'Quantum of Solace': When Bond Shaking and Stirring Revenge and Duty...

This 22nd Bond movie picks up where Casino Royale left off. The action begins on the first second with car chase on the mountain-top roads somewhere in Italy, with Mr White -- the man behind the blackmail and suicide murder of Bond's lost love Vesper Lynd -- in the boot of his Aston Martin. Few minutes later he reveals to Bond and M that the mysterious Quantum organization behind Vesper's murder is far reaching and extremely complex as he points to the first surprise in the movie, an MI6 traitor. From there the plot moves fast and changes global locations swiftly, from Italy to London to Haiti to Austria and finally to Bolivia. The movements show high energy for a Bond-calibre adventure and look to be a promising flow for another great Bond movie... until and unless we think of its soul as not just another full action, spy movie, but a small part of legendary superspy-code-name-007 adventures. This is where it trails far behind its predecessors.

So it's no wonder to find people coming out from the cinema comparing James Bond with Jason Bourne. It doesn't help and is unavoidable that they now share the same editors in Richard Pearson and Dan Bradley. It would have been great if these guys had worked on Casino Royale earlier than Bourne series -- that would have made Bond a trendsetter instead of, uncharacteristically, a follower. But that's a huge if...

Thus to enjoy this movie we simply have to get rid of our high expectations after waiting a couple of years for a quality sequel to Casino Royale -- which now proves to be a tough act to follow.

It doesn't mean that this latest Bond installment is a total failure. It is far away from a bad movie at all. There is nothing awkward acting-wise or in the actions and dialogues. Daniel Craig is as convincing as the new Bond as in the prequel -- cold, smileless, humorless, brutal, emotional, and human... farewell to the old calm, cool, calculated Bond as displayed by Connery, Moore, and Brosnan. I am getting used to it and have no objection thanks to Craig's brilliant performance.

Judi Dench needs no introduction; she even plays a bigger part as M here and better than in Casino Royale. Olga Kurylenko is impressive as Bolivian agent Camille. French actor Mathieu Amalric qualifies as a good Bond nemesis, the billionaire environmentalist and Quantum mastermind Dominic Greene, who uses his campaigns to conceal his evil plan to control the world's natural resources and at the click of his finger is able to ruthlessly overthrow governments of developing countries for his organization's benefits.

Two characters from Casino Royale are probably wasted and could have been used more effectively: Jeffrey Wright as CIA agent Felix Leiter and Giancarlo Giannini as retired Italian police René Mathis. However, a nice glimpse from old Bond flicks is shown by Gemma Arterton as MI6 agent Fields, who is sent by M to pick up Bond in Haiti after his license is revoked for his killing spree. The short fling provides the only light spark in the movie; all other parts are simply dark and brutal -- unfortunately this includes how Ms Fields' life ends up at the hand of sadistic Greene.

The actions on the global exotic locations are not disappointing: tire-screeching Aston Martin and Alfa Romeos car chase on the cliff-top of Italian mountain, rooftop bruising action at the same time with a huge Palio horse race event, boat chase in Haitian water, airplane dogfight in South America, shoot-outs and blow-outs in Bolivian desert... just name it, this movie has it all... it doesn't let us down...

There is no special gadgets from Q needed by Craig to survive, so I guess it removes a big burden for the director not to have to think of something new like ridiculously fantasized invisible car in one of Brosnan's Bond, for example. At least in Casino Royale Bond still relied on his Aston Martin to save his life when he was badly poisoned. But not in Quantum... all depend on Bond's skills and instincts. Which is better in one aspect -- there is (almost) no obvious product placements... I can't even remember if there is any...

The story line is however which makes me wondering if this movie is worthy of its own separate screening. Why not integrating it at the end of Casino? The idea of Bond sequel is in itself new one. Isn't it similar to Bourne 1-2-3?

Judge yourself if the plotline is engaging enough. Right after Bond successfully tracks and hunts down Mr White and bring him to M, they must deal with an MI6 traitor which leads them to a bank account in Haiti. There Bond meets Camille on a mistaken identity coincidence. Both later find out that they have common mission: vengeance. Bond is a very angry man losing his love of life to blackmail by Quantum. Camille is on track to retaliate against a Bolivian general on exile who murdered, raped, and burned her family during her childhood. Both leads to new, another mysterious mastermind, cruel Dominic Greene.

