hafizsanesia

a fast note that I’d updated my visual diary at my multiply site, here.

the main theme is about the trip to bucheon on sunday, august 20 with all of  the side stories..

happy reading!

In just less than four months, three international events in the comics and animation area were successfully held in South Korea: SICAF, Seoul Character Fair and last week event of Bucheon International Comics Festival or BICOF, that showed the seriousness of the Korean to develop the world of comics and animation.  The BICOF itself was held in Bucheon, the city that brands itself as "The City of Comics", a solid representation as how Korea saw the possibility of comics development.

BICOF 2006 was the ninth BICOF that was first started in 1998 with the main theme focused on "Energy of Imagination", held on Auguts 17 through 20, 2006 at Boksagol Cultural Center in Bucheon.  The event itself had four major events: international comics book fair -with another four main areas: local publisher, international publishers, comics for export purpose and comics market-; Bucheon Promotion Plan (BPP) - an promotion event for new works and artists; exhibition events - with four venues: the special exhibition of the works of Kangfull, exhibition of picture books that used the language of comics, the princess collection special exhibition and the hand printing exhibition of seven Korean comics legends; and hands on event/ sideline event - various events such as cosplay contest, artists signing sessions, talk show, flea market, etc.

The Boksagol Cultural Center venue enabled the BICOF to be arranged in three venues of exhibitions and events.  The first floor consisted of the exhibition of comics language in the picture books that show cased the wonderful works from several artists such as Raymond Briggs, David Wiesner, Lewis Trondheim, Anthonny Browne and Claude Ponti, in who managed in applying sequential art in the form of paneling and using word balloons in their works.  However, the ironic side was that this kind of application was hard to recognize and being proud to, since the term ‘comics’ is still looked down upon.  Is the ‘comics’ term contained such a burden in the world of art?

This exhibition was intended to introduce children’s picture books, which applied the comics approached in telling the story and how the Korean people would respond for such approach - that was barely used in the Korean picture books.  The exhibition also served as an auto critic for Korean artists to made new bold approaches in exploring the medium, even creating cross-reference between various medium such as comics and illustrations since the quality of works of Korean artists still need improvement to compete with international artists.  However, several original works by three Korean artists: Yu Seung-ha, Han Sung-ok and Kwon Moon-he that often used comics approach in their picture books showed that such exploration and cross-reference are on its way and it seems very promising for the future of Korean picture book arts.

To create full interaction between audiences and the works, the exhibition area were filled with various segments from each picture book and each was also equipped with one complete and ‘real’ book of the story.  The audiences then were free to read the books, giving full experiences in ‘reading’ the picture books with comics approach.

Up to the second floor, there were three exhibition venues, one pavilion and an area that showcased five comics that received the BICOF comics’ awards this year.  The first exhibition venue was the exhibition of hand printing from seven legends of Korean comics development: Kim Ki-Tae (One Armed Sword), Park Ki-Joon (Dootongye), Sairo (various editorial cartoons in various newspapers), Seo Jung-Cheol (Five Star Brothers), Jang Eun-Joo (Tears of Love), Cho Hang-Li ( Bamtori) and Cha-Yung (The Corner).  These seven legends were honored for putting the landmarks in the development of Korean comics through their contribution and dedication and also to show that the Korean didn’t forget the past.  Instead, Korea would remember the past and made the history as a solid foundation to go advance to the future.   

The 2nd exhibition venue that attracted many attentions was "The Princess Collections Special Exhibition" that displayed several dioramas and dolls that were created based on the prince and princess stories found in Korean comics: Acacia- by Kim Dong Hwa, Eshrer Izard- by Shin Il-Sook, Queens’ Knight- by Kim Kang-Won, Princess- by Han Seung-Won, Red Blood- by Kim Tae-Hyung, Lineage- by Shin Il-Sook, Agnus Dei- by Whang Mi-Na, In the Star-lit Night- by  Kang Kyung-Ok, A Star of the North Sea- by Kim Hye-Lin, Beautiful Rainbow Girl- by Han Seung-Won and Gung- by Park So-Hee .   Each of the diorama was build with beautiful and detailed costumes and settings, by Custom House.

The second floor also displayed the Kangfull Special Exhibition, an exhibition dedicated for Kangfull, the pioneer of Korean online comics through his works: Love Story, Apartment, Timing, A Common Occurrence, Goof: Season 2 of Love Story dan 26 Years.  The exhibition itself was divided into four parts, in which the audiences had to experience chronologically.  The first area was the experience room: a dark maze that put the audiences ‘inside’ the setting of Kangfull’s horror works, Apartment.  The audiences would explore the setting found in the comics one by one, and each setting had its own surprises -mostly actors pretend to ghost, ready to scare the visitors.

