Starbucks Honey Orange Latte: The Hint of Espresso

I am a coffee-fan. Addicted. I also love tea, but my first preference is always coffee. I love tasting several coffee brand, for example to mention: Starbucks, Dante, Excelso, Coffee Bean. But here in Taipei, I go to Starbucks pretty often. I love the espresso (and yeah, especially espresso frappuccino, my number 1 favorite  Starbucks  menu).

Lately, Starbucks offer new menu. Honey Orange Latte (in espresso tradition), so they named it. Replaced Dark Cherry Mocha, the one I used to buy in this winter season (I love frappuccino, but Taipei’s chilling weather pushed me to drink something hot). I like Dark Cherry Mocha because it is sweet, and I adore sucrose. A lot.

Once I said that I am not really interested in coffee version with long name, because the longer the name implies the coffee portion is decreased. And as a coffee addict, it is a bit useless drinking something less-coffee. And well, since Dark Cherry Mocha is the name, sure it contains mocha, chocolate. Though I like chocolate much, but yes, the choc flavor hid the espresso. Not good enough.

Anyway, let’s go back to Honey Orange Latte. Latte means lots of milk. And I don’t hope much that Honey Orange Latte would taste better (in my opinion) than Dark Cherry Mocha. So, what is my opinion? I like it better than Dark Cherry Mocha! I tasted orange, and the espresso’s flavor is still there. Delicious, and I like it a lot. I ordered mostly the hot one, because the weather is still cold, but I did order iced-version. Not quite different, but since the ice was too much, I prefer the hot one.

The espresso is not covered by the additional ingredients, the milk portion is precise, the orange flavor is delicious, and the honey makes the whole beverage sweet. Perfect combination, for me. I still get the espresso and the sugar. Like it!

Try one grande cup. The milk portion is less than the venti one.

Matthew Reilly – The Six Sacred Stones: The Significant ‘But’

Let me speak honestly. Though I don’t really like his last book, Dan Brown really steals my heart. I speak highly of his works, yes, considering his deep, thrilling, amazing, shocking story plots. And well, I’ve never felt that way before.

So, after I found Brown’s novels, I would compare any similar novel genre to his. Obviously. And particularly because I am a reader. And book analyzer. I bought some similar novels afterwards, like The Secret Supper by Javier Sierra, or Map of Bones by James Rollins, or The Rule of Four by both Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason; but the most-read books in my bookshelf are Dan Brown’s. You know what I mean.

Around a year ago, I went to Page One bookstore in Taipei 101, and I found a book catching my eye so fast. The Six Sacred Stones, that’s the title. Written by Matthew Reilly, unfamiliar name for me. I bought it. Expect nothing, but hey, I kept an open mind.

First impression: ancient-related, okay. I like that. The book is about saving the world from the end-of-the-world. A super-soldier Jack West Jr. must race with his enemies to reach several relics, with unimaginable prize. Oh well, Jack West Jr. apparently was not pictured the first in this book, and since I don’t know the previous book, sure there is a missing piece of story I haven’t read.

Ah, before I forget, I won’t tell about the whole story, or I might say, this is not a summary. You can read it by yourself. I am just making opinion here, after reading the book.

Second impression: a bunch of characters. A bit different from Dan Brown’s, which are dominated by a main character (male or female) and his/her ‘companion’ (the opposite sex); Reilly brought many characters in protagonist and antagonist team, which is good. The book is a good example of team work and talents combinations. Distinguished language kid-interpreter, history expert, mathematical geniuses. Cool. I love this one.

Third impression: fast-paced. Changing places so fast, changing strategies so fast, introducing new characters so fast. And yeah, talking about the character, it is still in projection of the world’s mind-set, perfect people. For example, Iolanthe: beautiful, dominating, having a royal descent, powerful, brainy.

Fourth impression (wondering to what extent my impression will be? Just wait okay? *smile): many ‘ooohhh-s’. I mean, many things I didn’t know before. Like the ‘artificial’ Lake Nasser, the Stonehenge arrangements, and more. This book gave me lots of information.

Fifth impression: excited about the ending! I love the whole book a lot, the plot, the characters, and I couldn’t wait to know how the ending would be. Excited, excited!

Sixth impression (it is purely coincidence that I have SIX impressions related to The SIX Sacred Stones): the whole story is great, but the ending is….unknown. Gosh. I never expected that the book wouldn’t be finished like this. Yes, the story will be continued. So disappointing me, to be frankly. I praised the whole book, but yeah, finally I came to the significant ‘but’. But the story hasn’t finished yet. Arrrgghh. So annoying. I want to know the ending!

