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"Found Footage" Documentary Film - Are They Real?

2012-08-23T03:44:00.002-07:00

Since 1999, there are numerous of films released and claimed to be the "found footage" from some mysterious and unexplained criminal cases. The victims were never been found, and people - means "the police and relatives" - were still looking for them. The documentary film - that been made by one or several of the deceased - was found at the site of the crime. While we watched the movie, people - again, means "the police and the relatives" - hope someone from the audience can understand the situation and can help to solve the mystery.

The "found footage" film were made use regular handycam and recorded by a very amateur movie maker (it shakes, sometimes blur, too radical close-up, ... just like a very regular home-made documentary film).

Question : Are those films real? I mean, do you believe - or should we believe - the movie is actually a true incident?

Well... if you believe those films are taken from true incidents, then I should congratulate you, because you just being punk'd.

The movies that you saw - with additional lines, such as "found footage" - were actually fake. All of them were truly an entertaining movie that been made in purpose to make people feel deeply about the things that they saw on the screen. "Found footage" has become one of the most favorable genre of movie making (mostly horror). Filming mostly done by the actor themselves as they recite their lines. Shaky or blur camera work is often employed for realism.

This genre was introduced in 1980, when Cannibal Holocaust was released. Directed by Ruggero Deadato and starring Carl Gabriel Yorke, Robert Kerman, and Francesca Ciardi, this Italian film tells the story of a missing documentary film crew who had gone to the Amazon to film cannibal tribes. The crew never been found and presumed dead. Only their film was found and later an American television station wishes to broadcast.

This film has influenced another "found footage" horror film called The Blair Witch Project (1999), and later become the "found footage" genre's landmark in horror film history. Since then, more "found footage" film appeared in theaters. At least there are 7 - 10 movies been released in United States and about 20 - 30 movies in the world each year.

Today, there are more than hundreds of "found footage" films that been made, and some of them have become cult movies. Most notable "found footage" films are the trilogy of August Underground (2001 - 2004), Cloverfield (2008), the series of Paranormal Activity (2009 - present), The Last Exorcism (2010), Apollo 18 (2011), and Chronicle (2012).
Besides United States, other countries also adapted and produced "found footage" genre movies. Most notable country that also produced this kind of genre is Japan. Koji Shiraishi - Japanese director - has been know as one of the well-known director whose made The Curse (Noroi, 2005), one of the most controversial and the longest play "found footage" genre movie (usually "found footage" film only 75-90 minutes play-length. The Curse has 120 minutes play-length). He also made Occult (2009) and Shirome (2010) in which both are also box office "found footage" genre films in Japan.

Other countries that also made "found footage" documentary films are :
- Australia (Lake Mungo; 2008)
- Singapore (Changi Haunted; 2011)
- Indonesia (Terekam; 2010)
- Spanish (Atrocious and the trilogy of REC; 2007 - 2012)
- Canada (Diary of the Dead; 2007)
- India (Ragini MMS and Love Sex Aur Dhokha; 2011)
- Norway (Trollhunter; 2010)
- Poland (Nawiedzona Polska; 2011)

Twilight From Sederet.com

2011-12-22T03:21:00.000-08:00

Wow.... what a day today...!!!!

Last week, I've been told by Sederet.com that I was chosen as one of the finalist in their Blog Competition. Then on Dec 20, I got a news that... I WON... !!!! Even placed as Runner Up, but I am very happy for the result. I am very appreciate Sederet.com whose chosen me as one of the winner.

And today, I become much more happy to received the prize of the competition : the novel of TWILIGHT. Can't imagine how happy I am. Actually I known Twilight after watched its movie several years ago. I never read the novel myself, especially in original version in English. And today.... wow... amazing.... I got one....!!!!

Last but not least, I would like to say : Thank you, Sederet.com. You are soooo amazing and I am very glad to use your service. I believe, Sederet.com can become The Leader of Online Dictionary in the future. Sederet.com is not only a regular dictionary. It has games, articles, and English lessons. Why need other when this one is already completed?

This is The Reason Why Sederet.Com is The Most Trustworthy Online Dictionary

2011-12-11T04:38:00.000-08:00

Ever found difficulty when you want to know how to say a word in Indonesia or visa verse? Well.... easiest (and in old-fashioned) way, is looking for the word in dictionary. But it is not easy, you know. We have to open page by page, and read soooo many tiny words that takes time. Very frustrating, especially when we are going to write a very long articles.

I also met the same condition several years ago. When wrote some articles in English, I found very difficult to find a "correct" translation from Indonesia words to English. Sometimes the words are there, but can't applicated, so I need to find another words with "similar" meaning.

About 2 years ago, when I search in Google, looking for online dictionary, I found Sederet.com in which placed on the very top of the Google Search List. When entered the web, frankly speaking, I did not quiet like it. The web's design was very simple, with blue and white combination back ground. Very amateur appearance. But when started to use it, I found that Sederet.com is not a simple dictionary web like I thought.

When entering a word, mostly Sederet.com will provide the translation of the words that we want to know, including several synonymous that might be have same meaning or similar meaning. This option give me more understanding about the uses of the words. For example, when I type "Run", the translation appears directly into Indonesia as "Lari". Meanwhile, at the bottom, Sederet.com provide several synonym such as "Tally", "Trial", "Streak", and others in which become a very good input for me.

Since then, I become one of Sederet.com's biggest fan. When I want to look for English dictionary, I will open Sederet.com. And I am very glad that Sederet.com web have improved quiet significant recently (especially its appearance), and become one of the major online dictionary in Indonesia.

Although has improved like today, I found that Sederet.com still not able to translate phrases and short sentences, either from English to Indonesia or visa verse. For example, when I type "BEAT IT" and translate it into Indonesia, it turns out the meaning is "Menumbuknya", in which "menumbuknya" actual mean is "Pound It". You can try to type other short sentences (minimum in 2 words) and most words still incorrectly translated.

Despite of above problem. I found Sederet.com is very helpful for people who just start to learn English or Indonesia language, because it has a lot of options of translation that help people to understand the meaning of the single words. For example, when I look for the translation of "Mencari", Sederet.com will provide several meaning of the words (depend on the occasion of use), including its synonym.

This is the reason why I still use Sederet.com, because I can learn a lot from the translation of the words that I type in Sederet.com.

To make the web more exciting, interesting, and fun, Sederet.com also can be used thru mobile cellphone. Just type http://m.sederet.com, and it can be used directly, and work on almost all phones with mobile web access. Easier, faster, and can be used anywhere, anytime.

Feel bored after do the translation? There are several Educational Web Games in Sederet.com that also can be played. It is very fun can play several of them that can help to improve my vocabulary. Several games that I played before are : Type & Poop Ballons, Spelling Bee, Word Cross, and Typing Hero. You should try them...!!! It really fun...!!!

Sederet.com also have English Articles. But unfortunately, all articles are only focus on the how to learn English language, such as English Grammar Lessons, Easy Way To Learn English, and others. I think it would be much better if it also consist of the knowledge about Indonesia language (but written in English). This might be helpful for people who eager to learn about Indonesia (the words, the culture, and everything about Indonesia).

When you want to learn deep about English or Indonesian language, you don't have to buy thick dictionary or download any dictionary program. You have Sederet.com. What else you need?

The Famous Restaurant in Indonesia - Rumah Makan Padang

2011-02-04T21:24:00.000-08:00

If one day the officials of The Guiness Book of World Record have time to visit Indonesia, I think they will announced that the world most largest franchise restaurant in the world is Rumah Makan Padang (simply means "Padang Restaurant"). It is true and I can bet on it. According to Ikatan Warung Padang Indonesia (The Indonesia Padang's Restaurant Organization, or simply called IWAPIN), there are about 20,000 Padang restaurant establishment, and the figure is in Jakarta only. There are hundreds of city in Indonesia. Try to count them all.....

Rumah Makan Padang is one of the most well-known restaurant in Indonesia. In every street of every city in Indonesia, you can easily find it. In fact, in every five to six house that you passed, there will be at least one Rumah Makan Padang. So you can imagine, how many of them in all city of Indonesia.

So what is the specialty of Rumah Makan Padang? Why it is so famous in Indonesia?

THE HISTORY OF RUMAH MAKAN PADANG
Padang is the capital city of West Sumatera, with an area about 694.96 square kilometers,with population more than 833,000 people. Besides its beauty scenery, Padang has been well-known for its cuisine which commonly called as Padang cuisine or Minangkabau cuisine (Minangkabau is the other name for Padang). In Indonesia dialect, it's called Masakan Padang or Masakan Minang (Minang's Cuisine).

Masakan Padang is famous for its rich taste of succulent coconut milk and spicy chili, similar with Middle Eastern or India dishes.

In the past (even until today), the city of Padang is not as good as today. A lot of unemployed people from Padang were go to other city to find a better job outside their city and island. That's why they were spreading all around Indonesia city and island. When they arrived in the city, most of them can't eat the cuisine in that place because it is not suitable for them (especially in Java, because most of its cuisine were sweet and less spicy). Eventually, most Padang's male are capable to do the cooking, so they cook the meal for themselves. Somehow, their cooking skill and food admired native. This result is giving idea for Padang's people to open restaurant that sell their origin food in their new place. And since then, Rumah Makan Padang is open widely in every city of Indonesia.

THE MENU OF RUMAH MAKAN PADANG
In the present, there are dozens of menu in Rumah Makan Padang that can be chosen. Most of them are cook using coconut milk and spicy chili. Every Padang Restaurant served different variant and different taste of meals, depend of their specialty. Despite the variant meals of each restaurant, there are standard and regular menus that always available in every Padang restaurant :

1. Rendang :
It's made from beef (sometimes chicken, mutton, water buffalo, or duck), slowly cooked in coconut milk, spices, toasted coconut paste, and spices (ginger, galangal, turmeric leaf, lemon grass, and chillies) for several hours until the liquid almost gone.

2. Nangka / Nangko :
Literally, Nangka means "jackfruit". Usually it is cooked with the mixture of coconut milk, lemon grass, turmeric, curry powder, and chillies. In some place, they are adding cabbage, long bean, and french bean to make the taste different. Nangka is served together with its thin sauce.

3. Sate Padang :
Skewered meats that served with yellow (mixture of turmeric, ginger, garlic, coriander, galangal root, cumin, curry powder ad salt) and spicy sauce. In some restaurant, they are using goat meat, and some others using cow meat.

4. Gulai :
It is curry soup that usually made with several combinations, such as liver (called Gulai Hati or Liver Curry), cow brain (Gulai Otak / Cow Brain Curry), cow bone marrow (Gulai Sumsum / Cow Bone Marrow Curry), cow internals organs (Gulai Cincang / Cow Internal Organs Curry), and others.

5. Sambal :
Means Chili. There are two kinds of chili that always served in every Restaurant Padang : Sambal Balado (sliced red chili) and Sambal Lado / Sambal Ijo (sliced green chili). Sambal Balado usually very spicy, and Sambal Ijo usually mild spicy and tastier. To make the chili taste different, some restaurants add anchovy and shallot in the green chili.

HOW TO EAT IN RUMAH MAKAN PADANG?
You'll be surprise to find out that eating in Rumah Makan Padang is very different comparing with other restaurant. All dishes are displaying in the window of the restaurant. While you are planning to dine-in, there are two ways you can do to ordering the food :
1. Direct choose :
You just stand near the cuisines, then choose whatever you like. The waiter will get and prepare it to you in seconds.

2. Ala carte :
Confused and can't decide what you prefer to eat? Just sit at any empty table in the restaurant. In less that a minute, a waiter will immediately serves the dishes directly to your table and fill it with dozens of their dishes such as rendang, curried fish, chili eggplant, curried beef liver, curry nangko, foot tendons, fried chicken, and sambal. While the waiter bring the dishes, you will see one of interesting act : All dishes - that place on each small bowl - were put and fill his both hands, then place all of the bowls on your table without spoil any of each meal. When you eat, choose and take whatever you like. The payment will be counted based on what you eat.

While you are having dine-in at Padang Restaurant, the waiter usually serve a bowl of tap water (sometimes with a slice of lime, to give a fresh scent). It's called "Kobokan", that used to wash your hand before eat. So, don't drink it....!!!

There are two ways to enjoy the dishes : eat with bare hands or with spoon and fork. Native in Indonesia mostly prefer to eat with bare hands.

WHY RUMAH MAKAN PADANG BECOME SO FAMOUS ?

Most people in Indonesia love to eat in Padang Restaurant because several reason.

First, the choose of cuisines. Padang Restaurant have hundreds of cuisines that can be chosen. Each restaurant also provide different of taste and variant, which make the selection even bigger and wider.

Second is the portion. Padang cuisine have also been known for its large portion of rice. Whenever we ordered for take-away, the waiter will prepare a pack of rice that enough for 2 people. So, for rice-lover, Padang cuisine can guaranteed your stomach blow.

And the last reason is the price. Although some famous Padang's restaurant (such as Sederhana, Salero Bagindo, Pagi Sore, Simpang Raya, Sari Ratu, and Sari Minang) have quiet expensive price for its meals, but in small Padang restaurant, the price is affordable. The cheapest menu (rice with curry egg and chili) will cost not more than Rp 7,000 / pack (approx US$ 0.77). With portion that enough for two people, the price is quiet reasonable.

