Random Shorts (4)

This week begins with a bang. The death of the longest President ever reigned in Indonesian's history, Mr.Suharto, had taken up almost every slot of TV programs (news or not) for a couple of days in the wake of his death for a couple of days. I was on the road during the moment of his death, and notified by my girlfriend about the event by phone. She was deeply mourned the loss, and i had a great time mocking her for that.

Granted, he was no saint, and not perfect (and what man does?), and had his flaws, but in his long history something good are bound to attributed solely to him. Further, in a quick and simple thinking, i'd say that most of Indonesian citizens would be glad to recount the economically strong and rapid developing country that is Indonesia. Illusion or not.

I had prepared to write something thoughtful about it. And probably had came out with a decent post about it. But, simply because i can't squeeze a time to actually sit and wrote it down, i had totally lost the train of thought and his death was mourned by one blogger less - of course, i wouldn't thought that it would be missed much. I was bemused with how the media drive the opinion toward the deceased. Shortly after his death, a montage of news was showing his accomplishments that all of his faults (if any) that has been the main subject of his overthrown from the presidential chair in 1998, and ensued for almost ten years afterwards seems irrelevant. That's the power of media. You want to kill a man's career? It's easy if you ruled the media.

Just the other day, my President Director personally returned his Vaio TZ-series (running Vista), because it was too-slow. He reverts to his old Pentium III (!) ThinkPad running an XP. Damn! Talk about technology. His Vaio TZ-series is not the only one in the office that runs in an unsatisfactory manner. There are at least two more unsatisfied customer in the office. One practically annoying problem i found with Vista running on Vaio is somehow, the Internet Explorer can't run a .NET infested script properly. My office had a web-based portal application that builds primarily on .NET and Microsoft SQL Server running in an Windows 2000 server. Everyone in the office should and would access this portal time and again. Hence, accessibility is a prime issue. Before these TZ-series arrived, no complaints were ever issued regarding with this portal.

I had compared the Internet Explorer settings in my Toshiba with ones in the TZ-series. In short, i had tried to emulate as close as possible every security settings in my Toshiba with this troubled TZ-series. The result, i still could run a portal application with a default security setting, standard add-ons, standard anti virus precaution in my Toshiba. But not with the TZ-series. The only solution that worked was to put EVERY Internet Explorer's security setting in the TZ-series at its lowest AND JUST THEN it could run the portal application. All i could do is just shake my head. Sure these Vaio looks cool, weighs a nay, and taut a steep price. But, if it couldn't run a Microsoft .NET powered web application with Microsoft SQL Server running on a Microsoft Windows 2000 server, executed through Microsoft Internet Explorer running under Microsoft Windows Vista properly without a heavy tampering, why would you spend US$2000+ to it? Might as well donated it to an orphanage.

Hm, the problem probably resides in Vista. But Microsoft had claimed that Vista is running more safely than any other Operating Systems out there. Yea, right. If by safe you mean i-don't-want-to-run-this-web-for-it-runs-a-safe-script-because-i-was-too-lazy-to-actually-work-on-it-and-instead-said-to-you-that-this-web-is-not-safe.

Platoon (1986)

Platoon. Film review. I had an impression that for us, a generation that hadn't really comprehend the notion of war first hand, war is just a fascinating game. One would only have to look at the film, book, and game industry. War has been and always will a theme that become one of the main selling point of these industries. There's generally two kind of war related theme to these industries. 'War' is where the theme took one side of the warring faction and generally, made it the 'good guys' battling the 'bad guys'. And of course, since we knew whence these industries are known to came from, it is easy to see who the generally accepted 'good guys' are. The second theme, is an 'Anti-War' theme where it took the war anywhere but 'good guys' against 'bad guys'. Usually, it's in a personal level where the theme looked into what war has been bought to the actors participated in the said war or any other who had suffered the consequences of it. But, if you asked me, war is just.. well, war. It's still an ugly beast.

In Platoon, as the narrator of the film pointed out, the war is not just fought against the enemy. It was also fought among themselves, even among one's self. In the end, there's no glory in it. There'd be only the deads and the survivors. Even the survivors would have something that left for dead in the field of war.

There were at least four characters in the film that made it to a much interest and kept the film going. An incompetent leader who you'd feel sorry just to look at him, a man who dedicated to his job as a soldier, enjoyed the thrill of strategizing, outwitting the enemies and ultimately came out as a victor in what he had believed a fair battle where he killed only enemies who held a pointed gun, a yet another man who also loves his job, but to an extreme point where he develops an 'if-you're-not-with-me-then-you're-against-me' attitude who doesn't hesitate to kill anyone that crosses path with him armed or not, and finally, a young recruit too bored for life newly enlisted as a volunteer. The war was Vietnam. A war where i believed, the U.S had taken quite a blow.

These four characters were on a same platoon. They went out together to the woods, and got into a fire-fight almost everytime. But that doesn't mean that there's a seed of love sowing among them. And after the practically haunting scene in a Vietnam village, a scene where all the prominent characters has been properly introduced, where the roles of the characters firmly established, a scene where, had you seen the film with me, you'd hear me whispered some decorated words that expressed my general contempt with what the scene presents, the personal war begins. From there on, you wouldn't care about how the film ended anymore. You'd be more care about how the characters ended. There's a significant difference in it. If you'd care about the characters more about the film itself, that means there's a sense of involvement between you - a general audience - and the film. And more often than not, that was what separated a good film with an okay film.

For myself, the pinnacle of this film's quality lies on a Vietnam village scene. I took the scene, disgusted with what the men with guns had excersied their power against. The scene was effective, and it also served as a turning-point for the main character, the newly enlisted soldier. And as i have said earlier, i took the point of this film, as a film that proposed the fact, that more often than not, the war was usually fought not against the enemy, but more to one's self either he fought for a desire to excercise power, for a virgin mind to stay pure, for a reason, or for anything that matters. The actual visible battlefield was just a backdrop. But heck, war is just war. It's ugly.

In term of quality, when it comes to films revolved around Vietnam war, i'd put this film right over there with Apocalypse Now. Alas, the shorter running time demands less commitment and thus put this film, in my opinion, did all the right things where Appocalypse Now had put it wrong, which makes this film, in my opinion, is the best film that i ever saw about Vietnam war. Though of course, i've only seen Apocalypse Now once. The fact that you could feel a personal touch from Oliver Stone who has personally served in Vietnam. It was so easy to believe that the young recruit (Charlie Sheen) in this film represents Stone hisself.

I'm a Mac Guy

Click to enlarge image. There are many characteristics to the Mac guy. And since i own a Mac, i liked to think that i was qualified for a preliminary entry for being a Mac guy. Let's see how it adds up to the rest.

Superior
I love to snort at my office mates who still stick with Vista and complaining that they want to downgrade to XP instead. And on many (more than once) occasions, when i visited a friend's cubicle and saw that his laptop has been paid a visit by the legendary Blue Screen of Death, i was laughing out loud. Everyone in the office knows that i'm a Mac boy and had this signature wave-of-dismissal when given a topic about any Operating Systems or any laptops other than Macs and its family. So am i being superior or what? You tell me. As a further proof, AFTER i was admitted to this office and brought my own MacBook as opposed to the office's Toshiba, i was the only person in the office who uses Mac for quite some time. Now, there are at least three other guys in the office who had a MacBook.

Not Dogmatic
I'm not really sure what this really means.

Open
Quoting directly from the article, "This group is also more likely to buy organic foods on a regular basis, drink Starbucks or coffeehouse coffee every day". Well, i went to Starbucks at least once a week. But i don't really know what does it has to do with being "Open".

Perfectionists
Hell yeah. I've got an official personality tests from the office to prove just that.

Music Mavens
I had a 30GB iPod, and since i love to walk by myself, you'd never seen me without it. My music selections mostly came from the 90s, and save for two women (Norah Jones and Ayumi Hamasaki), all of the musicians were bands.

Eco-Minded Greenies
Err... Well, i hate people when they throw up their trashes not in the proper place. And since i've got a strict principal of NOT doing things i hate from other people, i often put a candy-wrapper inside my pocket.

