LOVE, the movie

Last night, I was lucky to be invited to the gala premiere show of "LOVE" before its public launching on February 14, 2008. "LOVE" is an English titled Indonesian film directed by an Indian citizen who lives in Kuala Lumpur with musical performance by Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra. Quite an interesting mix, actually.

This movie is a remake of a Malaysian film titled "Cinta" (2006) who was created and directed by Kabir Bathia, who's also directed this movie. People who have watched both versions declared that the story is 90% different. BTW, Titien Wattimena, the writer and co-director of "LOVE", was only given the concept of the movie and developed the scenario without watching the original version first, even until now.

Multiple storylines in one film ("LOVE" has five) is not really original. Some viewers stated that "LOVE" resembles Richard Curtis' "Love Actually" (2006), which also has many storylines and talking about love. Although the main idea is the same, I would say that Titien has successfully created original plots that will not make people connect to stories in "Love Actually". She has created 5 different storylines intertwined in one movie with an enjoyable result.

She has been nominated for best scenario, for "Mengejar Matahari" and "Tentang Dia", in FFI 2004 and 2005 respectively and has won Piala Vidya for "Sebatas Aku Mampu". Her other works include "Cinta Pertama", "D'Bijis" and "Badai Pasti Berlalu" (remake).

I would also credit the director for the soft appearance of the sponsors' product. The editor for nicely tied in storylines, the art director and director of photography for the beautiful scenes. And last but not least will give my standing ovation for Sophan Sophiaan and Widyawati, who are brilliantly showing their maturity in acting.

I will not hesitate to vote this as 2008 Valentine movie for rather mature audience, who has more conscience of life. I would not suggest this to average 12 – 17 years old audience, who might not get any message from this movie other than the appearance of handsome and beautiful casts (yes, I do make age stereotyping here :-). I personally think that the Alzheimer, autism and breast cancer issues found in the movie will not touch base in those age band.

I rate this movie an 8.5 of 10, in Indonesian movies scale. So, heavily-in-love couples or just-fall-in-love couples or even will-fall-in-love couples, let's go to the cinema and enjoy the movie.
Guys, be ready to sweep her tears. Or maybe yours. :-)

"LOVE" movie web site: http://www.themovielove.com/

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Asia Source 2 - 1st Anniversary

Exactly 1 year ago, the second Asia Source was held and I was very lucky to be part of it. After a year has passed, what can be remembered?

The first thing came into my mind is the memories of uncountable excitements and cheerful togetherness. The excitements of meeting many cultures at once were overwhelming, similar to when someone throws you 126 golf balls at once and you have to catch them all.

And talking about the cheerful togetherness, the good thing about it is it stays intact up to now. What could be nicer than having 108 friends are ready to be your tour guide when you visit any of the 23 countries? What could be more thrilling than having personal birthday greetings from 5 continents?

Oh, right, should I mention also that the AS2nauts (that's how we call ourself) people are technically resourceful and ready to help you anytime?

Now, the question is, what will happen next? Just a 2nd year anniversary? Or preparing the rumoured Asia Source 3 in Manila? :-)

Comments are very welcome!

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Reaching the Stars

However we try, we might not be able to reach the stars in our life time. If you know the fact, will you or will you not try to reach them?

In my opinion, it is not the end result that counts. We might not live to celebrate it. The most important thing is we try hard enough to place some foundations so that our grand-grand-grand-grand-sons and grand-grand-grand-grand-daughters (I'm trying to be gender sensitive here :-) could live a better place than ours.

We know that our country is not in a good condition. What is the root cause? Again, in my opinion, it is resulted from lack of education. Not just in a matter of formal education, but also in the matter of non-formal education that should start in the families and/or societies. I believe that strong moral values should be given since early childhood.

The lack of moral values will lead to, for example, corruption. Or, in a more simple way, it makes people crossing the red lights, put the garbage everywhere, don't want to take lineup, etc.

Now, the question is, how can we change the above condition? Simple. Start from yourself. If you're a student, don't cheat on exams. Cheating on exams is a preliminary form of corruption. Both are taking other's right into our own. If you're a professional worker, then be a professional. If you're a parent, give examples to your kids on all the good things. If you're a driver, don't cross red lights, if you're a motor biker don't use pedestrian as your track. You could add up the list you want, it is simple things. And, most importantly, you have to spread the values to your closest families, closest friends, closest relatives, closest co-workers, closest neighbours and whoever you meet.

With the hope that the people we touch also spread the values, only then we can hope that our grand-grand-grand-grand-children can live in a better place. We might not live to see it, but we can start to make it happen. Will you or will you not start the process?

The above is only a tiny thing that we can do. There are many other things that we, based on our own capacity, can do to start the process. Only you know what you can do. Read more!

