At 25th of May 2011, The Drums came to Indonesia and do some small gig (small cuz they played in a small venue at Blowfish, a place usually for clubbing). But just like I said about small gig just like in my previous blog about Jimmy Eat World, intimate and personal.
So, how are the show measures? Scale 1-10, I gave circa 8 or 9,
Small but packed music enthusiast
could be higher but The Drums only have 1 album (and couples of EP) so they could only perform about 1 hour or more per se (even after the encore). But they are a terrific live band, and the crowd also awesome. Every sound produced perfectly and the lighting is minimal but maximally amplified the ambience. The perfect combination, great band, great crowd, great music and supporting venue (though it is small).
Photo & autograph session
And the show it self really suits the title “THE DRUMS live & up close”, we accidentally met one of the member, Jacob Graham, when he trying to buy a cup of coffee and we just rushed for a photograph and autograph session. And the fact that the venue is a club really brings the idea that maybe this is what it feels like if CBGB still open.
The only downside is the fact that the crowd is forbid to bring SLR type camera 9any kind of camera that supposed to produce superb picture). I mean, my PEN ain’t DSLR, its micro 4/3 for G Sake! And they tell me to stop shoot at the third song (my favorite song from The Drums “I Felt Stupid). Besides that, it’s a blast show!
The way he dance, the vocalist, reminds me of Ian Curtis
Ps : Though this is cliché and compulsory, The Drums said that “U guys are by far the best crowd” (we heard that a lot) but “We definitely come back here soon” is intriguing, maybe at Java Rockin’ Land? Can’t wait to see them again!
Recently, I was consulted by one of the new employee who wants to resign from the bank that we were work at the moment (that due to some code of ethic, and other code I can’t gave the name) and work in a convenience store retail chain as a management trainee (now he is working as staff). Most people will see his action as some dumb move, from a Bank into a convenient store with a “circle” (already know?), but somehow I can accept his train of thought.
He said that as a staff he must wait approximately 5 years more or less, before have the chance to promoted (but before promoted we have to take a test, so just like doing all over again) so he think it would be better to start new stuff as manager trainee (which somehow I support).
But the think that really hits me in the spot is when he said that he already 24 year but he still “nothing”, don’t have a house, car, even not married yet. While he said that to himself, somehow I felt offended or intrigued by it, I mean, a 24 year old kid worries ‘bout his future while me, 27 old boy who still live a careless life, happy-go-lucky and doesn’t give a damn about my future (OK, I’m a nihilist and a person who loves just to sing for the moment but it doesn’t make sense, even for me).
Somehow, I remember the film starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew
Really fits me at the moment
McConaughey called “Failure to launch” which somehow depicts an imperfect picture of me. An adult who already established, have a stable career, but still lives with his parents, thus the title “Failure to launch” derived. But that happened in USA, there, after 17 years usually live separate from parents in order to gain manhood or rite of passage into adult world (in order to conduct adultery ^_^).
$hit! It’s like a sign of time coming right straight to my face with the speed of light. KAPOW! A straight hook that delivering a KO blow at me. Somehow the universe is trying to tell me that I need to wake up and do something with my pathetic life. A 24 year old kid is telling me to, not explicitly, do something with my life. I’m already 27, am I still thinking that I will be dead just like Jimmy Hendrix, Kurt Cobain or Janis Joplin and join the elite club of 27, where most of the celebrity died at 27.
Thinking about it, probably I will still live beyond 27, what should I do? Do I pretend to believe that the world will end in 2012, if it’s true, I will loan some money from bank and waste it anyway I want. I’m not gonna live beyond 2012 to pay for it anyway. But we always have plan B right? What will I do incase that the world doesn’t end at 2012? Guess I have to start to change my way of life.
Reviewing my life, I wonder what people will remember about me. An elephant leaves their trunks, some people leaves notorious or even good reputation. What would people remember about me, cuz I don’t think I “touch” others. I always in someway detached myself from any kind of commitment from others. Maybe it’s my lonely nature or I just don’t trust others, but I guess I just don’t want to be, I don’t know, being someone else’s someone.
