I believe...

...that the dots will connect.

java uber alles

Tamansari







Used to be a waterspring, water surrounded leisure palace for the first Sultan of Jogjakarta. He would sit on top of the tower to see his concubines chat, giggle, having a bath (voyeuristic much?). Sultan used "kenthil" flower to be thrown to one (or two, or three, or more, one will never know) of his mistresses as a cue that she's chosen for that night. The beds, the guide showed, were fixed and built on top of a flowing river, a natural air conditioner. Other beds had fireplace below them to keep the beds warm. Very rustic, Tamansari that you see today is a reconstruction from 1990s, imagination of the real one.

Today's function: tourist attraction, playing field for the local kids, home of the first cyber RT (RT 36 Tamansari) in Indonesia; it has wi-fi for the whole neighborhood, also video clip and pre wedding shooting location (err...among Bondan Prakoso and Darwis Triadi's favorite).


Ullen Sentalu







No doubt, the best museum in Indonesia. Lesson learned: leave museum and its maintenance to private owners. Also, there's a big chance that ladies will have a new hero after visiting Siti Nurul Kusumawardhani a.k.a the Ideal Princess' room.


Taman Pintar







Have you ever cursed the non-existence of public place in Jakarta? Too much malls? You'll curse even more knowing Jogja has Taman Pintar and Bandung has Taman Lalu Lintas.


Beukenhof Restaurant in Ullen Sentalu and Via Via Cafe in Prawirotaman Street (Jogja's Jalan Jaksa)






Sendangsono







According to Santi Nuri, this is where they got high in "3 Hari Untuk Selamanya" (Playing Float on the background).

Mom said, she almost married another man, and not my father. She would say, "If I had married that man, you wouldn't exist in this world. How would you feel?". How could I feel if I were not born? If I were not born, would I still be exist? It would be funny though if half of my personality from mum comes in the kid she would've had, if she had married that man. And half of my personality is in a waiting room somewhere in the solar system.

Somebody asked,

"Is it okay to have an affair with a married person as long as his/her spouse doesn’t know?"

I answered,

"Is it okay to corrupt your customers’ money as long as they don’t notice?"

Why do you need other people to perceive something in order to determine the value of your act?

new level of being non-judgmental

Real life dinner conversation tonight:

Me : She's a lesbian
X : No, she's not
Me : She has a girlfriend
X : For someone who believes in tolerance, you're pretty judgmental
Me : Whaddayamean? That she's experimenting?
X : Of course. You cannot say a girl who has a girlfriend is a lesbian. Because, you'll never know.
Me : Errr...

grey hunts

Pouring and roaring. The glistening street is now grey and clandestine. It roars in shriek, choked by their asphalt droplets. Demonstration flags are now damp, voices are low and vamped. Yesterday I inhaled black monoxide from an Isuzu Panther. For god’s sake, if you’re rich enough to buy a car, why do you even buy a dirty Panther? Yesterday, I inhaled urine smell. So vaporous it floated. I breathed with heatwaves from bridge to bridge. I listened to tired guitar songs from a daughter in a bus. My eyes were fed with orange peels littered by a man. The country is doomed. It crucifixes our senses with garbage. But then, when you have money, like how I did last night, I inhaled the aroma of frozen irish mochacino with shaved bland chocolate. I fed my ears with beautiful love story from the key-smith man. It was so transcendent, he said, comfort is an understatement. Street as a common product is now stale, air does not do us fair. But stories are told and we absorb, then buds of little joy unfold.

easy, breezy, beachy

When everything is f***ed up, all I need is good music. Here's my good music, March 2.0.11 version

Dominant Legs - "About My Girl"



Little Joy - "Next Time Around"

Little Joy is Fabrizio Moretti (The Strokes drummer)'s side project together with Los Hermanos singer/guitarist, Rodrigo Amarante, and Binki Shapiro.

March for Women

I took the pics when I visited Centre Pompidou

Ohhchannel

I am reading “On the Road” by Jack Kerouac. I bought the Penguin edition because it is cheap. But boy, ain’t that tapestry of roadtrips is too crowded to be squeezed into 200 something pages! Luckily, my determination is sheer because of this muy importante reason: it’s Johnny Depp’s favorite book (or one of). So, I’m pretty curious, what did he see from this book (ahem!).

Memang gw agak telat ya melihat keseksian si Johnny Depp. Masak baru sadarnya tahun 2011, ini gimana sih Ovi? Thanks to The Doors documentary: “When You’re Strange” that made scream (inside the theatre, inside my heart): ‘Yaouwloh, naratornya siapa sih ini? Kok seksi sekali suaranya! Bahkan suaranya bisa ekting.’ Since then (in only two months), I’ve seen almost all Johnny Depp’s movies which I usually avoided in the past.

