Norwegian Wood

This book is highly recommended to all of you who are book lovers, especially if you like to read love stories. Haruki Murakami is an amazing writer, he's able to make me imagine every scene and situation in the book as if it's real.

The story took place in Japan, 1960s. It's about teenagers - Toru, Naoko, Midori, Kizuki, Nagasawa, and Hatsumi - who have to struggle with their family issues, relationship issues, and studies through their teenage lives.

It gave you pretty much a good idea of what's happening in Tokyo, Japan during 1960s. About college life, the studies and parties. Although my university life was different from the main role, Toru, but I could imagine what he had gone through.

Funny and weird people, those whom you could relate to, those who you don't understand their way of thinking, and those who you think always in their own world detached from reality. Being teenager is hard. I always think that teenagers are in the middle, neither here nor there.

When I read the book, I guess it never occurred to me that death of a loved one could affect someone tremendously. Well, I never had a close friend or relatives who attempted suicide, thankfully. But I could understand how life at times makes you feel that you just want to end it at one point.

I love the way Haruki Murakami describes people, their appearances and personalities; and also places. It was vivid, as if it's real.


I can't wait to watch the movie
Ps: The movie was good! But if you don't read the book, you may not fully understand the movie.

*Picture is borrowed from here.

Snow White and The Huntsman

Film ini keren euy! Hehehe.... Walau judulnya Snow White, tapi ceritanya sama tapi tak serupa dengan cerita Disney :)

Alur cerita intinya lebih kurang sama, bahwa si Snow White kehilangan ibunya ketika ia masih kecil. Bapaknya raja, yang kemudian menikah lagi dengan perempuan jahat ini.

Si perempuan jahat (nenek sihir) ini lalu jadi ratu dan mengurung Snow White. Snow White kabur, ketemu mahkluk-makhluk fairytale - peri, troll, rusa putih gede, dll.

Bayangkan gabungan film-film seperti: Narnia, Harry Potter, Avatar. Nah, udah ada gambaran tentang hewan-hewan dan efek-efeknya? Hehehehe....

Pemerannya juga kereeennn! Aku lebih suka sama Kristen Stewart di film ini daripada di Twilight, hahaha.... Dia keren banget! Walau jarang ngomong.

Lalu pemeran Huntsman-nya si Thor! Ueeehhh... cuakeeeeppppnyaaaaa :) :) :) Hahaha....
Awalnya sih aku demen sama temen si Snow White, namanya William. Tapi setelah nonton bagian tempur-tempur... waaahhh... kagum sama si Thor! Hehehee....


Ga ketinggalan si Nenek Sihir jahat, cuantiknyaaaa bukan main!
Keren deh ini film pokoknya :)

*Picture is copied from here, here, and here.

Madagascar

Ini film ke-3 Madagascar. Ada yang inget cerita dari film pertamanya? Aku udah lupa. Hahaha.... Yang aku inget, film pertama itu perjuangan mereka keluar dari kebun binatang di New York. Lalu kedua itu... apa ya?

Ceritanya mereka ber-empat kangen sama "rumah", alias kebun binatang mereka di New York. Maka dimulailah petualangan mereka dari Madagascar menuju New York.

Di tengah jalan, ada seorang ibu yang ahli dalam menangkap hewan liar. Aksi ibu ini udah lebih dari pemain silat, hahaha....

Dalam perjalanan menghindari si ibu, Alex (Lion), Marty (Zebra), Melman (Giraffe), dan Gloria (Hippo) bertemu dengan segerombolan sirkus. Bertualang lah mereka bersama sirkus, keliling Eropa menuju New York.

Ceritanya lucu sih, menghibur, dan cocok lah untuk musim liburan sekolah kayak sekarang :) Bioskop rameee sama anak-anak dan ortu mereka. Hehehe....

The Avengers

Aku abis nonton film ini! Seru banget! Hahaha....

Ada Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, dan Hulk.
Pemerannya: Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, daaannn Scarlett Johansson (sebagai Natasha Romanoff)!!
Beginilah kalo tokoh-tokoh keren digabung.

Tapiiii... aku suka sama si pemanah! Agent Barton alias Hawkeye, yang diperankan oleh Jeremy Renner.
Dia super keren banget!!

Well, selain aksi-aksi mereka yang keren... percakapan mereka juga layak disimak.

Contoh, ketika si Agent Romanoff ditelpon, dia lagi "kerja" sebagai mata-mata, dan ditunjukkan bagaimana dia beraksi melawan penjahat :)
Keren!!

Lalu percakapan yang lucu (menurutku):

Loki: What have I to fear?
Tony Stark: The Avengers. It's what we call ourselves, sort of like a team. "Earth's Mighiest Heroes" type thing. 
Loki: Yes, I've met them.