Bond mixes revenge and duty in this saga. He even manages to track down Vesper's old boyfriend who blackmailed her to betray Bond. But until the end of the story, when he left Dominic alone in the middle of Bolivian desert for his own organization to settle its score with another failed top man, just like when Mr White finished off Le Chiffre in Casino Royale, we are left with the fact that Quantum will remain exist. Bond only spoils a chapter on its many missions to topple governments in the world and control their resources. It's also unclear if Bond comes out of the saga as a man satisfied with his paid-off vengeance. He's probably convinced himself that for a woman to have serious relationship with 007 is bad for her own health. And so Vesper is no exception.

And not to ruin this story of Bond's lost love, vengeance and rage, the relationship between Bond and Camille is kept to professional side. It doesn't develop any further to create a special chemistry between both as Camille is shown initially as a tough woman who finally breaks down as a bit of cry baby upon her act of revenge and wonders what she desires after she completes her vendetta. They say goodbye to each other as Camille embarks on a train to nowhere and Bond is on to his next pursuit.

A sad, dark, brutal saga of lonely spies. Does it in any way remind us of characteristic ending of Bond stories?

In conclusion, it is a must-see spy action flick, but it is Bond going far too personal and I won't put it in the same league with past 007 movies. Oh, by the way, the theme song by Alicia Keys and Jack White, Another Way to Die, doesn't help either. Unlike previous Bond tunes, it lacks of soul, a Bond soul -- just like the disappearance of Bond's trademark intro: "Name's Bond, James Bond."

A Much Better Kiva

I wrote about Kiva almost a year ago. It was already a very efficient way to practice microcredit to very small-scale entrepreneurs across the globe. Now it has become much better and way so cool thanks to a big change they unleashed a couple of weeks ago with the new Partial Loan Repayments method to replace the full loan repayments. Lenders no longer need to wait until the entire loan is repaid before they can relend it to the long list of small businesses in need of fresh funds.

And this list turns so short and even most of the time it is hard to find those needing the loans. Loan requests are being funded very quickly thanks to sudden availability of credit funds from the partially repaid loans -- it was US $10 million when the historic change was unleashed! If you check the loan request page on Kiva, most likely you will find a similar screen above or at most you will only see a couple of loan requests --- which you will have to act fast to fund if you don't want to get beaten by other lenders eager to release their fund credits.

Check out KivaVision to see who's making loans on Kiva and on which parts of the world they come from. Currently a loan is made every 37 seconds... that is roughly $25 in a half minute, $3,000 in a hour, $72,000 a day, and more than $2.1 million a month...!!!

Imaginary Meal (Simple thing I learned from my son on how to tame our craving for food.. :-))

So many things to do, so little time -- and worse - no time at all for blogging. Hence the long hiatus on this journal...

To break the ice, here's a video clip of my lil' son Afif creatively trying to kill time and forget his tummy's craving for food while waiting for his kid's meal to arrive on a flight from Jakarta to Yogyakarta few months ago.

How Unilever Palm Oil Suppliers Are Burning Up Borneo

Read this doc on Scribd: How Unilever Palm Oil Suppliers are Burning Up Borneo

Judul yang cukup dramatis dan sensasional di atas adalah laporan terbaru dari Greenpeace yang mereka keluarkan Senin minggu lalu, 21 April. Praktis berita ini langsung bikin gempar di Eropa tempat asal Unilever. Demo dilakukan para aktivis dan masyarakat di kantor-kantor maupun pabrik-pabrik Unilever di berbagai kota di Eropa. Media utama Eropa pun tak ada yang ketinggalan memberitakannya.

Tapi entah karena apa, studi yang seharusnya bakal langsung menarik perhatian pembaca ini lepas dari sorotan media utama Indonesia dan Malaysia. Sebagai gambaran mudahnya laporan ini menarik minat pembaca, laporan tersebut langsung menjadi featured article begitu di-upload ke Scribd dan sampai hari ke 3 sudah mendapat lebih dari 300 views.

Masyarakat di kedua negara yang tentunya setiap harinya tak lepas dari produk-produk Unilever seakan sengaja dibuat buta tuli dengan berita yang meski sebenarnya bukan hal sangat baru lagi namun karena kali ini membawa nama Unilever seharusnya impact-nya lebih terasa. Sudah cukup biasakah kita membaca atau mendengar tentang perusakan hutan tropis serta ekosistem fauna dan penurunan drastis populasi fauna liar dan langka termasuk orang utan sehingga media sebagai perantara fakta dan kebenaran take it for granted dan berita besar pun menjadi tidak layak muat lagi?

Hanya Kompas saja yang langsung memberitakannya di hari laporan itu keluar dengan judul yang juga mencolok, dan langsung juga dibantah kebenarannya oleh PR Unilever, meskipun menurut Greenpeace Unilever mengakui bahwa mereka tidak tahu dari mana 20% asal pasokan minyak kelapa sawit mereka. Media besar lain bungkam seakan hal ini bukan sesuatu yang layak diberitakan. Jakarta Post, TempoInteraktif, Republika, Media Indonesia, Detik..... semua sama saja.

Di Malaysia idem ditto. The New Straits Times tutup mulut, Star hanya memuatnya di berita kecil mengenai standar kelapa sawit 5 hari setelah laporan Greenpeace tersebut keluar. Hanya media berbahasa Melayu, Utusan Malaysia, yang memasang berita ini pada hari yang sama dengan Kompas tapi terkesan ragu dan sembunyi-sembunyi karena isinya tidak membicarakan mengenai isi laporan Greenpeace dan judulnya pun tidak menarik perhatian sama sekali.

Kenapa media di kedua negara ini seakan tidak berani menyiarkan studi yang seharusnya membukakan mata masyarakat tentang parahnya kerusakan hutan di Indonesia serta peran penting perusahaan-perusahaan besar di dalamnya? Sedemikian kuatkah Unilever sampai media Indonesia dan Malaysia sukarela membungkam diri sendiri?

Pembaca sekilas laporan yang sengaja memancing perhatian dengan nama Unilever di judulnya ini --- taktik mencari sensasi yang tidak jarang dipakai oleh Greenpeace terlepas dari aktivitas mereka yang sangat positif dan influential selama ini --- mungkin akan terkecoh dan menerima apa adanya bahwa Unilever-lah dalang semuanya. Pemerhati yang membaca sampai halaman akhir akan menemukan bahwa hal yang lebih besar sebenarnya terletak di kandungan laporan tersebut. Dengan kata lain, bukan Unilever-nya saja yang seharusnya menjadi fokus pembicaraan tetapi lebih dari itu, siapa saja sih para pemasok utama Unilever ini?

Ketujuh pemasok utama ini berdasar share mereka dalam pasar kelapa sawit Indonesia adalah Sinar Mas, Asian Agri, Astra Agro, Sime Darby, ADM-Kuok-Wilmar, Musim Mas, dan IOI. Ketiga terbesar pertama serta Musim Mas adalah raksasa bisnis kelapa sawit Indonesia -- Sinar Mas adalah perusahaan plantation kelapa sawit terbesar di Indonesia. Asian Agri adalah anak perusahaan Raja Garuda Mas milik Sukanto Tanoto. Sime Darby dan IOI adalah dua dari konglomerat terbesar di Malaysia --- Sime Darby adalah perusahaan plantation kelapa sawit terbesar di dunia! ADM-Kuok-Wilmar adalah kongsi perusahaan besar Amerika, Malaysia dan Singapura.

Sekali kita tahu siapa di belakang pasokan Unilever ini, nama Unilever menjadi berkurang signifikansinya karena raksasa-raksasa ini juga memasok ke Nestle, Carrefour, P&G, dll. Sebagian pasokan ini disalurkan lewat Cargill, trader kelapa sawit besar yang merupakan privately-owned company terbesar di dunia.

So, benarkah media Indonesia dan Malaysia sembunyi dari laporan ini karena nama besar para godzilla ini (dan apa pun bentuk implikasi yang muncul dari nama besar ini...)? Wallahualam... Mungkin benar kata pepatah... it requires a very unusual mind to undertake the analysis of the obvious...

This Blog's Reading Level

While blogwalking, I found that enough buzz has been created around a simple blog test and people have jumped to try it to check out their blogs' readability level --- what level of education is needed to understand their blogs...

