Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Movie Comments

Keywords: magic, fantastic beasts, 

Audience: PG

Violent content: some fights and a few kills (mild visualization)

Sexual content: one kiss

Ketika pembuatan film ini diumumkan, saya pikir ini tentang petualangan Newt mengumpulkan hewan-hewan fantastis di Amerika. Rupanya film ini lebih banyak berisi ekspansi dunia sihir daripada soal hewan fantastis. Tanpa Newt dan hewan-hewan fantastisnya, plot akan tetap berjalan--sama sekali berbeda dengan kehadiran Harry Potter yang membuat Voldemort bolak-balik ke Hogwarts sebelum musim ujian.

Di satu sisi, cukup segar melihat tokoh utama yang bukan The Chosen One. Di sisi lain, pendalaman tokoh utama menjadi minim. Potterhead tidak menjadi jauh lebih banyak tahu tentang Newt daripada sebelum menonton film ini.

Kalau sudah menonton trailernya, kita tahu film ini mengangkat isu ekstremisme dan terorisme seperti serial Harry Potter. Karena lokasinya bukan di lingkungan eksklusif (seperti sekolah khusus penyihir), patutlah isu "The Others" banyak diangkat. Voldemort sudah mengungkit-ungkitnya: kenapa penyihir harus bersembunyi? Walau posisi penyihir belum segenting mutan-mutan X-Men (berkat mantra Obliviate), film ini sudah menggiring kita ke arah perang penyihir vs muggle.

Ada hal yang sangat mengecewakan, dari segi cerita, pada klimaks film ini. Pesan kasih sayang dan toleransi dilupakan oleh tokoh-tokoh protagonisnya begitu saja begitu klimaks berakhir.

Menonton film ini membuat saya ingin membaca buku-buku Harry Potter terakhir pada bagian masa lalu Albus Dumbledore. Selain karena Dumbledore pernah bersahabat dengan penjahat utama film ini, ada fenomena yang terjadi pada masa lalu Dumbledore yang terjadi pada film ini.

Spesial efek film ini memuaskan, bahkan bagi saya yang sebelumnya menonton Dr. Strange yang mengagumkan. Sayang, latar kotanya terlalu rapi. Jalanan terlalu bersih dan bata-bata terlihat seperti baru sekalipun dindingnya sudah separuh rubuh.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them adalah tontonan wajib bagi penggemar Harry Potter dan, terlepas dari kekurangan pada ceritanya, dapat menghibur penonton lain.

Cosplay Recommendations for Muslim Girls

I'm not sure if cosplaying is my new hobby, but I keep thinking of next costumes. I have just done two costumes: Katara (Legend of Aang) and random-Jedi (Star Wars). I can say that people hardly notice a hijabi cosplayer, since modifications on the costume makes its typical features less visible. However, I will not prioritize cosplay than hijab, so I observe the following principles in creating my costumes.

• clothes are loose enough
• headscarf covers me properly
• at least half of my thighs are covered by skirt (or some kind of)
• costume is practical enough to be worn on daily activities

Well, the last point is not relevant to hijab; it's more because I don't want to waste my money on something I'll only wear a couple of times a year. And I'm happy to have something unique without attracting attention of commoners. To make me stop thinking of possible costumes, I decide to list it here.

1. Disney Princesses

I think they are obvious options. Most Princesses have official long dresses that need minor modifications (just cover the shoulders and add a headscarf). My favorite is Merida, and her hunting dress is on my next-cosplay list. If only dark teal fabric is not difficult to find...

The blue dress is pretty, but not practical, and I'm not skilled enough to make patterns.

A Brief of My Comeback in Fiction Writing and Margarita

2011 was a remarkable year. I enjoy the fact that I've been in my way to come back writing fiction after the disastrous 2010, haha. I've been focused on fantasy, however, for it's been my passion since I was a little girl. I submitted my pieces to three short story contest: LMCR, 2011 Fantasy Fiesta, and Vandaria. I managed to be in the top 200, top 100, and top 3 consecutively. I actually participated in another contest, but I won nothing *gulp* so let's not talk about it ;)

From these contests, I met new people--most of them are young writers with strong passion in writing fantasy. Among their stories, I was most attracted to "Selamanya Bersamamu" written by Fachrul Razi. The piece has a strong character, which is a mad female villain trapping her so-called lover, Richter, in her very own realm of hell. This is how Fachrul's beloved Margarita illustrated by Reinhard Perkasa.

I bet NOW you can see why we adored her so much. Fachrul gave me a poster of this illustration when we first met at the 2011 Indonesian Readers Festival. If you want to know more about Margarita, then, please purchase this book (look below). Fachrul's "Selamanya Bersamamu" had the priviledge to be published in it with 17 others of the top contestants plus 3 of the judges.

I already have one, of course. Margarita's sister, Fachrul's yet another epic character Josephine Armster, would likely appear in the "coming soon" book compilation of Vandaria's top stories (probably 20 pieces as well?) with Melviola from my story which won the contest. Josephine Armster is unique but I still prefer Margarita in many ways. Therefore, I was so excited when Fachrul offered to make Margarita intervewed Melviola. Even in such a supposedly simple conversation, he could make one that was not less spine-chilling. No wonder he is called King Awesome, after all. Thank you, King!

Check the interview here.

Check Melviola's story here.