I just got to share this! A SHORT LOVE STORY IN STOP MOTION from Carlos Lascano on Vimeo. One word: astounding... To add more amusement, this was made using stop motion technique. And boy,  it's still a work in progress! Check out more of his work (including demo reel) at his Vimeo page.

It literally means "Peace on Earth", a quote directly taken from one of Pope John XXIII's papal encyclical which came out during the 2nd Vatican Council. This great piece is obviously about peace, freedom and moral justice. In this current world - where many people become victims of wars, starvation and injustice - peace is one thing that we as human always dream and yearn. Some people argue that those things are unavoidable - we might say that "well after all, we are human, nobody is perfect." But I think that's why on this year papal mass, Papa Benedict homily once again asked us to try be closer with God's heart, so that He can freely turn us into a better person, and slowly - we can all make this world a better place to live for humankind. Just let God be God :) Kudos for RCTI and Indosiar for keep broadcasting the papal mass, keep up the good work! I don't think that any public tv station in the states will air it. EWTN definitely has it, but come on, they are catholic channel. But I guess the circumstances are different for every country. Merry Christmas and peace on earth! Selamat natal dan damai di bumi!

Thank God, they are now fixing this problem.

After doing a bit of blogwalking today, I just realized that Chinese all over the world are celebrating mooncake festival today! Being raised in a country where its government used to suppress everything related to Chinese culture (and the fact that I don't even have a Chinese name), I barely remember anything about Mooncake festival. The only memory I have is just the mooncake, which then I realized that mooncake is different from kue kranjang (Nian Gao (年糕) or Tii Kwee (甜棵) in Hokkien, says Wikipedia). So yeah... apparently I never celebrate this kue bulan festival... no memory whatsoever.. My bad, apparently after reading Kue Bulan in Wikipedia, I realized that I've been eating this lovely delicate for years~ but I know 'em as thiong chiu pia!!!!1 Why is that? Probably because there is no autumn in Indonesia (we only have two season: hot and hotter), or maybe because I'm just being so isolated from chinese culture. But anyways, it is kinda interesting to see how Chinese Indonesian put themselves on the Indonesian society for the next 10-20 years. I think I'm one of the last generation that never have Chinese language taught freely in the class. Nowdays, they even start teaching mandarin in the kindergarten! Heck, I still remember that my first English lesson was when I'm already on the 4th grade :( So looking at this new generation, I wonder if they are going to speak mandarin fluently as their mother tongue, or local language will still be the first choice. Back in Semarang, I know that almost all my Chinese friends speak Javanese fluently (when I say fluently, that means using it as social language), I even know some friends that speak Javanese better than Indonesian, or at least having difficulties speaking Indonesian without putting one or two Javanese words :p But that should not be surprising, considering that we have to take Javanese language class for at least 9 years, from grade 1 elementary to end of junior high (some senior high school also require Javanese, thank God I did not have to take it for another three years). Now, do you think this new found freedom will change that? Will Indonesian Chinese back to their root, and find themselves in a similar position to Malaysian Chinese? Or are they going to assimilate with the local culture, and change to a totally new culture (American born Chinese?)

So I just stumbled on this website (blogombal.org) and I cannot stop laughing for a good minute or two. The author call himself a pemulung (junk collector). He writes tons of review about many stuff that most of us just take it for granted. And the good thing is, he wrote 'em in such a hilarious way. We can still find some of the items he wrote in the market, but many of them are almost extinct now. Check it out yourself, here are some of my personal favourites:

• Blocnoot cap Kera - review
• Telor Asin - review
• Pagoda Pastilles - review
• Tauco cap Pesawat Angkasa - review
• Enting-Enting Gepuk - review (hi Tik!)
• Obat Diare 'Chi-Kit Pills' - review
• Moto tjap Mobil - review
• Keluarga Khong Guan - review
• Pegangan Tas Kresek - review (super creative..)
• Peniti - review
• And here's the best one: Pengantar Berpacaran - item review - label review

  Cinta pertama indahnya bagai bulan nan purnama, tapi kegagalan cinta adalah bagaikan dimakan gerhana

  Ouch~

A quote from Evan Almighty

Let me ask you something. If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient? If he prayed for courage, does God give him courage, or does he give him opportunities to be courageous? If someone prayed for the family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings, or does he give them opportunities to love each other?

