The Sorcerer's Apprentice

Why should one watch The Sorcerer's Apprentice? Because Nicholas Cage is going bankrupt and we should help his financial woes? :P Well, for me it's more because there's really no other movies out there that interest me more than this and it's been a long time since I met Vivy, or to be more correct, Dr. Vivy. She's officially holding that title now. If I address her as Dr. Viv, that would make her sounds so foreign, no? Like from Israel or something :P

Anyway The Sorcerer's Apprentice wasn't bad but it wasn't amazingly good either. I will put it in the so-so category. It was entertaining and it's very cool to be able to have magical power. I do want to be able to throw fire ball and things like that :P I have to say that the Tesla coil experiment shown on the movie was really really cool. I would want to watch that kind of lightning. I suppose it's not so realistic though, because when I watched the Tesla experiment in the Singapore Science Center, there were a lot of loud noises for such small lightnings. So for such big amazing lightnings shown on the movie, it must be pretty deafening when they appeared. Hhmmm ... I really cannot say much else about it. I guess it's a good lightweight watch to fill your time if you have nothing else to do.

Could it be that I really have run out of words. I actually just checked my dictionary to see what the past participle of run is. I have to say that my brain is not really in its best form today. It might be because I didn't have enough sleep last night. Been socializing and meeting a few people this week. Yesterday I had dinner and milkshake with the people I have been spending my days with. Though I decided to go home earlier, I still ended up sleeping after 12 and it's not really something that I want to do on Friday nights when I still have to really focus and concentrate for 3 hours on a Saturday morning and so from this week on, I am banning myself from going out on a Friday until I get through my test in 3 weeks time. Panic has started to sink in :(

Anyway it's very nice to be spending some personal time with the people whom I haven't seen for some time. I managed to meet 3 different friends this week, Vivy, Ms. J, and il ragazzo che è ancora dentro il mio cuore. Si, mi manca ma adesso è chiaro per me che noi siamo amici e penso che la nostra relazione sia meglio. Sono felice che noi siamo amici migliore :) Anyway this week, I realize how I like how Ms. J is pretty nearby. She could be my place of refuge, to get away from the things that enclose me during the day. That person used to be Vivy last time. I used to go to Arts Canteen in NUS and have lunch with her, just to get away from everything. I miss that, miss being around in NUS. I am just grateful that I have that person in Ms. J now. I feel that being able to get away from the things that enclose you is important to keep your sanity. This week has its bad parts as well. I have been eating really badly this week. I ate too much unhealthy things, things which are bad for my cholesterol and sugar level. I really need to be healthier next week.

Well, that's about it peeps. Nothing much else to say. I guess I really just don't have the words anymore. Life has been good and I wish yours is too. Take care!

:) eKa @ 7:03:00 PM • 0 comments

I Am Most Content

I am most content was a line which was said by a character in the movie Nanny McPhee which was just on TV. It was my first time watching it and I have to say I like it very much! I like the story and I love how colourful it was :) Anyway the line kinda applied to me. But I realized as I was thinking about how I am in quite a happy state of life right now, there are many things that I can complain about. However, then I realize that's me being ungrateful and so not inline with focusing on and amplifying positivity.

Again, this week I have quite a good week. Things really have changed in my life. Now I am excited when it's Thursday because the next day would be Friday. On Fridays, I feel pretty relaxed and happy and look forward for some laughter on Saturdays. Then I haven't gotten any Sunday evening migraine anymore, which I often had last time accompanied with so much depression that in a few hours it would be Monday. Last time I used to get depressed that Thursday is Thursday and I still had to go through that day to Friday and even on Friday, I was still so depressed with the 9 hours that I had to go through and don't get me started with the fact that weekend went by too fast for me. I still want longer weekend and I still get Monday blues, but I am fine and that really is about me now. Yesterday evening, I had the pleasure of meeting my Italian classmates and Q even said that I looked more relaxed :) I am in a happier state. I am trying hard not to think about all the things that could go wrong and perhaps it's the way to do it. I have to just be grateful for every good things I have and really, I have nothing to complain. Life's not perfect and as I want it to be but it's a good life right now :)

Okay nothing much else to say. Made it to the Singapore Garden Festival this week. I thought the 2008 one was better. There were more variety of flowers and the landscape sections were more interesting. This time around, I couldn't even spot many tulips, except for 1 variety :( but the Orchids and the Singapore community section had improved tremendously. So anyway, here are some pictures. For more of them, go here. Okay, take care my dears. Hope you are having great days. Buonanotte!







