restoration

I have not written anything almost a year now and I seriously have forgotten how grey my blog was. So many things have happened. For people who are close to me, know that 2013 is a life-changing year for me. It was probably one of the most difficult year to get through. But on the other hand, it's also the year I began to realized how blessed I have been. 

I have nothing yet to blog, but I promise to write more often. I went two weeks ago, that's probably going to be my first entry after a long hiatus. I can hardly wait for that!

Happy Sunday!

tebak-tebakan pemenang oscar


Percaya atau tidak, saya sudah nonton 7 dari 9 film yang dinominasikan sebagai film terbaik tahun ini untuk memenangkan Oscar. Dua film yang belum saya tonton adalah Lincoln dan Argo. Jadi berbekal hal ini, rasanya sudah pantas saya nekat untuk menebak-nebak siapa yang akan mendapatkan piala Oscar tersebut besok.

Best supporting actor: Christoph Waltz - Django Unchained
Kenapa? Menurut saya, dari film Django Unchained, selain Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio dan Samuel L. Jackson layak untuk dinominasikan untuk kategori ini, namun karena mereka dilewatkan, mungkin Oscar merasa bersalah dan kemudian memberikan kemenangan itu kepada Waltz. HAHAHA. Selain itu, akting Waltz di film ini sangat natural.

Best supporting actress: Anne Hathaway - Les Miserables
Like we have to think, seriously! Anne akan menang. Kembali seperti Django, Oscar juga melewatkan Samantha Barks, yang menurut saya tampil keren banget dan harusnya masuk nominasi. 

Best director: David O. Russel - Silver Linings Playbook
Hmm, tanpa Ben Affleck, kategori ini mungkin bisa jadi rebutan antara David O. Russel dan Steven Spielberg. Setelah Bigelow ngalahkan Cameron dan Hazanvicius mengalahkan Scorsese, tampaknya O. Russel bakal menang kali ini. Jujur, saya ingin sekali melihat Michael Haneke yang menang. Percaya tidak kalau ternyata Haneke belum pernah dapat Oscar sebagai sutradara terbaik? Dunia apa ini!?

Best actor: Daniel Day Lewis - Lincoln
Oscar suka dengan aktor yang memerankan tokoh sejarah. Selain Denzel dan Phoenix yang filmnya nyaris tidak ada kabar apa-apa, aktor yang lain masih muda, masih ada kesempatan yang lain. HEHEHE.

Best actress: Jessica Chastain - Zero Dark Thirty
Untuk kategori ini, rasanya Oscar cuma jadi rebutan Jessica dan Jennifer. Awalnya, saya menjagokan Jeniffer, tetapi begitu saya selesai menonton kedua film ini, saya percaya Jessica yang harusnya menang. Walaupun keduanya dikalahkan di Bafta oleh Emanuelle Riva dan karena itu pula, sebagaian dari diri saya menginginkan Riva yang menang. Sesuatu yang sulit rasanya.

Best picture: Lincoln
Kayaknya ini bakal jadi lomba-lombanya Argo dan Lincoln. Namun karena Argo nyaris gak kebagian apa-apa dalam kategori yang lain dibandingkan 12 nominasi untuk Lincoln, sepertinya Lincoln akan menang. Hal yang sama berlaku untuk Django Unchained. 

Amour tidak mungkin menang untuk kategori ini karena dia akan menang di kategori film asing terbaik. Sisanya, selain sudah kebagian di kategori lain, seperti Silver, atau bakal menang di kategori yang teknis, seperti Life of Pi, atau mungkin tidak akan kebagian apa-apa, seperti Beasts.

Yah namanya juga tebakan. Oscars, tanggal 24, Senin ini.

[au ciné] the beauty of the very violent django unchained


DJANGO UNCHAINED
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Stars: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz
Year: 2013

"Django. The D is silent."

In case you're wondering, yes, I had a very good weekend. I went to see some movies, catch up with a friend, dining with my family. One of the movies I did watch last Saturday was Django Unchained. I must say that I love this movie so much.

