Bienvenido Lumbera: A True Artist

       A National Artist of the Philippines is a honor and title given to a Filipino who has been given the highest recognition for having made significant contributions to the development of Philippine arts. Such Filipinos are declared, the President's proclamation should be bestowed upon them. Furthermore, according to a website, they are then conferred membership in the Order of National Artists, the regalia of which is an ornate, gilden collar of honor. In addition to the collar, each newly proclaimed member of the Order is given a citation that is presented during the awardees' conferment ceremonies. One of the Filipinos who were given this title is Bienvenido Lumbera as National Artist for Literature.

      According to the website Good Reads, Bienvenido L. Lumbera was born on April 11, 1932. He spent most of his youth in Batangas until he entered the University of Santo Tomas in 1950 to pursue a degree in journalism. He completed his M.A. and then his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature at Indiana University in 1967. Lumbera writes in English and Filipino, and has produced works in both languages.

      He has a poetry collection entitled Likhang Dila, Likhang Diwa (1993), and Balaybay: Mga Tulang Lunot at Manibalang, a collection of new poems in Filipino and those from Likhang Dila. He has several critical works, including Abot-Tanaw: Sulyap at Suri sa Nagbabagong Kultura at Lipunan (1987) and Writing the Nation/Pag-akda ng Bansa (2000). He has also done several librettos, among them Tales of the Manuvu (1977) and Rama Hari (1980). Sa Sariling Bayan: Apat na Dulang May Musika (DLSU, 2003) collects the four historical musicals Nasa Puso ang Amerika, Bayani, Noli Me Tangere: The Musical, and Hibik at Himagsik Nina Victoria Laktaw.

       Dr. Lumbera has been a recipient of numerous awards, including the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts in 1993, the Gawad CCP, Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas, Manila Critics' Circle and the Palanca. He has also gained Professor Emeritus status in the University of the Philippines. He also serves in the Board of Advisers of the UP Institute of Creative Writing. This 2006, for his creative and critical work directed towards a literature rooted in the search for nationhood, Dr. Lumbera received the much-coveted title of National Artist for Literature. 

        After reading all of these, I can say that he really deserves the title as the National Artist in literature because as we can see in his works, he's really passionate about on what he is doing. Everything that he has done is a masterpiece. I admit that this generation today can't really appreciate these kinds of work but if you look closely, you can see the beauty and the hard work that the artist did in making it.  

Jon Santos: Follow your Passion!

        On February 11, 2016 at the APC auditorium, The English Resource Center (ERC) of the School of Multimedia and Arts welcomes the Year of the Red Monkey with Jon Santos. He was invited to have a talk about how he became successful in his career entitled "Follow your passion... I did!" The program started with a video. The video shows Jon Santos impersonating different celebrities like Ate Vi” (Vilma Santos), “Basana Roces” (Rosana Roces), “Armida Sigyon-Makareyna” (Armida Siguion-Reyna), “Sherap Espada (& his wife, “Sen. Lhoy”)” (Pres. Erap And Senator Loi Estrada), “Shawie” (Sharon Cuneta), “Bro. Mike Volare” (Bro. Mike Velarde), “Tita Kory” (Cory Aquino), “Sen. Juan Flavor” (Sen. Juan Flavier), “Sen. Meeryam” (Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago), “Pres. Gloring” (PGMA), “Krissy Anino” (Kris Aquino) and many more. 

      He started his talk by impersonating Joseph Estrada. He also cracks some jokes which made the audience really alive and ready to listen to his talk. I always laugh every time he pointed out to some audience and ask, "Why are you looking at me in a provocative manner?!" He said that he started impersonating someone when he was in grade school. He also said that copying someone is the core of a comedian. He enumerated the 10 things that he follows in his life. The first one is to "Listen". He said that we must learn to listen and consider some other voice that might help up really understand ourselves. He also said about a Japanese term in their culture, "a floating world" that he usually considers. The second one is "All learning will enrich you." He said that, anything we learn, we must use it for us to learn more. The third up until ninth is learning what you love will make you the richest person in the world, knowledge is everything, win the war before you fight it, You must know how to Adjust, Adapt, Evolve, when the floating world sinks a little, reconvene with advisers, leave room for the divine and, you are not alone in your journey. He told at this part that building things that are high quality and valuable to you takes time. Life builds friendship, relationship or business actually takes a ton of time, energy and consistency. He said that once you realized or concluded, to use your term, that my time was being well spent and I was going to progress in the desired ways, I think I gave myself tools to chill out and be more satisfied and less frustrated with the slowness of everything. At that point you can enjoy the marrow of the process and the progress. Lastly, he said "Love yourself, and then let go of yourself". Lose yourself because that the only way to live.

