Transformers (2007)

What i think about Michael Bay? It's as close as a love / hate relationships that i could ever have. I mean, he has directed many great enjoyable action flicks over the year, The Rock which is actually a stellar film in its genre, Bad Boys, Bad Boys II, and even The Island, which i sincerely, admittingly enjoyed. With the exception of Armageddon and Pearl Harbor (i personally think it's largely due to his presence, say what you will, but the only times i liked him was when he get directed by Kevin Smith), Michael Bay has an - again - admittedly, though grudgingly incredible portfolio.

I just don't approve with one of his signature shot (a slow-motion capture of a character upward while the said character was looking upward), and his inevitable grip to the pop culture.

With that in mind, i went into Transformers with my five o'clock shadow (plus overtime), hoping that i would at least had one enjoyable evening.

When i was a child, Hasbro's Transformers line-up was fast gaining popularity. I never had a hand on one of those toys except via a print page. But the idea of transforming robots were an amazing fantasy i could afford back then with gawking stare and salivating mouth, and now, when the fantasy came into reality (sort-of), i honestly couldn't think of anyone beside Michael Bay (and his teams of producers, which includes Steven Spielberg) to deliver the fantasy.

However, despite some oohs and aahs when i see those Robots Transformed, and neat special effects, and breathtaking battle scenes, this is yet another Michael Bay film that feels like... well, a Michael Bay film. In simpler terms, it is nowhere near The Rock that was still his best work to date. The film simply went on and on, awkward shifting tone, and loaded with Michael Bay's slow-motion capture. I wasn't entirely impressed with overall of the film, and when i head out toward the green light of EXIT signs, i had forgotten about the film.

The film opens with a little background that quickly put our logic in map about what, why, and how does these auto machines came to our beloved planet. From there on, the film was actually quick paced and waste no time to introduce its first Decepticon, Blackout and Scorponok (an introduction was made with bangs and booms). And then cuts to ever glorious US of A, where a nerdy Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) gets his usual treatment from the popular groups (football-players, cheerleaders, you know, those typical High School 'popular') which includes Melanie (Megan Fox) whose of course has become Sam's unreachable star. There are (at least) three story-arcs in this film during the second act, Sam and Melanie's, Secretary of Defense's, and US Marine's. The only arc i'm comfortable to watch for was US Marine's, the other two could go to oblivion for all i care (a hacker who solved the supposedly unintelligible electronic distortions in less than two minutes with screens like a puzzle game? duh, we're a little bit too old for that). Finally, after enduring this second phase processes (featuring John Turturro who practically steals every scene he's in. Damn, he's one great actor), we came to what we had been paying for.

Those who came to see Robots in Actions, Explosions and crafty digital imageries, won't be disappointed. No, you won't. This film is the winner in term of actions during the relatively boring first half of Summer seasons. But still, in sequel packed first half of Summer seasons, if i was asked which film i enjoyed the most, it was Ocean's Thirteen, with this film came second.

My Rating: **1/2 / ****
Action-Wise Rating: ***1/2 / ****

Transformers: The Movie: The Ticket

Heh... can't believe i actually did it. But yeah, i just did. Bought the ticket for tonight's Transformers. The picture was mirrored by the way, since i took the shot with built-in camera from my Apple MacBook.

Chunk Chunk Chunk

Optimus Prime and co. hit the theater start from today. With Spielberg's golden kid, Shia LaBeouf and luscious Megan Fox, you can count on me for being there, first in line, well, not exactly first tho, since i planned to see the film at its 11 p.m screening.

Another chunk come from another project made by David Cronenberg and Viggo Mortensen whose last project was that 2005's gem, A History of Violence (***1/2). Thrown in Naomi Watts - an actress whose largely forgotten, even by me (my sincerest apologize, m'am), but consistently giving a relatively unknown stellar performances. Mulholland Dr. (****), and 21 Grams (**1/2), to name a few -, i would looking forward to this film. Eastern Promises.

iPhone

You really had to give credit to Steve Jobs for giving all of the hypes and anticipation surrounding his latest gadget that was iPhone. I could say that most of us already knew about the arrival of iPhone even though that the official first sale was still a couple of days away.

