KG Shortfest 2007 Telah Dibuka!

Kafegaul Short Story Festival adalah ajang tahunan warga cerpen forum KG yang terbuka bagi siapa saja. dengan mengambil tema "Inspired by Music" untuk tahun ini, diharapkan perlombaan ini dapat membantu mengasah kreativitas dan bakat menulis para user. lomba ini terbuka untuk semua warga KG, dan kami sangat mengharapkan partisipasi dari anda sekalian untuk turut meramaikan ajang ini dengan mendaftar sebagai user forum KG di sini.

berikut beberapa ketentuan yang harus diperhatikan bagi yang ingin ikut lomba ini:

• kami memberikan waktu selama sebulan penuh, 1 Juli - 4 Agustus untuk para peserta mempersiapkan karangannya.

• panitia menyediakan satu buah lagu instrumental sebagai sumber inspirasi para peserta.

• karangan dibuat melalui word processor seperti microsoft word, open office, atau sejenisnya, dan dikirim ke email panitia (yang nanti akan diberitahu sesaat sebelum submission dibuka) beserta nama username para peserta di KG.

• karangan yang diserahkan adalah karangan baru yang sama sekali belum dipublikasikan dalam bentuk apapun dan di manapun. jadi betul-betul karangan yang dikirim adalah karangan murni hasil inspirasi dari lagu yg tersedia.

• panjang karangan adalah 1000-1500 kata (3-6 halaman A4 dengan jarak spacing 1.5).

• jenis bahasa yang umum dipergunakan adalah bahasa indonesia, namun tidak terbatas pada bahasa baku, tergantung konteks cerita. penggunaan istilah asing pun diperbolehkan. namun perlu diingat, ini adalah perlombaan cerita pendek berbahasa indonesia.

• tidak diperkenankan bagi para peserta untuk mengepost karangan dan mengakui mengikuti ajang festival ini di manapun di KG selama perlombaan berlangsung, dikarenakan kami akan memuat karangan anda secara anonim, sehingga penilaian juri dan pembaca akan lebih objektif. kami akan membuka identitas para pengarang sesaat setelah penilaian berakhir dan pengumuman pemenang dipublikasikan. jadi dalam tahap ini yang mengetahui cerita dan pengarangnya hanyalah para penulis, panitia dan saya sendiri sebagai pencetus ajang ini

• submission akan dibuka selama seminggu penuh, 5-11 Agustus, dan penyeleksian akan dilakukan tanggal 12-18 Agustus. sementara itu, penilaian akan dilakukan para juri selama dua minggu penuh, 19 Agustus - 1 September, dan pengumuman pemenang hingga penutupan lomba akan dilakukan setelahnya hingga 8 September.

• untuk hadiah, juara pertama akan mendapatkan special award dari KG dan juga cerpennya akan disticky selama satu bulan penuh dan dipasang di siggy para panitia dan juri. cerpen runner-up dan terfavorit juga akan disticky selama satu bulan penuh, dan khusus cerpen runner-up juga akan dipasang di siggy panitia dan juri selama sebulan penuh. keterangan lebih lanjut mengenai hadiah masih akan terus diupdate.

read more...

Too Perfect for a Labyrinth

usually fantasy films are something I should avoid. even the Lord of the Rings trilogy made me sleep during each screenings (no rotten eggs throwing on me please). however, this wonderfully crafted pieces of art is a different story. Pan's Labyrinth is simply beautiful, and I couldn't even get my eyes off my laptop screen during watching.

Pan's Labyrinth is a perfect combination of a dark fairy-tale with a realistic post-war event. it is well-supported with a nice cinematography all over the film, fantastic each character developments, great CGI effects, perfect production design, and even the soundtracks. simply said, the relationship between the mise-en-scene with the storyline is just too good to be true. no wonder this film has won plenty awards out there, including the high prestige Academy Awards for its cinematography, make-up, and art direction.

