Lambrtz’ Blog

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TAPI CSS DI WP GA BISA DIUBAH!!!!

This song really gives me chill whenever I listen to it. I feel like crouching at the room corner, leaning on the wall, bending down my head and crying. I don’t know why. The lyric itself is quite nostalgic, but the aura of the song is like an…emotion-manipulating horror. Fortunately, the next song in Magical Mystery Tour is Penny Lane, a rather happy and truly nostalgic song. Psychedelic rock rules.

Now I am going hiatus due to duty calls. Relax, I will still leave comments here, there, and everywhere, although in lesser frequency. See ya!

Oh, don’t forget to check my previous post out.

N. Intro

When did I start to be familiar with the term “Elitism”? Ah, that must be because of the post about Wee Shu Min scandal, even though I somehow have a characteristic as a natural-born elitist to certain extent. Too bad for me. I wish I could get rid of it. My wishful thinking says that all good people, whatever his/her job, are equal and in some way contribute to development of civilization.

OK, let’s start.

I. Professors in Top Research-intensive Universities

When I was a kid, I have always thought that a job in academia or scientific fields is really cool. I mean, imagine this situation: people from many countries in the world, with various educational backgrounds, united in the name of science to invent new things. However, now that I am making my path there, or maybe I can say that I have already been there (because it is the research students that do the researches anyway), I see something weird.

Some of you may be aware of world university rank systems. ARWU, THE-QS, HEEACT, and then national ranks such as in USA, UK, Australia, etc etc. Some of them also have field-specific ranks, for example, for the field of Engineering and Computer Science, ARWU, HEEACT, US News, Times for UK, etc. Then, let’s talk about big universities, which are highly-ranked in the aforementioned rank systems, and which have leading research groups. Then take a look at the professors vitae or resumes in, for example, two leading Computer Graphics labs, Stanford’s and UC Berkeley’s. Why Computer Graphics? D’oh, it’s ma feild, d00d. I have little or no competence to write about other fields. In Stanford’s Computer Graphics laboratory, the five professors got their PhDs in UCLA, Stanford, Tel Aviv, UNC, and Wisconsin-Madison, while professors in UC Berkeley’s Computer Graphics Lab are PhDs graduate of Stanford, McGill, MIT, Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon, Georgia Tech, and Basel. Most of them took their PhD in universities that enjoy high positions in recent university rank systems.

II. Survival of The Elites?

This is the weird thing. Where are smaller universities graduates? Why nobody is there? I took a look in other labs, but it was the same thing. Of no surprise, I found out that this also occurs in the field of Economics. Top 20 universities tend to occupy professors from top 20 universities as well. For further info, please refer to this paper: [link]. When I showed this paper to my friend, a scholarship hunter who wants to be economic researcher, he said, “Still thinking about that? Welcome to the club of academic vicious circle!” . I would rather name this as pyramid of academia. Due to gravity, people from higher position can go down easily, but it is not easy for people from lower position to go up.

Now, imagine 2 PhDs, one from Ivy League university and one from a lesser known university, both possess about the same qualifications in term of number and quality of publications, applying to be an assistant professor in a university. What I don’t want to happen is if just because of the background of the first applicant (i.e. the university this applicant got PhD), s/he will be given more preference/mark/whatever than the latter. If this what really happens in top universities, isn’t this a kind of elitism, in the sense that only PhD graduates from big universities can assume academic positions in big universities too?

To think positively, I suggest that this maybe because of the quality of research groups in the university. The more popular a research group is, the better the quality of publications. But how is it possible? I mean, for research-intensive universities which have no financial problem, their outputs must not differ very much! And I always consider Computer Science as a relatively inexpensive field. In Computer Graphics, for example, you just need to buy a decent computer with a good commercially-available graphics hardware, install Visual Studio Express 2008 and the update, download GLUT, OpenGL or any other libraries, design and implement a new ray tracing variance, submit it to conference. It was an oversimplification though. The design and implementation are the hardest and the most important parts. The point is: what else do you need?

Of course there are several exceptions, like Paul Erdős, who got his PhD from University of Pázmány Péter, Hungary but got employed in Princeton. I am quite sure that is because he came from outer space. Not to mention that Central-European universities have a long bright history in Mathematics.

Then the most evil elitist question was born. If only top universities can produce noteworthy publications, why should one apply to smaller university if s/he wants to have a career as an academic staff? Small universities should either produce more good publications ASAP, or not exist!

III. Why This Came into My Mind: A Personal Note

Scholarship informations are scarce in Indonesia. Most people compete for Chevening, ADS, Fulbright, Erasmus Mundus, Stuned, and Monbukagakusho. It affected me too. Although my knowledge about scholarship hunting was above average, I still did’t know many. I had not noticed that basically all PhD students get financial support, including in USA and Canada, countries whose graduate schools I thought were very hard to enter due to lack of financial support for Indonesians, which is wrong, before I read phdcomics. That time I only knew NTU and NUS that give scholarship to Master by Research students. Applying to NUS was not possible since the deadline was very early and I had not taken English test. I took IELTS in December, got the result and then applied to NTU which turned to be successful (and other universities, whose scholarships I failed to win).

When I had already been in NTU, after knowing that fact, I started to think about moving to another university of higher rank and reputation for my PhD study. However, later I realised that if I considered moving too much, my performance here will not be good, so this can be a bad choice too. Moreover, who can guarantee if my admission in new universities will be successful? Going back to NTU will take time, as I will need to reapply. Waste of time, waste of age. In the other side, I am satisfied with NTU performance.

This is philosophical choice for me. If I worship ranks and elitism, I will start to give more time to learn GRE etc and consider moving. However, if I become a die-hard supporter of science, staying here will be a realistic but still good choice. It is the science that I want to focus in after all. Which one should I choose? Or is middle path the best, for example by narrowing down the number of new university option? For now I choose to stay, although this might be consulted later with my professor.

FYI, I would like to mention here that while it is my career aspiration to assume a position as a professor in a well-known university with strong research groups, I am not targetting like Ivy League or Oxbridge universities in specific, although that will be extraordinary achievement. But if this is the case, doesn’t this mean that the choices of PhD graduates from smaller universities are kind of limited?

BTW, I am quite sure that NTU want to give more focus on the PhD programme since the abolishing of scholarship support for new Master by Research applicants. I am probably in the last batch of Master by Research students who get university scholarships. It’s fine, and in fact I support their decision.

IV. Outro

While this admission criteria still remains a mystery to me until I am ascended from studentship (unless I cheat), deep inside my brain I still believe that the essence of education and research is the science itself. The individual record, including the number and quality of publications, and individual skills, such as language proficiency, should be what really matters during the admission. Nevertheless I still think that, due to the situation, to be a noteworthy researcher and contribute to science advancement better (I know, cliché), one must (?) be employed in a big university. Simple proof. Take a look at this. Most of the times it is correct.

Lastly, I should learn from Luca Toni.

Ah, I think I’ll take numerous postdoc positions first. Moving to Japan, Ireland, or Sweden may be good options. I can continue my career there afterward. Beautiful countries.

I love the whole world, love my imagination…
Boom de yada boom de yada…

(Heyyyy!! Finish your Master and PhD first lah before thinking postdoc…)

PS: Muse’ songs are great for writing this kind of post. They will raise your geekiness significantly ;;)
PS2: Somehow I hope there is a tenured professor or admission committee that reads this post and gives some comments.
PS3: As for the elitism, I really really hope I am wrong. I mean it.
PS4: Thanks to Mr Yayan for his suggestion about mechanical device and Mr Eric for the short interview. As for Mr Yayan, sorry for not using your suggestion. I found out that that was OOT.
PS5: I remember there is a former Professor of Computer Graphics in University of Utah, Michael Ashikhmin, who quit this field, arguing that it had a problem with elitism, especially with the existence of ACM SIGGRAPH, the most adhered prestigitious conference in Computer Graphics. So?

Images are taken from Wikimedia and Despair.

Karena sudah janji, terpaksa saya harus tulis. Sengaja saya tulis dalam Bahasa Indonesia.

Selasa 9 Desember 2008. Saya berangkat bersama Papi Budi (bisa juga lihat di blog dia untuk postingan yang lebih serius) ke Suntec untuk registrasi ulang. Beruntung bagi dia, dia langsung dapat tanda pengenalnya. Sial bagi saya, saya harus nunggu 45 menit karena tanda pengenal saya, yang harusnya saya dapatkan saya itu, tidak ada di kolom W, yang merupakan huruf pertama nama belakang saya. Di samping saya ada mister-mister yang mengalami nasib yang sama. Bedanya, beliau terkesan rada mangkel, kalo saya nyantai ajah…hahaha . Sembari menunggu, saya dan Papi Budi berjalan-jalan, dan kemudian berkenalan dengan Mobeen, mahasiswa lab sebelah asal Pakistan yang ternyata menjadi salah satu panitia konferensi. BTW, kapan ya saya bisa punya jenggot kaya dia?

Rabu, 11 Desember 2008. Pagi, datang agak telat (mana saya tahu kalo jalan dekat NTU itu kalo pagi macet, la ga pernah keluar pagi), saya menghadiri course Interactive Massive Model Rendering sampai sore. Ga begitu ngerti, tapi ya sudahlah -__- . Inti kuliah ini adalah bagaimana komputer bisa menampilkan objek yang besar dengan frame per second yang cukup tinggi sehingga memberikan efek interaktivitas bagi pengguna. Tantangan utamanya adalah…ya struktur data yang besar itu.

Saat istirahat makan siang saya berkenalan dengan beberapa teman dari ruang lab utama (FYI, saya ngendon ga di ruang utama, tapi ruang baru). Saya juga membeli sebuah souvenir yaitu mug SIGGRAPH seharga SGD 15 (duh mahalnya), kemudian juga membeli 2 buah buku ini. Saya salah strategi, karena Sabtunya ada diskon

Malamnya, saya pulang bersama Papi Budi dan Mbak Xu Xiang, salah seorang dari ruang lab utama. Setelah sampai di Jurong Point Mall, saya pulang sendiri sementara mereka berdua pacaran belanja. Sebetulnya saya curiga, apa Papi Budi ini ada apa-apa dengan Mbak Xu Xiang, kok suka banget nggodain

*ampun Papi xP *

Kamis, 11 Desember 2008. Saya datang telat sekitar 30 menit. Lha gimana lagi. Nguantuk pol, karena saya pulang hari sebelumnya cukup malam sementara harus blogwalking mengerjakan tugas dari bossnya lab. Sesi pertama yang saya datangi adalah GPU-based Method. Karena datang telat, saya ga bisa ngikuti presentasi yang saya nantikan, GPU-based Crowd Simulation. FYI, 3 presentator pertama dari AMD, salah satunya adalah Joshua Barczak, dan yang terakhir Mbak ini: [link]

Sesi kedua, karena tidak ada yang menarik bagi saya, saya memilih jalan-jalan melihat pameran Emerging Technologies bersama Papi Budi dan teman dari lab utama, William Lai. Pada sesi ini dipamerkan barang-barang seni elektronik dan juga teknologi antarmuka mutakhir. Seperti dugaan saya, pameran ini dikuasai orang Jepang. Pada bidang Ilmu Komputer, mereka maju pada topik ini. Salah satu yang menarik buat saya adalah program theRelativity bikinan Jun Fujiki. Susah menjelaskannya dengan kata-kata, jadi lebih baik kunjungi websitenya saja. Intinya: bagaimana caranya seseorang bisa berjalan dengan biasa pada platform yang tidak tersambung. Teknik yang dia buat dipakai dalam game untuk PS3 dan PSP, Echochrome.

Kami juga menyempatkan diri melihat presentasi poster. Dan lagi-lagi Papi Budi mengeluarkan teknik rayuannya. Kali ini korbannya adalah seorang mahasiswi dari Korea yang kuliah di Jepang. Tobat Papi, tobaaat..sudah tua…

*dilempar tombak*

Ehm…waktu makan siang, saya ketemu Mbak Meng Yang yang barusan presentasi lagi makan juga, mungkin sama ibunya. Kok saya ga kenalan ya?

(gimana Papi, apakah rekues Facebooknya diapprove?)

Setelah makan siang, saya mengikuti sesi Technical Paper dengan topik Character Animation, yang merupakan bidang peminatan saya. Ada sebuah paper yang cukup menarik yang dipresentasikan oleh Hubert Shum. Kira-kira isinya sebagai berikut: dengan masukan beberapa rekaman jurus beladiri hasil mocap, susunlah sebuah adegan gangbang satu orang karakter utama melawan banyak orang ala film laga. Karena ada yang kurang jelas, saya pun memberi pertanyaan kepadanya. Bukan menguji, bertanya saja.

Setelah selesai, saya mengikuti course Virtual Human yang dibawakan oleh suami istri pionir manusia virtual, Daniel Thalmann dan Nadia Magnenat Thalmann. Pionir, karena sebelum ada orang lain melakukannya, mereka duluan yang mengadakan penelitian untuk membuat manusia palsu, baik di komputer maupun robot. Menariknya, walaupun aplikasinya sama, mereka menggunakan pendekatan yang berbeda. Daniel menggunakan pendekatan Kecerdasan Buatan, sedangkan Nadia, sesuai gelar undergraduatenya, Psikologi. Oh ya, sekedar info, karya mereka yang terkenal adalah Marilyn Monroe virtual, yang pada 1980an menjadi state of the art.

Malam pun datang dan kami pun pulang. Kali ini kayanya saya cuma berdua sama Papi Budi. Lupa saya, padahal baru 2 minggu yang lalu…

Jumat, 12 Desember 2008. Saya memulai hari dengan mengambil course Matematis yang berat. Discrete Differential Geometry. Sebenarnya saya tertarik dengan aplikasinya pada Animasi berbasis Fisika, tapi ternyata cakupannya lebih luas, jadi ya…ga begitu paham ~__~. Namun harus saya akui, ketiga Profesor yang mengajar course ini mengerikan, dan merupakan kombinasi yang unik. Mengerikan, karena mereka menjelaskan dengan gamblang dengan cara masing-masing. Bukankah seperti itu guru yang hebat? Kombinasi yang unik, karena terdiri atas 2 orang dengan tampang serius dan satu orang yang tampangnya biasa saja . Peter Schröder, dengan rambut gondrongnya dan T-shirt -nya yang melekat di badan serta dimasukkan ke celana jeans, mengingatkan saya pada sosok Paul Michael Levesque aka Triple H. Max Wardetzky, yang menurut saya paling mudah dimengerti, berkat analogi yang sering dia pakai. Mathieu Desbrun, penampilannya lebih santai, berbeda dengan dua sebelumnya, tetapi saya yakin beliau menyimpan suatu pemikiran filosofis yang luar biasa. Kenapa? Karena pada salah satu pertanyaan yang dia berikan tersisip sebuah pilihan yang ternyata adalah jawaban atas hidup, dunia, dan segalanya!

Saya harus menyelesaikan course ini sebelum sadar bahwa di buku pedoman course ini dilabeli “Advanced”. Yah, pantesan banyak ga pahamnya ~.~

Malamnya, setelah acara selesai, kami mengikuti makan-makan makan malam, standing party, di Marina Barrage. Makan malam termewah yang pernah saya ikuti. Minumannya champagne (ERRATUM: wine) (walaupun saya ga begitu sreg minum minuman beralkohol, karena saya baru tahu waktu minuman dah habis setengah, ya sudah lanjutkan saja, lagipula sekali-sekali juga gakpapa, belum tentu 5 tahun sekali minum ini ). Makanannya seperti makanan Melayu, satenya seperti sate Ponorogo. Ya, belajar dari pengalaman menghadiri pernikahan model standing party begini yang telah lalu, saat itu saya ga ambil banyak. Kata orang, kekenyangan itu ga baik. Ambillah secukupnya

Saya di sini muter-muter lewat jembatannya. Sayang ga bawa kamera. Kamera HP saya ga bagus untuk motret malam-malam. Aslinya di konferensi ga boleh motret, tapi sebenarnya kalo dah acara di luar begini gakpapa. Lagipula saya ga punya kamera .

Setelah capek jalan-jalan, ngrecoki boss kami yang lagi nostalgia sama keluarga mantan bossnya, dan akhirnya bisa bersalaman dengan beliau, kami menghampiri teman-teman lab. Dari sini saya semakin sadar kalau…yah, silakan baca post saya yang ini: [link]. Kemudian kami berdua jalan lagi ke dermaga, terus pulang deh.

Sebenarnya kalo berduaan sama cewek asik juga, tapi kok ya saya berduaan sama Papi Budi x( .

Sabtu, 13 Desember 2008. Hari terakhir. Saya banyak mengikuti sesi Technical Paper dan Sketches. Sesi pertama adalah Visual Simulation, bagaimana mensimulasikan gejala alam dengan komputer. Salah satu yang dipresentasikan adalah simulasi api untuk film Hellboy 2.

Sesi kedua yang saya ikuti adalah Non-Photorealistic Rendering. Seperti kita lihat pada game maupun film, biasanya animasi menggunakan model 3D hasilnya ya 3D, tapi dengan teknik ini kita bisa membuat animasi 2D dengan model 3D. Efek 2D seperti cat air maupun arsiran bisa ditampakkan pada animasi. Di sini saya mengajukan sebuah pertanyaan, tapi kok kesannya cupu ya? Tebar pesona gagal deh

Setelah makan siang, saya mengikuti sesi Urban Modelling. Ya itu, membuat kota secara otomatis. Sebenarnya tidak terlalu cocok dengan riset saya, tapi ternyata ada teknik yang menginspirasi untuk menghubungkan sebuah titik dengan titik lain dalam suatu lingkungan maya.

