Just launched: My own PHOTO-BLOG that I am so proud of. It’s called: PHOOD. Because it’s FOOD every where! Haha. This is so exciting having your own food journal of life. I need to fill it up soon.. Gosh, exciting exciting exciting!!

This quote, yes it’s haunting me most of the time for the past 2 weeks. These days are hell, you do look for a job, you take all chances, take all opportunities. You’re getting sick of  TOEFL Tests, interviews, Aptitude Tests, Forum Discussion Group, without knowing: IS THIS REALLY WHAT I WANT?

Well I guess for most of us fresh-grads, the question would be: “WHO WANTS TO HIRE ME?” And you may add “PLEASE” if you’re on the verge of desperation :p Hey, some of us weren’t those ‘lucky-had connection/high skilled-basterds’ who gets job in the blink of an eye. Some of us weren’t those who are rich for projects, experiences, etc while we’re still labeled ‘college-student’. And yet our heads are filled up with hopes and faith that this Bachelor Degree of Computer Science will take us to exact high careers. And by careers i mean MONEY.

So now the question remains (at least for me), WHICH PATH DO YOU FOLLOW?

I have a passion. Everyone does. And everyone wants higher amount of salary. Now, does it match? Do you follow your own passion and risk it, or follow everybody’s dream job where MONEY COMES FIRST, and PASSION GETS TURNED OFF?

(Terus terang gw paling nggak mau misalnya kerja di BUMN *contoh doang*, gaji awal 8-10 juta tapi internet dikantor dibatasi, jam masuk dan pulang strict, lingkungan kerja menderita, dan terlebih: BANYAK NGANGGUR :p Hell i’m gonna waste my energy to criticize and murmur all day. Aneh ya? Bukan, itu bukan belagu, bukan idealisme, cobain deh bedain rasanya. Dan terus terang lagi, GW SANGAT SALUT buat orang-orang dengan passion tinggi seperti Arief, Shieny, Z, dan masih banyak lagi.)

Hehe.. a tough one, wasn’t it? :p That’s why i had an extra thinking for choosing my own path of life. The quote made me realize something, that I’m still young and I have a lot of passion, and luckily i have more of the connections i needed. So why not give it a chance? Yes I might start a new line of business, we’ll give it a try for the next 6 months. We’ll see.

Now if I may, quoting Flash Forward Season 1 Episode 4, “HAVE YOU EVER TAKEN A LEAP OF FAITH?”

Cheers, folks! Good luck with the job searching

What more can i say? Glad to have found such an amazing friendship with you guys. And thanks to Andika for the raw/original source, and especially Andin, for the “strong” yet non-muscular pose on the photograph. That gives me such idea. Haha. Our next holiday destination: ABROAD, hopefully! Anyone? :p

Hati-hati lo pertanyaan itu bisa menjebak. It’s not as simple as it sounds. Dengan menanyakan hobby biasanya interviewer bermaksud menanyakan, “Ni orang fun nggak sih? Ato hobby nya maen komputer-komputer juga? nerd bgt..” hahaha ..teori ngasal :p Tapi emang sering sih gw baca CV orang dan hobbynya antara lain gak pernah jauh-jauh dari hal berikut: BROWSING, CHATTING, CODING, n GAMING. Serem ya?

Beda lagi kalo ditanyain “Hobby-nya apa” ketika lo masih SD. Seinget gw pas jaman gw dulu hobby-nya anak di sekolahan gw rata-rata kompak, nggak jauh-jauh dari “BERSEPEDA, MEMBACA, MAKAN, TIDUR, BERNAFAS”. Norak ya? Pas jaman dulu itu gaul lho.

Anyway, di CV (Curriculum Vitae), pengalaman organisasi kita boleh bejibun, bahkan kepanitiaan yang cukup nyampah pun toh akan tetap terdengar keren kalo ditranslasi ke Bahasa Inggris. Pengalaman kerja dan proyek juga boleh deh sehalaman penuh, supaya terlihat super skill dan multi talenta. Tapi ingat kata pepatah moyang, “Hidup itu harusnya Yin dan Yang.“, intinya kudu seimbang. Dan percaya atau tidak, isian field “Hobby” adalah salah satu cara paling ampuh untuk menunjukkan sisi lain diri lo, dan membuat segala sesuatunya terlihat balance.

Contoh gampang nya gini: Misalnya CV lo udah penuh dengan segala prestasi dan pengalaman organisasi yang terdengar gaul: jadi event organizer, menang modelling ini itu, juara lomba Band sekecamatan, dsb. Maka tulislah hobby yang berkebalikan jauh dari  “gaul”, dan menunjukkan bahwa ada suatu sisi dari diri lo yang serius dan beda. Misalnya: Filateli, mengoleksi novel & sastra terjemahan kuno, ato menanam anggrek bulan.

Nah sedangkan untuk yang kebalikannya, misalnya di CV Anda bagian pengalaman kerja & proyek sudah sangat professional, maka daripada menuliskan hobby yang “memperburuk” citra diri gara2 dianggap ANSOS (contoh: BROWSING CODING DEBUGGING etc), lebih baik tulislah hobby yang FUN dan SOSIAL, dan menunjukkan bahwa lo bukanlah orang yang sekaku dan se-membosankan itu. Bahwa selain sibuk kerja proyek sana-sini, lo juga bisa menikmati dan menghargai waktu luang!

Jadi intinya gw sampai pada kesimpulan berikut: Hobby gw haruslah fun dan skaligus berbau sosial. Setelah tadi siang sibuk memikirkannya, akhirnya dengan brilian gw tau hobby gw apa

KARAOKE

*mo ngomong hobinya karokean aja bertele-tele.hahahaha Forgive the verbose chitchat :p*

Dalam karaoke seringkali kita bisa melihat sisi lain dari orang yang selama ini kita kenal hanya “bungkus”nya saja. Gw udah sering berkaraoke dengan bermacam-macam tipe orang. Mungkin begini klasifikasinya, bukan berdasarkan jenis genre lagu (mello pop, metal, dangdut, alay dsb) lho yaa:

1. Tipe paling common: Ya banci karaoke. Yang nggak bisa merelakan kalo mic-nya berpindah ke orang lain. Atau untuk sesaat pura-pura rela, tapi kalo ngeliat playlist, kok isinya lagu dia semua.
2. Ada juga yang ngga pengen nyanyi tapi lebih pengen joget sampe heboh naik-naik sofa. (contoh spesial: Inikah Cinta – M.E. atau lagu2 boyband dengan tarian khas ala… ya boyband.)
3. Ada juga orang yang menunggu dengan tepat lagu yang sangat dikuasainya — dan ketika gilirannya tiba, maka dia bernyanyi dengan sepenuh hati (contoh: lagu mendayu2 macam ST12 sampe Stinky-Mungkinkah). Ini biasanya lagi mello nih.
4. Time Keeper. Alias orang yang bener-bener ga mau rugi. Jadi kalo tau waktunya tinggal 15 menit lagi, biasanya 1 lagu akan di-skip-skip melulu. Masuk chorus/reff sekali, skip. Nunggu intro kelamaan, skip. Isi lirik lagunya ngulang-ngulang doang, skip. Semua pokoknya dihitung supaya semua kebagian!
5. Tipe yang paling rugi: Bayarnya sama tapi lebih suka diam mojok di pojokan. Sambil smsan. Ato mungkin tidur. Nah yang ini yang gw paling nggak ngerti. Kenapa harus malu? What happens in karaoke suite stays in karaoke suite, dude! Dan lagian gelap gituuuu :p

Btw, kenapa sih penting banget ngebahas KARAOKE?

Iya, bagi gw karaoke itu lebih dari sekedar menyanyi. Lebih dari sekedar tarik urat leher, meskipun kita tahu suara kita sungguh pas-pasan menuju nista. Lebih dari berlomba-lomba menyanyikan lagu-lagu alay ala Dahsyat terbaru atau menetapkan tema  playlist “Boyband”. Lebih dari sekedar menghabiskan waktu 2-3 jam bersama (coba bandingkan kepuasan batin yang didapat dari abis karaoke vs. abis nonton bioskop 3 jam, apalagi nonton film yang berat dicerna!).

