Paradiso Perduto

Starry Night Over The Rhone (1888) by Vincent van Gogh, oil on canvas The lark is silent in his nest, The breeze is sighing in its flight, Sleep, Love, and peaceful be thy rest. Good-night, my love, good-night, good-night. Sweet dreams' attend thee in thy sleep, To soothe thy rest till morning's light, And angels round thee vigil keep. Good-night, my love, good-night, good-night. Sleep well, my love, on night's dark breast, And ease thy soul with slumber bright; Be joy but thine and I am blest. Good-night, my love, good-night, good-night (Paul Laurence Dunbar) :)

Kepala kamu aman, tapi angin ributnya ada di hati kamu. Kamu kan orangnya gitu. Kamu itu mengedepankan rasio, rasio, rasio. Kalau soal logika, jagonya. Tapi emosinya ditekan. Mulai sekarang belajarlah. Balance. (Wejangan Bang Iqbal sebelum ngefasil di BSOT, Minggu kemarin) Kamu tuh Master of Logic banget Ver . Kalau sayang, sayang aja sih Ver. Ekspresiin perasaan kamu. Kalau harus ngerepotin orang ya sudahlah. Terima aja. (Dian Palur. Iya, iya, berisik ih, ceramah melulu nih :p) Coba kamu hayati merem sebagai suatu kenikmatan. Merem itu boleh, bukan buang-buang waktu. Kamu belajar lebih berani, tegakkan postur kamu. Biar kamu bisa move on . (Wejangan Bang Iqbal lagi. Tapi Bang, saya curiga saya memang skoliosis ringan, gimana dong. *bikin mental note periksa ke dokter spesialis tulang*) EEEH BANG? EMANG KELIATAN BANGET YA KALAU SAYA NGGAK BISA MOVE ON? (Vera, panik. Ini Bang Iqbal tau dari mana sih? Dari gerak-gerik, oke, tapi gerak-gerik yang mana? Ah, ini mist...

I'm still on my Okada Masaki weekly movie-watching marathon, and this is the movie of the week! Woot!  Kokuhaku International Movie Poster Confessions (Kokuhaku) Japanese:  告白 Director:   Tetsuya Nakashima Writer:   Kanae Minato  (novel),  Tetsuya Nakashima Release Date:   June 5, 2010 Runtime:  106 min. You can watch it here Belum pernah nonton film ini sebelumnya, walaupun sudah tahu film ini ada dari lama. Padahal kalau dilihat dari award -nya, ini film tidak diragukan lagi kualitasnya. Matsu Takako (pemeran Yoko Moriguchi), Okada Masaki, dan Nakashima Tetsuya  panen nominasi (dan menang beberapa). Film ini juga merupakan official Academy Award submission dari Jepang untuk kategori film asing terbaik. Terus kenapa nggak segera nonton? Well, let's see the brief synopsis (as written in AsianWiki ) : Middle school teacher Yoko Moriguchi's ( Takako Matsu ) life comes crashing down after the murder of her 4 y...

Lately I make re-watching and blabbering about Okada Masaki's movie my new hobby. Terlihat dari apa yang saya baca secara sporadis di internet, tampaknya Masaki-san ( I learned Japanese honorifics to call him this! LOL ) adalah up and coming actor di Jepang sana, atau mungkin sudah level superstar ya? Yang mana pun, saya ikut senang sama perkembangan karirnya, and I do hope that I will be watching more of him in the future .  This is a rather old (released in 2009) movie. One look at the movie poster, and you know it's a potentially tear-jerker. That being said, I don't hate sad movies, but I do have some precaution taken if I want to watch one: I prefer to watch it alone, so no one would see me when I broke into an ugly (or not-so-ugly) cry. Watching with friends, non-noisy and non-belittling one, is okay too, though. Prepare a doll nearby. I always have an urge to hug something when I watch something heartbreaking. No tissues. Please. Have you heard that tissues...

Beberapa hari yang lalu, saya menemukan blog becomingicha.blogspot.com saat mencari video dan recap drama Taira no Kiyomori . I enjoy reading her blog and I feel like we're instant comrade when I find that she has a...uh...crush on Okada Masaki . OMG YES ME TOO Well I might not be too vocal about it, but I LIKE OKADA MASAKI SO MUCH. I hate being shallow but how could I not? I mean, he's like the embodiment of the concept of ikemen . His face has a westernish feeling  but still distinctly Japanese that he could play Minamoto no Yoritomo , the first Japanese shogun. Maybe I'm highly biased but...really, I think he's a great actor with a wide range of role, from a manly man who likes girly things in Otomen to an idealistic young surgeon in Seinaru Kaibutsutachi (Holy Monsters) to an artistic boy with antisocial tendencies in Gravity's Clown (Jyuryoku Pierrot) Saya membaca-baca review Kak Icha (Iya tau, SKSD amat manggil Kak) di blognya dan menemukan reviewny...

Elizabeth von Arnim? Siapa sih? Penulis? Nulis buku apa? Kok aku nggak pernah denger ya? Elizabeth von Arnim (source from here ). A demure picture (probably because of the ancient camera), but inside her there was a charming imagination and witty sense of humor Worry not, not knowing Elizabeth von Arnim is not a sign that you are not well-read. Namanya memang nggak sebeken penulis wanita zaman baheula lain, misalnya Jane Austen atau Bronte bersaudara. Saya nggak tahu apakah ada karyanya yang sudah diterjemahkan dalam Bahasa Indonesia (kayaknya belum ada * sigh *). Kalau melihat jumlah fans dan pembacanya di Goodreads, jangan-jangan memang dia tidak dikenal dengan luas, bahkan di luar negeri sana. Saya pun menemukan karyanya nggak sengaja, gara-gara buka-buka rekomendasi buku di Goodreads . Katanya, berdasarkan buku-buku yang selama ini saya baca, kemungkinan saya bakal suka buku ini : Vera , by Elizabeth von Arnim . Gila, tau aja goodreads kalau saya rada narsis, hehe. Maka s...