View from the Car

One beautiful reason to be stuck in the traffic.
Lodtunduh, October 2008.

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All About Eve

Since Retno has kindly tagging me in her blog, I have no other option than continue and so I kindly ask Nara, Li and Stephanie to continue this chain or for anyone, really.

1. I always have a book in my bag (unless my bag is a clutch). I don’t fancy staring into space and nothingness so I read everywhere, very much so until a friend joked that I should get a master for reading.
2. I’m a devoted dog person.
3. I believe in God but not religion because it is already fabricated by far too many people with their own agenda.
4. One movie I absolutely know words-by-words is Finding Nemo.
5. Literary character I feel I have special bond with and whom I think resemble me in many ways is Josephine March.
6. I read three copies of different Sunday newspaper during my late breakfast every week.
7. Each morning, I must get a cup of coffee before I can function properly.
8. I tend to gravitate toward generous, self-deprecatingly funny and open-minded people.
9. I learned about geography from my stamp collection.
10. My major splurge are (and will always be) books and glossy magazines.

When tagged, one must:

1. Link to the person who tagged you
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. Write six random things about yourself
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them
5. Let each person know they've been tagged and leave a comment on their blog
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

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Halloween Extravaganza

Nobody take costume party as seriously as Heidi Klum, The Goddess of Kali.
or her hubbie, Seal, in:

"Mr. Hopefully-Soon-to-be-President- Barack Obama"

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Porn Mentality Bill

Today marks the day when cultural diversity, ethnic pluralism and freedom of expression will start its way down to the Valley of Perish. Despite the endless array of creative demonstration, endless discussion panel between various organizations and minor protest from few brave representatives, Indonesia now has a porn bill.

Kindly read the definition of Porn Bill (The Jakarta Post, Oct 31, 2008):

Pornography is drawings, sketches, illustrations, photographs, texts, voices, sound, moving pictures, animations, cartoons, poetry, conversations, gestures, or other forms of communicative messages through various kinds of media; and/or performances in front of the public, which may incite obscenity, sexual exploitation and/or violate moral ethics in the community.

So if a sexy and pretty lady in short pants take a walk around the neighborhood with her dog, she can be captured by the police because she “performs in front of the public, which may incite obscenity, sexual exploitation…” Can you imagine the sort of description the police has to written in his law suit document: The 21 year’s old woman was captured on Saturday evening, at 5pm, because she is wearing short pants and wiggling her b…ehind, while taking her dog for a walk and aroused man (policeman?) in the community.

What a stupid, stupid law for this already troubled nation! The next thing I know internet will be disbanded, publication and press would be censored and traditional dancers will have to wear black veil during performances because showing their bare arms and shoulders would be “violating moral ethics in the community “

We might as well go back to Dark Ages by letting religious leaders controlled the country, having a group of fanatics capturing people on the reason of morality and underage marriages “to protect women from becoming the object of violence and rape”.

Visit Indonesia: We Don’t Do Diversity Anymore.

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In Conversation with Vikram Seth

October 16, 2008. Neka Museum – Ubud.

This must be it. The most anticipated event in this year Ubud Writers and Readers Festival. The committee did an excellent job of choosing a bigger venue this time (I still remember the sweat in last year Kiran Desai’s session). The hall in Neka Museum was crowded half an hour before the session started. After successfully squishing my not-so-petit-frame into a chair together with recently bought books to be signed), the Vikram Seth stepped into the stage. Along with him was the moderator, Edwina Blush. She hilariously mimicked a smitten school girl who is about to meet her Teen Idol and huskily said, “I think you all know what it means.”

From then on, Vikram Seth told the audience about his childhood and how he was teasingly called ‘gregarious hermit’ by his school friends. Book was a retreat for this adorable self-deprecating author. A bottle of wine accompanied the conversation and at one point, after a constant wine refilling, an elderly audience next to me said to her friend “She really should stop drinking.” Vikram Seth also shared to the audience about his educational background, his interest to Chinese poetry and how Pushkin’s Onegin influenced his style of writing (hence, The Golden Gate).

The most memorable pieces from this session were the reading. He reads from his children book, Beastly Tales, a poem about The Hare and The Tortoise. Truly a session to remember.

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Literary Treasure from Ubud

All successfully signed by the authors, of course ;-) like this copy of John Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil:

or like this copy of Vikram Seth's Two Lives (VIKRAM SETH!):

God, I’m such a literary groupie.

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Baby of the Ball

Just when I thought I might be the youngest in the audience, I saw this cute literary baby. More to come about this year Ubud Writers and Readers Festival.

More about → Baby of the Ball