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English is better than Bahasa Indonesia? No way!
2008-04-28 03:17:00
Whether you realise it or not, if you?re an Indonesia n and you love this blog, chances are high that you agree to the statement that says ?English is more superior than Bahasa Indonesia?. Not that I?m stereotyping all Indonesians here. Because honestly I used to think that way too, until I finally reached a conclusion that all languages are equal before God. Just like race, religion, or sex, language is simply a cultural feature that could be used to trace the historical aspects of a particular society. Hence, since each culture in the world has their positive and negative traits, I do believe that there is no such thing called ?the superiority of language?. In direct contrast to the French, I have known fellow Indonesians to be ?unproud? of their own language. They think that speaking English is the coolest thing on earth that one could ever achieve. I don?t need to quote from Roy Morgan here, because I have examples of my own. Here is one typical dialogue between me and a new...
More About: Bahasa Indonesia

The songs I listen to
2008-04-27 02:20:00
Whenever I?m feeling down, I listen to Avril. Whenever I?m feeling cheerful, I listen to Corrine May. When I?m having a normal day, it?s either Coldplay or John Mayer or Jack Johnson. But over the last couple of days, I listen to ALL of them at one straight shot. Ugh? All this mood swing is sickening me.Ehm.Please forgive me for all this emotional crap. I know I should?ve shown a more professional attitude in this English blog. And I shouldn?t be treating this blog like a stepchild. It?s my other journal that I should treat as such. But strangely enough, my friends are much more interested in my other journal. They say that my personal writings are the things that they could relate to, hence all the interest. Some even have suggested redirecting their blogroll to that newbie journal instead of this one. Oh, please. If I have granted you access to my Indonesian-language blog, consider yourself privileged. Because not everyone is allowed to read it, which is exactly the reas...
More About: Songs , Listen

Random clobbers and the beauty of façade
2008-04-22 22:30:00
As a commemoration of my 300th blog entry today, I have removed several potentially libelous blog entries I?ve posted in the last couple of months in regards to the recently passed controversial Internet and Electronic bill, which had the support of less than 1% of Indonesian bloggers . No wonder. Most of us bloggers couldn?t speak out very much for ourselves these days, which is exactly the reason why I?ve been circulating out protests by using a list of e-mails that a top blogger has provided. Our works have kinda become semi-underground now, and let's just hope there won?t be any neo-Che Guevara suddenly springing up of nowhere.There are also two blog entries I have removed in order to save myself from embarrassment. If you have been a loyal reader of this blog for more than a month, you'll know straightaway which blog entries they are (because I've been posting one blog entry everyday, without fail since December 2007). Just click here to find which are the days I've inten...
More About: Beauty , Random

Day 3: The travel to Tomohon
2008-04-22 02:00:00
~This is part of the Minahasa-Sangihe Chronicle. Date of journal: Sunday, 9 March 2008 ~ (My deepest apologies everyone, this blog post is not yet finished....)Seriously, even till this day I still couldn?t believe meeting an old schoolfriend from SD Don Bosco (Pondok Indah, Jakarta)?. in Manado. The world is indeed a small place. Hence on the Sunday morning, Uncle R and I went for the morning mass at the newly-built Manado Cathedral (which ended at 9 AM) and from 9 onwards I parted with Uncle R as he chose to stay in the hotel room. Then I went with Cecep ?who had been waiting in front of the chapel across the street? for the walk around the town. We walked from Cathedral to the Manado Boulevard (which wasn?t located far away) and walked for as many kilometres as I could recall. But since the Boulevard itself was a seaside road, I kinda enjoy it because it reminded me of my walk in Sanur, Bali (and the memories there, gee-hee). Cecep and I chatted about a lot of things...
More About: Travel

Indonesian Corruption Watch website hacked by a pro-Kosovan independence
2008-04-21 02:39:00
Just found this hacked website during my morning tea this morning (21st April, 0.00 GMT).Indonesian Corruption Watch website hacked by a pro-Kosovan independenceCuriously enough, I don't recall the Indonesian President SBY having ever made an official statement regarding Indonesia's stand towards Kosovo's independence.Indonesia is neutral on that issue.So why are Kosovans hacking the Indonesian website? I think it's quite possible that the hackers themselves aren't politically motivated to begin with.And we Indonesian netizens are starting to see how deeply flawed the Indonesian network security is, with all the ease to hack them at will.
More About: Website , Independence

