Blues Experience at Jakarta International Blues Festival 2011

I went to the Jakarta International Blues Festival 2011 last saturday(17/12/11) with my friends. This event held to entertain all the blues community and fans with a special performance by John Mayall, he is one of the blues legends in the world. you just need to pay extra 200.000 IDR to 2 million IDR to see him performing live in front of you, and the entrance ticket itself will cost you 150.000 IDR.

The artist lineup was quite enormous, from local artists such as, Gugun Blues Shelter, Sandhy Sondoro, Endah N Rhesa, Balawan, Black out, Oppie Andaresta, Bertha Herawati, Hammers, Trias Acustica and International artists such as,  Shun Kikuta(Japan), BoPoMofo(Taiwan), Jessica Manuputy (Netherland), etc.

I arrived at around 3pm and the picture above was the entrance towards the Istora Senayan which became the venue of this event. There are 4 different stages at that time, red stage, blue stage, green stage, black stage and white stage. Each stage represents a different style of blues music and some were a little bit jazzy.

Red stage was the main stage and also for John Mayall special performance, blue stage was for the international and the local blues artists, green stages was for the accoustic blues, black stage was for the new promising blues artist, and the white stage was for the street blues artist and perform some “ngamen”.

I also photographed some moments while the artists performing on the stage.

Gugun Blues Shelter managed to cheer the crowd and turn the heats on

Gugun Blues Shelter Crowd

 

 The Ina-Blues Girl Band with Bertha Herawati as the Singer

Endah N Rhesa, They Totally Owned the Green Stage (Top Performer on the Green Stage)

Jessica Manuputty from Netherland (Her Great Grandmother was an Ambonese)

BoPoMoFo Singer (Taiwan)

Whats makes this event better than the others besides the great blues music.. For  me it is because the visitors were not as many as the Java Jazz Festival or the Java Rocking Land (man that event really over crowd), so i say, it still a well amount of crowd an we can enjoy the event in a comfortable manner. Unfortunately i didnt got the John Mayall ticket and my camera was dead before the event finished. Shame on me 😦

Jakarta Biennale 2011

Finally, gw berhasil mengumpulkan semangat buat nulis lagi. Soalnya, kemaren-kemaren tiap harinya gw full banget n berakhir sampe rumah udah kelewat capek buat nyeritain kegiatan-kegiatan yang udah gw datengin di minggu ini.

Salah satu kegiatan di minggu ini yang udah gw datengin adalah Jakarta Biennale 2011, yep Biennale adalah sebuah acara pameran seni rupa internasional gitu deh dan diadakan di beberapa tempat sekaligus, salah duanya adalah di Jakarta dan Jogjakarta. Tanggal 15 desember kemaren adalah acara Grand Opening dari Jakarta Biennale 2011 yang diadakan di galeri nasional. Acara ini bakalan berlangsung sampe tanggal 15 Januari taun depan.

Tema yang diangkat dari acara Jakarta Biennale 2011 adalah “Maximum City: Survive or Escape?” yang menceritakan kota dimana daya tampung dan daya dukungnya udah kelewat batas yang akhirnya menimbulkan permasalahan-permasalahan mulai dari lingkungan,ekonomi,tata kota,kekerasan,gaya hidup dll. Jalan keluarnya cuma dua yaitu, mengatasi masalah or kabur dari masalah. Seniman yang terlibat juga lumayan banyak lho, ada total 55 seniman lokal dan 17 seniman mancanegara yang mamerin karyanya di Galeri Nasional. Belom lagi seniman-seniman yang mamerin karyanya di TIM, taman ayodya, central park, sunggai manggarai, dan tempat-tempat lainnya, jadi ya banyak banget seniman yang terlibat di acara ini.

Nah, dari tema besar itu dibagi lagi menjadi beberapa sub-judul, yaitu : 1.violence and resistance; 2.Narcisism, Voyeurism, and Body; 3.Game, Leisure, and Gadget victim; 4. Metro-Text Seductions; dan yang terakhir adalah Citizen and Homo Ludens. N kalo lo mau tau lebih banyak lagi, gampang banget tinggal ke website resminya aja di http://www.jakartabiennale.org/

Beberapa foto yang gw dapet n jadi favorit gw pas kemaren di Galeri Nasional….enjooy!

