Mission:Impossible - Ghost Protocol

I'm writing again! And it's about a movie my friends, it's been so long since the last time I write about movie. The thing is, I watched Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol yesterday, and WOW... maybe it is the best MI movie ever. Point to point here...

Kesetaraan

Lelap terus, dan kau pun dipuji sebagai bangsa terlembut di dunia.

Darahmu dihisap dan dagingmu dilahap sehingga hanya kulit tersisa.

Siapa pula tak memuji sapi dan kerbau?

Orang dapat menyuruhnya kerja, dan memakan dagingnya.

Tapi kalau mereka tahu hak-haknya, orang pun akan menamakannya pongah, karena tidak mau ditindas.

Bahasamu terpuji halus di seluruh dunia, dan sopan pula.

Sebabnya kau menegur bangsa lain dalam bahasa kromo dan orang lain menegurmu dalam bahasa ngoko.

Kalau kau balikkan, kau pun dianggap kurang ajar.

[Doenia Bergerak - Oemar Said Tjokroaminoto, 1914]

Birdy

Once upon a time, UK is the center of the world's cultural movement. From punk, skinhead, working class music... britpop, doc marten... name it. And then there's a shift, with the help of a bunch of good looking boys that adding the word 'band' as their last name and also some teenage girl with revealing outfit and ability to move as elastic as rubber, American music become the dominant force in the world. But maybe, just maybe, like what The Beatles did in the 60s, and britpop in mid 90s, once again british music will dominate the world.

And the first strike is a group of heavy talented girl with over the top voice, Amy Winehouse and Adele. Those two girl dominate the US chart and also global chart without being half naked or move like agitated snake, they does it with their amazing voice and beautiful live performance. They just great just the way they are. From Amy and Adele, I travel over the web and found other talented british musician like Ellie Goulding, and now Birdy. This girl is only 15, yes, and yet she can play the piano, she can sing and she can write and compose a song, duh! I fall in love with her voice, and her modest composure. Hey, not every teenager has to be like Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez or whoever else. She just amazing in her own way. 

Wonderful Adele

I watched this trailer of Adele's concert in Royal Albert Hall and feel so emotional. Adele is a wonderful singer. I fall in love with her music from the first time I listened to Chasing Pavement in the radio. I scream with joy when she won her first Grammy, and I definitely one of many people who swore that 21 is the best female singer album ever!

She shared the same birthday as my mother in the same year as I am, which make her just 3 days older than me, yet, she has inspired many girls in the world. You know, when I listen to her music, as a girl, I always think... "it is alright to be brokenhearted, it is great to pour your heart out of your sadness, but the most important thing is to get back to your feet and show the world that you are a big girl! Yes, big girl do cry, but we're not crying forever!"

About Money

"It wasn’t that important, because I never did it for the money … I think money is a wonderful thing because it enables you to do things, enables you to invest in ideas that don’t have a short term payback and things like that … But, especially at that point in my life, it was not the most important thing. The most important thing was the company, the people, the products that we were making, what we were going to enable people to do with these products … I didn’t think about it a great deal … I never sold any stock — I really believed the company would do very well over the long term"

[Steve Jobs]

New book to read : In the Plex

New book on my book-to-read-list : In the Plex, How Google Thinks, Works, and Shape our Lives by Steven Levy. This is the second book about Google that I read, after Googled by Ken Auletta. I read Googled last year, and got a brief history and understanding of the internet giant, from the idea and project of two Stanford graduate students, to a realization of multibillion company that become our main source of looking for information. 

In the Plex is said to be written with cooperation of Google exec, with detail under the hood information about the development of Google culture and business. I found that some blogger using this book as trusted reference to understand Google strategy today. I just googled the book and decided to  read it as soon as I finish Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson which is still in progress. It means I push the Heroes of Olympus series, and The Hunger Games series down to the bottom of the list. Well, I have little time for fiction and the moment, which is still makes me feel uneasy for being a little too busy than usual.

The Great Tech War of 2012

I just starting to read the new issue of Fast Company : The Great Tech War of 2012. Who will win the battle for the future of innovation economy? wooohooooooo... it really great to read it. They compare 4 companies with different starting point which has grown ahead of others to be the leader of digital world, Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook. This is quite a thorough article on each company's excellence, competitiveness and value. And a nice reading for all the tech enthusiast out there... I will update my comment when I finish reading it.

About love

“I thought to myself, If this is my last day on earth, would I rather spend it at a business meeting or with this woman?” Then he ran across the parking lot and asked her to dinner.

Virtual Assistant

Back at 2004, I was a freshmen at School of Electrical Engineering and Informatics at Bandung Institute of Technology. At the time, there was a competition hold by the student association aiming at High School student, it called LED : Light of Electrical Dream. The competition is simple, you just have to dream, dream about an innovative electrical-electronic technology that will give huge impact on human life. It is a very successful event, and I feel bad that I have enrolled to college at the time, because I want to participate in it so badly. But still, me and my friend talk and toying around about what we would dream of if we can participate in the competition...

