My Blog

Yeah.. decided to move… my blog I mean…. here.

It was sureal to actually see a genius in music like Bjork. I categorize her as a genuis because… she just has this wierd mind and creates and combinates sounds but it makes sense. Not all of her creation makes sense, but many.

For me, her visiting Jakarta is somewhat a lifetime opportunity. I know we must not be pesimists but hey… there are things that need a miracle to happen. For this matter, java musikindo is a miracle worker hahahahaha…

It was the 12th Feb 2008, 8 pm and the concert was running late. I thought… hey they might be caucasians, but the supporting team is Indonesian. The stage was a bit small, and there was no complete band setting, so we did kinda though it was basicaly electronic. The stage had banners with animals pictures on them…hmm.. maybe she’s an animal activist? You never know…She did wear a swan to the Grammys and in one of her videos she was a bear.
There were also this small flag like ornaments at each corner of the stage. It was all set up 15 minutes before the concert started.

Bjork had no opening act, who could be? Astrid? Melly? I don’t think so. I think any mainstream Indonesian artist would be pretty intimidated… although, come to think of it Melly would be interesting but she would never want to be an opening act. Bjorked just marched in after her bra’s… Wander brass that is.
Of course, her outfit was out of this world. As usual! She had a pink metalic dress that had large ruffles all the way to the back  and a head band that had a V on it and it glew in the dark. That was way cool. And ofcourse her brass wore wierd uniforms… but if it aint wierd, it aint bjork.

"Earth invader" was the first song. Turns out there were 3 screens on the stage. Three medium screens was beneath each of the band members. The first thing that intrigued me from those screens was they showed these cool scratch pads. With a movement of a finger, played these sounds and music. Interesting. Minimalist. The scratch pad became more interesting because they had another one that was round, and they could just add things on it to make different sounds, or just merely turning the object and suddenly it generates another sound. And it was neon blue, and had connecting squigly yellow neon lines between objects. It musically usefull and decorative… go figure!

Then they started many of her popular songs. Such as "Human Behaviour", "Hunter", Bacherlorette", "All is full of love", "Pagan poetry","Army of me" and many more… I really gotta listen to "Unravel". I’ve never heard of it, since I’m not a die hard fan, but I know her work (how very MTV hey?). She also played some songs from her latest album Volta. Overall the concert was filled with little details that are so interesting. Like how full she filled the stage. A friend reckons the stage was too small, but now that I think of it, it was filled, and meant to be filled. When looking with the ornaments, and the brass and the screens, they were trying to fill in all the spaces.
The wander brass moved accordingly to every song. Let it be robot like rigid moves to beats, or just plain moving for fun. They also were the back up singers mind you. A talented bunch I say.

Music wise, coming from an enjoyer, not a music critique, the sound system was a bit odd. Bjorks voice didn’t blend well with her music. Somewhat close to the album version. I couldn’t put my finger on what was wrong, besides the voice and music not blending. Someone said, they couldn’t hear the drum, yet it was quite fatal. Either than that… I wouldn’t know.

As for bjork her self, the only word that could describe her voice is EFFORTLESSLY! Everytime she opens her mouth… it just comes out really good. And she was set to be as competitive as the sound of her music. She maskes it look so easy!
And when she speaks, she sounds so cute. Extremely cute. Love it everytime she says thank you. And she dance carelessly, like a child that just does what she wants. You’ve got to love an artist like her.

She didn’t change any costumes. But we were entertained. I was never bored with her simplicity. Well probably because there was lasers and confetti and smoke in the whole show also. How can you go wrong with confetti? Huge ones too. It was much fun. The concert ended with Bjork singing her latest single. Can’t remember the title (gotta get the album), but she has a video to it. The life version is much better.

After thinking about the theme of the concert, I guessing the theme was war. Cause the flags were like banners they use in war to show their identity, and that V on her head kinda looked like the voltus thing. Remember that cartoon when we were wittle? So it’s kinda like a war she’s in, not to mention the album was called Volta.

