B1A4 4th mini album – What’s Going On (a review)

Well I know it’s quite late for talking about this, but I guess it’s never too late to share opinion. I wasn’t quite excited before about the songs in this album except for the album art that is really eye catchy and my favorite so far. My heart was locked in ‘In The Wind’ because they’re getting mature and soulful, I love all the songs except Jin Young’s solo part ft. Jea of BEG (just don’t like the fact that she moaned in the entire song instead of singing). But then I listened to ‘What’s Going On’ closely before I posted this writing, I  just realized that I have to write about this one.

Ok, enough with the crap, let’s start with the first single, ‘What’s Going On’, I love how they try something new to give us a fresh feeling. This rock – pop song has successfully captured me with the Barbie in the box MV concept also the signature ‘everyday I think about you’ doll kinda like dance move. The MV even got reviewed in K-Pop Music Mondays by Simon and Martina from eatyourkimchi.

The second single, ‘Starlight’s Song’ (Byeolbichwi Norae) which supposed to be promoted after the first one but canceled due to Baro’s injury (get well soon Squirrel !) started with simple guitar strum and has a stuck in mind part in the refrain which is Baro’s shouting (I think) as the backing vocal during the chemistry - lonely~ lyric part.

Move on to ‘Yesterday’, I think I’ve seen them performing this song on a live stage (through tv of course) during the What’s Going On single promotion time but I forget the name of the show which made me confuse because I thought that Starlight’s Song is the 2^nd single to be promoted from this album (well, never mind). About the song, I love Sandeul’s high note in the refrain, he’s amazing as always. Like other B1A4’s songs, the opening part is always interesting and so is this song. And I think this is the first time I heard Jin Young singing in tune with  Baro’s rap on one part of this song.

On track number 4 they have ‘Good Love’ which was written by Baro and CNU. Through this song I realized that Gongchan has a charming voice when he opened the song. I believe it’s going to be a good one through a good training. We can also hear many of Jin Young’s falsetto in this song. By the way, CNU’s back in da house, kkkk I mean he’s rapping again after Wonderful Tonight and it’s a lot one, though it’s probably not as good as Baro’s rap, I still salute him as the multiplayer in the group (singer, rapper, and the group’s dance machine). His voice was also proven to be a good one in here. Well I can say, CNU’s skills were really explored through ‘Good Love’.

The last track titled ‘Myeochbeoneul’ or in english, ‘Several Times’. Well it’s just so so with the myeochbeoneul word repeated several times in the chorus. But one thing that captured me is CNU’s shaky but sounds like vibra high note and probably synthesized in the second chorus.

Overall, I always love these 5 guys works. This 4^th mini album which was released in May 5^th 2013 has successfully took them to the new level of the kpop music industry and gained them more popularity. They even got their first winning in music chart show, which was in MBC Music Core (which also became the show for their first comeback stage). If you’re a BANA you probably know how much I was touched and proud seeing them crying on stage when they received it. As a fan of an idol group who wrote their own music, I’m a proud one. I’m also looking forward to CNU’s solo part on their next album, he probably has already done it in Japanese version album or in the concert but I haven’t heard one. His vocal skill is already proven in Immortal Songs 2, and I think he deserves a solo part in the album be sides Sandeul, Jin Young, and Baro. Pardon me for my CNU biased writing, because he’s my bias (of course).

Last words, I wish them a good luck in their upcoming 2^nd concert in August which I won’t be able to attend because it’ll be held in friggin Seoul, but my proud gained hearing that they’ll be singing with live band. Instead of mourning my fate, better wish a successful and long live career for B1A4. It’s fun, it’s fresh, it’s ear-catchy and it’s Ige Museuniliya. 

Cerita Tentang Idola part 2 : Mission 66 Accomplished

From my previous post, maybe you have known or began to know that I’m a fan of Satria Muda Britama and Galank Gunawan. Well, bulan puasa tahun lalu another one of my dreams come true. I met him in personally ! sebenarnya sih ketemu langsung udah pernah pas after NBL match SM vs. CLS waktu itu yang ga gue certain di tulisan sebelumnya. Well, I did met him actually, terus minta tanda tangan dan foto bareng. Bahkan pulpen yang dipake untuk tanda tangannya aja masih gue simpen dan ga gue pake. Unfortunately, it was crowded and many girls (and boys) asked him to take a photo, jadilah gabisa yang satu frame cuma berdua aja terus foto gue rada fail, Galanknya ga nengok ke kamera. Terus pas giliran orang lain di sebelah dia, dia malah nengok ke kamera temen gue dan gue ketutupan. I looked so ugly.

