Buat teman-teman di McCann...

Tiga hari belakangan ini,
pasti jadi begitu berat buat loe semua.
Kehilangan teman kerja dan pekerjaan
pasti bikin loe sedih, kecewa, sakit hati dan marah.
Secanggih-canggihnya copywriter menulis,
gak akan ada yang mampu
menghibur loe semua.

Tapi percaya deh,
loe gak sendirian kok.
Walau gak sepenuhnya,
gue bisa ngerasain apa yang loe rasain.
Terlebih, gue bekas anak McCann
dan masih banyak kenalan gue di sana.

Di malam Citra Pariwara 2005,
gue adalah salah satu orang yang
bangga, bersyukur dan gembira banget
McCann bisa menang Adiprima.
Gue berdiri, tepuk tangan dan
teriak-teriak buat loe semua yang di panggung.
Perjalanan panjang McCann memang sudah waktunya untuk
dihargai juga.

Buat teman-teman McCann,
gue berdoa semoga kita semua tetap tabah dan
gak kehilangan semangat untuk terus berkarya.
Buat kita sendiri dan untuk orang lain.
Buat teman setia kita, Kreatif,
janganlah pernah meninggalkan kami.

Pengalaman kita mengajarkan,
bahwa bukan agency-nya yang penting,
tapi individunya.
Karenanya sudah bukan zamannya lagi
setia pada perusahaan. Hare gene!
Tapi tetaplah setia pada profesi.
Setia pada dunia yang telah mematangkan kita.

Selamat menunaikan ibadah puasa.
Mohon maaf lahir batin.

Teriring doa.

unINFOrmativeTAINMENT - Stolen from Hera's Blog

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

Local gossip shows, can't stand 'em, can't live without 'em. Yes, they're all absurd, they follow the same pattern, they're pat and predictable, and the hosts' comments are inane and often sexist. Yet, I keep watching them as they serve some sort of escapism:) I would get sick of them, but I keep coming back.

Last week, though, a gossip caught my attention. It was about this rising rock star, a 24 year-old who happens to be a womanizer, who knocked up another woman. This time, she's already married. I was, like, cool! Finally, an exciting and undisguised gossip! Now, this is rock n roll!

The narrations from all the gossip shows' hosts, however, ruined it for me. They babbled about morality, how the parents of the singer and the knocked up girl should've taught their children better, and how the so-called Indonesian/Eastern values have shifted. A particular gossip show even has the nerve to have a tag line "No sex before marriage." Oh, fuck off.

Now, the following is an excerpt of my article a while ago, about the absurdity of the local gossip shows, or also known as infotainment, and how to make it better. I want to insert the excerpt here because I'm such a narcissistic bitch who takes cue from other bloggers that self-advertisement won't hurt (but it's certainly nauseating:)).

Here it is:

...So, I got to thinking -- how to upgrade the (local gossip) shows to a higher level of babble:

Straight Talk: Stop asking single or obviously gay celebrities ("he's 55 and still looking for love, living quietly with his poodle Fifi ...") when they will get married. And quit nagging married couples when they will have kids. Also, spreading unfounded divorce or breakup rumors only serves to show your tackiness.

Dish the Dirt: It's a gossip show, so none of this half-baked stuff, please. We want all the dirty laundry -- stained, torn and faded -- washed in public! We want to know who has used the casting couch to climb to stardom, who has been nipped and tucked and whether it's true that Krisdayanti's monthly makeup expenditure is equivalent to the annual budget of a small Central Java regency.

Needle Points: Offer a few well-placed verbal jabs at celebrities who are famous for being famous, holier than thou, experts at self-aggrandizement, etc. Basically, mock them all! For instance, in the case of actress/singer Dewi Yull divorcing actor Ray Sahetapy, everyone knows that the other woman is older, and richer. Instead of pitting the two women against each other, somebody should ask Ray when was the last time he actually worked for a living.

Plumb the Depths: Go to reliable and relevant sources; interviewing the religious tutor of Ray's mistress' children will sure make her famous in her neighborhood, but it gets you nowhere in finding out the truth of the matter.
Different Strokes. As a start in being more creative, get pointers from E! Entertainment. Take a look at the worst celebrity makeover, the best kept secret, the fat salaries and high cost of maintenance, the competition among local divas, etc, all done with a healthy dose of sarcasm.

Discretionary Power: Get the story, yes, but it's still crucial to remain ethical when reporting on issues like rape, drug addiction and HIV/AIDS. The coverage of the rape case involving teen heartthrob Faisal, for instance, was biased, star-struck and blatantly sexist.

I know that the critics and moralists want to banish the shows from the airwaves. I say no; there is an audience for them. And it has to be said that they reflect who we are as people: Nosy, fickle, uncreative, judgmental and apolitical. We get the leaders we deserve, and the same goes for our TV shows.

ADOI AWARD!

Teman-teman freelancer,
individual, mahasiswa, umum,
non-agency pals...

ADOI AWARD TERBUKA UNTUK INDIVIDUAL!!!

sekali lagi...

ADOI AWARD TERBUKA UNTUK INDIVIDUAL!!!

Yuk kita ikutan!
Katakan pada dunia,
kalau semua orang bisa bikin iklan.

Katakan,
tak perlu kerja di advertising agency
untuk bikin iklan.
Tak perlu kerja di award winning agency
untuk menang award.

Di tengah kesedihan berita pemecatan
puluhan karyawan periklanan.
Tampaknya sudah tidak ada lagi alasan bagi kita
untuk menggantungkan diri sepenuhnya pada perusahaan.

Saatnya kita memiliki kaki tiga
sehingga bisa berdiri di atas situasi terburuk sekalipun.
Saatnya bagi kita untuk bisa menolong diri sendiri.

Mulailah dari diri sendiri.
Walau sendiri bahkan tersendiri sekalipun.
Bukan untuk menjadi egois.
Tapi untuk menjadi aspirasi.
Bagi diri kita sendiri, bahwa kita bisa.
Dan untuk adik-adik mahasiswa
yang terlemparkan karena ketatnya penerimaan karyawan baru.
Untuk teman-teman praktisi
yang selama ini terkecilkan karena tidak pernah menang awards.
Untuk para praktisi senior periklanan
yang selama ini mengecilkan arti seorang sebelum jadi seseorang.

Menang atau kalah nantinya,
kita sudah jadi pemenangnya.
Karena adalah semangat untuk mulai berbuat dan
semangat untuk berkarya di tengah ketiadaan,
adalah bagian dari seorang pemenang sejati.

Teman-temanku semua,
mari kita kembali ke meja kerja kita masing-masing.
Mulailah kita berkarya.
Berikan hanya yang terbaik dari yang kita punya.
Dan setelahnya,
beranikan diri untuk ikut bertanding.

Dan ketika kemenangan itu datang
bagilah dengan orang-orang yang selama ini mengecilkan kita.
Dan ketika kekalahan kita terima,
belajarlah dan berkaryalah lebih keras lagi.

Salam ADOI!

Somerset

Pagi itu pukul 03.00 wib.
Mbak Jeanny udah pulas di ranjangnya.
Gue baru aja mengangkat selimut sampai ke dada.
Dan kepala terbenam bantal.
Acara Citra Pariwara baru saja usai.

Mbak Jeha, yang udah menang ratusan piala,
tertidur pulas di ranjang yang sama seperti punya gue.
Oom Bud yang juga udah pernah menang ratusan piala,
seharusnya tertidur pulas juga di ranjang yang sama.

Tim McCann yang baru aja menang Best Of The Best, lagi ngedugem.
Tapi gue yakin mereka akan pulang sebentar lagi dan tidur di ranjang yang sama.

Tim Leo Burnett dan JWT yang memborong banyak piala,
bisa dipastikan malam ini tidur di ranjang yang sama.

Perbedaannya cuma ada di lantai hotel yang bernama Somerset.
Tempat kita semua menginap.

Pada akhirnya,
semua terbenam di bantal putih katun yang garing itu.
Semua diselimuti selimut tebal.
Semua mengorok dan bermimpi
di ranjang dan hotel yang sama.

Tidak ada Gold, Silver atau Bronze.
Tidak ada juri atau peserta.
Tidak ada new comer atau Hall of Fame.

Selamat tidur dan bermimpi.
Sampai ketemu di Citra Pariwara 2006.
(katanya di Bandung)

My Second Quote - Revised by Diki Satya

"It doesn't matter if you have a small idea.
Making people have ideas will make you big."

A Journey of a Headline - Glenn, Baby and Hera

First Day:
where differences is hand-stiched in harmony
where enemies is hand-stiched in peace
hand stitch keeps things in place
homemade quilt blanket keeps away cold feet or warms your cold feet
our hand-stitched quilt blanket warms your cold feet
all differences hand-stitched in harmony
all enemies hand-stiched in peace

Second Day:
let our hand-stitch quilt blanket tucks you in
western problems, asian hand stiched solution (HAHAHAHAHA!)
it's never too warm (bisa diganti dengan too hot, too spicy, too ugly, too whatever) inside our hand-stitched ...
hand-stitching your mouth
the only time all differences hand stiched in harmony
the only place all differences hand stiched in harmony
the only place where all differences hand stiched in harmony
a common ground where all differences hand-stitched in harmony
a common ground itu artinya apa?

Third Day:
Hand-stitched peace in a quilt
Hand-stitched harmony in a quilt
Hand-stitched tranquility in a quilt
Hand-stitched serenity in a quilt
Hand-stitched silence in a quilt
peace serves in hand-stitched quilt
great possibiity with a hand sticthe quil
stitching possibilities on handmade quilt

Fourth Day:
make quilt not war hihihi
peace by a hand stictched quilt?
peace on a handstitched quilt
hand sticehed quilt make peace
stitching peace
stiching peace quilt
peace stitching quilt

Fifth Day:
Dream for peace comes true in a hand-stiched quilt.
Dream for peace on a hand-stiched quilt
we make it happens
where peace starts
we make quilts, not war
with our own hands .. somtin like that
peace in our hands
hand-stitching is never a peaceful work
hand-stiched quilf for your dream of peace

Wish us luck!

My Second Quote

"It doesn't matter if your ad have a small idea.
Making people have ideas will make your ad big."

With Hope for The Better

Friends,

Here is the logo of our new print project.



Will again in continuing our journey
to give more alternative for local advertising scene.

Still the same old fellas will help me through.
Yuliana and Cecil the purest heart illustrator and Daniel the i-think-it-will-be-better-if digital imaging.
Plus, Baby... our creative soul expresses her thoughts in english.
And as usual, we are working under such a tight doe!
Freelancer! Freelancer! Anyone?

Please say a little prayer for us.
For no reason, this time around i am so nervous.

Storylife

Di ruangan kecil berbau tanah.
Matahari tembus melalui genteng transparan.
Sinarnya jatuh tepat di kepala
seorang ibu dan anaknya.

Mereka berdua sedang duduk bersama.
Di depan mereka ada meja.
Posisinya persis selayaknya
seorang guru sedang mengajarkan muridnya bermain piano.

Terdengar suara ibu menyanyi solmisasi.
Do mi sol, sol la mi sol fa, fa mi re re do re mi...
Sesekali terdengar suara kayu diketuk jari.
Seolah jari sedang bermain piano.

Bukan piano biasa,
tapi meja kayu yang digambari tuts piano.
Ibu itu menyanyi seiring tuts yang diketuk
oleh jari kecil anaknya.

Ibu itu sekarang sedang menikmati hidupnya
dan anak itu sudah dewasa.
Tapi gambaran itu melekat di kepalanya.
Dan di dalam sini.

(BH: Goblok deh! Nanti kalau ceritanya dicuri orang gimana?
GM: What is a story without the soul, oom?)

My First Quote

"If advertising is all about people,
then we shall race to be a better people.
For better people make better ads,
and Insya Allah, awards will follow."

Voces Inocentes

Judul itu berarti Innocent Voices. Film yang menceritakan tentang anak kecil
laki-laki di El Salvador sekitar pertengahan tahun 80an. Di usia 8-12 tahun
mereka dipaksa untuk memilih bergabung dengan tentara atau gerilyawan.

