"Game of Thrones", or "Perebutan Takhta"?

This has been the greatest anxiety of my literacy life.
Picking books never been this complicated before.

V I C K Y   A M I N ' S

.(weird) chronicles of

"A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE"

Well yeah, I know.
But no, I ain't mainstream.

I haven't touched even a single episode of its TV series version. I promised myself not to start doing that, before I read all the published books. Five of them now, yes? So it shan't be long to finish all and get myself exposed to the series, and let myself craft some smart-ass comparisons of the book and the show.

But no, it's not that easy.

It all began when I saw the book in local store. "A Song of Ice and Fire #1". "The Game of Thrones". It was the Indonesian version, so it sounded more like, "Perebutan Takhta". To be honest before the show boomed, I had no idea at all about "A Song of Ice and Fire". Just when my friends in campus started talking about the show, I began to be aware of it. And when I saw the book, and it was already in Bahasa, well, there's no harm in trying to join the euphoria, no?

At first, my plan was so simple. I just wanted to enrich my Indonesian vocabulary. Plus, the red cover of the book looked really amazing - yes, I judge the book by its cover. So I brought home this 1000 something pages book, and got myself mesmerized by the world of Westeros and beyond. The story was amazing, the characters were many - you may know that I have this weird obsession of some stories with a bunch of characters, and Sansa was pretty. Story-wise, no negativity. George R. R. Martin instantly came into the second place of my favorite author, just below Agatha Christie. But delivery-wise, I was pretty... Tingled.

It was fine, although, I was pretty much disturbed by some inconsistencies found in many ways, like... Translations, mostly. Some terms and names, in the Indonesian book, were translated. Like the houses slogans - it was "Dengarkan Raunganku!" instead of "Hear Me Roar!" for the Lannisters. Some others, on the other hand, were not - "Littlefinger" instead of "Jari Kecil", "The Neck" instead of "Leher". Well after all, it was okay and I was pretty convinced to stick with my plan.

But then the second book came. "A Song of Ice and Fire #2". "A Clash of Kings". Or should I say, "Peperangan Raja-Raja"? It also came with the same great cover, but the inside, totally wrecked. So disappointing!

The inconsistencies were much too intolerable. Typos were everywhere. And there were this unnecessary repeat of chapters, as much as 100 pages! I mean, okay, I know, it was 1200 pages or so, creating extra works for you guys, but I don't care! You took the risk of getting the copyright, and publishing it in Indonesian, so do it good! I was, and still am, on the verge of regretting my decision in buying this version.

Then again, I can't stop doing this.

Collecting the Indonesian versions of it.

Which will come from the same publisher.

I have the first and second book, both with the same cover only different in colors and symbols. These covers and how they just harmonize, it fulfills me inside out! And I'm literally looking forward to the next cover—will it be green? Will it be blue? I'm more psyched to see whose banner will be on the face of the book, rather than finding out what will happen to Jon Snow!

Look how they are beautifully crafted in an identical yet unidentical way. How do you feel if
the third one is not the same? Well, nothing, I guess. It's just me and my weird fetish.

My OCD shit will definitely kill me if I ruin the pattern by stop buying the book from the same publisher :)

Damn.

What should I do next?

"A Storm of Swords", or...

"Badai Pedang"?

Stop, Marv, Okay?

Superheroes has always been a thing to me.

Especially they who are under the red flag of Marvel.

There are tons of them. With diverse superpowers. Made my childhood like, gangbanged in a superhero fantasy, sent me off to my adolescent phase hoping to witness the live-action movies of each hero—and my dream came true. As Spider-Man, X-Men and Fantastic 4 all invaded the screen and satisfied my lust.

Then some others came. Some that weren’t much of my favorites: The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America. I initially didn’t really like them as much as I had this weird obsession towards X-Men or Fantastic 4 and, to make it worse, their movies turned out to fail me too. The Hulk was too dark and serious, Iron Man was too destructive –plus I finally realized something: what so superhero about Iron Man? He’s just a weakling covered with irons made by money, and Captain America was… There was nothing wrong with this one, I simply just started to get sick of Marvel’s newer heroes.

Then. To make it all the worst, all of them were PROUDLY joined forces. With a bunch of more heroes I had no interests in, and some others that I didn’t even know! No Wolverine, no Mr. Fantastic and their companions, why should I be excited about these things?

Marvel indeed got me bored but then, who am I really?

