Going to The West (Trip to Museum Macan liat Yayoi Kusama Exhibition)

Jakarta, 17-19 Agustus 2019

Flashback banget...!!

So, ketika gw masih ditugasin ke Semarang, gw mutusin buat ngajak si Bontot ke Jakarta datengin kakaknya, yang adalah adek gw juga. Dia jadi budak corporate di salah satu perusahaan di ibukota. Dan karna ada tanggal merah ya udah kita mutusin buat 3 hari ke sana. Tanggal 16, si Bontot nyamperin gw ke kost gw di Semarang karna kita flight pagi banget jadi cukup hectic dan sangat kurang tidur. Kebetulan hari itu tanggal merah 17an, ya gak ada special gimana2 sih rasanya. Sampe di bandara kita di jemput sama Anak Tengah dan Gina, Bontot's bestfriend yang lagi kuliah di Jakarta. Pokoknya buat gw tiap kali ke daerah baru ada rasa yang beda aja. I love the excitementnya trus ngeliatin sisi lain dari kota yang gw jarang2 datengin. Terakhir gw ke Jakarta waktu konser BTS 2017 kalo gak salah. Trus kita mampir sebentar ke kostnya Ade sambil nunggu jadwal check in hotel. Sempet hampir nyasar karna kost nya dia di daerah padat jadi yah begitulah. Setelah agak siang akhirnya kita jalan ke hotel yang udah dibooking sama Ade. Di sana kita ketemu segerombolan orang asing, kayaknya peserta Asian Games gitu. Berhubung tanggal 18 Agustusnya kan opening Asian Games. Gak ada apa2 sih, kita istirahat sebentar karna gw sama Bontot kan gak ada tidur noh dari semalam. Kita tu kayak kena panic attack kalo udah berurusan sama morning flight. 

Siang ke sorenya dimulailah petualangan kita from mall to mall. Siangnya kita ke Central Park makan di Paper Lunch, karna udah gak tau mau makan apa. Salah satu pertanyaan yang susah dijawab adalah ketika harus milih makanan. 

Berempat makan di Paper Lunch

Setelah itu ya biasalah muter2 mall trus beli Koi yang kebetulan waktu itu baru ada di Surabaya dan Jakarta, dan gw lagi nyandu minum itu. Yang lain pada beli chatime, jadilah gw ngantri sendiri di Koi. Gak lama ya kita balik, karna emang bukan anak yang terlalu suka ngider di mall jadilah balik hotel dan kebetulan gw pengen ngikutin opening Asian Games. Malamnya gw sama Ade stay di hotel sambil nonton opening Asian Games, sedangkan Si Bontot nemenin Gina balik kost buat ngambul baju, dia jadinya nginep bareng sama kita. Waktu itu kita pesennya twin bed, jadi gw sama Ade, Pepen (a.k.a Si Bontot) sama Gina (TMI kali ya)

Besokannya kita balik lagi ngemall kali ini pilihannya ke Kokas, nyari makan, dan akhirnya gw ngajak mereka makan di resto Korea di Kokas. Kita anak sungai semua, jarang2 ada resto Korea macam itu di kota asal kita. Dan kebetulan si Bontot belom pernah jadilah dua kakaknya yang udah pernah ngajakin ke situ. Dan tentu saja foto2.

Lupa nama restonya but we like it, kebetulan karna kita makn agak siang jadinya  belom banyak pengunjungnya

Kelar makan, gak tau mau ngapain akhirnya si Ade ngusulin buat ke Musium Macan. Karna yang lain buta arah dan gak tau mau kemana akhirnya ngikut lah. And I'm so grateful she took us there. Perjalanan lumayan buat yang bukan penduduk Jakarta, dari Tebet di Jakarta Selatan ke Jakarta Barat, sekitar 45-1 jam, tau deh karna gw juga sempet ketiduran kayaknya. Sampe sana kita sempet bingung arah tapi akhirnya nemu juga jalurnya. Setelah beli 4 tiket yang menurut gw worth it banget kita masuk. Waktu itu ada exhibition dari seniman Jepang, Yayoi Kusama: Life Is The Heart of A Rainbow.

