The Strangest Marriage Ritual from All Around The World

Marriage is the most solemn pledge we make in our lifetimes. It is the greatest joy of human existence, the pure joy that flows from two hearts beating as one. Well... that's what people say. But frankly, My Dear, marriage is not as simple as pledging in front of our Priest and family, then riding a "Just Married" car, and taking your honeymoon in some Carribean Islands. In some places, marriage is a very complicated ritual that not easy to make. It takes sacrifice and big-heart to accept the ritual. And some people believe, by doing the ritual, your marriage will be last long, even longer.

There are several strangest marriage rituals from all around the world that I am collecting. I hope, by reading this article, you are not only amaze with other people's culture, but also feel so blessed to have your best soul mate by your side.

MIDDLE EAST : PARTY & PARTY ALL THE TIME

I think one of the most expensive but merrier marriage celebration is in Middle East. In many parts of Middle East, it is very common to have five different parties for the wedding ceremony. The first party will be The Engagement Party. The bride and groom invite family and friends to have a festive party, with lotta foods, dancing, singing, and happy music. It is an all night long party.

Then, the second party takes place in the day when the bride and groom go to the courthouse to sign their marriage contract. After that, family and friends are invited again to celebrate it. They party and dancing with happy music again.

The third party is taking place one day before the wedding. This party is called Hena, in which the bride and groom sit together while several unmarried girls hold a white cloth on their heads. One of the girl (called "The Grinding Girl") grinds together two lumbs of sugar above the couples' heads while asking God to repel all evil spirits from the young couple's life. In the party, the bride is wearing green dress. Hena Party usually ended at the dawn on the day of the wedding.

The fourth will be the main wedding reception party (fiuh... finally....!!!!). In this party, the bride and groom exchange wedding rings. Same as regular wedding party, this party have speeches from each member of the bride and the groom family, dancing, singing, and eating. Usually each guest is given 5 almond pieces, in which a symbol of five sacred wedding wishes (Health, Happiness, Wealth, Fertility, and Longevity).

Finish? Naaah.... there is another one. The final party takes place 7 days after the fourth party. It's called Sabaa, which means Seven. The Sabaa is held at the home of the bride's mother and only women attend. They bring the bride presents and in this opportunity, the bride's mother traditionally gives her daughter gold or diamonds.

So... if you have intention to have a wedding in Middle East's tradition, save your wallet and energy. You're gonna need it. Very much.....!!!

SCOTTISH : BLACKENING THE BRIDE

It is quiet a weirdest pre-wedding tradition I ever heard (hey... whose the one who came out with this idea at first place?). But it's true : Either the bride or the groom (sometimes both, depend on the particular family) is taken by surprise and covered with very smelly things (and substances), such as spoiled milk, eggs, sauces, ..... and other yucky stuffs....!!! After officially "blackened", then they paraded around the town for all to see. 

GERMANY :LOG SAWING

It is a German wedding tradition that test the bride and groom physical skills. After the couple are married, a log is positioned between two sawhorses and they must saw it in half working together. The meaning of this tradition is a sign of how they will handle things together once they are married.

INDIAN : STEALING THE GROOM'S SHOES
Sounds odd, but fun. During the ceremony, the groom has to remove his shoes prior to entering the alter to be married. Members of the bride's family are obligated to try to steal the groom shoes, meanwhile the groom's family must protect the shoes, and they will go to extreme measures in order to hide the shoes. If the bride's family is successful in stealing the groom's shoes, then the groom must pay whatever amount of money they request to get the shoes back. Hmm.... remind me with my childhood hide-and-chase's game. ^_^

AFRICAN :A NIGHTMARE ON THE 1ST NIGHT

Villagers people in Africa are expecting that every girls are still virgin before they are getting married. So in order to make sure that thing, in some certain villages, right after the wedding ceremony, an older woman will accompany the couple to their bedroom. Her presence is to direct the couple and explain what they should do. If  the new bride seems a little too experienced on her wedding night, the older woman can complain to the village and the marriage can be dismissed. Usually the older women are village elders, but sometimes also the bride's mother or even her mother-in-law.

ITALY : TALISMAN & SHATTERED VASE
In Italy, the groom is carrying a talisman (piece of iron) in his pocket during the wedding day. The talisman was believed to ward off misfortune. When wedding party is coming to an end, the newly married couple shatter a vase or glass into many pieces. The number of pieces represented the expected number of years they would be happily married. So if you want to "happily ever after", smash the vase into dust-pieces.

MEXICO : A GIFT OF 13 COINS

During the wedding day in Mexico, the groom bestows his bride a gift of 13 coins - called arras - which is representing Jesus and His 12 Apostles. The coins are to be blessed by the priest and bear the groom's promise to care for and provide for his wife.

CHINA : CRYING IN A WEDDING 

It's actually a very ancient ritual. I even hardly believe it's still exist now. But I read in some website, they mentioned this ritual still be done. Usually it is the bride and her female family members who did this ritual. The ritual is like this : One month before the wedding, a bride is starting her weep tradition and cries for an hour. Ten days later, her mother joins and cries together with the bride. Another ten days later, her grandmothers, sisters, and aunts contribute to the flood. They are not just crying, but there is some tones they must follow. This crying ritual is called "Crying Marriage Song", in which a celebration of happy times.

10 WACKIEST BANDS IN THE WORLD

Some bands - especially rock bands - are popular because of their music (you know Led Zeppelin with their memorable Stairway to Heaven, or Mettalica with their Enter the Sandman). But you also know that some others are popular just because of their acts on stage (well.... Greenday or Marylin Manson can be in the list....).

Apart from those two kinds of bands, there are some others that not only popular because of their music, but also their performance and what they wore on the stage. A little wacky, unusual, and totally did not support their music. But that's what make them stars. Well... let's see how wacky they really are:

1. KUBURAN BAND :

Kuburan Band

Literally, their band means "The Graveyard Band". They usually dressed up very scary : White face with a very scary make up and dress like vampires or zombies. You might thought they are heavy metal rock band (Well... Slipknot and Kiss also dress like that....). Wait till you hear their song.... you might be surprised that their song is much more a pop song than metal. Yep.... Kuburan Band is a very popular band from Indonesia. Founded in Bandung on September 11, 2001, they have been well-known in indie music community and oftenly contributed their performance in a lot of indie-music concert. Even they proclaimed themselves as THE 2ND MOST GOTHIC BAND IN THE WORLD, but in fact,their music is pop-rock with funny lyric. Their first commercial album was released in 2006 and it's called BOOMING ! BEE ARE THE KILL YOUNG PEN THINK GUN THANK (it's not actual English words, but Indonesia slank, which means "Even We Are Not Taking A Bath Yet, But We Still Handsome"), in which become a big hit. Their single "Lupa Lupa Ingat" (I Don't Remember) is a very phenomenal song a very popular during that time. This group is still exist and actively performing their acts.

2. PSYCHO LE CEMU :

Psycho Le Cemu

I don't think they are rock band, are you? Althought their wore anime outfits - and might be dress like a video game characters - But they really are. Known as Japanese visual rock band, Psycho (which formed in 1999) is one of the famous rock band. They always made different sets of costums for each of their performance. Their first album - Doppelganger - was released in September 2001 and become a hit. Their popularity is keep growing until May 2005, when Daishi - the lead singer of Psycho - was arrested due to the positivity of using methamphetamine while did urinalysis in Kanagawa. The band went into hiatus and all of the members are taking their own side projects, until 2009, when all members of the band reunite for the band's 10th Anniversary tour called 10th Anniversary - Legend of Sword.

3. PYRAMID BAND :

Piramid Band

Althought their outfit is Latino dress, but don't be surprise when you hear their song. The song and the outfits did not match at all. Pyramid Band (not to be confused with USA's band called Pyramid) is Indonesia pop-rock band. Founded in Palembang, South Sumatera, in 2008, Pyramid Band is a boy-band that usually played pop in Malay's tone, and become very famous in South Sumatera recently. One of their well-known performance is wearing Latino dress while performing on the stage.

