" CONTENT="ivy goh nair, singapore, paris, Karachi,journalist, Pakistan, Chandran nair, history, ">

Karachi Sojourner

Newspaper columns and articles I wrote when I was in Karachi, Pakistan in the '80s, extracts from my best-selling book "Singapore Accent" and other musings. . .

Saturday, December 23, 2006

STAR ARC VS WORLD CUP

Last night I watched the French "American Idol" (The Star Academy) finals which was as exciting as the World Cup Finals and had a lot of similiarities. Cyril from the French Island, Martinique, beat Italian Dominique, getting 70% of the votes from the French Public.
This was such an upset that almost all the other Star Arc contestants jumped on the tearful winner to congratulate him, a spectacle never before seen in the last five Star Arc finals.
The dice had been loaded from the begining in favour of the 26-year old Italian female rock singer, Dominque, and punters wouldn't have betted on the 19-year old black angelic crooner from Martinique.
Some judges had been partial all along to Dominque probably because Universal Studios had branches both in France and Italy and the Italian had potentially greater marketing value. The crestfallen judge from Universal Studios admitted as much when he had to present the trophy to Cyril.
But in the end I think Cyril won the day because the French remembered Zidane's humiliation in the last World Cup Finals and voted massively for him.
You see, the Italians also played dirty here. The hall was cramped with shrill teenage Italian supporters chanting "DOMINIQUE" throughout the evening and drowning out everyone else. Fortunately Cyril kept his cool and I think in the end poor Dominque paid the price for this unexceptable behaviour. What a shock for everyone when Cyril got over 70 % of the vote from the public!
If the French masses have suddenly discovered the importance of the vote, this can only augur well for the forthcoming Presidential Elections, that is, if they show as much passion for politics and they do for football and Star Arc!
A Bientôt
|| Ivy Goh Nair, 10:17 AM

0 Comments:

Add a comment