Satisfied with their Purchases
12 mil. rupiahs for a MacBook where i could actually buy a stronger laptop with less price, 2.5 mil. rupiahs for an iPod, 350 thousand rupiahs for an earphone (my third earphone in a year). 200 thousand rupiahs for a air-ventilated keyboard protector, 150 thousands rupiahs for an LCD protector, 100 thousand rupiahs for a SpeedBall, another 350 thousand rupiahs for a silicon case for my iPod. And am i satisfied? Of course.

Not Modest
Did you see anything modest in this post? I rest my case.

Rambo (2008)

Rambo. Film review. After a considerable recent success reinvigorating a twenty-year odds of a film icon character, Rocky Balboa (My take on the film), Mr.Stallone was once again reinvigorated a twenty-year odds of a film icon character. This time, it’s an US-Vietnam war Veteran - I can’t vouch in any way or another about the faction of which Army John Rambo is. A NAVY? A SEAL? I couldn’t care less -, John Rambo. He has living in Thailand for some years, and when a group of missionary volunteers tried to bring books and supplies up north to Burma, against all warning from our old man, they goy caught in civil-war. And of course, who does the authorities came out for help? Mercenary soldiers. John Rambo is of course tagging along with the rescue team. Otherwise, this film won’t be titled John Rambo. In a nutshell, that was what the film is all about. You know exactly how it ends.

Anyone my age or older and never knew Rambo must’ve been had a very dull childhood. I mean, I used to live in a remote city a little bit far-out off of what you’ve called a modern civilization, and I still knew him. I still remembered his dealings with leeches during his capture in Vietnam, his custom explosive arrow-heads, his red bandanna, and most of all, perhaps, his signature knife. For a time, i named that knife, a huge knife with a jagged edge a "Rambo knife". It was seem appropriate at the time. However, in this film, his weapons of choice consists of a home-made blade, a bow and arrow. A normal ones this time, and a Howitzer. And if you want to know what does a Howitzer is capable of to a human body when fired at a point-blank range, there's a pretty nasty scene that shows just that. If you can't stomach such atrocities (which i must tell you that the film doesn't shy away from such atrocities. Mr.Stallone had aimed for an 'R' rating, and he wishes to exploit this), any acts that involved a head blew-off, a man stepped on a land-mine, a limb severed, a head mutilated, a mass-rape, a village genocide, lots and lots of blood and flesh, then you might want to stay clear of this film. And did i mention a head blew-off? There's plenty in this film. And by i mean with plenty is real plenty.

I had pretty much figured out whnece the film is going to take its direction and rightly expected it to. Unlike Rocky Balboa where he was forever an underdog taking an unlikely odds to win a boxing match, where his trainings, his reasons to stay in the game is an appaling case for a film, John Rambo was forever would be known as a guy who would be believed of taking down a single army with one arm tied in his back. Before breakfast. Just put him somewhere where there's a rather make sense reason for him to be allowed to kill (in this case, civil war in Burma) and with a purpose no matter how most unlikely it would seems (in this case, a charming woman who gave him a liontin and when she's gone missing he had no inner-struggle whatsoever to put his killer instincts once again into a play, regardless that for a quite some time, prior he meets this charming woman, he has been playing it down by chosing NOT to involve, directly or indirectly with Burma), and there you goes, a film that is so brutal, and so freakingly violent. But, of course, we - at least I - don't really want John to get all melancholy, are we? We know him, and expecting him turning from a killing machine into something more... humane would be pointless and wrong.

I just love that Mr.Stallone didn't opt for Iraq. We had too much of that already.

The first part of the film was awesome. The second part, the one where John Rambo begins his killing frenzy, well, it's just a feast to the eye - of course, if what you meant by feast to the eye, is akin to an achievement in visual effect resembling humans killed and shredded in various manners - and a routine. But the first part was what really delivering the punch in me.

Some months ago, there's a brief news about the biggest demonstration in Burma by civilians and monks protesting the military regime. A Japanese reporter was killed. Burma was at a time, completely shut-off from the outside world. Various Burmese Internet bloggers went underground, and hunted. One conspiracy theory i read about Burma at the time is that the People's Republic of China was behind this oppression that crushed the demonstration. I've heard no further update afterwards (i'd probably going to check about Burma after office-hour) but i read a lot, and browsing for videos and images that has been leaked to the Internet. In an interview, Mr.Stallone himself said that he was in Burma at the time and it was pretty life-threatening experience. The film opens with video footages which probably were added at the last minute of editing. I recognized the footages immediately, as these footages where ones i'd seen months before in the Internet. A dead monk in a river. Some various violences conducted by the military. I mouthed 'fuck' and from there on the film had felt more real than it should be. Even when the fiction part begins, the film manages to convince me that what had really happened in Burma was at least as bad as what Mr.Stallone had shown to us. And i believed that it could be much worse than that even though i'm personally unable (or i simply don't want) to strech my imagination further than what Mr.Stallone had shown to us.

The second part of the film, was routine. A standard procedure for a feel-good film. Mr.Stallone provides us with a genuine single evil. One that we'd LOVE to see killed. And rightly so, when this certain evil dies (tsk. As if you don't know that he's going to die eventually. It's easy to guess who is going to live and who is going to die by the end of the film. It's not a rocket science) i heard a cry from behind my back. "Mampus!", she said. Which translates to roughly, "Die! You ". It amuses me. As if the audiences themselves were approved of taking a man's life. I was guilty as well. If anything, it shows that Mr.Stallone had a pretty much solid understanding about how to reinvigorate John Rambo. And if i hadn't known any better, he had succeeded. Not the best in the series, but far better than the worst (my personal opinion, the worst of the series was the third, and the best of the series will still be the first installment). Further, this film is most likely the goriest, bloodiest, and most violent film ever graced our local cinema screen.

Police Story

In a game of Cop & Thief, the Thief must and have to be lucky all the time if they want to live another day. But the Cop would only have to be lucky once to caught the Thief, or to wait for the Thief to made a single mistake.

I considered myself as a careful rider. Of course, when you're talking about careful rider in Jakarta, you ought to put a winking quote in the word 'careful' because had you asked any driver in Jakarta about what they had thought of us, motorcyclist, the first and foremost responses are guaranteed to be negative. Anyway, i'm not saying that i'm the genuine holy man or that i'm right and everybody else's wrong, but, on a normal daily routine, i had my own strict rules when it comes to riding. When riding, again only on a normal day i had tried to NOT do anything that i DON'T LIKE to see from others. This includes, stopping at a every red-light, and only moved when the traffic-light really turns green, stick to the left side of the road, and never went faster than 50 miles per hour. I was also ever wary when i see cops. When they rides their huge Yamaha patroling the Rasuna Said and Gatot Subroto, i made a considerable distance behind them, riding comfortably. That's my rule. But of course, since i'm a Thief, and they're the Cops, one mistake was all it took for me to get comprehended by the authority.

Yesterday evening, around 4.30 pm, i was riding comfortably in Rasuna Said. So calm and confident i was that i hadn't noticed two unit of traffic cops patroling ahead of me. I passed them in a normal allowed speed. Mind you, i was riding comfortably, just straight ahead following rules just like any other motorcyclist. But, in front of Setiabudi Building, one of these traffic cop stopped me. I, who has been riding for at least four or five months without any license (i had a driving license, but i was misplaced it. I don't even remember when the last time i saw it. One day, my dad asking me about wether i still had the driving license and ID card, and that's when i look into my wallet, and realized that i can't find my driving license) know immediately that i'm in trouble.

This cop, approaches me and asked me wether i know what was went wrong. I said, almost with a mocking humor, "I was wrong because i had riding safely and peacefully?". But stopped right away because i don't see any smile on his face. He told me that i shouldn't fold my license plate. I thought, WTF?! Hm, now that's new. Anyway, the reason i fold my license plate was to prevent it from being tampered. The details were a bit technical, but i had a reason. And then he asks me for my driving license, which is of course i don't have. I could easily imagine his face smiling in satisfaction. Afterward, he recites words that i'm sure he has repeated over and over again until he doesn't really cared wether his words is true or not. I wouldnt've known anyway. He said that i'm violating the law number something about driving without license and therefore he has to confiscate my motorcycle and i had to face a trial at the February 12th, bla bla bla. I waited patiently, almost yawning, once rolled my eyes upward, and desperately fighting the urge to pick my nose. You who has ever deal with traffic cops in Jakarta would know where this incident leads to.

