Better than yesterday

I'm excited to share this page from my new book, THINKING ABOUT THINKING. It will be published next month by Abrams ComicArts.

Pre-order signed copies from my local bookstore:

https://watermarkbooks.com/list/grant-snider-collection

Or order from Bookshop, Amazon, B&N, and more:

lol 😂

preparing to the live shows

Legends (Soekarno) said once a Bulgarian embassy official found dead on the shore hcs he... Wear a green undergarment....... Which is not supposed to be visible right.

But naturally green eyes and dyed green hair?

Discussion open!

Dear Blur

Melody Maker, 1994

(via ewwwmylife)

interesting

(via suedescifilullabies)

Great Teacher Onizuka (GTO)

Disclaimer: Ga ada maksud apa-apa dibalik cerita gue ini, I just feel I owe it to you kawula muda, yang sampe sekarang masih suka bilang kangen dengerin siaran DGITM atau Sunset Trip, atau yang masih nanya kenapa keluar dari Prambors. Supaya kamu tau. This one is for you.

Yang gue inget hari itu adalah malem Minggu, udah sekitar jam 11 malam. Gue baru pulang dari acara wedding, saat itu salah satu partner siaran gue ada yang nge-chat dan cerita kalo HP pasangannya hilang. Sedikit background aja, gue memang pegang 2 HP, yang satu untuk kerjaan, yang satu untuk chat-chat pribadi. 

Intinya dia mendesak, karena si pasangannya ini butuh untuk posting foto endorse-an yang udah harus tayang besok paginya. Yaudah, tanpa mikir panjang, gue kirimin salah satu HP gue pake GoSend dengan maksud nolongin teman siaran.

Sampailah di hari Senin. Kalo lo pendengar siaran pagi, udah ga asing memang kalo gue di ceng-cengin pas siaran. Tapi hari itu beda. Ceng-cengan ini berdasarkan hal-hal yang gak ada orang yang tau, kecuali gue dan beberapa orang terdekat aja. 

Baru sadar ternyata ‘bahan cengan’ ini diperoleh dari chat pribadi gue di DM instagram, yang diambil dari HP yang gue pinjemin. Gue ga masalah kalo bahan cengannya soal mantan gue (yang udah jadi bahan cengan hari-hari di DGITM), dan memang udah jadi rahasia umum. Tapi tentu gue masalah kalo bahan cengan ini sesuatu yang personal, dimana gue memilih untuk ga share sama orang lain, bahkan sesuatu yang menyangkut masalah keluarga gue. 

Gue tanya apa bener dia baca chat gue, dia pun ngaku. Satu hal kalo dia cuma baca chat gue; tapi ini lebih dari itu, karena dia baca chat gue tanpa seijin gue dan jadiin bahan siaran, plus disebarin ke anak-anak kantor Prambors. 

Gue marah banget. Ga inget kapan terakhir gue semarah itu, sampe gue ngeluarin kata-kata, “Anj*ng lo ya.” Gue ngerti dia senior gue, tapi gue cuma ngerasa itu udah ga wajar, and I had to stand up for myself. Saat gue tanya kenapa dia lancang kayak gitu, jawabannya, “Ya lo juga bisa dikenal sama orang-orang karena gue cengin.” Wow. Tuhan anda tuh bisa ngatur jalur karir saya?

Gue ga cuma marah, di balik itu gue kecewa karena niat gue hanya nolongin partner siaran gue. Gue mencoba tetap profesional. Hari berikutnya gue tetep siaran biasa, tapi suasana siaran berubah drastis. Setiap gue melontarkan pertanyaan on air, dia ga merespon. Terus-terusan kayak gitu. Gue mikir, “Yang salah siapa ya disini?”

Akhirnya kita diajak meeting sebagai tim siaran pagi untuk ngomongin. Dia tentu ga dateng. Setelah gue cerita ke PD gue (atasan yang bertanggung jawab sama para penyiar), seseorang mengeluarkan kata-kata ini:

“Lah. Lagian lo udah tau dia ember, masih aja lo pinjemin HP lo.”

Deg.

Rasanya kena musibah, tapi malah disalahin, “Ya siapa suruh lo punya HP, kan jadi dijambret.”

Lalu lanjutlah temen siaran gue satu lagi nyeletuk, “Ya kalo gue jadi elo, gue sih seneng ada bahan baru untuk dicengin, lagian bahas mantan lo udah mulai basi. Emang lo mau dijual apa lagi sih, pinter juga engga, cantik juga biasa aja.”

Hehe. Walaupun kejadiannya udah hampir dua tahun lalu, tapi ngetik kata-kata ini masih sakit banget rasanya. 

Akhirnya gue bilang sama PD gue, kalo gue butuh break sejenak. Tentu gue bisa liat kalo partner siaran gue juga masih belum mau siaran sama gue. Gue ngalah, gue aja yang rehat dan mundur dulu. Gue juga sadar, siapalah gue dibandingin para artis-artis ini. Gue akhirnya minta tolong digantiin sementara di DGITM. PD gue pun approve. Masuklah Kenny. Gue akhirnya siaran di jam siang. 