Anyway, waktu itu liburan semester + ramadhan terus gue lagi di Jakarta. Ria, my fanmate yang juga orang Jakarta ngajak nonton latihan mereka setiap habis maghrib di Mahaka Sports Mall. That day tanggal 2 Agustus 2012 di bulan puasa dari pagi rencana kita ikut ke Sea World dulu since masuknya gratis and thanks to Pakdenya Suci yang kerja disana. Habis buka puasa, kita cabut ke Mahaka. Nae maeum udah boom boom boom boom* aja kayak lagunya B1A4 yang Beautiful Target padahal belum masuk ke lapangan hehehe, Fokus ! and there they are… practicing. Waktu itu Cuma ada Galank, Frida Aris, Raylly, Schiffo yang sekarang pindah ke Hang Tuah, terus lupa lagi… pokoknya waktu itu Nico Donda yang belum lama ini dipinang SM dari Garuda udah mulai ikut latihan. Oh iya, not forget to mention, kak Sesa yang super ramah. Yang latihan ga terlalu banyak soalnya banyak yang udah pulang kampung. Miga, Dodo, bang Ical, Bona, Arki dll, ga ada waktu itu.

Hari itu juga merupakan awal pertemuan kita sama seorang fanatic yang bener – bener fanatic, I mean he’s probably the king of all fanatic, he’s kak George a.k.a @GeeDendeng yang juga admin dari @INFO_Fanatics. Ria spotted him as the admin while he was also watching the practice a bit far from where we sit. Sehabis mereka selesai latihan, kita pengen foto bareng terus malu gitu dan mereka keburu ninggalin lapangan. Finally kita ngedeketin kak George terus kenalan dan bilang mau foto bareng. And you know what he did ? dia ngenalin ke kita ke Coach Ocky, and after that ke kak Aris, he even introduced us to Nico Donda ! Kak George pun koordinatif banget, dia ngomong ke coach kalo kita mau foto bareng Galank, terus sampe kita diajak masuk ke mess.

Satu hal yang ngena banget menurut gue waktu itu kak Aris baik banget, dia ngebukain pintu buat kita sampe manggilin Galank juga. Sampe di dalam mess, kita ditinggal Kak George sama Coach Ocky ngobrol – ngobrol. Rada awkward sama amazed sendiri selama nungguin Galank di dalam mess, tau sendiri deh, tempat yang biasanya cuma kita liat di foto atau video hasil kepo terus kita ke tempat itu langsung. Ga masuk ke kamarnya juga sih (ajegile), cuma nunggu di ruang depan aja. Awkward lagi waktu Schiffo lewat, ngeliat kita aneh gitu, bingung mau ngejelasin gimana bisa masuk ke mess, soalnya kuncinya pake semacam password atau fingerprint (?) I don’t know, udah rada lupa juga.

Akhirnya yang ditunggu – tunggu dateng juga, masih keringetan abis latihan, orangnya ke kamar dulu. Entah mandi atau Cuma ngelap badan doang terus keluar lagi. Galank in personal cukup ramah, rada malu – malu juga karena belum kenal, yah pokoknya baik dan ramah deh. Tapi menurut Ria yang beberapa hari sesudahnya ga sengaja ketemu Galank sama kak Sesa di La Piazza (she’s so lucky), Galank itu kalo ketawa lepas banget, humoris juga, liat aja tweetnya. Finally we got a chance to take a photo with him privately ! though he wasn’t quite in a nice appearance. Tiga kali foto yang diambil sama kak George, cukuplah sebagai pemuas hati. Ga lupa juga minta tanda tangan buat kedua kalinya, kali ini di kaos bernomor punggungnya sendiri dan merk punya dia sendiri (SlamDunkInc) tapi yang punya kaosnya gue (ha ha ha).

                                             

Setelah foto, ngobrol – ngobrol sebentar, malah sempet diajak ke food fest di La Piazza, but since itu udah malem dan rumah juga jauh banget, akhirnya kita pulang. Galank sempet bilang makasih juga tapi cuma “makasih ri”. Terus gue malesin banget sok ngambek buru – buru pulang minta diinget namanya gitu, haha. Emang bener ternyata dia lupa nama gue, terus kenalan lagi deh. Yah, I don’t know if he’s still remember me or not. Terakhir ketemu kak George kemaren pas NBL seri Jakarta juga, kak George ga inget nama gue. Tapi pas mau keluar Mahaka kita ketemu kak Sesa terus foto bareng dan dia kayak kaget gitu ada yang minta foto bareng, terus following each other’s twitter, sampe sekarang juga kadang masih suka mention. Emang ramah banget tuh orang, sayang ga seterusnya latihan di SM. Apparently, Kak Sesa sama Ria itu ternyata saudara jauh.

