Malditang Librarian

This December 1-15, 2017 will be the 5th CineKasimanwa, the Western Visayas Film Festival, the longest-running regional film festival. There will be eight films (four full-length and four short films) and student films to be showed in cinemas in Panay. The films were produced by CineKasimanwa and Department of Tourism Region 6. The eight 'Centerpiece Films' revolve around the theme "Dekalidad sang Komunidad" (Quality of the Community). The festival premiere will be in SM City Iloilo Cinema 7 with the film "High Tide" by Tara Illenberger, which won in the ToFarm Film Festival 2017. On December 8-10, the festival will move on to Robinsons Movieworld Capiz in Roxas City; and on December 16-17 in Robinsons Movieworld Antique. The following are the eight local films featured in the festival and their respective schedules in Iloilo City: DALITAN ni Reymundo Salao (full-length / action-espionage) shot in Antique & Iloilo Red Carpet World Premiere: Dec....

Before October ended, me, my mother, and my sister went to Manila for three days to visit my brother studying there. I admit that we did shopping a lot since there are things you can only find in Manila. We also went to places we haven't been to before and some great restaurants. Here are some places worthy of note. Pinto Art Museum (Antipolo, Rizal) This museum showcases art by local artists. It was a surprise because I expected one building but the whole museum is composed of several structures with different works of art. The small buildings are unique and can stand as works of arts themselves. Wandering around the place without a map can be an adventure, with art surprising you in corners and unexpected places. The whole place feels like a surrealist landscape with white beds scattered all over the place. Be prepared for a hike, because it can be quite tiring to walk around and climb many stairs. We had lunch at Cafe Rizal, which had great food as well. I'll let the pi...

I was reading a career and life advice book for millennials, and while it was good and practical, I stumbled upon a page with advice that I questioned.  I also had thought before that it was right, but now it didn't feel that way. It is a popular notion today, and maybe you've heard this somewhere. The idea that success is the best revenge. You're being bullied and put down today? Then focus on bettering yourself so someday you'll be so far above them that they will regret ever looking down on you. People don't see your worth? Then work hard to accomplish things and succeed, until there will be accolades on your name while they are forgotten. At the surface level, it makes sense. We all love stories where the underdog has risen above his situation, proved the critics wrong, and ended up more successful than the people who have put him down. I admit that I thought that way before. When I felt that people were bullying me, I always thought to myself, ...

The cooler South Korean movie poster. From left to right: Lynn, Bank, Grace, Pat I've heard of Bad Genius from a student before, its only showing in the Philippines now so I watched it. I loved it and I never thought a movie about an exam could be this suspenseful. Though, I have written a lot about the board exam in this blog and as we all know, exams can be the most nerve-wracking and stressful experiences as students. Many of us  can relate to cheating (we all have done it at least once in our lives), and I think that is a huge factor on this film's popularity. The Thai movie and the actors have won many well-deserved awards. The story is about Lynn, a smart but introverted high school student. Her father is a teacher who wants a better life for Lynn, so he persuades her to a more prestigious high school against her wishes. She befriends Grace, a pretty and popular student who's not that smart. Lynn helps her cheat in some exams so she can make her grades higher ...

Last October 27, 2017, we had a small library tour in Iloilo City libraries with the LIS faculty and international students of MLIS-TL (Masters in Library Science - Theological Librarianship with ATEASEA scholars from Southeast Asia). We went to four different kinds of libraries and also dropped by Molo Locsin Mansion and Museo Iloilo. I have visited some of the libraries for other tours before, and its good to see some more innovations and new programs in these libraries. The Library Hub by the Department of Education DepEd's Library Hub serves public schools throughout the region by providing books. The boxes you can see in the picture are many copies of book titles for the schools. They also have one new program for the Mother Tongue program of DepEd where subjects are taught in the native language. Public school teachers are encouraged to submit their own teaching materials for widespread distribution. They have a new online system, LRMDS , which catalogs and makes the ...

Let's take a break from the usual articles and talk about life currently. I just came from my university to get my last (and not that great) salary for teaching one subject this semester, after some tiresome procedures of submitting final grades and running around school getting clearances signed. I know its needed, but sometimes its really tiring to correct mistakes in procedure and people didn't tell you that you need to accomplish this or that. I was thinking that if this is the case, I won't teach here. But then, every job will have its difficulty and problems. Speaking of work, I have a new job as a freelance writer. It was luck that I found something that's perfect for me which involves reading books. Working and relying on yourself to manage time and beat procrastination is a new challenge that's way harder than expected. I'm in a cafe right now since my room and house is just a place full of distractions. I'm not teaching this semester or enro...

[Note: may contain some spoilers but nothing major] The last film I saw in the movie theater was Wonder Woman , an amazing superhero movie on a character based on Greek Mythology. Marvel's Avengers franchise have produced a string of successful superhero blockbuster movies for a long time now: we're all familiar with Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, and of course, the Norse god of thunder Thor and his trickster brother, Loki. I'm not a huge fan of this franchise or comic books, but I can enjoy a movie from time to time. I watched the first movie Thor in 2011, it was funny and entertaining, and I followed the storyline of Thor and Loki through the next few Avengers films I've watched. Thor: Ragnarok is the third installment of the Thor movies, and here Thor is battling a new (yet old) enemy: Hela, the goddess of death played by the superb Cate Blanchett. She also played the other-worldly Galadriel, leader of the elves in Lord of the Rings . I loved how on...