4. THE CHANGCUTERS :

The Changcutters

Another bands from Indonesia that also have a weird performance is The Changcuters (literally means "men's underwear" in Sundanese - local dialect of West Java). Since their first performance in 2005 until today, they always dress-up like 60's rock and roll British Band. Same as what they wore, this band also performed Brit's garage rock and roll music, in which not a popular music genre in Indonesia that time. But later on, their music can be accepted by audiences in Indonesia. Until today, they already released 3 albums and still active do performances.

5.TRIO MACAN : 

Trio Macan

Trio Macan (Trio Tigress) actually is a trio-girl-singers from East Java, Indonesia who usually performing dangdut songs (one of Indonesia's music genre). They were formed since 2006 and become one of the most controversy dangdut group singers. Since their first appearance, people has critisizing their lack of singing capability. But somehow, they are gaining a lot of appreciation and awards, such as Best Dangdut Group in MTV Indonesia Awards  2006. Their trade mark is always wearing tiger stripe body-shape clothes, doing erotic & energic dances in every of their performance. Because of their hot jump, fast and raugh dances, sometimes one of their top cloth was accidently took off. Upps....

6. BOSS HOG:

Boss Hog

Nothing strange with this band actually. They are regular American punk blues rock band that offering a very loud and abrasive sound of their music (well... which rock band that did not play loud sound?). The only different thing is : their lead singer - Cristina Martinez - usually performed in confrontational full nudity. Yep, the band that formed in 1989, usually performed with such a controversy performance in their earlier show. They never did it anymore in the present, but... well.... who knows? ^_^

7. BLUE MAN GROUP :

Blue Man Project

Actually they are not spesifically music band, but a creative organization whose producing theatrical shows and concert, featuring music, comedy, and multimedia. They did some record of music and scores for film and television, such as Terminator 3 : The Rise of the Machines, Scrubs, The Tonight Show, Arrested Development, and Las Vegas. They never have same members in their band. However, they always performed in trio that appear to have blue skin, no voice, no hairs and ears. Most of their music is rock-oriented and experimental music. Mostly in their show, they perform percussion and any other "wacky" instruments (airpoles, drumbone, PVC Pipes and tubes).

8. GAY FOR JOHNNY DEPP :

Gay for Johnny Depp

Well.... seems like there are no any other band who obsessed to their idol as much as this band. This New Yorkers hardcore band is known for the lyrical content of their songs, which is often concerned with the band's homoerotic obssesion over the actor Johnny Depp. Well.... even their music is fine, but if I was Johnny Depp, then I prefer not to stay close to them.

9. THE B-52S :

The B-52S

Look at them : They wore very cheerful print shirt. They look pretty nice, clean, and smooth. You thought you are going to watch a performance of the reggae band (they look very much a like UB-40, the British reggae band). Don't get shock when they start to sing their song such as Private Idaho or Good Stuff. It's punk-pop-rock...!! It's true.... The B-52s is a pop-rock bands that established since 1976 in Athens, Georgia. Since their early year, they already performed rock and roll, then become much popular after worked in other genres such as post-punk, and dance new wave. One of their most-known song is the Theme Song of The Flintstones : Movie (1994).

10. SUPERNOVA :

Supernova

Ever imagine how spacemen performed their music in earth? Well... watch Supernova, a Costa Mesa - California pop punk band. Performed since 1989, Supernova has been known as a band that always dressing in silver jumpsuits and custom-made space helmets. Their song, Chewbacca, was featured in the smash hit indie movie Clerks.

Dangdut is The Music of My Country....

Dangdut is the music of my country....

My country...
My country...oh, my country....
(Dangdut is the Music of My Country, populared by Project Pop)

One of the most unique music genre that originally comes from Indonesia is Dangdut. The music has similar tone with Indian and Arabian desert music, with more constant rhythm from beginning till end. The music had been known since 1940's when Indonesian musicians were developing an original musical tone for their local listeners. They came out with ideas to combine the rhythm of Indian and Middle East with additional traditional music equipments, such as tambour, rebana, and mandolin. The main instruments that been used in earlier dangdut era are accordion, flute, and violin.

The name of the "Dangdut" itself was given by a local magazine in 1970s and it is actually a cynical call because of the rhythm of the music itself ("dangdut" is the sound that produced by the tambour and tabla - the traditional music instrument from Arab, that sometimes been used in dangdut. The music itself usually played in a very steady and consistent rhythm - that sounds like “dang” and “dut” – from beginning till the end of the song), and also recognized as "music for low-class" by local music critics, due to its popularity among factory workers, maid, and sub-urban people that mostly living in poverty. 

THE BRIEF HISTORY OF DANDUT
In 1953, dangdut song had been introduced commercially by A. Harris - one of the well-known composers from Indonesia. His song - Kudaku Lari (My Horse is Running)- became a hit that time. But then, P. Ramlee - Malaysia composer - brought the idea to Malaysia and popularised the genre as "Melayu Music". The music genre became very popular in Malaysia and it's been claimed as Malaysia's music.

Rhoma Irama - The King of Dangdut

Then in 1960, Said Effendi - another composer from Indonesia - proved dangdut was from Indonesia and published a lot of popular dangdut's songs, such as Bahtera Laju (Row My Ark), Timang-timang (Hug and Hug), and Fatwa Pujangga (The Wisdom of The Poetry). Those songs are not only popular in Indonesia, but also in Malaysia. One of his most famous and classic dangdut songs was Seroja (Seroja, a name of the well-known flower from Indonesia).Until today, Seroja still been sang and a very well-known classic dangdut song in Indonesia.



In 1970's, Dangdut was becoming extremely popular when Rhoma Irama - a well-known dangdut singer and actor - used Dangdut as his tools for Islam's missionary endeavor. Not only sang the songs, Rhoma also used the songs for all of his movies that also very popular in 1970-1980s. Because of his dedication to popularised dangdut, many people give him a title as "Raja Dangdut" ("The King of Dangdut") and he still hold the title until today. Rhoma Irama is still active to create and publishing dangdut songs until today. His latest song - called Azza - is released in September 2010. In that song, he sings together with his son (which also a well-known dangdut singer in 2000's era) : Rhido Irama.

Elvy Sukaesih - The Queen of Dangdut

In the same era as Rhoma, Elvy Sukaesih also becomes a very well-known dangdut singer. She held the record as the first female dangdut singer who has sold more than 1,000 copies of album (it's very huge selling album that time, especially for dangdut record…). Because of her achievement, many people praise her as "Ratu Dangdut" (The Queen of Dangdut). And same as Rhoma Irama, she still hold the title till today, even she is semi-retired already now.

Because of Rhoma Irama and Elvy Sukaesih effort, the status of dangdut is stepping up to higher level and entering middle and high class society.

Since then, a lot of dangdut singers are rising. They are known and popular not only in Indonesia, but also in other countries, such as Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Philippine, Japan, Korea, even USA, and Australia. Some of the very well-known dangdut singers are :

1970 - 1980's : Rhoma Irama, Mansyur S, Mukhsin Alatas, Elvy Sukaesih, Camelia Malik, Ida Laila, Reynold Panggabean, and A. Rafiq.

1980 - 1990's : Iis Dahlia, Itche Tresnawaty, Hamdan ATT, Meggy Z, Evi Tamala, Ikke Nurjanah, Kristina, Cici Paramida, and Vetty Vera.

In 1990's era, the popularity of dangdut is declining due to the raising of pop and rock music. In additional, MTV is entering local tv station that time, introducing a lot of international musicians. It was also Boybands era when a lot of “cute baby face boys” are floating on the tv shows and doing a lot of live performances in Indonesia (Boyzone, Backstreet Boys, Westlife, Hanson, etc), while dangdut is drowning deeper and deeper each day.


THE ERA OF CONTROVERSY

Inul Daratista

The popularity of dangdut is rising again in the earliest of 2000s, thanks to the series of controversies. The most popular controversy is coming from East Java  (2003) when a dangdut singer called Inul Daratista strucked Indonesia with her "unusual erotic" acts of dance while performing dangdut on stage. Her "hip shaking" dance that been known as "Goyang Inul" or "Goyang Ngebor" (Drilling Shake, because when she shakes her hip, it looks like she is doing a drilling move). A lof of people voice out and said that dangdut become a "very indecent and amoral music that dedicated for uneducated people". Dangdut provokes young generation to do “pornography".

