16- Edge of Tomorrow: Live. Die. Repeat.

(Edge of Tomorrow)

When one of our teacher in English decided to let us watch "Edge of Tomorrow" I was really excited since it is one of my favorite movies after it was released. Since I was really really excited I have a tendency to blurt out some spoilers about the movie but I refrained since I wanted my classmates to watch it without interruption.

The story starts with Major William Cage who is a public relations officer in the military was forced to join the front line of the battle against the aliens. He refused since he has no experience against fighting or whatsoever but his superior arrested him and drag him to the camp with the note of him being a deserter or a liar who is proclaiming himself as a major. Of course, the day came when he is sent on the field and finds himself lost since he has no experience and was killed by an Alpha which sent him on a infinite loop. 

Whenever he dies the day restarted again and again until Rita told him his mysterious condition and ask him to help her fight against the aliens. His task is to find the Omega and at the same time to train himself to fight the aliens. The story goes on and on with him dying and the day repeating though it was a bit funny since whenever Rita died or they made a mistake he is forced to kill himself or accidentally kill himself while groaning. Though at some point I pity William since he is forced to battle even if he is a civilian and he fought like a thousand battles while watching Rita dies again and again. But what saddens me the most is when they all die in the end but at the same time I feel happy since  they are all again alive with Cage being a major again.

Overall, Egde of Tomorrow is a great movie even if the ending is a bit confusing for others. It is a movie worth watching for and at the end of it you might definitely repeat their tagline "Live. Die. Repeat."

15- Phantom of the Opera

Music of the Night

Night time sharpens, heightens each sensation
Darkness stirs and wakes imagination
Silently the senses abandon their defenses

Slowly, gently night unfurls it's splendor
Grasp it, sense it, tremulous and tender
Turn your face away from the garish light of day
Turn your thoughts away from cold unfeeling light
And listen to the music of the night

Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams

Purge your thoughts of the life you knew before
Close your eyes, let your spirit start to soar
And you'll live as you've never lived before

Softly, deftly, music shall surround you
feel it, hear it, closing in around you
Open up your mind, let your fantasies unwind
In this darkness which you know you cannot fight

The darkness of the music of the night1

Let your mind start a journey to a strange new world
Leave all thoughts of the world you knew before
Let your soul take you where you long to be
Only then can you belong to me

Floating, falling, sweet intoxication
Touch me, trust me, savour each sensation
Let the dream begin, let your darker side give in
To the power of the music that I write
The power of the music of the night

You alone can make my song take flight
Help me make the music of the night

This lyrics is entitled “Music of the Night” if you are familiar with the Phantom of the Opera then I’m sure you’ll be able to sing this song.

For me, The Phantom of the Opera is my favourite of all the plays I’ve ever watched the second is of course Les Miserables. The reason why I love The Phantom of the Opera is because of the story. Especially the love story between Christine and Raoul but personally I would ship Phantom and Christine. Another reason is because of the songs since it is nice and the lyrics are wonderfully made and it really portrays a lot. And another reason why I love Phantom of the Opera is because of the Fan fictions especially when I read one about Phantom and Raoul and no it is not about shipping them but rather it is where they became brothers due to an incident but fan fictions aside. These are the reasons why I love Phantom of the Opera it may seem an old story but the story and the plot itself is really magnificent and you would not notice that it is an old play.

Overall, I would recommend you to watch The Phantom of the Opera especially the 25^th anniversary since it is really amazing.

14- Speech Choir Competition

The Part two of the program was the Ignite Speech Competition and Speech Choir Competition. For our Ignite Speech our representative was Laine Antonio she presented a speech on how to understand women and how you can relate with them. One of y favourite ignite speaker is the guy since he talked about the different kind of people in the class such as the Bully who always bully, the donkey who is hardworking and really helpful , the phocopy machine which always copy, the hyperactive who is active, the musicians who always brings guitar and a lot more. And as for the Speech Choir competition all of us recited the poem “At Christmas” By Edgard Albert Guest

Here is a copy of the speech

At Christmas

Edgar Albert Guest

A man is at his finest towards the finish of the year;
He is almost what he should be when the Christmas season's here;
Then he's thinking more of others than be's thought the months before,
And the laughter of his children is a joy worth toiling for.
He is less a selfish creature than at any other time;
When the Christmas spirit rules him he comes close to the sublime.

