About How a Programmer's Office Should Look Like

I don't know why - well, actually, i knew just why - but i've been obsessed about programming these days. Of course, it is because i haven't done a lot of programming lately. I feel the aching dull as my creative mind which usually fueled up whenever i faced with a particularly hard algorithm to muster thwarted considerably as more and more paperwork that involves almost next to no programming language.

Anyways, here's a great description on my dream office-space as a programmer.

"Your business success will depend on the extent to which programmers essentially live at your office. For this to be a common choice, your office had better be nicer than the average programmer's home. There are two ways to achieve this result. One is to hire programmers who live in extremely shabby apartments. The other is to create a nice office."

In accordance to the quoted definition above, the best office-space that i've been working for was at my campus. I had a whole office, with a closeable door, an open window, a super quite environment, and i've only had to share it with two of my colleagues in a room which could easily filled with twenty people and still had an open space to make it comfortable. Ah, those days.

The Programmer's Bill of Rights

This post is by no means an original. The credit is due to Jeff Atwood at codinghorror.com. I merely re-wrote the bills and tried to discern it with my current work-space.

1. Every programmer shall have two monitors.
Recent study actually documented that productivity does increase with an extra monitor addition. I had, in a sense, worked with two monitors as well. A 13-inch MacBook and a 12-inch Toshiba Satellite albeit each of them running a different OS.

2. Every programmer shall have a fast machine.
Naturally. My machines weren't the fastest in the market, but i have upgraded each of them to tout a 3GB and a 2GB memory for my MacBook and Toshiba Satellite respectively.

3. Every programmer shall have their choice of mouse and keyboard.
I've been giving it some thought. Obviously, being an Apple fan-boy, i wouldn't settle less than a razor-thin Wireless Apple Keyboard and Mighty Mouse. But really, given their prices? All the more reason for me to at least postponed the idea until i deemed them necessary.

4. Every programmer shall have a comfortable chair.
The very first thing that i WILL buy when i bought a house next year (at the latest) is my own selection of Chair. I've been eyeing for a US$ 1100+ Herman Miller Aeron. Dear wife, you had to understand, i WILL buy that chair, regardless of what you'd going to say :D.

5. Every programmer shall have a fast internet connection.
Can't complain at all. The internet connection at my current office easily dwarfed any other place i had been working on including my beloved campus, at midnight.

6. Every programmer shall have quiet working conditions.
Now, this is somewhat still a luxury i couldn't really afford just yet. That's why i prefer to stay quite late at the office when everybody else has gone.

2008: Year in Review. The First Five Months

The first five months of the year 2008 has come and gone rather quickly. This is my take on films released at each of the passed months. As usual, the release dates are for North America release.

January (8/18):

- One Missed Call. 1/2. My review.
- The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie. N/A.
- First Sunday. N/A.
- 27 Dresses. **1/2. My review.
- Beaufort. N/A.
- Still Life. N/A.
- Teeth. **. My review.
- Cassandra's Dream. **1/2. Review coming.
- Taxi to the Dark Side. N/A.
- Mad Money. N/A.
- Cloverfield. ***1/2. My review.
- 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. ***1/2. My review.
- Meet the Spartans. Zero (minus four stars if it's possible). Do i need to review it? NO! An ugly excuse of a film. Save yourself. DON'T EVER SEE THIS FILM.
- Alice's House. N/A.
- Untraceable. N/A.
- Rambo. **1/2. My review.
- How She Move. N/A.
- U2 3D. N/A.

February (6/29):

- Caramel. N/A.
- Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour. N/A. Not interested at all.
- Strange Wilderness. 1/2. Another painful excuse for a comedy.
- Over Her Dead Body. *1/2. My review.
- Praying With Lior. N/A.
- The Witnesses. N/A.
- The Eye. *1/2. Another slew of Asian horror remade. The best part from the original Asian release that made me jumped my seat was noticeably absent. But Jessica Alba is still hot, blind or not.
- How to Rob a Bank. N/A.
- Fool's Gold. N/A.
- Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins. N/A.
- In Bruges. N/A.
- The Band's Visit. N/A.
- Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show. N/A.
- Bab'Aziz - The Prince Who Contemplated His Soul. N/A.
- Vexille. **. My review.
- The Year My Parents Went on Vacation. N/A.
- Definitely, Maybe. N/A.
- Step Up 2 the Streets. N/A.
- The Spiderwick Chronicles. N/A.
- Jodhaa Akbar. N/A.
- George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead. N/A.
- Me & You, Us, Forever. N/A.
- Jumper. *. My review.
- La Traviata. N/A.
- Vantage Point. **1/2. Despite the political inaccuracy, and tendency to rely on luck, this film is probably a very much an underrated thriller.
- Charlie Bartlett. N/A.
- The Counterfeiters. N/A.
- Be Kind Rewind. N/A.
- Witless Protection. N/A.

March (7/28):

- Semi-Pro. *. If you want to see a film where you laughing at other people for their genuine stupidity, this film would at times, satisfactory. Even so, given the nature of the film, it is largely uninspiring.
- La Vie En Rose. ***1/2. My review.
- Bonneville. N/A.
- City of Men. N/A.
- Penelope. N/A.
- Other Boleyn Girl. **1/2. Review coming.
- 10,000 B.C. *1/2. My review.
- College Road Trip. N/A.
- Bank Job. **1/2. My review.
- Married Life. N/A.
- Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. N/A.
- Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who. ***. My review.
- Funny Games. N/A.
- Doomsday. N/A.
- Never Back Down. N/A.
- Hammer. N/A.
- Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns. N/A.
- Shutter. N/A.
- Drillbit Taylor. N/A.
- Under the Same Moon. N/A.
- Race. N/A.
- 21. N/A.
- Flawless. N/A.
- Run, Fat Boy, Run. **. My review.
- Priceless. N/A.
- Stop-Loss. N/A.
- Superhero Movie!. N/A.
- One Two Three. N/A.

April (3/20):

- Shine a Light. N/A.
- Nim's Island. N/A.
- Leatherheads. N/A.
- My Blueberry Nights. N/A.
- Ruins. N/A.
- Prom Night. N/A.
- Visitor. N/A.
- Krazzy 4. N/A.
- U Me Aur Hum. N/A.
- Smart People. N/A.
- Street Kings. **1/2. Pretty cool stuff actually, procedural cop film where good cops pitted against dirty copes. Remind me of Training Day. Shouldn't be surprising though, since these films were written by the very same people.
- Forbidden Kingdom. *1/2. Every fanboy's dream? Pitting the legends Jet Li against Jackie Chan? Probably true. Unfortunately, the best part of this film was the fight between Jet Li vs Jackie Chan while the rest of the film was largely ignorable. You could probably just YouTube it.
- Forgetting Sarah Marshall. N/A.
- 88 Minutes. *. I don't feel like writing a capsule on this one.
- Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. N/A.
- Baby Mama. N/A.
- Tashan. N/A.
- Deception. N/A.
- Then She Found Me. N/A.
- Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay. N/A.

May (4/15):

- Iron Man. ***. My review. This film has received a staggering 93% approval nods from RottenTomatoes.com easily the best for the year. I may have to see it once again.
- Redbelt. N/A.
- Fugitive Pieces. N/A.
- Son of Ranbow. N/A.
- Made of Honor. N/A.
- Speed Racer. **1/2. My review.
- What Happens in Vegas. N/A.
- Before the Rains. N/A.
- Fall. N/A.
- Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. **. My review.
- How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summers. N/A.
- Reprise. N/A.
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. **1/2. My review.
- War, Inc. N/A.
- Children of Huang Shi. N/A.

From what i could see, we've seen AT LEAST 110 titles released in the first five months of this year. From the 110, i've seen only 28 of them. Roughly 25%. From these 28, i love Cloverfield, 4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days, and La Vie en Rose the most, with Iron Man and Horton Hears a Who in close pursuit and simply loathed Meet the Spartans.