Some people were cursing Inul and blamed her from interpreted dangdut as a "shameless erotic and amoral" culture. That time, her performance has been banned from all television program. She's been forced to retired and never perform dangdut anymore. Althought many people attacked her from every sides, Inul was gaining her popularity when people finally realized her dedication to raising dangdut again. Recently, Inul is becoming the most respected dangdut singer in Indonesia. Some people also praised her as The Dangdut Icon.

Annisa Bahar

After Inul’s era, dangdut has been criticized as a performance that only sell erotic, not art. The criticisms are based on the performance of the singers on the stage (mostly made by female singers) that doing a lot of erotic and sensual dance. Also, dangdut’s song lyrics mostly consist of sexual content, such as Kucing Garong (Nasty Cat) and Belah Duren (Divided the Durian, a slank word referring to “making love").


Entering the year of  2000 and ahead, there are another 3 controversy dangdut singers who also raise some hells in Indonesia : Annisa Bahar, Dewi Persik, and Julia Perez.


Annisa Bahar has been known as a dangdut singer who usually performs "Tari Patah-Patah" (Break Dance). Not as regular "break dance", but she is moving her hip in stop-motion move. Same as Inul, she is having conflict with societies because of her performance. Recently, Annisa Bahar is no longer singing and semi-retiring from dangdut.

Dewi Persik

Meanwhile, Dewi Persik is also known as a dangdut singer who usually performing her own "unusual" dance performance called "Goyang Gergaji" (Saw Shake, a regular front and back move with a hand wave like sawing a wood use whipsaw). Besides that, she is also doing a lot of erotic moves while performing on stage. Because of her “wild dance”, there were some accidents happened during her acts, where her shirt suddenly took off in the middle of her acts. She is also well-known for her negative publicities, such as her two times divorce, the gossip about her abortion, and her feud with other local celebrities (the recent is with Julia Perez).

Julia Perez

Julia Perez's controversy might be the most shocking one. She is earlier known as a model, but later on become a dangdut singer. Her first album (and maybe the last) - called Kamasutra - become a hit and also been cursed by many people, because she included condoms as the souvenirs inside her albums. According to Jupe - Julia Perez's nickname - she did that because she is raising the tennagers awareness of AIDS. Her idea collects a huge protest from a lot of religion societies. Most people thought that what she did was supporting free-sex to young generation. In the end, all of her album was withdrawn and re-published without the condoms.

Shinta & Jojo performing Keong Racun

Recently in mid of 2010, dangdut has become popular again due to the lip-sync video that been uploaded to Youtube by two teenagers from East Java. Jojo and Shinta performed a dangdut lip-sync song called Keong Racun (The Poison Snail).  Soon their acts become very famous in Indonesia and the song became very popular. The funny thing is, even the song was popular, but the actual singer of this song – called Lissa – never been acknowledged and forgotten. Jojo and Shinta become a super star and oftenly appeared in commercials and television show.
 Keong Racun - lip-sync by Shinta & Jojo

THE TYPICAL OF DANGDUT MUSIC

In its earlier stage of appearance, dangdut music typically used instruments such as tabla, accordion, mandolin, flute, string-bass, rebana, guitar, and violin. The music tempo was always in standard and constant 4/4 and similar with the desert style music.

Guruh Soekarno Putra

In 1970s, western music started to influence dangdut when Rhoma Irama added rock element into dangdut, by replacing tabla, accordion, violin, and mandolin into electric guitar, keyboard, and drum.  That time, dangdut been known as Rock-dut (Rock-Dangdut).

In 1990’s, dangdut is transforming into modern dangdut by incorporated their music with other music genre, such as house music, hip-hop, R&B, even Reggae. This transformation makes dangdut become easier to reach variant listeners from all scale of communities.

Although dangdut is not so popular recently, but there are some people who still fight to make dangdut exist. One of Indonesia’s local televisions – MNC TV (previously TPI) – is holding a dangdut singing contest called KDI (Kontes Dandut Indonesia – Indonesia’s Dangdut Contest). The contest has been run for several season, and still become one of the most favorite variety show in Indonesia.

