Mbak Rita

Meet The Cangcuters!

This new band, by the way “cangcut” means the brief,  from Bandung has a strategically smart approach to steal a show by borrowing The Beatles old fashioned, (or is it very classic?), hairdo. And the funny show keeps going on. The Cangcuters not only adopt Lennon’s famous “half- of-coconut-shell-shaped” hairdo but also clone its English gentlemen attitude by always wearing a tailored suit in their music appearance. The “English lesson” even goes further as its lead singer shows off his Mick Jagger’s “ndower” signature lip every time the camera gets a close up shot.

Thank God, John Lennon has no chance to see The Cangcuters. He might wake up from his grave in a shock! And, maybe, he simply wants to join The Cangcuters, heh heh heh!

The best thing about living in Indonesia, the melting pot of all (mostly Asian) cultures, the “nusa-antara” or  “between islands”, is the various holidays that we have. Last month we celebrate Islamic new Lunar Year and today it is the turn for the Chinese new Lunar Year or the Imlek Day.  Millions of Chinese Indonesians will celebrate the Year of Rat with traditional barongsai dragon dance and a hope for a raindrop that, people said, represents good luck and prosperity.

Years ago when Imlek New Year was officially granted as a public holiday here, I managed to write an article about its traditional costumes. I made a call to fashion designer Chossy Latu who has a Chinese descend and famous for his cheongsam dresses for an interview. Chossy did mention about the power of red as the best choice for the Chinese big day because red represents courage and all the power to start such a long walk.

That’s why last year I wore red when being invited for an Imlek party in big restaurant. To my surprise, all of my Chinese Indonesian friends didn’t pick that color. Even, I was—with a male friend–the only ones who did wear red. Heh heh heh.

There goes the funny thing in this melting pot society. Those who have no Chinese heritage want to show a respect with wearing red while our Chinese Indonesians friends, in the other hand, simply want to celebrate the new year in a humble way, don’t want too much attention, by ignoring the eye catching red outfits. Look by yourself what I found on 2 live music shows today in our national TV stations; Indosiar and TPI. All the non Chinese Indonesian talent seems to underline the Chinese New Year by wearing red, but there is an empty red from the Chinese Indonesian artists’ side.

  In Superstar Show (Indosiar TV) we have the two MCs with a very red tie (Eko Patrio) and red-and-gold-stripes-shirt (Ruben Onsu). There is also Judge Hetty Koes Endang with red headscarf & tunic while Judge Ari Tulang shows up with red shirt under his black suit. The performers are also rich with red (and all of its variant colors) for their costumes like those worn by Duo Maia and Happy Salma.

Even Okky Lukman who hosts the traditional Dangdut show called DangdutMania  in TPI TV station is all red. The same thing goes to Dangdut judge Ira Swara and also adopted by co host in Dangdutmania, namely “Queen Mommy” Sophie Navita and “Princess” Kiki Amelia.

But look at Chossy Latu himself. The famous fashion designer who is acted as another judge for Superstar Show (a singing contest for celebrities in Indosiar TV Station), along with Hetty Koes Endang and Ari Tulang, doesn’t even having a single red in his outfit. Chossy humbly chooses a blend of dark silk with golden ball ornament for his shirt. The same rule goes to the famous Chinese Indonesian dr Sonia Wibisana who performs as contestant number 4, with her pal Vivi Buntaran. Dr Sonia and long haired Vivi pick yellow-orange-brown and silver with a little pink for their costumes. Not a single red is available on their stage. Funny, eh? I think it is a good sign, a warm communication from both sides, to honestly show each other a deep respect.

Gong Xi Fa Cai, Guys!

I don’t know about you but I think Dhani Ahmad went too far this time. I am not writing about his  divorced saga with Maia (yeah, he went too far big time!) but his new single with band The Rock called Kamu Kamulah Surgaku
where he made a videoclip showing him kissing his sleeping three sons.

The sick part of the video clip was the way he kissed and touched the boys and ewww…. they’re all shirtless and covered with a white linen only. Ewww….. Dani…, eww..ewww!

Oh no, it’s already midnight and there is still another Suharto show on TV!

Gee, for the last ten days my TVs (all of them, about 9 national stations) aired the ailing former President Suharto almost every hour, night and day. I don’t know what is happening with those producers and editors who treated Suharto’s news with such hyperbolic coverage. I mean, surely, he deserves getting our attention and pray (oh course, Indonesian considered as a good and religous people…:-)) but not that much! Come on!

