White and smooth

Of course, since there were only two scholars left, then there would be lots of commercials and eclavu just to stretch the time.  Only two scholars are left, Scholar A and Scholar B, the big question is:  Who is Scholar A and Who is Scholar B?  Who will be the Top 2 and the Top Scholar?  In a few moments..

Bugoy and Laarni was a sight to see.  Both were nervously waiting for the announcement.  Top 2 was Scholar A, Bugoy Drilon.  Of course, it was Laarni Lozada who was the Top Scholar who was surprised to be the winner.  She was crying backstage.  And even when she was called upon the stage to sing her song, Manalig Ka.  Her parents was there on stage.  Of course, she was the emotional Laarni, who sit for a while crying.  But she getup and thank all the people, the Lord of course, mentors, production staff, those who voted for her.  Then all the scholars went up the stage and sang the PDA song.  The audience was also shown, and saw a glimpse of Mr. C wiping his eyes, obviously he was in tears also.  Well what a way to end the academy.  I will surely miss it, the show, the scholars and the mentors.

Show opened with Tony announcing the scholars of PDA for class of 2008.  With the exception of the two scholars who drop out of the academy Ross and Jet, all the scholars are present. The top 6 along with Hans, Inaki, Apple, Bunny, Christian, Bea, Sheng, Chivas were all in black and white outfit.  Vina sang with the girls with Jon Bon Jovi’s Its My Life and the boys with Wency Cornejo singing Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing.  Nikki was in yellow gown, Billie in all black suit and Tony in an all white gown.  The little dreamer’s then sang, doing an early Christmas caroling for the Childhope Asia Philippines.  While the little dreamer’s are singing, the ex-scholars then go the audience with their baskets.  The audience then willingly give gifts, while took the opportunity to kiss the ex-scholars and have their picture taken with them.   The text votes and ranking was then shown:

Scholar A  549, 760 – 29.70%

Scholar B  651, 696 –  35.22%

Scholar C  247, 346 – 13.36%

Scholar D  253, 412 – 13.69%

Scholar E   36, 487 – 1.97%

Scholar F  112, 065 – 6.06%

It’s now time for the announcement of the winners.  Tony now changed into a black gown.  Top 6 with 1.97% was Scholar E Cris Pastor in black gown.  She sang her song the previous night and afterwards, she was joined by her parents on stage.  She was asked what she learned in the academy and she said that she realized her mistakes and the value of the family, and that now she was the new Cris.  Top 5 with 6.06% of votes was Scholar F Van Roxas.  After he sang his song, his dad and aunt walked with him on the stage.  He said that his unforgettable experience was the friendship in the academy.  Billie then performed with the Banana Split girls on stage.  Top 4 with 13.36% was a big surprise; it was Scholar C Liezel Garcia.  I really thought it would be Miguel, but I was wrong.  Liezel thanked all the mentors for the advice and all the fans that supported her.  The next performer was a big surprise!  It was the mentors who are all doing a Gregorian chant in a dimly light stage.  Afterwards, they performed Boogie wonderland and Payong (pinoy version of Umbrella)  They were all dancing with matching choreography.  Imagine Maestro Ryan Cayabyab and Teacher Kitchy dancing and singing on stage! Teacher Joey even had a prop of a dance remix and did a rap song.  Teacher Von and Teacher Monet performed along with them.  Teacher Kitchy’s top was a formal one (a Maria clara style top) with crop slacks, multi print socks and sneakers!  What a hilarious and entertaining number!  Top 3 with 13.69%, only 6.066 text votes bigger than Liezel was Scholar D Miguel Mendoza.

