Do People Actually Still Fall for This Trick?
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
So my reply has not been answered yet, and the question remains:
“APAKAH BAPAK GEORGE BAKER INI SEORANG PEMANGGANG ROTI?”
Cars Worth Buying in Indonesia
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
I have to admit that car prices in Indonesia suck monkey balls, and this is what mainly keeps us from having good cars like Volkswagens or BMWs anywhere near affordable. But in the midst of those horrendously-priced cars (even Avanzas are no longer “that” affordable now), Nyonyo and I have done a small research for the past couple of months. We tried to determine which cars are actually worth buying.
First and foremost, I won’t say that this is a scientific research of any kind. This is a research from a financial, design and an automotive-enthusiast point of view, given the conditions of living in Indonesia. So I’m not going to include cars that are priced more than 400 million into this list. For example, the latest BMW 520d or the Mercedes-Benz C-Class are exceptional cars in terms of performance, design, and usage, but they are so highly priced that most of regular Indonesians would have a hard time buying it.
So, here are the cars in mind, sorted from the cheapest to the most expensive:
Ford Fiesta Sport 1.6L A/T
Here’s why it’s worth buying: Even the Sport model is cheaper than a Honda Jazz, it has a better engine, dual-clutch transmission, and a good gas mileage of around 16 KM/L. On top of that, it sure looks better than its Japanese counterpart, the Mazda 2, or any Japanese hatchbacks of the same class available here, and it gives a bonus of a good interior quality with semi-bucket front seats. Something you won’t find in a Yaris, a Jazz, or a Swift.
Hyundai i20 GL A/T
Surprise, surprise. Hyundai has got it together nowadays. In fact, almost all of its lineup looks better than the Toyota, and some of the cars are engineered better, too. Why is it worth buying? First and foremost, it has a diesel option. Second, it’s still a CBU. Third, it’s still cheaper than even the Fiesta Sport.
Ford Focus 1.8S A/T
Performance of a Corolla with the price of a Honda Freed. It may not be the latest model, but at 241 million, it gives you the bang for the buck for a compact 5-door hatchback. Just don’t buy the TDCi version just yet, as it is 100 million Rupiahs more expensive.
Volkswagen Golf TSI
If you’re looking for the reason to buy this car, it’s easy. This is truly a proof of a good German engineering achievement. First of all, with a cheaper price than the cheapest Corolla Altis, you’ll get a solid German car with exceptional exterior and interior craftsmanship. Second, it has a dual-clutch gearbox, 7-speed, and a whopping 160 BHP power despite of it having a small 1.4 L engine, which also in return, gives you a 16 KM/L gas mileage. So, is it better than a Corolla? Yes. Is it better than a Civic? Most definitely.
There’s also one more car that you might want to consider if you’re looking for a family van. And no, it’s not the Volkswagen Caravelle (which is a shame, because it’s so highly-priced) and no, it’s not the Alphard, the Vellfire, or whatever unimportant iteration that Toyota has to offer. Besides, we have too many Alphards on the road anyway and it’s actually not a van. It is a Camry with a body of a van. The car I’m talking about here is the Hyundai H-1.
Surprising? Yes. Despite the lack of good looks, the Hyundai H-1 is actually engineered better than an Alphard. There are three reasons for this. It’s RWD, it has a diesel version, and if you’re looking for something way cheaper than the cheapest Alphard, this is the car for you.
So, why isn’t there any Japanese car in the list? Is it because I hate them? No. In fact, I’m still using a Japanese car for five years and running now. But I do hate the fact that most Japanese cars drive like crap, they lack the craftsmanship (something that a Japanese product should have), and most of them are simply beige cars. They are no longer exciting to drive and they lack the performance despite the notorious misleading advertisements.
