The Risky Journal

Ariel Photo by: kapanlagi.com Several weeks ago, pop star Nazriel Ilham, better known as “Ariel” was freed in parole from the Kebon Waru penitentiary in Bandung , West Java after serving more than two years in prison. The former vocalist of Peterpan band was imprisoned because he was proven guilty of producing a personal sex tapes, featuring him and two Indonesian actresses. The tape, however, was available to public after an irresponsible person distributed it. Commenting on his release, some social critics deemed Ariel would find it difficult to go back to society. Ariel, the critics said, had violated one of the most sacred norms in Indonesia . In the country, sex tapes (and therefore free sex attitudes) are still widely perceived as a taboo thing to even talk about. However, the critics might have been wrong because Ariel soon easily rose into stardom after he and his band mates announced their new band name, NOAH, and an upcoming album. Ariel's fans surrounded

THOUGHTS?  This photo was taken next to the National Police headquarter on Jl. Trunojoyo in South Jakarta, in March. There is a sign stating that pedestrian is barred to either cross the street, or walk through that way. But, it left my mind in puzzles.  As long as I remembered, I saw no sidewalks along the street. Nor I saw zebra cross or elevated bridge to cross the highway. So, where are pedestrians supposed to walk? How can I as a pedestrian cross the street?  I have no answers either.

Movie Poster (from Wikipedia ) On Tuesday night, I finally got the chance to watch a long awaited movie for superhero movie maniacs,  The Avengers . I wished I had watched it in the brand new IMAX theater in the city. But yes, I was satisfied to watch in 2D, not 3D, theater. The Avengers which features Marvel's greatest superheroes such as Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Black Widow and Hawk Eye has become one of the highest selling movies.  According to Wikipedia, the movie budget is US$ 220 million. But, at the opening alone, it managed to gather US$207.4 million, pushing the last sequel of the Harry Potter movie saga from the top of the chart. Simply narrated, the movie follows Thor's story line. But it does not mean that you have to watch Thor before watching The Avengers . You can follow the storyline even if you have never watched Thor. The movie tells about Loki, Thor's expelled adopted brother, who tries to invade the earth after he has made a pa

This post's title may sound weird. Who wants to hold picnic amongst tombstones? Well, I will ... if it is hold in Museum Taman Prasasti. Located at the heart of Jakarta, Museum Taman Prasasti offers its visitors with unique experience. Visitors will not be seeing diorama or charts of Indonesian history. Instead, visitors are presented with tombstones! Entrance of the Museum Taman Prasasti This 1.3 acre museum was actually a cemetery for noble Dutchmen when Dutch occupied Indonesia. After Indonesia's independence, the Jakarta administration turned it into a museum in 1977. Since then, it has become one of rare green areas in the city.  Don't worry if you will wake the death. All deceased bodies were procured by their families during the museum's construction. Some were also relocated to other cemeteries.  It is very easy to get to the Museum Taman Prasasti, by either using Transjakarta buses or public minivans.  If you decide to go with the former, ch

Dozens of kindergarten students, accompanied by their parents, lined up in front of a wooden building at Jl. H. Kamang No. 38, Pondok Labu, South Jakarta, on a cloudy Friday morning. Then, the students entered the building, orderly following their teacher’s instructions.   “Mommy, that kite is so weird. I have never seen one like that. Can it even fly?” four-year-old Ali asked his mother, Erlina, 37. Ali was surprised at the Pegasus-shaped kite installed on the ceiling of the Indonesian Kite Museum. Other students were also mesmerized by the various forms of kites displayed there.  Established in 2003 by beautician turned kite-preservation activist Endang W. Puspoyo, the museum houses dozens of kites. “I established the museum solely because I love kites. It is heartbreaking to see how rarely kites are flown in big cities like Jakarta,” she said at the museum, which is also her home.  About 20 years ago, Endang decided to gradually opt out of her former profession to indulge he

Just want to post this music video :) Feeling like missing my home, family, peaceful little town and friends. I hope I can come home for a while sometimes :)

What are you going to do if you are asked to live in the biggest landfill in Indonesia ? Probably you will reject that request soon enough. But I am glad that I have been “forced” to do that. My colleagues and I were asked by our office to abandon our ordinary live for three days to live inside Bantar Gebang Landfill.   A 30-meter trash mountain really is distinct scenery for me to enjoy on the last Monday. The odor from the stinky trash also made me hard to breathe. Then, I would also have mistaken waters running down the trash mountain as coca cola , if I did not realize that I was in Bantar Gebang Landfill. Later I know that the dark water is called lindi  water - water from piles of waste. Soon enough, I knew that I had no clue at what I was going to face in the next three days. Try to guess what's the grey mountain on the furthest back??  After a couple minutes from trash mountains, my friends and I finally entered a village. It is not an ordinary village. It is

“Buy me some times” and “Time is money” can be literally translated as the way they sound in a 2012 Hollywood movie In Time . In Time movie poster taken from Wikipedia.org The movie which is starred by Justin Timberlake playing as Will Salas tells about a future when people stop aging at age 25. However, after that, people only have one year to live. Therefore, people work to buy “time” to live longer than 25 years. Time indeed is money in In Time . It functions as the currency of the future. In that alternative future of earth, areas are not divided geographically. Instead, it is divided into how “rich” you are. The area division is called as “Time Zones”. Those who have more times, thus considerably rich people, can live almost forever in the New Greenwich Time Zone. While those who do not have much time, living day-to-day basis, live in the ghetto area.

