The Popcorn Story by Ivan the Freelancer

The Popcorn Story Contents

Monday, April 28, 2008

BULLDOG OF BERGEN

When it comes to boxing, I have my own favorite movie. Cinderella Man is not just about boxing; it’s also lessons about life. I don’t know why they call this movie Cinderella Man, but same like Cinderella story, this movie surely inspires a lot of people. Directed by Ron Howard and based on the extraordinary true story, the movie tells us about a man who fight for the sake of his family. I am more than happy to be able to share its story with all of you.

The country was in financial crisis and things didn’t go well for most people. It was a time of struggle and desperation in New Jersey – in 1933 – 4 years into the Great Depression. Poverty and unemployment were so high; many businesses went bankrupt, and even the Wall Street crumbled.

It was a tough time for everyone, including for a man named James J. Braddock (Russell Crowe) who lived with his wife May (Renee Zellweger), two sons, and a daughter. They nearly lost everything and Braddock had to rely on his only talent to survive – Boxing. Things began to get worse when Braddock had few injuries – a broken hand; his boxing license was taken out, and couldn’t afford to pay the bills for their house.

Braddock and his family almost lost hope. They counted every last dime in order to survive. Braddock’s work at the harbor was not enough to fill their hungry stomachs. This tragedy touched the heart of Joe Gould (Paul Giamatti). Joe was Braddock’s manager and trainer. They’re best friends. It was Joe who somehow managed to bring Braddock back into the ring. Not only that, Braddock got a chance of a lifetime to win the heavyweight title.

It’s not easy for Braddock to convince May as they faced a dilemma. The risks were too high for winning the heavyweight title as Braddock had to face the most dangerous opponents in the process. Losing the fight could mean death as there’re already two boxers who got killed in the ring – detached brains the doctor said.

When there’s no money to pay the bills, no heater to warm their cold bodies, and no food to fill their empty stomachs, the only thing they could rely on was the fact that they still had each other. Braddock was no super boxer who could easily win every fight. He took punches by punches, injuries by injuries, as he remembered his family waiting at home for good news. As he faced nasty and dangerous opponents, the hearts that awaited him at home was the only thing that kept him standing in the ring.

James J. Braddock may be called a Cinderella Man, but he surely ain’t no Cinderella when he fights on the ring. It’s a movie full of joy but also tears – full of glory but also sweat and blood. Be sure you learn from it.


Ivan the Freelancer


JAKE LA MOTTA

People said that boxing is the most basic element of martial arts. It becomes the essence of all martial arts. The other martial arts are just the extension or development from it. Most people will remember Rocky as a movie about boxing. But I have my own movie when it comes to boxing. One of them is Raging Bull, which is directed by Martin Scorsese. (See also my other story – Cinderella Man).

Raging Bull focuses its story on a man named Jake La Motta (Robert De Niro) about his life and also his boxing career. Compared to Cinderella Man, Raging Bull has a contrast story when you see it from the angle of the boxer’s character and their families.

Jake La Motta didn’t seem to have any critical money or financial problems. In fact, you can say that he lived with above average lifestyle from any other people at that time (the year of 1980). The problems about Jake were his psychological complexities and violent behavior, not just inside the ring, but also outside the ring. He often felt paranoid and jealous about anything around him.

For a boxer, Jake didn’t have huge body postures like one would imagine. His body was just an average size like any other people around him. But his ability and strength couldn’t be taken lightly. Raging Bull was a perfect name for him as he always raged and charged like a bull. He was a deadly and dangerous boxer.

He had quite successful boxing career and wealth although his life and family were often torn apart as he raged not only in the ring, but also raged against his families and surroundings. I believe we can all learn from any kind of situations, whether it’s good or bad. Raging Bull can give inspirations to all of us about how tough it is to control our temper.

If you like to watch a hot-tempered bull, great boxing, hectic families and sarcastic dialogs, then you must watch Raging Bull. But I strongly suggest that you also see my story about Cinderella Man and watch it for comparison and for more complete inspirations.






Ivan the Freelancer


SYSTEMS DOWN - Die Hard 4

Die Hard 4 had arrived. It’s time to buy lots of popcorns and hit the theatres! Looking at the posters, I knew that Die Hard 4 would deliver some new actions. Well, at least I knew something was new even before watching it. John McClane (Bruce Willis) is now bald (a.k.a no hair) and he got himself a pretty but stubborn daughter, Lucy McClane (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). McClane looks a bit old but wiser – and he doesn’t get any less dangerous.