First Ruby on Rails Application (Mac OS X)

I've still got a Mac OS X 10.4.11 codenamed Tiger in my MacBook early 2007 despite that Leopard 10.5.3 has just recently released to the market.
A Tiger Mac OS X was pre-installed with Ruby 1.8.2. Knowing this, I immediately fired the same step-by-step tutorial as I did yesterday. However, when I tried to execute "ruby script/generate controller App", it complains that I don't have a required RubyGems to run Rails. It offers me a hint to update the gem installation. I did just so, and it complains that it can't find a rubygems-update-1.0.1. I head out to my most trusted friend on the internet, Google, and immediately directed to the HiveLogic about how to manually update the ruby installation in a Tiger machine to 1.8.6. I just tried it once, no luck, and decided to let no more time goes waste and instead, creating a new Ruby on Rails project through the NetBeans IDE.

Probably historically incorrect, but ever since NetBeans 6.1, creating a Ruby on Rails application couldn't be more simpler. Simply choose Ruby on Rails application on the New project dialog, and seconds later you had your application up and running. By default, you should see database.yml opened at your editor right away, in which you provide a database connection information to your application. In my case, it took me another several seconds to set-up MySQL databases and configured them so my newly created Ruby on Rails application could communicate with it. After all set and done, I run the project, it opened up on my Safari web-browser, up and running. Seconds flat. But still, the stench that I still had no illusion of control made me hasn't yet fully apprehended nor appreciated the nimbleness and easiness that is Ruby on Rails.
Finally, without the luxury to automate the Controllers and Views through a command line prompt as I did yesterday with my Windows version of Ruby on Rails first application, I created two additional files, app_controller.rb under the Controllers folder, and greeting.rhtml under the Views/app folder manually to obtain the same output as I did yesterday.

Next, hopefully, a further insight into this whole Ruby on Rails thing. And although it would seems rather obnoxious in my part, pardon me if I ever did just so, a blown-by-blown set up. Hm, a Video Podcast perhaps?

June Summer Film Previews

All the opening dates are listed for North America release, naturally. But, i think that with some few exceptions, considering the profile of most of the release, we could very much expect that it won't take that much longer for these films to reach this side of the world.

1st week of June:
Kung Fu Panda. Big, furry, fat, cuddly, and lazy Panda tries to learn Kung-Fu? I'm already sold from the very first mention of its title alone. With voice talents from Jack Black, and Jackie Chan among others, its trailers and 5-minutes clip (Chopsticks) were pretty cool stuff if not a bit overworked (although of course, since it's involving Panda, my second favorite animal after Polar Bear, i refused to acknowledge such thing). From Dreamworks.

You Don't Mess With the Zohan. Er, Adam Sandler, A highly-skilled Mossad agent who fakes his own death so he can move to New York and become a hair stylist. Really? Adam Sandler? Mossad? With a five-letter name which reminds me to Borat? Never really likes Adam Sandler anyway.

2nd week of June:
The Happening. I don't really understand why people bashed Shyamalan. Ever since that phenomenal The Sixth Sense, it seems that every subsequent works from Shyamalan were paled in comparison with that film about a boy who sees death people. Not for me, though. My favorite Shyamalan was still Unbreakable (yep, i liked it even more than The Sixth Sense) and i don't really understand why there are so very few people out there who shared my love to The Village and instead bashed it like it's the worst film ever made. In The Happening, Shyamalan visits my favorite territory in any sci-fi story. Post-appocalypse world. No reason for me to NOT looking forward for this film. However, the biggest beast in this weekend would easily goes to:

The Incredible Hulk. After the phenomenal success of Iron Man, there'd be no reasons for fans to not to looking forward to this Marvel Studios' second film. The teaser trailer which ends as Hulk was about to trade punch with The Abomination was easily punched my curiosity up several notches. I mean, you see Hulk, all green running up on a street, while The Abomination grinned in anticipation, all grey, responded in a same fashion, one could only imagine what the impact of these monsters would be like. I'd say AT LEAST it would looks like Agent Smith vs Neo in Matrix the third (Revolutions? Reloaded? Doesn't really care). But of course, i won't be satisfied at all if it is going to merely looks like that. It has to be MORE. Considerably MORE.

3rd week of June:

Get Smart. Steve Carrell's attempt to spoofed the life of a highly-trained secret agent. While i knew that it would be better than the abysmal Johnny English, i wouldn't bet much on it. With Anne Hathaway.

The Love Guru. Mike Myers, Jessica Alba who consistently making weird choices. Shortly after Sin City, Jessica Alba complains that she doesn't get much chance for a role that escalates beyond the luscious physical appearance of hers. Three years later, and she STILL landed a role that put her as a mere eye-candy for us, men. Not that i complained, though, she's drop dead gorgeous, anyway.

4th week of June:
WALL-E. Pixar. Intergalactic Robots. Sans dialog. Jonathan Ive. What else a geek could asked for more?

Wanted. Awesome trailer. Awesome trailer. Awesome trailer. With Angelina Jolie. Probably worth the time, but as we've seen many cases with awesome trailer but an utter dreadful train-wreck of a feature-length film (see: Hitman), i'd prefer to lined up behind WALL-E at any given time.

First Ruby on Rails Application (Win 32)

Following the step-by-step tutorial to wrote and set-up my very first Ruby on Rails running on Windows32 platform application that merely prints this following greeting screen:
I was immediately faced with this very first problem.
Fortunately, this is a small, almost insignificant problem. When we created our first Ruby on Rails application, by typing the command, in my case, "rails hello" unto the command prompt, Rails automatically creates a database connection (config/database.yml) with sqlite3. It turns out that the problem could be solved in seconds flat by head to http://sqlite.org, download the sqlite3.dll and put it on the "bin" folder of your local Ruby installation, and reload the WEBrick server.

At a first glance, I must say that Ruby on Rails live up to its advertised gimmick, "Web Development that Doesn't Hurt". A friend of mine from my previous job who has no education background in Computer Science or its related, ascertained this fact by saying that "Ruby language is very humane, it is easy for me to understand". I agreed with him on this point. It took far longer time for me to write this post than downloading and made my first Ruby on Rails application up and running.

However, as a programmer in core, with a sufficient eduaction background to support the claim, while it is true - in a sense - that developing web application, at least a simple web application with a simple CRUD with Ruby on Rails is quick and easy, I found out that with Ruby on Rails, I've got a considerably less control than what I would have had I develop the same web application with my preferred arsenal, Java. But as I've pointed out earlier in this blog, I had planned to give Ruby a chance by seeing for myself how things turned out with this beast.

As you can see in the images, I develop the very first Ruby on Rails application on my Toshiba Satellite running Windows XP, and accessed through the network from my Mac OS X. Next in this blog, developing Ruby on Rails on my preferred platform, Mac OS X and probably aforementioned step-by-step tutorial in its wholesome.

Windows 7

Tsk. We're all knew to well that Vista couldn't hold the candle even against his own predecessor XP. Tonight (or this morning Jakarta time), Ballmer and Gates, the alleged dynamic duo behind Microsoft are down in some Conference and it looks that they'll be unveiling the Vista successor, currently known as Windows 7. Head to Engadget, Gizmodo, or wherever to follow the posting live from the event. Oh, the magic of an Internet. Let's see how long it takes for detik.com to post the news.

Update;
- Engadget Live Blogging from the event
- Gizmodo Live Blogging from the event

- Windows 7 - Official Photos (via Gizmodo)
- Windows 7 - Features Revealed (via Gizmodo)

My comment:
Doesn't really striking as a breakthrough for me. Probably because i've been ditching Windows altogether to switch for the Mac OS X.

Another Shout in the Crowd

I believe i wasn't very far from the truth when i say that most - if not all - bloggers out there, at one point on their 'career'-line stumbled and quite probably gave a considerable thought upon AdSensing. Or, making money from the internet. In fact, even until now, i personally knew people who just setting up their blog, flocking it with various Ads, researching for the so-called 'high-paying keywords' and turns into a statistic whore, spending most of his/her time to ogled his/her blog's various stats in hope that it would generate an influx of proverbial dollars. Some even went as far as breaking the advertiser's terms such as emulating clicks, or the likes. Well, with many reported news on Google (probably the #1 internet advertiser with its AdSense service) banning some of the advertisers for (wether allegedly true or no) the fraud practice that breaking the advertiser's terms, i wouldn't recommend the fraudulent practice which albeit good for a first, or even a second paid check from Google, won't made you see a third and a possibility to get banned from the service for life on top of that.