INDONESIA'S 10 MOST CONTROVERSY NEWS IN 2010

2010-12-12T22:33:00.000-08:00

Within less than 2 weeks, we are going to leave the year of 2010 and welcoming 2011. Many things happened during this year. I can say this year is a "controversy year". There are a lot of controversy things happened during this year, and it is not happened only in USA, but also in almost all around the world. Here are some of the notable and controversy news from Indonesia :

1. ARIEL "PETERPAN" INCIDENT

Ariel (Left) & Luna Maya, his girlfriend

One of the most popular controversy top news in 2010 is Ariel "Peter Pan" Incident. Ariel - or Nazriel Irham - is the former lead singer of Peterpan Band, one of the most famous band from Indonesia. The incident started in June 3, 2010, when a viral sex video of him and his girlfriend, Luna Maya (one of the well-known model from Indonesia), was posted on a web site.

Several days later, another sex video which shown Ariel with another girl - Cut Tari, one of the most popular & talented tv presenter from Indonesia - also appeared on a downloadable web site. Although denied the video was him - and disappeared for almost a week - Ariel finally admitted on June 22, 2010 and handover himself. According to Ariel, the video was made for his private collections, but somehow leak to public. Although it was not Ariel who spread the video (later on it has revealed that it was one of Ariel's friend who plans to blackmail him), but the main trial of the case is him & it is still on progress. Rumors said that there are 36 more sex videos of Ariel that found and leaked to public. But until today. either hard evidences nor other proves was shown or reported to public.

This incident become very popular, not only in Indonesia, but also become hot topics in other countries, such as Korea and America.

2. GAYUS TAMBUNAN, THE TOUGHEST CORUPTOR

Gayus (left) & his camouflage face (right) when he ran away to Bali

Another highlight of controversies news is Gayus Tambunan. He is known as "the toughest corruptor" due to his act as the tax "case broker" for most of the big tax cases in Indonesia. Before the case blown up, Gayus is only known as a very regular staff of Indonesia's Tax General Directorate. His recent position was The Tax Objected Review Officer. However, within 1 year of his service in the department and with salary less than Rp 12 million / month gross (approx about US$ 1,350), he can manage to buy a Rp 2 billion (approx US$ 222,500) of luxury house, have some collections of branded cars, and bank account with more than Rp 25 billion (approx US$ 2,8 million) amount.

Early this year, Susno Duadji - the former Commissioner General of Police Department - has mentioned his name as one of the suspect in most of the corruption cases in Indonesia. Police aimed target to Gayus and plan to started an investigation to him on March 24,2010. However Gayus disappeared and run away to Singapore. His existence was detected in Singapore on March 31, 2010. After a very long persuasion by police, Gayus finally agreed to flown back to Indonesia and surrendered himself.

The trial of Gayus still in progress until today. And based on his testimony, there are a lot of big tax cases that have been settled by him. The compensation of his"hard work" usually is some amounts of money. He also admitted had bribed some judges to release him from the trial.

He also proved himself as "the most powerful corruptor" after been spotted in Bali - watching the international tennis competition - during his imprisonment time. When this news published, The Head of Warden was fired directly.

3. THE FAMILY FEUD
This year, the clash in local stars' family in Indonesia has become one of the most frequent headline in any entertainment news. At least 4 famous family feuds that have been exposed and become the most talk-about news.

Arumi Bachsin

The first feud was come from Anissa Bahar, one of dangdut's singer. After her divorce with her husband - Memo Sanjaya - several years ago, their daughter - Juwita Bahar - has been taken care by Memo. On March 2010, Juwita ran away from her father's house after Memo limited her activities and lived with her mother. After stayed with her mother for several month, on August 2010, Juwita ran away again and decided to live alone and take control of her own life. People started to wonder about the relationship between Juwita and her parents. However, until today, no further updated regarding this feud.

Another family feud came from Qory Sandioriva, the former Putri Indonesia 2009 (Miss Indonesia 2009) from Nanggroe Aceh Darrusalam (NAD), and one of the contestant of Miss Universe 2010. Since August 2010, after the Miss Universe competition ended, Qory is starting a clash with her mother - Feriawati - when her mother accused Qory has been blinded with black magic after met a guy nicknamed R. Feriawati also often issues a lot of statements to media about her daughter behavior and how she neglected her family. Qory replied her mother statements by cursing her mother on media, and refused to meet her.

Qory Sandioriva

Although the feud between mother and daughter are getting worse and worse everyday, but it turns out to be a fortune for Qory. It reported that since the clash of them has been blow up by the media, Qory has gaining popularity and get more job after that. A true feud or only sensation?

Another artist is Arumi Bachsin, who also have clash with her parents and run away from home two times. Her first run away was on May 10, 2010. According to her testimony, she did it because she felt being exploited by her parents. With the help from Indonesia Child Protection Commission (Komisi Perlindungan Anak Indonesia), Arumi finally agreed to return to her family. However, on November 18, 2010, Arumi run away again after having a dispute with her family again. Until today, Arumi is staying with Child Protection Commission and refuse to meet her parents.

And the recent feud is Ayu Azhari whose been reported by her two sons - Axel Djody Gondokusumo (20) and Sean Azad Taito Azhari (15) - for neglecting and abusing both of them. The case started on November 4, 2010, when Ayu reported her son - Sean Azad - for stealing her money US$ 50,000. After her son been arrested, Ayu revoked her report. But several days later Axel Gondokusumo filed a report against Ayu for holding his inheritance money. When Ayu denied to admit, Axel and Sean Azad reported her for abusing. They provide a lot of proofs, including the testimony from their younger brothers whose been abused by Ayu repeatedly. The case is still on process, and the news still can be read or watched in any of infotainment news everyday in every media.

4. THE RAKE OVER THE SPECIAL REGION OF YOGYAKARTA
Since 1945, Yogyakarta has been stated as special part of Indonesia that become sultanate region. The position of Yogyakarta have become a very important part in Indonesia history after the sultan of the region, Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX and Sri Paku Alam VIII, gave their full support to Indonesia Government when Dutch re-occupied Jakarta - the capital city of Indonesia - during the ensuing struggle to secure independence in January 1946 - August 1950. In return for this support, the declaration of Special Authority over Yogyakarta was granted in full in 1950 and the region became its own province within the province of Central Java. Since become The Special Region, the people of Yogyakarta have authority to choose their own District Leader, in which come from sultan's family.

However this special treatment is become a huge national controversy after Interior Ministry is drafting a regulation concerning the special region of Yogyakarta. The controversy started in November 29, 2010, when The President of Republic of Indonesia stated that it is not possible to have monarchy system in Yogyakarta, while the system that been used for Indonesia is democracy. This statement is raising controversy and critics, especially from the people of Yogyakarta. Most of them thought that The President did not understand the meaning of "monarchy" and had no consideration of history background. Even the regulations are not done and still debated, the rage against it have become bigger and bigger each day. People is hoping The President of Indonesia can meet The Sultan of Yogyakarta and discussing about the future of The Special Region of Yogyakarta. This meeting can be a solution to stop the misunderstanding. So far, no agenda that mention about the meeting between them will be held.

5. LUWAK COFFEE IS "HARAM"?

*** To understand about Luwak Coffee, pse read my previous articles as shown on this link : http://doyouknow-file.blogspot.com/2010/06/what-is-most-expensive-and-strangest.html ***

Although has been known for years as one of the best and the most expensive coffee from Indonesia, Luwak Coffee suddenly become a controversy this year, especially among the moslem communities in Indonesia. They are questioning about the "halal" (legal) of drinking this coffee because it made from the dung of civet.

This question raised up March 2010, when The President of Indonesia Susilo Bambang Yudoyono went to Australia and gave a souvenir of Luwak Coffee to The Australia Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. But since the coffee did not entering Australia Quarantine (AQIS) for further inspection - and they suspected there has any decease in it - finally the coffee had been hold in airport. Australia Media called this situation as "Dung Diplomacy".

Since then, The Head of MUI (Indonesia Cleric Assembly) KH Ma'ruf Amin, on April 2010 considered to declared Luwak Coffee as "haram" (unlegal) to be drank by moslem people. The consideration that stated on the media, created confusion among the coffee-lover in Indonesia. After long discussions and debates, finally on July 2010, MUI declared that Luwak Coffee is "HALAL", as long as it's been washed before use to drink.

6. VIRGINITY TEST FOR FEMALE STUDENTS
On September 2010, one of the District House of Representatives (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Daerah - DPRD) officer from Jambi Province, Bambang Bayu Suseno, came up with an idea to run the Virginity Test for all female students. According to him, the purpose of the test is to increasing the quality of education, especially in district area, and implementing the value of religion. The test is very important to safe the students from free sex among the youth. Female students that fail the test, will not able to continue her education anymore.

This idea is bringing up some polemic and controversy among the officers themselves. According to them Virginity Test is against people rights to have education, and the impact of the test result will be a discrimination for them.

Although the idea was never mentioned anymore, but the controversy of this idea is still continue until today.

7.COWBOY IN PARADISE
On April 2010, people in Bali Island were shocked when a movie called Cowboy in Paradise was launched in internet. The movie is a documentary that following the daily lifestyle of gigolos in Kutai Beach, Bali Island. The director - Amit Virmani, a Singaporean - shot the film while following two men from Bali, who were introducing themselves as the gigolo from Bali.

Recently, the local government denied about the availability of gigolos in Kutai Beach. To prove that, they are holding regular unannounced inspections in the beach area.

8. WAMENA GANTENG - THE RINGTONE THAT CAUSED WAR

The Tribe's War in Wamena

I can say that the most controversy song of the year from Indonesia is "Wamena Ganteng" (The Handsome Wamena), an R&B song composed by FEM aka TM, a 17 years old teenager from Yuka Tribe in Jayapura, Papua. This song is fusing some hell that caused tribe's war between Wamena Tribe and Yoka Tribe. The incident happened on November 17, 2010 at 09.00 am (local time), when Wamena Tribe suddenly attacked Yoka Tribe's village, burned down houses and two cars. Three civilians from Yoka were injured.

The incident happened in the same day earlier, when one of the Yoka's was playing the song from their cellphone in front of Wamena's villager. The song that content lyric that insult Wamena's villager soon raise some hell. Less than an hour, the tribe's war began.

The police was trying to stop the war by shot their guns to the air. The condition finally can be controlled by security forces.

9. THE MOST CONTROVERSY BANK ROBBERY

One of the most fantastic and controversy bank robbery that happened in Indonesia is happening on August 18,2010, when 18 people robbed CIMB Niaga Bank branch in Medan Tembung, South Sumatera. They were not regular robbers because they were holding AK-47 and FN pistol. While did the acts, all of them were wearing helm and seems like they really know what they should do. One of the bank security and a bank customer - who coincidently were Briptu Samuel, one of the member of The National Car Brigade Team - were killed during the robbery. Everything that happened that day described by the witnesses just like the sequences of Hollywood's action movies that we usually saw in theater.

Even all of the perpetrators of robbery have been found on September 20, 2010 - three were shoot to dead - and imprisoned, but some facts that happened during the bank robbery are still remain unexplained, such as : When they rob the bank in the midday, why the road can be so quiet? Is it coincidence or have been set up? How the robbers can posses guns?

The most strangest thing during the bank robbery is the collections of photos that have been made by one of the witness. The witness identity has been withheld. His photos are shown the sequences of the stage of the robbery, starting from the robbers come to the bank use several motorbikes, entering the bank, kill the security, and then run. According to the witness, all pictures had been shot use cell-phone camera. But somehow, the pictures shot in a very perfect angles, sharp, and clear. Is the statement of the witness can be trusted?

(The complete sequences of the bank robbery photos can be seen on : http://www.tribunnews.com/2010/08/19/foto-foto-eksklusif-adegan-perampokan-bank-niaga-medan)

10. FFI (Indonesia's Film Festival) CONTROVERSY :
Indonesia's Film Festival has become one of the most important celebration for Indonesia movie makers. However, since the first festival (1960) until today (2010), most of the festivals are gaining controversies.And the latest film festival also gaining controversy. On November 23, 2010, FFI Committee have elected 10 Indonesia movies. However, some movies - such as Sang Pencerah (The Lightener) and Darah Garuda (Garuda's Blood) - were not part of the 10 movies. Meanwhile, based on most critics opinion, those movies were suitable to be chosen as one of FFI's nominator.

A surprising controversy happened when the board of juries - that choose "Sang Pencerah" as one of the nominators - dismissed and replaced with new juries. Accoding to the Committee, those juries were fail to find the incorrect history facts that shown on the film (Sang Pencerah is the biography about KH Ahmad Dahlan, one of most well-known national patriot and the founder of Muhammadiyah, an organisation that dedicated themselves to spread the pure Islam teaching in Indonesia). The festival itself has been held on December 6, 2010 at Central Park, Jakarta.

The Strangest Marriage Ritual from All Around The World

2010-11-26T03:08:00.000-08:00

Marriage is the most solemn pledge we make in our lifetimes. It is the greatest joy of human existence, the pure joy that flows from two hearts beating as one. Well... that's what people say. But frankly, My Dear, marriage is not as simple as pledging in front of our Priest and family, then riding a "Just Married" car, and taking your honeymoon in some Carribean Islands. In some places, marriage is a very complicated ritual that not easy to make. It takes sacrifice and big-heart to accept the ritual. And some people believe, by doing the ritual, your marriage will be last long, even longer.

There are several strangest marriage rituals from all around the world that I am collecting. I hope, by reading this article, you are not only amaze with other people's culture, but also feel so blessed to have your best soul mate by your side.

