curse the fates

You can be as mad as a mad dog at the way things went. You could swear, curse the fates, but when it comes to the end, you have to let go. - captain mike

coinsidence

A friend recommended www.oddee.com -- the site of odds and unusuals on earth. Then I found the list '20 most amazing coincidences'. This one is what I like the most:

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Twin Boys, twin lives

The stories of identical twins' nearly identical lives are often astonishing, but perhaps none more so than those of identical twins born in Ohio. The twin boys were separated at birth, being adopted by different families. Unknown to each other, both families named the boys James. And here the coincidences just begin. Both James grew up not even knowing of the other, yet both sought law-enforcement training, both had abilities in mechanical drawing and carpentry, and each had married women named Linda. They both had sons whom one named James Alan and the other named James Allan. The twin brothers also divorced their wives and married other women - both named Betty. And they both owned dogs which they named Toy. Forty years after their childhood separation, the two men were reunited to share their amazingly similar lives. (Source: Reader's Digest, January 1980)

NOTE: our reader Linus wrote us after reading local newspaper Helsingin Sanomat: "Your story about the Finnish twins is missing some details: The first brother was killed by a lorry while riding his bike and crossing highway 8. He apparently didn't notice the lorry in the snow blizzard. The second brother was killed by a lorry only two hours later while riding his bike and crossing highway 8. The second brother couldn't have been aware of the first brother's death, as the police was still trying to identify the victim."

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followed by this:

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Twin brothers, killed on the same road, two hours apart

On 2002, Seventy-year-old twin brothers have died within hours of one another after separate accidents on the same road in northern Finland. The first of the twins died when he was hit by a lorry while riding his bike in Raahe, 600 kilometres north of the capital, Helsinki. He died just 1.5km from the spot where his brother was killed. "This is simply a historic coincidence. Although the road is a busy one, accidents don't occur every day," police officer Marja-Leena Huhtala told Reuters. "It made my hair stand on end when I heard the two were brothers, and identical twins at that. It came to mind that perhaps someone from upstairs had a say in this," she said. (Source: BBC News)

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Scary, isn't it?

and then there were none

Ten little Soldier boys went out to dine;

One choked his little self and then there were Nine.

Nine little Soldier boys sat up very late;

One overslept himself and then there were Eight.

Eight little Soldier boys traveling in Devon;

One said he'd stay there and then there were Seven.

Seven little Soldier boys chopping up sticks;

One chopped himself in halves and then there were Six.

Six little Soldier boys playing with a hive;

A bumblebee stung one and then there were Five.

Five little Soldier boys going in for law;

One got into Chancery and then there were Four.

Four little Soldier boys going out to sea;

A red herring swallowed one and then there were Three.

Three little Soldier boys walking in the zoo;

A big bear hugged one and then there were Two.

Two little Soldier boys were out in the sun;

One got all frizzled up and then there was one.

One little Soldier boy left all alone;

He went out and hanged himself and then there were none.

a hundred

Once you're 17. Suddenly you're 22. Feeling young seeing those great old people; yet old seeing the young writers. Then you're 42. Suddenly you're 70. Or you might not even reach 60. Found this video on Yahoo! editor's picks.

office chair race

So there's a office chair race in German. 'German Office Chair Racing Championship'. Found in Yahoo!News. Hmmm... I might win this race. Bahahaha...

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reason

“Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and
sights, before the dark hour of reason grows.” - John Betjemen

the international

I'm really sorry guys for falling asleep while watching this:

image source

I really couldn't stand, I was so tired. I actually planned to watch it again [alone or with anyone who would] at Margo City but heck... It was Thursday, and the movie was replaced with 'hantu kolong wewe' and 'janda kembang' or stuff.. Grrrr....

rated 'R'

But I like this 'coming soon' poster more:

-from flickr.com-

I watched this movie with a friend. We, and two others, were the only adults. The rest were high school students. In uniform. Oh please... Didn't you guys go to school? It was 11.45!

Those haven't-grown-up-yet students went 'eeeewwww...' and 'ikhhh...' and 'hiiiyyyy...' during these kind of scenes and other bloody acts; which are more than half the movie.

Come on guys.. Did you even know that this movie is rated 'R' -- RESTRICTED? Or in Bahasa Indonesia: 'Untuk Dewasa'. Did you even know why a movie is rated R? Hmpf...

about movies

I posted some 'movie reviews' on my previous blog. Surely not that good brilliant reviews. Just the other subjective impressions thing after watching those movies.

Here are some:

TAKEN

"The seventeen year-old Kim is the pride and joy of her father, the retired
agent Bryan Mills that left the secret service to stay near Kim in California.
Kim lives with her mother Lenore and her wealthy stepfather Stuart; she
convinces the reluctant Bryan to sign an authorization to travel to Paris with
her friend Amanda. When they arrive, they share a cab with the stranger Peter
and Amanda tells to him that they are alone in Paris. When Bryan succeeds in
contacting his daughter, she tells that criminals have just break in the spot
and they are kidnapped by an Albanese gang of human trafficking. Bryan promises
in the phone to kill the kidnapper of his daughter and immediately travels to
Paris to find Kim and chase the criminals."

I watched the trailer before 'no country for old man' played and eversince I saw it, I really wanted to watch the movie. And it finally came true -- 3 months after the I watched the trailer. A very good movie, worth watching.