When he finishes his recital, and it was my turn to say something, i said, in a tone not very much unlike that of a call-center receptionist on his/her 8th hour shift, receiving one more call, "But, sir, February 12th is Wednesday - truth is, February 12th is Tuesday, but i don't care. Apparently, neither did he - i had to go to work. Could we settle it now?". And then, the infamous response. "The cost for a trial is 150,000 rupiahs, how many would you give me?". I said, that i've only got 50,000 rupiahs in my wallet at the moment. He took it without further argument, and even went as far as bid me farewell and a 'good afternoon'. All the while, no smile upon his face. For him, it's just a routine anyway. For me, yup, it's just another standard procedure when a traffic cop stopped you. Pretending that you had all important stuff to do thus made you inelligible to attend the trial at whatever date he's mentioned, and just shake him off with your hard-earned money. Have you seen any traffic cop in Jakarta that really sent you to trial no matter how much you're willing to bribe him? Now, that's a rare treat. Alas, once is enough. Yesterday was, by the way, my third deal with traffic cops for three years i've been riding on the street of Jakarta.

So, As an Afterthought, 80th Annual Academy Awards

It's probably had something to do with the shocking news about Heath Ledger - some had said that it was yet another marketing stint from Warner Bros. Maybe, just maybe, when the red-carpet for the premiere of The Dark Knight rolled, we see him walking casually down the aisle, smiling wildly, and said, "Why so serious?". Don't see it happen though, that was a very bold marketing stint, if it had. In other word, i believed that the death clause was genuine, and Mr.Ledger would stay dead - that the 80th Annual Academy Awards nominations announcement went mostly un-noticed by me. But i'd like to think that with the fiasco that is Golden Globe, writer strike and all, AND chiefly, that personally, i thought that the year 2007 is a very good year in film - again, this is probably due to my even easier access of late to films that found me less and less depended on the schedule of our local cineplexes (if there's anything that goes progressively worse over the year is our local cineplexes' screening selections. That, and a great slew of terrible Indonesian films that had its theme shifted from 'teenage-horror' to 'adolescence-sex-comedy'. Yup, we're back in 1970's where Warkop DKI ruled our cinema. So much for progress. Anyway, that was another post to this self-important blog later. Geez, i made a footnote INSIDE a footnote!), and more and more eye-ing the film festivals and DVD releases - that i could, although incorrectly, put the word "i could put a blindfold and pick any film released in 2007, and loved it" into a good use. And due to that, i'd like to think that subconsciously, i had blatantly ignored the Awards thingies, because i KNOW what i liked, had a pretty firm and justified opinion on that, and thus, when some Academy shoved names and titles that THEY thought was best in 2007, i found myself comfortable and unshaken with my choices. But still, Awards still had its certain fun. For one, i could mock and poke (which exactly what i'm about going to do) their selection.

Anyway, the nominees for the 2007 80th Annual Academy Awards is up (read for it yourself somewhere, perhaps at imdb.com).

No Country for Old Men (still my number one film in 2007) and There Will Be Blood (when was the DVD is going to be released, anyway?) leads the nominations, taking eight nods each including Best Picture and Best Director. My favorite man, Daniel Day-Lewis also taking a nod for Best Actor (about time he wins one, if you asked me). I had a notable brief argument with a friend in Best Actor category. Immediately after i saw American Gangster last Saturday, a friend of mine said that Denzel Washington should win, or at least, nominated for Best Actor. I was immediately disagreed. I said, no, way! Denzel is just being Denzel in American Gangster. He just did what he did best, and if you asked me, nothing special. Granted, Denzel Washington is a better than average actor, thus, his being average acting would 'wows' many casual audience. But see more of his films, understands them, and you'd spot the difference. So, based on that fact, i was sceptical that Denzel Washington would get his noms via American Gangster. And do you know the exhilarating feeling of being right? Do you enjoy it? I know i enjoyed it, and i just love being right.

Ellen Page got nominated for Best Actress. As much as i loved her, well, actually because i loved her, i don't want her to win. The film in which she got her nods from was also nominated for a Best Picture, and has been 'a little film that has become everyone's little darling' not unlike that of the 2006's Little Miss Sunshine. However, despite its luke-warm and sweet character, i was rather disappointed with the overall of the film's direction, and i was failed to see something special from Ellen Page. Oh, she could act, all right, better than average, but as Juno MacGuff she was straight like an arrow from start to finish. Unlike in Hard Candy, where in my opinion, she was totally overlooked, there's no recognizable gritted grip that made me emotionally involved to the character not merely bemused.

George Clooney enjoyed another year of nominations as his latest film (not one he is directing, though, which as you have guessed correctly, gave ABSOLUTELY NO SIGN WHATSOEVER of when was it's going to made an appearance), Michael Clayton had a nod for Best Picture and another nod for Best Actor to himself.

Further, adding insult to injury, the exclusion of Lust, Caution and 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days (which by the way, won the Grand Jury prize at the Cannes. THE Cannes Film Festival) two of my most favorite film in the year 2007 from the Best Film in Foreign Language nomination, further discredited Academy in my eyes worse than ever.

Heath Ledger Dies

News from MSNBC:

NEW YORK - Heath Ledger was found dead Tuesday at a downtown Manhattan residence in a possible drug-related death, police said. He was 28.

According to WNBC, Ledger was found with pills strewn all around him.

NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said Ledger had an appointment for a massage at the Manhattan apartment believed to be his home. The housekeeper, who went to let Ledger know the masseuse was there, found him unconscious at approximately 3:30 p.m. ET, according to the New York Times. After receiving no response from the actor after shaking him, they called authorities.

The Australian-born actor has a two-year-old daughter, Matilda Rose, with former fiancee Michelle Williams. Ledger was set to play the Joker in the upcoming Batman film "The Dark Knight." He received an Academy Award nomination for his work in "Brokeback Mountain."

Just 28, once engaged to beautiful Michelle Williams (they had a child), anticipated by comic-geeks worldwide for his portrayal as the Joker in the next Batman installment, he's one of a good young actor, too bad that it would seems he can't shake-off his drug addiction.

Image courtesy of Cinematical

Juno (2007)

Juno. Film review. In the Western culture - from what i learnt from books and films - where it really doesn't that much of a thing when you're pregnant before any marriage, the main question aroused when you're sixteen and pregnant was how you'd going to raise the baby after it has been born. Totally unlike here when the first and only question asked when you're pregnant and not married was how to conceal the fact as long as possible. Probably, dug up a hole somewhere and buried yourself is often the feasible solution. So much for the cultural-difference.

Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page) is a girl unlike any other. Had i known her in a real life, i would fall head over heels on her. How often have you met a girl, sixteen, played guitar in a band to a point where she could identified a Gibson Les Paul guitar from a distance, influenced by names such as Sid Vicious, and Patti Smith and casually mentioned Dario Argento and Suspiria while watching The Wizard of Gore? In my case, never. The film begins with a chair (as Juno herself said). She was sixteen, still a senior in a highschool, and she's pregnant. Had it happened here, of course, it would be the end of the world for her. But as i said, Juno is a girl unlike any other, in an environment where it's socially acceptable if you had sex before marriage as long as it's safe.

Juno has been everywhere. Decorating various critics' page as one of the best film in 2007, mentioned in almost every message boards, carrying baggage such as the 2007 equivalent of Little Miss Sunshine. In short, i've been hearing nothing but a good thing about this film. Unless for one. I've read, probably the first and only cautious review on this film at Cinematical. It said that Juno has received a quite dangerous status of a 'cool-film' that redefines 'cool'. That is, you're not cool if you haven't seen it. The article urges people to stop giving a false-publicity to the film as the film may not be able to sustain its own famous status.

I've seen the film, and i was disappointed.

I loved Juno as a character, but only as far as my adolescence goes which is doesn't goes that far. I think that my interest in this film was quickly deteroriates when Juno breaks up the news of her pregnancy to her parents and decides that she's going to give-up her baby for an adoption to a foster parent which she personally chooses (played by Jennifer Garner who better than her average, and Jason Bateman who merely come and goes) which happened fairly early in the film. After that scene, there was nothing more for me to the film but merely to finish what i had started.

