Hippity Hoppity Hop, Happy Easter!

Pardon my French but le printemps est ici, the springtime is here marked by the arrival of the Christian religious holiday Easter. Yes, it’s that time for chocolate bunnies, marshmallow chicks and colored eggs!.

Actually I didn’t really remember about the holiday till sometime today when I was listening to my iTunes playlist of the title soundtrack from Down with Love starring Renée Zellweger and Ewan McGregor and sang by Judy Garland.

Yes, it is a romantic comedy and probably a “chick movie” as some might call it. Nevertheless, it was a fun movie to watch and there were some great musical numbers on that movie like “Fly Me To The Moon” by Frank Sinatra and also one performed by Astrud Gilberto. Anyway, this Down with Love song reminded me of another romantic musical I saw a long time ago by Judy Garland and Fred Astaire. These two big screen giants of the old days worked together in a movie called Easter Parade. With Garland and Astaire it was of course a movie with a lot of singing and dancing. If someone ask me what kind of skill I wish for I would say I wish I could dance like Fred. Hell, I wish I could walk like Fred. Being a romantic musical it was all about she is falling in love with him while his best friend is falling in love with her. In the mean time this other girl is falling in love with him.

I only remember vaguely about the movie so I did a little Googleing and found that link about the movie. I can now remember about some of the great lines from that movie as it was highlighted in the site. The one I like best is what Judy Garland said to Fred Astaire “You could have had the very best..." and he replied "I don't want the very best, I want you.". Yes, it’s a bit corny but it was a great scene. Another thing that stuck with me from that movie is one of the song called “Stepping Out With My Baby’….love that song. I have one sang by Tony Bennett and every time I hear him sing that song I always feel so resurrected. So in the spirit of the Lord resurrection let’s hear some of that beat by the greatest song-and-dance man, Fred Astaire …….

Stepping out with my baby..
Can’t go wrong cause I’m in right..
It’s for sure and not for maybe…
And I’m all dressed up tonight…

Stepping out with my baby..
Can’t be bad to feel so good..
Never felt quite so sunny
That I keep on knocking wood..

There be smooth sailing…
Cause I’m trimming myself..
With my top hat and my white tie..
And my tails…

Hippity Hoppity Hop, Happy Easter Day !

Midnight Express Train: Destination Los Orgasmos

The figure stood there in the dark half illuminated by the lamp clock coming from the access ramp. Its long figure stretch out in the night in a stand still yet fervently awaited a charge of energy that produced some mechanical thrust of solid throbbing piston like movement that will take it to reach an excited destination.

Once in a while there were hissing sounds of breathless grunt that came from the pulsating broiler working over time. The steady flow of energy produced sent a wave of heat throughout the complex blood veins like maze and added the thick humidity already hanging in the damp and sticky air.

The figure appeared to stretch further as the hissing sounds exhaled a rush of excess heat like warm breath cutting through a cold winter air. As it stretched and vibrate the figure came to life when the unseen force within created motion at slow steady pace. It was as if the slow burning coal from the broiler commanded all the mechanical muscles to moved action and in reaction with such perfect precision.

As the pace increased the scent of wet and slippery lubrication from inside the axis grew stronger while clatter of motions grew louder and faster in orchestra – like harmony echoing the combustion of more heat breathing into the night.

Fully charged motion at steady pace was moving with yet unknown destination but with controlled precision as if it was afraid to lose the power that would break the already perfect mechanical movement. Working in deep intimacy with one another, every mechanical muscles and its counter – part explored the crucial spot of every protruding parts to discover multiple height of momentums as the motion raced with time.

Traveling through this seemingly unending journey the momentum reached certain new height gestured by a floating like bursting explosion that caused the motion to slowly relax and finally arrived at a complete halt.

The figure again turned into a stand still while letting out last excess of hot steams into the night. With its now well lubricated axis the figure approached a silence station with its empty benches.