Tiket masuk ke exhibitionnya

Blurrr for lyfe

Maaf pake sendal jepit karna emang gak berencana sama sekali

Pepen dan Ade

Pepen dan Gina

Selama gw didalam, gw amazed banget sama seni yang ditampilin, dan cerita dibalik itu, selain karna tempatnya juga instagramable banget.

Jujur gak ngerti seni, tapi ini bagus dan ngingetin gw kayak pokemon

A corner in Obliteration Room

Infinity Mirror Room

Di depan koleksi My Eternal Soul

"Infinity Mirrored Room – Love Forever" by Yayoi Kusama
Dibelakangnya ada Love Forever Series, nyesel gak moto..

"State of Venus Obliterated by Infinity Nets No. 2" by Yayoi Kusama

Narcissus Garden

Banyak banget sebenernya yang bagus, cuma gw nya aja yang nyadar diri gak bisa moto bagus jadi sepanjang kunjungan itu gw bener2 menikmati aja exhibition nya. Mungkin kalo lain kali ada lagi mungkin gw bakal datang lagi. 

Kalo mau liat foto atau baca artikelnya bisa buka link ini..

https://theartling.com/en/artzine/yayoi-kusama-life-is-the-heart-of-the-rainbow-on-at-museum-macan/

Trus gw barusan buka website nya Museum Macan, kayaknya bakal ada Infinity Room lagi, jadi monggo dicek deh. Tiket nya lebih murah, IDR 50k. Kapan hari karna emang full karya Yayoi Kusama, harganya kena IDR 100k/orang. Just enjoy it..

Kelar situ ya kita balik ke Central Park buat makan trus sempet nongkrong bentar mandangin orang lalu lalang bawa anjingnya..

Gak cocok buat diajak ke moll, males dandan

Jepit for Lyfe

CP

Dan besoknya kembali ke Semarang.

Sekian dulu ya,

Xoxo

C

Rangkuman Selama di Semarang - Salatiga tahun 2018 yang lalu

Jan 2020

Gelaaaaaa...

Gak nunggu 1000 tahun lagi buat ngelanjutin postingan kapan taon??

Mau nepatin janji lah..

Jadi kan di 2018 gw dikirim ke Semarang untuk melaksanakan tugas mulia dari kantor, membantu teman2 yang lagi mencari kerja.. dan akhirnya stay disana selama 4 bulan yang rencana awalnya cuma 2 bulan.

Many things happened..

Seumur2 masuk perusahaan gw sekarang, gw bisa bilang gw paling nyaman di kantor Semarang. The boss and colleges treat me very well. Karna ya orang2 disana ya beberapa temen dari jaman kuliah juga, jadi gak ada pretention aja.. Gw datang disambut sama senyum mereka yang gak nyangka kalo gw datang (semoga pada bahagia liat muka gw ya waktu itu), ditambah pelukan (duh, I love bear hugs very much)

Nongki di kantor malem2

Nongki di kedai kopi para hedonis

Setelah set up buat persiapan acara akbarnya kantor

The Bosses

Puji Tuhan di kantor ini gak ada yang namanya kasta, semua2 temen, partner kerja.. Mereka yang paling ngerti gw bahkan lebih dari temen2 yang gw ketemu tiap hari. Mereka sampe tau makanan favorite gw selama di Semarang, tanpa babibu langsung dibeliin kalo udah jam makan siang, hitungan duit belakangan (kalo urusan duit sih menurut gw kudu diberesin aja, karna bisa jadi sangat problematic kalo gak dikelarin, and luckily mereka ngerti sama masalah ini), kalo ge sampe malem mereka mau nungguin. Dan berhubung manusia satu ini kadang penakut jadi sampe dipantau naik turun tangga (thanks a lot Mas Ari dan Mas Yanto! You guys are the best!!).

Kadang juga diajakin kulineran, gak perlu tempat mahal yang penting ngumpul dan enak. Temen. Nyaman mempengaruhi nafsu makan gw pake banget.

