Adele - 21

Single "Set Fire to the Rain" sudah cukup untuk membuat saya mendengarkan keseluruhan album dari penyanyi berbakat asal Inggris ini. Ya, di sebuah review yang saya baca dikatakan bahwa musikalitas Adele semakin dewasa, I agree on that.

Musiknya lebih playful, unik serta liriknya lebih mendalam. Di album kali ini Adele menekankan banyak dentingan piano dan dentuman kecil drum yang membuat musiknya jadi kedengeran easy listening sekaligus classy. Dan tiap kali saya dengerin album ini pasti bawaannya calm, happy and mellow at once.

Buat yang nggak biasa, mungkin musik Adele cenderung aneh dan agak lucu. Tapi bagi yang udah familier sama British Pop pasti udah nggak heran lagi sama gaya bermusik solois wanita bertubuh tambun ini.

Alright, my fave tracks in this album are Turning Tables, He Won't Go, I'll be waiting dan pastinya Set Fire to the Rain.


Oh, ada juga cover version lagu Lovesong yang dulunya dinyanyiin sama The Cure. Versi Adele lebih soul, unik deh pokoknya :D

A Very Yuppy Wedding

Author: Ika Natassa 
Published by Gramedia Pustaka Utama

Andrea Siregar, seorang wanita karir yang dihadapkan pada dua pilihan yang sama pentingnya, antara jenjang pekerjaannya dan belahan hatinya.

Di satu sisi, Adjie, sang kekasih juga berada di posisi yang sama persis. Mengingat peraturan di bank, bahwa sesama karyawan tidak diijinkan untuk menjalin hubungan asmara, maka segalanya menjadi semakin rumit.

Keadaan semakin runyam ketika kepercayaan menjadi issue yang pelik di antara mereka berdua, padahal Andrea dan Adjie bekerja di kantor yang sama. Keadaan ini terus meruncing hingga pada akhirnya pecah tepat sehari sebelum akad nikah keduanya.

Apakah Andrea akan tetap memutuskan untuk menghabiskan hidup bersama Adjie, pria yang sudah kehilangan kepercayaan padanya? Apakah cinta bisa meluruhkan semua ego dan amarah keduanya?




Saya nggak nyangka kalau novel yang awalnya saya pikir biasa-biasa aja ini memuat kisah yang benar-benar dewasa. Ceritanya menarik banget, detail, kompleks tapi sekaligus juga sederhana. Ika Natassa menjadikan suasana bank sebagai latar belakang ceritanya, baik pada setting lokasi maupun background karakternya. Saya yang nggak tau sama sekali mengenai dunia perbankan jadi sedikit acknowledged setelah baca novel ini.

Poin intinya mungkin hanya kisah Andrea dan Adjie yang berjuang mempertahankan kepercayaan satu sama lain, tapi kemudian seolah keadaan tidak berpihak pada mereka berdua, kondisi kantor (termasuk atasan dan rekan kerja) sampai keluarga besar menjadi batu-batu sandungan yang menguji kesetiaan pasangan itu.

Menarik, saya pikir. Apalagi Ika Natassa juga memuat unsur budaya Jawa di dalamnya, saya yang berdarah Jawa tulen aja nggak ngerti-ngerti amat. Again, saya jadi enlightened setelah baca buku semi ensiklopedia yang berkedok novel romance ini ;]

Anyway, the story in this book reminds me of my self, and him. There're some parts, alright maybe most of them, of Andrea that looks like mine. The ego, the vision, the habit, the way of thinking, say, almost everything. I'm not gonna explain it here, but so just you know, that this book is very recommended. It's not cheesy (as I thought before, blame me for it) and very classy. And you may then realized something like I do, that missing someone you care the most is really painful.


Enjoy reading :]

Mike Tompkins

I was actually looking for Takoyaki recipe on Youtube until this video came out at the sidebar.

It looks like a cool video first I saw it, it was the Teenage Dream-Just the way you are video of Mike Tompkins. Oh anyway, he's a beatbox man who plays Top 40 songs (even Miley Cyrus song!), which I think that's the cool thing about him. Beatbox men always play hiphop or rap songs as far as I know, so I guess this guy is different and he's pretty cool.




Moreover, you can see how funny his face is when he makes all that sounds (the cymbal part is the funniest, I tell you). Yes, you can watch how he makes the sound. All of them. And plus, he put them all in one good layout so it looks awesome. The other funny video of him is Party in the USA, yes, the one and only singer of this song: Ms. Miley Cyrus. His expression when he sang "So I put my hands up...", he literally put his hands up in a nerdy way which is very hilarious :D

I think he's basically a funny guy, he made all of his video in a fun fashion and I think that's entertaining. He's not only beatbox-ing, he entertains the viewer of his video. With the layouts, the songs and his expression (I know he did it unpurpose though).

Anyhoo, when I listened to the Misery video, it reminds me of Glee. You know, there's this episode where Blaine sang Misery by Maroon 5 with The Wabblers. They sang it accapella, I know it difference with beatbox-ing (or maybe not?). But it just hit me, somehow I found the similarity, maybe they didn't make the whole sounds instantly? Yeah, I guess so.

Well, it's too bad Mike didn't make many videos of him beatbox-ing another popular songs. Because I think he's really good doing that and I'd like to see him more doing his beatbox-ing.

You can check his videos on Youtube, simply type Mike Tompkins on the search bar and you'll find him. I mean, his videos :]