hafizsanesia

finally, the howl’s moving castle -the last animated movie from hayao miyazaki- dvd is in my hand! and the dvd that alva ordered for me is a special edition type, with four discs (the first disc is howl’s  in japanese,  the second is howls in foreign language and audio, the third and fourth are about the premiere of howls in various cities across the world, the  ghibli’s exhibition also in various cities, and how to make howl’s castle moved in animated sequences) and a transparent resin cast with original cut 1/24 frame from the actual animation film.  what a  package, even though it cost me more that 9000 yen..   ToT

and yesterday afternoon, after a quite tiring day, I with spon-bob managed to watch howls the movie in the dkv.  one thing that captured our attention were the detailed scene with specific colored background that resembles the european color scheme.  the color scheme while the background itself is being realistic, but is very different from the colour scheme found in mononoke hime that were very japanese.  ghibli studio managed to get different colors that resembles different countries, because the story of howls was adapted from european story, not from japan.

a second, third, fourth seeing the movie is a MUST!

another "I broke my cherry" term.. p

this is takoyaki, a japanese octopus-filled ball that alva found in a kiosk in the ubm campus.  the funny thing is, when alva mentioned and offered me about this takoyaki, my mind went to the fish shaped cakes.  and it took me two days before I found out that takoyaki is ball-shaped food, NOT the fish-shaped food that were eaten by yomi character from azumanga daioh..

another funny thing in this takoyaki is its flavour.  there  five flavour:  shrimp,  octopus, beef sausage, vegetables and ham & cheese. but do not mistaken with ham & cheese here, because actually this ham & cheese was made from chicken &  cheese.. :p 

what a language foul!

just a little ‘funny’ story when I and dkv-ers went to ubm in participation of komikasia goes to ubm last week end.  when we arrived there in the first day, me and alva wore casual outfit and were free from attention of the host.  they were ‘attracted’ more to pak indarsjah and pak tirto who looked very senior, who dressed properly and formal as the person in charge (eg the head of dkv itb).

however, this kind of situation gave us (me and alva) more relaxed time. because we were not in the main attraction, so we were free to look around while the seniors were surrounded by the hosts, talking this and that.

so, I think the hosts were surprised because when the secretary of dkv itb was called to give opening speech, the person they least expected (that’s me), the young one with the most casual outfit, stepped out and walked to the stage.. :p

surprise.. surprise..   

there is a chinese proverb that said, "jian ting ze ming, pian xin ze an (unless you get all points of view, your judgement may be biassed)".  therefore, it is important (and for me personally,it is very interesting also) to gather as many information regarding some matters that interest you. by knowing the matter in various point of views, hopefully you’ll get wiser and would act accordingly, not easily influence by other’s negative judgement and in some point, could give more objective opinion.

this is a book that dwelves deeply into chinese philosophy, by telling the chinese way of thinking with real life experiences.  written by adeline yen mah, author of the famous autobiography ‘falling leaves’ and ‘a thousand pieces of gold’, it gives the reader valuable insights regarding many chinese related things and beliefs as seen from western point of view.  adeline yen mah herself, was born and raised as a chinese (with western influence because she was taught in a chatolic boarding school in hongkong) then lived and worked in the west.  therfore, she also gives samples of the different way of thinking from both parts of the world when they see the same matter.

there are explaination about the yin-yang philosophy, that in every matter, there is always two ‘opposing’ power that works together in putting things into balanced order while the western sees opposing things as.. ..still opposing things, that one side (usually the good ones) should take control of another (the bad one), just like winner-looser term. stories about how food is very important for chinese, and even used it to maintain health and cure disease (it is interesting how the east perceived physician [yi sheng] as healer of life, contrast with the west that see physician as curer of disease.  one ‘cured’ things by put things in balanced order while the other by fight things as the sworn enemy), the buy-sell philosophy wether in bussiness and family relationship, feng shui, the importand of language in developing our own caharcter and why the chinese literature did not progress as advance as the arabic and the west due to the use of ‘dead language’ (language used in chinese literature used to be different from the language used in the daily life, therefore the writings were hard to understand and developed by common people), how the chinese perceived things in the whole -that the whole is greater than the sum of all things, the power of qi (inner thought) and the lesson of silence.  then some must read book for chinese people: i ching, tao te ching and sun tzu’s the art of war.