       All in all, he really spread the good vibes that day. He really have been through a lot and I think he really deserves all the blessing he is accepting right now. He believes that everything is a plan of God. He said that we should always trust God because everything is just falling into place.

Turn Left, Turn Right: A Twisted Fate

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       Another great movie! This movie "Turn left turn right" is actually based on a famous novel of Jimmy Liao. Yes, you're right, I know the story isn't that original but it is told and created with heart and humor which the audience would really look up to. This is a movie about fate and the unpredictable paths it takes. We get introduced to the life of the two main protagonists namely Takeshi Kaneshiro as John Liu and Gigi Leung as Eve Choi. The two go  to do their daily lives and as they meet, they pretty soon discovered that they actually already met each other when they were kids. Everything seems perfect, but after some unexpected circumstances, John and Eve exchange numbers and resolve to meet again for another date soon. Yet again, a cruel twist means that both of them lose contact because the paper where they wrote their numbers was and are frustrated that they have no obvious means of meeting again. This is where the movie starts to get interesting and intriguing. 

      John Liu is a fantastic violinist. Liu is actually very popular with women because of his looks. In the first part of the movie, he was actually being chased by a girl and he keeps hiding from her. Next is Eve Choi who is a professional literature translator and she have to translate the newest german horror-novel in which at the first part of the movie was a little bit funny because she's a little bit paranoid to her surrounding. Instead she so much more would like to translate polish love poems, but her boss doesn't give her the opportunity and just keep pressuring her to do her job properly. 

       In search of the two lovers, it was really irritating and it is really unbearable because despite of living only a few feet apart from each other, the couple never seems to cross paths. When he leaves his building he turns right, and when she leaves her building, she turns left.Their lives is basically like parallel lines. I also like the part when they introduced Terri Kwan and Dr. Wu. Kwan is a noodle shop waitress, who when making deliveries, she discovered soon that the two are searching for one another. However, she doesn't approve that they should be together because she wants John for herself. With Dr. Wu, it's exactly the same. The doctor went to college with her and he secretly admired her. Eve didn’t like him then, and still doesn’t. In the end, Kwan and Dr. Wu became a couple and they decided to help John and Eve to finally meet each other again. The story ended in an earthquake where the wall between them was destroyed and they finally meet each other again. As the film’s tagline says, "Even parallel lines might cross paths some day."

       All in all, after watching this movie, I was a little bit disappointed because the ending was a cliffhanger to everyone. I was hoping for a part two of the movie but I think they will change the title because the couple would definitely make sure that they will never be separated again nor they will not go to an opposite direction ever again. So I guess if this move had a part 2, it will definitely focus on the relationship of the two.

Anti-Smoking Campaign: Raise the Awareness

    Have you ever thought of smoking before? One of the most common problems today that are killing people, all over the world, is smoking. Many people start this with just trying on how does it feel to smoke or they started it with a horrible habit because of stress, personal issues and high blood pressure. Some people began showing off or some people wanted to enjoy it. One cigarette can result in smoking others, which can lead to major addiction. When someone smokes a cigarette they are not only hurting themselves, but others around them. Smoking does many horrible things to the human body that most people are not aware of. It causes us a lot of cancer disease which can lead us to death. So, why people are still smoking? The answer is obviously, addiction. How will people raise awareness of this? The answer is to create an anti-smoking campaign.

       Anti-smoking campaign really helps to raise the awareness for the non-smoker and the smokers to be aware of what are the bad cause and bad effect of smoking. I know, despite the warnings given by doctors about the ill-effects of smoking, people continue to smoke so that's why anti-smoking campaigns are created. I know, smokers are addicted to it, and even if they want to, they cannot refrain from picking up a cigar or cigarette and puffing away. Some teens smoke for the sake of society and some feel that would make them appear liberated and broadminded. Smoking is a habit which individuals find difficult to quit. Many people make preparations for months in their effort to get rid of the habit, many teenagers smoke because of depression and stress, but they should know by now that smoking kills you from the inside the are many ways to solve problems like those but one of them is NOT smoking. It's just madness and it will give you cancer. People like teenagers don’t think. Actually, this happened last week, I saw one of my schoolmates and he's already smoking. He's actually younger than me. I'm really sad because this generation really needs some people who will guide and who will help them. 

       Smoking is ultimately a choice; it is your responsibility to choose whether or not you will continue to smoke. People who raises anti-smoking campaigns really cares about on how to stop the people smoking; for them to save lives more. Anti-smoking campaign aims only to help the people to choose the right path. I believe that smoking can be stopped by a strong will power and every person has the capacity to give it up once he/she sets his/her mind at doing so.