J'Adore Don Draper Part II

For more of these glorious b&w pictures of Mad Men Behind the Scene, click here.

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Recent Treasure Acquisition

I bought books like a librarian on steroid. I found a very kind older Kiwi couple who had to sell their books after moving out to Bali. There, I found some of the best used books I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Their lovely traditional house was flooded by rows of books and two georgeous cats. It brought me back to my visit to Shakespeare & Co., back then in Paris.



Here are the treasure list:



Eva Luna (Isabel Allende)

Under the Tuscan Sun (Frances Mayes)

Picasso: Creator & Destroyer (Arianna Huffington)

Switch Bitch & Over to You (Roald Dahl) – beautiful vintage Penguin edition I may add

The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)

The News from Paraguay (Lily Tuck)

The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency ( Alexander McCall Smith)

One Hot Summer in St. Petersburg (Duncan Fallowell)

Shogun (James Clavell)

84, Charring Cross Road (Helene Hanff)

Sea of Poppies (Amitav Ghosh)



...and to think that my to-read list in goodreads shows 123 books. Tsk.

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Awesome Idea for Movie Night

(via poppytalk)

Such a perfect way to spend a breezy, summer nights. Anyone care to lend me a overhead projector please leave message.

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My Life Post BlackBerry

First thing I do after cursing the morning (yeah yeah yeah I know you should have a better attitude and embrace the day whatever) is to reach out for the black small communication gadget on my bedside table. A quick look at the work e-mails with one eye and grunts. A more thorough look at the twitter whose tweeting are all about ‘good morning’ (is it only me who hates morning?). And last but not least, listening to the ‘ping ping’of incoming messenger alerts. Does it get tiring after a while? You tell me. I was hoping it would be but I’m three weeks gone and all those pings, tweets and e-mail are my reason to wake up in the morning. Let’s face it and say it out loud: I’ve become a BlackBerry zombie.

I have had two years fasting on this most popular device made in Canada (other than maple syrup). I kept telling myself I don’t need it. It ruins conversation between friends. I can’t tell you how annoyed I was when I went out with my friends and they chose to tweet instead of listening to my love life complaints. Not that I blame them in that case. You get my point, internet helps social interaction but also can ruins it.

Why I finally gave up to the lure of BlackBerry is something that I still pondering about. There is that obvious mobile working factor and for sure, also the social media factor. How easy it is to tag yourself with your cool hipster friends on the coolest rave summer party. How unconditionally your BlackBerry connects you to Twitter and let you tweet whatever crosses your mind, from your lunch (egg sandwich) to criticizing the bizarre government decision. I tweet; therefore I am as the Times wrote.



However the single most important reason is to get closer to my friends and loved ones. Now I can just message them anywhere, anytime, wherever they are, 24/7, 365 days a year. I can send voice notes (I didn’t know BlackBerry could do that!) to my dearest cousin who is studying in States. Just when I think this device is all good and really makes communicating with my nearest and dearest easier, I received a complaint from, well my most dearest and nearest, a.k.a my Mum. She has been complaining ‘that thing-y is no good, you become so self-absorbed and ignorant to your surrounding (read: her)’, which is all shamefully true.



For a typewriter-quill writing-sort of person that I used to be, this BlackBerry really does throw me back to an uncharted territory of becoming self-absorbed. Apart from reading, this is the one activity I spent most of my free times. Tell me it’s unhealthy, I know. For the time being, I’m still a zombie (at least until my trackball get broken) but a well-manered one. I promise myself no matter how many pings or 10 messages in my inbox, I will put the BlackBerry aside and sipping my coffee while listening to my friend’s woes. But of course if she does the same.

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Counting the Days to 2010 Ubud Writers & Readers Festival

If you just wake up everyday, go to work and cari makan, that’s your preoccupation and you don’t think about other things. Reading a book could help you think about other things. It should be entertaining, but it should also help you think about things.
- Tash Aw, in an interview for Quill magazine

Two months from now (hopefully) I would be in a wooden lounge chair, sipping a freshly brewed fragrant Balinese coffee, hands busy scribbling on my Moleskine, brimming with ideas and inspiration from world's most prolific writers. Ubud's soulful breeze would be caressing my hair and love for words would be my intimate companion apart from the fellow book lovers and brilliant writers.