It probably had something to do with Juno's choice in the matter of her pregnancy. I've seen two significant film about pregnancy in 2007. Knocked Up and 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. At both of this film, the women who pregnant dealt with the consequences about un-planned pregnancy. In this film, Juno seems to take the matter lightly. She doesn't concerns about being pregnant, her parents supports her, her best-friend still there, and if she's socially disturbed with her school-mates about her pregnancy, she doesn't show it safe by a simple sentence through a phone. Well, i guess i had expecting too much, and i had expecting that the film would going the 'right' way by unravel and elaborate the hardships of being pregnant, which clearly, Juno has a minimum dose of such hardships to face against.

American Gangster (2007)

American Gangster. Film Review. Based on what i've seen through this film, in 1960s, the U.S of A was down in its gutter. Vietnam was a losing cause, and the way i see it, it still worse than Iraq. Meanwhile, at its own shore, drugs were at their busiest time taking their tolls left and right. And, a reminiscence to my own country's condition now, forty years afterward - which suggest that we still had a long road ahead to catch up -, the law department was plagued with corruption that if you happened to be one that 'did the right thing', you'd be the only one, you had no friends in department, people talk behind your back, your wife left you, and you'd virtually had no career up ahead.

Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) has lived and served under Bumpy Johson, a black man whose claw was deep into Harlem, NY for fifteen years. When Bumpy dies, Frank step up the plate, and by strictly obeying rules he made and learnt from Bumpy, he did what the Italian mafia couldn't do in 100 years, he brought up a nearly pure heroin, the highest quality in the market with reduced price, thus virtually eliminating his competitors, and brought him a wealth that even his late boss, Bumpy could only dream of. The only mistake he made was when he violates his own rule, a violation that proved the trueness of an ancient adage that 'behind every fall of a man, is a woman'. On the opposite of the coin, Richie Roberts (the ever versatile Russell Crowe) is a New Jersey Police Dept. probably the only honest cop in the department. He found a million dollars in cash, unmarked, in a trunk of a car belong to a Mafia bookie. But instead of using it for his own merit, he handed the money to the Departement, every dollar. This renowned him, but as i've said in the earlier paragraph, he had no friends, people talked behind him back, his wife left him, and he had virtually no career up ahead all that because he did the right thing. Until one day, that is, when his renowned reputation land him a job to lead a special anti-drug unit. With this unit, that consists of men of his choice, Richie's path and Frank's would eventually collide. Mixed in the play was Detective Trupo (Josh Brolin) of a NY Special Investigation Unit, a totally corrupt detective who ask for a monthly stipend from every mafia, redistribute the confiscated drug in a much lesser quality, and everything imaginable, right or wrong (mostly wrong) to made him even more wealthy.

The film kept remind me of Heat. In Heat, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro were for a greater part of the film weren't on a same scene until the famous coffee shop scene that still rob my heart-beat even now. In this film, the first scene where Russel Crowe and Denzel Washington first appear together on a single scene is also one of the most breath-taking moment in this film. I would like to call the scene as an "Amazing Grace" scene that should the film ended in that scene, i would love it even more than i'm already is. I loved the film by the way, one of the best film in 2007, but not nearly at the top. Further, since his appearance in No Country for Old Men (still my best film in 2007), i've been keeping an eye on Josh Brolin. He had the quality that reminds me to Jeff Bridges, an actor that time and again i would mentioned as the most underrated working actors which is of course, a good thing. Denzel Washington is at his usual game, nothing much to expect from him, as well as Russell Crowe. Playing a socially inept honest cop doesn't require much from him. But of course, the greater portion of this film lies on Denzel Washington's shoulder. And he doesn't disappoint. Much.

I'd like to think that the true stars of this film is Josh Brolin. I was disturbed with the film during the Thanksgiving scenes. Frank Lucas is a family man, he loves his family, he loves being together in a single dining table during Thanksgiving. But, the fact remains that he fed his family with drug money. A various scenes show that lots and lots of family loses one (or all) of its member and its sanity with drugs. All juxtaposed with a scene where Frank Lucas had his lavish thanksgiving dinner. I feel that i should hate Frank, all with his indifference to lives of others aside from that of his own family. However, the one i really hate the most in this film was the crooked detective character represented by Josh Brolin. Disturbing, because really, all he does is took the money from the bad guy. He was never shown taking an innocent human live during the film. Yet, ironically, his death and not Frank's is one that i'm really looking forward to. If i hadn't known any better, Josh Brolin is the scene-stealer in this film.

The film ran long, almost three hours but the story was greatly told that three hours just flies. However, there's this teenager beside me who at the last third of the film kept turning on his handphone to see the time. Ah, probably he has a curfew and has to get home before midnight.

No Country For Old Men

No Country for Old Men. Book review. First thing that immediately came to mind about this book was its excessive usage of the word 'and'. Never before had i read so many ands in a sentence in a book. For example, i took these words verbatimly from page number 140 in the book. 'The man unlocked a drawer in the desk and took out a steel of box and unlocked that and took out a card and closed the box and locked it and put it away again'. That's six ands in a single sentence. Second, as a non-English speaker, i felt that Texan-accented English is a single hardest accent for me to hear. And i considered myself pretty good at hearing English. However, i had never thought before that reading them was not an easy feat as well. Most people in this book used the accent and i found myself sometime, reading them out-loud so i could understand them. And third, but probably it's just the version i got, there's no punctuation in this book. It's a minor prob though, but there's a time when i had no idea who did the talking and had to trace back the conversation to restore the understanding. Well, maybe it's just me and my ultra-short attention span.

Aside from that, as i've seen the film first, there's not that much differences between the film and the book. For the most part, it's almost scene-per-scene. However, as with most film adapted from the book, small details are definitely bond to varied. I counted at least two additional significant characters existed only in the book, as well as at least two significant scenes involving these characters. There also some separate scenes in the book that in the film were merged into a single or a reduced scene. One such important scene is where Sheriff Ed Tom Bell narrates his meeting with Moss' father, and another that in a timeline, had happened after the film had ended.

Further, in my opinion, where as the film seemingly had the conflict between Lleweyn Moss, an old good boy, a Vietnam veteran who happened to pick a case full of money from a drug-deal gone bad with Anton Chigurh, a representation of evil who wishes to retrieve the case as its main course, the book definitely had the old Sheriff Ed Tom Bell as its main course. He narrates the book, providing a personal insight of what old men such as him, and other in his generation thought about the country in which they had lived and served, and of the changes the country had seen with the shifting of time, and how, in the end, that there was simply 'No Country for Old Men'. And in this respect, the film and the book was different, as each had simply gone to their own direction. And therefore, in my opinion, it is best to judge the book and the film separately. If you liked the film, doesn't really means that you're going to liked the book as well, and vice versa. I myself, loved the film, because of the character Anton Chigurh, probably - though there's no way i can be sure of it - just like the Coen Brothers had intended in a first place. And i loved the book because of the character Sheriff Ed Tom Bell. The character Anton Chigurh was to my surprise, i found as a simple backdrop in the book, almost insignificant if compared to the character Sheriff Ed Tom Bell. Whereas the film provides a character to deliver its message, the book provides the message to deliver its character. And if i seen it from this point of view, the book gave a truer meaning to its title, 'No Country for Old Men' than the film. Therefore, i held the book in a slight superior quality than the film.

Kevin Keegan Returns

I may not look like it, but i was also quite a fan of a soccer game. But i often refuse to affiliate myself with any teams as i saw the overworked fanaticism with loathe and disgust. However, there's a team that its related news were something that i read firstly before others. Newcastle United. Been a fan of the Newcastle ever since Andy Cole and Kevin Keegan on the team (that was what? ten? eleven years ago?) and nothing saddens me than seeing them struggle at the middle-bottom of the Barclay's Premier League (a 6-0 defeat to Man.U last Saturday). But now, Kevin Keegan back on the team! And his comeback lifted the spirit of the team as they beat Stoke at the FA Cup third round with a convincing 4-1 victory. Well, Stoke was a minnows so, there's actually nothing to be proud of the 4-1 victory. But hey, it's a start.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

Well. So much for the hype. The Sarah Connor Chronicles turns out to be a yet another mediocre TV series invaded our tube which existence merely for the amusement of coach-potatoes, and someone like me. In short, this serie is a Terminator film all over again that instead runs for a two hours, runs an entire season. That, and the (so far, i hope) absence of Mr. Governator and Robert Patrick.