The world liked what they did so, HEROES INVASION began.

They succeeded on so many levels. Ever since, they kept planning sequels back-to-back in tight schedule like a barbaric animal, recreate stuff, getting all cluttered and, ugh, it’s just too much for me! Although obviously, it’s nowhere near “too much” for everybody else in this universe because, as you know, they never stop demanding more and more hero tales.

I kept holding back. When my friends kept talking about new hero movies and stuff, yes, I kept holding back. I stopped updating about Marvel’s newest shits if it’s not about X-Men or Fantastic 4 –yes, I even got sick of Spider-Man I didn’t watch any of those “Amazing” series crap. I lost count of what sequel it was for Thor, for Captain America, I didn’t even have interest in “Age of Ultron”!

Yes I kept holding back, until I finally reached my limit.

Spider Man that’s just too young, and Fantastic 4 with black Johnny Storm?

Seriously, this has got to stop right now, Marvel.

Pic of Peter and his underrated cast is from here, while Johnny's from here.

I’m a fvcking OCD person, for God’s sake. I brought this matter long ago when Chris Evans played both Johnny Storm and Captain America and I was all raging in disappointment about it.

Enough with Spider-Man, will you!? First of all, this new Peter is just too young. It disgusted me. Then knowing the fact that now there are three Peter Parker’s in total, it’s not nice at all! I know, maybe you’re following the path of Batman –or, James Bond?– that has more than one actor for each role but… It’s somehow not just working for Spider-Man ;(

And black Johnny Storm… What the hell—go to hell, Marvel. You fail me, you fail many of your sharp and critical fans but most annoying-ly, you fail Stan Lee. It’s not about this new actor is black, ew, no! Drop all those racism shits. It’s just, c’mon you know that Johnny Storm is supposed to be white and is a biological younger brother to Susan Storm. So stop being innovatively nonsense, and quit making such unnecessary changes—and please, go to hell of Human Torch’s flame on.

And here's the worst thing. With Peter and Johnny initially being best bud, there will always be this big chance to make Spider-Man | Fantastic 4 movie. If that happens, and Marvel uses the current casts instead of Jessica Alba and the gang plus Tobey Maguire, well, I knew it for so long that you've been conspiring to ruin my OCD senses, Marvel.

Pic's from here.

Oh look how much I’ve complained about this.

Don’t get me wrong because I know more than anyone else in my circle about Marvel’s license share things. Some go with FOX, some with Sony, but why—you have all the rights to monitor everything and stop those studios –and YOURSELF– from overdoing those stupid changes.

Sorry but I’m not one of those people you gladly get benefits from. This has been a fiesta for them so-called superheroes geeks but seriously, for me, and hopefully there are some others who feel this way too—this is too much, and has gone too far.

I lost Fantastic 4. And I lost them in such failed reboot. Well who am I to talk, the film is not even released yet—you know what, I’m not talking about quality because this version could possibly be better and much more entertaining, who knows? I’m instead just talking about how too soon these reboots are made. And with some useless digression—oh I’m done talking.

Dear Marvel,
I sincerely hope you never get your license back for X-Men.

And dear FOX, please,
Don’t ruin my beloved X-Men franchise just

Don’t. Ever. Reboot. X-Men.

Tale From the Past

If there's one thing Disney is loving to do lately,

It's creating the human version of their classics.

I was pretty cautious, because, hmm yea I have this OCD thingy and Disney is like my precious treasure from childhood. So if there's even one single detail missing from the classic animated movie I'll be like, screw you Disney. That's why up till now, I haven't watched Maleficent. But for their next human version project, my friend dragged my ass to the cinema already.

Got the poster from here

Frankly, I've prepared myself mentally before I stepped into the theatre. Movie started, welcomed by Frozen Fever -which was super entertaining, to be honest- and the tale began. The prologue was super long, compared to the animated version, telling too much about how Cinderella's parents died. And oh, her default name was Ella instead of Cinderella which was given by the stepsisters. Clever tho, it was still tolerable for me.

Overall movie was okay. But I really hate how they violate some details. Like outfit colors. Cinderella's light blue was constant. Good. But Lady Tremaine should've been dark purple, Drizella should've been green and Anastasia should've been lavender! The prince and the King should've worn broken white with maroon accent, not such complicated royal costume! Phew, I've warned you, I have a weird OCD obsession.