2010 Ubud Writers and Readers Festival will take place on 6-10 October.

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Online Bookstore with a Soul

Being an avid reader, I'm always in search of good books. I read reviews, stalking wishlist of other bookworms, trying to scourge a book deal and swapping book. The high price put on imported books in this illiterate country is insane. The only hope I have to survive a book diet is to buy elsewhere. Some of my favorite book hunting place are Bras Basah Road stalls in Singapore, second hand book shops in Kuta (FYI, still expensive) and recently, buying books online.

The problem about shipping it to this corner of the world is the sky high shipping price. It is just silly to buy a book whose shipping cost is much higher than the book itself. However there are two online book shops that offer free and low price shipping. Book Depository, a company from U.K, send book for free to anywhere on the world and their price is still lower than imported books sold in book stores here. I ordered five books as I mention in earlier entry, and all arrived safely home.

Yesterday, I purchased two books which has been in my wishlist for as long as I can remember. A memoir about reading and books by Larry McMurthry and a reading recommendation aptly named More Book Lust. I bought those two babies in what could be the most environmentally friendly book shop, Better World Books. This is my first time buying book with options like used or new, carbon free shipping and conciously knowing that by buying an eight bucks used book I have also contributed for global literacy.

Check out this cute e-mail I received from Better World Books :


Hello,

(Your book(s) asked to write you a personal note - it seemed unusual, but who are we to say no?)

Holy canasta! It's me... it's me! I can't believe it is actually me! You could have picked any of over 2 million books but you picked me! I've got to get packed! How is the weather where you live? Will I need a dust jacket? I can't believe I'm leaving Mishawaka, Indiana already - the friendly people, the Hummer plant, the Linebacker Lounge - so many memories. I don't have much time to say goodbye to everyone, but it's time to see the world!

I can't wait to meet you! You sound like such a well read person. Although, I have to say, it sure has taken you a while! I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but how would you like to spend five months sandwiched between Jane Eyre (drama queen) and Fundamentals of Thermodynamics (pyromaniac)? At least Jane was an upgrade from that stupid book on brewing beer. How many times did the ol' brewmaster have one too many and topple off our shelf at 2am?

I know the trip to meet you will be long and fraught with peril, but after the close calls I've had, I'm ready for anything (besides, some of my best friends are suspense novels). Just five months ago, I thought I was a goner. My owner was moving and couldn't take me with her. I was sure I was landfill bait until I ended up in a Better World Books book drive bin. Thanks to your socially conscious book shopping, I've found a new home. Even better, your book buying dollars are helping kids read from Brazil to Botswana. Eagerly awaiting our meeting.

I'll keep buying for sure!

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Wise Quote from Someone Else #1

"One’s life is more formed, I sometimes think, by books than by human beings: it is out of books one learns about love and pain at second hand. Even if we have the happy chance to fall in love, it is because we have been conditioned by what we have read, and if I had never known love at all, perhaps it was because my father’s library had not comtained the right books"
Graham Greene (Travels with My Aunt)

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Someday When All Lights are On

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Ariel Peterporn & the Lost Girls

Seldom have I realized that our beloved nation, Indonesia, is in fact a big country. A big, populated country of 30 millions internet users, of most are probably tweeps. For nine hours yesterday, #Ariel Peterporn was a trending topics and everybody from the rest of the world (including USA porn actress, Vicky Vette) were asking frustratingly: who the hell is Ariel Peterporn?

Ariel is the cool leading singer of Indonesia’s pop band, Peterpan (get the pun?). His Casanova status was established when he impregnated an ex, married her (we are the largest Moslem populated country in the world after all) and in due course, divorced her. His flings with many other top notch celebrities in Indowood, was infamous throughout the country. His hottest flame, however, is the long time lover, Luna Maya. She, being the famous model/ actress/ host with one of the fattest paycheck in Indonesia, was so popular that her face appears everywhere from giant billboard to truck bumper graffiti.

Their cat-and-mouse high profile relationship has been media’s favorite. They’re the Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt of Indonesia, in the matter of media speculation and gossip buzz. No wonder when their “catch me if you can” ad for Lux soap was released, it was a huge success. It has all the right formula and you just cannot help but say “aww” when you see it.