The series timeline begins in 1999. A several years after the events in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Familiar setting, Sarah and John Connor are on the run again for an umpteenth time, chased by a yet another killer cyborg sent from the future. And just like its film, there's another cyborg sent from the future with sole purpose to protect John from the killer cyborg. At the end of the first episode however, all three (Sarah, John, and the bodyguard cyborg) time-traveling to a year 2007. You know, Skynet, must stop the robot wars, all that sort of reasonings. In itself, if you'd seen Terminator 3, would ruin the timeline, so my best guess is that there'd be another time-traveling stuffs before the season finale. My opinion prevailed though, the first episode was an okay one, it promises of things yet to come. Had it happened in the film, the film would be worth it to sit through. However, a whole season? Well, my interest was greatly reduced by the end of the first episode.

I'm sure you'd be able to guess what was the girl in the poster's role for this serie. If not, go rent yourself Terminator films.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

Yeah! Despite the writer strike, the new TV series from Fox, Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles has premiered. I had the first two episodes of the brand-new season, gonna watch 'em tonight, and hopefully post an after-thought first impression first thing tomorrow morning. Actually, i'm not really dig Terminator. Sure, Terminator 2 was a terrific action film (that, and the fact that i've seen it when i was still a boy running around with shorts) but more? Not quite so. However, ever since the Terminator spin-off TV series rumors surfaced, and then materialized in form of promotional posters, that's when they had me intrigued. All of the posters were cool. Just check out the one i put in this post. You CANNOT NOT LOVE her!

3:10 to Yuma (2007)

3:10 to Yuma. Film review. It's probably one of my earliest notable experience in film that later made me had a certain soft spot for Western. As a child, i was dumbstruck, smitten in awe with Billy the Kid and co. through Young Guns. From there on, it was a gun-trotting, fast-drawing, a sheriff star, and a ten-gallon hat love. But not until years later when i had a chance to broaden my horizon and could virtually pick most films i yearned for, had i stumbled upon the masterpieces in the genre such as those from Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood and Akira Kurosawa (which was of course, not exactly a Western, but the Western feel of Westernized Samurai with swords rather than guns was easily observed).

2007 saw at least two major release films which could be said revamped the Western genre which has gone hiatus for a quite some time. Both of this film features my favorite actor, none - as far as i know of - showed at our local cinemas, and one of them (this film) had seen an official DVD release. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford which features Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck, and this film, 3:10 to Yuma features Russell Crowe and Christian Bale.

3:10 to Yuma follows a familiar Western in general. There's two prominent characters each with a considerable introduction time. These characters weren't necessarily stood in the opposite side of good and evil, but their roles, who's the protagonist and who's the antagonist were clearly and immediately identifiable. These two characters would crosses path and eventually led to a showdown, a gun-fight to an end.

Unlike most Westerns however, Dan Evans (Christian Bale) the protagonist in this film doesn't possess a notified ability in gun drawing. A complete opposite is Ben Wade (Russell Crowe), the leader of a ruthless bandit with terrifying fast drawing and a frightening smile. Dan is just a rancher on a brim of bankruptcy with debts and a threat to the land he owns and family he loved from a railroad developer who at that time in the West has beginning to expand and opening opportunities across the country. His only concern was his family. Although of course, any casual viewers would have guessed that Dan had some kind of a past he wishes to conceal with being a family man. Ben meanwhile is a character spesifically made up for the purpose of moving pictures. Too unique and too weird to be real. But he's the one who made this film interesting. He led a group of men and had made at least twenty-two armed robberies. He was known and feared. A character you wouldn't want to messed up with. The capture of Ben Wade led Dan who in need for a cash volunteered as one among the group that would escort Ben Wade to a train station where he'll board the 3:10 to Yuma. Meanwhile, Ben's men led by the vicious Charlie Prince (Ben Foster) - whose ever presence amused me almost to a point where i'd crowned him as the scene-stealer though given the competition with Crowe and Bale, it's understandable that his screen absence wasn't missed THAT much just yet - vowed that they would release Ben and made sure the men escorted them had a most terrible death.

In the end, this film doesn't tried to pit the good vs the evil to settled whatever the score was between them in a single location where only one of them left standing. It is more about the nudging between principles among them. Dan with his good natured farmer principle that put his family, wife and son as his pride before anything else, and Ben with his principle on money (actually there's more than money. But to put what his principle was on words wouldn't do any justice and surely would ruin your experience if you hadn't seen the film yet) who was amused with Dan's insistence on doing what anyone else had been refused to do and his refusal upon Ben's bribe to release him. In the end, Dan and Bill understands and silently respected each other in a subtle way that goes beyond words.

For my own taste, it is not yet become the best of the genre but it is more than enough to quench my thirst for a good Western. Russell Crowe was in his usual self. He was a confident man, and he has already proved himself as a versatile actor. Though he is the bad guy in this film, it is almost impossible to not like him. He was simply doing what he does best as a working actor. Christian Bale is well, i had always admired him as a hard-working actor. He was already known to put himself to a strict diet for a role, only to shape up several months later to another role that required tremendeous physical strength, and then, eating a plate full of live worms and maggots in a yet another role. However, there's this facial attribute on him that almost gave him away every time, no matter how his outer appearance looked like. Not to a point where it's annoying (as for example, these ladies had a facial attribute that annoys me every time i look at them) but yeah, for me, it's a Bale's grin. And i should liked him even more had he doesn't have such uniqueness. However, his role was the key to this film. Everything revolves around Dan, and Dan is one character that doesn't change in this film from start to finish. And Bale's grin or no Bale's grin, he did a very good job delivering Dan Evans. All in all, even though the action part in this film wasn't really that much (however, it must be noted that the last thirty minutes of the film is awesomely breath-taking), this film is a joy ride wether you liked Western or not. Though it certainly helps a lot had you liked Western.

The World's Thinnest Notebook

The curtain un-veiled, and lo! and behold! A new celebrity is on town for once again the guys at the Apple Inc. has pushed the world of technology and design up a notch with the release of the new MacBook Air. Weighted for only 1.3 kg, the beast had physical size-reduced Intel Core 2 Duo processor (you might want to call it a mini processor), an optional Solid State hard drive (think of it as a gargantuan Flash USB Drive), a single port USB 2.0, an Audio Out, and a Micro DVI port. A claimed 5 hours running-time battery. Trackpad now support multi-touch gestures just like ones in the iPhone. The only catch was the price, i think. The new MacBook offers two kind of pricing, a USD 1800 and a holy-mother-of-shit USD 3100!. Now, if you'd excuse me, i wish to see more of this beauty. You might want to check the product by yourself. Heads up to Apple, read the report on El Jobso's keynote on Engadget, read more about the features of this MacBook Air via Tuaw.

Random Shorts (3)

Earlier this year, Warner Bros has announced that they would shortly went to Blu-Ray exclusive later this year. Many believed that this would be the death sentence of HD-DVD thus ending the so-called Format war. Yesterday, Toshiba (as one of the remaining supporter of HD-DVD) retaliate by cutting the prices of the HD-DVD hardwares it owned. Amazon also slices off 50% of the HD-DVD titles on their shelf. I believed that HD-DVD will go down, but apparently it won't go down without a fight. If Apple loads its newest MacBook (Pro) and MacPro line with Blu-Ray, then that would be the nail in the coffin for HD-DVD. Why does it matter, you say? Well, i wanted to buy one of those next-gen media player for quite some time but with the war ever raging on, it is wiser for me to wait at the sideline and see which side came out as a winner. Since apparently Blu-Ray will win the war, i've been eye-ing the price tags on the Blu-Ray player. And oh, Sony PlayStation 3 as well. Blu-Ray format was suggested by Sony, incorporated in its PlayStation 3, whilst HD-DVD format was suggested by Microsoft, incorporated in its XBox 360.

