What's Buzzing? - Open Source Operating System Ubuntu 13.10 64 bit part 2

The Ubuntu Software Center, one of the icons  situated on the  left of the desktop is where you can download those unrestricted drivers and other software.

To access the terminal, you would need to type Ctrl+Alt +T.

Here is a website that can be used for setting up a gaming machine with Ubuntu.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2025909/gaming-on-linux-a-guide-for-sane-people-with-limited-patience.html

Haircut 100 - "Favourite Shirts"

Perhaps a slightly less  greater hit than "Love Plus One"' but still worth listening to is "Favourite Shirts".

Haircut 100 - "Love Plus One"

This band only produced two albums. Its lead singer Nick Heyward had a breakdown after the first album and left the group.  Their second album was not as successful. This single from their first album is still considered by many as one of the greatest pop songs ever made - so much so that a reunion was arranged for them in 2004. This song was the first song that they played in the reunion.

What's Buzzing? - Open Source Operating System Ubuntu 13.10 64 bit

After having a chat about operating systems with a fellow gamer, I got interested in trying out the latest Linux OS from Ubuntu. I have tried the older version  some time ago but it seems the latest one has improved a lot.

At first I tried to install with an old  DVDRW but could not work so had to switch to a fairly new DVDR and it went quite smoothly. So I guess if you wish to install it, make sure you got some reliable DVD media. I usually verify data after burning..

First thing I noticed was the lack of sound after installation. After a few Google searches I found out I had to install the Ubuntu Restricted Extras. Not sure why it was never included in the original installation disc.  Installation of Restricted Extras  appeared to be stuck at applying changes but in reality there was  a Microsoft Agreement to install some fonts behind   the installation screen!

3T - "Stuck On You"

Cover   by 3T  in 2003.

What's Buzzing? - Kacang Putih Stall Back In Tesco Ipoh

I was glad to hear that the kacang putih stall is back in Tesco Ipoh Garden. Its big omapadi ( I am not sure if that is what you would call it - but it is orange brown in colour) is different from the others - usually sweeter and taste nicer than most of the other ones in Ipoh. It is now located near Restaurant Pelita. Before, it used to be in front of the Tesco food court.

What's Buzzing? - Lightning Struck Computers

This year so far three computers have been struck down by lightning. Usually it is the motherboards  that are  spoilt but most of the other parts  are working. Still I read somewhere that it is often advisable to replace most parts of the computer after a lightning strike.As there weren't many pcs left in the house,  I had to build one the other day. The result was okay except the the inbuilt network adaptor wasn't working so I bought a wireless one. Had been experimenting with some of the old motherboards and power supplies. One of the motherboards got burnt and one of the capacitors in a power supply blew up - literally! It sort of went pop and smoke was  around for a few seconds.

When the lightning struck - it not only took down the computers but the modems and the printer as well. The lightning was so strong that even though the computers were off, they were still struck down. Now  we usually remove the socket after use or before any  signs of lightning coming.

What's Buzzing? - Patron Saints

All Saints' Day was a few days ago. Here is a list of some patron saints

St Jude -  for impossible cases
St Elmo - stomach problems
St Agnes , St Bernadette - hair loss
St Francis of Assisi - pets
St Gemma Galgani - headache
St Joseph- unemployment

Vanessa Williams - "Where Do We Go From Here"

I was looking for some songs for my tablet pc and came across this catchy one from the 90s. Almost like a classical pop song if that is the right way to describe it.

Pet Shop Boys - "Love Comes Quickly"

One of my favourite songs of the 80s.

What's Buzzing? - Saving and Loading for Maxima on Android

Update:-  Have found a much better way to save and load  for Maxima on Android. Here it is:-


stringout("/sdcard/saveddata.mac",input);

The above will save  the file "saveddata" in the directory sdcard.

batch("/sdcard/saveddata.mac");

This will load the file.  To load in Windows, you need to click on File and  then Batch File.
Below was what I wrote earlier which saves in a lisp file that is hard to access on Windows.




