So people have always said about how inconsiderate other people are when they are taking phone calls in the metro, in the train that you can actually hear their conversation. I've never found it to be so. Nope, not because I do that (I have T-Mobile so my chances of getting phone calls while underground practically none) but because it's just not that annoying. I mean it's pretty much the same as sitting behind two people who are talking with each other.

But this morning, I finally understood what they're talking about. It was a quiet train. The seats were full but no one was standing. My seat faces the center area of the train and I'm sitting next to this lady in moss green power suit. Everybody was busy with their own thing, some stares at the door, others read express, and some others were sleeping. I picked up a sudden movement from my right out of the corner of my eye and within miliseconds a cell phone ring. It RANG, not one of those ringtones but it really RANG like a rotary phone on steroid. Everyone tensed up for a second, but nobody looked for the source. Then she flipped open her razor, and yelled "HELLO!" I must've either jumped in my seat or winced in pain from the high frequency soundwave attacking my ear, or both. It wasn't just me apparently, everybody within my sight jumped and looked at us for a few seconds. Then quiet. I thought she felt bad and quieted down so much that I even I couldn't hear what she was saying. As I was trying to get back into my reading, suddenly "NO, NO, THAT'S OKAY. I'M MEETING HIM LATER ANYWAY..." My God! Doesn't she know that those microphones on cell phones are sensitive enough that you can whisper and still be heard on the other side?

Later I was thinking, hmmm perhaps she has trouble hearing? or the reception was bad? But when she finished the call, she just flipped close the phone and that's it. No apology or anything to the people around her. I think at least she should say sorry to the guy sitting right in front of her, in her line of speech. As one of my friend said to another rude lady we met when we were at Ocean City. "Apparently wisdom doesn't come with age."

Could life get any better than this? Pardon me, that was the sugar high plus caffeine-infused adrenaline talking. But moments like this make me love the District so damn much!

Two days ago marked the first day of the annual DC International Film Festival and obviously on the day of the press release I spent a couple hours making a tight-fit schedule to catch as much international films as I can within the two-week period. By the end of the day my cinephile friends already got a copy of my schedule ^_^ The big theme this year is Brazilian New Cinema and the Hip-Hop Culture. I don't care much about the latter, but south American cinema has always fascinated me for its somber yet beautiful take on life.

I went to see the first movie on my list, Tapas . It was great, a good example of why I love European films. They're so good at depicting the beautiful life without romanticizing or glamorizing it like most Hollywood films would. The film was about five different but interlocking love stories in a Barcelone neighborhood.

And then today came an even bigger news. Well, actually it's not new had I been checking my mailing list subscriptions. My friend just told me that there's an Indonesian Film Series at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery at the Smithsonian! The series is titled Growing Up: Three Indonesian Directors, it features arguably three of the most productive and prolific young Indonesian directors at the moment. No, no, of course Garin Nugroho is not on the list, he's on a league of his own now. The directors are Riri Riza, Rudy Soedjarwo, and Hanung Bramantyo. Well, among the three, Hanung is definitely the dark horse here, some thinks his films are just highschool productions put on tape but I think he got talent. Yes, his films are a bit crude, but in that roughness the essence of the story shines. Rudy Soedjarwo on the other hand, has often been quoted as the one who single-handedly revived the Indonesian film industry with his blockbuster, "Ada Apa Dengan Cinta?" Meanwhile, Riri is the arty director with amazing range having directed the first Indonesian kids blockbuster in decades "Petualangan Sherina" to festival darling around the global asian film festival circuit "Eliana, Eliana."

Times like this I truly cherish living in this small yet diverse metropolitan area. I sure hope many people would discover that there is more to Indonesia than the beaches and Muslim extremists.

I went to church last Sunday. It was Easter. I went to the National Shrine — the moorish basilica adjacent to CUA. Well, let's just say, I've definitely been to better masses.

First, the guy who lead the hymns (sorry, I have no clue what the English word for that), was completely unclear. It really didn't help that they kinda pick their own songs instead of using the one on our booklets. To add to that, the organist seem to be of the acid jazz school of music. The music seemed to go on a different path from the song. Sometime they did meet, but not often. It was an uneventful mass with pretty much all the attendance flipped their booklets furiously to look for the song.