Time and technology had advanced very quickly. This time McClane had to face a young-geek-genius terrorist. The mastermind named Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant) with IT background formerly did a government project and accidentally found a weak spot in the system. But instead of reward, he got fired instead. He was furious and declared a cyber war against the government. He threatened to paralyze all the computer systems and send us all back to the Stone Age.

Apparently, he was not working alone. Few great hackers were hired to penetrate the system and few mercenary also hired to do the other dirty works. Suddenly, Thomas was able to take control of the whole IT system in the city, from the traffic lights until the security social numbers. The city quickly turned to chaos with all computer system and electricity down. The stock market went berserk, the traffic went nuts and accidents occurred everywhere.

In the last critical moment, McClane was able to save one of the hacker named Matt Farrell (Justin Long) who unfortunately didn’t have any clue of what he’s doing. The rest of the hackers were killed by explosions from their own computers for the purpose of eliminating evidences. Matt Farrell was the only hope of tracing the terrorists’ motives and movement.

McClane found himself in trouble again as he had to protect the hacker, save his daughter Lucy, and whoop the bad guys’ asses. Not to mention McClane’s relationship with his daughter Lucy didn’t go very well either. McClane didn’t even know how to operate the computers but tried his best to prove that the cyber disasters could also be solved by wits, guns and muscles.

Could the combination of wits, cunning, muscles, and geeks be able to bring the systems back to normal from the hands of a cyber psychopath? Watch and learn… Yippe Kay Yay, You M!@#$%^&*!








Ivan the Freelancer

SIMON SAID - Die Hard 3

Die Hard certainly deserve the reputation to be called one of the best action movies. Die Hard 3 is not just a comeback of the heroic cop John McClane, it gets even better since the last ones. The story and McClane’s life develops to deliver another great episode of Die Hard. What is a hero without a villain? If there’s no villain, there will be no hero. It’s also the villain with his hidden motive and twisted mind, which make this movie even more exciting.

A lunatic psychopath who called himself Simon (Jeremy Irons) started his action by blowing up a store in one of the New York City’s location. He surely got the polices’ attention after that. As the chief of police spoke to him, Simon said that he wanted John McClane to play a game with him – A deadly game we all knew that someone would get his ass kicked – Otherwise he would blow up another place in the city.

The police quickly searched for McClane and found him in a rather messy-fucked-up condition. It appeared that his life was not well and his marriage was in chaos… again. McClane was tired and had a bad headache. One thing he didn’t realize that he would be having a really bad day soon enough.

Nobody knew why Simon was so pissed with McClane. Even McClane himself couldn’t tell why. Simon wanted to play with him, asked him to do stupid and dangerous things. A failure in doing the tasks meant another explosion in public places. McClane and the police didn’t have any choice but to play along, hoping that some clues about Simon would be revealed during the process.

This time McClane was not alone. He got himself a black civilian from the Harlem named Zeus as a partner (Samuel L. Jackson) – Or should I say, an unwilling partner because he was taken by force. Zeus got involved as he was trying to reason with McClane when he saw McClane did a very stupid-crazy thing – Yeah, you should see what he did and why. Simon preferred to call the black Harlem guy “The Black Samaritan” and asked him – or should I say forced him to play along with McClane.

So the New York City became their playground as Simon gave McClane and Zeus many tasks, which they had to complete within impossible time limits. Who the heck was Simon anyway? What did he really want and why he was so pissed with McClane? Well, you should be surprise as you follow the story that Simon’s twisted mind was not the only problem, but also his hidden motives. Would McClane and Zeus be able to outsmart him? They’re very tired and angry but they were as amusing as their funny and hilarious dialogs filled every scene. Yeah… Yippe Kay Yay… You M !@#$%^&*()_!






Ivan the Freelancer

Sunday, April 27, 2008

DIE HARDER - Die Hard 2

Die Hard 2 had been released and I couldn’t wait to share the exciting stories of watching it with all of you. My heroic cop hero is back with his bad ass kickin’ attitude as he once again had to face terror on the cold winter Christmas holiday. Yippe Kay Yay,… and let the story begins.

It was another Christmas for John McClane, and apparently became his next thrilling but deadly adventures. A group of terrorists led by a military renegade had seized an international airport. The problem was they also took thousands of travelers as hostages.

