hafizsanesia

"that poor guy is pathetic.  losing his love, being left alone. being crazy because of love.."

"he seems like a happy person.  not every one can have that kind of love.  and he’ll live with his love forever in his heart.."

there are many ways in looking for a matter in life, whether in positive, neutral or negative way.  and the korean movie ‘..ing’ put that perspective as its main theme, nontheless made this simple movie a very touching one indeed.. ToT

the story revolves around min-ah, a high school girl with a ’special’ health condition that forced her to go in and out from hospitals most of her life, her introvert and solitary personalities - since her condition caused her being ignored by people around her, her relation with her mother and later with a photographer that moved in as her new neighbor.

most of the first half of the story centers on the ‘love-hate’ relationship between min-ah and young-jae (the photographer) and somehow affects min-ah thoughts and perception of her life, and finally decides to make the best of her limited days, fills it with happiness and to bring happiness to the people she loves.

the theme is similar to sweet november, where two lovers are facing with the bitter reality of being separated by fatal illness.  and what makes ‘…ing’ shines (from my personal point of view) is how the protagonists in this story (min-ah, her mother and young-jae) deal with the tragic fact, and how to overcome the fear of losing the people their care so much in the positive perspective, living and preserving with painful yet beautiful memories and goes on with life.

there are many touching scenes in this movie.  one of them is the dialogue between min-ah and young-jae that I put at the beginning of this post.  not only it shows the positive feedback from young-jae (and ironically, he will soon learn the fact that he will continue living with the exact condition..), but it also changes min-ah perspective and encourage her to make the best of her last days. 

in a scene earlier, min-ah suddenly discovered the fact that her illness is a fatal one - a fact that her mother had hidden it from her- and her days are numbered.  min-ah is very depressed by this suddent knowledge and cries the whole night.  but after the that short dialogue with young-jae, she looks more optimistic and decides to be happy, and spends her last days with happiness with young-jae and her mother. it is better to appreciate and enjoy things you encounter in the present time than deal with uncertain things in the future - and this is the reason for the title, since ‘..ing’ represents the pattern for present continuous tense-.

another memorable scene is the ending scene, when after min-ah passed away, both young-jae and her mother found a final message from her.  one for young-jae is in the form of visual diary that scribbled the happy days they spent together, and another one is a short messages written in her mother’s secret diary.  looking how both cried silently when reading min-ah messages also made some watery things in my eyes…

it might be a sad ending movie, since it dealt with loosing the ones you loves so much.  but I took what young-jae said to min-ah, that even you lost someone you love dearly, you are lucky to have and experience such kind of love. 

and life goes on [and I won't become mellow again ]..

I’ve written the review of ‘…ing’ in my multiply pages, here.

another beautiful and good movie that talk about friendship, the true meaning of that and the bitter reality that event the best friendship you have right now possibly could not last for eternity.

‘take care of my cat’ or ‘koyangi reul butakhae’ in the movie’s native language is a simple yet astonishing movie by a female korean director that cast five high school friends with their reaction regarding what each of them would do in facing the reality that often harsh and far from your dream before.  the story opened with a graduation ‘party’ by the five friends only to jump to a year later to see how the girls in the present condition.

and it was not as good as it should be, since each of them now was facing different condition and social status that even put their friendship to the ultimate test.  one of them, tae-hee (played brilliantly by bae doo-na) was the one who tried hard to maintain the bond between them, while it actually started to thorn apart badly.  two of them even began a cold relationship, despite the fact that both was formerly best friends during high school days.

but life goes on, and even the hardest challenge in life and friendship still had to be faced and solved  and somehow at the end, the strong bond of friendship did contribute one of the biggest impact to conquer the challenge.  and this movie captured that message beautifully..

to sum up the main theme is what this excerp from review from jan chik in the ain’t it cool news, sep 8 2002 put it: "your best friend right now may not be your best friend in the future.  on the other hand, to your surprise, you’ll later find out that the friend who helps you the most is the one you never consider as your best friend in the past." 

however, this movie had positive spirit wraps around every corner of misery, and that would (hopefully) make you smile whenever you are in difficulties and you will be grateful to have the best of friends around you.

for the review of the movie (in indonesian language), just visit my multiply site,  here

five stars and highly recommeded!

do you know where my right hand is?
it’s gone missing
I’ll pass out wanted posters
all over the city