Anyway, just read it. I like it.

Sherlock Holmes The Movie: ‘Iron Man’-ly Pictured?

What I say next:

Sherlock Holmes: Iron Man or a detective?

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Finally have the desire to witness the visualization of the greatest fictional detective ever known.

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And I’ll let you know what’s in my head afterwards.

Lights – Ice: Freshly Simple

Arrrgggh, guess you’ll say I’m in the mood for synthpop? Yeah yeah yeah. Why? I’ll write about it later. I am going to talk about this synthpop singer: Lights.

Born Valerie Anne Poxleitner, she’s later recognized as Lights. I love her songs. I like this one, particularly. Because it sounds fresh in my ear. Pretty much simple, and again I say, simplicity if beautiful. She’s pretty, and pretty much like Marshanda, an Indonesian actress (don’t you think?).

What about the content? I found no distinguished sentences, but I do like this: what a disappointment, I had it perfectly. Perfect disappointment? Never used it in a sentence before. LOL. Anyway, in some parts Lights reminds me of Amy Lee (Evanescence vocalist). Like her too.

I enjoy the melody a lot that I cannot remember the lyrics correctly. Hahahaha. Sooo different compared to what I like from Owl City (synthpop singer again!).

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So, fancy synthpop?

Owl City – Fuzzy Blue Lights: Love the Rhyme

I like this song because it is soft. Not that I’m not a fan of hard music, but listening to this kind of song is peaceful, I will say.

What I am really fond of is, this song seems have no bold start. Flat throughout the song. And feels so simple. And simplicity is sooooo beautiful.

Well, another thing, the rhyme. Bi-sentences with matching rhymes! It has been a long time that I didn’t notice any song with good rhymes as this one. Take a look at this:

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If I could look across the country
From California to New Jersey
Then I would count the parks and lake resorts
And number all the jets and airports
All those rather dreary rain clouds still bother me
’cause I look through the camera eyepiece and cannot see

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See?? Like it to the max ^^. And when this song is played while I’m working on something, I’ll stop and sing those amazing lyrics!

There is one sentence which strikes me a bit. ’cause I look through the camera eyepiece and cannot see. Oh well, when going someplace new, when having a chance to see some scenic, why do I always busy to pick up camera and take a picture? I should have more time to see the view with my very own eyes. You all should too *smile.

Enjoy!

 

Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol: Long and Lost

I love to read (did I tell you that?). Everyone knows I guess. And I love Dan Brown’s novels. The Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons, Deception Point, and Digital Fortress, which I manage to re-read each time I feel bored to read something else.

I found the first book by coincidence. When I was staying in Muntilan (for my high school), I often sneaked out to Jogja (particularly discount book store: Togamas) to buy some books. I was pretty updated at that time. Moving out to Surabaya for college, a bit sad for me because I couldn’t find any friends obsessed to book as obessed as me (clearly). So my frequent visit to bookstore was limited (beside, Togamas is soooo far from my campus). One day I just went to a bookstore, found The Da Vinci Code, and well, it was the starting point of my addiction to Dan Brown’s.

I’ve been waiting for his last books, previously rumoured will be entitled The Solomon Key, and still keep in passion waiting for the books, even after I am here in Taipei. So finally, a couple months ago, the book released, with title: The Lost Symbol.

I couldn’t help myself to buy and read to book in short time. Shorter than the other four novels, in fact. Why why why? Because the book is soooo thrilling and interesting? Arrrgghh, I hate to say this, but yes, I found myself get bored reading the novel.

It is kinda long, and pretty much increasing the reading-mood in the several first chapters. That’s what I like. Started with a bit flat and common story, then slowly the plot rises, and finally surprise you in the end. But not for this novel.

As I said, the story is long, and I got bored in the middle of the book. I always love conspiracy (everyone does, I believe). This book is about Masonic circle, with their hidden tricks everywhere, here pictured in Washington DC. I love the tense, I admire the break-and-start chapters (you know what I mean, changing place and time here and there), and surely I expect great surprise in the end. That is the culprit, someone who’s very very unpredicted to be the bad guy.

Anyway, the story goes around Robert Langdon again, and this time with someone he respects as a father, Peter Solomon. Peter is being abducted, and it is Langdon’s duty to find him. It is all about Masonic brotherhood. And that is the simple storyline: to uncover what secret they hide. Well, as Brown’s signature, expose the unveiled symbol or sign in publicly known place. Washington DC now the center for the battle.

