Brahmanto Anindito's Blog, page 18

Wisata Bahari Lamongan: Nature and Entertainment

Bumper car is chill. Go-kart is thrill. But crazy car… is kill! Gosh, it felt like riding a hoodless little car through abrupt bends. Driving uncontrollable up and down, left and right, in high speed, in 5-10 meters high. No wonder it's called "crazy car". Up there, all you can do is screaming. Or cursing. Fortunately, I had just watched 3D movie there. The movie was set on a mine, and we (the spectators) were set to sit on a mining cart which is speeding on madly. It's quite thrilling. By that, I get used to keep cool and enjoy the show. I have a tip if you one day decide to ride such vehicles: just… trust! I mean, trust to its safety, and trust to God. Or else, don't even try to step in! Because nothing you can do once you're in. Jump? Ask to stop the car? Sleep? Faint? I don't think you'd like to do that up there. Oh… By the way, I'm sorry if you don't have any idea what we're talking about. This is WBL (Wisata Bahari Lamongan) or Lamongan Marine Tourism. For your information, WBL is a mix of tourism places like Tanjung Kodok [...]

War Submarine Tour in Monkasel

Last week, Brahm, Ihsan and I did photography session for this blog. Yeah, Warungfiksi.net will have a new look. I'm sorry if you recently found some error here so often. It's a technical error, out of our reach. Mm, let's back to the topic. By the way, Monkasel or Monumen Kapal Selam (Surabaya Submarine Monument) is the largest submarine monument in Asia. It is placed near Kalimas River with the idea from the senior of submarine sea army. The monument is located at Pemuda Street, Surabaya. The construction was started in July 1995. It was inaugurated by Basofi Sudirman as East Java Governor at the moment. Monkasel is a kind of KRI Pasopati 410 with SS Whiskey Class type. It's produced in Vladi Wostok, Russia, in 1952. This submarine participated in sea army since January 29th, 1962, with a mission to crush enemy line (anti-shipping), supervise and raid. With 76.6 meters in length and 1,300 tons in weight, this submarine had a big role in defending sea territory. After taking pictures, we entered the submarine. There was a guide who explained about the ship. We came together with two girls from Thailand. So the guide spoke in English. He showed [...]

When I Miss Steamed Goldfish

It has been a month I live in Surabaya. How does it feel? As we know, Surabaya has hot temperature. I am still not accustomed to that. Sometimes, I miss Bandung temperature. It is chill, so I do not have to use the fan all the time. Different region, different culture, different temperature, different culinary too. I have tried some Surabaya culinary. Except kupang lontong, I do not have any problem with those. But if I do have, it does not matter because I can cook. I am not a chef. I am just a woman who wants to cook, not for myself, but also for my family. I miss Sundanese food. Like steamed goldfish (pepes ikan mas in local name). It is pretty hard to find goldfish here. I must order first before having it a day after. The good news is, the ingredients are easy to find: Banana leaf Ginger Citronella Laurel leaves Tomato Basil leaves Hot chili pepper or red chili (if you like) Large yellow union Garlic Union Turmeric Brown sugar Salt Maybe you ask about the recipe measurement. Well, I never use it, except for making cookies. I always use instinct. The taste depends of [...]

My 2012 Writing Resolution

It has been a week since we live in 2012, and I did not make a writing resolution yet. Actually, I never publicized my resolution. But I have learned that it is hard to achieve any goal when you just keep it for yourself. So, I am going to put it in writing on the Internet, therefore I will face public humiliation when I give up Okay, this is nine wonderful things that I am going to accomplish in 2012: Publish two thriller novels via traditional publisher(s). Sharpen my writing skill by reading the good ones, be from a popular or unpopular author. Grow Warungfiksi.net's traffic twice. Get more clients for Warung Fiksi's service. Develop and maintain another professional web of my passion. Restart the habit of write for traditional media. Work out routinely for the sake of my health of body and soul. Get more religious in everyday life. Spend more quality time with family and friends. We are a writer, not a hermit. And I want to be a good husband, anyway. Look, those are not turgid. I believe I can walk them all this year. But I am naïf (or cocky) if I say it's a piece [...]

Lan Fang, The Wrong Man or The Man Who is Wrong

Indonesian literary circles mourn following the unexpected death of a prolific writer namely Lan Fang on X-mas yesterday. Lan Fanf was born in Banjarmasin, South Borneo, on March 5, 1970. She is first of two daughters of the late Johnny Gautama and Yang Mei Ing. She had her first short story published in Anita Cemerlang magazine in 1986. She was a prolific writer, be for novels and short stories. But now she can no longer write. So long, Lan Fang…. * * * "Lan Fang, the wrong man or the man who is wrong?" Itulah kutipan secuil komentar Budi Dharma di halaman awal kumpulan cerpen Laki-Laki yang Salah karya Lan Fang. Mungkin sekedar mengingatkan tarikan antara obyektivitas dan subyektivitas pandangan perempuan terhadap laki-laki. Sudah menjadi rahasia umum, perempuan tidak menyukai menulis perempuan dalam situasi kalah, menjadi korban laki-laki, atau perempuan yang tergerus patriarki. Tapi Lan Fang menuliskannya. Tidak sepenuhnya, memang. Hanya beberapa dari cerpen dalam kumpulan cerpen ini, selebihnya dia merasa perlu untuk menyeimbangkan pandangannya terhadap kaumnya sendiri. Setengah-setengah? Atau kebingungan dalam memihak antara kodrat dan feminisme? Lan Fang merupakan satu di antara rentetan kemunculan generasi penulis perempuan di Indonesia. Karya-karya awalnya muncul di beberapa majalah remaja. Penulis yang lahir [...]

