Sabtu, Agustus 30, 2008

Indonesia Juara!!! (Main Kayu)

Baru saja membaca KOMPAS Sabtu. Berita halaman depan menampilkan cerita tentang Barack Obama.
Tetapi bukan itu yang menurutku seharusnya sebagai berita utama.

Berita paling paling menarik edisi ini ada di halaman 30, dengan judul: "Pemukulan Coreng Indonesia"
Itulah berita yang seharusnya -- menurut pendapatku pribadi -- ada di halaman pertama.
Bukan Obama.

Isi beritanya adalah Indonesia menjadi juara setelah menang dalam partai final Piala Kemerdekaan.
Hebatnya, tim nasional kita menang karena timnas Libya menolak melanjutkan pertandingan, setelah
seorang ofisial mereka dipukul oleh ofisial timnas kita, saat istirahat turun minum.
Dan hebatnya lagi, saat itu posisi adalah 0-1 untuk Libya.

Mengagumkan!
Timnas kita yang jago itu bisa menang tanpa memasukkan satu gol pun ke gawang lawan!
Terbukti, pendekar-pendekar tarung kita -- yang sekarang berseragam tim nasional -- adalah penerus ilmu kanugaran dari zaman dulu
lebih sakti daripada peraturan pertandingan internasional.

Di mana-mana dalam sebuah pertandingan sepakbola, pemenang adalah tim yang paling banyak memasukkan bola ke gawang lawan.
Tapi hanya timnas Indonesia yang mampu menjuarai sebuah kompetisi resmi internasional TANPA PERLU MEMASUKKAN SATU GOL PUN.

Kubayangkan di masa yang akan datang tim nasional Indonesia mampu membawa pulang Piala Dunia setelah menang di partai final,
melawan timnas Brasil,
dengan skor 0-0!!!
Cukup dengan menggunakan jurus tendangan maut; tapak sakti; cakar macan; tinju geledek; dan lain sebagainya; timnas Brasil yang
berisi para pecundang itu tidak mau lagi melanjutkan pertandingan pada saat pertandingan baru berjalan 15 menit!

Timnas kita memang kampiun! Nomor Satu!

TERIMA KASIH TIM NASIONAL INDONESIA!
KAMI BANGGA PADA PSSI!
HIDUP NURDIN HALID!
PIALA KEMERDEKAAN MEMANG MILIK KITA!
MERDEKA!

Man! We Male Are Shallow!

Here I am, in front of my terminal LCD screen, on a Friday night, just a few minutes shy from another Sa-turd-ay, and I'm accessing the galleries of some photography community site.

Just a quick glimpse will show you how shallow us, male, can be.

We like physical attractiveness. We are drawn to it. And the more cute/beautiful the face is, good. More voluptuous? Even better! Less gears and more bare skin? The best! The most popular in daily photos are human/model/pose category. The most comments? The sexiest female.

Man, we are shallow!

How come we take on photography just to take shots of beautiful chicks? I mean, yes, that is a positive point on taking up photography. I did it because I want to record my traveling experience. And yes, some cool stage photos too.

But I just refuse to get into that kind of Girl Galore Photography thing.

Life is more than just girls, brother.

And if you're taking it up just for the girls, my personal opinion is that you're bound to fail on both fields.

Or not.

Jumat, Agustus 29, 2008

T.O.A.D. - Santa Monica

She fills my bed with gasoline
You think I would've noticed
Her mind's made up
Her love is gone
I think someone's trying to show us a sign
That even if we thought it would last
The moment would pass
My bones will break and my heart would give
Oh, it hurts to live

And I remember the day when you left for Santa Monica
You left me to remain with all your excuses for everything
And I remember the time when you left for Santa Monica
And I remember the day you told me it's over

It hurts to breathe
Well every time that you're not next to me
Her mind's made up
The girl is gone
And now I'm forced to see
I think I'm on my way
Oh, it hurts to live today
Oh and she says "Don't you wish you were dead like me?"





