Media Literacy: Our Responsibility

   Mobilizing the Millennials as Socially Responsible Prosumers

          Last January 29, 2016 we had a seminar regarding media literacy entitled " Mobilizing the Millennials as Socially Responsible Prosumers " at the APC (Asia Pacific College) Auditorium. The seminar was held with the purpose of developing a sense of responsibility to the generation of " Millennials " regarding social media producing and consuming.

          But first of all, who are the " Millennials? " Well, according to most researchers and commentators people who were born from the early 1980's to the early 2000's can be identified as the Millennials.

 

          The speaker was Mr. Tony Tiensin, a former GMA news producer and the current editor-in-chief of Subselfie.com; a website for Filipinos who want to share their voices. Mr. Tiemsin was the rightful speaker as he is a man of the media, he worked for the news and he runs a blog web site, what more could you ask for? 

          But where did his whole speech come from? Two words, Social Media. A lot of people use social media nowadays, most of us communicate online and according to research 3.5 out of 10 Filipinos are online, that's a whopping third of the whole population of the Philippines.

          Now even though a lot of us use social media, only a few know it's powers and capabilities; with a single post you can inform the whole world, that's how powerful it is and that's the reason why the seminar was held in the first place because as Uncle Ben said to Peter Parker " With great power, comes great responsibility. "

             Now in social media we all have two responsibilities, we are all producers and consumers, hence " Prosumers ." And If I must say, the seminar was held with great success. Mr. Tiemsin talked about the power of anonymity; mistaken identities; double lives; and the pros and cons of the social media.

         To sum it up, I can say that the seminar was very informative and in the end a lot of the participants (The APCians) asked questions, which means we paid attention and that for me is enough because the audience participation was the first step that meant we are beginning to understand our social media responsibilities.

Mr. Tony Tiemsin, asking the audience.

Timing is Everything

Movie Review: Turn Left, Turn Right (Spoiler - Free)

          " If two people meet and they both fall in love, that's destiny for sure. If neither loves the other, even if they meet millions of times, it's still not destiny. If one's in love and other isn't, and the one who's in love grabs on and won't let go while the other just wants to run away, not only is it destiny... It's pain. "

          That is a line from the movie Turn Left, Turn Right, and it is basically the theme of the whole movie; that love can be found anytime, and you only need one spark to start the fire of love.

          So today I will be reviewing the aforementioned film, and how it just oozes with "kilig."

One of the official movie posters of  Turn Left, Turn Right.

          So in this movie review I'm going to talk about three things, namely the character(s), the plot and the feeling of this movie, I'm also going to give my rating at the end of the blog.

          First things first, the plot. The movie is about two people, who are destined to be together but by some twist of circumstances never find each other. From the plot only you can tell that this is not your normal romantic drama movie as the plot can lead anywhere and it raises a lot of questions which spark interests.

          Personally, I love the plot as from what I said before it is unpredictable; will they meet? Will they not? Maybe they will meet but one of them is already dying? Those were only a few of the questions I asked myself while I was watching the movie because it was that immersive.

Gigi Leung and Takeshi Kaneshiro, respectively. 

          The next point are the characters. The movie's success was partly because of it's great casting. Takeshi Kaneshiro plays John Liu, an aspiring concert violinist who spends his days playing for the birds in the park and fending off the unwelcome advances of fawning women who don't interest him. Gigi Leung is Eve Choi, a literary translator who prefers to work with poetry and often finds herself frightened by the horror novels to which she's assigned. 

          John and Eve has a chemistry on-screen that I cannot describe which just makes me smile everytime they do something together and even when they're just seen together on-screen really makes me happy. I wish I could say the same for the supporting characters, Ruby (Terri Kwan) a waitress and delivery person and Dr. Hu (Edmund Chen) a doctor a former university classmate of Eve. The presence of the two supporting characters disrupt the mood of the movie for me.

A still from the movie Turn Left, Turn Right

          The mood of the movie is sentimental and nostalgic, nostalgic in the sense that it reminded me of the time were people could talk with no mobile phones in the way as what is happening nowadays and because there were

moments in the movie which showed their childhood memories, and for me that reflected my childhood as well.

          Overall I can say the movie was well made;every shot was akin to the illustrations in the book which the movie was adapted from;the cinematography told the story in ways the dialogue cannot, which how good cinematography should be; the characters were likable and had good chemistry with each other; the story was a piece of fluff supported by clever twists, with an ending that I would say is quite unconventional; and finally the movie really defines beauty in simplicity.

          So to sum it up, I will give this movie a score of 8/10.

          

                    

The Impersonator of Miriam Defensor

          Comedians are one of the most underappreciated people. Most of the time we only see them as people who can make us laugh with their jokes and tricks, we only see them as sources of our entertainment and more often than not we forget that they are humans too.

          Out of all the people that I thought would give me great life advice, a comedian wasn't certainly one of them. But that's exactly what happened last February 11, 2016.

          Last February 11, 2016 there was an event that was held at our school (Asia Pacific College) auditorium, it was a talk about following your dreams. I wasn't excited at first and thought to myself that this was probably going to be boring and that was the case until I saw who was going to conduct the talk, it was a comedian, whom I knew very little about.

          His name was Jon Santos, and the only thing I knew about him was that he was an impersonator of famous celebrities and politicians. I will not be detailing his life on this blog post, that is a post for another time, but what I will  be talking about here are the experiences he shared with us and the life lessons he taught us during his talk.

Mr. Jon Santos, wearing a fabulous purple coat.

          So after Jon Santos went up the stage and thanked everyone for inviting him to speak there that day, there was silence, and I could tell that the people were expecting that he would open up the talk with a joke since he was after all a comedian. 

          But he didn't, instead he began with a normal introduction to himself and to what he does, but with Mr. Santos being the natural comedian that he is, couldn't help but sneak in an impersonation of the famous senator Miriam Defensor Santiago to an unsuspecting audience member with the line "Why are you looking at me in a provocative manner!?!"

          There was laughter all around, and the whole talk continued like this, with Mr. Santos talking seriously about the life lessons he wanted to impart us and with him occasionally sneaking in impersonations of other famous politicians, like the former president Joseph Estrada and the aforementioned Miriam Defensor Santiago.

Jon Santos, delivering his talk.

          But out of all the jokes and the stories, what really struck me the most were the 9 lessons he gave us, about life.

The 9 lessons are the following:

1. Listen to everyone but choose whose words you will keep.

2. Learning will enrich you but learning what you love will make you the best version of you.

3. It might be a baby step but if it will move you forward, it is a step worth taking.

4. Knowledge is everything.

5. Win the war before the fight.

6. Adjust, adapt, evolve.

7. Always be grateful.

8. You're never alone in your journey.

9. Love yourself but learn to lose and let go.

          

Mr. Jon Santos, being awarded for his participation.

          After his talk, Mr. Jon Santos was awarded for his participation in the activity. Besides the 9 life lessons that Mr. Jon Santos has imparted us, I also learned something personally from the experience, it's that you can always learn something new from anybody regardless of their background and that even a funny man can teach you something about life.

          

A-B-M-A! 153!

Chants and Cheers Competition

          Last February 5, 2016 my class had to compete in a "Chants and Cheers Competition." This is what happened.
           
          My palms were sweating, knees weak, arms are heavy. On the surface I looked calm and ready. But in reality I was trembling with anticipation and excitement at the thought of performing in front of a whole audience in an auditorium. I stood there together with 24 of my other block mates, we were all nervous, I can tell, as I looked at each of them breathing heavily and wiping the sweat off their face. 

          I told myself, "This is it. It's either go hard or go home." I was especially anxious as I was the one assigned to start off our performance. So I stepped on to the stage together with my block mates, then I shouted.

          But before that, let's go back a little while. About two weeks before the event.

          So the information about the competition was given to us about two weeks prior. My block mate Azul Espenilla was tasked to lead the class, while I was assigned to be the co-leader. We kept reminding everyone to submit their own ideas for us to be able to finish the actual chant and practice as soon as possible.

          And then we made the chant, but only with a week left before the competition. If it hadn't been for our Grammar and Composition professor; Ms. Joie, who forced everyone in the class to make a contribution for the chant since it was a seatwork, we couldn't have even joined the competition in the first place.

Our piece, written on the whiteboard.

          So with only a few days left, we had to memorize the piece and assign various tones and styles to it, to truly make it a competition piece. We tried everything, from making each individual recite it on their own, to writing the whole piece on the whiteboard so everyone can memorize.

          And we did, we memorized the piece. But, we still didn't have actions and movements incorporated in our formation, and the problem was it was only a day before the competition.

          As it was the day before the competition, it was all hands on deck as we needed to get everything ready, we still didn't have costumes, props, and movements in our chant. So one of my classmates volunteered to buy all of our costumes, and the other volunteered to bring the musical instruments we needed. We practiced until 9 pm, polishing our performance and modulating our voices, thankfully, everyone cooperated.

My block mates before we performed. They were the same after, only frowning.

My block mates, enjoying themselves before we perform.

          So fast forward to the day of the competition. It was the day we had to perform what we worked so hard for, it was the day to face the crowd with strokes of green acrylic painted on our faces while wearing our skin-tight camouflage shirts.

          We were the third ones to perform out of the six contenders. While we were waiting for our turn we couldn't help but glance at each other. We felt like soldiers looking at each other before going in to war.

          But then it was our turn, it was game time. Like I said on the third paragraph, it was go hard or go home. This moment was important for me as it was a moment for our block to become as one, something that rarely happens.

          So I stepped on to the stage together with my block mates, then I shouted. I won't go in to details about our performance, but I can tell you that it was mediocre. We had time to prepare but we didn't, perhaps we still lacked the unity we needed, but our unpreparedness still got us the fourth place, which if I may say so myself, isn't so bad.

          As I was performing with them on the stage, I realized something. These are the moments that I should treasure, because I will miss them when I grow up. We chanted with our hearts and cheered with our souls, it was a crazy and wonderful experience. We may not have won the competition, but we learned a little more about ourselves, and that for me is our victory.

        A-B-M-A! 153!

          

Cylinder of Death

THE REAL ENEMY

          It is a small cylinder of finely cut tobacco leaves rolled in paper; it  is ignited at one end and allowed to smolder; its smoke is inhaled from the other end, which is held in or to the mouth. This small cylinder also carries a plethora of serious health risks such as heart and lung diseases. 

       The tobacco smoke from this cylinder contains 7,000 chemicals, and about 70 of them are known to cause cancer. These "cylinders" are also called cigarettes, and according to research, smoking one cigarette can take 10-14 minutes of your life. 

        So in short, smoking is basically a slow way to kill yourself, but from where I study it's just a hobby.

          I study at Asia Pacific College (APC), and of course like all colleges, its population is composed mostly of students. It is alarming to see that most of these students smoke more than their teachers and professors, it's like a competition about smoking, where the students are getting the upperhand.

          But in reality, there is no competition. Because everyone loses.

          With everything being almost accessible to the youth nowadays, it's not hard to imagine that a majority of college students are smoking, with some of them being underage, as in below 18 years of age. This is a sad fact, as it reflects our culture of indulgence and lack of self-discipline, with the number of these "underage smokers" growing day by day, is there still something we can do?

        Fortunately, not all hope is lost. Almost every college in the Philippines has something to combat this smoking addiction. In my college we have the "APC Anti Smoking Campaign," which is doing its part in reminding everyone in our school that you don't need to smoke and that it's a choice, whether to smoke and risk yourself of diseases or avoid smoking and live a healthier life.

        And trust me, smoking is a risk that you wouldn't want to take.

          But in the end, it's just a campaign, the real battle is within the smokers themselves, whether they would able to stop, or give in to addiction. Whether they would risk their own lives and the lives of the people around them, or choose to live a healthier for the benefit of everyone. 

         The APC Anti Smoking Campaign is fighting an on-going war against smoking, it is up to you to choose your side.

        

          

          

RIO ALMA

One Of My Childhood Heroes

          Back when I was a child, about 3 to 7 years of age, almost every week my mother would bring me home a story book. I had a lot of books when I still young but the books that my mother brought home for me were special, they had clever, interesting titles and stories that were also accompanied with wonderful illustrations, but most of all I found out that all these books were made by one publishing house, Adarna Books. And the founder of Adarna Books; the organization that was essentially part of my childhood, is none other than Virgilio S. Almario.

          So in his honor, I wrote this short biography of the man who filled my childhood with wonderful and imaginative stories.

Virgilio S. Almario

          Virgilio Senadren-Almario better known by his pen name, RIO ALMA, is a Filipino artist, poet, critic, translator, editor, teacher, and cultural manager. He was born on March 9, 1944, in Bulacan. His parents, Ricardo Almario and Feliciana Senadren, worked hard to raise their family out of poverty.

          At a young age, Virgilio had already displayed a proficiency in the literary arts, in an interview he recalled that he was only 5 years old when he wrote and recited his first poem. But his young age was a slight hindrance as all of his other classmates were older than him, so in most activities he was counted as "saling-pusa." His teacher then had to pass a letter of recommendation to the Department of Education in the Bulacan Capitol for him to qualify to study at a much younger age.

         Despite his youth, he topped his class. And in 1950 he was tasked to deliver a piece for his first grade graduation ceremony as valedictorian at the Camias Elementary School in Bulacan, something he did with great ease as he was already able to read and recite verses at this young age.

          He finished elementary from Camias Elementary School in 1955 and secondary from San Miguel High School in 1959. Growing up in Bulacan among peasants, Almario sought his education at Manila and completed his degree in A.B. Political Science at the University of the Philippines in 1963. His life as a poet started when he took master’s course in education at the University of the East where he became associated with Rogelio G. Mangahas and Lamberto E. Antonio. He then attained a M.A. in Filipino in 1974 from the University of the Philippines.

Rogelio G. Mangahas

Lamberto E. Antonio

           Together with Rogelio G. Mangahas and Lamberto E. Antonio, they spearheaded the second successful modernist movement in Filipino poetry.

In the years of martial law, he set aside modernism and formalism and took interest in nationalism, politics and activist movement. 

         Over the years, he has become a prolific artist in multiple areas of the literary arts. As a critic, he critics dealt with issues of national language and the severe self examination of self and society. Aside from being a critic, Almario also engaged in translating and editing, translating contemporary poetry and novels from the likes of Nick Joaquin, Euripides, Lope K. Santos, and Jose Rizal to name a few. And as a writer he has written more than a hundred poems and stories as well as numerous essays on literature and history published in national and international publications. 

          His works have garnered local and international attention, earning him multiple awards like Centennial Award for Literature by the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 1998 and ultimately the National Artist for Literature award on June 2003, there are many more but it'll just be a huge wall of text.

          Virgilio S. Almario is still one of my childhood heroes, his body of work has instilled the minds of Filipinos with the sense of nationalism, something that we lack nowadays. He is an artist that has gone beyond the perfection of his craft, and at 71 years old, he still fulfills his responsibility and role in Philippine culture, a moving force of the Philippine literary arts. And as an aspiring artist, I look up to him as a model, a teacher, and as an inspiration.

References: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgilio_Senadren-Almario

http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php/Virgilio_S._Almario