Pastel Craze

September 20, 2016 by Prisanti 1 Comment

A few years back, my friend Sella wrote a blog post on how she won’t be ashamed anymore to admit that she loves K-Pop music. I thought that’s not even shameful from the start. Everyone deserves what she/he loves and it’s not anybody’s business to tell you what to love and what is not. I always believe that good music is good music, no matter what genre it is, no matter in what language it speaks.

A few weeks ago, I also find this article that points out about the design of some of K-Pop Music Video and how carefully it’s crafted. In regards to K-Pop music and my current addiction of Pastel Colors, here’s what inspired me lately.

Red Velvet is the latest girl group from SM Entertainment, one of the largest Korea Entertainment Company which said to be the pioneer of Korean Wave. Having successfully debuted groups like Super Junior and Girl’s Generation, Red Velvet is their newest experiment in Korea music industry. The name Red Velvet comes from the group’s concept image which has nothing to do with Red Velvet Cake :)) According to Wikipedia, ‘Red’ signifies their vivid and bold image, whereas ‘Velvet’ reflects their classy and toned-down side. I don’t understand why this concept should exist but the group has achieved success by sweeping music chart here and there. That can only mean one thing, it works. People do accept this kind of thing, something has been right for them.

The fivesome has been around Korea music industry since 2014 and one of the thing that I love is their heavy use of colors to identify each member personality. In their debut song called Happiness, each member dyed their hair tip using the color that represents them. Though I really like the song Ice Cream Cake and has been writing it before, their latest song called Russian Roulette really catches my eyes lately. It’s upbeat tunes and catchy chorus are hard to ignore, but I badly fall in love with their music video. I can help playing Replay button all over again.

The wide shot, the composition, the complex props, the simple graphics, and THE GLORIOUS COLORS.

Even if you’re not a fan of K-Pop, this music video is too good to be missed.

I pulled out my favorite colors from the music video and made these color schemes.

Have a nice day, color lovers :3

The Sound of Youth

May 29, 2016 by Prisanti Leave a comment

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]t has been 3 years since Akdong Musician (known also as AKMU) won the K-Pop Star season 2, a global talent competition to find the next K-Pop star. The sibling has been living in Mongolia for some times and only came back to their birth country to audition for the show. While other contestant showed talents like rapping and dancing, Akdong Musician charmed the audiences by their innocent performances. Lee Chanhyuk, who is only 17 years old that time, has been composing music without even knowing guitar chord precisely and the 14 years old Lee Suhyun has been listening to her brother’s songs and remembered each song perfectly. The clear and tender voice of Suhyun adds depth to Chanhyuk’s witty lyrics. Despite their shyness and lack of confidences, the acoustic performance and the harmony of the two captured the audience’s heart by storm. The juries, which consists of the representatives of the three biggest entertainment companies in South Korea (SM Entertainment, JYP Entertainment & YG Entertainment), agreed that the siblings shined most when singing their original song instead of other singer’s songs (watch the juries stop their performances and asked them to sing their original song title Don’t Cross Your Legs during their first performance, minutes 3:44).

I only listen to their music earlier this year through my little sister’s recommendation. Turns out, I love their music so much. Akdong Musician signed with YG Entertainment after winning the competition and released their first album titled Play in Spring 2014. They kept their innocent image through their musical videos and the record company has been given freedom for the siblings to compose all music and writing all their lyrics despite their young age. The easy listening folk-pop expressed their view about youth and teenage love (check out 200% and Give Love).

Akdong Musician during the promotion of their debut album Play (2014)

After that, I started watching their performances in K-Pop Star. Akdong Musician performed several original songs, during the talent show which not only interesting in the ears but also in their lyrics and meaning. One time they performed a song titled Is It Ramyun?, which lyrically weird at first but actually has a deep view about wasting time and being lazy. Their song Crescendo (which also stands for musical dynamics to sound gradually louder) is a youth empowerment to gain confidence by talking louder.