Menurut gw karaoke itu adalah satu-satunya kegiatan sosial dimana lo bisa benar-benar menjadi diri sendiri tanpa ada orang lain yang protes, bahkan semuanya membaur jadi satu tawa, satu kegilaan yang efek euforianya begitu membangkitkan semangat, membuat kita senang, puas, dan dekat. Jarang ada yang habis karaoke mukanya ditekuk berlipat-lipat. Adanya juga (mungkin) yang lagi dalam masa-masa paling down dalam hidupnya, lalu lirik lagu pun seakan berbicara, dan membuat emosi membuncah sehingga tau-tau meneteskan air mata.  Semua emosi baik itu positif maupun negatif seakan terbantu disalurkan, dan menguap di udara. *duile lama-lama jadi puitis :p*

Really, it’s that powerful. and super fun. and super social. and healthy. What else can you expect?

Try 2-3 moments of karaoke together with a whole new bunch of people, and suddenly you’ll be BFF at no time. - Umi Fadilah

Cheers folks, have fun with karaoke!

PS: this post is dedicated to all karaoke-lovers. in my case, should i mention: Inay, Syva, Vinta, Alsa, Joel, Nio, Oon, Halim, Ghifar, Andra etc; and Winda, Fany, Rindang, Shena, Kibol, Paw, Andika, etc; and … hmm i guess i have too many groups of karaoke

*Note: This post only acts as an online archive, no specific purpose whatsoever. And yeah, it’s quite a scroll.*

FINAL PROJECT ABSTRACT OF UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM
NIM : 13505***
Name : Umi Fadilah W. Syam
Lecturer : Ir. Dwi Hendratmo, M.Sc., Ph.D
Title : “Pengembangan Perangkat Bantu Peraga Pengajaran Interaksi Manusia Komputer”

ABSTRACT Human Computer Interaction (HCI) relates to a field study orientated in the evaluation process of usability aspects of a system/product. As people tried to apply HCI onto everyday’s lives, they begin to realize that developing a system based on HCI doesn’t end only when the user’s goal has been successfully achieved, but furthermore it needs to be maximized with what is widely known as a good ”user experience”. Achieving towards the secondary objective may result in facing obstacles vary from the wide range of HCI’s theories as well as interaction design theories, which seems too abstract and at some point make them more difficult to learn without any delineation. And the fact remains, there are still no interactive tool that act as an aggregator for learning these materials. Our study shows that even if there are some tool available at the market, mostly acts uninteractive and appertain smaller scope of HCI theories.

According to the former cause, this final project focuses on developing a tool which helps visualize the aspects within HCI learning materials, by providing wide range of former tools that have been developed by others before, and then map them onto related topic of HCI curriculum. The curriculum will later be formulated through comparison between HCI’s curricula being used in ITB and few major curricula applied in Stanford and Maryland University.

A tool named ”HCI Learning Tool” is a web-based application which delineatively helps people in understanding what HCI is about, by dividing former tools into 5 different category: Video, Audio, Software, Document, and Web-Based. HCI Learning Tool is expected to become an additional supplement tool beside regular course material learnt by each student, emphasizing the possibilities of HCI self-learning beyond textbook and all stuff. By the end of this final project will be summarized into an evaluation process using usability testing, to measure usability of the system as well as how much have the user experience gained. Final result shows that HCI Learning Tool has prove itself toward positive usability goals measurement and all of the majority user feels satisfied and expresses total enthusiasm during the interaction.

—

Currently there are 53 tools given for each specific topic. So here’s a final screenshot:

Speaking of technology, as I was focusing on developing a system with a good user experience, that led me to RIA (Rich Internet Application). For short, this web application was built using Silverlight 3 & .NET RIA Services for front-end + app logic; Castle ActiveRecord as the ORM tool for mapping business objects onto the database, and finally connected through the implementation of WCF (Windows Communication Foundation). So let’s look at the whole architecure below:

Sounds quite complex for such a simple-purpose eLearning application? Well that’s what makes it interesting, because I’ve had so much to learn in the past couple of month! I’ve always been intrigued by the fact that “I’m an Informatics student who spend more time in Photoshop rather than Visual Studio” :p So it’s actually kinda nice to finally built something on your own, from scratch, and gets appraised by many people.

