we dressed the same ways, only our accents change, so have a nice day

So. Anyone catch the Java Rocking Land 2010 last weekend? Well I did, for the whole three days. But I wasn't a devout visitor though, I just watched what I wanted to watch, and one or two more. And I only stayed for the international bands. Because if it's one of ours, then heck, I can catch that anytime. These are the very few bands that I saw:

1. Smashing Pumpkins
Anti climactic. They performed many new songs, or old songs that were either too rockin' or too dreadfully dragging, and they didn't come out for the encore. And there was supposed to be an encore! Boo, Billy Corgan, I know you're like, a god, but you can't do that to your fans. And you know, why don't you just please the crowd? For a not-yet-hardcore fan like me, the holy trinity of 1979, Perfect and Try Try Try would've been good. I would've asked for the less-known The Boy, Thirty Three, Meladori Magpie or a bit of cover job like Landslide, but that would be too much. And you know, the Pumpkins isn't quite the Pumpkins without Iha and D'arcy. The only things that saved Mr. Corgan were Tonight, Tonight--which was beyond! And well, the fact that he had me at "Time is never time at all".

2. Arkarna
I've seen them live on their heyday and it was super, so I didn't actually want to see them last Saturday, because I don't want to ruin it. But I was waiting for Stereophonics and had nothing to do, so. Ollie the lead man is the only remaining original member of the band. That kinda takes away the charm a bit. Again, I don't know most of the songs, although they did perform Future's Overrated, Eat Me and of course, So Little Time. Ollie pathetically missed few notes. All in all, it was like, wrap it up, wrap it up, boy.

3. Stereophonics!!!
Exclamation marks!!! To be honest, it wasn't the Pumpkins that made me hurry up and buy the tickets, but listening to Dakota while driving one morning made me do so. And boy oh boy, was I right or what? Stereophonics was perfect. No, I'm not exaggerating. They are perfect. Kelly Jones's voice is the talk of the day. That, and the band's overall performance never missed a beat. And they performed 90% of the songs that I expected them to perform. Dude. This might be the best gig I've seen this year.

4. The Wolfmother
If you're young, and you're hip, chances are you have them in your IPod. Well, I'm bordering on ancient, so I never really listened to these guys from down under. But Gema was really psyched on this one, so I stayed a while for these hairy dudes. They're pretty good. You know, rock and rollin. Good performance too, no off-key moment, and the lead vocalist sounded Robert Plant-ish, which was very cool for a young dude like him. But I feel like I would've appreciated them more if I had listened to some of their songs beforehand.

5. Mutemath
I wasn't planning to catch this one--I had never listened to them before--but I did. My comment? Interesting. Their sound was so eclectic. I couldn't get used to them, because one song sounded very different from the next. But that's not a bad thing. At one point, one song (I know none of the titles) sounded like Sting's. At another, it sounded like an edgier Coldplay. What really caught my attention was their performance. It was, festive, if I may say so. The interesting-looking vocalist liked to dance around geekily, and he played the keyboard with his legs flailing up in the air. He sort of cartwheeled over his keyboard, he took a set of drumsticks and start banging on his keyboard, the mic stand, the additional drums. In fact, at some point, there were three people from the band banging three sets of drumsticks on things. Wild.

Aaaand, that's it. That's all I saw. I was planning to see The Vines, but I came so late, they were just wrapping up the last song when I got there. But that's ok. Stereophonics tops my chart this year, even more than Kula Shaker. It just what I needed after starting the year with the good-but-mundane Kings of Convenience and Belle and Sebastian.

Yeahhhhh, Jakarta, let's bring more acts here!

well you can't get what you want, but you can get me

Let's talk about expensive stuff, shall we? Since I want so many things but my money seems to dissolve in the rain lately, why don't I just post them here. That way I can be reminded to save more money to buy them, and you can be reminded that my birthday is in a month. Just sayin'.

1. The Art of Tim Burton

The book contains artworks of Tim Burton--if you can't tell that already. With personal text contributions from Johnny Depp, Martin Landau, Danny Elfman, Winona Ryder! It costs USD 69.99 for the standard edition, and USD 299.99 for the deluxe edition! Muy expensivo. But one can't put a price on one's holy bible, right?

2. Flash for Diana

It amazes me when people can take pictures without any flash. I can't. What's the point of having the oh-so-fun-and-so-easy-to-carry Mini Diana if I can only use it outdoor, on bright daylight? It's USD 60.58, but I think you can get it for IDR 500,000 here. Same difference, I know.

3. Lomo Spinner 360

This is like, the coolest of the uber cool in toy camera world. This camera takes panoramic picture to a whole new level by enabling you to capture 360 degree view! I don't know if they have it here, but you can always purchase it online for only USD 145.66!

4. Polaroid SX70 Original

I've always wanted an instant polaroid camera. But then they stopped producing the camera and the film altogether. You can still get the secondhand, warranty-less camera here for about IDR 400,000, but it'll be a pain in the ass trying to find the film. However, The Impossible Project decides to reproduce the camera and the film. And I want this one, the SX70, which costs USD 332. The compatible film will cost you USD 10 up to USD 44.

5. The Raveonettes and Flaming Lips live in Singapore


Okay, so I just found out about this from Twitter. The Raveonettes will visit Singapore, Jakarta and Hong Kong. So why did I choose the one in Singapore for this wishlist? Because Jakarta is the only city where The Raveonettes will perform without Flaming Lips. Uncool. Plus, the one in Singapore is on November 11th! My birthday (there goes the 2nd reminder in the post)! It would be so cool to turn 26 while watching The Raveonettes and Flaming Lips.


That's it for now. Looking back, three out of five are camera-related. And none of it is professional stuff. Oh well *shrug*

Happy shopping, fellows!