Mas Ari, Wuri dan Lova yang menanti giliran

Pecel Mataram

Selama di Semarang juga gw bolak balik ke Salatiga, tiap minggu deh kayaknya. Jengukin si bontot, napak tilas ke jaman kuliah dan meet up sama temen2 kuliah..

Sama Paula, Jek dan Arip

Jalan Kemiri Salatiga

Paula, Me, and Cicik

Si Bontot

Selama gw stay di Semarang gw juga nyempetik ke nikahannya Cindy dan tunangannya

Cicik's engagement

Cindy's wedding reception

Gw juga sempet short trip ke Jakarta jenguk Ade, ntar deh di postingan lain gw nulis lagi..

My time in Semarang was just so wonderful. Zona nyaman banget, segimananya kita berkonflik tapi semua pada dewasa dan bisa nyelesein masalah biar gak berlarut2..

Tol Semarang- Salatiga

Starbucks di Tol Semarang-Salatiga

Wuri, Lova, Novita, me and Yayan

Yang kayak gini jadi pemandangan hampir tiap minggu bolak balik Semarang-Salatiga

Kampus UKSW

Kampus UKSW

Lemburrr

Aftermath

Pemandangan dari jendela kost

Makan dak makan yang penbting ngumpul

Difotoin sama Wuri 

Yayan, Wuri, and Me

Tim Hore selama di Semarang

Waktu kita bertiga tugas keluar kantor. Dari pagi2 gitu trus nyempetin sarapan

Denny, yang paling sering kena becandaan anak2

Sorry Ko Imam, mukanya rana berkilau gitu

Sebagian dari anak Semarang

Sama Wuri

Ssma Bonbon 

Sama Paula

Sama Lova

Tukan debat, Yayan

Pemandangan dari belakang kost kalo pulang rada sorean

Flight back to Surabaya

Bak sampah gw

Segitu dulu deh, ntar kalo niat gw post lagi foto2 yang lainnya..

See ya,

C

Elephant in the Room

Jan 16, 2020

I've been neglecting this blog for a while, because it's hard to set my mood to write..

Many things happened since the last time I posted on this blog, I have returned to Surabaya again, been living my life in this city, I took a month break from the office because of my health condition (did I ever mention that I was diagnosed with hyperthyroid?) in the early 2019, appointed in the new position, been meeting a lot of new people that turns out to be friends and many things.Yeah, life's been good.

But as I'm spending my 2019 and early 2020, as I learn how to take things maturely, you know, learning to control my emotion, my ego, I started to see different light of friends that I have in my life. There are some friends that I decided to let go for the shake of peace of mind. This begin with the elephant in the room. As you getting older, what's being your priority has shifting. Some decide to pursue their career, some decide to get married, and some choose to stick to their status quo. And as you get older you don't need more drama in your life. In my case, I try to solve my problems by just addressing the problem itself and try to find a way to solve the problem. These days, when I am in conflict with others, I don't even think about who's the winner or loser, who's the smarter or the stupid one, but just how to solve the problem without creating more problems. But unfortunately there are some that keep the problem, they don't want to talk about it yet choose to ignore me and create their own assumption. It pissed me off. If you u see me as your friend , would it be better to talk things to my face instead of talking behind my back? We're not freaking teenager anymore. 

But after a long discussion with myself and other friends that I trust, I come up with the decision to let go those who don't give any peace in my life. I come to term that it would be better for me let go so I can have others who will accept me for who I am. I believe that friendship build with trust and acceptance, where you can be who you are, where it allows you to learn through mistake but still have your safety net, that will respect each other, help each other see things through different perspective, to tell you if you make mistake and always have forgiveness in store for you, and to support you to reach your dream. 

My friendship in 2019 and early 2020 is not smooth, big decision should be made so I can live my life peacefully. I hope yours will be better than mine.

xo,

C

Semarang Quest

Last week in May 2018..

Balik lagi ke Semarang untuk stay beberapa saat dikarenakan pekerjaan..
So far so good, karena dulu sudah pernah seperti ini di tahun 2014.
Yang beda cuma beberapa orang yang sudah berganti, well people come and go tho..
Masih juga tinggal di tempat yang lama dan lagi-lagi dengan orang baru..
It's juat a few days so far..
We'll see what will happen while I'm here..

