Mozilla Team at Pesta Blogger 2010: IS THE WEB DEAD?

Gen Kanai - the Director of Asia Business Development for Mozilla - served as the first speaker presenting "Is the Web Dead?".

Fifteen minutes prior to starting off the class discussion, Gen Kanai, William Quiviger and Dietrich Ayala were already preparing the equipment. Some bright yellow (Mozilla’s dominant logo color) souvenirs were distributed for anyone taking part in the discussion. Gen was spotted trying to adjust the colors produced by the projector but he seemed desperate (so there may be a better quality LCD projectorin the future provided for each and every room).The one-hour break passed by so quickly, which meant very few participants entered the room in time. William whispered something to Dietrich telling him some other rooms were even worse than ours (having fewer number of audience in the room) . Most of the participants are Muslims so the break time wouldn’t only be needed to have their lunch but also to pray. It worsened as the participants weren’t reminded of the break time (which was supposed to be at 12 pm sharp). They were glued to the performance on the main stage instead of rushing to the caterer for lunch.

So the presentation started a bit late. Gen Kanai spoke first. Soon the room with scarce audience got filled quite fast. It was perhaps because of some Mozilla community members entering the room, I guess. Cameras were taking pictures occasionally before and during the presentation.

Just Posting….@Windows 7 Booth

Hi, I’m now watching Muh. Nuh’s welcome speech. And I’m now trying Windows Live Writer. Such a versatile app!

A Story of a Virgin Pesta Blogger Volunteer

So I signed up for being a volunteer for the colossal Pesta Blogger 2010 (for the future reference, PB 2010). It’s said to be the first Pesta Blogger in the recorded history to officially open wide the door of getting to know the very chaotic backstage of Pesta Blogger for volunteers. And as a volunteer, I need not to be paid (financially speaking). I’m there for the sake of my overflowing curiosity to watch closely and on top of anything, get actively involved in the event.

Just last afternoon, I found an email from the PB 2010 committee. The first thing to spot was the date of the meeting invite. It read October 26th, Wednesday. I turned to the calendar and quickly decided the sender had suffered from some time disorientation or a serious case of making typos. I replied in no time, eagerly asking whether it was actually 26th or 27th. It sounded like an unnecessary query, but I really wanted to make sure. I know how stressful it is to be involved in such a national scale event, which makes me believe they might’ve sent an expired invite. To cut the long story short, it turned out it was 27th. For I knew I could make it, I hopped with joy. This was going to be my first meeting with folks behind PB 2010.

They required me to be present at the overly-hyped Starbucks cafe in Rasuna Epicentrum (which was newly launched, because I spotted lots of the Starbucks banners on the way there). I asked three people only to locate this Starbucks and half ran as I knew I was late in spite of my close proximity to the venue.

Feeling guilty, I finally arrived around 7. 30 pm. As I found the cafe, I slowed down and wondered, because there was simply no substantial crowd seen inside the cafe, only a  flock of youths. So I asked a glasses man typing on his laptop on the porch, “Is it a meeting of PB 2010 volunteers?” He shook his head and said he knew nothing about it. Well, so I took the risk to enter Starbucks and get humiliated for not finding any of the committee members.

All About 27 and Indonesian National Bloggers Day

 

Celebrating the double 27!

 

Call me silly, but I’m still as amazed as I was to find out that my birthday was officially declared as the Indonesian National Bloggers Day by Muhammad Nuh (if I’m not mistaken) three years ago. It felt so good, monumental. I love blogging and since a point of time I can’t precisely recall, I’ve been always wanting to make money and earn a living by arranging words and let people benefit from what I can do best.

Ok, enough rambling. Now I’d tell you, the world, that this October I’ll be taking part in the much hyped Pesta Blogger Indonesia 2010 as a volunteer! Days ago I emailed the committee and it seemed that they’re welcome. The next coincidence is that the festivity will be around my neighborhood. Pesta Blogger 2010 is taking place at Rasuna Epicentrum, a lovely futuristically-designed venue within walking distance (it only takes me 15 minutes or so to get there from where I’m now typing).

So this birthday is going to be crazily fun! With this said, I’m figuring out 27 birthday wishes, thanks to Toshi and his 100 things to do before he dies.

1. Buy a decent violin
2. Take violin lessons
3. Perform violin recital in public
4. Have a full grasp of Korean
5. Write as many books of my own as I can
6. Be a commercial freelance writer
7. Run great, profitable blogs
8. Roam Irish meadows and countryside
9. Meet and interview the Corrs
10. Buy a solar-powered house in some suburbia with an open, green space around it  to plant veggies and fruits
11. Be a wealthy entrepreneur
12. Gain weight muscle mass
13. Have an understanding, pious spouse and kid(s) that make me proud in their own way
14. Be more assertive
15. Be a vegetarian
16. Do yoga on a regular basis
17. Purchase my own folded bicyle
18. Get my own hybrid car
19. Avoid eating unhealthy foods and beverages
20. Go to Mecca and Madinah for hajj
21. Make my parents feel so lucky to have me
22. Be more outspoken and candid while in public
23. Visit the States
24. Obtain another Master’s degree in creative writing or some sort
25. Get a MacBook Air
26. Take a flight (the biggest challenge for an acrophobic)
27. Have fewer belongings

Amen to the wishes!

