Archive for the ‘review’ Category

Soft and satisfying series of clicks rose as I slowly typed the words, letter by letter. The screen softly lighted and colorfully ambient, and with every scroll and tap of the pad, a magical swish and crisp feedback were apparent and undeniable.

My new MacBook Air (courtesy of apple.com)

That my friends, are the sound of my new MacBook Air 11.6″

Than surely, you will rasp and grunted, this joker buy a fancy and overpriced MacBook Air, for what ? so that people can look at him in marvel when he sit in Starbucks one sunday morning, flapping up his fancy toy while sipping his fancy coffee ? Or maybe, he is after the jealous look that people will throw when he walking rakishly wearing his navy suit and brown semi brogue wingtip ?

Sure, but that is beside the point. The main reason why its MacBook Air, and not some common people netbook, or the more powerful Pro, or the utterly egoistical AlienWare is because, I’m lusting for a a simplicity, a simplicity that comes in every Apple product, and a simplicity that will have you focus on your mind rather than technicality. It’s also a simplicity that makes you want to create rather want to relax, and thats my friend, is a MacBook Air is all about, at least for me.

Rest assure, that this decision doesn’t come easy, it goes through several steps of decision making, all are throughout thought with and deliberately analyzed.

First I was weighing about the OS. Mac or Windows. Truth to tell, I’ve been faithful to Windows since Windows 3.x, all the way to Vista (have not purchased any systems since my BenQ S41 few years back), all complete with the utter sluggishness, tendency to crash, with the needs of reinstallation once in a while. But there was a time where Matlab, SPSS, Labview, and a bunch of DOS based, electrical system simulation program were all part of my daily academic life, which no longer the case today, as at home, I mostly dealed with simple blog interface, light picture editing and occasional gaming. Which obviously means that the need of Win based OS, is no longer called for. Additionally, I’ve been quite fed up with Windows reliability issue. Having you browser froze in the middle of online transaction is devastating, and having the windows system crash when doing some lay-outing and foot editing is no longer funny. There I’m kinda made my mind that I’ll go with Mac based.

At this point, the options were rather closing down to two possible choices, the Air or the Pro. Both come with its own advantages and disadvantages. The Air is light and thin, it also comes with the SSD, which in theory should means a certain degree data integrity (no more the annoying hardish crash), but its expensive, and despite the coolness, it really loosing some of the features which is not really a good news considering the price, to add to the worries, its also not powerful enough to do HD video editing or High Res photo works. The Pro, however for the same price, come with all many features that Air is lack off (DVD room, networking port, card reader), more powerful (faster processor, bigger RAM and bigger storage), but it also have some weakness, first, its heavier (about a kilo more), and bulkier, and it still use the normal mechanical drive which is prone to physical shock of anykind, in short, much less portable than the Air.

Presented to those options, I contemplated my past and future use of a laptop. My past always troubled with the hard drive that crashes many times offer, partly due to the way I’m handling these equipments, also in my past, I use laptop for gaming, and some heavy graphic editing (I was once a photo geek), but past is passed, and behold the future. First I’m no longer use laptop for gaming (for that I have my PS3 and Ipad), second I’m no longer use my laptop for heavy graphic editing (gone are my days working as an ad man), and at this point of my life, I put much more emphasis and practicality rather than robustness (I don’t even have any SLR), and laptop that boot up in 30secs, sleep and wakeup in order of seconds, and minimize risk of data damage due to portability excites me more than having a laptop with “yes we can” attitude. So from this point the Air is obvious choice.

And with the Air is in mind, the struggle now is deciding whether the 13 or the 11 is the one. I’m talking about the screen size. Where from value for money point of view the 13 is rather tempting-the the SSD size is decent, the processor is faster, it also came with SD slot, and the screen is bigger-and all this comes only IDR1mio more expensive than the 11 with the same SSD size, but slower processor, smaller screen and no SD slot. But being smaller means its a lot more portable, and sexy too, and thinking about practicality having an 11″ laptop is much more practical by my standard of use. Also, having a 13″ Air is making my earlier argument about being light, thin and less bulky becoming mooted. It is true though, that many internet review recommended the 13 rather than 11, especially if the laptop is going to be the primary platform in my house. The reason is that the 13 can do all the work that the Pro (just a bit slower), and yet have the portability like the Air should be (just bit bulkier than the 11), and from their point of view, it still can do all their usual needs (mainly HD editing and High Rest foot editing), some even recommend that if you do choose the 11, make sure that it is your third or second system (being the #1 is PC, and number #2 is Pro). But the truth is I’m not a geek, and I despise having too many system in my tiny apartments (even if its just one too many), and I really don’t need to do any HD video editing or RAW foot editing (remember that I don’t have any SLR)

So really, by this point, I really looked forward for the 11.

