SapiMalas’s Must Watched Movies List

Slumdog Millionaire

A boy trying to win 20 million rupees from “Who Wants to be A Millionaire” kind of quiz, win the heart of a girl and dodging the police’s suspicion. Based on a best-seller book titled “Q&A” by Vikas Swarup, it also recently won the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures award as the Best Film of 2008.

Doubt
Meryl Streep as the Principal of Catholic School. Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the charismatic priest, accused of “paying too much attention” to one of the student. Enough said.

The Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas
I know what will happen since I’ve read the book. I’d love to see how the tragic story from the perspective of a child, will be translated into movie.

Revolutionary Road
Kate Winslet and Leonardo diCaprio are back as a couple! Finally, he looks compatible and believable enough to be Kate’s object of affection. I hope nobody will drown this time.

Tale of Despereaux
(or to be descriptive: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup and a Spool of Thread)
Love the book! I can’t wait to see the Mouse Knight saving The Princess in action.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s story about a man who was born in his eighties and aged backwards. I want to see Brad Pitt’s transformation from old age into childhood. Plenty of Oscar buzz included.

Defiance

I can’t get enough of World War II movies. Buff, army guys is one reason. Another reason is I love to see combat action with not too much special effect. This one has Daniel Craig in it. Yummy.

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist
This movie said to be the next cult hit as “Juno” did last year. The soundtrack already became a instant hit. I find Michael Cera’s dorky face very adorable.

The Brothers Bloom
I find Adrien Brody’s starving feature very sexy. I’d love to see him playing con-man in pursuit of a rich heiress, Rachel Weisz. Rinko Kikuchi who once amazed the audience by her brazen role in Babel, also makes her comeback.

Valkyrie
Dear Tom…finally! I’m getting used of your long absence post-matrimonial bliss period.

Local Color
The yahoo movie description says: A talented but troubled art school student befriends an elderly alcoholic genius painter who has turned his back on art and life. I say, based on the many awards it already won and displayed in the poster, it should be good.

Happy-Go-Lucky
I always try to look at glasses as half-full. I’d like to see how the heroine also struggle to do the same.

Don’t you just love Oscar season! Plenty of good movies, beautiful screenplay and brilliant acting.

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To Describe How Suck 21 Cineplex is in Bali...

is to tell you that I just watched "Sex & the City" last Saturday night. I might as well say good bye to watching "Twilight" this year.

Anyone care to make a joint venture for a new theater in Bali?

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Postcard from Behind A Truck I

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Red Soup for Rainy Days

After some hassle and dazzle, I managed to kidnap my family to try the new restaurant in Tuban, The Red Soup. Upon entering the door, we were welcomed by a bunch of smiling staff and the heat emanating from the front kitchen. Customers have to order and pay first in the cashier, much in the fashion of the food court. On the wall, I found another selection apart from the red soup, which is salad, sandwich and the usual array of easily cooked meals. All are averagely priced 27,000 IDR. For the red soup, we were given the choice of rice or croutons, price included.

The red soup is a homey meal and it said to be one of the Cina Peranakan cuisine, mainly in East Java area. The red soup contains macaroni, carrots, chicken, broccoli, sausage and meatballs. Simply perfect for the gloom rainy days lately in Bali. The sphagetti also quite tasteful and should be tried. The service and cleanliness are good. The interior is quite surprising and somewhat above expectation. It certainly doesn’t feel as homey as the soup. I feel more in a brothel than in the restaurant (that’s the bitchy interior designer me speaking). Good value, good taste. I would keep coming back.

The Red Soup
Jl. By Pass Ngurah Rai - Tuban (across Rama Tour)
Phone 0361 - 764738

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Anatomy of A Bag

Neno tagged me to spill the chaotic innards of my bag. So here you can see the mess which is my bag and understand the reason why I can't always pick your call on time (because I have to dive my hand into this sea of things). From left to the right: wallet, check book, James Bond's "Quantum of Solace" forgotten theater tickets, Nokia, my precious Moleskin notebook, iPod, make-up bag, hair brush, three pens (because I keep losing them), name card folder, SoyJoy for sugar craving and my current read, Orhan Pamuk's "The Black Book".

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Indonesia: Failure to Launch?

I skipped off work today. It feels wonderful and remind me of a similar joy when I skipped a Chemistry class because of a “monthly woman sickness” and in weak voice told the teacher that I am in “extreme pain”. Needless to say, “the recovery” was happily spent in a café close to the school, drinking soda and hang out with friends. Ah, the joy! Now, I spent it with a leisurely breakfast and newspaper.