It was such a daebak day banget lah, ketemu orang yang lo kagumin and doing things out of your expectation, even maybe ga semua fanatic bisa dapet kesempatan kayak gitu. Hari itu juga finally tweet gue dibales sama Galank. Berkah puasa dan timing yang tepatlah karena yang nonton latihan hari itu sepi. Padahal kak George udah berkoar – koar ngajak fanatic nengok timnya lewat akun Info_Fanatics. I thanked God so much for this experience, and I thanked Kak George, coach Ocky and also Kak Aris. Mungkin beberapa yang baca tulisan ini ngerasa kalo gue rada lebay since he’s not so famous dibanding artis tipi atau kpop idols yang lagi hype sekarang ini, but I adore Satria Muda Britama with all of its players, et j’adore Galank Gunawan. I promise that I will be a loyal fanatic til the end.

I realize that idols are only human, just like us, but they are extraordinary human who were brave and determined enough to pursue their dream, whether it’s their  effort in getting good look or nice body as the first impression or their amazing skills in singing or sports. That’s why we adore them, am I right ?

Mission 66 accomplished

Kak Sesaaaa ({})

* : Bahasa Korea, Nae maeum = My heart (Jantung gue berdebar – debar maksudnya).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Schindler’s List : A List of the Saved Lives

"Power is when we have every justification to kill and we do not." - Oskar Schindler

Schindler's List, one of the film among other films throughout the telling of the Holocaust and World War II. Adaptation of the true story about the efforts of a German man and Nazi Party member named Oskar Schindler which saved 1100 lives of Polish Jews. I do not know what the original intention which brought Schindler to employ approximately 350 Jewish people who are in the German occupation in Poland as labor in pots and pans factory which he owned. Perhaps on the beginning, Schindler acted on the basis of profits as the Jews labors weren't paid at that time.

Existing systems for the Jews at that time was to put them in a special Jewish ghetto or township and later transferred to the camp like in a concentration camp in Plaszow, Poland that became the setting for this movie. Working in a metal factory owned by Schindler provided free space for the workers of the Ghetto because that place bounded by a wall, a high wall that separated the ghetto from the city. More advantages when the entire Jewish Ghetto cleaned and then transferred to Plaszow camp, they were freed from hard labor in the camps and wicked treatment from the German officers.

Oskar Schindler gradually awakened humanity, even in the end he paid every soul of Jews and brought them out from the camp then moved to Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic) to work on new military equipment manufacturer founded by Schindler and free from intervention of German troops until they were freed by the Russians after the war ended. Obviously Schindler's efforts in rescuing the Jewish workers weren't easy, various bribes and suck up to the seniors of SS he did as the attempts to keep these people safe. The Jews who worked for him, later listed in the so called Schindler's List or Schindler's Jews.

Directed by my favorite director, Steven Spielberg. Born in 1993 in black and white format but colorized at the beginning and at the end of the movie. I think the black and white format was used to keep the audience from the disgust of the dead bodies, blood, and shooting directly on the head when German troops kill the residents of the camp, but instead evoking our emotion of how cheap a human life was at that time. Starring Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler, Sir. Ben Kingsley as Ytzhak Stern, a Jewish accountant who helped Schindler in building factories, and Ralph Fiennes as Amon Goeth, SS officers who was the chief of the Plaszow camp, spearheading figure of an antagonist and representation of the German troops' atrocities at that time.

The players who acted in this movie are not worth the negative criticism, because as an audience, I really felt as like i'm watching the original scene of the incident. Perhaps because of the demands of morality and respect for the victims of this crimes against humanity that's been a dark record in human civilization. Acting of the extras were also quite showing the suffering of the Jews in the camps or their happiness when they were rescued from the gas chamber. Even hundreds of people dared to get naked for the scene that captured the selection of the sick and elderly Jewish from the healthy ones to be sent to the gas chamber.

One of the heartbreaking scenes was when the Ghetto cleaning, Schindler could only saw from a distance. From a distance he saw among the chaos and shooting everywhere, a little girl in a red coat separated from her parents and ran herself in confusion. Why do I know the little girl's coat color, because the filmmaker deliberately colorized that girl's coat among the monochromatic image. Schindler continued to watch the little girl until she sneaked into the building and hid under a bed in a room, just like any other ghetto residents who build a hiding place inside the building. What they did not know that later the Germans still do the cleaning by checking every little part of the building and fired bullets indiscriminately in the building.

On another day a year later, when the Germans excavated and burnt the bodies of the Jews who were killed in the camps and in the Ghetto, Schindler was in that place to have a talk with Amon. He later saw the little girl in red coat, lying dead above the pile of dead bodies and were taken by cart to the burning place, still colored. Ironically the movie poster consists of a picture of a man's hand that was holding a child's hand who wore a red clothes with a semi-transparent writing of Schindler's list. My interpretation was those were Schindler's hand holding the hand of that little girl in red coat. Maybe what Schindler did after all was for the sake of remorse that he could not save that little girl's life, just maybe.

