SOMA Pageant

Many people believe beauty pageants are over rated but let’s be honest who doesn’t want to feel like a princess every once in a while. Pageants are a good way for children to realize you always have to do your best and work to achieve your goal. Granted children don’t always win but in reality all that’s doing is preparing them for all the life events they are going to go through. Pageants are about more than winning; they teach life lessons and let the children express themselves. Nothing is wrong with setting children up for success, at least this way they get to have fun and learn.

Pageants are just like sports, kids play football and basketball and even are on swim teams and nobody says anything negative about that. Pageants are just like sports, you are competing against one another and everybody wants to win. When children play sports they don’t always win and that can be just as hard on a child. If a child is on a team and the team loses the teammates point out every mistake making the children feel like it was there fault they lost. Let children explore and decide what they enjoy doing, there is going to be bad to everything they do but just remember how much joy the get out of the good. The pageant was more exhausting and a lot more work than I have expected. Most people think we just walk around the blocks and look pretty, but it is more tiring than you think. The most exhausting part for me was to smile for a long time for pictures.

There are many different ranks in a beauty pageant; there is not just one winner. The prizes given out depend on what rank you get. Beauty pageants give out a variety of prizes, each pageant is different but prizes may include money, animals, and even scholarships. So not only do pageants help set children up for success and build their confidence they also help pay for schooling.   Pageants are a great opportunity and everybody should take advantage of them.

This is just some information about what is it like to compete in a beauty pageant, especially when it’s your first time. I just want to grab this chance to give thanks to all the people who supported me along the way. So again, my name is Rachel Camille Martinez, 17 years old, Abma 154! (Hahaha) This was my first pageant that I have ever entered. It was a great experience and It takes a lot of courage and confidence to walk across the stage. I already felt blessed for having the “Formal wear” and “Face of the night” award but then the host called my number when she was announcing the top 5, I was like “ seryoso ba to?”, “di nga?”, “shet may Q&A na naman”. I was the only one who answered the question in Filipino, “ang wikang ating kinagisnan” (hahaha), I just got really nervous that time. But it was really a great experience, I just want to know how it feels when you’re the one in the stage or the chance to wrear 5 inches high heels, like it’s my dream to have 5 feet and above. Ate Katreena and ate Charmaine thank you for lending me your heels. That’s all really wanted, haha just kidding. Anyway, I am so proud of all the candidates, organizers who participated in the pageant, especially to our Mr. and Ms. SOMA 20162 1st runner up, Alex Oliveros and Chelsea Dave (woooh, throws confetti hahaha) This was an experience I will never forget. (Kuya John, MY FAMILY. HAHAHA.)

I made close friends, perhaps it was because I was not very competitive, I ended up becoming very close to many of the girls. My mindset was to try my best and make the best out of it. No pressure whatsoever. I even became very close to the girls I met through the pageant. We don’t see each other very often since we came from different blocks, but we now have friends in every single corner of the school. 

It was an exhausting weekend, but I was so proud to walk that stage and show off all my hard work, thanks to mom Dorie for supporting me through out, to my sister Roxy for admitting that I really am the prettiest between us, to my hair and make-up artists, Jerome and Pat, thank you for me making pretty that night, to my designer, kuya Ren thank you for everything from making the desing to making my tattoo haha, to all my friends who helped me make my costumes, Ate Debbie, Ate Mio, Kuya Paolo and Kuya Chino, also to my beloved friend, Lois, Thank you for lending me your gown. And to the man I love, Ayo thank you for all the support and everything, from the start to bottom, I love you. Of course,   To my dad, Mandy for supporting me even though he’s not here. And last but not the least, to God, who really made this possible.

Believe that you can do it and you will do it, whatever it is. Don’t live down to expectations. Go out there and do something remarkable.

Song Writing Contest

Do you have a song/composition that you want to be heard? or event recorded and arranged?

