitting Mawi. Si Juan nak wat story tuk IRemaja so dia ikut sekali...
Mawi called me up about 7pm and said he was on the way, so aku pun round dulu ler area tuh...mak aih. Why the hell did they put the Eye on Malaysia here?
The transportation infrastructure is hardly healthy in this area to put something that would congest it further. One bloody round driving along the roads keliling kawasan tuh pun da take setengah jam.
Seriously la...I think someone crewed up on the planning bit when it came to location. Now I understand how this person felt masa nak gi hantar artiste dia wat show kat sana masa pelancaran And this is only the tip of the iceberg as the crowd wasn't all that bad.
Sampai je...tengok the rest of the gang da sampai. Barely five minutes pastu, si Mawi call kata dia da sampai. Along with Nasser dan abang Wan.
Freddie was in Istana Budaya already sebab ada sesi 'istimewa' tuk Mawi jumpa sorang peminat dari jauh. Kalau nak tau lebih pasal tuh, bacalah Kosmo! esok. Aku takleh cita lebih lak kat sini...sebab takde kena mengena ngan aku...and unlike some people...I respect the work of others. Any takers on the terasa bit...no? Hardly surprising...thick skin makes you immune to a lot of things. Even the painful truth.
So on with the fitting...everything was fine. Kalao nak tau, Mawi will be wearing an all white tux, just sikti off the traditional cut kat red carpet with some sprinkling of diamonds from Habib, dan masa dia perform, a maroon top with white shirt coupled ngan suar hitam. Tengok ler sendiri...here are some pics dari sesi tadi..
Tak clear sebab gelap sikit dalam Istana Budaya tuh.

Ni Wanie tengah fitting si Mawi. Hah...ok tak? All white katanya. Merasalah virginal! Yang picketiga tu, terang sebab flash camera si Juan. Bawahnya part ofthe outfit for the performance. Erm...baru perasan perut naik sikit ek Mawi. Amik ko...
   

Pas abih fitting, mula mula ingat nak join meka tuk show kat tasik sebab si Haziq, Fahan da ramai agik ada. Abang Wan ajak...tapi pas pikir berkali kali...malas lak.
Esok rancang nak gerak awal pagi. Terus dari sana...gerak gi melantak kat kak Ara, then ingat nak havoc sikit joget lambat sebelum balik for a wink or two.
See how the night progresses.
Want to get some stuff out of my system and party before tomorrow. Yerlah...some people hope to go nak feeling socialise..aku nak gi wat keja.
Alamak...nak singgah rumah bebudak lak...erm...camna ek ni? Erm...kita beronggeng dulu...

Malas nak posting entry sebab ari ni too many things to do, and tak focus on blogging content. Takkan nak tangkap muat lak nak bagik opinionated piece for free.
Not everyone dishes away everything for the sake of being heard. Sometimes we all have priorities. Don't wanna end up like some people I know who haven't made...and will never make anything out of themselves.
So sorry guys...no reading material ari ni.
Surf around...have fun.
Come back tomorrow when it's more loaded and not just occupying space for the sake of making people think I'm intelligent. Boleh?
Aduh....banyak nak cover balik tidur ni...

Tpday malas sngat nak posting apa apa. Had a ton of work to finish... kalau tertangguh kang, mampos nak clear by the beginning of next week.
Backlogged work ni yang paling terus cause you know when you keep procrastinating sangat...it never gets done. Only forgotten.
Anyways, apart from the hustle and bustle for the hands on for Anugerah Bintang Popular kali ni, today was a little different cause thanks to Juan dan Mohariz, gi lepak kat studio kat NSR dengar Dayang laying down some vocal tracks for her upcoming album.
Aku nak cakap lebih lak takleh...kang ada penulis lirik lak marah. Tapi apapun,  it's staple Dayang, and quite interesting.
Aku memang rate Dayang as one of the albums to look our for in 2007.
All the divas, and little divas are coming out with albums this year, so memang killer sikit ler tahun ni. Banyak saingan, which I suppose in a way is good.
Off what I can recall, I know apart from Dayang's album, aku tunggu album Ning,  Sarah Raisuddin and also of course, Siti Nurhaliza punya traditional album (lama tak dengau dia wat genre ni).
Oh by the way...kelakar la...for me. But it's strange betapa ramai wartawan tak bertauliah who try so hard to be something they're not, making snide remarks about how those in the profession think they're better (technically most are because not only they're trained, experienced amongst other reasons)...these folks don't know which way is up.
Why did I bring that up? Sebab ada ler sembang ngan Dayang pasal isu ramai kutuk dia kat Internet pasai baju dia kat Anugerah Juara Lagu tuh...selak situ sana sini seksi katanya....
Well...strangely enough, these anonymous moralists...are just ridiculously hitting below the belt.
Everyone has the right to an opinion, but I think the Internet has allowed for too many kedai kopi syndrome inflicted wannabes who judge people harshly without facing the consequences for being UNKNOWN and FACELESS.
So there...but many artistes read what's on the Internet even though meka tak ngaku...and it does hurt most of them...criticisms and nasty remarks biasalah...tapi agak agak ler kan kalao nak curi pukul.
The work of a coward is always anonymous. Only that way...they can't be judged.
Aduh...ngantuk...nak tidur dulu...kan merapu lak entry ni panjang memanjang...