panorama - happy new year 2015!

Good afternoon folks!

Well it's exciting though dapet materi baru di semester 2. Tapi enggak cuma itu yang bikin aku excited tahun ini, karena aku bakal lebih sibuk ngerjain sesuatu yang aku suka. Nge-band, participated in choir group, bikin lagu baru, tulis novel (on the way!), bikin short movie kalau bisa, bikin desain (anything, could be clothes or drawings or any concepts) and soon i'm planning to create a new project with my mom. 

Oh iya, dan happy new year 2015! I think it's late already... karena sepertinya udah lama aku enggak update blog lagi. So when the 2nd semester started, kita udah dibanjirin banyak banget tugas. Emang awalnya agak sedikit ngeselin karena setiap pertemuan selalu ada PR, ternyata efeknya baru kurasain Februari ini. Karena guru-guru ngejar materi pas Januarinya, akhirnya bulan ini aku lebih banyak santai. Dan sebentar lagi mid semester exam, so I guess I need to prepare myself.

Anyways, hari ini aku mau bahas tentang serial thriller favoritku. Beside The Hardy Boys, aku suka banget sama serial yang satu ini.

The name of the serial is Johan Series, yang menceritakan tentang kejadian-kejadian seram yang menimpa empat remaja SMU Persada Internasional (Jenny, Hanny, Tony dan Markus). 

Started from Obsesi, awalnya Jenny dan Hanny adalah kedua sahabat yang rukun, yang kemudian semuanya jadi berubah ketika ada seorang murid di sekolah itu yang naksir berat sama Hanny. Sampai-sampai Hanny is one and only for him dan akhirnya bikin si cowok yang naksir itu jadi psycho. Enggak cuma itu, Jenny, Hanny diikuti Tony dan Markus akhirnya menyelidiki latar belakang si cowok ini. And some kind of thrilling experience happens at school seperti ada yang terluka di lab kimia dan ada yang kecelakaan. 

Kemudian berlanjut ke pengalaman Hanny di Pengurus MOS Harus Mati, yang enggak melibatkan Jenny, Tony atau Markus. Jenny sedang liburan ke luar negeri, sementara Tony dan Markus sedang berlibur di kamp judo di Pontianak, sementara Hanny dipanggil ke sekolah untuk mengurusi MOS pada tahun itu. Kemudian, pengurus-pengurus MOS tersebut mengarang enam cerita horor sekolah mereka dengan tujuan untuk menakuti adik kelas mereka. But who knows when the horror stories comes to life? Satu persatu pengurus MOS jadi korban dari cerita horor dari yang mereka buat sendiri. 

Buku ketiga adalah pengalaman Tony dan Markus di Permainan Maut. Buku ini menceritakan berlatar di Pontianak, alias waktu mereka ikut kamp judo. Seorang teman lama Tony memanggil mereka berdua karena ada sesuatu di rumahnya di Pontianak. Akhirnya, Tony dan Markus pergi ke Pontianak dan menginap di rumah teman lama Tony bersama anggota judo lainnya. As usual, anggota-anggota klub judo lainnya juga menjadi korban atas suatu kejadian yang terjadi di rumah yang penuh misteri itu. 

The last story, Teror. I won't give any spoiler about this novel, tapi Teror ini seperti menyimpulkan buku pertama sampai ketiga. 

I've read this series since 2011, waktu awalnya aku tertarik sama serial TeenLit, dan aku memang lagi nyari novel yang bukan romance (tbh dulu aku enggak suka novel romance) dan akhirnya ketemulah novel Obsesi ini. Kubaca dan ternyata novelnya seru banget! 

At first I didn't know that there was the second book, setelah muncul buku Pengurus MOS Harus Mati. Awalnya aku enggak begitu niat beli buku keduanya karena (kalau enggak salah) aku tertarik sama buku lain. Tapi lama-lama aku mulai tertarik juga, and I'm totally in love with the second book! Menurut aku, Pengurus MOS Harus Mati adalah buku paling seru di antara semua buku di Johan Series ini, karena benar-benar unpredictable dan thrilling banget. 

