Embrace Me as Graphic Designer/Filmmaker in the Future

I am so excited to attend tertiary level classes. As much as I want to say university, it feels like I will be attending an institute instead.

Just a while ago, I have been to Waikato Institute of Technology (Wintec)’s information evening to inquire on my choice of course, which is Bachelor of Media Arts (BMA). BMA offers programmes in (x)advertising, (x)digital media design, fashion design, (x)graphic design, interior design, journalism, (x)moving image, Maori and Pacific Island performnce and production, (x)music production, painting, (x)photography, public relations, radio broadcasting, sulpture and (x)songwriting. Programmes with (x) are courses which I would like to take in my study here in New Zealand. Unfortunately, Wintec does not allow double majors according to the tutor I shared a conversation with.

As much as I want to take all of my preferred majors, I decided to take Moving Image as my major and do minors with photography and graphic design. In the future, finally, I will be working as a graphic designer and a filmmaker. I am very excited… really, really excited.

For the First Time [2008, Philippines]

Category: Film
Genre: Romance
Rating: ***/**

Official Site: http://forthefirsttime.yehey.com/

Language/Country: Filipino/English/Philippines
Running Time: 1 hour 53 minutes
Release Date: August 27, 2008

Director: Joyce Bernal
Writer: Vannesa Valdez
Starring: Richard Gutierrez, KC Concepcion, Phillip Salvador, Geoff Eigenmann and Candy Pangilinan

This movie is all about how people are changed by love. One man is changed from his bohemian lifestyle of meeting and leaving women anytime he feels like it, into considering a life of commitment. The other is a woman who refuses the feeling of falling in love and suppresses her emotions by putting up a facade of work and civility. The effort between following one’s emotion and the desire to comply with one’s mission is strongly highlighted by the romantic sunsets, awe-inspiring views and diverse landscapes provided by the Greek island of Santorini.

“For the First Time” follows the lives of two teenagers from very different worlds. Seth (Richard Gutierrez) is a rich, impulsive playboy who runs away from serious relationships and doesn’t give much thought to the women he goes out with, and Pia (KC Concepcion), a prude, ambitious girl who feels responsible for the tragedy she once encountered, and with a scar to constantly remind her about this unfortunate experience. But when the two accidentally meet in Santorini, their differences did not stop them from spending one unforgettable summer together—that is until Seth runs away again, scared of the very unusual feeling that is happening within him.

This struggle between emotional attraction and rational repulsion is further enhanced when Seth comes back to Manila and tries his best to again cross his path with Pia and regain her affection.

Will he succeed? Can the womanizer Seth prove to have changed into a one-woman guy? As the two realize that they cannot easily prevent the mysterious strategies of love of keeping them together, they also cannot avoid the consequences of their past and their families’ discomfort with each other. The conflicts in land ownership and businesses of their parents are now parts of a wall that is growing in between them.

What will prevail? Is it love or is it reason? Can Pia let go of her past once and for all and have the confidence to choose the life she’s been dreaming to have? The whole story is a romantic fondue of love and the transformation it brings with all the conflicts and uncertainties being changed into a mixture of pleasant emotions and relationships. (Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia)

Helen Fielding : Bridget Jones’s Diary

The main focus of plot is Bridget’s love life. At the beginning of the year she is a single woman,or “Singleton,” who is surrounded by “Smug Married” couples, and worries about dying alone. However, during the course of the year she becomes involved in two romantic relationships. The first is with her charming and handsome boss Daniel Cleaver, who eventually cheats on Bridget with a younger, more attractive woman. Bridget’s second relationship is, surprisingly (at least to Bridget), with the stuffy human-rights barrister Mark Darcy. These two men are connected by more than their relationships with Bridget, as Fielding reveals near the end of the novel.

Bridget not only obsesses about her love life; she also details her various daily struggles with her weight, her over-indulgence in alcohol and cigarettes, and her career. At the beginning of the novel she is employed in the publishing industry, but after her breakup with Daniel Cleaver she quits and begins working, somewhat accidentally, as a journalist for a local television station.

Bridget’s friends and family are the supporting characters in Bridget’s story. Her close friends are Shazzer (a strident feminist), Jude (a highly-successful business woman), and Tom (a gay man). These friends are there for her unconditionally throughout the novel; they give her advice about her relationships, and support when problems arise. Her friends are essentially her surrogate family in London. Bridget’s parents live outside of the city, and while they play a lesser role than her friends, they are important figures in Bridget’s life. Her mother is an overconfident, doting woman who is constantly trying to marry Bridget off to a rich, handsome man. Her father is considerably more down-to-earth (though he is sometimes driven into uncharacteristically unstable states of mind by his wife). Bridget often visits her parents, as well as her parents’ friends (primarily Geoffrey and Una Alconbury). In these situations, Bridget is often plagued with that perennial question “How’s your love life?” and exposed to the eccentricities of mid-to-upper class British society, manifested in Turkey Curry Buffets and Tarts and Vicars parties. (Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia)

Stephenie Meyer : The Host

Melanie Stryder is one of few “wild” humans – rebels who have evaded the alien souls that have taken over the Earth. With her younger brother Jamie and the man she loves, Jared Howe, Mel is on the run from souls who hunt down host bodies for use. Souls are creatures that rely upon host bodies to survive. After insertion, they erase any mental presence of the being there prior and establish a claim over the body and mind. Earth is Wanderer’s ninth planet, and Mel is her ninth host body. Upon waking inside her new body, she is shocked not only by the vividness of human emotions, memories, and senses, but quickly learns that Melanie Stryder is not willing to give up her mind.

Wanderer is bombarded with memories and her host body’s yearning for Jared and Jamie, and finds herself in love with the humans and desperate to see if they are still alive. On a road trip to Tucson, Melanie remembers her Uncle Jeb telling her about a secret hideaway he once made. Wanderer sets out to find the hideaway, and is found half-dead with exhaustion and dehydration by Jeb. She is taken back to the caves in which a rebel cell lives, but is treated spitefully as they believe Wanderer to be a “parasite” in Melanie’s body. Kyle and Ian O’Shea, two brothers, attempt to kill Wanderer, but are stopped by Jeb. Given time, Wanderer becomes a part of the routine by working, eating, and becoming an unofficial history teacher after evening meals; some even grow to believe that Mel is present in her mind as well. During this time Ian befriends Wanda, as she is most often called. Meanwhile, Ian begins to fall in love with Wanda, who is confused because of the love she feels for Jared. Insisting that Ian is only in love with her body, not Wanda the soul, Wanda rejects him.

When Jamie returns from a raid with an infected cut to the leg, Wanda and Jared sneak out to a hospital where she steals supplies to bring back to Jamie and the rest. At this point the humans realize that Wanda can be of use to them as a raider, since she is trusted by other souls. Following another raid, Wanda decides to reveal her biggest secret: how to remove a soul without killing either the human or the soul, a procedure that their doctor had been attempting unsuccessfully. She promises to teach Doc under two conditions: first, he promises to send the souls to new planets, and second, he promises to remove Wanda’s soul from Melanie’s body and bury Wanda, who does not want to be a parasite any longer.

Wanda sneaks away from Ian, who is enraged at the idea of Wanda ending her life, and has Doc remove her from Melanie’s body. Later, however, she awakens in a new one, and it is revealed that none of the humans wished for her to leave. The book ends with the rebels, when on a raid with Wanda, discovering another rebel group who also have a soul amongst them. This discovery suggests that humanity may still have hope for the future. (Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia)

Mayday Parade : Miserable At Best

Katie, don’t cry, I know you’re trying your hardest
And the hardest part is letting go of the nights we shared
Ocala is calling and you know it’s haunting
But compared to your eyes nothing shines quite as bright
And when we look to the sky, it’s not mine, but I want it so

Let’s not pretend like you’re alone tonight
(I know he’s there and)
You’re probably hanging out and making eyes
(While across the room he stares)
I bet he gets the nerve to walk the floor
And ask my girl to dance and she’ll say ‘yes’

Because these words were never easier for me to say
Or her to second guess, but I guess
That I can live without you but
Without you I’ll be miserable at best

You’re all that I hoped I’d find in every single way
And everything I could give is everything you couldn’t take
‘Cause nothing feels like home, you’re a thousand miles away
And the hardest part of living is just taking breaths to stay
Because I know I’m good for something I just haven’t found it yet, but I need it

So let’s not pretend like you’re alone tonight
(I know he’s there and)
You’re probably hanging out and making eyes
(While across the room he stares)
I bet he gets the nerve to walk the floor
And ask my girl to dance, and she’ll say ‘yes’

Because these words were never easier for me to say
Or her to second guess but I guess
That I can live without you but
Without you I’ll be miserable at best

And this will be the first time in a week
That I’ll talk to you and I can’t speak
It’s been three whole days since I’ve had sleep
Because I dream of his lips on your cheek
And I got the point that I should leave you alone
But we both know that I’m not that strong
And I miss the lips that made me fly

So let’s not pretend like you’re alone tonight
(I know he’s there and)
You’re probably hanging out and making eyes
(While across the room he stares)
I bet he gets the nerve to walk the floor
And ask my girl to dance and she’ll say ‘yes’

Because these words were never easier for me to say
Or her to second guess but I guess
That I can live without you but
Without you I’ll be miserable
And I can live without you
But without you I’ll be miserable
And I can live without you
Oh, without you I’ll be miserable at best

Listen to the song in this page.

Boys Like Girls : I Told You So

Whenever you go then I’ll be waiting
Whenever the loneliness you’re hating
Whenever you say you wish you never left me
I say “I told you so” (I told you so)

I used to think it mattered
How hard it was to cry
Crying’s just a reflex now to you
Instead of trying to heal the scars
And the battles in your life
But you still play over them and now you do

And as I waited by the bathroom door
You writing on the bathroom door
We fall into the only thing I give to you

Whenever you go then I’ll be waiting
Whenever the loneliness you’re hating
Whenever you say you wish you never left me
I say “I told you so” (I told you so)

Whenever you go then I’ll be waiting
Whenever the loneliness you’re hating
Whenever you say you wish you never left me
I say “I told you so” (I told you so)

Sun comes up and the lights go down
To hide you from the light
The light inside your eyes that want to shine
Yeah, all those sunday morning re-runs seen
Ridiculous like you
Same thing everyday at different times

Yeah, you can run but you can’t hide from me
I know who you used to be
But that’s the first thing that I want
So let me come inside

Whenever you go then I’ll be waiting
Whenever the loneliness you’re hating
Whenever you say you wish you never left me
I say “I told you so” (I told you so)

Whenever you go then I’ll be waiting
Whenever the loneliness you’re hating
Whenever you say you wish you never left me
I say “I told you so” (I told you so)

Don’t shut the door
Don’t shut me out
Don’t make this be the last time
That I see your hands
‘Cause I want them to hold me
And I want you to show me
That this will be our only place
Without your face there is no way

Whenever you go then I’ll be waiting
Whenever the loneliness you’re hating
Whenever you say you wish you never left me
I say “I told you so” (I told you so)

Whenever you go then I’ll be waiting
Whenever the loneliness you’re hating
Whenever you say you wish you never left me
I say “I told you so” (I told you so)

Whenever you go then I’ll be waiting
Whenever the loneliness you’re hating
Whenever you say you wish you never left me
I say “I told you so” (I told you so)

I say I told you so I told you so
I say I told you so I told you so

Listen to the song in this page.

Fathers’ Day in Hamilton Gardens

I woke up early today and decided to play Sims 2 while waiting for the right moment to greet my dad. Today, here in New Zealand, is the Fathers Day; the second time we celebrate it this year. (Note: In the Philippines, Fathers Day is held in the month of June, right after the month of Mothers Day.)

A little background on my game in Sims 2: I am controlling the Pleasantview Neighborhood. I did decide to access most of the “original” characters of the neighborhood; that means I am playing the familiar families of Pleasant, Lothario, Caliente, Dreamer, Goth and Broke. However, since the story is changing and families are expanding, I am currently playing the Pleasant, Lothario, Langerak, Goth, Caliente, Garnett and Broke household.

After spending 45 minutes in front of my dad’s laptop, I went out of my room and greeted him a warm ‘Happy Fathers Day.’ He said ‘thanks’; I felt appreciated.

To tell you the truth, I am not that close with my father. Maybe it is because of him being moody most of the time so I didn’t get the opportunity to have him as a best friend. However, that doesn’t mean I don’t love my dad. I love him and I am thankful to God that I have him in our family.

It was just 08:00 am but my mother was already in her panic mode. She, since my sisters were still asleep, was preparing food and utensils to be used in our trip later. A mass will be held at 09:30 am so those things should be in our car’s compartment when we left. To lessen her job, I did help carrying some of the foods and utensils and immediately prepared myself for the day. ‘Today will be a busy day,’ I thought.

Right after the mass, our family went straight to Hamilton Gardens using the Gate 2 entrance. The checking of attendance was made and the fathers in our group are my dad, Tito Alex, Tito Rene and Tito Lito. Tita Jovy’s husband, Tito Mulong, is not included due to the fact that they don’t have a child – as of now. It was also because of that reasoning that he volunteered to look for a place for us to gather and share the foods each family brought with them.

The five Filipino families who celebrated the Fathers Day
in Hamilton Gardens. Photo by Tita Jhovy.

After having our lunch, we made some walking tour and took pictures in the different gardens. I remember visiting the Rose, American, Chinese and Japanese gardens while I forgot the names of the others for I am busy taking pictures of myself and my sisters. We spotted a giant chess board but the chess pieces cost a bond of $20 and rental of $5. We didn’t accept the offer but entertaned ourselves with the playground nearby.

I believe it was around 3:00 pm when we call for a break and headed to Tito Rene’s place to continue our celebration of their daughter’s birthday, Mary. I was so exhausted but I don’t want to destroy the good mood hence I didn’t complain. I did sing some songs; as well as my father and sisters to entertain ourselves. I ate so much that I felt sleepy while waiting for my dad to empty his glass of drink (so we can go home and rest). When he finally did, we were relieved.

Happy Fathers Day with your Dad too.