These two weeks some of my friends’ long distance relationships have gone very troubled. They asked me how to cope with it but not even I know the answer. Being in an LDR means letting the beats of your heart go only for the one you don’t even see every week or month, and wait however long for the sake of keeping your words. But in a relatively young age like we are in now, people change like seasons, and committing yourself into something before knowing how would you change in a matter of months is pretty much an impossible thing to do. Promising love before you’re going but later making out with another girl/guy after you’re on a distance, and defending yourself upon the wisdom of “people change”, it shows how LDRs are just impossible. There’s kisses you can never tell, affections you can never mention to whom you’ve made your commitment with, because it’ll just hurt them either way. But then, falling in love can never be wrong, can it? Having found another heart to share things with means the old one will just become an aftertaste. Like a rotten apple that has lost its sweetness just because you forget to keep them in the fridge. You think of it as a process of life, the joy of loving youth, and then nobody’s the mean one. Because no matter how long have you been with, when you’ve found a stronger chemistry with someone, you’ll just go for it.
Because as Summer Finn in (500) Days of Summer says, it can be as easy as “I was sitting in a deli and reading Dorian Gray and a guy comes up to me and asked me about it, and… now he’s my husband”.
Because long distance love is like a balloon, where you either let the string go so it would float in the sky or wait until it pops at some time, and both will still make you feel losing something fun and important.
Dedicated for my friend R.S.
Over the last two days I’ve watched what I would call two of the most impressive movies of 2009. The first one being the tensely comedic Inglourious Basterds, and the second is none other than the Zooey-worshipping romantic drama (500) Days of Summer. Well okay, I know I haven’t written any review in quite some time, but both movies has truly intricate me with their delicate storylines, eclectic cinematography and of course those not to be missed, powerfully moving soundtracks.
In the darkly humorous Inglourious Basterds, the infamously bloody director Quentin Tarantino has come back with what can be called a “World War-era Pulp Fiction”. Tarantino went for a similar recipe as he did in one of his most famous movie gone cult, Pulp Fiction, where more than one stories from different backgrounds got tangled in a Tarantino-esque series of unfortunate events. One of the main stories revolves around a group of American-Jewish soldiers named “The Basterds”, led by 1st Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt), a group feared for their destructive strength among the Nazi soldiers. In the other time and place, in France to be exact, there lived a French Jewish woman on the run, Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent). Over the past four years she has been living under the name of Emmanuelle Mimieux and runs a small cinema, after her family had all been killed in a house inspection by the infamous Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) from the German SS and SD, nicknamed “Jew Hunter” upon his impressive ability to detect the hidings of the Jews and his mesmerizing interrogative skills. A number of what could be called unfortunate events led each other to make their own slick tactics on a movie premiere night on Shosanna’s cinema, with the main target being the Führer Adolf Hitler himself.
Overall throughout the movie, while still playing strong on Tarantino’s bloodbath fighting scenes, Inglourious Basterds shows a film made with a class. The whole 152 minutes truly shows the quality of a Quentin Tarantino, portraying the life and times of the 1940s Europe to its finest without forgetting the quirky humor, bloody bar brawls and tight dialogues that left the audiences stifling laughs at some so-tense-it’s-funny scenes. And another plus point is that the movie wouldn’t be as good without such powerful casts like the wonderful acting from Christoph Waltz. His portrayal as the slightly psycho Colonel Hans Landa can be clearly seen as humorously suspense yet still a charismatic detective at times. Oh, and Brad Pitt. His character is memorable as always, and Aldo Raine as the Indian-descent lieutenant with a thick southern accent will be a hard persona to forget. For the fans of spaghetti western movies with a World War theme, Inglourious Basterds is one movie that shouldn’t be missed.
The next day, which is today, I watched the long-awaited (500) Days of Summer and it was really an enchanting, moodlifting romantic comedy! Played by the ever-so-gorgeous Zooey Deschanel and the lucky guy Joseph Gordon-Levitt who happened to kiss Zooey all the time through the movie, (500) Days is a movie debut for the music video director Marc Webb who had directed MVs like Jimmy Eat World’s “Work” and Weezer’s “Perfect Situation”, this sure is one hell of a good debut. Alright I’d be a little subjective about this movie because of the Zooey Deschanel factor, but despite anything I would write, it’s still a lovely movie about falling in and out of love.