Back to “On the Road”. The lead character, Sal Paradise decided to go on a roadtrip across America with Dean Moriarty. The reason said Sal, ” …was not only because I was a writer and needed new experiences but because somehow, in spite of differences in character, he reminded me of some long-lost brother.” (quotation from page 13. Ketauan deh bacanya baru dikiitt).

The quotation rings a bell. I have a friend whom I usually see because s/he reminds me of my (for example) ex or someone I like or another friend that I seldom see. So, meeting her/him is not actually to meet that person. Rather, to reminisce other people. Intinya, gak ketemu orangnya gapapa deh yang penting dapet auranya. Kalo kata Jame, seperti menghibur diri dengan orang KW1. Snap!

A concrete example: my non-Chinese girl friend likes to go to North Jakarta to meet her Chinese friends. She enjoys meeting them, but somehow it reminds her of her Chinese gebetan yang tidak mungkin bersatu karena satu dan lain hal (alasan a la Pak Erte).

Do you have that kind of person in your life? Semacam channel atawa penghubung atawa cenayang atawa medium. You meet them because they are simply an extension of the one you actually aim to. This person usually is your mutual friend. Or, are you that person for somebody?


Ini dia biangnya, and it just won an award in Grammy 2011 for the Best Long Form Music Video


Johnny Depp reading Kerouac

Ohhcd

This is just a mandatory post so my archive will not lose February 2011 in its roll. Yes, I'm a bit obsessive like that.

Sometimes, you wanna throw bules out of this country

“Indonesian and logic do not correlate.”
“Why you guys pronounce vowels not like us, English speakers?”
“Indonesian girls always keep some pair of shoes under their office desks. Gee.”
“This superstitious thing called kerokan...”
“...and not to mention masuk angin. What incomprehensible crap is that?”
“You are dark, but yours is nice, unlike the negroes. You know, their palms have different color than their hands.”
“She told me that I gain weight yet still shoves me with her experimental cooking. Very Indonesian.”
"Spicy is not a taste. It's a sensation."
“You are exotic.” --> yang ini pengen gw lempar bukunya Edward Said.

character

“F*ck Valentine’s Day, Happy Chinese New Year” was the reddest sign in the hostel. A lady clad in bubbly thick black winter jacket sat down near a wide window. She sipped the tea out of the white cup. I drank their tea and it was all water, no bold flavor in that pity cup. But, she drank it well maybe because she put some sugar in it. She held a note and a pen, her hair was frizzy, ugly dirty blond updo-ed with black elastic. She looked at me and jotted something down. I glared at her, ‘Lady, what are you doing? Are you describing me and making a character out of me in your horrendous note?’ It was snowing outside and yes, people were attracted to put some black on their white. But, you don’t describe me lady, not with that curious eyes. I am not a character unless I grant you permission. I slurped what’s left in my cereal, made a bit of sound with the bowl and wooden table, and then gave her a hate stare.

Blessings and Shizz, etc.

Let blessings not be count
Though they come in pieces,
Only to make unevenness round
Be it on a naked man or Saint Mary’s kick
Warm womb or a thrown brick

Let blessings not be count
They’ll shock you bitter otherwise
A grand one astound
With a liquid of despise

Let blessings not be count
You’ll never get the exact amount
Coz shitty scatters like a fount,
You’ll be drown,
And you’ll never be found.

-the roller-coaster year, 2010-

What Do You Do?

This November, what do you do?



Look back grabbing frozen moments



Stand yellow on red pedestal



Refrain from passing through the red box

cont.

Blow songs recorded in the wind



My sour bubbles are cancerous yet marvelous



Bloat with soft rainbow balls



Stand on a height filled in my palms



Taste the blue and white cloud swirl



Sail to an island



Where we won’t be carcasses

sonic

The day when @javierpaloh left SORE. Very unfortunate of course, because I really like his fragile voice that completes SORE's quixotic lyrics and sound.
In this blog post: White Shoes and the Couples Company, Bengbeng and Trisno, PAS Band.

Imogen Heap said, "Mmm what you say?": Democracy in Language

“Why is American English hard to pronounce? Most language is pronounced as what is verbally stated. But not English, and French,” said an old southerner to me. First, due to their national pride, it is ironic that American English and French have something in common. Second, grammatical rules vary around the world just like how they govern the countries. So, if you mix two languages into one act of speech only bilinguals of those languages will understand your meaning.

