I finally was able to watch Iron Man. This Marvel superhero film got much praise during its showing a few months ago, and it’s also pretty successful at the box-office, so that the sequel has been scheduled to be made. Not much did I know about Iron Man before I watched this film, maybe because compared to the other superhero characters, Iron Man is not quite popular for me. But Iron Man film had succeeded in creating a superhero character who is unique and at the same time this film is also a great entertainment, which made me interested in this armored superhero. Just take a look at what the director, Jon Favreau said: “a kind of independent film-espionage thriller crossbreed; a Robert Altman-directed Superman, with shades of Tom Clancy novels, James Bond films, RoboCop, and Batman Begins.” Probably this statement is a little bit over the top, but this film does have a different feel with other common superhero films.

In short, Iron Man is Tony Stark, a genius billionaire who runs a weapon factory, who suffered a sabotage by terrorists in Afghanistan, that made him created a body armor prototype which can fly and equipped with weapon to escape. This prototype is what later further developed into Iron Man.

Iron Man is a superhero film that succeeds in delivering quality entertainment. This film entertains but also has values. While we watch the spectacular action scenes and the funny jokes that are delivered well by the great acting of Robert Downey Jr. who plays Tony Stark, we also got some nice and touching moral messages.

One scene that impressed me was when Stark escaped from the prison in Afghanistan. BEWARE SPOILERS. Stark’s friend at the prison, Yinsen, sacrificed himself so that Tony could escape. This made Stark realized himself and he later choose to change the vision of his company, and take the path as Iron Man. When Yinsen was almost dead, he said, “Don’t waste your life.” to Stark. This scene reminded me to the scene in Saving Private Ryan movie, when Captain Miller said his last words to Private Ryan before he died in the mission to save Ryan, that is: “Earn this.” Maybe these two sentences are different. But the atmosphere in both scenes are similar for me. Stark took the decision to not wasting his life again and became Iron Man. Private Ryan when he was old he went to Captain Miller’s grave, said these words in front of Miller’s gravestone, “Every day I think about what you said to me that day on the bridge. I tried to live my life the best that I could. I hope that was enough. I hope that, at least in your eyes, I’ve earned what all of you have done for me.” Both scenes contain sacrifice element. Someone sacrifices for someone else. They who sacrifice hope that their sacrifice is not useless, but becomes the motivating spirit to change those who accept the sacrifice.

Iron Man reminds me of Spider-Man 2, because these two films in my opinion are how superhero films should be made, both of them are great entertainment, and also contain high value in the moral messages they tried to say to the audience.

Since Once got warm reception among critics, and then got its Oscar through best song, I actually has been interested to watch it. After I was finally able to watch this film, although I normally don’t really like musicals, I must admit I love this film, which is a modern yet simple musical film, but also romantic and sweet.

This film is full with music and songs, which not only sounds nice, they also have pretty poetic lyrics. Besides these songs also function as the representation of the two main characters of the film’s heart, who during the film their names were never mentioned. So the songs become the strength to push the film forward.

The story itself actually is quite simple. A man meets a woman. The man is a busker, who creates his own songs using his guitar. And the woman is an immigrant, she also likes to express herself through songs, using piano, although she must play somebody else’s piano in the piano store.

Then it’s easy to guess, they fall in love. But their love story is not cheesy like other ordinary romantic films. With the help of simple yet beautiful songs, their love story is not overblown, keep to be realistic, maybe sometimes feels awkward, but still there are beautiness and romance which rarely exist in other films. And their love must also face moral problem, which culminated in the end of the film that is touching and impresses me a lot.

Because the love story which isn’t too much exposed, and can only be guessed through the songs and expressions of the actors during the movie, people can consider this film as a mere musical. But I do think that this film is still a romance with musical addition. The simple shooting of the film, and the documentary feel in it, even added strong realism in the story.

This film was made with a small budget, and in a short time, but it gained success among critics and film festival. I think this is one of the best film I’ve seen recently.

