Stop, Marv, Okay?

Superheroes has always been a thing to me.

Especially they who are under the red flag of Marvel.

There are tons of them. With diverse superpowers. Made my childhood like, gangbanged in a superhero fantasy, sent me off to my adolescent phase hoping to witness the live-action movies of each hero—and my dream came true. As Spider-Man, X-Men and Fantastic 4 all invaded the screen and satisfied my lust.

Then some others came. Some that weren’t much of my favorites: The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America. I initially didn’t really like them as much as I had this weird obsession towards X-Men or Fantastic 4 and, to make it worse, their movies turned out to fail me too. The Hulk was too dark and serious, Iron Man was too destructive –plus I finally realized something: what so superhero about Iron Man? He’s just a weakling covered with irons made by money, and Captain America was… There was nothing wrong with this one, I simply just started to get sick of Marvel’s newer heroes.

Then. To make it all the worst, all of them were PROUDLY joined forces. With a bunch of more heroes I had no interests in, and some others that I didn’t even know! No Wolverine, no Mr. Fantastic and their companions, why should I be excited about these things?

Marvel indeed got me bored but then, who am I really?

The world liked what they did so, HEROES INVASION began.

They succeeded on so many levels. Ever since, they kept planning sequels back-to-back in tight schedule like a barbaric animal, recreate stuff, getting all cluttered and, ugh, it’s just too much for me! Although obviously, it’s nowhere near “too much” for everybody else in this universe because, as you know, they never stop demanding more and more hero tales.

I kept holding back. When my friends kept talking about new hero movies and stuff, yes, I kept holding back. I stopped updating about Marvel’s newest shits if it’s not about X-Men or Fantastic 4 –yes, I even got sick of Spider-Man I didn’t watch any of those “Amazing” series crap. I lost count of what sequel it was for Thor, for Captain America, I didn’t even have interest in “Age of Ultron”!

Yes I kept holding back, until I finally reached my limit.

Spider Man that’s just too young, and Fantastic 4 with black Johnny Storm?

Seriously, this has got to stop right now, Marvel.

Pic of Peter and his underrated cast is from here, while Johnny's from here.

I’m a fvcking OCD person, for God’s sake. I brought this matter long ago when Chris Evans played both Johnny Storm and Captain America and I was all raging in disappointment about it.

Enough with Spider-Man, will you!? First of all, this new Peter is just too young. It disgusted me. Then knowing the fact that now there are three Peter Parker’s in total, it’s not nice at all! I know, maybe you’re following the path of Batman –or, James Bond?– that has more than one actor for each role but… It’s somehow not just working for Spider-Man ;(

And black Johnny Storm… What the hell—go to hell, Marvel. You fail me, you fail many of your sharp and critical fans but most annoying-ly, you fail Stan Lee. It’s not about this new actor is black, ew, no! Drop all those racism shits. It’s just, c’mon you know that Johnny Storm is supposed to be white and is a biological younger brother to Susan Storm. So stop being innovatively nonsense, and quit making such unnecessary changes—and please, go to hell of Human Torch’s flame on.

And here's the worst thing. With Peter and Johnny initially being best bud, there will always be this big chance to make Spider-Man | Fantastic 4 movie. If that happens, and Marvel uses the current casts instead of Jessica Alba and the gang plus Tobey Maguire, well, I knew it for so long that you've been conspiring to ruin my OCD senses, Marvel.

Pic's from here.

Oh look how much I’ve complained about this.

Don’t get me wrong because I know more than anyone else in my circle about Marvel’s license share things. Some go with FOX, some with Sony, but why—you have all the rights to monitor everything and stop those studios –and YOURSELF– from overdoing those stupid changes.

Sorry but I’m not one of those people you gladly get benefits from. This has been a fiesta for them so-called superheroes geeks but seriously, for me, and hopefully there are some others who feel this way too—this is too much, and has gone too far.

I lost Fantastic 4. And I lost them in such failed reboot. Well who am I to talk, the film is not even released yet—you know what, I’m not talking about quality because this version could possibly be better and much more entertaining, who knows? I’m instead just talking about how too soon these reboots are made. And with some useless digression—oh I’m done talking.

Dear Marvel,
I sincerely hope you never get your license back for X-Men.

