Keep looking; don't settle. -Steve Jobs

Off the Shelf and into the Trash Bin: Licensure Examination for Teachers Reviewer (MSA)

August 25, 2007

I should be cramming for tomorrow's board exam (L.E.T.) but instead I am blogging and for a good reason, I suppose. To cap off a week of "studying", I decided to answer the sample tests in the Licensure Examination for Teachers Reviewer, Vol. 1 by Merle S. Alferes, Ma. Gracia B. Nones,and Ma. Dolores Nones-Austria. The reviewer was published by MSA Math Tutoring Center. To my horror, the reviewer is laden with errors. No, not just the forgivable and forgettable typo errors that we come across with every now and then. I'm talking about gross errors here.


Exhibit A


This one is item 25 on page 5 in the Professional Education section, a fill-in-the-blank/multiple choice test item. If you look at the choices, there isn't any that upon substitution will give a grammatically sound sentence. Not only that, look closely at choice b) Motivates the lesson to interest the students. I didn't know lessons need to be motivated to make them interesting.

That's the grammatical part. Let us move on to the test item construction part. In the field of education, test construction is a major subject. Just how major the subject is? There are masteral and doctoral dissertations on the subject. When constructing an item such as this one, I have learned that you are not supposed to place the blank at the beginning of the sentence. It should be placed in the middle or at the end of the sentence.

Exhibit B

This one could be found on page 71 in the English Grammar section, Idiomatic Expressions test. "at a discount" is not an idiomatic expression. Consider the sentence: "Cleanliness is still at a discount in many parts of the country." I am flabbergasted. Will dirt be put on sale as well?

Exhibit C
Refer to page 72, Idiomatic Expressions test.

Aside from "at a discount", "punctuality" and "resolved" are considered idiomatic expressions by the authors. Perhaps, they are idiotic expressions of the authors but they are not idiomatic expressions.

These mistakes are not isolated cases I'm afraid; they are reverberated throughout the book. Miss Ilao, my professor in Measurement and Evaluation in Philippine Normal University will surely have a field day revising the book. I am recommending the book to anyone aspiring to be a proofreader or an editor. You'll get comprehensive practice.

Hyper Quentin Tarantino

August 22, 2007

Certainly, the highlight of the 9th Cinemanila International Film Festival. Quentin Tarantino, director of cult favorites Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, and Kill Bill, among others was in the Philippines during the regular run of the festival in Cineplex 10, Gateway in Quezon City. He was awarded the lifetime achievement award during the opening ceremony last August 8.

Quentin couldn't stand still even for a second making it nearly impossible for his fans to take decent shots. Watching Quentin pace back and forth while answering questions hurled in his direction is like watching a tennis match. It didn't help the whole cinema was poorly lit. Well, under normal circumstances, it should be if not totally dark but we weren't there to watch a movie! We were there to have a glimpse of Quentin, listen to him and take pictures of him.

Black-eyed Quentin before the talk
Quentin with his pseudo bodyguard
In "Waning Crescent" pose (hehe)
"Shy" Quentin couldn't stop talking

Off the Shelf: Special Topics in Calamity Physics

August 19, 2007


Special Topics in Calamity Physics

"Always live your life with your biography in mind," Dad was fond of saying. "Naturally, it won't be published unless you have a Magnificent Reason, but at the very least you will be living grandly." (p. 66)


Barely making it to page 100, I find the author has read too many books in her very young life that it spills over her writing. She is too wordy for my taste. If you can stand compound sentences compounded at least a hundred times over, then you might just make it to the final period. Expect kilometric sentences as major staple such as this one:

"In her absorbing memoir, There's a Great Day Coming Manana (1973), Florence "Feisty Freddie" Frankenberg, a 1940s their-girl-Friday actress whose great claim to fame was appearing on Broadway with Al Jolson in Hang on to your Handkerchiefs (she also palled around with Gemina Cervenka and Oona O'Neill), wrote in Chapter 1 that at first glance, Saturday night at the Stork Club was an "oasis of rarified fun" and that, despite WWII grimly unfolding across the Atlantic like a telegram delivering bad news, when one was in a "new gown, perched on those comfy banquettes," one had the feeling "nothing bad could happen" because one was protected by "all the money and the mink" (pp.22-23)." (p. 142)

Nonetheless, I am determined to finish this one. The plot which is beginning to take form on page 103 reminds me of The Secret History by Donna Tartt.


