13 - The Phantom of the Opera

A 2004 Musical Blockbuster Film by Andrew Lloyd Webber

Film showings on class hours. Doesn't it get you relaxed? The fact that the whole class is just going to sit down there with the lights off and watch the movie. Typically for me, I was just thinking about sleeping on the class period, but this one movie caught my attention. It's a musical film called The Phantom of the Opera at The Royal Albert Hall. Now I know what you're thinking. "Opera is boring, some people say you'd die in boredom". But this movie will change the way you think about operas. I myself found this movie very passionate, and has a great polish to top it all off.

I won't spoil you from the film of course. I will just tell you a situation that is really similar to the movie's plot. So it's like in real life problems, arranged marriage. Being forced into something you don't want by the greater good, or so they say. Imagine being that woman and how limited are your choices in life. Exactly, you can't find an easy way out of it. But this similar situation in the movie is not all about bad luck and unhappiness. There was a big twist in the end that made everything so confusing, but so logical. I promise you that it will change the way you think of the characters. So, you may want to watch the movie yourself. :)

 Now to the musical theme of this movie.

Opera is expressing the story through live musicals. Attending an opera makes you feel the music with the story. So it fills your atmosphere to help you get deep in the story. But this movie made it so realistic that it connects the story the real atmosphere in the theater. You would really feel like there is a ghost inside the place. So this live act made you really feel more of the atmosphere in it. It's like they're making you feel like you're in the movie yourself. Now how about that? It's like you're in a 4 Dimensional film. Except that the fact is, you really are. How cool is that?

This film really is worth the time. This will really change your thoughts about theater arts. And this film will make you feel the athmosphere deeply. So why not ask if your friends have a copy, or buy the movie yourself.

12-Merlinda Bobis

Merlinda Bobis

The multi-talented writer, performer, and academic

My grandfather once told me. "If you can tell stories, create characters, devise incidents, and have sincerity and passion, it doesn’t matter a damn how you write."

Merlinda Bobis. The author of Banana Heart Summer.

Merlinda's Early Life

Born in Legaspi City, in the Philippines province of Albay. As a child her main interest was painting, but at age ten she began writing poetry because ‘painting with words’ was cheaper. Poetry makes a person mature and more intelligent. Merlinda Bobis attended Bicol University High School then completed her Bachelor of Arts Summa Cum Laude at Aquinas University in Legaspi City, a post-graduate degree Master of Arts in Literature from the University of Santo Tomas, and aslo a Doctorate of Creative Arts at the University of Wollongong, and now lives in Australia.

Merlinda's Career

Written in different genres in both Filipino and English, her work coordinates components of the customary society of the Philippines with cutting edge settler experience. Likewise she is also a dancer and visual artist, Bobis presently instructs at Wollongong University for more than twenty years now. Her play Rita's Lullaby was the winner of the 1998 Awgie for Best Radio Play and the international Prix Italia of that same year. In 2000 White Turtle won the Steele Rudd Award for the Best Collection of Australian Short Stories and the 2000 Philippine National Book Award. Most as of late, in 2006, she has won the Gintong Aklat Award (Golden Book Award, Philippines) for her most recent novel Banana Heart Summer, from the Book Development Association of the Philippines. And now She continues to dream new stories in Canberra.

I can say that Merlinda can be part of the Filipinos that we should be proud of. She have so many achievements in her life that truly showed how artistic she is a person. And as a female, I bet it is hard for her to be part of something big, but you can see that she succeeded in most of her attempts in pursuing her dreams. I also salute her for reaching this far in her career knowing the fact that she comes from a province here in the Philippines (Bicol). 






As a Filipino, there are so many people that we should be proud of. The "Filipino Heroes" that is usually taught in our school is nit the only Filipinos that bought success and glory to our country. But also these Filipino artist that worked hard in becoming a Filipino Pride. 

11-EDGE OF TOMORROW

The action in Edge of Tomorrow happens in a not so distant future in which in outsider race has hit Earth in an unwavering strike that can't be crushed by any of the world's military units.

Major William Cage is a military officer who has never seen a day of battle until he is unceremoniously dropped into what adds up to a suicide mission. Killed inside of minutes, Cage gets himself mysteriously tossed into a period circle, constraining him to experience the same severe battle again and again, battling and kicking the bucket over and over.

Be that as it may, with every fight, battling close by Special Forces warrior Rita Vrataski , Cage gets to be ready to draw in his enemy with expanding skills. As Cage and Rita battle the outsiders, each rehashed experience gets them one stage closer to vanquishing the enemy.

