NEWS New Album-Color

YAY~~~ Finally a new album of NEWS is out! It contains 15 songs, some are new and some are old. The old songs are Weeeek, Summertime, Snow Express (I love this song, great choreography too!), Taiyou no Namida, Happy Birthday, and Towairo no Koi (easy listening song). If you want to download it, go to Ran's Blog NEWS-Color page. Yeah, I know, I should support them by purchasing the album. But, T_T please forgive me, my budget is very very limited. A $30 album+shipping cost while $ currency rate in my country is very high right now is really out of the question. But I did bought their Never Ending Wonderful Story concert, even without English subs! So perhaps I will buy their next concert for this album. I must start to save money from now on.
Meanwhile, let's get used to their new songs, ne..... Enjoy.

How to download video from YouTube, DailyMotion, Crunchyroll, Aznv.tv, Tudou, etc.

Lately I'm addicted to watch streaming videos and save them for later view. I begin searching for some tools to download streaming videos, and here are some of them that I find very good.

1. Keepvid.com
I think this is the most popular tool used for downloading videos. In fact, this is my first choice to download a video. Just copy and paste the video link, then press download. Wait for a few moment until the download link is ready, and you can right click and save target as. Usually, you can select 2 types of file, flv (low quality) or mp4 (high quality). You're gonna need an flv or mp4 player in order to view the downloaded file. So easy, no need to install any program.

2. 12looklook.com
Another similar tool to Keepvid with an option to select the video server type. Just select the appropriate server.

3. DownloadHelper (FireFox add-on)
You must use FireFox browser in order to use this tool. If you haven't, download it from Mozilla website. Here are the steps:
a. After FireFox is installed, go here to download DownloadHelper add-on.
b. Follow the instruction to install it (you will be asked to restart your browser).
c. This tool enables us to download video(s) you are currently viewing. Just keep an eye on the animated icon. If it's animating, then you can download the video being played. Click on the icon, select the file name, then save as.

4. RadioRipper
This tool is used to download Winamp streaming video files (I often use it to download from aznv.tv). It works like a tape recorder which record streaming file and save it to your hard disk. Here's how to do it:
a. Install and run Radio Ripper.
b. Inside your browser, open (click) the video file (.nsv) you want to watch.
c. When asked to choose to open file with Winamp or save it, choose open with Winamp.
d. Winamp will launch automatically and play the streaming file.
e. Click Record in RadioRipper window.
f. Wait for the file to finish buffering (it may take a few minutes to several hours, depending on the size of the file).
e. After it finished, check the "recorded" result in RadioRipper. The recorded file (with .nsv extension) can be viewed offline using Winamp.

There are some other tools I used for downloading streaming video, but these 4 are the best tools I've found so far that actually work. Hope this helps you. Happy downloading!

Code Blue : Doctor Heli

I've just finished watching Yamapi's new drama, Code Blue. First impression about Yamapi's hair: HATE it! LOL. But after I spent some time watching it, I'm beginning to accept his hair as a part of his metamorphosis. One day, I'm gonna look at his photos and think "Hey, this is Yamapi in (insert a drama title here)". Every haircut has its own drama history and shows Pi's transformation to adulthood.
Overall, this drama is not disappointing. You can read its synopsis in Ran's Blog or if you prefer the Indonesian review, go to my wordpress blog. I find the storyline is more human and realistic than Iryu:Team Medical Dragon's. All senior actors and actress, especially my favorite Yanagiba Toshiro, acted brilliantly. While the young ones, well, let's just say that they have tried their best. Yamapi should really work on his expressionless facial expression. I know he's trying to act as a cold doctor, but cold isn't the same as expressionless. There's so much gestures to show that you're a cold person rather than just playing with your fingers and stare at them! Hahaha....sorry, I just can't help to say it! Among the other three interns, I like Dr. Fujikawa's character the most. As the underdog doctor, his struggle to go up in the helicopter was really something. I even almost shed a tear when finally he was able to go in the helicopter in the last few episodes. Another almost tearjerker scene was when Dr. Kuroda lost his arm due to Shiraishi's carelessness. Ugh, wasn't it just enough that she had a romantic interest towards Aizawa? Warning: This is just my crazy opinion, though.
Despite all of that, apparently the rating is pretty good. We'll be expecting a Special episode (SP) next year. Hopefully, the SP will give us more on the other sides of those doctors, beside their routine tasks curing people. A little bit personal life, perhaps?

