The Tree of Life

It is a serious movie, most people will yawn while watching it. But it has a tons of meaning and awesome cinematography.

Breathtaking. Wistful thinking. Jungkir balik. Guling-guling di tanah. Gali lobang #dikirarubah.
Movie about an eldest child. It represent confusion, pressure, misdirection, life pathaway, understanding, and complicated relationship between father and son.
Strict dad who tells you that life is hard and wild nature vs. nurture mom who teach you that the world is a place of wonder.
Why an eldest kid will understand better? Because more or less s/he have to choose which one is good/bad, no one to look up to. S/he will always be the one who take the first step (more or less about anything).
And who put the wheight on an eldest kid's shoulder? Parents.

The Artist: When Motion Picture No Longer Silent

I watched this movie before it became an Oscar winner, but I already thought that it is worth more than one Oscar! It is silent yet full of meaning.

In Hollywood, 1927, a success silent movie star (George Valentin) is posing after his latest premiere. Somehow a young girl end up kissing him and they become a headline. This random girl, Peppy Miller is turning Valentin's world upside down. With Valentin's little help she is becoming a well known dancer and become a rising star.

2 years later silent movie production has come to an end, but Valentin think of it as a big joke and decides to make his own movie. Too bad, his premiere opens at the same day with Peppy's movie which is a talking movie. Unfortunately audiences flock to Peppy's film instead and Valentin is ruined. He lost his money, got himself kicked out the house, got all his stuffs auctioned, while Peppy becomes a superstar.

He drown in his own sadness and depression, he tries to destroy all of his films and the fire get bigger in no ammount of time because films materials are very flammable. The policeman help him, and Peppy take care of him. When he is getting better, he is wandering around Peppy's house and finds out that she bought all of his stuffs from the auction. He is about to attempt suicide, too bad Peppy comes on time to save his life. Because it would be more dramatic if she is late and he already died when she opens the door. But again, who am I? I am not the scriptwriter anyway. ;)

This movie simply reminds me to Charlie Chaplin's masterpieces and of course my favorite man of all time, Mr. Bean (okay, Sir Rowan Atkinson). Because somehow words can be too much, overused, misused, and you will lose the true meaning of the story.

Cheerio!

Java Jazz Festival 2012 - Life Goes On

Gw hampir batal nonton JJF tahun ini karena partner gw lagi pada sibuk mengejar granus April sehingga tidak dapat direcoki dengan nonton festival musik ini, untungnya di awal Februari gw berhasil membujuk Pepe dan Nana untuk menemani ke festival ini. Iya, The coming back of Lake Mabprachan Trio. Berbekal tiket student price, maka berangkatlah kita pada hari Sabtu 3 Maret 2012 ke venue JJF sambil mengantongi jadwal yang ditulis di sobekan amplop karena Pepe meninggalkan print out jadwal di rumah.

Sesampainya di venue kita langsung nonton Depapepe, disini gw setuju sama peraturan panitia yang baru dimana ORANG YANG BAWA SLR DIHARAP MOTO DARI BAGIAN PINGGIR ATAU BELAKANG. Akhirnya panitia mengerti bahwa para fotografer jadi-jadian yang nonton di depan itu sangat annoying. Duo Miura dan Toku dengan additional percussion dan keyboard muncul ke atas panggung dengan gaya khas orang Jepang (model baju tabrak lari-kawin silang red.). Miura sangat ramah dan atraktif, dia berusaha keras berinteraksi dengan penonton menggunakan bahasa Inggris patah-patah dan Bahasa Indonesia hancur-hancuran yang kemudian disambung dengan cerocosan Bahasa Jepang yang gw ga ngerti apaan. Singkat kata seperti bule mabok. But one thing for sure, their performance was jawdropping! They're awesome and talented. Mereka banyak memainikan lagu dari album baru mereka, tapi menutup konser dengan START yang membuat kita goyang kegirangan. Setelah itu mereka membawakan Summer Parade sebagai encore. Sewaktu penonton bersiap meninggalkan venue, tiba-tiba si Miura berteriak di mic "ANO~! FUH-REEZE! STOP!", yang gw pikir nih bule mau apa lagi, ternyata dia minta difoto bareng penonton dengan gaya Jepang asik-nya. He is so funny!

