coriander in pho

not a food blog

  • Netflix ‘Klaus’ (2019): “A true selfless act always sparks another”

    filed under:
    tags: , ,

    In the beginning of Netflix’s ‘Klaus’, we see the main character, Jesper, as a lazy, rude, spoiled disaster — which reminds me a lot with Disney’s ‘The Emperor’s New Groove’ Emperor Kuzco.

    What happened next was a beautiful story of a solitary island in the northern area, filled with snow, and how the legend of Santa Claus was born.

    ‘Klaus’, for me, is like a soothing and cooling ointment after a bitter concoction called Disney’s ‘Frozen’ (the first one; I haven’t watched the second one — my friends said it was good and I trust them, but I don’t want to watch it for now. It’s school break in Malaysia right now, so movie theaters might be as well as a fresh Greek hell.) My favorite part in the movie is when a Sámi girl, named Margu, appears. She talks in Sámi language — and this, for me, respects the culture of Nordic countries and tribes. Not so sure what ‘Frozen’ brought, after a really beautiful opening song of ‘Vuelie’ (it’s a Sámi word!) and ‘Beware of Frozen Heart’ with Nordic rhythm and melodies and suddenly those two songs got eclipsed, butchered, and thrown away ”thanks” to ‘Let It Go’.

    ‘Klaus’ tells a story of a lazy spoiled postman, named Jesper, who got sent to a place called Smeerensburg way up in the north where two clans fighting with each other for ages; even the elders forgot the reason and didn’t know why they fight on the first place. Jesper needed to deliver 6000 letters in one year and should he able to fulfill it, he will be able to go back home and enjoy his previous luxurious life. He met Klaus, a reclusive woodsman and carpenter, and together they started a mission: Sending toys to the children of Smeerensburg.

    Honestly, no characters I dislike from this movie; even the main antagonist, the sly sinister Mrs. Krum, she reminds me of ‘The Emperor’s New Groove’ Yzma. I love the character designs on this movie; you can see the hilarious zombie-look from some of the kids characters which reminds you of Tim Burton’s ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’. I found myself laughing loudly while snorted, “delightful!” when there was a scene of a kid stabbing a carrot on a snowman and the kid looks like Tim Burton’s.

    Jesper has this laid-back attitude which I love; he spews words a lot! (Kudos, Jason Schwartzman!) And such a talkative, animated person. Alva, a teacher cum fish seller, the female protagonist of the movie is full of spirit, brilliant, and I really hope she could have more scene moments. Klaus is like this massive massive massive (grumpy) teddy bear that you can’t help not to love.

    And the chickens! At some point its beady eyes remind me of ‘Moana’ Heihei. I really love the chickens! So round and goofy-looking.

    Jesper character sheet

    The art of this movie is outstanding. I love how the team combined 2D and 3D. It has its own charm and I love how you can see the deliberate brush strokes on the art, instead of trying everything go uber detailed. It can combine the freezing cold of nordic countries and the warm comfy hearth of fireplace.

    There is this one line from the movie that I keep thinking about.

    “It’s only a matter of time until the children started to go against each other like it used to be. Do you think for how long the grown-ups will follow, hm?”

    That line defines everything, and somehow, it rings so true with our reality. It acknowledges the power the younger generations have: To create a change. Hopefully, for the better.

    ‘Klaus’ is not the first animation movie trying to challenge the Goliath called ‘Disney’. There are many out there, beautiful wondrous animation works, worthy to be put alongside — or even better — than Disney. And for that, I urge you to watch ‘Klaus’.

    This is a beautiful movie about friendship and kindness; a warm cocoa for your days.

    All images on this blog post are from The Art of Animation FB Page: The Art of Klaus.

  • Saturday Breakfast: Restaurant ‘ROSE’, Kuala Lumpur

    filed under:
    tags: , , ,

    Weekend usually means super unhealthy breakfast; filled with carbs, sodium, and almost everything your brain craves.

    The word ‘Restoran’ is Indonesian/Malaysian’s adaptation from “restaurant”. The plaque ‘Food Trails’ from Kuala Lumpur Townhall hung proudly, as a proof the restaurant joined the local government’s effort of introducing the city’s historical and foodie side.

    This restaurant provides Indonesian food, mostly from Sumatran side. So you are guaranteed to find rendang and tons of gulai (spicy stew, usually made from meat, chicken, gizzards, innards, and my favorite: tendons and tripes (I LIVE FOR THE DANGER)). Enjoy the dishes with warm jasmine steamed rice and have cold iced sweet tea to cool down the heat.

    As for breakfast, we had lontong Medan. ‘Lontong’ is rice cakes, but this is different from Chinese and Japanese mochi (mochi is made from rice flour). ‘Lontong’ is made by putting rice into a hollowed container, usually from banana leaves, which gives its distinct greenish tinge. As a snack, folks sometimes put shredded chicken meat or savory veggies inside the lontong. As a whole meal, you can eat lontong with satay, or have it with Indonesian-style spicy veggie salad (gado-gado), or almost anything, really.

    The beautiful monstrosity called Lontong Medan. Lontong with spicy gravy, filled with rendang sauce, crackers, jackfruit stew, hard-boiled egg, potato patties (we called it “perkedel”, from a Dutch word: “frikadel”), fried rice noodles (bee-hoon), and veggie stew.

    And enjoy it together with kerupuk rambak/kulit, crackers made from cattle’s inner skin.

    A once-a-week meal.

    The outdoor display. Folks can take their own preferred dish and the restaurant staff will count it
    The outdoor semi-kitchen for lontong medan
    The outdoor kitchen for different dishes (fried rice and fried noodles)

    Restaurant Rose

    49a, Jalan Raja Alang, Kampung Baru, 50300 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur
    019-611 0457

  • Before I Knew Everything

    filed under: ,
    tags: ,

    I’ll remember the days before I knew everything

    The Automattic Creed (part of it)

    In Automattic, we have creed — some kind of a promise, an oath, that we need to remember and love and live.

    The one above is actually my favorite. When I applied for Automattic, there was this question, “what do you think about the first creed? ‘I will never stop learning’?”

    I’m sure my answer at that time was 20% actually answering that question and proceeded spending the rest 80% with my favorite creed.

    My second favorite is, “ask forgiveness, not permission” — which I believe I have abused so many times with, “huh, what does this button do? *CLICK*”

    (Not exactly a creed, but it’s like some kind of company’s collective spirit)

    And working as Support makes me appreciate that moment, the not-knowing-before-knowing. Sometimes folks told me, “this must be easy for you, you do this every day!” But before that “easy” part, there was me, almost cried my eyes out in front of my laptop with a mixture of frustrations, failure, and anger — and another round of, “lets try again” (it might sound quite masochist, but yeah…)

    And in a weird sense, it feels like you are playing a puzzle. You tried once, twice, then you took a deep breath. A quick break. A glass of water.

    Then tried again.

    And again.

    Until it becomes a second nature on you.

    Then before you know it, you already knew.

    And I feel that’s pretty awesome. You do you.

Nindya’s quick blurbs

  • A month too late, but I just stumbled upon IKEA France’s Tiktok video, hinting a possible collab with Animal Crossing. Unfortunately, no further information about this other than IGN picked up this news when the video was posted.

x

bookmarks

Latest snap

Current tunes