MIDDLE EAST : PARTY & PARTY ALL THE TIME

I think one of the most expensive but merrier marriage celebration is in Middle East. In many parts of Middle East, it is very common to have five different parties for the wedding ceremony. The first party will be The Engagement Party. The bride and groom invite family and friends to have a festive party, with lotta foods, dancing, singing, and happy music. It is an all night long party.

Then, the second party takes place in the day when the bride and groom go to the courthouse to sign their marriage contract. After that, family and friends are invited again to celebrate it. They party and dancing with happy music again.

The third party is taking place one day before the wedding. This party is called Hena, in which the bride and groom sit together while several unmarried girls hold a white cloth on their heads. One of the girl (called "The Grinding Girl") grinds together two lumbs of sugar above the couples' heads while asking God to repel all evil spirits from the young couple's life. In the party, the bride is wearing green dress. Hena Party usually ended at the dawn on the day of the wedding.

The fourth will be the main wedding reception party (fiuh... finally....!!!!). In this party, the bride and groom exchange wedding rings. Same as regular wedding party, this party have speeches from each member of the bride and the groom family, dancing, singing, and eating. Usually each guest is given 5 almond pieces, in which a symbol of five sacred wedding wishes (Health, Happiness, Wealth, Fertility, and Longevity).

Finish? Naaah.... there is another one. The final party takes place 7 days after the fourth party. It's called Sabaa, which means Seven. The Sabaa is held at the home of the bride's mother and only women attend. They bring the bride presents and in this opportunity, the bride's mother traditionally gives her daughter gold or diamonds.

So... if you have intention to have a wedding in Middle East's tradition, save your wallet and energy. You're gonna need it. Very much.....!!!

SCOTTISH : BLACKENING THE BRIDE

It is quiet a weirdest pre-wedding tradition I ever heard (hey... whose the one who came out with this idea at first place?). But it's true : Either the bride or the groom (sometimes both, depend on the particular family) is taken by surprise and covered with very smelly things (and substances), such as spoiled milk, eggs, sauces, ..... and other yucky stuffs....!!! After officially "blackened", then they paraded around the town for all to see.

GERMANY :LOG SAWING

It is a German wedding tradition that test the bride and groom physical skills. After the couple are married, a log is positioned between two sawhorses and they must saw it in half working together. The meaning of this tradition is a sign of how they will handle things together once they are married.

INDIAN : STEALING THE GROOM'S SHOES
Sounds odd, but fun. During the ceremony, the groom has to remove his shoes prior to entering the alter to be married. Members of the bride's family are obligated to try to steal the groom shoes, meanwhile the groom's family must protect the shoes, and they will go to extreme measures in order to hide the shoes. If the bride's family is successful in stealing the groom's shoes, then the groom must pay whatever amount of money they request to get the shoes back. Hmm.... remind me with my childhood hide-and-chase's game. ^_^

AFRICAN :A NIGHTMARE ON THE 1ST NIGHT

Villagers people in Africa are expecting that every girls are still virgin before they are getting married. So in order to make sure that thing, in some certain villages, right after the wedding ceremony, an older woman will accompany the couple to their bedroom. Her presence is to direct the couple and explain what they should do. If the new bride seems a little too experienced on her wedding night, the older woman can complain to the village and the marriage can be dismissed. Usually the older women are village elders, but sometimes also the bride's mother or even her mother-in-law.

ITALY : TALISMAN & SHATTERED VASE
In Italy, the groom is carrying a talisman (piece of iron) in his pocket during the wedding day. The talisman was believed to ward off misfortune. When wedding party is coming to an end, the newly married couple shatter a vase or glass into many pieces. The number of pieces represented the expected number of years they would be happily married. So if you want to "happily ever after", smash the vase into dust-pieces.

MEXICO : A GIFT OF 13 COINS

During the wedding day in Mexico, the groom bestows his bride a gift of 13 coins - called arras - which is representing Jesus and His 12 Apostles. The coins are to be blessed by the priest and bear the groom's promise to care for and provide for his wife.

CHINA : CRYING IN A WEDDING

It's actually a very ancient ritual. I even hardly believe it's still exist now. But I read in some website, they mentioned this ritual still be done. Usually it is the bride and her female family members who did this ritual. The ritual is like this : One month before the wedding, a bride is starting her weep tradition and cries for an hour. Ten days later, her mother joins and cries together with the bride. Another ten days later, her grandmothers, sisters, and aunts contribute to the flood. They are not just crying, but there is some tones they must follow. This crying ritual is called "Crying Marriage Song", in which a celebration of happy times.

10 WACKIEST BANDS IN THE WORLD

2010-11-24T22:30:00.000-08:00

Some bands - especially rock bands - are popular because of their music (you know Led Zeppelin with their memorable Stairway to Heaven, or Mettalica with their Enter the Sandman). But you also know that some others are popular just because of their acts on stage (well.... Greenday or Marylin Manson can be in the list....).

Apart from those two kinds of bands, there are some others that not only popular because of their music, but also their performance and what they wore on the stage. A little wacky, unusual, and totally did not support their music. But that's what make them stars. Well... let's see how wacky they really are:

1. KUBURAN BAND :

Kuburan Band

Literally, their band means "The Graveyard Band". They usually dressed up very scary : White face with a very scary make up and dress like vampires or zombies. You might thought they are heavy metal rock band (Well... Slipknot and Kiss also dress like that....). Wait till you hear their song.... you might be surprised that their song is much more a pop song than metal. Yep.... Kuburan Band is a very popular band from Indonesia. Founded in Bandung on September 11, 2001, they have been well-known in indie music community and oftenly contributed their performance in a lot of indie-music concert. Even they proclaimed themselves as THE 2ND MOST GOTHIC BAND IN THE WORLD, but in fact,their music is pop-rock with funny lyric. Their first commercial album was released in 2006 and it's called BOOMING ! BEE ARE THE KILL YOUNG PEN THINK GUN THANK (it's not actual English words, but Indonesia slank, which means "Even We Are Not Taking A Bath Yet, But We Still Handsome"), in which become a big hit. Their single "Lupa Lupa Ingat" (I Don't Remember) is a very phenomenal song a very popular during that time. This group is still exist and actively performing their acts.

2. PSYCHO LE CEMU :

Psycho Le Cemu

I don't think they are rock band, are you? Althought their wore anime outfits - and might be dress like a video game characters - But they really are. Known as Japanese visual rock band, Psycho (which formed in 1999) is one of the famous rock band. They always made different sets of costums for each of their performance. Their first album - Doppelganger - was released in September 2001 and become a hit. Their popularity is keep growing until May 2005, when Daishi - the lead singer of Psycho - was arrested due to the positivity of using methamphetamine while did urinalysis in Kanagawa. The band went into hiatus and all of the members are taking their own side projects, until 2009, when all members of the band reunite for the band's 10th Anniversary tour called 10th Anniversary - Legend of Sword.

3. PYRAMID BAND :

Piramid Band

Althought their outfit is Latino dress, but don't be surprise when you hear their song. The song and the outfits did not match at all. Pyramid Band (not to be confused with USA's band called Pyramid) is Indonesia pop-rock band. Founded in Palembang, South Sumatera, in 2008, Pyramid Band is a boy-band that usually played pop in Malay's tone, and become very famous in South Sumatera recently. One of their well-known performance is wearing Latino dress while performing on the stage.

4. THE CHANGCUTERS :

The Changcutters

Another bands from Indonesia that also have a weird performance is The Changcuters (literally means "men's underwear" in Sundanese - local dialect of West Java). Since their first performance in 2005 until today, they always dress-up like 60's rock and roll British Band. Same as what they wore, this band also performed Brit's garage rock and roll music, in which not a popular music genre in Indonesia that time. But later on, their music can be accepted by audiences in Indonesia. Until today, they already released 3 albums and still active do performances.

5.TRIO MACAN :

Trio Macan

Trio Macan (Trio Tigress) actually is a trio-girl-singers from East Java, Indonesia who usually performing dangdut songs (one of Indonesia's music genre). They were formed since 2006 and become one of the most controversy dangdut group singers. Since their first appearance, people has critisizing their lack of singing capability. But somehow, they are gaining a lot of appreciation and awards, such as Best Dangdut Group in MTV Indonesia Awards 2006. Their trade mark is always wearing tiger stripe body-shape clothes, doing erotic & energic dances in every of their performance. Because of their hot jump, fast and raugh dances, sometimes one of their top cloth was accidently took off. Upps....

6. BOSS HOG:

Boss Hog

Nothing strange with this band actually. They are regular American punk blues rock band that offering a very loud and abrasive sound of their music (well... which rock band that did not play loud sound?). The only different thing is : their lead singer - Cristina Martinez - usually performed in confrontational full nudity. Yep, the band that formed in 1989, usually performed with such a controversy performance in their earlier show. They never did it anymore in the present, but... well.... who knows? ^_^

7. BLUE MAN GROUP :

Blue Man Project

Actually they are not spesifically music band, but a creative organization whose producing theatrical shows and concert, featuring music, comedy, and multimedia. They did some record of music and scores for film and television, such as Terminator 3 : The Rise of the Machines, Scrubs, The Tonight Show, Arrested Development, and Las Vegas. They never have same members in their band. However, they always performed in trio that appear to have blue skin, no voice, no hairs and ears. Most of their music is rock-oriented and experimental music. Mostly in their show, they perform percussion and any other "wacky" instruments (airpoles, drumbone, PVC Pipes and tubes).

8. GAY FOR JOHNNY DEPP :

Gay for Johnny Depp

Well.... seems like there are no any other band who obsessed to their idol as much as this band. This New Yorkers hardcore band is known for the lyrical content of their songs, which is often concerned with the band's homoerotic obssesion over the actor Johnny Depp. Well.... even their music is fine, but if I was Johnny Depp, then I prefer not to stay close to them.

9. THE B-52S :

The B-52S

Look at them : They wore very cheerful print shirt. They look pretty nice, clean, and smooth. You thought you are going to watch a performance of the reggae band (they look very much a like UB-40, the British reggae band). Don't get shock when they start to sing their song such as Private Idaho or Good Stuff. It's punk-pop-rock...!! It's true.... The B-52s is a pop-rock bands that established since 1976 in Athens, Georgia. Since their early year, they already performed rock and roll, then become much popular after worked in other genres such as post-punk, and dance new wave. One of their most-known song is the Theme Song of The Flintstones : Movie (1994).

10. SUPERNOVA :

Supernova

Ever imagine how spacemen performed their music in earth? Well... watch Supernova, a Costa Mesa - California pop punk band. Performed since 1989, Supernova has been known as a band that always dressing in silver jumpsuits and custom-made space helmets. Their song, Chewbacca, was featured in the smash hit indie movie Clerks.

Dangdut is The Music of My Country....

2010-11-15T21:30:00.001-08:00

Dangdut is the music of my country....

My country...
My country...oh, my country....
(Dangdut is the Music of My Country, populared by Project Pop)

One of the most unique music genre that originally comes from Indonesia is Dangdut. The music has similar tone with Indian and Arabian desert music, with more constant rhythm from beginning till end. The music had been known since 1940's when Indonesian musicians were developing an original musical tone for their local listeners. They came out with ideas to combine the rhythm of Indian and Middle East with additional traditional music equipments, such as tambour, rebana, and mandolin. The main instruments that been used in earlier dangdut era are accordion, flute, and violin.

The name of the "Dangdut" itself was given by a local magazine in 1970s and it is actually a cynical call because of the rhythm of the music itself ("dangdut" is the sound that produced by the tambour and tabla - the traditional music instrument from Arab, that sometimes been used in dangdut. The music itself usually played in a very steady and consistent rhythm - that sounds like “dang” and “dut” – from beginning till the end of the song), and also recognized as "music for low-class" by local music critics, due to its popularity among factory workers, maid, and sub-urban people that mostly living in poverty.

THE BRIEF HISTORY OF DANDUT
In 1953, dangdut song had been introduced commercially by A. Harris - one of the well-known composers from

Indonesia

. His song - Kudaku Lari (My Horse is Running)- became a hit that time. But then, P. Ramlee - Malaysia composer - brought the idea to Malaysia and popularised the genre as "Melayu Music". The music genre became very popular in Malaysia and it's been claimed as Malaysia's music.

Rhoma Irama - The King of Dangdut

Then in 1960, Said Effendi - another composer from Indonesia - proved dangdut was from Indonesia and published a lot of popular dangdut's songs, such as Bahtera Laju (Row My Ark), Timang-timang (Hug and Hug), and Fatwa Pujangga (The Wisdom of The Poetry). Those songs are not only popular in Indonesia, but also in Malaysia. One of his most famous and classic dangdut songs was Seroja (Seroja, a name of the well-known flower from

Indonesia

).Until today, Seroja still been sang and a very well-known classic dangdut song in Indonesia.

In 1970's, Dangdut was becoming extremely popular when Rhoma Irama - a well-known dangdut singer and actor - used Dangdut as his tools for Islam's missionary endeavor. Not only sang the songs, Rhoma also used the songs for all of his movies that also very popular in 1970-1980s. Because of his dedication to popularised dangdut, many people give him a title as "Raja Dangdut" ("The King of Dangdut") and he still hold the title until today. Rhoma Irama is still active to create and publishing dangdut songs until today. His latest song - called Azza - is released in September 2010. In that song, he sings together with his son (which also a well-known dangdut singer in 2000's era) : Rhido Irama.