I finally managed to find out how to save and load for Maxima on Android. I don't understand why the dev did not put them  in his latest website but they were on an older one that had been saved at archive.is.

Anyway here is  how it is done:-

save("/sdcard/saveddata",all);

The above will save  the file "saveddata" in the directory sdcard.

load("/sdcard/saveddata");

This will load the file. At this point there may be an error being displayed but it can be ignored. 

 playback();

 The above command will play back the file.

Editing still can't be carried out and it is  still not as user friendly as the Windows one but can't expect too much from such a new version of it.

What's Buzzing? - Saving Battery Life for Tablet PC

There does not seem to be a 100% solution to this problem as the battery life seems to have gone down again.The last 2 days, it has happened when Wifi is on. However it only takes an hour or so to recharge to full capacity again. When the battery life goes down, it usually goes down to around 40% which means there is still another 2 to 3  hours of usage in it.

What's Buzzing? - Saving Battery Life for Tablet PC

I had to reduce the brightness of my tablet pc in order to make the battery life last longer. This can be done by going into Settings and then Brightness. At first I thought that this would not look good but after reducing to 25% of its full brightness , it still looked pretty cool. Update: Seems like this may not be the real reason for the sudden drop in battery life though it does help to extend it a little. Still trying to find out the real cause of it.

Appears to be some applications running in the background that could be causing it. I have been using Android Assistant and Super Task Killer to minimise the problem.   So far has not happened in the last few hours. I used the Startup Manager in Android Assistant to stop many applications from running at startup.  As usual, I also turned off Wifi when not using it.

What's Buzzing?- Built two styluses for my tablet pc

I reshared my last post again as it did not come out right after sharing from this tablet - took me a week to find out!

I built two styluses for my tablet pc.  I tried quite a few materials - sponge, batteries, conducting foam etc.  and seems like the conducting foam which had been used for a cpu appear to work best. (Update: The plastic with aluminium foil which is used for packaging some  potato chips and coffee can also be used.  Probably a better alternative  as they are more easily available. Video is as shown below. Note that there are other ways of doing it but this one seems have the best precision so far.)


)

What's Buzzing?: Bought a tablet pc for RM169

Finally, I bought a tablet pc at the Malaysia IT Fair in Ipoh. It cost me only RM169 - one of those China made ones  from a company called Hanrit. Has last me more than a week now. Have been doing quite a few things with it. Am typing this with the tablet pc. Have to attach a keyboard and mouse to its micro usb port to do so (connected a usb  hub to the port first). The touch keyboard is too small for serious typing. The tablet comes with a free cover which cost about RM20 and a small stylus that probably cost about RM4.

Overall I am quite pleased with  the product. It is quite good for reading and watching videos. I was a bit disappointed that Maxima, the mathematics software was not so user friendly but I guess that is to be expected for now as the Android version is still in its early stages.

Retirement Dream

So I had my first retirement dream a few weeks ago and told some people I had more or less retired.  Took a few weeks off from blogging as well. I would still be blogging and doing the usual stuff but maybe in a more relaxed manner. Who knows - I may come out of retirement soon but for now, I guess I am still  in retirement mode.

Shooting Of MyWatch Chairman

The chairman of the anti-crime watchdog, MyWatch, R. Sri Sanjeevan,was shot at close range at 4.30pm on Saturday in Negeri Sembilan. At the moment he is in critical but stable condition.

A special task force has been set up  to investigate the attempted murder but this has been met with some cynicism. This is probably because Sanjeevan had been  trying to expose police corruption and their links to the underworld. Sanjeevan had complained hours before he was gunned down that he received news that 'a cop had told some syndicate fellow that he would get them firearms' and planned shots to be fired at his house to scare him and his family.