And I remember the day when you left for Santa Monica
You left me to remain with all your excuses for everything
And I remember the time when you left for Santa Monica
And I remember the day you told me it's over

I wanted more than this
I needed more than this
I deserve more than this
But it just won't stop
It just won't go away

I needed more than this
I wanted more than this
I asked for more than this
But it just won't stop
It just won't go away

And I remember the day when you left for Santa Monica
You left me to remain with all your excuses for everything
And I remember the time when you left it all behind
And I remember the day you told me it's over

And I remember the day when you left for Santa Monica
You left me to remain with all your excuses for everything
And I remember the time when you left for Santa Monica
Yeah, I remember the day you told me it's over

It's Friday Again

Suddenly, it's Friday again.

Not really much I can do about work. The tasks that was my share is still causes me headache.

But the more I think that after finishing them, I have no reasons to bitching about anymore. Or maybe I can bitch about being unproductive and how that will cost the company to pay my salary just for sitting.

Because I know that even when I finish everything before the Iedul Fitri holiday, I can't go anywhere, not without compromising my position as a superior officer that should be around the office setting examples of discipline to the other employee.

This sucks.

I feel stranded and to think about all the things that I can see (and maybe photo) outside... Sigh. Office works sucks.

I wonder how can I persuade my boss to gave me leave and/or permission to go out? Because right now, most of my work regarding all the worksites can be done by phone and e-mail.

Damn these advanced technologies.

Rabu, Agustus 27, 2008

ScribeFire: A Newly-Installed Add-On On My Firefox

I found this one while blogwalking and sure the post made me want to try this one.
Boy, the way it handle my signing in and easiness in my future blogging activities!
If you're using Mozilla Firefox and do blogging, please try this Add-On!
Look up for SCRIBEFIRE.

Really great add-on!

Hooray! A New Nikon D90!!!

Finally, a new DSLR from Nikon!

About time, too! I've always been thinking of upgrading my D50 and this one new camera (probably sell around USD 1,000.00) just right about the price tag that I can afford!

And it shoot video too! And Live View! And compability with all AF lenses!

And it should be entering market BEFORE the Iedul Fitri holiday season!

.... Oh crap, that'd be a reason to make this one price sky-rocketing the moment it sell in Indonesia.

Oooooohh..... Crap. Crap crap crap.

How about my Destination: Bali mission...?

It's Not That Hard Being Mediocre, But It's Hellish Torture Listening To Cinta Laura's "Oh Baby"!

Omigod omigod omigod!

Talking about another up and coming shooting starlet -- a very mediocre one -- that is very perfect for dissing!

But Cinta Laura is different. She is so young of age that (back then a couple of decade ago) she is innocent. Just look at her, so sweet, funny, cheerful, friendly personality.

Although she is a (sinetron, thus infotainment) star that everybody loved -- to adore or to despise.


This video was uploaded by sonybmgindonesia.

Let's quit the crap, shall we?

I mean, aren't you, my fellow Indonesian citizen, are being ridiculously stupid for making this particular girl as Indonesia's Sweetheart?

What do you see in her, actually?

Her made-up Indo-English-ish(!) accent?

Her fair skin?

Her beautiful face?? (d'oh!)

Her (less-than-adequate) acting talent?

Her (horrible) singing talent?

Her (tremendously lame) dancing sequence?

Do you love her just because she is physically attractive (or: beautiful)???

I PERSONALLY HELD IN CONTEMPT THE VIEW THAT PEOPLE SHOULD GET MORE CHANCES AND OPPORTUNITIES JUST BECAUSE THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL, because, in its own way, it is A DISCRIMINATING ACT.

Cuti Bersama

Nah, libur akibat cuti bersama sebentar lagi tiba! Hore!

Tak menyangka setahun telah berlalu sejak aku merasakan efek dari cuti bersama (diantaranya: jatah cutiku dipotong dan dimasukkan ke "cuti bersama" ini).

Aku tak tahu akan bagaimana cuti kali ini tapi aku ingin sekali melakukan perjalanan lagi and this time it'll be: Destination: Bali.

Naaah... *waving arm in a dismissing motion*

Senin, Agustus 25, 2008

Musical Fireworks

There was this Musical Fireworks Show at Summarecon Gading Serpong, which I was very intent on getting some fireworks photos!

It turned out all my fireworks photos are crap-tastic!

Maybe because I was torn between shooting Dewi Dewi and the fireworks display. Guess which one won? Ha ha...



The advertising blimp, remote-controlled, hover above us visitors and spectators.