The difference between the flag of Indonesia and the flag of Monaco
2008-04-20 03:16:00
The proper English adjective for ?flag of Monaco ? would be ?Monégasque flag?, but such a term would be quite unfamiliar to most beginners of English, hence the title. Now, let me ask you here: Are you Indonesia n? If you answer yes to the question above, then please answer the question below correctly: What is the difference between the Indonesian flag and the Monégasque flag? If you answer ?they?re the same? to that question, then shame on you. Your six years in SD obviously have been wasted. Haha, just kidding. Here, let me tell you the difference between them in case you don?t know: The ratio of width:length in the Indonesian flag is 2:3, while The ratio of width:length in the Monégasque flag is 4:5. Apart from that ratio alone, they look quite identical from afar.
More About: Flag , Difference

Why horror movies are better watched after sunset
2008-04-19 05:51:00
Let me make it clear here: I?ve never been a fan of horror movies, nor do I have any tendencies to like dark stuff like Goth freaks, psychopaths, ghosts, vampires or whatsoever. However, once in a while I?m always in for a challenge; a challenge to see how much I can cope with a horror flick. The scariest movie I?ve ever watched was Pet Sematary, which was about ?what else? Pet cemetery. I guess they should?ve put a ?[sic]? sign beside the movie title, just like Jane Austen?s Love and Freindship which goes noticed-yet-neglected for centuries. No wonder the young generation nowadays is so poor in their spellings. Now let?s get back to the main topic. I choose to say that horror movies are better watched after sunset because ?as my logic goes? if you watch it in the afternoon or in the morning, the movie will haunt you throughout the day. That is, if the movie is spine-chilling enough. And that?s what had happened to me several years back when I watched Pet Sematary at 10 AM. Whi...
More About: Movies , Horror , Sunset

Noah?s flood: Impact of the First Global Warming?
2008-04-18 04:50:00
Genesis 6:17, 7:17 For truly, I will send a great flow of waters over the earth, for the destruction from under the heaven of all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything on the earth will come to an end...... And for forty days the waters were over all the earth; and the waters were increased so that [Noah ?s] ark was lifted up high over the earth.....Sura Hud (11:37)Build the ship under Our eyes and by Our inspiration, and speak not unto Me on behalf of those who do wrong. Lo! they will be drowned.Both the Biblical and Quranic quotation above were taken from the Noah?s deluge story. And that flood happened thousands of years ago. However, don?t any of you feel that story is a bit too familiar to the adversity we?re about to face in another 50 years or so? I don?t need to quote Al Gore here, he?s got the spotlight much enough. As various studies have reported, more than 80% of Jakarta will sink in the 2050, and the same thing would also happen to the Netherlands, and oth...
More About: Global Warming , Global , Flood

Virginity for guys... Is it important?
2008-04-17 04:40:00
It is important.I couldn't help wondering why is the world society still so male-chauvinistic these days, with all the indifference towards the fact whether a guy is still virgin or not before he gets married.I've always been a liberal in my political stance, but I prefer to be conservative on this issue:Virginity is important for guys at my age (of 18) and for as long as he's still unmarried. Premarital sex sucks!And I don't support abortion. Abortion equals murder.
More About: Guys

?Ayat-ayat Cinta? book review: The beauty of love, tragedy, and hope
2008-04-16 13:41:00
Please tell me, how can love be so beautiful? Reading romance stuff has never been my thing, because I always prefer penning my own love sonnets myself, but truly there is a lot more to expect in the Indonesian-language book ?Ayat-Ayat Cinta? (Verses of Love ). If you haven?t read the book yourself, I strongly suggest you against continue reading this blog entry because there will be a lot of spoilers ahead. It is going to be translated into English soon (by its own author Habiburrahman El Shirazy), so I think the patience to wait the English version would be quite worthwhile. To be noted here, I?m writing this review out of pure amazement of the entire story because, as some of you my blog readers might have known, I?m an outsider. And I haven?t watched the movie yet, which is the reason why my review of the book may differ greatly from the movie synopses you might have read in The Jakarta Post or any other English tabloids.The setting...This book is very worth-reading, with ...
More About: Beauty , Tragedy , Book Review , Review