The dark cold night once more accompanied the now lone figure staring at another lamp clock eagerly awaiting its next embarkation with anticipation of yet another breathtaking destination.

Picture sources:
Train - SORE's debut album "Centralismo" cover design by Mayumi Haryoto
Woman and Clock - Louis Vitton Print Ad (source N/A)

The Proust Questionnaire

I find this interesting questionnaire which refers to The Proust Questionnaire. It turns out that Vanity Fair magazine posed a series of questions based on this on their monthly edition. So here it goes:

What is your most marked characteristic? Laziness

What is the quality you most like in a man? His ability to argue without losing his cool

What is the quality you most like in a woman? Her sense of ridiculousness and silliness combine with cleverness.

What do you most value in your friends? Honesty

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? Impatience and laziness.

What is your favorite occupation? What I’m doing now: dreaming, reading and writing.

What is your idea of perfect happiness? The acknowledgement of my favorite occupation.

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? Not knowing what I want to do.

In which country would you like to live? This one, but in the 17th century or in the 22nd century.

Who are your favorite writers? At the moment Haruki Murakami and myself.

Who are your favorite poets? Shakespeare, Chairil Anwar, Kipling, Voltaire.

Who is your favorite hero of fiction? Woody Allen

Who is your favorite heroine of fiction? Fiction and real life: women who are heroine in their own tragedy.

Who are your favorite composers? All of those dead classical composer and jazz composers, dead or alive.

Who are your favorite painters? None. Don’t know any, don’t own any.

What are your favorite names? Adam and Eve, in any language.

What is it that you most dislike? Smugness. “I detest people who knows that they knows”. I got this from somewhere else but it’s sooooo what I despite. (Belagu gitu lohhhh).

Which talent would you most like to have? To be able to have a devastatingly charming smile in the middle of a stressful situation.

How would you like to die? In my sleep and after spiritually fulfilled.

What is your current state of mind? Stressed out and in suspense.

What is your motto? “There's only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self” (Aldous Huxley). Motto for especially hectic days: "What can I say, what can I do" (Edwin Subroto a.k.a Ikink).

Digital Park Bench

Historically city gardens and parks have always been places of urban public spaces. They have been significant in the life of many cities as spaces of social movements. Not to mention in some Western countries these places have a significant socio-political history in the formation of democracy as these open spaces sometimes become the backdrop of public debates on contesting or opposing policies.

In the everyday urban life parks and gardens act as a media for the movement of people and communication of individuals or groups. It is also both a public and private domain where people can perform social interaction in groups or individuals preferring to read a book on a park bench and claiming it as their own private space. The networking of people and communications are local limited to the boundaries and spaces within the groups and the speed of the traveling sounds. Interactions require a physical connection like the whispering of a couple of lover by the garden fountain, the triumph yell of a man to his dog who caught a flying Frisbee or the conversation of two babies on a stroller while their mothers are gossiping about the latest sale on the local market.

Outdoor cafes in the nearby sidewalks are also places of public spaces for interaction and the movement of people. Sitting on the wicker chairs a groups or individuals can form a local networking may that be of two old men playing chess or a leisurely lone brunch and “people watching” over a cup of coffee with toasted rye bread and jam on an orchid decorated white linen table cloth.

Today with the development of wireless technology that permits the transfer of digital data without physical connection like Mobile Phone and Wi-Fi has changed the cultural way of connecting people in a different way. Communications no longer only about the movement of people but also include the movement of data like images, voice, text and sounds.

Public areas in cities now have what they called “hotspots” where people with laptop, PDA and mobile phones with Wi-Fi facility can get internet connection. Communications are now beyond local domain but crossing the global domain. The boundaries of spaces are extended to every spot on the earth and blurring the private – public everyday activities. Home entertainments are now in the form of Walkman and Ipod, fixed line phone as cell phone and desktop computer as PDA or laptop.