The terrorists had important missions, which were to save a drug lord, rendezvoused at the airport, and escaped together. They had prepared, planned and executed their actions perfectly, but one thing slipped their attention. John McClane was in the same airport, waiting for his wife who was on a plane taken as a hostage. He was again off-duty but his instinct as a cop clearly told him that something had terribly gone wrong.

It was a cold and chilling winter night where John McClane found himself in the same situation like before – A one man army who had to face the fully equipped and deadly terrorists. The planes couldn’t land as the runway and the airport was paralyzed and the electricity was down. They had no choice but to circle the airport as they faced death because the planes were slowly running out of fuels.

Being alone with limited resource and racing against time, McClane had to deal with the airport’s bureaucracy and the ruthless terrorists’ army in order to secure the runway. It’s another desperate survival attempt on a Christmas holiday in order to celebrate the next one…





Ivan the Freelancer

NAKATOMI INCIDENT - Die Hard 1

If I think about action movies, Die Hard will always crossed my mind. It’s one of my most favorite action movies that can really conclude the meaning of suspense, thriller, and heart pounding into one simple word, “Entertaining”. It’s the most realistic action movie with great stories too.

Die Hard with all of its sequels and stories never disappoint me – Plus the legendary cunning character of John McClane (Bruce Willis) against different outstanding villains in every sequel. Another good thing is you don’t have to watch Die Hard according to the sequence / order (start from Die Hard 1). Even if you watch it in random order, you can still enjoy and understand the stories. Directed by John McTiernan, the legend started on Die Hard 1, which took place at Nakatomi Plaza building, Los Angeles.

The best thing about John McClane is he ain’t no top special agents or a super-cop. He’s just a New York City Detective who always happens to be in a wrong place and in the wrong time. He is a simple-but-dedicated detective who often find himself in twisted and dangerous situations - Always do his missions with limited resources and limited time as he faces the most sadistic and deadly criminals.

One day, he arrived at Los Angeles to celebrate a Christmas Holiday with his wife Holly Gennero (Bonnie Bedelia). McClane didn’t have any trouble finding Holly in the Nakatomi Plaza building. The problem was their marriage was in trouble and they didn’t get along really well. Their sweet meeting quickly became sour.

A party was being held in the building and McClane was told to wait inside until the party was over. One thing that they didn’t know was that a group of terrorists led by Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) managed to slip inside and took control of the building. They had seized the building and taken all people as hostages. All but one man named John McClane who managed to slip away unnoticed.

Hans and his goons thought they had taken control of the situations. But they never knew that John McClane alone could bring them so much trouble. McClane was on a vacation and an off-duty cop, but he didn’t have any choice. He was alone, in a bad mood, and trapped in the life and death situation. The only choice he had was to fight back or die.

McClane started his own-one-man-army war, armed with only a handgun and his wits, against fully equipped terrorists. Watch as the Nakatomi building became their playground. It was a terrible Christmas holiday for McClane and Holly, but they had to survive in order to celebrate the next Christmas. Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow...













Ivan the Freelancer

THE NYMPH

Do you read bedtime stories before going to bed? Do you like to share bedtime stories with your children before they go to bed? Well, if you happen to run out of fairy tales, this story about the Lady in the Water can be a good alternative for a nice lullaby. The movie seems like a mixture between drama, thriller, and comedy.

The world of men and the world of sea creatures were used to be linked. The sea creatures used to tell prophecies about the future and men listened. The prophecies would all came true. But later men were overcome by greed and selfishness that brought them further to the land and became separated from the sea creatures. The sea creatures tried to reach us but we wouldn’t listen. The world of men became more and more violent. They got trapped into endless wars and fights – Yet the sea creatures didn’t stop trying… trying to reach us.

The beautiful creatures of the sea were usually brought by the great giant mystical eagle to our world and back to their home world. But they couldn’t roam the land freely, as dangerous and vicious wolves prowled everywhere and tried to destroy them. One day, the sea creatures tried once again to reach us humans. The men just needed to be reminded a little as they had forgotten about how to listen…

That is the introduction that I summarized from the movie of Lady in the Water, directed by M. Night Shyamalan. This is a bedtime story about a beautiful nymph from the ocean named Story (Bryce Dallas Howard) that happened to arrive and stay inside a swimming pool in an apartment complex. The occupants of the apartment seemed to play an important role for the nymph so that she could complete her mission.