Cerita Tentang Idola (NBL Experience)

Tulisan ini terstimulasi dari event NBL (National Basketball League) Championship series di Jogja, bulan April 2012 lalu. Saya memang suka basket tapi ga banget - banget. Terakhir intens latihan cuma pas SMP. Prestasi paling bagus cuma masuk tim sekolah di SD (please, tinggi ringnya aja belum standar). Tapi kalo soal olahraga, saya memang suka banget dan sepertinya ada bakat (maklum, mama lulusan FPOK IKIP, papa mantan atlit Taekwondo yang sekarang buka klub). Pernah, waktu SMP, ujian 'lay up' 2 kali bolak - balik ring, empat - empatnya masuk bolanya. Dulu jaman SD SMP, temen suka pada bilang 'vanda kok lo olahraga apa aja bisa si ?' Saya cuma senyum aja. Ya kalo mau dibilang, prestasi paling bagus cuma di Taekwondo. Selanjutnya, fokus ke akademis. Loh, kok malah ngomongin prestasi olahraga saya.

Oke oke, jadi hari itu setelah ujian mid semester, ada temen sekelas saya yang panitia NBL, Tiwi namanya, orangnya cantik, agak bule mirip Manohara, tapi tomboy (Thank God I met you Tiwi :"), oke fokus. Dia nawarin tiket invitation opening NBL yang harinya pas sama ulang tahun saya tanggal 21 April. Ga pengen banget dateng si, tapi ga enak sama temen plus sebenernya ga ada kerjaan hari itu. Padahal udah dibayangin rencananya ulang tahun mau ngapain aja, since temen - temen deket banyak yang pulang kampung, yaudah ditetapkan kalo hari itu saya bakal nonton opening NBL.

Belum tau ada temen yang bisa diajak, akhirnya ngajak sepupu deh, sekalian gantian traktir ultah. Gate dibuka jam 1, eh ketiduran sampe jam 4 baru berangkat. Well, sebenernya klub basket yang saya tahu cuma SM Britama, Garuda sama ASPAC, itupun karena dulu SM pernah dateng ke acara SMA, 28 CUP 2010. Pas udah dapet tempat duduk di GOR UNY, ada ASPAC vs STADIUM yang lagi main. Kirain mah, cuma klub setara liga mahasiswa *stupidme*. Ga taunya ASPAC bakal jadi lawan SM di final, and that is some kind of el clasico match in Indonesian basketball. Alhamdulillah SM baru main sekitar jam 7 kurang lawan Bimasakti Nikko Steel.

Pas SM mau main, langsung riuh penontonnya, saya kira di Jogja pada ga demen - demen amat sama basket, ga taunya... Nanti deh saya ceritain pas bagian final. There they came, with blue T - Shirt before the game, ready to kick some butt, I mean to score some points. Next part is, well you know, girls, first interested in sports always because of one thing, hot/cute athlete. Jadi maaf ya, kalo nanti tulisan saya based on or mostly about 'kegantengan' pemain basket. But I like them because of their skills also, as a sport fan that's a major thing.

On the game, my eyes caught on some player. Meskipun duduk di tribun kedua, mata saya masih bisa liat orang ganteng :p. Number 24, somebody named Michel, from his face, I can tell that he's still young, I mean like a rookie. My eyes were just locked on him, every of his movements. Gosh, hahahah. But there was another, number 66 named Galank Gunawan. He's the most stood out of all, beside Dodo Sitepu. I mean his style was a lttle bit different from all. He wore arm covers and headband.

I thought that would be the last time I watched the NBL 2012 game. After the game, enthusiasm came from my friend,  asked some stuffs, and we shared the same interest. Then me and her planned to watch the next game, Satria Muda Britama only. The tickets were... Ya know, anak perantauan, jauh dari orang tua, kantong terbatas. And thanks again to Tiwi, we got the invitation, again. Just the two of us, against the world *loh, hehe jadi nontonnya cuma berdua sama temen saya namanya Zatu. My adoration saat itu masih terbagi antara Miga dan Galank (hihiw). Pertandingan saat itu, SM lawan CLS Knights, of course SM menang. After the game, kita teriak - teriak manggil Dodo, dan dia nengok ! Walaupun dengan tampang kecapean, yah didadahin sama Dodo kapan lagi coba ?

After that, coba peruntungan di pintu keluar nungguin pemain yang balik ke hotel buat foto bareng. First parade, pemain CLS, so there it goes how the crowds react, minta foto bareng, tanda tangan, etc. Tapi tetep aja pemain populer kayak Dimaz Muharri langsung ngebut ke bis. Finally, pemain SM keluar, unfortunately si Zatu yang ngefans banget sama Dodo ga dapet kesempatan soalnya doski sama kayak Dimaz, langsung menghilang. The crowd were aiming for Vamiga Michel, but I looked for GG. Ternyata orangnya di deket pintu keluar. Haha, won't tell you what happened. Btw si Miga ga keliatan batang hidungnya pas itu, sepertinya mengikuti jejak Dodo dan Dimaz. After that night, I began to adore him (GG)  more.

