Body of Lies

Watched Body of Lies today. Missed some part of the beginning *sigh* Anyway in light of the recent Mumbai bombing, Body of Lies is maybe a bit hard to swallow because there were some violent scenes and I know I'm a wuss but the shootings and bombing just felt kinda too real for comfort and then there were Leonardo's torture scenes at the climax of the movie which actually made me cover my eyes a bit.

The movie's story was not bad I think. Though I think if it contains a bit of truth (we will never know, I guess), it will be damn too sick, too evil of this world. I feel the movie has a good pace because I kinda enjoy the whole story telling part. I didn't find it too long, too whiny and such. The actors were okay. I found Leonardo DiCaprio to be a bit pudgy. Well, I guess we all can stop wishing he'll spot his heartthrob look again. The best actor there which I really like is actually Mark Strong, who played a Jordanian head of intelligence agency or something like that. He just had such coolness and charisma on the screen. Maybe it's because of the role, I don't know but I guess he played it really well. I was looking forward seeing him on screen. Somehow he kinda reminded me of Gavin Rossdale

Life these days have been quite hard to bear. Went to see the doc on Tuesday and got to stay in my room the whole day. Got to sleep really well, I guess it's because of the drugs. I feel like the body is getting tired of being dragged. But I am now at the foot of the mountain and I have to start climbing. Mentally I'm kinda quite gung-ho about it but it maybe just part of my roller coaster emotion. This week Lois asked me if anything's wrong because I've been quite anti-social longer than what I had done before. Well, you can always rely on her to ask the hard awkward question. I guess the answer is just because I just still want to be alone. I don't feel like hanging out with people and hearing them or having to make small talk. On the bus today, I realize that man as much as I get pretty lonely sometime, I do heart solitude. So I guess for the time being really, I'm just gonna keep to myself. Not really seeing when this gonna ends.

Discussion of this week was adoption by single or gays. This was a topic from class last week and I asked a few people how they feel about it. It was rather interesting because they started their reasoning at the same place but ended up at different conclusion. I don't feel like elaborating this again because I had written 1 page plus of an essay (font size 10, tahoma)! For me, I kinda think that single and gays should be allowed to adopt. My decision to say yes to gay adopting is after thinking of the only gay guy I know and how if one day he decides to adopt a kid, I'm very sure he will do a good job and he's gonna be great! But after talking to these few friends of mine, I do get where they are coming from and they do make good points. What say you?

:) eKa @ 10:43:00 PM • 0 comments

Ardent Spirit and Untiring Liveliness

The title of the post was something that someone used to describe me this week. My first reaction was laughing out loud, rolling on the floor. That is so not me, don't you think? I mean people would most likely describe me with words like perpetual depression or sadness as well as tired looking, complainer, etc. One person even once likened me to the character Marvin the robot, in the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy which is on TV right now. So when I was reading those lines, I did really laugh How about that? Hmm, personally sometime I feel it's too much work to appear interested and all, so I often just slip to being me and ignore those which do not interest me and hence I could be perceived as cold and unfriendly. On some people, it's fine by me that they feel that way because seriously for me, why bother? Anyway, Marvin the robot is actually rather cute himself being the way he is I guess I'm really not a social person, aren't I?

Hmm ... I hope you guys are in good health. Heard that my cousin is hospitalized right now I hope he can get out soon without much complication. Sometime I feel it's a bit sucky not being there with the family at times like this.

Finally got my Obama wobbler head from Vivy this week. It was bigger than I expected. Kinda happy when I got it. I felt like it was an early Christmas present The peeps also had much laugh examining it. It would say "yes we can!" when his head wobbles. Perhaps I should use it as a reminder or inspiration when I face mountains, like the one I feel like I'm facing.

Today, had somewhat of a private lesson. Q is out of town and Rae is sick. So I had Laura all for myself. The thought of that made me so nervous yesterday because obviously I have to speak. R surprisingly made an appearance after 2 weeks being missing, but he being him, he was around for less than 1 hour, so it was not really much a disturbance for me. I thought the teachers would have prepared the other teachers well but man perhaps it's the case of the elephant in the room that Laura didn't know the important detail about R. I thought Laura had made her opinion clearer than any other teachers had and perhaps that stopped R in elaborating further which tends to happen and leaves us feeling all awkward. I wonder what would have happen if he had done so, I wonder if Laura would have called the police. Hmmm ... maybe she would have done so. Today I realize that she is feistier than her small frame may portray.

Anywho, today I feel that it was a good session though I felt my brain could have been more Italian. Sigh. Sometime I feel that my brain is not cooperating when I need it to. It happens quite often actually. Sometime I feel it only works when it wants to. Sometime it's okay this way but at other times, like in my Italian class, I wish it has been smarter or at least as smart as it's capable to. In the last post, I wrote that part of my Italian homework was to write a love song. I wrote the lyric or poem as Laura referred to it by. It had little error which made me happy but I guess because it was rather simple. She said she liked it. I don't know if she was just being nice. Some of the words were actually taken by words I heard other songs use, so I can't claim much originality. But the idea was really based on personal experience which was, I smile when I see someone whom I like. Like perhaps there are other reasons why I like him but at the end of the day when I am asked why do you like him? Rather than listing all the reasons, I would just say because when I see him I smile. Why is it so? Well I don't want to analyze it, it's just so.

There are other things that I want to say in the song, but between finding the word, trying to make things rhyme (though perhaps it's not necessary) and trying not to make it becoming an essay, I just simplified things. As I was writing the lines, I realized one day someone else will make me feel that way again. It's quite comforting. On other note, the song was written with someone in mind but as I wrote those, I begin to think of babies actually. How new mommies or daddies would perhaps just smile when they see their babies and how they are really the joy, the happiness, the ray of sunlight and their blue sky. I wonder if Laura thinks to that direction also since she's incinta (pregnant). Incinta is an interesting Italian word for me when I first heard it because by combined Indonesian and English word, one would translate it as in love in English. Kinda very sweet to express such a chapter in one's life. Ah, is that my biological clock ticking? Alright, I will speak no more and leave you with the poem which I realized, didn't actually have a title. Laura didn't notice it either and asked me about it but I am giving a title now. Wanted to title it with something that shows the essence of the poem but in the end decided to go for a more ... hmm ... more beautiful? More poetic? Anyway, here you go. Laura helped to fix a few things here and there.

Il Mio Cielo Blu

La domanda è perchè ti amo?
Da dove nasce questo sentimento?
Devo dare una risposta
Ma ora penso solo ad una cosa

Non sono una poetessa
Non posso fare una frase bella
Posso solo dire quello che io so
Io sorrido quando ti vedo

*
Sei la mia aria fresca
La mia allegria, la mia felicità
Il mio raggio di sole sei tu
Sei, tu sei il mio cielo blu



Anche se uso tante parole per la verità
Alla fine di tutto c'è solo una cosa
Tu porti per me il sorriso dentro
Solo tu, rendi il mio giorno bello

*

Ti aspetto ora
Un minuto, due minuti
Passeremo la sera
Con te voglio tutti momenti

*

:) eKa @ 11:37:00 PM • 0 comments

You Got To Move It, Move It

Yeah, you do! Surely you know where is this going to lead?

Got the chance to be in Orchard area earlier this evening, so I used the rare opportunity to catch an early movie and the one I watched, obviously, was Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. I LOVE IT! I did watch the first one in the cinema and I thought it was so-so. Got to see it again on TV some weeks back and my take on it was that it wasn't as bad as when I watched it the first time. Saw the trailers for the sequel and it seemed rather interesting, so off I went.

It was really really good. Story wise, it was perhaps better than the first one because I feel each of the characters had a chance to develop and I felt that it was quite a nice job well done. It's sometime hard to address the issue of each of the characters due to time constraint and the number of characters around but I felt each of the characters do have substantial time to show off their personalities, like the penguins, King Julien, and Nanna. Of course the stories of the 4 friends were also explored and this time around, I kinda really really like the sweet-hearted Melman. Whenever I watch an animated movie with famous Hollywood actors behind the voices, I tend to picture the people and it's kinda funny for me picturing David Schwimmer, Chris Rock, and Ben Stiller and it's kinda bitter sweet remembering Bernie Mac. I was thinking Man, if there will be another Ocean's movie, it will be sad that he wouldn't be there *sigh*

So peeps, it was really really good. In term of the animation, it was really good as expected though lions and hippos walking on 2 feet did feel rather weird for me But seriously, I love the landscape painting. It was totally great. So go and watch it peeps.

My head is rather dizzy again Been having it on and off since Saturday. My Italian homework this week include me writing a love song! Aarrggh, me and my stupid mouth who said writing a love song is easy hence there are many love songs around. Obviously I cannot write a song, but I just hope I can write some lyric, but so far, I haven't got anything good My muse is not really kicking in Did go for class on Sunday and we had Francesca. I saw her around but this was the first time we had her teaching us. When I saw her all this time, I felt rather intimidated because she's extremely lively. You know, I got that word 'lively' after checking my Italian dictionary to find the English word for the Italian word that explain her really well, which is vivace. I find it funny and feel somewhat proud that the only best way I can describe her is using Italian, instead of English or Indonesian. This is perhaps a sign that Italian has finally slowly flowed in my system. The 3 hours were spent just talking with this native of Firenze. Well she did most of the talking but it's okay because amazingly I understood everything. I kid you not! She prides herself for speaking perfect Italian because Firenze is where the Italian language was born It turned out, she was as nice as she was lively! I was rather taken aback really. All my teachers have been so nice and yet somehow I feel that she could actually be nicer than them all! Anyway, I realize how I love being able to speak this language. This is perhaps the best decision I have made in my life since I don't know when. The idea of me enriching my life this way really makes me happy and at peace that I do something good with my life. What can I say. Different people have different value in life and apparently I am really somewhat of a geek that knowledge and achievement still does excite me now as it was 15 years ago.

Allora, buonanotte tutti!

:) eKa @ 9:39:00 PM • 0 comments

2 mangoes on the strongest branch ...

Hello guys. It's been raining like crazy these few days and it's cold cold cold. I've been feeling under the weather since last week, but I still march on for one reason or the other and as much as I want to rest, I found myself waking up in the morning without any reason to see the doctor. So in conclusion, I have just been dragging myself around.

Went to watch Sing to the Dawn with NanSee yesterday. I have never watched a Singapore film in a cinema before so this was my first one. I've never watched an Indonesian film in a cinema either and since Sing to the Dawn was mostly made by Indonesian, I guess this one could be counted as well. The reason why I bothered to watch this was because I actually know what Sing to the Dawn is about. I've never read the book but eons ago when I was living in Kent Ridge Hall, I was part of hall production and we did Sing to the Dawn the musical, which I thought was not bad. The songs were nice and the story was touching. I still listen to the songs in fact, from time to time. The title of the post is part of the lyric of one of the song from the musical.

However, Sing to the Dawn the animated movie was not good. Yeah, I know you know. Story wise, it was just so different and I didn't find it nice at all. Talking animals?!?! Come on! In the musical you could perhaps feel sympathy for Dawan's struggle and in this one, it's not so and what's with the boy who accompanied her at the end? Aahh, it was pretty lame. The songs were not so memorable. The animation is of course incomparable to Pixar or Disney animation however I did like some of the landscape painting which I thought was nice. I also like the wayang's animation and I love the front part of the tomb. The Indonesian's flair was quite obvious there. Despite of this animated movie is not of high quality, still I'm kinda proud that it's the Indonesian who did it. It's kinda sad that they couldn't find Singaporeans to do it, I wonder if there were no people to do it or if it's because it's too costly. When I found out that the majority of the people working on the animation were Indonesian, I kinda felt bad for Singapore and I hope Starfish and his company would do well and excel so that Singapore can really have its own made-in-Singapore animated movie. But Singapore being Singapore, it has lots of money, so it can just tell people to do things. Hmm ... will people hate me for writing that? Whatever ...

It's gonna be a tough week this week. I have a make up class on Sunday. SUNDAY!!! Aaarrgh, I was like in disbelief that the rest (the rest being Q and Rae) agreed to come. It kinda means that I should come as well, though I am having difficulties seeing how I could muster getting up, more importantly getting my brain up, on a Sunday morning! I seriously wonder if they will really come. If I am left alone there, I would be rather pissed.

Okay, I'm gonna snack now. Take care peeps. Cheerio!

