Tuesday, 27 January 2009

Best of the Best

Gara-gara dikerjain kakak kelasnya yang anggota cheerleaders saat OSPEK, Reina jadi benci pada semua anggota cheers. Menurutnya anggota cheers cuma pintar dandan dan otaknya nggak ada isinya. Anggapan ini makin diperkuat perseteruannya dengan Tasha dan gengnya yang memang anggota cheers.

Tapi kemunculan Muri, anak baru yang model dan langsung bergabung dengan ekskul cheers, meruntuhkan anggapan Reina itu. Muri sangat ramah dan bersahabat dengannya, Muri juga menengahi perseteruan Reina dengan Tasha. Tapi sepertinya Muri diam-diam menyembunyikan sesuatu....

Sementara itu di mana-mana di Indonesia perusahaan dan instansi negara heboh karena sisitem komputer mereka kacau-balau dihajar hacker. Apakah kekacauan ini ada hubungannya dengan sesuatu yang ditutup-tutupi Muri itu?

Wednesday, 21 January 2009

Inkheart (Indonesia Edition)


Buku 1 trilogi Inkworld


Ayah Meggie---namanya Mo---memiliki kemampuan ajaib: ia bisa mengeluarkan tokoh-tokoh dari buku yang dibacanya. Sayangnya, kehadiran mereka ternyata harus ditukar dengan manusia-manusia di dunia nyata.

Sembilan tahun yang lalu, Mo membaca Tintenherz. Tanpa sengaja ia memunculkan berbagai tokoh jahat buku itu, dan membuat ibu Meggie lenyap karena masuk ke buku. Capricorn dan Basta, dua tokoh jahat dari buku tersebut, lantas menculik Mo karena ingin Mo memunculkan lebih banyak lagi tokoh jahat dari Tintenherz. Termasuk sang Bayangan, monster menakutkan yang akan bisa membunuh semua musuh Capricorn. Capricorn juga menyuruh Mo mengeluarkan harta dari berbagai buku untuk membiayai kejahatannya di dunia ini.

Maka bermunculanlah tokoh dari berbagai buku, termasuk Tinker Bell dari buku Peter Pan, Farid dari Kisah Seribu Satu Malam, troll, goblin, bahkan si prajurit timah.

Situasi makin rumit karena Meggie ternyata memiliki kemampuan yang sama dengan ayahnya!

Tuesday, 13 January 2009

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw


As a continuation of the second book, this novel rounds out the second semester of Greg's seventh grade school year.

The book starts with Greg's New Year's Day. The follow-up is Greg's Christmas, which is similar to Christmas in the first book; Greg gets nothing he likes from anyone. Uncle Charlie gives Greg a "laundry hoop" and Greg's mother, inspired, starts making Greg do his own laundry. Due to Greg's laziness, he does not do his laundry and does not plan to either. This plays a huge role later in the story.

Mentioned early in the story, Greg's father is becoming fed up with Greg's "wimpy" ways. Also, the "baddest teenager on our street", Lenwood Heath gets shipped out to military school, sparking an idea in Frank's head that plays a huge role in the story. Later, the Heffleys see Lenwood at a ticket booth with a crew cut, proper and incredibly polite. This causes Frank to decide to enroll Greg into military school, Spag Union, which takes place during Greg's summer vacation. Greg tries in vain to change his father's mind, such as doing activities such as soccer and Boy Scouts. However, they do not work. Therefore, Greg tries to impress Holly again, but it does not work at all. Finally, he settles for the sad fact he has to settle for Spag Union. But his summer won't be bad if he took some memories with him.

Also mentioned earlier in the story, the Heffley's neighbors, the Snellas, are having a half-birthday for their youngest child Seth. During the party, the adults in the neighborhood have to perform silly acts and Mr. Snella sends the videotapes to America's Funniest Families, a spoof of America's Funniest Home Videos, to win the $10,000 prize. It is revealed that Frank hates the performing and will do anything to get out of it. On the day of the party, Manny throws Seth's present into a tree because he knew that Greg would snatch it away. It was a blue knit blanket. When Greg goes and retrieves it, his pants fall down revealing Wonder Woman underwear which he wore because it's one of the only clean garments he has left. Frank, who happened to be next in line to perform gets away as Mr. Snella points his camera to an embarrassed Greg. He repays Greg the next morning by not sending him to military school, suggesting there are other ways that Greg can stay fit.

The story ends abruptly as Rowley and Greg are sitting on the curb and meet a girl named Trista. Greg thinks Trista is cute and imagines that she and himself are in Rowley's swim club in swimsuits with Rowley serving them drinks. The book ends with Greg saying that it is corny to end with a happy ending, but he is out of paper and writes "The End" in big letters.