canyon, CALDERA

Mount Bromo, East Java.

JAI guru DEVA om*

Lagi sering ngedengerin lagu ini, (lagi)...



... gara-gara nonton I AM SAM (lagi), dan (lagi-lagi) meler meler sambil sesenggrukan (lagi). Bedanya, at the time aku nonton I Am Sam kemaren itu, right after that aku nonton THE RUNAWAYS. Rasanya agak mengejutkan, seeing Dakota Fanning like this..

... becoming this.

Super. No doubt, berhasil melakukan transisi dari bintang masa kecil hingga dewasa dengan halus, hidup normal, bersekolah and not being Lindsay Lohan ver. 2.0. But still I'm squinting saw her smoke and show some skin in that movie. Kaget aja gitu.

Anyway let me tell you what I thought about THE RUNAWAYS. I think Miss Fanning already do her best trying to 'save' this movie, but apparently she cannot. The script itself isn't fierce enough, and many of the band's fan said it's a bit unfair only Cherrie and Joan standing on the spotlight. But I have to admit the parts when the band singing song are cool enough.

And about Miss Stewart playing Joan Jett? Which Jett herself pick K-Stew to portray Young Jett? Well err... She's playing Bella. Still. Seriously. Mouth a bit opened, stammered, blank eyes, scoffing. Pardon me for asking but... What is wrong with her and that stammered-act?



*) Jai Guru Deva Om :
The Sanskrit phrase is a sentence fragment whose words could have many meanings. Literally it approximates as "glory to the shining remover of darkness," and can be paraphrased as "Victory to God divine", "Hail to the divine guru", or the phrase commonly invoked by the late Maharishi Mahesh Yogi "All Glory to Guru Deva." --- wikipedia.

believe, just BELIEVE

Still offer up the same prayer as one, no.. two, no.. three years ago. For I'm just a stupid little human, sometimes I lost my sanity working my ass up and waiting for that wish to be granted.

Like today. When I feel so lost, so low, so lame. When I'm suffocating for the torture of time. When my head's pounding because I think I can't handle this any longer. When I woke up in the morning, crying. Sat in this dark room, losing grip.

But then I realized this is the trial. Trial to keep the faith in me. To hold on a little longer. To work it out a little harder. To not giving up on my prayer.


''maka mintalah, niscaya akan Ku-kabulkan | QS Al-Mu'min:60''

the ILLUMINATOR

Once upon a time, there's one simple and warmhearted night. Nothing urgent to do, hujan rintik-rintik, makan nasi goreng ikan asin, main Hangman, dan ditutup dengan nonton SANG PENCERAH. Buat yang terakhir ternyata cukup beyond expectation. Sang Pencerah tidak jelek sama sekali, matter of fact, diatas rata-rata tipikal film-latah Indonesia yang menjamur belakangan ini. Kalau satu bikin horor, yang lain ikutan. Satu bikin film remaja, yang lain mau juga. Satu bikin film religi, yang lain ngga mau ketinggalan.

Sang Pencerah beda. Kapan sih terakhir kita nonton film biopik? Cut Nyak Dien? Atau apa? Kalaupun ada setelah era Cut Nyak Dien, I barely remember saking jarangnya. Then, et voila, Sang Pencerah karya Hanung Bramantyo tampil jumawa. Mengangkat kisah KH. Ahmad Dahlan, pendiri Muhammadiyah, Sang Pencerah dalam kacamataku nampak effortless, tidak preaching, pacenya padat dan dialognya tidak picisan. Masing-masing karakternya juga begitu stand-out, terutama Lukman Sardi yang memerankan Ahmad Dahlan. Lagi laris si Mas yang satu ini. Emang aktingnya bagus sih, tapi khawatir aja kalo ntar beliaunya jadi muncuuuul terus dimana-mana. Biasa kan gitu, penyakitnya produser kita. Menurutku yang begituan ngga bagus juga buat personifikasi si aktor yang bersangkutan kedepannya.

Ah, yang gitu biarlah begitu. Yang pasti aku sangat menikmati film ini. Dengan bersetting di Jogja, para pemeran pendukungnya juga fasih bener bahasa Jawanya. Luwes pula. Sinematografi dan editingnya juga tegas, ngga buang-buang durasi. Sayang alur yang menanjak naik agak kendur di paruh akhir cerita. Well, mungkin karena biopik, jadi jalannya realita tidak melulu seperti drama 3 babak kali ya.

