SA Idols 2011 - season 7 bad talent?

It's not just me saying it, but the talent pool we have for idols this year is really low caliber.  Of all the guys that auditioned  these are not the best list of contestants the judges could have come up with and now the public is tasked with choosing a winner from a difficult list of singers...


Top 10 quality American style is the likes of  

and SA Talent to the likes of 

Like for like, the all of the guys in the top 10 would out-perform each and every one of the SA contestants.  It is embarrassing to listen to someone like Miss J singing Fireworks by Katy Perry and Dave having a 'fit' on stage (yes, he has passion but I won't buy his CD!).  

I can't imagine these guys even making it in theater week if they should have been put up against the US contestants to audition! The SA guys can't even stay within key!  

The worst singers were Nolly and Miss J and the best performers last week were Erin, Dene and Crushanda and they only marginally got close to the talent level the US guys are on.  I am interested to see what the SA public makes of this when voting!  

Pictures thanks to dstv.com and americanidol.com

Some interesting SA facts

• South Africa’s Rand is the second best-performing emerging market currency of the 26 monitored by Bloomberg in 2009
• With two gold medals and one silver medal, South Africa ended the 2009 IAAF World Championships in Athletics in ninth position on the medals table, ahead of the likes of Australia, Cuba, China and France.
• South Africa sold $1.8 billion worth of cars to the US last year, putting us ahead of Sweden and Italy as suppliers to the US market.
• In 2009, Time magazine named two South Africans in their annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
• The International Monetary Forum‘s World Economic Outlook ranks us in the top 10% of counties in respect of Real GDP Growth Projections for 2010.
• Three South African cities were voted amongst the world’s top 100 Most Liveable Cities in a study conducted by Mercer Human Resource Consulting. Cape Town was ranked in 85th place, Johannesburg 90th and Port Elizabeth 97th.
• Johannesburg has been ranked as the eighth cheapest city in the world for expatriates, according to the most recent Cost of Living Standards Survey from Mercer Human Resource Consulting.
• South Africa ranks 57th out of 157 countries in the world in terms of economic freedom, ahead of Italy (64), Brazil (101), the United Arab Emirates (63), Greece (94th), India (104th) and China (126), according to the Index of Economic Freedom 2007

Courtesy of SAgoodnews.co.za

Kumar visit to SA

Vincent Ebrahim is in South Africa.  A lot of people did not know who this man was, but you should know if we tell you he is the father in the hit BBC show, The Kumars at no 42.

Interestingly enough, this famous man is actually a South African born actor that went over the to the UK in 1976 already.  He visits South Africa often and still know a little bit of Afrikaans!

His sister is also famous in SA and plays the role of Charmaine in 7de Laan on SABC 2.  Strange how we seem to have so much South African talent abroad that we never know of.

Picture courtesy of Sam Cowen

Beyonce in SA

Heat SA stated today that the latest rumor tells of Beyonce visiting sunny South Africa.  Anyone lucky enough to spot her are requested by the magazine to let them know on twitter @heatSouthAfrica.

Picture courtesy of lightbox

Facebook vs Twitter

In the South African society many of my piers expressed that not many of their friends use twitter, but most of them use Facebook.  Between us, only 0.5% of the friends we have listed on FB also makes use of Twitter.  


With this discussion in the back of my mind, I have found the following story by Mashable.com about the US market very interesting.  

A new report from eMarketer finds that most adult Americans with Internet access use Facebook at least once a month, and a full 42.3% of the entire American population was using the site as of this month.

By contrast, Twitter‘s penetration rate was much lower, sitting at around 7% of the total population and 9% of the Internet-using population, according to the report.

Oscar backstage with iPad

The 83rd Annual Academy Awards will be held in just over a week and in preparation for the big night, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and ABC have created an Oscar companion app for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

The Oscar Backstage Pass [iTunes link] app is designed to give Oscar lovers an inside look before, during and after the big show. The $0.99 app is part of the Academy’s growing investment in digital media. Like the Grammy Awards, Oscar is fighting a battle to stay relevant in an always-connected, multi-screen, live-streamed world.