I had nothing to lose to try it and not too surprised to get the following result:



So, is it good or bad? Frankly, I had expected much below high school reading level. I am hoping whoever can read is able to digest easily what I write. I am sure I never use English words only those spelling bees have ever heard or tenses I only memorized for school exams years ago...

I tried out several samples and was feeling good that the same reading level was required to read Jakarta Post or NY Times for example. I should even be feeling much better to see that it takes a genius to read the English version of Tempo Interaktif. But then I realized that it even gave a rating for non-existing sites. So, don't take this tool too seriously...

If you want more comprehensive test for your blogs, try WebsiteGrader from HubSpot. This free SEO tool site measures the marketing effectiveness of a website, including its readibility level. To my delight, out of a grade of only 56/100 that I get for my blog, my blog's readibility level is merely elementary school level..! That's consistent with its G rating as well. For me, it can't be better than this...

Tuhan 1, Pak Harto 0

Setelah beberapa minggu di bulan Januari ini bergulat dengan ketidakpastian ujung hidupnya di tangan malaikat maut yang menunggu perintah akhir dari Sang Pencipta untuk menyudahi penderitaannya di dunia fana, akhirnya hari ini pak Harto kembali sepenuh nyawa, raga, amal dan dosanya menghadap kepada Yang Maha Adil, Sang Pemilik Alam Semesta.

Ketika raga meregang menahan sakit luar biasa melepas nyawa kembali kepada Yang Maha Kuasa, tak semestinya ada sesal dan sebal dari kita manusia yang ditinggalkannya yang merasa pengadilan buat pak Harto di dunia belum ditegakkan seadil-adilnya karena itu sama dengan mempertanyakan keputusan Tuhan. Karena pengadilan manusia oleh manusia lainnya, sekalipun andaikata ada 1000 pengadil yang disebut sebagai para Hakim Agung, tak akan pernah mencapai tingkatan adil yang sejati. Apalagi untuk pribadi sekompleks pak Harto dengan jasa-jasanya yang tidak bisa dipungkiri besarnya bagi negara, bangsa dan rakyat Indonesia. Demikian pula dengan kejahatan serta dosa-dosa beliau yang sayangnya peradilan di Indonesia telah gagal membuktikannya sampai akhir hayat beliau... sesulit menemukan segunung bangkai dan membuktikan kewujudannya meski mereka sendiri bisa mencium bau busuknya.

Hanya waktu yang akan menentukan bagaimana kita menempatkan pak Harto dalam bingkai sejarah bangsa dan mungkin dunia. Apakah beliau benar-benar salah satu putra terbaik bangsa ataukah beliau akan diingat sepanjang jaman dalam wacana sejarah sebagai pemimpin bertangan besi yang selalu tersenyum sementara tangan beliau penuh darah dan dosa khianat atas kepercayaan rakyat?

Untuk pendukung setia maupun mantan korban serta musuh pak Harto, perlu disadari bahwa jilid satu babak kehidupan beliau sudah selesai dan tidak bisa lagi ditulis ulang. Babak kedua yang berisi pengadilan sejati dan seadil-adilnya atas peran beliau di babak satu kehidupannya di dunia sedang dan hanya bisa ditulis oleh Sang Khalik. Tuhan tak pernah tidur, demikian pula para malaikat pencatat amal dan dosa suruhanNya. Juga neraca akhirat tak pernah perlu ditera ulang. Satu butir pasir halus amal akan tertulis rapi di rapor semua manusia, begitu pula satu atom dosa yang kasat mata manusia pasti akan tertangkap tinta merah pena malaikat pencatat.

Bagi yang merasa bahwa kematian telah meloloskan pak Harto dari pengadilan di dunia, ingatlah bahwa pengadilan di alam baka adalah yang paling sempurna keadilannya dan tidak ada yang bisa lepas darinya. Sementara yang sekarang berlomba mengantar tribut serta mencoba memperbaiki nama baik beliau, ingatlah bahwa semuanya tak akan ada gunanya. Hanya kemahabijakan Tuhan yang menentukan tempat akhir yang paling tepat untuk pak Harto... bukan dalam bingkai sejarah bangsa atau dunia yang fana semata, tapi dalam alam kekal yang wujud bersama kehadiranNya.

Selamat jalan pak Harto. Innalillahi wa inna ilaihi roojiuun...