The Popcorn Story by Ivan the Freelancer
The Popcorn Story Contents
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Ivan's Journal - A PLACE TO STAY - A PLACE TO SHARE
They say an art comes from the heart to the brain. If it comes just from the brain, it’ll be just logic. Our earth along with all its living beings is a work of art. It’s the art from God Himself. But what can we do as humans? – As we’re merely his work of art too…
The experts made a forecast that the ocean level will increase due to the rise of temperature of our climate. The ice will melt and many islands, cities, and nations will be threatened by massive and deadly flood. This catastrophe is close in the near future and we all know that. The question is how close and how bad?
The truth is we do not have to be an expert to be able to predict what will happen to our earth, if we still carry on living with our “poisonous” way of life. Thank God, while we’re busy destroying our own world, there are still people out there who can come up with solutions.
A Belgian architect named Vincent Callebaut managed to create ideas and put them into pictures and words. The ideas, pictures, and words turned into a project called “Lilypad a Floating Ecopolis for Climate Refugees”. No, it’s not a flower or a plant. It’s a gigantic amphibian city – half aquatic, half terrestrial.
This awesome floating city is said to be able to accommodate 50.000 people, pollution free, and have its own abilities to produce all the resources we need – even recycle our wastes. The design of this floating city is inspired by Amazonia Victoria Regia leaf. Imagine if we can build many of these floating Lilypad cities…
You can find further complete and reliable information about the Lilypad project by visiting http://www.vincent.callebaut.org
Will humans and nature finally manage to live in harmony? Many people think that this is an impossible project and can only exist in our dreams. But I believe that all the possible come from the impossible and the reality comes from a dream. It is about how to make the impossible become possible.
Truly an inspiration… I wonder, what can we do to help?
My Butterfly, thank you for sending me an email about this.
Ivan the Freelancer
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
HUMAN NATURE
I say this with regrets, but it’s not human nature to forgive others. We tend to fight back rather than letting go. We say we forgive, but we don’t forget. The problem is… we tend to remember the bad things rather than the good things about what other people have done to us. Forgiving is often the hardest thing to do in life. Maybe that is the one that differentiate us from God Himself. God is merciful but we humans don’t. After all, we are only humans… Please forgive us… Forgive me too…
The war against terrorists started from a long time ago and took place almost all over the world. The big question is what triggers it in the first place? Is it really true that we are fighting the bad guys? Or maybe we are just fighting at each other? This question must be asked from both sides and both point of view.
The Kingdom tells a story about a team led by an FBI agent Ronald Fleury (Jamie Foxx) who was sent to investigate a terrorist attack at the housing compound in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Terrible bomb incidents took place at the compound and killed many locals and foreigners. Ronald Fleury took off along with his team members Agent Sykes, Janet Mayes, and Adam Leavitt on a revenge mission with an objective to find and stop the mastermind behind the bombing.
Upon arrival at Saudi Arabia, the elite team was supported by Colonel Fariz Al Ghazi (Ashraf Barhom). Fariz and Ronald slowly became friends and along with the team, they tried to unravel the horrors behind the bombing act. The mission got more difficult as they only had five days, given by government, to solve the case before they had to leave the city. The city was being watched. In fact their every move was being monitored. Ronald thought he only needed a Kevlar to protect his life until he realized that the city was too hostile even for an experienced FBI agent like himself. They needed full firepower just to stay alive.
This is a movie about human nature – A mixture between action, drama and politics. You will get different moral story depends from your point of view and perception. Hope you can get and absorb the positive messages from this movie.
Sometimes a war is inevitable, but a war is always useless...
Ivan the Freelancer
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Ivan’s Journal – MATCH SELLER GIRL
Men used to smoke their cigarettes after lunch, but not me, cause I don’t smoke. Suddenly, in the middle of our conversations, there was one thing that caught my attention. A blue-and-yellow-colored matchbox full of matchsticks was laid on the table. Not many people used it nowadays because there’re so many easy-to-use lighters sold everywhere.
The match reminded me of a story that I used to listen when I was little. There was this cassette that contained a bedtime story about a little girl selling matches on a windy and snowy night – One of the saddest stories I’d ever heard in my entire life. Some of you may already hear / read about this, but let me share it anyway. There’re many versions of this story, but this is what I remember. Since it was only a cassette, you could only listen to the sound (dialogs, songs, and music). But I’ll try to tell you the story here by writing it.
It was a cold, windy and snowy night at Christmas when a little girl was walking around alone in the streets selling matches to the people around. The wind is so strong and snows fell to the ground. Nobody noticed a little girl trying her best to offer and sell matches just to get something to fill her empty stomach. Having no one to give her shelter and no home to give her warmth and comfort, she struggled to face the cold snowy night.
“Sir, will you buy these matches? Madam, please buy these matches. It can warm your body and light your fireplace at home. Please, buy one or two for your family. Does anyone need matches? ” The girl kept repeating those words but found no one who’s interested.
The night was getting late and the cold weather pierced to the bone. People started to go home and entered their houses. But the girl still could not sell even a single matchbox. She could barely walk as her stomach cried for food and her body started to weaken. She still tried to knock on doors to see if she could sell her matches. But no one wanted her matches because they had their own fireplace at their houses. They didn’t even realize that the girl was all alone and her body nearly frozen.
As the night got colder and colder, the little girl did not have anymore strength to walk further. So she tried to find a safe and warm place to get some rest. Tears fell from her eyes along with prayers that came out from her tiny frozen lips. “I’m dreaming of a warm house, full of food. God, I’m so cold and hungry.”
Suddenly, she had an idea to use her own matches to warm up her own body. She pulled one matchstick from the box and lighted it up. The fire emerged from the match but quickly washed away by the cold wind. “Oh, still cold, I’ll try to light three matchsticks all at once.” The little girl said. The fire quickly lighted up the matchsticks finally giving her warmth. The warm sensation brought up pleasant memories throughout her life – But not for long because her body started to freeze again as the matchsticks were burnt up.
One last hope, she tried to light up all of her matches. The fire gave her warmth that made her smile. It was a sad smile, knowing that no more matches left. “God, I’m so cold and hungry… Cold… Hungry…”
As the last match was burnt up, she fell to the ground. “I’m so sleepy… so sleepy.” Soon enough, she had visions – Visions of her grandmother who actually had passed away long ago, standing at a nice place with lots of food and warmth. “Grandma, is that you? Oh grandma, please take me with you… I am so cold…”
The little girl finally fell asleep and had the most beautiful dream ever. It’s a dream where she was with her grandmother – the person who truly loves her. They flew to a place, full of warmth and delicious food. She felt warm and happy – Little did she know it was a sleep that she would never wake up again.
Ivan the Freelancer