These Week(s) Recaps

March 05 – March 26, 2018

It’s been two weeks since I posted the last this week recap and it was for a good reason: I’ve been trying so hard to publish my giga post Japan Trip 2017 so I restrain myself from writing anything and just focus to have it published. Now the post has been published, Let’s talk about couple of things I experienced lately.

That one time you wrote a blog post so long it took you more than a month to complete it.

Movies

Let’s start with Movies. I watched some movies this past weeks in theatre and Netflix. I’d love to share my thoughts on these movies.

Warning: Spoiler ahead.

The Discovery

Where I watched it: Netflix

 

The movie is basically a family drama which explores the idea of what might happen when afterlife is scientifically proved. I like movie which explores this kind of what-ifs: “how the world would look like if …“. Nevertheless, i think the the what-ifs are little bit off. It’s hard for me to imagine mass suicide without people knowing what awaits them on the other side.

Weeks after I watched the movie, Stephen Hawking died. Later on, news about him and his research are being reported everywhere and I realized how fond he is with the idea of multi-verse. Try connect between The Discovery’s plot twist with the idea of multi-verse. It feels sort of fascinating.

Annihilation

Where I watched it: Netflix

 

The verge reviewed Annihilation as “the most thoughtful science fiction movie since Arrival” (Note: I love the Arrival) but i’ll settled with “I’ll put it on-par with Ex-machina”. It doesn’t have too many action scene, but it is thrilling nevertheless.

The movie is basically about female scientist investigating a “dome” where everything looks fused to one another and nothing came in ever comes out. Except apparently his found to be dying soldier husband.

If you like sci-fi, go watch it. The techno music on the final act gives me a weird feeling.

Pacific Rim: Uprising

Where I watched it: Theatre

 

Let me say this first:

1. I like giant robot. Especially when it fights giant monster.
2. I honestly agree with Honest Trailer which explains this movie as either “The most awesome dumb movie ever made, or The dumbest awesome movie ever made“. Which ever you prefer.

So i’m already in the “i really want to love this movie so much” camp but still disappointed. The movie is basically about giant monster vs giant robot and i won’t dive much from that. Pacific Rim: Uprising fails to entertain me for these reasons:

1. Lack of suspense
2. Everything moves in very absurd pace, even for a giant robot vs giant monster movie level
3. The movie is too damn comical

Game

I finally completed the final stage of Super Mario Odyssey these recent week so I think it’s time for me to get another game for my Switch. This time decided to experience a classic.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

“took an arrow in the knee”, anyone?

 

The game is pretty old but I never had a chance to play it on PC or other version. I also realized that the type of game that I prefer to like is open-world adventure-lead game like Zelda’s Breath of The Wild. With this consideration in mind, I bought a copy of Skyrim on the local game shop nearby.

I just entered level 7 as I write this down and some of my thought: wow, what an elaborate open world game. Any decision is interlinking to a consequence like “carrying too much stuff slows you down“, or “heavier weapon drains stamina faster“, etc. The open-world itself is also breath taking. It has this medieval north Europe look which is pretty breathtaking.

Anyway, I noticed that some of the game mechanic, especially related to arrow, can be noticed on Zelda’s Breath of The Wild.

So far: I love it.

Places

Me and my family visited some places this week. I think they’re pretty story-worthy.

Breakfast at Braga Permai

Western menu at Bandung’s art-deco neighborhood.

 

My wife found Braga Permai, a very old restaurant, which serves a fine western breakfast in Braga area via Instagram (she basically found lots of things on Instagram). So we thought why don’t we give it a try and so we were there.

The place is lovely, the food is nice, the price is reasonable, and Braga is charming as usual

Sunday morning walk at GOR Saparua

A calmer alternative of Gasibu

 

My first choice for public jogging track is usually Gasibu. However we decided to go to GOR Saparua that sunday morning. The place is actually super nice and (visitor-wise) less-dense compared to Gasibu. The place feels greener and there are kids from roller blade club practicing.

Babakan Siliwangi Forest Walk

A nice morning walk in the middle of city forest

Babakan Siliwangi’s forest walk is basically a 2 – 4 meters above the ground pedestrian built on Bandung’s Babakan Siliwangi “forest”. The concept is fun and sort of remind me to Singapore’s Garden by the bay.

Immersing ourself in the city forest full of fresh morning oxygen is literally breath taking.