Glorious, Victorious.

This is my first roll film photos ever. 

I shot em with my Olympus MJU-II that i bought for only 10$ Singapore (70.000 Rupiah). The film i used was ISO 200, 36 shots.

I was really into Girls' Album and was looking at some of their great promo photos. It turns out the photos was taken by Sandy Kim.

When i was stayin at Gerson Gilandry's place for my weekend at Singapore, i showed him Sandy Kim's photos, and he was astonished. The next day, he impulsively took me and Debra Raymond to go hunting for used cameras in Sungei Road. It was love at first sight with my Olympus, i bought it right away. Each of us went home with a new camera. It was great.

If i haven't seen your photos, i wouldn't took an interest at point&shoot film cameras. So, thank you Sandy Kim! Oh yeah, i decided to name my Olympus MJU-II after you. Hehehe.

It is uncertain and intangible yet deeply affecting. Like a religion isn't it?

After a sudden encounter with Nick and Norah (thanks to HBO), i found my chest swollen up and my blood pumped up like mad. I was jumping up and down (exaggerating there) with excitement because of the uncertain and vague feeling of endearing that was occurring between Nick and Norah in the beginning of the film blossomed beautifully right at the end. I know it was goin to happen, but i watched it anyway. I watched it for the feeling it's given me to refer and reminisce the similar experiences i got or i want to get.

When you feel happy, so happy that you are overflowed by it, the world will follow.

I've seen Nick and Norah three times now. Not intentionally though. I always thought that every time a film is playing on TV and you can't seem to look away, it is a good film. And i've watched Godzilla a dozen time. No kidding. Who could resist a giant ass monster VS NYC?

After that, i thought "Oh, it's Valentine's day isn't it? That's why Nick and Norah was on. There must be a lot of romantic movies playing all day long."
I looked around and there's no girl that i could spend the last minutes of Valentine's day with. Therefore, "What the heck, i wanna feel romantic tonite! I'm gonna spend these last remaining time left on Valentine's day with swelling chest due to cliched romantic tales that i got in my "Essential Drama/Romance/Comedy" DVD collection! Yeah!"

I've looked through it and Eternal Sunshine popped up. i haven't seen this film since one or maybe two years ago. I remember that it blew me away that last time, so i thought it should blow me much further away if i'm gonna watch this now.. And so i popped it into my DVD player.

Do you remember every time you watch that same film, it feels different with each viewings? Do you realize that your reaction towards a film changes because you have changed since the last time you saw it (you were dumber then and you are a bit smarter now)?

This is my 5th time watching Eternal Sunshine and it's the first time that i realized that it is the ultimate love movie. It is like Love Actually without it's glittery love tales and without Rowan Atkinson as the gift wrapper...well not literally though. Haha.

The film has 7 (yes 7...or maybe more? inform me if i miss something) love story interlaced in one crazy tale. You can see that love is all around yet it is different with each person that you injects your feelings with. Therefore, you have to go across the seas, hike the mountains and dig through tunnels to realize whether if it is nice....i mean if it is the fucking greatest thing so it has to be sustained and maintained.

Also, because it is different with every person that you have feelings with, I realized that i have to give it a try to see if this THING is actually great or not. The point is, you have to take the leap with every one that you have feelings with, unless you can bare the worry and anxious feelings that you will have your entire life for not taking the chance, for not trying to see and explore what is out there for you, for not maximizing the chances that you have in this life efficiently.

Our desire could never be fulfilled purely. But It is when you reach out for your desire or found new desires to be fulfilled you will feel joyous and alive.


By the way, it is 4 in the morning now and i couldn't really focused on the things i am writing. This words i wrote is pure impulsive. I wrote this for sharing the love with you on Valentine's day. I just felt like pouring my heart out right now and didn't care a bit for typos, poor arrangement and that sort of things. Please tackle me with the typos and that sort of things if you could spot any so i could tide this shit up later. Thank you for reading.


P.S. I love you, whoever read this

FAVORITE FILMS OF 2009!

Happy Holiday to all!
Hope that you all had a great year and will have a wonderful new year.
Just before the year has come to an end, I'm sharing my favorite films of 2009.
Oh yeah, i'll update this post with the review of the top 10 films early next year.