Also, the mass featured this pastor from Seoul. I guess it's a we-are-the-world thing, we're all together and let peace reigns, etc. The final prayers were about the wars. It is indeed understandable that a Korean would have a Korean accent, but when you add that to the confusing music, that's just the recipe for one mindboggling mass. I think the crying babies were more interesting than the actual mass.

Oops, I lied. There was one thing at the mass that really made my eyes popped. When I came in, the seats in front of me were empty except for this lady at the right end. I just find it annoying that some people are so selfish that they want to sit the nearest to the exit thus forcing people to do gymanastics just to get to the center seats. Anyway, so this old, wait, I don't know how old she was so I should say, this old-looking lady was sitting at her end when this black family came. It was the mother and the teenage daughter and son. The father came later. The usher told them to sit at the row where that old-looking lady was sitting and so they did. First the mother went in, then the daughter, and as soon as the boy sat right next to the old-looking lady, she suddenly bolted.

I know, I know, her leaving might have nothing to do with them. Oh, she's white by the way. And, that's what I told myself, give her the benefit of the doubt. So I watched where she went... which is another seat at another row that were more anglo-saxon than afro-american. My jaw might have dropped if I wasn't too busy trying to keep up with the experimental detours the organ was taking the psalms. Hmmm... I guess the mass was interesting after all.

Four years after his last release Daylight, Duncan Sheik returns with his 2006 release White Limousine. Yeah, I'm also wondering how did he manage to find record labels to keep releasing his albums? This is his fifth already! Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan. I think he's a great musician. I totally adore his music. But it seems that I'm only one of a handful of people around the country that thinks that way because after the massive heartfelt hit that is Barely Breathing, he never made any headlines. But I suppose his sold-out tours paid for the bills. Well, in any case, I'm grateful talented people like him still exist in the American music scene.

Anyway, with this release, he did something interesting. The album comes with two discs. The second disc is a DVD-ROM with all the layers of sounds used to create every song in the album, thus enabling the buyers to create their own mix of the songs from White Limousine. And then, you DJ's can upload your mixes to limoremix.com, a website set up to feature all the fan-made remixes. I am totally hooked to this dance remix of the song Hey Casanova by Nathan Schoensigel.

I don't know what came over me, but when I got to the front of the line at my local Starbucks, I said "Grande Raspberry Green Tea Frappuccino." As anybody who knows me well could testify, I'm really not big on frapps. I think the only frappuccino-like beverage I drink is Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf's Original Ice Blended. As soon as the girl taking my order yelled "Grande Raspberry Green Tea Frappuccino," I heard my mind telling me that I am so gonna regret this. I even ordered Grande! I never ordered grande! That's it, I must've been hypnotized by the chalk drawing on the blackboard menu.

Finally I got the drink, and I took the first sip. Okay, if I wanted to have green sugar water topped with whipped cream and raspberry jam, I would've said, "Green sweetwater with whip and raspberry!" I could just feel my insulin level spike as I sipped 16 ounces of overpriced water with sugar with green coloring. Luckily, towards the end it got better. After I finished the green tea frapp part, I gulped some water and started snacking on the whipped cream with raspberry syrup. Now that was good. Still diabetes-inducing, but definitely tasted better.

The moral: coffee good, anything else bad.

Most people might think of Minneapolis - St. Paul as this little city up north where people talk like the characters on Fargo. Oh wait, actually most people probably don't even know about Minneapolis nor St. Paul, the twin cities straddling the Mississippi up north in southeast Minnesota. Which is amazing really, considering how much Minneapolis have contributed to the United States and the world to some extent.

This medium-size metropolitans (9 miles from each other, downtown-to-downtown) is where that piece of thin plastic with glue on one side is invented. Yes, Minneapolis is the home of 3M, it still is. Two major US retailers Target and Best Buy also hail from the state who elected a pro-wrestler as their governer long before the term governator existed. Caribou Coffee, General Mills, Northwest Airlines... they all part of the 16 Fortune 500 Companies that are headquartered here where pop means soft drink.

Economy issues aside, Minnesota Nice is more than just a saying. In both the negative and positive sides of it, Minnesota really is nice. Well, obviously I'm talking about everything but the weather. Just like every where else, some people are good, some are don't, but in Minnesota (and even in the big city like Minneapolis), they are all nice.

