Bookwhoring: Jeffrey Archer's A Prisoner of Birth

I just came from SM Centerpoint and lookee what I found:

Oh I just can't resist a Jeffrey Archer book, especially when it's hardbound and just Php99!!! This will be my read starting tonight.

Feeling: happy
All ears to: Millennium Backstreet Boys
Curled up in bed with: A Prisoner of Birth Jeffrey Archer

Meet my Dobby! ♥

Still on a Harry Potter high, I have named my newest stuffed companion Dobby (The Zombie). ♥

Feeling: happy

All ears to: Fuckin' Perfect Pink

Curled up in bed with: Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part II: A Review

WARNING: Contains some spoilers.


Rating:


I'll put my limb on the line and say: BEST MOVIE EVER!!!

Because it's the last Harry Potter film, I had high expectations for Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part II. And boy, was I NOT disappointed. Only five minutes into the film, I was secretly kicking myself (of course not literally) for buying popcorn as it was only interfering with my concentration on the movie - a first in the longest time.

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part II is everything a movie fan could ever hope for. It had everything: drama, action, suspense, romance, and even a touch of comedy. From its opening scene down to the last one, David Yates (director of the movie) sure did wonders in capturing the audience's attention. There was no dull moment indeed.

For die-hard Harry Potter fans, there was one concern prior to the screening of the movie (and a huge one at that). Seeing the trailers, we feared that Deathly Hallows Part II will just be another action film, leaving out important emotional details from the book - and the book was terribly emotional; after all, a lot of the characters we have come to know and love were injured and some even died. After watching the movie, I can say the fear is not unfounded. And perhaps that is my only criticism of the last movie installment in the Harry Potter series.

Not that the last movie is unemotional - believe me, the huge iMax theater was echoing with moviegoers' sniffles and sighs - just that there were some pretty emotional scenes that didn't get much exposure, like Fred's and Lupin's and Tonks' deaths. I felt cheated of my moment to grieve. The scene showing their deaths felt like this: "PAK. Fred's dead. PAK. Lupin and Tonks are dead. PAK. Next scene." I didn't even notice the Weasley family was there grieving. Or that Harry Potter felt ultimately guilty for the deaths. I also felt that the Ron-Hermione love team could've gotten more scenes. When they kissed, I felt the whole cinema go jittery, excited, and in love - just as those emotions were building up, the kiss ended. I remember thinking, "That was it???" But then again, maybe that's just the fan girl in me speaking.

But like I said, the movie is not unemotional. It was, au contraire, very high in emotions. Many times while watching the film, I kept thinking to myself, "Why did I even bother putting on eye make-up? My tears are wiping it off!" The movie was just so darn emotional that at one point, just after the dead were shown and just as Harry was entering the headmaster's office to 'look' at Snape's memory, I looked to my sister and said, "Ayoko na!" because I feel like I can't take any more tear-inducing scenes...and I knew the next few scenes would have to be the most emotional of all. And I was right.

In fact, my favorite scenes would have to be those of Snape's memory. At first, it felt a little bit too rushed that I thought Yates will not be able to give justice to just how much Snape loved Lily Potter. But he was able to do so...and those scenes erased my make-up for good! Alan Rickman, who portrayed Professor Snape, sure made every girl in the movie hiuse wishing for a Snape of their own. My heart broke into a thousand little pieces when, after Dumbledore asked him about loving Lily "after all this time", Snape answered, "Always" and tears started falling down his cheeks. The scene when he was crying (or more, bawling) as he holds the dead Lily was just very heartbreaking. One could just feel Snape's grief jumping out of the screen. Very very memorable.

After Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part II, I walked out of the cinema feeling like I lost a friend but that I know that I had very good memories with that friend and that I will always look back into those memories. That only means David Yates and the rest of the production team did a good job with the final Harry Potter film.

All in all, I'm a happy Harry Potter fan. The last movie is something that will be etched in my mind for a very long time. So long, Ron, Hermione, and Harry. It had been a long but fun journey.

P.S. I also just have to say this: Ralph Fiennes as Lord Voldemort rocked my world! So evil. ^__^


Feeling: sick
All ears to: Paghilom album Dicta License
Curled up in bed with: Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows J.K. Rowling

A Journey To Stellar-hood

When I first attended pole classes in March, all I wanted was to learn a dance so sexy it will make me forget about my broken heart. A little over two months later, I can say that I got more than just that.

When I first stepped in Gen Studios on March 22, 2011, I really had no high expectations out of pole classes as I wasn't even sure I'd be coming back for a second class - I just wanted to try it out as something to occupy my then muddled mind and as an item to tick off my bucket list. But the high of my first spin and lift and "attempt" at climbing the pole was something that I knew I'd want to feel over and over and over again.