You could think in Indonesian and tried to express it in English just like what Putri Indonesia 2010 did. Or, you could think in Indonesian and, being more strategic, uttered it in a mixed speech between English and Sundanese, like what the Director of University of Indonesia did. Or maybe you could mix Betawi language with Indonesian in your thesis, like what Seno Gumira used as an example in his “Bahasa Ilmiah” article, “Menurut pendapat ogut…”

Of course, mixing languages is not a crime; moreover, now multiculturalism is highly accepted around the globe. Pride of originality rises and we all believe that it is our right to use language system as how we want. We, Indonesians, all agree blindly (and have no intention to change it) that the language we use in everydayness differs highly in our writings. The language that Cak Tarno Institute members speak in Barel is different than what they tweet (even twitter is not formal!). The condition is different with English; there is no course for “formal” English and “non-formal” English. When you utter what you learned in English lesson, you won’t look as clueless as a new bule in the J-Town.

Why is it not bothering? Language is what we use every day to communicate (doh!). Because of this dependent interaction between the subject and language, its use is democratic. Really, there is no International Tribunal on language crime; English has different variations: Singlish, Indian-English, American English, Australian English; Javanese has seven formality levels (ngoko, ngoko andhap, madhya, madhyantara, kromo, kromo inggil, bagongan, kedhaton); and even our KBBI (Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia) and other dictionaries keep on changing (and I hate media that uses new technological terms such as tetikus). It is very amazing isn’t it that language has no governmental body yet it strives and blooms based on the convergence of its speakers’ interest without detrimental harm. It’s like the most natural act of democracy, without leaders.

But, is it really without leaders? Like in good governance, limitation to language democracy lies in its harm towards others. And “harm” here means when the meaning is not channeled and its detrimental effects. I personally believe that your flexibility to democratize language depends highly on: your audience, the function of your speech, and who you are (why are you the one who has the right to say that, not others).

First, your audience. When figures as UI Director and Putri Indonesia feel they have the right to modify language (intentionally or not), they have to make sure all of the audience understand their meaning. In the last UI graduation, did all audience understand Sundanese? No. Did all audience understand English? No. And how about a mixed speech of those two? Amazing. In identity level, did all audience want the director to highlight his origin? No. It’s like Batik, kebaya, all Javanese attribute, and Suharto in smaller scale or Soekarno with Peci (inspired by Modern Turkish movement), or generalization to use “Assalamu alaikum” or “Salam Sejahtera” to open all events. When you say those two greetings, automatically there are many religious greetings you do not mention. In this instance itself, we see how tolerance towards your own identity backlashes greater group of people.

Second, function of your speech. Did the UI Director tried to make a joke as anecdote in 2010 graduation speech? Did it appear only as a joke or in the whole speech? Let’s see what Seno Gumira wrote as an example in “Bahasa!”, TEMPO August 30 – September 5 2010 edition:

““Kalo kite-kite melejit di luarnye langit sono noh nyang same aje cepetnya ame caye mentari, ntu ruang angkase bakalan ngerut ampe abis, padahal waktu bakalan kegeber omber kagak abis-abis; lantes nyang kite namain barang, kalo emang ade, ntu barang bakalan jadi gede banget kagak ade batasenye…” Mereka yang hanya mendengar bahasa Betawi melalui lenong mungkin mengira ini salah satu lawakan Bokir, padahal ini terjemahan bebas dari nukilan teori relativitas Einstein,” Seno Gumira Ajidarma.

Really, I’m sorry for being born in Jakarta and do not immerse myself with Javanese, Floresian (my parents’) or Betawi language. Because of so called modern exposure through television, the broadcasted tone of that quotation is funny. Blame me, I am guilty for not equally explore all Indonesian dialects. Through a short verbal speech, how did I know that the UI Director was not joking? As an audience, should they laugh or wrinkle their forehead as a sign of seriousness? And if the audience laughed, would it be demeaning because it extended the “funny” stereotype? Usually we use a dialect to make our audience smile, like when Obama said “Nasi Gorenk!” or shouted “Sate, sate!” in his interview with Putra Nababan. It is satisfying that a man we think “more superior” could speak one or two words in our language, it gives a sense of “coming from the same origin”.

Thank God, Obama just said one, two, or three words in Indonesian with a clear function: as an anecdote. But what was in the mind of UI Director when he used mixed language? To convey that they come from the same origin? Of course not, not all audience are Sundanese. To make the audience laugh? No. Because they did not even understand what he was talking about (meanwhile “nasi gorenk” and “sate” are accepted nationally). To formalize a stereotype that Sundanese is funny? I doubt that. So why did he mix the language to make a great encouraging sendoff for the fresh grads who are probably threatened with rare job fields out there? Is a mixed language encouraging? Encourage you to learn Sundanese, I think.