Like Mother, Like Daughter

August 17, 2007

I did not have enough cash with me and so my mother lent me a thousand bucks so I could pay my long overdue Internet bill. After handing out the 2 crisp five-hundred peso bills to me, we parted ways. As she turned her back on me, I pretended to walk in the general direction of the payment center. Then I watched her - counting her steps as she lengthened the distance between us. Like a torpedo that has zoomed in on its target, she could not be stopped from her tracks - each step brought her closer to her destination: her favorite shoe store. And the target: a pair of slip-ons she's been dying to have since laying eyes on them a week ago. But today, the slip-ons are on sale. It's only when she had stepped inside the shoe store that I actually started walking in the general direction of the payment center. But so unlike my torpedo mother, I got detoured to a bookstore. I'll just check if the books I like are on sale, I muttered to myself. Nearing the shop, I saw the huge sign screaming: Up to 65% off! At that point, my pulse started to race, my steps quickened and in a split second I was transformed into a torpedo zooming in on a series of targets. Just give me 15 minutes, I told myself. There it was in the Literary section, Murakami's Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman. Not far from it, in the General Fiction shelf, I picked up Special Topics in Calamity Physics and a few strides from the counter, I saw Crichton's Next. I just couldn't ignore the ignorable Crichton. The damage: Php 864. Savings: Php 201! Don't you just love it when bookstores go on sale? I do.
Now, where to? Ah yes, to the payment center. Except I didn't have enough cash with me again to settle my bill. Oh, well I'm their most loyal client - didn't switch, even when offered a better deal by the competition. They will not mind if I'm behind my payment. Tomorrow I'll zoom in on the payment center. In the meantime, let me find a vacant seat in the food court and let me enjoy my books. As for my mother, she will understand. She should. She's supposed to buy someone a gift but then changed her mind. You already know why.

9th Cinemanila International Film Festival Screening Schedule (for 08 - 14 August)

August 6, 2007

Here it is, film buffs: the screening schedule for the 9th Cinemanila International Film Festival. Exactly one day before the start of the film fest, Cinemanila organizers updated their website to include the screening schedule (at least for the first week of the festival), and the synopsis of the films competing in the ASEAN Film Category. For a complete synopsis of the films included in the International Category, click here.

AUGUST 8 (WEDNESDAY)

Gateway Mall, Cineplex 10

4:30PM

CONTROL - MATINEE SCREENING | CINEMA 1
(With Band Performances by: Blast Ople and Pupil after screening)

IRINA PALM - MATINEE SCREENING | CINEMA 4

8:00PM OPENING / ASEAN NIGHT | CINEMA 5

Lifetime Achievement Awardees:
Mr. Robert Malengreau, Mr. Quentin Tarantino
& HSH Chatrichalerm Yukol

9:00PM OPENING FILM: KING NARESUAN | CINEMA 5

AUGUST 9 (THURSDAY)

CINEMA 1
1:00PM
| LOVE’S LONE FLOWER
3:30PM | CONTROL
7:30PM | SOUTH AFRICAN NIGHT: U-CARMEN eKHAYELITSHA
10:00PM | THE EDGE OF HEAVEN

CINEMA 4
12:30PM
| CRY, THE BELOVED COUNTRY
2:15PM | WOMAN ON THE BEACH
5:00PM | IRINA PALM
7:15PM | THE UNSEEABLE
9:30PM | CONTROL

CINEMA 6
10:30AM
| POSTMODERN LIFE OF MY AUNT
1:00PM – 4:00PM | FILM ARCHIVING SEMINAR
5:00PM | INVISIBLES
7:00PM | VANAJA
9:30PM | RED DUST

AUGUST 10 (FRIDAY)

CINEMA 1
1:00PM
| YESTERDAY
3:30PM | WOMAN ON THE BEACH
7:30PM | BOLLYWOOD NIGHT: THE NAMESAKE
10:00PM | IRINA PALM

CINEMA 4
12:30PM
| CONTROL
3:00PM | FAITH’S CORNER
5:00PM | VOLVER
7:15PM | RESERVOIR DOGS (1st theatrical screening in the Philippines)
9:40PM | 2 DAYS IN PARIS

CINEMA 6
10:30AM
| LOVE CONQUERS ALL
1:00PM – 4:00PM | GRINDHOUSE DAY with Mr. Eddie Romero and Mr. Cirio Santiago
5:00PM | EBONY, IVORY AND JADE
7:00PM | REQUIEM
9:30PM | THE UNSEEABLE

AUGUST 11 (SATURDAY)