Recipe: Roll Cheese Macaroni

Hm, it's been a while since I updated this blog. So I'll start it by posting a recipe. I'm not really a cooking-type girl, but every once in a while, I want to polish my feminine side by cooking. Hey, finally I was able to try this recipe last weekend. Here are some pics, not too convincing, huh? But since I made this while fasting, it didn't taste bad, after all. Here ya go:

Source: Jawa Pos newspaper (Saturday, September 6, 2008)

ROLL CHEESE MACARONI

Outer Part ingredients:

• 50 grams flour
• 1 egg
• 150 cc water
• Salt
• Cooking oil

Inner Part ingredients:

• 100 grams of boiled macaroni
• 100 grams of boiled chicken meat, cut roughly
• 3 boiled eggs, cut roughly
• 50 grams of grated cheese
• 25 grams of fine-cut onions
• 4 pieces of fine-cut garlic
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 50 cc of milk
• Sugar and salt

How to make:

1. Inner part: Saute onion and garlic. Put all ingredients and cook until it dries.
2. Outer part: Mix all outer part ingredients, make pancakes on a griddle.
   
3. Take one pancake, put a spoon of inner part on it, and fold it.
4. Dip the stuffed pancake into stirred egg and fry it.

For 8 portions

Energy: 204,3 calories
Protein: 8,2 grams
Fat: 13,85 grams
Carbohydrate: 11,01 grams

Rengganis' Stories revisited

Since I've moved my Indonesian blog to wordpress, I'm going to use this blog to write my English version blog. So, it's not over yet guys and girls. Please do keep coming here to read my stories, if you want...akakakkaka..... Currently, I'm trying to translate my Indonesian posts to English. I'll see you next time.

Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.....

Moving Out for Indonesian Version

For convenience matter, my Indonesian blog has moved to wordpress. But this blog is still alive for my English blog version. Please feel free to visit my Indonesian blog.

My Trip to Bandung

It's our faculty place of holiday, Bandung! The trip took 4 days, but we spent 2 days on bus, since it's a loooong trip from Surabaya to Bandung (about 600 km). Ouch, it really hurt my back!! We took off saturday afternoon, and arrived Sunday morning, and did hotel check-in, in Bali World Hotel. We continued our trip to Rumah Stroberi (Strawberry House) to supposedly look at strawberries fields. Alas, after a long uphill journey, we couldn't enter the garden since all the strawberries had been harvested. After that, we're supposed to visit Mount Tangkuban Perahu, the famous legendary mountain. It was said that the mountain was formed because of a giant boat kicked by a man named Sangkuriang. He built the boat upon a woman's request whom he wanted to marry. The woman, Dayang Sumbi, didn't want to marry him, so she made that impossible request, that Sangkuriang must build a giant boat in a night. Because he had a magical power, he was able to nearly finish the boat before sunrise. Dayang Sumbi, afraid that she must marry him, made a trick. She made a rooster to crow before dawn, so that Sangkuriang thought that he failed to build the boat before sunrise. He got very angry and kicked the nearly finished boat to the air, and it fell aside. The boat was then said to became a mountain. I know, it's a ridiculous story. But it's a legend, so accept it! Ehehee....
Too bad, we couldn't visit the mountain, since it's getting dark. So we continued to Ciater, a natural hot water spree. Many people visit this place to cure their skin diseases, since the water contains sulphur. Dakara, I didn't dare to swim there, you know what I mean? Hey, I didn't want to get skin disease.
The next day, we went to Mekar Sari Park, which is famous for its huge collection of fruit plants. The trip took 3,5 hours by bus, and we only got to see trees! Yes, trees. Will someone explain why in the first place we had to visit the park? Anyway, we continued to Chinese Village in Cibubur, where we could buy many Chinese stuffs, from purses to vampire's hats.
We returned to Bandung at 7 pm and after dinner, there always a karaoke session where everyone would proudly perform their talents in singing, except me of course!
The last day was spent in Pasar Baru (New Market), which is famous as the shopping paradise in Bandung. I didn't buy a lot of stuffs though, since I'm not a good bidder, hahaha.... Tuesday afternoon, we took off back to Surabaya and arrived Wednesday morning. Well, it wasn't the perfect holiday, but at least it can refresh my tired mind from ordinary work. So, where will we go for the next holiday? Singapore maybe? Hmmm......

More photos can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26417081@N08/?saved=1

Vanilla Latte on A Stick

I just bought a vanilla latte flavored lipgloss, pretty unique. There are actually several other flavors, such as strawberry (it's pretty common), choco chip, and blueberry cheese cake. Too bad, the latter was out of stock. This lipgloss made me want to drink a hot latte in J.Co Donuts and Coffee, with a delicious glazzy donut, hhmmm..... yummy~~

Blogging Problem

Something's wrong with the internet connection in my office. Download speed is extremely fast, this morning it made an unofficial speed record, 76KBps!! (Well, it IS fast here in Indonesia, poor me). But on the other hand, upload speed is almost zero! I'm having difficulty in updating my blog. I can't even access YahooMail & GMail, let alone upload some pics/vids. What is going on? The administrator guy (ehhm... a.k.a. Achmad Junaidi, he's a lecturer and also our network admin) said that nothing's wrong with Telkom's Speedy connection. The problem is in the proxy settings, it needs to be reinstalled. Too bad, since he's busy finishing his master thesis, we should wait patiently :(. Uh-oh, until when? Geez, rengganis. You can still use internet in internet cafes, or at home. Ehehe.... I prefer free internet, please. Internet connection in my home is dial-up, it's not as fast as that in the office. (www.reasons.com, hihihii....) So I apologize if I seldom update my blog. Hontouni gomenasai....

Yoroshiku ne...

Oh My Indonesia.......

Government has decided to raise oil price per May 24 at 00.00. Premium is IDR6000 and Diesel is IDR5500, an almost 30% raise! Yosh, let's tight up our belt, or you can consider this a forced diet. I've been trying to minimize my gasoline consumption. Now I don't turn up the aircon in my car, when I go to and come from work, though I wear a uniform in this hot summer. Well, I'll just have to deal with that. That's why, I always go home after the sunset, so the temperature is cooler.
Hmm... this afternoon I heard a news on TV. I don't understand those politicians. They made this high oil price as an issue to do bad campaign against incumbent government. They said that there's no need to raise oil price, because there's should be an efficiency cut in Pertamina (our national oil company), and also we can find new energy sources, etc. People, puhleezzz!! Like our government never think of that! As a good citizen, if you have important information on how to obtain new source of energy, other than oil & gas, please share your thoughts and ideas. Put all your best efforts to help our government. Don't just talk. It's like they're saying "We can find new sources of energy. How? Vote me as a president first!" OMG..... how selfish! Do all Indonesian people behave like this? Selfish and criticizing other people without giving supportive advices? Oh, pity you, my Indonesia.....

Santun Berkendara

Akhir-akhir ini aku semakin merasakan sopan santun berkendara di jalanan Surabaya sudah sangat langka. Di pagi hari, semua orang bergegas menuju tempat kerjanya, pasti. Tidak ada yang ingin terlambat, apalagi kalau kantornya menerapkan sistem absensi sidik jari, yang kalau terlambat 1 menit saja, tidak akan dapat uang transport hari itu (hahaa.... kantor siapa ya? ehhm). Semua terburu-buru, tapi bukan berarti bisa main selonong seenaknya. Sudah dari jarak 100m kasih sign untuk belok, eeeh ndilalah pas ambil ancang-ancang, ada sepeda motor ngebut dari sisi kiri & memotong jalur! Aku hanya bisa mengelus dada.
Petang hari, pulang kantor, jalanan remang-remang dan agak sepi. Ketika sedang memacu mobil sedikit kencang, tiba-tiba dari belokan muncul (lagi-lagi!) sepeda motor dengan laju kencang, lampu depan tidak menyala, dan melawan arus!! Lagi-lagi hanya bisa mengelus dada.
Tetapi mungkin kondisi di Surabaya tidak separah di Jakarta, atau bahkan Tangerang (rumah orangtuaku). Seumur-umur, di Surabaya, selama saya mengisi bensin di pom bensin tidak pernah mengalami hal ini. Adalah hal yang wajar, setelah selesai mengisi bensin, menutup tangki dan membayar, kita masuk ke dalam mobil. Mobil juga tidak akan seketika langsung jalan, karena kita masih menata posisi duduk, menstarter mesin, pasang sabuk pengaman, mungkin menyalakan AC, dan mengunci pintu. Tapi itu pun rasanya tidak terlalu lama, maksimal hanya 30 - 45 detik saja. Pengemudi mobil yang antri di belakang pun tidak pernah protes dan menunggu dengan sabar. Makanya itu aku kaget setengah mati waktu isi bensin di Tangerang. Masya Allah, baru saja duduk di dalam mobil dan baru akan menstarter mesin, mobil di belakang sudah mengklakson dengan nyaringnya karena aku tidak segera beranjak dari situ! Wajar saja di Ibukota & daerah sekitarnya sering terjadi konflik karena hal-hal yang sepele.

