It’s almost the end of April and everyone on the other timeline seem to enjoy Sakura blossoms on the other side of the world. It feels good to see people enjoying their vacation rather than bickering about the political situation. So here’s a recap of things I found the previous month.
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Beauty and The Beast is indeed one of my favorite Disney movies of all time. Back in the VHS era, it was one of the only three movies I had on the rack. I’m sure my mother picked it up randomly but the movie left a great impression to me. While Aladdin is still my favorite Disney movie because of its sense of adventure (and complex understanding of human’s greed), Beauty and The Beast is the close second. One of the reasons why I love it so much, is I envy Beast’s library.
I remember most of the songs present in the movie, especially Be Our Guest and Something There. When the live version movie came last month, I immediately watch it on its premiere date (and once more after that).
Beast’s library is the only place that matters
For those of you who skips the entire 20th century and never watch the original 1991 cartoon version, Beauty and The Beast is the first animated movie to be nominated for The Best Picture at Academy Awards. It is also the first animated movie which receives Golden Globe’s Best Picture for Musical and Comedy back in 1992. It’s /that/ good.
Long story short, watching the entire live action movie teared me up (well, few times). When the song Be Our Guest played there’s this weird touching feeling that I cannot describe. I remember feeling this way while strolling the hall of Fujiko F Fujio’s museum a few years ago. The only things that I don’t really like about it all, is the grand expensive song of Beauty and The Beast which sung by Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson has been exchanged to the cheap millennial version from Ariana Grande and John Legend. Their voice will never disappoint, but the arrangement sounds really cheap.
The movie feels magical and every detail is the exact definition of beauty. While I never follow a detailed news about the movie, I was surprised that a friend was asking about the gay propaganda which slipped to the movie. To be honest, I’m watching without knowing about the issue and I don’t really understand why people ever brought up this issue about it after all. I guess that’s what people loves nowadays. A little sensation over everything else that matters.
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I also recently read somewhere about this next generation of social media who use their limited time video status (such as Snapchat, Instagram Stories, etc.) to spoil or record the movie. I understand that it will disappear after 24 hours. I understand that the urge to share something new, especially something that really trending, is really tempting. I understand that there’s the definition of FOMO, which stands for Fear of Missing Out. You know, I can tolerate most of the in-and-out-trends nowadays, but not about this.
For me, a cinema is a sacred place where I leave everything else and enter new adventure as each movie begins. If you’re not sucked into the movie and still remember to document anything at all (except your memory & feelings), then the movie is not going to do good for you. Also, it’s still counted as piracy. Sarcastically speaking, maybe next time they’ll try to make YouTube reaction video in the cinema. Who knows?
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Automattic is a company behind WordPress and I love how this 30 seconds ad are made for. I’ve been wanting to continue to write the Happy WordPress series I started a few years ago, but I seem don’t know how to write them in an exciting way :))
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I wrote about Amy Wibowo a couple of times before. Amy has produced several zines about technology with cute artwork in between, and the latest edition will be covering how the filter in Instagram works. The zine will be available in late April and it’s also available in digital form so you can print it out by yourself (to avoid a choking shipping cost).
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Really happy to find this fun project where photographer David Schwen has been creating a Pantone pairings with FOOD! The collection includes the inseparable food and herbs like Salt & Pepper, Peanut Butter & Jelly or Hot Cocoa & Marshmallow.
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While the entire March & April don’t feel really productive for my personal project, it had been a busy month for Kawung Living. To be blunt, we’re not making good progress at sales lately, but custom orders have been racked up steadily. We’ve been accepting few bulk purchases and still having a lack on documenting each of them :)) We have secured some spot to be at trade shows for the next 2-3 months and get another online Stockist to have our products. I think every small business have its own ups and downs also their unproductive times, but we try to keep the same passion and spirit we have since 3 years ago.
I also have been questioning some brands who use their social media to spread political choice. I strongly agree with artists or public figures to make its fans/followers aware of social/political issues and educate them to understand what happens around them. But I’m still not fond using a brand to promote or spreading subtle campaigns behind each message. It’s true that sometimes the voice of the people behind the brands should resonate with the brand’s belief, but I still feel uncomfortable seeing brands as a place to communicate that kind of messages.
I wanted to keep writing business progress here but at the same time feeling really discouraged because we’re not really that ‘successful’ compare to others (which exactly the same reason why people starting to feel bad about themselves and hating social media).
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But then, life has been steadily felt good and I hope after the last election, there will be less drama floating around. Back at the 90s era, this is what we asked for, the chance to freely choose and communicate our thoughts. But since there’s still no sign of some healthy conversations, let’s hope we’ll be the one who makes them.
Have a nice day, all you peace maker :)