When it's Christmas man is bigger and is better in his part;                                           
He is keener for the service that is prompted by the heart.
All the petty thoughts and narrow seem to vanish for awhile
And the true reward he's seeking is the glory of a smile.
Then for others he is toiling and somehow it seems to me
That at Christmas he is almost what God wanted him to be.

If I had to paint a picture of a man I think I'd wait
Till he'd fought his selfish battles and had put aside his hate.
I'd not catch him at his labors when his thoughts are all of pelf,
On the long days and the dreary when he's striving for himself.
I'd not take him when he's sneering, when he's scornful or depressed,
But I'd look for him at Christmas when he's shining at his best.

Man is ever in a struggle and he's oft misunderstood;
There are days the worst that's in him is the master of the good,
But at Christmas kindness rules him and he puts himself aside
And his petty hates are vanquished and his heart is opened wide.
Oh, I don't know how to say it, but somehow it seems to me
That at Christmas man is almost what God sent him here to be.

Overall, the program was a success although my block mates and I were sad since we did not win any single competition but we are glad since it is already finished and we can enjoy our Christmas vacation.

13- Speak Sense Season 2: Inter High School public speaking competition

Last November 27, 2015, The Asia Pacific College invited 10 high school students to join the Inter High School Public Speaking Competition with the APC Speaks as the main organizer for the said event. The mechanics of this competition is to make a speech that has a relation with the theme “The Best of Times or Worst of Times. It’s the only time we’ve got”. Each speaker presented a speech that has something to do with their own life experiences or perhaps a life-and-death-situation. After delivering their speech, they are given some question from the judges that they should answer.

One of my teacher told me that he favoured the speaker who had a life-and-death-situation with a hotdog and a cola. I know it seems funny hotdog and cola with life-and-death-situation. Anyway, my teacher favoured this one since his speech was good although the content still needs to improve.

Another speaker delivered a some sort of poetry that has connection with the theme although I find myself confused at some point since he delivered too fast and he even forgot some of the lines which earned a chuckle for some audience.

 As for my favourite, It was the last speaker which I have chosen. Her speech was really intense since she talked about her dysfunctional family, her fears for her parents and sibling, and her life. She even talked about committing suicide since she couldn’t bear the pain but she stop and think of the consequences after that. Her speech was really inspiring even though I do not have a dysfunctional family I could empathize with her problems.

 After all the speeches the APC Speaks presented a game which is called Speed Speech. A game where you should give a speech about the topic assign to you. For example, your first topic is juice you have to tell us about juice and 15 seconds later the emcee would give another topic which is not really related to the first topic which i why this game was a fun to all of us since we chuckled and laughed at some players.

Overall, the program was a success and it was a fun and a good learning experience.

12- Public Speaking Competition

Public Speaking Competition and Speech Choir Competition

Last December 21, 2015, The APC Speaks organized the event Public Speaking Competition wherein six representatives from each block were chosen to give a speech that has a relation with the theme “The Cult of Celebrities and Fantasies... A Filipino Obssession?”. 

After a few minutes of waiting, the program started and each representative where assign to different rooms for the elimination round. While waiting, the APC Speaks presented a game which is called Speed Speech wherein they would give you several topic and your tasked is to make a speech to connect all of them. This game was really hilarious since the topics are not connected to each other. One topic is all about cactus then Manila Zoo then Drugs with Hamburgers and many more.  Another game was also presented which is called “Ignite” this game is basically the same with Speed Speech but this time they are two players for each representative of the block. The topic where Lady Gaga, Darth Vader, Laptop, Watermelon, Dustpan, Taylor Swift, and a lot of words which I couldn’t remember due to laughing so hard. And, the last game which is for the whole block has something to do with Christmas song in short we are battling by singing Christmas song and if we repeat a Christmas song that was sang by the other block then we are out.

After all, this game the program proper started. It was really fun since three of m y classmates were included for the final round. Their names are Allysa Biona, Carmena Tabalan and Dea Rose Mahinay. Allysa Biona presented with a speech that has something to do with love and being heartbroken. Carmena Tabalan presented a speech that has somthing to do with her boyfriend who had cancer and Jamitch. And Dea Mahinay presented a speech that has something to do with her life experiences.

My favourite was Dea’s speech since she talked about her life of being a disabled person since her left leg is three inches shorter than the other. The reason why I love her speech is because it was really inspiring especially when she said that you can achieve happiness with self-acceptance. I could really relate well with her quote.

Overall, the program was a success and we are still nervous since after this competition the nest day would be Ignite Speech and Speech Choir.

11-Media Literacy: Mobilizing the Millennials as Socially Responsible Prosumers

 Social Media has been the greatest source of entertainment for every millennial youth nowadays but due to us being into social media we tend to forgot what really matters the most to all of us and we tend to get easily influenced on what we see.

Before the seminar started they let us watch a video which went viral years ago and has the topic of Ferdinand Marcos, Ninoy Aquino, Cory Aquino, and Power People Revolution. The video itself was actually breathtaking since the presentation was good and the information was a bit helpful. 

The seminar started with Asia Pacific College invited three female guest speakers, who works as journalists, and was given the chance to speak to students about Social Media nowadays and how it blinds us to our society.  What shocked me is that the three of them worked for Jessica Soho, a known TV program, which I really watched since it is interesting.

The First Speaker shared to us some tips on how to write an effective story or news article and what to avoid. She even discusses on how the journalist works in everyday life.

For the Second Speaker, she shared to us about Social Media and how it blinds us to what matters the most. If anyone still could still remember the Aldub concert titled “Sa Tamang Panahon” that concert has reached 40 million tweets while the Lumad Killings has only got 100+ tweets. The speaker told us that we are so focused on the things that does not matter the most or than the thing that should really matter. She even shared another story wherein a guy was falsely accused in the social media for bombing a place. That guy was bashed and always received death threats even though he was innocent but what shocked me is that when he was killed the same people who falsely accused him had the guts to apologize and offer their condolences.

Lastly, the third speaker shared some trivia on journalism and its perks but somehow it seems a bit boring to me or maybe because it was already nearing lunch time.

My favourite part of the event s when they give us tips or the strengths and weaknesses of the running presidential candidates for 2016. 

Overall,  the seminar is great and I have learned a lot because of them.

10- Plagiarism

What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism came from the root word “plagiarize” which means “to copy”. Nowadays plagiarism is one of the major problems in terms of schooling since we tend to copy the work of someone without crediting the author of the work or we tend to forget to site the sources. Another problem that arises is the accidental plagiarism, a type of plagiarism, in which you accidentally copied someone’s paragraph or work without you knowing about it. I remember asking one of my teachers in the English term about this plagiarism cases.  I told him that what if a student accidentally wrote the same paragraph from another work. He answered that the professor always assume that a student would research on his/her topic very carefully which means that the student has the responsibility not to copy a paragraph from another work and they also have the responsibility to site the sources.

And to avoid plagiarism I listed four tips that you must remember in order to avoid plagiarism.

1. Paraphrase

                Paraphrase helps a lot since all you have to do is read and understand the work of someone and make your own by your own words.

2. Site your sources

                If you are not good in paraphrasing then you can site your sources since it makes your work would credible enough to impress your reader and at the same time giving credit to the person who made that idea.

3. Research the topic very well

                Some would agree that research is a boring thing to do but it will help you a lot in order not to plagiarize because if you know your topic well enough you can easily make ideas and transitions for your work.

4.  Socialize

                Socialize is another thing that you can do to avoid plagiarism. How does socializing helps in avoiding plagiarism? It helps us in a way that you would be able to know more about your topic and you would be able to get more feedback or ideas from others.

These are the four tips to remember. Some of them may look common or may sound legit to you but I can definitely say that these four tip would be able to help you avoid plagiarism and at the same time learn more about your topic.