In the World of Local Credit Cards

Maraknya dunia kartu kredit saat ini di ibukota, dengan promo discount di sana-sini, tidak menjanjikan layanan kenyamanan dan sekuriti yang memadai.

1. Beberapa merchant masih menerapkan sistem surcharge untuk transaksi. Jumlahnya bervariasi. Bisa 1.8%, 3% atau 3.5%. Alasannya karena kalo merchant tidak mencharge pembeli, nanti jumlah sales mereka yang dipotong oleh pihak bank. Padahal gue inget banget waktu gue sekolah dulu, gue pernah diajarin sama guru gue bahwa bank penerbit kartu kredit TIDAK PERNAH memotong jumlah sales, ataupun mewajibkan merchant untuk mengenakan surcharge. Itu akal-akalan merchant aja karena mereka lebih prefer tunai dibanding kredit yang notabene harus menunggu sekitar seminggu atau dua minggu untuk pencairan dana. But, try to tell that to the merchant, they will just give a snort to your face.

2. Hampir sebagian besar merchant menentukan minimum transaksi untuk kartu kredit Rp 50ribu. Ada malah yang Rp 85ribu sampai Rp 200ribu. Padahal beberapa tahun yang lalu (er .. belasan tahun yang lalu kalee), Carrefour dan Gramedia hanya menentukan minimum Rp 25ribu aja. Coba bandingkan .. gue pernah nemenin adek gue belanja di small convenient store in Hong Kong .. HKD 3.00 (sekitar Rp 3-4ribu) aja bisa pake kartu kredit!!!

3. Gifts suck. Elo apply kartu kredit, dapetnya cuma boneka, payung, pen, coca-cola 1.5 liter. Only if you're lucky to find a generous bank, which is a very rare one, they could give you iPod Nano.

4. Promo-promo merchant dengan menggunakan kartu kredit kebanyakan memiliki persyaratan dan kondisi tersembunyi. Biasanya mereka cetak ini dengan huruf-huruf kecil yang hanya bisa dibaca dengan menggunakan binocular. Jadi mesti bener-bener tanya sebelum melakukan transaksi, kalo ga mau kecele.

5. Database langsung menyebar ke telemarketers yang kemudian menjadi spammers incoming calls or incoming sms. Bukan hanya untuk penawaran kartu kredit atau promo discount, tapi juga penawaran kredit tanpa agunan. I tell you, they annoy the hell out of me. I once replied the sms by saying "Hey! F*uck your credit offer!! Take me off your list!!" (tapi udahannya gue nyesel, I just spent Rp 150 for that sms $$!##!%%!!). Atau pernah ga sengaja telepon gue angkat, dan ternyata dari telemarketer yang langsung nyerocos panjang lebar nawarin kartu kredit. Gue langsung cut "Maaf. Mau tanya, limit kreditnya bisa dapet berapa? 10-15 juta? Kamu kirimin saya duit mentahnya aja deh buat belanja. Ok?!" Klik, tutup. Or I simply let them talk and talk .. gue taroh aja hp gue di meja (I don't want to just press Reject, biarin aja mereka berbusa dulu mulutnya). Gue cuekin sampe kedengeran "Halo? Halo? Bu? Halo? Bu?" Klik, tutup.

6. Belanja menggunakan kartu kredit kadang cuma memperlambat waktu transaksi. Kasus sering terjadi di hypermart, dimana counter kasir berjejer-jejer, tapi EDC machine mesti pinjem-pinjeman. Jadi gue mesti tunggu kartu gue digesek di mesin yang tersedia .. sampe ke ujung jejeran kasir. This is very uneasy and uncomfortable. You may want to think of credit card duplication crime. Kadang gue ga bisa leluasa ngikutin kasir karena barang belanjaan gue pastinya ga bisa ditinggal dong. Tapi ya .. ada satu kali gue sampe marah banget ke kasir karena waktu kartu gue mau digesek di counternya, ternyata ga bisa (error, atau apalah). Counternya ini di dalam hypermart. Trus dia langsung bawa kartu gue TANPA permisi ke counter kasir yang di deretan luar. WHUAAATT!!! Langsung gue kejar tu kasir dan gue teriakin "MAS!! MAU DIBAWA KEMANA KARTU SAYA?? KOK BAWA LARI KARTU KREDIT ORANG GA MINTA IZIN???" Si Mas Kasir mukanya sampe merah karena malu. Gue juga mukanya merah kali, karena kesel. Begitu gampangnya mereka memperlakukan kartu kredit orang. Tau ga sih kalo itu duit?? Untungnya ini masih di area yang sama. Temen gue pernah mau pake kartu kredit di satu merchant, ternyata line-nya lagi rusak .. dan terus kasirnya minta ijin ke temen gue buat bawa tu kartu supaya bisa digesek ke merchant yang sama di gedung seberang!!! Jadi beneran kartu itu dibawa lari ke seberang, terus dibawa lari lagi balik ke temen gue sambil bawa cc sales draft-nya. Temen gue sempet bingung juga "Ini beneran digesek di gedung seberang???" *sigh*. My friend, if later you find your card's being lost in the way or being duplicated, you don't say I've never written about it in this post.

7. Merchants, they never really check your signature on card. This is true. Gue sodorin kartu, digesek, terus kartunya dibalikin berikut cc slip buat ditandatangan. Dan mereka ga pernah lagi ngambil kartunya buat nyocokin. I will say my signature is quite a complicated one. Sometimes I find it difficult to match it to one another myself. And I sign on the cc slip just as I like mostly. Entah cuma paraf, atau tandatangan yang jadinya sama sekali berbeda. As far as I remember, after all these years of signing, cuma dua kali gue pernah diminta tandatangan ulang sesuai yang ada di belakang kartu kredit gue. Can you imagine losing your cards, it's very easy for the thieves to get away with the purchases. Dan gue bakalan tinggal gigit jari begitu terima unauthorized purchase di billing statement. How could you claim? Atau dibalik, could I claim to the bank and saying that all the purchases (that I DID make) are unauthorized because I didn't have the slips? Could they check my signature on their file and verify it with me? I'm pretty sure the signatures will be very different. Hah. Eat that, you fool!

This Lucky Point No. 7 will bring you to this hilarious site of credit card pranks I read years ago. The author has been successfully forcing numbers of signature on his cc slips. Such as "Mariah Carey", "Beethoven", "Zeus", "Porky Pig", "Shamu" (with a whale pic), "Kris P. Kreme", "Dunk N. Donuts", "Service Sucked", "I Stole This Card", "Found this in the trash. Woo-Hoo!" (with a garbage bin pic), "The Glove Box Thief", "My Butt" (with a butt pic), "Butthole" (with a you-know-what pic), "Not Authorized", "Please Check ID" ..

.. and drew some pictures like these:



He even managed to produce a Michael Jackson credit card. Of course, with "Michael Jackson" on signature.

Read the site here, here, here and here. Be entertained, and be scared. Do not lose your credit card. Ever!

Fighting Sweety for That Damn Lock&Lock!

When I post this Facebook status on last January 6, 2010, the first response I got from my friend: "hah? maksudnya apa, joel? bertengkar dengan manis untuk kunci dan kunci? :D"

..
..

You know what, that would probably be the exact words I got if I hit the Google translate button. *lmao*.

Actually, my status (and this post title) should be translated like this:

vs. =

And this is the story.

..

Sekitar September tahun lalu (buset, lama bener ya), Sweety ngadain promosi berhadiah Lock & Lock. Jadi ceritanya kalo ada yang beli Sweety diapers or pants senilai 25ribu, dapet satu sticker bulet bergambar Tom & Jerry. Dan sticker ini bisa dikumpulin di satu lembaran sampe sejumlah tertentu buat ditukar hadiah. Semakin banyak sticker semakin gede hadiahnya. Katanya sih batas waktu pengumpulan sticker terakhir awal November atau 15 November 2009 gitu (gue udah ga gitu inget tepatnya).

Gue sih memang selalu beli Sweety buat Mat. Jadi ngumpulin stickernya ga gitu susah. Yang susah, nyembunyiin tu sticker sama lembarannya dari pandangan Mat. Kalo ga, bisa abis dibuat mainan sama dia.

Nah. Jadinya pas sticker udah cukup terkumpul buat tuker Lock&Lock Food Container 180 ml hari, gue samperinlah counter Hypermart Karawaci. And as usual .. seperti pada prakteknya program berhadiah lainnya, gue dapat jawaban dari SPG Sweety: "Maaf, Bu, yang ini lagi kosong. Adanya yang ini (sambil nunjuk ke the next bigger thing .. Lock&Lock Water Bottle 300 ml)". Hmm. Berarti gue mesti ngumpulin lagi. Dibilangnya sih, buat penukaran hadiah ga ada batas waktunya, asalkan dicatet dulu nama sama nomor telepon, nanti mau dikabarin kalo barangnya udah ada. Ok, she got my data and I had more time to collect stickers.

Sampe akhirnya udah ga bisa ngumpulin lagi karena program udah ditutup, dan gue udah bisa dapet 2 hadiah.

Gue balik lagi ke counter Hypermart Karawaci. Abis pulang kerja nih. Dibela-belain. Ternyata mesti nunggu SPG-nya lagi istirahat makan malem. FYI, nuker hadiahnya baru bisa dimulai jam 2 siang sampe jam 8 malem setiap hari. Gue siang ga mungkin, kecuali weekend. Dan hari itu udah jam 7.30 malam. Nungguin setengah jam sampe si SPG balik. Dan jawaban yang gue terima .. "Maaf, Bu. Stock hadiahnya kosong semua, belum ada lagi. Saya catet deh nama Ibu, nanti biar dihubungi kalau sudah ada ya."

Kesel lah gue. Dulu data gue yang dicatet itu dikemanain?? Si SPG berkelit, katanya dia cuma pengganti aja. Jadi ga tau kalo dulu yang jaga siapa dan dicatat sama siapa. Gue yakinin lagi kalo gue masih bisa nunggu indefinite buat tu hadiah. Dan gue pasti balik lagi.

And guess what. Still no calls. Nothing. Sampai datanglah hari bersejarah itu. 6 Januari 2010. Gue dari pulang kerja udah bertekad harus dapet tu Lock&Lock. Dan kembali gue mesti tunggu SPG yang lagi makan malam. Shit. Seriously?? Seriously??!!! Sembari nunggu, gue ditegur sama satu ibu-ibu yang ngeliat gue pegang lembaran sticker Tom & Jerry. Dia bilang, dia dulu juga mau tuker, tapi dikasih tau kalo promo Sweety ini udah habis dan udah ga bisa lagi tuker hadiah.

@#!$!!!@$@@$#!!%!!&&!&!

You think I will go back home crying my eyes out. You think??

Nooo. Gue tambah yakin kalo gue HARUS dapetin sesuatu dari Sweety. This was the point I sent my status on Facebook.

Setelah nunggu 45 menit, dateng juga SPG-nya. Orang yang sama, seperti yang terakhir kali gue temuin. Dengan jawaban yang sama. Hadiahnya udah ga ada, dia cuma pemeran pengganti aja, dan tambahan kalo promo memang udah habis alias ga berlaku lagi.

Ok. That's absolutely a fraud case. And this girl, really just wanted to run away with stupid excuses. I demanded to talk to her manager. Manager's not around. I demanded to talk to anyone that could give me something, some decision, replacement, gifts, money, anything. Nobody's around. Of course, who would be? It's pass eight p.m. Fine, I gave her my mobile phone and asked her to dial her supervisor's number. I told her, I wanted the Lock&Lock stuffs I saw inside the market. She said she couldn't do that because it's not for promotion. "Ok. Jadi telpon aja manager kamu dan kasih tau dia kalo saya minta ambilin barang yang ada di dalam sana sebagai pengganti. Toh jenisnya sama kan?". Akhirnya dia minta ijin pergi ke lockernya buat ambil hp karena nomor TL (team leader)-nya ada di sana. Ok. Go. Just don't forget to come back cause I will be waaaaaaiiiiittttiiiiinnnggg!!!

20 more minutes. The more I waited, the more determined I was. Biarpun perut lapar, kaki pegel karena berdiri, gue tungguin. Kutunggu, kutunggu. Sampe si SPG balik dan kasih nomor hp si TL. Gue telepon, dan memang kayaknya si SPG udah kasih tau dulu sebelumnya ke si TL (cewek) soal kasus ini. Jawaban si TL sama. Ga bisa karena barang yang di dalam milik Matahari Group dan bukan Sweety. Dan kenapa baru kali ini dia denger ada kasus pelanggan ga kebagian hadiah, dipikirnya selama ini ga pernah ada masalah dan ga pernah ada laporan. Ohoho. Should I bring that lady who informed me about her case earlier?? Dan dia kayaknya mau nyalahin gue yang ga pernah complain sebelum masa promo berakhir. Great. Gue ga mau panjang-panjang. Gue bilang gue ini selalu beli Sweety. Ada ga ada promo, pasti gue tetep beli. Bukan karena hadiahnya. Tapi gue mau dapetin yang sesuai dijanjikan ke gue. And it was not THAT impossible.

Akhirnya si TL bilang dia mau bawa ini ke manager dulu besok pagi, karena ini udah malam (d'oh. jangkrik juga tau kalo itu saatnya dia berbunyi krik-krik-krik). Dia minta gue tunggu kabar, dan nanti Lock&Lock bisa dianter ke rumah gue. Gue bilang gue ga mau tunggu lagi. Gue mau pulang bawa itu barang sekarang juga. Gue juga ga bakalan tau apa besok gue beneran dihubungi, atau gue beneran terima tu barang. Dia bilang "Maaf, Bu, saya juga harus mengikuti prosedur." She really thought I didn't know the proper skill of handling complaints? Especially to a very very very angry customer?? I mean, c'mon. I was upset, BIG TIME, I'd been waiting for months .. and she asked me to WAIT LONGER for a goddamn procedure??? "SAYA TIDAK MAU TAU. SAYA MAU BAWA PULANG HADIAH SAYA SEKARANG DAN KAMU BISA URUS PROSEDUR BELAKANGAN!!!"

Have I told you before that I'm a no-complainer? Just because I've handled so many complaints in the past, I knew how it felt receiving big ones in public. A total humiliation. You'd feel like crying and hopeless, but you just couldn't. That's why most of the time I didn't sweat on small things. If I REALLY had to complain, I'd try to raise it nicely. But sometimes, just sometimes, this kind of thing happened.

Or perhaps it's because I was so damn hungry and tired of waiting. Pusing gue.

Sudahlah. Gue mau bicara sama Manager On Duty Hypermart aja. Dipanggil dan dia (cowok) dateng dalam waktu kurang dari 2 menit. Hmm. Good start. Setelah gue jelasin semuanya dan gue kasih tau apa yang gue mau, dia langsung minta gue tunggu sebentar karena dia mau ngambilin Lock&Lock yang sesuai dari dalam bareng si SPG. Sembari dia minta nomor telepon si TL.

Naaaaah. How long did I wait? Not very long. And he came back with the same food container and a bigger water bottle.

This one!

Sampe gue nanya lagi, bener nih dapet yang ini? Dia bilang iya, ga pa-pa karena yang 300ml-nya ga ada. I liked it =D. No, I liked him. He's a good MOD. Trus dia bilang sebaiknya hal-hal kayak gini dilaporkan ke MOD sejak awal. Biar dia bisa cepet bantu kasih solusi. Selama ini dia ga pernah denger kabar soal promo Sweety begini, karena memang ga ada yang lapor. Yaaaah .. cuma gue doang kali yang berani mati marah-marah di depan umum. Dan terus dia telepon si TL bilang nanti diurus ke kantor aja antara Sweety dan Matahari. Juga si SPG yang ternyata ngeluarin duitnya sendiri buat bayar itu dua barang buat gue, duitnya supaya nanti bisa direimburse di kantor. Hoh.

Terus si TL minta bicara sama gue lagi. This time, all's well. "Atas nama PT Softex Indonesia, kami minta maaf sebesar-besarnya atas kejadian ini. Mudah-mudahan Ibu tetap setia membeli dan menggunakan produk-produk kami."

Of courrrrrssseee.

Dengan adanya kejadian ini, gue nambah ilmu di bidang per-komplen-an. Always aim your complaints to the highest level of management. Make a scene. And never stop until you get what you deserve to have.

Read more stories here and here.

Footnote:

Ada satu lagi kejadian baru-baru ini yang serupa. Gue beli susu Frisian Flag buat Mat, katanya kalo beli dua kotak dapet satu container plastik. Lumayan buat simpen pernak-perniknya Mat. Jadi selain memang gue butuh itu susu, gue beli empat kotak. Terus gue claim ke counter customer service. Jawabannya "Maaf, Bu .. hadiahnya lagi kosong." Aaarrrghhh! Not again!! Insting gue menginstruksikan "Call MOD now. Call him before you waste your time and energy". Tapi gue masih coba berbaik-hati "Kenapa tag hadiah masih dipasang di dalam kalo hadiahnya udah habis? Saya minta digantiin sama yang lain aja deh. Coba dong cariin." I would give them 2 minutes before I called the manager. Untungnya ga lama kemudian, SPG Frisian Flag dateng bawa stock container. Ga jadi komplen deh gue.

Dan setelahnya .. gue menjadi saksi seorang Bapak yang keabisan hadiah di counter. Dia sampe bilang "Tau begitu kan saya nggak beli ini. Saya beli karena saya kan mau hadiahnya doang." Dan dia sukses dicuekin sama petugas counter. Gitu aja tuh =o. Gue betul-betul kepo mau ngajarin si Bapak buat menuntut haknya. Tapi orangnya juga langsung pergi sambil ngomel-ngomel sendiri. Yaaaaah .. *shrug*. The counter guy was SO lucky it wasn't me.

When There Ain't Never Enough Jake

I caught this paragraph from here:

Jake Gyllenhaal's brain-liquifying levels of dreaminess have made him a universal object of desire, with every surfacing photograph of him and companion used as definitive evidence in the ongoing "He's on our team!" tug-of-war. (Even the canine community claimed him when he was snapped canoodling with an underage puggle.)

How can I not agree?

When I find one sidepage is not enough for Jake. And I don't want to open another blog just because there're already some people doing amazing job in stalking him (find a few of them here and here, from where I got this very nice article).

So I'm just gonna summarize my state on this page only.

I've seen thirteen of his movies and wrote three long posts to comment on each. (Click on pics to read comments. Watch out for spoilers!)

These following pics painted the sweetest moment in Proof. Can I take Gwyneth's place? Let me just drooling over this trailer at 1:33.

And dreaming to replace Heath Ledger on Jake's best movie to date, Brokeback Mountain. I even named my pet-fish Ennis and Jack.

Click here to see my favourite scene (WARNING: MAJOR SPOILER!!).

Ennis Del Mar: I'm gonna tell you this one time, Jack fuckin' Twist, an' I ain't foolin'. What I don't know - all them things that I don't know - could get you killed if I come to know them. I ain't jokin'.
Jack Twist: Yeah well try this one, and I'll say it just once!
Ennis Del Mar: Go ahead!
Jack Twist: Tell you what, we coulda had a good life together! Fuckin' real good life! Had us a place of our own. But you didn't want it, Ennis! So what we got now is Brokeback Mountain! Everything's built on that! That's all we got, boy, fuckin' all. So I hope you know that, even if you don't never know the rest! You count the damn few times we have been together in nearly twenty years and you measure the short fucking leash you keep me on - and then you ask me about Mexico and tell me you'll kill me for needing somethin' I don't hardly never get. You have no idea how bad it gets! I'm not you... I can't make it on a coupla high-altitude fucks once or twice a year! You are too much for me Ennis, you sonofawhoreson bitch! I wish I knew how to quit you.
Ennis Del Mar: [crying] Well, why don't you? Why don't you just let me be? It's because of you Jack, that I'm like this! I'm nothin'... I'm nowhere... Get the fuck off me! I can't stand being like this no more, Jack.

From some sources I've also learned that Jake has the deepest regret for losing the audition for Christian in Moulin Rouge!. He was down to three with Ewan McGregor and Heath Ledger. Now. As much as I love Ewan as Christian, it's my regret for not be able to see Jake singing and dancing in the best musical movie ever. Just a thought of him doing this piece, way beyond my imagination. I could never look at Christian the same way again.

Talking about Jake's interviews, I find most are very entertaining. I'm pretty sure it's mainly because of his sense of humor, wacky interviewers and smart publicist. Rarely any boring ones. Even in the most serious interview, I still can find him very charming and polite. Playlisted a collection around here, alongside some movie clips and trailers. Look out for the one with Jonathan Ross (Part 1 and Part 2), George Stroumboulopoulos and the Q&A Session of Wondercon 2010 (Jake Gyllenhaal, is human after all. He could get embarassed. Fans: "You're pretty, I just thought you should know it". Jake: "If you weren't silhouetted, I'd be able to say the same thing". Awwww!). View Wondercon 2010: Disney's Prince of Persia Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.

To wrap it up for now, this Gyllenhaalic post won't be completed without a Vanity Fair Photoshot and a slideshow of 100 chosen pics (from here and other sources).

William James said "The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another." ..

.. I'm too stressed out. So I choose to think of Jake Gyllenhaal over everything.

Revisiting Jake Gyllenhaal .. and Yeah, He's Still Alive and Kicking

.. to answer my own question written near the end of this post ..

No, I DID NOT mind watching movie about gay people. Even when they stereotyped Brokeback Mountain as "a gay cowboy movie" and homophobes banned it anywhere, anytime they could .. I remained to what I've always believed that sometimes you cannot choose the one you love. It just happened. Be it male on male. What put it into delay was because it's got tremendous hypes, so massive that it successfully let me down before I saw it. Spoilers, parodies, movie clips, that 30-second bunnies (which was really hilarious, by the way, especially when the sheep and the elk kissed at the end). Felt like I'd been hit by Brokeback Mountain debris everywhere I turned. To add salt into injury, it was directed by Ang Lee, who is a very good director with his style, but the name always pronounces "Slow Movies" to my ears. Then 4 years later, should I start to give it a chance? For you, Jake, I'd ride the horse and climb the mountain. And I say. Though I had to endure the silence at the beginning of the movie (God, Ang Lee, when would you ask the actors to start talking already?), I'm happy I stayed since it ended up being absolutely .. beautiful. It deserved every Oscar it won (directing, writing and music), and for many other awards nominations it received. Totally deserved my victory dance. Stunning cinematography, subtle score .. and what lead the movie to be what it is, was a masterpiece of art from the director. I think only Ang Lee who has a capability to turn something this provocative into a touching love story. Then I had to put the rest to those wonderful actors, who made everything so believable, so delicate it left no space for sarcasm and disgust. Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, not a single moment I had in my mind that they're less of men themselves. Their courage to take these rewarding roles and how they took all the prejudice thrown at them, it's like the most professional dedication they could give to their acting career and to the movie industry. Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist are indeed their roles of a lifetime. Sure there's a particular scene that really got my head spinning pretty badly (jeez, and I thought I was well-prepared), but I love all scenes that involved these two fine men. There are many obvious tenderness and purity reflected in it. I, am specifically drawn to Jack Twist. I understand how difficult the situation for Ennis, but come on, how could he reject those dreamy eyes? (Later I found this amusing comment: "Jake Gyllenhaal must be part puppy with those eyes". Made me kinda wonder it's indeed true, might need to check his birth certificate). And the monologue Jack gave to Ennis on their last fishing trip, where you got the famous "I wish I knew how to quit you" quote, so bitter it broke my heart. Jake Gyllenhaal is great, without any less respect to Heath Ledger's accomplishment, I wonder why he'd been categorized in a supporting role instead of leading role. And how Alma Del Mar, played by Michelle Williams at her best, could call him "Jack Nasty" .. and some closeted minds targeting this movie as a humiliation to Lee, Heath, Jake and all cowboys in the world .. those things, see, I'm still digesting.

Let me move on to Jarhead. After being gay cowboy, now Jake Gyllenhaal is a marine during the Gulf War. War movies' never been my preference. But just because it has Jake in it .. and his brother-in-law Peter Sarsgaard, who happened to be one of my fave too .. so yeah I gave it a shot. Turned out it's quite good, especially the first half of the movie where there were the most of low-key humor that made me grinning. Jake's acting wise, I personally believe it's on par to what he's done in Brokeback Mountain. Only this time, nobody would question his sexual orientation. He portrayed a real person name Anthony Swofford, who's trained to be a sniper but never had a chance to fire his rifle. One best scene happened after Swofford's been punished for neglecting his watch-duty in Christmas Eve, when he threatened his buddy with a loaded rifle .. emotional words flew as fast as bullets fired .. my heart skipped a couple of beats there, almost couldn't stand the tension. Definitely it's a g-u-y movie, pardon my pun.

Then I re-watched Proof. When I saw it in cinema a few years back, I could only give short comments posted in other mailist: "Adu debat dan aktingnya melawan Gwyneth Paltrow terbukti mampu membuat gue tetap alert waktu nonton film yang penuh dialog panjang-panjang ini". When I thought this movie was difficult because of the math logic and sanity premise, when I thought Gwyneth and Anthony Hopkins delivered all their lines in full gear and deafening volume, when I thought how could Jake Gyllenhaal looked so different than he was in his previous movies. That was then. Now after I've seen Brokeback Mountain and Jarhead, put Proof in between, I finally can make a connection. Three good movies in the same year. He's matured and he picked the right point to start from. My opinion on Proof after the 2nd session, is that this movie has a simple storyline, dialogues are heavy and strong, acting .. is definitely a blast. Gwyneth Paltrow, Anthony Hopkins, Jake Gyllenhaal and Hope Davis .. all four of them! Though I still can't understand about 30% of the math logic, with these actors involved, I will go ahead pretending I am smart. I've watched it three times now and it just keeps getting better, more entertaining (and the 30% been reduced to 20%). The star of the movie is Gwyneth, no doubt about it. She carried her character, named Catherine, fluidly into the world between insanity and sanity. Hard to tell. But what I like most, is Hal. He's like the sun that brought light into Catherine's life. He's the one that could improve her mood and made her laugh. I repeated the very one scene of Catherine and Hal sitting at the terrace (see picture here), and then they kissed (see picture here) .. gah .. that was the sweetest moment ever. Jake as Hal, is just too adorable. Never get bored of the scene, never get enough of Hal.

I will only give short comments on the following movie: Zodiac. Despite of the stellar casts involved in this movie, Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo, Jake Gyllenhaal, Chloe Sevigny .. with David Fincher directed them .. this certainly not my kind of movie. It tells story of the unsolved case of Zodiac Killer. I couldn't take the brutal murder scenes, ooooh the horror. I felt like being trapped in a dark room without any sign of hope for almost three hours. Not even the lightest character, Robert Graysmith, could help. Well, yeah maybe he could. But that doesn't change me to like this movie. I could say that based on Jake's performance only, he's a little bit awkward with not enough screen presence at the first half of the movie. But at the second half when his character grew and stepped up to the lead, now that is when I feel the movie's very lucky to have Jake Gyllenhaal in it.

Rendition. I caught it on HBO. Seeing Reese Witherspoon, Meryl Streep, Alan Arkin, Peter Sarsgaard and Jake Gyllenhaal .. who could resist? Perhaps I should have known better. I don't mind the story about prejudice that once again put someone who's innocent into deep trouble just because of his race, nationality or religion. But I do mind its parallel story, that made me believe I could finally learn why young terrorists could conduct suicide bombings. Jeez. Rendition touched a very dangerous subject, and it's too cruel. I don't like it at all. Well, at least I could enjoy Peter Sarsgaard performance .. and Jake who appeared so damn serious as CIA analyst Douglas Freeman. I'm glad he got this sympathetic role, the only character in this movie that had guts to take risks. Other than that, it's so-so.

And that's all for now.

I'm delighted to change my favourite list of Jake's movie character. It's now is .. Harold Dobbs (Hal), of course. Homer Hickam comes 2nd. Jack Twist comes 3rd. As for his movie, Brokeback Mountain is the best so far. And for Jake Gyllenhaal himself, I love his eyes the most. Then his acting. Then his smile. Then his laughs. Then the way he kissed that girl in Bubble Boy, Emmy Rossum, Gwyneth Paltrow, Natalie Portman, Gemma Arterton and Heath Ledger. I just wish it was me he kissed.

Twilight Saga: My Theories

I have some theories about Twilight Saga:

1. RPattz and Taylor, these hunks are gorgeous. Eventhough they cannot act, they're the ones that brought the characters to live. Like it or not, girls are holding to their existence so they could see Edward Cullen and Jacob Black in tangible way. (It's blurred when they say Team Edward and Team Jacob, do they mean Team Robert Pattinson and Team Taylor Lautner??). Be jealous, guys .. be very jealous. Cause you've got serious competition since girls tend to forget everything when they cross path with these two -everything including losing their mind, ignoring their boyfriends or husbands, calling Kristen a bitch just because Bella didn't want to choose (who can, anyway?). More likely it will lead into endless cynicism from the losers. I do believe some ego were bruised pretty bad. You can ban vampires and werewolves from your life, but do not forget, they're immortal. And so are the Twihards. Be reminded that this is imagination without limit. Better not putting yourself into misery of not knowing the reason why the saga roars.

2. The books are marketed for young adults, a.k.a. teenagers. Outside the target (read: adult men or women, critics, or some of the unusual teens, who claim to always have their feet on earth consciously) .. is accepted, but not expected. Teenagers love sweet romance and handsome characters. Their behaviours are notoriously extreme to whatever they believe in, for all the things they can dream about. Stephenie Meyer wrote the books based on her dream, you go figure. Instead of creating dark coffins and bloody fangs, she created sparkling vampires and the gentlest of werewolves. And a triangle love story between the mythical creatures and a human girl .. damn, she fools us all. No wonder the books irritate many people. It's all so perfect, it's impossible.

3. It's very tricky for the movies to live up to the books. But for the fans, it's irresistible nonetheless. They're willing to forgive any shortcomings because they just love it as it is. When the movies turned out bad in the eye of critics, who the hell care?? Even the critics who gave bad ratings - fans or non fans - watched the movies too, didn't they? For those who don't understand this, let me put it this way: Watch & Comment. (Not the other way around, or do the ugly Comment & No Watch At All). Do not say that the directors, actors and everyone involved in the production had no burdens in making the movies as best as they could, to materialize thousand dreams. Probably some of you have already read this.

So my point is:

I could only write down three points.

.. And in case anybody gets a little curious .. I am 30% Team Edward Cullen, 30% Team Jacob Black and 40% Team Bella Swan.