i put my bet on you, michelle williams!

So here we are again, at that peak of the awards season, the big fish, the main event, the 2012 Academy Awards, which should be on tomorrow morning, Jakarta time. I was a bit reluctant to write about this, but well, I've watched almost 60 percent of all the nominated movies, so I think I might own the right to have an opinion. To check all the nomination, please go to Oscars.com.

Actor in a Leading Role

I think it's either George Clooney or Jean Dujardin. They both have won awards in many other festival. If I have to choose, I would go with George Clooney. I've watched the Descendants, I must say that it's Clooney's best dramatic role ever. Although it would be nice to have a french guy speaking a few french words at the Oscar podium.

Actress in a Leading Role

If you ask me two weeks ago, I would definitely go with Viola Davis. But after I finished watching My Week with Marilyn, I definitely want Michelle Williams to win, unfortunately she probably will not. But it will be a good surprise and by the way, she did win the Globe though. Then again, if Michelle does not win, my bet is on Viola Davis. I know everyone keeps saying it's going to be Meryl Streep, but serious I'm not really a big fan of the Iron Lady.

Actor in a Supporting Role

Christopher Plummer. The Academy loves seniority .. and he's captain Von Trapp, anyway. Just give it to the man. He totally deserves it.

Actress in a Supporting Role

This is a very interesting category. Although I'm with everyone when they say Octavia Spencer is going to win it, but I seriously wish that Melissa McCarthy would win the Oscar. It's going to be crazy! You know, if McCarthy wins this category, I would do something crazy! I cannot think of anything right now, but seriously I will do something awesome. Maybe I'll kiss everyone or go to a fancy restaurant or something. Go Melissa!

Best Director

Like you have to ask, Michel Hazanavicius has his name stamped on it.

Best Picture

Nine movies were nominated (strange!) and I've watched 6. The Artist and The Descendants are head to head to win it, but I would love to have Midnight in Paris to actually win the best Picture. Yes, I can dream, can't I? HAHAHA. Well, it's the Artist, then.

If you have any other opinion, please comment. Thanks!

adieu whitney houston

I think it was the late 80s when I first watched her video, I wanna Dance with Somebody. I wasn't really know who she was and I was just this young boy. All I know is that she's American with a big hair and it was a very colorful video. Later, I understood that she's one of the world's most successful singers.

Then I'm Your Baby Tonight was released in the early 90s. Followed by The Bodyguard, a couple of years later. I remember how I repeatedly played only the first 4 songs from the album at the attic of my old house here in Pluit. I believe I might have caused a few of unaware embarrassed moments by trying to sing out loud I Have Nothing which caused a stir. Not that I sang it good, but my mother thought I was in pain or something. That period of my life also confirmed that I cannot sing.

Whitney Houston's songs have been part of my life in a way. Exhale was one of the songs I listened to when I had a crush with my classmate during my high school years (now you can guess how old I am). I remember how a good friend sent me her duet with Cece Winans, Count on Me as I left Jakarta to live in Philly in 2001. 

I read about this very shocking unfortunate news on Sunday morning and realized that an icon, a little part of my childhood has forever gone. I often told my friend that Whitney Houston deserved a huge comeback and I strongly believed she could have done it.

Anyway, many have posted her interviews with Diane Sawyer or Oprah talking about her addictions. As much as I'm terribly sorry to watch those videos, I think I prefer to remember her as that skinny cheerful American with a big hair-do singing: "so when the night falls, my lonely heart calls."

Adieu, Whitney Houston (1963 - 2012).

betty white's if you ask me (and of course you won't)

Book: If You Ask Me (And Of Course You Won't)
Author: Betty White
Published: May 2011

A few weeks before the new year, there was this survey on twitter on how many books people read in 2011. There was this young woman who read around 100 books and this other guy who read around 50 books. I was tremendously ashamed of how lazy I was that year. I seriously am ashamed even to write this post, for I didn't finish reading any books for the whole year, not even one.