Kalo masalah fakta-faktanya, konon sih menurut yang tahu, sudah cukup presisi, meskipun detil-detil kecilnya mungkin tetap didramatisasi. Oh ya, aku juga kadang mikir, kalo ada film yang pemerannya ngga takut didandanin jelek, bajunya ngga melulu licin kaya baru keluar dari mall... Biasanya itu film bagus. Hihi analogi ngawur ya. But so far it works on me. Liat Pasir Berbisik. Atau Arisan. Hehe.

Verdict : menurutku ini film Hanung Bramantyo yang paling bagus (dari film-filmnya dia yang udah aku tonton at least). Tapi sorry to say pak Hanung, menurut saya Nyonyah Hanung ngga begitu cocok disini. Dia terlalu muda, aktingnya tidak begitu stand out, sehingga aku ngga bisa ngeliat angst dan pertentangan batin istri KH Ahmad Dahlan yang menemani perjuangan dan jatuh bangunnya sang suami. Mbak Zaskia sendiri selama ini aktingnya bagus kok, tapi bukan berarti dia harus main di film suami kan? I guess not everyone can be Tim Burton's Helena Bonham Carter...

russkaya RULETKA

Me, playing russian roullette.
Place a single cartridge in a revolver, spin the cylinder, place the muzzle against head and pull the trigger. Risky, dangerous, my head might explode, and everything's over.

But I still take that chance.
Pathetically stubborn, I really am.

Random Shot : got a DATE?

I do.
Lesta, my friend, got me "Teman Kencan" for tonite.
Sweet, tasty, fresh from Malang. Or around.

(disclaimer : saya bukan karyawan Teman Kencan.)

MONSOON moment

Last nite I had a very sinetron* moment.

It was a heavy rainy nite. I was on my bike; covered with super-soaked-raincoat, damp clothes, blurry eyeglasses; sped up to studio, almost late for certain radioshow.

Just few meters to go as I already saw my office's parkinglot, suddenly... An eejit car burst into big puddle next to me and splashed huge amount of dirty water. Onto my whole body and face. A lot! I even went blind for seconds before realized what was just happened.

After my conciousness back, I sped, screeched and stopped before that car. The car's stopped. I slammed its hood, and glared furiously to the driver. The driver's made his way outside the car, walked towards me. On a dimmed citylight, I finally saw how handsome the driver was. Determined, he took my hand, smirked, kissed it gently, and whispered : ''I'm sorry. Can I take you for dinner for caused you such trouble?''. Squinted, I said ''too bad, you're not my type'', and left him bewildered.

OF COURSE IT DOESN'T HAPPENED THAT WAY.

The real story ends with me flabbergasted, soaked with dirty water, stammered and cursed in rage as seen that dimwit car sped away. Tsk. I wish I was Jason Bourne.



*sinetron : Indonesia's soap opera, with farfromreality-ish plot, cymbal sfx and characters with too much make up.

REBORN

Selamat Idul Fitri 1431 H

Maafkan lahir batin ya atas semua kesalahan saya... Semoga kedepannya kita semua bisa menjadi insan yang lebih baik dan barokah. Amiin.

As for me, this moment always being quite tricky. I'm talking about the family affair. Since everybody's gathered up and I'm the blacksheep of the family and certain issues' rose. But I think this time I pulled it off better than ever before. I feel serene and I even done those massive dirty-dishes with smile upon my face. Oh Boss of the Universe, how i love love love You.

Anyway, today's sky's beautiful, no?


ps :
I retype this post. And we all know, retyping post is sucks. I was typed the post with cellphone when it suddenly restarted but there's no draft saved.
Lesson learned : never blog with cell while browsing on many tabs, listening MP3, chatting and texting at once. Unless I'm on supersophisticated cell.

ps #2 :
picture source -- Valkos via vectorstock.com

easily DISTRACTED

Malam takbiran. Tangan megang daftar kebutuhan rumah yg perlu dibeli. Belum aja masuk ke Carrefour-nya, eh ngeliat stand Books yang jualan buku impor segede2 ampun di pintu masuk. Ugh. Lagi ada event ternyata, soalnya stand regulernya cuma secuplik di dalem Carrefour. Dan sekarang dengan stand segede ini pilihannya jadi buanyak. Meskipun aku bacanya mesti pake susah payah, but what a best deal, dengan puluhan ribu bisa dapet buku impor yang keadaannya lumayan. Puluhannya pun banyak yg di bawah 50.

*ndeprok di depan rak buku*

Belanjanya tertunda. Ah saya procrastinator.

