NOUVELLE VAGUE.

Had dinner last night with the band NOUVELLE VAGUE who had just arrived in Jakarta for the first time. Having flown in directly from Paris they were all pretty jet-lagged but still very entertaining company and quite happy to get drunk and talk about the recent French election (none of them voted for the winner).

For those that have been living under a rock for the last few years, Nouvelle Vague are known for their two albums of Bossa Nova cover versions of classic 80's rock/pop songs which were played to death by every 'hip' lounge... Their version of The Dead Kennedys 'Too Drunk to Fuck' is in Quentin Tarantino's latest movie 'Grindhouse'.

Anyway, they'll be playing at Grand Kemang tonight. Check it out.


Incidentally, we knew that Nouvelle Vague meant 'New Wave', but only just found out that so does Bossa Nova... Feel free to use that fact to impress your friends.

WET AND WILD.

Not sure how much media attention this has been getting abroad, but there's been a little bit of rain in Jakarta recently... These photos are of our street after the first deluge. Using typical Indonesian initiative, the guy with the cart was ferrying people across for about a buck a piece. Capitalism is alive and well in Indonesia. Now if only we could get our office internet and electricity running properly again we'd be happy.

ART. AND ART.

Had an interesting Sunday checking two completely different sides of the Jakarta art scene... Started at an auction of contemporary Indonesian art at the Hyatt. Although mostly still too traditional for our tastes, there were still a lot of strong and original pieces, and the auction room was busy with buyers picking up around ninety percent of the lots. Although paintings could be bought for as little as US$400, prices for some lots went pretty high - the friend we went with's most expensive spend? A cool US$55,000.


The flip side was the evening exhibition event held on the roof of our building by our friends at NOTORIOUS. Lots of works on display by the cream of Jakarta's young designers and artists, including a number by 707 crew members... The venue was packed, with crowds hanging out to watch Darbotz and Kims do live installations while Mayo hit the decks. Many congrats to the boys on a great first event, we're honoured to have been involved. Looking forward to the next one...

A few of the art pieces (with their creators);



The crowd;


for more photos check FOOTURAMA.

NO-NO-NOTORIOUS.

click for larger image

Our friends at Notorious Fam are throwing a little shindig on the roof of our building this Sunday. Definitely unmissable - lots of cool work on show (including from our in-house creative Lisza!) and live installations by Darbotz and Kims to the background beats of Future 10 DJ's Mayo and Ditto. Anyway, what else are you going to do in Jakarta on a Sunday evening...

Still very few Notorious Fam T's available at 707ANNEX in Citos, but hopefully getting some replacement sizes/styles soon...

UPDATE!!
Due to the fantastic weather we've been having in Jakarta, and with this being an outdoor event, it has now been postponed until the following sunday (Feb 11th)... See you there.

CONGRATS TO DJ ANTON.

Anton & Elda, 'M' for married...

Congrats to Jakarta's own DJ Godfather, Anton, on finally tying the knot to Elda and putting on one of the best weddings of the year...


After tricking us all with a civilized and elegant start at the Dharmawangsa Hotel ballroom, things got progressively crazier as the evening went on, finally turning into an all-out house party when all the guests moved to Dragonfly for the afterparty... The atmosphere when Anton finally took to the decks for a short set with Elda jumping around on the podium and the crowd with their arms in the air made all his other events look tame :)

Best wishes from all at 707!

Anton & mystery guest

Hogi goes super old school

Elvi & Diva

Hanin (Aksara Records) & Yudha (Embassy)

Anezka, Daniel & Ovelia (707)

DJ Glen & Regan (Juice)

DJ Anto & the Mrs.

Mutia, DJ Mayo & Dinta

Batman, Nasta & Audrey

Reza (Juice/Area) & Diva

Michael (Casa/Embassy)

view from Dragonfly DJ booth

Anton & Elda on the podium

Dina, Elvi & Ovelia

Caroline Z.

Felly (A+) & Anton

Gianluigi (the Junction)

PS3 IS HERE.

The just-released and sold-out PS3 is already available in Jakarta! For the low,low price of... 13million rupes (US$1400 in real money). The list price is about US$600. No idea how much games are, but this is already the 6th unit this store has brought in (and it's already on hold). We're in the wrong business.

The same store also has chipped Xbox 360's with games for US$3.50, and sells Nintendo DS games on memory cards for a buck a pop... When it comes to black market importing or piracy, it's good to see that Indonesia is still number one.

UPDATE:
Maybe an US$800 premium isn't such a bad deal, considering the chances of getting shot, carjacked and more...We'll stick to the Nintendo Wii.

Great video on YOUTUBE of a guy buying one then smashing it to pieces in front of the desperate people waiting in line.

RESFEST JAKARTA.

RESFEST is an annual, global film festival and multi-media event that hosts audiences in 45 cities from Melbourne to Montreal, Chicago to Cape Town on six continents. For its 10th anniversary it will be expanding its tour and include Indonesia for the first time. About time things started coming here...

The festival will debut at the KONFIDEN Short Film Festival and run from the 5th to 11th of November at Taman Ismail Marzuki's Teater Kecil and Art Cinema.

For more info visit the RESFEST site. Support the local creative scene and check it out!

CHILI-IN' AT WENDY'S.

mmmm... seriously - what the hell is this?

SBTG's got guts. probably literally, in the cup.

Not quite sure what the fuss is all about, but seems like Wendy's chili has a lot of fans. Mark (SBTG) was craving it since the minute he landed (no Wendy's in Singapore), and it was the only place he wanted go for brunch the day after the Dunk launch...

No one else at the table would take him up on his attempts to make us try some (we're smart enough to be wary of anything made of random, unrecognizable substances in Jakarta), but 707 crew have been telling me since that it's got a loyal local following...