The local publishers pavilion in this floor was designed as an open space library with racks and tables filled with various domestic tittles, whether it were local comics (manhwa) or translated comics -mostly from Japan.  The audiences were free to take and read the domestic tittles on the spot.  No wonder, the pavilion became crowded and jam-packed with people in the afternoon, reading the comics from local publishers.  If you were interested to have one, beyond this pavilion was a comic market where you could buy the titles you like.

The second floor also provided the audiences in watching several animated features such as Pyeol Pyeol: My Anima Vision, etc.  This theater seemed to be used as the place for cosplay contests during weekends, started from 4.00 pm.

The last floor consisted of an interactive playing area for children, "Comics and Sandwiches", three exhibition booths from Italian and Taiwan publishers, online comics exhibitions from several providers such as e-comics media or mobbie.com.  The nominated works for the Bucheon Promotion Plan were also displayed here.  These wonderful works showed the promising and talented new works from the new generations of Korean comics artists, with wide range of skill, stories and visual styles.

Also in this floor, there were two pavilions with the same approach in displaying the comics like the one on the second floor.  One pavilion was for the international publishers, and we could find and read comics from various countries, including Indonesia, with the works from Text and Pict Studio/Pragat Comics.  The other countries were Taiwan, China, Germany, United States of America, Spain, Argentina, Canada, Switzerland, France, Philippines and Vietnam.

In was a great pleasure indeed to see several familiar works from my friends in Indonesia being showed here: Selamat Pagi Urbaz by Beng Rahadian, Love Comics by Injun, Indie Comics Hand Book by Fitra Sunandar, comics from Karpet Biru comic studios, Bukan Komik, the works of Karna Mustaqim, and last but not least the comics produced by Text and Pict Studio/Pragat Comics from Kakek Bejo to Sube series which being published outside Indonesia.  Kudos to Indonesian comics!  And the audiences were also free to browse around, especially since the comics published by the European publishers such as Castermann showed good collections of European comics.  However, since most of the comics here were written in the country’s of origins language -mostly in English and France, the pavilion was not too crowded than the one in the second floor.

After saw the comics published by foreign publishers, the third pavilion was the reversed side.  This time it was showed the Korean comics (manhwa) that being exported and published out side of Korea.  The pavilion was completed by a big display of where the comics being exported to: from United States of America, Europe, Middle East, South East Asia, East Asia, Australia even South America.  Indonesia was one of them, through the Elexmedia Komputindo publications of Korean comics such as Pretty and Cash Girl (displayed there). 

More over, the displayed comics -all were original books being published by the publisher in the designated countries- were the living evidence on how the Korean comics industry has been expanding.  The market of Korean comics was not only for domestic audiences but also targeted international audiences.  A big ambition that proved could be done and achieved with seriousness and hard works.

At the outdoor area around Boksagol Cultural Center were flea market where amateur artists showed off, from showing their skills- making cartoons and characters from the audiences and selling handmade merchandises, renting cosplay costumes to fortuneteller.  There were also many cosplayer walking around, waiting for their time to perform.

In general, BICOF 2006 showed new things that could serve as a good example in developing comics in Indonesia.  Starting from the statement that the advanced development of Korean comics was based on the solid history marked by the contribution of the seven Korean comics legends -their hand printings were exhibit to honor them-, new exploration in other medium such as internet and mobile communications, even to show the existence of Korean comics industry both for domestic and international market.  And the difference between BICOF and most of the comics event in Indonesia was how we display things, especially the comics itself. 

In BICOF 2006, most of the comics were displayed in their ‘real’ form: as comics books.  It meant that the comics had been published, and the audiences could read and interact with the finished products.  The pavilion ’system’ - in the form of an open library- provided the freedom for the audiences to browse and read whatever comics they liked to give real experience in reading the comics.  Meanwhile, in Indonesia, most of the comics events showcased the works from amateur artists.  Mostly they displayed their works -in the form of pin ups or sample pages- in the booth or gallery format, since they were still trying to break into the comics industry. 

BICOF also had its own concept of event: promoting comics and publishers in the wider market, the revitalization of Korean comics industry, festival for the comics society and public interaction with the comics world.  May be these concepts actually made and shape the form of BICOF today.

It seems that we still have a lot of things to learn in developing Indonesian comics.

Resumed and translated by Hafiz Ahmad, 2006/8/22

Additional resources:
BICOF 2006 information booklet

original version of this resume, written in Indonesian, had been posted earlier in martabakomikita site on the multiply.

Kutrima suratmu ‘Tlah kubaca dan aku mengerti
Betapa merindunya dirimu ‘Kan hadirnya diriku
Didalam hari-harimu Bersama lagi

Kau bertanya padaku Kapan aku akan kembali lagi
Katamu kau tak kuasa Melawan gejolak didalam dada
Yang membara menahan rasa Pertemuan kita nanti
Saat kau ada disisiku

Semua kata rindumu
Semakin membuatku ‘tak berdaya
Menahan rasa ingin jumpa
Percayalah padaku akupun rindu kamu
Ku akan pulang Melepas semua kerinduan
Yang terpendam…..