The moment of truth really came when I dragged my self to the showroom today, having look at both size hand by hand, have a feel on it, and weighing all my decision all over again, and the price I have to pay that entails any of the decision. But if anything finally made up my mind, is the feeling of happiness when looking to the utter perfection of the MacBook Air 11, the eye does not lie, at least at that particular moment, and some good 12 hours later, I’m happily typing this article, while still reminiscing my feeling of jubilation, when I saw my friend swiped his credit cards to pay for my MacBook Air.

So, if you happened to pass by a good looking chap, fancying a nice linen jacket, sipping an americano and typing in a cute litte Air, that could be me.

One month, two weeks, and one day has passed ever since I’ve got my feet measured at Mario Minardi. One and a half month, is nowhere near the instant satisfaction that you get when you acquired your shoes on the shoe store. But it is also nowhere near the amount of time that you need to wait when  you order your shoes from the famous Graziano & Girling.

One thing that I can tell you my dear readers, that every single day, hour and minutes that passed, it  was all paid off, when I laid my sight on the new black caped toe oxford that is neatly packed in the printed carton box.

To say the shoes are good is gross understatement. They are gorgeous, elegant, almost as  perfect as the picture I have in my imagination, on every single aspects. The best of all, it fits me very well, and it feels, really, really, really good.

It was a really strange feeling, when I slid my feet in it, tied the laces and felt the leather draped around my skin. It is even stranger feeling, when I started to  walk, and heard the crisp tapping sound of the heels, and felt the my muscles stretched but very well accommodated on the roomy space of the shoes.  This becoming more eventual, as I started navigating my office, moving from one point to another, one surface to another, I almost felt that I wear one size too big, because frankly, I didn’t not feel any pressure, tediousness, and slightest pressure on any part of my foot. But the truth its not, the shoes were made based on my size, the length and the wide, and the height was not drastically different then those that I got off the rack. But the difference persist, that’s because for the first time in my life, I owned shoes that understand my left side as much as it understand my right side. Needless to say, this feeling is addictive.

The visual look of the shoes is even more riveting. The shape are gorgeous, the lines that flows from the heel to toe bend flawlessly, highlighting the shape of your feet and give that expensive look that many of the more expensive brand offered. The stitches are clean and neat, it flowed naturally, shaping and accentuating the contour of the foot rather nicely. The leather are supple and soft, and the inner leather lining, gives extra comfortable and sense of fit that feels very pleasant. The finishing is excellent, the darkish embossing on the sole gives an aura of exclusivity and personality that some other brand just don’t have. Even if you spent hours looking at it, without really close observation, you can and may not be able to differentiate it with USD500 shoes that carried designed label.

This is the  shoes that are made especially for me, it may be made locally, in the grim factory that hide in between of Jakarta’s sky scrappers. It also may not deserved to be called bespoke, it is a made to measure at the best. But the details, quality and aura that it presents are something that is  more than 99% of the shoes that walking around Jakarta’s surfaces difficult to match.

This is one of the shoes that can match a gentlemen breed. Too bad, at least for now, I’m the only customer who experienced the true potential and quality that Mario Minardi can unleashed.

A shot of my shoes can be observed here

In my entire adult life, I have mostly acquired suits off the rack on the department store. My latest off the rack acquisition was two years a go, a black 2-button suits of doubtful fabric by the brand named Carthago. It’s ok, it’s not bad, but far from impressive, I am remotely satisfied, but that was what my money can buy, or at least so I thought. It wasn’t until long that one of my best friend got married, and she entrusted a beautiful batik materials in two tone, to be made a shirt.

Having no experience on custom made shirt, I put my confidence in the only tailor I am familiar with, not because of its workmanship, but because of his proximity (I regularly passed through his workshop everytime I go to work). As it happens to be, he is pretty established tailor in the district, he claimed to have tailored for a like such as city mayor, and district head. Quick observation on his suit sample, I found that it is of the decent quality. So without further due, I entrust my batik material in his hands. Some thorough measurement, and quick question on how I want the batik fits me, and two weeks later, its finished, and I’m amazed by the fit, and how beautifully the batik fits on my body. It cost me IDR200k for the tailor, money well spend.

Having satisfied with these, I came back to him again to have a gray suit commissioned. Now I have to admit, Pak Haji, as the old guy is fondly called is probably not one of those top of the notch tailor you’ll find in hotels or fancy malls. His fabrics are decent but not excellent, and his approach on tailor made service may not be comparable with those of Saville Row, but I tell you what he is, his price is affordable, he takes personal approach on each of his customers, and he gives good if not stubborn advice.