As for the supposedly provincial attitude... while it's not totally unfounded, Minneapolites are anything but hillbilly. Minnesota is actually a very liberal state and Minneapolis is just as metropolitan as Chicago, if not better in some ways. One only needs to hang at Edina or Uptown to see how diverse the city could be, from the lady-who-lunch set to the bohemian, pot-smoking, starving artists, and everyone in between, we got them all here. Well, granted we might be missing the fashion forward clique, but one can't have it all, can he? If anything that's actually a plus since you don't have to work too hard to be posh.

Well, I might be biased since there were so many firsts for me here. The first time I lived on my own, first actual grocery shopping, first bills, first house parties, etc. etc. But anyway, it is a blog, so I guess it is supposed to be subjective. So here the eight reasons why I love the twin cities.

8. Smart Traffic Lights
Some time ago I posted an article from Popular Science about their ranking of US cities. Even in their editorial, they noted their own disbelief to have their computers producing Minneapolis as the top tech city after all the data tallied. Every driver in the world is familiar with that frustration you got when you're waiting for the light to turn green at a deserted intersection where you are the only car. Well, I guess Minneapolis drivers are the exception because most of the traffic lights here are smarter than your average lightbox. They have sensors that compensate with the traffic. Therefore, if they see you approaching the red light while no cars are visible on the crossing road, the light will turn green and you just keep rolling.

7. Target
Who doesn't love Target? Yes, it's basically another discount retailer albeit swankier and slightly more expensive. But I think the added value does worth the cost. Target, on the contrary to the urban legend, is not French. It's one of Minneapolis' contributions to the world of upmarket discount retailing. Which other discount retailer could say that their designers do runway shows in Paris, Milan, and New York? From Michael Graves to Sonia Kashuk to the latest member, Luella Bartley, Target introduces style to the common American household.

6. Lake Calhoun
New York has Central Park, San Francisco has the Palisades, Minneapolis has Lake Calhoun. Rankings done by health magazines in recent years have consistently put Minneapolis in the top 10, even though winter lasts for a good 6 months here. When you go to Lake Calhoun at any given sunny day (I don't think temperature matters much, it's the sunray index that matters it seems), you'll see yuppies, couples, moms and dads with their child, pretty much the cross section of the city's healthy elite is here. Either kayaking, skating, jogging, power-walking, rollerblading, or biking along the 3.2-mile path encircling the lake. If your kind of chick or guy is one that hangs at Jamba Juice, do 5K's for fun, and can handle subzero climate then this is where you'll most likely to find your soulmate. Actually it feels like Santa Monica au naturel, sans steroid.

5. Rwa Mit
The first question I asked the waiter whenever I'm at a Thai restaurant is, "Do you have pha ram long song?" 9 out of 10, I'll get a no for an answer. And among that 10% that said yes usually shows up with a plate of weird looking spinach with watery peanut soup. It is only at Rwa Mit, the only place where the peanut sauce consistency is just right, with enough spiciness to tickle my taste buds and sweet enough to soothe it. The spinach is boiled and strained properly to avoid adding water to the sauce while the tofu are crunchy on the outside but silky soft on the inside. If that doesn't water your mouth, I don't know what will.

4. Uptown Minneapolis
The bohemian enclave. A playlist from a random passerby's ipod would yield the likes of The Jets, Jack Johnson, Arctic Monkeys, Relient K, and Death Cab for Cutie plus some world/lounge dj mixes. A haven for the vintage-meets-urban-outfitters crowd, uptown is definitely where I'd live if I ever move back to Minneapolis. The cafe-lined streets, great vintage shopping, a huge second-hand cd store, an art cinema, and most importantly the interesting mix of crowd walking up and down the road. On Hennepin & Lake, it's not surprising to see sterling pierced goths and punks standing beside a nuala-clad long-limbed yogi in front of the MAC store waiting to cross the street.

3. KCLD & KDWB
KCLD is actually St. Cloud's radio station — a city 70 miles northwest of the twin cities but if you're driving an SUV, you'll be able to get the signal. Don't ask me why, but I've tested this on a half-dozen SUV's and a dozen cars. KDWB is your regular "hit music station" radio of Minneapolis. I don't think anybody would ever expect Minnesota radios to be so current, but I don't think there's any other adjective that would best describe these radio stations. I'm not a big fan of American radios because their playlist tend to stay the same for the longest period of time. You can record a couple of hours worth of radio, replay it, and you'll pretty much get the same had you turned on the radio. But on KCLD, songs would be top requests way before Washington, New York, or LA has even heard about it. Everytime I come to Minnesota I always found a song playing constantly on KCLD only to find out the same song finally get airplay a full month later in DC. This time it's "Where'd You Go" by Fort Minor featuring Holly Brook and Jonah Matranga.