It was the last gala night, the performance of the Grand Dream Night of Pinoy Dream Academy Season Two. The show open with the 3 hosts singing in the elevated stage. Tony in red Edwin Tan gown, Billie in a suit by Merger and Nikki in peach Francis Libiran gown. I’m not used to seeing Billie sing a non-rap or dance song. After that, the stage where they stand opened and revealed, Hans, Inaki, Bunny, Apple, Bea. Poy, Seng, Christian and Chivas. The scholars who voluntary leave the academy, Ross and Jet was not there, not sure if they were not invited. Jurors were Louie Ocampo, Girlie Rodis, and the Dream Mentors Monet, Joey, Kitchie and Maestro Ryan. Also in the audience were Teacher Von and the officials of Endemol Asia. They also showed the results of the text votes, Scholar B is the highest at around 410,000 votes while the lowest was Scholar E at around 26,000 text votes. Ryan Cayabyab then called on the scholars one by one who came dressed in Toga and a video of them talking the changes in their life and their dream was being shown as they walk towards the stage. The headmaster would then move the string of the toga cap to the other side and then congratulate them. Cris Pastor was the first one to be called, followed by Bugoy Drilon, Laarni Lozada, Miguel Mendoza, Liezel Garcia which has no video and Van Roxas. After all of them are in the stage together, the scholars toss their caps in the air and remove their toga gown to reveal their outfit. Laarni’s gown was in rust color, high slit and almost backless. Cris black dress was a short one but very nice. Liezel’s was more like of a summer dress or a Sunday dress. Guy’s outfit was a layer of polo and jacket and had loaf shoes and then sang the PDA academy song. The boys then sang a medley of boy band songs. They don’t have that much chemistry when the trio of Bugoy, Hansen and Van sang before but their performance is nice, though towards the end, Miguel had some flat notes. The girls then had a very sexy number plus sexy outfits. They had a long black coat and remove it after the 1st song to reveal those sexy leather outfits. Also, during the break, they showed the fear factor commercial which looks very interesting and fearful. Next performance was the love couples of the primetime telenovelas, Anne and Sam of Dyosa, Carmen Soo and Jericho for Kahit Isang Sagli and then the last one the stars of the soon to be telenovela, Humingi ako sa Langit, Derek Ramsay and Judy Ann Santos. The solo performanceof the scholars were up next which collaborated with 3 musical directors. First musical director was Von Samson (unheard of until tonight). Miguel performed first with Love on the way and Man in the Mirror. Von Samson was not a good musical director. He doesn’t know how to connect songs, how a performance is. Though Miguel’s performance was good, it was not very striking. Girlie Rodis mentioned nothing but good praises for Miguel. Next was Laarni doing Malapit na manalig ka and Boogey wonderland. She is paos, didn’t hit much of the high notes and had an error during the connecting of the two songs. I blamed this for the poor arrangement of the song by the musical director. Her songs is really good, but the very bad arrangement didn’t highlight the song and Laarni’s voice. Plus she has poor breathing throughout the songs. Ryan C commented on Laarni and even mentioned her mistakes. Cris was very lucky to have Homer Flores as her musical director, she clearly had a very good performance because the arrangement of the songs was very good. She sang out here on my own and candyman. Teacher Monet has all the good and kind words to her. Van performed Hard habit to break and Babaeng probinsiyano. His being a visayan showed when he sang in tagalong. He should improve on is diction and intonation. He has a lot of flats in his song. His singing is not that good but the arrangement of the song was very good, he came out with a very striking performance. Liezel had Mark Lopez with I am Changing and RESPECT. A very good performance, though she had many faults, pumiyok, nagflat, naubusan ng hininga. For how many times na pumiyok siya, but after her performance you would forget that. She had very nice song arrangement plus the musical scoring is good. She was Louie Ocampo’s favorite and he said very good things about Zel. Same thing with Bugoy he had Mark Lopez. Of course, as expected he was the last performer. Very clearly, he was the mentor’s favorite, they even dance along Bugoy’s performance. Well he clearly was the audience favorite as well. He just had problems with breathing and had few flats. Teacher Kitchie of course, said very nice words. Standing of text votes before the end of the show Scholar A 389, 931 Scholar B 505, 298 Scholar C 182, 964 Scholar D 219, 559 Scholar E 30, 243 Scholar F 90, 348 Then the scholars performed with Yeng doing three of her songs, including Hawak Kamay and Salamat.

Dream BIGayan, A Concert for a Cause.  That is the theme of the last gala night.  A way of the scholars to give back to those in need.  Jurors were Louie Ocampo and Kathleen Dy-Go from Universal Records.