:) eKa @ 9:45:00 PM • 0 comments

It's November, Hey, Hey

Howdy peeps?

The title of the post is something that I quote from Starfish, who when we were talking in msn some days ago, typed the line above. I didn't get what he meant and only after he reminded me that it's nearing the end of the year, I got what he meant. Coincidentally my nickname at that time was waiting anxiously, hope, hope, HOPE! which actually had nothing to do with what he was referring to, but it was actually quite apt to describe it.

Anyways, that nickname was actually for the wait of the US election. I kinda followed this year's US election quite intently. As mentioned previously, I am an Obama supporter and today is quite a day indeed. I was tuning to CNN for the most of the day. I am so happy that he won the election and yes I was rather anxious because despite of the polls saying he was leading, I felt that things could really have gone wrong, but he won and it's all good I first heard about him last year. I read an article when it was early in his campaign and it was written about him having lived in Indonesia and there were doubt about whether he's a Muslim and all that stuff. As if being a Muslim makes you less of a human or incapable of doing great things. Anyway, I got reminded of a conversation I had with dad and an uncle last year when I was at home. Both of us refuted that rumors about Obama's background. I think my dad was more of a Hillary person though while somehow I was always leaning towards Obama. I was seriously ecstatic when he won the nomination from the Democrat party and of course today, I seriously felt rather touched by his win. I read articles, followed the debates and seriously it's not really about his charisma and all. If I were an American, I would truly vote for him because I think he does have great ideas and when John McCain chose Sarah Palin as VP, well that's just a very bad decision on his part. I wouldn't want a VP so unprepared as her. What made me rather touched with his win today is because he did beat all the odds and it's so inspiring!!! I got remember of the lunch we had earlier this year, when suddenly the Bapak and the Ibu joined us and the Bapak was saying that they were never gonna vote him president. Ha! How wrong is he!!! Somehow I felt that it was very telling of the Bapak's character to say such thing. So I say, for everyone who ever doubted you, go and fight like Barack Obama. Dreams do happen, but you do need to work your ass off, never stop working hard, and be sincere and true in your cause. I do hope he will make a great president and help make the world be a better place.

On other news. I was back at the movie again yesterday. Went to watch Tropic Thunder, alone. I have been feeling anti social since last week and I still prefer to just be alone. The phrase selfish loneliness that Starfish coined, is really appropriate to describe my state being right now and you know what, I don't freaking care. It's even better if you get out of my way. Back to the movie, Tropic Thunder is one strange movie for me. I thought it was quite good, but strangely I found it was good for all the individual parts and not as a whole. I thought Robert Downey Jr was seriously a good actor. Tom Cruise was interesting in his role as a tyrant movie producer, him dancing to hip hop music was seriously a laugh for me. Ben Stiller and Jack Black were also good, because seriously for comedy, they are really top class, along with people like Jim Carrey. Story wise it was too exaggerating to my liking but I guess it was meant to be that way. Some of the dialogues were kinda hard for me to follow, with the accents and all the slang. Overall, as I said it's kinda weird for me but it was quite entertaining. There were many famous actors making appearances and no matter how silly it was, it did make for a good laugh.

So life hasn't been too rosy for me these days, though as one might say it's all in the mind. It's what you make of it. Well whatever it is, I'm not having much fun. Finding myself having to deal with more people, interesting perhaps because things can lead to other things and perhaps this is the path to point B. I don't know. Mr. A has been contacting me these days, asking me for help. He's so adamant that I do it even though I'm not sure I'm the right person for it. When I told him that, he said, stop it with all the negativity *sigh* He said I helped him once and so I could do it again. Yesterday on my way home, I couldn't help feeling, so be it, maybe he has enough faith for the two of us, remembering what Coelho said, something along the line that it you really want something, the universe will shift and gather all its power to help you and make your dream come true. Well we will see, we will see. I have to work my ass off because I don't like to fail and most importantly I don't want to fail him *sigh*.

Okay peeps, hope your days have been better than mine! Take care.

PS [06/11/08] : Got my CELI 3 certificato happy. I'm pretty thrilled. It's a proof that it's real!

:) eKa @ 9:39:00 PM • 0 comments

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