So while slurping my daily dose of long black, a headline in today Bali Post got me interested. United States’s NIC Report: 2025, Indonesia Would Become A Strong Country. No kidding. 2025. Seventeen years from now. Which mean if I have a daughter this year, she will be a teenager celebrating sweet 17, when finally I can tell her that finally we are truly a strong and developed country. The very thing Chinese parents now are saying to their sons and daughters.

Another thing which left me wondering about the article is “…Indonesia might have more roles, economically and politically in the international world by 2025, while the country would be more Moslemized and nationalized.” Moslemized? Whoa. Really? Then what about “the rest”? What would have become of them? That one part really got me thinking. Indonesia was born from one philosophy by its founding fathers: Bhineka Tunggal Ika (Diversity as one). Will it change in 2025?

This article also remind me of TIME Magazine’s article in September. The title was: What's Holding Indonesia Back? In the ideal world, Indonesia should be mentioned alongside China and India as the fastest developing country. China only started to be open on the 80’s and India gained its Independence only on 1947. Indonesia started ahead and yet, it seems that the tortoises beat the rabbit. The article mentioned few factors which kept Indonesia from leading the race: corruption, conflicting interest between local and provincial representative in Jakarta and unpredictable legal system (the very same legal system who created Dark Ages Porn Bill.

Why it has to be 2025? Why not sooner? Do we really need seventeen years to be a strong country? Does seventeen years is the time needed to stop the legacy of chronic “corruption, competing interest and confusing regulations”? Does seventeen years is the time needed to have true and brave leaders who truly representing their people instead of representing their own interest? Does seventeen years is the time needed for Indonesian to be wise enough to understand that religion and politic should never mixed and used against each other?

If that’s the case, we better start now. Because by the time my future son or daughter reach seventeen, I want his or her to be proud enough to say loudly and clearly: I am Indonesian (and not just to Iranian taxi driver in Paris, but also to the hotel receptionist at the five-stars hotel he or she gonna be staying).

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Horror Movie Wisdom

1. When it seems that you've killed the monster, never check to see if it's really dead.
2. If you find that your house is built upon or near a cemetery, or ws once a church used for black masses, had previous inhabitants who went mad or committed suicide or died in some horrible fashion or who performed necrophilia or satanic practices, move away immediately.
3. Do not search the basement, especially when the power has just gone out.
4. If your children speak to you in Latin or any other language which they do not know, or if they speak using a voice other than their own, shoot them at once. It will save you a lot of grief in the long run. Note: it's unlikely they'll die easy, so be prepared.
5. When you have the benefit of numbers, never go alone.
6. If you're searching for something which caused a noise and find out that it's just the cat, leave the room immediately if you value your life.
7. If you're running from the monster, you will most likely trip or fall. If you are female you will.
8. Stay away from certain geographical locations, some of which are listed here: Amityville, Elm Street, Transylvania, Nilbog (God help you if you recognize this one), the Bermuda Triangle, or any small town in Maine, especially if it is called Derry.
9. If your car runs out of gas at night, do not go to the nearby deserted-looking house to phone for help.
10. When something bad is chasing you, bear in mind that when you try to start your car, no matter how reliable the vehicle is normally, you'll have to crank the engine over many times before it will fire up.
11. People arriving to rescue you generally get ambushed by the monster, so don't rely on them as your only means of escape. In fact, expect to be surprised and delayed by encountering their flayed corpse at some point.
12. Do not call the police as they are either evil and will turn you in or will not believe you and laugh at you. Either way, you must handle the problem yourself.
13. If you are using a gun to combat the all-comsuming evil, it is a good idea to quickly find a new means of defense, because no matter how much ammo you have, you'll run out just before you kill the monster (unless your name is Ash, in which case, you'll never have to reload).
14. If you have defeated the monster, pay close attention to the camera, if it pans away for no apparent reason at all, get the heck out of there.
15. Skeptics are always proved wrong in some horrible, nasty, painful way. Be a believer.
16. If you are a child, don't panic! Monsters only attack overly horny teenagers. Children can NOT be killed in a movie, only possessed or absorbed. So cheer up!
17. If you've beaten the monster into a bloody pulp and you're sure he must be dead, take the opportunity to dismember, burn, eat, blow up or otherwise utterly destroy him.

From a forwarded e-mail I received from Mr. D. Thanks D!

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