The objective of this contest is to showcase and promote the skills and abilities of APC Students in creating their own songs and to show and discover a new variety of musical compositions. This competition is open to all APC Students only. Members of the Bahay Bombilya and APC Strings are not allowed to join the competition. The song entry requirements are solo contestant, each entry must be an original composition of the contestant, the BB and Strings has the right to disqualify a song entry if the song was plagiarize, open to any Genre, the song must not exceed Four Minutes (4:00), the song entry must be typewritten in a DOC file together with the title, name of the sender, and chords and the entry must also contain a short audio demo in MP3 format.

A collaborative contest between Bahay Bombilya and APC Strings wherein students will be able to share their music through a song writing contest which will feature and show-off their talents/skills in composing music/making songs. The top 5 will perform in the Cafeteria and grand winner will receive a recording and arrangement session plus video coverage from the APC Strings and Bahay Bombilya.

The songwriting entries are reviewed and judged by the songwriting merits alone. Production quality is not taken into consideration. We are looking for great songwriters, not great producers. A simple home or live recording of a song has the same chance of winning the songwriting contest as a professional recording has of winning. Many of the past winners have placed with simple vocal/guitar or vocal/piano recordings. Vocal ability is 'not' taken into consideration. Only the "songwriting" elements of the songs are considered when determining the winners.

The general criteria consist of three things only, first, the musical Content (30%) refers to the appeal of the melody and its accompanying basic harmony. Second, lyrics (30%) refers to the body of the verse used in the musical composition. And lastly, over-all impact (40%) refers to the general appeal of the song entry based on the concept, treatment of subject, structure, and unity of musical elements.

I encourage all songwriters, regardless of experience, and regardless of production to enter in competition like this. This is a great place for talent to be found.

PAG Concert

APC Strings is a part of the performing arts group of the Asia Pacific College. The group was founded in 2014, where the finest musicians from Asia Pacific College who came from different genres of music, are formed together to make a string ensemble. Unlike any other string ensembles, APC Strings is composed of a rondalla and other string instruments such as violin and cello. APC Strings' mission is to enrich Filipino's vibrant culture life through music and to enable more people to experience the power of music. Today, the group has expanded and more talented musicians joined the group. Being part of the APC Strings gives each individual musician to express themselves through music, appreciate and play more music ranging from classical music, Filipino folksongs, kundiman, lovesongs, pop songs and many more. And this is my organization, we had a collaboration with the APC Dance Crew, APC Theatre Phileo, APC Chorale and APC Band. 

The play was overall, a very good one. I enjoyed everything about the play but there is always room for improvement and feedback. Every bit of the narration made sense and gave everyone an idea what is going on. They did an outstanding job and that definitely helped the audience understand the storyline.

The lecture in class about how to react to the audience came into the play. Many if not all of the audience was involved. Seeing others laugh and showing sympathy to the actors made the play that much better. I think going at the night show gave it a dreamlike experience and certainly made it feel “more” like very talent people around me.

During the whole play, I felt like I could relate to at least one of the actors. Everyone knows how anticipating it is corner because everyone is jolly and yet full of happiness. The performers did such a phenomenal job. I felt like they were the actual characters and not just the people I know that I am acquainted to here in Asia Pacific College.

Your talent is God’s gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God. Use it in every which way possible. Don’t hoard it. Don’t dole it out like a miser. Spend it lavishly, like a millionaire intent on going broke. Always remember that you are talented, that your talent has value. 

Sana dati

"Sana dati" is a romantic drama film that was directed by Jerrold Tarog who is also the one who directed the famous movie Heneral Luna. Starring Lovie Poe as Andrea Gonzaga, Paulo Avelino as Dennis Cesario, TJ Trinidad as Robert Naval and Benjamin Alves as Andrew Cesario.

The film is about a woman who stalls her big wedding when a guy with a camera shows up and reminds her of a love she once had. The film is a love story about a woman named Andrea (Lovi Poe) whose wedding is thrown into disarray when a mysterious guy, Dennis (Paulo Avelino) arrives and reminds her of the man she really loves.

The story begins with a flash back with Andrea (Lovi Poe) and Andrew (Benjamin Alves) organizing their newly bought place wherein they will open a flower shop. While Andrea was moving things, she found a ring (a wedding ring perhaps) inside a flower vase and Andrew starts to propose to her. But the scene was then cut and the time was back into the present. In the present time, she is being interviewed and recorded by Dennis (Paulo Avelino) for her wedding. But it turns out that she is going to be married to a different person which is Robert (TJ Trinidad). Later on, Andrea found out that Dennis is the brother of her true love Andrew. They went to the rooftop and discussed the different good things that Andrew has done to them. Meanwhile, Robert noticed that both Andrea and Dennis are missing and starts to search for them in the whole building. When he is about to give up in searching for them, he noticed something dropped from the rooftop leading him to have an idea to proceed to the rooftop. Dennis hides and Robert found and escorted Andrea back to the lounge. And then the wedding started, at the center of the event place, Dennis received a piece of paper with writings on it. He didn’t read it until the ceremony was over the paper was given by Andrea telling him to escape with her after the wedding. He didn’t follow Andrea’s orders and went home instead. After a few weeks, Andrea went to Andrew’s grave and handed back the ring the was given to her. Robert fetched Andrea at the cemetery and went home. While on the road, Andrea said “I love you” to Robert.

We never knew why they acted like that till we heard their stories. I would rate this an 8 over 10, the concept was so-so for me but the execution was great. I would recommend this to the more experienced movie-goers, but if you're a casual, you can watch the movie as well, I'm not stopping you.

Paddington

The film takes us back to the beginning of Paddington’s journey. We start in Darkest Peru, which was only alluded to in the TV series. We witness the Brown family’s first encounter with him at Paddington Station, inspiring his name; his introduction to the lovely Mr. Gruber, the sneaky neighbour Mr. Curry and resourceful housekeeper Mrs. Bird; and his first steps into this strange world. A new element is also added to the mix, in the form of Nicole Kidman’s mean Millicent, the Cruella De Vil of taxidermy.

Paddington’s London fits the pleasant image of the city that has proven popular in films dating back to Mary Poppins (1964) and, more recently, in Richard Curtis’ comedies. It is a wonderful, almost magical place although disturbingly, like the hugely popular 2001 French film Amélie, it is almost entirely white. (By contrast, it would be impossible to walk along any street in London today and not see someone of colour, or hear an accent that wasn’t British or a language that wasn’t English.) Likewise, the representation of the Browns bears close comparison with the Banks family in Mary Poppins. Both films tell the story of a father who needs to reconnect with his family and an ‘outsider’ who becomes the catalyst for that. But to suggest that Paul King’s film is too stuck in a past that never really existed, or fuels an image of Britain that is at odds with reality, is to miss the subtlety of what the film achieves.

Throughout Paddington, we catch glimpses of the Calypso band, D Lime, featuring Tabago Crusoe. The first track they play is ‘London is the Place for Me’. It was originally recorded by Lord Kitchener aka Aldwyn Roberts, a Trinidadian musician who was one of the passengers of the famous Empire Windrush, which brought hundreds of Caribbean immigrants to the UK in 1948. That culture would blend with Britain's and that music would help redefine British pop, rock and even punk over the course of the next 40 years. The song, along with the other tracks the band play throughout the film, is key. It reminds us that Paddington, even if he is voiced by the dulcet tones of Ben Whishaw, is an immigrant and his presence in London, a few hiccups excepted, makes life better for everyone. Everyone except Millicent, that is.

Adapting the classic children’s story could have been a disaster, amazingly the story of the titular bear from darkest Peru gets everything right.  From the cast (both the human characters and the voice of Paddington) to the animation of the bear.  Most importantly the comedy is just the right side of silly to make it charming and enchanting.