And dear FOX, please,
Don’t ruin my beloved X-Men franchise just

Don’t. Ever. Reboot. X-Men.

Traveling: In or Out?

Lately, traveling's been a very popular activity for us Indonesians. Some people stay inside the country in search of hidden beaches, experience of hiking mountains, sensation of island hopping, and many other ways. Some others, on the contrary, fly over the continents, hang around Doraemon museum, pose in front of Eiffel Tower, sleep at Sappada Mountain, damn, never thought that Indonesians are actually rich!

Many people said,

"Why traveling abroad? Indonesia's good already."

And to be honest, I don't like that justification. I mean, without a doubt, Indonesia's the most beautiful set of lands I ever known in my whole life. There are indeed, some scenic islands somewhere on the other side of the globe but, that could be all for the country. While Indonesia, there are lots, and many others yet to be discovered.

But there are many things you can't see, or learn, just by traveling within Nusantara borders. Like culture. Or, what others have that we don't. And vice versa. Then you can figure out similarities between them and us, as well as learn their origins, way of living, language, economy, God, I can't even mention everything. Traveling is not just about the beauty you see with your eyes, but also what you feel in your heart.

Okay you've seen crazy panoramas, sick beaches and volcanoes, but if inside you don't feel challenged like, you're just safe at home, well, it's just a simple holiday that happened to be exciting because of the good visuals. I'm not offending Indonesia's potential in tourism, oh God no, because believe me, I just figured out that I actually want to start conquering this country. In fact, this post is actually a teaser of my very first domestic trip I ever done, that I'll write right after this.

So why am I bringing this up?

Simply because I just want to make things clear. That from traveling own country, and traveling overseas, I don't think you can make a comparison out of those two. There's a whole lot of different things to be talked about in each side. You can't say which one is better than which one.

Although to be honest, I still have one ultimate point of why I slightly prefer go on an international trip. The one thing you can't have from just traveling inside, from just enjoying your own treasure, which is

The grateful feeling,

That you weren't the citizen of those places you're traveling to

That instead, you were born, and raised, in such rich nation

We call it "Tanah Air"

When Your Campaign Strikes Your Own Ass

Udah mau selesai, dan gue belom ngomongin sedikitpun masalah ini.

Yes, Pilpres 2014, gue belom pernah bahas ini sekalipun dimari.

Mari recap dulu sebentar.

Capres cawapres kita buat pilpres kali ini ada dua. Pak Prabowo sama Pak Hatta, Pak Jokowi sama Pak JK. Sepi emang, apalagi kalo dibandingin sama pilpres sebelum-sebelumnya. Tapi sepi nya berdasarkan jumlah capresnya aja. Kalo suasana dan atmosfer pemilunya, wow, fenomenal parah. Saling serang via social media, bikin black campaign sana sini, awalnya gue iya iya aja tapi makin kesini makin enek. Sumpah. Bukannya hati jadi yakin mau pilih siapa, yang ada malah pengen gue maki maki orang yang pertama kali cetusin pemilu.

Jarang jarang kan gue bahas politik. Sebenernya gue jijik dan sebodo amat sama topik yang satu ini. Tapi untuk kali ini, sepertinya gue sudah mencapai batas kesabaran.

Ada satu capres

Yang menurut observasi personal gue, pengoptimalisasian digital campaign nya terlalu overwhelmed. Note it ya, digital campaign nya, bukan capresnya secara personal. Jadi jangan kira dengan gue ngomongin masalah ini, trus berarti gue ada di pihak capres satunya.

Terlalu aktif, terlalu keliatan positif, terlalu jomplang (kuantitas dan keberpihakan orang) antara pemberitaan dia dengan capres satunya, buzzer sana sini dipake, bahkan ARTIS LUAR NEGERI! Duh gue heran sama yang ada dalem pikiran tim digitalnya. Orang Malaysia aja sebodo tai kucing sama pilpres ini, masa iya Jason Mraz out of nowhere jadi pendukung salah satu capres?!?! Ya itu jelas lah ya dibayarnya...

Sampai semenjak tiga minggu terakhir, ketika gue kembali aktif pake Twitter karena mau menyemarakkan World Cup sehingga gue tak sengaja keekspos sama semua tetek bengek pemberitaan, campaign plus buzzer buzzer tai yang jumlahnya udah hampir gak keitung lagi di Twitter, gue pun mulai muak sama semua hal ini. Terutama sama si capresnya, karena gue ngerasa cara ini sangat barbar dan gak beradab.