Sementara fotonya ini dulu ya, view from my not-so-early flight

How toxic a fandom can be (lesson to learn!)

Belakangan aku sama temenku lagi sering berdiskusi masalah fandom di kpop yang kadang bikin kita eneg sendiri. (I'm talking bout you, bruh!). We've been fans of music since we were in elementary school , jadi bisa dibayangin lah betapa lamanya kita hidup sebagai fangirl.

Fenomena yang kita perhatikan belakang adalah how toxic a fandom can be. Fankly said aja kita bedua fans dari BTS, but we've been in kpop since ages dari jaman DBSK masih rookie kali ya. Bahkan kalo mau dirunut lagi dari jaman BSB vs NSync. See how long we've been fangirl-ing (langsung berasa senior banget). Mungkin karna dulu gak terlalu tertarik sama fandom jadi ya nikmatin aja musik yang ada.

Tahun 1997-1998 itu awal aku tertarik sama musik mana dulu ada MTV dengan TRL tambah deh. Terus ketemu sama temen yang doyan musik juga, klop lah kita. Dari jaman bubblegum pop, rock, hip hop dan lainnya kita lewati bersama. Gak ada  limit buat denger musik, walaupun jaman boyband kenceng banget waktu itu, kita masih seneng sama Foo Fighters, Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit sampe Eminem (We agree that Eminem is a rap god).Kita ngerasain persaingan antara BSB vs NSync, Britney Spears vs Christina Aguilera vs Jessica Simpson, Aaliyah vs Beyonce, Lindsay Lohan vs Hillary Duff, Eminem vs everyone, Fred Dust vs almost everyone juga... Kita ngeliat sendiri gimana besarnya nama-nama yg disebut tadi tanpa ada campur tangan internet sama sekali. Cuma lewat tv sama radio doang. Kita juga sudah paham dengan atmosfer awards di luar, dimana boyband macam NSync sm BSB, yang punya fandom besar di hampir semua benua (apalagi kalo liat BSB di South America, semua turun ke jalan bok!) gak akan mempengaruhi hasil apapun. Berjaya di VMA, AMA, EMA sekalipun bakal gak ada tajinya di grammy awards. Emang diluar itu susah banget. Yah bisa dibilang karna dulu internet gak semutakhir sekarang jadi gak ada istilah fan-voting jadi emang cuma penjualan album, request di radio sm juri doang patokannya. TAPIIIII sepanjang aku ngikutin itu semua gak ada tuh yang gak sportif, semua hasil diterima karna semua jelas. Fandom mungkin ada lah yang nyinyir tapi gak seterbuka sekarang (again, the magic of internet). Masalah utama para artees itu adalah paparazi a.k.a papz. Gak ada istilah snake lah pokoknya kalo urusan awards.

Ini yang belakangan kita cermati di kpop world. Sebagai seorang fan, aku ngerti kalo kadang kita menomorsatukan idola no matter what, tapi kalo dengan ngejatuhin yang lain, I don't think so. Jujur aja aku baru jadi ARMY belom ada kali 2 tahun, walaupun udah di kpop dari jaman dulu, and still catching up with everything in kpop yang beberapa tahun sempet aku anggurin. Yang aku rasa semua berubah, idk berubah aja. Yang bikin keki itu adalah how toxic internet and fandom can be. Semua ngerasa berhak untuk ngeluarin pendapat yang bahkan sangat cetek dan gak beralasan. Rasa frustasi aku dimulai waktu temenku bahas masalah BTS vs everyone terutama setelah BTS udah mulai berperan sebagai game changer di kultur kpop.

I won't talk about history of kpop here tapi culture and climate of awards yg perlu diperhatikan sama semua fandom, gak cuma ARMY doang.