2. Café Latte
The best American cheesecake ever. Period. Oh and the fact that it opens late with plenty of seatings doesn't hurt either.

1. Kiana Tardia
The recently-turned-one member of the big family. Twenty-four pounds (it sure felt more) of pure cuteness sprinkled with a healthy dose of energetic prowess, my youngest (well, she's my only really) niece is probably the most alert baby I've ever seen. Yeah, especially when you're just as adverse to little kids as me, family ties really does matter. LOL. I don't think I'll make a fool out of myself for any other baby. But really though, some babies are cool, some are shy, but some are like Kiana... curious, always looking at things with super intensity. :) Love ya little devil ! 'Met ulang taon yah!! Baek-baek ama papah mamah.

This Friday (yesterday in local Indonesia time), Asia's second edition of Playboy was launched with Andhara Early, a covergirl-turned-presenter, on its cover. This is one of only two Asian editions of the adult men's magazine ever since the Turkish edition was closed down. What makes it interesting is that Indonesia is the country with the most Muslim population (the country itself is secular) and thus this is the only Playboy in the world that will not have any nudity content. The magazine featured Pramoedya Ananta Toer, the world-known Indonesian auteur, the progress of East Timor post-independence, and of course scantily-clad beautiful women. Well what do you expect, it is still a men's magazine and all of the other adult men's magazine in Indonesia do publish sexy pictures albeit non-nude. One interesting side-effect was that some readers already complained about the lack of nudity saying that they actually felt cheated since the magazine didn't really give them what they had expected.

Obviously, the news of Hugh Hefner's publication entering this archipelago was met with numerous demonstrations and protests by the Islamic hardliners and extremists, plus conservative politicians & celebrities. To be honest, I'm not so sure about the latter part, they seem to think that rejecting Playboy would elevate their moral status. But the real truth is, most Indonesians could hardly care about the whole thing. One thing that's very characteristic of Indonesians is the "live and let live" principle that everybody holds on to. It's true that lately extremists seem to be very vocal, but they are the fringes of society, most Indonesians are moderate in their actions. And an adult magazine is hardly newsworthy with FHM and Maxim already in publication plus the countless hardcore porn dvd and magazines in circulation.

In less than 24 hours of publication, the leader of the Anti Piracy and Pornography Society already filed a lawsuit against the editors and the two models (not nude, mind you) of the magazine citing indecent photographs that they considered pornographic in nature. Another radical Islamic group, the Islamic Defenders Front, seemed to be unfazed by the fact that Playboy Indonesia had been true to its words that they will publish a magazine with journalistic content and no nudity. In what can only be classified as aggresively whining, a spokeman of the group, Tubagus Muhamad Sidik said, "The first edition might be tame, but it will get more vulgar." He also added another mindboggling statement, "Even if it had no pictures of women in it, we would still protest it because of the name." (Feel free to re-read the last sentence a few times, but what you have just read was not mistyped and no negation was missed) One Muslim leader even went further by saying that the magazine posed more threat to Indonesia than terrorism from al-Qaeda-linked militants.

At first glance, all these news might make Indonesia looked like a country run by a bunch of prude, conservative, hardline Islamic militants. But that can't be farther from the truth. Amazed is too weak of a word to express what I'm feeling as I read the ongoing news about all this hullabaloo. Yes, there are some people making protests, slapping lawsuits, taking the streets, making threats, but there has been no violence, no illegal actions by the authorities, and the media has been quite balanced in reporting people's opinion from the Mujaheedins to our very own Playboy Spain model, Tiara Lestari. In fact, the way our nation (meaning both the people and the country) is reacting to this is very democratic indeed. Everybody can voice their opinion and at the end it is the law that holds the supreme power.

