I came home late tonight. I left work an hour later than I
used to. This happens more and more often lately, I suspect this will be my regular
working hour. Oh well, it’s not that I don’t enjoy it.
Anyway, it took me 3 hours and 30 minutes to reach home. As
usual, after work I went straight to the train station. Traffic’s a mess and I
reached the station in 20 minutes-ish. Saw the train on the railway and went
directly on board. Not long after I heard an announcement that there is a
trouble in one of the train station, and that the train will be stuck for a few
while.
I waited for one and a half hour and there were no sign of
the train moving. Only repeated announcements saying that the train company was
extremely sorry; and that the train wasn’t able to depart just yet. I finally
decided to ask one of the conductors, whether the train would leave anytime
soon. No, she said. She said it will take a while, but she couldn’t say how
long. I decided to take the bus instead.
Coming Home, by Agnimaya
I walked to the bus terminal and waited under the rain.
After another 30 minutes the bus finally came. I sit in the front and chatted
with the driver. He said that the traffic was a bit congested, but it’s all better
now. He was right. We had a smooth ride. In 30 minutes I was halfway home.
I changed bus. The driver was a young boy, probably no more
than 18 years old. He refused to stop on a road curve and said that it was his
contribution to lessen traffic congestion. Funny. I rarely hear that from
public transport driver in Jakarta.
An old man stepped in the bus. I offered him my seat, but he
refused. “I have a basket with me, it will be troublesome for me if I sit
there,” he said. “Are you sure?” “Yes.” So I remain seated, and he stood behind
my seat. After a while he was nearing his destination and he stood in front of
the bus door. Everyone reminded him to step a little bit further from the door,
for it was unsafe; but he insisted that he was alright. He was holding on
tight. When he got off the bus with his basket of quail eggs, an old woman was waiting
on the alley, and immediately took his hand. It was a really beautiful sight.
Jakarta is not an easy place to live in. However, I always
loved this city and how the people in it struggle each and every day to
survive. This city is harsh, but there are many things that are beautiful in
it. Tonight’s experience reminds me of that. I reached home at 9.30, but I feel
really grateful because at the end of this day, God put smile on my face and
warmth in my heart.
This little piece of awesomeness was taken from this page.
Let me start by giving yet another applause for the James Bond franchise. Despite what others may think, I have always enjoyed the over the top explosion and bangs in James Bond movies, no matter how superficial they may be. Those that were presented in skyfall is by no means different for me. Anyway, I don't often write movie review in my blog (or anything else for that matter, this blog is practically stranded) and doesn't really understand how to make one. In order not to be redundant with everything else in the world wide web, I decide not to focus on the story itself, but about the impression I get from watching skyfall. Let's all hope that it wouldn't be too kinky. =P
I'll just start from the beginning. I came to the theater expecting an awesomely sexy Daniel Craig in a suit. I didn't get that impression at the fight scene Bond had with Patrice at the beginning. Instead, Craig looked a bit flabby and worn (in a lame way). And I wondered whether this condition will stick with Bond throughout the movie. This thought, frankly, is rather depressing. It even lingers the first time he strips in the movie. But, thank goodness, after he decided to went back from the dead, his charm gradually increased up to the level worthy of a James Bond, although not so much as it was in Casino Royale or Quantum of Solace.
Anyway, the core of this story is wrapped around M's past. No, apparently she was not a stripper. The stolen hard drive does not contain her old sex tape. This is Judy Dench, for God's sake. Creating such past for her would be borderline blasphemy. Apparently one of the ex-00-s (a very handsome one, if I might add) thought that she has wronged him by giving him away to the authorities. In my opinion, he's just showing obvious symptoms of acute Oedipal complex and a bit satiric because he's no longer Mamma's golden child.
What else, what else? Oh! This movie can easily be one of the best bond movie ever, simply because its cast of characters. Everyone played their part nicely, except maybe for Severine. I didn't really get a sexy aura from her. But maybe that's just me. Hey, at least they didn't name her like they named Xenia Onatopp. By putting Daniel Craig, Ralph Fiennes, and Javier Bardem in one scene, the creative team of Skyfall took a sinfully correct decision. Plus they were all in tailored suit. Plus they had their British accent. What more can a girl wish for? \(^o^)/
I love how Bardem plays a sadistic flamboyant antagonist on this movie. As so many other girls out there who have seen the screenshots of Skyfall, I wondered whether the people involved in the making of this movie were crazy for bleaching Javier Bardem's hair like that. Why ruin perfection? That just doesn't make sense. Well, after watching the movie, it turns out that they may not be as crazy as I thought they were. Au contraire, even with lame blonde hair, Bardem's sex appeal still seeps through. If he is in his usual appearance, I'm afraid that he will be too magnetic (as usual) and it will be too damn hard for the audience to notice James Bond who supposed to take center stage. Except maybe if Benicio del Torro was playing the Bond.
It seems that all Bond movie agrees with a Backstreet Boys' song: "Boys will be Boys." Even when you're as maturely charming as James Bond, nothing hurts you more than having your favorite toy wrecked by a bully. In this case, Bond's Aston Martin DB5. Even when Silva has already bombed the MI6, killed his little girlie in cold blood, and create such havoc in London town, it was only when Silva blew his Aston that Bond put his 'now we mean business' face. Which, in a way, is kinda cute. As Pierce Brosnan mentioned in Goldeneye, "Standard operating procedure. Boys with toys."
Anyway, I love this movie because so many knives were involved. I love knives. I
think that it was one of the best weapons ever. And only a handful of
things are sexier than a girl holding a cut-throat razor against a man's carotid artery. Oh, by the way, I find Bond most 'interesting' when he performed a surgery on himself in order to retrieve the shrapnel from his wound with a very cool looking knife.
Now, for the things I was not particularly amused by. My heart broke when at the first scene Bond crushed the VW New Beetle lineup. I didn't enjoy that scene. It was just too painful. Second, I always thought that James Bond was a code name, because how else can we explain his high mature-charm survivability from the era of John Barry all the way to Adelle? That's just scientifically impossible. But the movie successfully ruined my imagination by showing a tombstone of James' parents. Now I have no explanation for the scientific deviance. Third, why on earth were there Komodos? Weren't they supposed to be protected in a wildlife sanctuary somewhere? I wonder if it was illegal. Can somebody enlighten me on this issue? And last, although many people love it, I don't particularly enjoy this wave of humanization Hollywood made our childhood heroes gone through. I prefer my heroes to be flawless, thank you. There, I've said it.
Well, that's that. In conclusion I will say that this is a good Bond movie and highly recommends people to watch this movie. The cast is unbelievable, the storyline is slightly different from the other Bond movie, and it is packed will all the usual elements that makes a Bond movie. Now, I shall close this review with my all time favorite Bond soundtrack. Please enjoy. Do ignore the fact that the video is lamely outdated and just focus on the outrageously handsome John Taylor.
