Stardust - the Film and the Book

Just finished reading Neil Gaiman's Stardust. This is the first time I think the story line in a film adaptation is better than in the book. I think the plot in the film is more exciting and dramatic.

After a quick Googling: "..the movie version has a greater element of whimsy and humor, with Gaiman's blessing given to the screenwriters. Gaiman did not want people to go to the theater to see a film that attempted to be completely loyal to Stardust the book and failed."

Glad that Gaiman stated that :)

My favorite scenes from the movie were 1) when Lamia (Michelle Pfeiffer) was admiring herself after she's turning younger and  2) when Lamia suddenly burst an explosive charm on Ditchwater Sal who quickly tried to defend herself.

The Twilight Zone Tragedy

I want to share a story about the tragedy happened in the movie set of "Twilight Zone", where the main actor was decapitated (so scary ) by Helicopter's rotor blades.

Two child actors also died in the set, resulting major reform in US child labor laws and safety regulations on movie sets.

May they rest in peace. Here goes the story of ten pages.

Voices from Animated Movies

These several days were holidays due to the queen's birthday (sering2 ya Ratu..), so I got the chance of watching several movies I've wanted to watch. Well, they're not new, I know (yaa maaph)..

I'm not going to talk about the story, but the voices of the characters that attracted my attention.

The first one is Charlotte's Web. The first time I heard Charlotte's voice, I found it very pleasant and soothing, yet familiar.. The voice was so motherly. At that moment, I didn't really try to recall the voice from my memory (not that I have much of them, heheh). After the film finished, I finally saw that Julia Robert was the one behind the character. Ahh ya ya, pantesan kayak kenal suaranya.

The second one is Horton Hears A Who! Although Jojo of the Whoville did not talk much (The moments he talked can be counted actually), he sang at the end of the film (Can't fight this feeling). The singing voice caught me, I really like it. Later on, I found out that it's Jesse McCartney's voice. As I search in YouTube to hear the voice again, I found out many people like the voice as well.

The third one is Shark Tale. I have bought the DVD when I was still in Bandung but never watched it. I really like the voice of Angie (Renée Zellweger) when she was mad at Oscar (Will Smith):

Angie: Sometimes, I wanna take your big, dumb, dummy head, and just... nyhhhh!
[makes pounding motions]

Another voice I like is of Frankie (Michael Imperioli), the shark, when he's dying:

Frankie: [dying] Lenny, is that you?
Lenny: I'm here, Frankie.
Frankie: Come closer.
Lenny: What is it, Frankie?
Frankie: I feel so cold.
Lenny: That's just because we're cold-blooded.
[Frankie slaps Lenny]
Lenny: Ow!
Frankie: Moron.
[dies]

The 'Moron' was hillarious, haha.

The voices behind the characters really helped in making the character memorable, I think.

Miss Saigon

I never watched Miss Saigon before.. But I have the soundtracks thanks to this guy's collection
I have only heard Sun and Moon repeatedly since I had them. That's the only song I know from a concert.. (Hmm, konsernya sapa ya? Yang ada K'Kia)

But today, while working on my module 4 of Technology and Strategy assignments, I listened to those tracks again. I just realized how moved I was by them. I was easily attracted to "The Heat Is On In Saigon", "I Still Believe", "This Is The Hour", "The Revelation" (As far as I can remember). "Please", "The Fall of Saigon", "Room 317", and "The Confrontation" sounded emotional.

I couldn't stop grinning on "What A Waste"

"Hey boy, you want to try my girls, try my girls, haa!"
"Come on guys, check my girls, haa"
"You like what you see, haa, yaa.."

Hahaha, so naughty..

I gotta see the movie soon to check whether my impression on those songs were correct with the scenes.

Lea Salonga's voice is surely beautiful. I once watched her audition for Miss Saigon, singing "Sun and Moon". She had a very good range but I was automatically impressed on her low note(see bold text) when she sang "We have been blessed you and I.." (I checked the video every now and then just to hear that note)

The panel were obviously looked impressed after the audition

The Avatar Quiz

Hahahaha.. I knew it.. Before taking the test, I've thought I would be associated with Katara.
Moreover, I'm an Aquarian. Long live Waterbenders!!

The other results turns out to be what I think myself resembles, in the correct order.

Curius Film & Mai's Party

Yesterday, Curius made a watching-film event at 8.30 pm. The interesting part was the venue, which was in front of the Legermuseum. Spectators could watch the film from a built dock, boats, or the road.

This is how the venue looked like from the road














This is how to get to the dock














This is how the venue looked like from the dock where I sat














After the film, we went to Mai's Birthday party in a red box in front of the Space Box. The party was so much fun, especially with those MoT students :) I left the party with Xiaojing at 03.30 am the next day (and Oh my God, I feel so exhausted today)

Babel..

There's an invitation for International Student of TU Delft to join a Friday Movie Night.. The film was Babel, starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett.

So, today at 21.00, we gathered at the Cultural Center, got our free popcorn and prepared to watch. Tadaaaa.. It seemed like we, international students, experienced the essence of Babel itself. Laughters here and there because we couldn't understand the film. Apparently, the film would involve the use of different languages.. And what we got as subtitle was Dutch, d'oh..


It's so funny that we were a bunch of international students, with different languages, gathered and could not understand the film Babel. As Babel is well known for the attempt to build the Tower of Babel that had angered God who made each person involved speak a different language which ultimately halted the project and scattered and disconnected the people across the planet. What a scene!

Finally, the commitee tried to find another movie with English subtitle. So, we watch Inside Man instead.. Fortunately, the film was quite enjoyable..

Laporan singkat

Hehehe, lagi sibuk banget ni.. Makanya blom sempat post entry-entry baru.
Btw, menyambung post yang lalu, akhirnya di hari itu aku dapat tiket X-MEN III !!!
Dan dapatnya dengan gampang banget. Datang ke sana sekitar 18.30 WIB. Ternyata filmnya adanya jam 20.15 WIB. Lumayan lama juga, tapi gapapalah. Dan dikiiit banget yg nonton (Kayaknya karena dah 3 minggu tayang dan bukan hari nomat). Jadi aku bisa pilih tempat yg enak.

Selagi nunggu filmnya mulai (kan masih lama tuh..), jadinya aku pergi keluar dan ternyata ada acara perayaan 2nd anniversary Ciwalk. Dan ada penampilan anak2 dr salah satu cabang Elfa. Lumayan juga anak-anak itu. Yah, untuk ukuran anak2 di bawah umur 12 tahun kayaknya. Lagu2 yg dibawain macem2 mulai lagu Kembali Ke Sekolah-nya Sherina, First Love Nikka Costa, Beyond The Sea (anak kecil kok dah ngomong "my lover" segala ), Tomorrow, yah yang gitu2lah.. Belakangan, muncul bintang tamunya, penyanyi cilik yang baru bikin album.. Ntah siapa namanya, tapi rasanya ada beberapa anak lain yang nyanyinya lebih bagus drpd dia Trus tnyata juga ada Mario Kahitna. Nyanyiin 2 lagu barunya Kahitna. Padahal baru aja beberapa hari itu di kantor aku sering muter lagu "Aku, Dirimu, Dirinya"-nya Kahitna, tau2 denger lagunya live. Yah, lumayanlah.. Yovie emang jagoan bikin lagu dgn melodi yg bagus

Mulailah film X-MEN-nya. WAAAAAA!! Keren dehh.. Akhirnya Storm-ku (hehehe) dapat porsi penampilan yang banyak.. Tapi itu Angelnya cuma muncul sedikit-sedikit doang.. Dan setelah nonton aku baru tau kenapa si Wolverine itu termasuk salah satu tokoh utama (selama ini aku mikirnya, kok dia sperti dijagokan bgt sih..)
Overall, PUAS deh nontonnya!

Eh, ini postnya kok malah jadi panjang ya :p Judul yang menyesatkan , hehehe

Ngidam X-Men III: The Last Stand

Huff.. 2 minggu sebelum bulan Mei berakhir, pengen nonton X-Men III: The Last Stand yg baru tayang di bioskop. Tapi berhubung aku dan rekan-rekan senonton sepenanggunganku baru nonton Da Vinci Code, rencana ditunda sampai bulan baru tiba. Maklum anak kost yang mesti siap siaga di akhir bulan

Time passed by(halah! dongeng pisan) dan dimulailah perencanaan pernontonan X-Men III itu. Direncanakan acara nontonnya hari Senin tanggal 5 Juni 2006 dengan Ketua EO adalah Anggi (Yang ikutan nonton biasanya banyak sih Jadi mesti ada organizernya).

Waaah, hari Senin malam kayak gitu aku ga bisa. Ada latian ICT di kampus. Sadly, I couldn't join the crowd in watching the film

Kay, I could go on with my life. Aku kosong hari Selasa malam. Jadi abis pulang kantor jam 18.00, aku langsung ke Ciwalk. Pede aja langsung datang krn ini toh udah minggu 3 sejak pemutaran filmnya, sendirian pula. Menghampiri counter mbak2 tiket, dan terpana melihat tulisan: "Tiket X-Men III pukul 19.45 habis". Hwaaa.. Masa sih ga satu pun bangku tersisa untuk aku yg pengen banget liat Storm beraksi(penting yah?), hiks hiks..

