Why old movies are not worth watching

In deciding whether a movie is worth watching, I tend to have several aspects in mind. I favour movies that are:

1. Hollywood, French, German, or Japanese produced



2. Produced after year 1999

It's not about BWs or silent movies, really (though I have to admit, I am not knowledgeable in that aspect since I have not watched any BW or silent before).

Despite being a young film aficionado, I am not biased against indie movies. Just because a movie is indie does not mean that it is going to suck (though I admit around 50% to 60% of indie movies have a poorly-written script).



Here are several reasons why think that any movies produced before 1999 are not worth watching:

1. Movies of those era (especially Westerns and dramas produced between 1950 to 1989), tend to have a loud, blaring classical soundtrack that eats up the first 10 minutes of the movie intro.

I find that very annoying, especially when that soundtrack has almost the same decibel loudness as the characters speaking in the movie. I'd rather watch something where I can hear the characters speaking...I'm not deaf, I don't need soundtracks that loud and that long.

2. Older movies tend to have poorer CGI (this should be obvious).

I am not a fan of CGI-heavy movies like the The Transformers or Chronicles of Narnia franchises, but I personally think that if you have to have CGI in your movie, you gotta do it right, baby! There is nothing more painful than having to be entertained with a good storyline in the beginning, only to have your eyes hurt having to watch poor attempts at CGI by prehistoric people.

3. That classical soundtrack I mentioned above in No.1 would be played in endless loop throughout 80% of the movie duration.

with the same loud, blaring decibels.


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Of course, exceptions do exist. I find both The Sound of Music (1965) and Heidi (1993) highly likable.

But such exceptions are rare. Until this day, I still cannot get myself to watch highly-recommended oldies such as Scarface, The Godfather franchise, or Lawrence of Arabia. I just haven't got the willpower to watch them yet.

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Do you know that there is no undergrad thesis in USA?

"Liberal Arts"

That's what I tell people when they ask me what I major in college.

Liberal Arts? What's that?

Oh, I study some stuff like history, politics, maths, geology, English...

*silence*

(It is a fancy name for "Undecided", really. I take the General Education requirements during the first three semesters, which is why I am allowed to declare myself as a Lib Arts major)

So....I am in the middle of a predicament here. My third semester is coming and by the middle of spring 2012 (or latest by May 2012), I should have declared a major already.

Some folks suggested not to fret about it, saying "you'll know it when the time comes", but I should know better.

Declaring a major is like getting a girlfriend. If you declare the wrong one, you can still break it up and take a major in another, but then you're stuck with wasted credits and may have to repeat a semester or two.

And if I didn't find the most suitable major for me, I would graduate with a degree that provides me a pathway to jobs that I disdain. By then it would be akin to having a annoying, bossy, jealous, hen-pecking wife.

Therefore, following my mother's advice, I explored several majors and their possible career choices...

1. French. I know I would love and savour every minute of studying this in college, but admittedly the career prospects are pretty dim. My family would have spent at least US$35,000 in university tuitions by the time I graduate in 2014, and the starting average pay for French grads is not even half that. Hence, no.

2. European History. I can't take this major know, for the same reasons as above. However, it would be a great major to take a Master's thesis in.

3. English. Oh please, this is America. They don't even speak (proper) English here.

4. Finance/Business. Dad suggested this one, due to my preference in not dealing with customer service in my jobs. I can become a financial analyst, accountant, economist, and the likes with this major. I am still not too keen on studying Economics though (it has always been my weakest forte amongst all Social Science subjects), hence I am putting this as a second-in-line.

5. Computer Science/Information Technology. True, I have neither experience nor knowledge in this subject. But so does most CS/IT students I know of. The one that allures me most is the very fact that people in this major end up graduating to take high-paying jobs (ranked No.5 most lucrative university discipline by CNN money). So I am thinking...what the hell, why not?

6. Business Informatics. This actually combines the two majors I mentioned above: Business and CS/IT. I would reckon that it would be more sought after than the last two, since it combines the financial acumen of its graduates with their fluency in programming language and software cognition. But I also would reckon that the level of difficulty would be high, since two different disciplines are meshed together to make a fiendishly tough stuff to study.

What about the final thesis? Do you think you can do the final thesis of CS/IT or Business or whatever tough stuff that you're gonna study? I bet it's gonna be a tough, tough one

Thesis? Art thou jesting me?

There are no such thing as thesis for undergrad students in USA, darling. In most Asian countries, yes, there is a thesis examination (or dissertation or "skripsi" in Indonesian language in case there is a term confusion here). On Asian undergraduate thesis, you have to write a 50-100 page research paper which has to be defended in front of a committee.

