Daftar book hunting Februari 2008

Beberapa judul buku yang masuk keranjang belanjaan bulan ini:

- Sebelum Cahaya : Karla M Nashar
Tertarik baca ini karena From Batavia with Love-nya OK.

- Claudia/Jasmine: Maggie Tiojakin
Filmnya katanya bagus, jadi karena blom sempet nonton baca bukunya dulu deh. Bagus juga :)

- LOVE: Moammar Emka
Penasaran sama filmnya dan kmrn nonton, wah ternyata bagus banget!

- Dongeng seluruh negeri: buku masa kecil nih, pernah hilang dan ternyata ada cetakan 2008 yang ketigabelas jadi kubeli deh.
Nice illustrations. Jadi ngoleksi buku dongeng lagi deh.

- Emma 6: Kaoru Mori
Dark and beautiful, as always. Kadang pengen cepet-cepet ngabisin serialnya aja tapi di gramedia lama keluarnya.

- One Litre of Tears: Aya Kito
Komiknya bagus, sama persis dengan movie-nya.

Yang akan dibeli:

- Satu Hari Berani: Sitta Karina
Kumcernya Sitta, pengen ngebaca nih..

- Seluas Langit Biru: Sitta Karina
Cerita Bianca. I'm collecting her books too.

- Dunia Mereka 2: Monty Tiwa
Sempet kehabisan tapi ternyata masih ada yang ngejual.

- One Gigabyte of Love
Karena ada ceritanya Vilia, dan 52 kisah blogger lain.

- Orang-orang Bloomington: Budi Darma
Pengen banget baca kumcer ini..

Kelima buku di atas sudah masuk keranjang belanjaan minggu ini :D Happy reading!

Launching Kenangan Abu-Abu (tentatif)

Menunggu dengan excited, gembira sekaligus nervous :)
Buku Kenangan Abu-Abu akan launching bulan ini.
Baru saja dapat kabar dari penerbit kalau urusan percetakan sudah selesai.
Hore! Hore! Hore!

Kenangan Abu-Abu will be in stores soon!

Rutinitas Menulis

Times New Roman 11.
Spasi 1.5
Justified paragraph.

Kursor berkedip-kedip.
Layar putih kosong tak terisi.

Saya berpikir.
Menyusun kata dalam hati.
Jari menyentuh ujung abjad keyboard tanpa tergesa
mengetesnya
menunggu

dan kursor masih berkedip.
Layar masih kosong.

Saya masih berpikir.

Saya bangun pada jam 7 yang menyerupai jam 5 pagi

Pagi ini ketika alarm bunyi, saya kira salah jam karena di luar gelap sekali. Bagaikan matahari belum terbit! Dan ketika akhirnya siap-siap ke kantor dengan pakaian yang sama sekali gak cocok dengan cuaca tak bersahabat di luar (mini dress putih dan heels perak kesukaan saya), ternyata di luar banjir meluap di mana-mana.

Kaki saya terendam air.
Untung pake sendal, bukan sepatu.

Hujannya lebat sekali.

Tapi entah kenapa, saat duduk dalam mobil dengan rasa aman karena terlindung dari badai di luar sana, ada rasa nyaman dan tenang yang menyelimuti. Ditemani lagu mellow Peter Cox: If You Walk Away yang cocok untuk cuaca kelabu begini, saya pun menghangatkan tubuh sambil membiarkan diri sendiri rileks. Pikiran terbang entah ke mana.

Ternyata, memandang air hujan berlarian di kaca mobil dan melihat langit kelabu tak berawan bisa membuat saya setenang ini. Kabut, kabut di mana-mana, hingga saya kesulitan melihat gedung apartemen kamu dari tempat saya. Mendung, mendung sehingga deretan pulau seribu yang biasa jelas dari jendela rumah saya, seakan menghilang entah ke mana. Ombak laut bergulung-gulung. Tetes hujan beriak-riak. Dan saya... saya jatuh cinta.