There are so many ideas. With no limitation of feasibility, it is great to dream about almost everything. One of my friend talk about biometric identification, where human being can digitally identified with their fingerprint that connected to integrated database of all of their information, from date of birth to bank account. She said, "we don't need any money, we don't need to registered for a passport, all we need is our thumb". Indeed, that is a very brave dream, right? Very Minority Report :)

And then my turn, and I simply think about automatic housing system. Where a house can be so smart that it can detect our mood for music, adjust the room temperature, manage the utilities and most of all can communicate and manage our need by simply directly asking us. Well, it sort of like Tony Stark's Jarvis. Oh hell, I really head over heel for Jarvis. I'm craving to have one :P

That was dream. But I remember about it again last Wednesday,  Apple announced their latest upgrade on the iPhone series, iPhone 4S, exactly one day before they lost they co-founder. Nothing so special about the device. It looks exactly like iPhone 4. They said it is faster in processing, and faster in browsing. They said the camera is better. But nothing really interesting in both, it just old song. What really caught my attention is Siri, a virtual voice-operated personal assistant. They said Siri is so smart, and she can tell you exactly what you want as far as you tell her clearly what you want. Wow... they make mini-Jarvis, the iPhone-sized-Jarvis, and really I'm craving for one.

People said Siri is the new innovation that finally will disrupt Google-search domination in the internet and mobile domain. I'm not really sure about that, but it really worth the attention. Well, we'll see, how far Siri will boost iPhone 4S sales, and how the market react to it. And one more thing, it really will be interesting to see how Google will response.

Stay hungry, Stay foolish

(picture taken from Apple.com)

He co-founded Apple computer, he founded Next, he built Pixar, and not the least, he gave you the 'i'... He was Steve Jobs.

The world mourns today for the lost of the greatest innovator of the century. No one will argue that he has a remarkable life. He inspired generations of people, proved us what it means to be passionate in what you're doing -love what you're doing. He revolutionized global industries, from electronic to mobile, from digital design to merchandising, from application to music. He told us precisely what 'user experience' is about. He showed you that a touch of one finger is matter and that one-click is always better.

Steve Jobs will always be remembered as a great man. Rest in peace Steve.

Hereby, I attach Steve Jobs's commencement speech at Stanford University graduation at 2005. It is one of the best speech I've ever heard delivered by a tech industry practitioner. It's about his life, his vision, his love... and his view of death. It's very moving speech and reading it is a very practical way to recharge your motivation. Here I copied the text from CNN website. For all of you who have a goal to make a dent in the universe.

Kembali ke pojok : I'm not that girl

Aku memanggilnya Kakak, putri satu-satunya dari adik ibuku. Umur kami berdua dekat, hanya berbeda 2 tahun. Tapi kami tak dekat, karena sejak kecil kami dibesarkan di kota yang berbeda. Ibuku sering sekali bercerita tentang dia, tidak membuatku tambah menyukainya, malah sebaliknya aku sangat tidak menyukainya, karena dia selalu terdengar sempurna. Ketahuilah, tak ada hal yang lebih menyakitkan dari mendengar ibumu sendiri menyanjung-nyanjung gadis lain seolah dia berharap gadis itu putrinya, memuakkan.

Hanya 2 hal yang kuketahui sebagai persamaan kami : perempuan dan anak tunggal, selain itu aku merasa sangat berbeda darinya. Dia cantik, atau jika banyak yang mengatakan cantik itu relatif maka aku akan mengatakan dia menarik secara fisik berdasarkan standar umum : kulit putih, rambut panjang, tinggi, langsing, dan itu semua didukung oleh gayanya yang feminim. Aku, boleh dibilang hampir kebalikannya.Aku tak tahu apakah dari sananya kami sudah sangat berbeda, atau dari kenyataan bahwa selama ini kami selalu bersaing -lebih tepatnya aku ingin selalu bisa mengalahkannya. Selalu.

Kalau kakak menang satu perlombaan, aku akan berusaha untuk menang dua. Kalau Kakak juara kelas, aku akan juara angkatan. Kalau Kakak murid teladan kota, aku akan murid teladan provinsi. Kalo Kakak masuk ke jurusan favorit di universitas terbaik, aku masuk jurusan terbaik di universitas terbaik. Kalo Kakak lulus sebagai sarjana terbaik, aku lulus sarjana dan master terbaik. Aku akan melakukan apapun lebih baik dari dia! Itu terus berlanjut, bahkan sampai saat ini. Hanya, kali ini ada yang berbeda, sesuatu yang membuatku sangat kesal.

I'm not that girl...

Don't wish, don't start
Wishing only wounds the heart
I wasn't born for the rose and the pearl
There's a girl I know
He loves her so
I'm not that girl
[I'm not that girl - Elphaba & reprise by Glinda - Wicked]




Nope, I'm not being melancholy or else... it just I really, really want to watch Wicked musical... at least the one that will be played at Singapore Esplanade this December. I hope I have the opportunity to watch it :)

Hope and Pray

And if you don't mind

Can you tell me

All your hopes and fears

and Everything that you believe in

Would you make a difference in the world

I'd love for you to take me to a deeper conversation

Only you can make me

[Yuna - Deeper Conversation]

Independence month

August is always been an independence month in Indonesia, because we are commemorating our independence day at 17th August. But for me personally, this month is a whole new level of independency, I try to elaborate it in 3 points:

1. Independence from complaining!

"Work very very hard. Be honest and fair. Be professional. Be low-profile. And move very fast." - 5 principles by BJ Habibie

In the past semester, I think I busy nag around about my work and position and salary and whatever it has to do with my office. But then I come to realize that I'm not deserve to be like that yet.

Come to evaluate myself, Did I complete a doctorate degree in Europe in the subject that other people just dream about? not. Did I build a big industry that become the nation proud and giant leap in technology? not. Did I inspire a generation of youth about the dream of technology, science and industry? not. Did I serve as a president at the most chaotic time in this country ever? not. So, do I have the right to complain around and being lazy over a disappointment to system? of course NO!

Mr. Habibie has done all those things, has given a great contribution to this nation, has inspire generations of people and yet, he never find it enough. So why should I?!?!

Don't push your luck, because every man/woman's fortune is already written, if it's not the time... then it's not the time. I will just try my hardest and I have faith that Allah will give me equally.

2. Independence from rats!

Yes, rats! My territory a.k.a my room has been invaded by a rat and for the most bizzare thing ever happened, the rat think that my room is quite comfy to get labor, yes, get LABOR! THERE'S A RAT GET LABOR AT MY ROOM, UNDER MY BED! GROOOOOSSSSSSS!!!!

I can't even let myself look at those baby rats. All I did is waiting the help to get rid of those rats and then I clean up my room like a freak, to the point that I think that I behave like an OCD. After that grossy incident, I filed a complain to the landlady, but hey... like always, she seems to think that it's no big deal. Rats lady, RATS! What in the world you would think that a rat got labor in your room is no big deal??? So, I call it quit, I move out. I have rented out another room yesterday and will move in tomorrow. Sorry, I fear snake, and rat is snake's snack, so I always scare that there will be snake appearance if there are rats, it's a nature... food chain. No tolerance over this one.

3. Independence from credit card debt.

Unfortunately, it is still an on going process. But heyy... I have a quite good progress. I accept the fact that credit card is the most convenient payment method ever existed, please note that you don't have to pay the bill in full amount. But then I remember what my ex-boss have said to me,

"it's alright not to pay your bill in full, but if you spend the money to pay the interest into some investment, it will be more profitable to you" (it's my roughly translation from bahasa to english).

Then he gave me the illustration, that if I spend the same amount of money for interest monthly into investment, like reksadana maybe, in 15 years I will have enough money to send my child to a good university in UK. Holly crap, UK!!!

So I bear it in mind : no credit card interest means investment, investment means college in UK for my child, means she or he can go to college happily without bearing any worry about tuition fee. Means they can reach their education to the fullest and be a smarter man/woman than their mother. That seems really nice to do. So, I close one of my credit card and pay full the other, it feels very light for my next monthly expense also.

That's a wrap for now. I will have tons to do before the Eid holiday. Move out, break fasting with LSS 04, break fasting with elektro 04, and of course mudik... (please ya Allah, give us a decent traffic *pray*). So, happy holiday everyone, and do your last days of ramadhan wisely, it will be a whole year before you meet one again, hope that we all have the opportunity to meet the next ramadhan :)

English, Bahasa, dan Basa

a little break from posting in english....

GW BOSAAAAANNNNN!!!

Pengen tertawa sendiri dengan kenyataan bahwa setiap saya posting dengan menggunakan bahasa adalah untuk marah-marah atau mengeluh. Sebegitu tak indahkah bahasa tanah air saya sampai saya hanya bisa menggunakannya untuk mengeluh?

Jangan salahkan palu ketika jarimu terpukul, jangan salahkan pena ketika tulisanmu tak terbaca. Intinya, bukan bahasa yang jadi masalah, tapi memang saya kurang bisa menulis yang indah-indah menggunakan bahasa, alias taunya emang cuman bisa marah-marah :)

Tapi ternyata kasus ini hanya berlaku untuk saya seorang. Beberapa teman bisa menulis dengan begitu baik pakai bahasa (dimana saya berusaha menulis dengan english supaya lebih keren kebacanya), dan oya... ada juga yang mendedikasikan blog nya untuk menulis sajak dan puisi.

Tarolah Hasan Aspahani sebagai contoh. Blog Sejuta Puisi-nya adalah satu blog yang saya sering kunjungi. Sajak dan puisi buatannya begitu bagus sampai saya merasa malu sendiri sebagai orang yang 20 tahun lebih berbahasa indonesia tapi tak bisa menulis dalam bahasa sebagus itu (walau pakai english pun gak pernah bagus-bagua amat sih...). Sajak Hasan Aspahani buat saya terasa jujur, mengungkapkan hal-hal sederhana menjadi sesuatu yang mengundang imajinasi. Saya sudah lama berusaha mencari buku kumpulan sajak beliau, sayangnya belum berjodoh untuk ketemu saja dan bahkan beberapa hari lagi kumpulan sajaknya yang baru akan diterbitkan.

Saya selalu ingin bisa menulis puisi. Ibu saya bilang dulu waktu kecil saya punya buku kecil yang isinya kumpulan puisi buatan sendiri. Hmmm... aneh, karena saya sendiri tak pernah ingat saya bisa menulis puisi :P

Kembali ke bahasan mengenai bahasa. Sebagai orang sunda, saya juga menguasai sedikit basa sunda. Dan setelah saya pikir-pikir ternyata saya hanya bisa menggunakan basa sunda level pergaulan, alias kasar dengan banyak 'mah', 'tah', 'maneh', 'urang' dan 'siah'. Hihihihi... karena memang setelah diingat-ingat, yang mengajarkan saya basa sunda itu teman-teman sekolah waktu SD, dimana level pergaulan lah yang dipakai. Kemampuan basa saya sedikit meningkat ketika saya bergabung dengan Lingkung Seni Sunda saat kuliah. WOW... orang-orang ini ada yang bisa membuat tembang, narasi, puisi dan lain-lain menggunakan basa sunda yang se-kecap pun saya baru dengar saat itu (dan saya agak yakin ayah dan ibu saya yang sunda tulen pun tidak akan begitu mengerti saat membacanya). Pada awalnya saya berpikir basa sunda saya akan lebih baik karena LSS, pada akhirnya saya tahu itu tidak terjadi. Mungkin basa sunda saya lebih lancar, tapi ya dengan kenyataan karena banyak saya gunakan untuk marah-marah juga (seharusnya saya gak pernah ngambil posisi di evaluasi -_-).

Jadi, kesimpulannya, mau menulis dalam apapun saya paling fasih ketika memakainya untuk marah-marah. Kenyataan menyebalkan yang perlu segera diubah. Syukurnya, saat saya belajar nederlands saya tak diajarkan cara marah-marah lebih dulu, tapi bagaimana memesan makanan dan minuman, sedikit perbaikan :)

Transformers 3 - Dark Side of the franchise

Just Trivia...

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Lennox : "no sign of Optimus?"

No Lennox, Optimus actually has a hard time TRAPPED in a web of chain and waiting for the autobots to free him, What the &%$@???

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Rossie Huttington Whiteley can be a Victoria Secret Angel with glorious face, great hair, hot body and killer legs, but she's just so unimportant in the movie to the point I hope she's not there at all.

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Too much robot can kill you, in term of you got confused to death which one is this, and which one is that. I can't recognize all the robot.

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It just a boy universe, where a jobless Ivy league graduate can save the world, have an alien Chevy camaro as car and hot-girl that irrevocably in love with him.

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It's freaking two hours and 30 minutes long movie!!! And that Shia boy is so insignificant in the first half of the movie...

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*will update when I'm in the mood for writing more sarcastic things...

A thin line between Hero and Pirate

Just a little conversation in the sea of forest of Mermaid Island, between Jinbe the Sichibukai and Strawhat Monkey D. Luffy.

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Image via Wikipedia

Jinbe : "If you're going to do this, don't be the brutal human that smashed Hody (mermaid villain), be the hero of this island!!!"

Luffy : "Hero?! Forget it!!! We're PIRATES. I love heroes but I don't want to be one!! Do you know what it is to be a hero??"

*pause*

Luffy : "Let's say you have some meat, okay? Now, a pirate would chow down on that bad boy, but a hero would share it with everyone!! I WANT TO EAT MEAT!!!"

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So, in the bottom line, A hero will share what he want with anyone, but pirate will take it all down with them. Maybe they do the same good deeds, but with different perspective and motive... how interesting :)

NB: Monkey D. Luffy is the captain of Strawhat Pirate in the japanese manga One Piece. He maybe stupid with animal-level IQ, but very strong, loyal to his friends and has a clear vision. I love him :D

Rock of my life

"But you see, it's not me, it's not my family

In your head, in your head they are fighting"

[The Cranberries - Zombie]

I vaguely remember when the first time I'm listening to The Cranberries song, but I'm sure that the song is Zombie. It was on my aunt's self-made compilation cassette, and it was love at the first sound. From the acoustic intro, to the grunge feeling after that and finally Dolores voice. I've never imagine before that a girl's voice can be soft and bold at the same time. I remembered at the time I asking myself, "who is this girl???". And then I saw their first video on MTV. It's not Zombie, it's Promises, and I fell deeper in their music.

The last time The Cranberries held a concert at Jakarta, I'm still at highschool and impossible for me to attend the concert at the time. I remembered being sad, and more sad when I watch the news about the concert on TV. I always want to watch them live, and that dream comes to realization through Java Rockin Land 2011.

The moment I knew that The Cranberries has been confirmed as one of headlining band for JRL 2011, I bought the ticket. I even didn't care how much it cost or at what day they will perform, I bought the 3-days pass. Yesterday, I watched them and HELL it was GREAT!!!

They play all songs that I hope they will play.

From Analyse as the opening, to Dreams at the closing encore. When intro for Linger being played I throw my hands in the air, when I heard the rhythm for Salvation I dance, when I heard the first humming of Ode to Family I lost in thought, when the perform Zombie I scream my lungs out, and then when I heard the first verse of Promises I jump frantically. It was magical! Seeing Dolores with my own eyes. Realized that now she's almost 50 but still feel like in her top performance, scream out, jump from side to side of the stage and doing all the weird moves she always do at their concert. They also performed 2 of their newest songs from their upcoming album Roses, it title Tomorrow and Schyzoprenic Playboy, I don't really into the first but I love the later. I sang in almost all of the song, and scream in between. I never be so happy after watching a band performance before.