I started to blog somewhere in 2004. I had to dig my archive to proximate the exact date. But yeah, 2004 is a pretty close approximation. This is my third blog, and it certainly wouldn't be the last. I've been written almost 500 articles to date, and some 200 of them was film reviews. I'm going to use one of my favorite word, 'infinitesimal' but hey, 200+ film reviews, that's not a bad deed for an amateur such as myself.

Somewhere in 2006, i was also obsessed with AdSense. But, as i found out that just like every other business, AdSensing also requires determination to get it even started - something that i lacked considerably at the time - i realized that big money from the internet without a condensing effort? Big bull-sh*t. And after that big slap of 'failure' smeared all over my face with a huge red painted letters, somewhere in 2007, i turned my attention to one thing that actually matters the most in every blog, contents. Money? Just a bonus. Still not enough to made me relinquished my day-job, but i'm getting there. I figured out that i need to upped the ante just a bit. After all, a significant improvement in terms of visitors, and subscribers could be seen right after i changed my direction in the way i blogged. Let me underlined my statement, significant improvement.

Now, i was asking myself, and it has been for a while, actually, about how would i upped the ante. First of all, something to consider, i've got a personally significant content to account for. 239 articles on film reviews are out there written under my name, my REAL name. All that, and almost impossible means to search through the archive had i continued to use a free-service blog engine immediately prompted the need of a professional blog engine. I've considered my option on the subject, and decided that i would be using site5 web-hosting in the future (hopefully, before my birthday this year, to made it on time with the Jakarta International Film Festival if there'd be one this year, that is). In an ideal world, i would of course built this site with Java technologies. But really, why'd i want to kill a mosquito with a nuclear bomb? Added to that, it's fairly easy to see that any web-hosting service that provide a Java functionality are usually expensive. And given my past experience with PHP, i had vowed that i don't want to use PHP anymore ever again, further eliminates most of my other options. With site5, i had planned to built the site with Ruby on Rails. Sure, i know, i know, Ruby still had some issues on scalability, even prompted a blog-war on the subject. But, all things considered, Ruby is still a relatively 'new-and-exciting' language. Plus, some of the best Java IDEs in the market had a Ruby functionality built-in. So i figured, "Hey, what do I got to lose? I had too much of a free time anyway".

Therefore, i hope i could stay true to myself just for this time and you could see a new look to all these fiascos in a short future. For the time being, i want to get married first (June 29th, folks) and probably a week-leave honeymoon.

About the Recent Gas Price Hike

In conjunction with the record-breaking hike of the World's Oil price, last Saturday, inevitably, the price of government-subsidized Gas price has also raised. I personally, don't really care as it doesn't affected me directly because the last time i filled my motor with the government-subsidized Gas was roughly three years ago.

A friend used to asked me of what the reasonings behind my stand to chose the Pertamax line which at the time, twice the price of the government-subsidized Gas. From the look of his eyes, i know that he had expected some kind of a smart-ass answers such as engine-friendly, environment-friendly, blah-blah-blah or the more pretentious one such as "how us, a considerably better paid salary-man than most of other Indonesian's citizen doesn't deserved any subsidization". I'm too simple a man to stretch my thought that far away. I switched to Pertamax simply for one reason and one reason only. I hate queueing. And if you rode a motorcycle in Jakarta you'll know that every time you pulled off at the gas station, you'll see a considerable amount of motorcycles lining up at Premium gas station where au contrarie, almost none at Pertamax gas station. This lining up usually involves a grunt, an unfriendly look from other lining up behind you, and the stench of impatience. I decided right away that i won't be queueing again. So, after a quick research on the net, and comfirmed that the machine of my motor could soak up the octane-level satisfied with Pertamax, i switched immediately, and never look back. Therefore, 6000 rupiahs per liter? Pfftt.. small change compared to 8900 rupiahs per liter i've been used to pay for my Gas.

What irked me the most was that i could seen some shed of truth to the proposed fact that the fuel subsidization was more often than not, enjoyed by the riches and the haves. They bought a considerably luxurious cars, AND fixed it so it could soaked up the cheaper Gas (the government-subsidized Gas). Shame. I'm not implying that i was better than these guys, but hey, at least i'm true to myself and i don't mind paying more for a small comfort albeit infinitesimal it might have been and not waiting for a right moment to jump the wagon, so to speak.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Hollywood needs to publish a manual on "How to bring your silver screen back in action twenty years later". When Steven Spielberg and George Lucas decided to bring back Harrison Ford along for a fourth Indiana Jones film twenty-odd years after the last film, the first and foremost question that should be aroused from movie-aware individuals everywhere could almost guaranteed come in a line similar to, "Harrison Ford? Wasn't he too old or something?" However, The Last Crusader was set in 1935 and this film was set in 1958. And as the release date of these films were "coincidentally" differs by twenty-odd years, the aging Harrison Ford shouldn't be of any issue. The real question was indeed, wether the long awaited sequel live up to its hype.

In my opinion, the revival of an old film hero, especially after twenty something years has gone by, should only need to address one thing and one thing only, flourish the film with something that our hero was best known for. In Rambo, John Rambo was back after twenty years and the film manages to do something that made us love John Rambo in the first place. Yep. Single handedly put up against an army, with a signature bandana, signature arrow and a huge knife. And of course, don't forget the soundtrack. Last night, i went to the theater to see the latest Indiana Jones with the similar attitude (and just like before Speed Racer, i was whistling the classic Indy tunes most of the time). I want to see something similar to Raiders of the Lost Ark which i remembered seeing for the first time on a New Year's Eve when i was in a 5th grade. I remembered the moment exactly. And of course, at the time, i have no idea of who Harrison Ford was, let alone Steven Spielberg or George Lucas.

So, let's see. Fedora hat? Check! Bullwhip? Check! Ancient Artifact? Check! Lovable sidekick? Check! A tongue-in-cheek villain? Check! Snakes? Check! Exotic sites? Check! Classic animated Globe-Trotting map? Check! Feuw, that's one thing for sure, Steven and George manages to put all the ingredients in check that i was confident enough to actually recommend this film to anyone who claimed to be a fan of Dr. Henry Jones, Jr. You fans, won't be disappointed. Of course, since this film created by the original creators AND starred by the first and only person to play adult (not young) Indy Jones, fans shouldn't have any reason to NOT see this film whatsoever.

But, even if the film manages to get the ingredients in check, does it also means that the juice was worth the squeeze?

A friend of mine actually asked me "Who is Indiana Jones?" Oh, youngsters nowadays! So i said to her, "Er... it's a Tomb Raider but a man Tomb Raider" which of course an overtly over simplification for the correct comparison should be Lara Croft is actually a female Indiana Jones. Unfortunately, it turns out that this film puts Indy in not so much different than Lara Croft. From the get go, Indy was already put in a captive by some Russian (led by Cate Blanchett with an accent), getting shot at, swinging from ceiling with his bullwhip, punched, kicked, and finally literally up for the fastest ride he ever rode on. From here on, it goes in a similar fashion, action sequences thrown in one after another with some obligatory puzzle guessing in between and yet another obligatory character development that put Indy with his eventual sidekick (definitely lovable Shia LeBeouf) and his old flame from the first film (Karen Allen). Credit to the chemistry between the three. It's actually fun to see them. However, my problem is that most of the time the film reminds me of Lara Croft.

The problem with any Lara Croft-related adventures, either in games or films, and unfortunately somehow palpable in this film was the fact that she is simply indestructible. Put her against anything and you won't believed at all that she was actually in a danger. That would detached any emotional relationship between me as an audience with the characters on screen which led to a feeling where me seeing the film from the outside instead of actively involved with it. As with Lara Croft, so was Indy in this film. There are no conditions depicted in the film, no matter how extreme it would seems could make me believed that he was actually in a danger. Rather different than Raiders of the Lost Ark, if you asked me. But hey, most of us went into the movies to have some fun. And if you do, you'd have some fun with this film. Good humors at times, nice chemistry between the prominent casts, numerous action sequences with yummy visuals, and numerous in-references from the previous films (the Ark from the first film was actually shown) to keep long time fans nodded in approval. Well, actually i'm just nitpicking here. If you have some three hours that are unaccounted for this weekend, go see it. It may not as entertaining as Iron Man, but certainly better than Prince Caspian.