Setelah itu kita lari ngejar show Bobby McFerrin si raja beat-boxing. Untuk yang gak tau doi siapa, dia adalah penyanyi Don't Worry Be Happy. Dia kolaborasi dengan penari topeng dan pemain gendang. Setelah itu dia juga beat-boxing bareng penyanyi yang berada di tengah-tengah penonton, dengan berbagai jenis musik dari seriosa sampai hip hop. Bobby menunjukkan kemampuan dia mengeluarkan berbagai jenis suara alat musik dengan bermodal pita suara saja dan dia menggunakan detak jantungnya untuk menjaga tempo. Sungguh keren. Untuk orang yang ga suka musik tanpa penyanyi mungkin ga akan suka performance seperti ini.

Performer ketiga yang kita tonton adalah Dolf de Vries Trio ft. Madeline Bell, sebuah band dengan vokalis cewek negro dengan karakter suara yang kuat dari New Jersey. Mereka memainkan lagu-lagu jazz standard seperti Georgia on My Mind dan I Will Survive.

Sambil menunggu Dave Koz, kita nonton Robert Randolph and The Family Band yang memainkan jenis musik funk and soul. Bahkan gw baru tahu bahwa lagu Ain't Nothing Wrong with That sering digunakan sebagai soundtrack film dan seri seperti The Game Plan dan Grey's Anatomy. Sebenernya permainan mereka sangat bagus, tapi karena tidak begitu terkenal di sini jadi banyak penonton yang hanya duduk-duduk sambiil menikmati musik. Dan entah apa yang ada di pikiran panitia atau band tersebut, tiba-tiba ada segerombolan cewek gajelas naik panggung dan joget-joget sehingga menyebabkan sakit mata bagi penonton.

Karena acara ngaret sampai 1 jam, kita sempet salah masuk venue yang awalnya kita kira Dave Koz, ternyata Mamas Gun. Kita hampir jantungan ketika mereka muncul dengan vokalis kribo mengenakan celana ketat warna pink. Setelah bertanya sama panitia yang dodol dan bilang kalau yang manggung ini adalah Dave Koz (pantat lo dave koz), ternyata Dave Koz baru akan main habis ini. Ini adalah saat yang tepat untuk pentung mas-mas panitia sotoy tersebut. Permainan si Mamas Gun ini cukup bagus dengan mengusung aliran funk and soul walaupun di beberapa lagu terlalu nge-pop. Tapi paling tidak lagu andalan mereka Pots of Gold dimainkan dengan sangat apik.

Akhirnya artis yang ditunggu muncul juga, yaitu Dave Koz! Dengan semangat menggelora show diawali dengan lagu Keliru yang dia aransemen di album The Dance. Dengan stage act yang keren dan atraktif Dave berhasil memukau penonton. Di tengah show Peter F. Gontha naik ke panggung dan memberikan penghargaan kepada Dave berupa Hall of Fame JJF. Dave banyak memainkan lagu barunya, walaupun lagu-lagu andalan dia seperti Together Again tetap dimainkan. Setelah bercanda dengan penonton dengan berkata, "My fave artist is Ayu Tingting and my hero is Briptu Norman", dia duet bareng Phil Perry! Setelah itu Dave kolaborasi dengan musisi jalanan dari Bandung bernama limatujuh kustik. What an awesome show! Terimakasih JJF dengan tidak membuat Dave Koz special show!

Selanjutnya kita nonton G-Pluck yang memainkan lagu-lagu The Beatles. Disini semua orang goyang, dari tua hingga muda, pria maupun wanita. Show dibuka dengan Twist and Shout yang langsung membuat suasana panas. Banyak bapak-bapak dan ibu-ibu yang datang bersama para sahabatnya dan bernyanyi bersama disini. Such a sweet reunion. Yang paling gw inget adalah 2 orang bapak dan 1 orang ibu yang nyanyi dan nari bersama sepanjang show sambil saling berangkulan. Di saat anak-anaknya hanya bengong melihat kelakuan orang tuanya semacam melihat sapi terbang. I wish could do something like that in the future.

Show terakhir yang kita tonton adalah Soulvibe. Ada yang berbeda disini dibandingkan Soulvibe tahun lalu. Karena oh karena, gw mengidentifikasi gitaris baru mereka adalah gitaris The Trees and The Wild yang mana juga merupakan gitaris Tika and Dessidents yang kita tonton di JJF 2010. Jengjengjeng. IGA MASSARDI! Sori Soulvibe, gw hilang fokus atas performance dan lagu cinta kalian, karena ada gitaris kece favorit gw disana. MHUAHAHAHA!

This year I watched a lot of instrumental performers. Just the sound of music. I kinda like it, because sometimes the way you enjoy the music without words is a prove that music is a universal language.
That's it folks! My story for JJF 2012.
Adios!