In the days leading up to the show, the app offers users access to interviews, behind-the-scenes video clips and key Oscar moments from the past. The real action starts with the red carpet arrivals before the big night on February 27. The app will let users access multiple live streams of celebrity arrivals and switch cameras and camera angles.

Sean Kingston - Highveld

Sean Kingston visited the Highveld studios today.  Here is a picture of him with one of my favorite peeps, Ricci.

Ricci with Sean Kingston

Paul with Sean Kingston

Jason Greer from Mnet's All Access is also interviewing him this morning in Kempton Park.  This will most probably be on the show next week Friday.

Picture by Ricci and Paul respectively

Sean Kingston in SA

Gauteng’s entertainment mecca, Emperors Palace in association with MXit and Omusic.com and 94.7 Highveld Stereo presents superstar, Sean Kingston live for 2 shows on 25 and 26 February 2011 in the Centre Court.

Sean Kingston

Breakfast Xpress Hollywood update

As everyone knows, Dr Rey visited South Africa at the end of last month.  With the crew going over to Hollywood for their daily broadcast earlier this week, they got treated for lunch by the famous doctor.

Dr Rey with Sam

This picture was shared by Darren today.  

Here are some of the pictures from the highveld website taken during Dr Rey's visit to their studio.  

Ryan Reynolds at U2 CPT

I don't think a lot of people realized this, but Ryan Reynolds attended the U2 concert in Cape Town last Friday. Oceans2vibe got these pictures of him in the crowd.

Ryan Reynolds in SA

[One of my favorite actors] Ryan Reynolds hit South Africa to kick off principal photography for "Safe House" and he has been pictured shooting his scene on Sunday, February 20. Donning a striped shirt topped with a green jacket, he hopped a motorcycleand rode it behind the movie's crew on De Waal Drive on Cape Town. 

Breakfast Xpress in Hollywood

Darren Simpson and Sam Cowen are hosting their show live from Hollywood each morning.  They arrived on 19 February and have already shopped till they dropped and got a rental car not worth mentioning (picture below).
Sam had some trouble deciding what to take with her

So far my packing for LA consists of matching underwear, killer heels and a GHD. Which would be fine if I was going to be poledancing.... Sam Cowen

 They have shared some of their pictures from LA thus far and it seems pretty interesting.  I am sure they will send a lot more in the next few days.

Rental car on tight budget... mmmm

Darren in LA Studio

Arno - Afrikhaki 2

Arno Jordaan left the shores of South Africa yesterday and has arrived in Dubai for the show.  Following this trip he is going to London before heading back.

Here are some of the pictures he has shared thus far.

Must follow tweet list

I know this is not South African, but can't help but share these laughs with my SA friends.  There are a few of these guys you simply HAVE to follow on twitter.

My favorite is 'Lord Voldemort' (@Lord_Voldemort7)

Click here to see the top 10 list

U2's Bono at the 702/94.7 Studio

Bono with Alex J

and my pic of the day is with Riccardo Regnani

Pics from Primedia staff

U2 Concert at Soccer City (FNB Stadium)

Heinz Winckler posted his pictures on his facebook profile.  A few very nice pics and it was definately an awesome show!  Heinz Winckler's FB album of the concert

Thanks for sharing Heinz!

Overtone!!

Really impressed by this group.  They also did songs for the box-office hit movie 'Invictus' and has been taken under the wing of Clint Eastwood's wife.

They currently have a contract in America and perform at the Wynn, Las Vegas

Wynn, Las Vegas

http://overtoneband.com/

They also did one of my favorite songs for the movie; In usion (originally done by madam Kiri Te Kanawa for the Rugby world cup in SA)

madam Kiri Te Kanawa

Here is the video from YouTube: