The Risky Journal

Reading Obama’s speech on the previous post is like reading a story about a hero who wins a great battle. How can’t it be? I try to do small analysis of the text’s structure. If it is observed well, it is like a short story narrative. It is started with the introduction about the story of September 11. It makes Americans remember their bitterest memories. It makes them remember the horrific tragedy happened to them. It craves to their deepest mind about the most painful wound in US’s history. This introduction functions to arouse these feelings, pain, grieve, loss and hatred. It also functions to introduce the problem of good vs evil represented by US vs Al Qaeda. It introduces us to the hero character and the evil character. The evil is Al Qaeda and Osama as the one who committed terrorism. While the hero is US (its government and its troops) for standing for its citizens, for the sake of securing them from further attacks.  The body of the text conveys the sequence of ...

(From:  http://newsblaze.com/pix/2009/1031/pix/Precious-Movie-.jpg  ) In my previous movie review post, I reviewed Precious for its representation of Black Feminism thoughts. In this post, I would like to share my article after researching the movie. In conducting the research, I mostly employed semiotic film theory as the main tools of analysis. Besides, I also included a brief overview of what Black Feminism is so that we are in the same sphere and not lost in the texts. Happy reading, if u read it  The Construction of Black Feminism Thought In Precious (2009)

This afternoon (December 22, 2010), I took a glimpse of a TV program in MTV Indonesia entitled MTV Alay. Well it was not that difficult to predict what this TV program is all about. As the name suggests, it presents shows    about “Alay” phenomena in Indonesian culture and society. This afternoon, the host of the show, VJ Daniel, interviewed three teenagers embracing “alay” identity, while VJ Daniel himself dressed in “alay” fashion. This program also featured video clips of Indonesian bands which could be labeled as “alay” band. "Alay" itself is a pop culture phenomenon in Indonesia to refer a broad of new pop cultural practices raging from music, fashion and writing style.  "Alay" is broadly used to refer to cocky and cheesy persons. In short, "alay" is attached with negative values. A profound explanation of this term will be given later.  However, why does MTV decide to dedicate a standalone program to this branch of new pop culture phenomena? W...

I got a task in my American Thought class several months ago. I had no idea what to write. But then I remembered one of my lecturer's saying, "Media is around you. You can get newspaper and you can make an analysis on it". So thanks to my inspiring lecture, I decide to analyze Hollywood Disaster Movie Genre. What was it?? why did i take it?? It was in the beginning of January if i am not mistaken that 2012 movie phenomenon occurred. People rushed to movie theater queuing to buy the opportunist movie. This phenomenon triggered me to analyze what kind of movie it is. I finally came into an understanding of disaster movie genre. Movies are categorized into the same genre if they have similar narratives (pattern of story). And disaster movie genre has long existed in Hollywood. We may still remember Armageddon, The Day After Tomorrow, Deep Impact and 2012 which all depict world destruction. So, I group them in disaster movie genre.

On June 12, 2010 I went to a department store to find a set of suits. I needed to find a suit as soon as possible to use for an event next week. Therefore, I decided to buy ready-use suits at a department store. To my surprise, as soon as I entered the suit sections, I was warmly greeted by the shopkeepers. Yes, I said shopkeepers because there were five shopkeepers warmly greeting and serving me. They offered a class one service. For me, it felt so different. Usually, I go to department store just to buy T shirts (moreover when there is a discount). But, the service is so much different. The shopkeepers will not approach me, and rather they will observe me with a suspicious look, as if i am going to steal something. They will not serve me well. What happen in this case? Do cloths really matter? What is so important about cloths that make you have different treatment? Clothing is one of the basic human need. Cloth protects people from heat, cold, dirt and everything else. Thus, pe...

It is one of my assignments during American Media class last year. I uploaded the file to scribd. Then, Iink it here. It is not a copy paste work, it is mine. So please do not copy paste it. American Idol Analysis

Jazz music is one of music genres considered as a high class music now. But, do you know that it was a low class music? Jazz music is a mix of blues, ragtime, brass, band music, and dance music. Those musics were created and popularized by African American musicians. So, Jazz was invented by African Americans in the late 19th and early 20th century. To be precise is around 1920s, as it is an era of Harlem Renaissance - an era when Black culture started to rise. Then, was Jazz a high class music before? No. The roots of Jazz was even in the slave musics before the Civil War era (pre 1865). So, it is clear then that Jazz was a low class musics. So, how could Jazz raise as a high class music. In 1917, Jazz became popular not by its black musicians but by a band namely the Original Dixeland Jass which members were all white. In addition, the band debuted in New York. The uniqueness of Jazz captured all the attention. Then, more Jazz great musicians started to emerge including Louis Armst...

Lately, i often listened to this classic opera song. It's such a beautiful song with beautiful lyric. I firstly listened to the cover version of the song by IL Divo. Then i found that this song is covered by many artists raging from the legendary ones such as Barbara Streisand till the new comers such as Jennifer Hudson. For those who like classic/opera music this song is a masterpiece. Here is the lyric: Someday, somewhere We'll find a new way of living We’ll find a way of forgiving Somewhere... There's a place for us Somewhere a place for us Peace and quiet and open air Wait for us Somewhere There's a time for us Someday there'll be a time for us Time together with time to spare Time to learn, time to care Someday, somewhere We'll find a new way of living We’ll find there's a way of forgiving Somewhere... Somewhere... Somewhere... There's a place for us A time and a place for us Hold my hand and we're half way there hold...

It's been quite sometimes that i had this idea struck in my head, but i had no idea where to share my idea. But, i remember that i once created a blog long time ago and i forgot the password. After trying to recover my password, i finally am able to access it again. Well, that's a bad introduction right?  Upin dan Ipin [1] Within the last 6 - 5 months, Indonesian people have new idolized TV program. It is Upin dan Ipin , aired on TPI everyday at 15.00. The interesting point is that this program is actually a product of Malaysia. For information, Indonesia - Malaysia relationship was not pretty good last year due to some cultural problems. Yet, this program is widely accepted in Indonesian society. I am then interested in analyzing the reasons why it is successful. Upin dan Ipin tells about the life of twin brothers (Upin and Ipin). They are may be around 6 - 7 years old. The show tells about their daily activities such as in school, home, and market. They play and stud...