Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: A Thriller Perfection

I very rarely say the word 'perfection', but I have never read anything like this book before.
It’s by far the best thriller and one of the best books I’ve ever read.

Pigs of the Future

Two days ago, a friend of mine told me about another friend of mine who just did her mandatory service in Papua (a mostly untouched region).
She told him about how the natives there valued their pigs highly.
They cared for them, nurtured them, and even sometimes breastfed the piglets, so it’s not strange to have a tribal war because of the pigs.

She then commented about how she thought of it all as primitive, the idea of valuing pigs, and thought that it had to be left behind.
Upon hearing this, my friend gave his disapproval.
His disapproval would have been the same as mine, had I heard the story.

Edward’s Special Lines

Beautiful people have more privileges than the un-beautiful ones.

One is that they get to say the ‘special’ lines.

What are they? What makes them so special?

Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight: So Dull, It’s Suspicious

I’ve finally finished Twilight after quite a while.
I have even watched the movie!
So I guess it’s safe for me to say my opinion.

I don’t like the book or the movie, but the movie was better.

A Helping Condom

Free Sex!

(Pre-marital sex included)

Some people want it.
Some people don’t want to have anything to do with it.

The dispute is ages long.

And it also happens here, in Indonesia.

However, not so long ago, right in the middle of the dispute, another issue came out.

The Stages of Religion and Being Religious

I divide religion and being religious into two stages:

Conceptual ------------ Beyond Conceptual

Furthermore, I divide the conceptual stage into two more stages, Early and Late, changing the description above to become:

Early Conceptual --- Late Conceptual ------------ Beyond Conceptual

Now, how do they differ from each other?
I have made a table to answer that.

I Love You, But...

I stumbled upon this when I checked out a video in my friend's blog.
All I've got to say is that this kid is on to something. :))

Glasvegas' Flowers and Football Tops: The Murder of Kriss Donald

About a week ago, I caught a music video, Flowers and Football Tops by the Scottish band Glasvegas. It was one of the best I've ever seen. The mood was all gloomy, gray, haunting even, but it still has a feeling of beauty in it.

Little did I know, the song had a very dark background behind it.
It is based on the murder of Kriss Donald.

Why Humans Are Destined for Greatness

I wanted to write it with my own words, just like a friend of mine suggested.

But I'm just too lazy.

Besides, an old book by Dr. Nico Syukur Dister OFM. that belongs to my father says it quite nicely already.
It's in bahasa though.

Not Just Any Bond Girl

Feeling aroused already?
Wait till you hear the whole story.

This is Caroline Cossey.
She played in 007's For Your Eyes Only.

The real gig is that,
she wasn't born a girl.
She was a boy the first 20 years of her life.

So it's remarkable she got a part in a Bond movie.

But that's not the only thing she's done.
She also managed to attain numerous modeling achievements, including a pose for Playboy in 1991.
Wow.
She is now married and live near Atlanta.

PS: She only appeared briefly for the Bond movie, and did not have any sexual scenes with at-the-time-Bond-Roger-Moore. It would be such a scandal though.

Semen Battle Royale

No, it’s not some gay porn title.
If you look below, you’ll actually see that this post is labeled culture.
This post is about how to settle scores.

As a teenager, I loved Egyptian mythologies, especially the battles between two gods, Horus and Set.
They fought because Horus wanted to claim control over all Egypt...
And also because Set killed Horus’ father and fed his penis to the fish (wow, talk about repressed anger).
Eventually, through brawl and wit, Horus finally won against the evil Set and rule Egypt.

It was a nice story,
until I found just exactly how he won.

Just for Me: A Reminder

I refuse to become the thing I hate the most.

I refuse to deliberately hurt people with my own uncertainty.

I refuse to become a monster.

To those of you who know what I mean,
I am truly sorry.

Aw… The Irony (a note about Gus Dur and St. Albertus church)

Gus Dur’s death on December 30th 2009 raised much of public appraisal frenzy. Everyone just went on and on about how he had been such a devoted pluralist, naming him The Father of Pluralism, and even went as far as campaigning him for national hero and December 30th for pluralism day.

All of this people-suddenly-get-interested-in-pluralism never seized to amaze me.

WOW.

I didn’t know you all considered pluralism to be a good thing.
I didn’t know you loved pluralism so much.
Hell, I thought you condemned it, thinking it as a bane in a utopia society you’ve always dreamed of.

Besides, a church in Bekasi was burned down on December 15th and you just forgot about it, right?
It's just not worthy enough to address, right?
So I guess it’s “let us all devote ourselves to pluralism but neglect burning down a church an issue”, right?

And to have it just for wacky reasons such as "the statue of Mary was so big, the taste of Christianity was considered too much to handle" is just overwhelming...
It's a church! What did you expect to be inside, a big statue of SpongeBob?
Surely, you can't keep silent about this!!

Pluralism my ass, please stop desecrating the memory of God-bless-him-renaissance-man-Gus-Dur with your mumbo jumbo.
Besides, he wouldn't be a hero if you all loved pluralism just as he did.