Elvy Sukaesih - The Queen of Dangdut

In the same era as Rhoma, Elvy Sukaesih also becomes a very well-known dangdut singer. She held the record as the first female dangdut singer who has sold more than 1,000 copies of album (it's very huge selling album that time, especially for dangdut record…). Because of her achievement, many people praise her as "Ratu Dangdut" (The Queen of Dangdut). And same as Rhoma Irama, she still hold the title till today, even she is semi-retired already now.

Because of Rhoma Irama and Elvy Sukaesih effort, the status of dangdut is stepping up to higher level and entering middle and high class society.

Since then, a lot of dangdut singers are rising. They are known and popular not only in Indonesia, but also in other countries, such as Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Philippine, Japan, Korea, even USA, and Australia. Some of the very well-known dangdut singers are :

1970 - 1980's : Rhoma Irama, Mansyur S, Mukhsin Alatas, Elvy Sukaesih, Camelia Malik, Ida Laila, Reynold Panggabean, and A. Rafiq.

1980 - 1990's : Iis Dahlia, Itche Tresnawaty, Hamdan ATT, Meggy Z, Evi Tamala, Ikke Nurjanah, Kristina, Cici Paramida, and Vetty Vera.

In 1990's era, the popularity of dangdut is declining due to the raising of pop and rock music. In additional, MTV is entering local tv station that time, introducing a lot of international musicians. It was also Boybands era when a lot of “cute baby face boys” are floating on the tv shows and doing a lot of live performances in Indonesia (Boyzone, Backstreet Boys, Westlife, Hanson, etc), while dangdut is drowning deeper and deeper each day.

THE ERA OF CONTROVERSY

Inul Daratista

The popularity of dangdut is rising again in the earliest of 2000s, thanks to the series of controversies. The most popular controversy is coming from East Java (2003) when a dangdut singer called Inul Daratista strucked Indonesia with her "unusual erotic" acts of dance while performing dangdut on stage. Her "hip shaking" dance that been known as "Goyang Inul" or "Goyang Ngebor" (Drilling Shake, because when she shakes her hip, it looks like she is doing a drilling move). A lof of people voice out and said that dangdut become a "very indecent and amoral music that dedicated for uneducated people". Dangdut provokes young generation to do “pornography".

Some people were cursing Inul and blamed her from interpreted dangdut as a "shameless erotic and amoral" culture. That time, her performance has been banned from all television program. She's been forced to retired and never perform dangdut anymore. Althought many people attacked her from every sides, Inul was gaining her popularity when people finally realized her dedication to raising dangdut again. Recently, Inul is becoming the most respected dangdut singer in Indonesia. Some people also praised her as The Dangdut Icon.

Annisa Bahar

After Inul’s era, dangdut has been criticized as a performance that only sell erotic, not art. The criticisms are based on the performance of the singers on the stage (mostly made by female singers) that doing a lot of erotic and sensual dance. Also, dangdut’s song lyrics mostly consist of sexual content, such as Kucing Garong (Nasty Cat) and Belah Duren (Divided the Durian, a slank word referring to “making love").

Entering the year of 2000 and ahead, there are another 3 controversy dangdut singers who also raise some hells in Indonesia : Annisa Bahar, Dewi Persik, and Julia Perez.

Annisa Bahar has been known as a dangdut singer who usually performs "Tari Patah-Patah" (Break Dance). Not as regular "break dance", but she is moving her hip in stop-motion move. Same as Inul, she is having conflict with societies because of her performance. Recently, Annisa Bahar is no longer singing and semi-retiring from dangdut.

Dewi Persik

Meanwhile, Dewi Persik is also known as a dangdut singer who usually performing her own "unusual" dance performance called "Goyang Gergaji" (Saw Shake, a regular front and back move with a hand wave like sawing a wood use whipsaw). Besides that, she is also doing a lot of erotic moves while performing on stage. Because of her “wild dance”, there were some accidents happened during her acts, where her shirt suddenly took off in the middle of her acts. She is also well-known for her negative publicities, such as her two times divorce, the gossip about her abortion, and her feud with other local celebrities (the recent is with Julia Perez).

Julia Perez

Julia Perez's controversy might be the most shocking one. She is earlier known as a model, but later on become a dangdut singer. Her first album (and maybe the last) - called Kamasutra - become a hit and also been cursed by many people, because she included condoms as the souvenirs inside her albums. According to Jupe - Julia Perez's nickname - she did that because she is raising the tennagers awareness of AIDS. Her idea collects a huge protest from a lot of religion societies. Most people thought that what she did was supporting free-sex to young generation. In the end, all of her album was withdrawn and re-published without the condoms.

Shinta & Jojo performing Keong Racun

Recently in mid of 2010, dangdut has become popular again due to the lip-sync video that been uploaded to Youtube by two teenagers from East Java. Jojo and Shinta performed a dangdut lip-sync song called Keong Racun (The Poison Snail). Soon their acts become very famous in Indonesia and the song became very popular. The funny thing is, even the song was popular, but the actual singer of this song – called Lissa – never been acknowledged and forgotten. Jojo and Shinta become a super star and oftenly appeared in commercials and television show.
Keong Racun - lip-sync by Shinta & Jojo

THE TYPICAL OF DANGDUT MUSIC

In its earlier stage of appearance, dangdut music typically used instruments such as tabla, accordion, mandolin, flute, string-bass, rebana, guitar, and violin. The music tempo was always in standard and constant 4/4 and similar with the desert style music.

Guruh Soekarno Putra

In 1970s, western music started to influence dangdut when Rhoma Irama added rock element into dangdut, by replacing tabla, accordion, violin, and mandolin into electric guitar, keyboard, and drum. That time, dangdut been known as Rock-dut (Rock-Dangdut).

In 1990’s, dangdut is transforming into modern dangdut by incorporated their music with other music genre, such as house music, hip-hop, R&B, even Reggae. This transformation makes dangdut become easier to reach variant listeners from all scale of communities.

Although dangdut is not so popular recently, but there are some people who still fight to make dangdut exist. One of Indonesia’s local televisions – MNC TV (previously TPI) – is holding a dangdut singing contest called KDI (Kontes Dandut Indonesia –

Indonesia

’s Dangdut Contest). The contest has been run for several season, and still become one of the most favorite variety show in Indonesia.

There are also some Indonesia pop artists who have dedication to bring up dangdut as the national music genre and introduce it to the world, by adding dangdut elements (or songs) in their album. Some of them are : Glenn Fredly, Marcell, Dhani Ahmad, and Guruh Soekarno Putra.

Guruh is one of the son of Indonesia's First President (Soekarno). He is also known as the most respected composer. One of his well-known composed dangdut song is Candu Asmara (populared by Cici Paramida in 1990s. Then been populared again in 2008 by Marcell, who made the remix the song into dangdut-R&B version).

And finally, one of the famous parody group called Project Pop has composing a song called "Dangdut is the Music of My Country", proclaiming that dangdut is the most popular music genre in Indonesia. This song is very popular and become an anthem for dangdut lovers. Long Live Dangdut....!!!! Yeah.....!!!!
Dangdut is the music of My country - Project Pop

Sinetron, The Most Favorite TV Show in Indonesia

2010-11-05T00:07:00.001-07:00

If Hollywood have soap opera as their tv program that airs in episodic series, Indonesia have same show called "Sinetron". Sinetron is refering to "Sinema Electronik" (electronic cinema), and similar as soap opera, sinetron consists of episodic series of drama show. Each episode connect with the previous and later episode. The word of Sinetron have been introduced by Soemardjono - a lecturer from Art Institute of Jakarta - and this terms have been used since 1990.

Overall, sinetron usually tell a tale about the conflict that happen in lifes. But contrary with soap opera - which sometimes offer a very complicated story that last long - most of Indonesia's sinetron tell almost the same story-line for every one of it. The regular story that been used in (almost) every sinetron is : A regular (poor) girl fall in love to a rich guy. The family of the rich guy disapproved their relationship and try to ruin it. Then come another (rich) guy who fall in love to the girl, and make the girl confuse : Whose the one she should choose? But then, after several exhausted breaking-and-fall-in-love-again scenes, finaly the girl choose the right guy. They got married and the girl stay in the guy's family. End of story? No. Sometimes, the story continue with a show of desperation from girl while staying in her new family's house. She got beat, yielded, abused, and insulted. The girl did nothing but crying and praying. Then finally God hear her pray, and show mercy by make the guy's family suffer, inprison, or other ridiculous thing. And finally the girl live happy ever after with the guy.

If the show success, then the story will be continued with another show of desperation from the girl after she got the children. She got another abuse and insulted from her own family or the guy's another family. Her husband left her to another women, but then back again to her life, and then they live happily ever after again.

And if the show got another success, then you are going to see another series of desperation from the girl, while she got another abuse and insulted - either from her or her husband's other family (Indonesia's people have a lot of relatives in which till today they still connect each other. So this kind of story still make sense, understandable, and acceptable to the viewers). And so on.... and so on....

Althought the story-line keeps repeating over and over again to the most sinetrons (including its sequels, and other titles), a lot of people in Indonesia still enjoy the show. Each of them have their own favorite sinetrons and they are very fanatic with it.

Since years, many people have critisized againts sinetron. Not because the repeating story-line, but more about the content of the show, which shown excersive violences and strong language that provoke agressive acts. Most of the scenes (of all episodes) shown a lot of improper violence scenes that not necessary to be shown, such as abusing and insulting (throw water to the face of one character, slapping the face, kicking, harrastment, or even one-on-one fighting between girls). And mostly the female character who did it (either become the victim or the person who do the violences).

Sometimes the show also create incorrect perseption to the viewers about the personality of Indonesia's girls. It makes everybody thought that Indonesia's girls have some kind of psychopatic behaviour or personality disorder, like masochism. If not, why they seems very enjoying hurting others and / or love to be the victim (e.g. when somebody hurt them very bad, why they are not calling the police? Why not look for help? Why keep silence and do nothing but praying, asking for God mercy? Why they look so weak? Are they just enjoying every moment of being slap, punch, kick, insult, and torture? Or they just love to look so powerless, and let viewers took pity on them? If that so, Indonesia's girls really have personality problem....).

Also, some parents watch the show together with their children because there has no any rules and restriction againts young viewers to watch sinetron. By the the end, it influences some children to act aggresively. In some cases (mostly experienced by myself), some children in age around 4-6 have confident to challenge adults and said some strong words such as, "I will kill your family!", "I will rape you to die!", or "I burn your house!".

Even that, the production of sinetron is not stopping and keeps on going. The production quantities are increasing rapidly in suprising number each year, while the quality is still the same as the sinetron that made 30 years ago. Only more violence, more shouting, and more cursing. It is not only played in prime time (07.00 - 09.00 pm), but also in the morning (09.00 - 11.00 am) and noon time (02.00 - 04.00 pm). And the shown are broadcasted everyday in almost all of the local television stations. Sinetron have become a major entertainment business in Indonesia because a lot of people enjoy the show.

The longest run of sinetron is Cinta Fitri (Fitri's Love;broadcast by SCTV), which is already reached 777 episodes until today (first episode broadcast on March 1, 2007). Shareen Sunkar and Teungku Wisnu are two of the stars in Cinta Fitri and become the most favorable Sinetron Artists at the moment..

The "Tastiest" Menu from Best Restaurants in the World

2010-11-02T23:55:00.000-07:00

Plan to have dinner in a restaurant tonight? Any idea what food you are gonna try? Barbeque? Salad? Curry? Hmmm... booooriiing...!!! All of them are very regular. Any restaurant have it. Yeah, the taste is different, but still it's the same meal. Any plan to try a little bit unique food? Let's take the challenge and go to another country to see what good thing they have. Maybe you can get some ideas of what you're going to eat tonight. I promise you : NO MORE boring barbeque, salad, curry, Chinese food, and other regular food for your dinner.

1. CANNIBAL RESTAURANT

Ever wonder what is the taste of human flesh? Well... some people said it is very delicious. The aroma is good. The taste is right (the fiber meat is soft like beef, and juicy like Chicken's skin). The nutrients are totally complete. You got zinc, vitamin, good mineral, and everything is sooooo yummy....!!!!
Wanna try some of it? Come to Berlin. There is a restaurant called Flime, who has a special menu on their list: Fresh Human Flesh. Just name which part you want to eat : head, hand, chest, back bone, thigh,... just name and they serve it for you. Either it's barbequed, soup, fried dry, or raw (not recommended... but... well.... if you want to try, why not?). Anything you want, the restaurant is ready to served. Or you might be want to know what is the taste of your own flesh? Just tell them, and they will cut your flesh (no pain... they have expert who knows how to chop your body) and served it for you. So... tonight's menu for the dinner will be yourselves. Interesting, right?

2. NYOTAIMORI

Literally means "Female Body Plate", and it is not only literally. It's really female body plate. Like its name, the restaurant - mostly in Japan - serves sushi and sashimi on a naked woman's body. The woman is lying on the table, then we take the food from her body. Well.... hope she is taking her bath already and has no wacky smell while I am taking my dinner from her body.....