Earlier this year, there's an interesting article on MarketWatch about the inevitable death of printed media swept in a swift of broadband internet. It's sad but it's truer than true that we could easily get faster, better, and more reliable news from the Internet rather than from weekly or monthly printed issue of a magazine. The fact was also mocked at the latest The Simpsons episode (season 19 episode 9 or 10, i forgot which). And yesterday, a saddening report came from England where it's reported that "The Sun", for the first time in 33 years had its lowest circulation in a history with only less than 3 million copies a day. This report indicates that it was indeed inevitable that the printed news (magazines, newspapers, and stuffs) would bow down for an exit anytime soon. I believed that unless the magazine relies more on a photoshoots and pictures rather than newest update around the globe, such as that of National Geographic or Playboy, the death of a printed magazine was indeed inevitable.

And finally, I've been prepping for reviews to these following films:
- 3:10 to Yuma (2007)
- Platoon (1986) - It gets better every time
- Raising Arizona (1987)
- Superbad (2007)
- The Evil Dead (1981)

On Macworld Expo 2008

Made a mistake on yesterday post about this year's Macworld Expo. I had thought that the (in)famous Steve Jobs' Keynote was live last midnight (Jakarta time) which means we could see what was in the Air for Apple, Inc. Instead, the Keynote was going to live tonight. So, no news about that "There's Something in the Air" until tomorrow.

Image courtesy of Engadget.

MacBook Air

Quite probably, for us, Macintosh users, there's a single annual event that most anticipated and celebrated. Macworld Expo. In the next few hours, Steve Jobs - most likely the most celebrated person in anything Apple - would open this Expo with his already 'trademark'-ed turtle-neck and a bottle of water opening, famously known as Steve Jobs' Keynote. There are already various websites that dedicated itself to bring a live, up-to-a-minute report of his Keynote. But of course, as with any other Apple event, the most anticipated news would've been what was inside Steve Jobs' sleeve. Over the year, we've heard about iPhone and Leopard. Now the rumor has it that for this year's Macworld Expo, we're going to see a new ultra-thin MacBook line-ups. The news was still uncertain because Apple Inc. as usual, keep a hush-hush shh-shh about what has going on. But alas, with millions of people attentively ogled for the news relating to the event, some info - best taken with a grain of salt - are bound to leaked. Thus, the image on this post which shown a 'oh-my-god' so-thin MacBook Air. The image also said that Cables not included. According to some sites, the best - though probably unlikely - we could expect is that the new MacBook, besides that it was paper-thin (and enough to made me drool) would featured no cable. That means, Wireless USB! No cable power adapter (inductive charging), and totally completely Wireless Connectivity. If it's true, then i would've begged my girl-friend to buy this new MacBook. And by the way, Apple has already patented its own Inductive Charging which means, that inductive charging, i.e no need to wired the cable to plug into a power socket wasn't that much away from reality.

Disclaimer: This post compiled from various rumor sites about Apple Inc. and thus best taken with a grain of salt.

2008 Golden Globe Winners

Already agreed by many as the most pathetic Golden Globe award in recent history. We all knew about the Writer's Strike that has been going on since .. i don't know .. September? October? . And, even though some studios had settled a renewed their deal with these writers, due to this strike, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association has decided to announce this year's Golden Globe Award winners via a press conference. That means, no televised ceremony, no red carpet, no nothing. Anyway, you know the nominees, here's the announced winner.

Best Supporting Actress - Cate Blanchett (I'm Not There)
Best Animated Feature Film - Ratatouille
Best Actress (Musical or Comedy) - Marion Cotillard (La vie en Rose)
Best Supporting Actor - Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men)
Best Director - Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly)
Best Actor (Musical or Comedy) - Jhonny Depp (Sweeney Todd)
Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy) - Sweeney Todd
Best Original Song - Guaranteed (Into the Wild)
Best Actress (Drama) - Julie Christie (Away from Her)
Best Actor (Drama) - Daniel Day Lewis (There Will be Blood)
Best Screenplay - Joel & Ethan Coen (No Country for Old Men)
Best Original Score - Atonement
Best Foreign Language Film - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Best Motion Picture (Drama) - Atonement

Hm, is Atonement really that good? Well, anyway, it's not much of a surprise regarding the winners, given the manner in which the award was held, it certainly not nearly enough sparked the interest in me. After all, when it comes to films, i had already grown passed the award-hype.

Singin' in the Rain (1952)

Singin' in the Rain. Film Review. On more than one occassion had i expressed my inclination love toward the magic that is musical films. And as hard as i tried to look into the history of the cinema, i was having a considerable difficulties in trying to find any one of musical films that i hadn't liked. Anyway, some (even many) critics had put this film among the top film of all-time. At any length, i won't deny the claim nor approve of it for fear that i won't made a fair assumption given my inclination in favor toward musical films.

And oh, i luuuuuv tap dance. And since Singin' in the Rain collides these two activities (singing and tap-dancing) into one of the utmost enjoyable film i've ever seen, it should've been no wonder at all if i said that this film is at a very least, the best musical film ever made by Hollywood. Although of course, given the premise that this film incorporates two elements that i liked very much to a point where it felt incredulous and ridiculous, such statement would and should be at best, regarded with a grain of salt. However, please allow me to back up my opinion with deeper thoughts than such which i've already said.

The film, aside from it being from Hollywood, was all about Hollywood during the transition era from silent film to incorporate audio. This transition allegedly become a grim reaper for actors whom even though had enduring a significant fame during the silent era failed to pronounce the acceptable diction required to survive the dawn of the sound era. Such actor was presented by Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) a typical shallow-blond-and-famous actress in this film. She was pushed by the studio as the leading lady and a companion façade to everyone's favorite actor, Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) whose roots and - probably - preferences lies in dancing and singing. In a flahsback scene, Don recounts his journey to fame with his long friend Cosmo Brown (Donald O'Connor) when they clawed themselves up from comedy musicians to where they are now.

It clearly shows that Don can't stand Lina even though he has to manage their united, romantic front to fans who adored him beyond reasons. In one of the adoring moment, Don had to escape from his voracious fans and stumbled upon a lively and honest Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds) who as it turns out had a significant talent in dancing and singing. Don immediately attracts to Debbie, and she would later comes into play to the relationship both career-wise and personal-wise with Don when there arose a need to dub Lina's voice into their first ever talking film. From here on, the film went the right away we all know and totally familiar with. No surprises.

The strength of this film was of course lies in the singing and dancing sequences (coreographed by Gene Kelly himself, among others). One of the most remembered scene of the film, there'd be no doubt about it, was when Gene Kelly, with an umbrella in his hand, grinning happily not unlike that of a teenager just smitten with a first love, singing the eternal song which also become the title of this film under the shower of rains. However, my favorite dancing scene, had you asked me about it right now, was "Good Morning" where Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, and Debbie Reynolds did a trio tap-dancing.

Aside from that, the casts were perfect. Debbie Reynolds, just eighteen when she landed the role able to emanates the energy, innocence and curious beauty needed for the Kathy part. Donald O'Connor had a very magnificent solo dancing scene during "Make 'Em Laugh" scores. And Gene Kelly, should i say anything more about him? The word "Singin' In The Rain" would forever attached along to his name. Forever.

If you like me, had a penchant to musical film, you must give this film a chance. I had a brief argument with my gf about which one is better, "Sound of Music" or this film. She stood with the former, and i stood with this film because this film is about Hollywood, and it was certainly a much lighter film to enjoy than "Sound of Music". Is it one of the best film of all-time? I would again, as with the case of Citizen Kane, refused to answer the question. But, is it one of the best musical film of all-time? Yes, certainly. Not merely one of, but in my opinion, this film was indeed the best musical film of all-time.

Random Shorts (2)

This is where i degraded myself into when i yet again, violated my commitment to provide a daily update to this blog.

Just found out that for some reasons, my download rates where way way faster with my own MacBook rather than with the company's provided Toshiba (running Vista).

Just bought my wedding ring (hooray!) and a set of jewelry for my girl-friend, finally settled on a date of our wedding, made a down payment to the venue for the grand occasion, and pray that nothing befouled our future plan.

Somebody attacked our mail server and thus rendered our mail useless for the greater period of the day. Our guy at the network services and maintenance division are currently working out for the solution. None had worked so far tough, and who gets to blame for the accident? Of course, us. Though mail server was never ever put under the jurisdiction of our division.