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Brightspot Market!

Last saturday (26/11/11) me,my bro, and my cousins together visited Plaza Senayan. spesifically to attend the Brighspot Market at p5 which was held from 24th-27th of November 2011, this event is an annual event for local stores and brands to showcase and sell their products in a competitive price in the same room, however, there is also some imported goods.

this event are touting about all curated market of all things cool, from clothes, shoes, accessories, souvenirs, to cupcake! And obviusly the visitors are all urban people, fashionista, and probably from middle to higher class of society (one thing that I noticed is that almost all of the visitors has the same style, from hairstyle to outfit to shoes!). Please do not think that the products here are cheap or so, although it’s a local products but the qualities and price is above average.

the participants are such as Skelly, Penny, Tosavica, GoodsDept, UNKL347, Skematic, Kandura, Satcas, Aeriao, NSW, Mischief, Aye Denim, TokoPolaroid and many more!

let me share the atmosphere in there when i was at the place!

That’s the Signboard!

Inside the Brighspot market, and it’s already flocked with tons of Urban youth and people!

one of the brightspot market alley/hallway!

This is the FoodCourt inside the Brightspot Market (all the food and drinks are quite expensive) 

this is one of the coolest booth inside the Brightspot!

 

These are some of the Participants (from top, Penny, INKSOMNIA, Kandura, SKEMATIC, Skelly, Jewel Rock, and Utee)

 YOU CAN PAY YOUR GOODS HERE!

(but you can also pay your goods directly at each booth)

 

Ps: this events also verified that Indonesians are a consumptive nation! 🙂

Unexpected Guest (SEA Games)

On the 9^th-13^th November, we were not just preparing for the Myanmar and Philippine futsal team arrival. In the absent of the officials and athletes, our team got a very surprising news that there was a Brunei Athletes and officials from wushu sport that got rejected at the Santika Hotel because the hotel only give service start from 14^th November, so our hotel (Parklane) became the rebound of those Brunei Delegates. Luckily, the delegate was only 4 people, 2 officials (Men) and 2 Athletes (Women). And I met with Ade(the Noc Assistant for Wushu from Brunei), he is quite funny and sure talks a lot and he became my roommate for about 4 days I suppose. He tells us about his experience, from his frustration because of the sudden information to something funny like telling the misfortune of his friends and himself (yes, in a time like this. We need some refreshment, and others bad luck and misfortune became our entertainment.in fact, Ade cut his entire hair to release the stress. we had our laugh mostly because the way Ade delivers the stories).

Yes, at the 9^th of November, I thought that it will be a relaxing sunny day without working my ass to the fullest, because the futsal team will arrive approximately on 14^th November, so I got 4 days of slacking time :). At around 1 pm, I received a text message and the message specifically told me to come to Gelora Bung Karno immediately, because we will have a meeting with the National Futsal Committee and all of the NOC Assistant for futsal to talk about the futsal team arrival and else. After that, I prepare myself and go to the meeting place and talk a bit and listening for further information. However, in the midst of the meeting, the chairman of the accommodation for the futsal team told me that the Parklane hotel will have an unexpected guest from Brunei Darussalam (Hell noo), I was surprised and really want to go back to the hotel as fast as I could to prepare everything and texted my team immediately after I got the “good” news so we will be prepared. When I got back to the hotel, which I am a bit worried…. There’s no sign of the Brunei delegates… I’m waiting…and waiting and make sure everything is okay… but, while the room is ready, the food is not ready, I am a bit panicked and call every person I know, especially my superior, how to deal and prepare their dinner and lunch, because the Hotel only provide the food for futsals athlete, but finally the problem was solved. The Brunei Delegate arrived at night around 8 or 9 PM with their NOC Assistant Ade, and we direct them to the Café to eat their dinner after I gave the room key to our unexpected guest. In the end, I can sit back and relax again and focus again for our real guest arrival.

