Jasmine vs La Toya and TEXTING

Dear Mouse,

I was not home last night to watch the competition among four young ladies in American Idol. According to my friend, it was the first time, that the ever composed Jasmine cried when Simon told her that she should pray that every household in Hawaii has 5 phones.

I thought she was the only contestant who failed to give an earth-shaking performance. La Toya and Fantasia had their shares too. The three judges were not impressed by the total performance of the two divas but they tried to sway public opinion that one of them is going to be the IDOL. On the other hand the exit verdict for Jasmine from the show was already handed down.

It seems that these people did not realize that it is the public that decide who they like to win regardless of the singing performance. This is a popularity contest. More votes means there are more people favoring a particular candidate. If the judging mechanism is that 50 per cent is decided by the judges and 50 per cent by the viewing public like Star Search where an eleven year old Filipino reigned as a champion, then they can always offset any perceived bias coming from the fans.

Besides these fans are the target consumers of the future records of the winner.

The making of a star is not only possessing good and powerful voice. Jasmine may not be a diva but she can always render an interpretation that is wholly her own. The young fans look up to young idols to whom they can relate with. Both Fantasia and La Toya are matured married women. De Garmo and Jasmine are young and beautiful. So many have expressed admiration for the two young ladies. They may not have the singing experiences and exposures that La Toya and Fantasia had accumulated thru the years but they have shown their own styles; originality. While the more senior contestants were developing their singing careers, these two young girls may still be busy playing with dolls and watching Nickledeons.

In fairness to La Toya, I can say that she is one good singer. The reason for her failure to get the votes was an alleged phone problem from her home base. Her relatives said that it was difficult to get a phone line to vote. Indeed. Our phone brigade was ready an hour after the end of the show. Redial helps too. It is a matter of who dialed first and was able to get thru. An alternative is the texting where a voter/fan incurs a texting fee.

Simon Cowell's dearth of knowledge about the Filam fans of Jasmine did not anticipate that the Filipino voters did not use the landlines. They used the means where they are the best. TEXTS.If he only knew that the TEXTING launched a crowd of million faces in EDSA 2, he could not have hurt Jasmine's feelings infront of the Filipino viewers who have followed American Idol since two Filams were included in the Magic 12.

She is one of the top three contenders for the much coveted title. Next week's competition would be very tough. She may not win but her fans delivered the message. Simon may think twice before he utters an opinion that would hurt the Filams' ego. It is not always the winner who get the recording contracts anyway.

What made me flipped last night, was the use of psychic to predict the winner. She did not say anything new about positivism and visualization. Akala ko political candidates lang ang mahilig sa hula. I would have picked the manghuhulas sa Quiapo. hehehe,

Yes, Birhinya, ganyan kababaw, si CA t. pati ang mga contest ay pinagtitiyagaan.

The CA t