Doni from Ada Band, singing and (as always) being almost-non-communicative with the audience.




Rossa, changed wardrobe like, three times?




One...



Two...



Three..!
Now I believe you can guess which object attract me the most from this show, right?



Bams Samsons, girls really dig this kid!

Jumat, Agustus 22, 2008

Tele-Zoom Lens



For an action photography, I think that my Nikon AF 70-300mm G is not adequate enough.
Take a look at this photo for an example.

Because the action happened in broad daylight, I was able to capture the contestant's facial expression clearly enough. That two shots at the lower side was at 300mm f/5.6! That's why the depth of field is somewhat large.

But to buy a wider (or "faster") lens, I had not been able to sum up the money needed.

Damn, life's hard when you're dirt poor!

So that leave me with the option of ONLY shoot with my tele-zoom in BROAD DAYLIGHT - which left me with so little possibilites (which I haven't explore yet)!

On second thought, maybe it's an adventure waiting in shooting tele with my lens here! Remember: I already purchase a monopod.

In the end, its better to have this lens for everyday shooting. It is CHEAP enough - even for me - that if it get broken I could just go to a respectable camera store and buy another one...

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Menonton Sampai Mati

Mungkin Minggu ini aku akan menonton saja sampai mati. Atau sampai buta. Atau sampai aku kesal berada di dalam ruangan terus menerus.

Tadi aku sudah mempersiapkan diri dengan membeli beberapa judul film baru! Tidak berarti baru rilis sih, hanya bahwa itu film belum pernah kutonton sebelumnya. Jadi tentu saja akan menjadi pengalaman pertama menonton.

Beberapa film memang kucari hanya karena kemungkinan untuk melihat adegan perkelahian, penyiksaan, kebrutalan. Beberapa karena aku ingin melihat kelucuan dan humornya. Beberapa lagi karena aku berharap bisa melihat tubuh-tubuh seksi dan kulit-kulit mulus dari para pemainnya. All in all, I aim for the B- and C-list movies.

Judulnya (in no particular order) adalah:

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS OSAMA BIN LADEN?
--> Morgan Spurlock yang membuat "Super Size Me", film yang menurutku lucu sehingga aku memutuskan untuk menonton film yang ini.

FUTURAMA: THE BEAST WITH A BILLION BACKS
FUTURAMA: BENDER'S BIG SCORE
--> What more can you say? It's Futurama!

THE WIZARD OF GORE
--> B-movie? C-movie? Dunno, but it also cast The Suicide Girls!

THE MACHINE GIRL
--> With taglines such as "She won't stop until she's got REVENGE!" and "It's Payback Time!" what is to expect? Another Japanese high-school chick turned violent and kill all the bad guys (which are suppose to be males)? YOU BET!!!

MIDNIGHT MOVIES
--> A documentary.

SHAMO
--> Another (might be) Japanese super-violence action movie. Expect to see blood-smeared hero! But this one is a male.

BRA BOYS
--> Another documentary, but this one about surfing.

CROWS ZERO
--> Yet another Japanese high-school action movie. Probably ultra-violent too. Don't know till I've seen them!

BTK
--> Stands for: Bind, Torture, Kill.
Hmm... Oh, I know! "Hip hip hooray!"

NEVER BACK DOWN
--> Now this one is just the bonus, offered by the shopkeeper.
One that had all-white 100% American guy kick some baddies' ass (but not before he got beaten up and then search for a true martial art guru to teach him to be the ultimate hero and then later he got hooked up with that busty blond).
Or probably not.

Anyway, WELCOME.... WEEKEND!!!

Rabu, Agustus 20, 2008

Bitchin' Bout Benefit Of Bein' Attractive

Kenapa kita bisa begitu bodoh?

Kebanyakan orang (baca: lelaki) akan dengan mudah dimanfaatkan oleh wanita-wanita yang memiliki daya tarik fisik lebih.

Kebanyakan wanita (dan pria) yang secara fisik lebih menarik untuk dilihat akan mendapatkan keunggulan dan kemudahan lebih daripada mereka yang secara fisik tidak cukup menarik untuk dilihat.

Kebanyakan wanita (dan pria) tidak perlu berusaha bekerja sekeras orang lain yang secara fisik termasuk kategori "biasa saja". Ini kenyataan dan kebanyakan dari kita yang termasuk golongan "tampilan fisik biasa saja" sudah menerima kenyataan ini sebagai realitas sekaligus kondisi normal/wajar.

