1.

500 Days of Summer (MOVIE)

Boy meets girl, boy loses girl. Its been done to emo death. Thats why the
sublimely smart-sexy-joyful-sad (500) Days of Summer hits you like a blast of
pure romantic oxygen. It turns the genre on its empty head and sees
relationships for what they are a bruising business. Someones heart
always gets ripped out. Meet Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, letting his charm
flag fly), a would-be architect idling in L.A. as a writer of greeting cards. In
strolls his bosss new assistant, Summer (the glorious Zooey Deschanel), and
Toms a goner. For her, prizing independence, their affair is a lark. For him,
raised on sappy Brit pop and a total misreading of The Graduate (he thinks
the ending is happy), its love. So when she walks away, firmly but with
kindness, you feel the pain, the kind that evaporates quickly only on sitcoms.

Marc Webb is a debuting feature director with style to burn. With a seriously
funny and touching script by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, the
movie spins a variation on Memento, shuffling through Toms 500 days with
Summer in a random order that lets us see the fun times and the fault lines.
A gimmick? Maybe. But Deschanel and Gordon- Levitt are star-crossed lovers
to die for. They play it for real, with a grasp of subtlety and feeling that goes
beyond the call of breezy duty.

This knockout of a movie expertly blends bliss (a dance number complete

with an animated blue jay after Tom spends his first night in bed with
Summer) and the blues (a split-screen segment in which Toms expectation
of winning back Summer clashes with reality). The ending is tidy and way too
cute, but (500) Days is otherwise a different kind of love story: an honest one
that takes a piece out of you.
 2. 'Amity' painting by Bernard Fleetwood-Walker (PAINTING)

I was captivated by this painting when I first saw it, because of the beauty and
complexity of the composition, not to mention the beauty of the girl. She is every
bit the idealised English rose, from her blonde her and red cheeks and lips down to
her red shoes. She is beautifully rendered by the artist, who has a great sensitivity
towards the female physical presence.
The style is both traditional, recalling early paintings, which can also be seen in the
Walker collection, and at the same time it's modern: The couple have a
contemporary 1930's look and aura. The fashions, especially the hair styles,
wouldn't look out of place today. The statuesque forms and strong 'visionary' light
give it an idealistic, neo-classical quality, characteristic of much art and architecture
of the 1930s.
At the modern art summer school I did in Paris in 1977, I learned that paintings are
criss-crossed with invisible lines, used by artists as an aid to composition. This
painting has a complex network of these lines, some flowing in a meandering
course from top right to lower left, and others running vertically and horizontally.
At the centre of things is the flower, symbol of 'amity', which is placed on the
intersection of two very significant lines., one running horizontally from the boy's
hands to the girl's face., the other running vertically from the boy's face down into
the folds of the girl's dress, to where her fingers seems to gesture.
The lines form a cross, a potent Christian symbol. The word 'Amity' means
'friendship' or 'harmonious relations' but it comes from a word in French and Latin
meaning 'love'. Is there love here and if so, is it spiritual or carnal? The base of the
cross, a symbol of religious purity, points to the girl's lower body. Could this have
something to do with fertility?
It's a remarkable image which we as photographers can learn much from. And
unlike most photographs of the time, this picture has vibrant colours, fresh and
crisp as if the apples- now there's another element of symbolism - had only been
painted yesterday.
 3. The Only Exception by Paramore (SONG)

When I was younger And I've always lived like this

I saw my daddy cry
And curse at the wind
He broke his own heart
And I watched
As he tried to reassemble it
And my momma swore that
She would never let herself forget
And that was the day that I promised
I'd never sing of love
If it does not exist
Maybe I know, somewhere
Deep in my soul
That love never lasts
And we've got to find other ways
To make it alone
Or keep a straight face
Keeping a comfortable, distance
And up until now
I had sworn to myself that I'm content
With loneliness
Because none of it was ever worth the
risk
I've got a tight grip on reality, but I
can't
Let go of what's in front of me here
I know you're leaving in the morning,
when you wake up
Leave me with some kind of proof it's
not a dream
And I'm on my way to believing
Oh, and I'm on my way to believing

This would be the first song that would pop into my mind whenever I think of
the famous band Paramore. I so much like their songs, but this one really
caught me. I was listening to it some time ago, when it was referred to me by
a friend of mine, and then suddenly, I just kept on singing it wherever I go,
not realizing that I was at some point attached to the song. The song tells of
a girl, who came to be Hayley in this case, the bands ever beautiful vocalist,
who at an early age, never believed already in love. She was heartbroken,
especially when reminiscing the day when her father and mother had broken
up, through divorce. Then, until she became an adult, sh would never sing of
love songs, because she believes that it was just a waste of time. Then, she
unexpectedly fell in love with a guy, thats why the title was The Only
Exception, the exception referred to was the man she loves. Still, even if she
already knows that she is in love, she cant help but be confused, if this loves
shes feeling will last, or will just vanish into thin air like a popped bubble.