I think it’s time to move on from praising Japanese cars and give them time to get themselves together. I also think that it’s time that we move away from the paradigm of buying a Japanese car solely because of its resale value. This is just pathetic. If we were to invest millions of Rupiahs for a car, we might as well get a good one, and use it until it is no longer useable. But not by selling it and buying a new one every 3 years. I thought we’re trying to become environmentally-friendly people, yet we keep piling up the carbon footprint behind us.
PS: For those asking me if the Toyota Prius is worth buying or not. Well,
FUCK NO.
I Prefer Foreign Clients in General
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Such a bold statement coming from someone who lives and works in Indonesia. But hear me out, I don’t put up titles without a reason. For the past few years, I am often asked why do we have 85% overseas clients and 15% local clients. So here are the reasons for that, based on my experience:
Free Pitches
First and foremost, I hate free pitches, and some Indonesian clients think that this is part of a good corporate governance (yeah, good corporate governance my ass). Here’s my explanation on why free pitches are a disgrace to humanity. In the creative industry, our resources are our key assets to make our business work, and that includes time, money, manpower, and above all else, creativity itself. So if we waste these for something that we probably won’t get, I would prefer that we work on something else, and use our precious creativity there. And yes, stealing designs to be given to cheaper designers is a definite sign that you’re a colossal douche, and I’m pretty sure that they reserved a spot for you to rot in hell.
Window Shopping
This is also a bad habit. Not that this only happen with Indonesian clients, but to overseas clients as well, except that it is on a lower frequency. So when we already contributed a few hours of our time to research and make a comprehensive quote for a project but got ditched with no reason, I hate that too. The least you can do is to say that you’re not comfortable with the price we asked, and then fine, maybe you’re not a suitable client for us. Fair enough, not everybody is everyone’s client.
The Inability to Know What One Wants
This is a killer move. Most of Indonesian clients seem to revolve around the idea of a trend (or perhaps ego and pride as some people like to call it). One has a blog, everyone wants a blog. One has a social media manager, everyone wants it, too. One has an E-commerce website, everyone wants to make one without realizing that they don’t even have a freaking store to begin with. But almost none seem to understand if they need one in the first place, or if that is just the result of being a follower. And the second they see these array of zeroes in the quote, they bail out and said “I didn’t realize that building an online shopping website is such a huge investment.” Well, if you’re looking for a proper one, yes it is. Sorry, but that is a fact.
The Inability of Appreciating Creative Work
This is the ultimate thing of all the things that we hate in this nation’s creative industry, people who cannot justify that building a website, for example, is worth more than 500,000 rupiahs. I can’t say many things about these people except that if they value design and creative work like shit, then that is exactly the same value I’d give to their business.
In the end, I don’t mean that all Indonesian clients are bad. As I stated before, we do have local clients as well, and those we’ve worked with are not bad clients. They appreciate our work, they value the need of design in general, and most of all, they listen. They listen and they are willing to take our advice as design professionals instead of telling us that they-paid-so-they-get-to-order-us-things.
But there’s the other side of the coin as well. Some designers are also to blame because they value themselves so low, that inconsiderate clients think they own these people’s lives. So why don’t these designers value themselves higher? Why don’t they value their industry better to begin with? To this date, I simply don’t know how to answer this properly, or how to figure out how their minds work. I hope someone would really enlighten me on this one.
Again, those are my observations based on my experience. So depending on different circumstances, my writings here cannot be accounted for a factual reference to your particular cases. They are just my two cents.
The “Unibody” iPhone – Part II
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Just over a month ago, I reviewed my iPhone 4 sporting an aftermarket back plate, which I bought from Cellular Nationwide Network. I bought two back plates from them, the regular flat one, and the beveled one which I’m gonna review here.
First things first, here’s what my current iPhone looks like, with and without the Bumper:
Now let’s just get on with the review. Just like the flat case, I find this case exciting to use. And here are the pros that I could think of:
- It feels better than the original glass back plate, and it definitely would not shatter.
- The beveled plate makes it super-flush while using the Bumper case. It’s more ergonomic and lessens the fatigue when holding it.
