A Road Trip to Remember

No, the road trip was not as dramatic as the poetic title (though it sure was memorable). I just couldn't find any other suitable title for this. And this wouldn't be a detailed blog post about the trip, I just wrote the big part only.

On December 30th 2013, the date where I collected my postponed assignment, my uncle and aunt picked me up from my boarding house to go on road trip with them to Bali and celebrate New Year there! Since becoming a college student I almost never had a proper holiday (going outside the city, traveling, blah blah), I just stayed at home watching movies. And finally, I could forget my other assignments for a while and enjoyed the rare time from being away from the hectic days of college.

While the road trip was not the first time for me, the activities and things we did were indeed new for me. From Malang to Bali -- of course it required us to cross the Bali Strait. Yep, it was my first time crossing the strait with ferry! It was late night, but I could see beautiful lights from the other ships and the port. It was so fun (and ugh, I didn't take a pic of it because I was so tired and only able to enjoy it haha).

After arriving at Gilimanuk Port, I spent my time mostly to sleep. My uncle's fast and F1-like driving didn't stop me from getting a good sleep since I finished my assignment at 2 am the other night. So then we picked up my cousin, Nisa, who was studying in Udayana University to stay with us in the hotel. The next day, the fun began!

The view from the hotel balcony. And yep, that's the sea!

That's me in Balangan Beach. Chubby as always. (Pic taken by Nisa)

Happy New Year! Fireworks from the beach. It was raining that time so we decided to watch the fireworks from hotel balcony.

So, first day of 2014, I thought I would come back to Malang (come back to my assignments, to be exact). Ha! My uncle and aunt had other plans for me and Nisa -- taking us to Jogja!

Bunch of people were waiting to take a pic in front of Malioboro street sign. If you go to Malioboro, you just have to do this. (Pic taken by Nisa)

Finally we got our turn. Nisa, me, Arfa, and Aunt Jella in Maliboro~ (Pic taken by my uncle)

The next day, we went to Affandi Museum. Just so you know, Affandi was a famous Indonesian artist. When I went to the museum and saw that name, I thought I've heard his name before (yep, that was a fail thing for an architecture student). Then, when I saw his paintings, I remembered that I had learned about him in both middle school and high school. You know, I forgot easily about this kind of thing -.-

A glimpse of inside the Affandi Museum. Love the paintings!

This one was like, the biggest painting in the gallery. Love this (and sorry, I forgot the name of the painting...)

Words to remember!

Since I'm an architecture student, this little kind of thing excited me. Maybe it could inspire me to design hehe.

 After that, we went to Warung Raminten for lunch. Its owner is Yogya's famous transsexual (or transgender -- what do you call it?). Ah, too bad I didn't take a picture of what she looked like.

Three women and a man. I thought that man was a real person... kind of creepy. (Pic taken by my uncle)

This was on the tissue box. Creative and funny.

These were chocolates. And these two described me at most hahaha. I should've bought those, ugh.

That was it. There were so many other moments from that road trip that I could not forget, but I don't want to make you bored. Well, I rarely posted about my personal life -- this blog has been full of either fangirling things or my "random" thoughts -- so I just want to finish this post as soon as possible before I myself also get bored. And I still have other tasks to do... and movies and series to watch.

Toodles!

Movie Marathon: Jonny Lee Miller

(Note that this post was written on December 23rd 2013, but I just finished it now because the busy week -- and the other tasks which apparently are as deadly as the main one)

Cheers to the (nearly) long weekend!
Cheers to the deadline that has been postponed!
Cheers to another movie marathon!

Call me crazy, but I immediately started another movie marathon right after my lecturer announced that the final assignment's deadline had been postponed to next Monday. This movie marathon was not planned, I'll tell you my reason why I chose this actor. And, my latest 3 movie marathons were all the actors who have played Sherlock Holmes, my favorite fictional character ever -- Robert Downey Jr, Benedict Cumberbatch, and now, Jonny Lee Miller! You can check my SH post here and here :)

Jonathan "Jonny" Lee Miller is one of my favorite actors of all time. For all the people who don't know who he is (OH, COME ON), I suggest you check the TV series Eli Stone, or his latest series Elementary, where he portrays Sherlock Holmes.

JLM was born British, but he also can use American accent perfectly, like he did in some of his movies and in Eli Stone and Dexter. Some people who have watched Eli Stone couldn't believe that he was a British because he sounded and looked like an American. He had played various kind of roles (hacker, drug addict, journalist, pilot, killer, cyclist, detective, and many more -- I wouldn't list them all, right?!) and that's what made him got into the list of my favorite actors haha. He also appeared on broadway for After Miss Julie, and played Victor Frankenstein and The Creature alternately with Benedict Cumberbatch for the stage production of Frankenstein. Yes, they are both Sherlock Holmes!
I've heard him singing in one of his movies, Love, Honour and Obey. He is also a marathon runner. I told ya, he's good at anything. Oh, and he is a supporter of Chelsea -- I knew this because he once replied to my tweet (and it made me go GYAAAAAHHHHH). Too bad, I myself support Chelsea's rival Manchester United. Well, that doesn't mean I stop loving him. Come on, my father is also a Chelsea supporter, my brother is a Gunner (Arsenal supporter) and Barcelona supporter, and my mother doesn't even care about this football thing to support one.

So, what makes you decided to do Jonny Lee Miller movie marathon?
Like I said, I wasn't planning this at all. I just happened to have a Dexter marathon, and since JLM was a guest star in season 5, I rushed to watch it until it reached season 5. I didn't know what kind of role he would be playing; didn't even try to find it on the internet. I just had to watch it. And voila! I loved it. He played Jordan Chase, a motivational speaker who was tied to a rape and murder case. Not that I loved the character, I just loved the way JLM played Chase -- who was inspiring and intimidating (and scary!) at the same time. It was soooo great!!! I mean, I watched him on Elementary first, so I just couldn't believe it that he used to play the character like Chase. *standing ovation*
After I finished it, I got a starstruck on him, despite having known him for years. You can see all the fuss on my latest Midnight Random Thought. Yeah, I'm sorry I got crazy like that sometimes. (SOMETIMES???!!!)
At first, I watched Aeon Flux and Mindhunters only. Then, after a week without movies because of the assignments, it was announced that the deadline has been postponed. So, I got even crazier; I watched all of JLM movies that I had and the ones that I could find.

Here's the list of his movies, according to the time I watched them:
1. Aeon Flux
2. Mindhunters
3. Endgame
4. The Flying Scotsman
5. Plunkett and Macleane
6. Dracula 2000
7. Byzantium
8. Dark Shadows
9. Complicity
10. Trainspotting
11. The Escapist
12. Hackers
13. Love, Honour and Obey

After watching all of them, do you have any specific movies that you've been into?
Is it wrong to say that I LOVE all of them? There are so many movies of his, but I could only watch 13 of them. But I think it's impossible to short-review those 13, so I just picked some.

First, I really, really love Mindhunters. It's like FBI meets Agatha Christie's novel And Then There Were None. How could I not love this movie?! Yeah, I love FBI-related movies or TV series, especially about profilers, like Criminal Minds. I could not just miss this movie. JLM here played Lucas Harper, one of the young FBI students who were sent to an island to undergo a training to be a profiler. What they didn't know was that it was more than a training as they discovered that one of them was a serial killer and was targeting the others. Quite convincing, huh? And it had amazing cast, other than JLM himself.

The second is Hackers, where JLM played a young hacker, Dade Murphy, who, along with other fellow hackers, discovered a dangerous computer virus and must use their skills to take down the man behind it, while being pursued by Secret Service. Oh, and this movie also starred Angelina Jolie (who was JLM's ex wife -- ok, don't be surprised), Matthew Lillard (Shaggy in Scooby Doo), and Jesse Bradford (Charlie in My Sassy Girl). Just so you know, this movie came out in 1995, where the internet was unfamiliar to the public. It has became a cult classic since.

The third is The Escapist. I watched this without subtitle, so excuse me if I got the movie wrong. Denis Hopkins (JLM) was a pilot. When some robbers led by Ricky (Andy Serkis) broke into his house and killed his wife, he tried to get revenge by breaking a police car so he could get arrested -- later attempting to escape purposely from the prison to get him transferred to the maximum security prison where Ricky was. It was very good and thrilling. JLM's acting as desperate and vengeful husband was sooo great. It was supported by convincing acting of Serkis, who was really scary and annoying too.

The fourth is Love, Honour and Obey. So, Sherlock Holmes and John Watson from different adaptations in one film? This is irresistible, at least for me. JLM and Jude Law! Wait, there's more. Rhys Ifans and Sean Pertwee, who played Mycroft Holmes and Lestrade respectively in Elementary (yep, with JLM), also appeared in this movie. Daaammmnnn! I was so happy that I could only laugh and clap my hands speechlessly. In this movie, almost all the characters had the same name with the actors who played them. Jude (Law), who came from a gangster family, was asked by his friend Jonny (JLM) to help him got into the North London criminal gang. As Jonny got more involved, he started making mistakes that would led him and the others to start a 'war' with South London mob.

The fifth is The Flying Scotsman, a film based on the true story of Scottish cyclist Graeme Obree (JLM) who tried to break the world record by building his very own bicycle from washing machine parts and inventing the unlikely riding position. We also could see Obree's mental health problem which he had suffered since the world-record title was stripped from him after only a week. I'm not a cyclist though, but I love cycling with my family. Seeing this movie made me want to go home sooner, reunite with my bicycle, and then go cycling until my legs tired!

Honorable mention: Aeon Flux and Trainspotting
Aeon Flux was the first movie where I recognized JLM. Trainspotting was a good movie, but somehow I couldn't 'connect' with it--but again, JLM was soooooo great in this movie as Sick Boy!

Ah, I really want to write them all, but I'm tired already -_- And I love all his movies. He's always been perfect in every movie he's in.
Okay then, you should know Jonny Lee Miller by now hahaha.

"The whole point of being an actor is to get satisfaction out of a role -- unless you're just vain about celebrity. You're always looking for the one thing that will surprise you."

- Jonny Lee Miller

See you in the next movie marathon post!
And have a great 2014!

Pics were taken from Google, then were made into a collage by me.

Movie Marathon: Benedict Cumberbatch

Wow it's been a long time since I had my last movie marathon. Now that I'm back to the hectic days of college, I start to do another movie marathon, despite the bigger and more tasks coming up on me.

Yep, this time is Benedict Cumberbatch's turn! But before that, I want to apologize to myself because I've said in previous movie marathon post that I would either choose one of these actors: Jeremy Renner, Tom Cruise, Shia LaBeouf, Anton Yelchin -- but apparently I didn't do it. I just had the mood for the charming Cumberbatch. Let's find out why I chose him.

Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch, simply known as Benedict Cumberbatch (simply?! It's like one of the longest two-words names lol) is, of course, one of my favorite actors of all time. You may or may not know him. If I wrote this post on, let's say, two or three years ago, you might not know him. But it's freaking 2013 now. Who doesn't watch -- at least know -- Sherlock, the BBC mini-series, or Star Trek Into Darkness? Oh, please.

Benny came from an entertainer family. Both of his parents (Timothy Carlton and Wanda Ventham) are actors. Maybe that's why he decided to become an actor -- a GOOD one! Because of his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in Sherlock, he was nominated for Best Actor in BAFTA TV Award, Golden Globe Award, and Primetime Emmy Award. His performance in Parade's End also earned him a nomination in Emmy. And so many other awards that he won or just to be nominated. It was good, right? Brilliant!
Well, since he is British, his accent is just WOW! In addition, his unique and handsome face got him SO many fans, who called themselves "Cumberbitches". I love him, I love him sooooo much, but I wouldn't call myself a "bitch" though -_- And in several interviews or talk shows, he showed an objection over that name. He called his fans "Cumbercollective" instead. Ah, I don't care about the name. What matters is that we, his fans, are here supporting him forever. *tsaaahhh*