4. Oblation by Guillermo Tolentino (SCULPTURE)

Since I would be entering the prestigious, top university in the
Philippines, might as well get to know the Oblation better. The
University of the Philippines renowned landmark, the Oblation, is a
masterpiece of National Artist Guillermo Tolentino. In 1935,
Guillermo was commissioned by Rafael Palma (then University
President) to craft a monument that would express in visual form
the second stanza of Jose Rizals "Mi Ultimo Adios" (Last Farewell).
The concrete statue painted in bronze stands 3.5 meter high (to
represent the 350 years of Spanish colonization of the Philippines)
on a pile of rocks symbolizing the islands of the Philippines. Funding
for the statue was raised through a 2-month fund campaign that
garnered P2,000. The model for the statue was widely rumored to
be Fernando Poe, Sr. I chose this to be the review for my sculpture
since I was really amazed when I first saw it, 5 or 6 years ago, when
my eldest sister was still studying there. The man was really bold,
openly and wholeheartedly expressing himself to everyone by the
way he carries himself.

5. Sonnet 40 by William Shakespeare (POEM)

Take all my loves, my love, yea, take them all;
What hast thou then more than thou hadst before?
No love, my love, that thou mayst true love call;
All mine was thine, before thou hadst this more.
Then if for my love, thou my love receivest,
I cannot blame thee, for my love thou usest;
But yet be blamed, if thou thy self deceivest
By wilful taste of what thy self refusest.
I do forgive thy robbery, gentle thief,
Although thou steal thee all my poverty;
And yet love knows it is a greater grief
To bear love's wrong, than hate's known injury.
Lascivious grace, in whom all ill well shows,
Kill me with spites; yet we must not be foes.

The poem merely tells us about love, which cannot be blamed to

any one when he or shee already feels it. It compares love with that
of the emotional one, and that of for the people around us. It is said
by the author that he forgives and still loves people who have done
bad things to him, but he cannot forgive someone who bears love
wrongly. He generously gives his love to people, for it will never be
lessened or be multiplied once it is not given to people.

6. Coca-Colas Ang Sarap Dito (COMMERCIAL)

The TVC is great. It depicts a pretty angel (maybe thats a bit redundant)
witnessing a handful of Ahhhs of satisfaction from people on eath. As she
flies down to earth (without the humans actually seeing her due to invisibility,
seemingly), she finds out that this satisfactory feeling comes from drinking a
bottle of Coke. She is so amazed of how people are reacting to this drink, that
she tries it for herself. As she swallows down a gulp of the drink, she is
apparently transformed to a mortal, becoming as human as we are. She lets
out an equally satisfactory Ahh herself. Im thinking that was the climax. After
that, the storys drama falls as the Angel meets a Devil with his horns cut off
(probably due ti drinking Coke, leaving him to become human himself). Are
you from here? the angel asks. To this the devil answers, I am now. A part
of it I am most amused of is its slight irony to the theme song, Ang Sarap
Dito. The songs chorus states,

Lilipad na ako,
Sabayan mo ako,
Ang sarap dito,
Sa pupuntahan ko.

But, on the contrary, an angel comes down to earth to find this refreshing
new feeling. I guess its the artists way of saying that drinking coke is
actually more masarap than heaven. Its a clever idea, to say the least. The
music beds nice too. Its a shorter, slower, more mellow version of Ang Sarap
Dito by Project One. I like that version its so.. climactic, majestic even. It
gives me the feeling of pure bliss, the illusion of heaven. What are the bad
points of this commercial? Personally, I dont see any part they could improve
on. It just hits the right spot to make you feel how its producers want you to
feel, which is most probably to make you be in a state of slight euphoria,
leaning towards the desire to buy this amazingly heaven-sent beverage.
Every time I see it, it gives me goosebumps (mostly coz the angel perzn is
really, really pretty).

7. Panagbenga Festival (DANCE)

Baguio Flower Festival or Panagbenga (which means a season for
blooming, a time for flowering) Festival is celebrated every last week of
Febuary. Its a week long (sometimes up to 8 days) festival where in
people from all over the Philippines come to see the best of what
Baguio City has to offer. Locals from all around Baguio City come to
showcase as well as sell their products. The first time I was in Baguio
for the Panagbenga Festival, there was only a Flower Parade, a beauty
pageant, a market and exhibit of native products. But through the
years, there have been more activities such as the Flower Tee Golf
Tournament and a Food Festival. Since the Panagbenga Festival has
become a major event in Baguio Citys calendar, all the other
establishments join in the celebration through the years. If you plan to
visit Baguio and watch the festival, you have to book months in
advance because the hotels, hometels and inns are fully booked come
mid-January. My favorite part of the Festival is the Flower parade and
the Market Encounter at Camp John Hay. The Flower Festival is usually
kicked off by a parade of students dancing and singing in Session Road
wearing flowers on their heads and bodies. There is a marching band
that follows and they play ethnic music. Session road becomes a sea of
flowers and you can barely see the cemented roads from all the floral
arrangements. The Market actually started in Camp John Hay, but has
grown since and another midnight market has sprouted near Burnham
Park. Most of the goods are products from the neighboring towns as
well as the native goods from Baguio City. Shopping to the max is what
we call it, because the prices are really low. You have to come and visit
Baguio City during the Flower Festival because its one of my favorite
local celebrations in the Philippines.