Kpop dengan kultur big3 itu bisa jadi sangat mempengaruhi kpop or showbiz di Korea. I believed that every trainee itu berjuang banget buat debut dan stay relevant, I respect that. Tapi kenyataan lapangan artis dari big3 bisa dipastikan punya kans gede untuk jadi terkenal dan sukses. Sebelumnya kalo ada rookie dari big3 yang dapet award bahkan daesang pada anteng aja, toh dari big3. Everyone knows big3, no hating on them. Kualitas mereka juga oke. CUMA, disaat ada idol dari small company yang mulai menunjukan tajinya semua mulai deh gerah. You are too chill!! Karna ngerasa on top, aman..

BTS bisa dibilang gede diluar bahkan di benua amerika dulu kali ya (Based on AHL). ARMY juga gak sebesar sekarang, apalagi di Korea, no they're not. Semua dimulai dari bawah. Karna ngerasa kalo agency gak mungkin berbuat banyak (no, it's not because they're not willing to but because they can't) maka jadilah ARMY sebagai free PR buat BTS supaya di notice sama radio luar. Request bolak balik ke radio,  sampe jadi hashtag monster, advanced technology dimanfaatin banget sama ARMY . Usaha keras yang akhirnya berbuah manis. Mayoritas fandom gede pun merasa gerah. But what did they do? dari awal yang ada they've been mocking on ARMY's efforts sampe berbagai macam celaan keluar (mulai dari beggarmy, ratmy sampe dengan jumawa bilang kalo gak butuh western validation padahal tau (atau mungkin gak tau) kalo barometer musik dunia ini masih di US) yet stay chill, even now they keep hating on ARMY and BTS daripada usaha gimana caranya idola mereka juga bisa sukses. Mungkin pada nunggu biar agency aja yang usaha. Gak cuma itu, BTS pun sampe kena hujat juga. Thankfully they remained collected jadi bisa ngademin "monster fandom" macam ARMY. Semua tau gimana cintanya ARMY ke BTS yang kalo kesenggol dikit bakal rusuh, yet again BTS members show their maturity to keep it cool. And I can proudly say that majority of the fandom learn to stay cool as their idol always do. It's mutual from idol to fans and fans to idol.

Awalnya aku gak mau ambil pusing dengan urusan fanwar. Umur segini ngapain ngurus hal ginian doang, I have a life to live outside fangirl-ing (I'm 28 by the way. I got bachelor degree in English Education). Cuma setelah diperhatikan musim awards di Korea and how toxic fandom and internet can be I think I need to say a thing here. Mengidolakan, membela, mensupport masing -masing idola itu sah-sah aja, tapi kalo menjatuhkan yang lain, I don't think so!!

Gak bisa dipungkiri sejak akhir 2016 sampe 2017 BTS emang moncer banget. BTS dan ARMY sama-sama kerja ngejar target (red. impian dan harapan) dan akhirnya menghasilkan beberapa daesang, BBMA award, AMA debut, sampe tampil di 3 talk show gede di Amrik. Wajar kalo ARMY bangga dan bahagia sampe mungkin cenderung norak. Tapi gak nutup mata kalo kadang ada immature fans yang malah jadi jumawa dan ngeremehin yang lain. Sayangnya fandom yang selama ini terlalu nyantai mulai gerah. Mulailah hate speech via sosial media sampe project dari hal yang kecil sampe yang menurut aku konyol itu pada bagian middle finger  and "Dapat daesang juga sumbangan". WTF!! That's too childish untuk sebuah fandom yang pengen artisnya jadi besar. Gak sportif banget.

FYI, sejauh yang aku ikutin belakangan awards di Korea itu gak pernah ada yang clean slate. IMHO, pada bagi-bagi. Dan fandom terbiasa dengan itu. Korean fandom need to know kalo diluar gak ada kultur yang kek gitu. Mau dari big record label tapi kalo emang ada indie yang lebih baik yaah tetep dikasih ke yang pantas. Gak ada istilah senior yang kudu dapat award bukan junior. Contoh deh grammy kemaren. Semua yang ngikutin dunia musik amrik pasti tau nama besar Jay Z dan Bruno Mars.Tapi di Grammy Jay Z yang dapat 8 nominasi pulang dengan tangan kosong, sedangkan Bruno Mars yang tenar jauh setelahnya malah sapu bersih award gede. Taylor Swift yang sempat ngalahin Beyonce juga bisa jadi contoh, tapi gak ada tuh fansnya Beyonce apa Jay Z buat ngirim petisi ke White House. 