Right when their stardom couldn’t have shined any brighter, a sex video was released upon the hungry masses by Anonymous. The two minutes low resolution video showed the Ariel and Luna look-a-like in many flagrante delicto positions. No official statement has been released and the unfortunate couples now are hiding from public scrutiny and possible scenario of stoned to death by Moslem law (I’m not kidding here, this is what will happen if they live in Aceh). I will not publish the link to the explosive sex videotape here, like what many blogs already did. I believe I’m not the only one who says “Yes, I’ve seen it. Yes, it was hot. But no, I won’t keep it in my hard disc or see it again just for fun”.

Like it wasn’t enough, the probably same sick pervert who published it, also published another sex video in youtube, this time it looks like Ariel with another hot actress, Cut Tari. I couldn’t tell you just how many puns was made of her considering she’s hosting a gossip news show called “Insert”. The smoking hot actress and KFC representative is unfortunately married and allegedly can be seen in the video wearing a wedding ring.

Apart from the fact that it could be those three celebrities or could be not, their names are now forever smeared in dualistic public eyes. Paris Hilton may get away with it and even made even more famous by her sex video. However living in this country where moral righteousness is an expected virtue from a public figure, it will be hard for them to just get on with their life. Remember that charming soap ad? You can’t find it anymore on TV now days.

To put it into the nicest possible term, everybody fuck in this country. How could we not, being the 4^th most populous nation on earth? The problem is if you get caught doing it, which precisely what happened to these three sexual personage. The question now is: can they recover their career? Gossip, like leggings or mullet hair style, comes and goes but sex video last forever. Ask Edison Chen if you don’t believe me. The moral of the story is this: always make sure to cleanly delete your hard disc after video making, especially if it’s a dirty one and you’re famous.

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Sipping Teh Tarik in Bali

Have you experienced a snacking binge that just won’t stop even after a hearty meal? You know, you are full but your taste buds are not. That’s what I and my friends experienced recently when we were on our way home from Kerobokan. Suddenly, a sign on the Jalan Raya Kerobokan that read “Roti Canai & Teh Tarik” was just exactly what we need.

The mamak stall (or so they call warung that sells roti canai in Malaysia) official name is Warung Bunana. It is a small place smacked in the busy export street. Our entrance was fragrantly welcomed by a delicious aroma of martabak being fried. The menu consists of roti canai assortment with various toppings and fillings, accompanied with three choices of curry: vegetable, chicken and mutton. The portion also comes in two sizes, small and large.

While waiting, we were entertained by a very skillful teh tarik bartender, pulling the tea up and down. The outcome of the pulling up and down was a frothy tea milk, optionally served hot or cold. Mine was cold and it was just perfect for the warm night. It tasted fresh, light and not to sweet, moreover goes very well with the roti canai and richly spiced chicken curry. The large portion was enough to fulfill all four of our snacking appetite. A small note on the roti canai, it’s a good size, flaky buttered roti.

To close our night, a large roti banana cheese and chocolate was just sweetly perfect. The banana was puréed and put inside the crispy roti with cheese while the chocolate was poured on the top. The staffs are very nice especially after getting hundred questions a day on portion sizes and ingredients, by customers unfamiliar with Indian food. It’s a small, no nonsense and good value eatery where you can meet your friends and mused over the authentically made teh tarik.

Warung Bunana. Jl. Raya Kerobokan. Open from 10.00 - 22.00.

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Recent Bookish Things

Found a hot blog which sole purpose of existence is collecting picture of hot guys reading. Yes, apparently men do read.

Five out of five baby books arrived safely at home. They came from Book Depository U.K, passed the volcanic outrage all the way to Indonesia. The best news is Book Depository delivers books almost everywhere for free!

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Happy Galungan Everybody!

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A Generation of Eat, Pray, Love...and No Enlightenment Coming

Coming this August, Ubud is taking a deep breath while bracing its tiny village self to welcome new kind of tourists into the gate: flock of depressive divorcee seeking spiritual enlightenment or perhaps love. There has been a steady stream of tourists flooding the much appraised green fields and yoga studio around Ubud since Eat, Pray, Love book hits Oprah big time. Five stars hotels started to create “Eat, Pray, Love” Package Tour (complete with a certain visit to a certain Yoda-esque psychic, or so I heard). All of sudden, being in Ubud is an über-cool thing to do.