When I Missed Steamed Goldfish

It has been a month I live in Surabaya. How does it feel? As we know, Surabaya has hot temperature. I am still not accustomed to that. Sometimes, I miss Bandung temperature. It is chill, so I do not have to use the fan all the time. Different region, different culture, different temperature, different culinary too. I have tried some Surabaya culinary. Except kupang lontong, I do not have any problem with those. But if I do have, it does not matter because I can cook. I am not a chef. I am just a woman who wants to cook, not for myself, but also for my family. I miss Sundanese food. Like steamed goldfish (pepes ikan mas in local name). It is pretty hard to find goldfish here. I must order first before having it a day after. The good news is, the ingredients are easy to find: Banana leaf Ginger Citronella Laurel leaves Tomato Basil leaves Hot chili pepper or red chili (if you like) Large yellow union Garlic Union Turmeric Brown sugar Salt Maybe you ask about the recipe measurement. Well, I never use it, except for making cookies. I always use instinct. The taste depends of [...]

Writer v Instant Writing Software

I was stunned when I watched presentation of an automated article wizard. It showed that such software can handle 90% of writing jobs. You will save a lot of energy and time since the software does online researching and also filter out the related details in seconds. Then you can pick the facts gathered, spin it, edit it, and voilà: a unique, new article! Obviously, the software allows you to become a specialist in any niche market you want. You do not even need to know what and how the cruise line is, and you still can maintain a blog of cruise line. Awesome! Think about the potentials of this tool. However, it still needs a writer to analyze, locate ideal data, spin, and edit the software output. Or else, your new article looks as ridiculous as spammers' articles. That is why I do not recommend such software. It is expensive too, by the way. If you do not know how to write but need some writing tasks to be done, use your money to hire a real writer, instead of buy the software (and hire someone to operate it). The craftsmen, batik artists, programmers, firefighters, and others, are likely [...]

Making the Crunchy Kentang Arab

It was raining when my husband and I took a walk at Dipati Ukur Street. The rain was not so hard, but pretty chilly. We need something warm to eat. And suddenly, I saw kentang arab's booth there. What a coincidence! So, before backed to the hotel, we bought that potato-based snack. It's my favorite. I had tasted kentang arab long before I got married. It was delicious and crunchy. I really like it! But I never had a plan to cook it by myself. Because it would be a bit difficult to make than, for instance, french fries. Then, when we moved to Surabaya, we did not find any kentang arab in this city. Hum, I think it is originally from Bandung. My husband wanted that snack when he came back from work. So, I went to the market and bought the ingredients: potato, wheat flour, eggs, cheese, salt, and cooking oil. In the afternoon, I started to process those ingredients. I peeled the potato and chop it. Then I boil it for while. I used to do this when I was about to make french fries. The boiling process has a purpose to make the potato a little [...]

How to Deal with Plagiarist in Cyber World

Let's admit it, plagiarists are everywhere. Especially on Internet where Ctrl C and Ctrl V is a part of its practice. You may grateful when someone said your blogpost is awesome and he then repost it on his own blog. But you know what, when he did that, your post and his are considered as copied content by duplication detector software. Though it is not a plagiarism, unless he did not mention your name, this might bring disadvantage to you in Google SERP (Search Engine Result Pages). It's bad. To deal with something like this in Internet is never be easy. However, instead of wrap it up with legal action, you can deal with more elegantly. In the real world, we have copyright law. That can be bring to cyber world too: "You copied me, you'll face the court!" But the essence of Internet is sharing. Think about it, what would the Internet be if we all are forbidden to share and copy-paste? So, I think there is another way to deal with the duplicators. I wrapped up my idea to a simple presentation below. Tulisan ini terpicu dari komen seseorang. Ada seseorang yang meminta saya menjadi pembaca pertama bagi [...]

Grand Royal Panghegar, a Place to Remember

For our little honeymoon, my wife and I decided to spend a quality time in Grand Royal Panghegar for two nights. Panghegar is not merely five-star hotel, but also apartments and office block. It is located at Merdeka street, a strategic area in the centre of Bandung. We stayed there in the Deluxe Condotel room. The view is not so good, though. There is well-designed swimming pool down there, but further, we can only see a banal street and old school building. However, Panghegar is pleasantly near everywhere: malls, book stores, heritage places (i.e. Braga), factory outlets, town hall, electronic centre, French Culture Centre (CCF Bandung), museums, cathedral, culinary places, etc. But it is also near a railroad! What a noisy it supposed to be. Luckily, we stayed on the 15th story, so I did not hear any train passed by at the moment. Although, another noise heard. It was Panghegar's ongoing renovation. Day one, in the morning, I was pretty surprised by a letter: "We kindly inform you that today, starting from 08.00 to 16.00, the water from pantry sink and washbasin taps will be shut off due to maintenance work for the potable water plumbing system." Ok. No [...]