Well that’s about the concert. About the rest of the show, it was very interesting as a whole. It turned out to be very happening. A lot of beautiful people, and very trendy. Fashion nistas were everywhere and I can say they were not your usual type. Some would go on the limb. I saw a girl replicate bjork’s swan outfit. Another went all the way with blue eye painting matching her outfit. As causal as most of us were, most had that fashion thing about them. Whether it was a gliter jacket or a light blue hot pants. It was really an interesting gig. A friend’s blog had a comment saying that half of Jakarta was there, well the other half was from Bandung. We met a lot of familiar faces. Me, coming from Bandung, still met numerous friends. It was like a small gathering. It kinda felt wierd, like this is just a normal gig. I like it.

There were famous people running around also. To mention a few Rif, Puppen, Santa Monica?, Indra Herlambang, Maria agnes, Amiee, and a few sinetron stars that I don’t know their names. My favorite of course was Alvin Adam.But that’s another story. Well I really enjoyed that concert. And I owe it a lot to my friend that made it happen. Literally a lot considering the ticket price and I had to borrow his money hahahahha….

Paramore…

I know I should fill in the review column but honestly, this is not about the album.
I LOOOOVVVEEEE Paramore’s song called Crushcrushcrush. For some reason, it reminded me of the 80s rock music. There’s just something with the music and the use of two voices. Very digitally 80s. Not to mention the additional sound from the midi. And for THIS reason, all I can remember is shoulder pads and I just wanna move my body. Not to mention the lyrics:

"Rock and roll honey, don’t you know baby, we’re all alone now, I need something to sing about"

And :

"If you wanna play it like a game, well come on come on let’s play. Cause I’d rather waste my life pretending, then have to forget you for one whole minute"

Very cheesy 80s but very honest and cool to my subjective opinion. And she even moves like an 80s rock star sometimes (in the video). I can really listen to it constantly for some time.

So, I browsed a little on the band, I you-tubed them, and happen to catch a live clip of them on an American radio show. I curiously watched them, wondering the real quality of this female vocalists voice. Hayley Williams. Because on their video clip, Misery Business, she hits some high notes. So I thought I’ll check the unplugged version. Maybe it won’t be like Dewi Sandra and "I love you" live, where she prefers to sing the lower voice, not like the album version. Sheesh!

To my surprise, not only was her voice really good and clear, she sang like a rock star. She puts passion and expression in the way she sings; the way she expresses how good it feels for revenge and all. She pulls her voice! Yeah! And you can hear her attitude too. Not too flashy and still all about the music.
It’s been a while since the pop scene actually had a singer like this. Especially new comers. Usually they have this constant quality in female rock singers, such as Avril Lavigne. She never actually had that force in they way she sings. Sure she hits high notes effortlessly, but not so on the energy. You could see how the industy controlled her still, intentionally or not. I actually can’t remeber any other new female rockers at this moment. Wait… there is Kelly, and I do like her. But again, she has Quality Control on her side so not so there yet either. Her attitude is more of the bright side than dark and messy.
On the studio version, Paramore’s lead singer has a constant quality too, meaning there is less expression, but you could still hear some of her forces. 
Last time it I heard the quality and attitude like this was Pink. She’s awsome! She tops it all so far for this generation of music.

I haven’t had the urge to buy their album. It isn’t to that level where I’m willing to buy their album. Pirated or not. But for these two songs, I honestly can say they rock and having a lot of fun.

If you have the time, ease drop why don cha?

By the way, Hayleys hair… remind you of anyone? Anyone new to the music scene in Indonesia?

I know I usually save a lot of things on my mind before I blog, and it’s usually something I think about deeply beforehand, but the hell with it…

This is about the all might queen of sensation ‘I saw her pussy on the net’ Mrs. Federline… a.k.a. Britney Spears.

"It’s britney bitch" … is the perfect line to re-open britneys come back. I can’t flatter much on "Gimme More", her first video from the album Blackout. "Gimme More" is great to dance to, but the video is ikhhhh… I don’t wanna talk about it, because apparently the whole world already has, and more or less I agree… IT’S CRAP!

But her latest video is interesting. I think it’s called ‘Piece of me’. And first look and second look and third look of the video, all on the same day, confirms…

‘SHE’S BACK’

If you’re assuming that I think she’s good, well I’m not saying that at all. I never thought her musicality is good. She’s just plain ’sensational’ meaning… she makes sensations. She just works with great people. Different to Madonna that actually is sensational and a genius with her music.
But to whatever her stage she was career wise, she has jumped back to her ownself. If you have observed her and wasted so much time watching MTV like me, you would actually see her coming back to the state of her sensational self. Last time I saw her like this was in ‘Toxic’. After that… Prerogative… I don’t think so. It’s just body, sex, and album sales. 
She is now making those teenage dancing moves, creating a club scene thing in her video showing she’s still a party girl, wearing "very very edge" fashion, and still that naughty look she gives out…
She is back, knowing she still has no competition in her league. We all have to agree that Christina Aguilera is on a different level.

