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the way we dance

the way we dance

This review maybe partially biased, since I really love the genre of the movie.

...

Okay, not maybe. This review is certainly partially biased. On the second thought, not even only partially. It is fully biased. :D

The Way We Dance is a Hong Kong film following Fleur, daughter of tofu seller who loved dancing. She attended university and comedic scenes appear. When I read reviews online, people even were comparing one actor in this movie with Stephen Chow. But soon I learned that this movie is not only about funny scenes. Oh how I love the way Tommy 'Guns' Ly convey this message: "How far will you go for dancing?" Love it tons!

I also love Fleur's answer: "From the moment I get up, I think about dance. On a bus or the subway, I think about dance. While slicing tofu, I think about dance. While taking a shower, I think about dance. When I see my reflection on a mirror, I think about dance."

For the first 20 minutes I must admit I am bored, though. I even stopped watching to chat with my lover. But since the scene with Rooftoppers I couldn't avert my eyes!

where did the nose go?

harry potter

In the first Harry Potter movie series, Voldemort that grew behind Professor Quirrel's head had a nose, but he had none in later installments.

Anyone know why?

december flower

december flower

When I was a kid I used to be very happy when December came. Cloudy afternoons that dragged lazily into drizzly evenings, then going out at night when the rain had stopped completely, leaving wet, dark sands that reflected a thousand tiny stars under street lamp shine.

I used to stomp on them, amused by the fact that I couldn't erase those stars and by the rustling sound they made against the bottom of my shoes. Until a parent or both called me, that is.

Oh and don't let get me started on midnight wind that found its way through the window sills into my bedroom, and the sound of thunder someplace afar! In rainy seasons I managed to wake up a lot at night, sometime near midnight is the best time to listen to nature's sound.

Mornings were kind of hazy. Not always rain-free, but most of the time my classmates and I got into the classroom dry. Learning is a hundred times more fun when sunlight wasn't too hard on our juvenile eyes. Even the teachers seemed kinder and smiled a lot more.

In one of those days a flower called December flower bloomed in our garden. Nobody admitted of planting it, but it couldn't just grew by itself, like the tuber had been carried from some other place by a rat, right? Right?

I don't remember much about the flower, but I remember that it had the color red. It's not the bold red like the roses had, in fact the color was so common, so everyday-ish. We happily welcomed the flower not because of its astounding beauty, but because everything around us was staged to make us do so. Happy people tend to be more accepting and less judgmental, I guess.

...

......

I am now very judgmental. I have been hawking my talents like snack on the street — Do you need a ghostwriter? A translator? How about a typewriter?— and thinking that any guy who doesn't work as hard as I do yet managed to get richer than me must be a corrupt official, while any girl who works less hard than I do yet managed to get richer than me must be a... you know what it is I wanted to say.

This December I don't notice the rain, I do not observe sweet winds caressing my arms. I spent half my time writing, half my time looking for new clients. It seems like writers are spawning faster and faster while writing jobs are getting sparser and sparser. I will consider myself lucky if I can put on a new robe and go to a nice dinner with some friends for one time in this month. For one time after a few months, actually.

你在干嘛?今天快乐吗?

*No, 'typewriter' is not a product of any mistyping by me. Do you need typewriter(s)? Give me email address(es) to send price quotations to!

nciku vs line

nciku vs line

I usually use Nciku for learning Chinese language, but today it redirects to a page that shows Line's logo. Was Nciku being acquisitioned by Line?

But its functionality drops down significantly. The most obvious change is that Line no longer provides Chinese character handwriting recognition and lesson of the day. :(

penguins of madagascar

penguins of madagascar

Isn't it an ill time to release this movie? Less than a month after the incident involving a seal and a penguin went viral, I mean.

And about that one seal in the North Wind team. It is a harpseal alright, don't harpseals feed on penguins like leopard seals do?

Also, North Wind? How does SQL Server's example database's name find its way up there?

the downside of marriage life -- part two

sarapannasigoreng.blogspot.com

There are other drawbacks to married life that is similar to having a pet under your care. Being concerned over their abnormal bowel movements, for example. If they don't come home on time, we are worried they might encounter a problem with bullies from either species. Also when they are out of sight and hearing range, we are afraid they mate with unhygienic member of the opposite sex and will have to take them to veterinarians-slash-doctors to treat fleas or some STDs.

the downside of marriage life

redwinedinner.blogspot.com

So yesterday a rumor was developing that Pluto got declared a planet again.

Yesterday I also realized the downside of marriage life. Don't get me wrong, like all things in life, marriage has its fair share on upside and downside. Just want to write about the downside right now, though.

One of the downside of marriage life is you are confined to bed. Literally. At 4 am, with your energy steaming, waiting to explode, the only thing you do is laying there, staring at the ceiling because you're afraid of disturbing your spouse's sleep.

Which is okay if you don't have that sudden energy flow like, twice every three days. In my unwed days, I live as I want. I wash my clothes at 2 am, do some cleaning at 3.