Tadinya gue netral parah, bahkan berniat buat golput aja besok tanggal 9. Tapi ngeliat semua buzzer Jokowi yang -gatau deh bayaran atau pure pembela- berkeliaran di socmed, ngulik ngulik kesalahan plus nyindir nyindir Prabowo, cari kambing hitam dan merasa pilihan mereka adalah yang paling benar dan yang tidak memilih Jokowi adalah sesat, gue pun akhirnya malah yakin buat milih Prabowo.

Karena dia main lebih bersih.

Selama kampanye.

Gue gapernah sekalipun ngeliat selebtwit yang ngebelain Prabowo. Atau sok sok ngejelekin Jokowi. Yang gue liat selalu orang orang yang ngeshare pemberitaan negatif Prabowo. Lalu antek anteknya yang segambreng mengamini, ngeretweet sana sini supaya makin kesebar.

Menurut gue cara itu lebih cocok disebut sampah.

Dan orang-orang yang ngelakuin itu semua ya sama dengan sampah.

Gaperlu gue sok sok bilang "no offense no offense" karena iya, gue lagi offense kalian semua yang aktif banget di dunia maya buat ngejelek-jelekin Prabowo. Aktif banget nemu screenshot-screenshot dari kesalahan kecil orang, lalu di share lagi dan diketawain sekampung seolah-olah apa yang mereka baca itu bener banget dari A sampe Z.

Perlu digarisbawahi, GUE BUKANNYA NGEBELA PRABOWO karena beberapa kasus dia pun gue gatau kebenarannya. Tapi gue GAMAU JADI PEMBELA JOKOWI karena gue gamau jadi bagian dari sampah yang gue olok-olok sendiri.

Sedih sebenernya sama cara ini. Bener-bener nunjukkin kalo rakyat Indonesia emang masih bodoh. Bolehlah mereka jadi selebtwit, banyak uang, bolehlah mereka mainannya Twitter, high tech, tapi kelakuannya gak lebih baik daripada orang-orang tolol yang gak pernah sekolah.

But after all, thanks to you guys, buzzer di socmed yang udah senantiasa penuh semangat ngejelek-jelekin Prabowo, gue akhirnya jadi bisa nentuin pilihan. Berkat black campaign dan cara kalian yang tak beradab itu, gue justru jadi gamau pilih apa yang kalian pilih. Ya gamaulah gue gabung sama geng sampah lo.

Kalopun ternyata Prabowo menang dan nanti gak jadi Presiden yang diharapkan -ya semoga jangan kejadian sih, at least gue milih dia bukan karena gue percaya kalo dia adalah capres yang tepat. Jadi apapun yang terjadi, thanks to you guys, gue gabakal pernah nyalahin dan menyesal akan keputusan gue :)

Dan maaf Pak Jokowi, bukannya kualitas bapak jelek,

Tapi pendukung bapak tolol

Wrath from the Past

There's one thing I couldn't stop thinking about last year. Pretty phenomenal, yet when I came to think of it, it wasn't something we could be proud of.

It was Vesak 2013

http://www.journeymart.com/holidays-ideas/festivals/vesak-festival.aspx

Last year, Vesak was a big thing.

Everybody seemed to be so interested traveling to Borobudur. Asked their whole peers to come enjoying the festival -yea some people called that 'festival' like a public fair they could just visit and shit around. All those agendas, man, it crowded the temple.

Last year, was hell. For them Buddhist.

And for me too, to be honest.

Because reading of what happened at the temple, sort of made me burning, back home. Burning of anger, and disappointment. I knew it wasn't my religion. Who am I to be upset then?

Well, I'm a civilized human being.

With high sense of religion-tolerance.

It was a damn SACRED RITUAL, for God's sake. And those imbeciles were like, contestants of that show The Amazing Race, trying to conquer all the spots and all parts of the ritual, finishing tasks by taking pictures of praying monks, lanterns, also the tasks of littering, making loud noises, laughing disrespectfully outloud, joking around with their same-dumb friends, being an asshole, laughing like assholes, then going home like groups of assholes.