Next SM’s game was against Garuda Speedy Bandung, kali itu kita dapet tambahan personel, temen nonton maksudnya. Zatu ngajak temen – temennya dari kelas inter yang sekarang gue kenal dengan geng swakarya (hahaha nice to know you guys). Jadilah nambah 4 orang, Ria, Nci Sinta, sama Telleng. Berkaca dari pengalaman sebelumnya, saya minjem DSLR temen buat menyimpan momen, dan kali aja lebih beruntung bisa foto bareng pemain lagi kayak sebelumnya. Ga dapet tempat duduk, jadilah duduk  di tangga di samping kumpulan abg – abg kimcil yang berisik banget, kayaknya si masih SMP atau SMA awal. Tapi yang bikin mupeng, salah satu dari mereka bawa DSLR yang pake lensa tele, ituloh lensa yang panjang dengan kekuatan zooming lebih besar kayak suka dipake fotografer pro atau yang versi ekstrimnya kayak yang dipake fotografer olahraga yang suka berjejer di samping lapangan sepak bola. Terus dia dapet banyak fotonya Galank. Sementara saya ? this is my only best shot of him.

Di pertandingan, Galank sempet cedera, mukanya kena pukul gitu terus berdarah. Tapi tetap aja SM menang. Oh iya, belom sempet bilang kalo Galank itu jadi Top Rebound. Sehabis pertandingan, saya ga ikutan nungguin pemain keluar dari stadion soalnya temen – temen pada kemaleman dan lewat jam malam kos. Bisa aja nekat sendirian nungguin bareng fans lain tapiiii ehmmm…

Semenjak itu, saya, Zatu, Ria, makin keranjingan sama SM. Hampir tiap ketemu di kampus, ngomonginnya itu terus. Entah Dodo, Galank, atau pemain SM lain. Dari ngepoin twitter sampe nemuin video Galank, Schiffo, Bona ngecover lagu atau video campaignnya gerakan makan yuk yang nyegah praktik bulimia diantara  cewek – cewek yang pengen terlihat sekurus barbie dimana isinya wawancara beberapa pemain SM soal tipe cewek idaman mereka yang ga terlalu kurus. Like for example, Dodo suka cewek yang chubby dan enak dipeluk. Terus kita juga nemuin fakta kalo si Nci Sinta kenal sama Miga, soalnya si cowo bernomor punggung 24 itu dulu temennya mantannya Sinta.

And Yup, the final had finally come and it’s between SM Britama and ASPAC. Kita ngerencanain untuk nonton bareng, kalo perlu dapet tiket vip. But… you know lah anak rantau, budget terbatas, lagipula presalenya sudah habis. Ga nyangka banget ternyata penduduk Jogja menjadikan Grand Final NBL sebagai salah satu acara yang wajib dihadiri di malam senin alias Minggu malam. Soalnya GOR UNY malam itu ramenya setengah hidup ! mau masuk aja susah banget sampai mesti dibantuin sama si Tiwi. Oh iya di final kita nambah personil temen nonton, tapi berkurang Telleng, nambah Nadia sama Suci + Halim (saya rasa event ini juga menjadi salah satu awal cerita mereka memadu kasih).

Setelah berhasil masuk GOR, ya pastilah ga dapet tempat duduk, dapet spot berdiri di samping panggung khusus buat opening GF NBL yang di tempatin di tengah – tengah tribun. And you know what itu panggung buat apaan ? Buat perform perkusi ! sementara di belakang kita speaker segede – geda gaban. So bayangin aja deh berdiri di depan speaker yang tersambung dengan drum beserta alat tabuh lain yang dipukul oleh pria – pria perkasa bercelana ketat, beraksesoris rantai. Udah gitu, mereka pakai air ditengah – tengah drum, buat efek gitu, jadilah sebentar – sebentar kecipratan air. Walaupun begitu, openingnya keren kok dan menurut saya kita cukup beruntung dapet tempat di tengah – tengah dan ga terlalu jauh dari lapangan. Nih kalo mau liat perkusinya.

Sekarang tentang openingnya, perkusinya si biasa – biasa aja (efek kesel), yang keren itu konsep lighting effect yang keren dipaduin sama video mapping. Jadi lapangannya ditutup kain putih gitu buat jadi layar video mapping terus di tengah – tengahnya tepatnya dibawah layar elektronik, juga diturunin layar secara vertikal sebagai layar buat nampilin highlight pertandingan sama penampakan piala NBL yang keren parah.