I need to go find it
I need to find it soon
there are too many stray dogs
starving for the dream

I’ll play my guitar
like you’ve never heard before
I’ll sing in a way
you’ve never heard before, so..

do you know where my right hand is?

people are all weak
but dreams will always come true
almost asleep deep in your eyes is
an undaunted heart
these tears about to over flow
I can’t give an explanation for them
today and tomorrow and the day after
I’ll be searching for tomorrow

I’ll grasp the microphone
like you’ve never seen before
I’ll sing in a way
you’ve never heard before, so…

do you know where my right hand is?

my right hand (boku no migite), sung by the paran maums.  originally sung by the blue hearts.  lyrisc taken from linda linda linda official english site

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let’s sing an endless song
for this asshole of a world
let’s sing an endless song
for all of the thrash

let’s sing an endless song
for me for you and for them
let’s sing an endless song
so we can laugh tomorrow

given the cold shoulder from life
I cried alone at night
until now there were many times
I thought I couldn’t make it

the moment of truth is always
something scarier than death
until now there were many times
I just wanted to run away

let’s sing an endless song
for this asshole of a world
let’s sing an endless song
for all of the thrash

let’s sing an endless song
for me for you and for them
let’s sing an endless song
so we can laugh tomorrow

cozy ties aren’t my style
so I don’t care if you get me wrong
but I know I will always
keep you in my mind

let’s sing an endless song
for the nights I cried alone
let’s sing an endless song
for the days I was mistreated

let’s sing an endless song
for this asshole of a world
let’s sing an endless song
for all of the thrash

let’s sing an endless song
for me for you and for them
let’s sing an endless song
so we can laugh tomorrow

endless song (owaranai uta), sung by the paran maums.  originally sung by the blue hearts.  lyrisc taken from linda linda linda official english site

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two days ago, during a chat with a friend from bandung, out of sudden she mentioned that I’ve been mellow lately -judging from the things that I wrote in my blog that always used (melancholic) songs as the opening.  and reading back it again, I think she’s kinda right..

so, in the addition of being ‘poisoned’ by the linda linda linda movie -the two songs posted above is the songs (plus the catchy linda linda linda song on the previous post) that the all girls band the paran maum managed to cover for their performance- time to wake up!

besides, the lyrics I put above is reflecting the moment of self reflection and the will for not giving up but to overcome all the struggles and challenge you face - as the linda linda linda movie itself describe this in a very beautiful and touching way..

let’s sing an endless song
for me for you and for them
let’s sing an endless song
so we can laugh tomorrow

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thanks to sissy for the enlightenment.  I’ll post more cheerful and interesting stories afterwards 

like a rat
I want to be beautiful
because there’s a beauty
that can’t be photograped

linda linda! linda linda linda!
linda linda! linda linda linda!

if I ever meet you
and we talk together
I hope you realize
the meaning of love

linda linda! linda linda linda!
linda linda! linda linda linda!

like a rat
kinder than anyone
like a rat
warmer than anything

even if it isn’t love or affection
I won’t let you go
I have a single power strong
that will never defeated

linda linda! linda linda linda!
linda linda! linda linda linda!

lyrics from Linda Linda Linda movie sung by the paran maum.  originally sung by japanese punk band, the blue hearts.  lyrics taken from the official linda linda linda english site.

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the catchy song from the movie that a kind of contagious since I couldn’t get it out of my head - especially if you just modify the reff part a little, with ’something’ that still fit inside then sing it aloud.. 

the fact is both the theme song and the movie itself is a real treasure, especially if you are looking for the beauty of simple and ordinary things.  the story itself revolved around the never ending and the courage hard works performed by four members -which one of them was a exchange student from korea that act as their vocalist despite the fact that she barely spoke japanese- of a band entitled the paran maum that officially formed just three days before their performance in the school music festival..

it is interesting to watch how these new band personnels tried to upgrade their playing skill, get together as one -despite all the miscommunication that happened between the one korean and three japanese members, to performed the best they could in the final performance, which of course turned out the way we had predicted. but in here, the result is not that important, since the process of how they managed to achieved it and all the hard works behind the efforts is the true gem of this movie.   

for review of linda linda linda, please read here (it is in indonesian, though).  and if you are curious about how catchy is the main theme song, you could watch the final segment of the movie here.  may be you would experience the same contagious effect as mine..

the movie official website in english is here.

