09- Isagani R. Cruz

I still remember the day that our teacher assigned us work to do during the APEC week and one thing for sure is that I sighed I did it not because I hate making blogs but because my work is piling up including the household chores. But I was shocked when I saw what we were going to research about and that is about Filipino writers. I shook my head and sit myself straight and that time our teacher passed around a sheet of paper wherein we would sign our name to indicate that this is our chosen Filipino writer. I as stare at the paper I could not help but find the name “Isagani R. Cruz” interesting since  I had this sense of déjà vu when I saw it without any hesitation I signed my name and passed the paper around.

Who is Isagani R. Cruz?

Isagani R. Cruz is a Filipino short story writer, critic, educator, publisher, advocate and a multi-awarded and prolific poet. He was also the former Philippine Undersecretary of Education and currently the Academic Publications Executive Publisher of De La Salle University, Director of the Teachers Academy of Far Eastern University, and a visiting lecturer at the Ateneo de Manila University and University of Santo Tomas.

He won the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature several times and was included at the Palanca Hall of Fame due to his works written in both Filipino and English language. He also won SEAWRITE Award, Centennial Literary Contest Award, and the Balagtas Award as a writer. Mr. Cruz is also known for his drama and film reviews.

He is also worked with the famous universities in the Philippines. He is the publisher and the Alfredo E. Litiatco Professor of Literature in De La Salle University.  In De La Salle, he taught Science Fiction, Advanced Writing, The Teaching of Literature, Rizal, and Bridge. And now, he is teaching Philippine Literature in English at Ateneo De Manila University.

As an advocator, he is a member of many institutions and groups that promotes Literature and Art. He is a member of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers, the Concerned Artists of the Philippine. He is the founding chair of Manila Critics Chair. He is also the former president of the Philippine Studies Association, the University of the Philippines Writers Club, and the Cultural Research Association of the Philippines. He was also the Philippine bibliographer of the Modern Language Association of America.

His works:

Stage Plays:

·         
·         Talong Api (Three Vicitms)
·         Wedding Night
·         Ms. Philippines
·         Moro-Moro
·         Delilah
·         Bienvenido, My brother
·         And Etc.

Stage play/Translations:

·         Leron Leron Sinta

·         Ang Tatay Mong Kalbo (the reason why I got a Deja vu)

·         Mga Bisita sa Kenny Hill (Visitors at Kenny Hill)

·         And Etc.

Since he has a lot of work, it would be tiring to list every single one of them so I would just give one example of his translated work named “Pansinin Mo ang Sarili Mong Krus”

Pasanin Mo ang Sarili Mong Krus

By Benigno Aquino Jr.
Translated by Isagani R. Cruz

Pasanin mo ang sarili mong krus.
Lakarin mo ang buong bayan.
Ikalat mo ang balitang may pag-asa.
Gisingin mo ang iyong mga kababayan
mula sa kanilang di-mapakaling pagtulog.
Hamunin mo sila, tulungan mo silang
itakwil ang pagkaalipin.
Alalahanin mo ang ating kasaysayan
ng kalayaan at katarungan,
ng pag-alay ng dugo ng ating mga bayani,
ng luhang nagdilig
at nag-alaga sa puno ng kalayaan.
Ipaalaala mo sa kanila na ang puno ng kalayaan
ay magbubunga lamang kung pinatataba
ng bangkay ng mga nang-aalipin sa kanila —
mga bangkay na pataba sa lupa!
Kung walang makikinig sa iyo,
kung walang sasama sa iyo
sa iyong dakilang pagkilos
dahil sanay na sila sa pagiging
tahimik at duwag na alipin —
maglakad ka pa rin,
pasanin mo pa rin ang krus ng bayan
kahit na mag-isa kang naglalakad!

Source:(Wikipedia)

08-Giselle: A Romantic Ballet

(Giselle)

Last summer, I happened to stumble upon a manga named “Coda” because I was really bored and I had nothing to do. I decided to read it since I was really curious and while reading I couldn’t help but laugh at the main character, Kunisada Haruichi, because he was forced to dress and act like a girl since Yuri Arbatov, the ballet prince, wouldn’t perform in the show without him dancing the part of Giselle. (Yes, I know it sound surreal but a boy would be dancing the part of Giselle) And the reason why Yuri was hesitant in taking another dance partner was because his last partner got an accident while dancing the pas de deux. And he believed that only Haruichi can dance the part.

And this was the reason why I came to know Giselle. 