See I was planning on deploying it somewhere, but then i realized that i had to switch my Apache hosting into IIX network. Which, still got me confused on the whole deployment thing :p

Maybe someday i’ll write about it, because sure thing there are several thing to be noticed, such as MIME type setting and how to register GAC so that your Windows environment could detect the services used in HCI Learning Tool (mainly it causes a problem with the Authentication Service).

Thanks again for reading this long-boring-geeky-post. Cheers..

1. Checking CodePlex & Silverlight forums for any reply from all of the geek master.
2. Keep my mail browser open all the time for update from Dotnet Mailing List.
3. Checking INDC Geeks Blog Portal for any update that might be relevant to my interest.
4. Keep my GoogleReader tab opened for compliments to those “i-hate-coding” moments.
5. Last, updating Facebook + Twitter regularly.

Phew…. Instead of improving my English skill for TOEFL/IELTS, I’m more familiar with some geek terms. .NET RIA Services, Silverlight 3, ADO.NET Data Model with Entity Framework. Do you know how boring that is? Yes I bet you’d already imagine.

What else if it wasn’t called “GEEKING OUT”? Reminds me of my all-time favorite musician Mr. Mraz Anyway i really love his blog, lately he did some Q & A sessions from fans via Twitter, and that’s very kind, absolutely-not-a-snob of him.

Anyway now that I am on my spare time (I’d like to keep it that way please..) I’m thinking why, why all of these extra hard work? Why should I put so much effort into graduating October? So I made a few list that is going to sound very fun and light up my underlying spirit that needs to be pumped up

1. After graduating I wanna have a steady job. No more freelance (unless it’s kinda one-week project and well-paid :p). No more remote-working. And imagine those conservative business attire with heels and a leather bag. And at Friday you are free to wear denim, or batik dress. Fun huh?
2. I swear I’m gonna buy a DSLR and start to learn photography. All that to fulfill my college-hood dream: become a Food Photographer. See how much fun that is? My fun-o-meter almost explode :p
3. And thought number three my friend, relates to point number two. TRAVEL. Where to? Europe. Exact destination? Okay, Germany. Or UK.

Well at least dreaming is the least thing that is fun enough to do right now. Maybe I’m that kind of person who always look up for other’s success and wishing I were in their shoes. And now I’m trying to get there as fast as I can!

Deutschland hier ich komme :p (ngasal beraaattt)

“Why do spam mail always involve Sudan/South Sudan/Burkina-Faso/Nigeria?”

Well maybe not always. But in a broader scope of spamming world you’re most likely gonna find the African-to-blame type of mail. Here’s a bunch of example. The first type is someone pretending to be an account officer from a bank who’s responsible for transferring the left-over funds from an already dead client. This one’s so typical that i’m always laughing and straightly take a delete action.

Dear Friend,

Let me start by introducing myself,I am Mr Hamed Smani,an ACCOUNTS OFFICER with the Bank of Africa Burkina Faso.
I am writting you this letter based on the latest development at my Department which I will like to bring to your personal edification.($15million transfer claims). … and so on, and so on.

and another one:

ATTENTION:

I AM DR. RICHE GRAEME AN ACCOUNTANT WITH THE NIGERIA NATIONAL PETROLUEM COPERATION. HAVING CONSENTED WITH MY COLLEAGUES, AND BASED ON THE INFORMATION GATHERED FROM AN INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATION HERE IN NIGERIA, I HAVE THE PRIVILEGE TO REQUEST FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE IN TRANSFERING THE SUM OF SEVENTY THREE MILLION UNITED STATES DOLLARS (US$48,500,000.00) INTO YOUR ACCOUNT. … and so on, and so on.

see the latter bold area? Yeah, it is freakin’ dumb when someone request for assistance in transfering but they don’t even know how to write the amount right. It should’ve been US$73,000,000 Doctor Graeme. And could you turn the caps lock off? It’s kinda insulting and you’re like yawning everywhere but nobody’s gonna care about that.

And here’s the second type of letter. A smarter one where they actually put a link to strengthen their argue, to make sure we believe whatever he/she is trying to imply.

FROM THE OFFICE OF ELIZABETH MOORE LAW CHAMBER, 12 ADEOLA ODEKU,VICTORIA ISLAND, LAGOS NIGERIA. TEL; +234-80-740-55022

I am sorry for the embarrassment this mail may cause you, as we have not met before. I am Elizabeth Moore, a solicitor at law, I am the personal attorney to Engineer Frank , a national of your country, who used to work with Shell Development Company in Nigeria, hereinafter referred to as my client. On the 31st of JULY 2000, my client, his wife and their children were involved in a plane crash (see; http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm) All occupants of the Plane unfortunately lost their lives. Since then I have made several enquiries to your Embassy to locate any of my client’s extended relatives but this has proved unsuccessful. BLAHBLAHBLAH.,..

Nope, the link’s not broken. There’s an actual news of plane crash. Guess this Elizabeth girl is smart enough to google an accident first to make it look very real Now the next type is from someone who asks for sympathy after what-ever-kind-of-terrible-thing that has happened to her. For once i almost, almost feel a pity for the first paragraph. Until it turns out to be annoying and freakishly impossible.

Hello Dear

I know that this mail might come to you as a surprise because you don’t know me and I don’t know you too. My name is Aisha Mohamed Atif , I am 24 years old girl and an orphan from Sudan. My late father Mr Mohamed Atif was the deputy general manager with CNPC oil company at Khartoum refinery in Sudan. My late father was killed alongside with my beloved mother and our family house burnt down by the rebels during the last crisis in my country when Janjaweed militant came to our house, and this was what sent me away from my country to Burkina Faso as I made my escape only by God’s special grace. You can read more about my country in the bbc news http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6469857.stm. BLABLABLA.

Yeah, yeah, sudan girl. that is so considerate of you to give us a link to backup your story. Now the last type, the weirdest type is this one. YOU HAVE TO READ THE WHOLE THING :p got it from here.

Dearest,Greeting From Miss Rose Justin(Reply Me Back Please)

Good day to you.

How are you doing over there my dear, I hope that you are feeling so fine and healthy. Well, my name is Rose  Justin Yaac from South Sudan . I am a young pretty singlecc 24 years old girl; I hope that I will match your type, if you can give me the chance. I would like to know you better, since religion, distance and age does not matter to me. I will send you my picture for you to see how I look like. I know you will be surprise when you will receive this letter on how do I got your Email ID, but I don’t want you to be afraid, well I got your Email ID through Yahoo Google Search after I have pray for two weeks to Almighty Allah to show me an honest and sincere person who will help me out in this situation I am into here in Burkina Faso as result of Refugee Camp. And Allah review to me that you are the right person who can help me out.

This one makes me laughing real hard. First, is this a spam love letter? hahaha. And I cannot believe she put the God’s name in it and afterward, God told her to GOOGLE SEARCH my email ID. Well that’s the stupidest thing i’ve ever heard!

I just don’t get it. Does anybody ever believe these spamming letter? And why in world would anybody does this kind of stupid-lame-pointless thing?

Actually I once googled a name. A famous name called Mr. Ibrahim Issa. If you check your junk folder you might find him somewhere beneath the spamming junk. And it’s suprising that Mr. Ibrahim Issa had a LINKED-IN connection! :p And what? A graphic designer? I don’t know if it’s real, but here’s the screenshot:

And again, the question remains,

Why do spam mail always involve Sudan/South Sudan/Burkina-Faso/Nigeria?

Can anybody help me out answer the question?

Well basically I am not a game freak. No offense but i think role-based online games are kinda lame (not only) for girls :p The only online game that i follow, umm.. i think it’s on the list of TOP FACEBOOK APPLICATION called Pet Society, WakaWaka, etc :p

But who said anything about mini & fun games? haha. On the contrary, I really love those games I used to sit around for hours just playing with those minigames. Yes, cause games are supposed to be fun, lite, and entertaining. Name it all the games made by PopCaps, GameHouse, EA, NAMCO,  such as Bejeweled, Cooking Mama, DanceDanceRevolution, Bomberman, Crash Bandicoot, etc (You could have it all on mobile now!).