What's Buzzing? Sago Gula Melaka With Fresh Coconut Milk

I  made sago gula melaka the other day and it tasted really nice. Recipe is quite straightforward. I boiled  150 gm of sago  in around 600 ml of water at first but I found it a bit too thick so I added  more water to it. I boiled at lower heat until the sago was transparent- took around 15 min. Many recipes in the internet suggest filtering it - I did  not do so but yet it still tasted nice with the gula melaka and fresh coconut milk.

The gula melaka was made in the ratio of 1:1 for gm and ml - in otherwords around 200 gm of gula melaka in 200 ml of water for example. I boiled   till all  the gula melaka had dissolved. Some people use less water so the syrup is very thick but it seems like what I have done so far is okay. If it gets too thick, it could stick to the pan making it difficult to wash.

All of the above  were left in the fridge for some time to cool. Then when ready to eat,  cold coconut milk was first added to the sago before  the gula melaka.  The fresh coconut milk can be  bought from the Kampung Simee market at RM3 for 500 gm.

I got a bit of diarrhea here though so I am not eating much of it today!

What's Buzzing? - Ice Cream With Cake

There was a discount for the pound cakes at Tesco the other day so I tried out some ice cream with the pound cakes - kind of indulgent but nice.  The marble cakes tend to go well with vanilla and chocolate syrup ice cream.  I also tried King's F&N Chocolate Chip ice cream with the chocolate pound cake.

What's Buzzing? - Is Coconut Milk Good For You?

This has always been a big question mark. It appears that it does have some ability to boost brainpower but yet it could be bad for the heart. So it has to be taken with some caution.

I was making cendol a couple of days ago but somehow the cendol (called Afdal Cendol) I bought from Tesco Ipoh did not seem to taste so good - so will be trying to make  sago gula melaka soon instead.  Afdal Cendol sometimes tastes ok but sometimes it has a smoky taste. It seems others have complained about it as well. Anyway I have poured away the liquid it was immersed in, soaked it in water and put in the freezer. Hopefully the smoky flavour will go off after a while.

Reflections: Turning To God

Thank God for the blessings we have. Pray for peace.  Turn to God  - even in the darkest hour.

What's Buzzing? The Best Free MMORPG Games Released In June 2013

Last month three of them were released - Neverwinter, Marvel Heroes and Rift.

I did not  play much of Rift as its specs seem too high for my system.  Have been playing quite a bit of the other two and so far they seem to be pretty good.

Marvel Heroes is action packed but looks like it is still in its beta stage - very little character customisation at the beginning.   You could see many of the same looking superheroes running around in the game. Still, I had a lot of fun playing as Hawkeye.

  As for Neverwinter, I did not like my first class which used a big sword - I deleted and started a new one called the Guardian Fighter (using a sword and shield) which was more enjoyable.

Both games are worth checking out.

What's Buzzing? - Hit By Haze

Yup, our country seems to be hit by a haze caused by open burning from Indonesia, it seems. Just when the weather appears to be stabilising, this happens. Ipoh is not affected too much by it  but in Johore and   KL,    it seems too be quite bad - forcing some schools to close.

Update: Seems like it is just getting worse in Ipoh here as well  this evening.

What's Buzzing? Best Free Software for Mathematics

I have been trying out Maxima and Smath Studio and they are both pretty good. However Smath doesn't do symbolic integration but it is still worth checking out.

Sage is also worth mentioning but I find it not as Windows friendly as Maxima.

What's Buzzing? - Ice Cream With Bread

As I wrote before, I had a dream about eating cheaper ice cream. Well actually, I had  a dream about eating cheaper ice cream with a bun. So just a few days ago,  I went to buy some low cost F&N King's cookies and cream ice cream but felt the buns were a bit too expensive so I tried it with bread at home. Seems to taste okay but possibly cookies and cream is one of the ice creams  that go well with bread. The bread was actually wholemeal bread from Jaya Jusco La Boheme bakery which tastes nicer than the normal wholemeal bread that is available in most shops. I suppose white bread will do fine as well.