CITY OF EMBER

"When mankind is about to come to an end, a group of scientists decide to
create and populate a city deep underground. The city of Ember is to last for
200 years after which its inhabitants are to retrieve from a strong box
instructions to return to the surface. Over time however, the message is lost
and life in Ember is rapidly deteriorating. Their power supply is failing and
food is being rationed. It's left to two young adults to unearth the secret of
Ember and to lead the way out."

Some things and details in this movie bothered me a lot. No, not about the cinematography or the mistakes, but the thought.

There are a group of women, we can say that they are the worshipers. They worship their 'builder'; which are 'architects, scientists and engineers'. They put their lifes on the builders' hands. They just believe. They believe that everything will be okay. Also, there are men and women who are going to help us, but not me. They're anyone else but me. But hen you watch the movie, you know that they are not going to be fine. They would have to face something; and the builders were not with them. It's the two teenagers who finally saved them -- isn't this very similar to what we believe now? I mean, God? Who knows? Is everything gonna be okay? Then, what if the two teenagers didn't even care about the condition? Who's going to be 'the anyone who's going to save us'?

These things somehow are doctrins in our lifes. Things that somehow make us unprepared to hear, or being in a condition where something unusual happen.

KNOWING

Supposed to be a great movie for its videography, lighting, scenes, horrifying plane crash, burning men, explosions, train crash, spooky 'whisperers', creepy places, car accident, haunting dead stones, the chaos of the end of days, and absolutely: sound effects. But unfortunately we can easily guess the plot.

And it has a seriously bad ending. Duh.

We, human, better not trying to visualize God. It always failed. Great movies, great 3D modelling, great animation - I found that no single visualization could portray God. Well, I am not a religious person and I'm not that expert in God - thingy, But, well, I won't expect the spooky whiperers with black suits are now angels? And the black stones that appeared in every death are now the pathway to heaven? And the God rides UFO-like vehicle? Hmmm....

There was a movie, forget the title, but there's a kid in this movie, who imagined God as his favourite person. Say he liked F1 racing and his favourite idol was an F1 driver - then he portrayed God as a racer. And that's very human. Other movies tried to communicate God as well, then it came the aliens.

So, I guess, there's no way we could visualize God. Human, just stop. It doesn't work.

[all synopsises are from http://www.imdb.com/]

moving

I used to blog at multiply.com but it's getting 'friendster-er'. So I decided to move here.

I'm going to review my past blog. Actually I've done pretty much. Takes a very good mood to move the essence of my writtings. Let's start.

It was July 2008. I was a useless thing after finishing graduate theses. No job, questioning, trapped in uncertainity. Haha. All I can do is complaining. Yet I found inspiring things in my daily life. One of them is my 72-years-old-and-never-stop-teaching lecturer. So I wrote. And another lecturer-now-a-friend found my blog *darn..* and finally put my writting on a tribute book for the 72-years-old-and-never-stop-teaching lecturer. Which is not so special for me [I mean not the book, but having my stupid blog published on a supposed-to-be-great-book].

Later, the 72-years-old-and-never-stop-teaching lecturer wrote something on my page which made me wordless.

Other things are about my life, and how I've been badly wanting to be a guitarist but I guess I'm not skillful enough haha. Somehow, being a good acoustic guitar player has always been my biggest passion. The best thing is: knowing that people like to hear my performance, singing along, dancing, clapping hands while I’m playing, then finally put big smiles on their faces after I played -- well I'm still working on that. I know I am SERIOUS. I will be a good guitarist.

from http://www.myspace.com/kakiking

"In an interview in the April 1, 2008 issue of Blast Magazine,
King says she hopes she can be known more for her music and not just as a "good female guitarist."
“Ultimately, I’d rather be known as like, ‘Oh yeah, that sounds like Kaki King,’ rather than ‘Oh, she’s pretty good for a girl.’”"

*Kaki king, from wikipedia

I know being in twenty-something is not easy. And it is portrayed perfectly in Jamie Cullum's song, Twenty Something. Leave me alone, I'm on twenty something! There are also one and another thing after the graduation day. Well absolutely, graduation is not for me, but for my parents. They just need proove. They don't need the thinking of what I should be. Or they just don't want to know. And people outside are very intimidating. The thing they care about is just: 'where are you working now?' or 'oh so you're one of the best graduated student from a reputable university?' or 'aren't you going to continue your study?' and all those stupid things. Go to hell.

On the other day, I posted something about the number 7. Everyone miss-interpreted that I like 7. Or it's because someday in the past, I used to interact a lot with other 6 friends - and so we are 7. Or it's just another fun thing. But they all are actually wrong. It's been 7 years that I have something in me. Or ironically, don't have any. Or can't have any. Anyway, the number 7 is sometimes sacred, and some said it has controversy inside the meaning. And it's interesting.

She looks like the real thing She tastes like the real thing My fake plastic love But I can't help the feeling I could blow through the ceiling If I just turn and run And it wears me out, it wears me out It wears me out, it wears me out And if I could be who you wanted If I could be who you wanted All the time, all the time radiohead - fake plastic trees

Other things are just about my daily life. And some are movies. Some are songs. Maybe I should repost some.

P.S.: why do most blogging sites got me frustrated layouting the post?