Oh, one more thing, i hated the way this film concludes itself. But it's a hit or miss anyway, some may have no problem with it, some do. I happened to be the one that has some problem with it.

My rating: **1/2 / **** - Just being honest. Imagine it this way, you had this crush during your high-school era. She was sweet, smart, and popular. You used to looking longingly at her and your heart skipped a beat when you whisked the scent of her perfume. Now, twenty years later you met her again, and it turns out that she wasn't as attractive girl as she used to.

Figure of Speech

As it is obvious through my posts in this blog, i'm not a native English speaker nor have i ever lived in an English-friendly environment. In fact, i was ever reluctant in using English on a daily basis even if some of my colleagues in the office were insisted on using English as much as possible on a daily basis.

A friend of mine, after reading some of my blog posts had said that my English's grammar is suck. Deep. Well, here's the news, buddy. I did suck. But, hey, at least i'm trying to improve myself by putting some efforts to do menial tasks such as writing these craps in English every now and then. And even if i say so myself, i'm doing a pretty good job at it. Not good enough, i know, but good nonetheless.

I've never taken any formal English courses. They're just a waste of time and money, if you asked me. And i know that i could never afford to commit myself in such a fixed activity. I mean, i've already committed to an eight hours a day for five days a week, among others. Adding another commitment, even if it's only two or three hours a week is simply too much. Further more, i could never really get my head around those grammar rules, and past-future-perfect-tenses-and-what's-not. I had managed through high-school and college with ooh-i'm-going-to-go-with-this-sentence-cause-it-sounds-good attitude in any English lessons, quizzes, or anything. Until now. Breaks all formal rules, i know, but hey, i survived.

After all, dude, in my opinion, those formal courses only works if you had zero experience and knowledge in the said study. For instance, if i'd like to learn Swahili, i would fared much better if i had a formal course because i've never really heard any Swahili before. I mean, what's the Swahili word for "I"? No idea. And it's mightily harder -- a gargantuan harder -- task to find films or books in Swahili.

I learn English through pop cultures. Video games, films, books, and music, to be exact. I had a first introduction to Role Playing Games (RPG) where Japanese and English was used extensively (depending on which version you're playing) sometime in 1995 and still playing those 40 plus hours games until now. Four years later, when i moved to Jakarta and started to had a virtually unlimited access to films and books, i had more than enough means to learn English by experience and made me believed that any formal studies i might had is useless but a mere waste of time and money. How is it different, you ask? Well, as an example, i couldn't get through the first chapter when i read William Thackeray's Vanity Fair for the first time (circa 2000) without propping open an English thesaurus. But, few years later, i could finish the book without any significant problem and nowadays, i could sit through any American English speaking film without any subtitle.

That's reading and listening. And this blog is easily my effort in improving my writing skills. Imperfect, gibberish on many occasions, frown-inducing figure of speeches, nitpicked from various materials i may have read or seen in my past life, and used in a very very loose manners that oftentimes confusing. At best.

I'm currently learning Japanese by playing a lot of Japanese RPG games (dubbed games are suck anyway), and reading a lot of Japanese mangas and magazines. And even if i still couldn't get my ears perked up to listen to the words, flipping through the pages in ease, or actually started a conversation in Japanese, i could figured out who was the in-game NPCs (Non Playing Characters) i need to talk to in order to advance my game. Right now, that's all that matters.

American Idol Season 7 Grand Final

David Archuletta might won the praise from the jury, and just might be crowned as the American Idol Season 7 winner later tonight. But, in my opinion, it should be easy to see whose record which would dominate the market more. Yes, i'm talking about the other David. Just like Chris Daughtry from Season 5 who easily outshone the winners. David A is a good singer, doubtless, but he lacked that certain edge that made him unique. In other word, to my ears, he is flat out and nothing new. I wouldn't waste my money on his record. No matter how good the reviews are because i've heard him, and i've already heard the similar sound numerous times before.

Okay, R-rated explicit words here. Oh, god, i hated him. Genuinely. I couldn't get my head around his downcast eyes, his head shaking as if he doesn't believe the flowery praises he had received, and why does everybody seems to fall head over heels over "this-sweet-kid", and no, i don't like his singing. Not at all. Well, despite that, i believe that i'm not exaggerating when i say that this season's grand finale is one of the best American Idol Grand Final ever.

Edit: David Cook won by 12 million votes. Ha ha ha. Eat that, Archuletta!

Supermax - Green Arrow Story

Just last week, i posted a fan rant that concludes in proclaiming myself as a DC fan. Yet, i had no idea before today that there's actually some work in progress since last year on Green Arrow! By David Goyer nonetheless, a no stranger writer for a superhero film as he was the one who also responsible for Batman Begins. And you know how i louuve the big black bat.

From the man himself, "He’s Green Arrow for the first 10 minutes of the movie, and then he’s arrested and his secret identity is revealed. They shave his goatee and they take his costume and send him to prison for life, and he has to escape. It’s like ‘Alcatraz,’ and he has to team up with, in some cases, some of the very same villains he is responsible for incarcerating in order to get out and clear his name. Of course, tons of people try to kill him while he’s in there. We’ve populated the prison with all sorts of B and C villains from the DC Universe. For the fans, there will be all sorts of characters the hardcore comic book junkies will know, but they’re all going to be there under their human names and no one is wearing a costume, but there will be a lot of characters with powers and things like that.” which pretty much summarize the film. As you may have noticed, the film (if there ever be one, that is) doesn't start with origin as usually does with the first superhero film (Spider-Man, Iron Man, Batman Begins, et cetera) and instead kicked off right away with our superhero already poised and masked.

According to LatinoReview, who had an opportunity to read the script said that the origin of Green Arrow aka Oliver Queen would be superimposed with a flashback scene but the focus would still be fixed on Oliver Queen and his attempt to escape from the Supermax penitentiary for metahumans. And, according to the script, The Riddler, Joker, and Lex Luthor were also inmates in Supermax although i don't really get what they were doing in Star City.

I surely hope that this film would take off beyond script.

Gundala the Movie (2009)

Whoa! the news made me tingled with expectation. I mean check it out. Gundala Putra Petir (or Gundala, Son of the Thunder) is probably the first Indonesian superhero ever created. I had on one occasion said to my friend who would listen that if i had an unlimited budget to create an Indonesian film, i would filmed Gundala Putra Petir (i named this, General Sudirman biopic, and the remake of "Si Buta dari Goa Hantu", actually).

It should be easy though to guess his origin and abilities that some had questioned the originality of Gundala. But really, does it really matters? Not for me, though. I've been a fan of Gundala since i was a kid and it was something from my past that was buried and forgotten. But it lingers and with a right stimuli, such as this poster, the nostalgic moment was inadvertently surfaced. And my, what a sensation.

However, while i'm writing this post and doing some research in the background, it is possible (with a significant odds, by the way) that this news could be a hoax and nothing more but a fanboy having too much of a free time. I surely hope that this wasn't the case and we could really expect Gundala the Movie in 2009 just like advertised.

Edit: Apparently, this 'news' was indeed, nothing more than a hoax.

The Return of the Great Procrastinator

Comic courtesy of phd comics.

Before college, i had no idea that the word "procrastinate" exists. But, if you knew me from college, you'd agreed that at some point of my life, the word "procrastinate" is one of the best word to describe me. Heck, i spent two whole years. TWO! writing my final assignment. And now, almost three years later, i still had problems with "procrastinate". My gf says that i'm too perfectionist. I don't want to share my work, or whatever i did, if the said work wasn't 100% complete. That, and tries to excel in every single task.