How To Be A Better Singer

It appears that it is the head voice that you should try to use for singing higher notes. Here is the link to the article.

Running Program

Am not trying to lose any more weight but trying to stick to a running program. Have reduced my running program to 6x400m now, due to some problem with my knees. I also run on the spot faster for a count of 100 to 400 as part of the 2 minute sessions during the day. Still run around 2 miles - one mile of which will be at a faster pace on alternate days. Seems okay today so far.

How To Be A Better Singer

I have dreamt quite a few times about trying to sing a high note and messing it up- so I went to read a few articles on the internet on how to sing well.  It seems that one should not sing out of one's vocal range. Here is a link to one of the articles.

update 2/6/2013  :- here is a link on how to sing high notes.  Seem like it is the head voice that you should use to sing higher notes.

Reflections: Are All Our Dreams From God?

Not all our dreams are from God. The ones that lead us away from God are usually not from God. So sometimes we do need to take our dreams with a pinch of salt. Yet we do need to reflect on some dreams as they do teach us something sometimes. For example the other day I had  a dream of eating cheaper ice cream, so I went out to buy some-  and guess what - the cheaper ice cream tasted just as good as the expensive one that I had been eating. (update:16-4-2014 -  well this does not  apply to all ice creams as the latest  chocolate ice cream I ate  at Baskin Robbins is probably the best which can be quite expensive)

So what about the  dreams that are  not from God? Sometimes those dreams could mean that there is an underlying weakness somewhere or they could be just junk or spam! Just like in life -some of the things that people say or do may not be of any help - so we got to treat  those   as spam!  So we should not follow those dreams.

The dreams that are repeated may have a better chance of coming true. Dreams will be dreams  but  the ones that come from God usually  teach us something and help us to become better people. Don't eat too much ice cream though.

Deadly Tornado At Oklahoma

Seems there has been a deadly tornado at Oklahoma which has possibly  killed over 90 people. After reading through Wikipedia, Oklahoma appears to be one of the places that is frequently hit by tornadoes.

Death toll has been lowered to 24 in what has been considered to be one of the worst tornadoes ever to hit Oklahoma.

Rod Stewart's Album "Time" Makes Number One In UK

Catchy song  here from his latest album. Kind of corny but catchy.

What's Buzzing? - Learning Styles

There are three main types of learning styles: auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. After my 'A' levels I used quite a lot of visual learning skills and was quite successful in my studies. Lately I have started to realise that I could be also a kinesthetic learner. Kinesthetic learners usually need  to take a lot of breaks and are very physically active people. Usually people who do sports are kinesthetic learners.  So I have been doing more physical activities,taking more breaks - and this seems to have reduced my stress levels.

 Most people use a combination of the three learning styles but they usually have a clear preference for one. In my case, I was frequently using visual learning skill but more or less neglected the other ways of learning. It was effective to a certain extent but it led to more stress in my life. So it is good to develop all three styles of learning.

References:- (i)  http://www.learningrx.com/types-of-learning-styles-faq.htm
                     (ii)  http://www.thestudygurus.com/learning-styles/

Plumb - "Beautiful"

Nice song by Plumb here. Heard it while shopping in Tesco for the last few weeks. Finally found out  today who sings it.

What's Buzzing? - Tablet PC

There seems to be a low cost tablet for RM119 - appears to be made in China. I have my doubts about it as some of those RM10 watches I bought did not last more than a year.  Still there seems to be  some positive Amazon reviews about it.

The cheapest ones I can find over here in Ipoh are priced at RM199. Haven't  asked for any discount yet though. There are ones which cost RM400 that have phone capabilites. Some sellers say they are from Taiwan but one of them said they are mostly manufactured in China.

