Okay, that’s enough. Well, let’s loosen up our muscle first. From now on and ever after. I will try not to become too serious from now on, to be less serious. i think it’s a challenge. So when I tried not to be serious I always end up, empty, lost, I don’t know what to said. But when I just be the usual me I also end up in confusion– or should I say doubt like what Descartes said. Geez, what a crap.

I feel like reviewing something and I think I’ve decided to review this one brand new comic. So what’s so great about comic? It’s just interesting, a sequential of images line by line, collumn by collumn, resulting in something so alive. I’m not trying to be critical on how I define comics as something interesting, but to pick the bottom line that’s my definition, on why I found comic so interesting. In a more special, specific, view I would say some specific comics catches my attention because of its story, concept, characters, etc.

Okay, so back on reviewing. Here now we have Koloni, if I’m not mistaken it’s an abbreviation for “Komik Lokal Indonesia”, a series of publishing line(?) serving only local comics. And by I mean local is Indonesia comic, contemporary Indonesian comics I would say. Since I always found myself ended up in the glory of the past whenever I’m in a discussion regarding Indonesian comics. Of course that made me sick, okay it’s good to have a past but what’s the point of just repeating the glory of past when we have something new right here and now. Something not so bad even though (maybe) not as good as the old ones–oh, how I love the old days of Benny and Mice–.

So up to this point I know there’s already 2 generations of Koloni, the first one is the line of Is Yuniarto’s “Garudayana” (one of my personal favorite, but still lacks something for me), Azisa Noor’s “Satu Atap” (personal favorite, a light-hearted story, but a bit “funny” on one part), Ekyu’s “Morte” (I still don’t understand this one), Galang’s “Hopper” (for those who likes comical action this one probably the best), and there’s also “Alsa”, “My Ghost Sister”, “Best Friend”, and “Flower Rhapsody”. I haven’t read the last four until now so I can’t even give any decent comments ;__;

And then there’s the second line with: Mazjojo’s “4Hero”, Ockto cs’ “B.O.C.A.H.”, Chairunnisa and Adrianne Yuanita’s “Chrysanthemum”, and Erick Sulaiman’s “Binatang Jatuh”. I’ve decided on reviewing “Binatang Jatuh”, at first I thought reviewing “Chrysanthemum” is not a bad idea, and of course “B.O.C.A.H.” But then I’ve fallen in love with this “Binatang Jatuh”. Hahaha.

Oh, wait I forgot to mention the “special” line of Koloni’s. The one published during Ramadhan last year, the “Ngabuburit!”, a comic compilation of five stories. Inside it you can find Galang’s “Garudaboi Patroli Sahur”, IPOT’s “Buah Kejujuran”, Azisa Noor’s “Ramadhan 2000 H”, Dyotami’s “Cincaw Setan!!”, and Fachreza’s “Karina”.

I think I’ve waste too many times already so let’s just begin.

Binatang Jatuh

by: Erick S.

Review by LSS/Annasophia

So where should I start? A quick synopsis, review of the story maybe.

Binatang Jatuh brings us a naive fantasy with satirical style, a unique satire exclusive to Erick I would say I’ve seen his cartoon before also to be added his previous book “From Bandung with Laugh”. Err, wait..did I say “naive fantasy with satirical style”? If yes, no I’m not having some kind of vocabularical or even logical (what? syntax?) error here. The truth is like that, at first glance you may say this is a kind of naive fantasy that brings us back to our childhood (and early teenage) where we would wish upon star of something kinda “unchageable”. Where, back then, we were having arguments with our parents or just shrugs when we saw our parents argue to each other. Then we just throw away the reality, dump ourselves on our own imagination, and then we were faced with fable-like reality where we actually spoke with animal, out-of-fantasy. But then we learn that animals are our ver own parents. Yes! That’s the first part I found interesting here, it’s fable-like aura where we see animals talk to each other like they were ordinary human, they think like us, they still act like our parents, thinks of our own good.  Wait, I’m throwing too much spoiler here.

Sense something serious here? Yes, the good part is even though you can say this comic as a “fantasi ngawur” in Indonesian you cannot neglect the reality part presented here. The part where the author brilliantly presents through a handful of characters. A child who silently sees his or her parents argue, a parents who argue with his or her child, a child who lives a double personality whether or not his or her parents are around. Yet, all of them wishes their parents would change into a better one so they wish upon and their wish became true! Where fantasy meets reality.