MASALAHNYA, INI TIDAK WAJAR!!!

Aku menganggap ini tidak adil. Aku menganggap pembedaan perlakuan ini tidak benar.

Sayangnya, sering kali aku juga melakukan hal yang sama. Aku mengistimewakan orang (baca: perempuan) yang menarik secara fisik. Rasanya tidak tega untuk berlaku keras dan menerapkan peraturan yang sama kepada kelompok ini. Seakan-akan penerapan disiplin yang sama akan merusak kemulusan kulitnya; menimbulkan kerutan di wajah cantiknya; membuat harinya tak lagi indah. Sehingga seakan-akan semua itu adalah dosa...

Brengsek...! Aku, kau, kalian, mereka, semua TOLOL!

Orang-orang seperti ini biasanya "terbiasa" dipenuhi semua keinginannya. Biasa dibukakan jalannya. Biasa dimudahkan kerjanya. All that benefit for being granted celestial beauty.

Aku sadar kenyataan ini. Aku tidak menyukai kenyataan ini. Aku menentang keadaan ini. Aku membenci orang-orang yang menyadari efek dari daya tarik fisik mereka dan memanfaatkannya dengan sebesar-besarnya kemakmuran diri sendiri.

Aku memang goblok dan menerapkan standar ganda.

Sebab ternyata sering kali aku malah membantu; menolong; mengutamakan kenyamanan kaum pemilik daya tarik fisik ini.

= = = = = = = = =


Seperti kata mendiang Ivan Scumbag : "KALIAN SEMUA T**!!!"

UPDATED: 2008-08-22

This time I saw -- thus, experienced -- again things that I've said above.
I mean, other than this one person is physically attractive, her attitude made me -- NO, scratch that -- make me want to (censored), (censored) and (censored)!!!

The opposite sex easily fell for this physically beautiful person, JUST BECAUSE THE PHYSICAL APPEARANCE ONLY.

WHICH MADE ME ASPHYXIATED IN ANGER.

US DAMN MORONS!!!

Selasa, Agustus 19, 2008

(Is It) For Sale: Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AIs (?)

A friend of mine texted me and asked whether or not I'm interested in selling my Nikon lens, 50 mm f/1.4 and at what price would I be willing to let it go.



I remembered that I bought this lens at HARPA in PASAR BARU (Jakarta Pusat). I think it was pure luck. This one came in great condition with no apparent scratch or signs of misuse in the outer part.



The old man even throw me an original Nikon lens cap (albeit used and in that condition you can see in the picture above).



You can see the aperture ring that read 1.4 up to 16 -- in orange color -- that that particular code told you that this is an AIs lens (if my googling is correct).



Here is another closer look at the aperture ring.



And shown here is the adjacent side of the lens. Notice that the condition is still good -- I'm not going to tell you it is in mint condition or anything because that term is loosely used nowadays -- and I'm keeping it safe in a dry box.



Here you can see another side of the lens with the written "Made in Japan" above the metal ring.



Here is the front optic condition, still good, no visible scratchmarks, no fungi infestation, and believe me, I rarely used this one so it's still in the same condition as at the time I bought it. Oh yeah, the serial number for this lens is 5369700.



Here is the aperture set at f/16.



Here I set it at f/8.



And here is it opened at its widest, f/1.4!

I didn't post any example pictures because I can't seem to find any since I lost my harddrive to some incident. And about the time I post this, I didn't have the time to take any interesting photos.

Sabtu, Agustus 16, 2008

Aku Belum Merasa Merdeka

Aku belum merasa merdeka.
Tiap hari kulihat semua.
Merasa tidak adil.
Sepertinya Tuhan berbuat curang.
Mengapa aku yang menderita.
Tiap kunyalakan televisi.
Kulihat orang senang.
Kulihat orang kaya.
Kulihat pria tampan dan wanita cantik jelita.
Itu sebabnya sekarang.
Tak lagi aku membutuhkan televisi.
Setan neraka.