So I decided that this year I should read more. I should commit to at least read more book (more than none. HAHAHA). So the first book of the year is Betty White's If You Ask Me (And Of Course You Won't). Published in May 2011, I had a hunch that this one is a perfect kick-off and I was right. It's light, it's funny, it's honest, it made me laugh and in many chapter, Betty talks a lot about aging (New Year, du'uh!).

You can actually get away with anything when you're 89 years old. You can say anything, you can do anything and you can actually laugh at anything. I'm positively sure that no one will be offended. You have that privilege once you reach certain age. Betty White certainly knows this advantage and uses  the most out of it.

Fortunate for us, that Betty White has a kind heart and a good sense of humor. If You Ask Me manages to not be a book about trashy gossips, but it only puts a little of that essence to it. It cleverly plays facts regarding movie stars without implying of making any bad judgement. It's sophisticated in the most simple way possible.

She talks a lot about her new television gigs include Hot in Cleveland, hosting SNL and Super Bowl commercial. She mentions a lot of famous names from a wide range of generation without any consideration of being offensive. The way they're mentioned, it makes you think what a wonderful person she must be.

One of the chapter that made me giggle a lot was when she disclosed her admiration towards Robert Redford after watching Out of Africa and how Redford sent her a poem when she won a SAG this year, which she unapologetically chose not to share what he wrote for her. Good for Betty!

I also enjoy how she tells her personal stories. The warmth, the closeness, her passion, the amazing relationship she shared with her husband, her parents and her love for nature touch me. While reading this funny memoir, I at many points could see how humble she is and came to this understanding maybe these are the key ingredients to be successful in everything we do in life, be humble and be passionate.

Betty White, for the truest it can be (it is), you are the queen and we are your people. God bless the queen.

For my next reading "assignment", I have Diane Keaton's Then Again, Pride and Prejudice and Zombie (I know!) and PD James' Death Comes to Pemberley. Exciting!

the rocky 2011 and the hopeful me in 2012

Modern English has been rocking out "I Melt with You" on my stereo for a few rounds now as I have been staring at my computer screen with thoughts and words running around my huge head. Anyway, it's the first day of the year 2012 and here I am blogging. It's a productive year, I surely can tell you that!

At first, I felt that 2011 was a very dark and rocky year for me. Like, two weeks ago, my friend asked this out-of-nowhere question about whether I was (we were) happy. Honestly, I still have not been able to answer that question. I mean, at that time, of course I was extremely gleeful, hanging out with my fabulous mates. But I don't think I could describe my sentiments toward the whole year as a happy one. 

Then, as I was trying to remember a few highlights of the rocky year, I was brought to an understanding that it's not actually that horrible. Well, there are some good memories though. Here they are (I have altered them a few times, HAHA):

1. I got mugged which caused me quite a lot of financial loss. I seriously tried to make this point sound funny, but somehow it ended making me sound like a loser. However, the accident did teach me to indulge myself more, since I was often reluctant to spend money for me. So, it's a good lesson. 
2. Remember back in April, when there was this dispute with the MPAA regarding the movie tax which left us with no Hollywood movies for 3 - 4 months. All the available options were pocong and kuntilanak. So I can confidently say that's a very dark time for our cinematic history.
3. It's not easy to bring back all these memories of what happened in 2011, but this new layout of Facebook helped a lot. According to my Facebook, I added 106 new friends in 2011, which might be a small number for most of you, but trust me, it's a lot! 
4. My commitment to shave off my head was one of the big decisions I made also this year. I think it's going to be how I look for the rest of my existence. Although I must admit I am often offended when people call me "botak", which describes who I really am. But somehow, I find it offensive. I don't know why, maybe it's their voice tone. 
5. The delightful wedding of two of my high school friends, Asnih and Effendi. I cannot even put in words how sweet they are (yes, they are sweet!) and how wonderful the wedding was. Also my colleague, the always gorgeous miss Detty's wedding in November. And to friends with new babies this year: Lisa, Hana and Ernih. What a joy!
6. Bleki, the amazing Bleki was missing in March 2011 but then miraculously found. He was taken care by one of our neighbors in Pluit and this good person put out brochure in order to find the owner of Bleki. It's so rare and it's not something people normally do. God bless that woman.
7. It's also the year I returned to twitter and tweeted more than 5000 twits in 6 months. I was opinionated apparently. 
8. A break-up.
9. Farewell to my awesome boss, Bu Jenny and some good friends at work.
10. To be introduced to Ramen Hakata Ikkousha, which has been officially my favorite dining place.