I was so mad. I don't even know why, but I just was.

Until 2014 came. And May rushed back in.

But this year, Vesak was a smaller thing.

I didn't get any invitations from any friends to visit the temple, didn't see any posts related to the temple flooding my news feed, and media didn't spill bad stories from Magelang. Maybe people started to realize that last year was a mistake. And they seemed to lose interest too. I could really sense that the hype wasn't as strong as last year, all just felt calmer.

That's actually good. Because Vesak is not something people should be interested in. It's just a regular but happened-to-be-a-beautiful ritual, we other religion aren't supposed to interfere. No one have the rights to ruin the sanctity.

Let them do their thing.

Don't make any excuses of crashing Vesak as you want to see one of Indonesia's rich culture--blah, bullshit man. You see Vesak in Borobudur because you want to check in on your social medias, telling the world that "dude look, I'm in Borobudur now seeing such fancy occasion~"

If you actually want to feel Indonesian culture, there are thousands of other traditions you can "annoy" and take part into. Don't talk shit on me. Or do shit on them.

"You might look pro, hipster, or rich, but after all you're just morons trying to look like a pro, hipster, or ya, rich."

Picture belongs to Made Yudistira

We're Indonesians.

I know what you think

Royal Complaint

Once upon a time,

On the land of enchantment,

Disney stopped producing handmade classics.

And so, computer animation rules.

I have a fling with Disney Princesses. I don't know they're all charming I like it a lot. From Snow White to Tiana, from the first to the ninth princess, I put so much love to them. But starting from the tenth, I began to stop giving shit.

Rapunzel, and the eleventh princess Merida, is not an output of Disney Classics. Although still, Rapunzel was originally made by Walt Disney Pictures -unlike Merida who was produced by Pixar Studio. But after all, she's computer animated and it just violated my value of Disney Princess, who should be drawn by hands!

So hey people of Walt Disney,

I'm trying to offer some ideas here.

Why don't you stop bothering the current Disney Princess, make it only up 'till Princess Tiana, and develop a new princess line-up that is, umm, computer-animated based? You can name it let's say, "Pixar Princess"? Or, "Computer Princess"...? Maybe? Yea whatever its name would be, just separate them!

And you know you have two other princesses joining soon, and again, they're computer-animated. And the worse part is, these women, Anna and Elsa from Frozen, are sisters! What the hell were you guys thinking about?? Two princesses from one same film, and siblings, all they gotta do is just crowding and confusing the line-up!

Okay now you guys have four computer princesses already, and they're not so phenomenal, and they appeared on movies which are named after one word that are not their names -Tangled, Brave, and Frozen? Got it now? and moreover, Merida and Elsa don't have a prince?? What more common things could they share? They meant to be together, so be it!

Left to right I got it from here, here and here.

So...

Once upon a time,

Princesses of 3D keeps appearing.

While classic ladies I always been admiring of,

Lived happily ever after

Freeze!

Recently, as you might all noticed, there are tons like TONS of TV series genre-ing action with stories of crime investigating. You know, CSI, NCIS, Cold Case, Law and Order, Rizzoli and Isles, la la la damn! So overwhelming.

And lately, as I told ya, I been distracted by these two out of many of them -well you know it's always been my habit to instantly 'fall in love' with serials I only watch like in several episodes. If I happen to watch all those serials at least two episodes each, maybe I'll spend the rest of my life watching TV.

And they are

Picture of Jane's from here, Logan's from here.

Okay. The Mentalist and The Listener. Both are exciting, both are sit-still-and-keep-watching making. Both are crime based stories, both are revolving about murders and both have the female protagonists who are somehow more firm and fighting-capable than them. Both, are identical. To each other.

Yea they're just too similar sometimes I wonder, who copied whom?? So I made up my mind and picked one of them as my favorite. Can guess which one? Let's hear my thoughts first.

So the main character, Patrick Jane and Toby Logan, both can read minds. Although some source refers Logan as somebody "with the ability to read minds" while Jane as somebody who was "previously employed to 'read' minds."

Spot the difference?

Yes. Patrick is a pure, skilled mind reader. He detects crimes using psychological point of view and traps victims by manipulating minds. The way his mind works, the way he sets suspects up to be confessing, sometimes it's just mind blowing.