Owl City & Yuna - "Shine Your Way "

Malaysian music this year  hit a high note with Yuna's song being performed twice in a week on two prime-time television shows in the United States. This song was also played on Malaysian radios during the election.

United Nation: Voting Fraud in the Malaysian GE13 calls for world invigilation.

Just signed the petition above today . The link is here if you feel that the elections have been unfair -
http://www.change.org/petitions/united-nation-voting-fraud-in-the-malaysian-ge13-calls-for-world-invigilation

Boston Marathon Bombing

Seems like 3 more have been arrested but there are  no details about them.

They were Dzokhar Tsarnaev's roommates. They were arrested for allegedly getting rid of evidence in the Boston bombing suspect's dorm room.

Knee Strengthening Exercise

Managed to run  at a slower pace yesterday. Wearing a knee brace - it helps quite a  bit and should soon be back to my normal routine.

Knee Strengthening Exercise

Arghh I got bad knee from too much running I guess. Will slow down a bit today. Doing some knee strengthening exercise like this one below.

Reflections: Mixing With The Wrong Crowd

Mixing with the wrong crowd can get us in trouble. Sounds familiar but it is something to reflect on.

Weight Loss Program

I lost over 30 pounds in the last 6 months ( started in October so actually less than the 7 months which I originally wrote) and this was more or less how I did it:-

(i) I gradually increased my running distance from 1 mile to two miles. Now I am running around 3    miles sometimes.

(ii) I had a philosophy in mind " to eat to live" not "live to eat".

(iii)  I did 2 minute light workouts (Update: 2nd May 2013 - these workouts are slightly more intensive now - with on the spot faster running to a count of 100 to 200) during the day. Part of this routine was   carrying some light weights while running on the spot.  I also do some press ups too.

(iv) I ran  in the morning as well but usually very light runs - 400 to 800 metres. (Update: 2nd May 2013- this has now been replaced by the 2 minute workouts)

I had actually been doing some fartlek runs but now I kind of mix it up with Roger Bannister's training program. He used to run around 400m x10 with around 2 minutes of light jogging in between. I tried to do 400m x 9 at first but ended up with some pain in my balls! - that was when I knew I had to slow down. So I went  down to 400m x 7 which seems to work okay so far. So today I have increased it to 400m x 7 and a bit more.   I usually do a 4 to 5 minute slow jog before this. The whole routine should  take around half hour or so. Tomorrow I will  be running around 2 miles - one mile of which will be at a faster pace. This would take around 20 minutes. So now I am repeating these two routines.

I always warm up with some light stretching and doing sit ups   before the runs. The thing is to increase slowly and gradually especially when you have not done such exercise for some time.

As I was not that fat,( I don't indulge myself too much I guess)  my target weight loss is only 35 pounds - I am very close to reaching that target now.

Chris Ooi

 Some dancing here from Chris Ooi at the  Youth10  Solo Final.



At the ntv7 Program  Shooting

Boston Marathon Bombing

One of the two suspects has been killed - there is a massive manhunt going on for the second one. Appears to be two brothers originally from  Chechnya.

They are Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26 years old  and  Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19 years old. Tamerlan has been killed while the younger one Dzhokhar is still on the run. There are reports of some gunfire now.

Second suspect appears to be cornered in a boat  but police are moving in with caution. 

He has been captured and is now in custody. 

Some celebrations going on in Boston as news spread that the second suspect in this week's Boston Marathon bombing had been captured — gratitude that quickly spread across the U.S.

No motive has been established yet but there are some suspicions that it is a Muslim jihad.

Boston Marathon Bombing

 This seems to be the worst terror attack in US  since 9/11. Three have been killed , more  than 170 injured and some of the injured were in critical condition.


I have been checking for updates about this. There has been some wrong reporting  but now it appears that the FBI is looking for two suspects which have been caught on CCTV.

Bee Gees

 Here is one of their US  number one hits  in the 70s -  " Staying Alive".

