Gema Gita Mahardika: Showing Nowadays Kids Situation and What They Missed Out

It was the first time in my life that I could not tell whether the crying kid sound is from audience seat is part of performance or not

That's what came up in my mind during the show.

Gema Gita Mahardika is a musical drama that I watched last night. It was performed by students from Sekolah Otonom Sanggar Anak Akar, as part of their annual carnival and also "crowd-funding" for their new school location.

The conflict that was raised during the show is pretty simple and for sure everyone at this era can relate with it. It was as simple as whether (Mr.) Technology and (Mrs.) Online will give a positive or negative effects to everyone life, particularly to kids. But it could be elaborated further towards the issue if there are no kids at all who want to continue to be farmers, which in this show, the issue was told, but was not elaborated further.

The whole package of dance, music, props, and cute acting by them will give enjoyable experiences to audience itself. From my own opinion who did not have any stage-art performance education background, I would say that their music arrangement, which was directed by Andrie Virgo Setiawan and Albertus Danang Wiratmoko, is exceptionally good, because it gives an additional "soul" to the songs. But there are still some areas that could be improved, such as stage blocking, sound system issue, and story development, which I felt kind of flat (no climax moment) during the show.

This show is also good for parents who want to introduce their kids to Indonesia's culture, because there were a little bit here and there of culture from Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Maluku, and Papua. Also, it could be a platform to learn a "real songs" for the kids, not like the songs that available now for kids to listen to.

It was such a nostalgia moment for me when I watched this show, because there were my childhood songs, childhood games, and the understandable feeling of being performers in the stage.

If you want to catch the show, there are other two more available slots for today, 2nd March 2013, at 2pm and 8pm. Oh forgot to mention that the show is held in Pusat Perfileman Haji Usmar Ismail, Kuningan, Jakarta.

Following are some videos that I took during the show.

My Four New Favorite Eating Places in Jakarta [FoodBlog]

Maybe not everyone knows that I have moved back to Indonesia since late November 2012 for good (I think), but I am just gonna update about my food-life for the past two months. Below are the list of food-chains or restaurants from the least expensive to the most expensive that I just tried once in my life, but I am gonna go back again anytime soon, because all of them were scored pretty good based on my taste bud.

1. D' Cost Quick

After they established a fairly good name in F&B industry in Indonesia past few years, D' Cost Group decided to open their new type of food-chain, namely D' Cost Quick. To be honest, I never tried D' Cost Seafood Restaurant before, but when I tried D' Cost Quick in Pasar Festival, Kuningan, I was surprised with the price that relatively less expensive, about 12-22k IDR (~1.4-2.4 USD) per portion even for neighborhood mall and nice taste. Like usual, I tried something with weird name: Mie Cumi Saos Bangbang. Another plus is that they provide dine-in customers with free-flow tea, so drink as much as you want, just be responsible.

2. Salero House
Trying to have "chick" decoration, this eating place caught my friend attention, because we seldom see any Padang Restaurant with this kind of interior design. Moreover, the menu list is all about Padang, even you could find pasta ala Padang style here. I was curious about how the taste of Martabak ala Salero and I was surprised how they changed the filling of it with beef rendang and for me it tastes great! In case you wanna give it a visit, it is in Kota Kasablanka.

3. Caprese Restaurant, Pizzeria & Bar

Also located in Kota Kasablanka, similar with Salero House, this place has a good food and nice staff with great ambiance (or maybe because me and my friends came after lunch hour passed). So far I have tried their pizza, lasagna, and pasta, which in my opinion those three are good.

4. Gyu-Kaku
For this, I should have said thank you to my friend, Dinda, who organized our new years eve gathering in this place, Gyu-Kaku (Pacific Place), otherwise I would not know how good this place is. Gyu-Kaku is Japanese BBQ Restaurant, but the one that I want to highlight is actually their desserts. I tried Coffee Pudding.