sans dire un mot

Good morning, Tuesday! I didn't go to work today due to cold and flu. I was getting better, but then it got worse, so I decided to stay home and hibernate. Anyway, I just want to share this video that I somehow love so much and I like the song as well. Sans dire un mot, by Emmanuel Moire. The first line is a killing: Je ne sais pas où aller pour tomber sur tes pas.


movies at the french cinema festival 2010

Micmacs à tire-larigot
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Cast: Dany Boon, Dominique Pinon
Release Year: 2009
-
Micmacs tells a story of an man named Brazil, whose father was killed by a roadside bomb. Brazil, himself has a bullet inside his scalp due to a shooting incident that happened at his work place. After being released from the surgery, Brazil lives with a group of people in a dumpster, whom then become his allies in sabotaging the people who are responsible for the death of his father and the bullet planted in his scalp.

A slapstick without a proper handling can be tacky and disastrous, but Micmacs (which is one) in the hand of Jeunet is brilliant and Boon reminds me of Chaplin. Micmacs may not elusively fit to those who need to know exactly why or how, but it's a treat to my senses.

french cinema festival 2010

One of the things that excites me in April is definitely the French Cinema Festival 2010 in Jakarta. Event like this makes me proud of this city. Unfortunately, this year, I will only be able to watch 5 movies (last year, I managed to watch 12 movies), but still I'm excited. The event, itself opened tonight at the Usmar Ismail with Le Concert.

Although I won't be attending the opening ceremony, I will watch Le Concert among other films, like Tellement Proches, Oscar et La Dame Rose, Micmacs à Tire-Larigot and De l’autre Coté du Lit with Sophie Marceau.

I'm so suggesting you to take part in this event, and if you ask for a reason, let's me give you some:
  1. It's only once a year
  2. It's not easy to find French movies in our cinema or even DVD
  3. French movies are famous for being ballsy
  4. Sophie Marceau, Melanie Laurent, Jean-Pierre Jeunet .. isn't that just enough?
  5. Tickets are cheap. HAHAHA.
Well, anyway, I hope to see you there. Au revoir!

milo dan bleki

Minggu lalu, saya berkesempatan untuk menonton Hachiko bersama pacar di Pluit Junction, setelah gagal selama 3 minggu berturut-turut untuk mendapatkan tiket. Film Hachiko merupakan film yang berdasarkan kisah nyata di Jepang. Untuk kamu yang tidak tahu pasti Hachiko itu apaan, Hachiko itu seekor anjing yang kisahnya kembali membuktikan kalau anjing itu setia buanget sama tuannya.

Saya menangis saat menonton film ini, walau gak sedramatis pelajar SMP yang di sebelah saya yang mata dan hidungnya sampai bengkak bercucuran air mata dan ingus. Saya terharu dengan kesetiaan yang total Hachi kepada tuannya. Saya teringat dengan anjing keluarga saya ketika selesai menonton film ini dan bahkan ketika saya mencoba menyelesaikan post ini, saya kangen dengan Bleki (poodle hitam) dan Milo.

learning from singapore

I felt so lucky to be sent to Singapore last March by my office to do some work. Although I have to admit the 4 days trip was insanely exhausting, it's quite fun really and I enjoyed every hour of the trip. I enjoyed my visit to some public services in Singapore, include a recycle company, the land-transport gallery, the city gallery near Chinatown, a public school, the water distillation and some recreation parks.

What's great about the trip is it's a bit unusual. I hardly spent time in any shopping malls, unlike most of my traveling trips. HEHEHE. This unusual trip made me think of Jakarta as a home. I started wondering whether I live in this city is the best option. Yes, I love this city and I (probably) will always do, but I have to admit the Singapore trip opened my eyes.

Singapore has a really-well drawn future plan. In 2035, according to the Land-Transport Gallery, each public bus will be equipped with a sensor (or something like that) that automatically slows down the bus every time it reads someone/something pass by in front of it. It also mentioned that Singaporeans will be able to reserve a bus seat online. Traffic jam is a big deal for the government.

Marina Barrage, the water distiller was designed so well that it makes you feel that you're in a Museum or something. I have to salute Singapore in this matter, they can recognize a problem and then work to solve it. The Barrage is a solution to Singapore's lacking of natural resource of water. The Marina Bay, during my visit, has been in progress to be one of the Singapore's tourist attractions.

The recycle company was a big slap to my face. The company doesn't really recycle things. They collect, they sort, they pack and then they send (read: sell) the recyclable "trash" to other countries to be manufactured, like sadly our country (phuff, like we don't have enough of our own trash). Why we purchase, you wonder? It's because we're not bothered to recycle.

It's quite difficult for me to type this, as I know that my rich country, who owns many of natural resources, is so left behind. I never heard (or maybe I'm just an ignorant?) of our government's plan to solve many of the practical problems, like flood (do you notice that flood doesn't longer feel like a problem, it's more like an annual thing), traffic in Jakarta (I'm hopeless with this one), terrible pavements. If our government was able to spend 12.1billions Rupiahs on laptops, I think they can somehow work to come out with money to fix this city.

I really have high hopes that this city I love so much could be better in the future and the people we trust to govern are really going to make sure it happens, even if it's a slow progress.