Some Lessons From THIS IS IT THE MOVIE

I hadn’t really planned to see This Is IT on Wednesday but Mr. Ihsan gave me a free ticket to watch this movie because I won Michael Jackson Spelling Bee (which you may wonder what it is).  He told us we should watch this movie to give us inspirations about Michael Jackson just in case XI-IPA C is working on drama about him.  So yeah there we went! We got to see This Is It. Oh I missed EF class

It was both incredibly wonderful and incredibly painful to watch.  I was really surprised at how good it was. It impressed me how the director arranged the rehearsals. He allowed MJ to control most of the process. I was very impressed with the manner of Michael Jackson too. In a great scene toward the end, Michael thanks his musicians and dancers for bringing their best, and says, “I love you all.” I also remember Michael Jackson loves saying “I love you” and “God bless you”. It is s a message, message of love.  It shows MJ as he really is, he’s really humble and really dedicated to the fans even though he’s the King of Pop. He wanted everything perfect and that it was, seriously.  Let me tell you first, I’m not such a big fan of Michael Jackson. But this man is truly a true icon, a musical genius, the Moonwalker and great entertainer yet he inspires me and so many people.  So my point is; fan or not, you can view this movie and appreciate his talent and he had it. It was painful to watch though. Why? ‘Cause the whole movie just made me feel so bad for all of the people involved in that concert, because they had been working so hard to do it and they never got to do a show. That really sucks. I think it would have been an incredible show.

I have to say that the performances are remarkable. Musically and visually I was really impressed and came away singing all the songs. The dancing is rewarding. The backup dancers are great in the usual way; they are the best in the world, probably.  I saw the tryouts, and the announcements of the winners. The dancers, guitarist, backing vocalists, director, etc, they are truly extraordinary people. Each time I see them, they are working hard as if their lives depended on it. It encourages me so much that I have to work as hard as those extraordinary people.

Among those incredible scenes in this movie, my favorite parts in the movie are when he is talking about the Earth Song and his concerns with environment. It was so touching I almost cried. You know, in many ways I am truly pursuing my dream to be an environmental scientist. I want to heal the earth and help make it a better place for future somehow to save the earth from what humans have done to this planet. It’s scientifically proven that scientists agree 97 percent humans play a role in global warming. I don’t want those beautiful forests to be ‘once upon a time’. Michael Jackson created an amazing song with lyrically deep and melodically simple. He sent a truly meaningful message from this song that as humans we have to take care and take responsibility about the future of this planet.  It inspires me so much how MJ was truly concerned with the environment.

Makes sense huh?

Okay. So it’s probably Mr. Ihsan’s expectation, XI IPA C should perform a better drama plays after watching This Is It. As a music director, I learned so many things from this movie. The music, the songs, sound effects, all the things, they’re just perfect. I’m working on to be a better music director, I promise. Because I want to be good in every role I play, I want to work professionally even though it’s not my kind of thing. But yeah as a team, I’m doing it for XI IPA C. Say it loud say it proud, GO XI IPA C!!!!!!

Love? What a word!

I’ve got some thoughts and I’m trying to turn it into words ’cause it’s the best thing that I can do. The reason for my sudden thoughts come from my viewing of 500 Days of Summer. Not actually, I have seen some kind of love movies. I guess it’s half  from my jealousy of my friends and my grown up perspective. I suppose it’s just the questioning of ever actually being loved, or just thinking you are and receiving an artificial feeling that is shaped to appear like love. Love? What a word.

I’ve learned from past experience. I believe that people make themselves stuck on a person, somehow creating the belief that that one person is their true love. You show your love hyperbolically, show it through facebook or other social networking sites. Well it just disgusts me so much. I don’t know.  You say all these unbelievable things about somebody, making yourself think that they’re your one and only, when in the end, somebody else comes along and erases all of that and changes your mind.  It’s ridiculous, I know.

I’m like a seven year old in a grocery store. Because there’s your mom pushing you around the store the whole time, so you’ve got her, but you don’t even count her because she’s always there. Then you see all the cereal including Choco Crunch. Then you go through the fruit aisle and you’re like oh I love fruit, then you see vegetables but you disregard them because they seem to taste so gross, but then later you realize some are actually delicious, then there’s chocolate, and you start flipping out over chocolate, but then the chocolate is either way too much expensive and overrated, or too cheap and makes you sick. Everything is so just beautiful and you love it all but then you don’t really get too much at all and it’s gone so quickly and then you’re mad at your mom because she didn’t let you get Choco Crunch this time but you’re getting chubby anyway so you should probably be thanking her.

