Anyway, here's the latest video pitch for Tosan Aji The Movie.. If you are interested on joining us in producing or as a team in the production, let me know!
Click here for more details or send me email for the proposal.
So, I went to this exhibition in Perpustakaan Nasional last Monday. I met Pak Iwan there, and roaming around the aisles to see the old manuscripts of Panji. Panji is a character in a folklore told too many times that it has many developed versions that are spread to all Indonesia and even to Southeast Asia. In this exhibition, they showcase about 30 versions of the library collection.
Perhaps it is a coincidence that I am doing the story of Panji for my magazine project that the exhibition is being held now, until Oct 30. They give away free books that I managed to bring home, mostly in Javanese and some with ancient Java scripts. The one I'm working on is completely different from the others, although generally they are talking about the same historical event.
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| free books from national library |
I cannot share what I am writing here, but I can share that basically Panji is a story of a grandson of Kuripan Kingdom (now Jenggala Kingdom) who fell in love with a princess from another part of the divided kingdom (now Panjalu Kingdom). Their love story is more or less like Romeo and Juliet because both kingdoms are at war with each other. An interesting story, given that it came from Java land. I hope more people would read and know about it.
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| Meita, me, Maria, Christin, Albeta and little Freya |
This should be posted few days ago, but let me share this now. I went to another elementary reunion last Sunday in Senayan City. Although not as many as the one we had in Bandung--and only girls came--but I enjoyed meeting my long-lost friends that afternoon. We had lunch at Pancious for almost 5 hours chatting and catching up, then they continued while I had to catch the last bus at 6 pm to BSD City.
The next day, after my whole day meeting at IKJ, I went to my other elementary school's friend reunion (the school I went to before I moved to Bandung). We gathered at Alexandre's office at Pondok Indah before went to PIM for dinner in Sushi Tei and watch Fury. It was only me, Jovita, Alex and Alif--the only singles left in our classmates.
Anyway, the movie was great. The characters are strong, the actors acted so good it made me kind of devastated to imagine myself as Norman, the new driver assistant in Fury tank, to fight the Nazi at World War II. I think Brad Pitt has his own interest on fighting Germans, to see that he starred before in Inglorious Bastard. Well, he chose right for this one because Wardaddy is a really cool sergeant!
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| www.pnri.go.id |
I'm going here tomorrow.. Anyone interested, too?
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| Arie, Alvin, Robby, Hendra, Arief, Beatrix, (Melissa & Dewi), Yune, me, Delta and Ernest |
I just got back from my 3-nights-holiday in Bandung. I went there last Wednesday with mom and Aunt Agnes then we hung out at Paris Van Java--it was my first after two years--mom met her friends while I roamed about the aisles of the mall with my brother. Many things changed but still the same unique mall that Bandung has.
We stayed in a friend's house in Awiligar, the area I knew so well since 1995. The next morning I woke up too early to meet my ladies, Irma and Esther, at Irma's daughter's school. We chat while having noodle breakfast for two hours until the time Irma had to pick up her daughter. I went back to the guest house for some nap then..
..until it was dinner time and I went out to meet DJ Dixie, DJ Dana and Yudha at Cafe Bali. After dinner and some trip around the city (and some dessert at Nanny's Pavillon), we split up and I went on to Golden Monkey to meet another of my best friend, Patrick, and his friends (more about this later). Paulo Coelho once said: "There's nothing wrong in creating a blacklist with people who put you down. Just don't include people who challenge you" and Patrick is one of a very few persons who always challenge me. That is why I always enjoy talking to him.
The day after, I picked up my sister at Cititrans travel and my brother at his kost. We then had lunch at Pepper (at Jl. Sutami), a new burger parlor belongs to my schoolmate, Adit. After some catch up, we went on to join mom at D'Warung Tabuga, way up from Punclut. Then, we moved again to Miss Bee, a cute place we love both for the architecture-interior design and the food.
Later at night, we went to Nanny's Pavillon (again) for dinner. My mom with her friends; my brother, my sister and my cousin together; then I with my reunited schoolmates from elementary years. It was really fun for us, that some hadn't seen each other for 10-20 years now. There were 12 of us, which supposed to be around 70 of our peers. I went home with Alvin by motorbike that night. It was so chilly I forgot how cold it was in Bandung, at night!