- It looks superb. I could never understand why Apple didn’t come up with this in the first place. Don’t get me wrong, the glass back plate is also superb, but it doesn’t give that industrial look and class.
However, despite the excellent features, nothing is perfect, and this case didn’t escape that as well:
- The markings scrape off quite easily. You may not notice them in the photos, but I already have a few scratches on the Apple logo there. In fact, if you buy this thing now, they don’t sell ones with the markings anymore. Legal issues as well maybe? I don’t know.
- The screw mounts are just plain weak. Unlike the original back plate, which has steel screw mounts, this one (as well as the other ones from the same seller) has plastic mounts. So basically, screwing it altogether breaks the mount and makes the screws loose. This is where the Bumper case comes in handy.
- Not actually a con, but you might need to know that because of the beveled plate, no aftermarket cases other the Bumper or anything with a similar design, would fit after you have this back plate installed.
- Last but not least, when you are using this back plate, there will be involuntary vignettes and flash artifacts when taking pictures as seen in the example below. Although the flash artifact would only happen when you photograph objects from a half a meter or further.
These rather unpleasant results (which could actually can be useful if you’re a hipster) when taking photos are caused by the gap the back plate creates between itself and the camera lens and flash. It’s too bad because if only they made it flush, this wouldn’t happen. But it is a minor hassle if you can live with it.
There are also a few things to note if you do decide to buy this case and install it on your iPhone:
- First, you’ll need a Phillips 00 screwdriver to open your current back plate.
- If you just bought your iPhone recently, Apple ships them with pentagram screws. A common mistake is that people thought those are regular Torx screws. It’s not and you will most likely break it if you try to open it by force using a Torx or Phillips screwdriver. You’ll need a specialized screwdriver like this one or this one. And trust me, that’s not really easy to find here.
- I do recommend replacing the screws with the regular Phillips screw, because the pentagram screws don’t really last that long after repeated use.
So there we go, my complete review of the beveled metal back plate for the iPhone 4, and I will stress again that modifying your iPhone 4 physically is not condoned by Apple and may break your warranty. Do this at your own risk.
Update:
After further inspections with a different aftermarket back plate of the same type, apparently the flash artifacts was not caused by the beveled structure of the back plate, but it is more of a manufacturing defect. I noticed that the backplate is slightly off-center and this is why the flash reflects back into the camera upon firing. The conclusion is that since this is an aftermarket accessory, we cannot expect it to be in the same quality of Apple’s craftsmanship. So if you got yourself a perfectly aligned back plate, then you’re lucky. Otherwise, well that is something you have to expect from the moment you made the purchase.
Nice Try, Pertamina
Monday, December 27, 2010
Pertamax is somehow cheaper than Shell’s Super so I thought I’d give Pertamina another chance and topped up my tank there tonight. Not that I’m being particularly stingy about the fuel price, but I thought it was a perfect time to see whether turning back to Pertamina is really worth it or not.
Tonight, I bought 38.22 liters of fuel. That is something which I have to pay for IDR 275,184 to Shell. They charge Super for IDR 7,200 a liter right now, while Pertamina charges Pertamax for IDR 7,050 per liter. At that point in the gas station, I’m expecting to pay Pertamina IDR 269,430 for the fuel.
No.
Instead, they charged me IDR 275,430. I asked the attendant why and he said that for every IDR 50,000 worth of fuel, Pertamina charges you an additional IDR 1,000 if you’re paying with a credit card. This would probably be okay if the rule was written somewhere within the vicinity, like maybe posted on every fucking fuel pump there, but no, there was nothing written there at all. So to me, this is clearly a ripoff. For the record, I was never charged for any extra fee when filling up with Shell or Total. So props to them (and they have much better customer service, too).
Nice try, Pertamina. If by good service means ripping off customers a thousand for every fifty without even telling them, then fuck you for stealing. To me, it’s not about the amount of money that you ripped off, but in a sane world, there is this thing that you call business ethics. But then again, this is a state-run company. What can you expect?