REVIEW ARTICLE

Forever Princess by Meg Cabot

Forever princess is the tenth book of Princess dairies series written by Meg Cabot. This book publishes in January 6, 2009 by HarperTeen. After a year, 2010, finally this book is translated into Indonesian and published by Gramedia Pustaka Utama.

Forever Princess is a phenomenal way to end an incredible series. I will begin with something personal: I have grown up with Mia. I started reading them in 2006. I probably would be sad if it did not end so well, but it did. Meg Cabot has been one of my favorite authors for years and I honestly can not help it.

Most have probably heard of these books, or at least watched the Disney version, but here is a short summary. As a ninth grader, Mia found out her father was the prince of Genovia, making her a princess. The books are her journals writing about her everyday life. Everything from guys to the princess lessons she is forced to take from her grandmere who pencils in her eyebrows to her trouble it algebra and all the random thoughts in between. The final book is about the end of her senior year of high school. It takes place approximately two years after the ninth book, a time when Mia was locked away in her room writing her senior project. Michael, Mia’s first love, just came back from living in Japan making a robotic arm to be used in surgeries and then there is also J.P. who Mia’s been seeing for two years now. The book covers this love conflict, Mia’s 18^th birthday, her final finals, prom, and more. Talking about love, my favorite quote from this book is when Mia talked with her friend, Lily that “Life isn't a romance novel. The truth is, the reason romance novels sell so well ---- the reason why everyone loves them ---- is because no one's life is actually like that. Everyone WANTS their life to be like that.” That is really represent most of people’s feeling.

After ten books, if you would think the books would get tiring, they do not; most certainly not. Overall, it was a brilliant way to end the series. Thinking back on it, you can see how much Mia has changed over the course of her high school experience. The difference between ninth and twelfth grade are extraordinary and Cabot captured the high school years perfectly. For example, a girl who in ninth grade begged to go to the prom now is the one realizing that it is just a dance with bad food. If you have been a fan of Mia’s for a while, it will not disappoint and if you have not, pick them up. Teenage girls can definitely relate to everything Mia goes through; no matter if they have not found out that they are a princess of a small European country. Which is just the thing, Mia is an average girl everyone can relate to, and the princess thing is just on the side; she is so much more than that. After the ten books, the end is completely perfect and just what it needed to be. Though sad that this girl who we have known for four years of her life does not have another book coming out soon, the end will leave you smiling and overjoyed.

You can find the book in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Local bookstore, and Gramedia (if you want to buy the Indonesia version).

TUITION FEE? FAMILY NEEDS? I CAN HANDLE IT

Paying   tuition fee and family needs are not easy for  college student. However, it is different with Eka Farhanah Ambari, 7th semester student in Paundan University, West Java, Bandung who can pay her tuitionn fee and help her mother provide family needs. Her father has passed away 9 years ago. She lives with her mother and her sister, Fitri. She is the breadwinner of her family since her mother just only has a spare part store.

Being an enterpreneur since senior high school makes Eka independent. She has two business: type services and “jual pulsa”. Eventhough, both of her business did not go well, she never gives up to try another business.

"CONSISTENT AND PATIENT ARE TWO IMPORTANT KEY TO SUCCESS IN ANY BUSINESS because we are not roro jonggrang who can make a statue in one night. everything needs process”

Oriflame is her next business. Oriflame is one of the largest company in the world. Been established since 50 years in the world and 30 years in Indonesia. Joining Oriflame for about a year make an amazing impact for Eka’s life.  Her income increase 32 millions rupiah a month.  She also get an additional income which is a half of her selling. “I’ve got 500 thousands rupiah everytime I sold 1,4 millions rupiah. Besides,  there are also a lot of things that I got like bags, wallets, watches, mixers,  blenders,  pans, spoons, forks, kinves, and many more.” Eka said.

Oriflame has a scale to motivate each member to get the highest scale. The scale is called level. The highest level is gold level. Every level depends on the income that every group member get. It is amazing for Eka to get the highest level just about a year.  Eka also has an opportunity as the speaker of Oriflame’s seminar in Jogja this January 2018 and in Paris on August 2018.

However, It does not mean Eka never faces any problem. Sometimes she also got rejected by people who are not want to join Oriflame, or  seometimes some costumers complain about how long they have to wait for their product, but time by time she learns how to solve it. She learns how to be different from other members by giving free consultation about skin care and make up. So, people feel comfortable with her. She also can make free discount card for every member who join with her.