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

I watched this short movie last month and I love it. It explained a lot why I really love books. Eventhough your life is turning upside down, there's no techincolor in your daily activity, you feel lonely or sad, reading a book will always brighten up your day. I love the way the animators change the color of black and white into full color everytime people get a book they wanted.

Yesterday I found out that this movie won an Oscar for Best Short Animated Film, woohoo! So cool guys!

William Joyce dan Brandon Oldenburg

Smarter Than Your-So-Called-Smartphone

This problem is bugging me since I become a smartphone user. There were a lot of my-so-called-smart friends who sent some Broadcast Messages with nonsense contents, more like if you are not forwarding this message your contacts will be gone, if you forwarding this message you will get a new icons or colorful notifications. Why don't you just write "If you don't forward this message you'll be eaten by bloody yeti or lochness?" Oh Geez, how could they fell into stupid pranks like these. AND THE ONE WHO SENT ME THOSE CRAP HAS A BACHELOR DEGREE! SHAME ON YOU!

Secondly, I felt so ashame for Indonesian soc-med user. They just posted a lot of crap and became Trend Topics. For example, a couple days ago there was someone who published a handsome Indonesian policeman photo (believe me, he is not that cute!) and blast! In just one day that policeman became a trending topic. Another example is everytime there is a news about someone died they recklessly tweet it, publish it, talk about it without check it whether the news is right or just a hoax. I really don't know what were those people think or maybe they were not thinking at all. It is not funny fussing around about dead news and joking about it, like changing the acronym of RIP from Rest in Peace to Really Inspiring People and 'LOL' about it. You think you are a smartass, eh? It simply shows that you are the lowest of the low. You are as disgusting as an amoeba's slime.

Don't judge a book by its cover. But You are what you tweet, people. It reflects who you really are, how smart you are, and what kind of people you are.

How Do you Get Up From An All Time Low?

I used to know what I want. Not anymore.
Uncertainty and confusion filled my stupid brain.
Anger and doubt filled my heart (as if I have one).
How can I stop expect? Leaving all the shitty feelings behind?
I am not a saint, I am telling you.

Well said Mr. Morley

We'll Be Alright

We are young, we run free
Stay up late, we don't sleep
Got our friends, got the night
We'll be alright.
-Travie McCoy

The Question is, how soon?

Be Careful What You Wish For

Midnight in Paris: Nostalgia is a denial

At first I planned to watch this movie because it's directed and written by Woody Allen, and of course with the good poster (yes, I judge a movie by its poster). When I told my friends that I was going to watch this movie, they told me this is my kind of movie. So now (still full with astonishment) I cannot wait to write some things I found interesting from this movie.

The story started with a story about two young people who are engaged, went to Paris for vacation. Gil (Owen Wilson), as a writer, fell in love with the city and thought they should move there after they get married, but his fiance did not share his romantic notions of the city. When his fiance off dancing with her friends, he was wandering around the city till midnight. This is where the twist begin, when the bell dings 12 times, Paris today became Paris in its golden time according to Gil's opinion (1920). He rode an antique car to a party and met Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald , found Cole Porter played the piano, and Ernest Hemingway. You might predict how Gil's reaction when he met those awsome people! The night after he met Pablo Picasso and his lover//muse Adriana. He also get Gertrude Stein critisized his writing.

Gil fell in love with Adriana, who's secretly loved by Hemingway and ran away from Picasso to Kilimanjaro with Hemingway (seriously, whoever read Snow in Kilimanjaro by Hemingway would jumped off their seat and laughed hard like me). He had a drink with Salvador Dali (beautifully played by Adrien Brody), dance with Juna Barnes, and went to the party with Matisse. After she came back, Gil talked to her and she thought that Paris golden era was in 1890. Somehow both Gil and Adriana drawn to 1980s, went to Maxime Restaurant and Belle Epoque. They met a great artists such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Paul Gauguin, and Edgar Degas. The conversation between Gil and these artists gave him realization when they said that Paris golden era was not 1980s but in Renaissance era, the era of Michaelangelo. It got him thinking that the most golden time is a present time when you live your life without looking back.

I think Woody Allen really did a great job with this movie. It is very insightful, philosophical and undoubtfully funny. Even though you might find it funnier if you have read the Fitzgerald's and Hemingway's, and also known about those painters//artists history.

PS: I really love the soundtracks, btw (Cole Porter is awsome!)

That's what the present is. It's a little unsatisfying because life is unsatisfying.

"So I would not let our situation trouble you excessively. All we can do is strive to accept our fate with grace, whatever it might be."
-Nasuada, Inheritance