I really want to have a fast service for the futsal team arrivals, it’s because I know they will be tired from the flight, if they are tired, they will be more cranky than the usual. I immediately contacted the hotel managers to give the entire room key to me, because at that time I only had 10-13 room key and the ten of it already occupied by the Seagames Committee. After I asked for the room, strangely the hotel can’t give their room key yet, that’s made my mind goes a bit astray, but the most surprising thing is that suddenly the accommodation managers from the SEA Games committee came up to the parklane hotel and told me not to ask the hotel room key before the futsal team arrived… (Whaaaaat! I really need those key to arrange the athletes room). Luckily, the Person in Charge at the Parklane hotel supported me and charged the hotel management to give the room key to me, the 50 of it.That’s good. And finally I got the room key and could arrange the room to our beloved guest.

At 13^th of November, our unexpected guest(the Brunei Wushu team) checked out from the Parklane hotel… Good bye!!

ps: they won the silver medals. good for them. sadly i never got the chance to take a picture with them.

SEA Games 2011 (Part 1)

It started when I got a phone call from an unknown number in the beginning of September 2011, after I answered it, it turns out that the one who called me is from the INASOC (Indonesian SEA Games Organizing Committee) HRD that asked me to come to their venue to get the Liaison Officer Job for SEA Games.

After a couple of exhausting test and focused group discussion, I managed to hold my rank and passed the test. However, the announcement was kinda late because I have to wait around two months to get the good news (you know, its government ;p), in addition, the medias was broadcasting some bad news about the SEA Games preparation. Yes, in the end of October 2011, finally my name came up on the Liaison Officer list and got promoted as a Liaison Officer Coordinator for the Parklane Hotel.

Based on our work guidance book, our job will be started at 9^th November to 23^rd November 2011. But before the big day, the committee itself was conducting some training towards the volunteer and the Liaison Officers (it was an instant training, only one day training. We only listening to the lecturer, actually we got nothing from the training, except the money ;p).

The briefing always told us not to conduct any survey to the hotel we were posted in, but, because its kinda strange and most of the Liaison Officer Coordinator for Hotel want to have a heads up, so we didn’t follow what the committee said to us. I myself also planned a visit before the big day, on the 8^th November 2011; I visited the Parklane hotel after I coordinate and contacted the hotel managers, the PIC for the transportation, and also the Liaison Officer from the police department. The most surprising thing from my visit is that I didn’t know that I will be in a meeting with all the hotel top management, of course I feel under pressure but once again I managed to keep my head cool and be reasonable tackling some question from the hotel management, thanks god that I am a good listener.

In the 9^th of November, finally I met with all my crew. We are group of 9(for the Accommodation team), but then became group of 8 because one of the volunteer resigned due to his own need. I also met with the nutritionist and the NOC Assistant; apparently they all are a bunch of great people, I am lucky to have them as our partner.

I will introduce them one by one(the accommodation team), Karin (she’s the youngest liaison officer in our team, she’s still 18), Feza( I think, he is the oldest one, and also he is kinda weird), Budiyanto(he is the Volunteer coordinator, and he is the epitome of Javanese guy),Cendy(he is kinda a joker), Danang(apparently he is quite religious), Deagy(he also maybe the youngest guy in our team). And Defi (the Bomb of our squad ;p). There is also Ichsan(NOC Ass, for the Myanmar futsal team) and Cecep(the NOC Ass, for the Philippine futsal team) at first and mba hana and okky(the nutrisionist).