Maybe cuz I like Batman that I am a loner, but as a human I need other in order to survive, even Batman hi8mself have a big Bat-family, either he buy it or not. I mean there are 5 Robin, 3 Batgirl, even now Batman established Batman Inc, and he recruits others to join his crusade against crime in the whole globe. So I guess I have to restart my decision to commit celibacy (OK, I could deal with that though this isn’t a priority). Maybe the 3 options that I mentioned in my previous blog still applies ^_^. And I still don’t see the urgency of getting married, or even having a girl at the moment.
About living with parents, I don’t think I could leave my parents, it’s like some act of reciprocity, they take care of me when I was young, now it’s my time to take care of them. I guess I just leave this at that.
What else? Well, about how my friend said ‘bout how I should act as an adult? What is an adult? Man who old enough to commits adultery? Man after age of 17? What’s wrong with being 27 and still collecting figure and comic, still otaku/fan-boy? I mean George Bernard Shaw says this “We don’t stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing” so I guess I understand why kids kinda attached to me (though honestly I don’t a kid-lover type, not the pedophilic type, I just considering them kind of a burden). Guess I’m not into this also.
Just to summarize, I don’t think I willing to change! I don’t know whether this is a comfort zone or not. I guess I’m just satisfied with myself at the moment. I know I have to change, but I guess I’m just too lazy. Hell, if I have to change, I change it little by little, one step at a time. Gonna start my revolution from my bed and where I might go still a mystery that waits to be unravel. Maybe I’m not a failure to launch afterall? At least I have some intention to change ^_^.
Me : Yo! How do you pronounce Uruguay? U’re a Gay? (Honestly, no pun intended)
Friend : U R SICK!
Me : What? I mean, it’s hard to say it right U know! Just like pronounce Uranus, Your Anus? (Again, no pun intended)
Friend : Totally sick and psycho
A Conversation with a friend while playing Winning Eleven at Playstation rental
My friend’s affirmation makes me wonder, am I having dyslexia? I know that I’m probably not, but the same friend wondering if whether I having the symptom cuz he notice that sometimes I laughing while reading something and somehow this f*#ked up brain interpret it into something silly, like when reading Unisex toilet, I read it U N I (you and I) sex…OK I was sold to the idea ^_^ or when I read together as to-get-her (what about him? It’s kinda gender biased right?). Or how I spell assistant as ass-is-ant or when I fill some form and the questions is about sex which most people will fill with male or female and all I think is are U asking me to make-out? Yes or no, hmm… ^_^
Not only in English, I mean in Indonesia when I read about riot at Maluku (some
U! do U Know!! ^_^
region or place in Indonesia), all I think was “Wow, riot at Malu ku (my-shame or to be more exact, the things that I ashamed about). Wonder how riot it can be if it’s in Malu-mu (your-shame, or something that U ashamed about). Or when I heard some foreign reporter spell my presidents name, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, I heard it like this “Susilo BAM!-BANG! You-do-you-know” ^_^.
ass-ass-in, I'm not dyslexic
I just realize how twisted this brain of mine and it’s not dyslexia cuz even when I hear something, my brain will interpret it differently, mostly something about dick jokes, such as when my friend ask me to watch Ninja Assassin (that movie with that Korean star Rain) and all I heard is, “What Ninja Ass-Ass-in? Some sort of porn movie?” or when I heard Saving Private Ryan, all I heard was Shaving Ryan’s private? Or any other blockbuster like Black Hawk Down that somehow I heard as Black Cock Down ^_^. Or when i thought that Catholic is bunch of people who really loves cat (Cat Holic) or when I heard pair of shoe instead parachute and paradise as pair of dice.