Now Toby. He has sixth sense. He observes through 'extra' visuals others can't see. The facility helps his team finishes cases much faster and of course, easier. Yaa for me it puts less pressure to the serial. Interesting, still, but not nerve-wrecking.

So... Can you now guess which serial I like the least? Bingo! It's

Picture of blah blah blah's obtained from here. Boo 'em.

Got to admit, the serial's light and fun.

But a writer joining some detective unit to help investigating crimes with some excuses of making a crappy novel, that in every single cases becoming the one who can decode every single clue, making him the one who everybody, even the best detective depends on him? What the hell??? I don't like how Toby Logan works, but at least he's a part of the institution yet Rick Castle IS NOT.

Phew. Glad to let it all out.

I'm wondering why I acted so intense toward Castle--oh I know! It's because he's a writer, interested in crime, can write about crime and make it for the living.

I'm a -soon to be- writer, or copywriter yea whatever, interested in traveling but umm, still have no idea whether or not can I write about traveling for the living.

Stupid jealousy.

Hope this doesn't lead to

Committing crime

Wipe The Duel, Up Out My Face

American Idol's back. Now is season 12. With brand new faces of Keith Urban, Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj. I never thought God loved me that much, He put not only one, but two of my favorite ladies as the new judges!

But then... You guys probably know what went wrong. Yeah, the catfight. Between the all-time diva, and the mesmerizing rapper. Damn. Ego bummed.

As Mariah shined bright way earlier than Nicki, people kept blaming Roman for the riot. They say that Mariah is just too soft, too classy to start the fight, and Nicki, seeing her 'fun' attitude in most of her performances, is rebel enough to be the provoker.

That could be right. And I could possibly buy it.

If I never know that Mariah's diva-ness is not annoying.

Carey's a princess. Glamour. Expensive. She's sometimes arrogant. She requires weird, complicated riders -20 white kittens and 100 doves could explain it all- and she even has the list of those bizarre stuff. Visually gentle and fragile, but skillfully shattering from the inside, if I can summarize.

And Nicki? She might not as wild as you thought about. On some battle against Mariah, she was the one who walked out. She actually looks up to her. She even considers to sign out being the judge for the live show because apparently, she's just looking for fun times from the audition. Although I guess her main reason to quit Idol is because she wants to avoid more feud against Mariah.

Please, women, I adore you both.

Let's get things back like 2010 when

You ladies were on the same scene, singing.

Seeing both of you calling each other's name

Giggling, dancing, supporting like that, it's relieving.

Then again I remember the fight between you two...

Well after all, I study communication.

I more or less know how basically most media works.

This conflict could possibly be set up. For the sake of the Idol's rating.

But if it's real...

Please, women, I adore you both.

I can't decide which side to be

Yearly Myth

So Happy New Year 2013, everybody!!

Postingan pertama di 2013 nih wuwuwuwuwu ya Allah 2012 beneran deh ya, gak kerasa banget tiba-tiba udah abis aja fufufu. Tapi emang deh, itu taun kebesaran gue haha banyak banget nikmat serta karunia Allah SWT yang gue rasain -tadinya gue pikir itu kan taun terakhir kita di bumi, makanya dikasih happy ending gitu :')

Jadi ada satu hal yang pengen gue sampaikan. Yaitu soal malam tahun baru. Sejak taun baru 2008 ke 2009, gue menemukan sebuah pola nan unik yang mengantar gue ke sebuah spekulasi spektakular -jir apa banget sih bahasa gue.

Yodeh mari ditelaah satu per satu.

New Year 2009: Bandung, Friends of X-2.

Di rumah Khobbab nih ceritanya, bareng rombongan anak kelas X-2 SMA 68 angkatan gue pastinya. Seru kan tuh bareng temen-temen, ceqaqaq ceqiqiq dengan segala ups and downs nya. Nah gotta tell ya, all year long in 2009, I learned a lot, A LOT, about friendship. Backstabbing, loyalty, togetherness pas kelas XI, comfort zone, team work from BAZKOM, independency from Baduy pas kelas XII. Shocked? Not yet.

New Year 2010: Singapore, Family.