Something for us to think about..

It's quite addicting, even though the loading time can be pretty painful... Just like Dance Dance Revolution, this game will penalize you if you make mistakes, and in the end it will give you grade ranging from F to... I don't know, AAA maybe? I got this game from Sakura_K Tata, so she probably knows this game better than me. Anyways, I just figured that it is harder to type fast when you do not know what you're writing. For instance, I know Rie Fu - Like Is Like A Boat song pretty well, but I never memorized / understand the japanese part of the songs, so even though it's all in romanji - that's the part where I'm failing this game. Try it yourself :D Screenshots! Eh not bad for first timer :p [edit] I forgot the link: TypingMania Fans Club [edit] S is the highest score, check the screenshot :p

WOw, I'm impressed..

hey look! mr president!

So I did a little bit of wikiwalking today. I started from today's Did You Know article:

"... that the 200 km/h maximum speed of the Munich-Nuremberg Express (pictured) makes it the only regional train in Germany fast enough to not impede ICE traffic?"

Hmmm, I didn't know that... Anyways, so from Munich-Nuremberg Express article, I went to Shinkansen. Now these Shinkansen are amazing! The 500 series looks awesome, and even though they have up to 800 Series Shinkansen now, the 500 Series is still the fastest and powerful shinkansen ever built. Now, all these trains have super powerful brake that can reduce speed from 300 kph to dead still in less than 60 seconds. Yet still, to reduce the impact if earthquake suddenly occurs, the newest Shinkansen prototypes are equipped with an air braking plate, which looks like a neko (cat) ear thus in Japan people call it "Nekomimi Shinkansen" :p Ten or fifteen or maybe thirty minutes later, I found myself reading the Eurostar article. Eurostar is not as striking as Shinkansen, but I think their technology is comparable to the one used in Shinkansen (at least that's what I get from reading the two articles). I ride Eurostar once, when I was... hmmm.. 9 years old maybe? (Geez, that's more than a decade ago...) But even at that time Eurostar was fast enough to be called bullet train, and the fact that Eurostar connects UK and France through Channel Tunnel makes my journey a quite unforgetable experience. Well, maybe I kinda exagerate it, I can't see a thing actually - it's just like entering a normal tunnel for half an hour, and voila welcome to France! Japan, France, UK.. hmmm, I wonder what kind of train that United States have? I rarely saw a train in Columbus, and as far as I know, only a little part of midwest have trains, and they are not high-speed, just the regular ones.. Why US are so behind in railroad? Beats me, I've seen so many railroad construction in old cowboy movies.. heck how many times you see those Looney Tunes character running around in the wild wild west and ended up tied on a railroad.. yet here, trains are not as big as in Europe.. You know, I am sure having good railroad networks in US will benefit everyone. But hey, a dream is not just a dream. Apparently, even though US are behind, the government starts to realize the importance of railroad transportation. Well, it's about time! Check this website: The Ohio Hub. Yes baby, Ohio will have railroads! And it will connect Ohio to 7 nearby states, and CANADA! How cool is that! Seriously, Cleveland in 1:38, Chicago in 3:53 and Toronto in 6:20! Man, that's gonna be awesome! Currently the plan is still in research and development process.. I read somewhere in the website, that it is hoping for 3.2 million rail trips in 2025. Man, that means it won't be deployed until at least 2015 or 2020 maybe? Only God knows where I'm gonna be in 10 years, haha... I don't even know where I'm gonna be next year.