I left the main ground of JRL 2011 with wide smile across my face. Eventhough I felt dead tired I don't really care. I walk out from the JRL area with more happier heart than when walk in. I felt wonderful, it didn't matter that my back hurt or my feet feels numb, I have the rock of my life!

Value of time

Have you ever calculated the exact value of time?

What is the meaning of '1 second'?

What is stated in international standard? "the duration needed by caesium-133 atom to responds certain times of radiation at certain level of states"? Is it really reflecting the exact value of time??? No, that just a standard to measure time, a model some scientists universally agreed on to simplified the complexity of the universe.

I thought about it for a second and remember my high school physics teacher once said, "time is a metric that doesn't have negative value". Once it's gone, it's gone. He said that to teach us that there's no such thing as 'second chance', you just have once shot of everything. What we call today as 'second chance' is actually different attempt on different point of time, it's a repetition of experience not the event . There's no turning back from what you've done, not even in a milisecond. Even in quantum physics we learn that it's possible to time travel to the future, not to the past. And maybe that is the exact value of time right? Time is the sum of every single unique event that you will never repeat. Something to be thought of, be evaluated, be regretted, to be happy about, but won't be repeated.

Just a thought.

picture taken from here with the help of Google image search.

Macchu Picchu

I found this question : Where would you like to go right now, if you could go anywhere?

My answer would be: Cuzco & Macchu Picchu

The ruins of Macchu Picchu was found at 1917. At 10.500 feet high, it's maybe the highest ancient civilization ever existed. My interest to Peru and particularly Cuzco and Macchu Picchu started back at my 4th grade. I read this comic series published in Bobo magazine, I forget the title, but it's about a kid that has befriended an alien that used to landed in Cuzco. I gained quite a story about Peru and the Maya and started to wonder about Cuzco since then. Cuzco is the second place in my place-to-visit-before-I-die list, just next after Mecca :)

Kembali ke pojok : Marah pada siapa?

Aku menunggu layar biru itu berkedip dengan perasaan tak tenang. Aku benci mesin ATM. Bukan karena bentuknya, bukan karena aku punya masalah dengannya, lebih karena aku tahu setiap kali aku mengunjungi mesin itu artinya angka di rekening tabunganku akan berkurang. Alasannya banyak, bisa untukku sendiri dan kadang seringnya, untuk orang lain.

"Saldo tersisa di rekening Anda : Rp. 7, 243,657, apakah Anda ingin melakukan transaksi lain?"

Aku menghela nafas dan menekan tombol yang menunjuk 'YA'.

Sudah beberapa bulan terakhir tabungaku terus berkurang, bertambah mungkin, setiap tanggal 1, sebagaimana layaknya pegawai negeri lainnya, tapi sebelum sampai tanggal 5 seperempat dari tambahan itu sudah menghilang -pengeluaran rutin. Sebelum tanggal 15, seperempatnya lagi, untuk kebutuhan sehari-hari. Dan kemudian, pada tanggal 25, saldo tabunganku akan kembali ke posisi sebelum gaji masuk, transfer ke orang tua.

Rutinitas itu adalah siklus standar untuk rekening tabunganku, tapi untuk beberapa bulan ini aktivitasnya bertambah. Adikku sakit. Dan bukan pilek atau flu seperti yang biasanya terjadi padanya, infeksi ginjal. Bisa dibayangkan, adikku, baru saja lulus SMP dan sekarang terkena infeksi ginjal. Dia sering mengeluh sakit perut, aku pikir hanya manja-manjaannya saja. Kemudian mengeluh kencing berdarah, aku berpikir mungkin datang bulannya saja sedang tidak benar. Sampai satu ketika dia sering pingsan, dibawa ke dokter dan difonis terkena infeksi ginjal. Aku kena marah, oleh dokter dan oleh ibuku. Aku juga ingin marah, tapi pada siapa? Adikku sakit, dan terlambat ditangani, aku ingin marah, tapi pada siapa?

Awesome People

(source: http://awesomepeoplehangingouttogether.tumblr.com)

I've got chills down my spine when I saw this picture for the first time. Not because the people in the picture already passed away or that it's a black and white picture... But can you imagine? All the people in this picture are actually people who set standard for new era of science!

Pauli, Born, Broglie, Heisenberg, Lorentz, Bohr, Planck, Schroedinger, Curie and of course Einstein! Names that you'll heard next to constants, laws, equations... names that you'll heard after you understand Newton and his generation, names that start the future! All that names in one place. I don't know where or when the picture was taken, but still... it's a great picture.

NB: Madame Curie looks super cool in the picture, first for her fierce expression, second because she's the only woman there.

Dragon Tattoo

Here is the leaked teaser of US version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. I like the Swedish version, and I hope the American version will be better, at least hollywood can give it more dramatic touch... something that definitely least in the Swedish version. I like Rooney Mara interpretation of Lisbeth Salander looks. It looks fierce and yet doesn't too much.

The song used in the teaser is cover version of Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nail and Karen O of The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I love the song!!! And play it over and over... the Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith and Trent Reznor-Karen O version, this song is great!!!