Scholars opened the show with their song and dance number, which I hope Maribeth Bichara would not be disappointed this time.  Tony has announced that the scholars would perform song and dance numbers and the overall standing of the scholars which I am very excited.  Also as a way to enhance their skills, the scholars would introduce their co-scholars with the script which they wrote themselves.  Van introduced Liezel who sang Please Don’t Stop the Music.  Well she has improved on singing dance songs, though it really shows on her voice how she catches her breath and how many lines were not heard because she shy’s away from the microphone..  But she dances well.  Cris then introduced Miguel who sang Rock DJ.  His voice is so “pa macho” so some high notes were not met.  I like that song because it’s really catchy and makes you want to dance, but Miguel’s version does not do that to you.  He shows new haircut which shows his youthful face, but then since he has a big built he really looks mature on stage.  His dance movements though were good.  Cris who sang Sway was introduced by Bugoy.  She really has shown big improvement on her voice, but still needs big improvement on the way she moves on stage.  Sometimes it’s not really come as sexy but more of awkwardness on stage, plus you would see that her foot tangles or does not know where to put or stand after a dance movement.  Laarni was tasked to introduce Van.  He sang True to your heart. Overall his performance his ok because he really has strong stage presence in spite of the flats and pagpiyok niya ok pa din lumabas ang performance niya.  Laarni was next who performed Waray Waray.  She was introduced by Miguel.  What can I say??  A very good, very entertaining and very uplifting of the spirit performance.  She shows good rapport with the audience.  As juror Louie have said, she was oozing with self confidence.  This has been a very far cry from the very emotional and very shy Laarni from before.  Of course, who else was the last performer, you guessed it right, Bugoy who was introduced by Liezel.  Good performance, his voice is good as always, but for this night he showed some new steps.  It shows he can dance well.  But then it would also make you think if he’s gay, some dance steps looks like there’s an ant on his shirt and pants.   

So how did the scholars fare as host?  Still needs big improvement of course, all of them looked obviously on the idiot board as if reading something.  Afterwards, they have a question and answer portion with Toni with the girls sitting on the sofa and the guys standing at the back.  Bugoy was asked on his reactions to those questioning his gender.  Well he said that that’s the way he talks, dances and moves.  Cris was of course asked about Zen and she said that things would be different if all of them already left the academy.  Miguel’s question was him scoring himself to be the top 1.  Laarni talked about her being emotional and insensitive to others.  She answered that she was like that and she loves all the other scholars.  Zel was asked on her lacking emotions and sensuality on her performances which she said that she has given all her best.  (which I think is still lacking!).  Van was asked about his conflict with his mom and he said that it’s hard that he is inside the academy but he would still want to continue.  Last performance was the dance number from the scholars which was really good except for the malfunction on Laarni’s wardrobe because her pads keeps on appearing, but they are all very good.

Since the show is for a cause, Toni announced the earnings from tickets and donations which would be divided on the chosen charity to a total of P266,000.  Then the standing’s on the votes.

Scholar     Grade

     A         20.27%

     B         38.98%

     C          11.28%

     D         20.18%

     E           3.15%

     F           6.15%

The scholars opened the night with a dance performance, to show whatever Maribeth Bichara has taught them.  They all don 60’s outfit and hairdo singing and dancing “Can’t Stop the Beat”.  But I guess they lack the practice because at the end is talagang hingal na hingal sila and it shows.  Juror of the week is Louie Ocampo and Girlie Rodis, but they would only give commens with no scoring.  Girlie Rodis is the manager to some singers  like Rachel Alejandro and Geneva Cruz.  She has guested before as one of the judges and it was clear then that her favorite is Van.  For this week, the scholars would be singing their song choice that would show their emotions.  It was a song that has a big impact on their lives.

