2011 Resolution

This note was written while I was listening to a German radio station on the evening of Christmas day. Every Saturday I always tune in to catch the top 40 hits program, the radio DJ is cool and so are the music, but since it was Christmas, the playlist was enqueued  with Christmas songs sung by pop artists, which was nice actually. The program runs until 5 pm local time and on this particular day, it started to get me thinking about the radio DJ as he is supposed to be at home surrounded with family members while having roast turkey as dinner menu. When in fact, he was out there sitting in front of computer screens while talking to an emotionless microphone and playing songs for people, who were possibly at home surrounded with their family members while having roast turkey as dinner menu. I hope he left the studio earlier and spent the rest of the day with his family, not in some posh night club in frozen Berlin. I actually had some topics in mind to be written as next year resolution, but thanks to the radio DJ, family time is just included as one of them.

Like previous years, 2010 could really be a good year as university degree is obtained and I managed to secure a job. Looking ahead to 2011, there are couple things which do not promise a good start of the year. Firstly, I will soon be introduced with something called tax, which comes in two disguises: vehicle taxation with potholes on the road and lousy public transport service still be seen; income taxation which so far as I am aware shows not many benefits as it almost certainly be corrupted. Another rather worrying news is, international oil price is currently increasing approaching 100US$ for every barrel. Some economic expert stated that it is merely because increasing demand for fuel in snowy Europe and as soon as spring arrives, the price will return to its psychological level. Don’t exactly get what this “psychological level” means; I just hope it won’t do any damage to my wallet. Nevertheless, only gits welcome a new year with negativities botching into their heads and so I shall turn the table around, in which to this point I will describe something as not good instead of dreadful. So, coming up next year is undoubtedly the long-anticipated job, plenty wishful thoughts on that one honestly. I wouldn’t really care if my boss is murderous, as long as the man is draped in a tremendous amount of patience and welcomes a riddling newbie. In case if you are wondering, I am almost certain that the boss will be a “he”, chiefly because I work as a trainee in a vehicle workshop and it is inevitably dominated by men, although being supervised by a woman will be much more interesting, as long as I don’t get hurled with ratchets or wheel spanners when she goes berserk. Though by contrast, having cooperative and pleasant colleagues with a small hint of competitiveness would be very nice. Another resolution will be a great hope that I don’t have to bring the work home. Having carefully traced back into the olden days, I used to not liking homework very much when I was in high school, and then I loathed it when I went to the university, although the idiom “practice makes perfect” deemed to be right. Homework kills both me time and family time, not once had I been very amused with homework and it will most likely apply next year. In search of solution to this issue, I would make sure to compensate it by working over hour in the workplace. On top of that, the New Year resolution includes me never blabbing about odd interest in posting crappy articles on the internet to my superior, otherwise this note would be accessible to him and I should be dead by then.

 "Wish you have a blissful New Year celebration, enjoy!"

Aside from being a good trainee at work, I don’t really have any wishes else as resolutions. Others might have wishes like quit smoking or stop drinking, whom I wish best of luck, although the irritating truth by the end of the year is they are to be seen with a glass of beer on the left hand, cigarette on the other, while the mouth churning out smoke like a 18^th century coal-fired locomotive.  I neither smoke nor drink, so I am good and moving on. The other day I went out with my acquaintances and one of them insisted that that I looked unmaintained, which I think was a form of euphemism as his face expression explained dishonesty; probably I looked more sort of like a mess in his mind. Yes, again. It was a “he”. Wouldn’t it be any more tragic than accepting attention on how I look from a bloke? Still, despite the bothersome and yet rather unexpected comment, I will consider grooming a bit. And that is as far as it might go.

Concerning writing, next year promises more topics to be written as the job offers a great deal amount of excitement on the paper and a lot of new social experiences. This note therefore marks the last article this year and expects to see a different writing style next year. As a working guy, next year’s articles could be written in a wiser and grown-up manner. Or the other way around, they could get more annoying and contain only complaints, partly because the author is no longer a student and therefore doesn’t exhibit any portions of intelligence à la academicians. Until the next posting, wish you have a blissful New Year celebration, enjoy!