There are also some Indonesia pop artists who have dedication to bring up dangdut as the national music genre and introduce it to the world, by adding dangdut elements (or songs) in their album. Some of them are : Glenn Fredly, Marcell, Dhani Ahmad, and Guruh Soekarno Putra.

Guruh is one of the son of Indonesia's First President (Soekarno). He is also known as the most respected composer. One of his well-known composed dangdut song is Candu Asmara (populared by Cici Paramida in 1990s. Then been populared again in 2008 by Marcell, who made the remix the song into dangdut-R&B version).

And finally, one of the famous parody group called Project Pop has composing a song called "Dangdut is the Music of My Country", proclaiming that dangdut is the most popular music genre in Indonesia. This song is very popular and become an anthem for dangdut lovers. Long Live Dangdut....!!!! Yeah.....!!!!
Dangdut is the music of My country - Project Pop

Sinetron, The Most Favorite TV Show in Indonesia

If Hollywood have soap opera as their tv program that airs in episodic series, Indonesia have same show called "Sinetron". Sinetron is refering to "Sinema Electronik" (electronic cinema), and similar as soap opera, sinetron consists of episodic series of drama show. Each episode connect with the previous and later episode. The word of Sinetron have been introduced by Soemardjono - a lecturer from Art Institute of Jakarta - and this terms have been used since 1990.

Overall, sinetron usually tell a tale about the conflict that happen in lifes. But contrary with soap opera - which sometimes offer a very complicated story that last long - most of Indonesia's sinetron tell almost the same story-line for every one of it. The regular story that been used in (almost) every sinetron is : A regular (poor) girl fall in love to a rich guy. The family of the rich guy disapproved their relationship and try to ruin it. Then come another (rich) guy who fall in love to the girl, and make the girl confuse : Whose the one she should choose? But then, after several exhausted breaking-and-fall-in-love-again scenes, finaly the girl choose the right guy. They got married and the girl stay in the guy's family. End of story? No. Sometimes, the story continue with a show of desperation from girl while staying in her new family's house. She got beat, yielded, abused, and insulted. The girl did nothing but crying and praying. Then finally God hear her pray, and show mercy by make the guy's family suffer, inprison, or other ridiculous thing. And finally the girl live happy ever after with the guy.

If the show success, then the story will be continued with another show of desperation from the girl after she got the children. She got another abuse and insulted from her own family or the guy's another family. Her husband left her to another women, but then back again to her life, and then they live happily ever after again.

And if the show got another success, then you are going to see another series of desperation from the girl, while she got another abuse and insulted - either from her or her husband's other family (Indonesia's people have a lot of relatives in which till today they still connect each other. So this kind of story still make sense,  understandable, and acceptable to the viewers). And so on.... and so on....

Althought the story-line keeps repeating over and over again to the most sinetrons (including its sequels, and other titles), a lot of people in Indonesia still enjoy the show. Each of them have their own favorite sinetrons and they are very fanatic with it.

Since years, many people have critisized againts sinetron. Not because the repeating story-line, but more about the content of the show, which shown excersive violences and strong language that provoke agressive acts.  Most of the scenes (of all episodes) shown a lot of improper violence scenes that not necessary to be shown, such as abusing and insulting (throw water to the face of one character, slapping the face, kicking, harrastment, or even one-on-one fighting between girls). And mostly the female character who did it (either become the victim or the person who do the violences).

Sometimes the show also create incorrect perseption to the viewers about the personality of Indonesia's girls. It makes everybody thought that Indonesia's girls have some kind of psychopatic behaviour or personality disorder, like masochism. If not, why they seems very enjoying hurting others and / or love to be the victim (e.g. when somebody hurt them very bad, why they are not calling the police? Why not look for help? Why keep silence and do nothing but praying, asking for God mercy? Why they look so weak? Are they just enjoying every moment of being slap, punch, kick, insult, and torture? Or they just love to look so powerless, and let viewers took pity on them? If that so, Indonesia's girls really have personality problem....).

Also, some parents watch the show together with their children because there has no any rules and restriction againts young viewers to watch sinetron. By the the end, it influences some children to act aggresively. In some cases (mostly experienced by myself), some children in age around 4-6 have confident to challenge adults and said some strong words such as, "I will kill your family!", "I will rape you to die!", or "I burn your house!".