I am also a writer. This link leads to one of my work, collaged online by someone. That piece was written at strange hours. If my spouse and I don't get separate bedrooms soon, either he will suffer from lack of sleep or I will be eaten alive by my own creative energy.

the end of printed matters

Last night I dreamed that bank denied my writer's check. I went to the publisher to see what's going on. My editor, standing in front of what seemed like a confiscation scene, explained to me that people don't read newspapers, books, etc anymore. People had turned into digital stuffs. Therefore they were closing the office.

guardians of the galaxy

Guardians of The Galaxy is overrated. It is nothing more than a talking raccoon, a greenish orphan girl from the Avatar planet, and a talking tree.

And a human. And that guy who takes things literally. I already regret judging movies by their trailer, now I regret watching movies by how often it's being mentioned in 9gag.

n-computing

Microsoft's been in dispute with N-Computing since a long time ago, because this item can substitute a CPU without having to buy another copy of Windows.

Sometime later though, I think Microsoft won the case on the court, because N-Computing started removing their Q&A that stated that using their product would not make companies subject to copyright infringement by Microsoft, and started posting something like 'Must buy Windows <input type and version here> to use N-Computing'.

In October 2014 Microsoft enforce this through their Windows Update. If the main computer's Windows is updated, N-Computing will kick out any non-license-paying users.

The solution? Do not install the update starting from October 2014 and beyond! If it's already done, roll back using System Restore to any date before October 2014.

pempek sriwijaya -- part two

I now take away the title of best pempek on earth from Pempek Sriwijaya of Sidoarjo. It is located on Duryat Street, and I will not eat there in the near time.

Indonesia's inflation has taken its toll on this place. Before that, they gave two jar of vinegar -one is hot and spicy, one is sweet- for each customer ordering pempek(s), to have as much as desired with their pempeks. After money is tight, they dilute the vinegars with water! Unacceptable!

Later because of many people protesting, they changed their policy by pouring those vinegars directly on customers' plates, so bye-bye vinegar jars, bye-bye can take as much vinegar as desired.

I mean the price they charge for pempek is already not cheap, why insists on treating customers this way?

katawa shoujo

I was overdrinking tea. While wooing Hanako, that is. Imagine, on the day of festival she was hiding in the library. Then the character I played offered her to drink tea together in one of the empty classrooms at school. After some time passed, her friend appeared and together the three of them went to a cafe called Shanghai to drink... tea. Again.

Weren't they afraid they all were going to die from tein poisoning or something like that?

itc

Unlike clipping nails in public, in my country spitting in public is widely shunned by society, but even so, a few months ago I saw a shopkeeper of a shopping mall spat on the path I was about to take. And she even had the audacity to try attracting me to visit her shop!

This shopping mall is called ITC and located in Surabaya. Despite having air conditioners on all floors, some visitors and merchants are freely smoking.

Okay not some. Only a little number, minority. And not freely, at least the merchants are doing it secretly, squatting behind low counters or high shelves. But the smell of cigarettes can go a long way toward other visitors who hates it, don't you think?

luxury?

I was struggling to survive and didn't have the luxury of being a moral creature.
-- Howard Moskowitz --

Lately there's a new phenomenon in my country, namely prostitution. News are filled with the story of lots and lots of pimps being arrested.

Second to that is corruption. One can expect to drink his/her morning coffee, open his/her morning paper and land his/her eyes on either news about prostitution or news about corruption.

the equalizer

After Jet Li and Jackie Chan starring The Forbidden Kingdom in 2008, Sylvester Stallone in 2006 Rocky Balboa, and Bruce Wilis at dunno what year's Die Hard, now Denzel Washington takes turn acting with little regards to his age.

The Equalizer portrayed Denzel as someone skillful in killing who clashed with Russian mobster for the sake of a female hooker at the bottom link of their organization.

Likeness with those gramps mentioned above? Nobody lays their hands on their female counterparts. :D

no kids zone

No Kids Zones appeared all over Korea. It is a rule that denied children under certain age entrance to restaurants, cafes, and saunas.

That makes me wonder, when will Indonesia have these too? A rule that guides places where ordinary people can sit and enjoy whatever can be afforded by their medium-wage, be it parfait, dinner, or a movie over weekend without having to tolerate other people's childen running around, throwing tantrums, screaming at the top of their tiny lungs with their parents are around doing nothing?

did 'qualms' come from the word 'alms'?

Because we feel qualms if we don't give alms, that's why.

But not always. Lately I've been asked for alms by a beggar repeatedly. Her 'working route' passed my bus stop. She always asked me for money in Javanese's lowest dialect.

A few hundred years ago, Javanese people were Hindu people. I think the dialects was invented at that time. You know, caste system, people from caste A can only speak in certain dialect toward people from caste B, while people from caste B must respond in another dialect, things like that. Although Hinduism has long subsided in Java island, its application in Javanese language dialects still exists until now. People may not speak with their elders using Javanese lowest dialect, employee may not speak to their employer using that dialect, because it is disrespectful. Even people avoid using that dialect toward other people from lower social status if they've just known each other for a brief time!

I don't know whether she only knew that dialect in Javanese language and didn't know any other languages, but given that she lived in Java island of Indonesia, I think that's highly unlikely. Her fellow beggars, if they could not use better dialect, always used Indonesian language, or stayed silent and asked for money using hand gesture. If you were me, would you have qualms for not giving alms to her?