Pan's Labyrinth tells a story of a fairy-tale believer Ofelia, who travels with her pregnant mother to meet her stepfather. that dreaming about living in a fairy-tale world suddenly come true when she discovers that she is actually a princess called Moanna, and she has to do certain tasks before the full-moon to get her kingdom back. the whole story takes place in the event of 1944 post-civil war in Spain.

another spectacular aspect you wouldn't let it off your brain when you see it is the looks of the creatures; they are simply unforgettable. you must see the look of the faun, the fairies, and even the child-eating monster. they are different than any other creatures we have seen in films. special funny note for the child-eating monster, when I saw his eyes on his hands and he looked around by putting up his hands in front of his pale face, I just simply thought of that ridiculous 'peek-a-boo!' thingy that most mothers usually do to tease their young babies, and a used-to-be-child-singer cheap whore called Maissy did in her TV program, 'Ci-Luk-Ba!' (same meaning as peek-a-boo, but different sense if done by a tasteless tramp), produced by her rich dad in those sickening old days.

it's a shame that I missed the screening of this film during Jakarta International Film Festival last year, because this film is better watched on the big screen. however, looks like that 21 Cinema is going to screen it and I might watch it for the second time when I'm in Indonesia.

final words to finish this entry, kudos to Guillermo del Torro!

Cast: Ivana Baquero, Doug Jones, Sergi Lopez
Writer & Director: Guillermo del Torro
Country: Spain
Runtime: 112 min.

read more...

L for Lame

I don't know what the hype of Death Note is all about that I must follow my curiosity and watch the film at last, resulting in a big disappointment that I wish I could put my name onto the book myself and die. at least certain people that talk about this film at all times will be aware of their own lives, as watching this film may cause sudden death.

basically, this film follows the discovery of a book called "Death Note" by a high school student named Light Yagami. soon, he finds out that he can kill any people by writing their names onto the book. not only that, he can also create the scenarios for each deaths. immediately the number of sudden death cases in Japan increases and this attracts the International Police Organization and a mysterious detective called L (you'll be surprised when you see the appearance of this L. like I said, L is for 'Lame'). as usual, for the rest of the story, just google or wikipedia it, or even watch it yourself.

actually the theme of this film (or should I say manga for the source of the adaptation) is brilliant. I like it at the first place when I read the story; a boy making a pact with the devil, a book that can kill people, the competition between the two opposite sides, and don't forget the betrayal (warning for this!). however, the execution itself ruins the whole thing. the unstructured plot, the annoying jump-cuts, the comical hyperbolic characters, the not-so-cinematic views (yeah, the cinematography sucks!), and the appearance of the death god Ryuk complete the destruction. without the appearance of the death god this film might be better. that creature reduces the level of maturity of this film, and it sends me back into the era when Ultraman, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and Black Masker Rider were my everyday must-sees.

some unreasonable aspects in this film also made me difficult to digest the whole concept. is it usual in Japan that we can find a mini-TV as a bonus inside a potato chips packaging? (of course I know that little prick put the TV himself. I'm saying this in a sarcastic way, you morons!) or even how come Light's father doesn't allow his own son to investigate the case, where he as one of the respectable police instructor put his trust to a weirdo, desserts-freak, so-called detective L(ame)?

even so, this film still has some unforgettable morals in it. we can see how worthless our lives can be; put a name into the book, that people dies suddenly, big shit! you don't have to be careful in your lives as you can die that easy (I think Indonesia needs the book more than Japan, and not only one, but hundreds exemplars!). or even another thing, you gotta find out what your lover's activities in every single details, so that he/she will not get any chance to have an affair and finally create a very neat plan to kill you.

final words, this film has the second part entitled Death Note the Last Name that I haven't watched (luckily it wasn't named Death Note: Nama Ditulis, Mati Lagi Satu, Polisi Nyari Pelakunya, Gak Ketemu! Tolol Deh Itu Polisi!). and if you freaks can't get enough of this film, there are the original manga you can read and a 37-episodes anime to watch. but frankly said, watching this film saves your lives more than watching any of Indonesian cults (Hidayah: Mayat Membusuk Di Kali, Anak Durhaka Mati Merana, etc).