The satire parts, kinda interesting. Since it takes place in Bandung I cannot give so much review. But from what I can get is the author refering on something regarding the town’s sity planning. Yes, I’ve heard a lot from friends, gossips, where Bandung has turned into something like shopping paradise but it’s not that great. Even though it is called paradise there’s so much things that is less than paradise. The city planning just…I don’t know if it’s that bad since I live in Jakarta

Anyway the satire are more than that. More than just satirical critics, you can find the satire quite amusing. Most of the laughs I get from reading this comes from the detail in the background. As for the visual, maybe it’s not that great compared by any of other Koloni’s but it has its own style, it his style. Whenever you take a look you can say immediately, “Hey, it’s Erick’s!” It’s not bad for me personally, the style suits the concept, profile, and story well. I can’t say the graphics are bad, in fact I like it! There’s a popular saying that it’s not necessary to have a marvellous skill in drawing if you want to make a comic. Here is the proof, it’s not the skill it’s the identitiy and and how your drawing suits well with yourself. But there’s some condition also and I’m not here to talk about it right now. But just check “Naburo”, the drawing skill makes me cry and eventually it makes me cries even more when it turns out into an actual comic book. So I would say the visual here in “Binatang Jatuh” is great in its own way. You can’t say it is influenced by Japanese or Western, so just throw away that useless argument between Japanese manga and Western comic regarding which one is influencing our comics more. We have Indonesian comic with its own style now.

Next, should we go to the packaging? Since out of other Koloni this one is different. While most of other Koloni packaged in a style that look like standard manga are packaged here in Indonesia, “Binatang Jatuh” packaged in a more similar way on how they package western comics. Bigger size, less thicker (I think it’s caused by the story itself though), full colour with a better paper quality. Also I found this comic placed not in the regular place where they put comic on display, instead on “Dunia Pengetahuan” section(?). I bought this comic on Metropolitan Mall’s Gramedia (Bekasi), I don’t know if it’s an error in arraging or what. Nor even I know how they put it on other place. Oh, also to mention it has a slightly higher price than the other. But come on, I think it’s worth it.

So in the end, final words. This one is a comic worth reading and having. Keep it as keepsake for next generation, spread it to your younger relatives, since the idea is not too complex and the morale is good too. Not only the familial issue I’ve mentioned beforem there’s also an environmental issue here. Like I said the critics of somewhat bad city-planning and for us to respect our environment, our flora and fauna, and also our parents. There’s much to learn for any teenager who read this comic. So instead of that gloomy and whining read this comic, it’s not that comical, it’s not that manga-ish, it’s not that dreamy. It’s great, it has drama, funny lines, action, fantasy. Just take a peek a bit and enjoy it. It’s worth having. 4 out of 5

I know I’m just a novice in this review thingy. So I apologize if there is any misinterpretation which eventually hurts your feeling or something. I don’t mean it, just say the word and I will do whatever I can to correct it. So sorry, and Thank You. Fill in the air next time~

–

pic taken from here.

]]> http://elnotion.wordpress.com/2010/02/21/so-the-sky-is-blue-after-all-comic-review-binatang-jatuh/feed/ 4 Annasophia Cover-Binjat-v3 http://elnotion.wordpress.com/2010/02/16/retweet-balada-burung-beo/ http://elnotion.wordpress.com/2010/02/16/retweet-balada-burung-beo/#comments Tue, 16 Feb 2010 11:57:57 +0000 LSS http://elnotion.wordpress.com/?p=38 ]]> Rejoice!

It’s been a long since I last wrote a poem. Not too long maybe, I think it’s around August las year. But to write some poem seriously, it’s been a very very long time. I didn’t have much to tell so here’s a piece.

Rejoice! It’s in Indonesian.

Balada burung beo

Kami peduli!

Kami peduli!

Kami mendukung!

Kami mendukung!

Kami setia!

Kami setia!

Indonesia satu!

Indonesia satu!

Indonesia merdeka!

Indonesia merdeka!

Kami tak sudi budaya kami dicuri!

Kami tak sudi!

Budaya kami adalah budaya adiluhung!

Budaya kami adalah budaya leluhur!

Janganlah budaya kami dilupakan, maka kami akan menyelamatkannya!

Kami akan mengingatnya!

Kami akan menjaga dan melestarikannya! Kami mengerti!

…

Janganlah kami dibatasi!

Jangan batasi!

Bahwa budaya kami bukanlah pornografi!

Budaya bukan pornografi!

Kami menolak!

Kami menolak!

Itu adalah pengekangan!

