admiring handicraft sent from the skies

can I be honest? I used to not care about this thing called "nature", I used to be part of that system that things for granted, and believe that everything runs for itself without us having to pay attention to it.. i was wrong, read on!

I've been spending most of the last 2 weeks at home.. Its a pretty small town called Bengkulu, just on the southern part of the island of Sumatra.. I havent been here in about 4-5 months.. This time this trip meant quite a lot, I am seeing things from a new perspective, I am changing I guess, and one of them is how i see this "hometown" and "nature"..

I've always had a deep admiration towards photography, but I guess that urge to deepen my appreciation towards photography has been widening within the last 3 months, I am intrigued more and more.. What's good about photography is that along with the hunt for that perfect shot, comes the demand to see multiple angles from certain things.. The pictures i attached are pictures taken from a place called "Pantai Panjang" (literal translation; Long Beach), it has never really been a special place for me, i just know it as the "main" beach of Bengkulu..

Why I think this trip is extra meaningful is the fact that I saw things differently now, I talked to a lot of people here and learnt new things; new philosophies in life. But most astoundingly I saw nature differently.. Eversince loving photography and its science, I knew in an instant that capturing nature's best is one of my passions in life, and that made me think; 1) Jeez, God really is the best painter and craftsman ever, and 2) I never knew i could see this beach this way..

I know I am not the only one. I posted this as an album on my facebook, a few people I know who went to the same highschool with me asked; "where is this?" and they cannot believe that this is the beach they've known for years! All right, maybe the photos help, but I think this is astounding, no? I'm thinking more ways to promote this place, because it really is a gem in the roughs..

I agree with the people from Discovery Channel when they said Earth is just an awesome place.. I agree! So how do we make it that way, like, forever? Mars is too hot, Venus is too cold, and anywhere else is simply too far.. We cannot move, can we?

So how do you propose the best way to going green is? Or do you simply not care? And what about your ideas on hometown? good, bad, sour, sweet, bitter memories I bet all exist there.. But I'd like to think; there's no other place like home, eh?

your photo insta-crop fun!

you might have known of this website for quite a while, i know its existed for a long time now, but i decided to play around with it..

it's just simple fun to twist with and it fills up time haha.. here's 10 templates i tried with using one same photo (so you can see the site's ability to self-edit your pics) with me comments on it :)

"the decline of russia"

"notice why its black and white"

"the guy who stalked Victoria"

"she got her tops in the ALL-FOR-UNDER-A-DOLLAR shop"

"the official sound track for ONE NIGHT IN PARIS"

"children this is what you call garbagism in art"

"Giselle the fashion victim"

"Indonesian scientists have found the tool for trade they used 10 million years ago"

"Girl you are clearly a dumb-blonde"

"the value of this car will decline by about 110%"

website is here, have fun guys :D

cin(T)a; a love triangle between a boy, a girl, and God..

I was doing some of my emails and reviewing some of the assignments the debating team has sent me, which is quite hard work even when it's done in front of the TV while watching Asian Food Channel in a cooled room ^^; when Joan, a very dear friend of mine buzzed me to remind me about the registration for the World Debating tournament that'll be opened this noon..

After that she gave me a link which i will give to you too at the end of this article (i will also accesorize this article with quotes from the trailer). She said to me to have a look at this Indie feature. For those of you who dont know, "Indie" is not a movie made in India, nor is it about Indians and their dancing and it is definitely not about red Indians of north America (^^;) but it is a film made by a relatively "non professional" crew, but this does not mean its ameteurish, it just means their method of production does not go thru the usual corporate production house system, meaning is usually have minimum funding compared to the commercial movies. But often because it has less contraints (commercially, politically, and stuff) it can be more "honest" to viewers, which is why i like indies when i look for movies or features with content. Commercial films sometimes can be way way too diplomatic.