Chava nama salah satunya. Wajahnya mengingatkan kita pada Maradonna kecil.
Di tengah kekumuhan dan kemiskinan luar biasa
Chava hidup bersama seorang adik kecil dan seorang kakak perempuan.
Ibu mereka bekerja sebagai tukang jahit.

Tinggal bersama di rumah gubuk beratap seng.
Basah saat hujan dan hanya sinar matahari adalah lampu satu-satunya.
Desingan peluru dan meriam, datang bagai tamu tak undang.
Muram, kelam dan bau!

Chava hidup dalam ancaman jika suatu hari dirampas untuk dipaksa jadi tentara.
Sekolah dan gereja bukanlah lagi tempat yang aman untuk bersembunyi.
Jadilah mereka bersembunyi di atas genteng rumah mereka.
Berpuluh anak laki-laki terbaring terlentang di atas genteng seng.
Tiba-tiba kepedihan itu menjadi pemandangan yang puitis.

Di akhir cerita memang Chava lolos. Ia lari ke USA dan kembali bergabung bersama
keluarganya 8 tahun kemudian.

Film ini adalah film terbaik yang pernah gue tonton sejak Children of Heaven.
Mungkin loe akan berpikir kalau gue suka film-film itu karena menceritakan
tentang kemiskinan dan anak kecil. Gue gak akan menyangkal itu. Entah kenapa
kemiskinan membuat gue merasa kaya dan anak kecil mengingatkan gue
pada semangat untuk tetap hidup.

Kemiskinan itu menjadikan yang kaya tampak semakin kaya. Dan pengalaman masa
lalu gue yang miskin (bukan berarti sekarang udah kaya) mengajarkan banyak
keindahan hidup. Bahwa hidup adalah perjuangan. Perjuangan untuk meraih
keinginan, impian dan harapan. Dan dalam perjuangan itulah akan kita temukan
arti hidup sebenarnya.

Inget film-film Walt Disney? Kenapa hati kita tertawa dan menangis? Padahal tidak ada
yang nyata di film-film itu. Bener-bener kekanakan.
Gue pikir karena memang di dalam diri kita ada anak
kecil yang menanti untuk ditemukan. Ada anak kecil yang ingin dimanja, ditepuk-tepuk
pantatnya sebelum bobo, ingin dimengerti, ingin dipahami...

Dan ketika keduanya bergabung dalam satu film, bisa dipastikan,
kita seperti berkaca untuk kemudian melihat kelebihan sebelum
menyesali kekurangan. Mengingatkan kita untuk tidak putus asa
karena masih banyak yang lebih lemah dan berkekurangan dibanding kita.

Apalagi yang bisa kita harapkan dari pulang noton
dengan mata sembab tapi hati ringan?
Masih salah gue menjadi seorang melankolis?
Ah... nonton aja sendiri!

Buat Orang Iklan

Tolong jangan sebut gue
orang iklan, insan periklanan
apalagi praktisi periklanan.

Malu-maluin aja!

Untuk saat ini sebutan itu
bikin gue kayak bukan manusia.
Kayak orang planet.

Gue gak perlu dipuja-puji,
gak perlu disanjung-sanjung.
Apalagi maksa jadi temen.

Gak ada gunanya!

Cuma yang tulus yang gue mau tau.
Yang jujur dan mau kerja keras,
yang gue mau kenal dan temenan.

Turunin kepala loe
kalau mau ngomong sama gue.
Gak usah ngedongak gitu.

Kayak si pongah aja!

Kalau mau belajar,
baiklah kita berdiri sama tinggi
duduk sama rendah.

Loe gak akan gue hormatin
hanya karena loe lebih tua,
lebih kaya, apalagi lebih dewa.

Orang sama-sama makan nasi!

Kalau mau maju,
kita maju sama-sama.
Maju sendiri itu cuma mimpi.

Loe kira hanya karena piala loe
lebih banyak dari gue,
terus gue bakal nurut?

Orang kebetulan aja kok gede kepala!

Iya... kebetulan...
tahun ini menang
tahun depan gak jelas!

Tolong jangan sebut gue
orang iklan, insan periklanan
apalagi praktisi periklanan.

Masih Pengen Jadi Anak Kreatif?

Jadi anak kreatif itu,
harus selalu siap untuk dinilai.