3. A PENIS BUFFET

Suffering from low sex drive? Losing your confident? Wanna be an animal again on bed? Try the menu in Guo Li Zhuang, China. They have a lot menus that guaranteed you can "shake your dick" again : Horse Penis, Goat Penis, Dog Penis, Pig Penis, Cock Cock.... just name any penis you want, they have it. Or try the testicles. They also guaranteed to give back your virility. You can try from the tiny rooster ball to the big horse testicles. Get ready.... It's going to be a very long night after the dinner.....

4. MODERN TOILET

It's kinda bore to sit on the chair while eating our dinner. Think it's gonna be fun to eat on a toilet : Sitting on while eating. And if you need to go to a pee, don't have to feel bad to ask an excused or leave unpolitely while your friend is still in the middle of talking. Just take off your pant, then .... woooolaaa .... meanwhile you still eating your dinner and listening to his or her story. You miss nothing.

5. PRISON BREAK

Ever wonder, how excitement you got while eat your dinner and surrounding by the most dangerous men in the world? Yeap, you can try the challenge in Voltera, Italy. They have a very nice restaurant called Fortezza Medicea. The place is nice, and you are not allowing to bring anything that consider a risk, including your cell phone or even you car keys. The wait staffs, the cook, and everybody in this restaurant are all convicted inmates. Really.... this is not a fake show or any candid-camera game. They are no artist and all of them are really cons-men. If you make eye-contact with them, then you just signed your own dead-wish. But this experience is worthed. Try their special Chicken Parmesan that sooo delicious that make you wish to die. Well.... second thought : don't wish that thing in Fortezza Medicea. You never know if your wish might come true.

6. HAVING SEX WITH YOUR FOOD

Your Mama give you an old fashioned advise to "not playin with your food". Well....in Roppongi Club, Japan, you are not only play with your food. You have sex with it! Just choose whatever you want to f**k : Chicken, dog, pig, or goat; male or female. All animals are alive and you can choose any of them to have fun. Once you are done, take a rest in the dining area. The cheft will prepare the delicious meal from whatever animal you just f**ked and served it right on your table. You have no fear for any desease. All animals are clean and sanitized. If you are not sure, condoms and disinfectant are ready for you to be used.Well.... if you come to the restaurant, make sure you come alone. Hope your Boss is not there....

7. BLIND RESTAURANT
Appetite comes from the eyes. But how about if you can't see what you eat? Can you trust your sensory and believe what you eat is eatable? Well.... in Dans le Noir, Paris, dinner is served in complete darkness. You can't see anything and you have to believe in what you eat and drink. The experience sounds interesting, but... c'mon.... the food smell very funny. Should I keep eating it?

8. CONDOMS, GENTLEMEN?

In Cabbages and Condoms Restaurat, Bangkok - Thailand, the food is good. The scenary is nice. And... the condoms are plenty. This restaurant is being active to supports PDA and support health and safety aspect of condoms use in a fun and amusing manner. They not only serve their customers with good and nice food (in which I believe every meals are excelent...), but also give condoms to all the customer. All proceed from the restaurants are usedto fund the social development pograms of PDA. The idea is nice. But is it mean I need some "excercise" right after the dinner?

Alay - Who are they?

2010-11-01T23:06:00.000-07:00

Alay Detected

If you were visiting some tv stations in Indonesia, you will meet a lot of youngsters at the parking lot or somewhere else around there, with unique - or sometimes described as "extreme" - and too tacky costumes. They are not performers, and they are not there to join any audition of any tv competition.They are Alay. Hmm...what the heck is that?

Alay (pronounced as "Aa - Lie") is refering to Anak Layangan (Kite Kid), Anak Lebay (Exagerrate Kid), and Anak Kelayapan (Hanging Around Kid). The term of Alay usually is given to people who usually act with pretentious style, tacky, plebeian, and very boorish, either their clothing style, their act, and their look. Everything that they have is a chaos.

Why they've been called Anak Layangan (Kite Kid)? Because usually they are villager kids which have red hair and dark skin, just like kids who usually play kites. Alay is a sarcastic words to described about these villager kids whose trying to be popular in the city.

An Alay in action

Nobody know who invented this word, but Alay have been recognized and become large communities since early 2000, especially when local tv stations are holding live-performance of local bands. To make the performance cheerfull, the stations usually hired some audiences (all of them are youngsters) to do some "acts" at the edge of stage (e.g. sing together, do some crazy acts, or dance). Since they are going to "performing" some acts on the tv show, allof them are wearing eyes-glaring constumes and make-up. The more ridiculous they look, the more opportunity for them to got shot by the camera. Not only once, but several times in quiet long time (let's say... 2-3 second). And most of them really enjoying these "3 second popularity".

For those people who do the acts, it was very fun. But most people dislike their act and thought that what they did is nothing but a shameless performance from some idiots who have problem with their personality (narcissic disorder).


A Full Description About Alay's				Dress Code

Alay is very easy to be recognized by their look. Either boys or girls, Alay usually have unstructure hair bang (usually straight, long, and stiff at one side), wore saggy hipster pant (their underwear even higher and more visible than their pant), long pant with check print motive, cheap distro shirt (in black, spotlight green, brown, or any other glossy color), belt with bucle and spike, and sometimes use hoodie jacket as an additional.

Overall, comparing with harazuku guys from Japan, people thought Alay is a disaster. They know nothing about trend, music, clothing, or computer. They know nothing about anything. Most of them are love to be published and shown on tv. They love to be popular, even in a very short time.

Even most people does not like them, but Alay is always there and will keep on existing. They do no harm for people. They just love to perform and show off. And they are proud to be called Alay. Only in Indonesia....

The World's Stinkiest Food

2010-10-25T01:29:00.000-07:00

When we are talking about food, most people will think about tasty, good looking, and good smelly fragrant meals that serve in front of us. Those good things will make us think that eating is pleasuring ourselves. For some people, yes.But for some others - the one that I called "The Food Adventurers" - food is not about that. Food is about something that sounds extreme, with smell like garbage and gross-look, and really challenging to be eaten.

There are a lot of "yacky" foods like that in the world. In this article, I will only show the stinkiest food that can be found in the world. The appearance of it might be still acceptable for some people. But the smell.... well.... you need to close your eyes and stop to breath, before you might able to eat and swallow it. So, here are they....

1. PETAI BEAN (STINKY BEAN) :

One of the most popular food in Asia is Stinky Bean. Better known as Petai Bean (Parkia speciosa or twisted cluster bean), it is a long, flat edible beans with bright green seeds the size and shape of plump almonds which have a peculiar smell, characterised by some as being similar to that added to methane gas.
Petai bean is very popular in Laos, Thailand, Burma, Indonesia, Malaysia, and northeastern India. Usually it being eaten fried and combined with garlic, chilli peppers, and shrimp, as in "Sambal Petai" (well-known dishes from Indonesia).
People who have not ever smell this bean before will feel very annoying by its smell. The odor is very nasty and like people's odor. But some people just love to eat it....

2. JENGKOL :
Some people in Asia, like Indonesia,Malaysia, Thailand, and Hong Kong just love to eat it. Jengkol (Pithecollobium jiringa or Pithecollobium labatum) is squashed bean, with dark brown color. The bean contains a lot of sulphure's amino acid that make the bean spread a very bad odor. Jengkol can be made into various traditional dishes. Mostly combine with curry, chilli, and garlic. Some peole even make it like Sate (barbeque on stick). Usually it's been boil quiet long, so become very soft like animal's meat and the smell is not so strong.

3.CHOU TOU (STINKY TOFU) :
If you visit China, never forget to try this food : Chou Tou (Stinky Tofu). This popular tofu snack was actually came from Guangdong, then become very popular in most city in China and Hong Kong. It made from marinaded in fermented milk, vegetables, meat, and herbs. The smell is very strong and the taste is like rotten meat.

4. NATTO :
It is fermented soy beans that very popular in Japan.Usually served as condiment or side dish. The taste is like sweaty dirty socks.

5. KALA NAMAK :
Ok... if all four above still not make you vomit, just try Kala Namak, a very well-known foods from India, and very popular among Vegans. It is actually spice that made from black salt and it is mimicing egg salads of omeletes. But the smell... fiuh.... just like the concetrated of rotten egg vapor, make it triple. Wushaaaa.....

6. SURSTROMMING :
It usually sell in a can, this herring brine has a very strong rotten stench that make people stay on shock while smell it. Eat it with crispy thin bread, and layered with sliced of almond potatoes, chopped onions, and fresh dill springs. Hmmm.... sound... delicious??? People from Northern Swedish enjoy it very much.....^_^

7. FAFARU :
When you come to Tahiti, try Fafaru. It made from fish, lobster, or shrimps, then add with fermented seawater, and eaten with coconut cream. Sounds good to me. But why people is vomiting after smell it. Aiya.....

8. LUTEFISK :
United States. Who thought that there is any stink food here? In Minnesota, you are going to find Lutefisk, the well-known stinkiest food. Its origins are Scandinavian actually, but Minnesotans have embraced this delicacy and made it their own. It made from Cod, saoked in caustic lye soda for days, then baked or boiled with butter to make its jelly-like consistency easier to tolerate.

Alrity....ready to vomit already?

The 12 World's Strangest Conventions and Events

2010-07-08T02:59:00.000-07:00

You join a lot of seminars and conventions, and everything sounds normal. But wait.... how about strange and wacky conventions? Have you been there before? By the way, what kind of "strange" and "wacky" conditions that I meant? Here are several of them.Prepare to get your weird-on...!!!

1. WORLD TOILET SUMMIT & EXPO
Ok...you might be laught at it. But this convention is true and it happened. The first was happened in Suntec, Singapore in 2001 and since then it has travelled to various city around the world, including Beijing, India, Moscow, Taiwan, and Macau. The objectives of this convention are to bring sanitation and clean water to over 2 billion people around the world who still need it.

2. CELEBRITY IMPERSONATORS CONVENTION :
Wanna meet former President George W. Bush, shake hand with Barack Obama, mingle with Alicia Keys, wink at Sarah Palin, or even have some action with Jackie Chan and Jet Li? Come to the Celebrity Impersonators Convention which held in Las Vegas every year. In this convention, you also can see stage performance, seminar, and lead classes. So... what's you're wanna be?

3. INTERNATIONAL UFO CONGRESS CONVENTION :
Starting in 1991 in Laughlin,Nevada, this week-long event has been a annual conventions for all UFO lover. There are seminars, film festival, selling souvenirs, and others. Most topics covered are about adjuction, UFO sightings, paranormal experiences, and much more.

4. SCAREFEST HORROR AND PARANORMAL CONVENTION :
It is the biggest and largest paranormal convention that held in USA. Usually on November, in Lexington Center, Lexington, Kentucky. It hosted by Ghost Chasers International, Inc and was created by Jeff Waldridge, Patti and Chuck Starr. This year, the event will be held on November 5 - 7, 2010. It has movie preview in Kentucky Theatre, live concert at Buster's Billiards & Backroom, Bizarre Costume Ball, amd Boo & Brew Pub Walk. Oh yeah, don't forget to join ScareFest Pageant and judging the Beautiful Yet Gory Ladies of Horror and Mystique.

5. SEXPO :
It is Austalia's Expo about adult entertainment, sexuality, and lifestyles. The exhibition sells products related to sex and sexuality. It also have education about safe practices. There are other things in the exhibition you can find : aviation, wine tasting, marine sports, spa pools, hair and make up styling, and many more.

6. FUR CON :
Also known as Furry convention. It isa formal gathering of members of the furry fandom (people who are interested in the concept of fictional non-human characters with human characteristics). Starting in California during mid 1980s, there are now over 40 annual furry conventions worldwide. This conventions provide place for fans to meet, exchange idea, and engage in entertainment and recreation.

7. PURE SPECULATION FESTIVAL (PURE SPEC):
"By geeks,for geeks". Yeah.... you gotta see buch of geeks - or so called - in this celebration. This festival started since 2004 by a group that called themselves The Four Stooges, and offers programming dealing with science fiction, fantasy,pop culture, gaming, anime, comic books, and webcomics.

8. INK FESTS :
Also known as Tattoo Conventions. It's been held in Las Vegas, Houston, Austin, and Dallas each year. The body art celebrations are open to the public, but it's invitation only for artists.

9. HIGH TIMES CANNABIS CUP:
This conventions will make you high. Weed lovers gather in Amsterdam each November for this conventions. The five-day festival is dedicated for the marijuana lovers around the world as it's an opportunity not only endulge in their drug choice, but to try different strains which they can help judge.

10. TWINS DAY FESTIVAL :
It is the largest annual gathering of twins in the world. Held in Twinsburg, OH, more than 3,000 sets of siblings (twins, triplets, or quad) from all over the glove congregate in the festival to show off,meet up, and revel in their genetic synchronicity. The next festival will be held August 7 - 8, 2010. If you are twins, don't miss it...!!!

11. LEGO WORLD :
Are you a big fans of lego blocks? You should never miss this convention. Held in IJsselhallen Zwolle, Netherlands, thousands of Lego blocks' fans from all around the world gather to constructing some unbelieveable lego design. Last year we can see big-old Indiana Jones, Star Wars Death Star, and Eiffel Tower fully built in Lego Blocks. Interested?