"it's like Newton's first principle; beauty is inversely proportional to brain"

Anyway, I was excited to see this flick. You know why? Because its Indonesian! I've always been a movie aficionado and i am not ashamed to say that more of my favorite movies are productions made not by my own countrymen. This is not because I'm "bling" or "globalised" or "pompous" but because what i seek in entertainment are rarely filled by domestic movies. Don't get me wrong, when Indonesians make good movies, they turn out SO much better I think than ANY Hollywood (or Bollywood) movie ANY kind of day, we do have cinematography senses! But again, i have no idea why production houses choose to ignore masterpieces like Laskar Pelangi, Denias, Daun di Atas Bantal, etc and instead decide to capitalize on stupid horror features like Sumpah Pocong, Pocong VS Kuntilanak, etc..

"That's why God created Love, so that those who are different can unite!"

So this story is a flick madeby a group of very very talented cinemaphiles. It highlights the cultural normatives in Indonesia. It questions the very core of sensitivity in Indonesia; religion. And it highlight something never before emphasized in a movie; inter-faith relationships. The existence of such relationship is a major debate not only in Indonesia, but as the film emphasizes; its chance of survival in Indonesia is very low, because of the normative value-based society that exists in Indonesia.

"Religion is the cheapest propaganda that has caused countless historical human slaughters!"

What do you think? Is love something you can separate from your faith? Are they equal, or hiearchal? And if so, which goes first? Love, or religion?

"Why did God create us differently if God only wants to be worshipped one way?"

I'm a pretty open person, i think people can decide on any and I'd still respect that. I would be one of those who ultimately defend the existence of inter-faith relationships, meaning that I dont necessarily see that religious difference should kill the possibility of the unity of love. I know this is against some teachings in some religion (I'm pretty sure in Islam it is so) but that's just how i view it. Personally i would try to seek a partner of the same religion, but sometimes we cant choose can we? The heart sometimes makes our choices for us, and if indeed every man was created on earth for a woman, then what makes the possibility of that destiny closed to only women of the same religion? If you relationship does not decrease your obedience in personal faith to your God, i see no problem.

"God loves Cina and Annisa, but they cannot love each other because they call God using different names"

But let's not go too deep into that. Let's go back to that flick. Now as interesting as it may be, I have my doubts that it can ever go up for a screening publicly in Indonesia's cinemas. Why? You see, as free as Indonesia's media is, we're still evolving in the sense that heavy sensors do happen. It is not often that the government completely bans the distribution of a movie but it does happen once in a while. Now this movie is provocative (this is not how i would word it, i would use "enlightening"), because it dares to expose a condition in Indonesia's society, however i would imagine not many elements of our society has an open mind to accept the facts stated in this movie. I dont think our society is as prepared as other societies are to put thei own standards under the microscope. Read my article on Aceh and you can see how this tendency even is omitted to treatments upon human rights violation In Indonesia.. This is what concerns me..

"We have been given the privilege to learn more. Those who know nothing is easier provoked"

So, go see the trailer, read the blogs, and help spread out this Indie, because it does have prudence! We live to love, but sometimes we love to stay alive :)

- trailer here (indonesian with some english subtitles)
- blog here (indonesian)

revenge of the fallen..

always loved the Transformers franchise, don't see any reason i wont love this sequel

Michael Bay will be directing again, so we can guarantee our buck worth all the booms and bang that'll be on screen :D

Official dates is 24 June 2009, 26th for Indonesia (unless you're a lucky Japan folk who got the invitationals to the first screenings on the IMAX theatres)..

but let's enjoy some pics of the 2009 summer blockbuster, official website here, but great pics, video trailers, and viral marketing here.. Enjoy guys!

Battle among Goliaths

First I'd like to deliver my courtest to www.calegindonesia.com for the copy of the stitched (sort of) photos of 3 of Indonesia's President candidates for the 2009-2014 term.

I actually don't really favor writing about politics, but a few days actualy watching news (having nothing to do) I observed a phenomena I want to address. But first a little background; Indonesia within 20ish days will have its largest democratic hoolabaloo; the Presidential elections. This election will decide the next President for 5 years to come; and some predicts it will go into 2 rounds, the first round contesting all 3 candidates, while the second contests the final 2 pairs of candidates. For the sake of journalism, here's the names of the pairs for President-Vice President; Megawati Soekarno-Putri - Prabowo, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono - Boediono, and Jusuf Kalla - Wiranto. All pairs containg a composure of either specialists (economy, geopolotics, etc) with elements of non-civillian (military), so that's a first point I want to make about Indonesia's politics. Haven't figured it out yet? Read on..