I’ll bet you, you’ll definitely see this video. It’s going to be played constantly to expose her career back on track. If you have time and energy, just notice it more. Not far from ‘Overprotected’ but fresh lyrics.

It’s unimportant, but hey… significant to someone growing up with MTV. Enjoy

I know the title sounds so indie emo type yuckyola crap. It’s sickening, I know… I know… but it’s excatly what I feel at the moment. Working at something new usually brings up some bored blank moments in the office. In fact, I even have time to blog. Not that I don’t have anything to do, but confussion actually holds me up. I can’t really figure out what to do next except the meeting I’m about to have at 1 pm… another 4 hours. Hence the title.

So things become blank. Tried to browse a little, but nothing global really interests me except for blogthings.com and that’s because it’s still about me. Not even MTV. MTV suck on the web. Nothing on the web is really exciting anymore. What should I browse about? Gosip? Fashion? Lifestyle? For what? I don’t live through that kind of life. The environment? Climate change? Mining? I can’t really grasp that because there is lack of drive. Hence, no action or anything…

Maybe this state should be called ‘need of inspiration’. A state where we need something to get us out of the hole of ‘blank’. Usually I sulk in laziness untill I’m fed up, and then start cleaning the house untill I get ideas on what to do, but that’s not possible here. Really… home chores help.

I wonder if this is what most people experience? I am part of that most people of course, but unlike the movie ‘Being John Malkovich’, I don’t know how other people look at it. And how they resolve it? Or do they? Is this the process of the everyday life of everyone? or just me? OR actually the process of ever ordinary person?

I reackon the outstanding lot of society aren’t satisfiyed with only 24 hours on the clock.

It’s an uncomfortable state for me, it is literally wasting my time… as Blind Melon would say it

and all i can do is read a book to stay awake

and it rips my life away but its a great escape

but I don’t have a book. In this case, blog. Usually I write my blog beforehand, so it would come out more systematic. But this is freestyle baby. And again… as a great escape!

Again… it’s a wierd blankness I’m feeling and I hate it! Hopefully there is a good outcome of this.

If you can all recall a song by Bimbo:

Anak anak bertanya pada bapaknya (There is a son who asks his father)
buat apa berlapar-lapar puasa? (why should we starve and fast?)

I can’t remember the exact words of the answer but more or less it said so that we are tought to control our lust in everything we do. In this case of course as we all know includes hunger, greed, anger and overwhelmed emotions that has nothing to do with Godly matters.

Ramadhan has always landed a big question mark in my head personally, since long ago. Especially since college, when your brain cells are working to the fullest.

In the month of Ramadhan, it seems like everyone is talking about fasting, reaching Gods mercy and blessing, what their feeling, what we should do, what human should be, and everything else that surrounds it. Not to mention the Sinetron and TV shows and radio shows and every event is surrounding the theme Ramadhan. It’s confusing, and sometimes, it sounds like to good to be true, and that my friend is true. And I’ll tell you why.

In the month of Ramadhan, everything seems to be so nice. People are nicer (sometimes), they think of other people, they don’t get mad sometimes even when they should, celebrity suddenly cover up their bodies and say wise things, and guys limit their dirty talk and respect women more, etc. A heaven in a month.

But what is the month of Ramadhan?
Why do people change only in the 30 days we fast? Are humans as oportunist as predicted by angels? It’s so fortunate for Muslims to have a reminder for 30 days in a year to what we have done and what we should do. It’s not a mearly 2 days event, it’s a whole month, and we are given the opportunity to adapt it as part of our daily lives and habbit.
But why do people return to their ownselves after this month? Why can’t they learn something out of this month? I know this is generelizing things, but seriously, look around!