Ya, itu adalah pengekangan!

Maka kami tolak!

Kami menolak!

Bahwa sepantasnya dunia ini bebas dari dominasi satu pihak tertentu.

…

Maka kami menolak!

Kami menolak!

Indonesia satu!

Indonesia satu!

“oh, hey you’re so nasty I won’t get near you. I’m save in this germ-free bubble.
and you woman should never leave this bubble, you’re an asset after all.”

Recently, due to the ‘ojek haram’ issue, I’ve been thinking that those cleric are analogous to an obsessive-compulsive person. In term likes they live inside their own germ-free bubble in which they perceive anything outside them, or not related to them, as germs. In case of germs well of course the will treat that as something nasty, noxious, or anything bad. The only save for them is themselves, nothing more nothing less. Or in some case when they’ve gathered enough power and turn into a cult-like power in the end they will turn into one kind of person but still many, just imagine a group of otakus with their stereotypical looks and behavior. The fact that we are the same so there will be no problem between us, we’re the same after all.

If a picture speaks more than words, that’s it. Just a quick update after finishing my cartoon. It’s been a while since I put a lot of efforts in drawing.

..in case if you have deviantArt account [link] (oh, hey the description is in Indonesian!)

There is a theory of selfness, individuality, once been told to me from my lecturer during one of the lectures. It is Hume’s, he is an empiricist and you can say I’m against empiricism but that’s not the matter right now, where he said that our individuality, our selfness, was just a bundle of perception. The perception he proposed here should be considered as something sensible, as perception to be seen as a product of senses. Well, of course I have simplified, heavily, his thought but let’s just not discuss that for now. Departing from Hume’s “bundle theory” maybe we can also apply this not only to our selfness but also the others selfness, other person’s selfness. But as I recall from Kant’s saying that there is no possibility for us to understand, to get the knowledge from something outside of us, in this case the other person, our sibling, parents, friends, etc, we should say that our understanding of other person’s selfness is also a bundle of perception we perceive through our senses. So in practice we can say that, I know nothing about my cat, but I know from I can perceive with my senses that it is like that*. Then if we apply this theory back to my concerns of death, my thought is that our memories concerning certain person is what makes us perceive that person as is and when that person was dead  that bundle of perception we used to perceive and understand that person as someone** there should be possibility for us to classify from which memories should we class as which memory. Therefore I chose to classify some memories is in fact worthy*** enough to be remembered, in this case the memory of the living moment. If I go as far as I can say that the memory of the death was not worthy enough, then I assume there is a possibility for me not to acknowledge the death. If I was not to acknowledge the death, is there a possibility for me to acknowledge the eternity of that certain mortal being?

I’m not here to concern eternity, which is quite the opposite of death, but we can recall the cliche catchphrase of many literature or we can also say a common phrase. That when someone dies that certain person still lives in our heart. For me, this can be said a proof of Kant’s though and its relation to Hume’s “Bundle Theory” I said before. Well of course there is also a disprove of physical eternity if we should refer to my state of disacknowledging death. Me myself, I don’t believe physical eternity in state that during those eternity someone remain human. So if Kant’s thoughts of representation of things inside our mind and that the knowledge we ought to say is that comes from that representation inside ourselves not from the exact, actual object itself. This is where there is a relation to the eternity of someone inside someone’s mind.

But there is a moment where I should acknowledge death though. This may be a little off topic but my stand concerning death, remains somewhat the same. I still stand to the thought that there is no point in remembering death. There is a reason, which has relation to the thought where I have to acknowledge death in order to move. Back to Hume’s “Bundle Theory”, and Kant’s theory of knowledge, maybe I can infer that perceiving perception were only available during the object was still alive. So when the object was dead, perish, gone, it is no longer available. When we are not to acknowledge death so there will be no end to the memory, it’s like a book, a thesis, dissertation without epilogue or conclusion. Cliche it is but the point is like when we are perceiving someone in order to know him, understand him, as from Fromm’s Art of Loving it is said that this is the stage of loving where understanding is one of the essential aspect, when that certain person is still alive it is only possible during that time. So when we acknowledge the death of that certain person it is when we can say that, “this is that person I can perceive, this is enough of him/her, there will be no more (or less) of him/her”. So when we acknowledge death is possibly the moment where we can finally conclude our final perception regarding that certain person. So in case of we were to understand, perceive someone alive in order to love that certain person, it can be said that there is no possibility for us to fully understand that certain person (not until the death of that certain person even though there is still other impossibility if we were to subject secrets or else).