Last night i think one way or another all the major television companies broadcasted the "Candidate Presidential debate" among the 3 contestants. All right, what was interesting was not the debate per se, which is not the focus of this article, but again for the sake of journalism the theme of last night's debate was "The strategies of implementing Human Rights protection in Indonesia". My focus was people's reaction towards the debate, in which most who commented i observed was people who debate competitively in their universities, and sample is taken from people in my Facebook friendlist.

A lot of them complained about the lack of content of the debate. Some even compared it to politics in other state (most obvious the comparison with American politics). I disagree in these points;

1) The debate did not lack content per se actually. The moderation and panelling of the debate i think was poor. Besides poor stage management by TV One (you have one panelist ask a question but 5 seconds later was cut by the moderator for a commercial break,, amateur stuff --"), the lackness i think was the ability to mainstream the candidates in answering the questions and engage in a debate. This is under a few reasons; the question was about Human Rights, and the panel asked what concrete steps would the candidate take shall they get chosen? -> One, this question lacks gravity, what Human Rights? In what context? And what is the solid parameter of concrete anyways? This parameter question is solid as it's a baseline for the candidates to determine how they answer, the US Supreme Court had a major debacle post elections 2000 over what is the definition of "intent to vote", so asking what "concrete actions" is i think makes sense. Then I think what you must do before advocating a Presidential debate, the candidates and their team must be briefed on what "debate" is. What is stupid is looking at key campaign people PERSONALLY attacking the success teams of the other candidates. That is not a DEBATE, but a reflection of lack of critical thinking and logic, and the thrive of emotion. That's where the problems is.

2) Then i observe some people compared it to US politics. I went berzerk on this notion; i think its absurd to compare 2 different states and their politics. Why? a) Indonesia and United States thrives on 2 different democracies; US is a liberal democracy while Indonesia i not, this is reflected from their National emblem to the way their economy was built b) US adopts pretty much the bi-party electory system, while Indonesia uses multi party c) US's voting mechanism is completely different from Indonesia; US uses an "electoral college" system while Indonesia is "direct vote per voter" d) US influenced from its bi-party system thus has a clear distinction of the 2 political wings; left or right, liberal or conservatives. Indonesia's political system is vague; pay attention to different parties and you'll see similar platforms, just over generalised goals without explaining the specifics based on politic wings. This can be seen obviously that the endorsers of parties do not have specific characteristics.
Why is it then unfair to compare? One, due to the convergence of platforms among parties, if your moderation is wrong then you won't ignite a debate. In a US Presidential debate, you have given issues and candidates would defend the stance of their political wings', this may not necessarily exist in Indonesia, you have a discussion about Human Rights then of course all 3 candidates would endorse the protection of Human Rights, it takes no genious to figure it out. Is this wrong? No it isnt, that's just how our politics is, and that's as democratic as it is.

"Democracy never demanded people make the right choice or undergo the smart process, but it only requires that everything is steered by the people, and that choices made are people's regardless of its quality, because the ability to cast a vote itself is the dreams and pinnacle of democracy"

So i think its unfair to compare 2 completely different states and judge one is weaker than the other. You think US elections are prudent? No, get your facts right, look at the happenings of the 2000 US elections where there were different standards of an "eligible" vote among counties that shambled the counts and made Bush win, and that Gore's appeal was rejected only because of a conflicting time frame, and look at what that choice made? Is it wrong? Not necessarily, it can only be wrong if you see it within relevant variables, not comparing it with a completely different set of variables. Go Indonesia, you're already perfect version of what you are!!

Shots from the Academy, 2009

Been playing with Fido's Canon prosumer camera while we did that gig in Military Academy and was quite happy with some of the shots i took, so i salvaged it from the camera and did what i call "refugee editing" :D.. Hope you can enjoy them :)

let me know what you think, ok? this is especially due to camera sharing so i cannot have as much airtime as i would ideally have yet, but something IS in the works! :)

Surabaya oh Surabaya,,

Welcome back to another episode of the Pathetic Travellers!