Speaking about the King, what the hell Disney, why should he die!? Because you need some drama in it!? Didn't work for me! Instead of killing the King, you can consider adding Ella's misery, making Lucifer a bit more of an ass, or, this is what's more important, making a bigger scene of the evil ladies destroying Cinderella's dress. It was so ugh, anti-climax, she should've suffered more than that.

That's not all. My biggest pet peeve was, the Fairy Godmother. I mean, why, why would you change the dreamy fairy's personality to be Helena Bonham's? It wasn't nice okay, and her appearance was not even funny at all. You should've stick with the wise and a little bit clumsy old lady, and casted someone with charm like, Meryl Streep maybe? It's, ugh, all the scene with the Fairy Godmother in it, sucks!

Anyway, enough with the critics. I brought home positive thoughts too like, the ending. I didn't expect any changes for how Cinderella is found tho, but the twist they made was okay. Although honestly, that's not what I cherished the most about this movie.

It's how I kept recalling and mentally playing the original piece inside my mind, during the whole movie. How I had always been charmed, ten, fifteen years ago, when I saw the animated movie, with its delicate craft and beautiful story. Oh, I've always enjoyed Disney Princesses tales, I don't care if it's not meant for boys. Disney Classics had always been a thing for me.

But the best part is, when I looked around the theatre, and see sparks on today's children's eyes.

I felt like, damn proud. It's my cartoon they're now watching. Poor them, they didn't get the chance to enjoy the original movie. Of course they can always ask their dads to download them the classic Cinderella movie, but will they watch it from CD player? With wrecked subtitle and bad recordings? No.

And the portrait from here

I have the best childhood ever.

Better than my parents' and

Definitely will be better than my kids'.

90s are the luckiest

Team Assassin

One thing I don't like from Animation Domination, as an OCD guy, is that the Belchers' last child, is no longer a baby unlike any other third children. But that's fine. That's so, so fine. Because there's something worse.

Yes, the Smiths only have two children and OWNS AN ALIEN INSTEAD!

It really violates my keep-things-in-right-extremely-similar-order sense :(

But anyway, despite the confusing composition, the show must go on.

There's one similarity between the fifth member of the family tho.

Mmm what is it ya... Oh right. Five of them are

Killer Within

From left to right: Louise Belcher, Stewie Griffin, Maggie Simpson, Rallo Tubbs, and Roger "Smith".
And for the last time, pictures aren't mine. Try to look for them in Google.

Especially for the babies. Maggie Simpson never seen talking, or reacting to most of scenes happened around her. But there's this deep, need-to-be-dug mystery inside of her. And she's quiet familiar with guns which she used on some episodes. While Rallo Tubbs, he's not as young as Maggie, he can talk anyway. But the way he acts, the way he speaks, the way he hates his step father Cleveland, seems like there's this aggressive thug possessing his body.

Louise Belcher is the eldest among the human babies. There's no mystery lies beneath her because she's 9 and her true behavior can be explored already. But to her siblings Tina and Gene, Louise can be considered as 'devil'. She dominates them. She's a controlling-type of girl and she makes messes a lot. Slightly similar to Roger who constantly seen manipulating, cruel, self-interested and tricky. He's a non human being and not even a part of the Smiths so, I'm not gonna talk about him too much.

Now the best part of this, well as you might guessed earlier, would be Stewie Griffin. Damn he looks antagonist, cold, mafia-liked, all characteristic of bad guys are on him. But he's a baby and that makes him so mysterious. He's also sarcastic -tho people might heard his words as if he talks nonsense like a regular baby, he can do stuff adult guys can't even do, and he possesses this major hatred towards his mother Lois. He's just, so, unguessable.

Well that's the Animation Domination's fifth requirement.

So now if you want to air your fantasy family in FOX,

Develop a rebel spin-off

Quick, It's Still So Hypstah!

There will always be a time when hipster things started to turn mainstream-ish, whatever it is. That's what happened to Logos Quiz. Yea so I lost the exclusivity of the app. Especially since the game outline now are ruined by annoying ads.

That, is the time I found Icon Pop Quiz!

Basically the rules are the same. Only in this app, the questions are all about TV series or movies, and whole wide range of characters and even mascots.

The major thing I like most is the icons. Those are super cute, and minimalist. For me, the generator of the questions are much more creative than the one who made Logos Quiz because they did more than just erasing or wiping some part of the logos. They constructed more twisting things to be answered!