Mr. Cleveland Heep (played by Paul Giamatti) was the manager of The Cove Apartment who found Story for the first time. They’re both strangers to one another, but it didn’t take a long time for them to get to know each other. Story said that she had to go home but it would be very dangerous because the evil wolves were lurking nearby, ready to kill her whenever possible.

Mr. Heep tried to learn and understand about Story and her world, which was apparently beyond or outside ours. As he dived deeper into the mystery, he realized that Story would need help from the other occupants in the apartment.

I won’t ruin your curiosity by telling the whole story in here. I leave it all to you to discover it by yourself so all of you can sleep well with sweet or scary dreams. Good night…


Ivan the Freelancer

Monday, April 21, 2008

THE THREE MIRACLES

A man who had terrible childhood memories and had no real identity traveled the world claiming himself as Simon Templar (Played by Val Kilmer). Yet no one knew his real name or his true identity. Being a talented spy, master of disguise, and one of the most successful thieves, Simon was hired by certain people to perform dangerous tasks. Directed by Phillip Noyce, The Saint is able to bundle the elements of love story, action, and thriller into one great movie.

Simon always showed up with different identities, had names taken from Catholic Saints, and even spoke with different accents. His unpleasant childhood memories when he was an orphan boy hunted him forever. He refused to stay and study with a priest who was not nice to him. One night, he decided to escape with a name of Simon Templar, the magician who was always escaping since then.

Escaping was Simon’s specialty with a purpose of performing his talents as a thief until his bank account reached a number of 50 million dollars. It’s an amount which he preferred as a goal to a perfect retirement. He never realized that he was about to experience 3 miracles… Miracles that would make his life complete.

Simon’s missions finally brought him to Russia, where he must face Ivan Tretiak (Played by Rade Serbedzija), who was a Russian mafia who gave Simon a simple task. Simon was supposed to steal a formula of Cold Fusion. Cold Fusion was a very precious formula, which was developed by a young and lovely scientist Dr. Emma Russell (Played by Elisabeth Shue). The formula was said to be capable of producing energy by using only a few gallons of water. The energy, which was useful for all countries and would make the seller and the inventor, became a billionaire.

Simon did his magic works and finally managed to steal the Cold Fusion formula from Emma and delivered it to Ivan Tretiak. But something went wrong as the formula didn’t work and the money didn’t reach Simon’s bank account. The story got more interesting as Simon and Emma got deeply in love and Tretiak had his own plan for dealing with them.

Tretiak turned out to be just a lousy bastard who was thirsty for power and money. So Simon had another thing in mind to save Emma and himself from the grasp of the most dangerous mafia in Russia. But could Emma trust a man who had no real name, a man who stole from her, and a man who love him? Could Simon outwit Tretiak and his powerful army while protecting Emma? Could they both finally become successful of solving the mystery of Cold Fusion? As they ventured danger together, they’re about to face the miracles… The miracles that you have to see it for yourself.










Ivan the Freelancer

Sunday, April 20, 2008

BETWEEN TWO FAMILIES

This is one of the best classic gangster movies. It’s the story about Mike Sullivan whose life were in between two families, his own and his boss’. Directed by Sam Mendes, the movie produced great visuals and music (I like the opening scenes). I enjoy looking at the view, environments, clothes, furniture, cars, and even the country sides. They’re so classic and antique.

Sullivan’s family was nothing when they’re first started. But they became something after they joined and devoted their life to John Rooney with his wealthy and powerful gangster family. Mike Sullivan was good at his job and became one of the most trusted family members.

Once you’ve become one with them, you’ll be considered their own family, their own blood. They will treat you with respect as you’re one of their family members, but you’ll have to follow certain rules and codes… Theirs. The punishment for breaking the codes and rules usually means death. It’s called “the Omerta”, which means you have broken the rules, you’re no longer become their family, and you’re dead.

Mike Sullivan had a wife and two sons. His life became messed up after his son, Michael, witnessed a terrible incident that he’s not supposed to see. Being curious of his father’s job, Michael got himself too deep into danger and knew too much. The incident brought the family into disputes. Everyone had lost their trust for Mike, and quietly planning to waste him.

Whether he decided to strike back or to run, Mike Sullivan knew that his life would be changed forever. Being hunted by his other family, he had to protect his own family before all was too late. In the end, he made a choice to escape to a place, with a ruthless assassin close to his tail… A road to Perdition, where all the things would come to a conclusion… It’s a conclusion that you have to witness for yourself.