I remember when I accompanied my mom and sister to midnight sale, I get
2+2=3
hysterical cuz the sign said buy 2 get 1! That kinda idiotic right? U buy 2 but U only got 1! Don’t take me as a fool cuz if the sign is right, it should spelled like the image on the right :
When my mom discovered my “difficulties”, she said or cuz I was exposed to “dangerous material” such as my Batman, Daredevil, X Men, etc comic, my Evangelion, Se7en, etc DVD, or what my sister said about my fondness to a dark and depressing, pessimistic world (while she is the cheerful and optimist one).
Did I try to do something to “fix” this brain? Hell no! This is so much fun, I could get lol every time I read something on the street or when I over-heard someone. I could get entertained any time, any where ha ha ha. Probably my brain is running on Windows 7 while everyone still using Windows 98 or XP ha ha ha.
What’s wrong with this picture? None! This is picture perfect of a family. The husband helping nurturing the kid while the wife do the groceries in the traditional market.
Sooo sweet and bring back my faith for marriage institution and family ^_^
I always wonder what kind of life super hero has. They like, have the best work in the world. They kick @$$ (literally), ignoring laws (they are above the law) and all that stuff. Sure there is up-side-down for every thing, things I notice are they, and their loved one, are target for revenge for their enemy (that’s why they conceal their identity with mask and costume) or anyone will watch all their steps, their actions (even some of us just hoping when the heroes will make some mistakes just for our entertainment).
Since my insomnia is switched on (and my friend is making me chatting with her till 01:00 in the morning then after she sleeps I still awakes) and I have nothing else to do, I just try to figure how some of our heroes spending their spare time. Hope this could be some sort of entertainment
So, super heroes has nothing to do this weekend, so this is what they do :
Superman asks Batman to go out rather than wasting his time surfing the net
Probably B-Man better jamming with Apocalypse than Sissy-man
Maybe this is what heroes do at haloween :
Or maybe heroes could do some shopping spree with abusing a little of their power
Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all
Harriet Van Horne
After went to many wedding party and chat with the bridesmaid and bridegroom asking why they even have the guts to get married in the first place (knowing how hard to get a decent life in Jakarta or any place on earth today. And how expensive child’s fund are, e.g. tuition, food, education, leisure, etc) and their answer is really astounded me in some way. They say that in life there are couples of things that need to be forced in order to be happened and one of those things is marriage.
Just like my office boy Mr. Asmuni said, he said that marriage, (or any
Shy one, eh?
kind of action that we will take) that began with noble and good intention will brought good things. That goods will be there by the grace of God (though I more believe that road to hell is paved with good intention he he).
Last week, I went into my parent-friends whose son held a wedding party at Bandung (convoluted? U betcha cuz me myself have no idea but since my parents drag me all the way to Bandung, probably this is important) and to my surprise the party kinda well, not crowded, not as crowded as a wedding party should be though. After a little detective work I found out that the couple is a “runaway”, the man is changing his faith in order to married the woman thus his family banish, exile, curse or any other variant him from their family. Wow, what a price to pay for love, no for a marriage to be exact.
Only friends and the girl family attending the wedding
If U use logic, marriage is a “no entry zone” with the increasing divorce rate, failed marriage, affair, and case of family abuse, primal scream, dysfunctional family and domestic violence, etc, also encouraged by economical reason makes marriage seems like a dumb/stupid idea. Like a bad investment written all over it or like bet on a sick-dying horse on a race, like a dead end with no way out. But these people willing to bet on it. Maybe cuz in Indonesia there are some believes that marriage, child birth or any significance action in our life is bound to bring changes in our course of life (whether for good or bad, especially for Javanese). And for Indonesian, marriage is considered as an act of devotion by some religion (so obviously this requires an absence of logic).
I just remember another quote from Jurassic Park II (before the third that suck third sequel ruin the franchise) that probably explains that sometimes we need to absence something to make something happens :
These creatures require our absence to survive, not our help. And if we could only step aside and trust in nature, life will find a way
John Hammond – The Lost World : Jurassic Park
That quote probably didn’t answers my question why those people even bother to get married and the word “creatures” is open for any kind of interpretation (though in the movie it’s obvious that we talk about giant lizard but we can interpret it any way we want here). Maybe to be more religious, in Islam there’s a thing called “pasrah” in Indonesian language or “submit” where people leave everything to God after they put every effort they have to offer in hope that this act of submission will grant God blessing upon our endeavor.