Beberapa hari kemudian, gue dikeluarin dari grup WhatsApp DGITM. Tanpa sepatah katapun. PD gue juga tidak memberikan penjelasan apa-apa. Dikeluarin aja gitu, kayak dua tahun siaran di DGITM gak ada artinya. Ya, tapi gue ngerti. Mungkin dia memang aset berharga dibandingin gue, cuma Nadya The Highlites. 

Jadi kalo lo tanya, “Kenapa kak ga siaran lagi di DGITM?”

Gue juga gak tau. Gue bener-bener gak tau kenapa.

“Kenapa ga langsung keluar dari Prambors?” Tentu itu terlintas di benak gue. Sesuatu yang gue renungin tiap hari. Tapi pacar gue saat itu (yang sekarang udah jadi suami) bilang kalo gue harus buktiin kalo gue tetep bisa jadi penyiar yang baik, tanpa harus siaran di DGITM. Yaudah, gue pertahankan dengan siaran di jam siang.

Datanglah PD gue menawarkan untuk siaran sama Sunset Trip, Ilham dan Julio. Tadinya gue khawatir kalo ini cuma bakalan ngebuktiin kalo gue emang ga bisa jadi penyiar yang baik. Gak ada apa-apanya tanpa dicengin.

Tapi secara rating, puji Tuhan Sunset Trip naik, dan setelah pembuktian selama setahun, baru deh gue memutuskan untuk cabut dari Prambors.

Jujur, Sunset Trip yang menyelamatkan gue. Terima kasih ya udah mau nampung gue, Ilham dan Julio. 

Dari semua ini gue belajar kalo ga semua orang emang beneran peduli sama lo, kadang mereka cuma pengen tau aja. Gue udah nahan ini sekian lama, dan jujur ini cukup nyiksa gue, karena gue suka siaran dan gue sadar kok gue bukan penyiar yang ‘wah,’ tapi itu udah menjadi bagian dari gue.

If I get the chance to do it all over, I would still do it again. Gue tidak menyesal ini semua berawal dari niat membantu seseorang, walaupun itu jadi bumerang buat gue sendiri. Gue akan terus ngajarin anak gue untuk berbuat baik, bahkan saat ga dibalas dengan kebaikan juga; bahkan saat kebaikan lo dikhianati. Walopun begitu, gue emang memilih untuk jadi lebih private sekarang; nge-private Instagram, jarang post foto anak. Semua semerta-merta karena gue udah pernah merasakan disalahgunakan apa yang gue share ke orang yang gue percaya.

Funny enough gue dengerin Prambors pas masa2 mbak ini jadi penyiar pagi, pas lokasi kerja gue jauh dan emg dengerin radio pagi jadi pilihan. Gue ga tau apa2 ttg drama ini, tapi obv gue akan dukung Lo. It's never okay tiba2 ruang pribadi Lo dimasukin org yg bahkan statusnya "teman kerja". Kalaupun terlanjur, seharusnya dia meminta maaf.

Mungkin gue tau artis ini, seorang boomer yg pernah nyinyir krn dikritik sebuah media? Ya ga peduli sih. Gue berharap tulisan ini tersebar intinya:

1. Jangan ikut campur urusan org

2. Stand up for what's important to you (serius gue salut banget Nadia gak nurut langsung pas disuruh minta maaf duluan DAN SADAR ketika dia jadi korban victim blaming)

3. Be good to everyone.

No one expected Gorillaz to be so popular and people probably has forgotten Blur. Damon Albarn doesn’t seem to care though, he puts Blur aside and takes Jamie Hewlett to China for two whole weeks which he calls it “collecting folk songs”. They’ve been to Hunan, Guizhou, and Zhejiang. Not only did they travel Chinese attractions and taste all kinds of local cuisines in every streets and alleys, but they also promoted their new album while they were traveling. What a smart way to kill two birds with one stone.