Kau tuliskan padaku Kata cinta
Yang manis dalam suratmu
Kau katakan padaku Saat ini
Kuingin dalam pelukmu
Dan belai lembut kasihmu
Takkan kulupa slamanya
Saat bersama dirimu

Jangan katakan cinta
Menambah beban rasa
Sudah simpan saja sedihmu itu
Ku akan datang…..

lyrics from the song "kangen" - dewa, from dewa official website in here

———————————

I guess the lyrics says it all..  :p

  You finish talking about everything
  In front of us are 2 paths
  In the middle of our long and painful journey,
  our heavy baggage separates into 2

  If that’s so, take the right
  I’ll keep on believing
  We go to the left

  Now, the shadows melt into the distant sunset
  I will wave both of my hands until you disappear

  Goodbye my friend, I won’t forget you
  I feel proud that I met you
  In place of you, the staff of hope
  will probably lead us to the end of the light

  I continue to pray for the tears to dry up
  under this distant sky

  Somewhere, remember again
  that the same rain will surely fall on us

  ah~  The cherryblossom flowers flutter
  ah~  on the paths that we each dream about

lyrics: kawamura saiko

music: D.A.I

*lyrics is taken from cori’s jpop lyrics homepage, in here

--------------------------------------------------------

another single by do as infinity that I keep hearing & hearing again, since I liked the melody so much.  and yesterday, I just found out that actually this song was about the parting of two friends - and van tomiko cried several times before finally completed the recording session.  what a touching song…

I just hope that eventhough I like tao song very much, this doesn’t mean another parting with my friends, especially the one that I care so much..

last sunday, I went to bucheon international comics festival, held at the bucheon, city of comics, placed between seoul and incheon.  first, the journey was ordinary: I took the mugunghwa train to seoul station, then transfer to metro line 1 and got off and song nae station, bucheon.  then the ‘disaster’ came :p

I took the wrong exit at the song nae station, misread the bucheon map and walking around two blocks before I found out that I got lost..  so I went back to the station and this time ‘read’ the map real carefully. it turned out that the boksagol cultural center where the bicof was held was easy to find :p   

the event itself was great and wonderful, which I’d written the review at the martabakomikita site, here.  the complete photos of the bicof could be found here.   I finally had the chance to see several original manhwa, even bought three best samples of them, especially the ‘love story’ book from kangfull.  it’s nice to see the story about ordinary people, dealing with ordinary life with ordinay way.  I would try to post a review of ‘love story’ in the review area in martabakomikita and my multiple site asap.

then I went to the kyobo book center in the gwanghwamun area of seoul and spent quite long time there.  I love book stores , although it did ‘hurt’ to see many books you’d longed to have scattered around you and you couldn’t afford it.. :p  I also check the mmmg section in the store and again were very impressed about all the unique and costum made stuffs the mmmg people designed and produced.  no wonder vera loves the mmmg products very much.  hope someday she could visit mmmg in seoul and I would be happy to be her tour guide

however, I finally had the mongoose of my own!  :D  well, actually it was a nodame cantabile comics no 15, original from japan that came with a mongoose doll -a costume that was hand made by nodame for the group s orchestra in momogaoka music festival- that even had a belly sound!  you just press the button on the mongoose belly, and it will make funny sound..

tired and broke (the trip to comics festivals and book stores always ended up like this :p), I went to seoul station to wait for my ‘go home’ train at 19.35.  I waited at the arrival area and again felt deeply touched again for what happened everytime a train arrived at the station.
since I waited at the arrival area, I watched many people who were using the area as the rendezvous point.  fathers met his family, boy friends met girl friends, friends met friends, waiting and waving whenever he/she/they saw the ones he/she/they’d been waiting for..  and all of their expressions would change dramatically, from a little worried -you know how the feeling of waiting for someone you care deeply :-)  - to  excited and happy.   several others even hugged each other to relief the feeling of being parted for some time.  a really touching moment to see..   

and that made me suddenly felt a little bit moody, since nobody waited for me whenever I went home.  being far away sometimes placed you in the ‘forgotten’ area, since it seemed that you had ‘disappeared’ from the life of others back home -excluding your family and closest of friends..

however, I just remembered one good sentence. "things that couldn’t kill you made you stronger.."  so I wish I could be ’stronger’ then,  as my experiences here grew bigger and bigger..

a quick info that I recently updated my visual diary at my multiply site, here.