I've recommended this series with my fellow friends dan kebanyakan dari mereka bilang novelnya seru banget. 

I think what makes the book so exciting and thrilling karena buku ini main otak. Jadi, kita ikut menebak-tebak siapa pelakunya, dan pelakunya benar-benar unpredictable. and thrilling enough. Meski buku ketiga bukan favoritku, buku itu berhasil bikin aku enggak bisa tidur (am I the one who is too overacting or what?).

Well, I think that's enough for today. Have a nice day folks!:)

review: paris

Good afternoon readers! Maaf ya minggu kemaren aku absen update blog, karena aku habis pulang dari liburanku ke puncak bareng teman kelas (pulangnya hari Rabu sih tapi capeknya kerasa seminggu) and it was awesome! Selain menetap di villa kita juga jalan-jalan ke tempat lain, bahkan aku jalan kaki jauh banget dari villa sampai taman safari berempat dan itu nanjak wkwk-_- but I got awesome sightseeings there. Di post berikutnya (atau berikutnya lagi), aku bakal post foto-foto waktu di puncak.

Jadi hari ini aku mau review buku Paris oleh Prisca Primasari. Jarang-jarang aku baca novel romance dan karena aku lagi pengen cari bacaan yang berbahasa Indonesia dan easy to read. Paris buku kedua dari Seri Setiap Tempat Punya Cerita yang kubaca, dan mendadak buku ini jadi top 3 novel romance yang aku suka. 

Jadi buku ini menceritakan tentang gadis Indonesia, namanya Aline, yang lagi melanjutkan kuliahnya di Paris, ketemu sama orang Indonesia yang udah lama tinggal di Paris namanya Sena. Nah, cowok ini misterius banget, jarang dia cerita tentang personal lifenya ke Aline dan Sena minta ketemuan di Bastille, tempat bekas penjara tengah malem waktu Aline nemuin porselen yang pecah milik Sena. Setelah pertemuan mereka di Bastille, mereka jadi dekat dan sering jalan bareng. Tapi diam-diam Sena nyimpan rahasia, dan ada alasan dibalik kenapa dia minta ketemuan di Bastille tengah malam, kenapa dia jarang cerita tentang keluarganya, dan kenapa dia sering kabur begitu lagi jalan sama Aline. 

Menurut aku, jalan ceritanya enggak biasa. Bisa dibilang, bukan full romance. Jarang-jarang ada buku romance yang punya jalan cerita kayak novel Paris ini, which makes me fall in love with this book. Penulis bisa bikin cerita ini jadi page-turning, jadi pembaca dibikin penasaran sehingga pengen nyelesain bukunya.

Dan aku suka personality dari masing-masing karakter, karena berbanding jauh satu sama lain. Aline adalah gadis Indonesia yang agak cerewet dan sering mempermasalahkan sesuatu yang sepele banget, sementara Sena ini misterius, blak-blakan lucu, menurut aku, jadi ceritanya enggak monoton. 

Kelemahannya, apa ya? Mungkin dari latar tempatnya, yang kurang dideskripsikan, seperti bagaimana pemandangan tempat itu waktu Aline lagi jalan baik sendiri maupun sama Sena, atau sejarah atau keadaan tempat itu. Tapi kayaknya ceritana enggak begitu berpusat sama Parisnya, lebih ke problem tokoh-tokoh itu. 

Buat yang suka novel romance, kalian wajib baca ini. Buku ini seru banget, dan kayak kataku tadi, jalan ceritanya beda dari buku romance yang pernah kubaca. Misterinya dapet, romance-nya juga, meskipun kalau romance-nya enggak terlalu. By the way, thanks to a good friend of mine karena udah ngerekomendasiin dan minjemin buku ini. Dia bilang aku bakal suka buku ini, dan dia benar. 

Oh iya, kalau ada yang mau rekomendasiin novel apa aja, bisa komen atau tulis di cbox, ya. Kalau bisa, cerita tentang anak sekolah dan misteri. 

Thank you for reading and don't forget to leave your comments! See you on next post.:)

book review; song of will | resolutions

Hey guys! It's been so long... I hadn't posted anything in the last two months. Well, the junior high national exam is finally over! All I need to do is waiting for the result and do something worth during the holidays, because I have two months until the middle of July, where I start my new academic year being a high school girl... Well hope the results are great and satisfying! 

To start my holiday post, aku mau bikin review tentang buku yang aku baca kira-kira seminggu sebelum UN. Orangtuaku ngasih izin buat baca buku-buku fiksi menjelang UN, karena menurut mereka itu bisa ngurangin kebosenan aku menjelang UN, and it's terribly true, meskipun lima bulan yang lalu aku enggak banyak baca, karena (1), mood membaca aku berkurang without any reason, (2) waktu itu aku lagi baca Will Grayson, Will Grayson-nya John Green dan butuh tiga bulan buat nyelesain buku itu, dan (3) banyak banget tugas, ulangan dan persiapan buat UN, so... that's it.

Song of Will (Indonesian) bercerita tentang empat remaja SMA yang sama-sama satu sekolah dan menjadi teman dekat, yang masing-masing punya masalah dan masa lalu yang pengin mereka lepasin. 

Ada Will, yang harus rela ditinggal sahabatnya yang satu band ke Swiss, dan merasa nothing karena biasanya sahabatnya selalu ada. Dia yang dikasih kepercayaan sama sahabatnya buat mimpin band mereka merasa enggak mampu, karena di bandnya terbentuk dua kubu yang enggak mudah buat disatukan oleh Will. Ada Laura, sahabat Will yang lain, yang merasa kecantikannya adalah segalanya, alias dia bisa mendapatkan apapun hanya dengan kecantikannya, padahal orangtuanya bukan orang yang berada. Ada Nana, cewek sederhana yang broken home, lantaran sering ditinggal orangtuanya dan enggak diberi perhatian penuh dari orangtuanya, bahkan dia tahu orangtuanya berbuat sesuatu yang enggak terpuji. Dia berusaha keras untuk menyatukan kembali keluarganya. Terakhir, ada Evan, cowok SMA yang berusaha untuk melupakan masa kelamnya sewaktu masih tinggal di jalanan. 

Menurutku, kisahnya sederhana dan realistis, memungkinkan bahwa itu bisa terjadi. Romance-nya juga sedikit dan enggak berlebihan, easy to read pula. Buat kamu yang suka cerita remaja SMA yang less drama, kamu wajib baca buku ini. 

Pokoknya buku ini lebih ke family, karena buku ini lebih banyak tentang hubungan mereka dengan keluarga, bagaimana Will begitu sayang sama keluarganya, gimana Nana pengin orangtuanya seperti orangtua yang lain, yang ngasih pendidikan informal buat Nana, gimana Laura berusaha untuk jujur sama ibunya, dan gimana Evan ingin ngebanggain orangtuanya. Karakteristik tokohnya juga kuat banget. 

Pertama kali aku baca sinopsisnya, aku langsung tertarik. Untuk sebagian orang yang udah baca mungkin bakal bilang buku ini kurang drama atau sesuatu yang bikin deg-degan, tapi aku suka banget buku ini. Pertama, makna bukunya, dan kedua, jalan ceritanya yang sederhana. Aku suka buku yang ngasih plot sederhana tapi kuat, dan less romance, hehe. 

Daaan aku udah bikin resolusi buat liburan dan new academic year aku! 

I want to do something worth, so aku bikin list tentang apa aja yang pengen kulakuin menjelang liburan, supaya enggak flat dan berkesan. 

Pertama, rencananya aku mau makin aktif blogging, and add some posts that would need the readers' opinion. Intinya, yang bikin pembaca bisa berdiskusi. Plus, more teentips. Plus, video blog! I'm working on it. Setelah berkali-kali nonton vlogger-vlogger yang keren dan indovidgram, aku jadi terdorong buat bikin video project, ex. short movies, music covers, etc. 

Kedua, blog ini bakal jadi bilingual, jadi enggak semua postingan aku berbahasa inggris, atau bahasa indonesia. Serius, aku kangen banget posting pake bahasa indonesia. Dan masih jadi photo blog. Buat foto-foto random, aku bakal post di tumblr aku. 

That's all for today. Yang lagi liburan rencananya mau ngapain aja? Don't forget to comment and follow my blog. Thank you! :)

book review; jump

Selamat malam readers! Hari ini aku mau nge-review buku Indonesia favorit aku. Dari semua buku Indonesia yang pernah kubaca, buku Jump karya Moemoe Rizal ini yang paling the best menurutku. Meskipun bukan bagian dari buku-buku best seller yang lain, buku ini keren. For those who wants to know some spoilers about Jump in English, you may read my previous post about my favorite books. In case you're wondering, this is an Indonesian book. :)

main-theme ceritanya adalah school-life, yang menceritakan tentang kisah anak-anak sekolah just like cliques, romance, dan masalah pertemanan. Enggak cuma itu, kadang-kadang tema misteri juga diselipin di buku school-life, kayak yang satu ini. Aku ini orangnya suka banget sama buku yang bikin penasaran. Singkatnya cerita anak sekolah yang enggak biasa. Kalo romance remaja kan udah terlalu mainstream kayaknya. Dari cover buku Jump udah ketahuan tentang cheerios. Nah, itu alasan kedua kenapa aku suka buku ini. Aku suka dengan cerita yang berbau cheerios. Aku penasaran sama sudut pandang seorang cheerio, gimana rasanya dia jadi terkenal di sekolah. 

Jadi, buku Jump ini menceritakan sudut pandang seorang mantan kapten cheerleader di sekolahnya, yang squad-nya dinamakan Parahyangan Vista (PV), Keira Shenriva. Di masa kejayaan PV, Keira harus melepaskan jabatan kaptennya karena dia udah senior dan harus fokus di ujian kelulusan. Keira milih beberapa junior buat menggantikan posisi dia, dan ternyata waktu hasil polling keluar, satu junior yang Keira enggak suka terpilih buat jadi kapten PV baru. Namanya Hers. 

Semenjak Hers memimpin PV, PV jadi kacau dan reputasinya sebagai ekskul ternama di sekolahnya terancam, termasuk reputasi Keira sendiri. Setelah lepas dari PV, dia jadi nobody. Sebaliknya, musuh bebuyutan Keira di ssekolah, a.k.a. Sheila si ketua Modern Dance malah makin terkenal di sekolah. Ditambah lagi beberapa ekskul di sekolahnya enggak dapat dana buat kejuaraan, termasuk PV. Keira berusaha agar PV tetap dapat dana buat kejuaraan nanti dan membantu junior-juniornya yang ikut PV buat latihan karena selama Hers memimpin, dia enggak ngajarin apa-apa ke anggota PV yang baru. Udah dua hari Keira melatih anak-anak baru, rencananya ketahuan sama Hers dan akhirnya Hers ngusir Keira dan ngancam untuk enggak ikut campur soal PV. Ternyata secara enggak sengaja, Keira menemukan misteri yang berkaitan dengan semua ekskul dan runtuhnya reputasi PV. 

As I was saying, buku ini bener-bener keren. Si penulis ngasih banyak suspense di percakapan-percakapan jadi bikin kita juga ikut geregetan bacanya, apalagi waktu Keira lagi berantem sama Sheila atau Hers. Pertama kali aku baca buku Jump, yang kubayangin adalah: Glee. 

Jenis pergaulan di sekolah Keira cenderung ke pergaulan barat (termasuk sistem sekolahnya yang moving class, itu alasannya aku kebanyang cerita Glee), karena emang ceritanya hampir mendekati. Aku suka cara Keira buat nyelamatin PV supaya jadi ekskul yang ternama kayak dulu dia memimpin dan cara dia menguak misteri yang aku bilang di atas. And it has an unbelievable ending. Aku udah rekomendasiin ini ke tiga temen aku dan mereka bertiga bilang hal yang sama; endingnya enggak bisa ditebak dan ceritanya seru. 