Then again, life’s a bitch (so don’t marry one ^_^) and the only way to make through this sick and chaos world is (just like Batman sez above) is to force our way into it, to get a little crazy (if that doesn’t sounds rather underestimating the uncertainty of life) then maybe the reality bites will have a little pity or maybe we can find some crack in life “solid-armor” so that we can break through to achieved our ends, to fulfill our urge.
And the urge to do something is really, really heavy. I mean, have U considered how it feels to deny that kinda urge? The itching, like some pimple that needs to be pressed, like a switch that have “touch here” signs, the sensation of doing it, the illusion of grandeur? No wonder most of us pushed our self to the limit just to do it, whatever that ”it” maybe (could be marriage, the temptation to have sex legally or other stuff).
Just like faith, this thing, it’s not something that we should fully understand it, to know it, to touch and feel it (to be romantic maybe love also lies in this category also). Faith is something just happened to be there, something that we have from the start, something to believe or to hold on when everything’s falls apart. Some found it on religion, some found it on their special one, even as a guy with tendency to become atheist I do have some faith on something. Bottom-line, faith is not something that U understands it is something that just we know or we have. It’s just there, even for a reason that we don’t or didn’t understand yet.
Somehow I remember that hentai movie called Shusaku Replay (OK the
Personally, one of the best hentai EVER ^_^
source is sick but that doesn’t mean what I will tell is sick, please look through the smoke and mirror here) which somehow conclude that sometimes, something in life aren’t meant to be discovered or knows (in this movie is desire and pleasure of sex that drives everyone, absolutely everyone in this movie insane and addicted!). If we cross that line, we never know what lays ahead, either it’s good or bad, there’s always a price to pay. Knowing that, humans with it’s “intelligent” somehow abandon logic and step forward order to fulfill their curiosity and to answer the “what if” question (but these attitude that lead us toward modernization, so I guess I could support this train of thought) to know the unknown or at least taste the unknown.
So, after all that convoluted babbling, back to the question will I ever get married and will life will smile and give us some break to enjoys life as it is, as a family? Will “life” find a way for us? Most likely, though I don’t have any dead-line or target whatsoever, guess this is one of those things that I just let it go with the flow. Hell, life will find a way, whatever will be, will be. Que sera-sera (How’s that for a complete useless conclusion?). Guess I just stuck to my previous blog about marriage ha ha ha. Hell, life will find a way they say and Just like Dr. Ian Malcom from Jurassic Park said :
~ John, the kind of control you’re attempting is not possible. If there’s one thing the history of evolution has taught us, it’s that life will not be contained. Life breaks free. It expands to new territories. It crashes through barriers painfully, maybe even dangerously, but – well, there it is. ~
Last week, almost everyone was taken’ by storm about the “royal wedding” of Prince William and Kate Middleton or this week, the news about Osama was shot dead in the head that “frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn” and I decided to just watch a DVD rather than those news. And since recently I watch 2 documentary movie-DVD Dear jack and Justin Bieber : Never Say Never, rather than that “royal boredom”, somehow it crossed my mind how something was / is so important for someone but for others, it was less than a piece of trash. I guess what I wrote in my previous blog still quite a material to be given more thought into.
So, besides Dear Jack, which is kinda subjective since I’m a huge fan of Andrew McMahon so I won’t be able to give an objective review, I decided to watch Justin Bieber’s Never Say Never, I know, I know, I watched the bootleg version just out of curiosity and for the sake of the writing material since Michael Jackson documentary didn’t bring enough impact for me (wow, never knew I don’t really into wacko jacko all this year). For the record, I bought the original Dear Jack documentary cuz besides I’m a huge fan, I wanna show my support to the artist and the industry and hoping that my action will keep the industry (read : music) alive.
