July 30, 2003
Pictures of Life
"I have been a witness, and these pictures are my testimony. The events I have recorded should not be forgotten and must not be repeated." -James Nachtwey-A friend of mine asking me two days ago, "Mas, what's life?" Mas is a close call for "big brother" in Indonesian. Ya, she is a friend of my little brother, she is younger than me. I was really impressed with that kind question. I really never get a question or even talk with other person of that topics. It's hard to think an answer of that question. But, as life is always going on, i should get a word to spread on my mouth.
After thinking two or may be ten second, i got that in my mind. I answer she immediately. I talk to her, "Life is a kind of a very Great Theatre, where a man living there to act in their role". She then asking me back to respon, "If there's a role, why there exist a bad role of Evil and a good role? Why God doesn't creates a good role only, instead of too many bad role living in our humble world?" It's hard to believe this bright responses comes in immediate moment, I realize there's an answer, "Yes, if there're only good roles, or even only bad roles, what kind of performing it is? If there is a theatre performs that likely scenario, I thinks nobodies will watch it"
Talking about scenario and life, I get to recall a great man in the history of journalism who gives the works of his great photography. He is James Nachtwey. I see his remarkable biography on a film by Christian Frei, War Photographer. It's a film about this man, who many people called him a silent man, a never spoken man, a very misterious man even for his close friends. His photos lies in a mysterious ways which always tell a story of unspoken people in misery, in pain, a very usual kind of problem in conflicts area. This film portrait his works in conflict area ranging from Kosovo, South Africa, Palestine and Indonesia. This area of life, like what my friend asking me, is a kind of life that we never been reaching. It's a secret of life. A secret of great scenario that lies in our humanity which successfully pictured by Nachtwey's portrait. The editor of STERN Magazine in Germany commented him as a mysterious man who creates pictures neven one could. If you still can't understand what I mean, I think you should see his picture. Even two photographers stand in that same spot with Nachtwey, his pictures even better tell the stories.
Every minute I was there, I wanted to flee. I did not want war photographer to see this. Would I cut and run or would I deal with the responsibility of being there with camera?
Well actually, I really impressed with Nahctwey because he pays attention very much on Indonesia. In that film only, there're three sequences has been taken on Indonesia, ranging from Jakarta (May/June 1999) Jakarta anarchy and portrait of Sumarno's family, Kawah Ijen Sulfur Mine - East Java (October 1999).
"Why photograph war?" he asking himself. "Is it posible to put an end to human behaviour, which is exist through our history? why means to photography?" In this mean of life, he added, "If you feel what the experience seems extremely immediate what you sees is not only on images in a magazine a 10 thousand miles away which advertised a rolex watch on the next page. What you see is unmedicated pain in justice and misery... it's cured to me if everyone could be there just once to see for themself, but everyone cannot be there (in conflicts, and sees clinflict, Me) and that's why photographer go there to show them to reach out and grab them and make them stop what they are doing and pay attention to what is going on..."
The life, the conflicts, and the war photographers which taken the pictures of conflicts and made me see it in close ways, it's what the theatre to be played. It's close beneath our soul. And finally, the friend of mine replying me, "Thanks Mas, I now get a new images of what life is" Actually I thanks her too for that question, and for Nachtwey who gives me a very great gift to see life.
July 16, 2003
A Story About Crazy People
There are two movies I really remember about crazy people. They're Patch Adams (1996) and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975). The first is a movie about a crazy man named Patch (starring Robin Williams), who taken into hospitality and realizing her craziness as a gift by that he could encourage and made other people feel happy (then he comes to be a doctor). The second, about a given crazy man (staring by Jack Nicholson)who has raped a fifteen girl, he then be taken to hospitality. There, he come to be real crazy because unhumanely treatment of the hospitality nurses and shock eletric therapy that radically stroke his brain.
Well, in both films, there same kind of spirit that really made me concern about crazy things. I think we need sometimes to be crazy, in the mean of doing something who really we cares and caring others, in doing something that really nice, in doing something that really good to be true. Honestly, in our daily life we really like to be someone who doesn't we realize that we're human, we just get into routine activity, taking education, going to works, married, getting old, and death. Just in just. But, we often forget that we can do something that really nice in our heart, something that we really happy to do that because we believe that'll be making other people happy. Seriously, to do that is not easy. The difficulties is, people often said doing like that, doing like those, is a weird thing. A crazy things. And, we often think, we are afraid that people think we are crazy. Do you think like that, aren't you?
That's a lot of movies that me think to realize to be crazy. And I think I do. Yes, crazy (in some many ways).
July 14, 2003
Talking From the Gaps
Well, the first I really impressed about Jhumpa Lahiri is her beauty (not just pretty, but I don't know how to tell). Really, he is very beauty, as likeyly beauty as Indian actress in Indonesian routine TV shows. (I think all Indonesian TV broadcast Indian film because this case.) The second I really happy of her is her name. It seem, in Indonesian especially, it's something funny, something that's really close to our heart.
I decide to spent all my weekends in home to read Jhumpa Lahiri's short story collection Interpreter of Maladies. She is a winner of Pulitzer Prize of Fiction in 2000, a winner of the first New Yorker Prize. Honestly, the book is really good. Enchanted. I really enjoyed time to time to dicover her humble Indian and American life. The last time I experienced reading short fiction works with this enthusiasm since O. Henry and Hemingway's.
Using a variety of characters, Lahiri gives life in these stories to the feelings of alienation, loneliness, and hope that so often mark the immigrant experience. She was born in England in 1967 and raised in Rhode Island. Her parents were born and raised in India. "Interpreter of maladies" is her first book, and the title story also won an O. Henry award.
(Oh guys, I really difficult to try writing again after being off in two months)
For Indonesian, you must be happy because there are two version of the books available in markets. Published by Akubaca and Jalasutra. I don't know how they could published a nice book like this as fastly as this. For miss Jhumpa Lahiri, if you luckily stopping by to this page, have you get their permission to print your works? If not, don't be sad. Indonesia has its culture of pirated works, I don't know how this could be happened. But, I think, this is a kind of the maladies stories.
July 11, 2003
I'm blogging again, so i live
Well, for everybody, in my deepest heart, i only simply could say, Welcome again to my website! If you've been thinking I'm dead because no posting in the past two months, this post will reconfirm that I still alive.
What you can look after browsing in this nearly redesigned concept of my website? Yes, there're said a lot of new page subject, but as you can see, I put so many "coming soon" words in there. For this inconvenient and dissapointment, please give me your deep apology.
The nice things is, with this new edition, I happily announce my Indonesian based weblog titled "Percikan Pikiran Arif". This weblog, simply a more private journal, will be dedicated to be my serious weblog. Since I still have a very difficuties to say serious things in English, I hope this weblog could facilitate me.
Well, at the last, happy birthday to me. Now, I'm 24th at this day!