And so the first session rolled into the next and the next and...as they say, the rest is history.

My lovely teachers, the Polecats, have recently decided to have their very first ever summer recital featuring their students. The show, aptly named "Stellar", had some of my classmates excitedly signing up for the various numbers. I, on the other hand, was not confident enough to do so. But as weeks go by and I start seeing them rehearse - and teacher CD keeping on pestering encouraging us to join - I hesitantly signed up. It was a decision I will never regret.

Suffice it to say, it was fun learning the dances. It was fun knowing that, in a few weeks' time, people will get to see where our hard work has gone to. But more than the vanity of being in the spotlight, "Stellar" has given me access to a wonderful group of people who all believe in their own beauty and their own abilities. These women who were once just strangers to me, who are of different age groups and sizes and background, and who are determinedly climbing and spinning on those poles to prove that they can do it - their energy was so contagious. It was hard not to get excited about this show.

A week before the show, just a day after I signed up for "Stellar", tragedy struck: my great-grandmother (whom I was very close to) died. And I had to go to Catanduanes and see her for the last time. I intended to be back by Thursday, the day of the dress rehearsals. But as fate would have it, Typhoon Chedeng hit the southern part of Luzon and I was stuck in Bicol. I initially thought of backing out, but I reminded myself of the thing that really attracted me to go ahead and sign up for the show: the smile that seemed to be eternally plastered on my classmates' faces everytime they start talking about the show. So I got back on Sunday, with only less than five days to learn the new dance assigned to me. But learn it, I did - thanks to the help of my lovely teachers Myla, CD, and Kayleen and groupmates Pauline and Mara.

But learning the dance is the easy part. Calming myself for the big day was the hard one. Stellar Summer day has come. And down to the last minute, I doubted myself that I could do it. The horror of not being able to climb my pole during the final practice was just so nerve-wracking! But everybody had their own 'horror' stories and everybody served as each other's support group. We all kept telling not just ourselves but each other that, "We can do this! Everything will turn out just fine during show time."

And everybody was proven right. The show started and ended with no one falling off the pole. And the look on every pole kitten's face after their own number said that each one was satisfied with how their performance went. And they should be. The audience loved the show! You can tell it by the way they screamed and cheered and oohed and aahed.

But you see, at the end of the show, each one was not just happy with her (or his, in the case of Tomcat AJ) performance. S/he was happy with the entire show. What one kitten felt was not just the satisfaction of having done her part, but the happiness that everybody looked great and stayed safe. Safe to say, there was an air of friendship, almost close to a family, that wafted through the venue. It was a high that most - if not all - of us would surely want to feel again and again and again and still with the same batch of people and some new kittens that will be joining us soon.

(picture from Mara Andres' Facebook)

Pole dancing has made me reach heights - literally and figuratively - that, just a few months ago, I never thought I would. I am still a few classes away from mastering the Plank and the Skater and from learning those wonderful tricks some of my beautiful fellow kittens can already do. But in just two months of attending pole classes, I have gained more than just a new form of keeping myself fit. I have gained a new sense of confidence and - more importantly - a new family I will forever cherish and love.


Feeling: happy
All ears to: F*ck You Lily Allen
Curled up in bed with: A Monk Swimming Malachy McCourt

Get Published: The Antithesis Collective

The Antithesis Collective is a newly formed publishing group composed of five individuals with varying literary tastes. Differences aside, all five members agree on the premise to publish quality books by unknown writers, and to give those writers as much creative freedom as insanely and grammatically possible.

The Collective banks on blind faith with the writers’ inherent talents – a concept not entirely unheard of, but one that finds itself loosely practiced. It is the collective’s aim to reduce the bottlenecks and to widen the venue with which a piece of work can be read by the world; a feat in itself, but one that the collective aims to pursue.

Currently, the Antithesis Collective is accepting submissions for its first Call for Manuscripts.

Guidelines are as follows:

• All submissions must be author’s original material, have not been previously published, and are not currently under review by any other publisher.
• Submitted works should not be essays, poems, school term papers, snippets of thesis etc.
• Submitted works should have a total of 1,500 words or less.
• Submitted works could be in English and/or Tagalog.
• Authors can submit a maximum of five (5) works or materials.
• All submissions must be sent via email to:
  theantithesiscollective@gmail.com
  or
  submissions@theantithesiscollective.com
• When submitting your manuscript/s, please do not forget to include your name and contact number.

To know more about the Call for Manuscripts, visit www.theantithesiscollective.com<