Cast: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Ken'ichi Matsuyama, Shido Nakamura.
Director: Shusuke Kaneko
Country: Japan
Runtime: 126 min.

read more...

In the Mood for Blueberry

I was just browsing around when I finally caught one name that I'm really fond of; Wong Kar Wai (In the Mood for Love, Chungking Express, 2046). although I've just seen two of his films so far, for me, he's already a great filmmaker with his own breaking-the-rules sense and style.

like I said before, I've only seen two of his films, and that includes Chungking Express and 2046. based on my observation through those films, I can see that he usually focus more on the cinematic and artistic elements during the development of each films, rather than follow the whole script. rumor has it that he has never had and used any single solid script for his films. so, it may as well be said that he loves to work more on his feelings during the process rather than on what's already been prepared before. in one simple statement, he hates plans (maybe. I'm not him by the way).

ok, I'm not gonna talk about him anymore, as this entry is not an essay reviewing him and his entire films. for more details about him and all his films, you can just go to this site. this posting is about his new upcoming film called My Blueberry Nights. for your information, this is his first English film, and it was the opening film for the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.

from the poster above, we can see the two faces that we all have known about, Rachel Weisz and Jude Law. however, they are not the only ones to be seen in this film. in fact, My Blueberry Nights focuses on the first journey of Elizabeth (Norah Jones) across America. during her journey, she meets with several other characters played by Rachel Weisz, Jude Law, and Natalie Portman. from those different characters, she finally finds the true meaning of loneliness and hollowness inside herself, and as her relationships with them develop, she explores more and more of herself, and of what she is really doing in America.

after seeing the trailer and several screen captures, I can say that this film is still with Wong Kar Wai's usual elements, in which he always play around with the color composition, framing, and other cinematography aspects. I just hope that this time he uses the stronger script because usually his previous films are lack of the story developments and I couldn't quite catch and enjoy the films because of that.

in this film, there are lots of aspects that can be put into a list of trivia, after the director's first English film as a start. here we can see the reunion of Jude Law and Natalie Portman that we probably last saw both of them together in Closer (2004). also, this film is Norah's debut in acting.

finally, all I can say is, I'm really looking forward to see this film no matter how hard it is gonna be. I want to see how the 'beauty' and the story mixed together, so that this film is not only Wong Kar Wai's first English film, but also the first, in terms of the solidity and subtlety.

read more...

Addicted to 'Camomile'

when one of my online friends told me about Emi Fujita, I could only come up with one simple question, 'who the hell is that?'. but after a while listening to one of her songs for the first time, that question simply became one little solid phrase, 'good as hell!'. I couldn't even explain my mixed-up feelings at that time listening to those audiophiles! the only bit dissapointment is her English pronunciation, which is not as solid as her voice, but it is still acceptable, concerning that she's not a native speaker.

for those who don't have any idea of who Emi Fujita is, she is a Japanese singer and the Camomile Series are just a bit of what she has done so far. a lot more about her, you can just wikipedia it.

basically, Camomile Series features a lot of popular western songs and most of them are oldies. so far there are already three Camomile albums, including Camomile (2001), Camomile Blend (2003), and Camomile Classics (2006). I've only listened to the first two and all tracks are fantastic! every one of them pulls me out of my hollowness and brings me into different kinds of peace, every time I go through each songs.

if you are a fan of either Fields of Gold, Unchained Melody, In My Life, or even The Corrs' Runaway and Sting's Every Breath You Take, this series of albums is definitely for you. even though most songs are categorized as oldies, it doesn't mean you have to grow your white hair first to enjoy those.

alright then, I'm not gonna continue this chitchat thingy about how good my life is having Emi Fujita as one of my favorite singers. you don't need to be encouraged to describe how good she is, because she is already almost perfect without having you to admit it.

so now I'm gonna prepare my sleep because it's 6 AM already. of course it's including listening through the whole albums all over again for my peaceful rest.

read more...