It’s a wierd month anyways. People eliminate things too much in the name of worship. We are suppose to surpress our emotions so it doesn’t go overboard, but it’s too damn wierd if you can’t get mad when you should. What if your guy/girl dumps you in fasting month because he/she is cheating? What if you knew a person stole your money for gambling? Are you suppose to surpress that? I don’t think so. I think you’re allowed to get mad even in Ramadhan, but for certain reasons.

I think God understands the capacity of humans, and I think Thy is trying to teach us the right time to be patient and not, in this particular month. Maybe we shouldn’t get mad at our mother because she shouts out you when she wakes you up for saur, or we shouldn’t get mad just because the waiter forgot our order because it’s so damn hectic.

But after the month has ended, do we remind ourselves the same thing? I don’t think sooooo… I do know that we remind each other based on other reasons, but do really listen to them as much as we do when we are reminded that it’s Ramadhan. I ask my self many times this. My answer is no. I can never find the right reason to listen to someone telling me to be patient in other months. Not that I’m a temperamental girl anyways, but still…

Not to mention the morals in not eating all day. Really? Do we learn anything this month? Do we really understand how much suffering the poor experince through this month? I doubt it. We still shop till we drop by the end of the month, we still splurge ourselves with food that we don’t eat on usual days.So what is this month about?

I’ve come to think about the origin of this ‘celebration’ in my own life. Why haven’t I changed based on what I introspect in the Ramadhan month?
Boink! It finally hit me.
We have always been taught to fast since we were kids right? And no matter what reasons or what ever morals was taught, we always see it as an obligation. Like praying. And by the time we grow up, it becomes something that you just do. It’s a routinity. Nothing more.  And you probably would do it because there’s no point of not doing it and eveyone else is doin it. So it’s hardly a month of spirituality for your life, its an introspection for a month! And unlike somekind of bootcamp, where you experience it one time and it comes as a shock to you so you remember what you learn, Ramdhan comes every year, like a birthday so you don’t really remember the meaning of the month. Maybe we are the stupid greedy humans that needs a reminder for a life time.

How I love the feeling of the month, and yet regret how I, or the majority of people, never understand it as we should. I congrats to thouse that have take lessons out of it, but I doubt there are so many of you. I am the pesimistic in this issue… but are you as hipocrite as I am on Ramadhan?

Enough babling… still two hours till break-fast. (sigh)

Doing bad things is bad. No doubt about it.

Bad can be relative. It can be as simple as a flushing the toilet while your mum is having a hot shower, or just a prank sms, or as complex as murder after defending yourself from rape. Either way, it’s bad. But let’s talk about the bad bad.

It takes other people rights, it hurts poeples feeling, it’s unfair. But the biggest crime of ‘doing bad’ i think is….

it prevents others in doing good.

In saying so, you cannot help someone with a flat tire on the street, you cannot give someone money on the street because they claim they have travelled far and have gone broke, you cannot open the door to a stranger that needs a cup of water.

Because you know people use these tactics to get to other people.

So doing good, is not a bad thing, but it could be a channel for one. And I think this is the biggest crime of a ‘bad doing’.

I despise people doing bad. But I despise most to those in resulting us that can not do good.

Who would ever thought that the movie Miss Congeniality is a genius movie. Either that, or Indonesian judges in the Miss Indonesia 2007 event were really dumb. I know the both aren’t directly connected, but they are!
Representative from West Java was the winner of the Miss Indonesia event this year. Honestly she was not my favorite. I loved Miss Bangka Belitung (Babel) because she can definitely answer shit questions. And her add was great, talking about education in the right context. Yet she didn’t win.
Ok, I gave up faith and spirit to watch the damn thing when Miss Babel didn’t advance to the final round, but I can tell you that Miss West Java was no special case. Infact she was Miss Congeniality-the movie.
The semifinals was the round was the source of this argument. Miss West Java was given a question of what she would want if she was given 3 wishes. Her first answer was acceptable. The prosperity of her family. Who wouldn’t want that right? The second aswer was already starting to get lame, to improve defence for the sake of tourism? WHAT? Any more important relations than that please? That girl needs a priority check. But she needs to be in a mental institution to answer the last question. And what was that?…. embrasse yourself to that ackward pause after Sandra Bullock was asked the same question and gave an answer about the justice system… which was then continued by… WORLD PEACE! Hahahahahaha…. There you go. Your Miss Indonesia 2007.