Besides, the problem is not only outside but also inside since Oriflame is a group business. Like I said before that Oriflame has a scale called level. Every level depends on the income that every group member get, so it is important to be selective to choose the member. Luckily, Eka had joined an organization when she was 2nd until 4th semester, so she can work in a group and learn how to solve problem in a group.

Even she is still in her last semseter and bussy doing her thesis, businness never bother her. She can manage her the time well and she knows what her priority is.

When I asked her to make her own business or online shop. She does not want to. However, someday if she can change her spare part store into a house, she wants to rent it for people as “kontrakan or kost-kostan” just to make her mother stop from her work since she thinks her mother is too tired to work nowadays.

To end this session, Eka has some amazing words to share for those who still afraid to start a business. “If you really want to make a business, just do it. Do not thinking too much about the risk. After that, consistent and patient are two important key to success in any business, not only for Oriflame because we are not Roro Jonggrang who can make a statue in one night. Everyting needs process.”

Eka also said that there are  a lot of things that we can get from Oriflame like  how to get many friends, have fun but still make money, and self development. So, do  you want to be the next productive person like Eka?  Let’s have a try!

KOMPASIANIVAL 2017

THE ROLE OF AUDIENCES VS THE ROLE OF DIRECTOR

K

ompasianival is a platform for Kompasianers (bloggers and netizen from Kompasiana) to meet each other. With the theme collaboration of generation, Kompasianival combines the old generation and the new generation with some interesting topics such as literature (how literature work which usually found in printed book, now it can be found in electronic book), musics (how an album which usually found in compact disc, now people can download it through their phone), movies (the different perspective from the director as the new generation and the actress as the old generation), and many more.

            Let’s talk more about movie, the moderator begins this session by saying: everyone can produce a movie and everyone can be a director of their own movie. Yosep Anggi Noen, the speaker of this session agree with that statement because he is also a director from some short and documentary movies such as The waiting (2005), Mabur aka About Flying (2006), Hujan tak jadi datang aka Its not raining outside (2009), Working Girls (2011), Nona Kedi yang tak pernah melihat keajaiban aka A Lady Caddy who never saw a hole in one (2013), and many more. Istirahatlah Kata-Kata aka Solo, solitude (2017) is his second commercial and booming movie on cinema, after Vakansi yang Janggal dan Penyakit lainnya aka Peculiar Vacation and Other illnesses (2012). As a short and documentary movie director, Yosep says that “It is easy to produce movie and be a director, but it is not easy to market it” as most people know that it costs much to produce a movie and Yosep also added “...There is no a clear formula to promote a movie because of the audiences”. Audience is one of the most important role for movie. If audiences’s interest is changing day by day, the director should know what genre that the audiences want and serve something new.

            However, it is not only the assignment of the director. The audiences also need to be smart to know the quality of good movies are. Yosep says that “Sometimes, I feel pessimist because the audience does not know the quality of good movies are, so they decided not to watch the movies”. Yosep also added that “...sometimes, audience prefers to watch foreign movies. That is why local movies are really hard to compete with them.”

            Besides, according to the actress, Herlina Christine Natalia Hakim known as Christine Hakim, the director is the most important thing to produce a movie. Since she begins her career from theatre, so she knows the role of director is not easy. The director guides her from the start since she knows nothing until she knows everything and love this job for almost 30 years. In this digital era, she says that “I agree that everyone can be a director. People can produce a movie from many different background education such as social, politics, technology, psychology, etc. But, it is not easy to produce a movie which is acceptable to the audiences and the plot is make sense.”

            In addition, an acceptable movie is not only good for the audience, but also for the actor and the actress. Like Christine says that “Movies can be a learning media for me. I have played 4 historical movies, so it help me a lot to reconstruct the history and appreciate more to the heroes and heroine Indonesia” Christine also added that “I do not know why there are so many actor and actress quit from movie industry and think this industry is not beneficial. But I am as a Moslem feel closer to God because of movie and I can understand more about the Quran and Hadst.”

            Both the role of director and the role of audiences are important to produce a movie. It is depend on the speaker’s perspective. The director can say that audience is the most important, but the actress can say that the director is the most important. How about from the audience perspective? It can be the story, the director, or maybe the actress and actor. It depends on their interest.