When sour grapes are really sweet

Dear Mouse, I hate sour grapes. Maasim. I am not only referring to the small green or purple fruit but also to the phrase that is always misused to express resentment or bitterness. Sourgraping is a defense mechanism to diminish pain or guilt. In short it is rationalization or coming up with a logical reason for a failure. I have always dreamed to be a singer. I do not have to subject myself to the horror of joining contests to realize that I am not a star material. I am no numbskull not to know that the baby of my friend did not stop crying to appreciate my song. She knew that my vocal chords cannot even produce a nursery song that would lull baby to sleep. I cannot bear to see her face with that stunned look...with her hands folded on her breast..eyes wide open...discerning what kind of an animal was making that kind of discord. I have invested several hundreds of dollars to DVD karaoke, receiver, amplifier and all those machines that can make your croaking voice sound like Beyonce. My latest buy is the magic mike that rates your singing. Traidor na mike. It rates my friends higher than my 60 percent. I only found out lately that to score high, you must be able to sing loud and follow the highlighted words. You can even score 100 per cent by merely reciting the words. Dumb and damn machine I am blaming my family’s DNA for lacking the factor that should have catapulted me to fame like this girl. Rising star Lalaine, although only seventeen, looks to be well on her way to realizing every bit of that potential. Currently seen on the Disney Channel/ABC hit show Lizzy McGuire, Lalaine is quickly becoming a name to be remembered. She has been involved in the entertainment industry since the age of ten, and has found success on the stage, in front of the camera, and behind a microphone. Lalaine was raised both in the Philippines and in Burbank, Calif. As a child she spent time with her father in Manila, Cebu, and other spots in the Philippines. She’s still able to speak Tagalog and Bicol when the need arises. It’s when she returned to the States that performing bug that had been with her since the age of two began prodding her forward. With an older sister performing in Ms. Saigon, it seems that the urge might have been genetic. It was, in fact, her sister Cristina, that was her inspiration and biggest cheerleader. “My mom didn’t actually want me to take singing lessons,” she says. ‘My sister’s the one who persuaded her.” So it is not only genetic. She was at the right place at the right time. Am I sounding like I am sourgraping? But this guy who did not meet any of the four criteria of being a pop idol, good looks, good voice, good dancer and luck proved that sourgraping is not necessarily sour. UC's accidental pop star 'American Idol' reject is hot item on campus -- and far beyond Demian Bulwa, Chronicle Staff Writer Wednesday, February 11, 2004 ©2004 San Francisco Chronicle | Feedback | FAQ Rejection on TV's "American Idol" turned William Hung into a most unusual American celebrity. He's hot at UC Berkeley, where he studies engineering -- but he's scorching in Singapore, according to his unofficial publicist. "If he went there, women would rip his clothes off in the streets," said Don Chin, a real estate agent in McKinleyville (Humboldt County) who started the fan site www.williamhung.net after watching Hung get bounced off the show two weeks ago. The Berkeley junior has become as big as the gold backpack he hauls to his civil engineering classes. When he's not studying, the 21-year-old signs autographs, fields online love queries and grapples with whether he is a performer or a clown. Hung -- who is ambitious, sincere and achingly naive -- doesn't want to be a clown. He wants to be a pop star. "I see this as a learning experience of how to succeed if I was to become an American pop star someday," Hung, pausing to choose his words carefully, said over coffee this week in San Francisco's Japantown, where he was returning a rented CD. Hung said he knows he has a lot of work to do as a vocalist. His spirited, Chinese-accented rendition of Ricky Martin's "She Bangs" was aired Jan. 27 by producers who clearly coveted Hung's entertainment value -- not his pipes. Simon Cowell, the show's bad cop, interrupted Hung and told him, "You can't sing, you can't dance, so what do you want me to say?" "I already gave my best," the Hong Kong-born Hung responded, "and I have no regrets at all." America guffawed and gulped, taken with Hung's grace as much as his unique hip shimmies. Fans responded immediately: The man who is now known as the "Hong Kong Ricky Martin" received 150 e-mails that night. Chin's fan site has been visited nearly 8 million times, while an online petition to get Hung back on the show claimed 30,000 signatures as of Tuesday afternoon. Meanwhile, Hung said he has been invited to perform at events from a Philadelphia 76ers basketball game to the MTV Asia Awards in Singapore, and he has appeared on several television shows. "I hope I've shown everyone in the world that regardless of success or failure, just keep trying. Never give up," Hung said. "Because only then can you say to yourself that you tried your best and had no regrets." The CA t