Take this blog for an instance. For the past few months, i have more or less managed to write in a daily basis. Even if some of the written materials were half-baked at best and certainly nothing that i could be proud of. However, it was five days ago since this blog seen an update. Even though that during that five days of hiatus, i've seen plenty of films. P2, Walk Hard, I'm Not There, Cassandra's Dream, Star Trek V, Star Trek VI, The Eye and Grace is Gone to name a few. I've been written some of the reviews as well, but simply discarded it in the end. In fact, i had only planned to write the next film review on Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skull this Thursday commemorating with its arrival in our local theaters. I've been justified my ineptitude of keeping this blog updated on a daily basis as i had promised due to my wedding plan next month but who am i to kid? My girlfriend is the one who keep all the knots tied and loose ends trimmed. As far as i know, i've been contributed nothing to the plan. :D

The Chronicles of Narnia - Prince Caspian (2008)

The Chronicles of Narnia - Prince Caspian. Those who happened to like and enjoy the first film should be at least equally pleased with this sequel. But those who happened to fell asleep during most of the first film (just like me), should approach this sequel with caution even if the film has notably a darker tone than the first one, and much much more action-oriented scenes, and much more polished CGI. In short, the film manages to do it better this time around if compared with the first film. But, for all it's worth, i found that in term of fantasy, it still fell short. And don't even start to comparing this with the Lord of the Rings. It's a no contest.

One year after their latest adventure in Narnia, the Pevensies found their real-life routine in London was dull and boring. They mulled about of going back to Narnia even if i personally thought that the mulling and wanting weren't more than just an afterthought casually thrown in for a good measure and an obligation to a script. Meanwhile, in Narnia, things has changed dramatically for that one year for the Pevensies means 1300 years in Narnia. Prince Caspian, the true heir to Narnia's throne was usurped by his uncle King Miraz. Hunted, the Prince flee to the woods but not after been given a magic horn by his aide, Dr.Cornelius. This horn was then used to summon the Pevensies back to Narnia yet again. From here on, it should be easy to guess how the story would unraveled itself.

I found that the same problem with the film has been lingered since the first film. Uninteresting characters that kept me emotionally disconnected with the whole experience. I'm watching this film with three female colleagues from the office whom i thought had pretty much represented the casual film viewers' style and preference, and they scorned the characters, mocking one of the character whenever she made an appearance, and generally unimpressed with the overall tone. And as much as i hate them for being loud during the film, i had a good time (of course, since the girls had bought food and beverages and let me share with them) and couldn't put more words more appropriate to describe the film than some of what the girls had said during the film.

Andrew Adamson, the director of this film has the direction for this film pretty clear. The events rolled out during the first hour or so of the film would lead to a Pelennor-field style all out skirmishes. Some ignorant dimwitted shallow had even dared to compare this similarity and said that it worked. But please, even if it's significantly better and longer than the first installment, the comparison to aforementioned Lord of the Rings shouldn't even be made in the first place.

As with the first film, i deemed that the character Edmund provides some edge. He's the most interesting character in both films and one that albeit nowhere near, grew a bit closer to a fabled "three-dimensional" characters. Lucy is just as uninteresting as the first film, worse, if it is that even possible. Susan, despite having the spotlight with her bow-and-arrow skills was pretty much detached from the whole experience. Peter, despite having years and years of experience as a King, no, as a High King in the first film had seems to never grow up from his childish persona although that this might attributed to the original writing (has been tried to read one, can't keep the interest lively enough to read the rest). And Prince Caspian is a flat-out forgettable. Probably the scene stealer of this film, is Reepicheep the mouse keeter (voiced by the amazing Eddie Izzard) whose resemblance to - ALSO a scene stealer - Shrek's Puss-in-the-Boots was uncanny. Given that Adamson also directed the first two Shrek films, which gives him an experience, the humor involving Reepicheep mostly worked quite well.

My rating: ** / **** - Way better than the first, but if you're too lazy to rush into the theater this weekend, don't push yourself. Do some gardening instead, or whatever.

Indonesian Film: Ada Kamu Aku Ada

Just want to point out some interesting fact. Rizal Mantovani latest film, Ada Kamu Aku Ada which currently grazing our local theater, was previously titled "Hanya Untukmu".

 

Apparently, after bloggers and various forums posed the striking similarity of the posters, they changed the title. This is a perfect opportunity for me to point out the first and the foremost rule of the Internet. The community ALWAYS knows better.

Indonesian Film: Anda Puas Saya Loyo

There's a reason why i've been avoiding Indonesian films like a plague. Despite the popular beliefs, i personally think that Indonesian Films, albeit increasing considerably in terms of quantity, decreased alarmingly rapid in terms of quality. Not a long time ago, when horror films become the staple of popular culture, not a month went by without at least two more-or-less the same horror films. We've seen three "Pocong" films, three (or is it four?) "Kuntilanak" films in a matter of months, and you could pretty much ask for any kind of demon spawned from the local myth and folklore (or simply ripped-off from other Asian horror films) for a film. Believe it or not despite the similar formula, almost predictable writing, and bad bad bad production quality, it works and most importantly to them producers, it making money. Henceforth, as long as these film keeps making money, we keep see them coming. One after another, plaguing local theaters.

Now, the trend had shifted. But it shows the significant decline to an already declining stale state of the previous trend (teenage horror films). I believe it begins with "Quickie Express". A film which humors was intended to adult viewers (therefore, mainly involving the crotch area related jokes). We've seen this kind of films back then in 70s when Dono Kasino Indro ruled the cinema. If you remembered them, certainly you'd remembered its repetitive 'plot'. Three men, and two voluptuous women shared a house, while the third woman arrive in the scene, and at one point in the film, all six went to the beach where "adult-jokes" littered the space. Rinse and repeat for the next film. And believe it or not, they were rated PG-13. Now if i had a ten-year old boy, i won't let him watch any of their film.

Sadly, after the "phenomenal" success of "Quickie Express" (i'm just making things up, i have no idea on how phenomenal nor was the film even qualifiable to had the term "success" attached to it), we've seen another trend. That's right, as you can see in this promotional poster of a yet another proof of the declining state of Indonesian film, the horror films trend has been replaced with "17+ comedy films". We're scarcely seen any teenage-horror films nowadays. Instead we have titles such as, "XL - eXtra Large" which made it's easy to guess which part of the human body has an "eXtra Large" attribute, "Namaku Dick" (My name is Dick) which doesn't need further explaining, "ML (Mau Lagi)" which has a bit of trouble with the censorship and currently postponed its screening. For a damn good reasons, if i may add. And as you may already know, ML is also an abbreviated form of "Make Love" a widely accepted popular term to denote a coitus activities. You can't get more explicit than that. I believe that there's more examples of "17+ comedy films" released in the past couple of months alone but i had no knowledge whatsoever about them, forgotten about them and simply don't care.

And finally this, which a quick glance to the promotional poster says all. Save Indonesian films industry. Don't see any of these cash-cow films. Heck, never thought i'd say this, watch "Ayat-Ayat Cinta" again (for the record, i've never seen the film, ever, and not interested to see it in the near future). Save Indonesian films.

American Idol Season 7 Episode 39

Spotted this guy, i think it's before David Cook's 3rd song. Having nightmare afterward.

Newly Found Sound: The Pink Floyd Sound

Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun

Sometimes, i feel like i was born twenty years too late.

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Developers

Found the slide on Scribd.
1. Understand the Problems
2. Use appropriate Tools
3. Strive for SIMPLICITY
4. Keep your code Clear
5. Learn to Debug
6. Leverage what is available
7. Continue to Learn

Survivor 16 - Micronesia

And so ends what probably the best of Survivor season after sixteen long seasons through eight years of its history. As Jeff himself said during the Reunion, the season already has held several record for, among others 1). The most blind-sided vote. My personal blind-side moment: Mary (for it happened at the first tribal council for Fans), and Ozzy. 2). The most contestant removed due to reasons other than being voted-off and 3). The dumbest move in the history of Survivor. We're not talking about one, or two moves, but three and the obvious winner of "the dumbest move in the history of Survivor", by a land-slide if i should add, is of course Erik with "I give the Necklace to Natalie.. for redemption". James, who would be known as a Survivor with some of the show's best lines put it correctly by metaphoring Erik's deed with being in a sinking boat and decides to give up his already tucked and guaranteed safety life vest.

James, won the audiences' favorite Survivor. Back-to-back as he was also the contestant who won the same US$ 100,000 in Survivor 15: China. Well, who wouldn't love the big guy? He's competent around the camp, he's funny, he has an altruistic integrity with his words and his actions, i mean, you could easily see that unlike any other Survivors, he is already used to hard work and harsh condition. Therefore, seeing him had to quit earlier due to an infected finger instead of voted-off had almost averted my interest in the series. Heck, even his father delivers one of the most hilarious moment in the show.