The Long-Awaited Photograph

geez! a lot of promising Indonesian films to be released soon. after missing the screening of 3 Hari Untuk Selamanya, I'm not gonna skip this one and Quickie Express as well. but sadly, looks like that my days in Indonesia are gonna be filled with some Indonesian craps because usually a good Indonesian film need quite a long time after the announcement to be released. even some of them are brought into some international film festivals first before being screened in our dearest motherland.

according to its official website, The Photograph is about the relationship between a former prostitute called Sita (Shanty) with a traveling photographer called Johan (Lim Kay Tong). their whole story is developed through certain photographs taken by Johan. for more details about the synopsis, just click on the website.

the reasons I'm interested in this film are the concept of the story that I hope will focus more on the uniqueness of the main characters' relationships, and also the artistic elements. I have seen the still images of the various shots taken from this film and they are all good in terms of the composition and cinematic elements. the pictures in the website are displayed in flash format, so I can't save them and publish them here. once again, you can just click on the website for that, as in that website you can get the whole information about the film, including the trailer itself.

the people behind this film are quite engaging as well, looking at their names. Nan Achnas as the director is quite well-known by her award-winning films, such as Kuldesak and Pasir Berbisik. Shanty Harmayn as the producer, I know that name from our annual Jakarta International Film Festival. the rest of them, the casts, etc, are quite promising as well; we can see Shanty's marvellous acting in Berbagi Suami and Kala (and also her upcoming film 'Maaf Saya Menghamili Istri Anda') other than her devastating singing career, whereas Lukman Sardi and Indy Barends are just the catch. the only one that is a bit questionable is Lim Kay Tong, who plays Johan. I've never seen and heard of him before, and that makes me curious enough to see what he can do with his character.

I just hope that this film will be released just in time I get back to Jakarta, otherwise I'm gonna be so pissed off as I have to spend a month in Jakarta, watching the trailer of BBB The movie every time I turn on the TV, and also seeing the promotional posters on the billboards everywhere in the entire city.

read more...

Ready to Taste the Difference?

this entry is neither about a new pizza parlor in Indonesia, nor a new bubble tea kiosk imitating its former. this is about a new upcoming Indonesian film called Quickie Express. those of you who are already experts in sexual terms probably have known what 'quickie' means. I'm not gonna talk about the term, but the film itself.

Quickie Express is just another film by Kalyana Shira, with Nia Dinata as the producer, and Dimas Djayadiningrat as the director. for some of Indonesian Cinemas' followers, those two names are already everyday's in-and-out; Nia Dinata as the personage of her various award-winning films, such as Arisan and Berbagi Suami, whereas Dimas Djay as one of the famous music videos director.

from what I read in its official website, Quickie will focus on the life of Gigolos in Indonesia. the genre of this film will be dark comedy, as in the story, the gigolos use a pizza delivery called 'Quickie Express' as their cover-up.

this film uses some overused actors (I'm not gonna say talented) as the main casts, such as Tora Sudiro (Arisan, Naga Bonar 2, Extravaganza.. don't have enough energy to continue), Lukman Sardi (Gie, 9 Naga, Jakarta Undercover.. really, need to save my remaining energy to do another one), and Aming (he's the famous comedian from the overrated Extravaganza and cameos in almost all films). Other than that, you can get some other names in Kalyana Shira website.

for sure, this film sounds promising, as Kalyana Shira has the habit of arising some irregular issues, especially in sexuality. we can see what they have done in almost every of their films, such as Arisan (homosexuals), Berbagi Suami (polygamy, lesbian), etc. However, looking at the actors and the director, I'm starting to doubt the reputation of this film. imagining Aming himself as one of the gigolos has already made myself loosing my apetite, and in addition, does any of you have heard of Tusuk Jelangkung? yes that crappy horror movie is Dimas Djay's. oh, and one more thing, looking at the photo I attached, those poses are far from the words 'sexy' and 'masculine' as the representation of what a gigolo is about. in fact, they, especially Aming in the middle, are sexgusting!

after all, one element of this film that makes me more interested is the writer itself, Joko Anwar. he is the raising star in Indonesia, in terms of the filmmaking. some of his gorgeous works can be seen through the award-winning Janji Joni, the controversial Jakarta Undercover, and the most recent one, Kala.