Buat kamu yang suka sama cerita school-life apalagi yang berbau cheerleader, buku ini harus kamu baca. :)

favorite books

Evening everyone! So glad I can blog again, after over a month I didn't update mine. Kinda lazy (sorry!) and I'm more active on Instagram, posting my daily activities and my favorites, and my ugly edits hehe. 

During this holiday, I stay at home, watching movies, reading books, practicing (music of course!) and doing something unimportant, like just laying on my bed, or playing games. But this holiday, I've finished reading 2 books and one more, on the way! I just finished The Fault In Our Stars by John Green, and the first book of The Hardy Boys series; The Tower Treasure (1927) by Franklin W. Dixon. Right now I'm reading another Hardy Boys book, The Secret of Red Arrow. 

Now I"m going to share you some of my favorite books. I usually collect fiction books about teenage school-life (that means includes romance, cliques, and mystery sometimes!) and mystery books. Not mystery, ghost. Detective books, perhaps. 

I rarely buy or read full-romance books. Full-romance means the main theme of a book is full of romance, like a girl who likes a boy but the boy doesn't like her so she gets heartbroken, a jealousy, e.t.c. For your information, I DO not like some kind of books like that, because full-romance is not kinda fun (no offense, just a review because I've read a romance book). It's like no action in it.Is it the book or it's just me who is not a real-romantic girl? Because honestly, I don't really like something romantic. But it doesn't mean I don't want to have a boyfriend (admit it, every girls must have dreams of dating cool boys), and me either. The romance books I've read are Flipped by Wendelin Van Dranen,The Fault In Our Stars (I've mentioned it above), and Raksasa Dari Jogja by Dwitasari. But from those romance books I've read, a romance book I like most is The Fault In Our Stars. 

Speaking of romance books, I actually like a bit, IF the main theme of a book weren't a romance.

So, I've showed you my favorite books. Two of them are series, so it means I could love all the stories. They're Glam Girls Novels (6 books, various authors), 2007-2013. I show you one of Glam Girls Novel, Unbelievable, because it's the only novel I grab now. I often borrow Glam Girls Novels from my schoolmate. Then, Hardy Boys Series (Over 100 books; I mean it! by Franklin W. Dixon), 1927-present (I'm super serious-there's an author who keeps continuing Hardy Boys series, and the picture above is the newest Hardy Boys book, published in 2013).

The Fault In Our Stars, John Green - A teen girl named Hazel Grace is suffering her tumor in her lungs, and it causes her to use a tool that helps her keep breathing even her lungs are no longer work normally. Her mom recommends her to join a group in church, that the members are the children who are suffering their cancers too. At the church, Hazel meets a seventeen-year-old boy Augustus Waters. He has tumor in his bones, which causes him to lose his foot. Augustus likes Hazel and he asks her to go to Amsterdam to meet Hazel's favorite author. Could they go to Amsterdam? Then What happened to either Hazel or Augustus?

Review: Heart-breaking story, even there are less actions in it. The book has a small message to us to love our lives more, because there are still more than hundred people who is not as lucky as us and want to have precious lives like we have.
Language: English / Indonesian (I have both  the english and Indonesian versions)

Jump, Momoe Rizal - A senior, cheerio of Parahyangan Vista, Keira must "retire" from her job as either a cheerio captain, reminding she's a senior now and she has to be concentrated on the up next National Exam. After she quit as a cheerio, this year, the PV Cheerios become much worse. The new captain- a junior, Hers, doesn't lead the cheerios properly. In fact, PV doesn't get a donation for the cheerios competition for school. Keira feels something's wrong with the PV Cheerios, her all-time enemy, Sheira, who is on her top of being a popular girl and also successfully takes Keira's ex-boyfriend, Axel, the jock., and the weird extracurricular donation. Keira decides to reveal the mystery and tries to bring the PV Cheerios back to the top.