All thanks to the revolutionary Mobile Safari SDK for iPhone Development, people all around the world are tempted to create better application for iPhone/iPod Touch day by day. And it’s up to me to buy and install whichever I like.

So here goes my own review of the TOP  TIME-WASTING GAMING APPLICATION, (in random order cause i just couldn’t pick which one’s the best :p)

Peggle

This is just addictive!

The interface looks a bit like Zuma-zuma, but it’s totally different. Trust me, you will find it being reviewed everywhere on popular review-sites! :p

And now it’s on sale, too.

You won’t get bored easily because it has 11 stages and each stage performs 5 different maze to solve. The goal is to hit all the orange pegs and bricks. But as you reach higher stage there will be lots of extra power and bigger challenges.

Doodle Jump

Well this one’s my favourite!

I tried not to get addicted but I always ended up playing until I beat the global high score (which is very very tough, working on it :p)

It’s very simple , you just need to tilt your device so that those-green-doodle-creature goes up to the highest top. But beware, as you reach higher steps you’ll find it slightly difficult to avoid all obstacles, such as monsters, black holes, even UFOs. You can also shoot ‘em while jumping, giving you some extra points.

Especially, love the illustrations of interface!

Neat,  simple, and fun. Just what i was looking for.

Guitar Rock Tour

In my opinion there are 3 similar games to this beat-tapping type of game. Maybe the most popular is Tap Tap and its whole family (yes, there are Tap Tap Coldplay edition, Lady Gaga revenge, Nine Inch Nails edition, and even Dave Matthews Band). But i’m way more addicted with this game: Guitar Rock Tour.

What’s so different? You can choose whether guitar or drum you’re about to play with. That’s a major point there

And although it cannot download any new song like TapTap does, it’s already loaded with the cool ones.  Say, “Smoke in the Water”, “What’s My Age Again?”, “The Great Escape”, “UnderClass Hero”, and even Avril song’s called Girlfriend.

Even I got a report that my friend won the Guitar Rock Tour challenge at Paris van Java a couple of weeks ago. And guess what, she won the 3rd prize: iPod Nano 16gigs! That really is some kind of apple’s promotion :p

Monster Pinball

Yes, it’s a must have for all pinball lovers out there! I won’t say much, the interface says it all.. Cute, isn’t it?

Drunk Sniper

This is definitely the lamest-but-super-fun application ever.

Quoting from the maker of the app: “TURN YOUR IPHONE OR IPOD TOUCH INTO MALE BODY ORGAN!!! Realistic beer relieving experience guaranteed.”

Well yes i guess that is kinda true :p Take a look at the screenshot, what do you think it is? It has 4 different levels, and as it gets higher you’ll make a laugh out of it because it’s starting to get very shaky and uncontrolled. It’s a nice application just to show off to your friends and family.

There’s another similar peeing game, “Pee Monkey Toilet Trainer” which also fun!

Parachute Panic

The aim is to make sure all the people who jump out of the plane landed safety on the boat. You can point them into the boat by sliding your finger to draw the wind direction towards the boat. You have to be careful for the “flying objects” such as UFO  and Heli, otherwise you could get eaten by it :p

Actually it’s not quite challenging like the others but I love the graphics (seems like the doodle graphic is now so popular!!)

Let me tell you another doodle-graphic based game. Actually there are many, such as Ragdoll Blaster (you’re about to know :p), Crayon Physics, Crayon Ball, etc.

We’ll get into that later..

World Cup Ping Pong (Skyworks) & Real Tennis 2009 (Gameloft)

I’d like to rate these 2 applications 5 out of 5! I love sports game, and these two felt so real. Check out the ping pong simulation, complete with power and spin paddle selection. Yes, you can spin it like in the real world! And also the tennis game, the graphics are so smooth, lots of player selection and court type. Maybe you need to practice a bit at first, but after that, the rest will make you feel like a pro :p Here’s some screenshots:

Ragdoll Blaster, Crayon Physics

Now it’s time for some extra physics. It’ll blow your mind, guaranteed. Haha. Basically Ragdoll Blaster and Crayon Physics are similar, both use the theory of physics and the aim is pointing something towards its goal. We are mandated to use our physics skills and knowledge, so use your brain! These games are highly addictive.. :p Here’s some screenshots:

Try to play both of them. Which one do you think is more addictive?