Untuk sesi terakhir, saya masuk ke sesi Physically-based Animation. Kita memprogram lingkungan untuk mensimulasikan hukum Fisika. Seperti biasa, kebanyakan berurusan dengan Fluid Dynamics. Kok ga ada yang simulasi Fisika Kuantum, String Theory, dll gitu ya?

Mbahmu

Ah ya, saya sebenarnya tertarik untuk meneliti ini nanti waktu PhD. Biar agak ilmiah gitu ;;)

Setelah semua sesi resmi berakhir, sekarang kami menonton film animasi di Electronic Theatre. Ya, selain para ilmuwan, SIGGRAPH juga memiliki sesi ini sebagai ajang unjuk gigi para artis. Saya sudah lupa banyak filmnya (hehe) tapi ada beberapa yang saya ingat. Adegan dari Appleseed: Ex Machina. Sudah pernah nonton bajakannya sih, tapi teknik Non-Photorealistic Rendering yang dipakai keren. Film lain yang menarik buat saya: E.T.A., Fly Out Blue, Hugh, Jungle Jail, Kudan (cuma trailer), Replay, This Way Up (cuma trailer).

Terus pulang, bareng-bareng. Sesampainya di Jurong Point, karena saya sendiri yang naik bus 199 , saya mengucapkan kata perpisahan ke yang lainnya. “Zàijiàn!”

Minggu, 14 Desember 2008. Bangun kesiangan. Ga ke gereja.

Selesai.

Sekedar bukti kalo ini bukan hoax:

Oh iya, sebagai bonus, ini makanan yang saya dan Papi Budi makan saat sebuah makan malam di Suntec (bukan yang di Marina Barrage). Saya makan nasi biryani lauk ayam (foto bawah), Papi makan Thunder Tea Rice (foto paling bawah) (namanya dahsyaaat!!1 ).

——————————————

Jadi, prestasi saya adalah:

• Pertama kalinya minum champagne (ERRATUM: wine). Rasanya? Pahit! Ga suka saya!

• Pertama kalinya ngobrol dengan orang Hongkong.

• Pertama kalinya melihat orang Israel.

• Pertama kalinya makan makanan Korea.

• Menanyakan beberapa pertanyaan di sesi Technical Paper. Semoga bukan orang Indonesia pertama yang menjadi penanya di sesi ini di konferensi SIGGRAPH sebelumnya.

• Bersalaman dengan bossnya boss, Tomoyuki Nishita.

• Bertemu dengan suami istri pionir manusia virtual.

• Melihat beberapa tokoh Computer Graphics lain, seperti Nelson Max, Kurt Akeley, dll. Coba kalau ada Ivan Sutherland, pasti lebih maknyus lagi. Apalagi Alan Turing, bakal semakin horor…heheh

Long long centuries ago I wrote about Anggun who changed her citizenship into French, but still has the feeling as Indonesian and dedicates her body and soul to Indonesia *halah*. I have also read about Indonesian-born Andy Tielman, the frontman of Tielman Brothers, among the first rock n roll bands in the world, and probably the first in Netherland, the first who owned Gibson Les Paul in Netherland (the list won’t stop), with their song, Stranger in My Land (please play the video below to find out what this song is about).

But now it is my friend that faces the same dilemma. He is an Indonesian physics PhD student who almost graduates (3-4 years from now) (the PhD programme itself takes 4 years, so, yeah, he is still in his first year ) and plans to do postdoc afterwards. The postdoc programme that he is interested to apply urges him to change citizenship. So, which one should he take? Taking this programme in change for his citizenship, or seeking another programme but with “longer and more winding road”? Currently he decides not to take this programme and look for another programme that does not need him to change citizenship. His senior, a Chinese citizen, was also offered the same programme, but she declined, since “She is a proud Chinese”, said my friend about her.

I read his catharsis note in his Facebook, and, yeah, it is interesting to me, who often thinks about this citizenship and nationality issue. While he and several others persisted to be Indonesian by citizenship, a prominent figure in Indonesian Theoretical Physics Community who has been working abroad for several years pointed out the differences between concepts of nationality and citizenship. He said that, while he could change his passport 100x, he would be Indonesian by nationality till death do us part.