The movie was really fascinating, especially for an action fanatic like me. I was astonished by the great graphics of the film. And the fun part of the film is that it have different elements to it, such as:

POSITIVE ELEMENTS

Cage does find Rita after he wakes at Heathrow, and their partnership sets him on a slow path to becoming a better soldier and a better man. As time goes on (or doesn't, as the case may be), we see him and others giving their all to battle their relentless foe, fighting fearlessly for those around them. Cage grows to selflessly love Rita, and he becomes committed to doing absolutely anything to find a way to save her … along with all of mankind. He's not alone in that later goal: A number of soldiers are willing to stand fast in hopeless situations to further that aim.

Though Rita doesn't remember the many looped days that Cage knows, she soon comes to immediately re-recognize his blossoming goodness and trustworthiness.

SEXUAL CONTENT

Cage slyly talks to Rita about somehow transferring the alien DNA (the time-looping substance that found its way into his bloodstream) from one human to another through bodily fluids. She catches on that he's suggesting they have sex … and quickly shuts him down, letting him know that she's tried it before and it doesn't work.

Somebody makes a coarse crack about hooking up with two girls at once. Rita wears a flak vest that reveals quite a bit of her bare back. A soldier suits up in his mech armor without his uniform, allowing the camera to catch a glimpse of his bare backside. Several guys are seen shirtless in their barracks.

VIOLENT CONTENT

Blasting, pummeling images of war, its dead and dying clutter the screen. And because of the looping/time-travel conceit, some characters—particularly Cage and Rita—are seen being killed over and over and over again, each death a slight variation of the last.

Those deaths include percussive explosions, impalements from creature tentacles, and images of our heroes being strafed by shrapnel and banged by large mechanical devices and vehicles. A number of times we see one or the other of them lying prone, dead with a glazed-over expression.

As Rita quickly tries to train Cage and bring him up to speed as a soldier, he's battered relentlessly—bones routinely breaking. In each case it's recognized that Cage must "die" in order to restart the day and thus get on with the important training process, so Rita casually shoots him in the head whenever he's hurt. (We generally see her point the gun at the camera and pull the trigger.)

Source: http://www.pluggedin.com

I enjoy the film as much as I enjoyed watching TOM CRUISE <3 Because he is HANDSOOOOOOOOOOOME.

10- My second day in English Culminating Activty

THE SADDEST PART OF ENGLISH TERM IS SAYING GOODBYE TO ENGLISH TERM. 

Goodbye writing stories
Goodbye fun activities
Goodbye bloody papers
Goodbye proposals
Goodbye speeches
Goodbye all my English professors
GOODBYE ENGLISH TERM 

          

But let's be sad later and not think of the goodbyes for a while.

The second day of English Culminating Activity is more fun than the first day. We watched speech choir competitions that is really exciting. Because we saw different sections of SoM competing and delivering their best performances, It was really entertaining. Especially for the audience, But it was nerve wracking for the participants of the competitions. Our section delivered of speech choir performance. The piece given to us is entitled  "At Christmas" Its a fun and exciting piece. It was about Christmas season and how man become best in his part at Christmas day. Christmas is a fun and exciting day for everyone. Especially for children and to child at heart adults like most of us.



What else give joy to me that day is listening to different speakers as the deliver their ignite speech. I want to join ignite speech, not because I know I can perform best but because it's hard and I want to take the challenge. But I think that the challenge can wait :P I saw our representative perform her best in delivering her speech. So we cheered for her because we can feel that she is a bit pressured and cheering for her is the best thing we can do for her. WOHOOOOOOOOOOOOO! SHOUTOUT FOR ATE LAINE. Congratulations for doing your best! And I remember the sounds they play was a boost in our spirits. It's the last day of class for this year. We\re all excited to come home and celebrate Christmas and HOLIDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!


At the end of the day, We didn't won anything. But we cannot tell that we're losers. because we won the most important and essential gift of all.




THE GIFT OF KNOWLEDGE. The gift of learning so much more than we expect. Learning the right use of words and becoming credible. Learning that we can overcome our fear of public speaking. Learning that we can be good writers. Learning so many things that only English term can give us. 

THANK YOU ENGLISH AND GOODBYE FOR NOW.
YOU HAVE GIVEN US SO MANY GOOD MEMORIES AND FUN EXPERIENCES. 
YOU WILL BE MISSED.

9- My first day in English Culminating Activity

I ACCEPT THE CHALLENGE. 

That is the first sentence that popped to my my mind when Miss Nina told me that I will be one of the representatives of our class for the inter-class speech competition for the English culminating day. 

I was never a fan of English subject. I believe in what most people said that "If you're good in math, you're not good in English" So when I learned that Asia Pacific College have what they call ENGLISH TERM. I was quite nervous, Oh I mean REALLY REALLY NERVOUS. But I was surprised to the outcome of my performance. I sometimes get the highest grade, and now I can't believe that I will be representing our class.