At first, I was really curious on what Giselle was and after researching I found out that it was a romantic ballet with two acts:  First Act and Second Act.

The First Act starts with Giselle, a shy and beautiful peasant, who met Albrecht, the Duke of Silesia, who is currently disguised as a peasant named Loys. Albrecht fell in love with Giselle and wishes to marry her but sadly there are a lot of hindrances to his way to romance. First, he was betrothed to Bathilde, the princess of Courland, which he would marry on a sooner date. And second, he is of a high position and marrying a peasant girl would cause a ruckus. And so, he decided to disguise and ask for the help of his trusted man. He moved to the village and removed his possession and dressed like a peasant. Then he introduced himself to Giselle and his mother, Berthe, as Loys.  Hilarion, a gamekeeper, and also one of Giselle’s admirers became jealous of Loys and Giselle’s relationship. He was also suspicious of Loy’s identity and he vows to himself to find out about Loy’s identity and to expose him. Even Berthe, Giselle’s mother, was also suspicious of Loys’ identity and told her daugther to be very careful since she was protective of Giselle due to her weak heart that causes her to have a poor body condition.

 One morning, Loys’ trusted man returned and told him to stop the treacherous act of pretending and return to the castle but Loys refused and told him that he returned to the castle. Until one day, the sound of hunting horns was heard and in came the Prince of Courland together with his daughter, Bathilde, the betrothed wife of Albrecht. The prince and princess were welcome with joyous festive, refreshments and several dances. Princess Bathilde got interested with Giselle’s shy and sweet nature and offered her necklace to Giselle. Though, the joyous festive was interrupted with Hilarion’s abrupt entrance while carrying Albrecht’s sword and declare that Loys was actually not a peasant but is actually of high standing. Loys entered the festive and Bathilde was shocked because she recognized him as Albrecht, the Duke of Silesia, and her betrothed husband. Giselle was overcome with grief and sadness and so she took the sword from Hilarion’s hands and stabbed herself in the heart. Giselle died in her mother’s arms.

(Wilis)

The second act starts with Hilarion mourning over Giselle’s grave but was suddenly got scared over the Wilis, the spirits of women who were abandoned on their wedding day. The Wilis were led by their queen, Martha, who haunt the night and forces man who came upon their sight to dance all night until they die of exhaustion. Queen Martha uses her magic on Giselle’s grave and turns her into a wilis. Albrecht who also turns up on Giselle’s grave and mourns on it was surprised to see Giselle above her grave in her wilis form. Albrecht begs for his forgiveness and Giselle forgives him as she went into the forest to join her other mates. Albrecht followed her in desperation while Hilarion was forced by the other wilis to dance and he died from exhaustion. His body was thrown into the river and Albrecht was also forced to dance but Giselle pleads for Martha, queen of the wilis, to spare Albrecht. But Martha coldly refused and Albrecht was forced to dance but Giselle’s love broke through the wilis magic and saves Albrecht life. The other wilis return to their grave due to sunrise and Giselle bade Albrecht farewell leaving Albrecht alone and Giselle rests in peace.

For those who still want to know more about Giselle, Giselle is a romantic ballet piece made by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Théophile Gautier. Gautier got the idea of Giselle from Heinrich Heine’s description of Wilis in De l’ Allemagne as inspiration for Act II and from Victor Hugo’s “Fantômes” since the verse is about a fifteen-year old Spanish girl who loves to dance and she became too warm in a ball and died of a chill in the cold morning. Gautier thought that it would make a good ballet story and proceeded to make one but he was not satisfied of the outcome and asked for the help of  Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges, who had written a lot of ballet librettos. And then after writing the story it was brought to Léon Pillet, the director of Paris Opera and asked Carlotta Grisi if she approved and Grisi approved.

Source:(Wikipedia)

(Giselle and Albrecht)

Overall, Giselle is a really beautiful masterpiece and one that I would really recommend watching. Even though I am not fond of ballet and I couldn’t help but fall in love with Giselle.

07-SOM Week: SOM is the new SOAB

Last October 26 the Asia Pacific College launched the SOM Week or School of Management Week with the theme SOM is the new SOAB (School of Accountancy and Business) to declare the unity of the different courses such as: Tourism Management, Marketing Management, Business Management, and Accountancy.  The program started with a parade of the different courses followed by the dance number of the APC dance troupe, and the presentation of the candidates for Mr. and Mrs. SOM. At the afternoon, the TM Mystery challenge started with a lot of participants. Their objective was to find clues and solve the mystery of the family.

Of course it would not be a week if I am only mentioning October 26.The following days until October 30 the programs were Faculty Bluff where the faculty members would play and one thing for sure that it was a very funny sight to see, the seminar with the theme “CSI: Awareness on the Digital Environment” where they invited a speaker who has an experience with cyber scam and various viruses or malwares and taught us how to be conscious and be aware of what is happening when we surf the net, SOM night where students would hang out and enjoy the remaining SOM week, Intramurals where in students would compete with another students from a different course to win the championship, and last but not the least the SOM Pageant where the Mr. and Mrs. SOM candidates competed with to win the throne of the 2015 Mr. and Mrs. SOM.

Overall, I was actually disappointed that they changed the name because I was expecting SOAB week not SOM week but I am glad because we were the first batch that celebrated the very first SOM week and although the events were little I still had fun cheering and laughing at the various antics that SOM students would do during the SOM week. 

06- Parasyte-the Maxim: Live Action Part 1

The movie is actually based on a manga called “Kiseiju: Sei no Kakuritsu” illustrated by Hitoshi Iwaaki. An Anime television series was aired by Madhouse on Japan during October 2014- March 2015. 

The story starts with an alien trying to invade Shinichi Izumi (Sota Sometani) who was

Anime Version

falling asleep by going inside his ear but the alien found out that it was being blocked by an earphone. In order not to risk its life the alien decided to enter through his right hand. Shinichi woke up feeling something not right until he saw something moving in his right hand. The next morning, he found out that an alien invaded his right hand and called him Migi (Sadao Abe).  As the story goes on, Shininchi finds more information about parasite through Tamiya Ryoko (Eri Fukatsu) while exacting revenge against Mr. A who killed his mother.

While watching this movie I can definitely say that it was very amazing and the graphics is really good. It sure was a bit gory especially when they are eating human and I was sure that it would make a good Halloween movie. But I could not help but ask in confusion where Shinichi’s father was since in the anime version of Parasyte his father was present but in the live action he was not. 

At some point, of the movie I remembered Shinichi and Migi’s conversation. Where in Shinichi said that Migi is an Akuma (Demon) and Migi searched for the meaning of Akuma and told Shinichi that the closest thing to an Akuma was a Human. It was funny when Migi said that but when you think about it you will realize that what Migi said might be true at some point. And the other conversation where in Migi is trying to say that the parasytes are just like human. A human sustains theirselves by eating food and parasytes sustain themselves by also eating humans. It was quite creepy to hear but Migi do has a point but just erase the human eating part.

To those who are fanatic of watching scary or gory movies then I would definitely recommend watching Parasyte-the Maxim Part 1 and if you ever find yourself having a cliff-hanger moment then you may purchase the Part 2 at Japan since it was already released.  

05- Turn Left, Turn Right

One's a coincidence, Two's an accident, Three's a pattern

This is the only thing that I can say to describe the movie.

Turn Left, Turn Right is a 2003 movie directed by Johnnie To and Wai Ka Fa with the stars Takeshi Kaneshiro (John) and Gigi Leung (Eve). It was actually based on a novel named “A Chance of Sunshine” by Jimmy Liao The movie was really wonderful and honestly saying I am really not fond of watching romance movies but I can make an always make an exception. The movie depicts the love story between a struggling violinist named John and a translator who works for a publishing company named Eve.  

One’s a coincidence: Why coincidence?  They actually live right next to each other but only separated by a wall; they even go out of their houses with John going on the left and Eve going on the left. Even the author of the book makes a cameo appearance with his family in the movie. What a coincidence right?

Two’s an accident: Why accident? Well they finally meet because of an accident where in Eve’s manuscript fell in the water and John picks it up to help her but Eve accidentally knock down John’s music sheets that lead them to picked up every papers on sight. As they were talking, they finally realize that they were searching for each other since they were little kids. Excited, they exchange their telephone numbers but it got smudged by the rain.

Three’s a pattern: Why a pattern? As the movie goes on, they were kept on looking for each other and waiting in a place where they met. Where John was, Eve would be there and where Eve was, John would be there. It was a cycle watching them go here and there but not even meeting once.

One’s a coincidence, Two’s an accident, Three’s a pattern…

Four’s a warrant right?

But for this movie

Four’s a destiny

Four’s a destiny: Why destiny? They finally meet other with the help of an earthquake that destroyed the wall that blocks their view with each other. The quote from the movie “Life’s full of coincidence, even two parallels might someday meet” is a great one indeed.

The movie might be a bit cliché but I would definitely recommend watching this movie especially to those people who loves watching romance.