Lalu aku pulang. Hujan turun tapi jalanan masih rame aja. Sampai rumah, masuk kamar : aih, kaget sama kamar yg rapi. Padahal dirapiin sendiri juga. Rapinya juga ngga segitunya, you know meee, at least better than ever before laaah. Butuh berhari2 ngeberesin gudang mini yg satu ini. Hasilnya, lumayan. Bisa duduk manis tanpa harus nyingkirin tetek bengek segala macem. Bisa langsung nemu barang yg dicari. Bisa liat motifnya karpet yg biasanya ketutupan sampah. Yea aku duduk manis sambil takabur mengagumi kamar yg rapi hehe.

Ngga ding, ini duduk manis sambil mendengarkan suara hujan dan takbiran... Oh good God.. Ramadannya udah selesai.. Rasanya ada yg mencelos di dalem sana : sebulan kemaren aku udah ngapain aja? Rasanya kok cul-culan gitu aja, ngga dimanfaatkan sebaik-baiknya. Ah. Jadi sedih nih.. Ya Allah, semoga taun depan bisa ketemu Ramadan lagi yah...

Dan taun ini, semoga aku bisa jadi orang yg lebih baik lagi. Amiin.

before HOLIDAY

Heya there. Random thoughts aja nih, nyempet2in nulis sambil nyelesaiin kerjaan beberapa hari kedepan, sebelum kantor libur lebaran. Hooray. Tapi tetep siaran sih...

First of all, mau cerita : I slept for couple of minutes when i watched THE EXPENDABLES. Yes it's a wham bam kinda movie indeed, with bunch of muscle man, rough talk, weaponry, explosion, suicidal mission, blood, scattered body parts, dangerous stunt, car chasing... you name it. EXCEPT one well-written screenplay. It's such a waste putting Jet Li, Bruce Willis, let alone Mickey Rourke in this movie. Seriously Mr. Stallone, you don't have to push yourself, took all those job : producer, director and actor, like you're still in your golden age. You are not. I even found it scary when you sporting those muscles, at your sixties, AND have a young lady as a fling in this movie. By the way, do you.. err have a facelift? Or any lip-job? Because if you do, you better sue the surgeon.

But there's NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MAN as the antidote. Best picture for Oscar 2007 really has its quality. And Javierrrr Barrdemhhrrrr. Though he got silly haircut there, he did one helluva good job. And that weapon he use? The captive bolt pistol? No projectiles. No ricochet. So deadly. So match with his sosiopathic hitman character.

*exhale*
And above everything : I'm anxious. No, nothing to do with the movies. It's another thing in my mind : Why is she called me only when she's in need? how can I pull a happy face and positive thought, having this thing happens over and over again? *sob*

Oh well. Enough speak gibberish. Now I have to pack my bag and heading somewhere else.

See ya around folks.
Happy mudik. Happy holiday.

a PIECE of DRAGON

Excuse my lateness, but this... made my stomach turning upside down in excitement. DRAGON BALL and ONE PIECE! Together!


This is CROSS EPOCH, a real collaborative work between Toriyama-Sensei and Oda-Sensei, not just a Doujinshi. With this manga, Oda is probably realising one of his wishes. He is after all known to be a great Toriyama fan.. And their collaboration is like one of my wishes :D Sayang tidak terbit di Indonesia tentu saja... Cari (scanlationnya) ah.

Anyone? Anyone?


update :
Akhirnya dapat dan sudah baca! Just a short manga but.. sooo niiiiiiice :D The artwork's magical, all characters mixed so well and the joke is still as insane as usual. So them! Love it!

perplexedly and ENIGMATIC

Bend and break,
Black and blue,
Barely breathing,
Boss of the Universe...

can't be OUTFOUGHT, can't be OUTDONE

Belakangan ini lagi dengerin album lama, Reanimationnya Linkin Park (along with Call and Response-nya Maroon 5 dan OST-nya Kick Ass. Sepertinya sedang in the mood of remix & drum n bass), trus dengerin single barunya LP yang ini. It's not that I adore this song entirely, but I just can't stop listening it. Terdengar beda, pumping dan apocalyptic sekali. Rasanya seperti nonton film.



I love that ranting and chanting part.

''God bless us everyone
We're a broken people living under loaded gun
And it can't be outfoght
It can't be outdone
It can't out matched
It can't be outrun
No

Like memories in cold decay
Transmissions echoing away
Far from the world of you and I
Where oceans bleed into the sky''