Start Green from Yourself

Artikel ini aslinya diposting di milis iluni12.yahoogroups.com, diedit seperlunya. Terjemahan Bahasa Inggris khusus untuk blog ini. Dibahas juga di blognya ivo.

This article was originally posted in iluni12.yahoogroups.com mailing list, edited as needed. English transliteration is specially made for this blog. Also discussed in ivo's blog. Click 'read more' down below to see English version.

Untuk mengurangi dampak global warming yang sudah mulai terjadi, kita bisa memulainya sendiri dengan melakukan hal-hal sederhana seperti dibawah ini:

Related to energy:

• Pake peralatan listrik seperlunya dan pakailah alat2 yg wattnya sekecil mungkin
• AC sebisanya disetel di 26 derajat, dan hanya dinyalakan bila perlu
• Nggak pake lampu pijar. Pakailah lampu hemat energi.
  
• Kalo kulkas ada temperature control, bisa diset secukupnya aja. Yg penting makanan nggak busuk dan es tdk mencair (di freezer).
• Nyalain pompa air cukup 2 kali sehari (kalo gue pagi sekitar jam 8-an dan sore sekitar jam 3-an, di luar "peak hour" listrik), jgn mengandalkan switch otomatis yg sebentar2 akan nyala kalo air di tangki berkurang
• Selalu nyalain off timer di TV kalo nonton TV malem sambil mau tidur
• Pake solar panel utk water heater dll, masang turbine vent di bubungan atap

Di rumah gue, dispenser nggak pernah nyala lagi, cuma digunakan sbg water dispenser. Mau dingin, ambil es batu di kulkas. Toh kulkas nggak bisa mati, sekalian bikin es batu aja. Utk air panas, gue pake thermos. Memang rebusnya masih pake gas, tapi kan tidak sepanjang hari seperti kalo pake dispenser yg hrs nyala terus listriknya.

Related to earth:

• Bikin sumur resapan wajib hukumnya
• Kalo belanja ke supermarket, bawa tas sendiri atau paling tidak jgn pake kantong plastik banyak2. Istri gue rajin banget ngomong ke kasirnya utk menggabung2kan barang spy nggak terlalu banyak pake kantong plastik. Pakai kardus besar OK juga.
• Pisahin sampah organik dan non-organik. Sampah plastik dkk, dikumpulin, langsung kasih ke pemulung plastik, nggak masuk ke tong sampah depan rumah.
• Punya anak kecil? Usahakan jgn terlalu sering pake pampers.
  
• Mandi pake shower, matiin keran waktu sabunin badan/pake shampoo. Atau mandi berdua, penggunaan air lebih efisien. Sikat gigi sekaligus di shower, bukan di wastafel.
• Pake WC yg punya 2 tombol utk buang air kecil dan besar.
• Pake tissue secukupnya. Ingat, tissue dibuat dari pohon lho.

Adapted English version:

To reduce global warming effect that is happening now, we can start from ourself by doing simple things below:

Related to energy:

• Use electrical appliance as needed and use the lowest watt appliance available
• Set your air con to 26 degree celsius and use it wisely (if you live in the tropical countries)
  
• Do not use filament lamps. Only use energy saving bulbs in your house.
  
• If there is a temp control in your refrigerator, set it moderately just to preserve food decomposition and ice from melting.
  
• If you're using earth water pump, turn it on twice a day at non-peak hours (e.g. at 8 AM and 3 PM, do not rely on automatic switch which will automatically turn on the pump once in a while.
• Always use off timer while watching late night TV
  
• Use solar panels for water heating, use turbine vent on the roof, etc. This one will cost you some, though.
  

Currently, my water dispenser is always off, it only used just for water dispensing purpose. Want some cold drinks, just get the ice cubes from the freezer. The refrigerator will never be turned off anyway, use it as ice maker. For hot water, I'm using insulated containers. We boil water with gas cooker. It still uses non-renewable energy, but not as much as using hot water dispenser all day.

Related to earth:

• Creating man-made biopores (an underground well used to contain overflowing rain water) in your house is a must
• When you shop, bring your own bags or at least do not use too many plastic bag. My wife is always telling the cashier to gather things in minimum number of plastic bags. Using big carton box is also OK.
• Divide organic and non-organic household garbage. Plastic waste etc. should be put together and give it to the local plastic waste collector. Do not put plastic waste in the trash bin in front of your house. This is applied to the countries where there is no special arrangement on organic & non-organic garbage collector.
  
• Have kids? Try not to use too many diapers.
• Use shower, not bath tub. Shut the valve when shampooing or soaping. Or you can take a shower with your partner, it will be more efficient. Brush your teeth in the shower while bathing.
  
• Use a two buttons closet.
  
• Use paper napkins as needed. Remember, it is made from trees.
  

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