Before i start countin down my favorite films of 2009, these are some interesting films released in 2009 that i haven't watched :

- Fantastic Mr. Fox
- Antichrist
- Up In The Air
- The Messenger
- Gommorah
- An Education*
- Humpday
- The Road
- The Princess and The Frog
- Away We Go
- Beeswax
- Everlasting Moments (Fuckin missed this when it was screening in JIFFEST)
- The Limits of Control
- Departures
- Anvil! The Story of Anvil
- In The Loop
- Sin Nombre
- Bright Star
- Medicine For Melancholy*
- Hunger
- Los abrazos rotos
- Paranormal Activity
- The Girlfriend Experience*
- Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee
- Where The Wild Things Are
- Rudo y Cursi
- Bad Lieutenant : Port of Call - New Orleans*
- Moon
- Crazy Heart
- A Serious Man
- Das weiße Band (White Ribbon)

*means i already got the film but doesn't have the time to watch it yet.

Damn.. Am i that lazy?
These films above are not in my list because i haven't got the chance to watch 'em. Therefore, the list below could change prior to my verdicts on the films above.

Mmmkay then. (*cough cough*). Here it is..

Honorable Mentions :

World's Greatest Dad
(What a fun fucked up film! No one saw it comin. Black comedy at it's best)

Soundtrack For A Revolution
(Awesome American civil rights lecture by some soulful singin grandmas & grandpas!)

Two Lovers
(Plain and simple an honest drama about mature love. It is good. But i don't like it much. Maybe if Wong Kar-Wai directed this it would be something else..Oh yeah,it's a great goodbye performance by Joaquin Phoenix)

Up
(Pixar films are never fails, but this one lack a distinctive edge for me)

Avatar (3D)
(MY EYES! MY EYEEEEEEEEES! AM I HIGHHHHH???!!!! GOOOOODDDD!!)

Sherlock Holmes
(It's worth seeing even if it's only to watch Robert Downey being cocky with a thick British Accent)

Julie & Julia
(Meryl Streep + Amy Adams + LOTS of delicious foods! what more could you ask for?)

Watchmen
(The story, the style and the violence just blew me away)

Funny People
(Even if it disappointed everyone to be THE monumental comedy film of our generation that it should be, it was still good. Just good though)

Coco Before Chanel
(A romantic feminist drama of a woman struggling to find who she loves & what she loves to do. The fashion in the film is just a feast for the eyes, not the main issue of the film.)

Looking For Eric
(The guy is seeing Eric Cantona everytime he's high..who doesn't?)

The Answer Man
(Great casts (Daniels!Pucci!Thirlby!Dennings!), great plot, even though a little sketchy towards the end, it still works..)

MY FAVORITE FILM OF 2009!

10. Zombieland/The Hangover/I Love You, Man (3-way tie!)


9. (500) Days of Summer


8. La Mujer Sin Cabeza (The Headless Woman)


7. Star Trek


6. Adventureland


5. Madeo (Mother)


4. District 9


3. The Hurt Locker


2. Drag Me To Hell


1. Inglourious Basterds

FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2009!

Just in time before the year has come to an end, i proudly presents..
MY FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2009! Woohoo!
Oh yeah, i'll update this post with reviews of the top 10 albums next year.

Honorable Mentions :

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!
Micachu - Jewellery
Manic Street Preachers - Journal For Plague Lovers
Tegan and Sara - Sainthood
Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career
Smith Westerns - Self Titled
JJ - No.2
St. Vincent - Actor

MY FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2009 :

10. Wild Beasts - Two Dancers
9. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
8. The Horrors - Primary Colours
7. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion
6. Bat For Lashes - Two Suns
5. Girls - Album
4. The Pains of Being Pure At Heart - Self Titled
3. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
2. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
1. The xx- xx

"Ich heisse Superfantastisch! Ich trinke Schampus mit Lachsfisch!"

Apakah kalian nonton Franz Ferdinand pada tanggal 14 November nanti?
Jujur, anda akan rugi kalau tidak.
Saya di sini hanya ingin mengingatkan anda bahwa band monumental pada abad ini yang tidak pernah gagal untuk membuat pendengar nya berdansa akan datang, dan belum tentu kita mempunyai kesempatan lain untuk menonton mereka secara langsung.

