My Holiday

Hello readers! To celebrate the end of a semester, all students in the world are given holiday which range in many school. SMAN 3 were given 2 weeks of holiday, starting from December 15 to January 2. If you ask me, that is way too short! I was stressed enough with the subject of this semester (looking at you, science math and physics) and the government only gave my school 2 weeks?? But I'm not here to complain, I'm here to tell you about what I spent on my holiday, because boy, there were a lot. I spent 12 days on my dad's workplace and 5 days on my home. I will divide my story into section, based on day of the holiday. Well, except for days where I have nothing to say, I'll probably skip it. I know nobody cares but I am the owner of this blog so screw you and eat my garbage post.

Day 1-4
Me and my mom went to Surabaya by plane from Husein Sastranegara airport. The airport was so different from the last time I visited there. It was way more modern and I appreciate it.

Inside Husein Sastranagara

The seat in front of me

I used to love riding planes, but now I just can't stop being anxious! What if the plane that I ride fall on the sea? What if it fall on a mountain? What if it magically disappear like MH370? Not to mention that there was this old man in front of me that kept using Whatsapp with his mobile data on, minutes before take off despite the clear stewardess' warning about not to turn on phone on the plane. Thanks for burning the fuel of my anxiety, old man. And I think that man still used Whatsapp during the flight with mobile data! I would yell at him if I were a brave young lady. Thankfully nothing happened outside of minor turbulence due to bad weather.

Catto

Juanda Airport

After arriving on Surabaya we went to a hotel and stayed there for 2 nights. Nothing happened beside the fact that I took many baths. This act was inspired by Murdoc on Saturnz Barz in which he took a bath in a bottomless black puddle. Just kidding, I took many baths because I like it. It's human nature, I guess?

I'm not gonna say that old meme

On day 3, we visited Tunjungan Plaza to spend time, waiting for my brother to arrive in Surabaya. That mall is the biggest mall on Asia. To be honest.... I wasn't impressed. I mean it was huge and all but the content was so-so. At least in my opinion.  Around 7 PM my brother arrived and we went to Juanda airport. After that, we went to Tuban which is my dad's workplace. The next day, nothing happened, yay.

Watching Monster Inc

Day 5
I went to many Wali Songo's grave this day. Well, by much I mean two, which were Sunan Drajat and Sunan Giri. The first one we visited were Sunan Drajat because it is located in Lamongan, which was closer from Tuban. Unfortunately, photo taking were prohibited so I didn't have any photos, but I remember seeing tombstones on the floor. Not soil, but ceramics floors. On the second floor. I just thought that was kinda weird and unusual. Ah, anyway, we went to a famous restaurant on Lamongan which serve Soto Lamongan. Too bad that my appetite went down due to a stomachache. I blame myself for eating 2 pack of instant noodles on the day before..... so I'm not sure if it tasted good or not. After that, we went to Sunan Giri, which is located on Gresik. Too bad that I had a stomachache so I didn't visit it. I just stayed on the car and slept to cope my sickness. Then we went to Tuban again.

Day 6
In this day, we traveled around Tuban. It had a lot of interesting sites, such as Perut Bumi. Perut Bumi itself was a pesantren. It was called "Perut Bumi" because it was located underground. I mean, not centre-of-the-earth underground, but it was still a quite unusual place for a pesantren. Anyway, it is currently used for mosque and tourism. Inside there were a lot of pretty neon lights (seriously, this place could be mistaken for some kind of amusement ride on Dufan). There were a lot of people inside and considering that this was built underground, it was pretty hot down there. Also I'd like to note that this place didn't have an ordinary rock for its roof, it had stalagmites, and it was cool and pretty. Too bad that taking pictures inside was prohibited yet again.

Perut Bumi Mosque

Then, we went to the famous Kwan Sing Bio temple. And it was gorgeous! It looks like a temple we've seen on movies! There were a lot of dioramas and reliefs. There were also a beautiful pond inside, along with an amazing buildings behind it. Oh and there were this giant statue and it looks really cool, I applaud the sculptures very much. When I was there, I felt like I were on China or something. No wonder why many people visited it.