Tron: Legacy

Just arriving home from the screening of Tron: Legacy and immediately dashing in front of the computer to write has never been a story of mine to make up. It is Monday evening and the theatre is surprisingly packed with audiences looking forward to a good sci-fi thriller movie. It is a sequel to the original Tron back in 1982, where I was not around yet. I asked both my mom and dad about whether they had heard one back then, but it appears that they literally had no idea about what a “theatre” is. So, I write this review without knowing what the original movie looks like. The movie opens with the son of a pioneering software programmer, Sam Flynn, who is haunted of his father’s disappearance when he was a kid. Twenty years later he receives a paging message from Flynn’s long-shut gaming arcade where his father usually took him to play. Sam then decides to investigate the message and inside the arcade, Sam discovers an underground office where his father used to work with all system still working, he calls the command log and inputs some commands activating a digitizing laser which transported him to the imaginary world. The story begins from there on, revealing that his father, Kevin Flynn, is actually still alive although in an imaginary world inside a computer system. Twenty years before, Kevin created a digital frontier inside a virtual domain of a gaming system called The Grid, where he created two programs, Tron and Clu, which act as front liners to secure The Grid and to build a perfect system respectively. During the development of The Grid which involves something so-called isomorphic algorithm (ISO) manifesting out with potential of unlocking numerous mysteries in science, Clu saw it as an imperfection to the system and following his programming, systematically destroyed the whole programs but one, Quorra which is the last and only surviving ISO saved by Kevin. That said, it was a coup d’état with Clu betraying both Kevin and Tron, and seizing control of The Grid. Later on, Clu also takes control of Tron by reprogramming it as Rinzler to serve him. With The Grid under Clu’s power, Kevin could not accessed the portal to the real world and as a result, he was trapped in the virtual world and never return ever since. Despite this, Kevin as the system creator could choose to “re-integrate” with Clu, but at a cost of destroying them both and The Grid, that also means he will never see his son again. He subsequently moves away from The Grid as it was found out that Clu is chasing after his identity disc which is the master key to the real world, a perfection according to Clu’s programming algorithm. Kevin’s identity disc would allow Clu and all programs escape to the real world and perfecting (or probably attacking) human beings. During the reunification, Sam told Kevin that he received a paging message from the gaming arcade, it was revealed that Kevin is not the one who sent out the message, but it was Clu to provoke Kevin coming out from his his hideout, exposing his identity disc. The story proceeds on Sam’s attempt to bring his father reaching the portal along with Quorra’s help with various intrigues by Clu and the programs. Sam, Kevin and Quorra eventually reach the portal only to find their presence is already expected by Clu. Clu seizes Kevin to bring him back to the Grid while sending Sam and Quorra to the portal. Having Kevin in his hand, Clu also seizes Kevin’s identity disc and is horrified to find out that it had been switched with Quorra’s. Clu then returns to chase after Sam and Quorra, but Kevin uses his powers as a program user and creator to hold Clu back, and ultimately sacrifices himself by re-integrating with Clu. The two merge and explode as Sam and Quorra transport through the portal back to the real world.

Jeff Bridges as both Kevin Flynn and Clu

Having seen the movie, I have to say that just like Avatar, the storyline is somehow not made as good as it could have been with some plot holes and the characters get lost amidst the state-of-the-art production design. And because of the moderate script writing, I once thought that it is a kind of movie that could not win the Academy Award and, it is an ironic fact to tell after I found out that the original Tron actually earned an Oscar nomination for Best Costume Design and the lead actor, Jeff Bridges, won an Oscar last year. However, the real deal of is the technology used to produce the movie.  In the original Tron,

Futuristic wardrobe design on Tron: Legacy

Jeff Bridges is scanned by a laser and teleported to the digital world. Appropriately, the wardrobe worn by the casts was design in much the same way. Each actor underwent an entire body scan and the suits are generated in the computer to create a perfect posture and body fit. To create glowing effects, the suits are electroluminescent lamps running through neoprene rubber and each cast carries battery pack on their back to power the lamp. Meanwhile, Jeff Bridges plays the protagonist character Kevin Flynn, who created antagonist Clu as a direct copy of his appearance. Now, it is very interesting because unlike Clu which is a program, Kevin Flynn is a biological human being which had disappeared for twenty years and he certainly aged. So in the movie, the 61-year-old Jeff Bridges portrays the old Kevin Flynn, and he also provides the facial expression and acting of Clu, then the creative and visual effect department uses Computer Generated Image (CGI) to de-age him to almost about 30 years old, a technology which is featured and could only be dreamed about in the original Tron back then.

 "I am preparing to lose another dime to watch the 3D version of this movie."

Tron: Legacy is recommendable as it is worth the penny to watch and it certainly will be a box office hit. Make no mistake to know that the movie director, Joseph Kosinski, studied architecture and is a professor assistant to a university where he helps student with 3D modeling and graphics, so I think he really puts a great deal amount of knowledge and creative ideas into this movie. Jeff Bridges also plays good as both a protagonist and antagonist character. But what scores in the end is that it is a creative piece of technology show case about how human and machine might be interacting in the future, with an undeniably great attempt on cutting-edge visual effects. The film is made with a captivating visual appeal to the eyes with its stylishly futuristic filming sets and fantastic work on the wardrobe design. It is also an orchestral score to the ears with a generous treat on 3D sound experience involving a lot of fusion electronic dance music. Despite the moderate story and not deeply explored character acting, I am preparing to lose another dime to watch the 3D version of this movie. Until the next posting, enjoy!

