Happy 37th Birthday Sorachi Hideaki-sensei!

This heartwarming picture is beautifully drawn by @Dkthb219  

Well it's actually been two days late. I even completely forgot it. It's a post that popped up in my popular posts list in Instagram that led me to realize, May 25th that has already passed, was his birthday!

Happy birthday to a man that creates Gintoki and all his friends, all their funny moments and thrilling adventures, everything. I adore your extraordinary idea and concept of stories. The laughters, the thrillers, the tears, everything feels so alive when reading Gintama. Thank you for creating such a wonderful manga with wonderful morons inside.

I don't speak Japanese so I just rely on Google and Google translate to write these down (sorry for any gramatical mistakes but I do sincerely say:)

誕生日おめでとうございます 空知 英秋-先生!

Wish you a healthy and happy life! 

宝の持ち腐れ

I entitle it Winter Seat

宝の持ち腐れ - takara no mochikusare


Means: A jewel held and rotting. It is a metaphor for wasted talents and gifts. (I know it from here)

These two days I was in a dark mood, I think I have run through imbalance hormones in my brain. (Looking at my sensitive behaviour, insane appettite, and stomachache, I guess I'll be in period really soon). I finally made a decision, without discussing it with neither my mentor nor friends. Well, I don't think I have to! It's not a rush decision, I've been thinking about it for about a month. And my decision is final.

Today I downloaded Line Webtoon in my cellphone, and of course the one I was so excited to follow is Siluetsrip. I love his artworks, they're simple and ridiculous yet so deep. His comic I love most is Komik Cengeng. It is just ridiculously deep.

Also today, I made the picture above... Winter Seat. All using artrage except for the text, it was made using Photoshop. Really, drawing digitally is so fucking hard. Drawing manually is easier, faster and finer line result. Quite satisfied with this one though, hehe. Hours sitting in front of laptop paid off.

Yorokobi Usachan 喜び 兎ちゃん

赤

青

緑

I don't speak Japanese so the title above might - or better I say definitely is - gramatically incorrect, neither is the Japanese kanji written above the bunnies' ears. Days ago I made those using Adobe Photoshop and it was so amusing to playing with just Marque and Paint Bucket Tool combined by usage of Stroke option to get those super kawaii bunnies over there. Photoshop is fun. It will make a cute kids' birthday card. My niece will have her 1st first birthday celebrated this early June and stupid me, I completely forgot to offer making the invitation cards.

Days ago I also finished reading Angels and Demons written by Dan Brown, I'll review it later. Four books in about a week - I think I am insane, hahaha. Lately am so in love with books, they bring me exploring new horizon, wandering in different kind of place and time, both historically and fantastically. And what's more magical than seeing fancy things so realistically not with your actual eyes but imagination?

Lately as well, I love observing the blue sky. Both every morning on the way to the office and on my way home, each day sky is uniquely different, that's one what makes it so wonderful. I posted them on my personal Instagram account and I love to put deep quote as the caption. I am not a poet and not a big fan of ones, so I rely on Google to find the suitable caption. And one day, I found this very deep quote.

Konrad Adenauer — 'We all live under the same sky, but we don't all have the same horizon.'

Murder on the Orient Express - by Agatha Christie (Released in 1934)

credit of the pic

This book is about a murder occured in a snowy winter night in a first class compartment of Orient Express, of which Poirot was half-awake in the very next compartment.

It was all started when Poirot was in the middle of his journey by train, observing a young man and woman as another passenger of the train. The three of them then, by any chance, met again in the Orient Express heading to London.

The compartment was full and Poirot met an American man with heinous face who wanted to hire Poirot as he felt threatened. An order which later refused. This man is the one then found murdered, brutally with twelve stabs of blade. It was all snowing hard outside that the train had to stop.

Then Poirot, accompanied by Dr. Constantine and M. Bouc investigated, interviewing all the passengers about what might have happened by the time Ratchett took his last breath. The more they investigated, the more puzzled they became. Many evidences of all passengers overlapping, taking some time for our detective to sit and think. They all finally  led him to the two final conclusion, which was quite unthinkable, just as every ending of Christie's books always offers.

