Benjamin Alves in Asia Pacific College

Benjamin Alves is known as an actor and a model, and it leaved me astounded when our professor told us that he is coming in APC to Celebrate his Birthday with APCians, and also, to be a Judge in Slam Poetry Competition.

Slam Poetry Competition is a contest where a pair or a group of students compete by reading their original poems. At first, I was confused when our professor told us that Benjamin Alves is going to judge a poetry competition, so I was like “What does he know about poetry?“ but before I asked this my professor, she told us immediately that Benjamin Alves was a Sum Cum Laude in University of Guam major in Literature.

The participants for the Competition then started to deliver their poems; some of their poems are about unity while some are about equality in the society, but most of the poems are about Love and Heart aches, just like Benjamin Alve’s poem.

I am not really an avid fan of Poetry, but knowing that Benjamin was a Suma Cum Laude major in Literature, I can’t help but lend my ears while he was reading his piece. He said that he wrote that Poem for a girl who broke his heart long time ago, no wonder that his Poem has tons of pain in it  that is why everyone of us can really feel the agony while he was reading his piece, and it turned out superbly wonderful.

When the event was about to end, the facilitators gave the students a chance to take selfies and also to ask Benjamin Alves questions. One of the students asked him the question: ”what is your tips for those who are aspiring to be a writer” his reply makes me want to grab a pencil and a paper then start writing everything inside my head, his answer was something like this:

“Just write, write everything you want because there is no rule in writing, all you need is a pencil, a paper, a wild imagination and a heart to produce a good piece.” 

Enjoy Smoking

NO SMOKING signs prevent smokers from smoking inside the vehicles or inside the private places like: schools, hospitals, malls etc. and we can’t blame the lack of No Smoking signs, cigarette vendors and even the smokers itself is the world is being polluted by cigarettes because according to smokers, smoking gives a certain pleasure to them orally and mentally. But we must not forget the fact that smoking is Dangerous to once health, not only to the smokers itself, but also, to those Second-Hand Smokers who can accidentally inhale the smoke of poison.

According to my research, 33 percent of the people I asked are smokers, while the other 67 percent are the Second-Hand smokers. With that thought, I can further conclude that everyone is a smoker, and majority of them are the Second-hand Smokers, including me, unfortunately. I certainly didn’t choose to a Second-hand smoker - I am forced to, by the people around me exhaling clouds of poisonous substance permeating the air I breathe. It smells like burning lungs.

They’re the murders.

They’re dying.

But I am still the victim of this crime scene, and as a victim, I demand Justice! I demand for smoker’s discipline and concern for us second-hand smokers!

So for the smokers out there I hope that someday you’ll realize that: A Cigarette is as dangerous as a Bullet, the only difference is that, a Cigarette kills slowly – silently burning your lungs to ashes.

Also, if you’re smoking because you want to look cool, then I guess you should stop it, right now, you know why? Because smoking is not a tool to make a person look good, and if Cigarette Companies are trying to decrease the world's population, I guess they should make some more of their products because they are currently doing a great job.

Turn Left Turn Right

Turn Left Turn Right is a Hong Kong-Singaporean movie filmed in Taipei, Taiwan. It is produced and directed by Johnnie To and Wai Ka-Fai. Starring Takeshi Kaneshiro as John Liu and Gigi Leung as Eve (featuring the following Antagonists: The Great Apartment Wall, Dr. Hu (Edmund Chen), Ruby (Terri Kwan) and the Sari-Sari Store between their apartment gates). The movie was originated from a book written by a Taiwanese author Jimmy Liao entitled, A Chance of Sunshine .

This movie is about two destined people traveling parallel paths: John Liu is a violin player (FYI Takeshi Kaneshiro doesn’t really know how to play a violin. So I would like to commend on how well he portrayed his role as a violinist) while Eve Choi is a translator of a book. Even though their career is completely different from each other, it is amazing to know that, if when we combine their works, we can create a masterpiece out of it: Music. It proves that, no matter how far they are separated they’re still destined to each other. John and Eve finally meet by accident at the water fountain, when he helps her pick up her papers that have fallen into the fountain.