In a way, even if the series had started and most of time, going with a certain level of enjoyment relatively higher than any reality show that i've ever seen, the finale sort of going anti-climaxed.

I hadn't really liked Amanda even if i had tried my best to gave her a fair judgement. I respected her a lot when she played the Hidden Immunity Idol backfiring the planned-but-obvious 'blind-side' aimed at her. But that is as far as i could like her. I hadn't liked her since China. I think that she's fake, i really hated her downcast eye that reminds me a lot to Antonio Banderas' Puss-In-the-Boots in the Shrek films. But the problem is of course, she's no cat, and she's not cute. Elizza put my contempt at her lips correctly when she addressed Amanda at the final tribal council (this resulted in Amanda gawking as if she doesn't believe. Tough luck, girl. Some of us indeed have different perspective. We're after all, human). What puzzled me though, from what i've read in various blog about Survivor Micronesia, i could say that i'm still the only one who thought that Parvati deserved her US$ 1,000,000 check and who is certain that she would win even before Jeff read the result. Sure, Amanda plays a good game, but like i (and Elizza) said, she's a fake and superficial. Yeah, yeah, i know, who am i to judge, i don't even know her. But, it's a goddamn reality show. The producers expect the viewers to judge the contestants. And really, unless Amanda is my friend, i would still believed that she was fake and superficial. I won't be convinced otherwise.

Fan Rant: DC vs Marvel

The unequivocally huge success of Iron Man (US$ 200 mills. worldwide on its first opening week, with the budget of US$ 180 mills.) quickly sparks Marvel Studios to further bring its superheroes to the big screen. We've seen Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk just peeking around the corner this year. Iron Man 2 (with most of its casts and crews intact), was already scheduled for a 2010 release, along with Captain America and Thor. And with Ant Man scheduled somewhere in between, these superheroes will be back collectively, together for The Avengers movie in 2011. You who had sit through Iron Man until the end-credit rolls surely have seen Samuel L. Jackson vignetting as Nick Fury, and talked about "The Avengers". Now, three years ago, these huge projects seems almost impossible or a very hard one to pull. But, damn, i've got to admit that all these schedules seems appropriate and we'd seen "The Avengers" in three or four years. Remember, "The Avengers" is a group that consists of many first-line superheroes. Therefore, to appropriately push "The Avengers", each of its member should have their own story-arc that led into it. In a movie-term, we're talking about four or five individual films before put them in one huge, block-buster, geek-salivating film such as "The Avengers". Oh, and don't forget that we've also got "Magneto" and "Wolverine" spin-off films coming.

If Marvel has "The Avengers", DC has their own "Justice League of America" or "JLA".

I've always been a DC fan rather than a Marvel. I had gone into a lengthy discussion with a friend of mine who was a Marvel fan about the flaws and the negativity of a Marvel flag-ship hero at the time, Spider-Man. It should be noted that the discussion was a discussion between a fanboy and another fanboy. Hence, they went passionately and obviously, biased. But i've got to admit now that in-term of films, Marvel beats the crap out of DC by a mile. Sure, DC still has Batman (there's a YouTube clip that put Iron Man and Batman. Iron Man says, "I'm Iron Man", Batman says, "I'm Batman". But when Iron Man says, "I'm a Marvel", Batman still says, "I'm Batman". Oh, the irony. DC flagship is so screwed that even Batman refuses to acknowledge his ties with it), but when Marvel had started to paved its way into "The Avengers" film, the only foreseeable future films from DC is perhaps more Batman. And as a DC fan, i was hugely disappointed.

As with Marvel's "The Avengers", DC's "JLA" consists of many superheroes. Its triumvirate was Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. And you can't talk about JLA without - at the very least - Martian Manhunter and Green Lantern. And then we had The Flash, Aquaman, Green Arrow and many more second-line superheroes. That is at least five films easy before even thinking of a JLA film. Sure, Batman is still a lucrative cash-cow for a film and might seen another or two films coming after this year's "The Dark Knight". But, the recent box-office stink bomb, Superman Returns had kept the studios to re-think their decisions to keep throwing away millions of dollars for a yet another "boy scout film". And as far as the other superheroes goes, all we've ever heard about was Joss Whedon and his casting rumors for Wonder Woman. The other? Not even a whimsical whisper.

Making movies, in this time of age was not a cheap feat. As an example, the recent disaster in Myanmar that had claimed more than 10,000+ lives requires US$ 158 mills. to revitalized the damages. But the budget for Iron Man was at least US$ 180 mills. Doing the math, it is easy to see the reluctance of the studios to throw an expensive film without some reassurance that they would see a black ink on its finance report at the end of the day. That, and sufficient passions to make one. I mean, when we're talking about superheroes film, we're talking about pleasing the fans. And, as a fan, you would really hoped that the film was also made by fans or at least by those who know what the fans wanted. This is where passion came into play.

And this is where Marvel and DC differs, where Marvel could really pulls "The Avengers" and DC puts "JLA" in a bin labeled with "crap" painted with a huge red letters.

Iron Man is the first film that came from Marvel Studios' sleeve. A film studio created and owned by Marvel flagship. An article at BusinessWeek says that prior Marvel Studios, all of the Marvel related films were licensed to Columbia studios (Spider-Man, X-Men, Daredevil, Elektra, etc.) and Marvel only receives 5% of whatever the studio made from the film. And now, with its own studio, imagine how much money Marvel would made from its film. Surely more than just a measly 5% profit. It could also be easily imagined the investors' smiling face and immediately green lighted any Marvel Studios future plans. Also, complement with whatever Iron Man made in the weeks to come at the box-office (i've known many guys who had seen the film three times at the theater, and yet had planned to see it again last weekend!) plus further sales from DVDs, related games, and merchandises, it is conceivable that Marvel Studios would had all the funding they needed to pull four-five films more that eventually led to the mega-blockbuster, geek-salivating "The Avengers". DC? Not so lucky. All of its films copyright were still held by Warner Bros. In other word, to see any films related to DC (including Batman), it has to be green lighted by Warner Bros. beforehand. And perhaps i stretched a bit too far, but i'd say that all Warner Bros. interested in pulling any DC films was the money and if Superman Returns can't put them eagerly back on a sequel, what assurance do they have that a flying Amazon woman, or a green skinned Martians would fare better?. Passions? Check the fine-print somewhere in the footnote. If there's even any. Thus, for the time being, i wouldn't expect much from DC flagship and albeit grudgingly, i'd eagerly anticipated whatever Marvel Studios prepping in the future.

Update: Recent box-office results shown that Iron Man was again the #1 spot undertaking US$ 50 mills. with Speed Racer (yet another Warner Bros. brainchild) crashed with a mere US$ 20 mills. (my review on the film just before this post) with the studio expecting for US$ 30 - 40 mills.

Speed Racer (2008)

Speed Racer. It is one of the morning cartoons i grew up with, that despite its mixed reviews, threatened with a stink of utter failure from rottentomatoes.com and deservedly doubted to dethrone Iron Man from the top spot of U.S box office this week, i went to the theater whistling the classic tune and prepared for the worst. It turns out okay, even if the candy and flashy colors were quickly grew old, the quirky humors were most of the time goes off the mark, and uninteresting characters that kept floating around without any palpable importance, the film manages to give me - a long fan - something that kept me awake (and probably the foremost reason i came to the theater whistling the classic tune) during the overlong two hours plus of what many would've thought as a "children" film. That's right. The races itself. Unfortunately, they were too far between.

Speed Racer, as ridiculous as it sounds, is an actual name. We see this young kid, his teacher called him, "Speed Racer! Slow down!" as he races through the class where his role model, Rex Racer, waits to pick him with his Mach 5. As with all the Racer family, all the young Speed Racer interested in was car racing. And as this film titled with his name, it is appropriate that the film begins with him as a child, juxtaposed with his adult as he prepares for a race and with so, the film introduces us with the Racer family one by one. I liked the way Wachowski brothers opens up the film. The first twenty minutes or so was probably the high point of this film. It sets the tone (mundanely absurd albeit fantastic views) while giving its long time fan a visual feast. At the very least, in that part, the Wachowskis did it right.