It was not that many years ago that a trip to Ubud was just a long drive for nothing except to soothing the eyes and getting away from all the hullabaloo of Denpasar. To had a bite of Murni’s poppy seed cake or spoiled the eyes by watching my favorite Walter Spies’s painting. Now going to Ubud is a Must. I can’t say I blame those tourists. It is a lovely place, my weekend getaway to find world class second hand reading materials, scrumptious cakes, cultural wandering in what possibly some of the best art museums in Indonesia. On the way, I could have a bite (or two) of the succulent pork ala Ibu Oka or getting down and dirty with Naughty Nuri’s finger licking ribs. The catch is: I now have to share it with thousands of people.



God of Marketing, Hermawan Kartajaya wrote in his new book Ubud: The Spirit of Bali

The essence of Marketing 3.0 is when marketing isn’t pretending anymore but expressing the real value of a product. Ubud is a place which has amazing inner value, a place where God, men and society blend together. This is why Ubud has such an incredible value, unique characteristic that no other places on earth possessed.

Or in the other words, where Tri Hita Karana, the Balinese philosophy of harmony between God, Human and Environment, really do co-exist. I learned that at school but like another Utopian ideas in books, I didn’t think it actually exist in this complex layers of life in Bali. Over populated, over developed and always being cautiously under threat by the extremist, we are not exactly the happy people we used to be. Yes, we still smiles to make tourists feel welcome. It is our main occupation after all and after all these years in hospitality business, it becomes a sort of gag reflex. Very much the same reflex when we hit a mosquito that bites.



To go back to this whole Hollywood business of eating, praying and loving, I do feel as a Balinese, anxious to see how Bali is now portrayed in cinema magic. Will it push Indonesia into a new level like what Slumdog Millionaire did to India? Or will it just brings more tourists to Ubud? We will soon see.

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Art in Action at Gaya Art Space

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Wicked-ly Hilarious

We don't go on having babies, that's quite apparent. We only have babies when we're young enough not to know how grim life turns out. Once we really get the full measure of it -we're slow learners, we women- we dry up in disgust and sensibly halt production.

But men don't dry up, Melena objected; they can father to the death.

Ah, we're slow learners, Nanny countered. But they can't learn at all.

page 8, Wicked by Gregory Maguire

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some days are good.

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Hello Silent Day...

...when everybody consume like there's no tomorrow.

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Free Vintage Ex Libris Template

Something free and beautiful for your book collection. Click here to download and printing instruction. Via designsponge.

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Buried by Terracotta Warriors in Xi’an

There’s no way you could escape them. They were there, in every corner, every alley and even underground. It’s almost impossible to not find yourself being offered a terracotta warriors T-shirt or statue or keychain when you were walking around the city. Xi’an is a terracotta warrior's mega business empire. Made me sort of wonder, what did the locals do for business before 1974, when accidentally the buried warrior dudes was found.

Our journey continued from Chengdu. After an early one and a half hours flight to Xi’an, we found ourselves sitting cramped in a aged taxi with an aging driver and stone age temperament. With the help of my now dog eared phrase book and clear address, both in Chinese characters and pin yin, he drove us violently to our hostel. After a loud screeching and a sudden halt, we found ourselves standing in what seems like an old mansion, guarded by two verocious looking quilin or lions. Our hostel in Xi’an, similar with the city itself was simply a piece of history.

After settling in, we decided for our mission of the day. A brief interruption, if you please. I know I’ve just been in China for four days, and I know when one’s travel, one should eat what the locals eat. However, at that time I really feel I had enough of noodles and pao. So, our mission of the day was…having a lunch at Subway. For the first time, ordering food in China was so easy, it almost put me to tears.

Fueled by long and thick tuna sandwich, we walked around the city. We caught a glimpse of the Drum Tower and nearby Bell Tower, also went to the Temple of the City Gods and the market inside. By recommendation from a friend, I took my numb-by-cold Mother to the Muslim Quarter. I got the feeling that the market was built especially to fool tourists. How could you explain the logic of haggling 200RMB T-shirt to become 40RMB? I don’t think I’ve ever been haggling that hard in my life. And really, if it was for me, I would just leave the shop when the lady said 200RMB. But it was her who kept harassing us to buy, I give you good price-la, how much you want ha? We ended up with few T-shirts for gifts and weariness, a mixture of emotion came by extreme bargaining and severely cold weather (7°C). We spent the night at the hostel. To chicken to went out (-2°C) except to buy a bottle of Tsingtao to kept me warm in a convenience shop nearby.

After a delightful sweet and sour pork with some sort of veggie chop suey, I started sipping my beer while Mother doing her minor voyeurism on backpackers and locals around us. Then a staff came cheerfully at us, offering to teach us how to make dumplings. Apparently it was The Dumpling Night. So a bunch of travelers gathered around one table and tried our best to fold the dumpling into a neat piece…which of course, an activity which I failed miserably. My mother, on the other hand, was doing really well and even taught the clueless others. We chatted over beers and steam dumplings (yes, the very same masterpieces we made earlier) with the other travelers. Siblings from Australia, a dude from Canada and a fraulein from Germany. The Australian just visited the Terracotta Warriors that day and I immediately asked them of their impression of it. They grudgingly said, “Well, it sort of quite disappointing actually. They sort of just standing there and it was quite far from here so you spent the whole day just to go there and go back here.”

It still didn’t dampen my spirit. I was obsessed with those dudes. Ever since watching the excavation in National Geographic years ago, I swore myself I would go there someday. After a bus ride (7RMB), we finally made it to Bingmayong or officially known as The Museum of Terracotta Warriors and Horses of Qin Shi Huang (95RMB). It’s a vast complex, almost like a city. It took us 15 minutes walk to finally arrived to the pits which hosted the warriors. One thing that caught my eyes are the amount of professional tour guide available for hire (another 100RMB). They fussed over us with negative sentiments like: “Oh, it’s very very big inside. You could get lost and you’ll miss a lot of things if I’m not there to guide you.” Frankly speaking, it was a bit annoying.

This is what you should do when you get inside (and waved goodbye to the guides). You will find three pits and a museum. Start with the smallest pit, No.3. There was not much explanation inside (obviously), so either you had your research before coming here or rent an audio guide. Otherwise, you’d only see crumbling pottery, down in a big rectangular ditch. Pit No.3 was filled with high ranking officers although when I was there, the warriors seemed to be fighting a war somewhere since there was only few that could be found. Most are in the state of crumbling to pieces or headless. I think the fact that they even managed to survived two thousand years was amazing. Not much could be seen in Pit No.3, except if you want to have your face immortalized in a 3D terracotta warrior picture.

Pit No.2 is bigger than the previous pit. It host similar crumbling statues and obviously hasn’t been fully excavated. They beauty of this pit is you can see few terracotta warriors in their best condition up close. There was a general, a kneeling archer, a cavalryman and his horse and some other things. The details was remarkably meticulous and I read that none of the terracotta warriors found has the same faces. It was said that each warrior is an image of its own maker.

We entered the largest pit as the grand finale. Pit No. 1 was an enormous hangar with the best natural lighting. It supposed to be the climax but at the moment I were there, a work was being done at the place. I will just say that it wasn’t what I had in mind. I sort of expecting more exciting climax. The guides talking loudly all around me were not helping either. On our way back, another 15 minutes of passing through food stalls and souvenir shops (guess what they sell!) later, we arrived at the parking lot. The drive back to the city took longer with the traffic. It was four in the evening when we got back to town.

Xi’an is a beautiful city. I adore the old wall (where you can walk or ride around with bike for two or three hours), the gentrified districts and the Muslim Quarter. Everywhere I walked, I know I am walking through history. What I don’t like is this tourist inferno, this obsession with anything terracotta warriors. I wish I have more time to find the real beauty of Xi’an. I know it’s there but it was so difficult to find, being buried by layers and layers of terracotta warriors paraphernalia.

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Green Travel is...

...not just what happens at the destination, or indeed how you get there. It does not demand that you eschew air travel altogether or hotels or comfort, or that your holiday is within 10 miles of your home. Rather, it asks you to pack your brain as well as your swimsuit, and to assess and then act on the impact of your visit. At its best, it's kind to both place and people, and rewards the host as much as the tourist. It is mostly small-scale, unique and personal. It certainly appeals to the intellectually curious, the ecologically and socially responsible, and to the politically aware. It seeks to add to the sum of knowledge and improve, or at least not harm, the natural world.

I just love how John Vidal from The Guardian put it. I can't make the green claim that my travel has been eco-friendly. My recent travel to China, for instance, was all about flying. With only 11 days, I didn't see how I could travel the vast distances of China, in any other way than flying. However, I tried to be as local as possible. I took the public transport, ate at the local restaurants and tried to shop at the locally owned establishment. I hope it is enough to compensate all the flights I took to get there.

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