Kala itu, pas jam 12 tiba, warga Singapore sudah siap dengan perkakas canned foam mereka dan mulai nyemprot-nyemprotin senjata mereka ke siapapun, bener-bener orang gak kenal sekalipun, pokoknya semua orang yang lagi nongkrong di Orchard Rd. Fun? Banget!! Berasa selebrasi kemenangan apa gitu deh gila kacau serunya. Dan apa yang terjadi selama 2010? Graduation. Selebrasi kelulusan yang, ya Tuhan, gabisa diungkapin gimana senengnya. Di taun ini juga gue mulai ospek di kampus. Seru-seruan sama total strangers, temen-temen baru yang sama sekali gak kenal sebelumnya, tapi bisa-bisanya nyatu dan jadi sebuah keluarga baru.

New Year 2011: Bali, Family.

Meskipun di Bali, gue mumet banget sama NYE yang satu ini karena ujan. Pulangnya pun harus nunggu taksi berapa lama baru bisa cabut dari Discovery Mall. Alhasil, setaun penuh selama 2011 itu gue ngalamin hal-hal yang yaaahh gak ngenakin deh.

New Year 2012: Jakarta, Mom and Dad.

Di Bunderan HI, ngeliat kembang api dan langit bersahabat. I didn't quiet enjoy the atmosphere tho, but one thing I liked was, I spent the night with my parents. Mungkin karena itu Allah ngasih setaun penuh kecerahan buat gue di 2012 haha! Emang deh restu orangtua gak ngalahin apapun.

The point is, subconscious matters. Suggestion works. You got one belief, and you put faith on it, then there you go. You'll surely have that.

So start from now, I'll see a bright side from each year, and hope the positive side for the next one. No matter how suck the NYE could be, I'll just make it fun, for the sake of my whole upcoming year.

Wets bentar dolo, satu lagi nih.

New Year 2013: Home, Alone.

Gatau sih ini pertanda apa, tapi yang pasti, awal dari 2013 ini akan dimulai dengan trip gue ke KL - Bangkok which I'm gonna be... Alone.

So could this year be my single-trip-all-around-the-globe-alone year?

Let's just hope that's true :)

They Heard Me

Visit Indonesia.

Familiar with that? Yea it was our tourism tagline long ago. Until some other day, when I thought the tagline was still the same, I read something new sounded like, "Wonderful Indonesia"

Now what is that, I questioned myself. “Is it a new tagline for Indonesian tourism?”

The next thing I know, I was on my laptop already, searched the web for the answer. And yes. Although it was announced almost two years ago, now I knew that the Ministry for Tourism and Creative Economy had dropped the old tagline of this

To this

All these years, I never stopped wondering about why they picked “Visit Indonesia” at the first place. It sounded pathetic. Like we beg all other nations to try checking out our country. Just a simple visit and, yea, if they want to go back home then please just do.

I personally don't like the word 'Wonderful', but I'm not going to make a big deal out of it. Again. At least this one is better than the previous one.

It made Indonesia like a surprising paradise. A land of mother nature, carrying thousands of natural wonders that most people around the world have no idea about. It’s like a place where people experience more things that they ever expected.

It’s simply a heaven’s touch.

They’re so right calling ourselves wonderful.

Now although they have made such big step to collect tourists,
There's still this only one last thing they have to do.

Some people are still careless about this. They don't feel like included or something. Each of them still trace their own path, with different way of walking.

Yes. We want tourists to come gathering in Indonesia,

Yet we people of Indonesia are not fully gathered.

Whoever in charge of this, please put us together.

Make us united, make us accept the identity, make us care.

Or at least,
Make me change the title of this post to
"I Heard Myself"

Video source: here

Another Way Out For Our Nation

Today on TV. I oversaw something interesting. Something catchy. Something about Indonesia. And its attempt to get developed.

You ever heard some other nations' tourism tagline?

The sight of Singapore is from here, India's scenery is from here, and Malaysia's from here.

Those are sticking in minds, don't you think? They use a few words, with unusual selection and combination, and brought with an ear-friendly jingle. What a smokin' good strategy.

And yeah, I guess our nation's trying to do the same.

Now let's get ourselves used to announce

"Remarkable Indonesia"

Yes. Remembering Asian's recent potential in, anything, the whole globe now aims their shits on us. And our Indonesia's joined the track.