:) eKa @ 9:33:00 PM • 0 comments

INCEPTION

Watched INCEPTION with La Gioia and NanSee today. With a running time of around 2.5 hours, I thought I would be too dead tired if I watched it on a weekday. So I asked La Gioia if she wanted to watch it. Luckily she did. NanSee at first wasn't interested at the movie but decided to join us after hearing that La Gioia would be there. Well, it's been awhile since I met them altogether and it's nice to be seeing them again. Overall I had quite a good day today except that I didn't eat well today. Kinda sad because Saturday is normally the day I eat things that make me happy :P Anyway now let me rave about INCEPTION.

I thought INCEPTION was brilliant. At first I was skeptical about this movie. I thought it was going to be heavy on the brain like The Matrix and in a way it is but I like it because I like the idea and I get how a dream can be so addictive. Early on in the movie as the dream thing was explained, I could already see the possibility of building a world in your dream. It would just be so awesome. Another thing that I thought was pretty smart of Christopher Nolan (the writer) was the fact that he managed to combine both the high-tech science fiction parts of it as well as the emotional and character development of Leonardo DiCaprio's character. I was equally drawn on finding out how their mission going to turn out as well as finding out the history and story of Leonardo DiCaprio's character. The story is built on layers that it's like a waking up from a dream itself. One has to try to remember what just happened and went through everything to get the whole story. It is technically quite hard on the brain. Me being me, who cannot control my brain, with thoughts which jump all over the place, had difficulty keeping track on the story. There was a snowy mountain scenes, in which I suddenly just got aware and I ended up asking myself and La Gioia, how did we end up here :P It is silly of me, I know. I think it does need a lot of focus and concentration to understand this movie, to understand the rule, and to understand the reasoning behind the actions of each of the character. There are perhaps some illogical things in the movie, for example Dom and Mal Cobb (played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Marion Cotillard) chose such a painful way to die to wake up from their dream, isn't there better way? Like jumping off a building. Then when I think about it, Saito (played by Ken Watanabe) chose such a difficult way to destroy a rival's company. Surely there are easier ways than this but perhaps other ways are less interesting :P I have to comment also on how I like the special effects. A city folding into itself was cool. The zero gravity scenes in the lift were also cool and at one part was hilarious. I wonder if the actors had much fun doing them.

Speaking of the actors. I like them all. Leonardo DiCaprio is of course older and kinda fatter now. He's such a serious actor that I really have no comment on him anymore. He's just him, I suppose. Ken Watanabe is just an actor with such a commanding presence. I think he just fits really well to play characters that have a lot of power. Ellen Page (best known for Juno) was pretty. Marion Cotillard as a psycho bitch was kinda interesting to watch :P Cillian Murphy's character was so so. I don't think it gave him much room to show his acting prowess. Tom Hardy played the cool guy of the group. It was interesting to watch his interactions with Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character. I have to comment on Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I last saw him in (500) Days of Summer, in which he played this love-sick guy who made me kinda impatient when I watched the movie. I am glad to see him to be totally different in this role and since I am a sucker for a tall skinny guy, I am kinda drawn to him a lot :$ He looked great in this movie. Well I think he did, but I know a lot of girls wouldn't share my opinion :P It's a good movie though I do have to say that it's a very particular kind of movie. Either you like it or you don't. Do give it a watch though :) I love it very much.

On other news. Well life has been okay. Comme ci, comme ça as I answered when I was asked how my week was. I have never given any answer other than that. I am perhaps ungrateful for not saying more positive things but at least I don't say it's awful. So in a way, I am still grateful. Overall though considering all, it actually has been a good week and I am actually very very happy today, very happy :) I have a good day :) Today did start with the heavy rain and on a Saturday morning like this morning, I did feel like a moron, because who on earth would leave the comfort of their bed at such a nice weather in early morning, brave the rain, and go to class? Apparently there are some people who did that, like my classmates and teachers :P I ended up reaching the earliest among them all, which is pretty amazing because I'm usually late. I was late actually but with the traffic and such, people were later than me. When I came in, noone was in the class and the room was dark and I had to switch on the light. For some reason, I found it to be kinda scary to be in the class alone :S Then Mr. Ben came and that became more uncomfortable since he's speaking French. I just wanted to give up and in the end I asked, je peux parler en anglais? (can I speak English?). He said yes. He's that nice. Mr. P wouldn't have let me off. However Mr. Ben was responding to me in French and for some reason, I just could never get him and I am not actually that bad! I just could never understand him :( Then Jacq arrived and I felt so relieved :D We had much laugh in class today. A lot of personal stuff came out during our talk. Errr ... some things which were shared are perhaps too personal for my liking but I guess you must give as you are take. We have interrogated Mr. Ben perhaps way too much, so in a way we or I deserve some poking on teasing on my parts :P Dear God, he gave us much homework this week. I really have to put much efforts into it. Test is in 4-5 weeks, arrrgghhh and today already showed how verbs conjugation are disappearing from my brain. It's kinda dilemmatic for me. I feel as I am pushing all this french knowledge in, the italian words are disappearing and I don't want that :( But for now, I really have to start getting the french verbs conjugation into my head. I really need to focus and concentrate but I am lazy :| Alright, since I don't want my italian to be gone, I'm gonna try to write something (with the help of google translate of course).

C'è un sentimento dentro il mio cuore. Un sentimento che è un po' strano ma mi fa sorridere. Non lo so che cosa devo fare. È molto buono che sorrido ma forse questo è troppo stupido e sciocco per me. Alla fine, il mio cuore sarà probabilmente rotta. Così vale la mia pena avere questo sentimento e lasciarlo crescere perchè sorrido adesso ma dopo sarò molto triste? Ma chi può dire che il mio cuore sarà certamente rotta? Forse questo è veramente per me? Forse questa è la riposta delle mie preghiere? Allora, adesso puoi vedere la prova che sono molto stupida :P Penso troppo. Forse devo semplicemente accetare la cose come viene. Sorrido adesso e va bene. Non è male per essere felice e si sono felice, sono felice. Si voglio sorridere, devo sorridere. La vita è bella per me in questo momento e non devo pensare troppo. Devo semplicemente essere grato e sorrido :)

:) eKa @ 10:28:00 PM • 0 comments

Despicable Me

Watched Despicable Me yesterday. Decided to watch it in 3D and I enjoyed it very much, the movie and the 3D part. I have a lot of comments or things that I like about the movie and so I'm gonna do this one in points.

1) I thought Steve Carell is very talented. I don't think it's easy to speak with an accent or simply to come up with one. He did really really well that it didn't even sound like him. I am just amazed with him. I also found Jason Segel to be quite impressive. Jason Segel is of course Marshall Eriksen in How I Met Your Mother. Based on his character in that tv series, I wouldn't choose him to play an antagonist but I think he also did quite well. It was pretty surprising for me. Julie Andrews was also a delight to hear with the accent. She normally plays a character with proper speech and grace and to hear her in an accent and be a bit fierce is pretty amusing.

2) I LOVE the MINIONS!!! They're very cute. I think they actually look like potatoes. I love them because of their cuteness and their innocence. Watching the movie, I was thinking that I would love to have an army of my own minions! They are so loyal and they adore Gru a lot and I just feel it's so nice to be loved that much.

3) I love how colourful the world is. I like colourful things. I thought the scenes with the moon is amazing. It looks so real. Speaking of the scenes, I was thinking that I would love to have the crocodile couch that Gru had. I thought it was so cool, that is before I saw Vector's house. His house has an Apple-feel to it. White, clean line and shiny. What I love the most about his house is the big aquarium below his living room. It's so cool. He has one big shark in it but I would want mine with many fishes. Seriously if I have an aquarium that big, I would just lie face down on the floor and observe the fishes.

4) The little girls were adorable. They had the most old-fashioned name ever, Margo, Edith, and Agnes. I feel that their characters were not developed much. For example, I would like to know why Edith always had a hat on and I would love to see it off her head. Okay it's not a hat, I don't know what it is called in English. Agnes was of course the cutest one. I just found her hair being tied up so straight up to be very cute.

5) Storywise, I thought it is not bad. It's actually pretty deep when it touched on issues of how Gru didn't have much affection when he was young but this wasn't being touched more and I don't think it was resolved until the end. Yes her mother did say that she was proud of him but I just think that things like this need to be discussed and be brought up in the open so that people can release all the pent up emotion and move on with life. I was happy that Gru finally felt happy and be acceptant on the fact that the girls made him happy and be at peace with his life.

6) I thought the songs were great. They were mostly done by Pharrell and I love it! He doesn't have the best singing voice but it's nice to hear him sings and the songs are really nice :)

Well, I guess that's about it peeps. You guys take care okay. Tomorrow is Thursday, then we have Friday (where I will be happier) and the weekend, yay! I should be reviewing my homeworks or start studying and yet I am so lazy and get easily distracted :( there's tomorrow? Excuses, excuses, excuses. Ciao tutti! Vi voglio bene!

:) eKa @ 9:13:00 PM • 0 comments

Shanghai

Went to watch Shanghai yesterday, alone. I actually tried to get people to watch it with me. In fact I asked 3 people if they would want to watch it with me. However noone was free and let's face it, people don't live by my schedule. For some reason, I didn't feel like watching it alone. A quick look on this blog showed that I really have watched a lot of movies alone recently. I thought it would be just around 3 movies, but it turned out that from May to now, I watched around 10 movies plus alone! Goodness me!!! No wonder I started to feel rather lonely. I still love watching a movie alone, but I guess sometime the need for people kicks in.

Anyway, I watched Shanghai simply because of John Cusack, whom I first fell in love with in Con Air. Since he was the reason, I guess I should comment on him and though this may sound so not important, but I want to say it anyway. John Cusack looked much older in this movie and I think he has gone much fatter as well :( and me being the weird me felt that the make-up artist unnecessarily put too heavy eyeliner at the bottom of his eyes :( Was he good in the movie? Well I don't know how to comment on this movie and on him. Looking at the trailer, I thought it was going to be some heavy dramatic movie and in a way it was pretty dramatic but I thought it would be heavy at the political or espionage side and this is not really true. At the core of it Shanghai is actually a story about love.

The other major actors were Chow Yun Fat and Ken Watanabe (who is really cool by the way) and they hold such important roles in the movie but I couldn't sympathize much with their characters. Their characters were men of high power and position and yet a lot of things that they did were based on love, stupid things if I can say. On the opposite of these major actors, we have Gong Li and being the female lead who played an important role in the movie, I found that her character was actually the more rational of the bunch. One may argue that love can make even a person of the highest power to do silly things but I guess I expect more from people who are in that higher power. If you are in a position of power and have a lot of responsibility and a lot are at stake by every decision that you make, then I would like you to be able to put aside your emotion and personal desire for the greater good, for what people expect you to do in your position. So with that opinion of mine, at the end of Shanghai, I really don't know how to comment on it. I guess it's not so bad but personally I just don't like the story much. The movie was narrated by John Cusack in a mode which made me feel that it was rather cheesy. It gave an espionage spy feel to it but for me it just wasn't cool enough because his role wasn't really the cool spy role. Oh well ... nothing much else to say about it.

I kinda want this week to be over as soon as possible and I do feel rather sad or perhaps annoyed that today is only Wednesday. I guess my fuel is already running pretty low but then when I think of it, this Saturday would mark 1 month and I just have another 2 months to go. So that's actually a good thing. I really need to keep my energy level high. By the way, I just heard the Singapore National Day song for this year and I must say, I like the last year's better and after hearing the song and watching the video, I miss my home country Indonesia a lot!!! Long live Indonesia! I love you always!

:) eKa @ 8:44:00 PM • 0 comments

Sleepy Weekend

Hello peeps, how are you doing? I have been having a sleepy weekend. Been sleeping a lot which I found to be a good thing because I often don't get enough sleep and even worse sometime I don't get a good night sleep. As much as it doesn't really work, I like the idea of saving sleep or paying back all the sleep that I lost. It doesn't work because sleeping more on one day doesn't mean the sleep get distributed fairly and well on the other days where you lack of sleep.

Movie of this week was Letters to Juliet which I watched simply because of its setting, which is in Italy. I kinda want to go and see Verona so much now. The movie is so-so. It's your typical chick flick. I really can't say much about this movie except for the fact that Vanessa Redgrave is really such an experienced actress. Watching all the scenes, I do miss Italy a lot. There was a scene in Siena and it reminded me of how steep the path way in Siena was. Then there was the Tuscany region, extremely beautiful and peaceful. I think having a vineyard in Tuscany would be the best retirement life one can have, but perhaps I haven't seen much of the world to make a proper opinion on that :P

On other news, yesterday we have french class and our class manage to survive, yay! Mau and Jacq are back. I'm kinda glad that they're back because it ensures the continuity of our class. They're back because they thought their previous teacher would be teaching us but we get Mr. B instead. I think he's quite good. He's like the nicer, less intimidating version of Mr. P. I like the fact that he's moving quite fast and things are being written on the board, so I am looking forward for classes with him. In this term it's kinda of high importance that we get our stuffs right since we're gonna be having a test a the end of it, aarrrghhh :( Me being the kinda intrusive me asked a question that opened up a perhaps-too-personal fact of him which was perhaps kinda too soon to be asked on our first meeting. He seemed fine answering that but I really hope it didn't give him much sad thoughts. So anyways, there are 6 of us now. There maybe will be more people joining us, we'll see next week. I am just excited about class :)

Nothing much else to say guys. Been having a busy week and perhaps that's the reason why I am so tired this weekend. Gonna be having another busy week and there's certain mountains that I have to climb but I really don't want to talk about this at all. I don't want to think about it. Vicky Cristina Barcelona is showing on tv tonight. A movie with kinda a sweet memory for me :P I am looking forward to watch it although I know that it would most probably gonna be censored a lot. Looking forward to see Barcelona. Barcelona is number 1 in my life list right now, it's even ahead of visiting France. I am trying to keep my travelling dream alive. It's funny that I had successfully travelled so far away on my own before and yet I still get nervous and scared when I think about doing it again. Fear is so paralysing and I feel everyday I am trying to surpress all of them and all the worry down. I guess it will always be a constant effort. Oh well, one step at a time. One mountain at a time. Take care peeps. Hope you have a wonderful week ahead!

:) eKa @ 7:54:00 PM • 0 comments

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