"The NME said that the band was the latest in the line of art school rock bands featuring The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Duran Duran, Roxy Music, the Sex Pistols, Wire and Blur."

Coba anda buka detail ke-tiga album mereka di wikipedia atau membaca ulasan-ulasan dari kritikus musik di metacritic.com, maka anda akan menemukan betapa besar cinta nya kritikus musik pada karya-karya oleh kuartet dari Skotlandia ini.

Bukan hanya dari kualitas album saja mereka bersinar, live-set mereka selalu mengguncang dengan performa yang enerjik dan charm yang di tonjolkan oleh masing-masing personil di atas panggung.
Apalagi, dengan materi-materi dari album terakhir mereka yang lebih menjorok menuju dance music akan menggelegar di panggung yang besar dan (sekali lagi) tak pernah gagal membuat penonton berdansa sampai gila (lebay).

Lagipula dengan 300 ribu anda akan terhibur dari jam 4 sore sampai jam 4 pagi oleh musisi-musisi lokal (The Sigit, Agrikulture, dll) dan DJ-DJ international (yang saya kurang tahu dan saya juga kurang peduli) yang akan datang, kapan lagi bisa berjoget-joget tanpa rasa bersalah?

Untuk yang tertarik, saya sudah beli tiket. Jadi jangan takut ngga dapet teman di sana. Untuk tiket bisa di beli di SCORE Citos atau Portico Senayan City.

Saya juga telah mencantumkan setlist Franz Ferdinand pada tanggal 30 October kemarin di photo comment (di bawah). Kurang lebih, lagu-lagu yang tercantum di list tersebut kemungkinan besar akan mereka bawakan pada tanggal 14 November nanti. Terima kasih.

-Xandega Tahajuansya, 8 November 2009

CD SALE!

Aksara Kemang is having a CD clearance sale right now. It'll end on the 27th of September.

I had the chance to visit the store last night with my mom. I have to bring her with me because i knew that i'll buy lots of CDs. And when my mom's around, i can beg her for things face-to-face, which usually works much much better than begging through the phone. Oh, yeah, and my debit card got swallowed by the frickin ATM! That's another reason why to bring a mom to a sale.

These are the things i bought and how much i bought it for :

Lindstrøm "Where You Go I Go Too" (Rp. 50.000)

Where You Go I Go Too is the first studio album from Norwegian electronica musician Hans Peter Lindstrøm. I've been hearing nothing but good things about this guy, so i'll give it a try. The album contains three songs, the first song is a 30 minutes long psychedelic electronica, but i haven't listened to the songs thoroughly so i can't give you a descent review right now. Maybe i'll update this post later.

The S.I.G.I.T. "Hertz Dyslexia EP" (Rp. 60.000)

Finally some new tunes by the Indonesian rock'n'roll giant, and finally i bought it because it was out of stock in some of the store i've looked.
Well, what can i say about the EP? it's heavier, it's more complex, it's show the band's range of musical compability which we didn't found in their debut. And the live DVD is so much more than you ask for in the EP. 14 songs and decently shot, awesome.

Vivian Girls "Self Titled" (Rp. 75.000)

MY FAVORITE GIRLS FROM BROOKLYN! they are raw, they are fun and they are awesome. These girls would make you want to start a band. Maybe because their instruments skill is worse than yours, but their songwriting skills is better than yours.
In their debut, the raw music writing with in-your-face attitude like "Tell The World" and "No" mixed with the grainy sounds to support their cutesy punk attitude is why you'll love them. And the song "Where Do You Run To" will be one of your favorite indie rock ballads alongside YYY's "Maps" and Arctic Monkeys' "505".

The Tough Alliance "A New Chance" (Rp. 50.000)

The third LP from the Swedish based electronic giant is just pure awesome dance music. The band who started the breezy electronic sounds from the Scandanavian land which is Sincerely Yours Records, is definitely worth to check out. They have brought us one of the brightest and cheekiest electronic acts with the likes of The Honeydrips, jj and Air France. Unfortunately, the copy that i bought doesn't have the same cover from the one i put above, which is a bummer because the cover above is so awesome. I got the Australian version which have colorful barcode on the cover.