Jumat, Agustus 15, 2008

i like girls... but sometimes (part 1)

this is just the beginning of the end
just when the end is nigh


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Kadang kala, memberi ada orang yang mendatangi kita dan meminta nasehat. Entah itu tentang pekerjaan/karir, pilihan yang harus diambil, hubungan khusus/jodoh, bahkan dalam urusan sederhana seperti mau makan apa.

Atau kadang nasehat yang dicari adalah tentang sex in a relationship.

Sebut saja -- untuk anonimitas -- si Yodel yang sudah pacaran dengan si Yadol, bertahun-tahun sejak dari masa kuliah. Sebenarnya Yodel dan Yadol memutuskan untuk menikah bulan November 2008. Tapi akhir-akhir ini si Yodel makin kesal dan merasa terganggu dengan permintaan si Yadol untuk melakukan hubungan seks. FYI, si Yodel berprinsip no sex before marriage dan untuk itu dia mempertahankan keperawanannya sampai menyimpannya di dalam safe deposit box di sebuah akaun rahasia di sebuah bank di Karibia. No, I made up that last part.

Si Yadol (mungkin) merasa, karena mereka toh sudah akan menikah, jadi (berani untuk) meminta melakukan aktivitas seks. Permintaan (dan bujukan) ini makin sering dilakukan Yadol dalam tiap pertemuan mereka dan melalui pembicaraan via telepon. Alasan Yadol, menurut si Yodel, "Masa kamu mau aku melakukannya dengan tenaga profesional? Padahal aku butuh nih."

Nah, si Yodel meminta nasehat dengan pertanyaan yang panjang yang dapat ditulis dalam satu kalimat singkat: "What should I do?"

Kamis, Agustus 14, 2008

Pelajaran dari "WALL-E"



Ada beberapa hal yang bisa kita pelajari dari film animasi terbaru PIXAR: WALL-E
WARNING: contain spoiler -- bila belum nonton dan ingin menonton, disarankan untuk tidak melanjutkan membaca.

01. Consumerism Kills
Manusia (terutama bangsa Amerika) menghancurkan bumi karena konsumerisme. Bumi dipenuhi sampah sehingga semua mahluk hidup bisa dikatakan musnah kecuali sebuah tumbuhan fotosintesis dan seekor kecoa.

02. Insect Rules The Earth
Karena tubuhnya yang kecil dan jarang terlihat, kita sering mengabaikan serangga dan menganggapnya tidak ada -- sampai ketika kehidupan kita terganggu oleh mereka (misal: nyamuk yang menggigit). Padahal sebelum manusia modern (baca: kita!) ada dan setelah manusia tidak ada lagi, serangga tetap menguasai bumi, setidaknya spesies kecoa yang bahkan bisa hidup di lingkungan ekstrim di mana binatang dan manusia tidak ada yang mampu.

03. Technology is A Double Edge Sword
Memang kemajuan teknologi mempermudah hidup kita -- siapa sih yang tidak mau duduk santai di hover-chair dan tidak perlu jalan kaki jauh-jauh (terutama saat liburan)? Tetapi kemajuan teknologi juga bisa mengisolasi kita dari interaksi antar manusia secara langsung. Dibanding video call, tentu interaksi yang diperoleh akan lebih intensif bila langsung bertatap muka. Keasyikan dengan teman-teman di jaringan virtual juga membuat kita mengabaikan keindahan di sekitar kita, bahkan dalam bentuk yang sederhana sekali seperti pemandangan bintang di langit.

Tetapi ada beberapa hal yang janggal, seperti:

04. Make Babies -- With No Sexual Activities Involved
Tanpa interaksi antar manusia, dari mana datangnya selusin bayi itu? Cloning? bayi tabung?

05. Earth Is Populated Only By Americans
Okay, bumi ditinggalkan karena tidak layak huni. Semua umat manusia pergi keluar angkasa untuk mengungsi dari bumi yang dipenuhi sampah. Tapi gambaran yang kita lihat hanyalah satu bangsa (Amerika? atau bangsa Buy N' Large) yang mengevakuasi dirinya. Bagaimana dengan bangsa Cina? India? Hell, how about us Indonesian???

06. Large Omni-Corporation Are Evil
Demi mengejar keuntungan, mega-korporasi seperti Buy N' Large (yang juga digambarkan sebagai sebuah bangsa - mungkin United States of America yang sosialis?) menyediakan dan menganjurkan konsumsi dan lebih banyak konsumsi. The result: unhabitable earth.