When you’re down and troubled
And you need a helping hand
And nothing, whoa nothing is going right.
Close your eyes and think of me
And soon I will be there
To brighten up even your darkest nights.

You just call out my name,
And you know whereever I am
I’ll come running, oh yeah baby
To see you again.
Winter, spring, summer, or fall,
All you have to do is call
And I’ll be there, yeah, yeah, yeah.
You’ve got a friend.

If the sky above you
Should turn dark and full of clouds
And that old north wind should begin to blow
Keep your head together and call my name out loud
And soon I will be knocking upon your door.

You just call out my name and you know where ever I am
I’ll come running to see you again.
Winter, spring, summer or fall
All you got to do is call
And I’ll be there, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Hey, ain’t it good to know that you’ve got a friend?
People can be so cold.
They’ll hurt you and desert you.
Well they’ll take your soul if you let them.
Oh yeah, but dont you let them.

You just call out my name and you know wherever I am
I’ll come running to see you again.
Oh babe, don’t you know that,
Winter spring summer or fall,
Hey now, all you’ve got to do is call.

Lord, I’ll be there, yes I will.
You’ve got a friend.
You’ve got a friend.
Ain’t it good to know you’ve got a friend.
Ain’t it good to know you’ve got a friend.
You’ve got a friend.

you’ve got a friend lyrics sung by mcfly.  lyrics from lyricsfreak

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sorry for the things that might be a disturbance, but I do believe in you..

’nuff said

the second program I watched was the densha otoko - or the train man.  and for this show, since it was longer (actually a 11 episode tv programs, each around 40 minutes + one alternate ending and one movie special) I did a marathon screening from 8pm until 4am the next morning.. :p

the story revolved around an otaku (a person who succumbed in to the world of anime, manga and other hobby, more like a fetish, who generally lead to negative ‘position’ in the japanese society) and his extraordinary quest to be with an angel like woman he bravely saved in the subway  of tokyo -thus earned him the nick name of ‘densha otoko’ (densha means train, while otoko means man).  what made the show quite difference from other cinderella stories (and another beauty and the beast -since it looked like againts all odd when a ‘geek’ man try to win the heart of a perfect and beautiful lady) was that this densha otoko was ‘backep up’ by many people from the message board. it was based on a true story, which the translated message board (in english) could be read, here.

the message board itself is a facility in the web where users could post in a thread and received replies from other users within the net.  and densha otoko used this facility to seek guidance in what he should do next since it was the first time he ever chased a girl of his dream from the fellow netters.  many of them became his main supporters since densha otoko also post his progress in his personal quest, so the nwes were always updated.   slowly but sure, supported by many insights he received from the message board, densha otoko changed himself (mostly in his self reliance and attitude) and his progress also inspired his supporters.  this created a circle of friends and strong bond within them.

the strong point of the series was not only about densha otoko’s self determination (although sometimes he quit but only to rise again due to never ending support by the fellow netters) but since his actions inspired the people who support him to also refuse the bad condition and situation they were facing, to fight back until the end.  these served as various interesting side stories along with the main storyline.  such as densha otoko’s never ending love inspired a husband to reunite again with his wive, or densha otoko’s determination to refuse to let go of his hermes san (the name of the lady given by the netters) made a broken basket ball player to rehabilitate himself and fight back.

for me, it is very touching to see a bunch of people whom barely know each others to create as one, especially in the last part of the story, when densha otoko faced his ultimate trial by being ‘dumped’ by hermes san after she found out that densha otoko wrote about their relations on the net. a heart broken densha decided to stop posting on the message board again and dissapeared. 

however, it was for the supporters that always inspired by densha never ending quests time for refusing to let densha down and put many extraordinary actions to show their support for densha, and asking him not to give up his true feelings for hermes.  they encourage densha to at least confess his feeling to hermes, whatever the end result would be.  this scene was very moved since many of the supporters were mostly geeks that shut themselves inside their room but they overcome their own fear to support densha.

another things that beautiful for me is the true feelings that densha have toward hermes lead him to do many courages things that he himself would never dream of doing it.  it taught valuable lessons in believing yourself, believing what your heart is saying, doing good things for others without any pretention, to try to stand on your feet no matter hard you’d been crushed and its the true feeling of your heart that put the right things in your actions (I had been in doubt of whether an action could be ‘catagorized’ as the proper way to give attention or just plain annoying act, since the differences between them was very narrow..). 

and if you would do these kind of acts with pure heart for the one whom you cared so much, somehow someday, it would  be paid off..