And now is time for the imitating-desktop game, and my pick goes to:

Jojo’s Fashion Show

Well, this is merely because I’m always attracted to fashion mix n match game.. hehe it’s always been fun, indeed!

There are several categories of fashion theme such as Conservative, Provocative, Summer wear, Winter wear, Hipster, Bollywood and many more. All you have to do is just mix and match the top wear, bottom wear, and the shoes.

You could alson take a photoshoot session and be a professional photographer!

What can I say, I really could play for hours on this :p

Sims 3

We all know it, right? It’s buzzing everywhere since the iPhone/iPod version were launched about a week ago. Although some may say it doesn’t have as many abilities as the PC ones (of course, duh!), i’d rate it 7 out of 10.

First, as usual we have to create our own “Sim” and then give them personalities (Neurotic, Funny, Shy or Bored) At sims 3 there’s also goals and wishes which we could fulfill to unlock, it helps our sim to reach the full potential by socializing, dating, gardening, etc.

But what’s so obvious is the graphic quality compared to its previous mobile version: SimCity. It is so much better now Love it.

Spore

Yeah, i know, it’s an old stuff back at 2008

But still, it ROCKS! hahaha. I’ve always enjoyed each level, watching my creature (FYI mine’s called “creatume” :p) evolve, and so on.

…

OK my hands are getting quite numb by now, so I think I’m just gonna mention the real worthy imitating-desktop apps for you iPhone/iPod Touch. Still on my lists are: American Idol, Cooking Mama Lite, Tower Bloxx 3D, Fast n Furious, Amateur Surgeon, Pocket God, etc etc.

Have fun with all of that!

Cheers

The latest CD i bought is a female-audiophile collection by Julienne Taylor. Gosh she really has a clear & bright voice, and it feels so relaxing..

In this album she sings mostly remake-songs, and that’s a good point for me, because i loooove hearing each different versions of songs that I’ve already heard before, hehe. Actually i was gonna buy another Beatles, this time I aimed at the “CHORAL VERSIONS”. That version, is so  wicked cool! Perfect composing, performed by some local choir musical arrangements, and again, so talented. But there’s always another ‘next time’ for Beatles, right? :p

Anyway, here’s the track list of Julienne’s album:

01 – I Don’t Wanna Talk About It
02 – Unbreakable
03 – One Of Us
04 – Love Hurts
05 – It’s In The Way You Are
06 – Too Much Heaven
07 – Ever Fallen In Love
08 – Here There And Everywhere
09 – Need To Be Next To You
10 – Toybox
11 – Why
12 – Only When I Sleep
13 – All Out Of Love
14 – Real
15 – How Can You Mend A Broken Heart
16 – Your Song

Awesome pick: track 1, 2, 6, 7, 9, 12, 13, and 15!

So what is it in a CD that I love so much?

Just a little bit of history from me: Let me tell you places that i love the most to listen to the music: 1st. IN THE CAR, and 2nd. INSIDE A CD-STORE. Yep, i haven’t thought of getting a new iPod (since i broke it many years ago), and I’m those kind of conventional people who adores CD much more than MP3s. Eventhough that sounds lame, but YES, i’d like to admit my old-fashioned way of enjoying music. I praise the clarity in the voice of a singer, the hard work, the creativity of the composer, and that’s why buying an original CD is very much of a habit for me

Cheers, UF

Awalnya pas gw denger judulnya yang pertama kali terpikir adalah yang main: Mulan Jameela. Dan siapa yah yang berani memerankan presidennya? Isn’t that normal to think like that? Well, most of my friend does. Tapi setelah lihat posternya (fiuhh.. untung bukan Mulan beneran yang main :p) dan baca-baca sedikit sinopsisnya, kayaknya film ini menarik.