The wait that comes after that was, however, almost to a point where it's excruciating. For a "children" film, the main plot, one that kept Speed Racer racing was a bit complicated. In a nutshell, it was about a race that transcends the true meaning of sport, fixed so that in the end, ones that reaps the benefits of the race was not the racer, or the machine, but the sponsor and the capital wealth behind it. But i believed that this plot was an utter gibberish for children. And as my suspicions were proved correctly, there are many parents who had thought that "Hey, this looks like a kind of film that my five-year-old boy would love" and so, there are plenty of children in the theater that night, and one particular child who was sitting at the row behind my back had kept asking - complaining more likely - about "Where's the car?" or "Why does this guy got beat up?" or "Who's this guy?" or the likes. If anything, that made my wait even more burdensome.

The Wachowskis whom had a passionate love with Japanese anime had a nice little history with The Matrix. Therefore, ever since the Speed Racer project was announced, many wondered about their next "bullet-time". And one thing for sure regarding the visual of this film, it delivers some feast to the eye. The fights were stylish, fun, and totally safe-for-children, and the races were visually aesthetic, something that probably came out of the next-gen console-HDTV-combo game. And since i was a long time fan of Mach 5, and i hadn't happened to see this film for a drama-quality scripts nor any Oscar-stellar performances (note that i hadn't mentioned any of the cast in this review), i was not complaining. Much.

My rating: **1/2 / **** - If it is up to me, i would strip off all the drama part and dive nose-first to what really matters in a film titled Speed Racer. More Speed, more Race(r).

The Ruins (Scott Smith)

Book review. I've heard a saying, though i don't remember whence or whom, but it goes something like this, "Writing a story is easy. Create a character, put him/her through hell, and you've got yourself a story". The Ruins basically follows this simple rule. Create characters, put them through hell. For all it's worth, The Ruins provides a light and quick read that even if it's 500 pages long and no chapters, it could easily take eight hours of your time to read this book in one sitting.

Jeff, Amy, Erik and Stacy were friends. They spent their vacation time, leisurely and lazily in Cancun. They befriended Mathias, a German tourist, and three Greek tourists who identified themselves as Pablo, Don, and Juan. Mathias was waiting for his brother, Heinrich whom adventuring to some archeological Ruins deep in the jungle. When one day Mathias receives a note from Heinrich, the four friends, Mathias and Pablo seeks out an adventure to look for Heinrich. Little does they know that they were about to put through hell by Scott Smith.

It felt like an episode of Survivor where people were put in a confined space, isolated from the outside world. The only catch is, that the game was death-threatening, and pain was the very least of their problem. I don't care about the origin of the Ruins or some scientific or mystic explanation about it. This book is about surviving, how the men and women depicted in the book forced to adapt with harsh environment away from comfort they used to know. The book was horrifying at times, and depressing most of the times, it must be noted that ones who read it should've been familiar with, or at some point, love horror stories that its sole purpose was to made you flinch and look away. Even so, with a comment from Stephen King on its jacket, the horror-nature of this book should be recognized right away.

It's been quite a while since "The Stand" that i read a book not just for a killing time activity, and couldn't really put it down unread. I was up until 3 a.m on a working day reading this book. And even if, in my opinion, the ending might seem a bit turn-off for most people out there, for me, it is the most appropriate way to end a horror story like this.

The Ruins has been adapted to a film, and it actually one of the main reason i bought this book in the first place. Wonder how's the film would end.

Credibility

Ah, there goes the credibility of one of the man whom i used to gave an utter respect for his opinions. A false pretense, a quick judgement clearly made with a hot head. It is sad to see that a reputation built for a time, could crumble within seconds due to a 'misplaced' words. But the damage is already done. Inadvertently, i'm already scoffing to whatever comments he'd made recently.

The Nines (2007)

The Nines. Film review. Once in a while, you got a film that is so weird, it transcend the natural common rules in storytelling. The Nines would be one of them. It's disjointed parts (there were three in all) piecing together a rather weird fantasy tale about The Nines. Added to that, John August chooses to weave its tale in a somewhat unnatural storytelling techniques. Combining a daytime soap opera feels, with reality TV flavors, and colors of a serious (or pretended to be) Mystery Theater 3000 episode.

Gary (Ryan Reynolds), is an actor. And a somewhat physcological breakdown was brought down to him that he comitted to an act of arson that put him into a house arrest. Meet Margaret (Melissa McCarthy), a publicist who later acted as Gary's babysitter. A babysitter which can quote Kathy Bates from Rob Reiner's Misery. Now, if you've seen Misery (or read it), you wouldn't want such babysitter. Gary's next-door neighbour, Susan (Hope Davis) is an attractive Canadian. Now, that's how much i could tell you about this film and that's was just the first part. It is that weird, that to really explained it fully in a span of an article standard to this blog won't be sufficient.

I must say, that the film doesn't try to be all mysterious. It doesn't try to solve a puzzle, nor is it to offer an answer or an explanation. For all it's haughty theme and mission, i found that this film was merely telling a story. And given the nature of its story (in simple words, they are rather metaphysic. With an inspiration that probably came from the world shaped by the Internet and a larger portion of John August's personal professional life as a screenwriter), it won't appeal to many. Once the curiousity died away, many would simply changed a channel.

Ryan Reynolds in my opinion is one of the very few good young actors working today. I had seen three of his films in a relatively short time span, and his versatility was curiously deserved more attention in the future. In this film, he took three roles at once as a popular actor uncomfortable with him being a spotlight, manly, handsome, but unsecure, as a writer, smart, composed, timid, but confident, and pretty much as himself, reckless, with all the right ingredients for a young leading dude which reminds me a lot to his role in The Amytiville Horror. He was at ease in it. Easily switching colors like a chameleon. Melissa McCarthy was in her usual self as per seen in Gilmore Girls. Hope Davis wasn't had as much as challenge as Ryan and frankly, she is forgettable. And Elle Fanning (Dakota's little sister) though has a limited screen time was creepingly cute.

Further, i would say that this film is nothing more than a 100 minutes wasting away in a drain for i had no revelation, no sense of relief, or anything for that matter. Well, probably it wasn't my cup of coffee, or most likely, that i wasn't curious enough about "the Nines" that after a while, i stop caring, and when the Nines was actually "revealed" (notice the quote mark), rather than "ooh"-ing or "aah"-ing in an understanding, i checked my watch to see how much the time has gone by, or was it still enough time to write this article down and sit through another film, or not.

My rating: *1/2 / **** - Just digging my computer to see is there any 'old' article i hadn't yet published. This is one of them.

Teeth (2007)

Teeth. Caution, disturbing film review ahead. If one could define a genre where comedy and horror intermingled, this film would be a perpetual example to it. Altough i must made my point clear that there's nothing absolutely funny about the film but i could argue that this film, in some stretch, very much qualifiable as a comedy.

The term 'vagina dentata' only appears in this film after the 50th minute. One would argue that by giving the term right out front would made the film less interesting. Well, i say, for this film, you really need to know what's the deal with 'vagina dentata' up ahead, you know, to get yourself acquainted with the disturbing idea that makes this film.

Dawn (Jess Weixler), is your typical schoolgirl. Sweet and comfortably in the upper end of society in terms of beauty and smartness. In her school, she promotes (and eventually become a motivational speaker for the cause) the importance of keeping the virginity for the marriage bed. The arrival of Tobey (Hale Appleman) to her school provides a considerable threat to her whole ideal "virginity" thing. We knew where they would be going eventually that the only question mattered was "when". And, oh, when that "when" has finally arrived, my, what a scene.

The film screams "B-movie" all over the place. The casts, the dialogues, the sets, and almost the overall production values. However, it was a 'fun' ride nonetheless, that is if you could cope with the disturbing idea of having someone with a toothed-vagina case. It doesn't offered the whys and hows. Dawn, the victim was shocked at first, panicked when she doesn't really have anyone to turns to, engulfed with the sense of guilt to a point where suicide might seems a good idea. However, a turn of event in the family (involving her mum and her childhood) made her finally embraces the "monster" within her and decides to live with it. The rather hilarious end scene where she looks outside from a car, smile her little smile while behind her sits this creepy old man wiggling his tongue was merely an end of chapter for Dawn and a beginning of a yet another chapter. The end? Nowhere in sight.