The risk of citizenship change is not easy to handle anyway. Yes, even though you can enjoy facilities offered by your new country, it will be harder to go back to your home country when you miss her. You know: visa, travel, the like. You can lose things commonly found in your home country but hard to find in your new country. Say, I change my citizenship to Singaporean. In an island this narrow, chances to have private home like in Indonesia is very scarce. Lastly, I don’t need to say that you have to obey rules that may sound weird in your previous country, but are applied in your new country. If I were to be a Singaporean, South Korean, or even Israeli, for example, my descendants (or maybe I) would need to enter NS, something not present in Indonesia.

…oh, OK, that was not the last. Another obstacle is facing denunciation from ex-fellows of citizenship. Two examples. A member of Beasiswa mailing list, that I join, assume his name is Z, a humanity NGO worker, wrote his opinion and plan to change his citizenship to Canadian in order to achieve higher position in his career more easily. Yeaaah…as you can predict, some members, either via PM directly to him or the public folder in mailing list, stated their disagreement toward his opinion. One even explicitly expressed his disgust, stating that Z only wanted the bling bling money.

Another example. Not exactly about citizenship change. I asked some friends about their opinions regarding Indonesian expats working abroad, especially in the field of academia. I refer to some Indonesians that take professorships in universities in other countries. Some friends accused them of not being nationalists, and of betraying their home country. If they were nationalists, they would be working in Indonesian universities. Being a perfect Devil’s Advocate (you know what I mean lah…heheheh ), I argued that had they worked in Indonesia, they could not get the same achievements. Then I showed them some foreign researchers. The late Abdus Salam, the first Nobel Laurate from Pakistan, who worked in Imperial College London, founded The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, enabling physics researchers from developing countries to contribute to development of Theoretical Physics. Another example is Lotfi Zadeh, Iranian of Azeri descendant Professor Emeritus in University of California at Berkeley, the inventor of Fuzzy Logic. If they worked in their home countries, can they achieve that? I forget how this ended up. It seemed like I won the debate .

If people think this way about Indonesian professors working in universities abroad, how will they respond if one of their friends converts citizenship? What will they practically do?

I would like to mention some advantages of “giving your soul to another country”. I have ever watched a badminton match between two European countries in a prestigious competition, now in final phase. Guess what. All players are Chinese. If I were a Chinese, I would be really really proud of my nation.

Now take a look at some universities in USA and UK. Any universities: Oxbridge, Ivy League, mid-class universities, and count how many Chinese- and Indian-educated professors are there. Again, if I were a Chinese or Indian, I would be really really proud.

My opinion about this matter evoluted over time. When I was a child, having been fed up by the doctrine of nationalism in school, I decided not to change citizenship, ever! I wouldn’t even live permanently abroad, in contrast to what my father told me. I forgot why, but somehow at a point when I was really disappointed to Indonesia, I searched for procedures to change citizenship, and among the first targets was Scandinavian country. Hell, what countries are better to live in than them? OK, then I changed my mind. I thought that God won’t put me inside Indonesia if I cannot do something for her (WOW WOW NOW I AM TURNING RELIGIOUS LOLOLOL). I won’t change my citizenship unless it is very critical, e.g. if I will be persecuted in my own country. Now I changed my mind again. If I can contribute to humanity better, it’s OK to change citizenship. I can still visit my family and friends in Indonesia anyway, or even contribute to development of Indonesia, just like what my father said, “live outside, work for inside”. Somewhat fluctuative, eh?

So, my brother, whatever option you choose, go to Cambridge, Oxford, or Harvard lah. Find a wife first and then you two move there to contribute to humanity. Can can?

*halah*
(halah)
:halah:
~halaaa~~~~hh~

To conclude this post, let me half-quote Lotfi Zadeh.

The question really isn’t whether I’m American, Russian, Iranian, Azerbaijani, or anything else. The question is, what can I do for humanity and civilization?

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BTW, another quote of the day.

“Breaking a pledge…breaking a pledge of loyalty neutrality is a Knight Journalist’s highest disgrace. But…But I am…I am…I AM!!! I AM a human first and a Knight Journalist second!!! I don’t need your title! I resign myself to your disgrace! But I will never forgive you!!! I can never look idly by while lives are being thrown away!!!”

~ Sir Miklotov in Suikoden II Muntader al-Zaidi in another dimension, an RPG geek, while performing the same action as another him in this dimension

A & B: (ngobrol pake Bahasa Mandarin)

C: Zàijiàn!