because ms. yen lived in both world (east and west), she gave detailed lessons about each side point of views in seeing the same matter, even related the east point of view to her own life experiences as a chinese, then american chinese.

this book makes me wonder: how about the indonesian chinese philosophy?  is there any differences when east (china) meet east (indonesia) such as east (china) meet west (usa)?

further more, i asked myself: how about my own philosophy as indonesian? 

anything that’s too much is not good for your life, and in life you’ll get many lessons on this one.. 

and it just happened to me not long ago..

the october for me is a special month, because so many good things happened in that month: the news about the possibility in pursuing master degree in korea, my own birthday (to find out that my good friends still remember my b’day! ) and the following surprise b’day presents, two surprise rendezvouz with a beautiful guest, the fasting month, the works on martabak the second finally managed to meet the deadline (although then the deadline were rescheduled due to the change in the content), my best professor officially became dkv’s doctor, and several other good things. i became so happy (maybe a kind of ‘euphoria’) and in ‘celebrating’ that, my ‘over reaction’ actions annoyed the others.. i completely forgot that not all people agree with anything that i was doing, especially when ‘the doing’ itself related with another poeple.. 

thanks to God, the misunderstoods were solved shortly. i apologized and managed to take some necessary actions, immediately. i also promise to myself to act carefully the next time i become too happy, especially if it is related to another person’s privacy.

however, this ‘accident’ also made me realize that i am surrounded by good hearted people, good people that full of patience, attention and forgiveness. and i’m very thankful for that.. 

no wonder that the holy prophet Rasulullah saw said that we should stop eating before our stomach get too full, because anything that’s too much is not good for your life..

last friday, we had a special guest, kayo matshushita. she is a reporter from the famous asahi shimbun (the big newspaper such as kompas in indonesia.  the word ’shimbun’ itself means newspaper) that is doing articles about japanese manga and its influence in several countries including indonesia. through her network with bos alva, she came to bandung to do the interviews with me, bos alva and colleagues from the unikomik comic studio -tyo&sel, devia&didi.

the interview itself took quite long time and we talked alot (and that’s why i realize my poor spoken english.. ToT ). we exchanged ideas about what we though about japanese manga and of course about our own indonesian manga. i also shown some illustration works on the second martabak book that still on progress because she seemed interested enough (and i thought ms. retno from elexmedia had told kayo about that book, that focused in telling the story about indonesian manga). she said that my illustrations showed the influence of japanese manga, and it did.  my recent style was inspired by the minipato characters..  kayo also interested to find out that dkv had been done several research on japanese visual style, including the komikasia2003 event, and that we had the chances to go to japan twice beause of these kind of researches (but i think she also doing the same thing as we are, coming to Indonesia and several other countries to write -and research- about comics, he he..). 

well, i think because asahi shimbun sent one of their reporter abroad to collect information about mangas, the topic itself had been considered important enough.  and indonesia is also in the center of attentions. 

and i just can’t wait to find out what kind articles she would write on that topics..

and this is the second time a japanese people took an interest in my cubicle.  she even took a photograph of it, he he.. 

i wonder why..?

from now and forward, i’ll write the journal in this blog in english.  not just that i became too western or such, but just because i’d just learnt that i have to improve my english.  well, to be honest, last friday i talk to a foreign reporter in english and i suddenly realize that my spoken english is somewhat ‘horrible’, he he..  i like to read novels and textbooks written in english and always though that i speak good englih, but it is a very different thing to read and to speak in english..

so, that’s why i’ll try to speak what’s on my mind in english.  time to practice.. practice.. practice..