My rating: ** / **** - Nudity, and disturbing images involving genitals. Very very un-recommended for those who merely used films as an escapee.

The Insider (1999), Sunset Blvd. (1950)

The Insider. A gripping tension view behind the world of journalism where sometimes, the integrity of its players to hand the public the truth and only the truth were sometimes influenced - or marred, if you will - by the power that be. After all, it is said, that he who ruled the news, ruled the world.

Russell Crowe, a VP for B&W tobacco company has lost his job. He is a scientist and long has problems with his company about the addictive substance that has been used in his company's product for he believed that it was dangerous to the consumer's health. However, he can't go public with his findings as a clause in his termination with the company said so. Al Pacino, a dedicated producer for a famous talk-show 60 Minutes, and a true journalist by heart, saw an opportunity of a hard-truth when he saw Russell for the first time to ask for his expertise upon a document. Al tries to convince Russell to go public, finding a way to wound around Russell's termination clause. But as Russell did an interview, the power that be, the company whose name would be scarred should the interview goes on TV, terrorrized Russell and his family, and finally threatened to bought CBS, the network where 60 Minutes aired. Not an empty threat even though that it would set back B&W for a few billion dollars. With 'b'.

The film clearly divides in two parts. Part one deals exclusively with Russell Crowe. This part far superior to part two where the film deals exclusively with Al Pacino. This is to say that i was more interested to what happened to Russell's character than Al's. He was threatened by the power that be for not only he has his life to think about, but also the life of his family. Moreover, his haggard persona that made him look weary and older than his age helped with the sympathy part. Al Pacino is simply procedural act, a memento that he was once a great actor - probably still does if he chooses wisely which films he should appeared on. And he wasn't even really trying to had all the attention in this film. That was made him once a great actor.

Although the film ran long (almost three hours easily), features almost no gun-shootings, car-chases, i was genuinely surprised that i actually could feel a thrilling sensation every so often. Even when the film merely shows an act where Russell Crowe waited in a lobby to meet with his former company's 'evil' exec, i had goosebumps all over. Probably because of the superb sound and hand-held camera shots. Anyway, love Michael Mann's film? This won't disappoint albeit i would put this film no further than a third spot after Heat and Collateral as my personal favorite of Michael Mann's.

My rating: *** / **** - Beware of its long running-time. Some people might had no patience to an almost three-hours film of talkie-talkie.

Sunset Blvd. A grim, if not pessimistic view behind the entertainment industry where today's big name won't be big enough for long and sometimes for those whose names has been big, the quickened pace in which the industry put out the fire, would hurt them mentally.

The film begins with a man floating in a pool. He was dead, shot twice in the back and once at front. The film then narrated by this very man. He bought us back six month prior where he was a B-film writer, struggling for a deal. While escaping his debt collector, he stumbled upon a seemingly abandoned mansion in Sunset Boulevard. This mansion belongs to Norma Desmond, a once famous star of silent-film era. And just like many of film stars from the era, the advent of sound and color renders them obsolete. Norma lives in a fantasy of her former stardom. Albeit money was never really a problem for her, she longs to back in front of the camera. Thus, she was prepping for a script of her own which she would use as her comeback film. The arrival of the writer rekindled her hope. He knew though that the script was disaster. But the lure for an easy money turns the man into a gold-digger and he stays with Norma for a while. Although, here, for a while, almost means for an eternity.

Despite its black-and-white color, the film was a daunting experience. I was harrowed by Norma Desmond's portrayal of a fading stardom. I was pitying her, angered by those around her that showing her disregard, it's just like when you had this cute shirt as your favorite, you wear it again and again until you simply don't want to look at it anymore you want to look at your own ass, angered by her for being so fool and blind for not seeing it, and as the film ends with her descending the stair, ready for her final shoot, a last look at the camera, the only feeling i had was pity and more pity if it is at all even possible.

The grim look behind Hollywood industry as portrayed in this film probably rings more truth. I mean, just like in every business, and probably more so in the entertainment business, competition is always a battlefield, a bloody one. But strangely, even if this knowledge has been known to us - at least, to me - seeing it in effect albeit only in film, was actually scary as if it was me who had to deal with the feeling of an abandonment, a stardom that had gone too quickly. Well i guess that nobody wanted to be forgotten. I guess that in a way, this film reminds us of that little fact, one that keep us anchored to the puny world we're living in.

My rating: ***1/2 / **** - The fact that this is probably one of the very few - in fact, the only one - film that boldly shown us what it's like behind the entertainment business, and the fact that it was made some fifty years ago, i considered this to be ... for lack of better word, "classic".

Iron Man (2008)

Iron Man. I've considered myself as a DC fan. But i must say that albeit grudgingly, Robert Downey Jr. is a perfect cast in a lead superhero film. It is in my opinion, an even better choice for Tony Stark than Christian Bale for Bruce Wayne.

Tony Stark, a multi-millionare and a gifted genius is a party-goers, work-aholic, ego-centric, and a hell of a playboy. His company, Stark Industries, sell weapons and a hi-tech weapons at that. Newsmen (or for his personal indulgence preference, newswomen) often questioned his moral conscience for second-handedly delivering the means that responsible in demise of thousands, probably millions worldwide. And yet, not until his captive inside Afghanistan that he said his eyes were open and decides that Stark Inds. would no longer sell weapons. Some people weren't agreed, and one event leads to another, he invented Iron Man.

Robert Downey Jr. won't get away unnoticed after this film. He was the prefect cast for Tony Stark delivering the lavish, careless yet brilliant persona with ease. And oh, the suit. Geeks worldwide would had multiple orgasms with what Jon Favreau did with the suit. Ow yeah, it was THAT good. However, sadly, in my opinion, the suits were all that is worth my time. Although of course, as a superhero film, this film would probably goes up there along with Spider-Man 2, Hellboy, and Batman Begins. But as a film, especially - and it should be noted and underlined - a film that goes inline with my personal preference, it was too long and almost a tedious experience to endure. Of course, what'd you expect with a superhero film? Shakespeare? Therefore, this film should be enjoyed with a mind-set of a superhero film and you'd ended liking it. Exalted even. It has good portion of actions, wit-slash-wry humors that actually make the theater filled with laughters (i wasn't invited to any of the laughter party, though) and what's not to like from Tony Stark as played by Robert Downey Jr.? His final word in the film actually made me cracked a smile.

However, stellar performance for Robert Downey Jr. didn't visible in any of the supporting casts. Jeff Bridges, as much as i love him wasn't really memorable, Gwyneth Paltrow, although had actually sweet moments with Tony, utterly forgettable (which made me wonder about the existence of a female sidekick in any of superhero films. Still the best female sidekick: Selma Blair in Hellboy. Nobody ever came close) and Terrence Howard. Hm, who is he again in this film? Ah, it probably due to the film being Tony Stark and Iron Man. Therefore the focus should be and rightfully focused on Robert.

Other than that, this film is actually formulaic as well and i say it again, a little bit too long. The formula for this film would goes as follows:
1. Character introduction. Who Tony Stark, why he was captured, et cetera. The first desert battle.
2. Personality revelation. In which Tony finally sees a revelation and built first Iron Man. The second desert battle.
3. Intermezzo. Mostly talk, B-S, Tony wooing his assistant, some character grudging others, some "A-ha!" moments. And where Tony built his second Iron Man which was cool.
4. Morality delusion. In which Tony decides that his Iron Man was intended to get equipped with latest weaponry, and by the way, does anyone remembered his original purpose of creating the second Iron Man before he decides to turn it into a killing machine? Because i don't. The third desert battle followed with the only aerial battle.
5. Final battle. Not really impressive actually. Nothing really new. I put a finger blaming Michael Bay with his Transformers for this. Tony's final word was great, though!

Technical issues aside - there's a great article in Wired.com about the physic's impossibility with most of Iron Man suit's capabilities -, this film gets *** / **** from me. A superhero genre that was mostly in its finest moment.