Rabu, aku ada latian ICT lagi. Sambil ngobrol2 sama alumni2 senior, bersibuk-sibuk ngurusin publikasi konser tertutup tanggal 17 Juni nanti, sama mikirin gimana lagi cara nyari duit buat brangkat ke China sana. Doain ya..
Nah, sekarang hari Kamis. Tadi ktemu Mas-mas ini online. Pas diceritain kejadian X-Men, malah nyuruh nonton di kotanya aja, pasti dapat tiket. *Pasang tampang sebel.. berhubung dia hidup di Jerman sana.*

Ya sudah, sore ini aku akan mencoba lagi peruntunganku di dunia perfilman yang kejam ini, sebagai penonton tentunya,hehehe

Wish me luck, guys!

Berbagi Suami..

Ada percakapan yang cukup mengejutkan di kantor siang ini.. Betul-betul ga nyangka kalo kondisinya lingkungan kita udah cukup parah..

Oknum A:"Hei B, mau ikutan berbagi suami ga?"
Oknum B: Ohh, nanti malam, mbak?
...

What do you have in mind? *geleng-geleng kepala*
...
...
...
...

Yang mau ikutan konsep berbagi suami, harap mengunjungi situs ini. Huhehehe.. percakapan tanpa tau konteks emang bisa menipu ya..


PS: Eh, yang dah berbagi suami nanti malam, jangan lupa besok cerita-cerita dan liatin fotonya ya (Lagi-lagi menimbulkan persepsi aneh )

Programming --> Wizarding?

Well, I was an informatics students. But I have this strange feeling, not knowing wheter I like to do programming or not.

On one hand, I think I dislike it. Umm, I think it is just because I don't like electronics. I mean such things related to electrical components. Am I making you confused? Hehehe, let me give you an example. At home in Riau, I would never lay my hand on those electrical thingies if there's such problem. I'm just not a problem solver for that stuff. On the contrary, my brother is just a big fan of that kinda stuff, and yeah he is very good at it. Conclusion: I'm not interested in that area and it kinda bringing an influence to me for not liking computer hardware. I think that is also the reason why I'm not interested in computer network, socket programming, and those kinda programming stuff related to hardware (It would be most of the subject in Laboratory of Distributed System, in my undergraduate study )

On the other hand, I realise that I like programming too. There's something enjoyable in solving a given problem using lines of codes. Replacing a bunch of repeated action into a simple loop, using an already-developed subroutine to develop bigger-purpose-subroutines, etc.

I just realised yesterday that it's similar to wizarding world (Huehehe, it is likely that I'm still under the influence of Harry Potter - just watched the latest film and read the latest book).

Take for example, you have to provide a feature in a software. Then you realise that it would take a plenty of time to develop it from scratch. Then you find some already-implemented subroutines or libraries that are usable to help you reducing the amount of time and effort you think you will spend to finish the task.

I compare it to the Triwizard tournament Harry Potter had to go through in his 4th year in Hogwarts. The first task is obtaining a golden egg which was guarded by a Hungarian Horntail Dragon. At first he didn't know how to succeed the task. But then he was told that he can use his skill in flying-on-broomstick. The only thing left to do was learning the Accio spell. Task done!

And in the second task, he had to rescue Ron from the Merpeople. He knew he need to survive staying long enough underwater to succeed the task. Many ways to do it. He could've learned to create an air bubble covering his head to provide him oxygen, or transfigured himself to a water-creature. But those would be taking much effort and time. Since time was tight, eating Gillyweed was a feasible yet effective solution to his problem.

Now, that is the similarity I found between programming and wizarding (and maybe in other area). The resources are available around us. The only challenge is to find which one is the more suitable to solve our problem. Sometimes it seems a very hard task. But then frequently it turns out that the solution is very simple.

Hehe, just a thought.

update:
Moral of the story: Well, our own life can be as exciting as the one in film or story book. Just keep it going and find the excitement!

Charlie and The Chocolate Factory

Hey hey.. I watched Charlie and The Chocolate Factory in Cihampelas walk (Ciwalk) yest'day. It's somewhat a relief for me after such busyness some time before (unfortunately there's also a not-so-good story happened related to this watching-event, sadly..). Ah Well, I watched it with B'Rehold, B'Josh, Oclyn, and Hans.

About The movie itself. Humm.. Good story, and hey.. I like Willy Wonka's don't-care-attitude :p I like Charlie's family: Charlie's cynical grandpa, his 'not-so-nyambung' grandma (Georgina, if I'm not mistaken), his enthusiast grandpa Joe, his other grandma (dont' remember). I love the way
Charlie's mom and dad looked at him, seemed wanting to give every good thing in the world but couldn't.

The scene I love best is the one when Willy, along with Charlie, visited Wilbur's house (I want to write "Willy's Father's house" but am not comfortable with those 'over-used' possesive expression :p), picturing a single building left alone in the area covered with snow.

Why I like it best? Early in the previous scenes, when Willy decided to left his father to build his own chocolate factory, his father firmly stated, "When you return, You won't find me here!" (Not the exact words he mentioned). For me, it's like breaking up their father-and-son relationship, neglecting the existence of Willy, stating that Willy and him was on their own from that moment on and alone.

But then in the scene of that single building I mentioned before, I receive the message that what he's saying was just crap and a statement of self-defense. At the deserted area, still at the same position of his own house tagged with -Wilbur Wonka, Dental Practitioner- (again, might not be the exact words ;p), he waited for Willy to return. To make sure that if Willy somehow return, he will still be able to find Wilbur right at the place they separated.

The whole story itself is amusing ^_^ I like it..

Out of the sea.. Wish I could be part of that world..

Jadi ya.. hari ini aku masang status "Singing:Out of the sea.. Wish I could be part of that world.." di Yahoo Messenger. Dan tiba-tiba, ada pop up yang berlanjut menjadi pembicaraan kayak gini(re-arrange so that you people could understand correctly.. ga kayak kami yg sempat mengalami kesulitan komunikasi ):

Bie: What would I give.. if I could live.. out of this.. water..
Credo:
Bie: what would I pay.. to spend the day warm on the sand..
Bie: (ini juga baru nonton kemaren yeh.. harharhar)
Credo: bukaaan
Bie: betcha on land, they understand, that they don't reprimand their daughters.. (urmm.. son?)
Credo: aku baru denger album "Disney Refresh!". Dan ada Jesssica Simpson yg nyanyi itu
Bie: bright young women (erm.. men?), sick of swimmin', ready to staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand..
Bie: harharhar
Bie: one of the best disney's songs ever written
Credo: you think so?
Bie: iya lah.. lagu2 jaman segitu bagus2
Credo: si Jessica nyanyinya ga gitu bagus..
Credo: tapi lumayanlah
Bie: eeeemm..

Sooo.. What the hell are we talking about? Any of you can guess? you? Maybe the one over there? Well, OK.
Jadi ceritanya aku lagi pasang status yg isinya lirik lagu "Part of That Your World" dari Little Mermaid-nya Disney. ("Gosh, haree genee.." adalah reaksi normal anda,hehehe). Tapi ya itu tadi, aku kebetulan baru dengerin album Disney's Refresh! Dan salah satunya isinya adalah lagu itu, yang dinyanyiin sama Jessica Simpsons. And the song steal my attention (and later, my heart).

Kebayang gitu.. Kalo kita sedang jadi seseorang yang memandang kehidupan orang-orang lain begitu indah.
Sedangkan kita sendiri ga suka dengan kehidupan kita sekarang. Gimana perasaan iri dan rasanya pengen bisa ada di dunia orang lain itu. Dan tadi pas lagi nungguin B'Rehold dan Fery untuk makan siang di kantin AA, aku nyanyiin sepotong ini, "Out of the sea.. Wish I could be part of that world.." dan tiba-tiba muncul perasaan iri yang aneh, yang jg bikin aku heran. Hehehe, mgkn krn lagi sendirian nungguin orang kali yeah. Ato juga karena abis baca bukunya Dave Pelzer yg masa remaja (Duh lupa judulnya..(updated: judulnya The Privilege of Youth) This will be another story Tapi tau kan, si anak yg ngalamin Child abuse)

Kok jadi menyimpang Back to the topic.. Tapi selain rasa iri, aku ngerasa lagu itu juga menimbulkan feeling adanya 'hope' dan suatu saat hope itu akan dicapai entah dengan cara apa.. (Later, still in the chat, K'Bie bilang ada reprise-nya lagu itu yg isinya semacam tekadnya si Ariel gitu deh..).

OK deh.. brarti aku mesti nonton film ini ^_^ (telat banget yaaa.. I can hear youu!!)