Sen sang Lauryn Hills’ “His eye on the sparrow”.  A very sad song, which was evident on his voice, but he was able to sang it very well.  His mum and brother is watching and they too are emotional too as shown by the near tears.  Van came next with “Who Am I” by the casting crown.  A calm Van singing this time, as opposed to the very hyper guy last week. He showed little emotion on singing the song, but since he is really good looking on camera, he has a strong stage presence whichcompensates his lack of emotions with his song.  Laarni with “I am blessed” sang next.  Her makeup and hairdo was good, actually all the girls has good makeup that highlights their pretty faces.  As expected, it was a good song, a good rendition.  With the exception of a parang ginulat kang birit sa chorus, her breathing was correct all throughout the song.  I was expecting na sa may ending eh sasabit na naman siya but no, I guess she really practiced the song.  Sabi nga ni Louie, she really is a blessed one because she has a good voice.  Miguel sang Sandra by Barry Manilow, obviously this was a song to his mum.  He looks mature singing the chorus when the lines and notes are difficult, but his face was softer on easy lines, but he really don’t look like 18 years old.  His body movements were bad, halos tyan lang ang gumagalas sa kanya, and may mga lines na parang sasabit na siya especially the high notes.  I guess he lacked practice especially on the breathing.  Goodbye (The saddest song) was Liezel’s  piece.  Nakulangan, nabitin, not much emotion.  I was not bored, it’s just she sang with no emotion except for her voice na parang iiyak ba.  And the notes were real high that parang masakit na sa tenga pag sumisigaw siya.  She was not like that before, but I guess she has grown tired, or the other scholars have improved a lot that naunahan na siya.  Cris version of Inseparable was good, though on the part na malapit na sa dulo eh medyo naflat siya.  But songs like that are really the ones bagay sa voice nya.  Well halatang halata ang PDA na favorite si Bugoy because obviously laging siya ang huling performer, top scholar or not.  He sang “Can’t stop a river”, but he still have problems with his diction, lalo on the part where he is nakatungo and sang the low notes, you will not understand the words of the song.  And one part on the middle of the song is parang nawala siya.

Most of the song choices of the scholars are not so popular ones and most of their parents are on the audience.

Last performance was the grand album launch of their album “Scholars sing Cayabyab”.   They sang three songs from the album, Paano na Kaya, Another Goodbye Song and Ganon Ba. I like the Paano na Kaya and Another goodbye song.  The top 10 scholars was the one included in the album where each of them sang the song composed by Mr C just for them. 

After that, the top 5 was called to be on the stage, and then the two probationary scholars, as expected Toni announced a commercial break to give suspense as to who will be expelled.  With a percentage of 54.58% Van was the last top 6 scholar while Sen has 45.42% making him the expelled scholar.  Of course it was touching especially when it showed his mum crying and panicking.

For the last 2 weeks, the scholar would have mall shows and singing engagements to make them known to the fans.  Tony also announced the charities that the scholars chose to support.  Bugoy had Gatbo Irrigation, Gawad Kalinga for Cris, Ambassords of Light Chorale for Laarni, Miguel had Mindanao Emergency Responcse, Zel has Emmaus House of Apostolate Home for the Aged while Van was Cebu City Task Force for the street children.  The gala night next week would be a benefit show, tickets would be sold, and whatever was earned that night would be given to the chosen charities.  PDA wanted that the talent of the scholars would be use to help the less fortunate.  This was good, at least they would be able to help the ones in need.