..even if you have to climb up the tallest silent wall you ever faced… 

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just visit this site for further synopsis and screen capture of the densha otoko drama series.  it ’starts’ from the last episode and the next button would take you to the previous episodes.

last week end
was spent watching two japanese programs.  one was the densha otoko (trainman) television drama series and the other was the morning musume special ‘classes’.

the morning musume special consists of two television programs that put the morning musume (an idol-singer group with various cute young girls as the member) in a one day special class, with the end result was to ‘innagurate’ the lowest rank of them all.  one of the programs showed them having a high school test (and to have one of them as the ‘idiot girl’) and the other put them in the school’s sport festival - a common things in every japanese schools.

although the shows theirselves were intended for entertainment purpose, but there were valuable lessons that we could learn from them.  not just we were presented with the cuteness factor (since the members of momusu’s age was ranging from 13 - 21 years old) but there was more ‘lessons’ from that..

one of the moment that touch deep into my heart was from the episode of the special school sport festival.  the one whole tiring day of competing various sports (ranging from sprint, high jump, cavalry battle, sit up to track run) was ended with rally jumping.  in this event, all 15 members of momusu would do rope jump together for 50 times in a nonstop event.  if the rope jump was stopped because a single mistake from one of them, then they would do it again from scratch.

the game itself seemed funny and brainless.  I mean if we just seen the event without any positive though, what’s the main purpose to put 15 girls to jump 50 times together?  it seemed as an easy task to do..

however, the show proved otherwise.  the last game that first started as an easy and fun event, after the tide of time turned into some serious and dedicated work, both for the 15 momusu members and their supporters (and also the audience of the show..).  it turned out that to do 50 jumps with 15 people in it, it needed more than just collaboration.  but you had to act as one, since the mistake made by one would suffer the whole team.  and that was not an easy thing to do..

the momusu made 13 attemps before succeding in the 14th.  and the fun aura started about one hour earlier turned to be a dedicated measures to conquer the challenge.  even in the middle of process, it seemed impossible to beat the challenge, as their physical condition began to drop badly..

however, they proved that they could do it, together, by acting as one.  the 14th attemp was showed beautifully, by emphazing by their ’stubborness’ to complete the challenge, although their condition was in the lowest (just imagine to jump more than 60 times in total from their first attemp, with the whole day spent doing sport activities).  the time also showed the hard works, since it was getting dark while their started when the sun was still shining.  the leader of the pack - kaori iida, looked very fatique, but she yelled and put the spirit into the all exhausted members of momusu.   and with dedication, they finally made it.

for me, it was a mixture of anything.  it showed the never ending fighting spirit, the courage to achive things that seems impossible.  some of the momusu member even cried to show that it was indeed a hard work to be succesfully completed.  basically, the momusu is a group consists of idols and they could choose to stop doing the challenge whenever they want to.  but they proceed to prove that they could do it and finish the challenge..

I wish that someday we could watch many good shows like this in our own tv programs..

and thanks for uda houari for ’showing’ the programs (actually, he intended to ‘poison’ me with the cuteness syndrome of momusu :p )

Each time when one more year was over
You refused to hear heavven’s bells sound
And the happiness in you heart’s been set lower
You were searching for friends but no one seemed to be ’round

You merely should think of the good times
‘Cos there are so many ways you can go
Take a look at yourself, you’re still very young
And big aims always take very long

Now it’s time for happiness, stay hard and trust your fate
Don’t forget you’re something else you’ll never be too late
Trust your fathers’ mighty spell you’ll never be alone
Fate will always turn out well and you’ll be number one

Shout at the world don’t care what they say
‘Cos your life is now, here and today
Luck is there, ev’rywhere
Go on, reap its goods, that’s the way

You wanna have truth, relief from your pain
But life takes its toll again and again