Sehingga pada akhirnya, walau film ini sangat menghibur dan cocok untuk semua jenis umur, pertanyaan yang masih ada di dalam kepala adalah:

Apa maksud tim pembuat film ini?

Sebagai pernyataan bahwa manusialah yang bisa menghancurkan bumi tetapi hanya manusia jugalah yang bisa menyelamatkannya?

Bahwa kita hanya punya satu bumi -- thus, nowhere else to go?

Atau kalau kita bisa punya robot pembantu, hidup akan jauh lebih mudah? Atau jalan ceritanya hanya sekedar satire saja?

Yup, ini film yang menghibur. Tetapi kupikir ada banyak hal yang tidak secara eksplisit dikatakan di dalamnya.

Terserah kita -- para penonton -- untuk memaknainya sekehendak hati.

In the meantime, it's time for lunch. I guess I'll grab Wendy's Big Classic Double Burger, upsize it, plus two scoops of ice cream.

LOL!

ADDED: Please stay for the credit title, you'd see funny pixelated animation plus a good song from Peter Gabriel.

Senin, Agustus 11, 2008

Basic Photography Errors

(that I still make, even now...)



this one, if you click-to-enlarge it, will show you that this one is a blurry image. it was caused by unsteady hands that hold the camera. always keep in mind, for a simple guide, use minimum speed 1/focal length of the lens used.




this picture show the steady shot, not blurry now. you can either reduce the time the shutter release was open or you can held the camera steadier or you can use an image stabilizer (vibration reduction) feature if you have one.



this one, while the composition may be feels right, the timing is not. the model was closing her eyes when the camera capture the image. thus, this picture is considered worthless. one could see this picture and realize that this one is taken at an unappropriate time.



this one is a laugh. it really showed how much you can trust and rely upon your lens' auto-focus system, which is not always. you -- the photographer -- should always use your eye and your head to be able to capture the right image. this one focused on the model's background and not at the model which made this one as useless as any useless pictures you might know.

tip: on photographing people, focus on their eyes.



now this one, although seemed to be taken correctly, it was still not satisfying enough. you can see the position in the picture frame was wrong. you can see that the model's elbow was cropped while the area in front of her was still large enough. if only the photographer (me!) put her frame diagonally with equal space in front and behind her, this one photo will be submitted to the competition!



this one here is a combination of at least two mistakes: unsatisfying composition (and/or framing) and blurring image. if you (and me!) were still not familiar enough with your camera and setting plus insufficient knowledge of photography, multiple mistakes in a single exposure would be common.

try to learn by using it an learning from the result. you'll be getting good -- or great! -- photos!


EDITED 17:04WIB : THANKS TO TINKERBELLE FOR POINTING OUT MISTAKES, TYPOS, AND MISSPELLINGS

Jumat, Agustus 08, 2008

Oh My God! Photography Is Just A Trend!

You know what?

Once again I found that the saying that "It's Not The Camera That Make One A Photographer" is true. It's TRUE, allright!

I saw it in a community photography site, a guy named HP, armed with a Nikon D3 (!), produced a photo that I knew by heart that I could get the same result with a moderate point and shoot digital compact camera.

And that HP guy even commented that he like the skin tone of his model, THAT HE GOT BECAUSE HE IS USING A CARL-ZEISS LENS.

CMIIW, you got different color tone because of the type of sensor used in the DSLR and the method used to record the image. Not because you are using a particular lens.

And to think that this guy use a professional full-frame DLSR (that cost a fortune!), just make me sad (and envious at the same time).

I wish that this HP guy got real friends with photography sense and an honest open-relationship to tell him that that picture suck and he need to learn a lot.

Selasa, Agustus 05, 2008

All Hail Google! (yes, again!)

Now what would you think this guy was trying to do? Kung Fu practice? Nope. I didn't have any idea either. And what did the title have to do with the post and the photo? Not really much, actually.

What I did here is using an application called Picasa that I downloaded from Google for FREE and then install it in my machine. At the bottom it shows a Blogger icon that when I put my mouse cursor over the icon it said: post this photo to Blogger (or something similar). So I picked a photo from my library, selected it, then clicked on the Blogger icon.