Dan setelah nonton filmnya beneran, ternyata emang bener-bener menarik dan berbeda dari genre film kacangan-sejenis-horor-bukan,-tapi-komedi-juga-bukan. Kebanting bangetlah sama tandingannya film indonesia lain yg lagi tayang sekarang.. (baca: DARAH-JANDA-KOLONG-WEWE-NAFSU-POCONG-TRIO-MACAN apalah itu :p) hahaha, sepertinya darah muda saya yang terlalu sombong meneriakkan skeptism seperti itu.

Bukan maksud spoiler, tapi  film ini membahas kisah human-trafficking & woman abuse secara pahit dan memilukan. Iya, perdagangan manusia dan kekerasan terhadap perempuan terutama bagi yang under-aged, dan pastinya ditambah dengan kenyataan bahwa itu kebiadaban itu semua berujung sama yang namanya ’seksualitas’. O God, i’m so sick of it. Dan menonton film ini sukses membuat gw geram, marah, sedih, ikutan hopeless, dan lucunya, juga sukses membuat gw kecewa. Di ENDING nya. But i won’t say a thing about the ending. You figure it out

. . . . . . . . . . .

“KATANYA JAMILA DAN SANG PRESIDEN..TAPI  MANAAAA PRESIDENNYAAAAA GA ADA?”

*Sumpah ga tahan buat ga meneriakkan statement tersebut, karna dari awal gw udah penasaran bgt siapa yang meranin presiden kita* Hahahaa. Maap ye ngespoiler dikit

Tapi beneran lho, we’ve seen a lot of movies faking US President. Bahkan kayanya orang luar berani bersikap kritis (bahkan membuli-buli tingkah presidennya, kaya di Monsters vs. Aliens :p). Dan kita? Gw kira film ini bakal membuat kejutan di akhir. Tapi rupanya.. ah.. sudahlah.. Mungkin yang  mau diangkat cukup topik kemanusiaannya saja   Karena ternyata gw juga baru tahu (setelah nonton), kalo film ini aslinya pertunjukan drama panggung yang diangkat jadi film layar lebar, dulu judulnya “Pelacur dan Sang Presiden” (2006). Pantesan aja kaga ada presidennya,, kalo di drama panggung gitu susah kali ya manggil orang buat memerankan presiden :p

Anyway, film ini cukup banyak bertabur artis lho. Lemme count: Christine Hakim, Surya Saputra, Adjie Pangestu, Ria Irawan, Dwi Sasono, Eva Celia, Marcellino Lefrandt. Tapi paling OKE dan gw acungkan 4 jempol adalah untuk pemeran utamanya:  ATIQAH HASIHOLAN. Aktingnya, suaranya (suaranya keren abis btw, hahaha), cantiiik, badan ramping, gw suka.. ))

Gw pulang-pulang ke rumah langsung penasaran googling ni cewe pernah main apa aja si? Ternyata dia kemaren main di Pintu Terlarang.. -__- Kok gw ga pernah ngeh ya.. mungkin gara2 sekarang ini baru dapet peran besar, hehe. Dan rupanya juga sang sutradara sekaligus penulis, Ratna Sarumpaet, adalah ibunya si Atiqah.. Oo.. pantes.. (mulai bernada gosip). Tapi okelah, gw ramalkan ni cewe ntar-ntarnya dapet penghargaan “Aktris Pendatang Baru Terfavorit”.. (lebay) bwahaha.

So afterall, this film is more than enough to be worth-watched!  Selain menyentuh sisi kemanusiaan gw, juga membuka mata terhadap beberapa fakta memilukan: (mengutip dari catatan sutradara)

Tahun 2007, Indonesia mendapatkan peringkat 3 oleh USA sebagai negara yang masih bermasalah dalam hal pemberantasan human-trafficking. Yang sangat memprihatinkan, Indonesia merupakan negara transit dan tujuan dari kejahatan perdagangan manusia.

Di Indonesia, 30% dari prostitusi perempuan berusia dibawah 18tahun.

40ribu – 90ribu anak-anak Indonesia menjadi korban eksploitasi seksual.

Perempuan dan anak-anak Indonesia diperdagangkan untuk tujuan eksploitasi seksual di Jepang, Singapura, Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan, Hongkong, dan negara-negara Timur Tengah.

How tragic is that…