I for one, want to have one. That was obvious. But, since it requires an AT&T Network subscription which was of course, unavailable here, AND it also requires an activation via iTunes (probably iTunes store) which was another feature that only available in Japan, it won't be until next year that i would have my hands on them. After all, my girlfriend would hang me if she knew i had spend US$ 500 to buy a new gadget of which i already had four (two handphones, one iPod Video, and one Nintendo Dual-Screen). And who says life as a geek isn't hard?

2007 AFC Asian Cup

Granted, football (or soccer) is the most widely celebrated sport in the world. So imagine my surprise when nobody at my office which consists demographically of males at their mid 20's doesn't have any idea that this year's Asian Cup will be held (among others) in Indonesia. Even the championship's final will be held at Gelora Bung Karno stadium.

Beginning July 7th, 2007 until July 29th, 2007, as an Indonesian and a soccer fan in general, i had planned to see Indonesia vs South Korea, and since the final will be held at Gelora Bung Karno, i may see it as well, provided that the match is interesting enough. Say, Japan vs South Korea, perhaps? or South Korea vs Australia? Indonesia's chance of surviving group phase matches? sad to say, but it's rather unlikely. With South Korea, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia? Not a chance.

Blackout

If you tune in to the news yesterday and today, you're most likely to read or see that there's an underground electric wire that exploded yesterday around 12:40 pm in Setiabudi area, Jakarta. This accident left 4 seriously wounded victims, one of which had died. This accident also left most of Setiabudi in a blackout since yesterday. I was one of the resident who suffered from this blackout, which predicted won't be fixed until two or three days, even some rumors had it for up to a week.

I was out for most of the day yesterday and doesn't get back home until 7 pm. That's when i guessed that the blackout would last at least for a night. Thank god there's a 24-hour coffee shop. So i went there, ordered my favourite Cafe Misto with Cinnamon sparkled on it, put my Apple on the desk, and working while re-charging the battery. I stayed until almost midnight, after i was exhausted enough that the only thing i would do as soon as i lay down was to sleep.

I didn't appreciate the problem of this blackout until this morning when i wake up and still had this blackout all over. Well, now that the blackout would be at least for another day or two, i need to find a place to crash for a while.

The Twist of Fate

December 2006, on one unremarkable morning, i went to work as usual, but instead of going straight at work, i took a brief detour. With a brown envelope in my hand, i went to the front-office of a relatively unknown company but, a wealthy one. Really wealthy. I asked the front-officer (you know, those guys with searching suspicious eyes) and handed him the brown envelope. That brown envelope was the one and only one application letters that i had sent to apply for job in hand-delivered manner (i usually trusted the postal service or emails). I immediately forget about the envelope.

Five months later, i got a call, asking me to attend an academic and physcological test. In my brief history as a job-seeker, physcological tests never went well, i had tried to polish my answers in order to made it less-extreme than in reality, but of course, to no avail. So, i decided that i'm just going to be myself. Answered all those trick questions about what would you do, or how do you behave, with the simplest answer that first popped-up in my mind, without a momentary pause to think. The academic tests however was entirely different matter. Besides a logical tests involving mechanics and numbers, there's an eight questions essay, one of which asked me about what i think about .Net (dot-net) technology. I answered the questions in simple words. "I don't care about .Net, i've been a Java devotee, and a proud Open-Source society member." That exactly what i had answered the question with. Everybody who knows about my answer, unanonimously voted me off the competition. In my defense, however, i had been asked about what i think about .Net technology, and i answered the question truthfully, i don't care about .Net and look where i'm at.

Confident that i had blew off my chance, i went to my usual daily routines as software developers. Coding, sleeping, eating, coding, sleeping, eating, and so forth. Until one day, roughly a month since the fiasco at the test, i got another call. This time, an invitation to attend the interviews with users and Human Resources. It went well, if i could say so, and nothing special about the interviews. And then, a week later (that was last Tuesday), came the big news, i got invited to another interview with Board of Directors.

This is the first time i had such interview. So, my girlfriend insists me to go and bought a suit, and cut my hair. Now, i've never bought a suit before, my mom usually takes care of my wardrobe selection, therefore, after consulting for an hour with my girlfriend via telephone about which suit i should bought, i leave with one dark blue suit, that costs me quite a fortune.