about the title, I'm not really sure what the hell 'Quickie Express' stands for. I mean, I know what those words are about (I'm not a native speaker but I'm not that dumb either), but are all the gigolos in the film having some kind of impotency or premature ejaculation problems due to the very-often-sex as part of their profession? if so, then the title represents that very well.

well, apart from that, I'm definitely gonna see this film as I'm already a fan of Kalyana Shira and Nia Dinata. I consider her as one of the most creative and idealistic producer, other than those Indian monsters (I'm not gonna say producers) with their horror wastes and teen-flick shits.

so I'm gonna follow the development of this film, and in the end I will prove whether what my writing here is true or not through another entry as the review. time will tell, and we just have to wait and see.

read more...

The New Sony Ericsson W960!

probably some of you, especially those who are gadget freaks, have already known that yesterday Sony Ericsson announced several new cool phones, from the new generation Cybershot phone with its 5 megapixels camera to some low-end-but-still-cool clamshell phones.

yeah, Sony Ericsson is very aware of our needs, after the releases of several not-so-cool phones, with the cut-and-added features in each phone, so that they do this whole huge thing to fulfill our destiny!

but from that announcement, what really dragged my attention and doesn't even let me take my eyes off it until now is the appearance of one simple black phone.

guess what it is! yup, it's the new Sony Ericsson W960i Walkman! it's not the look that I'm attracted of, because it looks really bulky, but the killer features that let me save the pictures and look at them everytime I'm hollow. for your information, it is supported by the Walkman player and a 3 megapixels camera with autofocus. the memory itself is 8GB big! isn't it extraordinary? oh, and one more thing, a touchscreen! I've never had any phones with touchscreen before! isn't it super-extraordinary, then?

whoa! it's been a very long time since W900 did the same thing to me and made me search for the phone very badly everywhere and buy it at last for a very high price in Singapore Changi Airport, due to the out-of-stock shits in Indonesia. but hey, it was worth it! I still love the phone until now, even though it has scratches everywhere and the fastport is a bit loose now.

ok! I'm so gonna buy this phone for sure. so, starting now, I really need to learn how to save my money out of some unimportant things. I need to learn how to live with instant noodles as my source of energy everyday, or even how to have a shower without any cleansers in accompaniment.. no, that's too harsh and too disgusting. I'm neither a hobo nor one of the hippies.

so, any help to fulfill my new phone craving? maybe a pray will do the thing? or even a bit of paypal transfers, perhaps?

read more...

Waiting for Shortfest

ok, so I haven't told you that I'm one of the moderator in Forum Kafegaul, specifically in Forum Cerpen.

recently I had an idea of doing something big for the community, especially in my forum area. so, here it is, Shortfest!

the concept and the theme are still in the development right now, but the committee and the judges have been formed.

anyway, please visit this link if you are curious how the development of this upcoming festival is going. however, you need to register first. otherwise, you can just check my blog, as I'm gonna put all information regarding this festival right in this blog.

don't forget to check back soon for the updates of this upcoming festival

read more...

Soft Opening

welcome to my not-very-first blog. I've had several blogs before, but then I left all of them due to my lack-of interest in all of them. but now, I'm gonna start over and try to focus.

currently this blog is still under construction, and by that I mean this blog is still with its current lame template, colors, etc. however I am gonna try to make such changes gradually, because I'm not good in editing the html and stuff.

by the way, the reasons I create a blog are to improve my writing skills, and also my messed up English, although most of my posts will be in Indonesian though. so, just excuse my grammatical error and lack-of-vocabulary problem, ok?

as my interests are mostly in writings and films, I will fill-up this blog with that stuff, specifically in reviews and articles regarding our current hypes.

last but not least, I hope this blog is gonna be fun and useful for some of you guys, although I'm pretty sure that most of you is not gonna be interested, regarding my writing and English skills, and also some Indonesian stuff which some of you wouldn't understand.

read more...