Coming Soon: The adventures of Tintin

Everybody scream on my mark, one... two...three! AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!

This is one of the BEST comic book series ever created, brought to the big screen by two of the BEST filmmaker ever existed, so yes, all of you have a good reason to scream, I will!!!

NB : Dear God, please let all this tax problem in Indonesia to end soon and I can watch all my favourite movie in the theater again, pleaseeeee....

Kembali ke pojok : Every woman want to be loved...

"cariin gw pacar dong"

Kalimat itu langsung melucur dari mulut sahabatku tepat saat dia duduk. Dan aku hanya bisa menjawab: "heh?" -bengong.

"iya, cariin gw pacar, emang di kantor lu gak ada yang bisa lu kenalin ke gw gitu?" tanyanya lagi, wajah memberengut, dan sibuk membalik-balik buku menu, aku : masih bengong.

"ya ada sih, tapi oom-oom, mau?" tanyaku.

"hah? emang masih single?"

"kagak, elu jadi istri kedua gitu" balasku.

"sialan lu!" dia melempar pandangan bengis padaku. Dia meletakkan buku menu di meja dan memanggil pelayan, seperti biasa memesan secangkir hot mint tea -aku tak mengerti untuk apa dia membuka-buka buku menu itu lama-lama kalau akhirnya dia tetap akan memesan mint tea.

"kenapa sih? sejak kapan punya pacar jadi prioritas satu?" tanyaku.

"sejak gw berumur 28 tahun dan wejangan bokap gw tiap hari udah sekitar punya pasangan dan bangun keluarga" jawabnya sambil bersandar malas. Sebelah alisku naik.

Oke, aku beri sedikit penjelasanku mengenai temanku satu ini. Dia seorang akuntan, berkarir 5 tahun di kantor akuntan publik kemudian pindah menjadi manager internal audit di satu perusahaan telekomunikasi. Usianya sekarang 28 tahun, dia tak punya pacar dan tak pernah tertarik punya pacar sebelumnya, apalagi ketika dia masih kerja di KAP -"gmn gw mau pacaran? gw ajak lembur di kantor client? ah ganggu aja!" - begitu biasanya yang dia katakan kalau ada yang bertanya mengapa dia tak serius cari pasangan. Dan hey, siapa sangka angka 28 dan wejangan orang tua bisa mengubah pandangannya itu.

"jadi kalau bokap lu gak ngomong lu gak akan peduli buat nyari pacar juga?" tanyaku.

"hmmm... mungkin, lagian kayaknya gw gak butuh-butuh banget punya pacar, emang apa enaknya punya pacar?" dia balas bertanya padaku.

"hmmm... tangible advantages... ada yang nganter-jemput lu kalo pergi kemana-mana..." kataku.

"gak butuh... ada sopir..."

"... ada yang nemenin lu makan malem dan nraktir lu makan..."

"gw lebih seneng makan sendiri, and I can afford my meal"

"... ada yang nemenin lu belanja..."

"i have ton of friends and I can even hire a stylist..."

-oke, ni cewek emang gila.

"ok, so what's about the intangible one..."

"just one?"

"yeah, just one... at the end of the day, you always sleep at night, wake up in the morning and do your day with a hope that you won't be left alone in this world... that there will be the one that always there for you, love you"

Dia diam sebentar.

"that's very subjective..." katanya kemudian.

"indeed, but it's true..."

"hope is paralyzing..."

"but it keeps you from giving up"

Dia diam lagi.

"emang segitu pentingnya ya ada yang nemenin?" -dia masih keras kepala, aku hanya tersenyum.

"ask yourself, lu sekarang kerja, ngumpulin duit, sukses, deposito menumpuk, aset melimpah, but someday it's only you... no longer parent and siblings, no husband, no children, at that time you own everything, everything that can be bought, but everything else?... no honey, trust me you don't want to be like that"

Dia diam lagi. Pesanan mint tea nya datang. Dia meneguk sedikit sambil memandang ke lengangnya traffic Jakarta di hari minggu.

"jadi musti serius nih gw?" tanyanya lagi.

"menurut lu?" tanyaku balik.

"haaahhh... yaudah kenalin gw ama siapa kek..."

"eh, kenalinnya sih gampang, elunya bisa serius gak?"

"diusahain..." katanya.

Aku hanya tersenyum, seorang manusia satu ini bisa menjadi sangat lucu.

Pintu cafe itu terbuka, dan seorang pria masuk, maaf aku ralat -seorang pria tampan masuk. Dia melihat sekeliling dan matanya bertumbukan denganku kemudian tersenyum, aku balas tersenyum. Dia menghampiriku dan mencium pipiku lembut.

"hai, dah lama? maaf ya say kamu nunggu..." katanya.

"gak apa-apa, dia juga baru dateng kok..." kataku sambil menunjuk sahabatku di seberang meja.

"oi, pa kabar lu?" dia bertanya pada sahabatku sambil menjabat tangannya.

"dia lagi nyari pacar" jawabku sebelum sahabatku bisa menjawab.

"seriously?"dia melirik sahabatku tak percaya.

"eh, gak usah gitu deh ngeliatnya, seolah gw gak mungkin kepengen punya pacar aja" balas sahabatku.