                                                       

                                         

The theme of the program will be the theme of our speech "The cult of celebrities and fantacies ... A Filipino obsession?" And that theme will always popped out of mind time to time ever since it was discussed to us by Miss Nina. As a students that is really really concious with my grammar and diction. I was not confident in making my speech. I often lose hope in finishing my speech or sometimes, I just give up and start again from scratch. I made 3 speeches. All have different message. But at the end of the year, I end up choosing the speech that I made from the heart. The speech about my boyfriend and I slaying cancer. 

                                                           

And finally, the day of the competition came. 

FIRST DAY OF ENGLISH CULMINATING ACTIVITY  

Here I am now, standing in front of the judges. delivering my unmemorized speech. Yes, I didn't memorized my speech. But in the end of the day. I delivered my speech with heart. Then, the judges announced the speakers that will move on to the final round.  I was shocked. I WAS ONE OF THE SPEAKERS. Who could have thought that the girl that didn't memorize her speech will be moving on to the final round? Well, certainly not me and also not my fellow competitors. I was the only one that didn't memorized my speech and moved on to the finals. 

And that is where my nerves get the best of me. I delivered my speech on stage with a phone in my hand. hoping that I will end up my speech the same way I did the first time I delivered it. BUT I DIDN"T

        

But at the end of the day. I enjoyed every part of it. The joy of learning more in English and developing my communication skills. Is the essence the English term to me.  I would like to thank the English teachers that have been a part of my English term and for helping us, especially me in facing my fear in English subject. That is just the first day, I can't wait to tell you about my second day. 

8-Healthy Eating

Healthy Eating

Wise men say: "Eat to Live. Not Live to Eat"

Strong bones, healthy skin, hot body. All of those goals can only be achieved through the way you eat. I personally want to have the best shape of my life. As a girl having a healthy thin body is one of my greatest dreams. But that goal has the hardest challenge. To eat vegetables, and to say goodbye to sweets <//3

                                           

A solid eating regimen is one that keeps up or enhance general wellbeing. A sound eating routine gives the body vital sustenance: liquid, satisfactory key amino acids from protein, fundamental unsaturated fats, vitamins, minerals, and sufficient calories. The necessities for a sound eating regimen can be met from an assortment of plant-based and creature based nourishments. A solid eating routine backings vitality needs and accommodates human nourishment without presentation to lethality or unnecessary weight pick up from devouring over the top sums. Where absence of calories is not an issue, a legitimately adjusted eating regimen is additionally thought to be vital for bringing down wellbeing dangers, for example, weight, coronary illness, sort 2 diabetes, hypertension and cancer.

One way to ease the challenge is to have a vegetable-pro Chef by your side. That person could either be your mom, dad, or boyfriend. Because they can make the vegetables taste like magic. They can even make vegetable taste and feel like meat. 

Remember eating healthy should be a habit. Because you'll never know when harmful deceases will attack your body. Here are some warnings of food that you must be aware of:

Hard Preservatives
-Instant noodles, Canned goods. These types of foods are infused with chemicals to be preserved for future use. Of course we all don't like how that sounds. Chemicals inside our body.

                                 
High Calories
-Dairy, Cookies, Chocolates, Fats and Oils. Our biggest craves are actually our bad addictions. These are the types of food that will make us fat easily.

                                         

So now you must change your daily diet right now exactly right now! You won't want to end up like the obese people I know! 

CARMENA, not Carmina

A lot of people get confused with my name's spelling since the name CARMENA is a rare name and it's pretty much like Carmina.

Hello everyone! My name is Carmena but you can call me Mina. I'm 16 years old, Freshmen college student of accountancy in Asia Pacific College. I am a proud graduate of Pasay City Science High School and pretty much spent my years of learning a scholar. I'm the youngest in our family with an age gap of 9 years and I can say that I don't really get a long much with my siblings since they are more mature than me and I cannot argue with them because I'm the youngest. I live in Merville Village Paranaque City. I have a fiancé, His name is Francis Reyes and I am happy to be with him. I love him till death but of course I also love my parents the same way. I am a majorette for four years in my former School, a talent that I'm proud of. I can describe myself a young, happy go lucky type of person and not afraid to face problems by myself. 

So, to tell you more about me. I'm not the kind of girl who can always keep up with your trash. I'm not the type of girl that other girls envy. I'm not the type of girl who you can just flirt with because seriously. Why the heck would someone try to flirt with someone who's happy with their relationship? Some people are just so insensitive and rude. I'm just your normal type average girl who doesn't want any fights, hates rumors, and treats you the way you treat me. So, just be good to me :) I'm satisfied with my life. For me enjoying everything God gave you is the meaning of life :)

So, be nice :) And you're welcomed anytime to be my friend.

Facebook: Mina Tabalan
Twitter: @CarmenaBaby
Boyfriend: NOT YOU <3