12. WEIRD AL YANKOVIC FANS CONVENTION :
If you are the fans of StarWars, The Office, The Twillight Saga, The Simpsons, or Harry Potters, and you did the convention for it, then I can understand that. But convention for Al Yankovic? It's kind of weird enough for me if there is any people who would come to the convention to worship Al Yankovic. But... hell yeah... this convention really happened. Located in Chicago, IL, this convention provide some unique and weird exhibition, such as fan convention, bizzare festivals (yeah... like 24 Hour Marriage Marathon Festival, American Fancy Rat and Mouse Annual Show, Bangkok Vertical Marathon, Beef-A-Rama, Big Whooper Liar Contest, Combine Demolition Derby, Fire Ant Festival, and many more....), auction of unique Weird Al memorabillia, Weird Al Look-AL-Like Contest, Lip-Synching Contest, and many more.

13 Films &TV Series That (Assumed) Have Been Cursed

2010-07-06T19:45:00.000-07:00

Some unexplained accidents and misfortune events happened to several films before and after it premiered to the audiences. Some say it is just a coincidence. But some others say the films have been cursed. They believed there are some supernatural forces trying to prevent the filming or showing it to public. When the producer insisted to do the film, something terrible happened to everyone that has taken part of their own in the film. Is it true? Are those movies been cursed? By whom? Who? Why? How? Nobody can explain it until today. Maybe you can. Can you?

1. THE SERIES OF THE OMEN

One of the most talk about movies is The Omen. The production of this movie was plagued with a series of incidents which some members of the crew attributed to the operation of a curse. A documentary entitled “The Curse of The Omen” was shown on British television in 2005 (it also appeared in the 2nd disc of 30th Anniversary DVD release of The Omen), and mentioned the list of incidents that happened to the crews. Some of them are :
• Scriptwriter David Seltzer’s plane was struck by lightning.
• In a separate incident, Gregory Peck (the star of the film)’s plane also struck by lightning. In other chance, Gregory Peck canceled his reservation on a flight, and the plane crashed, killing all passengers on board.
• Richard Donner (the director)’s hotel was bombed by the Provisional IRA.
• On the first day of shooting, the principal members of the crew were involved in a head-on car crash.

2. THE SERIES OF POLTERGEIST
Poltergeist has also become one of the most talk about movies concerning the rumor of a supposed curse attached to the movie series and its stars. The rumor has been known as “The Poltergeist Curse”.
The rumor derived from the fact that four cast members died in a relatively short span of time during the release of the first and third film, with one dying during production of the second film. Some of unexplained dead are :

• Dominique Dunne (actress who played the oldest sibling Dana, one of the characters in the first movie) died after being strangled by a jealous boyfriend in 1982.
• Julian Beck (played as Kane in Poltergeist II : The Other Side) died in 1985 of stomach cancer, with which he was diagnoses before he had accepted the role.
• Will Sampson (played as Taylor the Medicine Man in Poltergeist II) died in 1987 of post-operative kidney failure and pre-operative malnutrition problems.
• Beatrice Straight (played as Dr Lesh in the first series of Poltergeist) died in 2001 of pneumonia.
• Heather O’Rourke (played as Carol Anne in all three Poltergeist movies) died in 1988 at the age of 12 caused by septic shock after bacterial toxins invaded her bloodstream. At the time, she had suffered acute bowel obstruction, initially diagnosed as Crohn’s Disease, which may have been the cause of the death.
• Author James Kahn reported that when he wrote the line “Lightning ripped open the sky”, the building was struck by lighting and all the arcade games in the lounge began playing themselves.

3. VARIOUS SUPERMAN SERIES
Also known as “Superman Curse”, it s the rumor about the series of misfortunes that have plagued creative people involved in adaptations of Superman in various media has been spread and somewhat well-known in popular culture. Some well-known misfortunes are :

• Kirk Alyn, played as Superman in two series of low-budget serials of Superman (1940) failed to find work afterward.
• George Reeve, played as Superman in Superman and The Mole Men (1951) was found died of a gunshot wound at his home with his Luger P08 pistol near him (June 16, 1959). His dead is still questionable, while some said it is a suicide.
• Christopher Reeve – the son of George Reeve - played as Superman in four of Superman Film Series (1978 – 1987) was paralyzed from the neck flown after being thrown from his horse in a cross country riding (May 27, 1995). Reeve died on October 10, 2004 due to heart failure stemming from his medical condition.
• Dana Reeve, the widow of Christopher Reeve, died of the lung cancer on March 6, 2006 at the age of 45.
• Margot Kidder, played as Lois Lane in 4 series of Superman (together with Christopher Reeve) suffered from intense bipolar disorder.
• Marlon Brando, played as Superman’s biological father Jor-El in Superman (1978) underwent various personal tragedies: In May 1990, his first son, Christian shot and killed Dag Drollet, the lover of Christian’s half-sister Cheyenne Brando. Even claimed it was accidental, Christian was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to ten years in prison. Christian died at the age of 49. Later on, in 1995, Cheyenne committed suicide by hanging herself. She was still 25 years old at that time. Brando himself died of lung failure brought on by pulmonary fibrosis at the age of 80 in July 1, 2004. He had also been suffering from liver cancer, congestive heart failure and diabetes, which was causing his eyesight to fail.
• Lee Quigley played the baby Kar-El in Superman (1978) died after inhaling solvents in age of fourteen (March 1991).
• Richard Pryor, played as Gus Gorman in Superman III (1983) had previously suffered from a drug addiction that leads to an almost fatal accident. He died of cardiac arrest on December 10, 2005.

4. THE SERIES OF THE EXORCIST
The discussion about the film was been cursed has become urban legend and still been discussed until today. The interior sets of the MacNeil (the character in the film)’s residence, except for Regan’s bedroom, were destroyed by a studio fire and had to be rebuilt. Other issues include:

• Linda Blair fractured her spine during the filming of one of the bedroom scene.
• During his first day of filming, Max Von Sydow was informed his brother in Sweden had died. Coincidence?
• John Frankenhiemer (the original director of Exorcist: The Beginning) suffered a stroke after spinal cord surgery and died while the movie was in pre-production.
• Renny Harlin (the director of Exorcist: The Beginning) also got several unexplained accidents. His dog started to hemorrhage for no apparent reason. The dog soon recovered, but no cause for the hemorrhaging was found. While did some scene shot in Rome, Harlin almost hit and killed by a car. He had 13 pins put in his leg and finished filming the movie on crutches.

5. THE CROW (1994)

The most famous incident that happened in this movie is about the dead of Brandon Lee – son of the legendary Bruce Lee – who died on the set while shooting his last film, The Crow. A scene was being filmed that required dummy rounds to be shown being loaded into the handgun. When shot the scene, the gun that should be loaded with blank cartridges, dislodged the bullet and sent into Lee’s abdomen. Brandon Lee died about 12 hours later.
Meanwhile, during the actual filming, many accidents happened. A carpenter was severely burned after a crane in which he was riding struck high-power lines. Another crew member slipped and drove a screwdriver through his hand. And a lorry full of equipment mysteriously went on fire.

6. BLADE RUNNER (1982)
Among the folklore that has grown up around the film over the years has been believe that the film was a curse to the companies whose logos were displayed prominently as a product placements in some scenes :
• RCA, which is one of the U.S. leading consumer electronics and communications conglomerate, was bought out by one time parent GE in 1985 and dismantled.
• Atari, which dominated the home video game market at that time, had ceased to exist in 1990.
• Cuisinart went bankrupt in 1989.
• Bell System monopoly was broken up that same year, and all of the resulting Regional Bell Operating Companies have since changed their name and merged back with each other and other companies to form the new AT&T.
• Pan Am suffered terrorists’ destruction of Pan Am Flight 103 (December 21, 1988) and went bankrupt in 1991 with the falloff in overseas travel caused by the Gulf War.

6. THE DARK KNIGHT (2008)

Before the released of the film, Heath Ledger died on an accidental overdose and Conway Wickliffe –a stunt supervisor of the film – died in accident in London while setting up a car crash scene. And after the film gain financial successful (released on July 18, 2008), Christian Bale was arrested in connection with an alleged assault on his mother and her sister (July 22, 2008). Then Morgan Freeman has been in a tragic car crash near Ruleville, Mississippi (August 3, 2008) and broke his shoulder, arm, and elbow.

7. ROSEMARY’S BABY (1968)

The film was made partially on location at the Dakota, off Central Park West in New York City. There is one scene that depicts where a woman jumped from a balcony is the same part of the sidewalk where John Lennon was shot. Coincidence? Let’s try these facts :
• Just before the first take was filmed, a private messenger served Mia Farrow with formal divorce papers from her husband, Frank Sinatra. Farrow openly wept in front of the cast and crew, and Roman Polanski – the director of the film – insisted that the day be canceled and filming be postponed until the next day.
• Roman Polanski and his pregnant wife actress Sharon Tate was murdered in 1969 by Charles Manson and his followers, who titled their death spree as “Helter Skelter”.
• Producer William Castle got kidney failure after receiving death threats relating to the film in April 1969.

8. SEINFIELD (1989 – 1998)
Recently, the term of “The Seinfield Curse” has been applied to typecast actors / actresses who, after appearing in an enormously popular television series or movie, have trouble finding popularity in other roles. And this term at the beginning was refering to the three stars of the show: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander, and Michael Richards. After the end of Seinfield show, they have trouble finding popularity in other roles. Each attempted to launch new sitcoms as title-role characters. However, almost every show was canceled quickly, usually within the first season. But it seems like the curse is about to break after the latest sitcom from Louis-Dreyfus, The New Adventures of Old Christine, received high ratings and entering the 4th season already. She also won the Lead Actress Emmy Award for her work on the show’s first season, which is exactly ten years after she won it in Seinfield.

9. QUANTUM OF SOLACE (2008)

Just two weeks in shooting set, Daniel Craig got injured two times already. In the first accident, he has eight stitches on his face after cut during filming. The second happened when he sliced the tip off one of his fingers. A fire broke out at Pinewood – the film set – and causing severe damage to an outdoor Bond set. Two stuntmen were injured in separate car accidents while filming car chase scene in northern Italy.

10. TWILIGHT ZONE : THE MOVIE (1983)

There was an accident in this film that has been known as “The Twilight Zone Tragedy”. On July 23, 1982, during the filming of a segment directed by John Landis, actor Vic Morrow and child actors Myca Dinh Le and Renee Shin-Yi Chen died in an accident involving a helicopter being used on the set. Pyrotechnic explosions caused the low-flying helicopter to spin out of control and crash. The accident led to legal action against the filmmakers which lasted nearly a decade, and changed the regulations involving children working on movie sets at night and during special effects-heavy scenes.

11. REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (1955)

Three of the main stars (James Dean, Natalie Wood, and Sal Mineo) died under tragic circumstances. Dean was killed in a traffic accident on September 30, 1955. Wood drowned on November 29, 1981. Mineo murdered on February 12, 1976.

12. DIFF’RENT STROKES (1978 – 1986)

Although become one of the most successful sitcom – and was in the top 30 of the TV ratings for its three seasons from 1978 until 1981 - three of the child stars from Diff’rent Strokes ended up having problem after the show ended.
Dana Plato went on to pose for Playboy, arrested twice (for armed robbery and for forging a prescription for Valium). She died of a drug overdose in 1999 at the age of 34.
Todd Bridges was arrested in 1994 after allegedly ramming someone’s car after an argument. He also had issues with illegal drugs for several years.
Gary Coleman filed bankruptcy in 1999. He was working as a security guard at a shopping mall from 1998 – 2001, where he’s been charged with assault after punched a woman in the shopping mall in 1998.

13. THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA (2006)

A couple of weeks after the film’s release, all of the publicity traded companies that made products featured in the film had been their share prices fall in the time.

Are These Super Stars Die Naturally?

2010-07-06T04:25:00.001-07:00

Nothing is last forever. But what if it lasted too fast without any solid and clear explanation? The following article is about movie stars who died mysteriously. Even the explanation of their dead is published, but still there are some questions are left unexplained. Did they really die as “simple” as that? No any other reason?

1. DAVID CARRADINE (Death : June 3, 2009)

He was an American actor best known for his work in 1970’s television series Kung Fu and appeared in more than 100 feature films. His last performance was Crank : High Voltage (2009), played as Poon Dong. On June 4, Carradine was found dead in his room at the Swissotel Nai Lert Park Hotel on Wireless Road, in central Bangkok, Thailand. Carradine was found hanging by a rope in the room’s closet and it reported by Bangkok Post that his body was found curled up in the wardrobe with a shoelace tied around his genitals and neck.

Khunying Pornthip Rojanasunand, a Thailand Forensic Patholgist and Director of Central Institute of Forensic Science, stated it was an accidental death involving autoerotic asphyxiation.

However it has been reported that Carradine was found “with his hands tied behind his back”.

Carradine’s body was taken to a hospital for an autopsy by last Friday (Jun 5, 2009).

2. RIVER PHOENIX (Death : October 31, 1993)

His dead was considered one of show-business’ most shocking and tragic and elicited a vast amount of coverage from the media at the time. On October 31, 1993, Phoenix collapsed from a drug overdose of heroin and cocaine outside the Viper Room, a Hollywood night club partially owned by actor Johnny Depp (until 2004). It reported, he began convulsing for eight minutes. He was rushed to the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center via ambulance. But unfortunately, all attempts to resuscitate Phoenix were failing and he was pronounced dead at 1:51 a.m.

Some people – until today - still not believe if River Phoenix was having drug habits. He was known as a dedicated animal rights, environmental, and political activist. He won PETA’s Humanitarian of the Year Award in 1990 for his fund-raising efforts.