The interview itself went quite well. After feeling the room in the moment i entered the room, i felt at ease right away, and so everything they needed to know went smoothly with pride and confidence. I even shared their laugh. I've got only one problem with one of the Director though, when i said that "your company's website is suck". I think that she felt insulted with my comment, and ask me in return, "tell me what you read in our website", i said, "i dont know". She felt her pride and with mocking smile she said, "Then that means that you're not an attentive person". I said to her, right away, "Ma'am, i browse for tens maybe hundreds websites everyday, and when i quick-scanned a particular web-page and decided that it's not interesting, then it wouldn't be worth the time i spend in reading. It's just a common web-user behavior" Her loss of words is apparent, and you know, i had said before, it's nice to feel that you're on top.

Today, i got called from the company again, she said, that i'm in, and i had to made another trip to the company tomorrow to signs for things.

Heh, now i could really leave this place.

Hopefully my next blog post will come from my new office. Matta ne..

Film Review: Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)

Back in business.

I'm a luke-warm comic fan. Oh, i had a good share of knowledge in comic, but to considered myself as a fan, not just yet. I'm quite aware of DC's 52 and Marvel's Civil-War, i had read the greatest comic book of all time, Watchmen. But probably, that was it. However, if i was asked whence my allegiance lay, i would surely say, DC. Alas, as it turns out, more Marvel comic adaptation went to silver screen as oppose to DC's characters. I'm not sure whether it is more solid hard fact than personal subjectivity that takes hold when i say that so far, none of Marvel characters film has been good. This next Fantastic Four was no difference. In a nutshell, it's a boring, dry, tedious, incoherent, and superfluous. Thank god, that it only runs for a little more than 90 minutes.

If i had to chose which of the four i enjoyed watching, it's actually surprising myself, that i would say, it's Human Torch, Chris Evans. I once thought him as those adolescent teenager who arrive to screen expecting oohs and aahs from the ladies. But, after Sunshine and him being the closest to character arc in this mess, i could forgive him. Jessica Alba? to quote another review, "She can't act warm even if her hair is on fire". I liked her, but she can't act. Ioan Gruffudd, oh, kick him out of the screen, i don't care. And finally, Michael Chiklis, responsible for majority of terrible jokes and stupid one-liners, and there were many, sooo many. If it's funny, it's okay. But it's not. It's never funny. I even had to look at the back of my seat in order to satisfy my curiosity of who the heck could laugh at the jokes, it's a kid. The only time i laugh is when Stan Lee denied reception entrance at the wedding. Nobody laughed with me, not even the guys who sit in the back (who laughs all the time afterward). But of course, any comic fan would at least find it amusing that Stan Lee, the creator of the Family was denied reception entrance.

And then came Galactus and his hearld, Silver Surfer. For a prominent figure in the Marvel universe, Galactus is a underwhelming, but even with the word don't do justice to his appearance. And though i liked Silver Surfer animation and all, it still doesn't save this film to went to the abyss of boredom.

And please, don't make me get into the "drama" part of the film. Largely involving Jessica Alba's character (who can't act), the "drama" part is a pain, real pain to watch.

My Rating: * / ****

Vacations

Well, since i'm quitting, might as well taking a day or two, or a week off. My girlfriend coming to Jakarta this weekend, and since there weren't any cineplexes from where she's coming from, there'd be many homeworks this weekend. She hasn't seen Pirates of the Caribbean (**), Ocean's Thirteen (***), both of which i've seen, and with Shrek the Third, and Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer rears their head this weekend as well, there'd be quite a fortune to spend this weekend... *checking the wallet... inhales deeply, sigh*..

I'm off... i hope, when i wrote again to this blog, i've brought good news. Ja, matta ne...

Decision Decision

My life has taken yet antoher sharp turn. Real sharp turn in just a couple of days. No, actually, three working days.

About a month ago, there's a management change in my company. My boss - the one to whom i did my reporting - recruited one of his friend, an IT company owner, specialized in a puny language, PHP as one of the manager. At first, i welcomed the change, had a few chats with him, and rather intrigued with his visions and missions up to a point where i was sure enough to stay with the company (under this new management) to really see how he carried out his visions and missions . But yet again, once again, my inability to correctly judge people shows its ugly teeth. I NEVER NEVER EVER made a correct judgement to people. My experiences has proved that. Anyway, i was tagging along with the company for a while. Until last Friday. First, i got a call from a company in which i had undergone to psychological and technical tests the previous month, and which i'm quite sure i got ruled-out because of my expressive attitude (as shown in a physcological tests, i'm sure.. hey, i was just being myself). Yet, i got invited to interview with Human Resources today. I had no idea how it's gone though, wish me luck.