Even that, the production of sinetron is not stopping and keeps on going. The production quantities are increasing rapidly in suprising number each year, while the quality is still the same as the sinetron that made 30 years ago. Only more violence, more shouting, and more cursing. It is not only played in prime time (07.00 - 09.00 pm), but also in the morning (09.00 - 11.00 am) and noon time (02.00 - 04.00 pm). And the shown are broadcasted everyday in almost all of the local television stations. Sinetron have become a major entertainment business in Indonesia because a lot of people enjoy the show.

The longest run of sinetron is Cinta Fitri (Fitri's Love;broadcast by SCTV), which is already reached 777 episodes until today (first episode broadcast on March 1, 2007). Shareen Sunkar and Teungku Wisnu are two of the stars in Cinta Fitri and become the most favorable Sinetron Artists at the moment..

The "Tastiest" Menu from Best Restaurants in the World

Plan to have dinner in a restaurant tonight? Any idea what food you are gonna try? Barbeque? Salad? Curry? Hmmm... booooriiing...!!! All of them are very regular. Any restaurant have it. Yeah, the taste is different, but still it's the same meal. Any plan to try a little bit unique food? Let's take the challenge and go to another country to see what good thing they have. Maybe you can get some ideas of what you're going to eat tonight. I promise you : NO MORE boring barbeque, salad, curry, Chinese food, and other regular food for your dinner.

1. CANNIBAL RESTAURANT

Ever wonder what is the taste of human flesh? Well... some people said it is very delicious. The aroma is good. The taste is right (the fiber meat is soft like beef, and juicy like Chicken's skin). The nutrients are totally complete. You got zinc, vitamin, good mineral, and everything is sooooo yummy....!!!!
Wanna try some of it? Come to Berlin. There is a restaurant called Flime, who has a special menu on their list: Fresh Human Flesh. Just name which part you want to eat : head, hand, chest, back bone, thigh,... just name and they serve it for you. Either it's barbequed, soup, fried dry, or raw (not recommended... but... well.... if you want to try, why not?). Anything you want, the restaurant is ready to served. Or you might be want to know what is the taste of your own flesh? Just tell them, and they will cut your flesh (no pain... they have expert who knows how to chop your body) and served it for you. So... tonight's menu for the dinner will be yourselves. Interesting, right?

2. NYOTAIMORI 

Literally means "Female Body Plate", and it is not only literally. It's really female body plate. Like its name, the restaurant - mostly in Japan - serves sushi and sashimi on a naked woman's body. The woman is lying on the table, then we take the food from her body. Well.... hope she is taking her bath already and has no wacky smell while I am taking my dinner from her body.....

3. A PENIS BUFFET

Suffering from low sex drive? Losing your confident? Wanna be an animal again on bed? Try the menu in Guo Li Zhuang, China. They have a lot menus that guaranteed you can "shake your dick" again :  Horse Penis, Goat Penis, Dog Penis, Pig Penis, Cock Cock.... just name any penis you want, they have it. Or try the testicles. They also guaranteed to give back your virility. You can try from the tiny rooster ball to the big horse testicles. Get ready.... It's going to be a very long night after the dinner.....

4. MODERN TOILET 

It's kinda bore to sit on the chair while eating our dinner. Think it's gonna be fun to eat on a toilet : Sitting on while eating. And if you need to go to a pee, don't have to feel bad to ask an excused or leave unpolitely while your friend is still in the middle of talking. Just take off your pant, then .... woooolaaa .... meanwhile you still eating your dinner and listening to his or her story. You miss nothing.

5. PRISON BREAK 

Ever wonder, how excitement you got while eat your dinner and surrounding by the most dangerous men in the world? Yeap, you can try the challenge in Voltera, Italy. They have a very nice restaurant called Fortezza Medicea. The place is nice, and you are not allowing to bring anything that consider a risk, including your cell phone or even you car keys. The wait staffs, the cook, and everybody in this restaurant are all convicted inmates. Really.... this is not a fake show or any candid-camera game. They are no artist and all of them are really cons-men. If you make eye-contact with them, then you just signed your own dead-wish. But this experience is worthed. Try their special Chicken Parmesan that sooo delicious that make you wish to die. Well.... second thought : don't wish that thing in Fortezza Medicea. You never know if your wish might come true.