---

The last but not least is a gift from me to one of my dearest friend of all, Herta. Because this is a gift, i would not include the price of the product that i'm going to list.

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart "Self Titled" (12" Vinyl)

Do you remember a time when you were foolishly in love that you would pour your heart out by singing along to your ex-favorite melodramatic band's songs? Well ,you'll feel that exactly like that when you're listening to Pains' debut. It feels like you have already loved their songs when you were younger and now you're reminiscing that twee and sweet-heart feeling. Who doesn't love being in love? So listen to their debut if you want to fall in love all over again with your adolescent love.

PHOENIX!

"The new and awesome Phoenix Line-up with 3 Indonesian groupies..(hot groupies btw..)"

Yep...when Phoenix came to Jakarta, they recruited me as the new member of the band..
I'm the one in the middle..because i am the leader of the band..
wkwkwkwkwkwkwkwk..

"Merchandises on The Table"

On the 1st of August 2009, me and some of my friends met Phoenix in Aksara Bookstore Kemang. It was a meet & greet session and it was open for public..so every indonesian who is a die hard Phoenix fan were probably there..

They came through the Bookstore's door at 1 PM..
And the first people that they ran into was me and my friends..
We were in total shock when they came in!
Everybody in the bookstore were in total shock!
There was this short awkward silence in the store as they smoothly came in through the door, everybody was looking at the four Parisian boys but done nothing but froze out.
Fortunately, we unfroze ourselves by welcome them by their in their native language.. "Bounjour!" we said.. and the band starts smiling real wide and shake all of our hands..
"Ca va?" Branco said (i think)
"Ca va bien, merci!" we said..At that moment we were all glad that our school taught us French..

"Deck strolling through the bookstore lookin all weirded out when the awkward silence occured"

Finally, the band got to their table to start the meet & greet session.
After the guy who was in charge told the instructions and started the session, nobody walked towards the band. Nobody moved for a split second.

"What The Heck! Just Do It!" said my mini-me with a halo on his head who were sitting on my right shoulder.

Then, i walk towards the band and we communicate.


They love Jakarta, but Branco said that "We haven't eat" (i think that's what he said, but it doesn't make sense..their accent is too thick for me to understand..)

And they said that 2009 have been a blast..

Christian's favorite album of 2009 so far : Dirty Projector's "Bitte Orca"

Christian's favorite song from Bitte Orca : "Two Doves"

Branco said that he didn't read his Interview with Grizzly Bear's Ed Droste, but i did.

And Branco asked my favorite album of 2009 so far : Of course i said that WAP is my favorite, so he wanted to know my second favorite, and i answered Grizzly Bear's "Veckatimest".

Then, they all signed my IPod, and i said "Merci à tous"

After i've finished my conversation with the band, my friends came up to them with their home-made Phoenix T-shirts.

"After i've finished my conversation with the band, my friends came up to them with their home-made Phoenix T-shirts."

After Global TV interviewed them (we waved at them during their interview, and Chris waved back to us, awesome), we stayed in the bookstore, hopin to get more glimpse of the Parisian boys before we watch them in concert later that night. We waited by the exit door, so they'll see us as the walked out. And that was just what happened, as they walking out, we said "Au Revoir" to all of them,and i said "have a good stay here in Jakarta!" suddenly, Thomas Mars stopped, see me in the eye and said "Thank you!" and then he continued to walk (O__o).

The last guy to walked out was Branco, he noticed a cheeky Aksara "Recycled" bag, he asked how much is it but the store gave it to him for free.
Before he walked out, i said "bye Branco, i'll be seeing you tonite!"
He replied "Well, i'll see you too! where you'll be standing tonight? which side of the stage will you be standing tonight?"
Whoa! i wasn't expecting this reply from him, i never thought that he would took my random ramble seriously! so i said to him "i'll probably standing on front of the stage, on the middle."
"okay then! i'll see you tonight!" he said while tapped my shoulder.

"Branco asking me (the hand with no head is my hand) where will i be standing in the crowd of the concert later that night"

It's a blessing for the people of Indonesia from entertainers around the world by still willing to perform after all the terror that occurred in our country. And it's a chance of a lifetime to meet and watch international musicians in our country.
Thank you Phoenix, thank you.