back in the blueless city
So I came back from the island-hopping vacay about two weeks ago. It was great! There were three of us, all girls. We ended up spending a night in Lovina, two nights in Ubud, one night in Senggigi, four nights in Gili Air, a night in Gili Trawangan, then back to Bali for two more nights in Ubud, and then I got back earlier to Jakarta while my sis and Dee stayed two extra nights in Legian. I got back early because I wanted to meet Diana before she went back to Wellington on Sunday (which, on the night before the supposed departure she just realised that she got the date wrong - her flight was actually on Monday.. duh, Di! XD)
After about a week or so, I kinda started missing the city... (I'm truly a big-city girl at heart), but as soon as the traffic jam at 10 p.m. and especially the grey-sky morning hit me, I instantly want to go back to the beach :3 And almost every night last week I had dreams of vacationing! Anyway, I got the tan I wanted, but darn, my skin's going back to its natural tone too quickly :/
On Monday, I went to PIM to watch The Dark Knight (believe it or not, even on vacation, on July 18th I actually thought 'oh no, Dark Knight opens today and I won't be able to watch it!') But I've been feeling unwell since the night before and I felt even worse, so after just a quick lunch I went back home :< I was feeling sick for a few days - it's probably the accumulation of all those two weeks waking up early and sleeping late, long bus & boat rides, and walking everywhere with 7kgs on my back; plus PMS and a severe case of masuk angin :p On Tuesday, I went to BP with my sis in a second attempt to watch The Dark Knight. It's really close from our house & the cinema is cheap, but really I don't prefer watching movies there - several times I went there something always go bad - cuts in the middle, blurry picture, not-so-surround sound,... so I thought, this is not the cinema to watch something like The Dark Knight! My sis haven't watched Wanted, so finally I decided to tag along and watch Wanted again for the second time (the first time was right before the vacation).
About Wanted... I don't understand why so far I haven't met anyone who can say they like the film! Okay, some things in it were kinda silly and didn't make much sense (if not absurd), but come ooooon, it's based on a graphic novel! It's meant to be over-the-top! As for me, I can safely say I like the film. No, scratch that, I LOVE Wanted! Before watching it, I thought it would be just another action movie from a comic, and honestly the only reason I went to see it was James McAvoy <3 :p But it exceeds my expectation. It's stylish (and I'm such a sucker for stylish films), fast-paced, has a twisted plot, action-packed and never dull - it's fun but not exactly mindless entertainment, just my kind of thriller. I would gladly get the DVD when it's out.
So back to The Dark Knight, I finally watched it on Thursday. That day was the day of Alicia Keys concert, and Imbi and me, having tried everything to get cheaper tix and failed (the original ticket price from the evil promoter was ridiculously expensive), was wallowing and being sulky about it. I kinda wanted to just go to the venue on the concert time and try our luck with the scalpers when the show has started (even though I can't haggle and i freakin' HATE scalpers), but Imbi said slim chance - last year on Beyonce she did this and didn't get it any cheaper. So I tried my damnedest hard to tell myself it was okay not going to the concert (even though she's one of my favorite singer & I've been waiting for her to come *cries*... but hey, I don't have her first album so I mustn't be that big of a fan, no? ~_~), to forget about it, to just kill the mood. So what better time to finally watch The Dark Knight and immerse my mind in the glory that is batman? :p
Well I went to see it, finally, but after about half the film Imbi kept calling on my cellphone xp I don't want to pick up my phone while being in a theatre (and I hate people who do so), but I kept thinking, she musct be calling about the concert... what if she got cheap tickets?... what if she got free tickets?... what if...? So then some text message exchanging happened and I lost my concentration to the film. Darnit. I NEED TO WATCH IT AGAIN! But yeah from that disrupted first viewing, I think it's great. Long but worth-it, with non-stop action from beginning to end, a story that makes you think, thrilling sequences and all. I love my batman dark and violent like that. That twist near the end with bombs on the two boats... I love it. And I almost screamed 'Noooooooo!' when Gordon died, but well... we all know what happens after that. So glad that Rachel Dawes is played by a much better actress (although I can't say I'm a fan of Maggie Gyllenhaal either, but she's definitely better. I can't stand Katie Holmes AT ALL). The rest of the cast are fairly good too. And Joker... omg, he's just so disturbing! All the props to Heath, he gave it all in that role. The expression, the body language, even his voice was changed. I hardly recognized him beyond all those scary make-up. So sad to know such amazing actor is not with us anymore. I felt the film could do better in editing though... or was it because some parts were cut/censored, leaving it appeared choppy? Dunno.
After the film was over, I quickly got back to Imbi and... no, she hadn't score free or even cheaper tix, but she heard that scalpers were lowering their prices already and she thought we could go give it a try. Arghh. I've tried so hard all day to kill the mood and then this? It was late, there were no guarantee that we would get it, and I was just not really into it anymore... so I went home and Imbi went alone. Turned out that somehow, she got in, using the 750rb ticket for the price of only 130rb. She was very late, only got about the last half hour of the show, but yeah, she saw Ms. Keys live in concert! She let me call her cellphone and listen to the whole thing... (which was kinda weird at first, because it sounded as though she put her celly in front of a radio for me to listen to) and I ended up singing along to every song, heh heh ^^;
Now a quick change of topic. I was so glad that the local tv was broadcasting both Emirates Cup and Amsterdam Tournament! Too bad Arsenal couldn't keep the Emirates Cup title, but at least we got to see the new boys... Vela, Ramsey, Nasri, and some others; plus some faces that were more often warming the bench last season. The new boys looked quite promising... and the one that really caught my attention was Jack Wilshere - he was really good. And he's still such a baby! 16 years-old?!?! (God, kids like him make me feel old and have wasted my youth >_>;) But well, even the average age of the squad is lesser than my age. It's terrifying XD Amsterdam Tourney was even more fun because we won, yay! Cesc looked so fit now. Theo should start regularly next season. Robin should start scoring again, yes? The defense needs to be more solid. Can't really say I love the new kit (especially the away kit), but I think it'll grow on me. And is it just me, or is Nicky looked so much hotter that last season? :p Oh, and I was glad to see Eduardo well and without crutches! Hopefully him and Rosicky (I so so miss Rosa) can recover fully pretty soon and get back on the pitch. I really can't wait for the new season to begin!!!
Q Film Festival this week. And they're showing Les Chansons d'Amour!!! Must-watch-againnnn!!! I think I'm gonna go try to catch some other screenings.
There's still about three weeks of hols before the new semester starts (and the first class would be seminar proposal tesis... oh godd the horror!), but right now I'm terribly, terribly skint so there's not much I can do :3 Nonetheless, things I have to/ wanna do in the remaining time:
- read, read, read
- get a haircut
- go to campus and check out some theses at the library @_@
- go around jakarta & visit museums
- go to bandung for a weekend (okay, that'll need some money :| )
- go swimming (but first get a new swimmingsuit - which is expensive, argh)
- go dvd-hunting in mangdu (or if i'm feeling a bit adventurous, pinangsia)
- GET OWEN FIXED!!!