I am so sick watching that green blanket almost every hour everytime I happened to turn on my TV. And then a continuous scene starred by his head doctor, Mardjo Soebijandono, who addresses the press in daily basis. The news can’t stop here, it would go further, reporting the chaos in Pertamina Hospital (RSPP) where Pak Harto is treated, including a news about pickpocket in his VVIP floor (can you imagine of having a breaking news about capturing a pickpocket in a national channel?), and of course the long queue of his supporters.

Yeah, you can even easily find a report about elementary school children praying dramatically for Soeharto’s health.  Hopefully those adults who ordered such children take action in front of tv cameramen had also already told them to pray for floodvictims around the country, the twister’s ophans, those recently landslide victims in Papua, and hundred millions of other very ill Indonesians. In short, this media circus makes viewers, I mean me, sick! 

My partners in crime, Nicky and Bos Gondrong, have warned me of a nausea for too much watching Suharto’s news on TV. “Better turned it off during this week,” Nicky said.  “Except on 2 pm, time for Bondan Winarno’s gourmet show,” Bos Gondrong smiled. Yeah, we are surely not Suharto’s men, we prefer gourmet show instead. 

Rumor has it that when actor Surya Saputra proposed singer Cynthia Lamusu on a live show—after winning the first prize of a local Dancing with Star program here—it actually was fully orchestrated by the broadcast, for the sake of its high rating. Ahhhh…why did they rudely say so? Can’t people just be happy of what happened that night? Come on, it was so sweet.  Even from the very beginning when Surya gave Cynthia a small box to open. She found no ring inside. Instead there was a box of tissue in it. Clueless Cynthia was amazed for a second and quickly Surya said, “You’re gonna need that, Hon” Watching that scene I was kind of carried away and said, “Ooooooooh….”

I mean, we get busier and pay only a little attention for our loved one lately. Just asked those guys in Jakarta’s streets, when was the last time they did something spontaneously romantic for their lovers, and  not to mention “in public”? So I was more than happy for Surya and Cynthia. What they did was like magic. So beautiful. Congrats Surya and Cynthia, hopefully your step will romantically encourage others to show their feeling  too. And yeah, I mean you too, Homer! Heh heh heh…!.

My sister called with a shaky voice, “The rain is still pouring. Part of the town has been sunk, I am scared, Mbak”. She and her tiny families live in Solo, the home of the famous Bengawan Solo river. One of Bengawan’s rivulet lies about three kilometers from her place. I ran to TV for some more information, although I am used to complain with how unprofessional the TV reportage is lately but still it’s one of the quickest source that I could count on.

Metro TV which claimed as the best news channel was my first choice. Her always gorgeous anchor said about some fatalities, but it was not in Central Java where Solo is located but it was in Makassar where the twister killed and damaged houses. I changed the channel, it was a flood but the caption in it said “Banjir di Bali”. Gee, my most romantic destination, Bali, was damaged too. Kuta beach and Jimbaran were closed by the water! What a horrific disaster, and not to mention that it IS December, the peak season for that resort island. Another sad setback for Balinese.

Another short message from Solo woke me up to change the channel again. Finally I found news from close neighbor, a live report from Tawangmangu, Karanganyar, only one hour driving from Solo. But it was not about the flood in Solo, just another sad story; a landslide that killed about 60 people at dawn….I closed my eyes for a while, God…

Then came the report about flood…from Ngawi, and then.., another big flood in Sragen, Kudus, Grobogan, Madiun, Mojokerto, Bojonegoro, almost all cities in Java has been damaged by the giant flood. And it even ruined further outside Java, there was a big flood too in Padang in West Sumatra and then somewhere in Nusa Tenggara Barat province!

What an annus horribilus for Indonesia, almost all big islands in this country found disasters. I tried to pray a little but my hand still glued to the remote control and my last attempt to find a story about Solo finally got an answer. Trans7 was reporting it. But, what the **@#$! was that? Gee, I really hate that STUPID cameraman and editor of Trans7 who for a while showed a close up shot of an elderly lady’s exposed left tight because she rolled up her long kain-batik/sarong-like dress, to ease her walk against the knee length  flood. Those Trans 7 people should LEARN more about ethic for sure! How dare they treated the flood victim with such an unsympathetic way, by simply showing such picture across the nation! Oooooh what a real bonus for such annus horribilus, year of sorrow, it is!