 Video Mapping in GF opening

The Final between SM Britama and ASPAC

Jangan berharap kalo saya bakal menceritakan jalannya pertandingan dari awal sampai akhir karena saya bukan reporter majalah olahraga. Yang jelas starter dari SM yaitu Dodo, Faisal, Miga, Youbel dan Galank.  SM memimpin dari awal dan three point shootnya Arki sama Faisal mantep ga ada ampun. Adakah yang nge dunk ? maaf saya lupa. Dan akhirnya  SM Britama berhasil mempertahankan gelar kedelapan mereka sebagai juara Indonesia. And then what happened ? a lot. Dari mulai pesta confetti merah bertebaran dimana – mana, kaus champion keramat yang bertuliskan nama kedua tim dimana kalau sudah ketahuan pemenangnya yang bertuliskan salah satu tim bakal dibakar (kata akun twitter @mainbasket lho), terus Galank ngegunting keranjang ring buat bang Welly yang main basket terakhir di event itu karena dia memutuskan untuk pensiun, sampai semua pemain SM yang ngglesor di lapangan bermandikan confetti.

Soal nazar, yang kita saksikan terbayar pada saat itu (well, one of them we didn’t),  ada dua, pertama salah satu official SM yang lari bolak – balik lapangan yang jumlahnya kita ga ngitung. Terus Galank yang lari balik ke hotel dari GOR. Yang kedua itu kita ga sempet ngikutin soalnya besoknya ada kuliah jadi mesti buru – buru pulang. Dan saya baru tau kalo hotel tempat mereka stay itu di Jogja Plaza Hotel yang lumayan dekat dari GOR. Oh iya, satu lagi cara selebrasi pemain SM atas kemenangan mereka yaitu dengan melemparkan JERSEY KE PENONTON ! *okelebay* yah pokoknya sempat ada pemandangan pria – pria shirtless gitu sebentar lah dan sumpah yah yang dapet jerseynya Galank…. Hiks saya mauuuu….

Shirtless  

 There the Champions

Ngglesor time

Bye bang Welly :" (Picture taken from : nblindonesia.com)

The Cutting (picture on the right side was taken from @mainbasket's account)

Congratulations Satria Muda Britama Juara Indonesia (Picture taken from : nblindonesia.com)

And then there we are, ending up loving this team. Ga semua temen yang nonton pas hari itu si, just my fanmates, Ria sama Zatu yang bakal cinta sama tim ini entah sampai kapan. Ada cerita yang terlewat, saking ngefansnya sama Galank, ya taulah kepo – kepo dikit. Ternyata orang ini punya clothing line bernama SlamDunkInc yang ngejual all stuffs about basketball, dari kaos sampe replika Jersey SM dan tim NBA yang terkenal macem Miami Heat atau OKC Thunders. Terus ada kaos SM fanatics yang ada nomor punggung pemain di belakangnya. Sebenernya clothing line ini online shopping terus pas ngetweet kalo mereka open store di warung kopi Bjong Ngopi daerah seturan, langsung saya ditemenin Zatu nyerbu itu tempat, sekalian beli tiket final.

Berangkat naik motor panas – panas di siang hari padahal ga tau tempatnya dimana. Cuma bermodalkan petunjuk dari twitter dan kawan – kawan. Sempet nyasar juga, jadi arahnya itu belok pas di outlet biru, lurus terus di kiri jalan seberang sego macan. Kesan pertama waktu liat tempatnya, hmmm cukup cozy kalau di malam hari. All made of bamboo, 2 lantai semua konstruksinya terbuat dari bambu. But you know what ? waktu kita dateng masih sepi banget, kayak udah ditinggal pemilik, hahaha. Padahal kita dateng sekitar jam 1an. Sempet ga yakin kalo itu beneran tempatnya. Akhirnya saya beraniin ke dalam since tempatnya widely opened dan cuma ada satu bilik di belakang. Kedengeran juga suara musik gitu, makanya saya yakin ada orang meskipun mungkin cuma salah satu karyawan yang jagain. Sudah sampai di dekat bilik, saya ketuk ga ada yang nyahut, mungkin musiknya terlalu keras. Akhirnya saya ngelongok ke dalam bilik, since pintunya kebuka, dan upsss… there’s a shirtless guy.

Omaigat, kalo saya ga pernah tau orang itu siapa, mungkin kecelakaan itu ga bakal kepikiran terus. Setelah saya minta maaf akhirnya orang itu keluar (pastinya udah berpakaian lengkap). Terus kita bilang mau beli kaus, terus ya gitulah dilayanin. Dan ternyata ada yang bernomor punggung 15, alias punya Dodo Sitepu, beruntunglah si Zatu jadi ikutan beli. Sambil bertransaksi, biasalah kepo – kepo dikit, nanya – nanya sama si masnya. Dapet info kalo ini Galank yang ngurus sendiri (salutlah) terus nanya siapa yang nganter barangnya ke sini, masnya bilang dia sendiri sama si Galank yang bawa. Setelah selesai, ya sudahlah kita langsung cabut dari situ, ga lupa nitip salam buat Galank, si masnya si senyum – senyum aja.