From 9^th-13^th November, we made our preparation from arranging the room for our special guest, to make sure the food is the best choice for them so we will not get any complaint from our special guest. Of course, its hectic at first, we put a lot of extra work to coordinate everything. Even, there’s a lot of thing that we took care outside our job description, but well, it is for our country after all.

~~~To be Continued~~~

Parents: I Ate Your Halooween Candy

This video below are showing some of kid’s reaction if you as their parent told them that you ate all of their Halloween candy. The kids are super cute, especially in the middle of the video and the last kids.

HAAAA, YOUUU SNEAAAKY MOM!

Levi’s LTG 0905: a Casual Fashion Watch

Watches surely are an accesories that men always pondering about. There’s a 2 different types of watches, the analogue and digital types. If you want to suit up with a high quality tux or just a daily business outfit, then Rolex is a perfect match with your outfit, because its give a strong nuance of seriousness to its wearer. However, if you are not the type of a suit guy and prefer to be simple and casual, then, digital are the most suitable for you.

One of the digital watches that I adore and wear today is the Levi’s  LTG 0905, it have a very casual appearance, a rubber strap, a square head machine, and it’s available with a different kinds of eye-catching colors. Of course, it also have a general specification for a nowadays watches.

New7wonders : a Modern day Confidence Trick?

Talking about monkey business, the first thing that came up on my mind is the scam of this century that happened in the financial world. It is the ultimate Ponzi Scheme which is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to its investors from their own money or the money paid by subsequent investors, rather than from any actual profit earned by the individual or organization running the operation. This thing has devastated the financial condition of many people who had high hope to get some benefits from putting their money in some holding companies. But, that’s not what we gonna study in this article. We are gonna discuss about the most prudent, elegant and yet very clever trick that outsmarted millions of people in the world. The booming curtain of event that involves the wonders of the earth, playing our patriotism to blindly support our pride as a nation, and it is the new7wonder competition.

It started about a couple weeks ago when my blackberry was bombarded by a huge amount of broadcast message about Comodo Island, the message was screaming about one of Indonesia’s proudest natural wonder are being lagged in vote in a competition called new7wonders. I strongly believe that those uproar was stimulated by Jusuf Kala, yes the self-proclaimed nationalist (but also a very wealthy businessperson) who always deliver a fiery speech. He pushed the media to spread and promote the new7wonder and urge the Indonesians to vote for Comodo Island. Our beloved president, SBY, also tricked by the new7wonders and called the people to vote for this event (I want you to remember that he is the President of Indonesia). So, what is this competition that people talking about? I immediately scoured the Internet and found some interesting fact.

First, they are claiming that their organization is a non-profit organization. However, What I found from the great archive Wikipedia, it explained that this event led by a Swiss businessman, Bernard Weber, he is the founding father of the for-profit organization called New Open World Corporation (NOWC) and the contestant selection is being made by free and paid votes, through telephone or online. The first vote is free to registered members and additional votes may be purchased through a payment to NOWC. In addition to the sale of votes, NOWC relies on private donations, the sale of merchandise such as shirts and cups, and revenue from selling broadcasting rights. Basically, if it involves profit, how can we believe that the vote will be an honest result? And also, it is not fair because the voting is through the internet or by phone. eventhough, Indonesia has a giantnormous population, the technologies are not well spread evenly.

Second, they say that their organization is being in a partnership with the United Nations. But, UNESCO on their website has released a statement clarifying that they are not having any link or whatsoever with the new7wonders. If you want to reaffirms what I wrote earlier, please visit the UNOPS (United Nations Office for Partnership) website. Third, NOWC have no physical address although they put their address on their website but it turns out to be a small museum and no office. Last but not least, this event is really genius, they managed to tricked millions of people in the world to believe that if they were not vote for their nations wonders of nature, that means they failed to preserve their national pride.

Maybe, the new7wonders is the most sophisticated pseudo-competition that ever happened in this century or not? what is the benefit for the winning country? maybe (some big fishes) in indonesia, saw this event as an opportunity to build their image(politically)? who knows!

Ps: for Indonesian out there, I don’t recommend to vote for our beloved Comodo Island. We have to believe that without participating to this event (New7Wonders), Comodo are already famous and it doesn’t need to be altered  into a very popular tourist destination.