Ivan the Freelancer

UNWORTHY SACRIFICE

“If love is worth fighting for, it has known no greater battle than this.” The quote is true as it is in the movie of Troy, which is directed by Wolfgang Petersen.

I don’t know whether to call this a love story or a war story. Everybody knows the story about Helen of Troy. The movie had been remade so many times. This time, the title is only Troy, and the point of view is mostly from the war and battles.

The two most important things to learn from the history of Troy are the famous Trojan horse and the love story that claimed the fall of a kingdom. It’s the tragedy that claimed so many bloodsheds, lives of mighty warriors, and the fall of a kingdom, all for one thing called love (Or should I say stupidity).

Trojan horse has long become a famous term and is still used until today. Trojan is a term or terminology used to explain a trap, which is hidden or disguised as something harmless or even interesting. In the computer or Information Technology field for example, Trojan means a virus or a dangerous destructible codes, which is disguised in the form of harmless files, such as pretty pictures or even interesting commercials.

There was a kingdom so powerful and never been defeated in battle because of its strong defenses. No one had ever managed to break the defenses of Troy. One of the Trojan princes named Paris (Played by Orlando Bloom) fell in love with Helen (Played by Diane Kruger), Queen of Sparta. He managed to persuade her to leave her husband Menelaus and brought her along to Troy.

Menelaus found out that his wife left him and got really pissed. The thing that Helen was taken by the Trojans flamed up his anger. Menelaus asked his brother Agamemnon to help him win Helen back. Agamemnon saw this as an opportunity not just to take Helen back, but also the opportunity to defeat Troy and gained more power. There’s a perfect excuse and reason for him to set up a war against Troy.

So the strategies, tactics, troops, and armies were assembled. It’s Agamemnon with an ambition of power and territory, and Menelaus with an ambition of winning back his wife. One of the biggest and most bloody war in history were about to begin between the Greeks and the Trojans.

Between the Greek and the Trojans stood one mighty hero named Achilles (Played amazingly by Brad Pitt). Some said he was half God and half human because he couldn’t be wounded by normal weapons and never been defeated in battles. When he was little, he was baptized with his whole body dipped into the water with up side down body position. That was believed to be his source of power and immunities. But unfortunately, a part of his leg didn’t get dipped by the water because the man who’s holding him didn’t lower Achilles’ body deep enough. So his weakness was said to be around his ankle and feet.

Achilles didn’t believe all of those stories and his past. His self confidence and superior battle skills were the things that made him invincible. He had his own small but loyal and powerful army called the Myrmidons. Whenever there’re combats and battles, he’s the one who always charges first. He was a leader who led at the front. He bowed to no kings. He served to no kingdom. The reason he joined battles was because he wanted to as he fought only for himself and Greece. Odysseus, the King of Ithaca, was a very close friend of Achilles. He was the one who managed to convince Achilles to join the war for Greece as Greece would definitely needed help from a warrior like him. The battle would never be forgotten.

Achilles had to decide whether he wanted to join the war against Troy. The temptations of glory hunted him as he was born for wars. It’s in his blood with talents and power to win battles. People would tell stories of his victories and hear his name even long after he was gone. That was the choice he made… So the Greeks set off with 1,000 ships, 50,000 Greek soldiers, along with Achilles and his Myrmidon army. They’re about to face the great fortress of Troy with all its best Trojan warriors, including Prince Hector (Played by Eric Bana) who was said to be stronger than any other Greek’s warriors.

For those who know the history of Troy, they will surely know how the story ends. The clash between two kingdoms was inevitable. All because of one stupid prince who took someone’s wife and one king with bloodthirsty ambition to rule the world. You will also understand what a Trojan horse is and how it works. Maybe the song who sings “Too much love will kill you” is right after all...






Ivan the Freelancer

Friday, April 18, 2008

Ivan's Journal - MARTHA STEWART LIVING

Few days had passed since the monthly meeting in my office discussing the next topic for our favorite magazine, Marketing Magazine. The topic for April 2008 was about Top Female Marketers. It’s always exciting to talk about women as we came up with a list of powerful women who made it to the top position of their career. I was just finishing few articles and updating our company’s website, www.marketing.co.id, when my boss suddenly called. He asked me to write an article about Martha Stewart.

I knew very little about Martha Stewart and had to find lots of references before I could begin writing about her. All I know, Martha was good at cooking and making recipes. But the more I explored her stories and experiences, the more I admire this great woman. I want to share my stories about her for you, here in my blog, if you didn’t have time to read the Marketing Magazine before.