jalan2 terakhir d senin h+4 abis lebaran. dapat undangan mendadak dari bebebeben utk silaturahmi k rumahnya d kawasan klender, skalian ktemu ibundanya tercinta yg katanya pingin bgt bwt ketemuan dgn saya & bos alva.  sempet ketar-ketir juga, knapa bisa sampai penasaran kyk gitu, he he.. jangan2 mo diinterogasi, nih.. :p

lucunya, sampai dsana bener2 diinterogasi, dengan formasi lengkap alias dgn bapak dan ibunda. ngobrol bentar, trus diajak makan dgn menu asli padang, terutama ada masakan yg namanya rendang belut.. dan selama makan ini, kita ditemani terus sang ibunda yang kerap kali terus menyuguhkan menu yang satu dengan lainnya secara bergantian, terus menerus..

sampai2 begitu piring makan saya kosong, tahu2 sudah ada segunduk nasi baru lagi yang langsung tertuang (dan porsinya bener2 luar biasa..  bos alva sampai melotot, he he..)..  untungnya dkarunia perut yang sedalam lautan, jadi bisa juga menghabiskannya.  ga enak kalo nyisain nasi gara2 kekenyangan..

kembali k ruang tamu, sudah menunggu suguhan lain: pudding dan buah2an.  bener2 sore itu, selain interogasi lengkap, kita bener2 dimanja soal suguhan.  akhirnya kita tahu juga, kenapa bebebeben punya selera dan kapabilitas makan yang luar biasa besarnya!  karena ada ibunda yang begitu baik dan selalu menyediakan suguhan dalam jumlah besar.. :-) 

finally, we know the bebebeben’s secrets of why he could eat sooo much!

ha ha ha..

senin kmarin itu ga cuman tour d’kinos, tetapi juga tour d’elexmedia plus tour d’rumahnya beny (bagian k rumah bebebebeben ini ntar dceritain terpisah, seru soalnya, he he he..).  jadi hari h+4 udah lumayan sibuk, dan karena jakarta masih sepi, bisa main ketiga tempat yang berjauhan (terutama bebebeben’s house yang di klender) dalam sehari jadi rekor juga.

ini pertama kalinya berhasil main ke elexmedia di kawasan palmerah, buat ketemu bu retno (senior editor) di sana.  dulu pernah rencana berangkat rame2 bareng bos alva dan kedua begundal, cuman dicancel h-1 gara2 ada tugas kenegaraan mendadak..  jadi seperti biasa, dalam perjalanan selalu digangguin bos yg bilang kalo saya ‘broke my cherry, again..’

dan ini juga kali pertama benar2 merasakan jadi penulis buku yang diberi masukan banyaaaak banget dari editornya.  soalnya waktu menulis martabak satu, kayak ga ada koreksi dan masukan, semua lancar2 saja, bahkan terkaget2 waktu tahu2 dkasih kabar kalo bukunya siap dicetak, padahal kita2 udah was2 nunggu kalo ada koreksian.  kali ini, untuk martabak dua, prosesnya beda banget..

kita dapat banyak masukan, koreksi dan arahan.  kalo dulu diminta menulis secara populer & ringan (makanya kita memberi julukan kalo martabak satu itu kayak kerupuk, baru mulai nikmat mengunyahnya, tahu2 sudah habis..), maka utk yang kedua dminta dalam dan lengkap. bahkan ada beberapa hal yang tadinya kita anggap ga penting karena sudah dibahas buku lainnya, ternyata dminta utk dmasukkan. tampaknya martabak dua ini ingin djadikan semacam handbook lengkap bagi yang ingin tahu soal komikita.  ga menutup kemungkinan, content bakal dbongkar & drombak lagi, dgn konsekuensi deadline yang diundur hingga awal tahun..

buat saya pribadi, artinya ini kepercayaan yang besar.  dari sekedar buku referensi utk entry level utk yg suka komik, tahu2 dminta menjadi handbook yang lengkap utk kalangan yang lebih luas.  meski ini berarti kerja keras lagi (terutama mencari referensi yang terus terang susah dcari), tapi bakal dkerjakan dgn sungguh2.  jadi nggak percuma punya ‘malaikat’ yg jadi sumber inspirasi yg luar biasa & nggak ada habis2nya..