Reflections : Almost Like Fighting A Devil

Getting rid of bad habits can be almost like fighting a devil. When I gave this advice to one of my  friends, he did not seem too happy about it- these days people don't like to listen to my advice much. However I found this philosophy to be helpful to me as it made me realise the enormity of the task ahead.

The You Generation - Presenter auditions

Simon Cowell (update 19th April 2013: he may still have some major weaknesses so I will not be writing much on this atm. update again 18th Jan 2014: but he could make someone a good friend so can't really judge him too much I guess) launched this Youtube channel about a week ago  in a bid to find some talent in Youtube. There are quite a few categories for it. Seems like he is right on putting in  categories such  as presenter and food (I dream of food quite often). Anyway I looked through some of the presenter audtions just recently and found quite a few of them interesting and funny. The words 'dinosaur' and 'disco' need to be mentioned ( in some way)  in the videos. Here are some of them:-

 Jack Dean

his video appears to be made private now so can't see it atm.


Blake Francis from Australia





Chloe

Gloria Estefan

Gloria Estefan's   "Anything For You" which was number one in US.


 The breathtaking "Reach"  which was one of the  official songs for the 1996 Summer Olympics.

Johnny Hates Jazz

From their  album " Turn Back The Clock" which was number one in UK.

American Idol 12

There were some good performances this week. Both the girls and guys did quite well but I guess the girls were slightly better this time round. All the performances were okay except for  Adriano Latonio and Charlie Askew . Charlie was almost in tears after the judges comments and Ryan did well to console him. Lazaro also did much better this week while Devin put up another strong performance.

Angela  did well this week and it seems like it was going to be hard for another girl to do better. So it was a surprise when Amber Holcomb who came after her, gave an almost effortless and flawless performance of Whitney Houston's "I Believe In You And Me."


Amber Holcomb, Top 10 Female Perform ~ American... by HumanSlinky

American Idol 12

Same format as last week 5 chosen out of 10  singers each episode -  10 girls and 10 guys again this week. Nothing really that interesting this week actually.  Lazaro Arbos was one of the singers  who got through to the top 20.

American Idol 12

This week in each of the two episodes, the judges will choose five singers out of the ten that perform - to go through to the next round.  So there were ten girls and ten guys performing this week.

I felt the guys were more entertaining this week. I got bored towards the end watching the girls perform. Could not wait to turn off the tv. I think it was because the songs they sang were not very catchy. Vocally the girls were probably better overall but oh so boring - except for probably Shubha Vedula (is that really her name?) - but she did not get through.

When it came to the guys, there were some weird but entertaining performances from  JDA and Charlie Askew. At the end of the day, I felt it was Devin Velez who stole the show with one of the best covers of  "Listen".



Devin Velez, Semi-finals ~ American Idol 2013 by HumanSlinky

American Idol 12

It was the girl's turn this week. Or are they really all girls? Some of them look  so masculine that you would wonder if they had gone through  a sex change or not. One of them was the tomboy, Kez Ban whom the producers had decided to focus on in the ninth episode of the show. There was   a certain bizarreness about her but the episode managed to show that there was a likeable side about her. I felt the boys were better in the group rounds.

However when it came to the solo rounds with music accompaniment, most of the girls did really well. Some of them sent home were actually very good but the judges had to pick their top 20. Just wondering if the producers edited Kez Ban's song - it didn't sound very good and was very short. The biggest surprise was Zoanette Johnson whose original song was almost a 100% improvement from her first audition. I felt the day  still belonged to Angela Miller whose original song " You Set Me Free" had all the judges giving her a standing ovation. At the beginning of the song - it seem to be quite an ordinary one but when it came to the chorus - it sounded pretty good. I guess she deserved a standing ovation.