Dan kalian tahu, siapa orang yang saya sama Zatu temuin itu ? kakaknya Galank. Super w.o.w. hahaha, taunya si dari twitter, ada yang nge update kalo dia abis ke Bjong Ngopi dan ketemu sama kakaknya Galank yang memang owner dari warung kopi tersebut. And later, twitnya Ria dibales sama Galank, dia nanya soal kebenaran orang yang dia temuin pas juga beli kausnya Vamiga di Bjong adalah kakaknya Galank. Huahahaha, puantes orangnya juga tinggi, dagunya pun mirip, di Bjong Ngopi juga ada wall of fame gitu dan banyak foto – fotonya Galank. Ok, now you guys know kalo saya pernah liat kakaknya Galank shirtless.

Bicara tentang idola, menurut saya asyik kalo punya seseorang atau sesuatu yang dikagumin apalagi kalo reachable. Maksud saya, banyak dari kita suka aktor, aktris, atlit, band dan sebagainya yang kebanyakan dari luar negeri, nah itu kan susah banget ditemuin dan makan biaya. Jadi, asyiknya adoring some people yang belum terlalu banyak yang tahu apalagi keberadaannya ga terlalu jauh dari kita itu lebih cepat terpuaskan. Kadang saya bisa sedikit norak kalo udah suka banget. Mungkin satu momen foto bareng atau sebuah tanda tangan ga berarti banyak buat si idola, tapi itu berarti banget buat seorang penggemar karena dia punya sesuatu untuk diingat, satu pengingat momen kalo dia pernah ketemu sama idolanya. Sama halnya juga dengan tweet, tweet dibales sama idola itu senengnya luar biasa, walaupun cuma sekedar say hi atau ucapan terima kasih, ga salah kalau si penggemar langsung ngeklik favorite buat twit itu.

Telleng, Ria, Zatu (SM vs Garuda)                                 Nci & Ria at the Finals

Thank you for this hilarious experience, love ya guys :*

Hell Yeah we’re SMfanatics !

A Little Dedication

Birthday in Return

A birthday is the day when you get your name written on your friend's bbm status and confuse them in choosing which media to be used in saying Happy Birthday, whether FB, text message  or twitter however that is the day where you feel so special and smile the whole day because people care about you, fake or not. Ironically, sometimes the first person that greets you is the least person you were hoping to greet you, even you barely had conversation with and things that you were hoping to be happened and had already imagined the detail sometimes just don't happen. So never rely your hope on people, don't put high expectation on them, just wait for the unexpected things to be happened.  Because human is naturally egocentric.

Some brief contemplation on the night of my birthday last Saturday on  April 21st, re thinking about what I had done on some other people’s birthday especially the people that really close to me. I’ve always been trying to make them feel special relying on my own thoughts about birthday. On my birthday, I want everyone who knows me realizes that I’m having a birthday on that day and gives just a simple care by saying happy birthday. I want the people that received my effort in surprising them on their birthday do the same thing to me on my birthday (there I said it). And then I only got the first one on my birthday. Despite that I got another happiness on my birthday (meeting GG <3) but still I am hoping for that kind of attention. I have never get egg cracked on my head on my birthday or filthy things thrown at me as the other kind of attention from my friends so that I have an unforgettable moment on my birthday, well, it never happened. No sweet surprise nor blown out candle last Saturday.

 I’m the kind of person that doing something in return (well not exactly always like that) and really concern about what other people did to me then thinking how to return their kindness.  I guess the point of all this is to give to the other people without hoping something in return, but we’re human, we always want something in return. All this time I’m doing good things like helping people or in this topic, surprising people on their birthday based on my principle that they will all get back to me one day in the same form. I guess I’m gonna stick to that principle. But actually, wanting something in return from exactly the same person is rare to be happened or not always going to be happened, it is the kindness itself that will get back to you one day from different person and maybe in different form. It really does happens, when you want something in return, it gets back to you in another form and sometimes you just don’t realize it because you’ve been sticking in wanting the same form.

For final words, i just want to share some of my thoughts, “Why do we expect happiness from other person ? why don’t we create the happiness itself so that other people can feel the happiness as well ?”. It means to me that instead of receiving, start to give, someday they will all get back to you.

DIY ( Do It Yourself) Scanner

This time, i would like to share some good stuff for you the analog camera lover or film user. In this digital era, it's kinda hard to find some place to process and scan your film with your-pocket-suitable-price. Well, i got some nice alternative. First, you process the film (here in Jogja you'll only need 50 cents or 5000 IDR for per roll for 35 mm color film and 75 cents or 7500 IDR for the Black & White film) and then you can make your own scanner. This is not my original idea, this belongs to somebody i don't know, i just learned it from toycam community and youtube. Here lemme show you how it's done.