for further update at the same site, I also added reviews for vera rosana-sarah olivia’s my first five years in this world baby record book, do as infinity : do the a side cd & vivien sung’s five-fold happiness book and several writings for the kbs world radio broadcast that I’ve written this past four months.  I hope I could add reviews about tetsuko kuroyanagi’s totto chan today.  read all of that here.

just go and check it out.  thanks

just an info that I recently updated my visual diary at my multiple site, here.  just go and check it out.  thanks..

a new hp in town and time to say good bye for the old one..

two weeks ago, the samsung sph x9300 I received from pak im the first day I arrived at daejeon finally broke down..  the parts that hold the battery suddenly broke to pieces so in order to keep the battery in place I had to tape it down.  but the tape wouldn’t last long, so sometimes the phone just suddenly turned off during usage time.. ToT

and not long after that, my deposit for the KTF service also run out..  leaving me completely ‘lost’ since I couldn’t even reply message I recieved on the phone or send message to people I really care far away..

so, after considered carefully that it was safe to spend a quite huge amount of money from my bank account -hey, I’m not that rich! I’m a student here, with a limited budget :p- I ask olia to accompany me to find a new cellphone and put another deposit on my ktf account.  so, we did that last saturday afternoon..

finally, there it is.  a new samsung anycall sph e3200 with a digital camera, two batteries and a box :D   and after setting the phone for a while -I had to update the phone book manually-, it was ready to rumble around 11 pm.  for a maiden use, I sent message to far off jakarta.  it was a nice thing to see the status "sent. save message?" on the display again :D   I just hope she managed to received the sms..

with a great thank you, I had to bid farewell for the  faithfull samsung anycall sph x9300 that had been with me for the beginning of my journey here.  the saddest thing was that I had to erase the precious messages stored inside -since my friend sam seemed need a cellphone badly and I think I’ll give it to him when he decided to have a ktf account-, especially the 1st sms I received from indonesia..

memories are good things, but sometimes you just have to let it go..

ha ha ha..  I just made up the title for this post since the name of place we had our lunch last friday is pizzera: the flying pan.  I even joked to jason that might be we had to catch our meals that were flew above our head.. :p

nah..  actually it’s just an ordinary pizza restaurant but with a real baking chimney -since I don’t know the name of the things on the left photo, sorry :p- and it did used to bake the pizzas..  it also had strong italian atmosphere..

we went from the school around 12 o’clock, using two cars: seung bok’s hyundai sonata and seong woo’s kia credos.  the four of us (from the graduate students room) took seung bok’s car, while three of the assistants from the room next door in seong woo’s credos.  we went to the jungangro area near the old down town (or is it actually the down town area?). the pizzeria is located there, about one hundred meters from the intersection.

we ordered two pizzas: the fruit pizza, special for me and beny,  and the  bulgogi -with tweajigogi/pork as the toppings for jason and seung bok.  seong woo, ja yun & hye jeong were in separate table, since the each table were only for four while we were seven, and they ordered different meals.  and since there were two ladies, their orders were somehow tastier than us :p

but the assistants sent us one of their meals: the bread filled with milk & cheese that taste very very delicious..  it’s actually a bread with a hole in the middle, and the waiter poured down milk and cheese and mixed them together inside the bread.  and judging that soeng woo & hye jeong ordered that , it might be one of the pizzeria’s speciality..

btw, speaking of the pizza itself, the form of the pizza did remain me about pak priyanto’s warung laos pizza.  they both appeared ‘flat’ and thin in the middle, while most pizza is thicker on the middle area..

Yesterday and Today

Do as Infinity

Dear friends, so long
In those unforgettable encounters
We use both hands to hold these little wounds
Endless wandering
Watching this limitless world
The travellers

It’s so precious when you have good wishes
Open eyes and see inside of your heart
It’s so precious when you have good wishes
Open eyes and see inside of your heart

The chime which is called lonely
Induces sounds of prayers
The reality that has become past
and the soft sighs of tomorrow
believing that it’ll forgive you
There’s no need to feel perplexed
You only need to move forward

It’s so precious when you have good wishes
Open eyes and see inside of your heart
It’s so precious when you have good wishes
Open eyes and see inside of your heart

Endless wandering
Walking towards the brightness
The travellers

Dear friends, even if we don’t have the energy
We still must surpass this generation bravely
Loved one, let us mutually
let eternity bloom in this town
Then maybe one day
I will sing once again,
setting off on a journey once more

La La La….

————————————

a beautiful song from do as infinity that opened my heart for the group, sometimes in 2003.  I really like this song -the lyric is very nice- that eventually I used it as a theme song for special animation I made in 2003, the third animated features that I managed to finish.  however, due to the very special content inside -because it was made specially for someone special that time-, I’m so sorry that it will keep hidden in the locker

just wanna share this, because last night I heard yesterday and today repeatedly, again & again..