[Movie] The Science of Sleep

Tutup mata anda untuk sesaat. Eits, sabar... sebentar, jangan terburu-buru agar tidak termakan buah simalakama. Maksud saya baca instruksi berikut terlebih dahulu. This is what I want you to do while you close your eyes, bayangkan mimpi-mimpi yang pernah datang dan pergi dalam tidur-tidur panjang anda. Mimpi indah, mimpi makan, mimpi-n upacara, mimpiin pacar tetangga, dst dst dst. Siap? Laksanakan!

Cukup.

Nah, sekarang terlepas dari apa mimpi anda. Terserah. Tapi saya memastikan kita berada dalam lembar yang sama. Jarang sekali (bahkan bisa dibilang tidak ada) bagian dari mimpi yang berada dalam kendali kita, bahkan cenderung berjalan absurd, tidak terstruktur dan bebas (yeas, thats the word). Demikian pula yang akan anda alami dalam film ini. Bebaskan pikiran anda dan cukup biarkan setiap detiknya memanjakan anda secara visual dan verbal. Ya, verbal, dalam film ini French, Spanish, dan English digunakan berganti-gantian sampai pada suatu titik saya tidak terganggu lagi dengan pergantian bahasa ini, bahkan menikmatinya. Bebas.

Disutradari oleh Michel Gondry, film ini memenuhi ekspektasi saya. Personally, saya menikmati film Gondry yang satu ini begitu juga dengan film dia sebelumnya The Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind. Tampilan-tampilan animatic art'nya (cardboards and cellophane) sepanjang film ruar biasa.

Sedikit sinopsis. Film ini menceritakan Stephan yang secara berulang masuk dan kembali dari dunia realita dan dunia mimpinya tanpa dia sadari. Imajinasinya berjalan seperti realita, dan realita tampak seperti mimpi-mimpinya. Di dalam kontradiksinya, dia bertemu dengan Stephanie, yang tidak kalah kreatif namun berada dalam posisi yang lebih realistis. The next thing is left for you to enjoy. One thing for sure, when a man meets a woman, love is there. Tapi dari sisi ini, menurut saya film ini hanya cukup saja memenuhi kadar romantisme.

Dan jangan saksikan bersama pasangan anda yang left-brained controlled, karena ada dua kemungkinan:
1. Dia tertidur dalam pelukan anda.
2. Dia pulang dan anda tidak mendapat pelukan.

Ya sudah. Sanah, nonton.

Happy Passover (And So I Donated Blood)

It was about a month ago, Macquarie was having all this festive orientation week. A lot of stalls promoting student clubs, organizations, etc. And I was walking through the main walk, and this particular stall caught my eye. It was the Australian Red Cross. I don't know why, at the moment I just barge in, ask a couple questions and sign me up for a blood donation session.

I didn't give a lot of thought. And I don't know why, I didn't hesitate. Even for a bit.

Let's fast forward 20 minutes (thats 2x visit to the loo cause of two Mount Franklin I drank prior) unnecessary interview. And goes straight to the nurse is next to me. Pinching in the needle which is f**kin huge (baca: segede gaban - red) inside my left arm. Ten minutes passed away, and there it was.

A pack of my blood.  500cc = 500ml = one bottle of small mineral water

I never thought I could actually do this. And at that second, a thought bummed me out. It was very simple. At the time I could really picture the whole idea of "God gave His blood for our sin". It was for real man. I could literally feel the pain of forsaking Himself for us. And no I'm not that religious, but I guess me being so secure of giving a donation (for the first time ever) has given me twice the return.

One, I was simply doing it because I thought. Well, everyone's busy provoking cash offering, and somehow I dislike that 10 minutes spent by some churches here to preach about giving and stuff right before they pass out the offering bucket (and don't over imagine it, they use real black plastic bucket). But that's off the topic. I was thinking, giving doesn't always has to be cash (well I did that, and it felt great giving from abundance), giving can be time and attention (I'm trying to invest in this more), and maybe blood.

According to Australian Red Cross, my 500ml blood can save 3 lives. Isn't that great?
I mean, let's do something real, let's not offer cash only. Cause that was somehow like 'passing the responsibility' to other. If you can do something more hands-on. Why not? =D

Two, I totally forgot the whole Easter thing. I mean I know its Easter but I just lost the meaning, until I saw my own pack of blood. And yeah, I've explained it before. I can totally feel now (in a much much personal level) the awesome-ness of the "great exchange".

Look at it this way.
My blood. 500cc. 3 lives.
His blood. 1cc. you and all your facebook (and non-facebook) friends. all human kind.

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So yeah, I donated blood for the first time. And I'm thinking about making it a twice-every-year thing. And I don't mean to brag or anything with this notes, okai. You know me. I write. So, anyone wants to hop on and go along? =D

And yeah, this is my Easter 2009.
So, HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE, HAPPY PASSOVER, send all the chocolate eggs yah (preferably Cadbury or coklat Ikea)!