What Worst Curse

Speaking about curse, it reminds me to this movie "Penelope". Somehow I think Penelope and I have one thing in common, the curse. Well, not exactly the same curse since I don't have a piggy  nose, but my "curse" also keeps me as prisoner in my own life.

First, let's see about Penelope. Penelope is the only daughter of Wilhern Family, rich and wealthy family. She's been hidden by her parents almost in her entire life since Penelope suffers from a curse placed by a witch for her ancestor. Generations ago, Wilhern family's son impregnated one of the servant, who was the daughter of the witch. The son offered marriage but his family refused and married him to another.

The witch's daughter then jumped off the cliff and it made the witch upset and cursed Wilhern family. The curse is that next girl born into the clan will be having the face of pig. For generations, only boys were born into the family until finally Penelope was born. The curse could only be lifted if one of her own learns to love her. Its interpreted by her parents as a blue blooded man from rich and wealthy family should marry her. In the search for that man who will break the curse, her parents invited and "interview" many rich men but always ended up with those men ran scarily to see her face.  Despite of her ugly look, Penelope herself is a smart and intelligent girl.

One day, Edward who was so frightened after seeing Penelope, teams up with a journalist name Lemon who has been stalking on Wilhern family since Penelope was a baby to get Penelope's picture. They paid Max to get in the house and snatch pictures, but they mistakenly take Johny as Max. Johny (Played by James McAVoy- I saw him first time in the movie "atonement") finds that Lemon and Edward plan is cruel and decides to renege his agreement with them. He refuses to take pictures of Penelope. He feels the love chemistry for her but for some reasons, he left Penelope.

Penelope thought that Johny dislikes her, being disappointed she runs away from home and journey into the city. Later, her identity is discovered, but public reaction is surprising and Penelope becomes celebrity. To see public fondness on her, Edward's father wants him to marry Penelope. Penelope's parents urge her to accept so that the curse will be gone.

At the last minute of her wedding, Penelope realizes that she doesn't need any wedding just to remove the curse. She refuses the wedding and tells her mother that she likes herself the way she is, even with the piggy nose. She accepts her ugly appearance and will live with that. Magically, Penelope's pig snout and ears are gone. So, the curse breaker is that simple, self-acceptance.

Penelope moves on her life, being horticulturist and teacher. At costume party which she wears a mask, she meets Johny who is still unaware of her transformation. He apologizes for not being able to break the curse and left her since he's just ordinary man, not a rich and wealthy. Penelope removes her mask and......yeah...the romance has just began.

What about my curse ? hehehe....I think that I also must accept what has happened to me, being gratitude to the situation that I am in now, no matter how I hate it, I should learn to accept and enjoy it. Who knows that things will get better with the positive mind, especially in this new coming year. So Happy New Year Everyone !!!

About Anggun C. Sasmi

I have a friend who loves Anggun so much. He admires Anggun, collects pictures of her and follows her newest updated story, he's just crazy about her. I think its very reasonable, we all are proud of Anggun. A talented beautiful singer who made a brave decision to pursue her international singing career and left her comfort life here in Indonesia.

I remember, I think I was in elementary school when Anggun's song "Tua Tua Keladi" stayed on the local chart and being played most of the time. She was very famous as young rocker lady. By that time, her trade mark was the caps hat. She won many awards and built her own recording company while she was just 19 years old !

On 1992, she met Michel de Gea -a french man- when she visited Kalimantan (Borneo). They got married after few months and he became her manager. On 1994, she surprised everyone when she left the country to expand her international career. They lived in London at the beginning, then moved to French. It was not an easy way to start a new singing career as being nobody in foreign country. I saw once her interview on TV sharing her experiences where everything was different and how she must survive and work very hard, doing house works by herself (no maid to help like in homeland) and at the same time fighting to make her dream comes true, exercise in gym and maintenance her vocal.

I quote this from her interview with Jakarta Post on 2001, people accused her that she despises her own country especially after her French citizenship granted: "I'm tired of having to explain myself. It doesn't mean that I hate my own country. It's because I think I have to improve. I have to know other countries, other cultures, learn other languages. It's for my own good. If people don't like it, well, what can I say."

In French, she faced another problem that her demo tapes were rejected, because English record was not too popular for market. Immediately she learnt French language at Alliance Français-Paris for few years. Finally, she was accepted by Sony Music, with the help of friend, she met Erick Benzi, a famous producer and composer. Benzi agreed to co-operate in one condition, Anggun must leave the rock style.

Anggun released her first album on 1997, "Au Nom de la Lune" (in the name of moon) and her first single La Neige au Sahara became the most aired song on the radio in French. On the next year, she launched her English album - "Snow on The Sahara" and being sold in 33 countries in Europe, Asia and America. Followed by second album on 2000 which also sold more than 1 million copies worldwide, she got international awards for her achievements and the world started to recognize her existence. Isn't she inspiring ?

Sadly she divorced from Michel on 1999, but she met Olivier Maury on 2003 in Canada when she moved to Montreal and got married in Bali. She divorced again on 2006 and now she's a happy mom of cute baby girl (kirana) from her relationship with Cyril Montana-a French writer.

Anggun-Undress Me - #1 Turkey chart on 2005

The albums :