Aside from Peter, Brown also write about Noetic Science, here in relevance with Peter’s sister, Katherine. Interesting. I like this part. Most likely because I always try to open my mind to any possibilities, any discoveries, any anomalies. I can say: I have not much room for surprise.

Well, as my confession: I skipped some part of the book since it is too long (I would say the pace does not really suit me). I wouldn’t say long because of the number of pages, no, I read Harry Potter and I will not say that’s long. Long because it is slow. And lost, because yeah, I was kind of having no idea what was going on, and when I got the point, it came to the part where I was a bit disappointed about who is the culprit. I should have known, actually. At the time I still thought that the culprit must be someone from a group against the Masonic brotherhood, anything not personal. But hey, why didn’t I remember Brown’s favorite?

He always has culprit with personal reasons! Revenge, love, victory; and it is so personal. How could I forget it?

Well, this book is fairly good to me. I still want to buy his book in the future, because even fairly good is better than most.

When book is your passion, you do anything for it.

Avatar The Movie 3D: Distinguished, Deep, Delightful

The first time I saw movie in IMAX 3D. I didn’t expect something extraordinary prior to watch this movie. I just thought, many people said this movie is good, especially the 3D effect. But I don’t easily judge from what people say, particularly when the people saying it personally not known to me to make a credible opinion.

So I just headed out to Ximending with some friends (we booked the ticket earlier, considering that the theater would be crowded). And indeed it was. The 300-seats room was full. We got a goggle for watching, and let the movie begun!

Okay, even from the early opening (the 20th Century Fox opening), I’ve already liked it. Yeah, the 3D looked soooo real. This was a bit silly of me anyway. Move along, Citra. Let’s discuss the whole story.

Pretty unusual since I didn’t do any search of what this movie was all about. I wanted to stay ‘blind’. Firstly, in the beginning of the movie, I didn’t have any idea of the story. I just couldn’t make a quick analysis. The story was not chronologically pictured, and I lost orientation for a moment. Later on, finally I could catch the plot.

Not a new matter. About how everything is connected and affect each other. Or I like to say it this way: so butterfly effect. No, I am not referring to the movie with same title, I’d rather correlate Avatar with chaos order theory. Feeling new? I encountered this theory back in high school, while finishing my written report for graduation. Every single tiny change can induce a huge impact, even when the distance is called far. Familiar with this question: can a butterfly flapping it wings in Brazil cause a tornado in Texas? More or less that’s the principle of Avatar movie’s story (again, I am saying, don’t take it as something final).

I like this matter, anyway. I do believe that, and Cameron brought the concept into a single movie with amazing visualization. I am very visual, yes. I like to see, observe, take picture. I saw colors in Avatar the movie. And I soooo love it. Lots of purples. I took a wild guess that one of the editors loves purple. LOL. And what I mean colors, is not just colors like black or purple (still, I am so subjective on this one), it’s the characters and scenes. Combination between metal-circumstances (military and those robots) and the very natural Na’vi’s world was perfect. Dualism, I may say, but not in the strict black-and-white area. People with so-dumb-hard brain-headed personality versus invalid with rebel side, and scientist with ‘heart’, pretty cool.

And, Avatar is noetic. Ever heard of that kind of science? Read the latest Dan Brown’s novel. Simply, noetic science points to this: our thought has a mass. We can project our thoughts into something -say the ice formation- and later we can see that the ice can be formed as our will. Sounds like The Secret. Whatever. Avatar bring the concept into real picture, how we can powerfully use our mind to control almost everything. In a good way, I hope.

And creating the Na’vi language part! Oh my gosh, it is awesome. So the language is not just some blurrpp-unclear, but really structured (sure it is, a linguistic professor created it!). Loooove it (just as I love Elf language — I am a LOTR movie fan).

Those are the reasons I say this movie is distinguished and deep. Delightful? Yes, I do love the 3D experience! Very very very real, I felt it that way. Even I moved my head aside when a grenade was thrown out. Fantastic!

And did I find some critics? It was just that I watched this movie in Taiwan, and when there was Na’vi language being spoken, the translation was Chinese!!! Too bad I cannot understand Chinese character at all. Sigh.

Okay, you should watch it. 3D. Waiting for your saying. See ya!

Introduction

I have another blog, and there must question asking why I decided to open a new blog after this one.

Ah well, I do love writing. Don’t bother to ask why. And I want to part my writing interests. I am open-minded, and like to argue, enjoy saying opinions and writing reviews of many things I like and I don’t.

So I dedicate this blog to my mind. And to you, hoping you enjoy what I say. That’s why I name it: citrasays.

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Welcome.