Awesome giant statue

What a gorgeous temple!

Day 7
We went to Surabaya to visit many places, such as Sunan Ampel's grave. It is located on Surabaya. The thing I remember the most was that the place had soo much cats. I found 5 cats in total. I mean, yea, it wasn't much for some people but whatever. Anyway, Sunan Ampel's grave had quite an unique rules, at least for Wali Songo's grave. I think it was the only grave that prohibit people to visit it 10 minutes before adzan, because Muslims must pray on time. I think that rule was brilliant. Sholat on the grave was prohibited as well because according to Qur'an that act is considered to be musyrik.

After that we had lunch with 2 of my cousins that studied in Institut Teknologi Sepuluh November. That reminded me of what major should I choose in the future....... ah it's confusing. After that, we visited ITS as well since the restaurant we went in was near the campus, and it was neat and huge! I really enjoy the environment.

ITS from the outside

Day 8-9
We went to Surabaya, again... but this time we booked a hotel. The reason why we visited it was because my father suddenly has a work appointment or something. Actually, my mother was the one who was invited, but whatever, I didn't know the full story.Due to traffic jams, we arrived on Surabaya quite late than our expectations and stayed on hotel until night which was when the event began. My mother went to the event and me, my brother, and my father traveled around Surabaya until the event ended. First, we went to Tunjungan Plaza again but that didn't take long. Then, we went to a restaurant that I forgot the name, ugh! My memory was horrible! On that place I ate Javanese noodle.  My brother and father drank Wedang Ronde, which was like Sekoteng but it had mochi inside of it. Since I hate Sekoteng.... yea you know my opinion about the drink. But the mochi thing was pretty good.

Javanese Noodle

Wedang Ronde

The next day, we visited Madura. And of course, we used Suramadu Bridge to go across the island. It was like an ordinary bridge except that there were sea under the bridge, obviously. I wish I could take a picture of the sea, but stopping anywhere near the bridge is strictly forbidden for good reason. But I did take a picture of the bridge while we were driving.

Suramadu Bridge

We visited a place called Pote Cave, and we were scammed. At least from my perspective. First, we must pay Rp 10.000 for entrance. Sounds fair, right? But no, after 1 km we must pay again for some reason? Then, after arriving in the middle of Pote Cave, we paid Rp 10.000 again for no reason at all! Then, to visit the amusement part of Pote Cave, we paid Rp 20.000! Didn't they get a lot of money already from the previous payment? Why pay multiple times? Ugh, this place left a bad taste on my mouth already before visiting it. The cave was... good. Again, I was quite pissed off by previous incident so this place was kinda cursed to me.

Pote Cave

I want to ride it, but the pond was small so there was no point tbh

Day 10
We traveled around Tuban again, but this time we didn't visit anything. Too bad that I fell asleep so I didn't remember anything! I didn't sleep well last night. Well, nothing interesting happened.

Day 11-12
Since we went home with train on the morning, we stayed on Surabaya the day before. We  stayed on Sahid Hotel, and I'm not holding back on this, but this was probably the worst hotel I've visited. I know this isn't a hotel review site but I'm just warning you all to not stay on that hotel, ever. Unless you don't have any choices. Anyway, there were a yellow spot on my pillow and it looked like either a mushroom or an earwax. Ugghh it was gross. There were also weird black spot on the towel as well! Overall I hated staying on that hotel and I wanted to leave as fast as possible.

The next day we went to Gubeng Station which wasn't far from the hotel (the only reason why we stayed on that hotel...) and we rode the train for 12 hours. Yeah, Bandung and Surabaya was really far. Around 600 km I believe.

Horrible picture that I took on the train

Day 13-17
Well, nothing much happened. I played The Sims 3, fangirling over Blur (especially Graham Coxon, what a cute bloke), and yeah that's about it. Lately I've been addicted to Blur because... something happened. No, I didn't meet them, although I wish I had, but it was quite a shocking event in my life. And Blur is just... so good. I love their songs and they were and still are very cute and handsome. Oh and I recently bought The Magic Whip, which was their newest album and it was great. I bought it before holiday, actually, and I've been listening to it ever since. My favorite songs are probably New World Towers and I Broadcast. A very different songs but I love them regardless. Why am I talking about Blur again? Ughhh someone please stop my fangirling!