Angela Miller, Hollywood Solo Round ~ American... by HumanSlinky

American Idol 12

 The seventh and eight episodes were about the guys in Hollywood. The first round  was a round in which the guys solo without any music accompaniment and after the first cut , they were arranged  into groups. The group rounds was where many stumbled as they had only 24 hours to prepare for their songs. However there were a few incredible performances too - most notably the first one - a cover of " Somebody To Love".

Hollywood Week, Male 1st Group ~ American Idol... by HumanSlinky

Generally the judges were right about most of the cuts. For example, the cases of Lazaro Arbos and Kayden Stephenson  who both  had sad back stories. Kayden was not quite ready yet, whereas Lazaro had the potential to go all the way. However, the judges may have been a bit too lenient in letting so many to go through the next round even though they have forgotten the lyrics.

After the group rounds,  were the solo rounds with music accompaniment. 28 singers were picked from there and out of those only 20 will carry on after next week.

American Idol 12

In the fifth episode,  auditions were held in San Antonio, Texas and Los Angeles   while in the sixth episode, auditions were held in Oklahoma.

I thought the most entertaining audition was at Oklahoma  by Halie Hilburn, the ventriloquist. She can sing very well too.


Halie Hilburn, Auditions Oklahoma ~ American... by HumanSlinky

I was surprised how Zoanette Johnson managed to go through. Also felt that Kayden Stephenson wasn't that good either.

American Idol 12

Third auditions were held in Charlotte, North Carolina while the fourth one was held in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Both episodes were not as funny as the first one.

Generally the Charlotte auditions had many country singers in it and it seems like Candice Glover was the best among them.

However at Baton Rouge, I was not really  that impressed with Burnell Taylor whom most of  the judges gave a standing ovation.

American Idol 12 - those spoilers!

There is something about those spoilers that I never really understood- how did those people get the information? Those spoilers have been on for quite some time already and they are quite accurate. American Idol producers have not taken action on the sites that  release them possibly due the fact that they are not 100% accurate (but most of the time, they are I think!) Anyway I will be writing less about them in the future.

American Idol 12

Second auditions were in Chicago. Seems like  there were better performances in the second one but maybe my expectations were too high in the first auditions. The second auditions started really well with Mackenzie Wasner. I think Nicki was  right in saying that she is one of the  singers that come only once in a few years. Strange enough though she seems to have not made the top 40 spoiler's list.

Isabelle Parell was also very good - don't know why Randy said no- but seems like she did not make the spoiler's list as well.

The most touching was Lazaro Arbos. He has a very bad stutter when he talks and because of that, he has had a lonely life. However when he sings, there is no stutter. He gets to go to Hollywood and it appears he has also made the top 40.



American Idol Season 12 - Lazaro Arbos Audition by FanReviews

Corinne Bailey Rae

So this is what "Put Your Records On" really sounds like.




And here is another one of my favourite songs "Like A Star"

American Idol 12

First auditions were at New York. New judges were Mariah Carey, new star Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban. So J-Lo has left and her shoes are hard to fill. While Steven Tyler seem to be better at the end of last year, he still decided  to quit. Still there was room for improvement I  guess. If my dreams are true then  Madonna would have been a better choice as judge - Mariah   may have had a troubled life. Another good choice would probably  have been Carrie Underwood. For the male judge, it is harder to choose  - possibly a better one would have been David Archuleta. One could choose Casey James or Heejun Han  I guess- but they don't have really that good record sales. I heard Heejun did judge a K-pop competition last year though.

Quite a few of the videos  on my blog  seem to be removed from time to time. Hopefully I can replace them but it may take some time.

There were  some great voices but not great performances (not the ones like Phillip Phillips and Jason "Wolf" Hamlin last year) in the first episode. There were still some humour and touching moments in the show- basically Idol is still worth watching even at its 12th season.

I felt  the performances for those who got to Hollywood, were better at the beginning than at the end of the episode.

The funniest performance was probably by Albert Chang. Nicki Minaj said his range is better than Mariah's!



Albert Chang & More Unsuccessful Auditions New... by HumanSlinky