“I’ve always felt that life should be an adventure. Everyday should be important.” That’s a great quote I found from this multi-talented woman who’s also a great cook.

Born with the name Martha Helen Kostyra on August 3, 1941, she began her adventure in the industrial area in New Jersey, United States. Being the first daughter of six children, Martha grew up in a modest-middle-class family background. Her mother worked as a school teacher and her father worked as a salesman.

Her father, Edward, was a figure who always pushed his children to have a great and clear purpose in life. Martha’s passion in homemaking appeared since she was little. Her father taught her about gardening while her mother taught her how to cook, bake, and sew.

Barnard College in New York became a place where she studied and gained a scholarship because of her great achievements on the previous school. Martha worked as a model for extra income and felt fame for the first time.

She continued her study focusing on Chemistry. After that she moved to art, history of Europe and architecture. This was the time when she met a guy named Andrew Stewart, a law student who later became her husband. They were married when Martha was still on her second year of college. Once she graduated from college, she returned to modeling and gained success by becoming a TV commercial star for Breck, Clairol, and Lifebuoy.

In the year of 1965, Martha’s life changed. A daughter named Alexis was born and she focused on becoming a housewife, taking care of her family for 2 years. In the year of 1967, Martha tried a career as a stock broker and become quite successful in it, until she finally left the profession 6 years later.

Martha bought a farmhouse named Turkey Hill in Westport, Connecticut. Her life walked toward a new successful path since then. She and her husband ambitiously restored the farmhouse. This activity pumped Martha’s passion in house renovation and decoration.

In the year of 1976, she built a catering business in her own basement with her old friend from college. The next step was opening a retail store nearby that sold food and other supplies. The promotion strategy involved putting ads on local newspapers and also by word of mouth promotion. The efforts paid off in less than 10 years, when her activities turned into a business with 1 million dollars value!

Martha began to enter the world of publishing business. She wrote articles for New York Times and became an editor in House Beautiful. She agreed to become a co-author for a book about catering with a fashion expert named Elizabeth Hawes, which brought her to a more successful life. The name of Martha Stewart quickly became well known in the field of homemaking through her routine performance on The Today Show. It didn’t take a long time for her to become famous and created her own “brand”. She managed to turn her spirits and passion into million dollars Business Empire.

“All the things I love are what my business is all about,” says Martha who gained a successful life through homemaking business. Many great opportunities were opened in front of her eyes. She ventured into the world of video tape, CD, television, and wrote a book about cooking, baking, entertaining, homemaking, and house decoration. Through her performance in Oprah Winfrey Show, Martha was able to make her face and her brand became famous and well known to the world.

In the year of 1987, Martha signed a 5 million dollar advertising and consultation contract with Kmart and became their speaker for their home department division. In 2000, she released a book called Weddings. Ironically, the book was launched on the same day her husband sent a divorce statement. Although her personal life was in trouble, Martha didn’t let it disturb her career path.

A year later after her divorce, she launched her own premiere edition magazine called Martha Stewart Living. The magazine quickly became famous and printed more than 1 million copies. The New York Magazine declared her as “The Definitive American Woman of Our Time” in 1995.

Two years later, Martha founded Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSLO), which later became the parent company of all her other businesses. In the year of 2000, MSLO managed to become a public company and entered the New York Stock Exchange. On the first day, the company scored a net value of more than 1.2 billion dollars. Now the company employed more than 650 employees and hit revenue of not less than 200 million dollars.

Unfortunately, Martha had to face a big problem in 2002. She was accused of becoming an “insider trading” and found guilty because of lying to the investigators. She was sentenced 5 months prison. She then stepped back from her position as a CEO of MSLO and the company suffered a lot because of her absence. But that was not the end of Martha Stewart.

After she was released from prison and back to the society, this “Queen of Domestic Style” managed to save her business from danger. She focused her whole energy on Martha Stewart Living, extended the contract with Kmart, worked together with Sears and started her debut on television.

She managed to reach a high rating on the television for most of her shows. After she launched her book called The Martha Rules, A Guide for Entrepreneurs on How to Start Up and Manage a Successful Business, Fortune Magazine declared her as one of the Most Powerful Women.

“Without passion, work is just a work, a chore,” says Martha. “Passion is the first and most essential ingredient for planning and beginning a business.” Martha knew her passion since she was little and felt alive when experimenting with her mom in the kitchen or when gardening with her dad at the backyard. She knew that if she wants to have a meaningful life, she will have to put her passion into her career and work.