"oh, if you ask that last week, i'll say that would be possible, seeing that you love your bag more that anything" sindirnya. Aku hanya tertawa. Sahabatku hanya melempar pandangan sinis padanya.

"berisik deh... btw, how's the wedding preparation?" tanya sahabatku.

Dia tersenyum dan memandangku, "how is it? dunno, all I know is my bride is ready" jawabnya sambil menicum pipiku. Aku hanya tersenyum.

Dari sudut mataku aku melihat sahabatku tersenyum. Ya, bagaimanapun dia tetap seorang wanita, dan dia pasti akan memilih untuk dicintai, cepat atau lambat. Kita lihat saja nanti.

-It's all fiction, just a thought-

Life is an adventure!

"I miss college life, I want to go back to 4 years ago and being ITB student again"

It'a almost 3 years since my graduation, and surprisingly I heard that words more often now. Don't get me wrong, I do miss my college life, but that doesn't mean I want to go back there again. Imagine you have to redo all your college assignments, OSPEK, committee time, final project time... BLEH... no, I don't! I have enough of that things for a lifetime.

If I have to go back to school, I want to do entirely different thing; different major, different friends, different university, because I want to broaden my view. I've learned extraordinary things in 4 years I had at ITB, something that I'll never regret, but then again, that time has passed and I have to move on. So friends... instead of saying you want to do it again, let's just find something more interesting with our previous college experience as the baseline. Life is an adventure!

Some facts that gives me fever

• One of my best friend lost her BB phone including her phone number. She buy a new one with new phone number and doesn't know (or care to know) the number. When I ask her she says, "just BBm me".
• Most people I've met doesn't care about mobile phone number anymore, first thing they ask to new people is 'what is you BB PIN?' or 'your facebook or twitter account?'
• I forgot that I have BB messenger and SMS capability on my phone. All I've done so far is tweet and email. Even the telco employee doesn't care about the basic service anymore -_-
• My mother starting to buzzing me to teach her how to use facebook, I WON'T!
• Google's revenue for Q1 2011 is $8,3 billion, twice our company's revenue last YEAR.
• 'The parent' has unlimited resource for R&D and new service development, while we buzzing around about limited resource and make-it-zero-cost-if-you-can policy.
• Back from Kalimantan where people ask me : "you tell me about broadband and un-linearity between traffic's growth and revenue, while our management forces us to get as many subs as possible no matter what happen, which one we should pay our attention best?" - my answer has to be, "do what our management told us to do, it's all heading the right way".
• Smartphone penetration in our customers is less than 10%, with number 1 handset used in the market is Nokia 1200 series, something that makes me wanna cry :(
• Someone told me to buy the new Nokia E7, and my response is kinda like, "do you want me to time travel back to 2004? my pleasure! who still using Nokia anyway"

*Just some pop-thought

Handset Infographic from VisionMobile

Inside my bag

I always want to do this post for a long time...

Bag : Charles & Keith brown tote bag

Inside :

• Freakonomics --> I've been reading this book for quite long time... been lazy lately -_-
• Damn! I love Indonesia Engravink notebook --> this is my workbook/diary, I write almost everthing here :)
• Teddy bear print pouch --> it's cosmetic pouch, but I won't tell you what's inside :D
• Folded umbrella --> It's quite heavy to bring umbrella everyday. But if you live in tropical country like Indonesia, it can't be help.
• Flashy double pouch --> 1 compartment full of data-cable (for ipod, BB, and ext HD) and the other is for my WD external HD.
• Western Digital external HD --> My life depend on this external HD, everything from my work docs to my mangascan collection and TVXQ video are inside this little blackbox.
• iPod touch 3rd gen & earphone --> I feel so sad if I left this thing at home, seems like world turn black and white when iPod's not around :P
• Folded shopping bag --> try to reduce my plastic bag use, use it for a quick shopping :)
• Sennheiser PX 100 headphone --> ultimate experience in listening music. I love this headphone so much, to bad they're not producing this one anymore.

not in the picture: my wallet, Blackberry and Olympus pocket camera.

Tagged-post : Stylish blogger award

I've been tagged by my friend Putri/Uti to make this post...

Accepting this award, I am asked to do the following:

1. Thank and link to the person who awarded me this award.

2. Share 8 things about myself.

3. Pay it forward to 8 bloggers that I have recently discovered.

4. Contact those bloggers and tell them about their awards.

20 things I learned about browsers and the web

I'm a big fan of Google. Maybe from what i have written so far you can conclude that yourself. And as a Google fan, I also set my heart for Chrome as my favourite browser - more caused by its integrated search engine and Google translate in the url tab. So today, finally I installed Chrome in my office computer after a long time mutual relationship with Firefox (my 2nd favourite browser). Then after installed Chrome this time, I prepare myself for the first page that usually shown, "how google chrome can do" or "how you use your chrome" or other bla-bla-bla. But then, something new welcome me in this first Chrome page.

It's a visual illustrated book by Google Chrome team called 20 Things I Learned About Browsers and the Web. It's an interesting and easy to read book. One sentence caught my eye from its foreword :

"Life as citizens of the web can be liberating and empowering, but also deserves some self-education"

It's nice to know that they think of the user to understand about how this virtual universe work and how this giant web gives value to our daily life.