(From the audio version of the show-I’d rather have my eyes browse the net-the finalist had no idea what to answer in the final round therefore, all lame in the end. Told you Miss Babel was suppose to win). 

Have you ever trace the life that you’ve lived? Where you’ve been, what you did, and what has led you to your current situation? As a 2% melancholic person (I just claim that), I’ve done it oftenly, usually when I’m in a new stage in life. The fact is, I’m not very good in predicting and planning my life. All I have is a corridor to live in it. Therefore I can only look back and not forward. Pathedic? Probably.
When I was little, I remember going to SD with my brother on my lap in a public transportation. I remember seing a girl carrying really thick books on her lap and she kept on looking outside the window. At that moment, I though there is NO WAY I’m going to college and reading those piece of rocks (heheheh..).
In a blink of an eye, I was that college student, wearing the most hideous unthought of clothes that I had (which I still love and do khehehehe). And I’ve even done it twice.
Then a few days ago, I was in the back of a friends motorcycle, in my formal working clothes (a.k.a long sleeve shirt, skirt, and girly sandals, with my high heels in my bag), soaring through the lines of city cars and rusted public trasportation. I never thought I’d be in a scene like this, where I’d actually have to do work in jakarta in clothes that I don’t like and trying to escape the hectic traffic of Sudirman. I’ve seen many descriptions of such situation from the television (cause I grew up in Bandung), but could never picture myself in it. In the heat of Jakarta! Sounds glamorous for a while doesn’t it? And there I was.
I couldn’t help myself and asking this question (what have I done? and how did I get here?) and making sarcastic jokes about it to my friends lately. About the ‘fortunate’ path, and what is expected of us. What did we actually say in the past about the life that we live in today? And how we have answered some of our questions back then.

How we have become the path that was ‘meant to be’. You know what I mean? How we could be the grown ups in the world? How could we be the working forces of Jakarta living in the house that we live in and just proceeding in live as it was suppose to be (but infact is only for the lucky few)?
The thing is, have we really seen where we have gone through in life? Have we past it just as like we wanted it. For me, there are some things that were ticked from my ‘to do list before I die’ accidently. I did want to go to Bali one day, and I did. I did want to go to Ujung kulon one day, and I did. I didn’t do as much as I thought but all is good.
I also came upon things that I never though would happen, like sitting at the same table with 4 kahim at the time (for me Kahim was such a huge deal, BACK IN THE FIRST MONTH OF COLLEGE!!), or having late dinners with my supervisor, or even going to a gay bar.
I never really understand where I’m going and probably never will would. And I never understood how I got to the place I am. But I often trace my life. Is there a conclusion in doing so? Nope. I just do it. And for that, I was just wondering, do you do the same too?

One of my favorite band… is no other.. than coldplay! I love their music, their lyrics, and the trans they get you in behind your earphones. If this is a review, I would write… THEY’RE FUCKING COOL! I consider them a pop version of Radiohead, I don’t know why nidji is copying them to the core yada yada yada… and the whole world has their own opinion (damn I have the hickups).
But I want to show you how cool they are outside their music alone. Coldplay has been known to support the fair trade movement. A movement that basicaly upholds the standards for international labour, environtalism,  and social policy in areas related to production of fairtrade labeled and unlabelled goods (Thanks auntie wikipedia!). Now what’s amazing is on their latest album, X & Y, they provided a program to automatically play the CD. No need for windows media player, winamp, itunes, or other crap. How nice are they? They provide a program to any computer availabe.
Okay, you’re probably gonna say "Hey! Pirated CDs are cheap anyway, and people that can afford the CD could definitely get these pirated program, so what’s the big deal?" The big deal is that WE DONT BUY THE PIRATED CDs INSTEAD! Less probemls in the world. And Coldplay definitely are not profiting the known programs, and I’m sooo sure that they’re providing a royalty to the software maker for the player. Now, for me, their living up to their word, as in being fair. You don’t see a lot of these types lately. Especially considering they support such a wide range of ideas and also benefiting the environment khihihihi (ok that’s subjective). So I love these guys more.

Where will this phylosophy get them cosidering their in a capitalistic system of the music industry? I don’t know. Maybe one day they will have to eat their own piuck, but so far their pretty cool to take action to what they say… and again … their music is FUCKING COOL!