But different from those three, Indonesia's approach in this "Remarkable Indonesia" is not tourism. More to economical business or something, nah I don't understand. I personally dislike it. For me, tourism is far beyond selling. At the end we earn income, yes, but at least we also sell our value.

And word 'remarkable', umm... It's strong. It's different. But for me -again- it's just not us Indonesian. Each nation is remarkable. Singapore is remarkably unique. Malaysia is remarkably Asia-ish. India is remarkably... Well, India's 'incredible' case is somehow similar to 'remarkable', but at least the words are both started with letter 'I' and that's the essence.

Haha I'm now acting like a pro. Seriously, don't take it personally. I'm just stating my opinion about 'remarkable'. But I'm sure that the word selection must have been done by experts and, we just have to leave it to them and their strategy then.

But speaking of strategy...

I don't know whether I, am the one who's closed somehow I never even heard anything about this campaign, OR the campaign itself is not that significant. But to be honest, this was the first time I catch the ad. The promotion strategy's still low, I guess.

Alright, alright, I'm doing it again--judging and criticizing. I'm stopping now and let's see the bright side: Indonesia's eyes has finally been opened. It's time to go down the battle. Join the war, and try to win something.

http://syaifulfatah.staff.umy.ac.id/about/

Let's see if we can get something good from this.

So basically, whatever way you wish, government, whatever.

Just make sure to get us out of the current misery

Heroes Called Dancer

Speaking of culture...

Kamis kemaren gue dateng ke Graha Bhakti Budaya, Taman Ismail Marzuki buat nonton Gelar Pamit Komunitas Tari FISIP yang mau ngikutin Misi Budaya 2012. Jadi selama sebulan mulai Agustus besok, kontingen dari kampus gue itu bakalan terbang ke Eropa buat ngenalin beberapa tarian Indonesia di mata dunia.

Pas masih di lobby, sebelum tariannya mulai, saat-saat pas penarinya baru masuk dan pas lagi adegan-adegan teatrikal kerjaan gue cuma ketawa-ketiwi ngecengin plus ngegodain temen-temen gue yang lagi tampil. Tapi waktu mereka lagi nari...

Jujur, gue iri. Bukan karena mereka bakal ke Eropa yah. Yaaa itu juga iri sih, tapi nomer kesekian lah. Hmm gue iri aja karena di saat orang-orang cuma bisa ngeklaim kebudayaan Indonesia, berkoar-koar betapa kayanya negeri ini dan betapa beruntungnya kita, temen-temen gue ini justru nunjukin aksi nyata dengan ngedatengin langsung masyarakat belahan dunia lain dan ngasitau ke mereka kalo kebudayaan ini punya kita.

Selama duduk di bangku penonton, gue gak berenti ngayal. Nantinya di Eropa, tempat gue duduk itu bakal diisi sama bule-bule yang gatau apa-apa soal apa yang lagi ditampilin di depan mereka. Mereka cuma bisa senyum, terperangah sekaligus makin penasaran soal apa lagi sih yang Indonesia punya.

Ahh, gue tau banget rasanya jadi orang-orang yang berdiri di atas panggung. Disimak banyak orang, diketawain dan dikasih tepuk tangan... Rasanya... Nggak ada tandingannya haha.

Photos are belonged to Putri Soesilo and archived here

Coba gue bisa ikutan. Sayang sih, bokap gue anti banget anak-anak cowoknya -dan kebetulan semua anaknya cowok- ikut-ikutan kegiatan macem beginian. Yaaa kalo ikutan pun gue bukan ngincer narinya sih. Gue cuma pengen ngerasain sensasi dari bisa ngejaga kebudayaan sendiri aja.

Karena gue masih belum tau cara lain buat bikin orang-orang bisa ngehargain kita. Atau at least bisa bikin mereka tau kalo jauh di timur sini, ada satu negara sederhana yang nyimpen banyak kesenian dan tradisi yang gak bakal mereka temuin di tempat mereka tinggal.

Ya sudahlah, angan hanya angan. Masih ada Misi Budaya taun depan dan semoga aja, sebelum kontingen KTF 2013 berangkat, ada sesuatu yang bikin bokap sadar kalo anaknya ini pengen banget bisa ke Eropa dan jadi salah satu pahlawan tradisi bangsa. 

Yea well, good luck my fellas!

Don't you dare showing me your trip pictures

Because I'll be envy like hell