A Painful Wait
2008-04-15 12:31:00
The poem below was written on Saturday, 12 April 2008 by myself (Toshihiko Atsuyama). It?s dedicated to someone special, to whom I hold back my dearest feelings?If I am to stay frigid,let me be,sitting alone here covered,within debris of darknessIf I am to stay gelid,let me be,soaked up indulgent,within saturnalia of sorrowAs the clock ticked by,as days came and went,as calendar pages were torn piece by piece,my lonely soul stands still patiently for you,waits unrelentingly for your heart,despite the bore of everyday life,amidst the bustle of South Jakarta.I know it?s pathetic,to wait in silence for you,wailing endlessly for your love,creating an imaginary story of you and me,composing a dull poem that I know you won?t read,only to hear myself breathing agonizinglywithin this deep cry of anguishWait ing you,waiting for ?us?,my soul screeches excoriatingly,echoes itself within this stillness...I don?t care whatever would happen to me anymore,even if I am to wait in silence,to drown in...

Pelepasan
2008-04-14 12:35:00
This Indonesian poem below was written on Sunday, 13 April 2008 by myself (Toshihiko Atsuyama). Sorry folks, I'm not gonna translate my own works into English.Dengan cinta yang tak terbalas,Ku terdiam dalam keheningan,Meredam rasa yang tak terucap,Terkubur mimpi akan dirimu.Ku menyesal tak terkira,Saat kau di sisi ku tak peduli,Sekarang kalbu pun menghampiri,Karna kau pergi terpaut yang lain.Di tengah hiruk-pikuk Jakarta,yang kan segera kurindukan nanti,kulayangkan sebuah doa,semoga kau bahagia bersama dirinya?

?Atonement? movie review
2008-04-13 12:22:00
First of all, I must remind you that if you hadn?t watched this movie yet, I suggest you to skip reading this blog entry altogether since this movie is very worth watching. I promise you, you won?t waste your money on watching this movie.I had known that this movie was adapted from a novel of the same title. Thank God I didn?t have enough spare time to read it, because I know that if I had, I would?ve been as enraptured as I had in watching Atonement yesterday.~~Spoiler starts here~~The storyline of this Atonement movie was indeed one of the most shocking I?ve ever encountered this far. And I choose to say it as ?shocking? and not ?thrilling? or ?suspenseful? or even ?tense? because those 3 last adjectives could be misused if they were used to describe this movie!Mind you, the real surprise of the movie came at the last minutes of the movie. And I was going to give this movie a very bad review before I finally found out the hidden secret that Ian McEwans, the author of the story, ha...
More About: Movie , Movie Review , Review

What does ?half-naked? mean, actually?
2008-04-11 19:01:00
When a person says that someone is ?half-naked?, what does he/she mean? What is ?half-naked? actually? How do you define it? Is it the state of being partially disrobed? Is it the state of being unclothed from the waist up? You know, since being naked would mean that someone is bare, nude, without any concealing garments whatsoever, and since half means 50%, then being half-naked should be logically defined as 50% of all the defining features that people would say as ?being naked? And as you can see, a normal guy walking down a pavement Kuta, Bali wearing a T-shirt and beige shorts could be defined as half-naked if we follow that definition, since his limbs and neck weren?t covered at all. And he doesn?t even have to be bare-chested. It?s indeed funny how phrases like that could be twisted from its most literal meaning, eh? And ?half-naked? has never seemed to be carrying any figurative connotation in the first place. Hmmm?. Please forgive the above language philosophical qu...
More About: Half