Martha didn’t pursue money or wealth. All she wanted was to spend her time doing things that she loves most. “To become an entrepreneur, start with loving at what you do and become an expert in it.” Oh, she also has a great website and blog, www.marthastewart.com. I’m sure it would be useful for all of us. It’s truly an inspiration not only for women, but for men too. I am glad I can share it with all of you about a woman who knows so much about home and business.






Ivan the Freelancer

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Ivan's Journal - BEHIND THE SCOPE

It was May 1998, when we suddenly had a tragic moment. It’s a tragedy that claimed not only money, but also lives. It was a hot morning when I found myself sitting at the classroom of my college. It was a strange day when things were too quiet in the morning. The class was supposed to start at 08.30, but very few people came that day. The teachers were absent and even the office boy were nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly, few people were running like hell, yelling that the complex would be attacked by thieves, robbers, and pillagers. I didn’t really know what had happened, but the situation went chaotic as the country was in chaos. The televisions and radios were filled with news about riots and angry mobs who roamed the streets unleashing their anger.

Some people were even too scared to get out from the campus building. I didn’t have much time to think and rushed to save my car at the parking lot. People were running everywhere and cars drove like crazy trying to find a safe spot. There’re no visible threats yet at that time, but I didn’t want to take any risk. I hit the gas and drove my car to the residential complex, which was about 3 kilometers from my campus, followed by some of my friends and other people from the shopping mall nearby.

The residential complexes were also in panic. People were looking at each other with confusing expressions. The phone lines were busy and the sirens started to roar, meaning that we should be wary and took cover. I called my parents at home far away from my campus and they’re ok. They told me to stay here and don’t try to go home yet as the situation was still dangerous. Well, my parents were a lot safer in their house, and I was much safer in here too.

So, here I was, stuck in my boarding house / dormitory, along with some of my friends and many other local residents. The girls and women gathered in some of the houses, terrified and looked shocked. Few men were busy comforting them, but apparently didn’t make things better. Rumors said that the mobs were near and approaching the area.

Soon enough, I saw some men did more useful things like making themselves weapons. Any kind of things could be used as a weapon. So I decided to join them and made myself one or two weapons. We even prepared two buses, just in case we needed to evacuate from the residential area. One man took command as the leader setting barricades along the road so that the mob couldn’t enter the area. We even prepared few Molotov cocktails and fireworks just in case the situation got out of control. That was far more useful rather than crying and hiding.

Time went by fast. My stomach told me it’s time for lunch. So I took a moment to eat my lunch at my boarding house. I still didn’t believe things could be like this. It’s like we’re going for a war or something. Praying was the best thing we could do, hoping the situation didn’t get much worse. Few people gathered near the front gate of the residential area and other people seemed busy searching for information using mobile phones and walkie-talkies. It’s said that some places in the city were already burnt down and robbed. Stores were closed and the streets were full of barricades and angry mobs.

When the sun started to disappear behind the clouds, I saw thick smokes coming from the direction of the shopping mal nearby. I took my binoculars and rushed to the roof of my boarding house. My binoculars could only see 1000 meters radius. Although the distance to the shopping mal was about three times longer than 1000 meters, I could still see that the shopping mal was already under attack and had been set on fire. The view was much better from there so I decided to spent longer time watching things.

Funny thing, I was too busy watching the surroundings hundreds meters away that I didn’t realize a man was watching me not far from my boarding house. He waved his hand toward me, asking me to come down to him. He looked polite and nice, so I walked toward him. After a few conversations, he turned out to be a local resident who lived nearby. “How did you know that was a good spot?” He asked.

“Well, that happens to be my boarding house and I know I can get a good view from there”. I replied.

He told me to wait a moment and took out a scope from the bag which he carried. The scope looked better and more sophisticated than mine. “Wanna try this?” He asked with a big grin on his face.

“Let’s find ourselves a good spot.” I smiled and walked back to the high spot on the roof of my boarding house.

The view from the scope was excellent but what I saw was not a good thing to see. The shopping mal had been robbed and set on fire. But unfortunately, the mobs couldn’t get to the residential area because the army had arrived and barricaded the location. Few panzers, tanks, and military vehicle were ready along with military troops equipped with guns. Thank God…

Suddenly I realized that the scope I was holding was not an ordinary scope. The man told me that it was a scope from a sniper rifle. But he didn’t bring the rifle with him. He said that it was too dangerous. The man told me stories that he used to be in the military and trained as a sniper. Gosh, my heart pounded hard as I like to imagine myself being a sniper, and there I was, face to face with a real sniper.

