October 29, 2025 - What is News to You?

Hello!

News news news... I tried thinking of a good news but I couldn't recall any that happened within that time period.

So, one of the biggest news I've heard from early September was the Indonesian Demonstration.

LINK HERE

I was at home when all the protest happened. I live in Surabaya, so it wasn't as bad as the protest in Jakarta (the capital city). But my city shared its fair share of property damage from the protest. 

You can read the reason of the protest from the link above. But there was something else behind the protest. It was suspected that the people who burned bus stations and other public facilities were not the citizens themselves, rather spies that were paid by the goverment to shift the focus of the protest into violence. 

Most of the protesters were students, and students don't have the money/are not willing to spend much on buying galons of gasoline to burn for nothing. Something to consider is also the design of the posters that were published on social media, scheduling the protests. The citizens realized that those posters were fake because it looked so ugly, and that Gen Z would never design something so non aestheticly pleasing. Provocative posters designed by supposed "boomers" and not Gen Z students who were mostly protesting.

Here is an example of the fake poster made by provocators:

"The font is ugly and hard to read. An unexperienced boomer must have made this."

"Canva is free, they couldn't have used that??"

While the ones below here are the posters made by the protesters (mostly students):

The goverment tried to paint the protesters as the villains by ruining public facilities, while the protesters responded, 

"We're Gen Z! Do you think we want to go out in this heat to protest? I rather stay in my bed."

"It's hard for me to wake up and take a shower, you're expecting us to burn a bus station?!"

"Gasoline is expensive! I rather use that money to eat."

"I don't have a vehicle so I need public transportation. Why would we burn it??"

It's kind of funny to see how aware our generation is. We've been labled and seen as "lazy" and "weak" for so long, those claims of protesters doing so much work to destroy didn't make sense. 😂

October 27, 2025 - Dead Media

Hello WORLD!

Today we are discussing about dead media... I'm pretty sure some of us had heard of this game before, but it's an online RPG game called, "Adventure Quest."

I used to play this game when I was in gradeschool, mostly due to my older sister's influence. I remember being the only kid in my grade who played this game other than some guy named Richard.

The game looked like this.

Something I realized over the years is that I tend to pick long range characters/healers. Basically I play pretty passively. I like staying in the sidelines and support my team. I'm not sure if I still play like that.

But another reason why I chose this media is because you can chat with random strangers online through this online game!

The chat box appears right above the characters when you send your text to the world chat. If I recall correctly, you can even chat directly with someone. I remember talking to a lot of random strangers online, and thankfully none of them were dangerous people. Prove being, I'm still alive today HAHA

It's sort of open world. But there are some dangerous regions in the game. The game site is still running, but it is not the same. We didn't have to install anything back then, and now we have to.

I tried downloading a picture from the website, but it says that it is unprotected and might contain some malware, so I just took a screenshot instead.

Here is the link if you're interested, but I wouldn't play it xD

LINK HERE

October 22, 2025 - Living History!

For this week's assignment we are tasked to write about politics, yaaayyy..... (I am quite politically inept, so please understand if there are some discrepancies;;)

According to this article and this video, it seems that Japan has decided to make the immigration work requirement more strict that before. It is true that I've seen a lot of foreign workers here in Japan that don't speak fluent Japanese. So I think it might be a good thing to raise the skill requirement to filter workers who genuinely want to help work and imrpove the economy of Japan rather than hating Japan or trying to exploit Japan of their resources.

As for her stating that women shouldn't keep their maden names after marriage, I don't think that can help increase the marriage rate. The reason why is not everyone is keen on giving away their names. I think it should be a choice, after all I don't see why it's a big deal if people want to keep their names. In fact, some people even change their names mid-life. Hearing those kinds of "rules" might make women scared of getting married, it's like forcing them to give away a part of them, or even a part of their freedom.

That's all I can think of right now. I'm curious to read what everyone else have written!

October 20, 2025 - My Favorite Comic!

HELLO!!

My favorite comic... I've put a lot of thought into it, and after some careful consideration I would have to choose Supersons!

I love the Supersons series from DC. I think Jon Kent and Damian Wayne are so adorable, and their dynamic is very funny!

I bought all 6/7 issues of one of their adventures. I really love the artstyle! The colors are also amazing. I followed the artists on Instagram instantly.

Unlike their parents, Superboy and Robin has a less dark theme to their adventures. It's more colorful and playful. I'm kind of bumped out that they decided to age Jon up at the end because of some Gen 5 plot, and the DC world in general is just a huge mess. But I like to enjoy what I can, and just read the stuff I want to read.

But don't get me wrong, I also love the stories of Batman and Superman! They are also funny.

These little interactions make the characters feel real. Technically, in any comic you read, behind it is someone with a whole different life. Someone's life is put into a lot of the content we consume. That's why I love comics, novels, movies, and media in general.

_______

Reading a lot of comics has inspired me to make my own comics!

(I'm also making a Webtoon! It's about a Superhero's sidekick/hacker. Read Here (If you're intrigued))

I don't know if people will read it, but I want to share my stories to the world. Comics have helped me go through some tough times in the past, and if I can help just one other person out there with my comics, I would be enthralled.

Thank you for reading! See you NEXT WEEEEEEEEK😍

October 15, 2025 - Mid Term Video Project

We meet again...

Here is my response to the video Ken The Teacher has shared on his blog.

I think the Japanese real estate industry give fancy names for their buildings to cope. Living in "Grand Fillmont Hill" sounds better than living in "Takada Mansion" I suppose.