“This is a story of boy meets girl”. Those are the first words narrated in the movie, and the story flows as we are introduced to Tom Hansen, a failed-to-be-architect now working as a writer in a greeting card company. In January 8, he meets Summer Finn, his new boss’s assistant. Summer is known throughout the town with her enigmatic “Summer Effect”, as young men bought double amount of ice cream in the store where she was working previously, landlords lowered their rent special for her flat, and so on. From this point forward we are told the non-chronological story of their 500 days relationship from the start to the very end, beginning with how she likes his listening to the Smiths’ song when they are in an elevator and since then they have gone intimate, but Summer insists they are still in the terms of friends and nothing more, although they’ve even been sleeping together. After some three hundred days later or so, their relationship worsen and it gets to the point where Tom says they are just like “Sid and Nancy”. The breakup makes Tom so utterly depressed he gets to the days where he goes out of his apartment only to buy junk food. The obsessed Tom loses his job and gets swallowed by depression… but then he finally finds what love really is for him.
First thing I noticed watching the movie is that Marc Webb really knew how to exploit the beauty and grace of Zooey Deschanel. The “Summer Effect”, the close-ups of her smile and her hair, her make out scenes… a visual haven for all the Zooey (male) admirers out there. But Mrs. Gibbard isn’t the only main attraction of the film, it’s the dreamy relationship between the two that makes the movie as sweet as honey, and then the Tom’s miserable life after the breakup adds insult to injury. The story, although never chronologically, flows steadily like any other relationship would be, and when it’s about breaking up then it’s a movie most of us can relate to. Personally, the ending is a really touching one for me, as the film try to deliver that one’s point of view in the matter of love can be truly different and hurting for the other side (which I can truly relate). And apart from the visual matters, the filmmakers also put special highlight to the soundtracks. They try to plug your ears with the “indie”ness of this movie, as we can see bands like the Smiths, Regina Spektor, Simon & Garfunkel and many others into throughout many scenes. If you’ve experienced at some point in your life that love can break you down in pieces and you wonder how could you ever get back to your feet again, this movie can grab your hand and pulls you standing straight!
Dilla & Ahtar and no, they're not a couple.
What I still haven’t found three months after moving to this town is stability. My basic principle for life so far is to “view everything as neither right nor wrong”, and when those words helped me at times to stay neutral at morality problems, in some other ways it also sent me lost in the flow of a busy undergrad student’s life. I can’t seem to find a learning style that fit, not yet. My priorities are scrambled up, my ability to focus falls low under the normal line, my long-lost empathy for loving and giving… stays lost. And my room is always a huge space of mess I can’t help tidying up, literally.
All I have to hold on to is myself.
My life is an arrhythmia
for now.
Ólafur Arnalds – 3055
dengarkan sambil baca!
Beberapa minggu terakhir ini kepala gue lagi kosong banget buat ngisi sesuatu yang bagus di blog ini jadi setidaknya gue memperbaharui berita seputar kehidupan Bandung sajalah yaa, ngebales tulisan temen gue si Dayat sial yang menulis sewenang-wenang tentang hidup gue tapi jadi kayak numpang promosi gapapa lah ya hahaha, dan jangan protes kalo tulisan ini berbahasa Indonesia karena hidup gue sedang cukup menyenangkan dan gue lagi gak mau banyak mikir. Oke, gue UTS tiap Jumat dan itu sangat bikin mikir sebetulnya (stres tingkat tinggi) tapi di luar masalah pelajaran, hari-hari gue beneran nikmat disini.
Jadi sekilas hidup gue sekarang gue anggep menyenangkan karena banyak temen baru gue di SAPPK ITB 2009 yang asik, dan gue mulai percaya kalo psikotes kayanya emang ngaruh buat masuk ITB karena anak-anak per fakultas secara keseluruhan nampaknya emang memiliki sifat yang mirip-mirip, seperti SAPPK yang dipenuhi para wanita yang kalem-tapi-aslinya-cacat dan para pria berperilaku baik-baik idaman mertua huahahaha. Dan salah satu temen baru gue yang asik bernama Rizky Ardian Hidayat, biasa dipanggil Dayat (iya kampung emang gue tau) dan berasal dari SMA 78 Jakarta, dia orangnya berisik dan selalu punya komentar tentang perilaku orang, sering nyanyi-nyanyi dengan lirik sepotong-sepotong yang diulang-ulang dan salah macem “sooo, Sally to say…” udah diulang mulu, gak pernah bener lagi. Tapi kalo udah megang BBnya langsung ansos mode on dan tidak peduli dunia luar lagi, hati hati BB menyerap nyawa Anda juga.
Dari luar anaknya emang menyenangkan, tapi begitu masuk kamar kosnya… naujubilahminzalik. Kamarnya berbentuk huruf L dan berukuran cuma se-gang yang mini, tapi sebetulnya itu gak masalah, yang masalah itu isinya… cemilan berantakan, piring-piring kotor berserakan, popmie tinggal sisa kuah tapi gak dibuang-buang (SERIUSAN), buku dimana-mana, ikan-ikan menggelepar kekurangan air, dan kalo mau jalan dengan aman kita harus pake enggrang biar gak nginjek barang-barang. Oke yang dua terakhir lebay tapi emang seberantakan itu.