We couldn’t see much longer as the sun had disappeared behind the clouds and the sky got dark. All the men were not allowed to enter their houses and were told to stand guard at the front gates / barricades. The women and children were told to stay inside and took cover in their own houses. We slept on the streets that night with cardboards as the mattresses and the stars as the roof.

The man with the scope told me lots of stories while we slept and guard the front gates. He said not to worry as he was sure that the army would hold back the mobs and we would be just fine. He was a former sniper and had retired. He looked a bit old, but still in good shape. I enjoyed his stories so much as we talked about his experiences as a sniper for almost 3 hours. He told me that he was leaving to another city 2 days from that time and asked me to keep his stories for myself. It looked like he just needed someone to share his experiences as he didn’t share any confidential or important information anyway.

Being a sniper turned out to be boring and not as exciting as I would have imagined. The main duty of a sniper is searching and gathering information about the enemies. Much likes a secret agents or informants, but we do it from a long distance and cannot allow ourselves to be spotted by enemies. Waiting and watching are their most frequent jobs. They have to wait in the same spots for hours and days. They even have to bring plastic bags for them to take a pee or take a leak. The most dangerous enemies for snipers are of course the enemy snipers. Snipers cannot risk themselves to be spotted as they will be killed on the spot. Snipers become the primary target for the enemies to be eliminated.

Snipers are like ghosts. They start their training with short range guns and later proceed with reaction shots target practice. As they advance, the distance of the shots gets longer and longer until they finally get a chance to hold the real sniper rifle. A sniper should and must kill with only one or two shots while maintaining concentrations and reflexes, which usually got disturbed because of lack of sleep and long waiting period. Most snipers have good stability with their breath, along with great coordination between their eyes and hands. It means you cannot have those shaky hands to shoot with a rifle. They have to calculate the winds, distances, directions, weather, and many other things before actually make a shot.

The man left me at about 12 o’clock at night because he had to pack for his departure the next morning. Never saw him again since then. I fell asleep at about an hour later, and woke up at 5 o’clock in the morning. I slept on the streets all night, along with other local residents. Things were pretty quiet and the riots seemed to be over. I rushed to my boarding house and packed my things as I thought this was a good chance for me to go home.

Three girls rode along with me on my way back home. They’re all my friends from campus and their homes were on the same route as mine. We left the complex at about 05.30 in the morning, passing the soldiers who still held their automatic weapons toward us. But when they saw we’re students, they let us through. The streets and highways were full of debris and trashes. Many buildings were burnt and scorched. There’s nobody on the streets and no cars too. It’s just us alone. It was a long and tiring day. The ride home was quiet and scary but we got home just fine.








Ivan the Freelancer


HONOR AND JUSTICE OF A MARKSMAN

How to kill someone from a great distance without anyone noticing? One of the answers is hire a sniper. How to protect someone from being killed from a great distance without someone noticing? One of the answers is also hire a sniper to detect and eliminate the other sniper.

How to kill someone from a great distance without someone noticing, plus make the others think that someone else is doing it? One of the answers is hire and frames a sniper. Unfortunately, that ugly fate happened to a marksman named Bob Lee Swagger (played by Mark Wahlberg) who was being framed and double-crossed on his mission in order to prevent an attempt to assassinate the president.

This is one of the best movies about a sniper. You can look at how snipers work and the things behind their life (Read my Journal – Behind the Scope). Directed by Antoine Fuqua, Shooter tells a story about one of the world’s best marksmen who lived alone at his cabin in the mountains. He had left the military after his last mission, which was went sour and he got left behind along with his fellow sniper friend being killed in action.

He was then recruited by a colonel to prevent and stop the president’s assassination. Being left with no choice and with his conscience still intact, he finally accepted the mission. Little did he knew, that the whole plot was designed against him. So he did his job, but got framed and double-crossed as he suddenly became the main suspect for the president’s assassination attempt.

Being badly injured from a direct shot and hunted by many throughout the nations, he must try to find a way to protect himself while seeking the truth and justice to clear his name. The skill of his marksmanship and help from all of his friends who’s life was in danger because of helping him, were the only hope he had to survive.






Ivan the Freelancer