Pertama oleh keluarga.
Dinilai apakah kerjaan kamu bisa menghidupi dirimu sendiri.

Kedua oleh sesama AD, CW dan CD
Dinilai apakah ide kamu benar dan pintar.

Ketiga oleh Account Service.
Dinilai apakah karya kamu sesuai strategi.

Keempat oleh klien.
Dinilai apakah iklan kamu bisa berfungsi sesuai keinginan mereka.

Kelima oleh masyarakat.
Dinilai apakah iklan kamu menyenangkan atau menyebalkan.

Keenam oleh sesama orang iklan.
Dinilai apakah karya kamu kreatif atau tidak.

Ketujuh oleh juri local awards.
Dinilai apakah karya kamu sesuai standar emas, perak, perunggu, finalis atau tidak sama sekali.

Kedelapan oleh juri international awards.
Dinilai apakah karya kamu terbaik di dunia atau tidak.

Kesembilan oleh generasi lebih muda.
Dinilai apakah kamu pantas disebut sebagai insan periklanan yang baik.

Kesepuluh oleh diri kita sendiri.
Dinilai apakah kita pantas menyebut diri sendiri orang kreatif.

PLUS SATU, oleh Tuhan.
Dinilai apakah yang kita lakukan berguna untuk orang lain.

Masih pengen jadi anak kreatif?

DOSA

Kenapa harus berlari
kalau pijakan
berputar seiring bumi?

Kenapa harus berjalan
kalau ujung jalan
adalah garis horisontal maya?

Kenapa harus merangkak
kalau akhirnya
akan tidur juga selamanya?

Kenapa harus dilahirkan
kalau di hari kiamat
ditelan bumi?

Kenapa harus bernapas
kalau akhirnya
jantung akan berhenti?

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish - Steve Jobs

'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says


This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005.


I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I retuned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.

Juri Terbaik

Menghakimi itu, gak enak. Gak gue banget!
Kalau menilai, gue bisa melakukan itu.
Karena itu udah job desk sehari-hari.
Dan gue kadang-kadang menikmatinya.

Tapi untuk menghakimi?
Gue ngerasa gue gak punya hak untuk melakukan itu.
Padahal kekuasaan untuk menghakimi
udah diberikan kepada gue.
dan belakangan gue ketahui,
banyak yang pengen memiliki kekuasaan itu.

Dalam sebuah sinetron karya Asrul Sani,
sekitar tahun 80an akhir, ada cerita
dimana seorang tentara sedang dihakimi
oleh malaikat di Surga.

"Saya membunuh orang itu karena saya diperintahkan
oleh panglima perang. Dan kalau saya tidak membunuhnya,
maka panglima akan memecat atau bahkan membunuh saya!'

"Tapi orang yang kau bunuh tidak bersalah!"

"Ah! Seandainya para malaikat agung ada bersama
saya dan panglima perang pada waktu itu. Untuk memberitahukan
mana yang salah dan benar. Tentu pembunuhan itu tidak akan terjadi."

"Tentara, kami ada bersamamu pada saat itu.
Walau kami tidak terlihat. Tapi kami bersuara! Kami mengemukakan pendapat.
Tapi mengapa suara kami tidak kau dengarkan?"

"Karena kalian bukan panglima perang yang akan memecat
dan membunuh saya kalau saya tidak membunuh orang itu."

Kebenaran dan kebenaran yang diadu.
Suara terbanyak akan menentukan
mana kebenaran yang sesungguhnya
dan mana kebenaran yang merupakan kesalahan terselubung.
Padahal, bukan kesalahan yang sedang diselubungi,
tapi kebenaran yang lain.

Untuk siang itu, sepuluh hakim duduk mengelilingi
meja hijau dalam artian sesungguhnya.

Walau gue sering dimarahin karena kebanyakan mikir,
apa daya, gue berpikir keras
ketika penghakiman itu sedang berlangsung.

Gue berpikir, kenyataan bahwa melepas antata
karya dan pencipta, bukan tugas yang mudah.
Menghakimi makanannya atau kokinya?
Kalau makanannya saja, bisa jadi
makanan enak karena kebetulah sesuai selera yang makan.
Kalau kokinya saja, bukti apa yang
bisa memenangkannya?