2008 Beijing Olympics has finished. I just finished watching the closing ceremony on TV. I think it’s a great Olympics, a success for China. Anyway, here are some interesting links about the Beijing Olympics:

Top 10 moments of the Beijing Olympics - Reuters

The best photography from the Beijing Olympics - The First Post

Opening Ceremony: The Pyrotechnics - NBC Olympics

Weird Olympics photos - guardian.co.uk

What are your favorite Olympic moments? - USATODAY.com

This year’s Olympics is almost over. Approximately two weeks I have watched the broadcast in television, and followed the results on the web. I think this year’s Olympics is the only one where I can watch the main plot from the beginning until the end. There were a lot of interesting matches that had been broadcast. Some of the highlights which impressed me most are:

Michael Phelps. Although swimming is not the kind of sport which is ‘enjoyable to watch’, because I love swimming, I’m very enthusiast to watch it nevertheless. And the most anticipated name on this Olympics is of course Michael Phelps. In Athens Olympics I also had the chance to watch the race between Phelps and Thorpe which was called ‘Race of the century’. Now in Beijing, Phelps is more mature, and with the chance to win 8 gold medals from the 8 events which he attended, every Phelps’ race is interesting to watch. In the end, Phelps succeeded to win 8 gold medals, becoming the first athlete who ever achieves this feat. Many people call him ‘The greatest Olympian of all time’. There were two events which he won dramatically, those were 100m butterfly and 4×100m freestyle relay. In these two events, Phelps’ gold had to be decided by dramatic turnaround in the last seconds before finish line. The most dramatic one probably the 100m butterfly, where he won by a mere 0.01 seconds.

Usain Bolt. Even his name contains the element of fast. He began to rocket when he broke the 100m running world record earlier this year. He was predicted to compete with Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay in 100m. But who can say, Bolt was faster than both of them, Tyson Gay even never made it to final. With 196cm height, Bolt seemed like not running, but striding with his giant steps. Without much effort he broke his own 100m world record and 200m Michael Johnson’s world record after 12 years. And finally he brought Jamaica team broke 4×100m relay world record which had been held for 15 years. He had a unique presence on the field, some may consider it arrogant, just take a look at how he didn’t tie one of his shoestring in the 100m race. And look at how he always slows down when he was certain to win the race. Arrogant or not, it depends on the audience. From the sound of the roaring crowd heard in the stadium, they clearly love Bolt.

Indonesia again maintained to win gold medal. It’s been a long time I’m not following Indonesia’s badminton world, suddenly in this Olympics appears new name for me, Markis Kido/Hendra Setiawan. They were the number one seed for men’s doubles, and they succeeded to win Indonesia’s only gold medal. Unfortunately, the Indonesian mixed doubles had lost in the final.

Liu Xiang’s retirement from race. The injury of Liu Xiang had made him to retire very early from the 110m hurdles. This is very unfortunate, because the showdown between Liu Xiang and Dayron Robles is one of the most anticipated event in this tournament.

I just finished reading Romance of The Three Kingdoms. There’s kind of a sad feeling because this wonderful and full of winding road story finally has to end. And even though in the end those three kingdoms were united, but still this is not a ‘happy’ ending. One of the things that arouse my feeling during reading this book is many poems scattered throughout the story. Those poems’ beauty gives a unique color to the story, and plays with our emotion. And to ‘commemorate’ finishing this book, I quote the poem in the end of the book, which is also the summary of the whole story, and this poem is so full with sad feeling, which makes the ending sad:

It was the dawning of a glorious day
When first the Founder of the House of Han
Xianyang’s proud Palace entered. Noontide came
When Liu Xiu the imperial rule restored.
Alas, that Liu Xian succeeded in full time
And saw the setting of the sun of power!
He Jin, the feeble, fell beneath the blows
Of Palace minions. Dong Zhuo, vile though bold,
Then ruled the court. The plot Wang Yun
To oust him, failed, recoiled on his own head.
The Li Jue and Guo Si lit up the flame of war
And brigands swarmed like ants through all the land.
Then rose the valiant and deployed their might.
Sun Ce carved out a kingdom in the southeast,
North of Yellow River the Yuans strove to make their own.
Liu Zhang went west and seized on Ba and Shu,
Liu Biao laid hold on Jingzhou and Chu,
Zhang Lu, in turn held Hanzhong by force.
Ma Teng and Han Sui kept Xiliang.
Tao Qian and Gongsun Zan built up quarters,
Zhang Xiu and Lu Bu challenged the bold.
But overtopping all Cao Cao the strong
Became first minister, and to his side,
Drew many able people. He swayed the court,
Without, he held the nobles in his hand;
By force of arms he held the capital
Against all rivals. Of imperial stock
Was born Liu Bei, who with sworn brothers twain
Made oath the dynasty should be restored.
These wandered homeless east and west for years,
A petty force. But Destiny was kind
And led Liu Bei to Nanyang’s rustic cot,
Where lay Sleeping Dragon, he who
Already that the empire must be rent.
Twice Liu Bei essayed in vain to see the sage
Once more he went? And then his fortune turned.
Jingzhou fell to him, followed the River Lands,
A fitting base to build an empire on.
Alas! He ruled there only three short years,
Then left his only son to Zhuge Liang’s care.
Full nobly Zhuge Liang played protector’s part,
Unceasing strove to win first place for Shu;
But Fate forbade; one night for aye his star
Went down behind the rampart of the hills.
Jiang Wei the strong inherited his task
And struggled on for years.
But Zhong Hui and Deng Ai
Attacked the Hans’ last stronghold, and it fell.
Five sons of Cao Cao sat on the dragon throne,
And Sima Yan snatched the court from Cao Huang.
Before him bowed the kings of Shu and Wu,
Content to forfeit kingly power for life.
All down the ages rings the note of change,
For fate so rules it; none escapes its sway.
The three kingdoms have vanished as a dream,
The useless misery is ours to grieve.