The Indonesian press is arguably one of the most free in the world. Especially since the end of Soeharto's New Order where the government frequently arrested journalists and closed down publications due to what they deemed to be subversive materials. The current reformed Indonesian government seem to value free speech as one of the country's valuable assets. The past few years have seen the proliferation of the mass media market, dozens of new magazines are published every year. It is thus a relief that the government nor the authority is not taking any actions against Playboy Indonesia because they don't violate any existing law. Just seven years ago, this wouldn't mean anything and the government could just closed down the magazine or put the editors in jail with whatever reason they could come up with.

Well, all this seem to bode well for my country in its path towards a better law-conscious, secular, modern democracy. But we're definitely not clear of the woods just yet. An anti pornography and pornoaction law is being drafted by the parliament (with much controversy since who will draw the line between decency and indecency) and the Islamic Defender Front have given Plaboy Indonesia seven days to withdraw the magazines from the shelves before they do it forcefully. We'll just have to wait & see and hope that better minds will prevail.

It's amazing that South African Jacob Zuma, ex-Deputy President and possible presidential candidate, manages to retain his popularity amid the rape accusation and that unbelievably idiotic remark about protecting oneself against HIV.

As mentioned on BBC News, Mr. Zuma denied rape but admitted to consensual sex. At his cross-questioning, he also testified that he did not use a condom during the encounter despite the knowledge of the woman's HIV-positive status. He added that he left his bedroom after the sexual encounter to have a shower because this "would minimize the risk of contracting the virus [HIV]."

Main Entry: le·thar·gic
Function: adjective
1: of, relating to, or characterized by lethargy : SLUGGISH
2: INDIFFERENT, APATHETIC

LOL, it's sadly ironic actually. I've finally found a use for that fancy word previously used by me only in aptitude tests. Can't really find what's wrong with me but it's been some time now since I got back from Indonesia. Yeah, lethargic is definitely what I'm feeling, I can't seem to muster enough motivation to do anything. It's definitely not from the lack of things to do since I got projects lined up til the end of the year with the weddings, find a better job, eating healthier (since apparently I'm obese!), etc. etc. I can't even finish that 5-part blog entry about the vacation! Perhaps it's just a case of a quarter-life crisis that got postponed due to my vacation in January.

Well, at least there's one thing that I managed to keep up with. I've managed to go regularly to the gym and keep up with the yoga class. Hahaha, perhaps I can join in Benny and Devmann with their six-pack-by-summer bet (^_^)\/ and maybe instant self-gratification is just what the doctor prescribed!

I'm so hooked to this song by Reza which actually is not very new. It's taken from her most recent album "Keyakinan," which was released two years ago before the whole reza-is-missing > adjie-is-under-investigation > reza-is-in-treatment > adjie-sues-for-custody > they-file-for-divorce scandal broke. It's too bad this song was never released as single to the radios, cause it is such a great song! This is the first Indonesian dance/club song that I really like. And it just shows that she definitely has one of the best voices in the Indonesian music scene.

Kau Jadi Milikku (Meski 'Tuk Sementara) sekian lama kubersama, menjalin asmara dengan dia jenuh kini menghampiri, seolah ingin kuteriak akhirnya kutemukan suasana yang berbeda seketika kutergoda ingin memiliki pesona dirinya dan kini kurasakan ketaran itu kian mendekati hingga kuterlena, sejenak lupakan kekasihku yang setia mengharap diriku kau jadi milikku, di hari ini meski hanya tuk sementara esok harinya kita berpisah dan melupakan segalanya

You Become Mine (Even Though It's Temporary) for so long i was with him now boredom is here, it's as if i want to scream i finally found something different at once i'm tempted to surrender in his charm and now i feel the beat is getting closer so much so that for a moment i forgot about my lover who is faithfully waiting for me today you become mine even though it's just temporary tomorrow we'll go our own ways and forget about everything

I think by the end of this year, I'm going to be addicted to the painkiller dentists used (septocaine if I'm not mistaken). For some reason my dentist always put on liberal amount of that numbing substance when she does my fillings. Like this morning, I had the fillings at 8 in the morning and it's 1030 now. My left cheek still feels like it's the size of my head while my the jaw area felt like somebody had just rammed a hammer into it. So it's numb where I don't need to be (the cheek, the outer skin of my left jaw), but utterly sore where I wish it be numb (the left jaw). I guess I'll just spend the day snapping at people to alleviate the pain.