Brahmanto Anindito's Blog, page 15

Tired of Mainstreams? Make Your Own Web Series

The numbers of Creative people are growing rapidly. Meanwhile, the opportunities aren’t increasing that fast. A lot of talented people have difficulty to access, for instance, television stations or production houses to drain their creativities. What to do, then? I think, with a legacy of Internet’s nature, this is where a web series gives solution. A web series is a series of video released on the Internet. It also means by cellular phone and web television. A web series is given the nature of online viewership. A webisode tends to run 2-10 minutes, with an entire season, averaging 60-90 minutes in total. Producing and distributing a web series is cheaper than those in traditional media. Furthermore, it allows you to reach a potentially global audience who can access your shows 24 hours a day. Everyone can produce a web series, from amateur to professional filmmakers. As long as your product is unique (one quality that netizen really loves), you can grab some loyal audience here. So, let’s stop whining about opportunity in mainstream media. Show your true colors through the web series. * * * Bulan lalu, setiap kali sign in atau sign out Yahoo!Mail, iklan Cybergeddon selalu tampil. Saya [...]

A Medicine Called Writing

Maybe you’ve heard this before. Write is an ageless formula, cure for dementia, medication for psychological problem. I proved it many times. When you’re anxious, frustrated, broken heart, just write. It would be even better if it’s longer and more comprehensive than a diary or poem. To write certain problem (and expand or kill it within story) is the cure for the problem. Try it. * * * Mungkin Anda sudah pernah mendengar ini. Menulis itu obat awet muda, obat pikun, obat untuk problem-problem psikologis. Saya berkali-kali membuktikannya. Dan saya mempersilakan Anda mencobanya sendiri. Saat resah, kecewa, patah hati, putus cinta, menulislah. Kalau bisa lebih dari sekadar diary atau puisi. Menulislah dalam bentuk yang lebih serius dan panjang. Entah nanti cuma jadi esai atau artikel, syukur-syukur bisa jadi memoar, atau mungkin novel horor. Hm, yang bilang mustahil curhatan bisa jadi karya horor, saya tantang: berani bayar berapa kalau saya berhasil membuktikannya? Hehehe…. Intinya, menulislah! Jangan malah curhat di social media. Dari pengamatan saya, sebagian besar orang-orang yang galau di social media bukannya diberi solusi oleh teman-temannya, malah dijadikan bulan-bulanan. Jujur saja, saya juga suka risih kalau timeline saya dipenuhi curhatan-curhatan atau makian-makian seseorang. Yah, mungkin mereka tidak mampu menulis sesuatu [...]

Karapan Sapi, from Bull Race to Bloody Race

We love cow. We eat its meat, drink its milk, and sometimes use its muscle for traditional plowing. But did you know, in Madura, East Java, people get more creative. They use cows to walk a tradition called karapan sapi (bull race). A couple of bulls pull a wood cart where the jockey stands and controls. They compete with other participants for 10-60 seconds all along 100 meters. They hold karapan sapi race every year in August and September at Pamekasan Region to win the Trophy of President, or at other regions in Madura to win the Trophy of Regent. Why a bull race? Aren’t Madureses interested with any car or motorcycle race? Are Madura people too poor to race in automotive? No, no, not like that. Of course, karapan sapi has its own history. A long time ago, Madura land wasn’t good enough to be used as farmland. That’s why Madura people worked as fisherman and bull breeder. Then, a muslim leader (ulama) Syeh Ahmad Baidawi or Katandur Prince, came and introduced a way to farm by a pair of bamboo called nanggala or salaga. This nanggala is pulled by two bulls. To get strong bulls for plowing the [...]

Speed Writing: 300 Pages in 22 Days

Is it possible to write a good 300 pages book manuscript within 22 days only? Well, why not? In fact, some authors did faster. Why 22 days, then? That’s just based on my own experience as a ghostwriter. I’m actually a slow writer. But, since I found the secret of speed writing, I write more effectively. You know, effective often means faster. Speed writing in my version is about two things: the assets and the technique of writing. I’m going to tell you everything quickly. The assets are: a passion about your writing subject, a special motivation, a strong understanding about what you want to write, an Internet access to make quick research later while you write, and a skeleton (write it down on each page/chapter, instead of one page skeleton). Have all the assets, continue with the writing technique. From Monday to Friday, write down 10 pages (of A4 with single space) each day. You don’t have to write 10 pages in perfect grammar, structure and plot, just keep writing according to the skeleton you made. Then, use Saturday and Sunday to edit what you’ve written along the week. The method would result in about 150 pages within 21 [...]