So in the end, this my thought concerning death. Like I have stated before, my stand concerning death still somewhat remain the same. But there is an opening where I don’t have any other option but to accept death. The conclusion is like I already inferred from the whole entry.

—

*like that I said here is that my cat is something furry, it has four legs, a tail, pointy ears, flat nose, just cat as we know it. I just simplify it since it is unimportant to perceive my pet here, it’s just an example though.

**You should get the point that the fact I’m using the word someone is in universal meaning, my cat is also someone even though it is a cat not a human or anything alike. Also as someone here I also infer that we perceive that certain person as either brother or else. For example on our first day of school we met someone new and then we perceive him or her and through the time we perceive that person from many activities, dialogues, or anything then we can perceive that person as friend, best friend, lover, or even brother if you’ve made some oath or something. Note that in the end it is our perception that states someone as someone, our perception may infer that someone attractive and that person pays our attention and then we state that person as our lover, even though we can also ask that why we state that person as lover is it because that perception or due the fact that other person says that you two are in fact lover (not to mention you have announce it publicly or not before).

***The worthy I said here is not to be perceived materialistically. I just can’t come up with the right word to say it. Things are worthy from our subjective view that when a certain memory we found ourselves fond of that is when we can say that memory is worthy to be remembered or acknowledged. There is a case that when we have a bad memories we have the tendency not to remember it, it is when I thought we found that certain memory is not worthy to be remembered or acknowledged. So worthy here is not to be meant that I value something economically.

—

I dedicate this entry for my friend Xaliber von Reginhild, Pradipa P. Rasidi, I can’t say much but truly I didn’t mean anything bad from this writing. My intention was purely rational, I didn;t mean to hurt you or anything. As I already said in the beginning, this is my thought of death and I just hope that you can understand. So should I say sympathy is yours to decide, truly.

Fill in the air next time~LSS

September 28, 2009

First day of college after a two-weeks break for Idul Fitri vacation.

As for the schedule there’s, History of Greek Philosophy and Epistemology.

Let’s came up with epistemology first. Well, for today the lecture came up with the blabber regarding the relation of epistemology itself with aesthetics. Maybe there’s a point you’ll need to mark here, aesthetics here, in epistemology, is different with the kind we know commonly. Up until now most of all may interpret “aesthetics” is something related to beauty. When we talk about art most of the time we may plunge ourselves to the conception of aesthetics, whether the object is beautiful or not. It’s not wrong though, as long as it’s aesthetics in the field of axiology.

But we’re talking epistemology here. Just a quick description, epistemology is one field of philosophy specializing in knowledge itself. The study of knowledge, to put it in one phrase. Aesthetics in epistemology, or should I say Platonic epistemology (or maybe it’s not necessary since epistemology came from Plato himself), is simply, ‘senses‘. Aesthetics in epistemology describes the phenomenon in which things that regarding the use, and contact, and perception of our senses. Also to write it down if we were here to talk a platonic concept, and now we’re dealing about perception we should remember the platonic realism. Platonic realism divides our reality into two parts, the materialistic and the ideal. In which Plato sees that materialistic reality were to put lower in quality than the ideal one.

To brief it here. Aesthetics in epistemology deals with the base perception that came from our senses. The conception of perception that came from our senses, are somewhat relative. But the point is not that ‘truth‘, that sensed through our senses, is relative. Truth itself is definite, it’s objective from Plato’s point of view. Then if truth is definite why would our senses perceive differently with others senses? It’s a bit out of topic but maybe I’ll continue this some other time.

The other class is the History of Greek Philosophy. As you can guess from the name, it’s history. Today the lecture discuss the Pre-Socratic philosopher ranging from Zeno to Democritus. There’s too much to review here, so I’ll just review one part which I found interesting; Empedocles.

I found that his idea about Love and Hate is quite interesting. Well the idea, I don’t think it’s necessary to put it here but if I have to put it roughly:

Love and Hate should be called the main forces that shapes our universe. Let’s say Empedocles sees that the universe consisted of four main element, air, earth, water, and fire. Those four elements however were independent at first, but then love intertwined them one after another (or something like that, this is just my perception yours, or other experts, may differ) and so it forms the spherical world-cycles. That this world governed by the cycling law of the four elements, with love keeps them together. But then hate comes circling that cycle, and it slips inside. Creating chaos which ends in the destruction of the cycle. But even after hate rules the elements, so the four elements were to kept away from one another, then it’s lobe to slip between. So love can intertwine them again.

