On one end, we had the versatile Taufik. On the other, there was the ever-popular Sylvester. It was a tough call; Taufik was Idol material but Sylvester had a big fan base. In the star-studded event (our very own Malaysian Idol, Jaq, was present as well), Taufik and Sylvester battled it out, belting three songs each, to win Singaporeans' heart. It was hard to tell whether they succeeded in pleasing the public, but they did have the judges waxed lyrical and sang praises about every single rendition of their performances. The four judges were too nice; even the usually hard-to-impress Ken Lim seemed to love Sylvester and Taufik.

In another novelty of sort, Dick Lee, one of the judges went on stage and sang Idol Paradise, a tribute medley to the finalists which also served as a plug for his upcoming 30th anniversary concert (Dick used to be a pop icon, we were told). Talent triumphed in the end; Taufik made history (Gurmit, the host, made it a point to remind the audience every now and then that the whole thing was "history in the making") by becoming the first Singapore Idol. In all fairness, Sylvester was a "damn good" singer too; I enjoyed his rendition of I Dream more than Taufik's. Anyway, here's something for you conspiracy lovers.

And with that gist of the final round of Singapore Idol comes the real point of this post: The other day, I made the most interesting of observations- same rickety makeshift stage: Chinese Opera show; three to four people. Pop-songs-singing girls in skimpy dresses; jam-packed. The Idol phenomenon was apparently doing wonders. Either that or the dresses (lack of). Since there were so few people watching Chinese Opera, I managed to sneak backstage to meet and take photos of its casts. The lady opera singer, who was getting ready to clean up her make-up, was nice to don her costume and the works again to pose for me in the shot above. I'd always wanted to take reflection-on-mirror shots like that but never did find the right photographic subject; I'm sure girls in mini skirts would definitely not make the shot work.