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| via yahoo!image |
Have you watched "Into The Woods"? I just did. It is an almost 2-hours musical movie about the classic tales of Cinderella, Jack & the Beanstalk, Little Red Ridinghood and Rapunzel combined. The first 60 minutes are about it. At first, as you may also, what interested me was the movie theme, then the casts (Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp, Emily Blunt, Anna Kendrick--but I just found out about them during the watching).
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| via disneyblogs |
The second hour of the movie, anyway, is more a reality than the tale. Life lessons are everywhere in this movie, taught us that there are more than just "happily ever after" in every tale ever told. I'll list down the messages down here. But my most favorite quote came from the witch (I had guessed this from the beginning but being drawn into the story that I forgot I've suspected this to come out).
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| via disneyblogs |
Long story short, people were starting to blame each other for the misery they were into, and ended at the witch, blaming her for cursing the baker's family at the first place. Then, the witch stood up for herself, saying (or, rather to singing in this movie):
Told a little lie, Stole a little gold,
Broke a little vow, Did you?
Had to get your prince, Had to get your cow,
Had to get your wish, Doesn't matter how...
.. No of course what's really matter is the blame
Someone you can blame...
You're so nice. You're not good,
You're not bad, You're just nice
I'm not good, I'm not nice, I'm just right.
I'm the witch. You're the world...
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| via disneyblogs |
That last sentence struck me right on. I guess this is what the problem of our society now. The society prefer people to be nice, although it's not always good or bad. People like what is nice. And this, is suitable with the new motto I hold in the past two years: "to be right first, then to be good if possible".
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| via disneyblogs |
The world has been so greedy, wanting this and that and not caring about the consequences. The society has been too blind to like only what's nice, what looks great and forgetting about what it truly is inside/behind. And when things get ugly, the easiest way to do is to blame it on someone. People has been refusing to carry on their own burdens, to take full responsibility on what's happening in their lives.
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| via disneyblogs |
People had been so mislead by what the society had set for the standards. Roots are forgotten, history are bent. Boys nowadays are mostly raised to be charming, not sincere, while they suppose to be gentlemen who protect the women (both the prince and the baker). And for all girls, remember that every prince will try their best to get you by his side, but what happens once they got you is what's much more important to count.
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| via disneyblogs |
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| via disneyblogs |
Ah, there are too many lost people now. "What is right became wrong, and what is wrong became right in this era," said a pemangku (Hindu priest in Bali) once when I visited him in Kuta, early 2013.
Anyway I compiled some of the lessons from the quotes of this great movie--tho the messages were scattered from the very beginning to the end of the movie--but here are my favorite ones:
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| via disneyblogs |
- Wishes come true, not free.
- Do not put your faith in a cape and a hood. They will not protect you the way that they should.
- Sometimes people leave you, but no one is alone. No one leaves for good.
- Opportunity is not a lengthy visitor.
- Take extra care with strangers, even flowers have their dangers.
- You've had an "and" when you're back to "or" makes the "or" means more than it did before.
- Careful the things you say, children will listen.
- Something always happens after "Happy Ever After".
- Agony is different to everyone.
- Sometimes the things you wish for are not to be touched.
- But if life were only moments, then you'd never know you had one.
- Witches can be right, giants can be good. You decide what's right. You decide what's good.
- Hard to see the light now. Just don't let it go. Things will come out right.
- Never trust a wolf under any circumstances.
- Though scary is exciting, nice is different than good.
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| via disneyblogs |
From each of the characters we can learn a lot. From Little Red for girls to be careful of the traps of men getting what they want by being (or seem) nice. From Jack to listen to the mother and to not steal. From Cinderella to be realistic about life, that the dreamy-kind-of-life isn't always applicable or fit with who we really are. From the Baker to not run from responsibility though the road might get bumpy and everything seem so scary now. And from the Witch, being ugly and scary, is mostly mistaken by the society because people rarely see what is underneath.
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| via disneyblogs |
So, there you go. My newest top favorite movie. You should all watch it, too--I promise you there are more that you'll get than the boredom from the musical. And I wish more children are watching this and get many lessons from this, because I also do!
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| opera cake by Dapur Cokelat from Aunt Dewi |
March is ending now and I haven't posted about my birthday yet. So this year I am turning 31 and I can say, birthday couldn't be better! It keeps getting fun since I moved to Bali in 2012 and I've been having so much fun each year. If I look back to where it was, I had never been so happy and thrilled for my birthdays except for the past 3 years. And I'm really thankful for the blessings.
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| notes from Goldi and her mom |
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| coin purse and book from my sister |
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| handmade accessories by Analogue from Ana |
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| vintage birthday costume from Mom |
So this year I got an Opera birthday cake from Aunt Dewi; a black sleeveless shirt and notes from Goldi and Aunt Siska; a Pocée coin purse and Elizabeth Gilbert's "The Signature of All Things" from my sister; a vintage blue blouse and black floral skirt from Mom; and a pair of necklace and bracelet from Ana. I found them all so pretty and loving each one of them.
