Movie Playlist – Easy Like Saturday Morning

October 28, 2016 by Prisanti 1 Comment

Here we are, on the last 2 months of 2016. The busiest time of the year.

Biasanya di waktu liburan akhir tahun, saya suka membuat acara marathon film sendiri. Beberapa tahun lalu, saya sempat menonton Breaking Bad dari season 1 sampai tamat. Tahun lalu, saya menyempatkan menonton semua film Quentin Tarantino (my favorite is still Inglorious Basterds). Dan baru-baru ini, saya menamatkan film-filmnya Jesse Eisenberg.

Kalau biasanya saya suka membuat playlist lagu, kali ini saya mau membuat playlist film yang mungkin bisa dinikmati di akhir tahun. Karena akhir tahun identik dengan kesibukan dan festive season, kali ini saya memilih tema film yang heartwarming, santai, dan gampang dicerna. Itulah mengapa saya beri judul Easy Like Saturday Morning.

Bring It On (2000)

Percaya atau tidak, sampai saat ini, Bring It On masih merupakan salah satu film favorit saya. Saya suka banget cheesy teenage movie dan Bring It On bisa dibilang adalah film pertama yang mencuri hati saya. Roger Ebert bahkan pernah menyebut film ini sebagai Citizen Kane-nya cheerleading movie. Saya nggak yakin sih hal apa yang bisa membuat saya benar-benar suka dengan film ini sampai sekarang. Apakah karena montage yang menarik, apakah karena Kirsten Dunst, apakah karena soundtracknya As If masih terngiang-ngiang? But I really recommend Bring It On as one of the must watched movie because it’s light and doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Adventureland (2009)

Mengambil setting di tahun 1987, Adventureland merupakah salah satu film indie yang memiliki ensemble cast terbaik yang pernah saya tonton. Film ini adalah film pertama di mana Jesse Eisenberg dipasangkan dengan Kristen Stewart, setelahnya mereka kembali main di American Ultra (2015) & Café Society (2016). Mereka berdua punya chemistry luar biasa aneh yang anehnya bikin saya suka banget sama mereka. Salah satu drama romantis yang bernuansa ringan dan manis dengan tema coming of age yang pas, walaupun punya ending yang sama anehnya dengan kedua pemeran utamanya.

Be Kind Rewind (2008)

Salah satu film paling heartwarming yang pernah saya tonton sampai saat ini dan mungkin bersaing ketat dengan posisi Little Miss Sunshine dan Juno di hati saya. Di saat itu, sulit menerima bahwa Jack Black yang biasanya punya performance yang selalu over the top kok bisa cocok di antara cast film ini. Film-film Michel Gondry biasanya surreal dan romantis, tapi Be Kind Rewind adalah film yang paling mudah dicerna dan punya porsi drama maupun komedi yang seimbang.

Love Bites (2011)

Ketika Love Bites di-cancel di season pertamanya, saya cukup sedih karena TV series ini punya banyak hal yang saya sukai. Playlist soundtrack-nya luar biasa bagus dan pemain-pemainnya sangat loveable. Memang sulit untuk membuat sebuah TV Series dengan format anthology dimana ada beberapa cerita yang terjadi bersamaan. Tapi buat saya, seperti judulnya, memang series ini dibuat agar penonton merasakan potongan-potongan cerita yang bisa dinikmati dengan ringan. Love Bites sendiri punya 9 episodes resmi (Pilot episode + 8 episode) dan sangat saya rekomendasikan kalau kamu ingin alternatif drama romantis dengan format dan vibe seperti Love Actually.

Honorary Mention:

Mean Girls (2004)

Salah satu teenage cheesy movie yang kembali mendefinisikan sebuah era. Script-nya ditulis oleh Tina Fey dan menurut saya sangat fresh dan cerdas di zamannya (bahkan sampai sekarang). Nggak terhitung berapa banyak punch line dari film ini yang saya suka dan setiap pemainnya bersinar di jalurnya masing-masing.

Glee (2009 – 2015)

It is easy to like or dislike Glee. Walaupun kualitas TV series ini menurun season demi season, Glee masih merupakan salah satu TV Series yang cerdas dan membawa isu remaja yang relevan. Menurut saya, pemilihan cover lagu di Season 1-nya sangat on point karena merupakan mix yang seimbang antara lagu teater, rock 80-an dan lagu pop yang populer di kala itu.

Pilihan film dan TV Series di atas adalah comfort zone saya banget, saya nggak pernah bosan untuk menonton ulang filmnya lagi dan lagi (kayaknya saya hampir 20x menonton ulang Bring It On, haha). Kalau kamu, apakah punya film kesukaan yang cocok ditonton di akhir tahun?