So, first review, Dear Jack, and like I mentioned before, since I’m a huge fan I
Give it a try, it’s good
could say that, this is a good documentary. It told a story about Andrew McMahon, singer of my favorite bands, Something Corporate and Jack’s Mannequin and the downfall when he was diagnosed with Leukemia (just when Jack’s Mannequin debut album released and gain good review and sales chart). The DVD starts with some commentary by Tommy Lee, yep, the one and the only (he gain my respect cuz he told the story so nicely and warm, just like friends that do cares about you) about how gifted Andrew is before the Leukemia hits him. What makes me like this documentary, besides the story of one of my music hero, is this is a story of ones struggle and support from everyone that cares for the guy (even from his major label, Universal that gives him support and trust to promote the album if he is in better and healthier condition!). So, final conclusion, if U R his fan, probably U gonna give this somewhere between 8 – 9 in scale 1 to 10, but even if U were just some stranger who happens to see this documentary, at the very least U give this 7.8. This is a beautiful struggling story of a man and his triumph to get back and roll on again (and no scene were edited or being dramatized to give more impact to the viewer, just pure documentary).
Quite nice actually
Next is Justin Bieber’s, what can I say, out of curiosity since this boy just held a concert at my country recently, I decided to, well what the hell maybe his documentary is something different (which is not). This documentary tell a story about Bieber and who he was, is and how in the future that we will see more of this boy (if he could maintain his hype) and the documentation of his concert at New York. Well, honestly, this documentary is more entertaining than Dear Jack’s cuz it shows the bright side and happy part of Bieber as the teenager shows the whole world how if U never gave up your dream, anything could happen (really kinda Walt Disney story eh?). So, Bieber DVD is packed with more “action”, footage and of course screaming girl / fan. I’d give this DVD 7.5, why it rate lower than Dear Jack’s? Cuz somehow all the glitter and happiness sounds too fabricated, too artificial, at least for me, I guess.
What does those 2 DVD have something in common with themes “If It Matters 2 U, It matters A Lot”? Well, after watching those 2 DVD, especially Bieber’s DVD. I just realize that what matters or important to everyone is different, just like “beauty lies in the eye of beholder” type. In Bieber’s DVD there’s a scene where a mother was being interviewed and told us that this is her daughter first concert and this concert reminds her of her first concert, which is Michael Jackson. That scene really hits right at blind side and delivers a knock-out hook at me. That very scene tells us how important, significant Justin Bieber is for them and it would be plain rude just to label them as idiot or stupid people with bad taste. For them Justin Bieber is as important as Jimmy Eat World, Andrew McMahon, Sting, video game or even religion!
Just like I mentioned before, if it’s important to you, if it’s matters to you, it matters a lot. Don’t let anyone else told U the other way, listen to your heart cuz it never lies and it will tell U what it’s right for U (even if it’s doesn’t make sense or defy logic). And in the end of the day, there will only 2 kinds of music; the good and bad music (even that’s relative, subjective and biased).
To prove that there’s only 2 kinds music, I try to hear Justin Biebers songs just to makes some solid proves on my theory and surprise-surprise, there’s actually couple of his song that I could enjoys (OK, I like it! Can I go home now?), such as : One Less Lonely Girl, Eenie Meenie, Somebody to Love and Pray (the other stuff just plain stupid and weird, at least for my taste). Will those enough to make me bought his album? Hell no, but at least I won’t make fun of people who loves him.
At 25th of May 2011, The Drums came to Indonesia and do some small gig (small cuz they played in a small venue at Blowfish, a place usually for clubbing). But just like I said about small gig just like in my previous blog about Jimmy Eat World, intimate and personal.
up close”, we accidentally met one of the member, Jacob Graham, when he trying to buy a cup of coffee and we just rushed for a photograph and autograph session. And the fact that the venue is a club really brings the idea that maybe this is what it feels like if CBGB still open.
Sounds of Giberish 