Ngomongin popmie, dia ini punya stok popmie yang sangat banyak dan dengan seringnya makan mi berkali-kali dalam seminggu, membahayakan jiwa dan raga (otak) memang tapi tetep aja bisa masuk ITB ckckck. Dia juga gak doyan makan daging, bukan karena vegetarian tapi karena emang gak doyan aja, soalnya dia masih bisa makan sebangsa sosis dan makanan anak kecil lainnya. Makan sama dia selalu asik karena yang daging-dagingnya selalu dikasih ke orang lain, atau lain kata perbaikan gizi tanpa mengeluarkan uang hahahaha. Makan batu aja deh lo biar gak repot. Kalo penasaran yang mana orangnya, ini dia…
Bukan, orangnya bukan yang kiri. Fadhil yang kiri, Dayat yang kanan. Dia sedang menjomblo jadi kalo tertarik langsung hubungi saja ke blognya hahaha soalnya dibalik semua yang tadi gue sebutin, Dayat adalah teman yang selalu bikin rame, baik, berbakti kepada orangtua (rajin pulang) dan sering menabung… gak juga sih dia ngabisin duit dengan makan berkali-kali sehari. Dan si Fadhil sebelahnya, dia juga salah satu anak SAPPK, berasal dari SMA 28 Jakarta dan orangnya hobi bermain gitar buat pacarnya (“tipe gue cewek yang berisi”) dan mukanya sangatlah datar tapi pinter kalo masalah fisika. Dia hobi nunjukin foto-fotonya sama pacarnya — dan bikin desperet temen-temennya yang jomblo — termasuk video pas dia nembak pacarnya. Oh dan dia sangat sering boker, dikit-dikit nyari toilet pengen boker. Pencernaannya terlalu bagus mungkin.
Selain dua ini masih banyak lagi kawan saya di SAPPK ITB ‘09, macem Caca anak Tarnus yang kalem dan dibilang terganteng se SAPPK, Keweh & Joko dua anak Surabaya yang ngajarin boso jowo nggak bener, Oka si Bali Jakarta yang pernah jadi anak liar di Papua, Eka sang ketua cakru LFM, Byna yang pacarnya jauh di mata tapi ehem ehem sama Ayas yang kisah cintanya sungguh tragis, Ghina yang selalu minta disetirin mobilnya kalo ada yang bisa nyetirin, Faika si Widi Vierra yang selalu ceria kecuali pas hpnya baru ilang 2 kali (tabah ya fai) Tantha temen SMP gue yang semua orang ngeliat pertama bilangnya “pendiem” tapi seiring waktu mereka menyadari kalo dia diemnya pas megang BB doang, Dilla yang hopeless romantic *toss* dan meluk bantal lebahnya kalo lagi suram, Fadhila yang susah dipanggilnya karena ada Fadhil dan Dilla jadi mesti “Fad, Fad”, Wina yang memanfaatkan pacarnya yang anak NTU buat ngerjain tutor, Samia yang kerudung-kerudung biang klabing (orang-orang pada stres banyak tugas dan UTS dia malah begajulan malem-malem), Ica yang sering ngelupain barangnya dimana-mana tapi berotak pinterrrr, Aya yang selalu memikat mata para pria *prikitiw* tapi oh itu hanyalah tampilan luarnya saja. Dan ah, tentunya Ahtar yang hidupnya lagi super sial dan Echy si upil baru potong rambut yang hidupnya sedang sangat labil penuh air mata (sabar yea tar, cis) yang keduanya temen SMA gue. Gue mulai pegel nulisnya, dan masih banyak lagi tentunya para mahasiswa SAPPK yang menyenangkan, dan masih banyak lagi kepribadian yang bisa digali dan kehidupan yang bisa didalami, jadi… sampai bertemu di tulisan berikutnya!
sebagian kecil mahasiswa SAPPK berbasis Jakarta, sedang berkumpul di Senci
biarpun hidup saya penuh, namun di dalam jiwa dan hati masih tetap kosong. tidak apalah!
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Alone in my room, I now realize that however fun this new life is, loneliness is loneliness.
Photo by Briliansy, I only retouched it and added text… and hey it’s on icanread!
Most of the times I’m this skeptic, apathetic person that visions life based on facts and reason, relies not on the taste and beauty but rather on the more logical science and statistics. What I need is not opinion but a concrete solution for those daily problems. But one thing I began to notice is that on happier times lately, like these holidays when pace of life goes calming and the need to hurry vanishes, the old romanticism in me blooms back inside:
The need to slow activities down, to be more attentive to our everyday little details, to take a seat and feel the flow of life around us. Killing time reading magazines, watching crappy romantic flicks, walking around the city with fellas and saying hello to the stray dog on the road… life ain’t grand, but the joy is all around us.
