Arif Maftuhin

Tak ada niat saya untuk menonton film ini malam ini. Saya sekedar mencobanya saja. Ah, saya harus menyelesaikan salah satu paper kuliah saya. Tak boleh buang-buang waktu hanya untuk menonton film. Tetapi, film yang satu ini berhasil menjerat saya sejak dari awal. Saya belum pernah membaca review atau mencoba melihat potongan previewnya, jadi I have no idea about the movie. What I know is that this is a commedy. Saya terjerat ketika si tokoh utama film ini, Harold Crick (Will Ferrel) dinarasikan seperti lazimnya film-film lain. Si narator, seorang perempuan beraksen British, mendeskripsikan siapa Harold dan apa saja yang dilakukannya, secara detail, sampai pada adegan Harold mendengar suara si narator. Ia berhenti sejenak untuk memastikan bahwa ia mendengar suara itu. Namun, begitu ia berhenti dari aktifitas rutinnya, aktifitas yang ia jalani secara monotn selama lebih dari sepuluh tahun, si narator pun berhenti. Ia sampai berteriak marah menantang si naratoe untuk menunjukkan dirinya....

"Welcome to hell", a message from my friend reads. He was with me in Hawaii and many in the conference said that Hawaii is like paradise to them. So, when we leaved the paradise, we arrived at the hell, here in dark, cloudy, and rainy Seattle. The conference is over and the short vacation (is it?) broke the rhythm . I think I need to make some adjustments so that this week I am ready to finish one of my due soon papers. Hey, I need to thank Indonesian community in Hale Manoa , the dormitory where I lived during my Hawaii visit. Ali and Neneng hosted us for dinner in the second night; while Anshori , my fellow Jawa Timur panel, hosted us for another dinner with very good rawon . Pramono , Wilmar, Bambang and Mas Ubayd (Hawaii), Chozin (Athens), and Bang Zulfan ( Bogor ), along with Ali, are great guys to talk about Indonesia and its future. It was a wonderful talk (below are their pictures).

I will leave for Hawaii tomorrow early morning. It's gonna be a long trip, from 7.20am to 5.00pm (I have to transfer in Los Angeles, taking 3 hours stop). My American co-worker asked me if I really wanna go to Hawaii. "Really?" Hawaii is a tropical island, it's kind of going home, it's like Indonesia (the weather I mean). And it might be like Bali for its tourism. So, Hawaii is not a "really" place I wanna go. "Where then?" she asked me. If I got a free ticket, Arizona and its Grand Canyon is the place I like more to go. Yes, "free ticket" is important to mention. Because I am not kinda "traveler guy". I love traveling, but I don't think I would spend my money just for traveling. I don't know if someday I will do that, but for now... no way. I am lucky that my department provided me a travel grant for this trip. Southeast Asia Center will also provide additional grant to cover my budget. And the trip is for free -- a...

Dulu ada Rosyidin, selalu. Waktu masih di asrama MAPK itu, Rosyidin adalah teman yang kami andalkan untuk mendapat potong rambut gratis. Dia memang pintar memotong, rapi, dan sesuai permintaan. Ah, untung Rosyidin tidak buka salon. Kalau itu yang dilakukannya sehabis lulus MAPK, pasti dia nggak jadi penghulu di KUA. Lalu, ada Syamsul. Hemmm. Syamsul bukan teman kami. Juga bukan tetangga. Kalau ada yang sempat main ke Solo. Jalan-jalanlah ke belakang stadion Sriwedari. Di deretan kios yang di blok barat, kita akan akan ketemu dengan Syamsul. Oh, mungkin dia sendiri nggak lagi di situ. Saya kira, dia pasti sudah jadi bos. Syamsul adalah nama tukang potong rambut madura dan sekaligus nama kiosnya. Saya berani menduga bahwa dia tak lagi di sana karena dulu saja dia sudah punya cabang di daerah Kadipiro. Mengingat bahwa orang Madura biasanya rajin dan pandai mengembangkan usaha, mungkin Syamsul sudah punya lebih dari tiga kios. Entahlah. Syamsul adalah langganan saya untuk urusan potong ram...

[This is a book review for Tigers of The Snow. To read more about this worth-reading book, please click this link .] Before reading the conclusion, let's recall for a while what the book is about. In its introduction, Vincanne aimed at exploring what led Pasang Lhamu to get involved in the high-risk mountaineering because "she wanted to" (p.8). Vincanne, methodologically speaking, relies on a general inquiry into the creation of Sherpa identity in Western imagination and the persistent and anthropological and Western desire to find a site of authenticity beyond the Western gaze. In doing so, she insisted, one has to recognize "the obvious role [sic] Westerners have played" in "creating" the Sherpa (p. 8 and 11). Her argument is based on the widespread image both among Sherpa and the West that becoming Sherpa is "currently" all about the people expert in mountaineering. In this very mountaineering is "originally" introduced by the W...