Spirit Board, SONA, etc.

Juillet 23 -29

Spirit Board, SONA, etc.

Soundtrack of the Week

1. Tu m’oublieras [LARUSSO]
2. Hindi Sad Diamonds [MOULIN ROUGE]
3. Do You Only Wana Dance [MYA]
4. Dance Like This [WYCLEF]
5. Marimar [THALIA]

Movie of the Week: Ouija

• It was never mentioned that the ghost was an acrobat or a contortionist when she was alive and so I don’t get the logic as to why she kept on lying down on the floor face down with her spine bent and her feet hovering above her head. What was that about? Did she watch The Grudge or The Ring before she died and got inspiration? My point simply is: if you are a ghost you don’t have to walk as if you were suffering an epileptic seizure nor do acrobatics just to be creepy. An appropriate costume and the right amount of makeup will do the trick, no need to overdo it.
• Judy Ann = check. Drama is her real genre but she managed to pull this one off and do a good job in being bitchy to Jolina’s character.
• Iza = check. She is a brilliant actress and she will always shine in any role. Her character in this movie is irritating and she managed to annoy me.
• Jolina = ok, fine. She is obviously better in comedy but since she doesn’t really have enough range ever since she started her career pwede na siyang pasang awa. Am I seeing Jolina fans throwing me some tomatoes? =p
• Rhian = big EX. The producer should have switched her role with Valerie Concepcion’s. Valerie could have portrayed the role way better than she did. I have nothing against her but we can’t deny that her acting is blah. She does better drinking her McFloat than getting chased by ghosts.
• If you are the kind who loves “gulat” moments then this film is for you. Although the special “gulat” sound effects were inappropriate in some scenes and overdone in some I could say that I was able to enjoy it kasi nakakagulat naman talaga. However if you are the kind who loves to stimulate your brain by speculating on what really is happening in the movie (like speculating on the twists in Sukob and Sigaw) then more or less you will find this movie lacking.

• I actually think that the twist to the ghost’s identity was clever. My problem is that the ghost is not even related to any of the four girls. It just happened that her spirit was that random spirit that got called by the spirit board. This is perfectly understandable since that really is the purpose of playing ouija anyway, call random spirits. What I’m trying to say is that it could have been more interesting if the spirit that was called was actually related to the girls; more twists could have been added that way.
• The ending was a cliffhanger but I don’t think there will be a sequel.
• Why is the title OUIJA anyway? We usually call that board “Spirit Board” or “Spirit of the Glass”. Even the people in the movie call it “Spirit Board.”

SONA: I wasn’t able to watch the SONA but from what I’ve heard it’s all infrastructure & economic growth. Question is where to get the budget for it. As for economic growth it did grow but that won’t be felt automatically by all. Peso appreciated. In fact it’s detrimental in a way specially for OFW’s because for every $100 we receive we now get 500 pesos less. F*ck economic growth, lol.

Academics: It’s about time to choose a favorite subject! Obviously the two Economics courses and Calculus are out by default since when you are not good with numbers that frustration is for life. That leaves me with the three Political Science courses I have. Political Science 150 is fun and Professor Frago is very innovative. She never runs out of “gimiks” to make the class interact. Unfortunately I really don’t like Public Administration that much. Political Science 186 is also interesting and Sir Baylon always cracks jokes. Unfortunately the early Saturday time slot limits the fun. This of course leaves me with just one course which is *drum roll please!* Political Science 193. The subject matter is boring (Modern Political Thought) but what I like about this course is that segment called Student of the Day. I think it’s a unique Professor Pilapil invention. Every meeting a student selects one of the index cards we’ve submitted and the one picked will be student of the day. He will ask five questions and those five questions correspond to 5% of your final grade, which is roughly an instant .5 lost or gained. Because of this the students are actually preparing rigorously every meeting and we are all nervous. What I like most about it is that I’ve realized that I no longer have to set aside a special time of day to review for this subject. I have set aside several hours of the day to review for my other classes but they never seem to be followed. Usually I find it more enjoyable to stare on the wall or listen to music than review, which means the time allotted goes to waste. For this subject however I just cram before the class starts and everything goes to the long-term memory section in my brain. I wish all professors had this Student of the Day gimmick. PS 193 is the favorite, for now.

Languages: I was supposed to take a placement exam at Insituto Cervantes this week but they were closed last Wednesday or at least the phone said that they were closed and so I didn’t go. Though I have planned this for so long I think maybe now is not the right time. I already have Sunday classes for another language and maybe that’s why the powers that be don’t want another one.

Surroundings: There is anarchy in the building, lol. We had no elevator for almost the whole week because someone “burned” the elevator down. Only one was repaired this week but that is really not the problem. It’s been a week now that we have had no supply of water. That’s fine because when the elevator was working we could still afford the 10 pesos per container but now that only one is working the people who deliver the water are charging us 25 pesos per container. Kamusta naman e para pa namang sirena maligo ang kapatid ko so we spend how much, like 150 pesos a day for water! But then it’s not as if we have a choice. Should we just stink to death? I shouldn’t have chosen this hell hole when I transferred almost two years ago if I knew the water problem would be this bad. Bad news is our contract won’t end until end of October. 3 more months. Bwiset.