This will be a solo-pathetism by me, as Sani should have came along but he had to to do some job in the Military Academy (maybe ecchi ecchi stuff,, don't get your imaginations go wild just yet!). In early August as you all know I'll be chief of adjudicators for this National competition, who then will select who the country will fund to go to the Worlds round; in Antalya, Turkey!!! *wants wants* ^^

This time i had to go to the preliminary meeting located in Surabaya (one of Indonesia's major cities, west of Java) with the people from the Office of Higher Education (Indo : DikTi). Instantly i was already imagining a boring meeting like the pics from newspapers of meetings held in the house of representatives with fat-bellied representatives sleeping due to their oversized lunch, overcomfy recliners, and overcooled air conditioners hahaha.. booooooring!

Obviously i was wrong.. Read on..

The story of pathetism starts from my trip back from Magelang (a city 45 minutes north from my city), so after the comfy car ride in the Military Commando shuttle, who dropped me and Heru (me house mate) in the bus terminal, where we parked our motor bikes in one of those overnight parking garages.. After 5 minutes of walking where me and Heru argued which way was north, we reached the garage and lo! It was closed,, i checked the time; 12:30 AM,, *curses!*

so we walked anothe 5 minutes to the main road to get a cab back home *while wishing we had asked the Military Commando car to take us straight home instead of be goodie two shoes*. The bad thing about some of the cabs here is that they refuse to use the argometer (for those who wonder, its those bleeping cute red digital numbers that gets added with every kilometre you ride and automatically calculate your fare,, magical eh? :D) and instead they have a fixed price. Now this is the part where i was thinking of debating with the driver on how exactly did he make these "rates", and what are they based on; distance, terrain of road, weather or what? But before i could do that Heru saved us by finding another cab who was willing to go by the rules *also it was lucky since the debate i nearly waged would've probably cost us our lives, or at least our shame*

While watching movies like Need for Speed, have you ever wondered what it felt like to be in one of those cars? Now i have felt so. Imagine the speed like in the movie, without Eva Mendez or the flashy guy in the movies, downgrade the car by about 180 degrees, add an amazing stink sensation that awfully is close to what fart smells like, and offensive taste of music that makes you shout above "WHY oh WHY did humans invent Music????", and you're there! I thank God every day from that day that our car did not crash, or roll, or skid, or jump, or break into pieces! --"

So by the time i got home it was 1.30 AM, i needed a bath, i needed my bed, i was tired, and i felt i needed a psychiatrist to cure my taxi trauma.. Imagine going to bed with that,,

and wake up at 3.30 AM!!

So why did i wake up at that time? Because my flight to Surabaya was at friggin 6 AM in the morning!

Airports are so peaceful in the morning. I decided to sit nicely in the Dunkin Donuts stall the have there, sip a warm Vanilla Latte, sinking every taste of coffee milk and vanilla blended nicely in one warm mug, while munching into a lovely smoked chicke croissant.. Ladies and gentlemen I am practically in heaven (the way my body was numb from the night before, it actually felt like i already passed away). I observed people, as usual; there was another guy who wore sunglasses at dead dark mornings, there was this guy who jumped up and down because the debris of his cigarette caught his feet, there was a fat dad with a cute teenage daughter sitting beside me talking about which best; to get an iphone or the new Prada bag (yes very substantial compared to talking about petty issues, say AirFrance's recent accident and the loss of lives)

As usual, Lion Air's service and schedule didnt feel really "Lion-ey", felt more like a "Sick kitten" as they were late by like 2 hours due to "operational and technical reasons" - i bet the pilot just forgot where he put the keys to turn on the plane, or say the air crew was wondering where the hell was the left wing of the plane were o.O

Arrived in Surabaya just in time for the meeting. Nice city, not as bustling as Jakarta, and VERY hot my God i was trying my best to look as "corporate" as i can be and the heat just made me look like an out of place bussinessman in the middle of the fish market wondering where to buy meat --"

Meeting was good but i will not bore you to that, this is about the travels..

The way back to Jogja was very pleasant and educating for some reasons.

1) Be careful if you are in Surabaya's Juanda airport. If you don't pay attention to what the people are saying through the loudspeakers then you would think you're not in an airport. The way they delivered announcements make you feel like Sudanese people queing for food in a Red Cross camp, or a PoW about to be excecuted in Abu Ghraib.