After winning two Academy Awards, Hugo certainly deserves to be in people’s must-watch movie list, or at My Must-Watch Movie List. Having watched the movie several hours ago, now I think that, at least, a glimpse of film history to fully understand what the movie means is somewhat needed. And I was like, “I wish I knew [those film history thingies] before watching it.” Hugo - Wallpaper Hugo simply tells about an orphan boy named Hugo (Asa Butterfield), who lives inside walls of a train station at the 1930s  Paris , “working” as the station clocks’ winder. He initially lives there with his harsh uncle after his father, a museum curator, dies in a fire. Hugo inherits the spirit of his deceased father to fix things. He still keeps one of his father’s dreams alive – fixing an automaton, a mechanic-human-figure doll that can write and draw. In order to fix the automaton, Hugo needs to steal some mechanical parts from a toy store which belonged to George Méliès (Ben King

The Year of Living Dangerously sets in the Sukarno-era Indonesia when communism caused ruptures in Indonesian political situation. The movie features Mel Gibson playing as an Australian journalist, Guy Hamilton, who is assigned to Indonesia . He is sent to Indonesia without proper preparation from his office. He literally starts from zero in the country. Foreign correspondent group in Jakarta also does not really welcome Hamilton . At first, Hamilton finds it hard to report news happening in Indonesia . He cannot nail any essential interviews and can only report boring stories. However, after befriending with a half-Chinese dwarf photographer Billy Kwan (played by Linda Hunt), Hamilton can make some notable headlines. Kwan has a wide range of sources, from crooks to generals. As Hamilton ’s name raise into prominence, he becomes widely known and being accepted by the foreign correspondent group in Indonesia . Kwan then introduces Hamilton to Jill Byrant, a Brit

The Artist movie poster from: heyyouguys.co.uk "Black and white silent movie - Oh my God!" That is what I had in mind when a friend of mine asked me to watch The Artist  together in a cinema. At that time, I was thinking "why should I spend Rp 30,000 just to watch a black and white silent movie?" Now I took back all of my words. By the time the movie started to play, I was laughing. "Ok, it's weird" I usually go to a movie theater to watch high definition pictures and ultra bombastic sound qualities. And then, here I was, sitting inside one of XXI's studio, watching black and white films with no human dialogues in it. As the movie starts, I began to understand what the movie director tries to convey. Weird though, but probably that is what the movie director wants people to experience. He wants people to perceive something "old" as "new". The opening of the movie is somewhat unique. I am not going to spoil what happ

Laughter after laughter. That’s what you will hear if you enter a movie theatre’s studio playing ATM in it. The Thailand-made movie is indeed successful in making its audience coming home smiling. ATM from: enjoythaimovies.com The movie tells story of a couple – Suer and Jib – working at the same bank office. However, the bank rules that no love affairs are allowed among its employees. Therefore, they must have secret relationship for five years. After five years of hidden love affairs, the couple starts to worry if someone will discover their relationship. Hence, Suer decides to propose Jib. He tries to convince Jib to quit the job. However, the plan does not go as predicted. Problems keep emerging testing their love bond, including an ATM which gives out double amount of money which make locals withdraw a lot of amount of money. 

Below is the article prepared by twelve cub reporters 2012 in the Jakarta Post, including me :) Enjoy our work! Chinese Paint Jakarta Red Photo by JP/Yuliasri Perdani A worker makes lotus-shaped origami at Boen Tek Bio Temple, Tangerang.  The Chinese New Year is here and Jakartans of all ethnic backgrounds, not just Chinese, celebrate the event openly, in marked contrast to when the holiday was largely a closed-door private affair 15 years ago. This and the articles on page 22 look at what has changed, based on reports prepared by Amahl S. Azwar, Anggi M. Lubis, Corry Elyda, Dhenok Pratiwi, Fikri Z. Muhammadi, Hans Nicholas Jong, Muhammad Rizqi A., Nadya Natahadibrata, Pras Gustanto, Satria Sambijantoro, Tassia Sipahutar and Yuliasri Perdani. Members of the Tan family lined up on Chinese New Year’s Day (Imlek) before their patriarch, 93-year-old Tan Kho Tjiang. First, they wrapped their hands before their noses and said “Gong Xi Fa Cai” (Congratulations and Prosperity),

Hey there ... Happy New Year :) It's the very first post in 2012. A movie review will do. Larry Crowne made my first rainy Sunday morning in the very first day of 2012. The duo Hollywood megastars, Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts, star the movie. I am not into drama movies much, but when it comes to Tom Hanks, I will do watch them. Larry Crowne Movie Poster from Moviefanatic The movie tells about Larry Crowne (Tom Hanks) who gets fired from the supermarket he used to work in for several years. It is a rather dramatic opening to watch Larry expecting his ninth employee of the month award but instead, he hears him being fired by the company’s management board. The reason is just simple, that is because he does not have advanced education level. Judging from the setting of the time, the movie seems describing the condition of the current slump US economy. Larry then enrolls to a nearby college, as suggested by his neighbor, in which he took classes on public speaking and