Yoroshiku ne....

All About J Entertainment (From My Point of View) Part 1

Ketertarikanku terhadap dunia hiburan Jepang berawal sejak diputernya dorama Tokyo Love Story di Indosiar. Udah dulu banget sih, kira2 jaman SMP deh. Kehadiran dorama Jepang memberi alternatif tontonan baru, di tengah2 maraknya sinetron Indonesia. Ceritanya lebih menarik dan bervariasi, tidak selalu tentang si culas vs si lugu & baik hati :P, konflik lebih mendalam, dan yang jelas jauh lebih singkat (rata-rata 10-15 episode) daripada sinetron kita yang sampai beratus-ratus episode :D. Klo ceritanya bagus sih no problem, kayak serial Friends yang sampe 10 season tapi tetap menarik untuk diikuti. Lagu pengiring/OST dari dorama juga easy listening dan menyatu dengan jalan ceritanya, sehingga kalau kita dengar lagunya, pasti langsung teringat ceritanya. Mengenai J-songs akan dibahas di bagian kedua dari posting ini.
Sebenernya nggak hanya dorama saja yang membuatku tertarik, tapi berbagai macam TV Show dari negeri Sakura ini memang sangat menarik untuk diikuti. Kalau dulu pernah ada acara khusus perlombaan yang temanya bisa macem2, mulai dari banyak2an makan, membuat macam2 sushi, lomba mencari yang paling telaten bekerja dengan benda2 kecil (hihi, tantangannya melukis di atas beras, bikin origami terkecil). Orang Jepang memang paling kreatif deh! Trus ada juga acara Takeshi Castle, menyeleksi orang2 yang tangguh (dan beruntung!) untuk merobohkan benteng Takeshi. Acara yang dipastikan sangat mengocok perut karena tantangan2nya yang unik & kreatif. Ada lagi acara Masquarade, yang sekarang tayang di GlobalTV, perlombaan menirukan berbagai hal dengan menggunakan subjek manusia. Amat sangat sangat kreatif dan menghibur!!

Why Rengganis?

Sebenarnya tidak ada sesuatu yang benar-benar spesial dengan nama Rengganis. Aku pernah lihat sebuah tempat dengan nama itu, dan pada saat itu aku berpikir "Nama yang unik dan manis, pasti nama seorang puteri". Malahan aku memutuskan kalau anak pertamaku nanti akan kuberi nama Rengganis. It sounds so Javanese. Sejak itu, nama Rengganis selalu kupakai dalam forum-forum (tak resmi, tentu saja, yang tidak ada hubungannya dengan profesiku). Just recently, nyari asal muasal kata Rengganis itu apa. Ternyata itu adalah nama sebuah puncak pegunungan Iyang (Gunung Argopuro), di Jawa Timur, yang legendanya berasal dari nama sebuah puteri (I knew it!!) di kerajaan Majapahit. Dari wikipedia, Rengganis juga merupakan nama kesenian rakyat di Banyuwangi, yang diangkat dari nama tokoh dalam kesenian itu, yaitu Putri Rengganis dari kerajaan Guparman (never heard of it).
Yah, begitulah cerita ringkasnya tentang Rengganis. Nama itu kupilih karena "it's a beautiful name", aku bukan seorang yang tahu banyak tentang legenda Jawa. Yang kutahu hanya sebatas pelajaran di bangku SD-SMP saja.

Yoroshiku ne....

Testing

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