Sharon Corr’s Dream of You: Pop Bijoux You’ll Regret Not to Have

Being the staunch fan of the Irish band from Dundalk, I’m proudly presenting my own amateurish review of a veteran musician that I can’t adore more. She’s the gorgeous violinist, Sharon Corr.

Following her youngest sister Andrea who three years ago released her solo album TEN FEET HIGH, the second eldest of Corrs siblings was popping out last month with her brand new album titled DREAM OF YOU. Many wonder if our dear Sharon can take the challenge better than Andrea, whose solo album was almost unheard and seemed to go unnoticed by the Celtic music lovers. To be quite frank, I up to this second hardly ever listened to any of Andrea’s songs.

Sharon, in my opinion, seems to be working harder to promote her solo album than Andrea did. She’s shown up a lot on so many TV shows, off-air events, etc, which improves significantly her visibility on the mass media and Internet. Sharon also smartly makes use of the marketing power of Twitter. She gathers hundreds thousands of followers on her account @Sharon_Corr, which as far as I know Andrea or the other Corrs haven’t done pretty well. What makes me so stunned is the fact that Sharon is not a Twitter snob, that is following so few people while having thousands of followers. She is totally not one of the snobs as she admits she isn’t reluctant at all to follow any person’s Twitter account so long as she finds them interesting and eye-opening. And now she’s one of my (few) followers!  She also sets up a site dedicated to her solo musical journey after The Corrs being in hiatus for an undecided period of time. She is taking advantage of the social media titans i.e. Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and Flicker to get to know and reach as many listeners as possible. And Sharon proudly combines the old, conventional way with the more sophsticated fashion of interaction by bridging herself with the audience she’s targetting. But  once again, what matters most is of course Sharon’s exceptional musical talents. In The Corrs, she might have only served as the backing vocals along with the lady drummer Caroline but it was her fiddling that gave the one-of-its-kind touch to all the band’s tracks. Thanks to her, I’m now considering to take violin lessons myself (wish me luck!).

Merayakan Keragaman: Pesta Blogger di Dunia

The Corrs

Berawal dari tahun 1997, saat aku mendengarkan sebuah lagu berjudul “What Can I Do?”, aku langsung merasa suka dengan kelompok musik ini, The Corrs. Bukan hanya karena rupawan  tetapi juga yang lebih penting lagi mereka benar-benar bertalenta dan berkarakter. Meskipun benar penampilan sangat berpengaruh dalam dunia showbiz, tetapi yang mereka ‘jual’ sebagian besar adalah bakat bermusik, bukan lekuk tubuh, detil kehidupan pribadi, kehidupan glamor atau sensasi karena terjerat kecanduan alkohol atau obat-obatan terlarang.

Keragaman adalah anugrah dan merayakan keragaman adalah salah satu inti kehidupan. Dalam grup musik ini, kutemukan arti keragaman itu. Masing-masing personel memiliki spesifikasinya sendiri. Jim Corr bermain dengan keyboard, gitar dan piano. Sharon mempesona dengan gesekan biolanya yang menjadi ciri khas irama musik Celtic. Caroline tidak kalah dengan bakatnya menabuh drum dan bodhran. Dan yang terakhir tentu saja Andrea  yang selalu menjadi pusat perhatian dengan lengkingan tin whistle-nya yang merdu. Tidak ada yang mencoba mendominasi satu sama lain. Justru mereka saling melengkapi, dan perbedaan itu justru menambah indah musik yang mereka tampilkan. Posisi mereka yang setara juga mengharuskan masing-masing Corr bersaudara ini untuk menulis 1/4 bagian dari album yang dikeluarkan. Mereka disatukan tidak hanya oleh ikatan darah, tetapi juga gairah yang meluap dalam bermusik. Dan memang begitulah idealnya merayakan keragaman. Meski berbeda, kita harus temukan persamaan yang bisa melekatkan dan memperkuat.

Beragam Pesta Blogger di Dunia

Sangat menarik mengamati perkembangan dunia blogging di akhir dekade pertama abad milenium ini. Berbagai konferensi, tatap muka, perayaan, atau pesta yang melibatkan para blogger terus menerus bermunculan. Tema yang mereka gunakan pun beragam. Beberapa di antaranya sangat unik, yaitu: