Prayer

Our prayers may be awkward. Our attempts may be feeble. But since the power of prayer is in the One who hears it and not in the one who says it, our prayers do make a difference.

Minority Report: A Movie Viewed from Its Dark Side

written by Jonatan Dimeo 16713097

Everybody loves a hero, but nobody ever forgets a villain. Whether he (or she) is an evil genius, violent criminal, or a cunning killer, a movie is just not complete without the presence of a truly evil villain. Some movies can’t be separated from its villains because, simply, they are too impressive. They possess a real charisma to charm the audience, and sometimes, they are the most impressive character we find on the screen.

What qualities make a really good villain? They must possess both brain and brawns. Brawn without brain leads to a laughable character, like Bale in Batman and Robin, in a stark contrast to Bane in The Dark Knight Rises. Whereas brain without brawn creates a cunning enemy without him (or her) posing a real threat when confronted one on one, just like Palpatine in Star Wars, whom Darth Vader easily overpowers. Add a little bit eccentricity, or insanity, any word you prefer, a villain would theoretically be perfect. Now, the big question is, which villain perfectly mixed these essential qualities and thus makes an epic movie?

Two names pop up in my mind. The first is Hannibal Lecter in Silence of The Lamb. Portrayed by Anthony Hopkins, this Hannibal perfectly straddles the line between good and evil, blurring the line in progress. He scares us from the first moment he appeared, inside a prison. His lunatic behavior came out when he was transferred to another prison eating one of the police officer’s nose, and subsequently make his escape. Hopkins surely wouldn’t won his Oscar if this character is not that special, considering his time on screen is just a few seconds over 16 minutes. Practically, this fact makes Silence of the Lamb a film about Hannibal himself, instead of the main protagonist, Clarice Sterling.

The second one is The Joker. While Hannibal still has a good side, Joker is clearly losing all his good virtues. In the film, Alfred once said, “some men aren’t looking for anything logical, like money. They can’t be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn”. This statement pretty much sums up what kind of villain The Joker is. He changed Harvey Dent, the white knight, the once people’s hero, to Two Face, a wicked sick murderer. He set the police force on a chaos. He nearly exploded two ships full of people. But the most villainous moment was when he lied, exchanging Rachel and Dent’s location when giving directions to Batman, resulting in Rachel’s death. Never have we found a superhero, suffer so much before he could defeat his enemy, and when finally he knocked Ledger’s Joker out, he has lost everything including his own love interest. Truly, the Dark Knight couldn’t be more noir if it weren’t for The Joker’s presence.

In conclusion, a tense, intriguing movie couldn’t be made without an ingenious villain. While the hero remains the vocal point, the thrill or the buzz we felt when we watch a movie is often the result of a mesmerizing actions from the villain. Next time you watch a movie, remember it’s not the hero that drives the story, it’s the villain.

         

Goodbye Halcyon Days

written by Jonatan Dimeo 16713097

Throughout ages of human history, education plays an essential part in society. People see education as the great social equaliser, the human race's only alternative to catastrophe. Every country has its own system, and it is not easy to pick up which one is the best or which one is the worst. Every one of them has its advantages and flaws. In response to Kie Ho's article, I decided to look at the current American education system, and compare it to Finland's, cited as the world's best.

Boasting its system to let children think freely, Americans proclaim this to be the pinnacle of human education. Kie Ho wrote this system gives the children an opportunity to fulfill their creativity, thus, making America the country of innovation. He also feels this to be a superior system compared to others. However, this is not the actual case. Kie Ho wrote his article out of his own opinion without looking at any proof. America, in reality, is in decline for the past five years or so. Once regarded as the world's leading country in manufacturing industries, America has since slipped to 7^th position due to, ironically, a lack of new innovations. Creative industries such as movie industry, is recently flooded by Asians, mainly Chinese, Koreans, and even Malaysians. Moreover, more than 58% Americans are now doing low-paying jobs, compared to 30% in 1980s, because high-paying jobs vacancies are given to non-Americans.¹ Is this the result of the so-called best education in the world?

Rational people should have realized that this system is far from perfect, a long way to go to be the best. Children are permitted to think creatively, out of their imagination, yet, I do not believe it is right to let them think that France, Iran, or any other country is located in Australia. It is also foolish to let people being ignorant, not knowing what religion a country holds, or what is happening at the other side of the world, as if their lives are the center of the universe. Education should empower the disempowered, and strengthen the weak, not the other way around. Letting the fools stay stupid is not educating, it is enslaving.

A comprehensive survey held by lots of education firm, including Pearson, in 2013 cited Finland’s education system as the best in the world.² Finnish children are forbidden to enter school until they are six or seven years old. The first step of education lasts nine years, until they are sixteen, and they are not graded. They engage in social activities, they have a lot of school trips, but the most important part is that they are taught the right things, whether it is geography, mathematics, or any other subjects, by the best teacher available. These teachers have at least a master degree and a license to teach. Compared to Finland’s, America’s system is certainly not good enough. Add to this the fact of the same number of teacher in Finland (better qualified ones) responsible for only 600 thousand students, meanwhile in America, the same amount of teacher responsible for over 1 million students.

Supporters of American education system fail to notice that their country is in a downward spiral thanks to years of bad system, and it is difficult to get out of this. I firmly believe the final purpose of education is to create a more critical generation, capable of creating a better society. Current American system does not serve this purpose, as it only makes an easier-to-govern generation. Granted, there is no perfect education system in this world, and today’s best may be tomorrow’s worst. However, looking at current trends, it seems inevitable for America to quickly change their system, if they ever seriously considered getting out of the steep decline they are in.

^1.        http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/getting-worse-40-undeniable-pieces-of-evidence-that-show-that-america-is-in-decline, 2011

^2.        http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/27/best-education-in-the-wor_n_2199795.html, 2013

The Press Control

Nikita Khrushchev, the leader of Soviet Union, during the Cold War, was once quoted saying "The press is our chief ideological weapon". This statement proved to be debatable, but approaching this April's election, it has never been more relevant. Lots of political parties nowadays use the media, the press, as one of their main weapons. For example, Nasdem owns MetroTv and Metro Indonesia, Hanura is heavily associated with RCTI and Koran Sindo, while Golkar uses TvOne during the latest campaign, to name just some. There is no doubt that the press hold immense power on influencing people’s mind, but, it is really the case of “whoever controls the media controls the world”?

In political arena, one of the main functions of the press is to inform public the events that occured recently. The way the press inform us, whether it is a good or a bad news, can alter our perception. Add to it the ability of the press to spread information rapidly, and we can see why politicians desperately want to control it. Using the press as a mean to enhance their reputation, we can see almost every headlines favors one or two parties these days. The effectiveness is said to lie in the constant barrage of information hammered into our minds. So far, it seems like our choice is influenced. However, the truth is, it is not.

The people, although exerting no direct control over the press itself, are ultimately what drive the politicians to do that. They go to great lengths to do something like visiting a very poor village or checking catasthrope victims. These actions are undoubtly out of their habits. They do all this just to grab tomorrow’s headline in some newspapers. They even surveyed how the public reacts to a certain action they make and act accordingly.

In addition, individuals do still have the freedom of choice to choose who they believe in. Surveys indicate that while the press can say someone is really good or bad, it hardly change our subconscious mind. For example, in Aung San Suu Kyi case in Myanmar. Despite the government’s best effort to suppress the news and even tried to frame her for treachery, they failed to control the public opinion. This proves the press itself is not actually that powerful.

In conclusion, it is true that the press can exert a great deal of influence over people. However, the effect only works if we decided to buy it. Constant barraging may even bring negative effects as we feel like having enough of it. Therefore, to say “whoever controls the media controls the world” is just a mere exaggeration.

What Someone Says About Me

By: Jonathan Hanley Unang / 16713172

Everyone needs a job for living. We spend our life pursuing the job that we want. We do our best in school and college to gain education, and we use all the education that we have gained to work. A job is not only to make money. It is also a way to express yourself, a way to enjoy your passion, a way to find the true purpose of your life in this world. Therefore, if you could get your dream job, maybe you’re considered as one of the luckiest people on this earth. What is better than getting paid for doing something that you love the most?
The dream job of my friend, Jio, is very interesting. He wants to be a physics engineer. Physics engineer is a rare job, because the study of physics engineering can be conducted only in Germany and Indonesia if I’m not mistaken. Physics engineering has a very broad knowledge. It studies a lot of other things so I think a physics engineer has high credibility and good adapting kill. What makes my friend’s dream job more interesting is that he wants to become a boss of a company. Not just a company, but a company that produces energy from natural gas, a renewable energy resource that is still in high capacity and high productivity. The usage of natural gas is small, but if you can harvest all potential from this resource, it will create a very large amount of energy. It’s possible that this thing can be one of the solutions for energy crisis that we’re fighting right now.
It is the main reason why Jio wanted to build the company. Everybody needs energy especially fuels to do their daily routines. For example, transportation, which is very important nowadays. Not just transportation, machinery is also critical in industrial sites. Without those two things, a lot of company can’t do their production.  If you sell fuels to other companies, your business will be successful because from time to time, in the past, present, and even in the future everybody needs fuels. Furthermore, in this day when energy resources are starting to run out, it is getting more expensive to buy fuels. You can make a lot of money from this business. This is also the reason why Jio wanted to own this company.
Even though it is a good idea, there is also an obstacle that Jio will deal with in pursuing his dream.  The usage of natural gas is still newly developed. It hasn’t used totally because of high risks. It still needs some new advanced technology to minimize the risks. Jio needs to be patient and he needs to do a lot of research before he can own his company. It will take some time before he can be that successful. However, I hope he can reach his dream job soon. I think his dream job is noble because it can help other people, not just in his country but in the whole world. I wish the best of luck for him in his journey to be what he wants.

Mencoba nge-post yg ke-2 :

I don't know what i want, So do'nt ask me, cause I'm still trying to figure it out. Don't know what's down this road, I'm just walking. Trying to see through the rain coming down. Even though im not the only one, that feels the way I do.

I'm alone, on my own, and that's all I know. I'll be strong, I'll be wrong, Oh, but life goes on.

 

Hayo tebak ini lagu apa???

Haha, lagu galau, cuma ya mungkin gw lagi ngerasa begitu. Yah, intiny lagu ini dia ga tau mau apa, mau ngapain, yang jelas dia ngerasa sendiri. I bet everybody had ever felt like that. Yg gw sadar dari lagu ini, semua org yg lagi galau ngerasa sendiri. Nah, yg gw mikir, kenapa bisa kaya gitu? Mungkin kita kurang peduli sama temen" kita. Nah, klo kita peduli sama yg laen kan lebih bagus? Haha

#naon #abaikan

 

Start :)

I just made this blog, and i feel so awkward as i don't understand any single thing #lebay. Need help!