Like most of Quentin Tarantino's movies, at the end of every movie, I felt that I just saw something that's totally new, something that has not been done before. I was like this kid being amazed at a fair or something. The same thing happened to me with Django.

Django in short, is about a slave who was given his freedom by this German bounty hunter, whom acquired his help to hunt some law-breakers. Soon after the winter ends, Django decided to search for his wife and planned to free her as well.

Let's put it this way: Quentin has a big head not for nothing. It contains a big busy brain. He is so clever that he could make a very simple non-twisted story line interesting. The dialog, every line seems like a quote from Paulo Coelho's books or something. It's violent, it's extravagant, it's offensive and it's the kind of movie that you would associate with Tarantino.

His love for those tacky B-movies again influenced so much of the movie. The over-the-top blood splats, the crazy opening credit and the tacky soundtrack are exactly why Django is an instant classic. I don't think we could talk about Tarantino without associate him with this movie.

And I have mentioned all these eccentric characters? Leave it to Tarantino to write the most interesting, mind-blowing fictional characters that ever graced our silver screen. And sweet one, they're named with unusual names. Just when you thought nothing could be any weirder than Beatrix Kiddo, here comes Broomhilda von Shaft, Calvin Candie and Django, with a silent D. Do you think Tarantino laughed his ass off when he decided on the names of the characters he wrote?

Just like Inglorious Basterds, soon after I watched it, I firmly believed Waltz deserves his Oscar. In Django, he gave a crazy natural performance as the charismatic Dr. Schultz. I won't be surprised if he eventually wins this year's Oscar for the best supporting role. Leonardo DiCaprio was also taking risk as the flamboyant Monsieur Candie and it works. It's a snub that he wasn't even nominated, totally! Jamie Foxx, Samuel L. Jackson are always good actors and they proved it so.

In short, I beyond love this f-ing movie!

don't call me botak, unless ...

Okay, do not judge me based on this photo above. Not only that I look ridiculous, I also look a bit over-weight. The initial idea of the photo was to challenge myself to lose some weight and blog about the whole thing. I was going to take the before-after shot. Then this other idea came up and I thought this photo kind of represents it, so voila, that's the whole story. 

Almost two years ago, I decided to shave my head. I remember telling myself that it was a crazy idea, but at that time, I assured myself that it's going to be liberating, which it is. Some people give up eating meat, I gave up having hair. It's just that simple.

Unfortunately, I live in a society that probably is not familiar with a completely shaved head. I cannot begin to tell you, how many people have use my hair absence to deliberately mock me. I have been called shining-head, egg-head, golf-ball to the most vicious and offensive one, botak (translated as bald).

Okay, let me try to explain to you why it's offensive. You probably remember that Gwyneth Paltrow - Jay Z - Kanye West incident a year ago? When Paltrow joked around using or referring to Jay Z's song which contains the N word (you know which word I'm talking about, don't you?). Jay Z, Beyonce and (probably) Kanye were extremely upset and offended by Paltrow due to that usage of N-word simply because she's white. 

The same thing applies to my situation. Despite the fact that I am botak, but to have someone who is not, calling me that is very insulting. For me it's equally offensive as Paltrow using that N-word. 

However, I'm a man with a big heart. I forgive and forget. So I forgive you, crazy super-drunk mas-mas at Pluit who almost made a song of my baldness. 

I also forgive you, you little brat at Grand Indonesia last weekend, who probably was there for your first time ever. I forgive you for pointing your index finger at me and calling me "om botak". 

I hope in the future once this post published, being bald is no longer unusual, but it can be considered cool and trendy. 

[au ciné] rectoverso

Sutradara: Olga Lydia, Cathy Sharon, Marcella Zalianty, Happy Salma, Rachel Maryam
Bintang: Amanda Soekasah, Lukman Sardi, Yama Carlos
Tahun: 2013

"Aku jatuh cinta pada seseorang yang hanya mampu aku gapai sebatas punggungnya saja.
Seseorang yang aku sanggup menikmati bayangannya dan tidak akan pernah bisa aku miliki,
seseorang yang hadir bagai bintang jatuh, 
sekelebat kemudian menghilang, 
sebelum tangan ini sanggup mengejar,
seseorang yang hanya bisa aku kirimi isyarat, 
sehalus udara, langit awan atau hujan."