On Monday, this is where the sharp turn coming in. Remember, in my company there were two bosses. The one whom i did my reporting to, and the one whom i really don't feel obliged to, the new one. I spoke with my boss about my project. All the time, this new boss made a phone call. His voice was raised so high that it actually made me cringe because i had to listen to my boss' instructions. No respect. This isn't exactly the first time he did that. But it never bothered me the way it did that Monday.

Couple of hours later, i went to talk with my mates (note, there's two mates, the ones from the old company, and the ones from this new boss, PHP boys) about how that suddenly i felt something wrong about this new boss. To my delight surprise, i've got an anonymous nods. Yes, i'm not the only one who felt that there's something wrong with this new boss. There's a lenghty discussions among my mates (my real mates) about how does this affect their performance. Another event took place later that day. I've got separated from my mates. My new boss said that there would be a seat change, and he's pointing here and there as if he's in charge. My spider-sense get a twitch rather uncontrollable. He's not even my boss. Well, shortly, i had to share a room with a bunch of PHP programmers who had their stereos up high. I don't like this, and immediately went to my boss - my real boss. And this was the first spark between me (and my mates) and the PHP boys.

Tuesday (today). I had to settle a family-matters, an urgent, emergency, can't wait family matters. I made a call for almost two hours. And when i made calls, i went pacing up-and-down, and my hands were flailing about (that's merely because i'm an expressive kind-of-guy). I know i was wrong, and my boss understand. Just after i finished my call, my boss approaces me and said 'what happened?', so i tell him, the short version of it of course, since, you know, you just can't share a family matters even among friends, rite? So, it goes. I did an interview later that day. And when i'm back, i just learned from my mates (my real-mates) that my new boss talked about me behind my back.

Later that day, the afternoon i made a call again, and i was so drown in my conversation that i didn't heard my new boss saying something about me to one of his PHP boys (i found out later that this particular PHP boy was the leader of the pack, and nobody liked him, nobody, at all). It goes roughly like this, "Rhama must've think that PHP programmers are bunch of a losers, but look at him..". I didn't heard a single word, thankfully, i just heard it later from my boy, my junior, project member. Okay, first, though i don't like PHP, i never said that PHP programmers are losers, hey, i once earned my living through PHP. And second, the most severe insult i came upon, if you don't like me, said it to my face, if i did somethining wrong, put it forward. Just like my boss (the old one, not the new one). And that's what settles it. I quit.

Yes, i quit, and once again i was jobless (well, not quite, if i don't have an exit strategy, i wouldn't be so blunt of quitting, don't i?).

Hard-coder Programmer

For years i've been doing my coding in an EditPlus (a simple text-editor, just text-editor without the fusses and musses of an sophisticated IDE) environment. I'm just recently adopt the use of an IDE. Eclipse, to be precise, and just finished an EJB-based project with it.

Quickly diving into TWO new projects, however, i'm not using Eclipse anymore, or yet. Both of these projects are web-based enterprise, with Struts and Hibernate as the preliminary technology choices. As of now, i'm using TextMate (a roughly MacOS X equivalent for EditPlus, but faster and better), with extensive use of Ant script, i'm not planning to switch to Eclipse or another IDE for that matter, anytime soon. Maybe, just maybe, when NetBeans 6 hit the market, i would take a peek.

I don't know why, but i feel that i'm much in control of my project when i'm using TextMate instead of Eclipse.

Those Sweet Words

The song, Those Sweet Words, by Norah Jones, has never failed to make me smile everytime i heard it play. The song was the one that introduced me to Norah Jones and of course, largely responsible to made me falls head over heels to her. And of course, since her first film made its debut at 2007 Cannes Film Festival, i was eagerly awaited for it. The film, titled My Blueberry Nights.

The film came fromWong Kar Wai whose films, in my point of view, deals with absurd and personal definition of love. In short, a kind of drama i loved to watch. With Jude Law, David Strathairn, Rachel Weisz, and Natalie Portman, i had a good reason to wait for it.