Diguyur derasnya hujan
2008-04-11 15:13:00
This Indonesian poem was written by Toshihiko Atsuyamain 2008 aku merasa gelisahakan jarak yang kan memisahdengan putus asa ku berpasrahpada diri sendiri aku marah di bawah hujan ku berjalanberselimut penyesalantak berpayung tak berkawandiguyur derasnya hujan aku menyesal saat kusadariberkat Tuhan tlah kutolakkubuang kesempatan berhargatanpa tahu rencanaNya yang esa di bawah kelamnya awandengan selimut kehampaankutiti jalan tak berujungdiguyur derasnya hujan betapa ku ingin kembalimengulang hari demi harimenarik kata-kata yang kusesalisemenjak ku tinggalkan Bali aku berandai mundurkan waktuaku ingin sibakkan kalbuhatiku penuh gundah gulanayang tak henti gerogoti rasa Oh Tuhan cerahkanlah hariberikanlah aku pengertianbukakanlah aku pintu harapananugerahkanlah aku mata hati dengan lilin yang belum tersulutdia mengajariku artinya cintabagaimana bertulus hatiwalau kubalas dengan air tuba Ku hanya bisa berharap, berdoa, dan bersyukurberharap Tuhan dengarkan ratapankuberdoa bagi ...

Every Indonesian masseuse has to wear padlocks on their undies and skirts:
2008-04-10 05:30:00
Wow. Kudos to the government for having thought up such a holy idea... This is indeed one of the amazing things you couldn't have found elsewhere in the world. Not even an economic superpower like Japan or USA has ever thought up of such an idea.Indonesia has become a very holy country these days, with all its Holey streets in Jakarta, the banning of online pornography, and now this.Believe it or not, this is the real illustration.Image Copyright belongs to Media-College Publisher.Here is my English translation in case you don't understand the Indonesian news clip below:The Jakarta Tourism Department is considering to enforce a new regulation that obligates masseuses (i.e. female massagers) to fasten padlock on their undies and skirts. This kind of regulation is viewed as a way to banish the bad image of massage parlours as a promiscuous den or a veiled brothel. This regulation of padlocking undies and skirts has been enforced in Batu City, East Java. Hence it is not impossible t...
More About: Skirts , Wear , Undies

When President Bush shed tears
2008-04-09 04:10:00
Picture courtesy of U.S. Department of Art & TechnologyIn both Indonesian and English language, there is an Idiom of "menangis air mata buaya" (shedding crocodile tears), which means to pretend that you feel sad or sorry about something.I'm not commenting anything about Bush 's crying here, except for the fact that the picture above doesn't look emotional enough to me. Oh please, is he casting for a Korean soap opera or something? clipped from blogs.abcnews.comBush Emotional at Medal Ceremony for Fallen Navy SEALApril 08, 2008 6:29 PM ABC's Jennifer Duck reports: Clearly choked up, and at times wiping away his own tears, President Bush awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously at the White House Tueday to Navy SEAL Petty Officer Michael Monsoor, who was killed in Iraq in September of 2006 when he fell on a grenade to save comrades during fighting in Ramadi.
More About: President Bush

Let's sign this petition to reopen Youtube and other blocked websites!
2008-04-09 01:25:00
Feeling kinda pissed off with certain people due to the blocking of Youtube , Multiply, Myspace, and Rapidshare lately? Don't worry, you're facing the same adversity with all Indonesian netizens.With this petition, hopefully those chaps would consider reopening it, perhaps after certain weeks. Just enter this website to sign the petition.
More About: Websites , Petition , Sign

Day 2: A bump into an old friend
2008-04-08 17:30:00
~This is part of the Minahasa-Sangihe Chronicle. Date of journal: Saturday, 8 March 2008 ~ When I woke up at 8 the next morning, I hurriedly opened our room curtain and I was fascinated to find a bustling city under my feet, but two mountains at the direction of 000º and 090º each. Wow. My first impression of Manado was how green and tidy it was. And it has an amazing vista on its suburbs, which aroused my curiosity even further. After having Nasi kuning (yellow-rice fried in kunyit) for breakfast; Uncle R and I headed out to look for Oma Tr?s house. Oma Tr was apparently a quite well-known figure in Manado since she was the wife of a late acquaintance of a famed General. Due to her fame, Uncle R was able to locate the house (which was very close to the Jengki fish market) simply by asking at a nearby police station. When we arrived at her home, she was very surprised to see us and gave us a very warm welcome. She wasn?t expecting us at all in the least bit (s...
More About: Friend , Bump