Saya harus akui kalau saya belum pernah membaca karya tulis Dewi Lestari dalam bentuk apapun. Tanpa malu, saya juga harus akui sebelum menonton film ini, pengetahuan saya akan kumpulan cerita pendek karya Dee boleh dibilang nihil. Justru karena begitu, saya percaya kalau saya adalah orang yang paling sering menghelakan dan menahan nafas selama pemutaran film ini. Yep, call me lebay!

Rectoverso sendiri mempunyai beberapa arti. Dalam dunia percetakan recto-verso adalah pengkodean halaman dari kanan ke kiri, seperti buku-buku dalam bahasa Arab atau Mandarin. Dalam bahasa Perancis (bahasa yang tampaknya tidak akan pernah saya kuasai dengan mahir walau sudah bertahun-tahun belajar juga), rectoverso mempunyai arti dua sisi dari selembar kertas. 


Dalam beberapa situs, Rectoverso disebut sebagai film omnibus, yang mana artinya film ini adalah kumpulan dari beberapa film pendek yang mempunyai satu kesamaan. Dalam hal ini, kesamaan dari semua film-film pendek ini adalah akhir kisah cinta yang tidak bahagia. Pendeknya, gak ada yang bahagia di film ini.

Rectoverso terdiri dari 5 segmen dengan 5 sutradara muda. Seperti pengakuan saya sebelumnya, kelima kisah film-film pendek ini didasari dari kumpulan cerita pendek popular karya Dewi Lestari. Kelima cerita tersebut adalah: Cicak di Dinding, Firasat, Curhat untuk Sahabat, Malaikat juga Tahu dan bagian yang paling saya sukai, Hanya Isyarat. Sinopsis dari masing-masing film pendek ini dapat dilihat di situs Rectoverso.

Sedikit catatan untuk Hanya Isyarat. Ini adalah bagian yang paling-paling-paling saya sukai (Kudu 3 kali palingnya, biar pada jelas!). Selain latar belakang pantai dan laut, dialog di adegan-adegan film pendek ini begitu puitis tanpa berkesan norak atau terlalu baku, seolah-olah sang penulis naskah menggunakan KBBI sebagai acuan menulis. Justru sebaliknya dialog-dialog puitis ini menggugah emosi penonton (baca: saya) dengan teratur, dengan rapi dan hasilnya sangat menyentuh.

Apa yang membuat film ini begitu istimewa sebagai satu kesatuan? Selain naskah yang ditulis dengan baik, juga keberhasilan sutradara-sutradara perempuan ini yang berhasil menerjemahkan tulisan-tulisan tersebut dengan gambar, dengan adegan yang begitu puitis, begitu rapi, begitu menyentuh. Di-edit dengan begitu baik, sehingga alur cerita dari keroyokan 5 film pendek terkesan sangat rapi dan tidak membingungkan.

Tentunya, keberhasilan film ini juga dipengaruhi oleh kesempurnaan pemeran-pemeran dari film ini dalam menjiwai karakter yang sungguh beragam, seperti Lukman Sardi, membawakan peran Abang, karakter yang sangat istimewa, dengan emosi yang berapi-api atau Amanda Soekasah, sebagai Al yang memberikan kesan tertutup dan Soekasah berhasil menghipnotis saya dengan kemampuan yang luar biasa. Selain mereka, tentunya masih ada pemeran-pemeran lain yang layak untuk dikenang, seperti: Yama Carlos, Dewi Irawan, dan bahkan Sophia Latjuba tidak mengecewakan.

Mungkin satu-satunya kesalahan film ini adalah saat lagu Malaikat juga Tahu berkumandang dengan begitu tidak pada tempat dan saatnya, seperti usaha -siapapun itu- untuk menguras emosi penonton. Mungkin dengan musik orkestra atau bahkan petikan gitar, rangkaian adegan-adegan akhir film itu lebih mengguncang emosi saya.