This book is quite popular, though I, to be honest, wasn't really impressed with the final conclusion. It feels like this book is unfinished and need additional thirty pages for more explanation. However, I guess everyone has different point of view, so I recommend everyone to read it, as it may please you^^.

The Big Four - by Agatha Christie (released in 1927)

This book presented a different kind of mystery case from other Christie's books. This one is like a compilation of many minor cases interlocked with just one objection: hunting The Big Four. The Big Four itself, was a group of four powerful and influential people as the boss with many henchmen around the world helping them. It's an intelectual worldwide fight between Poirot (accompanied by Hastings again this time) and them, with the whole world as the battlefield. Yes, here we are led to travel from London to Paris, to Belgia and even to the eastern land, a town in China, facing different minor cases everywhere their foot stepped on.

The minor cases were, though some were kinda shallow and a bit boring, quite exciting, though they were short but still have you some shocks in the end. My favorites are one in China and in chess match part. They got my heart pounded fast with excitement and curiosity with what will happen next.

For you who read Detective Conan (Case Closed), reading it seems like reading Conan's adventure facing The Black Organization. We haven't neither met nor even know who the Big Boss is but Conan has fought some of his henchmen in some different occasions. Ya that sort of stories!

This book is quite exciting, the opening, the concept, the minor cases, it offers variety. However, I honestly did expect for a more splendid ending. I was surprised when I've met the last page, 'Hey is this all? No more twists and explanation?'

Curtain - by Agatha Christie (released in 1975)

I've just finished reading this book and I felt the pleasing suspense, a sense of complecancy, a high admiration for this book. I started it with high expectation, knowing that it is the last case of Hercule Poirot (although I found it out later that it was actually had been finished written three decades before publication). I did expect it to be something very impressive. And this book didn't let me down.

The interesting prologue, a total different kind of mystery case, the loneliness and the feeling of helplessness of elderlies, a nostalgic feeling of the place and people (although to be honest I haven't read the very first book: The Mysterious Affair at Styles yet). Yes it was all started and ended at the same place, an inn in Styles.

I haven't read all Christie's books, but from a little bit I've read (about fifteen books by now), I realized that she exploited so much feelings in many of her books, and in this one is very strong. Love, hatred, psychosis, powerlessness, anxiety, all can be found here, together with logical way of thinking, lead me to enjoy reading this book very much.

Some parts were predictable, yes, but the final conclusion was exceptional. And it was a great ending of a great man named Hercule Poirot.

Because the title is Curtain and this song has a word 'curtain' in it, I imagined My Way (a song popularized by Frank Sinatra releazed in 1969) will be a perfect soundtrack of this final case of Hercule Poirot.

'And now, the end is near, and so I face the final curtain. My friend, I'll say it clear, I'll state my case, of which I'm certain.'

And yes he did it his way.

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What's written next might be a SPOILER so for those who haven't read Curtain and don't want to miss the excitement, you'd better STOP here ^^.

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Personally I don't agree with the way Poirot murdered Norton by himself and then ended his life by commiting suicide. Yes, law can't punish Norton for he didn't do all the murders with his own hands but tongue, and in fact no matter how hard Norton provoked his prey to murder somebody, just if the person was strong and sane enough, the murder might be avoided, just like Hasting's and Mr. Luttrel's cases. In this case, Norton was more like the serpent in Genesis, he was the one who provoked Eve to eat the fruit. But (again, just) if Eve ignored his idea, she would stood a chance not to eat the fruit. 

Poirot's justification was he did that (murdering Norton) to prevent Norton to do the same thing again and to protect the innocents. And he thought he was the law. In emergency, law of wars is allowed and such things. But in the end, sorry to say, it was a great story, yes, extraordinary ending, no doubt, but still, no matter how I adore him (Poirot), I don't agree with what he did in the last pages of final chapter of his life.

But then again, we lived in different era and place. I am living in peaceful era in peaceful city, I may never see a firing gun directly, but he went through both World War I and II and everything was of course different. So I'll finish this review with what Poirot also said (crap I read in Indonesian and I can't find the original English texts but approximately), 'but now I humbly say like a little child, I don't know.'