Ketika sedang berpikir keras,
gue inget cerita Asrul Sani di atas.
Selain 10 hakim agung,
ada seorang malaikat agung yang sedang berbicara.
Gue terdiam dan mendengarkannya berbicara.

Kalau gue harus memberikan kesaksian
tentang salah satu hal terindah bekerja di
dunia periklanan, adalah pelatihan untuk menilai.
Menilai karya sendiri sebelum menilai karya orang lain.

Dan untuk menilai karya sendiri,
memang membutuhkan kejujuran tingkat tinggi.
Karena juri atau hakim terbaik dan sesungguhnya
adalah diri sendiri.

Lanturan Tapi Relevan

Baru semalam buku itu selesai gue baca.
Lanturan tapi Relevan masuk ke dalam kategori
buku-buku yang gue taruh di toilet.
Dibaca beneran ketika semua suara hilang.
Ketika gak ada gangguan.

Isinya, jelek banget!
Gak ada isinya, gak ada mutunya!
Gak ada yang baru!
Semua ilmu ada di buku-buku iklan yang lain.
Cuma beda-beda tipis lah...

Bener-bener buku murahan.
Foto-fotonya banyak yang burem.
Gaya bahasanya? Minta ampun!
Belang bonteng gak keruan.
Sebentar formal, sebentar asal.

Dan gue kesel banget
karena pas gue sampe ke halaman terakhir,
gue langsung ngerasa aneh gitu.
Dada gue tiba-tiba aja kayak perih banget.
Setiap lembar di buku jelek itu
mengoyak tulang dada gue.

Sebel! Sebel! Sebel!
Buku ini bener-bener bikin gue bete.
Kenapa baru sekarang?
Kenapa gak dari dulu
ketika gue mencari semua ilmu-ilmu ini?
Dan gue gak ngerti
ada apa di antara setiap kata yang tercetak,
sehingga gue bisa ngerasain kehadiran Oom Bud.
Bukan ngajarin. Tapi berbagi.

Bagian yang paling gue suka,
"Utangnya udah lunas ya!"

Thanks ya Oom,
gara-gara buku loe,
gue jadi makin ngerti gue dan dunia gue.
Dunia kita. Dunia Iklan.

Puisi dari Adit sayang....

Pernahkah??

Pernahkah kamu...
Merasa memiliki,
Tanpa takut merasa kehilangan?

Merasa dekat,
Sekalipun ribuan mill jauhnya?

Merasa mendapat dukungan,
Tanpa ada satupun permintaan?

Merasa bertambah pintar,
setelah mengenalnya?

...
...
...

Aku pernah, …
Dan itu karena kamu…!

(trimakasih Glenn buat chatting yang menyenangkan semalam :))

Berpisah?

Kenapa harus pergi,
kalau nanti akan kembali
dan sayangmu masih di sini?

Ada apa di sana,
sehingga bukan hanya jiwa
bahkan ragamu hendak kaubawa?

Lalu siapa akan temani aku di sini?
Siapa pula akan temani kamu di sana?

Apa bedanya di sana dan di sini?
Apa yang tak kau dapatkan di sini
yang kau dapatkan di sana?

Kalau kau pergi,
lalu bagaimana aku bisa melihatmu?
Bagaimana kamu bisa merabaku?
Bagaimana kita bisa bercinta?

Kau ingin aku mengenangmu
sementara kamu belum di alam baka?

Dan di atas segalanya,
kita sedang menenun kenangan.
Kita sedang membuka pintu Allah.
Kita, ya, kau dan aku.

...

Sayangku, kalau
di sini bumi Tuhan dan
di sana bumi Tuhan.
Di sini langit Allah,
di sana langit Allah...
kita tak akan pernah berpisah.

nasi lemak dan nasi uduk

di sana ada nasi lemak,
di sini ada nasi uduk.
dua-duanya enak.
dua-duanya banyak lemak.

pilihan datang dan pergi
kita menanti,
atau kita buat sendiri,
atau kita bawa berlari?

terima kasih
wahai engkau yang pengasih.
terangi pikiran dan hati
makan yang itu atau ini
semua anugerah illahi.