Sayang sekali, Rectoverso diputar tidak lebih dari 25 biskop di Jakarta dan sebagian besar biskop-biskop tersebut adalah biskop kecil. 

Sungguh disayangkan.

I own no right for all the photos. They are taken mostly from internet.

soon, the sun will smile



I wish I could just say it's only water. The flood has caused so much loss, so much pain and definitely leaves a big scar. I'm truly glad that it's over for now and I'm truly grateful for people who have been working so hard to help, to look after us and to pray for us.

Many blessings.

[au ciné] les misérables

LES MISÉRABLES
Director: Tom Hooper
Stars: Hugh Jackman, Russel Crowe
Year released: 2012/2013

"I had a dream my life would be 
so different from this hell I'm living
so different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed"

It's undeniable that Les Misérables might be one of the most famous and successful musicals. That's why I assume many of the songs in this musical have become so popular. Although it's irritating, but I somehow understand if the people sit next to me cannot help themselves but to sing along "I Dreamed a Dream" or even "A Heart Full of Love".

Even so, musical is not for everyone. According to a friend who hates this movie and all movies that involve singing as the dialogues, unlike the spoken-dialogue movies (you know what I mean!), musicals lack of emotions and I guess that made Tom Hooper decide to record all the singing live. Pardon my musical knowledge, but when I watched this movie and listened to how Jackman (and some others) sang most of the songs in a very staccato-esque style (Alright, no sure this term does exist). It's like his (their) voice is stamping and it makes it more emotional than actually just talking. HAHAHA. I hope I didn't talk nonsense.

Anyway, if you ask me whether I like the movie? I must say I'm caught in between. In my opinion, Tom Hooper's take on the musical works partially on smaller scenes, like when Fantine sang about her dying dream, Eponine sang her one-way love or even Valjean's repentance. They're all very emotional, the scenes were greatly shot. Somehow when it comes to big grandeur scene, like the battles, the beginning of the riot, they all kind of fell short, maybe except the opening scene.

So yeah, I don't think it's a snub that Hooper didn't any directing nomination, but I'm truly glad that Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman did. The truest snub here would be Samantha Banks. She should be nominated, people!

Would I recommend the movie? Let's put it this way, if you like it, you're probably going to watch it over and over again. If you like it, you know the songs by heart and you cannot help yourself not to sing it while it's one, people probably are going to hate for it. If you're not into musicals, like this friend of mine I quote, it's probably a very torturing 150 minutes.

the flood, day 1: the north side of the city

Photo from epaper.kompas.com - Friday, 18 January 2013

So I live in the north side of Jakarta, which had not been flooded since as long as I could remember. But unfortunately this year, we could not avoid the tragedy. Half of the city has been flooded when I was about to leave to work that morning. I was warned not to. Too risky, the said. But I decided that it was an important day at work and I thought it couldn't be that bad.

I did arrive at work a bit late. I tried to get things done, but somehow I didn't feel like wanting to be there. I felt that my mind is wandering off somewhere else. I remember a breakfast where I made this joke about Jakarta being flooded and a birthday lunch among friends where I'm not sure whether I did something or even nothing.

So I'm sure you understand when one of the heads decided to leave and asked whether I wanted to go with her or not. Without any hesitation, I said yes.

I was dropped at Cawang, where I decided to continue to Muara Karang taking a cab. And instead taking the usual route, I went with the driver's suggestion taking the highway through Ancol. He was absolutely right, no flood. But I was trapped in the traffic jam for almost two hours. Half of Pluit was drowned. My cab fare nearly doubled the normal fare I paid, due to traffic and circling around Pantai Indah Kapuk just to figure a way home.

But then I was home. Never I be so happy to be home, although I was pretty sure it was the end of it.

But still, I'm home!

Continue to day 2.

the flood, day 2: no way out

Photos from many sources - a big thanks to my sister.

I'm sure if you are (were) a Blackberry Messenger user, you must have received at least one or two broadcast messages. I must say they can be terribly annoying. So on the night before, I received a BM saying that a bigger flood headed to Pluit due to the inability of the Pluit barrier to hold the water and as usual, I deleted them immediately with a big smirk. Friday morning, I thought maybe everything's getting better by now and maybe I could peacefully go to work. Oh boy, didn't I just get it all wrong?!