Sekarang dengan di noticenya BTS, yang lain pun mulai mencontoh cara ARMY yang dulu dicemooh. Whatever!! Do as you want tapi gak usah lah ngejelekin yang lain. Usaha yang kenceng biar di notice, dukung idola kalian pol-polan. Bukan malah nyinyir sana sini. Yang bikin aku heran kapan hari di twitter ada thread sebuah fandom yang pengen idolanya di notice malah nyinyir ke radio dj karna requestnya gak dipenuhin. You know what ARMY did back then? Usaha kenceng, pantang menyerah sampe suatu ketika di notice (bukan malah nyolot minta radio djnya di pecat), terus send loves and thank yous sampe ngirim pizza dan buket bunga sebagai rasa terimakasih. And what they got, di red carpet acara gede bukan cuma BTS doang yang dibahas AMRY malah bolak balik disebut. Ss stop hating!! Apalagi malah bahas masalah fisik.Oh come on! Jujur aja deh Jay Z, Kanye West yang mungkin aja panutan dari idola kalian, emang sesuai beauty standard nya kalian apa?! yang diliat kan kualitas mereka bukan tampang semata. Noh ada beauty peagants all over the world yang ada ukuran kadar kecantikannya. 

Ini juga berlaku buat ARMY. Believe it or not one day ada masanya BTS bakal vakum karna wajib militer, ada masanya fans pada pindah ke fandom lain, ada masanya Bighit debut boygroup baru dan ada saatnya grup baru yang bisa menyaingi pencapaian BTS. Don't hate on them! What we can do just to keep supporting BTS. Gak usahlah ngerasa tersaingi, terzolimi terus throwing hate on them. We've been there, done that. Hate is not a legacy.

2018 menurutku tahun yang cukup intens buat BTS. Setelah debut di AMA banyak pr buat BTS dan ARMY. To stay relevant,  not one hit wonder. Dan perlu diinget atmosfer musik di luar sedikit banyak berbeda dengan kpop yg kita kenal. Besok-besok jangan sampe ngatain Grammy snake cuma gara-gara BTS belom di undang atau masuk nominasi. Di notice Grammy itu susah cuy, dan BTS sudah masuk di artikel mereka. Still, we hope for a better days!!

C

p.s : Everything here based on my views thoughout the years, Mungkin bakal terkesan berat sebelah but feel free to correct this along with the data.

Taxonomy in Kpop (Part 2)

On previous post I already discussed about haters and it's classification and in this one I will classify Fandom (Fans) and Multi Fandom.

Fandom and Multi Fandom basically fans. The ones who admiring solo or group of artists. The difference between these two is fandom as a "place" where you "dedicate" yourself into one artist or one band only. On the other hand, multi fandom is the ones who likes more than one artist or group (mostly multi fandom is refer to group instead of solo artist). 

Now lets breakdown the fandom itself.

Shinhwa Changjo, Cassiopeia, ELF, ARMY, EXO-L, Sone, VIP, Blackjack, Shawol and many more. Those are part of kpop culture, fandom and considered as some of the biggest and strongest fandom. These are pretty similar with Beliebers, Directiones and else in western music. But as far as I remember, back then in early 2000s the biggest bands and artists did not have any name for the fans, CMIIW. I can safely say that kpop culture did it first and arond 2010s western adopt the culture to give a name to the fans.

In kpop culture, as a fan of a group, the ones who dedicated themselves to fandom tend to like all of the members. Although they do have bias (the most favorite members), usually the other member(s) become their bias-wrecker(s). They can accept the flaws of each members and love them (pretty) equally. Since fandom member mostly females, sometimes they consider the band members as their babies although some might be older than the fans themselves. The fandom also can be very "cruel", to put their favorite into meme. But after all, never underestimate fandom's love to the members. They can be the ones who protect the group from haters, like momma bear. They will do their best to show their appreciation towards their favorite artists (voting, celebrating birthdays, buying merchandise,  and else).