It was celebrity duets on Pinoy Dream Academy 10^th gala night.  Judges were Louie Ocampo, Dulce and of course, Gerard Salonga.  Inaki and Bituin opened the night with Proud Mary.  It was good with so much energy from the two singers, though Inaki’s voice was not as powerful as Bituin.  They really enjoyed the song, and he really was good at offbeat performances because he moves well on stage.  Miguel and Sheryn sang Never Ever Say Goodbye.  His facial muscle movements are now softer.  It was a good performance by Sheryn.. hehe.. joke, by both of them.  Though Sheryn’s performance was powerful, so was Miguels’.  He make sure that he was not intimated by her presence and high notes.  His voice really showed, and a very nice duet.  Gerard said that he was not eaten alive.  Next was of course the very powerful and nakakapanindig ng balahibong performance ni Laarni at Jed Madela of The Prayer.  Laarni looks good, lumalabas ang ganda nya.  They started really good, smooth and their voices was really wow!  Jed’s voice was equally good, hats off to the both of them.  She really is a soprano, but she needs to improve on her breathing, because she has the habit of having an offkey pag patapos na ang song.  So ayun parang may sumabit at lumihis na tono, which the judges noticed.  Bulong by Kitchie Nadal was the choice for Van.  Grabe, she really make her kaduet parang backup.  He just ran and ran all over the stage during the very long intro and all the time Kitchie keep looking at the back para bang she’s asking “kelan ka titigil at napapagod ako sa yo, samahan mo ko dito sa gitna ng stage!”. As a result of Van’s running on the stage, he got tired that when he finally sang, you can’t hear his voice.  There were a lot of flat notes tuloy.  He was not as good as last week.  Kissing a fool was Cris and Richard Poon’s piece.  She looks like Manilyn Monroe singing a sexy performance, but still I think there is still something lacking.  I think medyo nailang pa siya with Richard Poon and sa middle part parang medyo sumabit ng konti.  Joey G of Side A was Liezel’s partner.  Zel’s voice was really good, kaso parang kulang pa din performance nya, kahit her voice is so good, on some high notes parang nagiging chipmunks na lang.  Sobrang easy kasi yung song for her kaya parang walang effort on her part.  One poor guy who has a poor song choice was Sen.  Sobrang pangit ng song nya, Can we just stop and talk awhile which she sang with Rachel.  He should have been given a Basil Valdez or Marco Sison or a Bryan Adams song.  Nasayang din yung ganda ng voice ni Rachel at di nagamit sa song.  Plus Sen’s happiness was nasobrahan ata at wala na lang siyang ginawa kundi ngumiti na whole time.  Of course, kaabang abang yung number ni Bugoy with Vina, singing Muli.  Another good performance from him.  I enjoyed it very much, pero parang minsan lang nakakasawa na yung mga kanta ni Bugoy kasi pare pareho na yung tone.  But definitely it was good talaga, though minsan sobrang hina ng boses nya at halos boses ni Vina ang nadidinig ko.  Very entertaining naman the number of Poy and The Ryan Cayabyab Singers.  Kinaen niya ng buo yung group ni Mr. C.  She was not stiff on stage and her moves are like a pro.  It was just bad at sobrang laki nya na mahirap talaga siyang ipackage as star.  Sayang ang ganda ng voice, just like Bituin at Frenchie Dy.

Well as expected, Inaki was the one expelled having only around 24% of votes.  Sobrang bastos na kasi ni Inaki, halatang halata naman na he’s just taking advantage of Cris.  As my mother have said (she has been an avid fan of the show, more than me!) Cris would be very happy and relieved to know that Inaki was the one expelled.

As expected, Bugoy was the top scholar having a very high score of 9.81 with Sen on the bottom at 7.29.  It would have been nice if they called the top 3.

Well as a twist, since the Dream mentors sat at the judges table, there would only be 2 scholars that would be a candidate for expulsion.  It was Sen and Van, with the latter having 7.30 score, just .01 away from former.

I’m excited for the next gala night and to know who would be the top 6.  My prediction would be Bugoy, Laarni, Liezel, Miguel, Cris and Van.

For Saturdays’ 10^th gala night, the scholar would be performing a duet with a celebrity.  Cris has Richard Poon with Kissing a Fool.  Miguel’s partner is Sheryn Regis singing I’ll Never say goodbye. , and praktis pa lang kinaen na siya ni Sheryn.  She really has this habit of overpowering her co-performers.  Good thing that it was Eric Santos who won the title, kung hindi, she really would be so mayabang.  Inaki would be teaming up with Bituin, who was very kind to let Inaki shine on their performance.  Laarni and Jed Madela would perform ‘The Prayer’.  I had concerns with this, because the note is too high, and from experience the judges don’t like that kind of singing from Laarni.  I just hope she would perform really good on Saturday. Rachel Alejandro would sing along with Hansen with ‘Can we just stop and talk awhile’ which is a simple but hard song.  I hope Sen would perform really really good and would won the judges.  Van has Kitchie Nadal while Poy would be with the Ryan Cayabyab Singers. And this would also be Poy’s last performance since it would be her last week. Joey G of Side A would be performing along with Liezel. Bugoy would be working with Vina Morales, she was the last celebrity that was revealed and she haven’t been to the Academy to see Bugoy, only through telephone only.

Hmm.. very interesting na naman ang gala night this Saturday.  Of course very much anticipated ang numbers ni Poy, Zel, Bugoy and Laarni.  I’m excited nah!