UPDATES!

Alright! Been busy in school for this past weeks. Haven't been writing any good and sensible articles. But surely will do it when Le is not busy. But for a while I got the chance to watch this movie "Iron Jawed Angels" in our Gender Relation class. The movie was all about Alice Paul- a  feminist hero and resident bad-ass of the American suffragette movement. Her efforts  brought about the 1920 constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote.

And a question was thrown to us :  In the scene were Alice Paul (Swank) was thinking about the new name for their organization, Ben Wiseman (Dempsey) was taking care of his son, what does it signify? How does it play with the current society?


In the past years women were the victims of discrimination, in a number of different things. They also have built their stereotypes of being just simply a woman, lady, sex object or a mother. Women have no rights to join in any political discourse but only to finish their simple jobs at home. But when Alice Paul rises and got the guts, everything slowly changed and progressed.


In the scene when Alice Paul is awake, thinking of the name of their organization while Ben Wiseman was taking care of his child proves only that   everything was slowly progressing and changing the stereotypes of women to not being only a mother type but also have rights equal to men. The scene surely goes to show that men taking care of his child (a woman as a mother should do) and women indulging herself in a political discussion (a man should do) signifies that they are both capable of doing those different acts and thus they are equal.  Ben Wiseman taking care of his child and letting him go to sleep is an act that does not really suit for a man to do because he is ought to engage himself in politics and not of only taking care of his son. While Alice Paul thinking of a new name in her organization does not also fits to her role. This situation or scene shows a revision of both roles in the society, that a man can do woman’s work while a woman can do man’s work.

In our current society simply replicate also the message of the scene. As we can see and experience now, we had the two women presidents in the country, the former pres. Cory Aquino (the first woman president in Asia) and former pres. Gloria Arroyo. We also have women senators and congresswomen. This implies that in these days a woman can rule a country and can join in a political discourse.

CodeNamers/ ACG

Friendship is the best relation one can have ever in his entire life and usually building your circle of friends happens during your high school days, like forming a group and naming it. This is the high time where you can find your best friends or sometimes tough times to test your friendship. It has been 7 years where my friends and I formed a group and name it “ACG” [I forgot why is it ACG]but unfortunately we didn’t survive the quest of amity. [Fast forward! Let’s  not just talk about the reason behind it. Haha]

                                                                the "ACG"


Meet the ACG
1. Vien (Vivien Acaylar)

The artist! well, she is a really really good artist! I adore her hands for that!  We became friends when we were in elementary. She is always on the go and has a good heart also. Well, i can't say bad things to her coz she's kind, pretty and brainy and like me we can't stand out if the height will be the standard.Haha. Though we got a conflict back then, she still remains as my friend. We hang out here in Manila or province as well. Thumbs up for the artist! :) Love you vien. (wala ng magtatampo)


2. Tina (Kristina Fabellar)

Well our friendship was really test before. Super mega test! that's it! But before that, she was really good friend to me. She shared her problems and i shared mine too. She lean on my shoulder, I lean also to her. I love how she support each of us when we want to do or achieve something. She's  friend you can turn to when others leaves you. We became close  enough to annihilate the gap between us. But i guess time really heals everything. I do not see her that much now, but I hope we will soon get attach to each other. I super miss my bonding with this girl. Miss you tina!

But then, as we all became mature (as I know. Haha) providentially on our last year in high school, we mingled and built new friendship with new ones and end up naming our circle as “CODENAMERS” or simply as CN. Why codenamers? It is out of the blue where we assigned a name or should I say a “codename” to each one of us and started calling it to ourselves instead of our name. And then that’s it! A new group was formed! Our codename may sound stupid to you or might get you hungry. But one thing is for sure. It was unique and astounding! :)

                              sorry edited si bevz. haha, wala kasi sya e :)

                                    Celebrating Christmas with them :)

                                          happy moments with them

Meet my CN Family [Alphabetical order! Haha]

1.  “Balutz” (Abigail Uba)

I never really thought we will be such as good best buddy friends. I first saw her when we are in grade six—it was a journalism seminar, we’re from different elementary school anyway. Then the second was my first day in high school. We are both in a special science class. At first there were nothing going on between us. She has her group back then and I have mine as well. But after year round we casually talk and became closer in our third year stay in HS. This girl is a bomb! I super enjoyed (enjoying) her company and I hope she enjoys mine as well. I love how she appreciate things and how she honestly but serenely gives her opinion about certain topics or issues. Seriously, she's demure but became” loka loka” coz of us! Haha. She’ll be my forever “balutz”! I love you Abi :)

2. “Grudge” ( Beverly Arceo)