Then today, me and my family had lunch at Traffic on the way back to Jakarta. I didn't know it belongs to Mario, a friend I knew from another friend. Sometimes, especially after you've traveled so far and long in life, all that can simply brighten up your day is some friendly faces and talk about the good old stuff and old times--things that are so familiar that you feel like coming home. Somehow it just relaxes you, despite all the heavy burdens and fast paces of adult life.
So basically my holiday this time was full with old friends--all the friendly faces I needed and wanted to see. I did planned to meet Irma, Esther, Patrick and Alvin this time (and I did met them) but failed to meet Cheryl and Agatha. But there will always be another time for Bandung, right?
So I tried making some illustration for Gapura novel and here they are. The first image shows Drupadi went out of the portal to catch a butterfly and in the second image Bima & Rani are about to enter the portal, looking for Drupadi to return her pendant. More of these will be inserted to the novel--and I need your prayers for the process of getting them to published nationally.. :)
For now you can visit nulisbuku for order and purchase. Thankies fellas! :)
Have you ever wondered how our world was before the great volcano eruptions on 15th-16th century that changed the whole world's map? I found some that caught my interest the most: the ones that showed that the world was shaped differently than it is now; North America wasn't as big as it is now and Canada (the almost crescent shape at the left side) was connected to Brazil (South America); Australia was connected to South America and Java was a continent of its own.
According to wikipedia:
Let's check on these following Dieppe maps:
Above, we can see this as the oldest world map we have in archive. Australia looks like an expansion of South America (left below) and North America (look at the flag above South America) was narrow and bending. Canada was very big to the north-most and most of its part was unidentified yet. Most of East Europe (Asia) was also unidentified, as also the Terre Ostrale.
In the map above we can see the shape of South America was slimmer than before and the unidentified lands were already taken shape. The Terre Ostrale has Grande Iave and Terre Australle at the south of it. This means, there was already a catastrophic disaster that caused these changes, but not too big. We can also see that most of the world was covered with lands instead with seas/oceans.
In the map above we can see that most of the lands had disappeared at the north-most but the shape of America & Canada was still sickle-like and Borneo, Sulawesi and Papua (of Indonesia) wasn't as big as it is now today. There should be another volcano eruptions that caused these land shifts.
The more I research on this, the more evidence I found that most of the cartographers focusing on Iava la Grande or Jave la Grande. It is believed that this ancient Java was the disappearing Atlantis, although most of people thought it was Australia. If we look at the maps, they show some differences of the maps from 1543 to 1566. There must be some missing evidence and details about what happened at this time, but the only explanation is some catastrophic disasters must happened.
According to wikipedia:
In the maps above we can clearly see the changes of what it was before Indonesia (it was called Nuswantara), from Samatra (Sumatra) to Java La Grande (Atlantis--it wasn't really Atlantis but Atlantis was a part of Java La Grande and it's not Australia at all--I will explain this another time) in 1530 and 1628. Again, there must be some catastrophic disasters (such as volcano eruption) that made the world map changed several times during that century.
(Actually I have another theory about this, but let's save it for later post.. or to be written in my novels!)
The list of volcanoes eruption during that time was: Pinatubo, Luzon, Philippines (1450); Nemrut, Turkey (1441, 1597, 1692); El Teide, Tenerife, Europe (1492); Chaparrastique/San Miguel, El Savador, Central America (1510-1515); Galeras, Colombia, South America (1535, 1580, 1616); Kelud, Java, Indonesia (1586, that took out more than 10,000 lives); Cotopaxi, Ecuador, South America (16th century); Villaricca, Chile, South America (16th century); Merapi, Java, Indonesia (16th century); Gamalama, Ternate, Indonesia (16th century) and many others.
The map of 1628 was already shaping most of the islands of Indonesia as it is now, but the part that they call as Land of the South would be changing again during a closing of several of Nuswantara kingdoms. Since 2010, there are hundreds of natural disasters happened such as tsunami, hurricane, tornadoes, earthquakes, landslides, floods and volcanoes erupting--most of the volcanoes are located in Indonesia.