October 13, 2025 - Game On!

Hello again! I am in the upmost excited mood to talk about one of the greatest game of all time, GTA V!

This game brings me so much memories. I don't play it anymore, but my dad got me GTA V when I was 11 years old. He bought a copy of the game from a shady casette store that sold video game copies, and apparently the GTA I had was modded by the store clerk.

So I played GTA V on the PlayStation 2 with a Kung Fu Panda mod that gave me the ability to fly and have unlimited money. A true, dragon warrior. It wasn't a mod that let me play as Po, but the mod just had the character I was controlling wear a Po costume. So it was still a human character just with body paint, draws, and a big Po mask. I can't find any pictures online so it might have been illegal.

I didn't even know GTA had a storyline, I just enjoyed flying around committing all kinds of crimes and stealing cars. I enjoyed doing hit and run crimes by running over pedestrians and collecting their money. Stealing the aircrafts were also fun. I didn't really like using the guns, but I remember there being a bazooka.

Everytime after school I would load the game and just play around with it. I wasn't doing any quests since I didn't know what they were, I just really like enjoying the open world aspect of the game. I like how you can enter some of the clubs as well.

Playing GTA was one of the greatest highlights of my day back then. After playing GTA, I would play with pens. I printed a lot of png butterfly/fairy wings, cut them and attatched them to random pens I found in my house, and pretended they were fairies. Then I would play with my hotwheels, sometimes even both at the same time.

Both of my parents really like video games. My mom was a huge Sonic fan, and my dad really liked shooting games. We used to play a lot of games in PS2 like Tomb Raider, Sniper Elite, and in the recent years we would play Free Fire (simillar to PUBG) together. Me and my sister played a lot of Sonic games on the PS2 and the DS when I was in grade school. Some of them were Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity, Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Rush, Shadow The Hedgehog, and more.

Right now I am playing a lot of Valorant and Sonic Racing Crossworlds on my PC, but I'm waiting for a new game by a Brazillian company called, "The Posthumous Investigation".

I'm so excited to play it and solve the mystery. It's based on a famous Brazillian mystery novel back in the 1800s.

OKAY I feel like I would not stop talking about games if I don't stop now. Thank you so much for tuning in, and I hope to see you guys soon!

October 8, 2025 - Let's Eat!

Hello!! Today I would like to share my favorite food from my home country, Indonesia 🇮🇩

(I took this picture earlier this year during my spring break)

This dish is called, "Lontong Cap Gomeh". It's a Chinese and Javanese fusion dish. Lontong is rice that was steamed in banana leaves. It's usually eaten with another famous dish called sate (chicken/meat skewers). While the phrase 'Cap Gomeh' means "the 15th day" in Hokkien, a dialect from the Chinese language.

This dish has a lot of my favorite ingredients such as coconut milk, crisps, meat, eggs, and lontong. I LOVE lontong! Here is a link to the recipe of Lontong Cap Gomeh.

A LOT come into this dish. The ingredients, preparation, and patience to make it is truly something to be grateful of. And I'm sure, if you like cream based dishes/soups, I'm quite sure you will like this dish as well.

Also bonus, I love the drink Sarabba!!

It's simillar to a drink called STMJ (Milk, egg, honey, and ginger)

Thank you for tuning in, and hope to see you next week!

October 6, 2025 - All About Music

It's my mom's birthday today! (completely unrelated haha xD)

This is the song that I would like to share today. I have about a bAgAZiLLIoN english songs that I like so it was really hard for me to choose. So today I decided to go with the oldies.

 

That’s What Friends Are For

LYRICS HERE

This is not the original music video, but it has all of my favorite singers in one song so I picked this cover. I really like this song because it shows what it means to be and have a friend. It can be interpreted as romantic or platonic, friendship exists in both. Even in family relationships, there is friendship inside.

I really like the lyrics, especially the first few verses before the chorus! 

This song was first recorded by Rod Stewart in 1982. I love Rod Stewart's songs, his singing is timeless. I used to watch his Christmas special with Michael Bubble with my dad at home. It goes to show how much of my music taste was influenced by my dad.

I want to talk about other songs that these 4 artists in the video have sung.

Dionne Warwick

She is an absolute powerhouse. Her vocals are deep and thick, but it doesn't prevent her from hitting higher notes. One of my favorite songs from her is "I Know I'll Never Love This Way Again". My mom likes this song!

Stevie Wonder

Stevie was one of my dad's favorites. My dad would play the keyboard and we used to sing some of his songs together. I really like the song "Overjoyed". I also like "Lately", but it's kind of sad haha.

Whitney Houston

What is there to say. EVERYONE knows who she is xD. I sing her songs in karaoke a lot when I'm in the mood to break my vocal cords. 

Luther Vandross

I sang one of his songs at my dad's funeral, it's called, "Dance With My Father". I think it's a very beautiful song, and I tried my best not to cry when I sang it in front of everyone. I also like "Endless Love". His voice is so smooth like butter, it reminds me of Leslie Odom Jr. sometimes. There's also another version of this song by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie, which I think is equally as great.

All in all, a lot of these songs are very inspiring and it reminded me that somethings never change. These artists performed these songs in the past, some decades ago! And it still resonates with how life is today. That's what I like about these songs, and many more!

That was a lot, but I hope you guys enjoyed the little trip to the past! xD (maybe it wasn't that long ago for *ahem* some of you.)