Living Cost

Bad news everyone: Living cost in the world is getting expensive, especially to citizens of Jakarta who could only spare a very little amount of dime to survive, me likewise. The fact is, within one week time I was choked up by news which does not support any whim of living happily ever after, thus this note only contains a bunch of complains and so if you are expecting a piece of writing that is intelligent and entertaining to be read, then I am afraid this would be a disappointment. Soon after getting a job, most people would make plans on how their life would look like in the future and so I do. I plan to be promoted after two or three years of employment period, then get a raise and start considering of personal relationship. But now, the plan is utterly ruined since costs are getting steeper and there will only be literally one cent left to spare. Now, allow me to explain why.   

You see, the government recently introduced two incredible ideas to make an end-of-year celebration. Obviously I don’t understand what has possessed people in the government that they could come up with such ideas. In fact I don’t exactly know what “the government” is, probably like a circus show or something rather, so please excuse myself for not going to law school. Anyway, the first idea is that cars with black license plate are no longer allowed to be refueled with subsidized unleaded fuel starting January 2011, which in the language of Homo sapiens means that private cars must be refueled only with more expensive petrol. It really is a love and hate decision as you could spot several good and negative points. The government says that it would do better on the environment; allowing mosquitoes around my house to live longer. They say it would save 500,000 kilolitres of fuel if the rule is applied within Jakarta and satellite cities area, but again they say a lot of things. Even so, it sounds great although at a cost of damaging my wallet, which could have been severe. Solution? Two-wheeler is untouched by this rule, but I won’t recommend that, because I have one and if you or anyone else get one too, then the road would be clogged up and I can’t go anywhere. Instead, I would suggest you to use public transport, but if you don’t want to, you could register your car as a taxi, because public transport is the only form of automobile other than motorcycle that is unaffected by this rule. Good eh? Save more money, though with a tad unbearable and foul odor by strangers who sit in your car.
  

"Wouldn’t it be an insult to common-sense if I ever consider registering myself as the owner of Mars?"

Instead of registering your car as a cab, another solution to save more money is to cut down on food. Some people might find this idea stupid, me for instance. But as a freshman in early career steps, there are priorities and sacrifices need to be made, and so this is how the idea comes handy and acceptable. The best solution is obviously cook by yourself, but if you don’t have time to do it, you surely then will eat out and it immediately leads to a problem. In hard times like this, I am afraid some places are an irrelevant luxury which should be wisely avoided. Café? Forget it. Restaurant? Drop it. Delicatessen? Only in your dream. Solution? Small-time vendors like Padang canteen or Warung Tegal (warteg) would be best. Tragically, the government is also imposing new tax to these types of establishment, 10% for vendors which make an annual income beyond 60 million IDR. I work out that sum of money is equally about 167.000 IDR per day, which is not a lot and I reckon that is just about selling 30 plates of regular meal in average. Not much to my surprise, pretty much all Padang canteen or Warteg will be exposed to taxation, because selling 30 plates in a day doesn’t sound like beyond-belief. So, if your new year resolution happens to be eating in a Padang canteen that is non-tax collected, you should find one that tastes awful, because that is the only reason they can’t sell more than 30 plates a day.

Truth be told, none of those stories really makes the cut for today’s worry. I was actually very concerned with news coming from Europe, which has been all over the internet and it really is a rather disturbing squabble. It was about a middle-aged Spanish woman who recently registered the sun at a local notary public to make a legal claim of her ownership. Exactly. The Sun, that giant fire ball thing floating about the space. The worst bit is, she wants to charge everyone who uses it and it is very likely that I am included. Of course, anyone might get fishy about where the money would go and so she explained. She said that that she would give half of the proceeds to the Spanish government and 20% to the nation’s pension fund. She would dedicate another 10% to research, another 10% to ending world hunger — and would keep the remaining 10% herself. Also, much to your surprise, the Spanish lady was not suddenly on a whim to claim ownership to the Sun, she took the step after reading about an American man who had registered himself as the owner of the Moon. Immediately after reading the article, I couldn’t help but feeling stupid and hollow, knowing that I didn’t have to go to the university, work my ass off to get a degree, then get a job to pay for fuel or meal tax in a Padang canteen. I could just imitate what the Spanish woman had done, I just need to hire several financial consultants and accountants to handle people paying their monthly “Sun bill”. It did sound utterly stupid but it doesn’t against the law. Seriously, while I was looking for support article to this news, I learned that there is an international agreement that no country may claim ownership to stars or planets, but there has been no rule which regulate about individual ownership. But then, wouldn’t it be an insult to common-sense if I ever consider registering myself as the owner of Mars? Until the next posting, enjoy!