I can't tell how dumb I laughed when trying to answer the top-left question.
Felt like I needed to hit the creator of the app with a tank :'D

But one thing I hate about the app is, you know, the inconsistency. There are some certain confusion in answering because sometimes the answers are flexible. Like for example, Princess Jasmine of Disney. When you just answer 'Jasmine', it turns out to be incorrect.

Some characters need to be answered with their full name, yet some others don't. Like 'Mickey' with 'Mouse', but on the other case the answer is just 'Fred' without 'Flinstones'. Sounds unimportant tho, but for perfectionist people who craves for perfect answers with full points like me, that's just a big, big deal.

But yeaaa, at least the game's fun.

Let's enjoy this before it turns to be
Another no-longer-indie game

Finest Sick I Ever Suffered

Once, there are two fictional super annoying characters named Monica Geller and Sheldon Cooper. She's from F.R.I.E.N.D.S. and he's from The Big Bang Theory. Although they are irritating, most likely to be hated or something, I uh, find them attractive.

Picture of hers was obtained from here, while his was from here

Why? Because they're my people.

So there are times when I want everything is right in order. Where all things are placed, structured and organized in where they are supposed to be. When every single detail, or how those details work, is uniformed well.

This, is what people call as an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. 

Yes, it's an illness, actually, but it's not something that might kill you.

Those two guys I mentioned earlier are exactly the same, as me. Sheldon can't stand seeing untidy rooms, and brains, that work different from his way of thinking. While Monica... Monica, ahh she's the master of OCD I must refer her as the goddess of this.

Me? Pretty much the same. Like how this blog works, for example. Ah well it's all under the rule of this OCD thingy. And there are some other things!

I don't like seeing my room messy -just don't like, but sometimes I'm too lazy to clean that up so I have to suffer a massive OCD attack each and every day. Also I have to order my money in my wallet from the smallest to the biggest nominal, with those heroes faces out. Then I always rename contacts my friends saved on my phone, to similize the pattern as any other contacts inside. I can't even stop thinking why Agumon and Gabumon did Digivolve up to the Mega Level while the others stuck only at Ultimate! It bugged my childhood a lot!

Weird, eh? For us, everything has to be perfect.

Like last night. When I went to Sushi Groove. I ordered Mayo Dream Roll and Twisted Chicken Karaage. Long after, it was down to two bites; one chicken and one roll. Well, since I wanted the best for my dining experience, it took me long enough to decide which one to be eaten first, and which one could be the best closure of my meal.

The pain didn't end, yet. When the bill came up and my credit card handled it all, the waiter told me that actually I could use their student promo to obtain like 15% discounts. What. The. Hell. Why didn't you tell me earlier, I cursed her down inside myself. Up 'till now I'm typing this word, I still can't stop thinking of how happy I could be if I paid those meals less.

It's not because I'm cheap,

Not even because I'm stingy,

It's all because subconsciously,

I want everything works perfectly

Heroes and Perfectionism

So now everybody's talking about The Avengers.

Yeah, uhuh I know, mainstreams... Well I'm dying to see that too but uh, you know, the cinema's too crowded lately although the movie's shown in dozens of studios all around the city.

But honestly, I'm not that interested. Why? Because in the Marvel Universe, I happen to be the fan of X-Men and Fantastic 4. Now that neither of them are allied to The Avengers, I'm not so moved to watch.

Speaking of Fantastic 4, I guess I know why they're not joined to the gang. What? Scarlett Johansson's way hotter than Jessica Alba? Haha over my dead body, dude. Alba's much more gorgeous.

Okay now people, back to business!

I guess I know why they're not joined to the gang.

Why?

Because there will be two Chris Evans

The image of Human Torch's from here, Capt. America's from here

Lumpish. Why on earth didn't they -I use term 'they' because I have no idea who's responsible of picking the actor for each hero- consider first before choosing the actors? Didn't they ever imagine about how if someday, these Marvel heroes will team up as a whole superior group of earth-savers and fight an evil set of villains??

Sigh now see what they've done. The one-hit-wonder-group just consists of a maniac engineer, the scientific green beast, some heroine that even had no movies of her own, and some other characters I barely know.

Well I'm not saying that the movie sucks. I haven't even seen it, please note that. I'm just stating my disappointment of them not recruiting Fantastic 4 and X-Men. They're a hell lot cooler than other Marvel heroes you could ever ask.

So seriously, no offence.

I'm just a freaky perfectionista