Tony Stark: Yeah, takes us a while to get any traction, I'll give you that one. But let's do a head count here: your brother the demi-god; a super soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend; a man with breath-taking anger management issues; a couple of master assassins, and YOU, big fella, you've managed to piss off every single one of them.

Loki: That was the plan.
Tony Stark: Not a great plan. When they come, and they WILL, they'll come for you.

Loki: I have an army.
Tony Stark: We have a Hulk.

Hahahaha....

Lalu ketika Loki bilang ma Hulk bahwa dia adalah dewa, si HULK tetep aja banting dia kanan kiri kanan kiri sampe muka Loki cengo....
HAHAHAHA!!!!

Film ini sangat menghibur :)

I think I don't mind watch it more than once.

Hello Ghost

Do you notice the main actor?
Yes, he's the one who played in "My Sassy Girl". Hahaha....

Sang Man is an orphan who has attempted to end his life several times, but always to no avail.
Since the failure of last attempt, he began to able to see 4 ghosts. These 4 ghosts are sharing his body. So basically, he has to do whatever any of them want to do.

You can actually watch this movie in Youtube.
Below is part of the movie that I found it very funny and self explanatory :)



Besides the funny part about being able to see ghost, this movie actually has family relationship value in it.

First of all, he was all alone, an orphan, who doesn't have any idea where he came from.
He was sad because nobody cares for him, and nobody to celebrate birthdays with him.

As the movie goes on, those ghosts actually keep him company and make him realised the importance of family relationship, and made him enjoy life.

This is almost the end part of the movie, and it's very touching.



Moral of the movie: you are not alone in this world.
There is a reason for you to live, and there is always someone who cares for you.
But first, you have to care about yourself and be grateful about your life, no matter how hard it is.

The Vow

I love Channing Tatum Since he played in Step Up. I have been watching some of his movies since then, such as: GI Joe, Dear John, and Coach Carter (just noticed he was in that movie too! Haha)

This is a Love Story movie :)

Paige (Rachel McAdams) lost her memories due to car accident. She only remembered until 5 years ago. Sadly, she doesn't remember anything about her husband, Leo (Channing Tatum). Leo was trying hard to fight for her love, and their life back as husband and wife.

I am touched by the love that they share together,
the commitment which took place in good times and bad times,
and both parties actually try to do their best to regain the memory back.

What if your loved one, or someone who is dear to you, suddenly lost his/her memory and forget about you?

It's hard to accept the fact that we are forgotten..
that precious moments we used to have together, suddenly only belongs to you and you can't share with the other person anymore.

I guess I too, will try my best to make the person remember me again.
But if not, I'll do my best to accept the person, as who she/he is now.

It's a beautiful movie to watch :)


I vow to help you love life.
To always hold you with tenderness,
and to have the patience that love demands.
To speak when words are needed,
and to share the silence when they're not.
To agree, to disagree, on red velvet cake.
And to live within warmth of your heart,
and always call it home.
- Paige

The Way

"You don't choose a life, you live one."

I watched this movie on my way back to Singapore. The old ancient pilgrimage journey The Way of St James.

I was interested because the title caught me. "The Way."

From a pilgrimage journey of Taylor, Emilio Estevez's own son, he discussed it with his father, Martin Sheen, to make a movie about the journey.

This movie is the collaboration of Emilio Estevez and Martin Sheen to honour the Camino de Santiago and promote the traditional pilgrimage.
(Wikipedia)

It's a story about a father, whose son was killed on his journey while traveling the "El camino de Santiago". He then decided to continue the journey on behalf of his son. Along his journey, he got to meet some interesting people, with whom he then went for the journey together.

For me, this movie speaks a lot about family, relationship, and our own personal growth.
In this lives, we have our Cross to carry. We have our personal reasons to go for a pilgrimage trip.
At the end, whoever we meet, whichever way we go, we will find ourselves.

There are 5 characters in this movie. The father, the son, the Dutch guy, the Canadian Lady, and an Irish guy.
The Dutch guy who has a friendly personality, who just goes along with the journey. He was not in rush.
The Canadian Lady, someone who has a desire to finish the journey, but keeps procrastinating on the process.
The Irish guy, a writer who tries to find his courage in writing.
The father, is someone who feels guilty and wants to relive the moments with his son. So he traveled the same journey, to find his son.
The son, someone who inspires people, who has a dream, who wants to make a different in life and wants to create his own story, but sadly couldn't finish his journey.

We are not alone in this life,
there's always others to accompany us, whether in short or long term
and we have to make the best of our journey :)

To find out more about The Way of St James, please visit the website here.

To find out more about The Way (the movie), please visit the website here.