But not in USA. Thesis/dissertation in USA is only for those taking Graduate school or Doctoral schools.

There is a final paper for some US majors, yes. But even then, it is only practised at some private colleges and does not normally have to be defended in front of any committees whatsoever. Your paper is to be graded by one or more university instructors, but still, you don't have to defend it.

That's the best part of it, I guess. I would very much prefer making a speech in front of a podium. Defending a thesis in front of a committee, where four years of toil and sweats and $35,000 student loan sits on it, would make me (or anyone, for that matter) very, very nervous.

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Eid musings

Every year during the month of Ramadhan, I always fast for one whole day of my choice.

It was a ritual I started during my late years of primary school (10 or 11 years ago). I stayed at Uncle A's residence for a prolonged two-week Ramadhan vacation. His entire family is Muslim and hence, they fasted for every single day I stayed there. There were, however, no qualms about making my meals. Since I was the only one who was a non-Muslim, Uncle A and his wife made sure that the housemaids cook breakfast and lunch for me anytime I wanted to eat.

Until one particular day, I decided to take up fasting with them just for the sake of trying it out. I was struck with hunger pangs for every single minute of it. But I decided to wait it out until sunset, indulging myself in PlayStation until the mosque drum rolls came thru the telly.

Yes, I did it. It was my first day of Ramadhan fasting, and I decided to do it again the next year.

And again. And again. Until it finally became an annual ritual.

There had only been three occasions that I failed to fast, namely 2006 (due to final exams), 2008 (I got lazy and complacent), and this year.

Yes, I know that today is not Eid yet, but I don't think I am able to stand it out this year due to my overwhelming schedule. Plus, it's in the middle of summer which means that the sun sets at 9 p.m. everyday.

Until next year, I guess!

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Borders Liquidation in the era of e-book

It is safe to assume that the US public in general have mixed feelings about the recent announcement that Borders Group is liquidating its stores all around the country.

At least that's what I feel. With the ascent of Amazon's online store, together with those offered by Kinokuniya and Barnes&Noble, rolling heads would not only be expected, it is also anticipated.

Experience tells us that most people don't read a book more than once in their lifetime. Once they finish the book, they hardly ever open it again (unless it's a textbook, dictionary, Atlas, Road guides, or Holy scriptures). So what's the point of purchasing a book if you can get them for next-to-nothing or even free in online stores?

Some would argue that they still prefer to hold the physical book in their hands instead of reading e-book from a Nook or Kindle. Well fine, go to the library and check out a title. It costs nothing and it's that simple.

However, even though we have anticipated this shutdown of bookstores for a long time, I would like to ponder for a moment here. Of all the three bookstore behemoths I have visited, Borders is usually the one that provides the best convenience of all. They're generally smaller than either Barnes&Noble or Kinokuniya, but the atmosphere of Borders is the most welcoming to customers. You can even sleep and lay down on the hundreds of available couches while browsing magazines and comic books.

I gotta admit I'd miss that when the last store finally closes.

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Sometimes

Sometimes I wish I could go back to that life in the tropics, to Indonesia.

In the tropics:

• Life was much slower-paced,



• I had more close friends I could hang out with,



• It was much easier to get a date,



• I had my entire family (including cousins, aunts, etc) reachable within a short bus ride, and



• Martabak vendors are just a short motorcycle ride away.

Here in the Midwest:

• I barely get enough sleep,



• It's a nonstop cycle between my full-time work shifts and my full-time college,



• I have nigh no time to even meet any close friends,



• so far, the last girl I asked bailed out on me,



• I only have my Mom and my sis (in August), and



• TacoBell sucks. Really sucks.

I mean, I do admit that we have Skyline Chilli here, but it does not diminish the very fact that TacoBell sucks.

Moreover, despite the fact that Kentucky is the origin of Kentucky Fried Chicken, I tell you the truth here: Kentucky restaurants in Southeast Asia have better-tasting chicken meals than KFC in Kentucky.

Seriously.

However, anybody were to ask me if I'm interested to visit Indonesia now, I would answer NO wholeheartedly.

I am not interested in that whole "new life, everybody has changed" thing that my friends and family members are gonna display in their faces when I meet with them.

I love the old them in 2009. I prefer the old them in 2009. I am totally not interested into those new changes they have in their lives.

If only I could go back and revisit those Indonesians of 2009 (as opposed to the Indonesians of 2011, who mostly sucks like hell), that would be heaven for me.

Seriously.

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