You're going to need a shoe box, a daylight bulb and its connector to power source, several sheets of white paper or aluminium foil, a digital camera, and photo editor like photoscape or photoshop.
The steps :
1. Cover the inner side of your shoe box with white paper or aluminium foil.
2. Make a hole to place the bulb and another hole with size the same as the film in the top side of the box or the box cover. Don't forget to make some holder for the film.
3. To make it work, close the box, turn on the light, place the film and shoot it with digital camera. Here's a little tip, for black & white film, try to shoot as close as possible for a brighter result.
4. Last step, put the photos on the computer and invert them from negative picture to colored or BW with the photo editor program.
Here's a little image to help

Cover the inner part of the box

Place the bulb

Make a hole for the film and its holder

Place the film

Turn on the light and shoot !

Before the inversion

After the inversion

Another tip, don't make the film slot right upon the bulb cause you'll be catching the bulb shadow on the shoot like this

Easy right ? The plus is, you can scan whenever you want and whichever the frame and also catch the sprocket. The minus is probably the quality is not as good as the real scanner but just keep modifying, control the brightness of the light or the camera setting, maybe the result would be better than the real one.
I've been thinking about changing the DSLR camera with pocket camera since i don't have DSLR, this one i borrowed from my friend. If someone ever tried please let me know. I guess this is all i can share. Feel free to comment and don't be hesitate to ask me if you face some problem. Check out my flickr, thanks !

Sekedar Beropini - Timur Tengah

Satu kawasan yang hampir menjadi pusat segalanya, agama, minyak sebagai sumber daya terpenting bagi manusia, hingga konflik yang menarik seluruh perhatian dunia pada kawasan ini. Merupakan rumah bagi tiga agama besar di dunia, Islam, Nasrani dan Yahudi. Berada di kawasan subtropis dengan rentang suhu yang berbeda jauh antara siang dan malam hari sehingga mayoritas pendapatan negara tidak memungkinkan dari pertanian lantaran kondisi iklim dan geografis yang ekstrim. Meskipun kawasan ini merupakan penghasil 60 % dari minyak di seluruh dunia dan letaknya berdekatan dengan Eropa, tidak semua negara di kawasan ini merasakan kemakmuran akibat instabilitas politik di beberapa negara yang berkepanjangan.

Jika diperhatikan, negara – negara yang mengalami konflik pemerintahan di timur tengah adalah negara republik yang dipimpin oleh presiden, negara – negara yang cenderung demokratis. Sementara negara – negara monarki absolut terlihat aman dan jarang terdengar mengalami konflik pemerintahan. Konflik – konflik tersebut kebanyakan disebabkan oleh perpecahan yang terjadi antara rakyat yang mendukung dan yang tidak setuju dengan kepemimpinan satu pemerintahan. Terkadang konflik meluap karena reaksi rakyat akan pemimpin yang jatuh ke dalam jurang otoriter maupun kediktatoran.

Mungkinkah amannya negara – negara monarki di Timur Tengah dari konflik sebagai bukti bahwa di Timur Tengah, legitimasi pemimpin cara tradisional lebih berhasil daripada legitimasi modern ? Salah satu faktor yang menurut saya dapat menjawab pertanyaan ini adalah agama. 98% penduduk di negara – negara kawasan Timur Tengah beragama Islam dan negara – negara monarki di kawasan tersebut adalah negara yang menjalankan syariat Islam. Jadi legitimasi rakyat akan pemimpinnya berdasarkan kepercayaan bahwa ia adalah utusan Tuhan atau keturunan Nabi. Tentunya rakyat tidak akan menentang pemerintah kecuali mereka menentang agamanya atau pemerintah menyimpang dari ajaran agama. Sementara kaum minoritas mendapat tempat dan kebutuhan yang cukup sehingga keamanannya tidak terancam.

Lain halnya dengan negara – negara demokratis, pemimpinnya mendapat legitimasi rakyat melalui persetujuan rakyat atas ideologi maupun tujuan bersama yang ditawarkan pemimpin tersebut. Sayangnya tidak selalu semua orang akan memilki suara yang sama, selalu akan ada perbedaan yang menghalangi persatuan rakyat di negara tersebut ditambah lagi karakteristik masyarakat arab yang agresif. Dan ketika pemerintahan saat itu mulai melewati batas – batas demokrasi dan melanggar HAM. Revolusi siap menggeser pemerintahan tersebut dan menggantinya dengan pemerintahan baru yang dirasa lebih baik dari pemerintahan sebelumnya. Belum ada satu kesadaran yang mengikat rakyat untuk bersatu sebagai bukti dari legitimasi seorang pemimpin.

Sistem pemerintahan monarki juga membuktikan keuntungannya dalam menghasilkan stabilitas politk yang kemudian memudahkan negara tersebut untk melaksanakan pembangunan. Sebagai contoh, Uni Emirat Arab dan Qatar yang cukup makmur dan maju. Prinsip menjalankan syariah Islam tidak mengisolasi atau menutup mata mereka dari modernisasi. Kedua negara ini merupakan contoh dari harmonisasi antara Islam dan dunia modern.