Calling in Life: My article in RDI February 2008

Salah satu artikel berbahasa Inggris saya dimuat di bagian Morsel of Life majalah Readers Digest Indonesia Februari 2008 yang terbit akhir bulan Januari ini.

:D

senangnya. Ini kali kedua saya dapat kesempatan menulis di RDI untuk Morsel of Life.

Dan sebentar lagi buku Kenangan Abu-Abu akan terbit di pasaran. Hore...

Unjuk Gigi dan Kenangan

Rasanya sekitar enam bulan yang lalu saya menemukan sebuah website tulis-menulis melalui sebuah milis, lantas menjadi member tetap di sana. Saya bertemu dengan belasan penulis lain yang sangat, sangat berkaliber - membuat saya kagum, membuat saya makin hobi menulis, dan juga belajar bagaimana menilai karya orang lain. Tidak secara judgmental, tapi dengan menilai struktur, bahasa, gaya, ide dan cara penulisan masing-masing individu.

Beberapa saat yang lalu nama-nama seperti splinters, v1valdi, fortherose, w1tch, neko, brown, bluer, noir dan masih banyak lagi, termasuk salah satunya juga miss worm, kerap lalu lalang di lalu lintas kemudian.com. Cerita-cerita mereka sangat meng-inspirasi saya yang hanya seorang pemula. Review mereka 'memperbaiki' kemalasan saya menulis dan menyelami tulisan saya. K.com bahkan membuat saya menulis setiap hari, hingga akhirnya berhasil menyelesaikan beberapa novel dan cerpen yang jauh lebih baik dari karya saya dulunya.

Jadi, dengan adanya acara unjuk gigi yang dipelopori miss worm hari ini, saya jadi teringat kembali. Sayang baru beberapa orang yang berpartisipasi sampai jam makan siang ini.

Menulislah terus. Karena tanpa menulis, saya rasa saya bisa gila.

Blueberry Cheesecake

Siang ini saya mendapatkan sebuah kue kejutan. It's been such a long time since I last ate a cheesecake. Blueberry cheesecake!

Our favorite in Australia besides the tiramisu cheesecake.

It looks so yummy.

Thank you, my fellow colleagues!

Happy birthday to me, I'm 22 this year. Not exactly an age for festive celebration coz I'm getting older. Haha.

About Love (movie)

I recently catch a movie named About Love just because the synopsis seems interesting enough. There are 3 stories involving two languages: Japanese and Mandarin. Three couples are divided between three stages of the movie: Tokyo, Taipei, Shanghai.

My favorite is the first one. The first half hour is so interesting that I fall in love with the quietness of the movie, the beautiful landscape and the way the movie is made. Simple, nothing outrageous, with quiet soundtracks, little dialogues and lots of silent sweet gestures. Misaki Ito as the painter and Wilson Chen, a Chinese cartoonist living in Tokyo, act exceptionally well.

The second one is the least interesting but the one that gets me laughing the most. A reckless Japanese man helps a woman get over her broken heart, but he doesn't really know how to. They go through a painful conversation - painful because they cannot understand what each other is speaking.

The last one is teary and beautiful. The daughter of the shopkeeper who rents the house to a Japanese teacher falls in love with him. But her love seems unrequited, and he does not even know she loves him until he comes back a year later. Out of every Japanese movie ever made, I think this is the best one. I love it!

A Little Romance (movie)

Starring: Laurence Olivier, Diane Lane, Thelonious Bernard, Sally Kellerman, Arthur Hill

Director: George Roy Hill

Studio: Warner Bros.