Unfortunately,  in fandom itself some of the fans decided to be a solo stan ( which only support one member). The fans in this category can be quite annoying since they want the best for their favorite only. Most of the problem with solo stan either line distribution or screen time. It's like a thorn within the fandom.

Now let's move to multi fandom, the ones who like more than one group. This group of fans mostly in dilemma when it time to vote for an award or to decide which one they like most. Another difficult time is when there's fanwar between their favorites. Some decide to stay neutral but some others can be very biased. 

The worst of all is the infamous sasaeng. This is what most artists and team avoid to deal with. This tipe of fans tend to be very extreme. They sometimes do something incomprehensible by most people. Somehow they are able to trespass idols dorm or house, able to get the artists' flight information and even manage to disturb artists' private life.

All in all, this is culture in kpop that might surprise the newbies. There might be some that I did not manage to discuss in this post, but by the time you jump into kpop you can experience it yourself. In the end it's your decision what do you want to be.

C

Taxonomy in Kpop

This is an edited from Negin Farsad at TED 2016

"A Highly Scientific Taxonomy of Haters"

Yeayyy, another thing related to kpop!! Bare with me ...

There are three things in Kpop that quite interesting for me recently; fandom, multi fandom and haters.The most troubling category here are the haters. They are minority, but they overcompensate by being extra loud.

•   First of all The Trolls

These are garden-variety digital haters. They are considered as people who quit real-life relationship so they can post malicious info, comments in social media all day (even all nite) long. This people will be a spotlight, they will wait for the cue to turn green and when it does, they yell (or type) " It's a charity award..!! Your oppas are visual holes, plagiarism, sajaegi ( google it if you don't know), and more..." and run away when it's getting worse or cowardly point finger on others.

Big Question: Why bothering other fandom when you can focus on your own?? 

• Swing Haters

They just can't decide. They're like ideological puppet who move from hating to not hating and they do it because they don't have enough information. (You do have internet access right, try to verify your info before share any malicious rumors because many said so.)

Dear haters, 

Your live is not only revolve around your precious idols and hate on others. live your life to the fullest.

Boybands, Fandom and Internet

So, I've been into boybands (music) since I was young. Back then MTV worked as its name MUSIC television, which is all about music. Even in Indonesia, we called ourselves "Anak nongkrong MTV" which means the ones who tune in religiously to MTV. It's totally different with MTV today even today music show in my home country. Smh!!

Back in late 90s, Westlife was so booming in here along with others singers like Britney Spears, Nsync, and Backstreet Boys. I was following the bandwagon, been listening to Westlife until my mom bought me CD 4 Biggest Boybands; Westlife, Boyzone, Nsync and Backstreet Boys. Started from that I was falling in love with NSync and Backstreet Boys, I can't choose which side tho, but I can say I was JC's girl 😉

As 90s kid, I experienced the fans feud like whose the best boyband, BSB or Nsync. Back then, we didn't have name for the fandom. But still to take side was a big deal in music back then. Both were talented, their songs were so good (even up until now, I still put their songs on my playlist), their dance were incomparable to other boybands. People still comparing both group, even in interview the reporters would asked about each counterpart. Funny thing is that they got the same manager. Yadaaa!! Annnnnndddd when we're talking about fans, it was frenzy. Without any internet back then, the fans were still strong. They can gathered fans from all around the world. I even watched the video while BSB in Rio de Janeiro,  their fans surrounded their bus until it couldn't move and it's so dangerous and scary.

Turning to early 2000, another phenomenal boyband came to music industry. This time we had it from Asia, F4 (go check google if you don't know them). They're even bigger than life,hahahaha.. Anything related to them was sold out. But until then, I had never heard a word of fanwar.

2005 was my first year in touch with kpop. I do remember my first favorite kpop song was Miracle from Super Junior. Internet was not as easy as these days, so to listen to that song, I requested it from radio station, which thankfully had it and played that song. I even bought the cassette (I was so broke). On the other hand, my sister who was a fan of DBSK, bought DBSK Japanese Album: Heart, Mind and Soul, together we played it everyday until my mom remember the songs and hum along with it. At this stage I started to understand what is fandom and kpop itself. It's fun, although I didn't understand any of it, I did enjoy the songs.