3. HEATH LEDGER (Death : January 22, 2008)

Ledger was found unconscious in his bed by his housekeeper and his masseuse, in his fourth-floor loft apartment at 421 Broome Street in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan. On February 6, 2008, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of New York released its conclusions, based on initial autopsy of January 23, 2008. They concluded that Ledger died as the result of acute intoxication by the combined effect of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam, and doxylamine. The manner of death is accident, resulting from the abuse of prescription medications.

Even the case has closed, the question still remain: How Ledger obtained the oxycodone and hydrocodone in the drug combination that killed him? Oxycodone is main active ingredient for the relief of moderate to severe pain, and hydrocodone is an orally active antitussive and commonly compounded with other analgesics like paracetamol or ibuprofen. Meanwhile, the prescription did not mention any kind of medicine that use those kind of ingredients.

4. MARILYN MONROE (Death : August 5, 1962)

Her dead become one of the most debated conspiracy theories of the 20^th and 21^st centuries. Monroe was dead at her home in Brentwood, Lost Angeles. It was her live-in housekeeper Eunice Murray found her. Sergeant Jack Clemmons was the fist police office to arrive at the death scene.

The official – as stated by Dr. Thomas Noguchi of the Los Angeles County Coroners office - cause of her death was “acute barbiturate poisoning” An examination of the body ruled out intravenous injection as the source of the drugs leaving only an enema or suppository as a source. The results of full autopsy – oversaw by Dr. Theodore Curphey – were never made public and no record of the findings were kept.

Today, the mystery surrounding her death prevails. The sealing of her file by the government, the destruction and loss of the many records during the time and the death of many of the people involved, leave us with a very big question mark.

5. GEORGE REEVES (Death : June 16, 1959)

The man who personified the “real” Superman for an entire generation of television fans, George Reeves, died at 1: 59 am on June 16, 1959. He was died of a gunshot wound to the head in the upstairs bedroom of his Benedict Canyon home. Police concluded that Reeves had committed suicide. But many people refused to believe that he would kill himself. There is a fact that no powder stippling from the gun’s discharge was found on the actor’s skin. Police also found the gun too thickly coated in oil to hold fingerprints.

Until today, the caused of George Reeves’ death still unexplained.

6. THE NOTORIUS B.I.G. (Death : Mach 9, 1997)

On March 9, 1997, Christopher George Latore Wallace – also known as The Notorious B.I.G, one of the well-known American rapper – killed by an unknown assailant in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles. The incident happened fifteen days before his double-disc set Life after Death released. The album hit #1 on the America album charts and was certified Diamond in 2000. Since his death, a further three albums have been released.

Wallace’s murder remains unsolved. The Lost Angeles Times reported that Wallace might be killed by the Southside Compton Crips because he was not paying them money he owed for security services provided in the West Coast.

7. TUPAC SHAKUR (Death : September 7, 1996)

Tupac Shakur – well-known American rapper and actor - was shot multiple times in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada. He died six days later of the complications from the gunshot wounds. People speculated about the connection between Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. since both of them are having unpleasant relationship, especially after Shakur released “Hit ‘Em Up”, a diss song in which he explicitly claimed to have sex with B.I.G.’s wife. There has speculation from outset about the possibility of B.I.G.’s collaboration in the murder. But there is no evident about it. His death is remaining a mystery.

8. CHRIS FARLEY (Death : December 18, 1997)

Years before his death, Farley had attempted to seek treatment for his alcohol and drug abuse. He also made numerous visits to weight reduction treatment centers. However, on December 18, 1997, he found dead in his apartement on the sixtieth floor of the John Jancock Center in Chicago. His younger brother, John Farley, found his first. An autopsy later revealed that Farley had overdosed on a combination of cocaine and heroin with advanced atherosclerosis cited as a significant contributing factor in his death. Somehow, at the time of his death, there were no illegal drugs found in his apartment, only prescription pain killers.

(Later on in his official biography, The Chris Farley Show : A Biography in Three Acts, it stated that actually there were several bags of cocaine found in the apartment.)

9. BRUCE LEE (Death : July 20, 1973)

Several weeks before his death, Lee was collapsed in Golden Harvest studios while doing dubbing work for his film, Enter the Dragon. Suffering from full-body seizures and cerebral edema, he was immediately rushed to Hong Kong Baptist Hospital where doctors were able to reduce the swelling through the administration of mannitol and revive him. Rumors said, the caused of the seizure was the injured that Bruce Lee got during a fight between him and a Silat (one of the popular martial art from Southeast Asia) Master from Malaysia, Dato Meor Abdul Rahman. The fight happened while Lee was doing a research on Malay Silat.

Late night on July 20, 1973, after having a dinner with former James Bond star, George Lazenby, Lee and his producer, Raymond Chow, went to Betty Ting’s house to discuss their next film, Game of Death. Betty Ting is a Taiwanese actress who also Lee’s colleague.

A short time after, Lee complained of a headache and Ting gave him an analgesic, which content aspirin and muscle relaxant. At 7:30 pm, Lee went to lie down for a nap, and never woke up after that. Lee was dead while being sending by ambulance to Queen Elizabeth Hospital. The doctors announced Lee’s death officially was ruled a “death by misadventure”.

Many people are questioning his dead was questioning for years. But on October 15, 2005, Raymond Chow stated that Lee died from a hypersensitivity to the muscle relaxant in the analgesic. Even the statement has been given, the exact details of his death are still a subject of controversy. There are many theories about his death, including murder involving the Triad Society and a supposed curse on him and his family.

10. BRANDON LEE (Death : March 31, 1993)

While making The Crow, Brandon Lee – the son of Bruce Lee - was supposedly hit by blank gun fire that made by actor Michael Massee (played as Fun-boy, the film’s villain). However the movie’s teams who prepare the gun forget to pull out the primer bullet. An when fired, it hit Lee in the abdomen and lodged in his spine. He was immediately rused to the hospital, but Lee’s heart stopped once in the ambulance.

Same as his father, his death has raising the rumor about the curse on his father which extended to him.

11. PHIL HARTMAN (Death : May 28, 1998)

He was a Canadian-born American actor, comedian, screenwriter and graphic artist. You might remember him if you watched his appearance in the films Houseguest, Small Soldiers, Sgt. Bilko, and Jingle All the Way.

On the evening of May 27, 1998, after returning from dinner with producer and writer Christine Zander in Italian Restaurant Buca di Beppo in Los Angeles, Phil had an argument with Brynn Hartman – his wife – and threatened to leave her if she started using drugs again. While he slept, Brynn entered his bedroom at 3 am with a .38 caliber handgun and fatally shot him twice in the head and once in his side.

Los Angeles police stated Hartman’s death was due to “domestic discord between the couple”.

Some people found difficulty to accept the facts of this murder case. Actor Steve Guttenberg said that the pair were “a very happy couple and they always had the appearance of being well-balanced”.

12. NATALIE WOOD (Death : November 29, 1981)

On November 28, 1981, Wood together with Robert Wagner and Christopher Walken went on to Catalina Island for weekend use their yacht. It was anchored in Isthmus Cove. After midnight, while tried to leave the yacht, Wood accidentally slipped and fell overboard.

Thomas Neguchi, a Los Angeles County coroner, held an investigation and resulted in an official verdict of accidental drowning. Noguchi concluded Wood had drunk of wine and was intoxicated when she died. There were marks and bruises on her body which considered have been received as a result of her fall.

Still for some people, her death is still unsolved because many questions are unanswered. The story about Wood was going to go boating around the cove in a dinghy at midnight in her thin nightgown does not sound realistic. They also questioned numerous bruises over the lower and backside of her legs. Even the case has closed, her death is still under mysterious circumstances.

What is The Most Expensive and Strangest Coffee in the World?

2010-06-20T22:56:00.000-07:00

The most strangest coffee (and also the most expensive one.....) is Kopi Luwak (Luwak Coffee). It came from civet's dung. WHAT...???? Yes...I write it correctly : it came from civet's dung / feces. Before you get fainted, let's see why Kopi Luwak can become the most expensive coffee in the world.

Kopi Luwak has been known as the tastiest coffee in the world since 1950. At that time, Holland (who conquered Indonesia that time) opened coffee plantation in a lot of places in Indonesia. When the coffee was ready for harvesting, there are a lot of pest destroying the coffee. One of the most dangerous pest is civet (Paradoxorus hermaproditus or "Luwak" in Indonesia).The civet eat the coffee's berries for their fleshy pulp. Later on, the bean are defecated, but still in their shape. After gathering, thorough washing, sun drying, light roasting, and brewing, the beans yield an aromatic coffee with much less bitterness.

Prof. Massimo Marcone from Guelpg University, Canada, had observed the Luwak Coffee and found out that the civet's endogenous digestive secretions seep into the coffee beans. These secretions carry proteolytic enzymes, which break down the bean's proteins, yielding shorter peptides and more free amino acids. This is the reason why the coffee has less bitterness than regular coffee.

Recently, Kopi Luwak is claimed as the most expensive coffee in the world, selling between US$ 100 - 600 per gram. The rarity of the coffee has make it sold in quiet outrageous price. It sold mainly in Japan and United Stated.

Fun Facts About World Cup 2010

2010-06-15T03:20:00.000-07:00

The game is on...!!Yeah... starting June 11 until July 11,2010, the eyes of the world are focusing on the the biggest soccer game in the world : FIFAWorld Cup 2010 that held in South Africa. While the game is on, something funny also going on. Here are some facts from World Cup 2010 that you should not miss-remember it :

For the first time ever, all of the schools in South Africa close from June 9 till July13. This condition is giving opportunity to all of the students to watch and celebrate the biggest event, that migh never happen again in the next 100 years.

The Official World Cup 2010's theme song called "Waka Waka" and performed by Shakira. What is that mean? Well....actually the translation is also on the title. "Waka Waka" means "This Time for Africa".

You might hear a lot of buzzing sound in every game. Those sound is coming from "vuvuzela". What is that? It is a big plastic trumpet that usually made in bright color and blown by all fans in every football game in World Cup.

Germany is the first country that collecting the highest goal point in the first week of the World Cup Game. On the third day of the game, Germany defeated Australia with score 4 - 0. Lukas Podolksi, Miroslav Klose, Thomas Mueller and Cacau are the German's players who took the responsibility of these success.

The first red card goes to Australia when the fought Germany. Tim Cahill got the card in the first period of game (in 56th minutes) after tackled Bastian Schweinsteiger.

Johannesburg is the host city that become the biggest hosting number of play. There are 15 matches (including Opening Match, quarter final, and Final itself) that will be held in that city. The games will be playedin two stadiums: Ellis Park and Soccer City.

There are 7 countries (some called them "Super Seven") have won previous World Cup : Brazil, Italy, Germany, Argentina, Uruguay, England, and France. There is no any other country that won World Cup competetition so far, besides the "Super Seven". Will South Africa won this time? Could be....who knows?

Even become one of the biggest soccer merchandise suppliers, Nike is not an oficial sponsor of the World Cup. The official apparel sponsor of the world cup is Adidas.

Top 10 Weirdest Bra Designs

2010-06-01T23:44:00.000-07:00

Bras are not things that girls use only to hold and form their breasts anymore. But recently, bras have new meaning and more useful for other uses. Here are some weirdest bra that being designed to help women in the world to do other things with their bra than just treat them as their underwear. Ready to be surprised?

1. THE CHOPSTICK BRA :

Created by Triumph International Japan. This bra is made in order to promote the use of reusable chopsticks. Wearing this bra, you have chance to save the planet in same time. Really?????

2.SOLAR-POWERED BRA :
Ever find difficulty when the battery of your mobile phone is down or your iPod have lost its power. Now, you can have solar-powered bra. Just plug your connector to the bra, and... walah.... your iPod and mobile can be turned on again....

3. HAND PALM BRA :
Feeling lonely and love to get warm and gently squeeze from a man you love? Try hand palm bra. It's soft, handy, and lovely. Make you feel like a woman again.

4. BACON BRA :

Feeling hungry and have nothing left to eat? Try bacon bra. It made from 100% true bacon meat and can be eaten rawly. It's very useful for active women like you who love to travel a lot (especially travelling to deep forest or uncivilize area).

5. GOLDEN FISH BRA :
Love fish and enjoy taking them to walk with you? Try this Golden Fish Bra. It's simple, chill, and tickle. Very nice for sporty girl like you...

6. CANDY BRA :

Never leave home without candies. Candy consist of sweet and sugar that energize your day. It also good for your bad breath. Forget to bring one? Don't worry, you have plenty of them in your bra now.

7. MUSICAL BRA :

Even wondered what would your breasts sound like if they were a musical instrument? Now... you don't have to wonder anymore, because you can listen it by yourself to a pair of your breasts make beautiful and nice music. Introducing Musical Bra that turns the pair of brests into a musical instrument. All you need to do is wear it and listen to it. A very nice sound-therapy for active women....

8. WARMBIZ HEATED BRA :
Feeling chill and your warmer not work properly? Triump-Japan has introducing Warmbiz Heated Bra that keep you warm and comfy. It made from nice-comfy-looking faux fur with microwavable gel pads that can be slipped into the bra cups to provide warmth in chilly offices or location (very nice to wear it while in winter season).

9. BRA BAG :
Shopping.... shopping.... shopping.... won't you have a cozy and cute way to shop? Try Bra Bag. It's eco-friendly, and very handy to use. When you need to buy something, just take off your bra, fold it, and.... it turns into shopping bag. After do the shopping, take it out, and wore it again. No more trash. No more plastic bag.