So, what makes you decided to do Benedict Cumberbatch movie marathon?
Same like RDJ's, this was my second BC movie marathon. The first one was last year, right after I saw him on Sherlock (see my blog post about it here) and I got this starstruck, so I was looking for some of his movies. I was crazy, crayzaaaaayy, about him that time (I still am though haha), because he portrayed my favorite fictional character very well, and he is so handsome! Any objection about this? Hahaha you better not. Other reason is I watched him in various talk shows (Jimmy Fallon, Graham Norton, Alan Carr: Chatty Man) and I was like "Oh, man, I need to watch all his movies again". Well, I did the movie marathon finally, but not all of them, just the ones I could find. Plus, because Benny is also a TV actor, I watched several TV series that he had appeared in.
In fact, this was the shortest movie marathon I've ever had. If we count only the movies, I finished them in only 3 days! Hahaha. It was weekend, from Saturday to Monday, non-stop watching Benedict Cumberbatch. But, the TV series marathon is still going on right now -- I currently watch Parade's End, and I will watch Sherlock some time before the premiere of series 3 hehe.

Here's the list of his movies, according to the time I watched them:
1. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
2. Hawking
3. Small Island
4. The Whistleblower
5. Atonement
6. Van Gogh: Painted with Words
7. The Other Boleyn Girl
8. Third Star
9. War Horse
10. Starter For 10
11. Wreckers
12. Marple: Murder Is Easy
13. Stuart: A Life Backwards
14. Star Trek Into Darkness
15. Inseparable (short film)  
16. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

And this is the list of his TV/mini-series that I watched:
1. To the Ends of the Earth
2. Fortysomething (playing Hugh Laurie's son. I repeat, HUGH LAURIE!)
3. The Last Enemy
4. Parade's End
5. Sherlock

PLUS, I also watched the stage production of Frankenstein, directed by Danny Boyle, in which he played two alternating roles of Victor Frankenstein and The Creature, opposite Jonny Lee Miller, with whom he also shares the iconic role of Sherlock Holmes (Miller plays Holmes in Elementary).

After watching all of them, do you have any specific movies that you've been into?
Yes, of course. Benny is a GREAT actor, and every role he has portrayed is pretty much memorable. Well, I will only list the movies, not the TV series because hey, it's actually a movie marathon! And since I only watched 16 movies of his, I could short-review all of them (?) or maybe just a few. Let's just start.

The first, well this one is my favorite character of his after Sherlock Holmes, it's Star Trek Into Darkness! You don't need to explain much about the movie because it got me at "Benedict Cumberbatch as a villain". Plus, it's the sequel of the freaking Star Trek! It's got Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Anton Yelchin, Karl Urban, AND Simon Pegg. Awesome, huh?! Just put Benny's name between theirs and it's million times more awesome! So, Benny's villain in this movie is known under the name of John Harrison, a renegade Starfleet officer who was apparently having his own hidden agenda after bombing a secret Section 31 installation in London. The Enterprise crews were ordered to catch and kill him, not knowing his true intention. Sounds convincing, huh? Yes! And I love the handsome villains like Loki and Sylar (hey, he's in this movie too, lol!). The movie is even better, guys. If you haven't watched it yet, well, shame on you!

The second is Third Star. Most of you guys probably don't know this movie. That's okay, I'll review it for you and make you want to check this movie hehe. Benny played James, a young man terminally ill with cancer. He knew that he wouldn't live any longer, so he set a last hiking trip to his favorite place on Earth, Barafundle Bay, with his three closest friends. Yep, it's a simple drama, but I've got to tell you guys, I couldn't stop crying when watching this. Sure this was not a truly tearjerker drama, but it hit me hard, really hard. I don't know, maybe because I have best friends, we get along really well like James and his friends, but this movie proved that even best friends could be teared apart by a simple behavior or statement. Really, this movie is very recommended. If you don't like a "quiet" drama, then don't watch this. This movie didn't use much music/score, but like I said, it still could make me cry. Also, I love movies about guys' friendship more than girls'.