As the brightest as it shown, kpop also has a darkside. Suju and DBSK were two biggest part of hallyu wave. Their fans are everywhere even up until now. They are very loyal to their idol, unfortunately there are some that take it too personal. Some started to stalk their idol, even until trespassing their personal space. It's ok if they want to come to every show, even, fan meeting or concert, or to buy every merchandise, but trespassing is a no no. Furthermore, as the rumors said that early years of the National girl band, Girl's Generation, were not easy. They used to get black ocean, where the audience mostly fans were turned off their light stick when the girls performed. One of the reasons was just because the girls were too close to those oppas (in fact, they are from the same agency, some maybe trained together). Rumors also mentioned that DBSK's Yunho even rushed to hospital due to drink poisoning( Again, limited access of internet impeded further information). Up until now, I have no idea why they did that.

Few years later, Big Bang became another kpop star that also became phenomenon.  This band was and is so different from their seniors in terms of music to style. They gained worldwide fame, but still anti-fans linger around them.

2016-2017, almost 20 years of BsB vs NSync, I feel kinda dejavu. This time BTS vs EXO. Both are very talented group, have very big, strong and loyal fanbases. But instead of BTS vs EXO it's more likely to be Army and Exo-l (respected fandom). Maybe because we're in millennial era, everything seems to be over the top. Too much!!

Lately with MAMA voting, everything become mess. The inconsistency of MAMA to provide a fair voting, turned everything to be too much drama. Both fanbases wanted their favorite idol to win, they tried their hardest to win the vote. And the business must go on. By an incomprehensible reason MAMA cut down several votes and cause fanwar between big fandoms, especially Army and Exo-l.

I'm an Army myself but trying to see everything from both sides. Exo is a big brand for few years lately in kpop industry for sure. Along with them, BTS also raising their popularity even to western music industry.  As I don't really follow EXO, I can't talk too much. On the other hand, I feel really connected to BTS and their songs. It was their music video that gave a strong impression on me. I don't want to calculate the cost of their mv production, too expensive. Starting from that I dig in for more. To know the lyrics and its meaning, the message of each song. Well yeah, I kinda that nerd, knowing the lyrics and what's behind the song will always a plus point from me. And it's like opening a pandora box. Once I opened it, there are lots of things BTS offers to me. Not only the bubbly side but also the struggling phase that shaped them as idols, musicians and what they are now. The fact that they're producing and writing their own songs is another thing that I appreciate from them. Not many idols are hands on on their music, but bts can do it.

Come up from small company, they have been defying gravity.. When many people think it's impossible for them to success,  they worked 100 times harder,. They chose another route to introduce their brand, BTS, and as wise man said "Teamwork makes the dreams work". They treasure their fans, Army. Treated them as human being, not because they have to but because they want to. When they can rely 100% with promotion in TV, they chose to use social media to engage with army. 

And this is the turning point of social media in kpop. BTS as the one who actively use their social media, is able to connect to their fans from all over the world. The members are happily share anything to their fan through Twitter. And also the works of Army, the main PR for BTS :D. Twitter (or internet) is the main reason why this group was able to sell their brands (we're not talking about their music here but the use of internet). This is what other artists (again, IN MY OPINION) lack of. Although they have their social media, mostly they only post things without build any conversation with the fans, while BTS try to communicate with Army in any kind of social media they have, namely twitter, vlive, fancafe, youtube and else. They don't really active in instagram tho T.T). As a result, BTS become one powerhouse artist in social media ( whether you agree or not, in fact they awarded as Top Social Artist in BBMA 2017) and you can check their followers on Twitter and Vapp.

There are thousands reasons how can they become what they are now. Hopefully other idol groups (especially from small companies) able to learn from BTS but most importantly they are able to be true to themselves and true to their music.

This is based on my personal point of view. Feel free to add and give your opinion but don't force anyone to agree with yours. Peace.