It's been awhile hasn't it. This past year has been such a difficult year, not just for me but for the collective. Due to Covid-19, 2020 literally halted our lives on its track; people lost loved ones, their employments, and so many other losses that we could never have anticipated. Now that we're turning over a new leaf (and a new calendar), there are some important lessons 2020 has taught me that I will bring into 2021 and beyond.
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This will not be a regular literary review. I want you to read and enjoy the brilliance of it for yourself. I’ve never finished a book this fast before. Maybe with the exception of Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak, which I borrowed from Newport Mill’s library, so I had no choice but to finish it in a day. But I had a choice with this one, and I chose to plow through this incredible psychological thriller masterpiece. I guess the reason why I loved The Girl on the Train so much is because Rachel, the main narrator, is so damn relatable. Sans the divorce and the problematic drinking problem (although I might be going towards the same direction of alcoholism, who knows), I’m set. Rachel, in a sense, is a darker version of me I’m too scared to face. Alone and a failure, she desperately seeks for something to fill the hole in her soul after her husband left her for another woman. That’s when she found alcohol, and the married couple who lives a few doors down from her former house which she observes almost everyday from the train without failure. She is, what the youths call it, problematic. Filled with flaws and self-doubt, Rachel is nothing less than a human being. I'm not saying alcohol is my savior, or I indulge in the private live of another couple, but I do, at some point, struggle to find something, anything, that gets me through the day. Rachel's train of thought goes to several directions at once, and sometimes not at all, which describes how my state of mind can be sometimes. Compared to other psychological thrillers, let’s say Silent Wife or Gone Girl, it focuses solely on what the character sees at the time, and doesn’t try to overly explain in detail what was happening around them. Amid all the clusterfuck, Paula Hawkins’ characters don’t stray from their personal narratives. Add a jaw dropping plot twist to the mix and you can find me finishing this novel in less than 24 hours. I'm looking forward to the movie, although I hated the idea of moving the story from the UK to the States, because nothing says despair and longing like the British rain. I’m currently working at iPrice Group, a meta-search website operating in seven countries across Southeast Asia namely in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam & Hong Kong. Ever since I jumped into the brunching bandwagon, I've always wanted to go to Antipodean. This little café in the luxurious Bangsar Baru serves all-day breakfast, an array of fusion main course, and authentic coffee (they even had authentic Kopi Luwak which costs a whopping RM40 per cup). Bangsar is quite far from where I live and I don't have the means of transportation to get there (till now, at least), so it took me awhile to be able to (gather the energy) to get there.
When we arrived, we were ushered to the second floor, because the first floor was full. It's quite sad I didn't get to see what people considered 'an Australian atmosphere' in the first floor, but nonetheless, the food made my woes go away. All of our choices lead us to where we are now.
All of our choices define who we are now. Regret only comes when an unknown opportunity was missed, and will never come by again. It is in our nature to always wonder what if. Through our entire lives, we were forced to choose, our personality, our appearance, our friends, our significant other, and oh, so much more. Regret only comes and clouds over our consciousness in the thought of missing all the possibilities. This is inevitable. Some choose to live on edge, surrounded by thrill and danger riding with devils with their arms spread wide. Some choose the path of safety, for those who fear the unknown playing hide and seek with angels. No matter how one lives their life, regret would only come sweeping in when seeds of envy and insecurity are watered. But do we really regret all the choices we made, or didn't make? All the things we chose structure the way we are in the present. We are all where we're supposed to be. Happiness will only come if contentment is found. The universe will unfold as it should. [This poem/prose/writing/fruit of my brain was featured in last semester's edition of Monash Gazette. Shall I say I'm one step closer towards receiving a Pulitzer?]
Despite being surrounded (and almost trampled) by tons of sweaty people, seeing Sonny Moore live was worth all my dimes. After days of being cooped up in my room and the library doing endless assignments, it was time for me to have pure, unadulterated fun with my friends. The concert took place at KL Live last night, on September 23rd. Local DJ H3 and Skrillex's friend Mija were the opening acts, but unfortunately, my group arrived at the venue in the middle of Mija's set. Mija's electronic repertoire was more than enough to hype up the crowd. Sometime during the night, there were a few times when I even preferred Mija's choices of songs than Skrillex's.
Control is my absolute favorite Halsey song on Badlands, and maybe of all time, next to Is There Somewhere from Room 93. I found Halsey through Twitter a couple of months ago, when one of my friends tweeted about her Ghost music video. Despite being only 22, Ashley Frangipane is already making headlines with her striking blue hair and raspy voice. This afternoon, I came across an extremely upsetting article on Malaysian Insider. It discusses UMNO leader, Tan Sri Annuar Musa, justifying racism and using Islam as an excuse. He commented that in Islam, it is allowed to be racist towards others, unless you begin to oppress. He then quoted a hadith (a saying of the Prophet) and interpreted it as a means to justify racism.
Now, I am not at all religious, despite all the things I learned in an Islamic elementary school. However, I do believe the Bible phrase "love your neighbor as yourself" applies to all religions and beliefs. The fact that he used Islam as an excuse to be make racist and bigoted remarks baffle me to no end. The hadith that he mentioned was also most probably misinterpreted. From Wayward Pines to Mr. Robot, both shows left me questioning the state of my mind and the 'reality' that I have known for 19 years. I am not a stranger to these kinds of psychological twists. Following the dark descent of an unreliable narrator is not new to me. However, the mixture of psychological elements with an anti-capitalist view is what attracted me to Mr. Robot.
The season finale was on September 2nd, and I purposely waited for the season to finish to ease the downloading process. I torrented the whole season in one go, and watched the entire season last weekend. Mr. Robot is told through the eyes of Elliot (Rami Malek), an anti-social hacker and IT consultant. Wes Anderson’s cinematic masterpiece, The Grand Budapest Hotel, is a perfect blend of an all-stars ensemble, aesthetically pleasing visuals, and intriguing storyline. This 2013 motion picture revolves around the titular hotel, its employees, and occupants. The Grand Budapest Hotel has traces of nostalgic elements, and would often imbue wanderlust to its viewers. Anderson’s love for symmetrical shots is apparent in the film, while other familiar elements like color schemes, fast paced story progression, and action sequences are also present in the film. Told through the narratives of ‘the Author’ (Tom Wilkinson and Jude Law), The Grand Budapest Hotel is set in a fictional Eastern European country, Zubrowka, in the midst of a war. The movie spawns across different timelines, as different characters recite their stories from different eras and perspectives. The film is divided into 7 chapters, or parts: a prologue, M. Gustave, Madame C.V.D.u.T, Check Point 19: Criminal Internment Camp, The Society of the Crossed Keys, The Second Copy of the Second Will, and an epilogue.
August 9th marked the one year anniversary of the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. The streets of this town are still filled with altercations between its people and uniformed officials. While these factions are rioting, more people, whether armed or not, and whether innocent or not, have been shot and injured by the police, raising the irony in this whole debacle. I am going to divert from my usual topics to talk about this rather important matter. On all of my social media accounts, In these past few weeks, I have seen articles, discussions, and at times, heated debates regarding this, especially concerning the hashtag '#BlackLivesMatter'. While many supports its causes, others have come up with another hashtag, '#AllLivesMatter'. This stirred quite unpleasant exchanges, especially on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. Some would say that all lives do indeed matter, but the use of the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter serves a specific purpose; to raise awareness of police brutality towards African Americans.
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AuthorI'm a KL-based Indonesian content creator. A self-proclaimed meme connoisseur, wannabe astrologer, cat lover & wanderer of the world. Archives
December 2015
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