Another Epic friendship story! She became my classmate when we are in grade 1 and 2, just a classmate: no more no less. And then I transferred to another school that’s why maybe, we didn’t get the chance to be more acquainted to each other. Fast forward again to HS days, still we didn’t talk that much. But instantly became closer to each other because of the “Parliamentary debate” [School division contest] and then became buddies when we started mingling and plus the fact that we have the same way home (so apparently we go home together). At first I thought of her like, she doesn’t have time to go out and have fun with friends’ coz she is really into studying! You know some brainy lil girl but that was an epic fail! Haha. She’s so crazy when you get to know her. She can really drop down that book and make kwento about this or that! She’s really madaldal! Haha! I thought no one can beat me with that, but then again, it was an epic fail! One thing I super admire with this girl is that you can make her roll in floor laughing with your corny jokes. I swear you’ll never be “lugi” when you’re in front of her.  She already! I miss you girl!

3. “Rakator” (Jane Mabagos)

This girl is zany! Yes! That’s the right term for her, haha! Since the day I met her when we were grade 2, the way she act, she pose, she speak, huh! It’s still all the same. You’ll never have time to frown when you’re with her. I guarantee that! She’ll make all the possible jokes and pose just to make you smile! I love everything about this lady! Aside from being zany, she’s also frank! No no no! Don’t you ever get wrong this girl coz seriously, what she say-she does. However, when a friend is in need, you can always count on her. She is the girl to the rescue! The sweetness is also in her list. Yes! She is sweet, she’s zany, she’s frank, and of course she is a friend.

4. “Kwek” (Ronna Mugar)

You are lucky if she is your friend. She got everything! She’s pretty, (well all of us are pretty! Haha), she is kind, she is everything nice! She is brainy as well, and of course she got the HEIGHT! Haha! She is the bestest! I first got acquainted with her in my childhood days. I super can’t recall that event, all I remember is that she and of course her family came to our house. And then that’s it. Fast forward, when she transferred in my school (grade 5) and then a split second we became friends. And more than friends, like bestfriends. I am so proud, so happy and so thankful that God gave me this girl. She already! Haha! I love you kwek! And will miss you! You should take a bunch of care when you’re already in Portugal! (note: she’ll study abroad na kasi)

5. “Kikiam” (Rubie Caballes)

Last but not the least! My kikiam! The “amazona” in the group! Haha! She is perfectly imperfect!  I love how supportive she is to us, and everyone. This girl is also crazy! And of course the “RK” – RICH KID! Haha. Everyone thought of her like really amazona, a super strong lady that anyone should obey (especially our boys. Haha) but there is always a soft spot on her that sometimes no one can see but us. I love how she can handle pressing matter so smoothly! I love how she shows her sweetness to us, like mugging us, slapping us, walloping us and stuffs like that! Haha but really she is sweet in that manner. You can also and always count on her when you have problems especially when it comes to money and boys! Haha! I love you bi!

These girls are like a family to me. Without them I don’t know life can be. They will be my forever super girl friendship! I super love you my babies

Much love -----------MIKKI :)

In High Spirits

I just celebrated my 19th birthday with my friends [hotel hopping] and of course a von voyage party for my bestfriend Ronna :) being with these zany gals was really fun and these photos were the proofs :)

                           Wea, Sandra, Jane, Vivien, Ronna, Mikki, Rubie, Abi

first pose in hotel

with the Portuguese girl :)

Goodluck with our feetey! haha

Indiana style!

ok, preparing for our breakfast! So full! we almost had 6-7 menu :)

TIRED! but we all enjoyed!

3 years from now i will celebrate my birthday without my bessie :( but will sure a skype will back up then :)

The Supergirl Wannabe

Bianca Gonzalez, the Supergirl wannabe--as she humbly refers to herself in her personal blog, is the first person that pops out in my wits thinking someone who is famous, and interests me. Why her? Well, there are million things I love about her and you will know it right after you finish this article.

Bianca Gonzalez real name is Bianca Monica Malasmas Gonzalez. Yes, it is Gonzalez, with “z” and not s, and was born on March 11, 1983. She is a Filipina TV personality: model, host, writer, and a thought mover, who embraces and stands out with her 5’4 ½ ft height and sun-kissed skin. With all the pressure to conform to society's measure of beauty, it is amazing how she dons the Pinay pride and refuses to jump into the whitening bandwagon. She got into the industry after her very first shampoo endorsement (Pantene). Her hair must be the lucky charm until now as she recently tagged as the "queen of all fringe" for setting the trend on bangs by online fashion magazine StyleBible.ph.

 Digging up her education, Bianca is both green and blue-blooded. She went to De La Salle Santiago Zobel School from junior prep to high school and graduated from Ateneo de Manila University with a Bachelor of Arts degree, major in Communication (film and production track) and minor in Philosophy. She was a consistent star student. She was part of her batch's honors section in high school and also the dean's list in college. I believe that her intellectual and no-nonsense approach in hosting proves it and makes her stand out. I can't think of anyone else from her generation of female hosts who can handle both socio-political and showbiz issues. I totally love her for that!

Bianca is also a family oriented person. She is been very expressive of how crazy she is about her family. Her personal blog is full of entries raving about her mom Ofel, brother JC, sister Aissa, and nephew and godson Roco. I adore also her humble attitude and her friendliness to all kinds’ people. One proof is that I tweeted to her asking if I can feature her in my character sketch article (which is now you are reading) and she suddenly sent me a direct message. Allowing me to do it and thanking me too. She is also well known for her youth advocacy. A specific advocacy she feels strongly about is children's education. This is evident in her choice of socially-oriented activities. Apart from being an appointed UNICEF Philippines' Child Rights Supporter, Bianca also spearheaded the HELP KIDS LEARN PROJECT, an initiative she started in 2005 which aims to assist less fortunate kids with educational supplies. One of her another personality that made me love her is being thrifty. Unlike other celebrities her age, shopping wasn't always associated with her.

When it comes to things she likes high-cut Chucks (Chuck Taylor) will always be on the list. Teen magazine features on Bianca never failed to mention her collection of it. When we tackle her food cravings, McDonald’s should start thinking about getting her as an endorser as she effectively advertises their nuggets, Coke float, and sundae! Random Twitter posts reveal how she constantly indulges in it. While in her past interviews have been consistent in saying that she has been using Johnson's baby cologne since she was a kid. Although known for being thrifty and not keen on shopping, there is one thing Bianca does not mind splurging on - travel. Her unique collection of tumbling shots in memorable landmarks has already been featured on TV, print and of course on her personal blog.

When we talked of her achievements, this makes me feel proud being her fan. At the age 23, she became the youngest person to be named by People Asia as One of the Most Influential Personalities of the Year (2006). She also won the Meg teen choice awards as the Favorite Female Host, also won the UP Gandingan Best Panel Discussion host of Y speak. Both are in the year of 2008. She also won on the 2010 24^th PMPC Star Awards Best Female Oriented Talk-show Host in E Live and recently, she just earned the #ThoughtMover title at the 2011 Globe Tatt Awards.

RH Bill: Anti? or Pro?

I have read a chronicle about RH Bill entitled “Why the RH bill is bad: the real truth behind the suppose truth about the RH bill”. It was written by Dustin Celestino. The style and way of how the article is written was really groovy. It flares me up at first. I thought it was serious and it was really about to wrap me up that the author is really against the RH Bill but as you continue to read it, he is about to change all his viewpoint into being a pro one.  It was a humorous critique in a satirical form of the various fallacies that the church passes out as justifications for opposing the bill. The writer is making a parody out of the controversial issue. He is somewhat kind of using a technique that bombard the audience which he called “stupidity” until they agree out of frustration. The sarcasm used was simply to mock the argument of those opposing it.

Some of the fallacies he includes and the meaning behind it in his article are:” Students in public schools are well educated because the teacher to student ratio is very low,”--of course we are bombarded with the news of getting low education. “We are not overpopulated! Look at the mountains, the jungles, the caves and the ocean floor. There are no people there!”--The point here is not the geographical area, but the resources; we are short in resources compared to the number of population. “Furthermore, the role of women in society and the universe is to make babies. That’s why God made women. That’s their sole purpose in life.”—and this, who else will believe that women is made only for procreation? It is a big NO. A woman just like a man should have the rights to decide what and what not to do with their body. “Population decline is just bad for nations. Just look at the countries which have a declining population – Italy, Japan and Singapore. They’re in such a bad shape. The Philippines obviously has a better economy and has a higher literacy rate than these countries.”—vice versa! Of course those said countries are wealthy than us. “In my opinion, people should make as many babies as they can because the population is not a problem, If ever a person is not able to feed the 15 babies he made, it’s the governments fault, because it’s the governments sole responsibility to make sure that every Filipino baby is fed.”-- We are an important piece in the development of our government. Feeding 15 babies in a family is not of course the sole responsibility of the government. We hold responsible for every action we make and the government is just there to support us. “The RH Bill is wrong because the priest said so, and priests are never wrong”—in this mortal world, no one is perfect. Everyone can make mistake, even priest.

Well, back in my thoughts. Though it is sarcasm, it is a little too simplistic also of the stand of those who do not support the RH Bill. Even if unintended, it seems to imply that those who are of the opinion to oppose the RH bill did not arrive at their decision rationally. Of course it is also true that many Anti-RH bill advocates are, for the lack of a better word, passion-driven. Nevertheless, if you are a Pro-RH bill advocate who grounds her arguments on the rationality of supporting the RH bill, then isn't it also reasonable to differentiate from among the Anti-RH bill advocates those who arrived at their decision based on rationality too? Sarcasm is not a constructive way of making one's point in a discourse. It only aims to derogate the opinions of the other party. If you cannot respect the opinions of your opposition, no matter how much you disagree with them, by what standard can you demand them to respect yours? 

I am obviously against the RH bill. I respect other opinions. In fact, I may even agree with them. This is because I do support population control, social justice, universal health care and other goods the Bill claims to uphold. But what I am against is the bill itself, in its form. It is still insufficiently clear as to how it shall be implemented with efficiency while still maintaining the highest ethical standards acceptable. I believe that while this issue remain unaddressed, I cannot as a student and as a citizen, conscientiously support the RH Bill. 

Bad Teacher

It is now a high time, then, to bid goodbye to Ms. Virtuous innocent female protagonist and say hello to Miss nasty foul mouthed, mean-minded and dedicated only to her narcissistic pursuits one. Woman characters in the past years in movies or in teleseryes are appealing only when they are self-deprecating, when they allow themselves to be the butt of the joke. She also have to be a little pathetic, a loser at dating with a recently failed baking business in her past. Bad Teacher is hardly the perfect picture, it was funny, entertaining, and seemingly has a bit morals and the character broke the mold of protagonist in a refreshingly different way.

The single note is struck early when the protagonist Miss Halsey played by Cameron Diaz drawn to the profession by the classic motives of short hours, summers off, no accountability, is seen in front of the class applying her patented pedagogical methods, show the students a movie, fall asleep at her desk, hit marijuana. She does not even care about her job as a nurturer of young minds. Her trend almost always in short, tight dresses and stiletto heels, her bloodshot eyes hidden behind black Ray-Bans, she looks, frankly, used dissipated, hungover, her make-up smeared, her wide mouth looking unusually lewd. She is not anyone we aspire to be, or even anyone we want to be friends with. She frees us from the tyranny of relatability: She is a flagrant, unrepentant fictional character, perhaps the scariest thing a woman in a modern movie can be. None of that good-girl stuff for the character. Our approbation means nothing to her; what she really craves is our disapproval. Another ghastly scene in the movie is when her rich fiancé dump her when his mother or he himself found out her true nature, and then she determines that the best way to find herself a rich husband is to buy herself bigger boobs. Surgery is expensive; money must be raised. Every scene is contrived to make you say, "That is a bad teacher”.

So, the movie is one broad joke on the theme of how-bad-is-she repeated over and over, and most of the early reviews have complained about its coarseness and vulgarity. Yes it may show nasty deeds that will make some teachers react and students laugh, but will give them an education like no other because there is always a room for improvement--the best thing I like in this movie.  The characters manage to go through kind of development over the progression of the movie. Although that she is not punished for breaking almost every law there is, ethical and legal, she is not rewarded either. With the protagonist in particular ending up in a very different place (as a guidance counselor) than where we initially find her and even coming to care for some of the kids as her sneaky ministrations threaten to unravel. Where she ends up is very satisfying and even touching.

The production values were a lot higher than I expected. The pace never get dragged too much and whenever one segment of the lead role scheming was done, another segment was speedily introduced in order to keep us laughing and keep us from thinking too hard about the utter absurdity of what we are watching. Plus, with an environment as ripe for an exploration of misery, alienation and downright nastiness as a school, it in fact manages to portray the place as quite a happy institution, with the worst event being a mistimed declaration of love for a girl which is quickly fixed.

A look at the past MMFF controversies

The 36th Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) is over. As in past Christmases,   this event promises celebration and competition, all for the benefit of our movie industry. The winners were proclaimed three days after the festival opened last Dec. 25 and once again they had some funny choices. It is only the year, the faces and the names of participants to the annual Metro Manila Film Festival that change, but the essence and politics of the event remain the same. Controversies and issues have been rocking the MMFF, year in and year out. It’s the struggle to perfection that makes the difference.

Now, Philippines has been affixed to the title to signify a never-ending tension and contradiction among classes, interests and motives in this commercial event hiding as an art venue. Winners are now based partly on the box-office receipts and not merely on the film’s merits. It is really all about money, money, and money. Going back to its history, the festival was founded on year 1975 and in the past 36 years, it was only in 1994 that there was no Best Picture winner. It is also interesting to note that in 2006, Enteng Kabisote 3 won Best Picture award besting the well-made Star Cinema comedy Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo. It is just one of the most controversial years in the history of the film fest. Assuming the Metro Manila Film Festival is a commercial festival, there is nothing wrong with it. Because we all know that aside from being an art, moviemaking is an industry. It is a business. However we should not forget that this event has its objective to showcase outstanding Filipino movies. We should improve it by allowing only quality film who passes the standard of the board.