#nontonPTE

Setelah berbulan-bulan dibikin penasaran lewat instagramnya Mira Lesmana, akhirnya kemarin saya #nontonPTE. Film ini mengangkat tema dunia persilatan dan menurut saya semua formula film kungfu klasik ada di sini yang membuatnya menarik untuk ditonton.

Tongkat emas itu sendiri adalah senjata maha dahsyat yang diperebutkan oleh 4 mantan saudara seperguruan yang terbagi menjadi dua kubu. Sepanjang film kita disuguhi pertarungan good vs evil ini. Adegan demi adegan mempertontonkan jurus-jurus silat berbeda dan menarik. Di film ini tidak ada sihir atau hantu, semua murni kerja keras dan semangat dari para pendekar di pertarungan.

Selain adegan-adegan laga yang apik dan seru, emosi penonton juga dibawa naik-turun dengan drama personal tiap-tiap karakter. Para pemain yang nama-namanya sudah tidak asing lagi membawa their A game ke film ini. Ada yang lucu di teater kami, ketika sampai di adegan Elang muncul pertama kali, kontan para penonton ber "uuh", "aah", dan ketawa centil. Yup, I think we all miss seeing Nicholas Saputra on the big screen ;).

Di instagramnya MirLes kita bisa melihat foto-foto bidikannya di Sumba yang super cantik which is a sneak peek for this movie. Sepanjang film ini kita akan dibuai oleh indahnya tanah Sumba. Padang ilalang di perbukitan keemasan, pantai pasir putih, dan air laut yang sangat jernih. Saya sendiri langsung wanderlust ngelihatnya, mudah-mudahan bisa lihat ke sana langsung yaa (*hint, hint ^^).

All in all, film Pendekar Tongkat Emas ini sangat recommended untuk ditonton. Pada akhir film saya rasa semua penonton akan makin bangga akan Indonesia. Bukan hanya karena Sumba yang cantik, tapi juga karena film berkelas ini adalah buah karya anak negeri kita sendiri.

Sparkling Bangkok

Bangkok. For some the city is a shopping haven. For others it's a street food paradise. Some others will be enchanted by its charming Wats and bustling city scenes.

I love the city for all those reasons. Looking for some cultural experience? Visit the Grand Palace and the Wats. Wanna try the exotic food? Great street food is everywhere, just follow the crowd and 90% of the time you won't be sorry. Or you wanna do some shopping? Jatujak Weekend Market has everything you need or go to Platinum Mall and MBK for bargains in air-conditioned room.

Despite the turn in our luck that we were in town on the onset of Shutdown Bangkok (Jan 13), we had good times there. I have to give it to the friendly Thais who are always full of smiles and willing to help despite the language barrier. In some other countries I have visited people would just be like "No English" and walked off. But none of that happened in Bangkok. In fact sometimes they're so nice, they can fool you into their scams.

Our holiday in Bangkok is full of stories, fun times, adventure, and some mishap. I miss those times already :).

In a nutshell

I miss
Our random conversation

I miss
The way my name was called

I miss
The air you projected as you talked

So confident,
So sure about yourself.
Yet so gentle,
And full of warmth.

In a nutshell,
I miss you.

Photo: F. Widiyanto's clay statues exhibition "Drupadi Pandava Diva".

After a decade

Meeting you now,
Bringing memories of years past.
I dont know how,
Breathing as the minutes past.

My heart skips a beat,
As you look me in the eyes.
My cheeks start to heat,
As I lock you in my eyes.

I told myself
Be still my heart.
I then wonder
How is your heart?

*picture from Pinterest*

An evening at Bluegrass

Looking for something fancy, my friends and I decided to try Bluegrass restaurant which was located at Epicentrum Walk complex in Kuningan area. The restaurant was on the ground floor of the Gotham-like building, Bakrie Tower with both indoor and outdoor seatings. My friends arrived first and they opted for the air-conditioned indoor seating and got a table near the bar.

It was a slow night when we visited, or maybe we came in too early at 5:30pm, with a number of empty tables on that spacious restaurant. The atmosphere was modern with long bars and cool dim lighting. I really like the big mirror entrance doors too actually.

The problem was the service *rant rant*. My friends already got their orders when I arrived so I quickly studied dthe menu. They are a steak and grill restaurant so the menu is like a carnivore-bible with beef ribs, different cuts of steaks, baby-back ribs, chicken, fish, lamb, etc. I was ready to order and asked a passing-by waitress to take my orders, she told me to wait because she was carrying some dirty dishes. So I waited and waited.. and she never came back for God's know what reason. It took me a good 15 minutes of looking around before a waitstaff came over to take my orders. Well, I actually called one of the bartenders to ask for a waiter and then the waiter came. I asked him some questions regarding the menu, which he hastily answered. I was already lost half of my patience so I ordered a Beef brisket with sweet potato fries and grilled vegetables (165K IDR+tax) and an ice tea (30K IDR+tax) for my drink.

My meal came in a wood plank (what's with restaurants and wood planks-as-plates nowadays?). The portion was big for Indonesian standard. It may be comparable to Western portion. Anyway the brisket was pretty good though there wasnt enough fats to make it melt-in-your-mouth type. The sweet potatoes fries were fresh, I think it was homemade. The grilled vegetables were a tad too salty though they were fresh too. The meat came glazed by sweet barbecue sauce so those with spicy tongue might want to ask for chili sauce.

As I was eating my meal, I started to feel itchy tingles on my feet. There were mosquitoes in the house. Uh, oh.. that does it for me. It felt like I was really in a field of (blue)grass with mosquitoes all around me.

Overall, I was rather disappointed that night. The taste was alright, but the service and the mosquitoes deterred us from having a wonderful time. I really hope their waitstaff picks up on their service level and please do something about the mosquitoes.