Tentang Cinta dan Kata

May 14, 2016 by Prisanti 1 Comment

(gambar diambil dari sini)

Untuk film yang “terlihat” dibuat untuk nostalgia, Ada Apa Dengan Cinta? 2 adalah dilema. Dilema karena penonton tidak akan pernah marah ketika kedua karakternya dipaksa bertemu lagi atas kebetulan yang semu. Dilema karena banyak adegannya dipaksa mengkontradiksi banyak adegan klise. Dilema karena turut serta semesta dipaksa memberi campur tangan. Dilema karena kami memang rindu. Dilema karena aktingnya seluruh pemainnya sangat natural. Dilema karena Cinta dan Rangga adalah harga mati.

Pada akhirnya, sayapun mentoleransi banyak hal yang ada di film ini. Ada Apa Dengan Cinta? 2 adalah film Indonesia pertama yang saya tonton dua kali di bioskop :))

Di antara semua dilema tentang film ini, ada satu hal yang sangat saya syukuri. Puisi dan sastra sempat menjadi poros film Ada Apa Dengan Cinta?. Kala itu, banyak Rangga dan Cinta baru tercipta. Mereka mulai membaca sastra Indonesia dan menulis lirik dan paragraf berima tentang cinta dan kehidupan. Banyak yang sinis karena mereka tampak seperti penonton bola karbitan, tapi bukankah semua orang harus mulai di suatu tempat?

Walau bukan menjadi fokus utama film Ada Apa Dengan Cinta? 2, tapi puisi-puisi Rangga menjadi nilai tambah film ini. Buku puisi Aan Mansyur yang berjudul Tidak Ada New York Hari Ini, sempat terjual habis di berbagai platform online dan kata-kata dalam Bahasa tiba-tiba kembali hadir di dunia.

Ketika platform social media semakin banyak merebak, satu-satunya yang saya sesali adalah semua platform tersebut seakan menggantikan fungsi sharing blog. Saya sempat kesal karena semua terasa semakin instan. Banyak teman-teman yang dulu sering menulis di blog, tiba-tiba hanya sempat bercerita tentang makanannya hari itu atau menulis sebaris kalimat tentang film yang baru mereka tonton. Saya paham fungsi masing-masing social media, tapi saya hanya ingin membaca lebih banyak hati dan pemikiran.

Saya ingin berharap lebih banyak, bahwa masih banyak kata-kata yang mengaduh untuk ditumpahkan. Masih banyak tulisan indah yang menunggu untuk menggugah. Saya tidak sabar untuk membaca lebih banyak. Saya tidak sabar untuk kembali jatuh cinta kepada kata dan Cinta.

PS: Baca juga review Puty tentang Ada Apa Dengan Cinta? 2 di sini.

The Drama We Live Within

February 4, 2016 by Prisanti Leave a comment

american-crime-story

Yesterday, I was stunned watching American Crime Story’s first episode. The People vs OJ Simpson.

Ryan Murphy is one of a kind.

popular

Murphy started his career by creating a teen drama titled Popular (1999). A series of two opposing high school girls forced to get along when their parents decided to get married. The series surprisingly played in local TV station back in those days and I genuinely love it.

Inspiration: Light Reading

January 17, 2016 by Prisanti Leave a comment

[dropcap]B[/dropcap]eberapa tahun ke belakang, saya akui saya berhenti membaca buku. Sulit sekali menemukan waktu yang pas untuk tekun membaca kecuali di WC (haha) dan waktu weekend. Waktu weekendpun kalau ada waktu luang selalu saya habiskan dengan melihat sesuatu yang visual, entah (ehem) menonton Youtube ataupun TV series dan film. Sedih sih ada beberapa buku yang cuma saya beli tapi tidak baca sedikitpun. Bahkan kalau ditanya seputar katalog penulis masa kini seperti Haruki Murakami, Rainbow Rowell atau John Green, saya nggak pernah sama sekali menyentuh hasil karya mereka :)) Dunia, tolong maafkan saya.

Tahun kemarin, saya malah banyak membeli buku craft, kumpulan cerita pendek, puisi, dan buku non-fiksi. Kebanyakan buku yang saya selesaikan ringan dibaca, banyak gambarnya (ini penting), dan bisa selesai dengan 2-3 kali baca. Dari semua buku tersebut, ini beberapa yang berkesan buat saya.

Light-Reading-20152