[Review] A-Z of Franz Ferdinand

i hereby declared myself as a Franz Ferdinand-obsessed.

seumur idup gue, baru sekali gue suka sama artis sampe bela2in beli stuffsnya. buku, kolor asli original cd, original dvd, nonton konser or whatever gitu. the first one, OF COURSE, Bryan Adams. gue punya buku bio dia. dua, sodara2 sekalian yg terkasih dan tersayang. 1 boxset 18 'Til I Die, dan 3 ORIGINAL live dvd. Bryan ROCKS!!
dan gue punya album2nya, ORIGINAL, dari awal sampe yg recent, 11. dalam bentuk cd maupun ... kaset XD
pernah nonton konsernya sekali. i was in the fanclub for about 3 years hihihihi.
gue sebenernya pengen juga beli buku fotografinya dia, apa daya finansial tidak mendukung.





anyway, sekarang setelah obsesi gue pada Bryan udah agak berkurang, gue punya target baru. the Archdukes of Pop. gue punya albumnya, kumplet ... oh, kecuali si mini album Darts of Pleasures itu *lirik nista dan damba pada EPnya Sherrie*
gue punya dvdnya, walaupun tidak original, gue punya Sound Bites *lirik Tintin*.
dan kemaren akhirnya orderan buku Franz gue, yg berjudul A to Z of Franz Ferdinand, dateng. setelah berbulan2 berpikir keras gimana caranya order buku di Amazon, dan kartu bebas miskin apa yg berlaku di mereka, bayar2an tambahan, konsultasi ma orang2 kiri kanan [Avin Kesuma, ai lop yu!], dll dll, akhirnya gue memesan buku ini di amazon!. well buku ini bukan Franz yg nulis sih, tapi seorang fans bernama Helen Chase. apparently, beliau yg satu ini sudah beberapa kali bersua dengan cowoq2 Glasgow ini, dan orang2 di sekitar mereka. so, she came up with the concept of the book.
from a fan to fans.



dan guys, kalian yg menganggap gue ensiklopedia berjalannya Franz Ferdinand ... believe me, di buku ini masih BANYAK hal2 yg gue ga tau tentang mereka!
such as, Alex dan Nick beneran pacaran!!! got a degree in catering management, and a POSTGRADUATE in computing. if i wasn't mistaken, postgraduate is equal to ... S2? *tiba2 ketakutan sama suami sendiri*, dan ketika dia bekerja jadi rentboy chef di sebuah cafe yg berlokasi di lantai dasar sebuah gedung apartment milik seorang raja Spartan haus darah di Limehouse delivery boy di restoran india, sembari nunggu disuruh delivery, Alex suka ngendon di dalem mobilnya yg berwarna biru [SIRIUS ditulis warnanya!] sambil baca buku2nya Charles Bukowski, waktu Nick pertama kali kedatengan Alex di rumahnya untuk nge jam bareng, he thought 'David  Bowie in my house! brilliant!', Alex and Nick each had younger sister with almost similar names, Bob bener2 korban kejahatan seksual Alex! takut terbang and he was the one who designed most of Franz single covers from the second album, Paul was the klutz and forgetful in the band despite his cuteness, dan mereka suka sekali mengedit2 each other's Wikipedia entry O_o kurang kerjaan emang.

seru juga sih ngebaca awal perjalanan mereka dari life before Franz, lalu meeting up dan gimana mereka mulai dari awal untuk playing music to people, performing, signing records, sampe akhirnya kaya sekarang. dan walopun mereka udah worldwide famous, but they still go home to Glasgow, heir hometown, to their families, friends and their usual life. before Franz. well, except for the odd jobs, of course.

dan ngebaca testimonial2 orang2 yg emang udah kenal mereka dari awal, fans yg pernah ketemu sama mereka, dan lain2, tampak cowoq2 ini bener2 keeping their feet on the ground. they still go out with the same friends. they still help their fellow musician friends. bahkan banyak fans yg malah heran dan amazed pas tau cowoq2 Franz ini aslinya emang pada sweet, baik hati, apa adanya [sampe ada yg bilang, 'they don't try to look less or more intelligent from what they actually are!' how cute!]





ngebacain komen2nya the band juga seru! apalagi gue, sebagai makhluk visual, tentu saja sambil membayangkan tampang2nya mereka pas ngomong gitu. Alex dengan muka excited-jailnya dan minta ditiduri, Nick dengan muka tengil cengengesan, Bob yg tampak malu2, Andy yg cengir2 tengil, dan Paul yg agak gregori tapi doyan. lovely.

quote favorit gue sepanjang buku datang dari Robert Hardy:
"yesterday, i heard this kid says, "hey, do you know Franz Ferdinand? apparently the singer isn't gay!"

*ngakak guling guling bantal bantal*

Alex: ..........

di buku ini juga ada beberapa blog entry dari official website mereka. penulis entry paling banyak adalah Alex. tampak suami gue yg satu ini emang doyan nulis [dulu dia sempet punya LiveJournal loh! ato kadang menghack account LJnya Paul hihihi ... ] . sama kaya gue *digetok sama Nick* dan dari style tulisannya, terbaca kalau dia ... autis O_o
he lives in his own world, but he wouldn't mind others to enter it *dikasih kaca sama orang banyak*

err ... okay.

gue suka banget baca cerita Alex, kalo dia ke supermarket itu paling seneng wandering around di lorong2nya sambil dorong trolley. tanpa tujuan. "there was something about the neons. it's calming." katanya. *dikasih cermin lagi sama orang banyak*.

err ... okay.

trus lagi ada ex-bandmate Alex yg bilang kalo [somehitng like], 'Alex lives in his own world, he dresses in his own way, he listens to his kind of music, he practically lives in his own world.' *dijorokin ke rumah kaca sama orang banyak*

dan style penulisan Helen juga sangat light. simple english, she didn't sound like a know-it-all. she could bring us to the amazing world of Franz.
well, kalo ada any of you yg happen to cross by this book dan membacanya, mungkin kalian akan mengerti kenapa gue bisa sampe segitunya sama band ini ^_^

ps. i really would like to say the pictures came from the book,
but actually, only two of them, the rest was from Franz Fan Girls forum.
i was too lazy to scan.