The recently active Indonesian volcanoes are Merapi (Central Java), Kelud (East Java), Sinabung (North Sumatra), Slamet (Central Java), Semeru (East Java) Marapi (West Sumatra), Lokon (North Sulawesi), Anak Krakatau (West Java), Barujari (Anak Samalas-NTB), Gamalama (Ternate), Karangetang/Api Siau (North Sulawesi), Soputan (North Sulawesi), Dukono (North Maluku/Halmahera), Rokatenda (Palue, NTT).
What do you think? Would there be another change in world map soon?
Dieppe (Dauphin) Maps
According to wikipedia:
The Dieppe maps are a series of world maps produced in Dieppe, France, in the 1540s, 1550s and 1560s. They are large hand-produced maps, commissioned for wealthy and royal patrons, including Henry II of France and Henry VIII of England. The Dieppe school of cartographers included Pierre Desceliers, Johne Rotz, Guillaume Le Testu, Guillaume Brouscon and Nicolas Desliens.
Let's check on these following Dieppe maps:
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| Guillaume Brouscon's 1543 Dieppe Map |
Above, we can see this as the oldest world map we have in archive. Australia looks like an expansion of South America (left below) and North America (look at the flag above South America) was narrow and bending. Canada was very big to the north-most and most of its part was unidentified yet. Most of East Europe (Asia) was also unidentified, as also the Terre Ostrale.
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| Guillaume Le Testu's 1556 Dieppe Map |
In the map above we can see the shape of South America was slimmer than before and the unidentified lands were already taken shape. The Terre Ostrale has Grande Iave and Terre Australle at the south of it. This means, there was already a catastrophic disaster that caused these changes, but not too big. We can also see that most of the world was covered with lands instead with seas/oceans.
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| Nicolas Desliens's 1566 World Map |
In the map above we can see that most of the lands had disappeared at the north-most but the shape of America & Canada was still sickle-like and Borneo, Sulawesi and Papua (of Indonesia) wasn't as big as it is now today. There should be another volcano eruptions that caused these land shifts.
Jave le Grande
The more I research on this, the more evidence I found that most of the cartographers focusing on Iava la Grande or Jave la Grande. It is believed that this ancient Java was the disappearing Atlantis, although most of people thought it was Australia. If we look at the maps, they show some differences of the maps from 1543 to 1566. There must be some missing evidence and details about what happened at this time, but the only explanation is some catastrophic disasters must happened.
According to wikipedia:
La grande isle de Java (“The great island of Java”) was, according to Marco Polo, the largest island in the world: his Java Minor was the actual island of Sumatra, which takes its name from the city of Samudera (now Lhokseumawe) situated on its northern coast.
Robert J. King has suggested that Alfonse’s description of La Grande Jave could also fit the Regio Patalis promontory on Oronce Fine’s world map, and indicates that the Dieppe Maps appear to have conflated Marco Polo’s Greater Java with Fine’s Regio Patalis and Brasielie Regio.[18] On the Dieppe Maps, the great promontory of JAVE LA GRANDE (Greater Java) extends, like the Regio Patalis, northward from the Austral continent. The evolution of Fine’s REGIO PATALIS into JAVE LA GRANDE may have been influenced by the phrase used by Ludovico di Varthema, an Italian from Bologna who made a voyage in 1505 from Borneo to Java, who said that Java, “prope in inmensum patet (extends almost beyond measure)”.
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| The Dauphin Map 1530 and 1628 |
In the maps above we can clearly see the changes of what it was before Indonesia (it was called Nuswantara), from Samatra (Sumatra) to Java La Grande (Atlantis--it wasn't really Atlantis but Atlantis was a part of Java La Grande and it's not Australia at all--I will explain this another time) in 1530 and 1628. Again, there must be some catastrophic disasters (such as volcano eruption) that made the world map changed several times during that century.
(Actually I have another theory about this, but let's save it for later post.. or to be written in my novels!)
Volcanoes
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| Ring of Fire - via geospatialdesktop |
The list of volcanoes eruption during that time was: Pinatubo, Luzon, Philippines (1450); Nemrut, Turkey (1441, 1597, 1692); El Teide, Tenerife, Europe (1492); Chaparrastique/San Miguel, El Savador, Central America (1510-1515); Galeras, Colombia, South America (1535, 1580, 1616); Kelud, Java, Indonesia (1586, that took out more than 10,000 lives); Cotopaxi, Ecuador, South America (16th century); Villaricca, Chile, South America (16th century); Merapi, Java, Indonesia (16th century); Gamalama, Ternate, Indonesia (16th century) and many others.