A pop-up window showed up showing the login page. Typing the correct username and password brought me to the layout setting and (after selecting the appropriate layout) then I was brought to the edit posting window. That's where I typed all this words you are reading now.

Now you might ask, "So? What's so special about it?" To which I replied, "Don't you see? When I store a picture to my computer using Picasa, I could just with a few steps post a picture and insert some text with it! And it became a blog post! That simple!! And quick!!! And easy!!!!

And now I just going to click on the "PUBLISH POST" button, and we'll see what'd happen! In 3... 2... 1... Click!

ADDED: I didn't remember seeing the slot where I was supposed to enter the label (or tags) for this post so I went back to the editing page and entered the labels. That made me work twice. Not so smart, Google team!

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Jumat, Agustus 01, 2008

Let Me Quote You: Clive Barker's "The Damnation Game"

If I may introduce you to one of my favorite writer - if you haven't known him already - Clive Barker. To be honest, I didn't think that I qualify to have this honor, but since there's nobody around other than both of us, you can't choose, can you?

If you never read any of his writing but enjoy contemporary English literature (read: fiction), you might just missed something great. He's eloquent enough that left you felt the adrenaline just by reading the text.

Like this one:

... Beneath his gaze, the paint on the wall seemed to blister. Venereal eruptions disfigured its emptiness. Illusions; but horribly real to him nevertheless. Very well: if he couldn't dislodge the obscenities, he would transform them. It wasn't difficult to smudge sexuality into violence, turn sighs into screams, thrusts into convulsions. The grammar was the same; only the punctuation differed. Picturing the lovers in death together, the nausea he'd felt receded.
In the face of that void what was their substance? Transitory. Their promise? Pretension.

Now, after reading that part above, wouldn't you agree with me about his talent and the quality of his work? I know I did!

Minum Kopi

Memang enak minum kopi saat santai sebentar. Apalagi bila kopi hitam yang diseduh dengan air yang baru mendidih. Aorma kopi keluar dan membuatku ingin segera minum (meskipun berbahaya karena airnya terlalu panas).

Membayangkan kenikmatan dari segelas kopi hitam panas sungguh membuat perasaan senang. Entah kenapa. Mungkin karena aku mengasosiasikan pengalaman minum kopi dengan suatu pengalaman yang bernilai positif.

Saranku buatmu, Pembaca, seduhlah kopi dengan air yang baru mendidih.

Kalau kita menuangkan air panas yang baru mendidih ke bubuk kopi pelan-pelan sampai gelas terisi 3/4 takaran lalu diaduk sampai kira-kira merata sebelum ditambahkan air lagi sambil terus diaduk sampai takaran penuh. Melihat busa yang muncul dan gelembung-gelembung udara yang naik ke permukaan dan pecah, itulah pertanda kopi yang enak. Setidaknya, busa/buih yang muncul itu sebagai pertanda kopi masih segar dan gilingan baru. Itu informasi dari Pak Wid, pemilik Kopi Aroma di Jalan Banceuy, Bandung. Artinya, kopi yang nikmat itu bila diseduh dengan air mendidih lalu diaduk akan mengeluarkan busa, sekaligus pertanda bawa kopi itu masih segar.

Saran beliau lagi, kalau setelah digiling, usahakan habis dalam dua minggu saja. Bila disimpan, simpan dalam wadah tertutup rapat, di tempat sejuk (bukan lembab). Lebih bagus disimpan di kulkas. Tapi tetap usahakan jangan menyimpan terlalu lama karena kenikmatan citarasanya akan semakin berkurang seiring dengan jalannya waktu.

Artinya, beliau juga menyarankan untuk membeli sesuai kemampuan konsumsi kita. Bila aku (misalnya) memakai 15 gram bubuk kopi per seduhan, maka untuk pemakaian dua minggu (dengan dua gelas per hari) adalah:

15 gr/gelas x 2 gelas/hari x 14 hari/beli = 420 gr/beli !

Penjelasan yang gampang kan?

Dan dengan demikian aku akan selalu medapatkan kopi segar baru giling tiap dua minggu sekali.

Briliant!!!

ADDED : 2008-08-04, segila-gilanya aku dengan kopi, tak mampulah mengeluarkan duit sampai USD 11,000.00 untuk membeli satu unit Clover.