BMTH live in Jakarta 2024

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This time around Ravel gets it right and BMTH (Bring Me The Horizon) are headlining the Nexfest festival in Jakarta which also features Babymetal. In this format there is no seating - which makes for a much more intimate experience - although you do have to arrive really early if you want to pick a spot right up close to the stage.  We arrived about six hours before BMTH were scheduled to start their performance and bought plenty of drinks to stay hydrated in the tropical afternoon heat (mind you, some of those were Iceland vodka mix!) This was a gig I had long been looking forward to - especially after the debacle last year. Not everyone likes BMTH of course. For deathcore fans the band sold out. For metal heads the band is not purist enough. And for the wider mainstream audience, the band is too heavy. You can't please everyone of course but there are few bands in the rock world which can match the sheer emotional velocity of BMTH. To bring metal and even aspects of metalcore t...
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Joanna Alexandra Playboy

You may or may not know the name Joanna Alexandra.

But if you live in Indonesia you’d almost certainly recognize her face.



And that’s cos she starred in a frequently shown TV ad for Ponds whitening cream in which she has to make a choice between two men. You know the one that I mean, right?

Then at the tender age of 19, while still a law student at the prestigious University of Indonesia, she released her bombshell: a stunning photo spread in the second and now legendary issue of Playboy Indonesia.

11 exquisite photos that delighted connoisseurs of Indonesian beauty yet which, at the same time, outraged the seething fanatics who have a perverse aversion to all the best things in life.

So mad were they that besides Playboy’s editor Erwin Arnada, the fanatics also reported lovely Joanna and one of the other featured Indonesian models (Fla Priscilla) to the authorities for supposedly “violating public morals”. While still threatening the use of violence to get their point across. Obviously.

The second edition of Playboy Indonesia is also remarkable in that it is, as far as I know, the only widely circulated issue of any magazine to be printed in Indonesia without any advertisements: the advertisers had all pulled out, cowering to the threats of the radical loonies. Pages left blank where there should have been ads for watches, handphones, cars, cigarettes etc.

But in a memorable editorial, Erwin Arnada remained defiant:

“Nama Playboy menjadi sesuatu yang sangat penting dan tak mungkin diubah” (the Playboy name is something which is very important and which cannot possibly be changed).

Erwin even faced the prospect of two years in jail for his courageous stance.

But thankfully, the Indonesian legal system came to its senses and exonerated Erwan of the ludicrous charges filed against him.

Fantastic news of course. And I’m sure Joanna would agree with me. Especially since she was courting controversy long before Playboy Indonesia was first published.

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