These days I’ve been reading the final chapters of Romance of The Three Kingdoms. When I read this novel at the first time, when I came to the part where Zhuge Liang died, I was beginning to feel uninterested with the story, so I didn’t finish the novel at that time. But this time I reread it from the beginning, and now I am at chapter 115, and it turns out that the story in these final chapters is also as interesting as the story in the beginning chapters.

During the period after the death of Liu Bei and the death of Zhuge Liang, Zhuge Liang became the main character of the story. How he defeated Meng Huo, then six times attacking Wei where he must have a battle of wit with Sima Yi, all are wonderful stories.

And after the death of Zhuge Liang, the Zhuge Liang vs Sima Yi-like battle is resumed with the battle between Jiang Wei and Deng Ai. Jiang Wei who inherited Zhuge Liang’s military leadership, continued the expedition to attack Wei, also in many times without success. In the Zhuge Liang vs Sima Yi battles, Zhuge Liang was described as a more superior strategist, but in Jiang Wei vs Deng Ai battles, Deng Ai was more superior. But because Jiang Wei had inherited the art of war of Zhuge Liang and also the military foundation in Shu had been laid out by Zhuge Liang very well, so even though there were no amazing strategies like those in Zhuge Liang times, the battles between these two were still interesting.

One more interesting thing, in these final chapters we begin to be told about the decline of Shu. Shu kingdom which has become the protagonist in this novel, now it faces its destruction from within its own corrupt government. This becomes a kind of irony, because the protagonist was not the winner, but in the end became the loser.

One World One Dream. I’m very happy I can watch this year Olympics in ‘wholeness’, because right now I’m living in Xiamen, China, so I can watch Olympics live games which are broadcasted abundantly by Chinese TV. Besides, because Beijing is the host of the Olympics, the atmosphere throughout China is so ‘Olympics’. People watching the broadcasted games eagerly, especially when the Chinese team are competing. This kind of atmosphere won’t be able to be felt in foreign countries outside China.

One of the most expected event in Olympics is the opening ceremony. And this time, the opening ceremony is indeed so glorious, grandiose, and spectacular. I was amazed in watching every shows during the opening ceremony. And the climax is the lighting of the torch ceremony, which is truly never seen before. Aside from some controversies, like lip-synch and graphics fireworks, I think China as the host has given the best, and those small controversial things are not worth to be debated, especially if the only reason those controversial things to happen was for the creation of the best show.

I myself hope this year’s olympics run successfully from the beginning until the end.

Global warming nowadays has become a much talked about topic in the world. Some years ago, ozone depletion also became a serious problem. And frankly, before I watched An Inconvenient Truth more or less a year ago, I thought global warming and ozone depletion are the same, or at least they have a close relation. So I didn’t think global warming was a new problem. I thought, “Global warming? Isn’t it that ozone depletion thing? It’s way years ago, an old topic.” Well, after watching An Inconvenient Truth and browsing the web, I just realized that global warming and ozone depletion even though they are related, this relation is not strong. In other words, they are two different things. And I began to remember when I was in high school, we did have a lesson that talked about the greenhouse effect, only at that time there are no ‘global warming’ term.

According to wikipedia, global warming is the increase in the average measured temperature of the Earth’s near-surface air and oceans since the mid-20th century, and its projected continuation. It’s said that the average global air temperature near the Earth’s surface increased 0.74 ± 0.18 °C during the 100 years ending in 2005. Based on research, it is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic (man-made) greenhouse gas concentrations via an enhanced greenhouse effect. And the average global surface temperature will likely rise a further 1.1 to 6.4 °C during the twenty-first century.