Or maybe what we fear to say the most, he just celebrated ignorance in the name of multiculturalism. It is okay for not being excellent in English, because hey, language is democratic. Was “democratic” even in the head of UI Director? Or maybe language is not important, (Just like how academic snobs looking at the study of literature, humanities, arts, and culture)? This brings us to the third point, which is who you are. UI director is the head of all faculties and self discipline in UI and were encouraging his students to be discipline in their study and life (ain’t this is the difference between institutionalized education and education of life?). In democracy, we know the word ”understand”, but for a rather big name as UI Director, why should we “understand” your difficulty in speaking English? Did you pass you English lesson in flying colors? Why should a large audience who pays your salary open a Sundanese-Indonesian dictionary? We put high respect, hence high expectation that you are the one who can “understand” us.

And now I sound like an old lady.

Youth

Life has made a funny hit on me recently. Even my mom started to dream about me and my bf getting engaged (sorry Mom, not in my slightest dream). And now, she’s always tick-tocking my peaceful life, creating a woman-made time bomb. So after a Sunday shopping ritual with her, I decided not to go home but hung out with my friends then stayed at my room.

And while waiting for my friends getting their oh-so-expensive-and-fancy hair straightening and pedicure, I got myself a cup of frozen yoghurt. I grabbed a mature men magazine at first because Don Draper was the cover then I got bored and picked a teen magazine.

Udah lama banget ga baca majalah ginian. Despite of its miss-matched message (on feminism, consumerism, hence patriarchal system), teen magazines give you various and fresh information about teen. Doh! And I stumbled upon this particular blog address. I am a bloghopper and I always save new interesting blog address in my iPod. This particular blog, apparently, makes me want to adopt her a.k.a the writer. She is so adorable, honest, and explorative. Really, this girl might be a public enemy in her college or I don’t know what, she is a kind of girl whom you will totally hate (karena sirik) or love.

So, from this blog I found out that she wrote a book. I bought the book several days later (I never classified books like teenlit as cheesy or Roro Mendut as intellect, try to stay grounded) and read it in two hours straight. I read it in the office car en route to a place. Salah banjet! After I finished it, my eyes became glassy. And I thought further, “Dang crazy teenager. She got me learning about my heart and love life” which was a slap, HEY, my love life is not so different than a 21 year old’s!

Alright, I have a theory. If you want a kid, and you want your kid to be like A, B, and C it means that you are not done with yourself and you want to create someone new to accomplish your ideas. Morale: DO NOT have kids when you still feel that way. And I looked at this girl's writing, I want to have a daughter like her. OR… I am not satisfied with myself right now.

Girlfriend has a character, you know. And after several clicks of links related to her blog, I found her mom’s blog: yang bikin gw makin nangis. Her mom is fantastic. Her education system must be very good because she has a rebellious, self-assured, and responsible product. Before you get lost in my paragraphs, here are the links, chains of my glassy eyes.

Cosmo Girl – Casseybunn – "Letters, Stories, and Dream" (kalo mau sok-sok a la Beatles, ini kalo disingkat jadi LSD hehe) – Live, Love, and Me – this post.

I do not comment on her book, but you can see through her character despite the short fragmented diary-like story. She's got a lot to explore. Me too, and you too.

infatuation

You are my clay
I mold you as I may
I walk you near the Notre Dame and away
Through the red cherries mistletoe and snow array
I want you as my Christmas gift
Or found you sold in a thrift
Then we chime our conversation under the sun ray
Oh my, this mind clout, don’t leave me in decay

I Want Don Draper Full Treatment

As you can see on my sidebar, I am mad for Mad Men. And, let's be clear, for mundane reasons: the costumes and Don Draper (vintage clothes and men!). But the story line is also maddening because it feels just like a tinge when you watched it, but what you know is you're already flooded with your own tears or blood after watching each episode. Kudos for January Jones for portraying unbearable lightness of being perfectly.

Now, it's been too long since the third season - finale of Mad Men. I thought it was THE end. But this nymag article just made my day. Can't wait to see Sterling Draper Cooper Pryce MADvertising agency with the dapper Mr. Draper in it.

And below are Mad Men’s spurious comic-strip origins from Vanity Fair

"It’s a little known fact—so little-known as to be essentially untrue—that the popular AMC series Mad Men is based on an obscure comic strip from the early 1960s. The strip, Those Madison Avenue Men!, was an almost painful attempt to exploit its era’s Zeitgeist and never quite caught on. At its peak, in the spring of 1961, it was syndicated in only eight newspapers; it would run for a mere 43 weeks before being canceled. The final straw may have been a week’s worth of off-color strips in which the characters pitched a hypothetical Thalidomide account. (The comic’s creators would have no better luck with their subsequent strip, the civil-rights-themed Li’l Martin, before finally hitting it big with Heathcliff.)"








and...Mad Men creator and executive producer's desk (from Vanity Fair)