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| birthday dinner at Bluegrass |
As for my birthday dinner celebration, my family took me to Bluegrass Bar & Grill, a fine dining restaurant at Bakrie Tower, Kuningan. We all fell in love immediately to the interior design, the lighting, the homy ambiance, the food and the wide pavement in front of the venue. We had a nice family bonding moment there last Saturday night.
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| birthday dinner at Bluegrass |
But the biggest birthday present I got this year, as you might have predicted, is my book. Gerbang Nuswantara was released at all Gramedia bookstores on March 23rd. I get many and great feedback from family and friends and all the colleagues in social media. Some informed me about what they thought about the book already. It keeps me smiling just to know that they're having fun reading it.
If they say life begins at 31 (or some other numbers as you like), it isn't really "begins" that way but 31 is indeed the age that I start to gain from all of the pain I've been thru the first 30 years of my life. So, yes. I am having the best birthday festive this year and I know, next year will even be more superb! Thank you, Universe!
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| my first novel of a trilogy |
My book has just released today at all Gramedia bookstores. The book's genre is sci-fi adventure for teenagers with the background of Javanese culture and history. It tells the story of a pair of 16 years old cousins who incidentally found a portal ("Gerbang" or "The Gate") to "another world/dimension" that had been living side-by-side with us all along!
Grab the book now on stores!
Genre: sci-fi adventure for teenagers
322 pages of novel, 13 x 19 cm
Price IDR 69,000
The whole residents of Bali is going to enter the Silence Day tonight and celebrating the Tawur Kesanga with ogoh-ogoh parade this evening. What exactly is happening in Nyepi day? Find out more about it in victoriatunggono.com.
Meanwhile, I greet you all a happy Silence Day, Çaka year 1937. May we all find the peace and pureness in our hearts.
Selamat Hari Nyepi!
During my visits to my publisher, Penerbit Buku Kompas, I laid my eyes on this very cool book of infographics compilation. The whole 17 infographic designers from Kompas group, 8 articles and 45 infographics represents the independence day of Republic of Indonesia: Aug 17, '45. The book contains the general information about a building with its isographic.
I should say this book is like a tour around Indonesia, if not visiting all but it shows us some of the most famous and important buildings throughout the country, from traditional houses to religious buildings, from palaces to stadiums, from ethnic rites to flora and fauna. This book really enriches us about Indonesia, and it really saves us the trip fee and time! Completely worth all the money you spent for this!
Check the web, twitter and youtube for this book!
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| via wereadtoknow |
Now that I live nearby my aunts and friends in Jakarta, I notice how dramatic, unhappy and stressful lives they have. For the past year I see that they love watching/reading drama or any real stories sprinkled with dramatic elements. Those youtube short videos and TV programs that highlights the sympathetic lives of the poor, of parents left by grown-up children and other similar things are very common to see and produced here in Asia.
The yearn of having consolation--or in other words "play victim"--is getting popular and usual. This attitude leads to laziness and demands for people to be merciful, pitiful and--in extreme cases--be generous "because" they are the poor ones, the downtrodden, the left-behinds, the small people. These people (which I call as "sudra" caste) think they are the most suffering human beings in the world, demanding people to be kind and soft toward them. They crave for stories that made them cry, touched and call it as "humanity" side.
Meanwhile in the western world, the most popular theme for videos and TV programs are the inspiring ones; the ones that show that no matter how low life can be, there is always a turning point, a brighter day, a chance to start over. Instead of crying for pity, they act. People are pushed to try their best, not sit-and-rotten to pity their lives but to do something about it. The difference between the eastern and western characters is that the western don't stop at the problem. They stand up and try fixing the problem. They get up and decide to win the obstacles, changing the term "obstacle" into a "challenge". They triumph over the life test. And that's what makes them tough and firm.
Recently I was taught about the difference between "nice/kind" and "right". Being nice/kind (baik) is all about the surface, how we represent our intention in such a kind manner that pleases our interlocutor. Being right (benar) is about doing what is fair, just, appropriate, good, honest, honorable, legal, legitimate, proper, suitable, true, etc (via thesaurus). By being nice, we do/speak just to please the other people--which always depends on the intention/perspective, but being right fits to all of the participants. Being right cannot be argued because it is not subjective.
In Indonesia, we've been taught to always be "nice and right". Be nice first, and it's surely be right (for certain party). But lately I figured that it's more proper to "be right first, then nice if possible". Being nice is connected closely to emotions (read my recent post here). In Indonesia, we are used to equalize the meaning of emotion (emosi) and feeling (perasaan/intuisi) while in fact they are far different. Emotion is all that short-term spontaneous urge from our nerve system while feeling is the stable, sustainable indication that comes from our heart. That is why, the term of "baik dan benar" has been used as advise on well-behaving in Indonesia. We are never taught the differences between these words.
As further study, I checked the synonym of "drama". It goes to "theatrical piece", acting, comedy, farce, play, scene, show, etc (via thesaurus). It means that drama is the "add-ons" to make things more seasoned, nicely-packaged, in order to meet the audiences' expectation. It means, that drama isn't really necessary in our daily lives as humans. It means, drama is what makes life more complicated for girls and hard to understand for guys. It means, drama is what makes people miserable. Don't you agree?
Now I challenge all of you to live a less dramatic life from now on. Starting with simple exercises in five simple steps as follows:
