Dara’s Thoughts on “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”

    "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" Movie Review | Hola Darla

    It’s been a year since our hearts were collectively broken by Rogue One and then by the news of Carrie Fisher’s passing away. Has your heart been healed? I thought mine had, but then I watched The Last Jedi and saw that dedication and my gut got punched. Ouch!

    Some spoilers below, so beware!

    It wasn’t until I started writing this post did I realize that I didn’t really enjoy The Last Jedi. Like a lot of Star Wars fans, I went to see this movie with some expectations; I thought I would get some answers to the two biggest questions I had had since seeing The Force Awakens: who the hell is Snoke and who are Rey’s parents? So, did I get the answers from TLJ? Nope. I still have no idea who Snoke really is (was?) and Rey’s parents are nobodies, or so according to Kylo Ren.

    The other things that bothered me are the jokes. You see, the reason why I like MCU better than DCEU is the fact that MCU has actually funny moments cleverly inserted into even the darkest scenes in its movies. So I kinda found it nice that TLJ has jokes in it, BUT there were just too many. Maybe I’m remembering the character wrong, but there were moments when I saw Luke did something that wasn’t too Luke-y but more like Mark Hamill-y (get it?). Also, there were moments when I thought that Poe acted so darn rude to people who were supposed to be in higher ranks than him. Then there was also Finn and Rose’s journey to the casino which I think was such a useless distraction and didn’t contribute to the whole plot at all.

    They didn’t kill off Leia though, so I’m looking forward to how they will deal with the loss of Carrie Fisher.

    Also, Porgs aren’t cute. They’re annoying.

    There. I said all of it.

    Now, what do you think about The Last Jedi?

    Dara | Bloglovin’ | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

    20 December 2017

    We’re Having a Baby!

    Posted in EN, family, Life, Ramadhana Kecil by

    14 Weeks Ramadhana Kecil Baby Announcement | Hola Darla

    We are so excited to announce that Ramadhana Kecil is due in early June 2018!

    I’m currently 14 weeks pregnant and finally back on my feet after being miserable for weeks of being nauseated 24/7. The first trimester was not fun at all, but at least the baby and I are both healthy + thriving and that’s what really matters now.

    Talk to you later, friends! xoxo

    Dara | Bloglovin’ | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

    6 December 2017

    What’s in My Everyday Bag (September 2017)*

    Posted in ID, personal, reviews by

    What's in My Bag September 2017 with Tokopedia cover | Hola Darla

    Kalau kamu kenal aku di dunia nyata, kamu pasti tau kalau aku adalah orang terkepo sedunia (:p). Jadi, salah satu jenis postingan favoritku tiap liat blog orang lain adalah home tour, room tour, atau postingan kayak gini: what’s in my bag, alias isi tas. Kepo banget kan? Hihihihi…

    Aku udah beberapa kali bikin postingan isi tas sebelumnya (di antaranya adalah postingan ini dan ini), tapi seiring berjalannya waktu dan banyaknya perubahan di kehidupanku, isi tasku juga tentunya berevolusi. Kalau pas kuliah dulu aku masih suka bawa-bawa laptop ke mana-mana dan harus pakai tas yang agak besar, sekarang aku lebih milih pakai tas yang kecil. Kalau dulu aku suka dengan ransel, sekarang aku lebih suka pakai sling bag. I don’t know, I guess I’m just getting older and start liking simpler things :’)

    What's in My Bag September 2017 with Tokopedia | Hola Darla

    Anyhow… inilah barang-barang yang biasanya ada di dalam tasku yang mungil:

    1. Planner – Karena sekarang siswa privatku lumayan banyak dan ada yang suka ubah-ubah jadwal, cuma nyusun jadwal dalam kepala jadi makin bikin pusing. Makanya sekarang aku punya planner khusus yang aku bawa ke mana-mana.
    2. Novel – Kadang ada jeda waktu yang cukup banyak di sela-sela jadwal ngajar, jadi aku selalu bawa novel supaya bisa baca sambil nunggu waktu ngajar selanjutnya.
    3. Dompet
    4. Peralatan touch up – Makin ke sini aku makin males dandan, tapi yang tetap wajib dipakai adalah sunblock, bedak, eyeliner, dan lipstik (sebenernya aku gak suka pakai lipstik tapi berhubung mukaku akhir-akhir ini nampak pucat, jadi terpaksa dirajin-rajinin hahaha).
    5. Kamera – Sekarang aku lebih suka bawa kamera saku ke mana-mana karena lebih ringkas dan ringan dibanding DSLR. Dan lebih praktis juga untuk quick shoot karena kamera saku kan sistemnya point and shoot jadi gak ribet. Kualitasnya memang jauh di bawah DSLR tapi kalau cuma untuk Instagram doang mah lumayan lah.
    6. Charger dan power bank – Manusia jaman now memang gak bisa hidup tanpa listrik. Hihihihi…
    7. Handphone dan wireless earphone – Dua lagi barang yang gak bisa dipisahkan dari kehidupan manusia jaman now xp