Review: For you who love school-life and teen romance, this one's for you! The line story and the settings are like in Glee, and for me, this is one of the page-turning book I've read. But the school social is not as same as in Indonesia (seems familiar to western school social- making out in corridor, harsh words, e.t.c). The book doesn't have definite message, and for me it's kinda difficult to find the message from the book. Anyway, I still think the book is awesome because it's very interesting! I've recommended this to my schoolmate who loves school-life stories and she said the book was cool!
Language: Indonesian

Glam Girls Series, Various Authors - I'll tell the first book of Glam Girls, which means not the 3rd book a.k.a Unbelievable, so you could understand the line story.
The smart girl Adrianna goes to VIS, Voltaire International School, the school that includes wealthy students include her. She used to be an individual, means she's not on any cliques in school. But when a famous blogger and model named Rashi attends to VIS with her best mate Maybella, was the Maybeline model when she lived in U.S, Adrianna must lose her (ordinary- in Rashi's eyes) friends because Rashi and Maybella try to get close with Adrianna since they're in one class on Indonesian Subject. Since then, Adrianna becomes one of Rashi's clique a.k.a. the most popular clique in VIS. After that, Rashi and Maybella get their own experiences that relates to their popularity, either in school or the media. Could they solve their problems?

Review: Still about school-life and western school social, readers! But the series includes the mystery too. When I read the books (Glam Girls, Reputation, Unbelievable- the rest of them, I haven't read yet except for Impossible, the last book of Glam Girls), they make my temper up because there are so many tragedies in each book, make you want to finish the books in one day. Same like Jump, the Glam Girls books don't have definite message, closer to just for entertaining, maybe?
Language: Indonesian

Call Me Miss J, Orizuka - A high-school girl Lea is successfully get embarrassed by the most popular girl in the school by giving Lea a new nickname- which has a bad meaning, Miss J. The nickname makes Lea get pranked on her high school anniversary party. The people that give her power to keep strong are her 3 best friends and a just-met-friend named Raya. Lea and her best friends are making plans to bring the popular girl down, and what plans do they make?

Review: The book makes my temper up (same like Glam Girls series, but more simple line story than Glam Girls), especially when Lea is pranked by the popular girl on her high school anniversary party, and being watched over hundred students! Maybe I got a small message from the book: Don't let the haters keep mocking at you and don't open your ears from them. Haters keep hating, but you grow every time to be the top person! The higher a tree, the more winds it gets. 
Language: Indonesian

Hardy Boys Series, Franklin W. Dixon - Okay I kinda confused which Hardy Boys book should I retell to you because each book has different line story and different cases. Maybe I should tell about the Hardy Boys book I'm on the way reading now, The Secret of Red Arrow.
The thing is, the book is about Frank and Joe Hardy, the sons of the famous detective in countries, Fenton Hardy. The boys have retired from their detective jobs, but a mystery comes to them. Their schoolmate Neal has been stalked almost every night and has been threatened by an anonymous that Frank and Joe call it "The Sinister" and it gives him e-mail almost everyday, about a link that leads to a web that shows a video when Neal was sleeping. The Hardys must find our about the Secret of Red Arrow too. Could it be Seth- their schoolmate who loves making movies and videos who stalks Neal every night? Or could it be another else or someone who is close to the Hardys and Neal?

Review: I'm still reading it so I still don't know if the book makes suspense or not. But I just read the beginning of the novel, and I get curious about the anonymous. And it also makes me scared because it's about a jock who is being stalked every night by be recorded in a video (bad luck for me that I start reading the novel in the evening), but I just hope the video threat is kind of joke from Neal's friends because (seriously), it makes me scared.
Language: English

Benabook, Benazio Rizki - It's a biography book about life of a famous Indonesian Blogger (Bena). He had some hilarious experiences when he still went to school- from love story, his reputation, and his relationship with his teachers.

Review: The author didn't use any difficult words. He used Indonesian slang language so all people could enjoy his book. The book makes me laugh a bit because I couldn't imagine how funny was his school life. It includes games and some great tips, like how to be a good blogger.
Language: Indonesian

Those are my top 6 favorite books! Which one is yours? I'll read more books so I can review them here. :)