The two main exits from Pluit was flooded and literally I was (we were all) trapped. Hundreds of people waiting alongside big trucks, ambulance, fire department trucks exactly on the bridge separated Pluit from Muara Karang. Some of them were waiting for their family (in Pluit) to be rescued, some of them were just there sightseeing and I'm sure some of them were like me, thinking, "how am I going to get out of here?"

As I stood there looking a bit lost, not having any clue how to resolve the problem, random thoughts flashed by and they are: 
  1. My boss' face the last time I saw her - she was asking this rhetoric question of that I shall be at work this morning. Oh no!
  2. I might not be able to watch Les Miserables in the cinema. Oh double no!
  3. Why is nobody freaking out? The flood's going to take forever to dry out.
Then I snapped back to reality. I decided to go back home. Although it's very unfortunate, but the truest truth is I'm truly very blessed. There are some parts of Pluit that suffered thousands times worse than me and to think I just moved to Muara Karang (read: the dry land) like just 6 months ago gave me chills.

And these kind heart people who have been helping people to evacuate, I applaud you. I guess if we're looking for today's super heroes, you guys must be it.

It rains again as I'm about to publish this post. God helps us all.

deux mille treize

2012 just ended. Despite the fears of Armageddon, it's actually a great year. By the end of year, Facebook has this apps, which (I think) its purposed is to help you review what has actually happened for that one year period. Considered it as a scoring chart, I must admit that I didn't do well. HAHAHA. So here are a few highlights from my 2012 Year in Review according to our beloved Facebook:
  1. I added 41 new friends this year. For your information, in 2011, I added 106 new friends, so that's a sign how anti-social I was last year.
  2. I liked 39 new pages. Again, it shows how desperate I need to hang out and start drinking beer or something.
  3. The rest of the Year in Review page shows the peak of events that I recorded (with photos, or comments). Most of them are farewells. 2012, despite its greatness, is also the year of parting with so many great friends at work.
  4. I must not forget the insane trip I decided to take last June to Hong Kong - Malaysia and Singapore with Billy, my nephew. It was so rewarding. In a way, the trip has made me learn being a better person.
  5. And weddings, which I didn't attend. BUT .. I noted that so many of my friends' lives changed significantly (of course, without my presence, I'm a douchebag, I know).
  6. I know how to swim and drive!!! Isn't it great??
And for the new year, 2013, like Madonna's movie career, it's a mystery, but I have hope (for the year, not her career .. KIDDING!). I have not shared many personal things with others, but sometimes I wonder, what if I do. I mean, most of the time, I forgot what my resolutions are. Maybe it's best that I put it out there, so I can have this tiny reminder which will bite my ass any time soon. So here they are:
  1. This might be a bit vague, but my first resolution should be having more compassion towards life, mine and others and be more responsible with my actions and my words. 
  2. There is something about time that has troubled me for quite sometime and for a person who lives in Jakarta, time is always an issue. I mean, we spend like at least 3-4 hours a day being caught in traffic. Not pretty. So I learn, I should be more wise regarding time-spending. If I have to be caught in traffic for hours, I should have learned how to spend those hours wisely. In short, be wise with my time.
  3. Friends, I always say how much I appreciate good friendship, but I also notice that I haven't participated much in some of my friends' lives, so I decided to invest more time in my friends' lives.
  4. See the world, well, maybe a part of the world. I haven't had any trips planned yet for next year, but I have a few places that I really want to visit.
  5. Also self-actualization should be part of my resolutions, I have some interests to learn a few things, which I will share with you here.
  6. I was going for number 6, but then I heard this thunder sound outside my window. I assume it's a sign that 5 is enough.
So well, I'm super-excited like fireworks that we are in 2013. Do you know that it's also my 6th year blogging? I'm terribly touched knowing it has come so far. I can't thank you enough for a very wonderful friendship. Ready for another round? Buckle up, Toto! Here we go.