Swimming as a new hobby and the tan that it brings
2008-04-08 02:56:00
I?ve recently taken up a new hobby of swimming as a result of my two weeks in Sangihe? But still, swimming on an ordinary swimming pool never feels quite the same with if it?s done on the beach. Whenever I ask Mom for a day out on the swimming pool, she always likes to wait until it?s after 3 PM or so, because tanning is one thing that she fears. While I prefer swimming at 11 AM. ?But we?re white Mom! Look at it, we may not be pure bule (Caucasian) but we?re still white Indonesians anyway..? ?Well if you insist, why don?t you go swimming yourself? I don?t wanna get a tan? The idea of tanning has never entered those who live in the tropical regions like Indonesia, even by those who are white/fair-skinned in the first place, presumably because such an idea is inconceivable and thus deemed as ?an anomaly? by the whole society. I don?t need to use any Roy Morgan surveys here to back up my theory above. Just have a look yourself: in public swimming pools across Indonesia (with the e...
More About: Swimming , Hobby

My extreme jealousy
2008-04-07 14:10:00
I have a confession to make. I don?t know why, but I easily get jealous over a lot of things. Here are a few examples: When a male friend finally gets a date with a new girlfriend, I?m jealous. Not jealous because of his hot date, but jealous because I haven?t got any date of my own. When a cousin bought the newest handphone, I got covetous as I compared it to my 5-year-old Nokia 6100 handphone? When another tells me a story of his recent vacation to Japan, I get jealous because I haven?t got the money to visit Japan yet. However, none of my friends/relatives has ever labeled me an ?easily envious guy? because I always do my best to hide it. I just hope that this jealousy of mine would subside soon? It?s one of the 7 deadly sins anyway, isn?t it?
More About: Extreme , Jealousy

New blogging format
2008-04-07 06:11:00
Starting from today onwards, I'll be blogging twice a day in comparison to my usual one-entry-a-day habit... Both entries will be posted in the morning and evening each.This conclusion is taken as to accommodate my writing streak that has gone to an addictive level now. I just hope that people would still credit me for the quality -not the quantity- of my blog entries.Oh and by the way, below is an iseng snapshot I took recently.Seems familliar? You bet. It's Ratu Plaza.For Marisa Duma and Phil Ryan, I've granted your requests to put a name-url commenting system. But that means that I have to put a word-verification system, a thing I'm previously reluctant to do, because a staggering 98.67% of internet users loathe everytime they have to verify that they are, in fact, a human.I just want to ward off the spammers, that's all.The Haloscan commenting-template, which is quite nice, has been adopted by various bloggers such as Jakartass. However, adopting it to my blog would mean t...
More About: Blogging , Format

Unshaven moustache and beard
2008-04-07 03:59:00
I?m really not in the mood to shave my facial hairs these days. Partially due to my indifference to some of my own aesthetic concerns and the other due to my own curiosity of how I look like with all these facial hairs. I firstly thought I?d look shabbier in person with both these moustache and beard untrimmed. But recently, I?m starting to see how I actually do look better this way, hahaha? I look more manly and more mature now. It?s perhaps unfortunate that, I must admit here, the real me isn?t a very mature young man to begin with. I still have a lot to learn?..
More About: Beard

What do you think of interfaith marriage?
2008-04-06 10:58:00
Last week, my dear friend PL confided to me in our Yahoo Messenger chat of a problem she?s having with her boyfriend V. An ordinary couple-fight? No. Apparently, it turns out that the problem they?re having is much bigger than a mere fight. Here?s the transcript of our chat (it was originally written in Indonesian, hence this is the modified English translation). PL: so sad?. Been sobbin all nite, bro?..Toshi: wassup?PL: I?m havin problem w/ VToshi: what kind of prob? Mind tellin me?PL: we couldn?t continue our relationshipPL: there?s a BIG difference between us.. but neither of us is willing to end thisToshi: why? What difference are u talking abt?Toshi: isn?t the difference is what makes love beautiful? Or am I missing a point here?PL: the difference is our religionsPL: it?s impossible to hav 2 faiths under one roofToshi: err? I thought he?s also a Christian?PL: he?s CatholicPL: I can?t convert into Catholicism and he can?t convert into Protestan...
More About: Marriage , Interfaith

