Davao-bound!

Leaving in a couple of hours for Davao City, Philippines!

w00t to domestic summer get-aways. Haha.. Will blog back when I get home next week. SO EXCITED!!

Jay~

Thesis Term Ends

And so the busiest and perhaps most critical term of mine in De La Salle University - Manila ends. Grades were alright (a not-so-impressive grade point average of 3.075), but I know I could have done much better. The coulda-woulda-shoulda questions are all over me, and I know I shouldn't be beating myself up too much, but the wasted possible-3.5s and possible-4.0s in FILDLAR (Writing and Research in Filipino - 3.0), KASPIL2 (Philippine history post-WW2 - 3.0), and TREDFOR (Theology 4 - 2.5) really crushed me. I know I shouldn't feel so bad because some other crazy and pretty shattering things happenened..

In my almost-three years in DLSU, I have heard of La Salle students being kicked out due to too many accumulated failures. Well I saw one live, and I have to say, it was heart-wrenching. My freshman friends have a classmate who's doing an engineering degree, and he has accumulated 18 units of failures - in one subject, he failed four units by just a measly 1.5 points - and therefore he's kicked out. He was crying so much at Agno (my university hang-out) and his mum was crying on the phone as well, and I felt so bad for the fella. :( I thought that perhaps his professor could have been a little more considerate considering the subject he failed with the heavy units was DIFFERENTIAL CALCULUS, and that he missed out on just 1.5 points, but it's really hard to say because as students, I suppose we're assumed to study whatever we need to for the examinations. It still doesn't take the sting off of it, and I was pretty much affected.

A lot of friends suffered heavily from professors this term. I think that for some reason, Lasallian professors were in a kill-mode this term; I was seeing friends get 8 units of failures just like that, or fail three subjects just like that - in ONE term. Amazing and heart-breaking.

It will be my final term as a university student come June, and I am excited and terrified at the same time. It is the last step; the final hurdle. Then I will either work or take up a Master's Degree. I have summer and one term to think over the next stage of my future. I can only hope - and pray - that my final term will be much like my past five-six terms: hard but fair, challenging but not mind-wrecking, and of course, exhausting but so fulfilling.

This is it. Final step before graduation! :D

Jay~

Thesis Defense

There's nothing much to say.

After an hour or so of defending our thesis, I am proud to announce that the triple-threat team of Katrina Calderon, Bea Castillo, and Jason Cruz (The 3C All-Stars) passed the culminating paper of being American Studies majors.

With a grade of 3.5 to boot.
:D

Am I happy? Are we happy?
CHYEAH!!

Jay~

Down With Flu

Not a good feeling. Been coughing for two days, and sniffles today. Joints and muscles don't ache though, so I should get through Finals Week in one piece. :)

Thesis defense on Tuesday! Hopefully I feel MUCH better come that day. LOL.

Jay~

Skittlez Crew at Powerade Ad

One of our members, Aldrich Go, had a majors class that required them to promote a brand product. His group was promoting Powerade sports drink, and a large part of how he and his team won overall winners was the fact that his crew showed up with a dance piece. :) We love you, Aldzie!



Jay~

Clash of the Titans

***SPOILER ALERT***

Possibly one of the most anticipated remakes and action movies of the year, I find Clash of the Titans a visual treat that did not deliver much in the way of content.

It was interesting how the director compressed the early life of the main character - Perseus - in the span of a few minutes, complete with cheesy lines such as "Someday, someone will say "enough"!". I believe this did not lend well to Perseus' character development, as well as necessitating a part later on in the movie that explains his 'oceanic baby survival'. I found this an unnecessary backtrack when the movie was going along quite nicely. Bleh.

Water special effects was one of the two SFX I found to be rather poor. Perseus' sea-shots with his adopted father and boat show a rather cheap-looking ocean; sharp focus on the foreground and a very, very soft, almost hey-I-was-rendered-later background. Coming from the same stock as the SFX of 300, I honestly expected much better. Sounds were good though, as well as the visuals of battle scenes. Large scorpions spawned by Hades? Very cool. Medusa's visuals were also poor to be honest; I thought we've seen the end of amateur-looking 3D characters that was in old sword-and-sandal films such as The Mummy Returns (BUT I love TMR1 and TMR2 so I shall stay silent on those). I was willing to let this go due to the many creative ways the protagonists all tried to kill Medusa, with (duh) Perseus the only man left standing.

Looking at the theatrical release poster, I believe that the shot was chosen specifically to signify a turning point in the plot. The quest to kill Medusa literally obliterated the other heroes - and I commend the director for getting the audience to be fond of the supporting cast of Perseus, as evidenced by groans when they started dying off - and ensured that Perseus plays the classic 'lone Ranger' and complete his quest alone; not even his loyal Io (who was simply gorgeous) survives.

Plot development was way too linear in my opinion. It was a very predictable movie with absolutely neither twists nor turns to stimulate much in mental thinking. To put it simply, the general plot goes something like: Hero born. Hero suffers. Hero goes on quest. Hero meets band of warriors. Hero and warriors go on quest. Warriors die off. Hero remains. Hero meets final monster. Hero rescues princess. Hero gets the glory and the girl (but she's not the princess ;)). Linear, and dare I say, boring storyline. I am betting big bucks that's not what many in the cinema were searching for anyway. LOL.

A relatively alright movie if one is seeking a classic action story coupled with some sick fight scenes. I would not recommend it to fans of serious epics such as LOTR or even funnies like The Mummy Returns. I seriously don't. I find Clash of the Titans (itself a misleading title; it should be The Clash of Man versus Gods, or Man versus Gods. LOL, I kid) a confused movie stuck between providing a visual masterpiece (not quite as pretty as Avatar) and providing a gripping plot (ROFL). In so doing, it failed itself twice which is a pity since from the outset it looked to be a very promising action film to kick off summer. Cheesy lines and cheap environmental visuals aside, this is still an acceptably visual movie with some Greek history thrown in for the kicks.

In under no circumstance must you watch this movie in 3D. Firstly, 3D is just a ploy to get you to pay more anyway. Secondly, this was never shot in 3D; it was shot in 2D and then converted into 3D. The effects are rumored to be very messy and lost. I say don't risk it. There's nothing cool about wasting money. It's pretty enough in 2D.

7/10

Jay~

Holy Week Time Filler

Gosh, it's Saturday, and since it's Holy Week, there's not much to do. Friends are all at their respective homes (almost all of which are an hour's drive away from DLSU) and since there's only so much paperwork a guy in his apartment can do, I decided to "gym".

Total damage of the day:
1000 push ups
500 body weight squats
200 crunches

*sigh*

Still bored.

Jay~

Not So Good Friday

Apart from the religious significance of Good Friday, it has been a "dead" day, no pun intended for you sensitive types out there.

School has been out since Wednesday, nothing is open (not even grocery stores!) and I'm just about sick of canned tuna, biscuits, and water. *sigh* Can't wait for Easter Sunday.

Jay~