It’s said that Empedocles’ view is still metaphorical. Apparently, maybe it is. But I don’t think the conception of love and hate is metaphorical. the point where the four elements of nature intertwine may metaphorical. But what’s metaphorical when it comes to love? Cliche it is, to interpret love as a supreme force when it comes to unify things with things, while hate separates things. What would we say if it’s truth, the truth that love is the supreme force that makes us come together.

Black Eyed Peas once sang the song, “Where is The Love?” It might be their way to scream their confusion about the existence of love. If love is in fact a force there should we doubt its existence as well. If there is love, according to Empedocles’ view so there should be unification of pluralism. But the fact that this world is indeed plural, but where is the love? Where is it while we can only find hate? Empedocles also implicitly states, when there is love there is hate and vice versa. So I think we can assume the BEP members as a group of optimist constantly asking in their song, seeking the existence of love in this hate-ruled world. Although when we say that this world is filled with hate, we may pose as pessimist but when we constantly ask whether there is love or not, and when we believe that when there is love there is hate, we may also pose as an optimist.

From BEP’s song I’m thinking to jump back to our country. Let’s say Radja’s song, “Benci Bilang Cinta”. It may not be as good as BEP but I think there a nice concept referred by the band in the song’s refrain. You may be familiar with the refrain, and it may sounds cheesy but there’s something more when you take a look at it. Simply I would say that the band implies, “when you hate (someone/something) then it is hate, when you love (someone/something) then it is love”, the point is to be true to yourself and to acknowledge the truth of love and hate as the force itself. Just like angel and demon, demons should never pretends to be angels and vice versa. What would happen if the good pretend to be bad or the bad pretend to be good. When we also look into ourselves, we already know, maybe as an instinct, that ‘It’s our responsibility to say the right is right and the wrong is wrong.’ <–another cliche, yes

I conclude that deeper than Empedocles says that love and hate are the supreme force of the universe, it’s more important to accept that there is love that is love and there is hate that is hate. The cycle of love and hate, the symmetry may be explained with many other interpretations but one thing I learned from Empedocles’ view regarding love and hate is that. Our readiness to accept things as the way they are, our readiness to accept the truth no matter how bold it is, how stupid it is, or even how erotic it is. The epistemology lecturer also talks about this today, the correlation between morality and truth. But I’ll save that for later on. It’s already too long here and I’m not sure whether you, reader, want more and more pointless, confusing, ramblings of mine. That’s all I guess, that’s all for today’s journal. I’ll fill in next time

p.s. As for the closing, it’s “Benci Bilang Cinta” refrain:

Jangan benci bilang cinta
Jangan marah bilang sayang
Jangan mendustai hati
Bila engkau memang suka
Jangan kau merasa jauh
Bila kau dekat denganku
Jangan kau menganggap cinta
Mudah datang mudah pergi

Fill in the air next time~LSS

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Selamat datang

Fresh restart this is. Well, sometimes we need something fresh and new. It seems like I’m escaping my past, leaving everything behind, unmanaged. But is there something wrong with that? Well, I suppose there is. A bunch of people out there might sue me again, for something I left, somewhat, unmanaged. But I have life, and its a new life I’m having now. I have become a freshman for the second time. So for the last time I apologize for leaving things unmanaged. I may not be the best of a person who’s responsible of all things but I do realize, and I still knew, I have things to be fixed. Even though I have left everything behind, I still knew there is things to be fixed. There’s no need to be hot-headed now but please understand. While you’re playing RPG and you just failed a mission, you’ll restart the console didn’t you?

Sorry for being too pompous.

Talking about a game, the name for this blog (elnotion or Lemony Notion, the second one might be temporary). I derives it from the music, “Cutting Edge of Notion” by Motoi Sakuraba. A battle BGM for the game Star Ocean: Till the End of Time (one of my most favorite RPGs of all time). A ‘Notion’, simply ‘conception, belief, or an idea’, while ‘el’ it’s a pronounciation for ‘L’, initial for ‘Lemon’. Maybe you can say that ‘elnotion’ means, ‘Lemon’s Notion’, my belief. Well, this blog will be like some personal journal filled with personal rants or anything related. Tis is a personal blog where I will present my personal rants, opinion, dreams, anything..Let’s just hope I can update regularly.

Will write more later. I have a game to finish, currently playing “Star Ocean: Second Evolution” :p I’m thinking to write a review concerning my thought about the Star Ocean universe though..Maybe I will.