Rujak Cingur, Is it really Slice of Beef Mouth?

Absolutely! It probably sounds disgusting. But this is not a Fear Factor challenge. This is Surabaya’s salad, and it tastes delicious. Before moving to Surabaya, I had known rujak cingur. But I had no idea about its taste. There is actually Surabaya restaurant in Bandung that serves East Javanese culinary, but I had never there. Basically, rujak is a meal made from fruits such as pineapple, mango, rose-apple, star fruit, juicy tuber, papaya, and so on. Sometimes we add some sweet potato too. Then the slices of those fruits are poured by the sauce made from brown sugar, tamarind, fried peanut, water, chili, and salt. The sauce also can be served in the different place, then we pick it with the fruits as you eat French fries with the chili sauce. But rujak cingur is tottally different from that. First, the composition isn’t only about fruits, but also some boiled vegetables such as cucumber, krai (a kind of cucumber from East Java), water spinach, chickpea, sprouts, and bengkowang (a kind of yam). Other composition are lontong (made of rice like ketupat), fried tofu and tempeh. The most unique ingredient is cingur sapi (cartilage and meat of the nostrils and ears [...]

Lomba Komik Berhadiah Ratusan Juta Rupiah

Suka mengomik? Kompetisi Komik Indonesia yang diadakan oleh Kementerian Pariwisata dan Ekonomi Kreatif ini jelas buat Anda. Kompetisi ini diadakan untuk menggali potensi-potensi baru komikus Indonesia yang mahir dalam bercerita. Ada yang berpendapat, komikus-komikus Indonesia hanya jago dalam gambar, tidak dalam cerita. Nah, ajang ini merupakan kesempatan untuk membuktikan bahwa anggapan tersebut keliru. Tertarik? Berikut persyaratannya… PENOKOHAN Ada tiga tokoh yang harus digunakan dalam cerita sebagai tokoh utama (protagonis). Pilih salah satunya dan gunakan dua tokoh lainnya sebagai tokoh pendukung. Perempuan, 18 tahun, intuitif (sifat dominan), pemberani, keras kepala, mudah tersinggung, setia kawan, sembrono, dan kerap lupa pada hal-hal kecil. Karakter 2: Laki-laki, 20 Karater 1: tahun, logis (sifat dominan), optimis, kompromis, pemaaf, pemikir, setia kawan, cerdas, genit/rada narsis, dan banyak strategi. Karakter 3: Laki-laki, 19 tahun, peragu (sifat dominan), pesimis, oportunis, penakut, tidak percaya diri, dan sensitif. Ketiga karakter yang berbeda-beda di atas diharapkan mampu menjalankan konflik cerita secara utuh. Peserta akan belajar memahami persolan-persoalan individual dan memberikan jalan keluar atas setiap perbedaan ini. SETTING Setting atau lokasi dipilih atas keterwakilan demografis penduduk Indonesia dengan mempertimbangkan antisipasi genre-genre yang akan dibuat oleh peserta. Pilihannya: Kota besar Pedesaan Hutan tropis/pegunungan Pantai/laut DASAR CERITA Ada tiga dasar cerita (tema) yang bisa [...]

Indonesian Military Terms

Have you noticed that the military persons always communicate each other with terms that seem deliberately complicated? Yes, they love very much acronyms and abbreviations. In Indonesia, there has been a widespread use of military acronyms and abbreviations, which facilitates an efficient communication among experts. But meanwhile, it also complicates communication with the public and the international community who are interested to such subject. Of course, we cannot ask the military people to use common or simpler jargons, due to security reason. So, it’s us who learn their language. That’s why we need a dictionary. Well, if you happen to like the military spirit in Indonesia, or as a writer you want to deepen understanding about that, I found a good dictionary for you. Kamus istilah-istilah militer. Not a commercial dictionary, luckily. The dictionary was composed neatly and comprehensively by Dr. Ingo Wandelt, an academic specializing in Southeast Asia affiliated with the Department of Southeast Asian Studies, Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe University, Germany. It’s served in Indonesian and English. So, when you fancy write something with the background of Indonesian military, just start your research here.

