Wednesday, December 20, 2023

2023 Book List + Other Thoughts

Another year of very little accomplishment in reading. This year completed books are:

0. The Netanyahus by Joshua Cohen
1. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
2. Trust by Hernan Diaz

Along the way I also completed 女のいない男たち / Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami. Of all that I read this year, I really love Pachinko and I'm really waiting for season 2 of its TV series. I was also really looking forward to the adaptation of All the Light We Cannot See and after watching it I have mix feeling regarding the miniseries :( I really really love the book, so much so that I gave it to my sensei on my last class. Another reason why I gave her the book aside for the story is because I think the structure of the book makes it not as daunting to read. The book consists of short chapters (usually 1-2 pages) telling the story of the 2 main characters Marie Laure and Werner alternately, so 1 chapter a day is doable, though for me when I was reading it, I wish I didn't have other things to do so that I could keep on reading. The miniseries have many changes and there were some I kinda can accept and perhaps love but overall the TV series didn't give me the same feeling that I have of the book and that kinda made me a bit disappointed. Some changes that I could kinda accept though don't think that it was necessary was the story about what happened with Marie-Laure's father. In the book this was not explained, but I have come to realize there's something worst than having someone died and that is having someone disappear and not knowing what happens to them. This is agony worse than death. So to have clarity on what happened to Marie-Laure's father I guess gives us closure. One thing that I like was when Marie Laure and Werner met, I'm glad they get more time in the miniseries but I think they went overboard with the kiss and all. While Werner may have felt like he knew Marie-Laure for a long time and had strong feeling for her, that's not the case for Marie-Laure because she just met him and she's such a smart and brave girl so I don't know, that part of her falling fast is a bit too much for me. I'm glad though that at least in the miniseries Werner's end is not so sad. So that's about books and TV.

As for movies, I kinda enjoyed The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. I thought the main guy was handsome which was weird because he looks quite different out of character with his actual hair colour. Watching it, I was even more interested in further back story like more of Peter Dinklage and Viola Davis' characters, the first people who started the hunger games. Then another movie that really exceeded my expectation and I really enjoyed through and through is Wonka. I love it a lot. I didn't know there will be a lot of songs in it. Timothée Chalamet could sing but still I wasn't sure about it when the movie began with that first song but as we went along it was great, the characters, story. We may need more chocolate but it's still beautiful. One thing that perhaps I kinda have to reconcile is, so is Willy Wonka's dad a dentist? Was he sent to his strict dentist dad after his easy going mother died? Another thing is the magic, so Willy Wonka is like a wizard magical being? I tried to go along with it, but there's just still a bit of weirdness lingering :D Maybe that's the point.

Alright what else to write. I remove my Twitter panel on the right hand side of this blog. Been thinking about it for a while, but finally pull the plug. I actually stopped using Twitter when it became X and kinda wanted to be off it completely but I slipped back during the first Indonesian presidential debate last week :( I just wanted to see what people were saying and then couldn't help saying what I thought as it progressed. I really want to move to other thing like Threads, but since I don't have Instagram, I couldn't and no don't ask me to go on Instagram. I don't want do do all these things, they're not healthy for me. I think I may still be using Twitter / X just to vent out mt thoughts as I watch the next debates. Anyways some thought from the first presidential debate - if I forget who Anies is, I may have thought he's a good candidate; really enjoyed the shades he threw at Prabowo, all those things he said are the things that many Indonesians think too. Thank God though that I am still sane and I remember who Anies is, though perhaps I have forgotten some and luckily the internet is there to remind me of the shitty things he did or did not do during Jakarta governor election. As for Prabowo, he feels like the past for me, the way he spoke about how wonderful Indonesia is with all its potential. These are like talking points that I have heard since I was a child. We all know that but the question is with all of our potential, why do we still suck and I didn't hear him elaborate on what he's gonna do. I guess he's reduced to defence position from all the attacks in the first debate. If his thing is just continuing President Jokowi's policies, then he doesn't have original ideas and that's like a fail. One thing that I thought of after the debate was it feels kinda good that we have younger generation (relative to Prabowo) to move us forward, people who are articulate though I also know being articulate means nothing. There's so many people who can only talk but not do. Lastly we have Ganjar - well it was my first time hearing him speak and I didn't know what to expect and I was kind of impressed. He's articulate, sounded intellectual and even keel, and I think he's better than President Jokowi because he appears more polished in his speech.

Coming up it's the vice-presidential debate this Friday which I don't know what form that would take because unlike the yesteryears, apparently the candidates are not standing on their own during the debate, the presidential candidates will still be there to back them up. I don't know man, people are already crying foul because of these changes. I am looking forward to see how President Jokowi's son gonna carry himself. In the first debate, there was a point when he was rallying his supporters to make more noise after Prabowo answered a question relating to the ethics of having him being chosen as running mate when the court decision regarding that is controversial. I didn't notice it during the debate but the news the days after put a spotlight to it. My mom was like, he's so not cool for doing that. You know how young people often think older people are so not cool; well when older people think you're not cool then man, it's a real diss :D Another thought about the debate is that it had a lot of time wasters like the process of how the questions were being picked and the presenters each time had to re-iterate they're in a sealed envelope. Come on now, if it's in a printed piece of paper and that paper had to be put into the envelope, there's a possibility of leak somewhere. I hate this big showing of trying to show the process is impartial, it's like a diversion to bigger issue like how come the format of the vice-presidential debate changes this election?!?

Another thing that got me really disappointed is that finding out I am not registered as a voter anywhere. Not even in Singapore where I have pointed out to the staff that I have consistently voted here since 2009; that's 3 election cycles! When I found out about this, I was like what in the voter disenfranchisement is going on?!?! Is our election committee shitty this election? Is something shady really going on? The only good thing about not being on the record is I guess my data is not one of those being leaked out and sold. Seriously IT safety and security in Indonesia is terrifying; also it doesn't seem people care much, but what can one do right when the data is just already out there. I am also very disappointed at the embassy - did they contact any of us to inform us to get our registration in order? I seriously doubt they have up-to-date information of all Indonesians living here, like our phone numbers, emails, and addresses, which for me aside for addresses have never changed. Whenever I move in Singapore, I don't know where and how and if I should update my address in Singapore to the embassy. I think in yesteryears, we received texts from the embassy when election came around but this time I only found the information when I googled it myself. I am really pissed about this. I could still vote in Singapore but I cannot do it by post, it has to be in person and it's held on Sunday February 11 here which I wouldn't be around for. So my only option is to go to my neighbourhood voting station at home and hope to do it there. I'm actually scared about it if I'm being honest. I'm afraid if the staff are gonna be scary, questioning me and all, and of course if they run out of voting papers to accomodate residents who are not registered, I will not get to vote at all and I will be SO disappointed. Finger crossed and hope all will be well.

:) eKa @ 8:57:00 PM • 0 comments