Her

October 14, 2016 by Prisanti Leave a comment

Her

1. The Kooks – She Moves In Her Own Way
2. Arctic Monkeys – She’s Thunderstorms
3. AC/DC – Girls Got Rhythm
4. Weezer – The Girl Got Hot
5. The Beatles – Here Comes The Sun
6. KISS – Beth
7. Stevie Wonder – Isn’t She Lovely
8. Oasis – She Is Love

If you happen on Spotify, hear it here.

Here Comes The Sun is one of my favorite song of all time. Its beautiful vibe seems uplifting. My most favorite performance of this song is when George Harrison sings the song with Paul Simon in SNL back in 1976. I almost cried watching the videos a few years ago. I still do.

Last Quarter

September 28, 2016 by Prisanti Leave a comment

Time is always a friend. No matter how fast it moves, no matter how slow it goes. It’s sad that 2016 is almost passed us over, but it will be exciting to welcome anything that comes after this. So as an ode to the end of September, here’s a list of random things to read or watch that I’m recently into.

Fall in love with Bento Graphics’ portfolio. My favorite works are this and this. I always love how Japanese companies tackle design problem. The company like Nendo and Muji are amongst few companies that I adore. They always blend out of the box design thinking and simplicity really well.

There are more reasons to love Stephen Colbert each day. One of them, he loves science and technology and can’t get enough of Neil deGrasse Tyson as much as I do :))

“Something can be rare and uninteresting, because of how common its rarity is.”

Sentimental Colors

September 27, 2016 by Prisanti Leave a comment

Last week, I wrote how much I’m inspired by a music video from Korean girl group Red Velvet. One of the reasons why I love it is how much detail the props are. All elements are carefully put to create a kind of dreamy environment.

Recently, there’s also another music video from Korean boy group called WINNER that inspired me. For me personally, it’s hard to like a boy band especially Korean boy band. Because the beauty standard is different there :)) (it’s also hard to like someone with heavy eyeliner and earring, dancing to a so-so music). But since they produce their own music (which is rare in Korean music industry) and their music genre is ranging from blues to rock pop and hip hop to ballad, I found them really interesting to listen to. Their latest mini album called EXIT: E consists of variety music that quite distinct them from the rest of Korean boy band.

The title track called Baby Baby is a jazzy blues that open with a crisp falsetto. The song asks for help and a sense of longing, requesting a chance not to be alone before finding solace in an instant euphoria. The other title track called Sentimental is a relaxed pop-rock which told the sudden sentimental feeling and loneliness. It sounds light and drunk at some point.

But there is nothing more interesting than how the music video for Sentimental is made. I cannot stop to be amazed on how smart it is to make the camera shot from the top. I love how all the rooms are made with so many details and props. And once again, all hail for THE GLORIOUS COLORS.

Here are the color palettes I pulled out from the music video.

Have a nice week!

Pastel Craze

September 20, 2016 by Prisanti 1 Comment

A few years back, my friend Sella wrote a blog post on how she won’t be ashamed anymore to admit that she loves K-Pop music. I thought that’s not even shameful from the start. Everyone deserves what she/he loves and it’s not anybody’s business to tell you what to love and what is not. I always believe that good music is good music, no matter what genre it is, no matter in what language it speaks.

A few weeks ago, I also find this article that points out about the design of some of K-Pop Music Video and how carefully it’s crafted. In regards to K-Pop music and my current addiction of Pastel Colors, here’s what inspired me lately.

Red Velvet is the latest girl group from SM Entertainment, one of the largest Korea Entertainment Company which said to be the pioneer of Korean Wave. Having successfully debuted groups like Super Junior and Girl’s Generation, Red Velvet is their newest experiment in Korea music industry. The name Red Velvet comes from the group’s concept image which has nothing to do with Red Velvet Cake :)) According to Wikipedia, ‘Red’ signifies their vivid and bold image, whereas ‘Velvet’ reflects their classy and toned-down side. I don’t understand why this concept should exist but the group has achieved success by sweeping music chart here and there. That can only mean one thing, it works. People do accept this kind of thing, something has been right for them.

The fivesome has been around Korea music industry since 2014 and one of the thing that I love is their heavy use of colors to identify each member personality. In their debut song called Happiness, each member dyed their hair tip using the color that represents them. Though I really like the song Ice Cream Cake and has been writing it before, their latest song called Russian Roulette really catches my eyes lately. It’s upbeat tunes and catchy chorus are hard to ignore, but I badly fall in love with their music video. I can help playing Replay button all over again.

The wide shot, the composition, the complex props, the simple graphics, and THE GLORIOUS COLORS.