My former office-mate told me that they're currently heading the Ruby direction. Well, good luck guys. Come to think of it, even if i had only worked at the said office for a short 4 months (the shortest period of work i've ever committed), that office was still the best place - in terms of working environments when no money was involved - that i've ever worked at.

The company's general stakeholder meeting is looming ahead. One thing certain about that meeting, we'd see a new Board of Directors in the company and could be the key point in me for making any decisions regarding my future in this company. Another thing from that meeting that wasn't certain yet but certainly has become one of the prominent hope of me and fellow employees nowadays where of course, yearly bonus. If anything, it would certainly helped the financing of my wedding. One could only hope, though, one could only hope.

A Good Woman (2004)

A Good Woman. Film Review. A little bit of background before i went into the reviews. I had several stacks of films in my room (around eleven - twelve). Each stack consists of 20 to 40 titles, ordered alphabetically. And a very good portion of it hadn't had a chance to spin into my disc chamber (less pretentious words and more straight to the point, i hadn't seen most of the films i had). So, i had decided to pick-up the first stack and eat through it. A Good Woman (i made a newbie mistake by putting A Good Woman into an 'A' section rather than 'G' section) was the first film of this stack i happened to chose from. And i had really no idea about the film beforehand. Not even who the actors were in the film.

It started slow, but it turns out to be one film that i'd like to suggest if you had a spare time, and had a thing about drama. In my old rating system, i'd give the film a solid three stars.

The film was relatively unknown by the time of its release. However, a year after its initial release, the film was finally seen the light of day. And i had guessed and i persumed i had guessed correctly that the film was just did so because none other than voluptuous white-hot Scarlett Johansson after attained some kind of recognition through her previous Lost in Translation. I was surprised as well when she made her first appearance on this film.

Based on an Oscar Wilde's play "Lady Windermere's fan", the film told the story of an American woman, Mrs. Erlynne (Helen Hunt) whose ill reputation made her no stranger among the wealthy married-women. When her reputation owned her, she went to Italy where she met with Lord Windermere whose newly wed with Meg (Scarlett Johannson). She quickly gains reputation among the gossipers. But was she really what she is? Meanwhile, Lord Darlington seen the possibility of Lord Windermere's infidelity, didn't waste time to jump with the gossip wagon for his own good - he, like any men should, had his eyes on Meg. And there's also a wealthy aristocrat (the ever-venerable Tom Wilkinson)

The essence of the film was that there's a secret that accompanies Mrs. Erlynne's visit to Italy. And the fact that the film left with not all the characters understood the secret made the film stand above most and provided some kind of a reward for my patience. Aside from that, the dialogs were witty and (often hard) very enjoyable to follow. A fact that i found out later that the film's script kept most of the original dialogs written by Mr. Oscar Wilde intact.

As long as i remembered, though i haven't seen many of her movies lately, this is Helen Hunt's most memorable performance. I loved her expression when she did her very last scene with Meg. It was a mere flick of an eye, but my, what an expression. And this said scene which appropriately put at the near end of the film that elevates my general mood toward the film in general. Scarlett Johansson is at her usual self. Her attractive (and not to mention, inviting) persona easily kept her presence memorable. Although told be truth, i haven't seen any difference in the film as with her other roles.

OFCS 2007 Nominees

OFCS stands for Online Film Critics Society. These guys, whose names includes James Berardinelli and Scott Weinberg from Cinematical, are at least passionate about movies, publishing hundreds of reviews every year, and as most of their members, if not all, were geographically (and financially) possible to attend prominent film festivals, had their hands to the most rare films which i could only wait for the DVD to be released, thus, made me drooled over their professional occupations and had become the object of my desire for the last several years.

Anyhoo, as one who wishes to pretend that i could be distinguished as one of the film passionate (for disclaimer, i just did this for my own fun and benefits, though of course the idea of watching movies for mere fun and relaxing experience was not entirely true when applied to me. Pathetic as it may sounds, but i had always thought that watching movies were more of a job to me, a job that i really loved that is) i was more interested than their best of the year 2007 nominees than any other similar awards. So, here goes.

Picture
Atonement
Juno
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood
Zodiac
Up until now, i haven't really appreciate Zodiac for what it's worth. I might had to check for the film this weekend. Juno is of course has been receiving many hypes over the globe, no chance that it would arrive on local theaters though, as with There Will Be Blood. Seen No Country for Old Men at the Jakarta International Film Festival, really wishes to see more. Hopefully those local cinema's authorities would stop bringing junk films to the theater and start bringing some really good stuffs. A quick look to local theaters' schedules confirmed my suspicion. They still bringing junk films. I mean, who would want to see Alien vs Predator Requiem? If you loved Alien or Predator - which in my case, i stood with Predator. The first one, not the second one - and had seen the first Alien vs Predator film, you'd be insane.. totally insane if you lined up to see the film. Had refused to see Atonement at the Jakarta International Film Festival, and still hadn't really thought of giving it a chance.

Director
Paul Thomas Anderson - There Will Be Blood
Joel & Ethan Coen - No Country for Old Men
David Cronenberg - Eastern Promises
David Fincher - Zodiac
Julian Schnabel - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
David Cronenberg is one of my favorite director. As was Joel & Ethan Coen. However, Mr.Cronenberg's works were less accessible to me than Coen Brother's. Just like the last year (or was it a couple of years ago?) A History of Violence, which in my memory had no chance at all to arrive in the local theater, Eastern Promises which already notoriously famous because of Viggo Mortensen's lengthy fight scene (nude!) wouldn't had any chance to arrive at the local theater. They would still opted for a teenage friendly kind of film. No offense to the teenagers out there, but really, most of our local teenagers here were bunch of loud noises. They are more than willing to spent their parent's hard-earned money to a total rip-off of Final Destination film and cursing (CURSING!) when they seen No Country of Old Men. A contemptuous feeling with solid argument would more than a welcome to me rather than the old 'if it wasn't loud, than it wasn't good' which apparently still held true to these kids.

Actress
Julie Christie - Away From Her
Marion Cotillard - La Vie En Rose
Angelina Jolie - A Mighty Heart
Laura Linney - The Savages
Ellen Page - Juno

Actor
George Clooney - Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood
Emile Hirsch - Into the Wild
Frank Langella - Starting Out in the Evening
Viggo Mortensen - Eastern Promises

Supporting Actor
Casey Affleck - The Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Javier Bardem - No Country for Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Charlie Wilson's War
Hal Holbrook - Into the Wild
Tom Wilkinson--Michael Clayton
Javier Bardem has been getting the nods for Supporting Actor literally everywhere. Understandable, when he could really turn the audience into gasping whenever his character appears on screen, that accentuates his showmanship.

Supporting Actress
Cate Blanchett - I'm Not There
Jennifer Garner - Juno
Kelly MacDonald - No Country for Old Men
Saoirse Ronan - Atonement
Amy Ryan - Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton - Michael Clayton
Again, another film that won't be coming this side of equator. But rumor has it that if you're not a fan of Bob Dylan, don't see I'm Not There. I'm really not a fan of Bob Dylan. In fact, as far as i know of, i had never heard any of Bob Dylan's song.

Original Screenplay
Kelly Masterson - Before The Devil Knows You're Dead
Steven Knight - Eastern Promises
Diablo Cody - Juno
Tony Gilroy - Michael Clayton
Brad Bird - Ratatouille

Adapted Screenplay
Christopher Hampton - Atonement
Ronald Harwood - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Joel & Ethan Coen - No Country For Old Men
Paul Thomas Anderson - There Will Be Blood
James Vanderbilt - Zodiac

I skipped the technical nominees as they were not yet become the area of my expertise comfortable zone.

Book Shopping

My favorite shopping mall in Jakarta is Plaza Indonesia. First, because it's relatively less crowded than most, if not all, shopping mall in Jakarta. Plaza Indonesia was indeed designed only to the 'haves', a socio-group where money was rarely an issue. Despite the immediate evidence, there were in fact many rich folks here in Jakarta. Students and average salary man such as myself would feel a little bit out of place here. Just like a dirty little spot of dust, uncleanable yet utterly visible upon a beautiful girl's face, which otherwise as smooth as a baby's butt. Second, and probably the only reason, and has been so for as long as i remembered, Plaza Indonesia had three import book stores. And the fact that it only took me seven minutes to get there made it even better.