CINEMA 1
10:30AM
| LEAF ON A PILLOW
1:00PM | SECRET LIFE OF WORDS
3:30PM | THE HOMESONG STORIES
6:00PM | PULP FICTION
9:00PM | NO REGRET

CINEMA 4
10:30AM
| GOD WILLING
12:30PM | WOMAN ON THE BEACH
3:00PM | 2 DAYS IN PARIS
5:00PM | WONDER WOMEN
7:00PM | YOUNG CINEMA NIGHT 1 (COMPETITION)
9:30PM | VOLVER

CINEMA 5
1:00PM – 4:00PM
| AN AFTERNOON WITH QUENTIN TARANTINO
9:00PM | PHILIPPINE PREMIERE: “DEATH PROOF” (Gala Screening)

CINEMA 6
10:30AM
| LOVE FOR SHARE
1:00PM | VILLAGE PEOPLE RADIO SHOW
3:00PM | JUAN BAYBAYIN
5:00PM | PLOY
7:30PM | AUTOHYSTORIA
9:40PM | PLEASURE FACTORY

AUGUST 12 (SUNDAY)

CINEMA 1
10:30AM
| CHILDREN OF GLORY
1:20PM | MUKHSIN
3:30PM | LOVE AND HONOR
6:00PM | 2 DAYS IN PARIS
8:30PM | CINE MANGA: THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME with Cosplay.ph

CINEMA 4
10:30AM
| PLOY
12:45PM | GETTING HOME
3:00PM | HULA GIRLS
5:30PM | THE EDGE OF HEAVEN
8:00PM | YOUNG CINEMA NIGHT 2 (EXHIBITION)

CINEMA 6
1:00PM – 4:00PM
| MASTER CLASS IN SCRIPTWRITING
5:00PM | VOICES, TILTED SCREENS & EXTENDED SCENES OF LONELINESS: FILIPINOS IN HIGH DEFINITION CINEMAS
7:00PM | PAIN THINGS
9:00PM | BEYOND THE CALL

AUGUST 13 (MONDAY)

CINEMA 1
1:00PM
| GETTING HOME
3:30PM | LOVE FOR SHARE
6:00PM | PARIS JE T’AIME
9:00PM | HULA GIRLS

CINEMA 4
12:00PM
| SARAFINA
2:30PM | LOVE’S LONE FLOWER
4:30PM | CHILDREN OF GLORY
7:00PM | GOODBYE BAFANA
9:50PM | NO REGRET

CINEMA 6
1:00PM – 4:00PM
| MASTER CLASS IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
5:00PM | JACKIE BROWN
7:00PM | A LA SUERTE A LA MUERTE
9:30PM | THE ARSONIST

AUGUST 14 (TUESDAY)

CINEMA 1
1:00PM
| GOD WILLING
3:30PM | IRINA PALM
6:00PM | VOLVER
8:30PM | PERSEPOLIS

CINEMA 4
12:30PM
| SANKARA
2:30PM | THE UNSEEABLE
5:00PM | THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME
7:10PM | NO REGRET
9:30PM | THE NAMESAKE

CINEMA 6
1:00PM – 4:00PM
| INTERNATIONAL CO-PRODUCTION SEMINAR
5:00PM | THE MUTHERS
7:00PM | FAITH’S CORNER
9:30PM | TRIBU


Here's a bonus: Purchase a Gold Festival Ticket for Php 750 only. The bearer is entitled to 10 screenings and admission to all seminars and workshops including Tarantino's talk on August 11. For more details, visit the festival's official website.

My Flickr Explore

August 2, 2007

Well, of course there's nothing to brag about when only 2 of your photos made it to the Flickr Explore. There are others whose almost every photo lands on the Explore page. Nonetheless, I take pride in these photos. After all, not all "flicktrs" have photos in the prestigious page.

Both were taken in 2006 with my beloved Canon Powershot A95 - the camera that introduced me to the world of photography. Nothing fancy, nothing complicated just a point 'n shoot with creative controls: it's the indian, not the pana.

DLSU Yuchengco Hall

Architecture was the first subject I tried in photography. I shot hundreds of buildings with my A95. I am particularly drawn to buildings with posh modern style and at the other end of the style spectrum, classical design and those tall, intricately designed columns are a must. The Don Enrique T. Yuchengco Hall's classical exteriors contrast the modern interiors of the building.

Bed of Books
If there is a bed of roses, why not a bed of books? What a crazy idea. But book groups in Flickr dig it. For some odd reason.