They find out that they had met each other when they were younger at an amusement park, when both their schools had organized a field trip to the same place. Then, Eve had asked John for his telephone number, but the two never got in touch because she left her school bag on the train and lost John's phone number. The two laugh about the past and exchange phone numbers without asking for each other's name (which is very disappointing) before parting quickly because of a coming rainstorm. When they arrived at apartment, they found the paper wet and the numbers smudged because of the rain so they are both disappointed, but due to desperation to contact each other, they forgot to medicate their Flu that they got from the recent rainstorm. So they got sick at the same time, ordered the same food on the same restaurant, got admitted in the same hospital and yet they didn’t have a chance to at least take a glimpse or a single glance due to the walls that blocks their way. Until Destiny comes and worked like an earthquake, destroying the walls and boundaries along its way, I mean, literally, just like in the movie, an earthquake striked destroying their apartment walls and they both FINALLY found each other

Sana Dati ( If Only )

Sana Dati ( If Only ) is a 2013 Filipino romantic drama film written and directed by Jerrold Tarog. The film is the final installment to Tarog's Camera trilogy that includes Confessional (2007) and The Blood Trail (2009). Starring Paulo Avelino (as Dennis), Lovi Poe (as Andrea), Tj Trinidad (as Robert) and Benjamin Alves (as Andrew).

Story:  Andrea was about to get married to Robert obligingly. Her mother forced her to marry Robert because he came from a rich family, and Andrea’s mother believed that Robert is the right guy for her. As a daughter who wants to honor her parents, she did what she was told to. It was supposed to be a normal wedding celebration until the wedding videographer named Dennis showed up and ruined Andrea’s peace of mind. Why? Because Dennis reminded Andrea of someone very important to her in the past: Andrew, her ex-boyfriend. Died because of heart attack with their dream to build their to build a family and a business: an Event shop. Her wedding almost turned into a disaster when she and Dennis sneaked up to the top-floor to settle down and talk for a bit – to escape the chocking situation - to look back to the memories she holds on so dearly. Meanwhile, the groom was left terrified of the thought that his bride might have ran away from before their vows, and he knows that it is not impossible to happen – he knows that part of him dragged her to that fake wedding where she didn’t want to be in, but still, Robert together with his father, the mother of Andrea and The Bride’s Maid searched for the Bride. Luckily for Robert, he found his soon-to-be wife at roof-top, but unfortunately for Andrea, she have no choice but to exchange her vows with this stranger instead of being with someone she truly Love, or at least, a guy of her choice. After all of that, I am satisfied to know that the ending was not that bad: Andrea finally learned to love Robert sincerely. Maybe she accepted the fact that there is no more chance for her to escape, or maybe, she finally got tired loving a Ghost – chasing memories.

Francisco Arcellana

Francisco "Franz" Arcellana (Zacarias Eugene Francisco Quino Arcellana) was a Filipino writer, poet, essayist, critic, journalist and teacher. He was born on September 6, 1916 in aka Frank V. Sta. Cruz, Manila. He is the fourth son of the 18 children of Jose Arcellana y Cabaneiro and Epifanio Quino.

He was married to Emerenciana Yuvienco with whom he has six children, one of whom, Juaniyo took the same at as gis father and became an essayist, poet and fictionist.

Francisco is studying at Tondo Intermediate School but it was at the Manila West High School (later Torres High School) when  it occurred to him that he has a passion for writing, so he became a part of his school’s writing organization called The Torrest Torch.

And in 1932, he studied at University of the Philippines (UP) as a pre-medicine student and graduated in 1939 with a bachelor of philosophy in degree. In his junior year Arcellana was invited to join the UP Writers Club by Manuel Arguilla. He later on received a Rocketfeller Granted and became a follower in creative writing the University of Iowa and Breadloaf's writers conference from 1956- 1957. He is considered an important progenitor of the modern Filipino short story in English. Arcellana pioneered the development of the short story as a lyrical prose-poetic form within Filipino literature. On April 2, 1989, the University of the Philippines conferred upon Arcellana a doctorate in humane letters, honoris causa. Francisco Arcellana was proclaimed National Artist of the Philippines in Literature on 23, 1990 by then Philippine President Corazon C. Aquino.

Arcellana died in 2002. As a National Artist, he received a state funeral at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. Seven years after his death, his family came out with a book to pay tribute to National Artist for Literature Arcellana. The book entitled, "Franz," is a collection of essays gathered by the Arcellana family from colleagues, friends, students and family members, including fellow National Artist Nick Joaquin, Butch Dalisay, Recah Trinidad, Jing Hidalgo, Gemino Abad, Romina Gonzalez, Edwin Cordevilla, Divina Aromin, Doreen Yu, Danton Remoto, Jose Esteban Arcellana and others. His grandson Liam Hertzsprung performed a piano concert in 2006 dedicated to him.

Selected Stories (1962) , Poetry and Politics: The State of Original Writing in English in the Philippines Today (1977) and The Francisco Arcellana Sampler (1990) are Francisco "Franz" Arcellana’s works.