Battleship

We decided to watch this movie in short notice. It was unplanned. But it was a good movie :)
From the title, you can guess that this movie is about war.

The movie was directed by Peter Berg and stars Taylor Kitsch, Alexander Skarsgård, Brooklyn Decker, Rihanna, Liam Neeson, and Tadanobu Asano.

It started with a guy (Alex Hopper) who celebrated his 26th birthday but didn't have a stable job.
He is a guy who just follows his instinct and very bad in decision-making. He was childish, but he has a good heart and a lot of potential. So, he was enrolled in Navy by his brother to do something good and beneficial for him.

In the mean time, there were some researchers who wanted to send signals to other planets to see if there is another planet that we could live in. Apparently, it was a bad idea. The signal was received, and in turn, they came to the earth with an army.

Back to the navy, while they were in the sea, there were 5 strange things landed on the sea. Navy tried to attack, and 2 out of 3 ships lost to the alien ship. Alex's brother was one of them who died.

That incident, made Alex the most senior navy, who had to make decision for others on how to attack this alien. Alex was scared, realised that he is now in charge of people's lives.

Throughout this battle, there are some points to learn:
1) We need others. We can't do a battle alone, we will lose.
2) We need strategy. Think before act. Think of others.
3) Trust must be earned. You have to prove that you can be trusted. It is not something that is given freely.
4) Maximising potential. If you know what you are good at, something that you can do, you have to do it!

About the stars:
Taylor Kitsch, the main actor, is the one who plays as John Carter.
Oh my... he is so handsome! Hahahaha....
I can't believe that Brooklyn Decker is only 25 years old and has married for 3 years!
Liam Neeson... there's no need to describe him as he is as always, awesome :)
And Rihanna, she was cool! She could act pretty well! :)
Oh yes, last but not least, there is Peter MacNicol who plays a small part as the Secretary of USA.

I enjoy watching this movie :)

Fully Human Fully Alive

This book is written to make us understand better about the world, about our vision, about "insight", perception, misconception, and awareness.

What is reality?
"Two men looked out from prison bars.
One saw mud, one saw stars."

Five essential steps into the fullness of life:
1) to accept oneself - be gentle with yourself (Desiderata)
2) to be oneself - we are free to have and to report our emotions, ideas, and preferences
3) to forget oneself in loving - genuine caring and concern for others

"There is no learning to live without learning to love"

4) to believe - to discover meaning in our lives
5) to belong - a sense of community, to be "for" one another.

Normal Day, let me be aware of the treasure you are.
Let me learn from you, savor you, bless you,
before you depart.
(Mary Jean Irion)

This book explains to me the characters of people
who are fully alive
who are receptive to changes
and always say "YES" to life and love.

Emotions are always the result of a given perception and interpretation.
There should be quiet times in every life for such reflection, reevaluation, and reinterpretation.

All of us have to find some purpose or mission in life which will confer upon us a sense of personal distinction and worth. We need to believe that our lives will make a different for someone or for something.

God says: I will be with you to
illuminate your darkness,
strengthen your weakness,
fill your emptiness,
heal your brokenness,
cure your sickness,
straighten what may be bent in you,
revive whatever good things may have died in you.

Remember that you are a pilgrim.
Your destiny is eternal life.

Thanks be to God :)
Be blessed!

Mary of Nazareth

Buku "Mary of Nazareth" karangan Marek Halter ini menceritakan tentang Mary, jauh sebelum ia menerima kabar gembira dari malaikat Gabriel. Cerita dimulai sejak 6 tahun sebelum Masehi, ketika Mary masih tinggal bersama kedua orang tuanya.

"Layaknya sebuah kisah yang mengubah nasib dunia, buku ini mengandung kemegahan sejarah yang ditulis dengan intensitas mengagumkan sampai masuk ke dalam alam pikiran karakter-karakternya. Sebuah epik yang tak boleh dilewatkan."
(Andrea Hirata, Penulis Tetralogi Laskar Pelangi)

Mary di buku ini digambarkan sebagai sosok yang keras kepala, pejuang keadilan, pemberani, dan lembut hati.
Sosok yang berbeda dengan bayanganku selama ini.

Seperti yang dikatakan Andrea Hirata, buku ini ditulis dengan intensitas mengagumkan. Aku sungguh terbawa oleh situasi dan emosi karakter-karakter yang ada di dalamnya.

Menyenangkan tentunya untuk membaca dan menambah wawasan mengenai tokoh penting dalam hidup Yesus tetapi tidak banyak cerita yang bisa kita dapatkan dari Kitab Suci.

Namun, buku ini diakhiri oleh sebuah surat yang dibaca dan diterjemahkan oleh Marek Halter.

Surat itu ditulis oleh Mary, yang mencurahkan pikiran dan perasaannya ketika Yesus disalib.
Dalam surat itu, dikatakan bahwa Yesus tidak wafat di salib, tetapi tidur.

Sebuah pernyataan yang membuatku bertanya-tanya akan kebenarannya.

Aku percaya akan apa yang dituliskan oleh Kitab Suci bahwa Yesus wafat di kayu salib dan bangkit kembali 3 hari kemudian.

Bila buku Marek halter ini adalah kisah fiksi, aku harap ia sebaiknya menuliskan demikian, daripada menciptakan sebuah pertanyaan yang dapat mempengaruhi iman seseorang.

Sep 05, 2010 - review by Wellington:

Making a departure from my non-fiction reading, I picked up a historical novel about the most famous mother of all time.

The story starts out with Miriam and her family struggling to survive the yoke of the tyrannical Roman rule under King Herod. By a freak accident, Miriam's father is set to be crucified. The precocious Miriam boldly sets out to rescue him with the help of a dangerous friend, Barrabas.

It's a crisp book that doesn't weight the soul down with diatribes of heavy handed preaching. OK, there are a couple of them but most of the story focused on Miriam and how she became the Virgin Mary.

At the end, the author tacked on the Gospel of Mary which will never find its way to the Bible that you know because according to her, Jesus faked his death like Juliet. You would think that one of the two people who first found Jesus alive might be the authority on the matter.

Now, the book probably took a lot of liberties to tell the story. But who is to say history has not taken their own liberties?

*Gambar dipinjam dari sini.