2) Before checking in make sure you go to the toilet, for both (number 1) and (number 2). Once you get to the terminals lounge nearly all the toilets dont function. So if you gotta take (number 2) and you dont have enough choice then you can do (number 1) on the green plants they have in there and argue this is the innovative way of watering plants. If you must do (number 2) then pray to God your pants are both super absorbant and not odor leaking. I would suggest Nike's dry-fit shorts and 2 crates of Glade's de-odor products.

3) Check the type of plane you will be taking in your flight. A Cessna means you will be riding a windowless plane using seatbelts and helmets (true story!), a Boeing means you'll do fine but crampy, an Airbus is your best option, and a McDouglass means you must be careful! The last plane i mentioned is coded MD so note this very well. If you are assigned to seat 36D, as entertaining as that sounds (go wilden up your imaginations, there was a curvy lady beside me at the time who facilitated mine :D) that would mean hell. An MD plane's jets are at the rear of the plane, not on the wings like Boeings and Airbuses are. What you get in 36D is not squishy and enjoyfull "double pillows", but you will get a window the is right next to the jet engines. What next? If you're a fan of F1 or MotoGP you might enjoy this, as the sound, vibration and SMELL of the jet engines is not impermeable to by the windows, meaning it leaks!!

4) When number 3 happens, feel free to curse at hand, and spend 70% of your flight standing up, or stay seated but you will have questionable hearing and will need to go with me to a psychiatrist, but for more obvious reasons. Cute, hot, long legged stewardesses is not a help, as they can only offer you "cottons", now i would imagine they at least give you their numbers for compensating all the troubles but no thats not imperative. So what you end up is heart-ache.

So finally i can enjoy the week's end, full of shock and post-trauma of travels. How was your week?

long-live pathetism!!

camera-playing at night

Very productive article writing night tonite, shows how boring and uneventful my nite is ^^

There's this place in my town called Kali Code, literally translated "the river code" (you read code = cho-day, instead of reading it like it was the title of Dan Brown's book) and me and some pals like to go-a-wandering there, sitting for a few hours (usually midnite) to sip some warm coffee and enjoying the breeze.. its quite a slow nightlife there, just loads of people talking in the outdoors under the starry sky :)

I suddenly remembered last night about a photography trick.. Its partly exploiting the irregularities of the camera at night, its a mix between panning and going bonkers hahaha.. So you put your camera on night mode, if you use an SLR use a slow shutter speed (interestingly you dont need a tripod for steadiness on this one) keep the ISO mid i guess (200-300?), and if you could use a narrowed focus (2.ish) there'e be cooler effects you can get.. In my case i used a stupid handphone camera, so all i can play around with is clicking on the "night mode".. But i found as crappy as this camera is, it apparently could still be played with.. What you do is first you move around your camera (in circles, figure 8s, or whatever, just move it!) then in the middle push the click, and keep it moving (for handphone cameras keep going for 2 seconds, for SLR users as long your shutter speed is).. Make sure you dont point something dark (this only works at nite) if not it'd all be useless --"

then you'd get something like this..




The better your camera is, the better and cooler effects you'll get.. I personally think these are pretty spiffy and entertaining stuff.. So much to play around with when you hold cameras at night.. Start experimenting guys! :)

new room = new me

People have always said that I'm quite the scruffy person.. That is possibly true.. The last room that i slept in was soooooo open to public that it was messy all the time.. Usually I'm fine with this, but as of late it bugs me a lot >,< (maybe I'm growing up after all! usually i grow sideways ^^)

So after a few times back and forth some shops, i moved to a smaller yet more private room, and got a few stuff, and voila! This is what an average run-of-the-mill student's room look like, with the theme of minimalist (but not due to style, instead due to funds hahahahaha) so anyway, lemme share with you (forgive the awful camera attached to the phone)

Small Cabinet to store some books and clean clothing ^^

More books, me computer, and the screen attached to it :D

Small pot of fragrance-burn aromatherapy, soothing at nite ^^v

A glimpse of one corner

The bed and my lovely plush pillow + bolsters

What do you think? Not to bad, eh? Or still scruffy? :)