Week 4 - Results Night: An Easy-pick

Funny thing, when I categorized TakeOff in the "Definitely Safe" group after their stellar performance of "Dreaming of You", it turned out to be another unlucky night as they landed in the bottom two tier.

Mang Modesto really has the vocal chops but his weakness on faster tempo song did not make him last. But is he the weakest singer in the show? Definitely no. But his weak performance last night really hurt him.

So how did the survival songs fair? Here's my take **anyone who will upload videos in youtube will be much appreciated :)** 

Modesto Taran - You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine by Lou Rawls - I am not familiar with the song but Mang Modesto did it good but it was 'meh'. I mean for your last chance performance, you should put your all into it and should pick a song that would showcase what you have in the bag. Perhaps, he already accepted his defeat after learning that he is in the bottom two. Rating: B

TakeOff - Flying Without Wings by Westlife - I grew up listening to Westlife and I can say that TakeOff's performance was not as great as the original but their harmony was good. There were a couple of missed notes but nevertheless, this performance was way better than the previous one. Rating: A-

These two are growing on me as they progress during the contest. Honestly, I did not like them at first because I believe that there are people who deserve it more. But they had proven me wrong. :)

It was a unanimous decision to eliminate Mang Modesto. If I were to choose who to eliminate, I would also pick Mang Modesto. On his last chance performance, he did not give me the chills that I would go crazy about.

Many say that it was an easy-pick for the judges. I totally agree with that. I was already expecting Mang Modesto to go home. What surprised me is that Ms. Pilita did not "support" her act and chose to eliminate Modesto instead. Like, whoa! Is she being too objective? I don't get it. If she thinks that Modesto would not withstand the competition, she should not have chosen him to go further to the Top 12.

I am guessing that perhaps, there is already an "internal arrangement" between Ms. Pilita and Mang Modesto that in case he would land in the bottom two spot, he would rather go home. Maybe, he treated it as a sign since he totally missed his family during the run of the contest. You see, the happiness on Mang Modesto's face was so genuine. He surely loves his family. Hats off to you Mang Modesto!

Was I satisfied with the result? 50-50. I really believe that Kedebon should be the one sent packing because Mang Modesto can blow the competition further than Kedebon. More, he surely is the statement of "Age doesn't matter". Sounds cliche but his singing would agree with me 100%.

Also, TakeOff is DEFINITELY improving and they are picking up their pace, so what the heck happened there? Complacency at its best? Not again.

Share your thoughts on the elimination! Feel free to comment below.

On Gary V's Thoughts Regarding the Shocking Elimination

 For your reference, you may read the full text here: Gary V's Post

Let me share my insights on Gary V's reaction on the never-ending battle of good and bad comments in the cyberspace after the unexpected exit of Mark Mabasa from the competition.

By deconstructing Gary V's statement, it is a clear-cut view that Mark is one of his favorites in the competition. He was his very first choice when they chose auditionees for the Over 25's Category to qualify for the Judge's Home Round. I guess, if TakeOff wasn't in his team, he would choose Mark to be saved instead.

Gary V knows who "is in it to win it". However, I still cannot reconcile myself to the thought that the judges are playing it too nice for the contestant. The reason of "technical difficulties" is a little bit lame for me because I witnessed many contestants that delivered their stellar performances despite the glitches. Take Reema Lucida for example from Born Diva, a defunct singing show of ABS-CBN. I had no idea what happened but it was only the drums that continued accompanying her on the middle part of the song when she interpreted "Run To You" by Whitney Houston. Did that affect her? Nope. Because her performance was still powerful. As the Queen song says, 'The show must go on'.

Further, last Saturday was not a lone case where the judges were too pleasant. Indeed, there were disastrous performances on the first Live Performance night. They lambasted KZ and Charice for the poor song choice and yet, liked the poor performances of some contestants (I will be posting my review on their first live performance soon).

 But let me get this it straight. I am not blaming the judges for Mark's exit. I am just irritated to the fact that their comments are way too poor than what I am expecting.

Was it Charice's fault that Mark left the game so early? I don't think so. If the fans were not complacent, Mark should not be in the bottom spot and would not face elimination if they had done their part in voting wildly. This might sound cliche but still, "nasa huli ang pagsisisi".

I understand where Mr. Pure Energy is coming from. Posting negative comments, bashing and name-calling would not add up to the total votes to save a contestant nor these would change the fact that Mark was already eliminated. Haters can keep on hating and sour-graping but in the end, these do not have any bearing on the final results.

Remember, this is still a contest determined by the votes that we do or do not cast. So in the end, whoever wins this competition, deserving or not, it is us to be blamed.

Week 2 - Results Night: Surprise, surprise!

The disappointment that I felt upon learning that Mark was part of the bottom two was the same disappointment that I felt after the upset that had happened during the Brazil-Russia Men's Volleyball match. Brazil had it on the bag after winning the first two sets but Russia staged a comeback and won the gold medal. Burr. As the old saying goes, "bilog ang bola" - contests and games alike.

I knew Mark had it on the bag as well - looks, vocal chops. So what went wrong? I seriously do not know. As for TakeOff, after their final disastrous note that surely left a bad taste to the mouths of the viewers, it did not surprise me at all that they were not lucky to avoid the bottom 2.

So here's my review on the last chance performances:

Mark Mabasa - "There's No Easy Way" by James Ingram - This performance proved that the viewers made a wrong move on putting him in the bottom spot. His range was superb, the emotions were clearly depicted and the notes were right on the spot. Rating: A+

TakeOff - "Fall For You" by Secondhand Serenade - After hearing their great harmony that was full of emotions on the first part of the song, I told myself that they were putting up a good fight against the fantastic performance of Mark. However, first impression surely does not last. They went ballistic on the chorus where they oversang the rock part and lost their harmony. Rating: B+

If I were one of the judge, I would surely base my vote on their last chance performance and it was clearly a knockout round in favor of Mark. But Charice played it safe and instead of relying to the performance, proceeded to the "deadlock". I thought it would be payback time for Charice's team after Gary cast the decisive vote and chose to eliminate Jerianne over Joan last week. But that did not happen. Seniority? Maybe.

But it was not only Charice who played it safe last night. Sadly, Mark's fans were also complacent. Like how Jessica Sanchez was almost booted out after her stellar performance of Stuttering, the fans did not bother to vote presuming that many people would panic to grab their phones after hearing a great rendition of Gotta Get You Into My Life.

My jaw dropped after learning that TakeOff edged Mark by a matter of 0.18% of votes (3.90-3.72) hence, eliminating Mark on the early stage of the competition.  

Surprise, surprise! Was it staged? I don't think so. A third party tabulator is always there to verify the results. Was it because Mark is rumored gay that's why voters turned their back? I don't know. But if that would be the case, it would be a disheartening news because Filipinos chose gender preference instead of talent as their bases.

Nevertheless, Mark is a heck of a talented guy. With his looks and talents, given the right break, this guy would surely go far.


Indeed, we have learned a very important thing for this week's competition:
Vote! It can be anybody's game if we do not do our part to vote. And this might sound cliche but please, vote wisely.