What am I doing with my life

The Magic Whip and Milky!

Can you guess which one is which?

And... that's the end of my holiday. On January 2 I will be greeted by the one and only science math... *sigh*. Thank you so much for reading! I really appreciate it. What's your holiday like? Don't be afraid to left a comment below! Anyway, I'd like to end this post with my all time favorite Blur song, highly recommended! See you!

Alif's Promotion

Alif's Promotion

An English Narrative Assignment

It was Monday. Alif was preparing himself for work. He worked on a company called PT Blur ID, which was a company for food packaging. After dressing up, he went downstairs to meet his family. "Honey, I don't know why, but I feel so passionate today! It's like I'm on literal fire! But good fire. Does that make sense?" His wife smiled and replied, "Ah, maybe it's because of this letter? Have you read it?" she gave him a torn letter. "What's that smile all about? Is this another prank of yours?" "Oh just shut up and read it, you fool." He followed her instructions.

Dear Alif Rowntree,
Due to your dedication for your company, we decided that it is best to promote you as the new director of PT Blur ID. Congratulations! We hope that you will continue your great work.

Signed,
Graham Coxon

Alif teared up. No, this time it wasn't a joke. The signature was very real. It was really the signature of his boss Graham Coxon. "This is so surreal. I-I mean, it c-can't be!" Alif stuttered. "Honey, congratulations! I'm so happy for you!" she immediately hugged him. "Now come, eat this pancake and go to work. We're gonna celebrate tonight! I will cook your favorite goopy carbonara!"

After he arrived to work, he noticed that there were a crowd in the parking lot. He investigated and found out that the crowd were his work friends. "What are you all doing here? Shouldn't we all work?" Alif asked. "It's not work time yet, Alif. Hurry, absent is on there! We already got permission from Mr. Coxon anyway!" Ivan shouted at him. He hurrily absent in case he forgot, and returned to his friends. "Why are you guys on the parking lot anyway?"

"CONGRATULATIONS FOR YOUR PROMOTION, ALIF!!"

Alif was shocked once again. His friends already knew that he was promoted! The news sure spread fast. He couldn't believe this sight. "Come here, Mr. Director!" said Ivan with humorous tone.

"Alif, congratulations. You deserved it, man." said Samuel. Alif smiled at him and replied, "Thank you very much. This is because you always help me." He sure was a very humble person. Sinta came over Alif as well and said, "I'm very happy for you, Alif! Now that you are the director of the company, I believe the company will develop even faster." Alif smiled due to her compliment, and happily replied, "Thank you. I can't forget your collaboration with me, and I will still need your help." Others followed to praise him as well, since he is the right man for this job. They also wished him luck and shook his hand. "You must be very proud of your achievement!" Ivan said. "Thanks, but I still have to learn a lot." he replied with generous tone. His staffs congratulated him as well. "Now let's eat lunch together for Alif!" Samuel shout, and it was replied with cheers from everyone.
--
Author's note:
Hi guys, I'm in a Blur mood lately so that explains why I put some Blur reference, haha.

The cutest milk box ever

MOVIE REVIEW: Coco

So, I just watched Coco and UGH IT WAS SO EMOTIONAL AND MADE ME CRY A LOT. Unfortunately, I didn't watch it theater because I didn't have anyone to bring. And I feel really bad because this film deserves my money. Although...... Olaf's Frozen Adventure.... no thanks.

Coco's Poster

Before I talk about Coco, let's talk about Olaf's Frozen Adventure because wow, it sure got a lot of backlash. In Mexico, the short was taken off the theater after only 1 week screening because so many people complained about it. In US, the short was taken down as well starting from December 8, however Disney claimed that it was taken down because "Olaf's Frozen Adventure was meant to get limited release and it ends on December 8". Even though in the trailer they never stated that the "short" would stop showing on theater on that date. Disney pretty much refused to accept the fact that Frozen's hype is dying.