I followed a strict path, an never altered path, up to a point where i could reenacted the path effortlessly even if you draped a fold of cloth upon my eyes, when i visited Plaza Indonesia. It was straight to the basement level from the entrance, browse through Askara - the first book store -, then out, follows the smells of bread emanates from the BreadTalk's booth, took a left turn in front of it and enter Periplus - the second book store. Then, out, back upstairs a couple of level, making a moment's stop at one of the Apple authorized reseller store, passed the DairyQueens' booth then another level upward to arrive at the third book store, Kinokuniya, then went home or crossing the road to get to Blitz Megaplex for watching movies. If you asked me about how to get to a Louis Vuitton's or Gucci's booth, i wouldn't know shit about it. Because really, aside of the fact that i only went to Plaza Indonesia to buy books, spending millions on a woman hand-bag or a pair of pants has yet passed into something reasonable in my mind.

Having these book stores really comes in handy. As a mere consumer with a solid understanding that i don't have any money-tree grows in the backyard, i could easily compared prices and came out with the cheapest price most of the time. Just like yesterday when i had this urge to bought Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men which was a basis for what probably ended up being my #1 film of the year 2007. So i went to Askara, snatch a copy of it, look for the price tag, and astonished to see the price of a whopping 157 thousand rupiahs. The advantage of Askara was that none of the books were plastic sealed which allow me to browse through the content of the books before buying. I decided that the price was simply too much. So i bolt out of the store and went to Periplus. This is where the books' price usually cheaper than its competitors albeit with relatively limited choices. I had to climb a small ladder in order to get the Cormac McCarthy's book from the shelf. It was the only copy left. I look for the price tag, and pleased to see the price. A sixty-five thousand rupiahs cheaper than Askara's price tag. I hadn't bothered to check the price at Kinokuniya, because in exchange to its vast collections, the books' price at the store were generally higher than the others. The only times i went to Kinokuniya was when i want to bought the latest copy of Japanese One Piece manga, or if i was certain that i can't find the book i'm looking for at the previous two book stores.

Moral of the story, despite its small collections, Periplus is my favorite book store in terms of price. Further, there's a Periplus book store at Juanda International Airport, Surabaya which has become the main attraction for me when i had to wait for my flight all by myself.

Random Shorts (1)

Some things that had happened around me today.

Had initially planned to do some morning jog. But when i woke up, it was raining outside and i figured that i would look stupid had i jogged through the rain. Went to the office at 7 a.m, and practically shivering through the early hour. Hadn't seen any sun for the whole day, and news has it that there were some cases of flooding in various area in Jakarta happened already.

We (me and my gf) had finally picked a date for our wedding. Just the date though, we still had to look for the venue's availability on that date. Further, we had our eyes on one and only one venue that would become the place where we're going to hold our wedding. Therefore, if the venue is not available on that date, it's going to be a big problem. Anyway, the date was Thursday. Odd, eh?

According to Javanese custom, my gf had a strength of 16 and i'm only 12. Does it matter?

My first working day at 2008. Spend the most of the day, backing up the application's data for the year 2007, put them somewhere safe, and started each application with zero data. Not exactly the brightest job in the world, but at least it's well paid.

Just learned that one of my friend at my former office was just married, and another one was just broke up with his girl friend for three years. Never thought that they would break up, but you never know.

Blogwalkings. Amusing myself with some film-related blogs which incidentally consists of 'what's hot' and 'what's not' in 2007. At cinematical, it was agreed that the year 2007 was the best year in film since 1999. On the contrary, James Berardinelli said that it was the worst year in film for the last several years. I stand with cinematical. It has been a good year in film this year, at least, easily better than 2006. I used to think that James Berardinelli was a reviewer whom taste and reviews generally agreed with mine. For the last couple of years, however, i tend to disagreed with him. A lot. Is it because i need to look for some other reviewers whose reviews best reflected my general taste? Or is it because i had developed some solid sense in me when it comes to writing reviews? I sincerely hope that it was the latter.

Superstition

It happened almost every year in our local TV stations. The retrospective of the year's past which amusingly, as far as i know mostly consists of likes such as 'Dumbest Celebrity 2007' or 'The Hottest Celebrity Couple in 2007' or 'The Nastiest Break-Ups in 2007' (unanimously featured the bickering in marriage between Maia and Dhani) nowadays. From what i've seen, these celebrity's mishaps retrospective largely outnumbered any other 2007 retrospectives held by our local TV stations by far. These celebrities were virtually no more than exotic beasts behind a cage, fed and maintained by the media for people's general amusements.

Another TV regulars that happened almost every year was the predictions. Made by 'famous' clairvoyants whose names weren't actually heard prior their respective predictions, these people went soared into an instant fame. And our media feed them like a zookeeper. They are after all, still the main attractions come this time of year.

Predictions are silly. Especially if it comes from these 'clairvoyants' who only claimed that they are actually genuine clairvoyant and sanctified by our media. In my opinion, hwoever, these 'clairvoyants' had nothing to lose whatsoever. They could say anything about what would happened in the future, and still they're getting paid, and attained instant fame and almost sure - though false - 'credibilities' that would lure some ignorant fools with penchant about supernatural things and money to spare to actually paid them to talk about things that these ignorant fools had really wanted to hear in the first place. Knowing what was these people had wanted to hear, is actually the art and the true ability of these people, i give them that. But it's all more of phsycological ability rather than supernatural ability. For instance, had i given a chance to act as one of these 'clairvoyant', i would say that our President would be assassinated sometimes in July. Come July, when our President really was assassinated, televisions, newspapers, all of the media would replayed the footage of me making the predictions, and i would be famous and rich. However, if our President was granted a long age, re-elected at the next election, no one would remembered that i ever made such false predictions. Further, there'd still a fair chance that the media would contacted me again to made another predictions next year.

I believe that there exists some kind of supernatural ability in a way or antoher among people. However, i believed that if those who claimed that they possessed these abilities were going public, they had proved themselves that they were pretenders. The true clairvoyant, or ones possessed with supernatural abilities won't reveal themselves. And had they decided to put their abilities for sale, you won't stumbled into their names unless you know how to ask a right people a right question. Their names would be whispered not very much unlike that of a never-fail-assassin for hire.

It's my personal opinion anyway (that these famous paranormals were no more than pretenders). However, i personally known a person who had one of these supernatural abilities. And as far as i know, i was one of the only three persons alive to know about what he's capable of. Thus, i've got a firm justification of my presumption.

At first, i laughed at his face when he refused to see any horror films. Especially Indonesian. It took me a while before i had really learned that he could see something we, human being, normally couldn't. He said to me that he had somekind of a guardian angel who follows him wherever he goes. Pinched him when he misses his pray time, and suddenly appears when he least expected. He told me how he hates what he's capable of and willing to put just about anything in exchange for it. He said that he could sometimes sense when someone is about to die. In some cases, where the death of one his relatives were involved, the death would visit him ephemerally to say goodbye right around the moment when the last breath was drawn even if they were miles apart. Further, he loathes funerals. As sometimes, after attending a funeral, the death (if he deserved it) would visit him in his dream all bloody and crying comfirming to my beliefs that there's indeed a such thing called grave punishment by God through Munkar and Nakir. Therefore, he avoids Indonesian horror films like one avoids a deadly virus. He said that he never really knows the look of his 'guardian angel'. And he was afraid that had he seen Indonesian horror films, he would imagined a face to his 'guardian angel' and thus magnified the being from an ephemeral being, translucent, almost believable as an imaginatory being, a projection of an uneasy mind into a physical being, a more real than a mere imagination, no more a fairy tale, but whose being was perpetual and could be physically felt.

You might think that he was lying, and what he had told me has been his fruit of imagination only. But i don't think so. I may not a perfect judge of a character, but i don't see the benefits of lie in his case. And when i heard him recites his experiences, i'm at a point where i was certain that for the love of God, he doesn't lie.

My point being, there's such thing as supernaturals, i believe it, and i believed that there were actually some humans 'gifted', granted some kind of taste into these supernatural thingies. But, as far as i'm concerned the genuine 'gifted' humans wouldn't want to run about proclaiming what he's capable of or commercialized them. And like the case of my friend, he would simply wanted to be free of such 'gift'.