6. HAVING SEX WITH YOUR FOOD 

Your Mama give you an old fashioned advise to "not playin with your food". Well....in Roppongi Club, Japan, you are not only play with your food. You have sex with it! Just choose whatever you want to f**k : Chicken, dog, pig, or goat; male or female. All animals are alive and you can choose any of them to have fun. Once you are done, take a rest in the dining area. The cheft will prepare the delicious meal from whatever animal you just f**ked and served it right on your table. You have no fear for any desease. All animals are clean and sanitized. If you are not sure, condoms and disinfectant are ready for you to be used.Well.... if you come to the restaurant, make sure you come alone. Hope your Boss is not there....

7. BLIND RESTAURANT
Appetite comes from the eyes. But how about if you can't see what you eat? Can you trust your sensory and believe what you eat is eatable? Well.... in Dans le Noir, Paris, dinner is served in complete darkness. You can't see anything and you have to believe in what you eat and drink. The experience sounds interesting, but... c'mon.... the food smell very funny. Should I keep eating it?

8. CONDOMS, GENTLEMEN?

In Cabbages and Condoms Restaurat, Bangkok - Thailand, the food is good. The scenary is nice. And... the condoms are plenty. This restaurant is being active to supports PDA and support health and safety aspect of condoms use in a fun and amusing manner. They not only serve their customers with good and nice food (in which I believe every meals are excelent...), but also give condoms to all the customer. All proceed from the restaurants are usedto fund the social development pograms of PDA. The idea is nice. But is it mean I need some "excercise" right after the dinner?

Alay - Who are they?

Alay Detected

If you were visiting some tv stations in Indonesia, you will meet a lot of youngsters at the parking lot or somewhere else around there, with unique - or sometimes described as "extreme" - and too tacky costumes. They are not performers, and they are not there to join any audition of any tv competition.They are Alay. Hmm...what the heck is that?

Alay (pronounced as "Aa - Lie") is refering to Anak Layangan (Kite Kid), Anak Lebay (Exagerrate Kid), and Anak Kelayapan (Hanging Around Kid). The term of Alay usually is given to people who usually act with pretentious style, tacky, plebeian, and very boorish, either their clothing style, their act, and their look. Everything that they have is a chaos.

Why they've been called Anak Layangan (Kite Kid)? Because usually they are villager kids which have red hair and dark skin, just like kids who usually play kites. Alay is a sarcastic words to described about these villager kids whose trying to be popular in the city.

An Alay in action

Nobody know who invented this word, but Alay have been recognized and become large communities since early 2000, especially when local tv stations are holding live-performance of local bands. To make the performance cheerfull, the stations usually hired some audiences (all of them are youngsters) to do some "acts" at the edge of stage (e.g. sing together, do some crazy acts, or dance). Since they are going to "performing" some acts on the tv show, allof them are wearing eyes-glaring constumes and make-up. The more ridiculous they look, the more opportunity for them to got shot by the camera. Not only once, but several times in quiet long time (let's say... 2-3 second). And most of them really enjoying these "3 second popularity".

For those people who do the acts, it was very fun. But most people dislike their act and thought that what they did is nothing but a shameless performance from some idiots who have problem with their personality (narcissic disorder).

A Full Description About Alay's 

 

 

 

Dress Code

Alay is very easy to be recognized by their look. Either boys or girls, Alay usually have unstructure hair bang (usually straight, long, and stiff at one side), wore saggy hipster pant (their underwear even higher and more visible than their pant), long pant with check print motive, cheap distro shirt (in black, spotlight green, brown, or any other glossy color),  belt with bucle and spike, and sometimes use hoodie jacket as an additional.

Overall, comparing with harazuku guys from Japan, people thought Alay is a disaster. They know nothing about trend, music, clothing, or computer. They know nothing about anything. Most of them are love to be published and shown on tv. They love to be popular, even in a very short time.

Even most people does not like them, but Alay is always there and will keep on existing. They do no harm for people. They just love to perform and show off. And they are proud to be called Alay. Only in Indonesia....