You're horrible Olaf go away

So what's wrong with Olaf's Frozen Adventure? Well, the "short" was 21 MINUTES LONG. I heard there were a commercial break as well, which made Coco started playing after 45 minutes. Just wow. Olaf's Frozen Adventure was planned to be aired on ABC at first, but Disney didn't see any potential with Coco (is this because none of the cast are white? Hmm Disney) so they decided to play it before the movie. If it were played on ABC I doubt it would get as many hate as now, but usually short before movie are usually only lasted for 5-7 minutes so audience don't really mind it. 21 minutes is just... too much.

:O

PARAGRAPHS BELOW CONTAINS SPOILER! All text filled with black background are very "spoily" so beware.

Okay, enough complaining, now let's talk about the actual movie. Miguel is a music-loving boy in a family where music is forbidden. Why? His great great grandfather abandoned his family because he wanted to be a musician. Her wife was very mad and decided to ban music from her family. After some argument with his family, Miguel thought "I've had it with this crap, I'm just gonna abandon my family brb" and left. He went to his alleged great great grandfather De La Cruz's grave, a loved Mexican musician, and used his guitar because his family destroyed his. Apparently, that guitar sent him into Land of the Dead where all dead people live. And a great adventure ensue....

Reminded me of that one scene in Kubo and the Two Strings idk

First of all, I LOVE the skeletons' design. When I watched the trailer, I thought they looked weird but in the movie they looked so much better for some reason. Their movement are different from human, it was... boney? I don't know, but it's really unique. I also love how similar the skeleton are to them as a living person. The character designer made sure every single skeleton are different, just like how they design human. I really adore it.

De La Cruz comparison

The characters themselves are very lovable and memorable. Miguel acted like a normal kid would act. Sometimes selfish but not evil. There's this character named Hector who started out as a bit of a jerk and manuplative but once you knew his history, you will understand why he acted that way. Yeah... family and such. Not gonna spoil it. Speaking of motives, remember when I said that Miguel's family hated music? It's not there just because the movie needed conflict, there's a reason. You see, Miguel's family really respected the whole 'family culture'. They kept photos of all of their main family for Dia de los Muertos (which I'll explain later) because they want them to keep remember their family. Well... except for Miguel's great great grandfather because he was the man who broke the culture. He left his own wife named Imelda with a baby just to reach his own personal goal, and never returned. Music was the one who broke the family. It left Imelda to struggle raising a child alone.

angery Imelda

I adore how much the crew did their research of Mexican culture. They actually went to Mexico for making this movie. The village Miguel lived in looks very Mexican and it was just gorgeous. The design of The Land of the Dead was great as well. There was lights everywhere and it looks mesmerizing. And for Dia de los Muertos, they explained it very well. Like, at first I thought that holiday was Mexican halloween or something, but it's actually about family. You see, families put up their deceased one's photo for a sign that they remember them. In Dia de los Muertos, they will visit The Land of the Living as long as there someone who still remember them. And if no one in real life remember who they are in the real world, they will permanently die (to avoid overpopulation). I never knew that in my whole life before this movie! I feel bad for thinking that the sugar skull makeup was just random makeup trend, but it's actually symbolize how much a family should remember each other even if they already passed away.

Yes, Coco is actually the old lady and not the boy

As much as I love Coco, yeah, it still has some flaws, although it doesn't bother me much. There's a lot of cliches, such as the music contest that the protagonist wanted to join but couldn't and final concert. There's also the Disney villain twist thing that got very old at this point, but in this movie I have to give credit that in this one it worked much better than in other movie. Seriously, I didn't expect the villain was actually a murderer just to steal someone's fame. Also this is completely unrelated but Hector in real life is.... quite attactive. Remember in my Motorcity first impression that I have a thing for tall and skinny nerd? Yeah, he's pretty much like that when he lived. His skeleton form though, he looks like a hobo! I'm disappointed. But whatever, he reminds me of the guy from Paperman. I love them both. I'm such a creep AGH.

Hector as a skeleton which is not attaractive at all 0/10 go back

Overall, Coco is a highly recommended movie. It's currently my favorite Pixar movie! You should watch it in theater immediately. Don't be like me. Thank you for reading, see ya!