Global warming is expected to cause sea level to rise, an increase in the intensity of extreme weather events, and significant changes to the amount and pattern of precipitation. The other effects are increases in the ranges of disease vectors, glacier retreat and species extinctions. And if global warming continues, it will cause droughts will occur more often, the Arctic Ocean could be ice free in summer by 2050, more than a million species worldwide could be driven to extinction by 2050.

Why does enhanced greenhouse effect happen? Actually greenhouse effect is needed by lifeforms on earth, because if there is no greenhouse effect, the earth’s surface average temperature will be at -18 °C. Greenhouse effect happens because carbon dioxide and other gases absorb the heat of the sun from going back to space. But as the usage of earth’s power source increases, these greenhouse gases are also dramatically increased, leading to the increased amount of heat radiated back to earth.

While ozone depletion happens because of CFCs in the atmosphere. The ozone layer is useful to absorb UVB ultraviolet ray of the sun. So when the ozone layer depleted, the amount of UVB on earth will increase, and it can cause skin cancer probability to rise. In An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore said that we had succeeded in solving the ozone problem, why not try hard to solve global warming? These words made me realize that global warming and ozone depletion are two different things. And indeed after Montreal Protocol that prohibited the production of CFC, the ozone hole began to close.

Meanwhile there are still no solutions for global warming. There are even many who are still doubting the scientific basis of global warming. Although there’s already a Kyoto Protocol, but the realization of this protocol is still debated between developed and developing countries.

What can we do then? The main point is to save energy, so that the production of carbon dioxide is also limited. Maybe an informative source is again An Inconvenient Truth, aside from maybe there are exaggerations in this film. We can visit http://www.climatecrisis.net/takeaction/whatyoucando, there we can find some things we can do to participate in solving global warming problem.

Last week I got a chance to join the summer camp in Ningde. Ningde city is located on northeastern coast of Fujian, China. In this camp we went to visit some of the nearby travel sites. For me those sites are truly amazing and are new experience. One of the most impressive place for me is Mount Taimu. Mount Taimu is a rocky mount with trees growing all over it. Beneath those trees there are huge stones that occasionaly can be seen protruding among the trees’ green leaves. These stones are quite fascinating, because they seem like man-made sculpture. There are various shape, like rabbit, elephant, hippo, etc. It’s just like there’s a mysterious sculptor behind all these magnificent nature sculpture. Nature is so marvellous, and behind this marvellousness, my heart cannot deny there is God in it.

The most impressive among these ’sculpture’ for me is Tian Zhu Feng. This is a high rock that stands tall, like a giant tower or a giant beam. I don’t know how long the natural erosion process had made this rock into this shape. This giant tower is like floating in the air and between the trees, really looks like a fairy-tale scenery.

These few days I’ve been reading Romance of the Three Kingdoms and I’m up to the point where Liu Bei was having a mental shock through the death of his two brothers, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. And what happened next was really tragic, Liu Bei who had lost his clear logical mind, had been controlled by emotion to avenge his brothers death, did a huge mistake and destroyed himself. This is really a turning point in Shu kingdom, which is the protagonist in the Three Kingdoms novel.

The thing that stands out in this chain of events is the revenge, which in ancient tradition is regarded as a kind of filial thing to do. Zhuge Liang and the other Shu officers were trying hard to prevent Liu Bei attacking Wu, but it didn’t work. Revenge is indeed not a filial thing, for this filial is only used to cover the ugliness of revenge itself. It was very clear that the ones who made mistake were Liu Bei’s two brothers themselves, which led to their death, but Liu Bei instead pointed his anger to whole kingdom of Wu, and tried to attack Wu with his large army. This was proven when all the people involved in the killing of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei had been killed, Liu Bei still wouldn’t return, but kept moving forward to attack Wu and would like to exterminate Sun Quan which he considered as the main culprit. But instead the main culprit was Cao Pi from Wei, because he had done criminal act by deposing the throne of Han. He is the one that Liu Bei should attack, for Liu Bei is the supporter of Han. Revenge had already covered a clear mind. And if we read Liu Bei’s life throughout Three Kingdoms novel, here happened an irony, Liu Bei who used to be a person who is respected by people and has a high virtue and good character, now all seems gone and he only becomes a ‘blinded by revenge’ kind of person. When things in the end had gone wrong, and he was near his death, he finally realized his fault.

Revenge is really blinding people. This episode of Three Kingdoms once again reminds me how dangerous a revenge is. Man really need to learn to be full of forgiveness, willing to forgive others, even that is the most difficult thing to do.