Spiderman : Homecoming (TAP Review)

I was late, I know. I just got the time to hit the theater to see Spiderman: Homecoming. 

My thought about it, it was brutal.

No exaggerating here, I personally thought the plot was brutal. 

First, I considered Peter here as a happy go lucky kid who had a fantasy of being a hero in the level of Avenger and sometime forget that he was not ready. It was brutal to let the kid saw some shit happened in his neighborhood, to let him feel responsible for the safety of so many people around him. He was a good kid, with stupid ambition that blinded him sometime. He jumped into danger right away, call me old, but I knew exactly how Tony felt about him swinging around kicking ass around big guys with Chitauri's weapons on their hands. (You know you're old when you see a teen movie and you are agree with the adult instead). The scene when he was stuck inside the Department of Defense Facility and he had a bonding conversation with Karen, was breaking my heart, knowing that all he wanted was a friend. He wanted Tony to be his friend, Happy to be his friend, his school mate to consider him cool enough to befriend with. So much dangers involved in the search of friends.

Second, once he was ready, once he was mentally mature enough to be responsible of himself, the movie decided to make the villain as his date's father. That was just brutal, Marvel. I literally asked how was he suppose to fight the bad guy when he knew the bad guy was someone else's father, where the someone else happened to be the girl she liked!

But this approach to the villain was something I applaud at. They decided to make us understand the villain, and isn't it terrible, to understand someone's aggression and almost tolerating it once we tried to walk in their shoes? Gosh, this movie just showed the evilness that exist within everyone, it only needs a right momentum to triggered it. 

And their credit...the credit that we all waiting for...

You know what Marvel? I am done with you people.

Just kidding, love your work always. xoxox

Taman Sari, Yogyakarta, Special Region of Yogyakarta

Let's talk about Yogya first.

I think most people I met so far have this craving toward the city for the unknown reason to me. They perceive Yogya as if it was a holy ground, worth yearning for. Some of them might have such an attachment after living several years in Yogya, but most of them had developed such feelings toward the city only after several visits. Which I couldn't understand why.

Culture is something that valued the most in the city. You can see that the people have the pride of their culture, drawn in walls, buildings, and public transportation. And like any other city with iconic culture, they have a distinguished history as background.

One of the historical site in Yogya is this place called Taman Sari Water Castle. I don't think I' qualified to talk about the details of the history, and you can always google it somewhere else. But the main point is that the place used to be some kind of enormous spa house for the royal family of Yogyakarta. It's a huge complex of ruined white and brown walls with floral ornaments. 

First tip, don't be cocky and walk around on your own if it's your first time there, because you'll end up disappointed and confuse. Ask a favor from a tour guide and let them do their job, guiding you through the neighborhood to see even more interesting and majestic site.

If I didn't misunderstand our guide, there happened to be a place to do a Moslem regular prayer in a circular building under water, I think that's why the wall was cold when I pressed my palm against it. I need verification from any of you who actually know the complete history of the place.Or maybe I should just do some research and edit this post later...

Jawa Timur Park 1, Batu, East Java

By now, you probably know that I love theme park. I find it fun to be visited either with your love ones. I've visited Dufan for times, Jungleland (the review is here), I know I still have Trans Studio on the list, but let's head to the one that happens to be in my favorite province. 

Jawa Timur Park is this big group that has a lot of amusement park to offer. Jatim Park 2 is a very sophisticated zoo (for Indonesian standard), and they are building Jatim Park 3 right now, probably something to do with dinosaurs. Jatim Park 1 is a theme park in the city of Batu, East Java. For a start, Batu is located in the mountain and famous to be a very cold city. In the morning I was there, they literally had fog everywhere we all needed to cram up inside the car with air conditioner off to make ourselves warm. 

The ticket was Rp 100.000 for Jatim Park 1 only, but the sales will probably offer you the all in one package with the body museum of Bagong, which add another Rp 75.000. Me and my friends were there for the fun, so we skipped the body museum and went straight to the park.

When you arrived, you'll be welcome by these mini fountain everywhere, which I didn't know whether there is a specific purpose of it or simply an aesthetic, because I found it disturbing to be honest. One moment I was having fun with my friend running around the open space, the next thing I knew I found my shoes all damped inside a mini puddle. 

Having five new coasters was what they promoted the whole way to the park, so me and my friend decided to hunt the whole five coaster down.

The Spinning Coaster was our first ride. The height is not very frightening to be honest, what's unique is actually their seat. Instead of a train shaped seat, they made a back to back two chairs, which will turn around the whole ride. So there is no such a thing as being in the front, because you will taste it all. I found it fun, the trick they use is that almost falling feeling that you got when you are on the edge of the trail and about to take the turn in a fast speed. 

Our second coaster was the one with dragon on it and as its name (I couldn't quiet catch it). It's not much of a big deal. It's not to high, only goes one way around for three times, but enough to make me laugh a bit. 

But this Volcano Coaster, is a joke. The moment we all stepped into the train, we were all in an anticipation of a very scary ride since the last group before us were screaming. But the ride failed to make us scream even one bit. The moment we stopped we just shared some glance with each other and laughed out of disappointment. It's for children.

Then we had the Superman Coaster, which was probably the most fun of them all. It's not too high, but the speed and the sudden turn managed to make me scream and got dizzy. The fact that we were served by the beautiful scenery of Batu right before we had the first jump was amazing. Like the quiet before the storm. This one was fun for me.

One of the coaster was under maintenance so we couldn't ride it, and the last coaster is made for kids and we were not allowed to take it. So there we tried only three out of five. 

The swinger didn't work, which was too bad. Other ride are involving a 360 degree spinning, which was not our kind of plate, so we left them be (maybe we are just cowards). 

In the middle of the ride area, they also have this amazingly creative aquarium, consists of several fishes collection, displayed in many creative way possible, like an aquarium using a used washing machine and fridge. That place managed to make me shook my head in amazement. 

The thing about Jatim Park is that they don't just offer you some fun, but also try to educate you in one way or another. That's why before reaching the rides part, all visitors must walk through their science fair, which involve some fun fact concerning chemistry, biology, physics, and history. 

And if you get hungry along the way, go find a food shack called Ndeso. They sell this amazing cilok (gosh I don't even know how to explain this in English), and for you West Javanese, this is not the same kind of cilok we have here, there in East Java, cilok is not only consist of flour meatball through a wooden stick. In fact, they are not served the way satay did. They usually served in a small plastic pouch, but this one was served inside a plastic cup. Probably the best East Javanese Cilok I have ever tasted my whole life. 

Me and my friend took off from Malang at seven and reached Batu thirty minutes later, still managed to visit the city hall of Batu to have a breakfast and a quick photos around (I was craving for Pecel). The time we reached Jatim Park 1, probably around eight and not so many people were around, we were early. So yeah, that's my first tips if you decided to visit the place, come early. Most of the group came after eleven I observed, and by that moment, me and my friend were already exhausted and hungry. The place is open at eight.

So my friend took me to this open view restaurant called Pupuk Bawang (I still don't understand the relevance of the name since the view offered was a field full of celery instead of onion). If you decided to visit this place, take the outside chair. That's the main selling point. The food was alright, served in a very big plate with a enough portion, the waiters were polite, and the view was amazing! I wondered how it'd look like at night. The citylight must be beautiful to see. 

Like I said, Batu is a cold place for a tropical person like me, so even though I spent the entire day running around and taking scary rides, not a single sweat was running in my body even though I was wearing black. My second tips, bring a cardigan or a jacket, for you tropical skinned people, in case it gets a little too chilly outside.