Write for Ears Opportunity in PodCastle

PodCastle is looking for fantasy stories. PodCastle opens to all the sub-genres of fantasy, from magical realism to urban fantasy to slipstream to high fantasy, and everything in between. Fantastical or non-real content should be meaningful to the story. If you have a science fiction story, please send it to our sister podcast, Escape Pod. Horror fiction should be directed to Pseudopod. The dividing line between horror and fantasy can be tricky. PodCastle is open to dark fantasy. PodCastle primarily interested in two lengths of fiction, which the PodCastle has dubbed (somewhat arbitrarily) “short fiction” and “flash fiction.” Short Fiction: 2,000-6,000 words for $100. Flash Fiction: Up to 1,000 words for $20. PodCastle prefers reprints, or works with a prior publication credit. The PodCastle defines “publication” as any venue that paid you money for your work, online or on paper. Unpublished work will be considered as well. But if your story’s good enough for it to buy it, it’s probably good enough to sell to another market first. Why not try to get two audiences and two checks? PodCastle.org is an audio magazine. Our audience can’t skim past the boring parts. While the magazine appreciates beautiful stories, those that feature [...]

Kampoeng Ilmu Could be Better Than This

It was a long holiday. My husband and I didn’t have any plan to go somewhere fun, because we had some writing jobs. So we just researched, wrote, at home. Unfortunately, you can’t always do the research online. Thus, we also had to hunt some necessary books. We went to several big bookstores in Surabaya: Gramedia, Toga Mas, Rumah Buku, and Uranus, with no result. Well, I guessed it’s time to go to Kampoeng Ilmu! When I lived in Bandung, I used to hunt for the old books in Palasari, Dewi Sartika or Cicadas. We can get the old books with the good price. Here in Surabaya, such heaven lies at Semarang Street, in Kampoeng Ilmu area. There, people sell popular books, comics, textbooks, dictionaries, novels, magazines, new and second hand, in some cheap ranges. That’s why we call it Kampoeng Ilmu, literary means kampong of knowledge. Kampoeng Ilmu was established in 2008 to localize the book sellers along Semarang Street, Surabaya. It lays on 6,000 square meters area. When we arrived in not so morning (at 10am I think), Kampoeng Ilmu was really quiet. Many bookstores were still closed. Of course, it was Lebaran! A long holiday for Indonesian [...]

Lomba Mengarang Femina

Untuk kesekian kalinya, Sayembara menulis cerber dan cerpen Femina diadakan. Sebagaimana biasa, Femina menyelenggarakannya untuk dua genre sekaligus: cerpen (cerita pendek) dan cerber (cerita bersambung). Bagi Anda yang memiliki stok cerita atau berniat membuat cerita yang sesuai karakteristik majalah Femina, jangan lewatkan ajang tahunan ini. Syarat Umum Peserta adalah WNI. Naskah ditulis dalam bahasa Indonesia yang baik dan benar, menggunakan ejaan yang disempurnakan. Naskah harus karya asli, bukan terjemahan. Dibuktikan dengan penyertaan surat pernyataan bertanda tangan di atas materai yang ditempel pada formulir asli. Naskah belum pernah dipublikasikan di media cetak, elektronik dan online, serta tidak sedang diikutsertakan dalam sayembara lain. Tema bebas, namun sesuai untuk majalah Femina. Naskah dilampiri formulir asli dan fotokopi KTP. Peserta hanya boleh mengirimkan maksimal dua naskah terbaiknya. Hak untuk menyiarkannya di media online ada pada PT Gaya Favorit Press. Redaksi berhak mengganti judul dan menyunting tanpa mengubah isi. Naskah yang tidak menang, namun memenuhi syarat, akan dimuat di Femina. Penulis akan mendapat honor sesuai standar Femina. Keputusan juri mengikat. Tidak dapat diganggu-gugat dan tidak ada surat menyurat. Lomba ini tertutup untuk karyawan Femina Group. Kirimkan naskah via pos ke: Radaksi Femina Jl. H.R. Rasuna Said kav B blok 32-33, Kuningan, Jakarta Selatan 12910Syarat Khusus Cerpen [...]