Sore: A wonderful musical journey

Having been reviewed 4.5 out of 5 stars from Rolling Stones Indonesia makes me wonder about their live performance. I heard their first album, and believe their music is impressive, refreshing, and out of mainstream line.

I had a chance to watch their live performance last night as a friend of mine offered me the ticket to their 2^nd album launching party (Ports of Lima) in Kuningan.

After striving from Jakarta usual traffic, I finally got there. To tell you the truth is I never attend a party which has a good concept like last night party. Entering the hall with red carpet and served with free drinks, the party also has lounge with DJ playing before the show.

Walking through the auditorium also amazed me. They have a good representative hall with a good acoustic effect. I don’t think I’ve seen other place with this good acoustic effect in Jakarta.

Waiting for the band to perform their concert, one by one orchestra member enter the stage. Orchestra?? Yes, Sore also has an orchestra to support them. For those who are quite familiar with faces probably recognize that some of the orchestra players are Mela & Ricky from White Shoes & The Couples Company, also Indra Aziz from Souleh & Soulehah.

When Sore enters the stage and start their performance, I suddenly realize that all of the band player can sing, so they have 5 vocalists in the band. Another coincident (probably) from the band, three of five member are left handed. Reza Dwiputranto, lead guitar & vocal, plays normal setting guitar with left handed style (for those who has ever played guitar probably knows how hard it is to do that).

The performance was attractive, in one song Gusti Pramudya, drums & vocal, left his drum set and conduct the orchestra by him self. Visual also plays important for their performance, the background plays video clip with vintage style (you must be there to understand my feeling).

With 15 minutes break during the show, Sore also introduce their special guest, Mr. Rio Dalimunthe (if I’m not mistaken) from Tilman brothers. Tilman brothers probably the first Indonesian Band who played their performance overseas. Well, I haven’t been born yet, thus seeing Mr. Rio plays the guitar, I realize that this guy could be more famous than Elvis Presley.

Back with Sore, after performing most of their second album, Sore closed the encore performance with their hits from first album, No Fruits for Today, where we could see that Awan Garnida, bass & vocal, is a great performer with good sense of humor. He asked all the audience to sing along with them, but beforehand, he told the male audience to propose their girl during this song (and they ain’t playing back the song).

I left the auditorium with great feeling, can’t wait to hearing again their new CD, Ports of Lima.

Fernando Torres: The Real Liverpool No.9??

During the early days of soccer, player’s jersey numbers were strict; with number only from 1-11. Unlike nowadays, as players can choose number from 1 up till 99.

With so, Number 9 was quite sacred for players, just like Number 10, fantasista, in Italy.

Number 9 represents a striker, lethal finisher with good goal instinct.

I’m not a Liverpool fans (just an ordinary soccer lover). Thus, I notice that this season, Liverpool Number 9 legacy continues within the ‘el nino’ Fernando Torres.

Torres might costs Liverpool much, thus he can prove that he is the successor of Ian Rush.

Yes, Ian Rush is a legend for Liverpool with hundreds of goals during his time in Liverpool. After Ian Rush’s time, I don’t think there is player who can successfully replace Rush’s legend in goal striking.

Robbie Fowler might carry the burden of Number 9, however I think his best time was when he wore Number 23. Wearing Number 9 gave him a burden which could not exploit his talent maximally.

Emile Heskey is only a tandem striker for Michael Owen. El Hadji Diouf could not continue his World Cup magic in club. Last, Djibril Cisse suffers from lots of injury, which force him to return back to France League.

Torres has well known for his goal striking talent from his early age. He might be the youngest club captain, as he took the burden becoming Atletico Madrid skipper. Getting used of this burden helps Torres when he moves to Liverpool. In Liverpool, skipper’s burden is on Stevie G hands, so he could concentrate in shooting opposite goals. Torres proves his diamonds when he scores 30 goals (and still counting) during his first season in Liverpool.

It took an iron willed nerves to carry the burden of Liverpool Number 9; Fernando Torres could prove to the fans that he is worth millions pounds. I believe his collaboration with Steven Gerrard could help Liverpool in gaining more trophies in the future. And if Torres wants, he could be legend in Liverpool, just like the old man, Ian Rush.

Remembering the good old times: Jakarta Toys & Comic Fair 2008

Wanna see a mature adult man gets excited? Probably you will see a lot of them in Jakarta Toys & Comic Fair.
If you were raised by cartoon video in home, you would probably remember those action figures such as Captain America, Centurion, Saint Seiya, and so many memorable cartoon figures.
For me, my memorable cartoon video would be japanese anime.
When first time heard about the fair, I was quite excited and anxious to know the situation inside the fair. On one saturday morning, I decide to go to the fair without knowing what situation I will face. After entered the Tennis Indoor Senayan main door and paid about Rp. 10K, I was faced by a big hall with lots of booth around the center.
During times, I never stopped amazed and my eyes never stopped to sparkle. Damned, those were my childhood memories time. You could lots of action figures from Saint Seiya up til Transformer. During my shockness, I stopped in one booth and can't believe that someone is selling old comics (Trigan, Storm, etc).
Believe me, one hour in the fair was quite shocking and memorable for me. I even could found the action figures from Shogun Getter and Grandizer, a rare japanese cartoon movie.
After calming myself, I started to think what toys that I could bring home with me. Well, price shows the rareness of something. Just see my pictures and figure out how much is the price of one toys.
In the end, I found one action figure which I thought would be quite rare with reasonable price. I finally bought a Gaiking action figure for Rp. 125K. (for those who don't know the anime, just google it)
I walked home with quite satisfied feeling, remembering the good old days in Jakarta Toys & Comic Fair, with Gaiking toys standing on my drawer.

CR7: 35 goals and counting more!

5 Reasons Cristiano Ronaldo scores more than 35 Goals:

1. Skills; Have someone ever doubted the skill of Cristiano Ronaldo? Twisting and turning with balls might be something that CR7 born with it. Playing in English Premier League also helps him to enhance his personal skill.
2. Maturity; Compared with his first games in Premier League, CR7 is more mature right now. His play become more effective, dribbles only when needed, moves around the pitch and scores unpredictably.
3. The Nature of EPL; Unlike in Italy, where games played more tight, EPL shows attractive play with more attacking play showed.
4. The Alex; Alex Ferguson is well known in grooming the young talent. Remember the class of 92? He is well known in protecting his players from over exposed publicity.
5. The Tactics; MU played with "no big man" striker. With Rooney & Tevez played widely from the the pitch, CR7 is freely attack from second line.