I wonder how this new media and its existence in the open public spaces is changing the structure of emotions, feelings, beliefs and perceptions concerning the act of communication and the creation of social links between people. You can see now two people sitting together in a café not conversing with each other but instead they are pre-occupied with exchanging text messages or emails with other people through the latest Communicator or PDA smart phones. The old men playing chess are now two teenagers playing game via a Bluetooth connection on their cell phone while across the next table a board room presentation has moved its physical presence here with the help of a laptop.

The digital culture alters how social links are established between people. It’s funny to watch two young adults of opposite sex sitting close to each other and checking their Friendster account in an internet cafe to find out if they have new friends added to the list when they can actually try to converse with each other and be friends in the real everyday life. In the mean time the privacy of someone reading a book on a park bench can be enhance with music from the use of data portability in an Ipod.

These movement of data also somehow increase people’s confidence who would before feel uneasy to sit alone in a café but who now can spend significant time with their laptop converting one of the Starbucks’ or Coffee Bean’s corner as a working space. These portable digital equipments can also sometime used as an acting props for people to act busy by checking messages or making calls on their cell phones.

While I say it’s nice to be able to bring your work outside the office or the enhancement of a cozy private moment of reading a good book while listening to some Bossas on an Ipod this new media for movement of data is altering the everyday practice for social communication that somehow makes people lose sight of their surroundings while trying to keep up with the movement of images, text, and voice.

Another thing that becomes more obsolete a friend of mine mentioned not long ago is that we no longer use hand writing to communicate our thoughts and feelings.

Inspired by an article "From Cafe to Park Bench: Wi-Fi and Technological Overflows in the City" by Adrian Mackenzie, Institute for Cultural Research, Lancaster University

Jakarta and All That Jazz

The most talked about event around town is finally over after 3 full days performance of the giants in jazz genre. It did gives a chill to see the Godfather of Soul James Brown himself with his full entourage performed on stage still like a sex machine or watching George Duke doing a long solo on the grand piano.

Attending 2 out of the 3 days Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival did satisfy the thirst for good performance both by international as well as local artist. Over 300 artist performed in the festival ranging from old school jazz to some new electronic funk /soul such as those by the Detroit base Amp Fiddler.

If there is a critic to be said is the lack of detailed directory on the time and venue of each artists performing. Arriving at the festival hall most people are completely blind as to who's playing at the moment and at which venue. Not to mention some of the schedules distributed during pre-event were no longer valid due to change in time and venues.

It gets to be tiring after a while to walked around the big hall with 11 stages/ venues trying to find out who's playing. It was a relieved to finally see some directory brochure were distributed for free, at last !. However, after studying the schedule of the day then come the waiting period as almost every major performance are delayed to an average of 30 minutes to 1 hour. With so much idle time the Food n Beverage sections set up in several corners of the hall is doing well people are somewhat reluctant to leave their tables and continued ordering something to eat or drink and to also doing "people watching" while they wait. It could be a nice cozy "hang out" moments if you can ignore the bills afterward as the F&B cost can be considered expensive for a festival event. Yes, the convention hall is attached to a 5 stars hotel but a Rp 60,000,- for a glass of wine in a music festival is quite a steep price to pay.

All and all though, I did feel that I discovered a nice surprise in the festival. I really enjoyed the performance by Amp Fiddler especially never knowing anything about those guys before.

Dark Gothic and a Red Polka Dot Shirt

Paradox in a bottle
Floating unopened on liquid land
Free of all world trouble
Till it reaches the golden sand

Cork unscrewed releasing breath of soul
Catching the ray of a sunset glow
Curious eyes marked with scowl
Cautious steps uncertain and slow

Evolving in surrounding existence
Understanding norms of living
At times cynic to the indulgence
Of what society finds so pleasing

Palest powder and dark shadow
Forming illusion of dark science
Defying the law of nature and its credo
Together with the hunchback assistance

Catwalk mannequins striding on stage
With blank look of vanity
Dictating the latest look of rage
That set the standard of image sanity

One end to another extreme
Deciding what is best in between
Without getting caught in the mainstream
And still retain the paradox twin