Since 2011 was quite out of the rail, I decided to really not care so much about what I must achieve in this year. Although I have a few plans made, some good traveling plans (yes, you shall read them here), some good new acquaintances, reconnecting with some old friends, a new project at work which I'm quite excited about, plan to learning new stuffs and certainly be healthier. 

So, let me raise my glass and cheers to: a healthier life, a job we love, new and old friends, many great opportunities, good jokes, good movies (Prometheus in June 8, btw), good food, a healthy faith, good coffee, wonderful trips, roasted green tea (yes, Sisca!), Tom Cruise, Billy Crystal hosting the Oscar, freebies  (o yeah, sir!), budget airlines (I'm cheap, what can I say?), iPhone 5 and twitter!

Happy new year 2012!

my 7 favorite apps for ipad

This is probably my most subjective post by far. Come to think about it, can a blogger be objective? Really? But when it comes to things one like or dislike, there is no rule saying who can or cannot be subjective. It's a free world and everyone's opinion should be appreciated. 

You're probably thinking what I'm babbling about. Actually I'm again talking about making a list and this time it has something to do with a friendly device of mine, which I named Ripley (taken from one of the coolest fictional characters on the silver screen). See the picture above and yes, I look strangely weird. And again yes, I named most of my devices. My iPod's named Chopper, Chihiro for my flash-disk storage and for my Blackberry, it was The Material Girl, probably because it's the only song I have in that phone which automatically is its ringtone.

Anyway, enough about my craziness! I'm going to share with you the 7 applications for iPad which I personally like (currently, since Apps Store releases like 50 new apps each day) and they have successfully made me want to stay home all night. Please notice that the order of the list does not imply degrees of fondness.

Discover by Cooliris
Discover is a reference apps which acquires articles from Wikipedia. Each day, the apps picks one certain article and send it our devices.The coolest parts of the apps are we can actually refer terms that we might not be familiar to other articles and so on. Having Discover on Ripley makes me feel extremely smart and knowledgeable.

Editions by AOL
Almost like Discover, Editions is sort of like a magazine that makes us the editor. We decide what we want to read and the order we want to read it. The articles are from various of sources. Everyday the apps create a magazine based on our preference, even personalize it with your friends' birthday if we connect Editions to our Facebook. We can also share the articles we enjoy reading to our Facebook or Twitter account. I like Editions probably because of the nice layout although there are many apps that are quite similar (such as Yahoo! LiveStand).

iBooks
Yes, I know. I know. iBooks is just probably one of so many apps that exist for reading books. It's not even the first apps of them all. However, I must say that (again, subjectively) it might be the best of them all. The smoothness of page turning, the supports it provides to help you enjoy your reading such as reference, highlight, note-taking and bookmarking, it certainly make my reading (should be) much funner. I own more than 40 books and honestly I haven't started (or worse, finished) any of them yet.

Flipboard & Showyou
If your iPad does not have Flipboard or Showyou, you need to click on that Apps Store and start downloading. Like Discover and Editions, both Flipboard and Showyou acquire videos from many sources, includes your own twitter and facebook account (videos your friends posted), and many respectable channels. There a few channels in Showyou which I have spent many nights watching. Most of them are short movies, short animations and news.