Stimulative website for Dogs
2008-04-05 11:27:00
Using the word "P***" would make my blog banned by the Indonesian govt (according to the recently passed law), hence the alteration on the title. But this pic below sure is a laugh!Source: Kaskus
More About: Dogs , Website

Becak Aspal (The Faux Pedicab)
2008-04-04 17:35:00
No, of course I don?t mean the word that is defined as ?asphalt? in English. The as-pal (mind the dash) here is the Indonesian slang contraction which stands for Asli-tapi-Palsu (Real-yet-Fake). Real-yet-Fake is indeed a bit too long for an English equivalent. I agree with that. That?s why I was so delighted to find out the exact English equivalent just now: ?faux-?. And also, ?pedicab? is the English word for the Indonesian ?becak?. Rickshaw is the term which is more appropriate for the Chinese ?pulled? ones, instead of the Indonesian ?pushed? ones. Just remember to add another word after that dash. Let me digress. I also found this interesting quote just now: ?The best place to hide something is in plain sight? Agatha Christie.

My own autobiographical essay
2008-04-03 01:00:00
Last week, my dear friend KZ asked me to help her in making a narrative essay that consisted of a couple paragraphs in English for her assignment submission at school. Being the helpful friend as I always am, I agreed to help her but I told her to wait some time as I hadn?t read anything English during my vacation to Sangihe and Manado. On the next day, I was finally able to compose the essay after reading The Jakarta Post and watching CNN. Well, narrative essay is a bit advanced topic for me to teach her, hence I gave her the paragraphs I composed myself. I don?t exactly call it plagiarism, since it?s fully with my own consent. How kind I am, eh..? Haha. It took no trouble for me to write it, since it?s largely autobiographical anyway (deriving from my own experience during my vacation somewhere in the northern part of Indonesia) (^_^) Below is the entire essay: Who?s that girl on the frame, Harry asked Mr Pierre. Little did he know that he would be more than welcome in tha...
More About: Essay

Day 1: The flight to Manado
2008-04-02 08:55:00
~This is part of the Minahasa-Sangihe Chronicle. Date of journal: Friday, 7 March 2008 ~ So I was wrong back then when I wrote here that Manadonese have reverted their city name?s spelling from ?Manado? to ?Menado?. I found out that the correct spelling was still "Manado" because the plane ticket still spelled it that way. Hence my use of the correct spelling now. Uncle R and I arrived at the Soekarno-Hatta airport at 14:00 while we were supposed to be having a 19:00 flight. That meant that we had plenty of time to burn. Great. I started to regret not bringing my ?Eldest? novel. It was a five-hour wait spent by reading the newspaper(s!), some printed Wikipedia stuff I brought along, and Jack Johnson on my mp3 player. If you wanna have some grub for your hours-long flight to any part of Indonesia, I strongly advise you against taking a Lion Air flight. Before Uncle R and I board the airplane, we had some meal because Uncle R had forewarned me that the Lion Air flight we...
More About: Flight

A horrible April Fool prank
2008-03-31 21:00:00
~Author unknown~A young mother had just given birth to a new born baby, the nurse was just congratulating her, when the doctor came in bouncing the baby from hand to hand. The mother looked startled. The doctor then said"Here catch."And promptly tossed the baby to the mother, but it landed on the window ledge and fell out the window. The lady shrieked and said, "You bastard, you've killed my baby!"The doctor replied:"April Fool , it was dead already!"
More About: Prank

What One Rupiah could buy...
2008-03-31 13:51:00
this is amusing ^^ clipped from metromad.blogspot.com Five things you could buy for one rupiah in the 1950s: 5 cups of coffee (for you and your mates) two packs of cigarettes (to go with the coffee) two litres of rice (two-day's sustenance for a family of four) two Nasi Goreng brackets (for you and your date) a bus ticket home (still saving up for the motorbike)