Don’t fear the night–your future is paid
And the tracks to your aims are laid

Now it’s time for happiness, stay hard and trust your fate
Don’t forget you’re something else you’ll never be too late
Trust your fathers’ mighty spell you’ll never be alone
Fate will always turn out well and you’ll be number one

number one - from helloween

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last week when browsing for data for vintage stuffs for my (would be) thesis theme, I came accros   a blog with some words that caught my eyes really really fast..

it was about an invitation ‘card’ for a wedding -well, a card is not quite right, since the invitation was designed in the form of a book, a very thick book indeed.  the title of the invitation was ‘moedjallat indopahit’ and the thing that made me hold my breath in exicitement was because it was designed by vera rosana with her newest self-owned graphic house, h2o 

further posting on the that site revealed more information about the ‘indopahit’  book, the story behind the making of the book, the reason and purpose of it, who helped creating, writing, photographing and of course, designing it, even the complete articles inside it.  unfortunately, there weren’t any sneak preview of the final design of the indopahit [and I quite curious about it.  since it was designed by one of the most talented and beautiful graphic designer ].  however, the owner of the blog described how vera tried to give the vintage look on the book, even by taking special research to the national library herself, and her perfectionism to make sure that the design would be delivered as it was intended to..

and a couple days ago, when I visited that blog again, it had some new positive comments about the book.  one comentator even put the photo of the book in his 
own blog page.  another interesting part was one of the national newspaper also wrote about the occasion on its blog page (since the one who commissioned the ‘indopahit’ is a famous journalist) so vera’s and h2o’s name also appeared there, too 

congratulations for vera rosana and her new h2o graphic house.  wish you a best present and future, to come out with best and memorable well designed (future) works.  amin..

I want to know what love is

I gotta take a little time
A little time to think things over
I better read between the lines
In case I need it when I’m older

Now this mountain I must climb
Feels like a world upon my shoulders
I through the clouds I see love shine
It keeps me warm as life grows colder

In my life there’s been heartache and pain
I don’t know if I can face it again
Can’t stop now, I’ve traveled so far
To change this lonely life

I wanna know what love is
I want you to show me
I wanna feel what love is
I know you can show me

I’m gonna take a little time
A little time to look around me
I’ve got nowhere left to hide
It looks like love has finally found me

In my life there’s been heartache and pain
I don’t know if I can face it again
I can’t stop now, I’ve traveled so far
To change this lonely life

I wanna know what love is
I want you to show me
I wanna feel what love is
I know you can show me

I wanna know what love is
I want you to show me
And I wanna feel, I want to feel what love is
And I know, I know you can show me

Let’s talk about love
I wanna know what love is, the love that you feel inside
I want you to show me, and I’m feeling so much love
I wanna feel what love is, no, you just cannot hide
I know you can show me, yeah

I wanna know what love is, let’s talk about love
I want you to show me, I wanna feel it too
I wanna feel what love is, I want to feel it too
And I know and I know, I know you can show me
Show me love is real, yeah
I wanna know what love is…

sung by foreigner - lyrics taken from lyricsfreak

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just wanna to express the moody feeling during these days..  but I’ll get through that.  don’t worry 

sunny days and starry nights

lazy afternoons

you count the castles in the clouds

and hum little tunes

but somehow right before your eyes

the sun fades away

everything is different

and everything has change

if you feel lost and on your own

and far from home

you never alone, you know

just think of your friends

the ones who care

they all will be waiting there

with love to share

and your heart will lead you home

funny how a photograph
can take you back in time

to places and embraces

that you thought you left behind

they’re trying to remind you

that you’re not the only one

that no one is an island

when all has said and done

there’ll come a day when you’re losing your way

and you won’t know where you belong

they say that home is where your heart is

so follow your heart know that you can’t go wrong

if you feel lost and on your own

and far from home

you never alone, you know

just think of your friends

the ones who care

they all will be waiting there

with love to share

and your heart will lead you..

if you feel lost and on your own

and far from home

you never alone, you know

just think of your friends

the ones who care

they all will be waiting there

with love to share

and your heart will lead you…
where you belong -
I know your heart will lead you…
home

your heart will lead you home - a song by kenny loggins from the tigger movie soundtrack

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dedicated for a very good friend of mind whose artistic passion, performances and personalities never fails to enchanted me (many thanks for that) and share her b’day together with another larger than life character with the faithful white dog companion who was ‘born’ 50 years earlier

happy b’day to both of you, and good luck with the new ‘watery’ start! 
God bless you, always