A & B: …Zàijiàn…

(C pergi)

A: C can speak Mandarin?

D (ga bisa bahasa Mandarin juga): No, he has just started to learn that. He said that it was hard to socialize here if he couldn’t speak Mandarin.

————
PS: Semi-fiksional, semi-faktual.
PS2: zàijiàn = sampai jumpa
PS3: Tulisan SIGGRAPH Part 2 nya nanti dulu ya

Yes, next week I will be attending ACM SIGGRAPH Asia!

ACM SIGGRAPH is allegedly the most prestigious Computer Graphics conference in the world. It has been annually held in USA since 1974. SIGGRAPH Asia is basically its “branch” in Asia, to make access by Asian universities easier (attending such a conference in USA is very very very expensive you know. It may take several thousands US dollars). And having the first SIGGRAPH Asia held in Singapore, just about 20 km from where I live, I don’t need to pay hotel fee and only pay a few Singapore Dollars for transportation via MRT.

There is a but.
But.
The entrance fee is very expensiiiiiivvvee!!!!!!
SGD 450 lor…. You ripped me off!! T_T

It’s OK. I mean, compared to what I will get, this fee is quite acceptable. This conference will be held in Yokohama next year, and I am not sure if I will have enough budget to attend it…unless I write a paper and get it submitted there, so that I can apply for travel fund from NTU or ACM.
Too bad, I only become a visitor now, as I don’t submit any paper. I haven’t finished any research .

Oh yeah, the list of accepted papers can be reached here. There will be leading professors in this area such as Daniel Cohen-Or (Tel Aviv University), Paul Debevec (University of Southern California), Jessica Hodgins (Carnegie Mellon University), Henrik Wann Jensen (University of California San Diego), Tomoyuki Nishita (University of Tokyo), and Dinesh Manocha (University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill).
There will also be representatives from a lot of highly respected universities!
From Asia, universities from China (either Mainland China, Hong Kong, or Taiwan) and Israel dominate. The rest come from Japan, Singapore, South Korea…

Only 5 regions from Asia? I mean, where are universities from India (the IITs), Thailand (the 2nd South East Asian country that has its university listed in HEEACT rank), Malaysia…

OK then, I’ll write again after the event is over.

*written while listening to Röyksopp’s songs*

Ten Seven years ago
You were The Lady
And I was just a kid
normally not allowed to see you
I secretly admired your beauty

Now you’re gone
Moving far, far away from the throne
and become common people
But I’m sure, your charm remains…

But we are still apart…

When I see your photograph
I remember the glorious days
When you were on top
with a smile on your face

Siapa bilang setan itu menakutkan? Mukanya ramah gini kok

Tadi malem barusan nonton Crossroads di Youtube. Bukan, bukan Crossroads-nya Tante Britney Spears, tapi Crossroads-nya Ralph Maccio, aka Karate Kid. Pernah dengar film ini? Ada 2 tontonan wajib guitar freak Indonesia: video tutorial nggitarnya Marty Friedman versi Bahasa Jawa, sama duel gitar antara Steve Vai dan Ralph Maccio. Yang terakhir ini juga berlaku untuk guitar freak internasional. Hehe . Nah, duel gitar ini adalah salah satu adegan dari film Crossroads yang dibuat tahun 1986 ini.

Cerita film ini semi-faktual, berdasarkan legenda pionir Blues, Robert Johnson, yang menjual dirinya ke setan untuk mendapatkan skill bermain gitar di sebuah perempatan jalan, hence the title of the movie. Ga, jangan membayangkan perempatan di kota, karena Eyang Robert ga bakal bikin kontrak, mati duluan terlindas stom *jayus*. Salah satu rumor mengatakan bahwa perempatan ini terletak di sebuah daerah (yang dulunya, sekarang ga tau) pedesaan di Mississipi, di persimpangan antara Highway 1 dan 8, kurang lebih di sini. Rumor lain mengatakan persimpangan itu ada di antara Highway 61 dan 49, tapi maaf ga berhasil dapet petanya.

(Johnson meninggal tahun 1938. Sila lihat foto salah satu batu nisannya di sini. Batu nisannya ada 3.)

Nah, pusat dari film ini…ya itu, si Karate Kid Ralph Maccio, yang memerankan Eugene Martone, pelajar gitar klasik yang lebih suka bermain Blues, yang ingin mencari lagu Robert Johnson yang hilang/tidak pernah dirilis. Untuk mencarinya, dia dibantu Willie Brown, legenda blues juga, temannya Johnson, yang diperankan Joe Seneca (orangnya sudah meninggal tahun 1996). Karakter Willie Brown ini berdasarkan orang yang benar-benar ada, dan benar-benar temannya Robert Johnson, tapi Brown yang di film berbeda. Brown yang asli meninggal tahun 1952. Silakan lihat kuburannya di sini.

Singkat cerita, mereka bertemu dengan setan (fotonya di atas) yang menawarkan kemampuan bermain gitar kepada Johnson di Mississipi. Ternyata si Brown juga terikat kontrak dengannya, dan perjalanan dari New York ke New Jersey Mississipi ternyata "hanya" untuk memutuskan kontrak dengan setan. Lagu yang hilang? Bah, ga ada itu! Semua akal-akalan Brown, biar Eugene mau ikut! Namun demikian setelah beberapa patah kata mutiara, Eugene ingin membantu Brown lepas dari cengkeraman setan. Caranya? Duel gitar. Dengan beliau di bawah ini.

Steve Vai.

Singkat cerita, Eugene menang (come on, this is just an ordinary Hollywood film! What do you expect?). Nah, kalo ga salah analisis, dia menang karena bisa memainkan lagu klasik dengan gitar Telecasternya itu (PINGIIIINNNNN!!!!), berkat pelajaran musik klasik, dan Steve Vai tidak bisa mengalahkannya. Jreng. Selesai. Happy ending.

Dilihat dari segi alur, alur ceritanya linear, tidak seperti The Prestige yang aduhai itu.
Dilihat dari segi artisnya…well..siapa sih ga kenal Karate Kid?
Selain itu, saya bisa melihat masih adanya sentimen rasial di Mississipi pada zaman itu (1980an), dilihat dari 1) adanya klub kulit putih dan klub kulit hitam, serta 2) pandangan ga enak orang-orang di klub kulit hitam kepada Eugene. Tentu saja ini kalau filmnya menggambarkan situasi beneran. Tapi kayanya beneran, walaupun mungkin waktu 1980an dah ga ada. Gara-gara KKK?
Di luar yang disebut di atas, mbuh lah, saya bukan ahli pelem film

BTW, saya sendiri sebenarnya bukan penggemar Blues. Lagu blues yang saya suka secara spesifik cuma 2: Yer Blues-nya The Beatles, yang juga pernah dimainkan The Dirty Mac, yang terdiri atas John Lennon (The Beatles) (meninggal tahun 1980), Eric Clapton (Cream), Keith Richards (The Rolling Stones), dan Mitch Mitchell (Jimi Hendrix Experience) (astaga, orang ini barusan meninggal 12 November 2008, 2 minggu yang lalu!! ); sama satu lagi Roadhouse Blues-nya The Doors.
Saya lebih suka Rock n Roll!! (YOU GOTTA WATCH THIS!)

BTW2, kalau Anda pernah melihat video duel gitar ini, Anda pasti merasakan perbedaan sound gitar mentah Ralph Maccio, yang terkesan jadul (la tahun 1950/1960an efek gitar adanya apa sih? ) dengan sound gitar Steve Vai, yang kental unsur glam rock 80annya. Nah, saya lebih suka yang pertama
Pokoke Rock n Roll maknyus lah!
Dan itu salah satu alasan saya ngidam Telecaster!

Pictures are taken from Youtube (Joe Morton), and Photobucket (Steve Vai).

UPDATE : Saya lupa menuliskan bahwa ada adegan ketika Eugene menapak tilas (EYD?) Robert Johnson dengan bermain gitar di bawah pohon di perempatan itu. Upacara memanggil setan. Ga perlu bunuh-bunuhan, Black Mass segala. Cukup bermain gitar blues

Nulis dikit aja sebelum saya ganti baju dan main DotA.

Habis ujian. 3D Modeling: Bezier Curve, B-Spline, Subdivision Surface. Rumusnya buanyak. Full matematika. Geometri dan Topologi. Otak kepanasan. Hence the title.

Agak cemas. Ada yang salah. Tapi biarlah. Temen saya yang ini dulu juga ada yang salah, tapi dia dapat A+. Yah semoga saja yang lain ujiannya pada jelek nilainya saya dapat skor yang tinggi. Amin. (Ga termasuk yang dicoret)

OK.

STRAAAATTTTT!!!!!