EA's Monopoly
The first time I installed this apps, I stayed until 3am playing Monopoly. It's extremely addictive and fun. We can play the game alone against the computer or we can play it with our friends (maximum 4 players). I had to relearn all the rules all over again, but trust me, I have never been so mesmerized by any board games as I was by this apps. Now me and my friends have another board games to play when we are bored.

Domino's Pizza Hero
Graphically stunning. It is a bit silly if you seriously think about it. It doesn't make you any smarter or anything, but it was fun to pretend cooking pizza. And actually it's not easy! The pizza manager, I must say is not the easiest boss to please. He never likes my dough and how I arranged my toppings. Gee, I'll never be promoted (and Alex, it's only a game!).

There are many-many-many apps that are equally excited, beautiful and important. Unfortunately I have no plan to write an extremely long post, but you can look it up if you're in the same circle based on these 7 apps. Well, they are: Apple Trailers - for viewing the newest movie trailers, The Collection - which is a must have apps for all fashion designers, Yahoo! Into, Apple's GarageBand, Noteshelf.

Oh gee, I cannot stop. Anyway, I'm pretty sure you too have your own favorites, please share them! I would appreciate that. Thank you.

how i don't really hate breaking dawn

TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN PART I
Director: Bill Condon

Stars: Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, Robert Pantinson
Year Released: 2011

I was staring at my computer screen for 30 minute before I began to type the first word regarding the experience I had last Saturday watching the first part of last book from Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn. Before I watched the film, I talked to some friends about it. Like there's a memo I didn't receive, everyone unified to trash the movie. And when I asked whether they've seen the film, most of them said no.

So I decided if I was going to hate it (or trash it), at least I needed to watch the film to earn that right. So there I was last Saturday, watching on the big screen how Edward Cullen married Bella Swan, knocked her up and made her go through hell (kids, appreciate your mother now!) to deliver a baby.

You know, before a movie (a big Hollywood movie anyway) is released, usually there are people who try to sell the movies by creating hypes surrounding that movie which lead us to believe that movie is actually good.  Some movies are as good as expected, some in other hands fail.

In this case, I heard nothing about Breaking Dawn but how terrible the movie is. I did call New Moon a stupidity and seriously I cannot even remember what happened in Eclipse. With that in the back my head, I assumed Breaking Dawn would be as bad as the previous ones. The key words: I expect nothing but another stupidity.

And I was not completely right.

Yes, the movie is still terrible, but I don't hate it. I can see all the flaws, unnecessary scenes here and there, but I wasn't really bothered. It's cheesy, tacky and occasionally causing pharyngeal-reflex, but those were expected and I'm okay. There's the logical reason why I didn't leave the cinema before the movie ended. I even stayed until the last scene when Michael Sheen looks like a clown. HAHAHA.

I'm so into making a list, so it would be only proper if I make a list of interesting facts regarding Breaking Dawn. It could be straight facts, or indirect related facts or even simply unrelated facts. HAHAHA.

1. They had to cut down some scene just to get a PG-13 rating (initially the movie received an R rating), so some teenage girls could giggle when the barely legal Taylor Lautner took of his shirt. HAHAHA.
2. It's pointless to even try to figure out how it's possible for a vampire to inseminate. Even the writer(s) is too lazy to explain it. 
3. The first and the most important rule of surviving the horror of the Twilight Saga: never sit next to a bunch of teenage girls. Their giggles just kill whatever left inside of you to continue watching the movie.
4. I was very surprised to know that Bella actually is a fan of S&M. But again, what's pleasure without pain? HAHA.
5. Is there any better beverage than Red Fanta? I don't think so. Blood. Vampire. Red Fanta. Du'uh!

So, to end my post, I would answer the most significant question everyone probably has in mind right now. Will I recommend this movie? Well, I can only say this: if you wish to say how the movie has caused you a traumatic experience in movie-watching, you need to earn the right by actually watching it.