The third is Stuart: A Life Backwards, a TV movie -- which you probably never heard before. Ok, for the heads up, this movie had Benedict Cumberbatch AND Tom Hardy as its lead actors. It was enough to convince me to watch it, even though I had no idea what this movie was about until I saw it. So, it was based on a biography of a writer and charity worker Alexander Masters, played by Benny in this movie, about his friend Stuart Shorter (Hardy), a homeless alcoholic. They met and struck up an unlikely friendship as Alexander learned and wrote about Stuart's complicated life, violent past, and traumatic childhood, in backwards.

The fourth is Hawking. Again, this is a TV movie based on Stephen Hawking's life when he was first diagnosed with motor neuron disease at the age 21. In spite of that, Stephen Hawking (Benedict Cumberbatch) still tried to live his life as the PhD student at Cambridge University and was in the middle of his research of "beginning of time". You know, Benny is very good at portraying this kind of roles. He looked like he was really sick, and it kind of broke my heart. I wasn't sure if it caused by Benny, the good actor, or Stephen Hawking, the real-life figure who actually has this rare illness. Anyway, this was the breakout role for Benny I think. He was nominated for BAFTA TV Award. And he was only 28 at that time.

The fifth is Marple: Murder Is Easy. This one was actually an episode of a TV series, but let's just consider it as a movie because Benny only appeared for one episode. So, before Sherlock Holmes, he had portrayed another detective, Luke Fitzwilliam. In this movie, Luke was working together with Miss Marple -- yep, it's that famous character by Agatha Christie -- to investigate seemingly accidental deaths that occurred in a village of Wychwood. Since I enjoy any detective stories, I love this one, even though it didn't satisfy me. Still, Benny looked super handsome in this :p

The sixth is War Horse. Of course you know this one -- an Oscar-nominated movie by an Oscar-winning director, Steven Spielberg. He's one of my favorite directors, so I can't miss this one. War Horse told the story of Albert Narracott (Jeremy Irvine) and his beloved horse, Joey. Well, I could say that the main character of this movie was the horse itself, as it was traveling around the England after it was sold to a young cavalry officer Captain Nicholls (Tom Hiddleston -- yes it's THAT Hiddleston, guys!!!). Like Tom's, Benny's role in this movie was small, but important. He played Major Jamie Stewart, the commander of the cavalry. Great movie, made me cry too. Also, who can resist Irvine, Cumberbatch, AND Hiddleston (they are my favorite British guys!) in one movie?

I think that's it. Don't worry, those were just the movies that I wanted to short-review, but I will still at least tell you each of memorable characters played by Benny from his movies (sorry, can't tell you all of them).
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Peter Guillam, a partner of Gary Oldman's character, George Smiley.
Atonement - Paul Marshall, a creep (find out why I said this by watching the movie, guys...)
Van Gogh: Painted with Words - Vincent Van Gogh -- you must know him, come on.
Starter for 10 - Patrick Watts, a strict, ambitious leader of University Challenge team, which looked like he could have an exciting battle of brains with The Big Bang Theory's Sheldon Cooper.
Wreckers - David, an ordinary husband whose secrets slowly uncovered as his brother, Nick, came and ignited a sibling rivalry.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Necromancer, a mysterious figure. Benny provided a performance capture, and a voice for latter movies.

Wow, it's a long post despite a very small amount of movies that I watched haha. Anyway, what's next for our Cumberbatch? You can catch him as Julian Assange in The Fifth Estate (it was already out in US, and I haven't watched it because it didn't come out in my country), critically-acclaimed 12 Years a Slave, The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug (only voice and performance capture), and star-studded August: Osage County. And Benny has already signed for a few movies in the future, so I guess we have to wait patiently!

"I've been very lucky at what's happened in my career to date, but playing something as far from me as possible is an ambition of mine -- anything from a mutated baddy in a comic book action thriller, to a detective."

- Benedict Cumberbatch

See you in the next movie marathon post!
(Well, this time I won't give any candidates haha. I will do any actors' movie marathon according to my mood :p)

Pics were taken from Google, then were made into a collage by me.