Damon

Hit: Do you always wear a big sunglasses to look cool? Damon: Oh, no, it’s the light here, my eyes are sensitive to the light.(He said, taking off his glasses. Wow, what a typical handsome European, he has charming blue eyes.) Hit: What is your main purpose in coming to China? Damon: I was invited by a friend, but also was attracted by Chinese culture. I am interested in the culture and lifestyle of Chinese ethnic minorities, and their music in particular. We are so fascinated by it. On the other hand, we are promoting the new album Demon Days in here. In the past two weeks, we’ve been to Guiyang, Phoenix City, Changsha and Yiwu. But we are leaving today. Hit: That’s a shame, four more days and it’s the traditional Chinese autumn festival. You can have some delicious mooncakes on that day.(Damon seems to be interested in food.) Damon: Oh, yes. We have had some amazing food here. I found Chinese food really worthy of its reputation. I also bought a book of how to make dumplings. Hit: What’s the inspiration of making Gorillaz? Do you have any plans on touring? Damon: Each song is a story, and mostly happened on a dark night.It’s similar to the darkness that fell upon people after the 9 / 11 incident. For touring, as I have a very good impression of China, I will talk about it with my friends. We’re planning a world tour. I promise you, there will be a Chinese date. We’ll be back. (How’s the new video going? Damon: We are sampling in Africa right now, we have three videos done, now there’s one left. ) Hit: How did you and Jamie meet? Damon: We have many mutual friends, we’ve been knowing each others for 15 years.(Is it true that you guys live in the same building? Damon: Yeah, but that was a year ago, now we are living across the street.) Hit: What makes you want to form a HIP-HOP virtual band in the first place? Damon: Well, I still want to write pop music, but I don’t want to make ordinary music which is boring. And I’m interested in the idea of replacing actual people with cartoon characters. In fact, we can not be simply defined as hip hop band, because our music is very diverse, we got inspirations from everything. Gorillaz combines elements of Rock, reggae, hip-hop and lo-fi together. Hit: Would you like to talk about Oasis? They released a new album this year and it’s doing well. You guys were fighting a lot back in the old days. Damon: Well the battle between Blur and Oasis was some kinda promotion of the Britpop, isn’t it? As for our music, we better leave it to other people to judge. Hit: I also heard that you slammed the Live 8 concert, why is that? Damon: Because I think the concert lost its purpose. Assisting Africa is a formidable and complicated thing, and there are different ways to approach that. I think the reason to hold Live 8 concert is to help more people to understand Africa’s culture and its current situation. But live 8 failed to do that. For example, I used to think that I know about China, but it wasn’t until I actually came here and really got to know what people’s lives were like in here that I had a deeper feeling for China, a feeling that was different from the past. For the past two weeks, I’ve been fascinated by what’s going on here. I think Live 8 is a failure. It’s like if half the people in China were starving right now, and we organized a concert to help them, but not one Chinese was involved in the whole project, would you call that a success? Hit: Ok, let’s talk about something that’s less heavy. What other hobbies do you have besides music? Damon: Cooking, jogging, and playing with my baby daughter. I really like to cook, especially Chinese food. I had so many delicious food in China! I also bought a bunch of cooking books and I am going to try all of them when I get back. Hit: Can you make dumplings yet? Damon: We’ve got it covered. (Damon laughs, and I remind him that he needs more practice.) Oh, all I have to do is slice up the flour, chop up the vegetables and meat, then put in some mushrooms. And don’t forget about the chilli. (Damon windmills his hands while speaking, as if to prove that he can really cook. “Yeah, he loves chili, ” Jamie adds.) Hit: What’d you like to say to so many Chinese fans? Damon：谢谢(Thank you)！（He says these two words fluently in a strong British accent, somebody’s been practising obviously.）

Jamie

Hit: Can you introduce yourself first? Jamie: Introduce myself? (Jamie looks at me blankly. “Start from ‘I am —’ Ready, go!” Damon quips.) I’m Jamie (He thought for a while before blurting out. “I’m single. I’m looking for a girlfriend. ” — I made fun of him as Damon did.) I’m happy to be in China. I am the artist of the band, so I drew all of these arts. Hit: How did you come up with the idea of using cartoon characters as the band’s public image? Jamie: Because cartoon characters are so common, everyone has seen cartoons, and their characters can be more edgy. They can do a lot of things that actual people can’t in real life, they are the exaggeration of reality. And it’s easier to show artist’s intentions with cartoons. Hit: I noticed that in your paintings, characters’ eyes are specially designed. Why is that? Jamie: Well, because when you talk to someone, you look them in the eye, and through their eyes you can see what they’re thinking. Hit: Who is your favourite Gorillaz member? Jamie: I think it’s Murdoc, who’s formed the band and also is the heart of the band. Hit: When you were creating Gorillaz, did you ever think about making the band members’ appearances match the music? Jamie: Not Exactly. You know, the band members have their own personalities and backgrounds. So it’s more like… making cartoons. (Did you make their personalities more similar to the actual band members?) No, they are nothing like the people behind all this . Hit: Did anything hilarious happen during this trip? Jamie: We have a lot of funny stories, but it’s hard to explain. We spent most of the two weeks bouncing on the bus. Hit: What kind of person Damon is in your eyes? Jamie: He’s a lovely sunny boy.

Bonus

1. After Damon Albarn said his “thank you” to fans, I asked if he knew any other Chinese words, he immediately turned to Jamie, who was standing next to him, and asked, “How to say dumplings? ” And then he smiled and said, “饺子! ” which sounded way more precise than the “thank you”. 2. Damon talked a lot about the places he had visited, and he solemnly pointed to the green military rubber shoes on his feet, “Look! I bought them in PHOENIX CITY! ” Jamie, who was wearing the same shoes as Damon’s, also pointed to his feet and said, “Mine too! ” 3. Damon is apparently good at doodling, so he improvised on the magazine we brought with us… I just felt a little twitch at the corner of my mouth, I don’t know how to appreciate thta! Awkward!

for @damonalbarn​

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