Beauty pageants are like money. Having some is good. Having more is better. One thing for sure, there’s never enough beauty pageants in this world.

The Miss Sarawak Model of the World 2006 is yet another beauty pageant that just started in Sarawak this year. They held a hair show recently at the Travillion, and I popped in to look at chio bu cuci mata study the situation.
The hair show was held in conjunction with Alan Salon. This being the first hair show I attended, I didn’t quite know what to expect. Mannnn, what an eye opener it was.

The show started off innocently enough when four impossibly slim girls came out to parade in skimpy frocks and hair that rivals Mt Kinabalu in size.

This must be the Haute Couture of hair fashion industry designed to promote the reputation of the salon. Don’t imagine anyone would wear these out on the streets.

This one looks like she has aircond piping going through her head.
I don’t know if these four are contestants for Miss Sarawak or specially-hired dancers for the show – the emcee sorta rattled off a long list of names without exactly introducing who is who.

After a while, we’re introduced to three hair models who will be the guinea pigs for the show. The three made a spectacular entrance, dashing out onto the platform wearing masks from masquerade balls.

This is her “Before” look.
Their stylists followed shortly, led by Alan himself of Alan Salon fame, and began chopping off hair left right centre like nobody’s business.

Here’s where it gets interesting. Because this is essentially a fashion show, the models had to have their hair cut while still posing as sexily as they can. So you have this awkward situation where a man is snip-snip-snipping off her hair, and then she had her hair falling all over the floor doing this.

Or this.

Or even this.

Mommy, when I grow up, I want to be a hair stylist too.
Most of the spectators were here to gawk at the contestants for the Miss Sarawak MotW pageant, but strangely they played second fiddle to the hair show models, posing only when the stylists were doing their job.

There’s a few great lookers among the contestants, but I think the crowd favourite that night was the girl in white.

OK lah she’s probably not the crowd favourite, but at least she’s my favourite can?

Something about her hot cowgirl demeanor appeals to me.
Anyway, the whole show lasted for a short 45 minutes, after a one-and-a-half hour delay. I kinda forgotten about the hair show that’s going on halfway thru. In any case, here’s the end result of one of the hair models.

The Miss Sarawak Model of the World will be decided at the Grand Final this 30th March at the Crowne Plaza.

I hope the cowgirl wins the show.

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Chinese-American pop star turned hip-hop artist Wong Lee Hom was in town over the weekend as part of his Heroes of Earth Promo Tour.

I managed to secure two tickets to watch him perform live at the MBKS Indoor Stadium.
Note that those are “VIP” tickets. It found out later that those words are nothing but mere decoration on the paper.

The show is scheduled to start at 8pm. I chose to arrive at around 8:15pm instead. There’s really not much point coming to the venue earlier other than get a good vantage point to stand. The first 30 minutes of these kinda promo shows are always the same kinda boring bullcrap.
First, the host would desperately try to get the crowd pumped up. Then she’d invite some overenthusiastc fans onstage to poorly emulate their idol singing. These fans would then win crappy prizes such as a plastic pen, a lousy notebook, poster and – if they’re lucky – a CD from another singer that nobody else wants.

In hindsight, it probably was a good idea to come in earlier.
The pile up of cars outside the stadium was an indication, but nothing could prepare me for the horror inside the stadium. It was literally PACKED to the max. It’s a complete riot. I’ve never seen so many people squeezed into one building before, not even during the David Tao promo tour last year. Every inch of the ground was filled with sweaty human flesh.
It’s like the whole entire Kuching’s teenage population were gathering there.

I was supposed to enter the VIP area right in front of the stage which offered a bit more space, but there’s literally no space to manouvre around at all. I could barely even make it past the main entrance.
The RELA guys (government-sanctioned volunteers for crowd control) were particularly agitated that evening, screaming abuses and shoving people along the way. If you watch the video later, you might even hear it. Geez, whatever happened to anger management?
Everyone was packed like sardines and everyone was sweating profusely. For that one night, the MBKS Indoor Stadium turned into one big freakin’ giant sauna, except without the coals, or the wooden bench, or the babes in towels.

The organisers don’t have to worry about packing away these roll-out posters. They’re all gone before the night ends.

It was 8:30pm before the star of the show decides to turn up.

Clad in simple T-shirt, jeans, and a “bling” around his neck, Lee Hom appeared rather humble for a star of his stature. His simple gestures like squatting down or pointing towards the audience electrified the Kuching crowd, and they loved every moment of it.

Check out that bling he’s wearing

Lee Hom described the style of his latest album as ‘chinked out’. No, not “Chink Out” – it’s not a racial slur demanding Chinese people to go away. According to Lee Hom himself it’s a new genre of music he created, mixing American hip-hop with traditional Chinese opera.
I guess the result is what happens if 50 Cents is born a Chinese.

I’m not a die-hard fan of Lee Hom so I haven’t actually listened to his album before I came to this show. After watching him perform live, I must admit that I find his new style of music is unique, though not necessarily entertaining.

In all honesty, the whole “Hey yo, this is Lee Hom yo!” schtick is a lil annoying. His American accent doesn’t work too well with Chinese rap either.
Of course lah, the crowd still sap it all up because y’know, he’s like, Lee Hom yo. So check out mah dawg, fo shizzle 4 life.

Lee Hom did four songs before retiring backstage. He came out again to sign autographs for his latest album.
I didn’t stay back because man, with so much sweat and other bodily fluids exchanging you don’t know what you might get when you come out of the building. Sometimes I wonder why we subject ourselves to that kinda torture just to watch a star perform for less than 25 minutes on stage.

All in all, a great night out if it weren’t for the craziness of the Kuching crowd.

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