10. MEN'S BRA:

Now... that's sound ridiculous. Why men need bra?Well... whoever could imagine that the image of the macho, hulky men would be reduced to such a funny figure with the imagery of him wearing a bra. So.... c'mon, Man. Show your inner feminine side. Wear bra......

What is the Most Famous Beverage in Indonesia?

2010-05-31T20:12:00.000-07:00

If you visit Indonesia and feel thirsty, don't get surprise when you find difficulty to get Coca-cola, because not many place sell it. But you will easily find a lot of people selling and offerring you Teh Botol Sosro. Well.... for some tourists, they find surprise to see this beverage. It is tea in the bottle. Usually it served cold. The taste is quiet nice with light jasmine aroma. After drink it, you will feel quiet refreshing. Most of the tourist that tried it once, will try it again.

It is true that Teh Botol Sosro is one of the most popular beverage in Indonesia. Literally, Teh Botol means "tea in the bottle". And Sosro itself is the name of the founder's family name : Sosrodjojo.

The success of Teh Botol Sosro began in 1940, when the family of Sosrodjojo started to build a small tea company called Teh Wangi Melati (Fragrant Jasmine Tea Company) in Slawi, one of the small city in Central Java. Their first product is Teh Cap Botol (Bottle Brand's Tea). Soon, their product became well-known and popular in that city.

In 1965, they started to expand their company and bring Teh Cap Botol to Jakarta. That time, not so many people like to drink tea. Most of the youngsters were like to drink beverage such as Coca-Cola, Sprite, and others. So they tried to do a promotion called Promosi Cicip Rasa (Tasted Promotion; soon this way been known as "sampling promotion technic"). Together with his team, Mr Soetjipto Sosrodjojo - the Jakarta's Marketing Director, who also one of the Sosrodjojo family member - visited some area by driving car and promoted their products. They gave the sampling products to the people they met and informed them how to make tea. They also did tea making demo at sight to educate people how to boil tea.

At the first time, the demo met failure because it takes quiet long time to boil and prepare the tea. People started to impatient and most of them left the demo before the tea was ready.

Then Mr Soetjipto tried another way : prepared the tea in the office and bring it to the promotion area. But this way also met failure because some of the tea was spoil on the way to promotion area.

Finally they found another easy way : put the tea in the bottle and give the samples to the viewer. This method is success. Since then, many people like to drink tea. After the successful of introducing tea to people in Jakarta - especially it unique way of promotion - in 1969, The Sosrodjojo family considered to sell the tea in the bottle. Using their family name as the brand name, in 1970 The Sosrodjojo finally released their tea in the bottle products for the first time using their own brand : Teh Botol Sosro.

The design of the brand has changed three times. The first design has been used since 1970-1971. Then they changed the design and used it from 1972 - 1973. In 1974, when The Sosrodjojo built their tea factory in Jakarta (Menteng area) called PT Sinar Sosro, they made another change of brand. Since then, they never change the design until today.

With their famous eternal quote "Apapun Makanannya, Minumnya Teh Botol Sosro" (Whatever You Eat, Drink Teh Botol Sosro), Teh Botol Sosro is the first ready-to-consume tea in the bottle that been well-known not only in Indonesia, but also in the world.

Man with The Biggest Breast in the World

2010-05-30T20:12:00.000-07:00

Normally we know that only girls who have breast. Men... well, they have it but not big. Even athletic like Arnold Schwarzenegger or Hulk Hogan only have "standard" breast - or can be said, "chick-breast" - and never as big as Pamela Anderson's.

But recently, doctors from Chin claimed that they finally found a man with big breast and it is the biggest breast that men have in the world. Guo Feng -53 years old-, a farmer from Jinan, China, is the one to have this big breast. Physically, he is a man. But 10 years ago, he found his chest is becoming bigger and bigger. And in the end, his chest has same size as Pamela Anderson's.

Why he can be like this? Until today, none of the doctor can explain it. They check throughout already and did not find any problem in Guo Feng's chest. The breast on his chest is not a cancer and do not harm his health. The only hypotesis that come out from the doctor is that Guo Feng has with fat problem.

What is The First Slasher Movie from Indonesia?

2010-05-09T22:48:00.000-07:00

Macabre is considered as the first slasher movie that made by Indonesian movie makers and become one of the most successfull movie, regionally and internationally. Released in January 22, 2010, Macabre has became a nightmare for all audiences. The movie itself also gain a lot of appreciation from many of international critics and received international awards, such as Pucheon International Fantasic Film Festival (PiFan 2009, held in Bucheon, South Korea). At this festival, Shareefa Danish had been choosed as the Best Actress.

Directed by Mo Brothers (Timo Cahyanto and Kimo Stambul) and starred by well-known Indonesian artists such as Shareefa Danish, Julie Estelle, Ario Bayu, Imelda Therinne, Daniel Mananta, and Mike Lucock, Macabre - also known as Rumah Dara (Dara's House) in Indonesia or Darah (Blood) in Singapore - tells a story about 6 youngsters who meet a strange girl called Maya (played by Imelda Therinne) that lost her way. Soon they took the girl back to her house which located in the middle of forest (and nowhere).

Then they meet Dara (Shareefa Danish), Maya's mother. Since they helped Maya, Dara insisted them to stay in her house and having dinner with her. They also been introduced to Adam (Arifin Putra) and Arman (Ruli Lubis), both are Maya's brothers. While having the meal, suddenly all of them passout. When gaining their conciousness, all of them found out that they were been set-up by psychopathic cannibal family. And the youngsters are going to be their next meals.

Macabre is actually the expansion of the story called Dara which been made and released before in a anthology movie called "Takut : Faces of Fear" (released in November 2008).

Overall, Macabre has shown the most gorriest, scarriest, and bloddiest movie ever made in Indonesia. It becomes one of the most talk-about movie because of it scarriest theme.

The film has been released in Indonesia and Singapore. In Singapore, Macabre has been rated M18 (for Gore and Violence). Meanwhile Malaysia banned this movie due to the extreme scenes that fill more than half of the movie. This is the first time Malaysia banned Indonesia's movie. Meanwhile for North Asia and Europe, it will be distributed soon by Overlook Entertainment.

You Like Pretty Girl.... You Die....

2010-05-03T19:46:00.000-07:00

Experts from University of Valencia recently found out that men who have intention to pretty girls will suffer stroke and other internal diseases. When they stay close to a pretty girls, their cortisol (stress trigger hormon) will raise up. High level cortisol will give bad impact to men's heart. When men fail to get close to the girls, cortisol will raise much higher and men will suffer stroke. According to The Mail, May 3th edition, this effect has equivalent to jumping from the plane.

Based on their survey to 84 male students, University of Valencia Team found out that cortisol level of all students have raised in significant level when they stayed with some pretty girls they never met before for five minutes.

Ironically, high level cortisol will also triggered impotency because of the stress impact and frustration. If this condition happened in a long term, they will suffer other cronical problem, such as heart failure, diabetic, hypertension, and permanent impotent.

So... for all of you guys, if you stay close to any pretty girls, let me give you a simple advise : Don't wish they want to go out with you...!!!

Are You A Sex Addict? Beware !!!!

2010-05-03T19:10:00.000-07:00

Recently sexual addiction become a serious problem. Charlie Sheen has it. So does Michael Doughlas and Tiger Woods. Rumors said Steven Siegel also got it. Whose next?

For some people, it is a serious problem. But what they don't know, it ruins their social environment, family, and at the end : their own life. According to some experts, Sexual Addiction is a condition where a person has uncontrolled sex desires. They has a deep need to have sex, anytime, anyplace, anywhere, with anybody. They know the consequences, but still keep doing it.

Like other addiction, people who "suffered" Sexual Addiction feels sex as a drug. The more they make, the more their body feel comfortable. They never feel satisfy and keep doing it. Like other addicts, after did it, they are having guilty feeling, desperate, nervous, and isolated. They feel not comfortable with their life. So they will keep having sex again, and again with anybody to find their comfort zone.

There are about 3 - 6% of community population is having this addiction. More than 20% are women. According to Dr Patrick Carnes - a consultant and sexual addiction expert - in his site (www.sexhelp.com), most of the addicts are having difficulty to express their problem, because most of them don't feel it is a problem.

What is the sympthoms of Sexual Addicts? Dr Carnes shows 10 possibility signs that we should aware :
1. When we feel our desires are out of control.
2. When we realize there are bad consequences if we can't control our desires.
3. When we can't stop it even we realize the consequences.
4. Keep doing it.
5. We wish we can stop it, but we still keep actively doing it.
6. Suddenly we use our sexual fantasy to depress our desires.
7. Need for sex over and over again to fulfill our fantasies
8. Feel our body is shaking if we don't have sex.
9. Wasting a lot of time to doing plan and have sex.
10. Introvert, avoiding people, social activities, and other activitities just for sex.

There are a lot of sexual activities tht can be done, such as enjoying pornography products, uncontrolled masturbation, exhibitionist, voyeurist, fetist, sex-call, online-sex, unsafe sex with anybody, including prostitutes.

According to Dr Carne, about 70% of sexual addicts are having problem with their partners, 40% loose their marital life, 27% loose their carrier, and 72% have an obssesion to kill themself.

When you feel you are one of the Sexual Addict, the only way you can cure your addiction is talk to your family and let them help you. If you feel ashame and have no confident on them, you can share your problem to www.saa-recovery.org or www.basrt.org.uk. There are some experts who are abling to give support to you.

Barack Obama in Indonesia

2010-04-28T00:17:00.000-07:00

One of popular person in Indonesia is The President of United States of America : Barack Obama. Yep.... it because Obama ever lived in Indonesia in 1967 in Jakarta from ages six to ten. He also attended local schools in Jakarta, including Besuki Public School and St. Francis of Asisi School.

Even he only stayed for four years in Indonesia, but for many people in Indonesia, he left a lot of great memories. So when he has been elected as The President of United States of America, many people celebrated it. Since then, Barack Obama has become popular person in Indonesia.

There are some interesting happen right after Barack Obama has been selected as The President of United States of America :

1. Similarity with Obama :
When Obama has elected, Ilham Anas - one of Indonesian that been born in Bandung on January 25, 1974 - become famous. Why? Because he has a lot of similarity with Obama. This photographer that recently lived in Bekasi has an identical face with Obama. Not only face, but also the way he talks, acts, even body language... everything is exactly same (sometimes we wonder if he is actually Obama's twins).

Because of the similarity, Anas has become a superstar. Not only in Indonesia, but also in other country. He also been selected as a commercial star in Philippines. And he played as Barack Obama.

2. Obama's Statue :
On December 2009, a statue of Obama when he was a kid been made and put in Menteng Park, about 150 meters from Menteng Elementary School, the place where Obama's took his study while in Indonesia. Edy Chaniago - the designer of the statue - finished the statue in 2 month using US$ 10,000 of budget. However, the statue of Obama - that been known as "Barry Dreams Come True" statue - had became controversy because many people think that Obama had not give any contribution to Indonesia, either when he was staying in Indonesia or after become the President of States. After several months of controversy, finally the statue been moved to Menteng Elementary School. And since March 2010, the statue can be seen at the field of that school.

Taboos in Asia

2010-04-26T23:37:00.000-07:00

Some Asia areas, especially Melayu ethnic, have some unique taboo restrictions. People should not do what it has been told or there will be bad things happened to them. Some people believe, but some others don't. Either way, it is better to know what kind of taboo restrictions that been came into effect to the local people. At least when you visit the country during your holiday, you won't be surprised and can respect the rules of the taboo restrictions that been implemented in there.

Most of the restrictions have no any logic explanation. But some cases shown that whoever violating the restrictions will face condemnation and bad luck :

1. Never changes places while eating :
During eating, you are not permitted to change place because it is a symbol that you don't respect your own mother, and you hope she died soon so you can get new mother.

2. Never shout dirty words in the forest :
Because it will raise out all creatures that hid in the forest. Most cases, people who shout will be possessed by forest spirit and will not heal until they die.

3. Never do pictures in odd numbers :
When you make some pictures with your friends, make sure the total persons whose been shot (including you) are not in odd numbers. Because if it do, one of you will die soon.

4. Never cry when you got pregnant :
Actually this taboo is explainable that mother that pregnant and had bad feeling will effect to her baby. So always try not to feeling sad or crying, because it will not good for your baby.

5. Never bite your bottom lips :
People who love to bite their bottom lips will face deep financial problem.

6. Never pretend to cry :
By doing that, you are actually cursing your own parents that time, and wish they were gone.

7. Never give handkerchief to your lover :
Because it means both of you will seperate soon.

8. Never abuse your children :
Once they grow up, they will never get a good husband / wife.

9. Never smack your daughter's bottock :
It will turns her into a hyper sex women and always ruin others family.

10. Never hug people's head with both hands :
Because it will turns people that you hug become stupid.

11. Never lift your leg when lying flat on your stomach :
You are wishing something bad happened to your mother.

12. Never sweep floor during night :
It makes people inside your house will be difficult to get rich.

13. Never eat using small plate :
Nobody will treat you well when you are growing up.

14. Never eat in front of any door :
You will difficult to get a husband / wife.

15. Never sell needles or cutter during night time :
It will makes your stores turn into bankrupt.

16. Never go to beach and wearing red cloth :
Red cloth is represent bride cloth for water spirit. So when they see people wore red cloth, they will take them.