Ps 1: Comodo Island is a wildlife sanctuary for Comodo, an almost extinct animal in the world. They need to continue their life peacefully, they also don’t need the hustle-bustle like the most of popular tourist destination.

Some interesting reading materials:

http://pythagoras2.springnote.com/pages/7776022?print=1

http://whc.unesco.org/en/news/352

http://blogulate.com/content/is-the-new7wonders-a-scam/

http://itchofwriting.blogspot.com/2007/06/new-7-wonders-emotional-scam-or-master.html

Racism In the European Football

Developed and well educated country does not guarantee that their people are open minded and not racist. in fact, the racists do still exist in the society and some of the racist are swarming in the football field. they are the Neo-Nazi. God Grief

This video below is quite long (about 10 minutes) but its worth to watch. moreover, it could open our eyes on what has going on in the European Football Field and some of our idols are becoming the victim of the racists (Samuel Eto’o is one of them).

 Say No To Racism!

The Circle of Friendsip in My Life

Recently, I was thinking about my social life. Back in my high school, I was a pretty introvert and a loner. sometimes the  popular kids in my high school teased me due to my quietness and reluctantcy  to mingle with the others.I actually didnt have some alay/rebellious phase than the most of the kid in my high school and that what makes me didn’t really want to plunge myself into the community pool. Shinta(she’s one of my close friend) also told me that I am straight, too goody-two-shoes, never had any urge to do some rebellious thing like the other kids do. So, when everyone said that the happiest and remarkable moment of our life is in high school, apparently not for me.

I think i can be a social butterfly if i want to! That’s what I said after I graduated from high school and continue my study for bachelor degree. I am learning, and practicing more social interaction with my new friends. Miraculously, it worked. I never thought of that, I think I was quite popular during my time in the university, my life literally changed. I met a lot of friends, Yes, some are very close  and it feels like a family and we are encouraging and helping each other. I am happy, and I will elaborate more about my circle of friendship. I have about three realm of friendship;

Bercel’s

It’s sounds weird when we heard this word, it doesn’t care about any elegancy nor intellectual side of people but it tell the story of a humiliating accident that happened to one of its member and what the most important things from this realm is about joyful and cherish moment, jokes, all about fun. Started from a group of five in the first semester and grew up into 20 person and still growing. This realm perfect for a guy like me, this realm flocked with some joker, jester, comic and else. This is the perfect place when I want to laugh and entertain myself in the social life, the joke is hilarious and livened up my life a lot than before, we are partying really hard. Although, sometimes i got irritated by those jokes. But overall it’s a real fun and keeps my balance in check. The person in it, Jembri the Joker, Dirga the Chief, Kiwil the Trouty-mouth, Simon the Trouble maker, Sawy the Wise,Nabu the Cranky, Cahyo the frugal, Jaka the Don Juan, Daniel the Model, Adul the King of Samarinda, Tebo the frowzy, Gilang the Hard-worker, Baut the gamer, Lika the Secretary, Ajeng the Girl next door, and the others that i couldn’t spell the name to its massive members that still growing to this day.

 Rangers

This realm is the best place when I want to get serious and share my feelings (yes I do have a feeling) about the future. They are a bunch of people who are really serious on their life and always think for the long-term plan and apparently I sometimes became the joker for this realms. Dian for example, she is a brainer. She continue her study for an international studies master degrees in Taiwan, she got accepted in one of the best universities that specialize in political studies in the country. Then, there’s Vitri, the oldest yet have a very young soul. She worked for ASEAN Secretariat, and recently she got a new and promising job for a project between ASEAN and the EU. What about the other three, Putri she works as a marketing officer in a state-owned company. Gia, hmm she has a Turkish boyfriend that really looked like Shia Lebouf( I don’t know how to spell his name) called Mert. And last but not least, there’s Praja the one who still searching for his true identity.

GLOBAL CITIZEN CORPS INDONESIA

I stumbled into this community because of Mia, the girl that I knew in a Kids Film Festival, we were volunteering for the events. This realm flocked with tons of high quality people, giving a very constructive nuance for each member. What we do are giving something for the less fortunate people, or spreading awareness about HIV/AIDS, Human Rights, Gender Equality and else. You see, in this realm, there’s no negative side. No poking around and no bad words. Because all of them are a really good people, and I feel that we are the minority, some are an outcast yet have a remarkable achievement. This is the great place to develop your personality, your understanding, and skill. But, because the members are spread across the city of Jakarta, the meetings were not as intensive as the other two realms and some already left the city, even the country.

I am happy with my social life. im changing into a better persons, you see human will not stop to evolve.

now i am enjoying a good balance life.