The map of 1628 was already shaping most of the islands of Indonesia as it is now, but the part that they call as Land of the South would be changing again during a closing of several of Nuswantara kingdoms. Since 2010, there are hundreds of natural disasters happened such as tsunami, hurricane, tornadoes, earthquakes, landslides, floods and volcanoes erupting--most of the volcanoes are located in Indonesia.
The recently active Indonesian volcanoes are Merapi (Central Java), Kelud (East Java), Sinabung (North Sumatra), Slamet (Central Java), Semeru (East Java) Marapi (West Sumatra), Lokon (North Sulawesi), Anak Krakatau (West Java), Barujari (Anak Samalas-NTB), Gamalama (Ternate), Karangetang/Api Siau (North Sulawesi), Soputan (North Sulawesi), Dukono (North Maluku/Halmahera), Rokatenda (Palue, NTT).
What do you think? Would there be another change in world map soon?
1. "Mustangs" By Robert Glen, Las
Colinas, Texas, USA
2. "Expansion" by Paige Bradley, New York, USA
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3. "The Monument Of An Anonymous Passerby", Wroclaw, Poland
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4. "Salmon Sculpture", Portland, Oregon, USA
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5. "People Of The River" by Chong Fah Cheong, Singapore
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6. "The Shoes On The Danube Bank" by Can Togay & Gyula Pauer, Budapest, Hungary
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7. "The Knotted Gun", Turtle Bay, New York, USA
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8. "Break Through From Your Mold" by Zenos Frudakis, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
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9. "Black Ghost", Klaipeda, Lithuania
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10. "Les Voyageurs" by Bruno Catalano, Marseilles, France
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11. "Nelson Mandela", South Africa
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12. "De Vaartkapoen" by Tom Frantzen, Brussels, Belgium
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13. "Cattle Drive", Dallas, Texas, USA
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14. "Maman" spider, Tate Modern, London, UK
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15. "Hippo Sculptures", Taipei, Taiwan
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16. "Sinking Building Outside State Library", Melbourne, Australia
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17. "Iguana Park", Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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18. "Man At Work", Bratislava, Slovakia
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19. "A Scene From The World War With Real-Size Statues", Eceabat, Turkey
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20. "Man Hanging Out" by David Černý, Prague, Czech Republic
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21. "The Kelpies", Grangemouth, UK
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22. "Rundle Mall Pigs", Adelaide, Australia
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23. "Monument of The Unknown Official", Reykjavik, Iceland
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24. "Bench" outside Bukcheon Museum, Seoul, South Korea
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Image was taken from everywhere. I do not claim any of the pictures above.
2. "Expansion" by Paige Bradley, New York, USA
3. "The Monument Of An Anonymous Passerby", Wroclaw, Poland
4. "Salmon Sculpture", Portland, Oregon, USA
5. "People Of The River" by Chong Fah Cheong, Singapore
6. "The Shoes On The Danube Bank" by Can Togay & Gyula Pauer, Budapest, Hungary
7. "The Knotted Gun", Turtle Bay, New York, USA
8. "Break Through From Your Mold" by Zenos Frudakis, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
9. "Black Ghost", Klaipeda, Lithuania
10. "Les Voyageurs" by Bruno Catalano, Marseilles, France
11. "Nelson Mandela", South Africa
12. "De Vaartkapoen" by Tom Frantzen, Brussels, Belgium
13. "Cattle Drive", Dallas, Texas, USA
14. "Maman" spider, Tate Modern, London, UK
15. "Hippo Sculptures", Taipei, Taiwan
16. "Sinking Building Outside State Library", Melbourne, Australia
17. "Iguana Park", Amsterdam, The Netherlands
18. "Man At Work", Bratislava, Slovakia
19. "A Scene From The World War With Real-Size Statues", Eceabat, Turkey
20. "Man Hanging Out" by David Černý, Prague, Czech Republic
21. "The Kelpies", Grangemouth, UK
22. "Rundle Mall Pigs", Adelaide, Australia
23. "Monument of The Unknown Official", Reykjavik, Iceland
24. "Bench" outside Bukcheon Museum, Seoul, South Korea
Image was taken from everywhere. I do not claim any of the pictures above.