I’m sorry if this analogy doesn’t make sense, well it does to me.   So all I’m asking now is  how do you determine the difference between real love or puppy love?  I believe that sometimes it’s best to rely on your gut instincts and pure feelings, but sometimes facts have to play a part in it too because love is something that, no matter what surrounds it, can’t go away.

Enough said, I’m sorry if I bore you.

Happy Heroes’ Day!

As we all know today, 10^th of November is Indonesia Heroes’ Day, exact 64 years ago, thousands of Indonesian resistances soldiers died during Battle of Surabaya at the height of National Revolution. Today is a remembrance day to commemorate those brave people who crumbled inch by inch to get Independence.  Our heroes, who fought our way into the light were the people who sacrificed themselves for this country. As a nation we should understand and appreciate these sacrifices. Obviously it was not easy because I have always wondered what it takes for a person to be willing to die for the flag.

Every year we commemorate the struggles of the heroes. But it feels the quality of the remembrance of heroes has been decreasing from year to year. Remembrance of heroes that we celebrate now tends to be a merely ceremonial. Indeed we do not have to come to sacrifice lives like the fighters in Surabaya at that time.

I have always wondered what it means to be a hero. What does a hero mean to me?

When I was a kid I was inspired by stories of courageous men or women who did wonderful things such supermen, knights, etc. I also learn history at school, I’m taught to appreciate what they did for this nation. I admire their bravery and dedication. And they inspire me to be courageous as they are. I think the truth is that we look up to people who make a difference to our lives to achieve goals. That’s a definition of hero in general.

So all I’m asking now is, who’s your hero now?

Being hero isn’t about achievement only. Being hero isn’t also about willing to die for the flag only. It’s the effect that their achievement has on us and what we can learn from the struggle and hardship. They are what we could call exemplars; they bring positive impacts into our lives. For example, it could be athletes, artists, or film characters. They are people who demonstrate high standards of character and dedication to achieve something.

However, being hero is not always front pages news. As Mariah Carey says in her song that a hero lies in all of you, it simply explains that we could be a hero. So you can achieve great things like win an Olympic gold or at least become an icon in your society. I think parents should be heroes too. They are two amazing people who have risked or sacrificed their lives for their children. My parents are my heroes, I would say. My mom brought me into this world and I know for sure that giving birth is not as easy as you reserve side of your hand. My dad strives hard all night and day to feed his children earn enough to send us to school or college later so that we can have a better future than him had at his age.

Not everyone has the same idea of a hero. A hero could be someone who makes you happy when you’re upset. That’s the simplest thing that we can do to be a hero. You could be a hero for your friends, siblings, or your society. You just need to do wonderful things for them and always be there when they need you to be and make them to be themselves; or make someone smile on his or her worst day, that’s a simple definition of a hero.

Work Hard Is Not Enough

Sorry for the lack post I haven’t blogged lately. I feel so rusty. I cry every single time, it’s rueful. My life has been up and down. I know I’m being such a whinny baby. I’m lost, I’m scared, I’m screwed. There’s so much on my mind. So today I got completely exhausted. I’ve studied so hard and got so far but in the end it doesn’t really matter. I’ve changed a lot, I’ve been working on to be a better person but it seems not enough. But this time I feel like there’s no point of me trying. Well you have no idea I’m taking so many courses. Chemistry on Monday, Bimbel on Tuesday, on Wednesday I have to go to English First, on Thursday I have physic course. Friday, I have Bimbel and English First class at the same day. Saturday I still have to go to math course. And even though its Sunday, I have to take extra math occasionally.

I’m trying to figure out..

People say that hard-work can give you the success you want. Life has taught people that hard work is not enough. My dad told me that it’s wrong. Why? He said hard work is only driving force towards our goal but a lot depends on other factors which we can’t control. No matter how hard one strives, there are so many principles that must be understood. My dad always said that working hard is not always enough but you have to work smart, too. It means that work smart is more important than working hard. So I think there must be something wrong either with my strategy, time management and efficiency.

I realized that work smart is important than working hard. Why? Work smart is to become more organized so that each task you have to do takes less time and less steps. It takes preparation and organization. Therefore you won’t work hard. And other factor is luckiness. It has something to so with humans relationship and God. I mean by praying to God it makes us more peaceful so God will make everything easier. And helping as many people as you possibly can. There is always a reward for hard work, the reward comes one way or the other. So struggle to live, God won’t put something on us more than you can’t handle.