    Segitu aja sih sebenernya. Kalau didaftar begini mah jadi keliatan banyak ya, padahal kalau udah masuk tas mah kayaknya dikit kok. Hehe

    Terus, tasnya beli di mana? Nih ya sebagai manusia jaman now (aku gak suka istilah ‘jaman now‘ tapi somehow jadi kebawa-bawa mulu di tiap percakapan, ugh!! *tutup muka*) kamu bisa langsung aja cari tas wanita di Tokopedia. Gak ribet, tinggal cari aja yang kamu suka, beli, dan tunggu tasnya diantar mamang kurir ekspedisi langsung ke tempat kamu. Kalau udah, jangan lupa posting tas kamu sama isinya apa aja di blog atau Instagram terus colek aku ya, aku kepo banget soalnya :p

    PS. Udah cek model baju batik kombinasi brokat di Tokopedia juga belum?

    Dara | Bloglovin’ | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

    29 September 2017

    Hello Again!

    Posted in EN, personal by

    Hello Again | Hola Darla

    Ah… well, this is embarrassing.

    I never meant to stop blogging entirely for more than two months. That was never my intention. But then I went and did that. I have lots of things to say, but I couldn’t seem to form them into words.

    There’s a lot happened in these two months. The highlight of them all is perhaps the one where Miku (my sister’s cat) went missing and magically came home ten days later. My sister was miserable during those ten days, but I guess that’s a story for another post.

    In a few days, September will end and then October (the best of months because it’s my birthday month!) will start. The beginning of the wet season has already creeping in between the last hot days of the dry season. I’m not ready yet to face the wet season but what can I do, eh?

    I’m currently reading The Handmaid’s Tale and loving it so far. The world gets scarier each day so I guess the story of The Handmaid’s Tale feels even more real. For the first time in months, I don’t have a pile of books to be read. The Handmaid’s Tale is the last one. I’ve been waiting specifically for October to go book-shopping because I have a 20% discount voucher from Books and Beyond that can only be used in my birthday month.

    So, in conclusion: October is my birthday month. Hahahahaha

    Right. I’m gonna stop rambling now.

    See ya! xx

    Dara | Bloglovin’ | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

    26 September 2017

    Thoughts on “Spider-Man: Homecoming”

    Posted in EN, marvel, movies, reviews by

    Spider-Man Homecoming art by Ryan Meinerding
    When it was announced that Spider-Man would join the MCU, I was one of those people who got super excited. There had been too many memes circulating the internet about how poor Peter Parker didn’t get to join the Avengers. When the news broke that Sony and Marvel were teaming up to create a new Spidey movie series as well as make Spidey join the Avengers, I was so happy and over the moon. But then the honeymoon phase was over and came the worries that this new Spider-Man man would not be as good as the first one (the one played by Tobey Maguire) or be as a mess as the second one (the one with Andrew Garfield). So I waited. Then, surprise! It was good!

    Unlike the first two series, Spider-Man: Homecoming doesn’t tell us in details how Peter got his powers. The film opens with Peter Parker on his way to Berlin to join Iron-Man’s side on that Civil War climax scene and its aftermath, when Tony Starks tells him that he will keep in touch and assigns Happy as their middleman. But then days go by and Tony hasn’t contacted Peter yet. His life goes on; school, hanging out with friends, and catching bad guys around his neighbourhood. He keeps trying to contact Tony but without success. One night he sees two men in the middle of a weapon trade. The weapon is high tech and obviously dangerous. He goes on to investigate them, even goes so far as following them onto a ferry ship, where everything goes wrong and he has to be saved by Iron-Man. Iron-Man tells him to stop investigating the weapon and causing harm to innocent people. He also takes the Spider-Man’s suit. This leaves Peter devastated. He returns to his normal life and takes Liz (his crush) to the homecoming dance. But on the night of the dance he discovers the secret behind the man who invents the advanced weapons. It’s a plot twist you wouldn’t see coming and it’s SO GOOD! (I won’t tell you, obviously.)

    Homecoming is another small-scale movie in the MCU, after Ant-Man. The story is very ‘teenage-y’ and no city destroyed, only small parts of it blown. It’s refreshing to have one light movie in between all these kaboom-kaboom-cities-destroyed-innocent-people-are-killed movies. Is it better than the previous two series? Oh yes, absolutely! Like I said before, this movie is very teenager and the casts are suitable for playing high school students. The casts are also very diversed without putting any stereotype. I like that. We need that right now.

    So if you haven’t seen Homecoming yet, there’s still a chance for you as it’s still showing in your local cinemas. Go watch it!

    A post shared by Dara Oct (@darlaoct) on

    Image via.

    Dara | Bloglovin’ | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

    22 July 2017