By no means I am an easy customer, so after the first thorough measurements, I return twice for refit and adjustments, and it took more than 1 month for my first suit to complete. But all in all, I am a happy customer. The fit was perfect, the material is very comfy and it compliments my figure.

Pak Haji is fairly flexible, unlike those snobbish tailor who usually insist on certain thing, he listened to my requirement, before he make comments on what he thinks about it. Whether he agree or disagree, you still can enforced your will, and he will delivers.

Having said that, his work can not be compared with the upper end tailor. His suit canvas is glued, not stitched and this alone attest that his work can not and must not be categorized in bespoke class, despite the fact that it is made from scratch and to your specific measurement.

A set of suit is offered at starter price of IDR900k (wool blend), a wool suit is started at IDR1.5mio up to IDR2.75mio. A shirt is offered at IDR250k for plain or IDR300k (stripped). You can also bring your own fabrics.

After two suits, an odd jacket, two trousers, a batik, and a dress shirts, do I still need to explain how satisfied I am ?

Paris Tailor can be contacted at 021-8619411

Remember when I said “Mario Minardi is traditional Italian brand…” in my earlier post some week ago ? Well dear readers, I was dead wrong.

Just found out this morning, that Mario Minardi is actually an Indonesian brand. Build, designed and manufactured in Indonesia. Not only that this is shocking but this is also a very good news. It’s good because, previously I’m very reluctant to admit that Indonesian made shoes (that is gentlemen shoes) are of good breeding and quality.

Admittedly my experience with known local branded shoes had always been disappointing. So far, off all local brand that I tried, only Mario Minardi, that in contrary has always delivered the quality that every men shoes should have.

Now, I would love to talk more about this shoes, but true to Indonesian company’s character, too few information about this shoe can be obtained in the internet. Luckily, I found an email address of the company, I’ll try to email them, and see how this could go forward ( a local bespoke shoes already crossed my mind), wish me luck.

The Boat that Rocked Poster

That does it, it’s official, I love British movie more that I love American, French or even Indonesian (excepting the Naga Bonar which I still think is one of the best masterpiece ever !!! ).

The latest establishment is of course The Boat that Rocked, which is not only uproariously fun and hilarious, but also heart warming and crowd pleaser in a real sense.

Written and directed by Richard Curtis, a name you’ve probably heard from a like such as Mr. Bean’s Holiday and Love Actually, the movie which is loosely based on the real Radio Caroline, tells a story of a Radio Rocks, a pirate radio that transmit from an old merchant vessel off the northern coast of the United Kingdom during the age of rock and roll.

The story started as Young Carl (Tom Sturridge) who was sent by his mother to stay with his Godfather, Quentin (Bill Nighy) to straighten up after he got himself expelled from his school for smoking, something that Quentin not surprisingly claimed as a spectacular mistake.

Soon on board the ship, Young Carl get acquainted with the rest of the ship crew, who are no other than the Dj’s and operators who run the Radio Rock 24 hour a day, non stop. Characters who were played by a like such as Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Rhys Darby, Nick Frost, Chris O’Dowd and many more, promised nothing less than excellent acting play as well as smart yet funny dialogue, complete with a mixed British  accent.

It was the age of the hippies, hence Young Carl adventure on board the ship will ultimately evolve around booze, drug and sex, especially sex. But make no mistake, if you think this is just another happy go lucky movie, who presents stupidity, like most Hollywood comedies do, as it main attraction you are catastrophically wrong.

This movie is not for the faint hearted. There are plenty of heart break moments, emotional scenes and some element of surprise here and there, that were embedded as a part of the story. There were the antagonists too, suitably played by Kenneth Branagh and Jack Davenport who posed as a government suits, aimed to close down the Radio Rock.

What complete this movie more than anything else (i.e. pretty girls, festive environment and nudity) is of course an excellent sound tracks from the names of the decades such as Beach Boys, Smokey Robinson, Skeeter Davies and many others. What makes them special, is that the music are more than just running at the back, but instead complement the story and helps incite the emotion, relating the scene with our own experience (which only happens only if you are either coming exactly from that decade, or well verse with the rock n roll music).

All in all The Boat that Rocked will make an excellent weekend movie, one that you can watch many times over.  The story line is light, yet meaningful, well balanced by smart dialog, catch quotes and convincing play from its casts. Now, I’m not so much inclined to quantify my judgment by passing score, but if I must, I will gladly gives this movie 8.5 out of 10. And yes, its that good.