A friend discovers Clay Aiken’s Sacrificial Love
So I was with my friend yesterday, and she was enthusiastically telling me about her latest craze, Dancing With The Stars, especially a certain Mark Ballas.
Then she asked me if I knew that the contestants had danced to Clay’s “Sacrificial Love”– she saw it on youtube. And, of course, I was puzzled. I didn’t remember his song ever being featured on the show. And sure enough, when I got home, I looked it up, and it’s a montage of video clips from DWTS set to Clay’s song. The video so seamlessly matched that my friend didn’t realise that the song wasn’t used in the actual show. Also, the combination of waltz to song was so effective that it made her love the song.
What a compliment to LoveClaysVoice, the creator of the clip. Check it out:
Nusa Idaman in Nusajaya — not bad at all
Last Sunday, we had the opportunity to go check out more properties in Johor, this time courtesy of UEM, which organised a Hari Raya Open House at Nusajaya Centre complete with convenient pick-up from Jurong Point (well, convenient for us, anyway, since we live nearby).
Quite a bit of effort had obviously been made. Food was plentiful – noodles, satay, lemang, rendang, desserts. They even laid on live singing. And of course there were booths displaying their various developments.
In addition to group tours providing an overview of Nusajaya, visitors could sign up to be taken to specific developments and showhouses. Just a slight criticism: They should have stationed sales staff at the show houses. Every time we had a query, we were asked to take it up with the sales and marketing staff back at Nusajaya Centre.
The developments we looked at:
View from balcony of 'Courtyard Homes' showhouse
The show house for the NUSA IDAMAN “Courtyard Homes” was shown to us as part of the general overview tour of Nusajaya. We found out later that this particular phase is virtually sold out. Still, if this is typical of homes in Nusa Idaman, I must say I find it quite attractive. The home is spacious with living, dining and kitchen having an open feel. There is also a decent-sized bedroom on the ground floor for elderly family members, or for guests. Certainly a development worth checking out for those interested in medium-cost housing (price starts RM325K from what we were told).
Courtyard Homes showhouse – internal courtyard, the unique feature here.
Courtyard Homes showhouse - bathroom [Quick note: The bathroom was interesting to me because I thought it was immediately revealing of the fact that this is a medium-cost development. Seems to me that the developer could have done a better job with tiles/fittings to give a classier feel. ]
What’s also positive about Nusa Idaman is that it is not far from amenities. There’s a large shopping mall not too far away in Bukit Indah, and I could see established shops and businesses along the road to this development.
I would still be cautious about buying though. Apparently, quite a large percentage of homes have been sold to Singaporeans. Does that mean that many of the homes will remain vacant, or come to life only on weekends? I like quiet, but will it be too quiet? Also, given the large number of homes being built in Nusajaya, it may be difficult to resell the house later on if you change your mind about staying there.
Showhouses (2 bungalows) at East Ledang
Moving to EAST LEDANG, their upscale development, bungalows start at RM 2.1 million, and twin villas start from RM 1.1 million. Definitely luxurious, though it looks to me like the homes are built very close together — small garden spaces. Best part for me were the master bedrooms which were generally large, with dressing rooms and good-sized bathrooms. Nice!
View from one of the bungalows
Singapore Idol: Syltra Lee Out, Lucked Out!
So Syltra Lee was the one eliminated this week, victim of a phone voting system that seems to be eliminating some of the more talented singers. But, in Syltra’s case, I think she got lucky.
I saw her in the Top 24 show, and she exuded genuineness, style, attitude and personality. Fast forward to this week, and whoa, she’s been made over into this muppet of a pop star. The overdone lashes and those lips… that’s not make-up, that’s caricature. And she was being encouraged to change even further, to appeal to the masses! Syltra was probably fortunate to get out before they ironed all the personality out of her.
Makeovers are great when they serve to enhance or highlight the essence of who a person is. However, to encourage people to transform into something they’re not, that’s just wrong, cruel even. Ken advising Fathin to turn into Lady Gaga? Ridiculous! She doesn’t come across as someone with a natural flamboyance and love of dramatics. That makeover would be a disaster. Fathin has the vocal chops, let her shine with her voice alone.
Clay Aiken to release new CD in 2010
The actual focus of the news is Clay signing with a new record label (Source: Clayonline.com August 10 2009 news), but for me, the exciting part is of course..
NEW CD!!!
The first half of 2010 seems just a bit too far away, though. Why, that could be as long as year. I sure wish he would release a couple of singles in the interim, songs which needn’t necessarily make it onto the next album but which would be released to radio and promoted through TV appearances, and perhaps even a music video? I miss seeing him perform. But I don’t suppose that will be happening. It’s lucky that patience happens to be one of my few virtues.