Rating: PG

Genre: Comedy / Romance

Release Date: April 27, 1979

Oscar Winner: Won 1 Oscar in 1980

SYNOPSIS:

Amazon.com
Sandwiched between Slap Shot and The World According to Garp, George Roy Hill made this effervescent film about first love. A sharp American girl (Diane Lane, in her debut) and a film-loving Parisian boy (Thelonious Bernard, in his only film) fall innocently in love. When the girl's zealous mother (Sally Kellerman) goes ballistic, the young couple fall under the spell of a curious gentleman (none other than Laurence Olivier), who plants the seed to make their love last forever: to kiss under a Venetian bridge at sunset. As the love story becomes an adventure with the young lovers crossing France and Italy, Allan Burns's Oscar-nominated script and Hill's deft touch turn this into a romance for the ages and a movie to smile about. George Delerue's Oscar-winning score and the picturesque European scenery don't hurt either. --Doug Thomas

Track listing

1.	Main Title (03:13)
2.	Love's Not Like That (01:04)
3.	Paris Montage (02:34)
4.	Julius Edmond Santorin (03:45)
5.	The Young Lovers (01:50)
6.	Off to Italy (02:17)
7.	Birthday Party (02:40)
8.	Outdoor Cafe (02:47)
9.	Moving On (00:28)
10.	A Little Romance (01:31)
11.	The Bicycle Race (04:29)
12.	The Lovers' Decision (01:03)
13.	Venice (01:26)
14.	Hiding in the Movies (02:24)
15.	No Turning Back (01:12)
16.	The Gondola (02:00)
17.	Farewell ... For Now (03:16)
18.	End Title (02:15)

Total Duration: 00:40:14

I first saw the movie when I was fourteen, and no movie had ever charmed me the way this one did. I bought the original DVD via Amazon.com around seven years later, since the title is always stuck in the back of my mind. It is worth every dollar, every minute, every laughter.

The romantic movie brings a smile to my face everytime I make time to watch it. Plain good fun. A story of teenage love has always bowled me over, and the performances of all three main characters are so believable and real. Diane Lane and Thelonius Bernard make a cute couple, although there are moments of stiff chemistry and bad acting, I am still utterly convinced and I love it just the same.

One man who makes this movie even more worth watching is Sir Laurence Olivier, whose character we all adore and sympathize in. He makes the movie more fun and suspenseful on its part, with little twists and romance in the very end.

Watch this movie, buy the DVD. You will never regret it.

Sleigh Ride

Just hear those sleigh bells jingling,

Ring-ting tingling too.

Come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you.

Outside the snow is falling and friends are calling "yoo-hoo!",

Come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you.

Giddy-up, giddy-up, giddy-up, let's go,

Let's look at the show.

We're riding in a wonderland of snow.

Giddy-up, giddy-up, giddy-up, it's grand,

Just holding your hand.

We're riding along with a song of a wintry fairy land.

Our cheeks are nice and rosy and comfy cozy are we,

We're snuggled close together like two birds of a feather would be.

Let's take that road before us and sing a chorus or two.

Come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you.

There's a birthday party at the home of Farmer Gray,

It'll be the perfect ending of a perfect day.

We'll be singing the songs we love to sing without a single stop.

At the fireplace where we'll watch the chestnuts pop. ("pop-pop-pop")

There's a happy feeling nothing in the world can buy,

As they pass around the coffee and the pumpkin pie.

It'll nearly be like a picture print by Currier & Ives.

These wonderful things are the things we remember all through our lives.

Just hear those sleigh bells jingling

Ring-ting tingling too.

Come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you.

Outside the snow is falling and friends are calling "yoo-hoo!",

Come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you.

Giddy-up, giddy-up, giddy-up, let's go,

Let's look at the show.

We're riding in a wonderland of snow.

Giddy-up, giddy-up, giddy-up, it's grand,

Just holding your hand.

We're riding along with a song of a wintry fairy land.

Our cheeks are nice and rosy and comfy cozy are we,

We're snuggled close together like two birds of a feather would be.

Let's take that road before us and sing a chorus or two.

Come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you.

My Christmas song - my favorite ever :) Have a happy Christmas everyone!!!