Nominees of the 83rd Academy Award

The nomination of this year Academy Award is out! This is the most anticipating event for the film industry, and I always write about it. So... here the list and some of my two cent :)

Some quick recap...

• 68th annual Golden Globe 2011 result is out! The Social Network won Best Motion Picture - Drama. WOW... it's just a big WOW... *speechless* I thought the movie was great, but I never thought that it would be an award material... so speechless! But anyway, I'm not upset with the result, Natalie Portman won Best Actress for Black Swan, and Colin Firth won Best Actor for The King's Speech... and thank God The Tourist didn't win anything, it just weird to got nominated, and would be weirder if it won any.

• Apple CEO, no other than 'the' Steve Jobs, announced his absence for medical purpose. It seems his health issue coming back to market. Apple COO Tim Cook once again cover his absence from CEO post and everybody scared up! Yes, Apple is Jobs and Jobs is Apple. But hey, it was decades after the launch of first Apple's Macintosh, and who knows how many mini and micro version of Steve Jobs that they already has inside the company?!?! :P

• Official statement from Eric Schmidt through Google's blog : Larry Page will claim the CEO post at April this year! He said that finally Google doesn't need "adult supervision", and especially it seems that geeky-duo doesn't like to be supervised... How it would be? Dunno. Nobody knows. But on their 2011 vision at Harvard Business Review, Eric Schmidt said that this year is all mobile! Mobile everyone! Mobile! After Android market share boosted up to 25% in just a year (and especially Android makes Motorolla looks cool again), who knows what will they do this year.
  

-so un-analitic, un-structured, but hey... it's a recap anyway :P -

Good night dear void...

"Sometimes I wonder about my life...

I lead a small life, valuable but small.

Do i do it because I like it, or because I haven't been brave?

Shouldn't it be the other way around?

I dont really want an answer,

I just wanna send this cosmic question out into the void.

So, good night dear void..."

[Kathleen Kelly - You've Got Mail -1998]

In a community or environment, or just a little group, there would be particular person that other rely on -the alpha, leader, main vocalist, idea thinker, etc. And then comes a day when he/she/they have to go separate way, walk they own different path... at that time we realize that we take them for granted.

But always see that little light shining above us all. Maybe we lose them, but that is His way to make us realize that we have to be better than who we already are. He just want us to re-think our life's objective, enrich our capability and make us better. We can lose friends, we can lose partner, we can be trapped in loneliness... but never we lose faith on our dream. That's how we evolve... that's our way of life.

-just a thought. after watch TVXQ comeback as duo and after my division lost one of our valuable thinker :) -

Angry Birds : Kill the pig!

Say it, I'm a lagger when it comes to game. Angry Birds has been released for over a year, it is now available across 3 major touch-screen-lifestyle-smartphone platform : iOS, Android and Symbian. It is been downloaded for 12 million on iTunes and 50 million in total. It makes Rovio Mobile, its creator, rich and famous. And yes, I just starting to play it last night!

Addictive? yes! Angry Birds has the same vibe of addictive as Tetris. Its simple game-style, comical story and mass promotion creates quite a buzz in gaming universe. It is not a MMO games, that really become addicted to the 'social outsider' that want to find their own universe through virtual world. And nor part of farmville-family. Angry Birds does not ask you to become 'online socialite', Angry Birds gives you an object to be buzzed out on your social network.

I ask my friends to get opinion about this game. The girls opinion varied from "the birds are cute" to "I love their voice" and other la-la-la cute thing. And the boys comment on 'its brutal way to attack the opposite party'. It's kind like what will happen when Tony Stark has a soul of Samurai, massive destruction kamikaze, and the one doing it is a group of very low temper birds. For me, it is so satisfying to see all that structure collapse and that big-fat-pig explode. Just my kind of safe way to channeling anger.

Angry Birds is a simple game, with simple name, simple staging and simple style. It's become popular among mobile user because its low concentration play. Kind of game that suitable for people when they are on the bus or train, when they are waiting for something or in the queue-line, or just having fun with friends in need of great laugh. Rovio catch this behavior and develop the right game for the market. After Angry Birds, they launched Cut the Rope (you see, once again: simple name) which now one of highest grossing apps on iTunes. They repeat the formula, and gain more profit. Well, we'll see how long this low temper birds rules mobile gaming business.

2010 in a flash

• It is 2 years since I move to Jakarta
• First time : take IELTS test, been hospitalized, take driving lesson, vacation abroad, snorkeling!
• My brother got married :)
• More friends move to Jakarta
• Transfer to new department
• Indonesia become 2nd largest population on Facebook
• Indonesia rules twitter
• Being so fascinated by Google (and also fall in love with Sergey Brin :D)
• iPad launch
• Obama visit Indonesia
• TVXQ officially run with just 2 member :(
• Committed to apply master study
• Blog resolution failed!

In Need of Revolution

My blog needs something revolutionary in term of the content. And fact has prove that I was not a productive writer last year. So, through the blog of Pak Budi Rahardjo, I know about this program : postaday2011/postaweek2011. I realize that it would be hard for me to do post-a-day, so I think I will go with post-a-week but it won't be limitation for me to post more than one posting a week.

So here we go! Start today!