btw, utk proses ilustrasinya sendiri blom ada tanggapan, karena memang belum dlihat.  sempat juga nunjukin beberapa sample ilustrasinya ke bu retno.  he he.. si ibu sempat cameo juga. 

senang juga wkt bikin ilustrasi2 di sini, karena utk martabak dua ini jadi bisa lebih banyak ‘mengundang’ guest stars dari teman2 terdekat utk melakukan cameo.  penasaran siapa aja dan muncul di bagian mana saja? tunggu aja tanggal terbitnya (yang masih lama, ha ha ha..)…

senin abis lebaran, mumpung jakartanya masih lengang (plus ternyata bos alva & bebebebebeben jg pgn ktemuan) jadilah tour d’kinos.  dasar ga biasa sama skedul jakarta yang ternyata kalo lowong jadinya lancar pisan, akhirnya sampai ps jam 9.35 dan psnya tentu aja blom buka. lucu juga ngeliat mal yang biasanya rame ini, sepi beneran.  ada juga yang datang pagi, kayaknya karyawan/spg-nya.  jangan2 jadi disangka karyawan juga nih, he he..

namanya k kino, artinya new books lagi :p  dan akhirnya bisa ‘bertahan’ utk hanya menambah empat buku koleksi (plus satu buku sbg b’day present-nya bos alva yang b’day akhir bulan ini).  dan jadi tambah daftar the must have books lagi, deh..  ada artis baru yang kyknya karya2 bakal dikejar juga kyk chen shu fen dulu.

ini buku yang dikasih tahu diana waktu dia nyari five-fold happiness.  judulnya ‘a dictionary of chinese symbols’, dan isinya seperti ensiklopedia istilah simbol2 yang biasa digunakan masyarakat cina dari a sampai z.  dimulai dgn istilahnya dalam bahasa inggris (penyusunnya orang eropa), lalu disusul kanji dan romaji dalam bahasa mandarin dan ada penjelasan lengkap soal simbol tadi.  buat yang suka dan tertarik utk mendalami filosofi tiongkok, buku ini sangat bermanfaat karena isinya mencakup banyak hal, mirip seperti five-fold happiness dulu.  banyak istilah juga dilengkapi dengan ilustrasinya yang mayoritas dengan sapuan kuas khasnya chinese paintings.  makasih bwt diana utk info buku bagus ini

yang ini tahu2 tergerak utk dkoleksi karena tahu ilustrasinya bagus banget, he he..  ini novel mary jane 2, dan karena sudah punya novel bagian pertamanya (judulnya juga mary jane) jadi sudah bisa kbayang seperti apa isinya, dan memang beneran asik :D  bisa dibilang novel ini seperti film spiderman part two, karena cerita kisah2 ttg spider-man hanya saja dari sudut pandang mary jane-nya.  bagaimana ternyata sosok mary jane itu hidup susah dan penuh perjuangan, kisah romantisnya dgn peter parker (yang kadang ‘terganggu’ kekaguman pada spider-man), bagaimana ia cemburu pada ’saingan’ gwen stacy sampai masalah hubungan ibu dan anak. kisahnya bener2 manusiawi, dan kadang kita ditunjukkan pula sisi manusiawi dari sang spider-man-nya sendiri..

lalu ini adalah portfolio  artis baru yang bakal terus dikejar ilustrasinya.  ilustratornya bernama der jen, asal taiwan (sama seperti halnya chen shu fen, asik juga ada negara yang punya segudang ilustrator berkualitas kyk gini..) dan ilustrasinya pun bener2 asik. realistik (dan tentu aja cantik benar) dan kental nuansa etniknya. memang utk buku ini, yang menjadi tema adalah ilustrasi close up dari para putri yang dkasih judul ‘portrait of the ladies’, dengan kostum dan busana yang sangat kental nuansa orientalnya. jadi harus mulai hunting lagi, setelah selesai mengejar2 portfolio-nya chen shu fen, nih.. :D