FIRST IMPRESSION: Motorcity

Okay, so I watched some review of something and this reviewer mentioned her all time favorite cartoon, Motorcity. I've heard of this show on 2012 or something but I wasn't really interested. I decided to give it a second chance because there are some cartoons that were unappealing to me as a child but ended up loving it when I was older, like Avatar: The Last Airbender (yes, I used to hate ATLA as a child sorry). And yes, I was completely right, my cartoon taste as a child was horrible! How could I find this show unappealing? It's currently my third personal favorite TV shows after Sym Bionic Titan and Paranoia Agent! I just watched episode 1 by the way. 19 episodes to go......... here's my thoughts on it.

A very cool banner of Motorcity

So, in the future, there was a new futuristic city on top of Detroit (yes, it's literally on top of Detroit), which was Detroit Deluxe. Deluxe promised everything great except freedom. Mike, the main character, was pissed off by this decision and decided to built his own freedom-land called Motorcity (or Detroit, I guess?) which has the slogan "live fast, live free". In Motorcity people can do everything they want, but in the show, I guess the meaning of freedom was car racing? Because all they do was racing. That's the backstory of Motorcity. Then in the actual episode, Mike and his (cute) soulmate Chuck found some cool gadget for his car that can be used for a weapon. But watch out as when they explored the main villain who was responsible for Deluxe, Kane, attacked Motorcity! Mike and Chuck came in the right time though, as they saved the city from being attacked by giant robot thing.

So much holograms

Kane called Mike in this huge hologram TV unwilling to accept his defeat, then Mike challenged him and said that he will return to Deluxe someday. Kane was somehow amused by this, and by the next scene, he told Tooley, one of his worker, that Mike was a very dedicated staff until he found out about Kane's lies and built Motorcity instead. Hoping that Mike would come back as his apperentice, Kane set up a trap and Mike fell for it. Fortunately Julie, some kind of double person or something as she lived in both Motorcity and Deluxe saved him. But Motorcity was already being destroyed by robots, however Mike and his squad always came on the right time, they saved Motorcity once again with cool action scenes, and then the episode end. Bam. I'm bad at recap. Just watch it for yourself, okay?

The Burners are unimpressed with my recap ability

What stands out from Motorcity the most in my opinion is the animation. Wow, to think this was done in Adobe Flash! It's so unbelievable! There's a lot of great action scenes and the movement is so fluid. It looks like hand-drawn animation, honestly. Some people hate Flash because it oftenly resulted in a very poor quality cartoons, but Motorcity proved them that it also can be used for stunning animation. It was made by Titmouse Studio after all, which is well known for being ambitious.

This is Flash, people

Some small detail that I love is Kane's movement. There something about it that felt elegant and powerful, which is what he is as a character. I love that a simple movement decision can tell the audience about the character's simple trait.

This is actually a horrible example to prove my point but I couldn't find any Kane gif

There are more positive things but I don't want this post to be too long, so let's talk about things that I found... not so good. I don't know, but I just hate it when character talks in the most unnecessary or possibly dangerous time possible. For example, in one scene Julie tried to find out what Kane's up too. She literally said it out loud in a place that still has a bunch of people in it, then said "I gotta tell the boys", like, can't people there hear what you're saying? It bugs me a lot. Show, don't tell! Also I feel like sometime the show can give the audience way too much information to handle, like in one scene where Mike decided to go to Deluxe. He was arguing with Dutch and Chuck a little bit and they talked about why Mike shouldn't go to Motorcity, some unknown phrases, and their backstory with Kane. I know it doesn't sound much but that scene's pacing was too fast. I guess they need to save their time?

I found this by accident I'm tearing up

Overall, amazing looking show, probably second best looking show after Sym Bionic Titan but the writing need more polishing. I'm looking forward for more episodes because some of it sounds cool. And yeaaa if you haven't guessed yet my favorite character is Chuck. I'm weak for nerdy tall character. See ya!

I actually haven't watch this episode and I'm excITED seriously Chuck with a tuxedo?? hit mE UP