Monday, February 23, 2009

First at 81st (Yes, its my Oscars blog.)

Instead of going to IPER, UP Village (for the practicum--Manila chapter--orientation) or study very hard for our Socsci 120 (Directed Readings in the Social Sciences) exam, I watched first, the 81st Oscars (via satellite daw on ABS-CBN) and, like always, wasted my time on teeny-bopper, romance flicks which our house seems to ran out of.

Oscars. Well, I was surprised that being the self-declared movie buff, I have let 80 Oscars Awards Nights--too many s--to pass unwatched. Well, you could forgive me for the 70-plus awards night since I may not be born yet (Ha, asa Joann) or I wasn't too worldly (Hahaha) to watch the stuff, or know of it.

Fearless Forecast

for the individual awards in the UAAP Season 71 Women's Volleyball Tournament:
(These are the ladies I think deserve and I like to win the individual awards.)

Best Scorer - Rachelle Ann Daquis (FEU) or Aiza Maizo (UST)

Best Spiker - Manilla Santos (DLSU) or Angela Benting (AdU) or Shaira Gonzalez (FEU)

Best Blocker - Jacqueline Alarca or Michelle Datuin (both DLSU)

Best Server - April Jose (FEU) or Jacq Alarca (DLSU)

Best Libero - Melissa Gohing (DLSU)

Best Setter - April Jose (FEU) or Jam Ferrer (ADMU)

Best Receiver - Bernice Co (UST)

Rookie of the Year - Bernice Co (if she's considered a rookie: She's a 4th year student playing on her first year) or Pau Soriano (AdU)

Most Valuable Player - Manilla Santos or Jacqueline Alarca or Rachelle Ann Daquis


Monday, February 16, 2009

DLSU vs. FEU Season 71 15-Feb-2009

Why La Salle won:



1. Manilla (Illa) Santos simply took over althroughout when her teammates seemed to be struggling. Leading by example, as commentator Boom Gonzales said.
2. La Salle's floor defense really improved. Special mention to libero Melissa Gohing, and setter-spiker Cha Cruz.
3. The team's blocking was--as always--impeccable. Jacqueline Alarca was really a master at the net. Save for some--as in very few--spikes that got through because they were too powerful.
4. The players were intense. Michelle Datuin was seen trash-talking--in the subtlest way--the frontliner of FEU. Vivas in particular. Also, Illa Santos was seen celebrating every point her team scores as if it the last.
5. Although Celine Anne Hernandez scored only one attack--as of my unofficial count--which was the winning point in the fourth set, she provided the ceiling (the height) coach Ramil de Jesus wanted from his team. Quality minutes indeed.
6. The team's setter, Kaye Martinez, brought her A-game. No noticeable and glaring errors, and she even added the drop ball-on-the-second-touch in her arsenal (got a couple of points with it).
7. The La Salle players were, simply, more conditioned, more prepared, more focused than their FEU counterparts.





Why La Salle nearly lost:

1. Steph Mercado missed 4 out of her 5 serves. The last one became a good ball when they were in the lead in the fourth. Her nerves seem to get the best of her.
2. Santos, Alarca and other La Salle players also muffed their serves.
3. Poor reception in the third set, which FEU won.




Why FEU lost:

1. The pivotal error in the line-up rotation the FEU coaching staff submitted for the second set, which last won in a fairly easy manner comapred to the hard-fought first set.
2. FEU lacked the spark. The oomph, so to speak.
3. Mika Morada was very much not in her element.
4. The FEU players were weakened, I guess, by the not-successful blocked attacks they were giving La Salle.
5. Rachel Ann Daquis was also not in her best playing self although there were glimpses of her leadership and skills.
6. The FEU players may have gotten tired of all the chasing they did in the game (Law of averages, says Boom) because La Salle was always up, except for that lone third set when FEU led and won that set.








Saturday, February 14, 2009

LSS=Common sense?

"If you like it then you should put a ring on it. Oh, oh-oh-oh, oh, oh."
-Beyonce in Single Ladies (from the I Am Sasha Fierce album)

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Movie Review: Same-old Paul, Lovable Rowan, and Annoying Wills


The Ten


Well. A parody of the 10 commandments of God given to Moses seems to be good idea. But I wasn't really that impressed with the results. I think it would've been better if the movie was a theater play na lang, which it was, as I found out at the end of the film. (That explains the minimalist setting Paul Rudd and Famke Janssen was acting around on, as if it was their house.)


One disturbing thing though--if the movie was a theater play, as shown in the film--why or how did Paul Rudd got out of the minimalist set, and saw Famke about to ride a taxi. On a real street? It's either blame it on the bad editing or a bad idea.


Paul Rudd, no matter the level of his bida-ness, always end up--so far--portraying the same kind of character. Boy-next-door-boy-buddy-slacko-type. He and Famke had no chemistry, for me. I think she's wayy too tall for him. :P And, Adam Brody's character is kinda . . . unrelatable.




Keeping Mum


Best movie among the three-movie line-up I had today.


It is funny, with a little bit of drama, mystery, romance and whatever-it-is-that-British-are-known-for all rolled into one movie. It stars the getting-to-be-my-favorite-actor Rowan Atkinson as the lovable, warm and awkward Reverend Walter Goodfellow, Kristin Scott-Thomas as Rev. Goodfellow's cheating wife Gloria, Patrick Swayze as a Peeping Tom/golf trainor named Lance, Maggie Smith as the grandmother with unusual ways of solving problem, and Tamsin Egerton as the concerned-but-trying-not-to-look-it daughter Holly are great as well.



The Brothers Solomon


A very annnoying movie, for many reasons:



1) Will Forte and Will Arnett are really annoying comedians. They don't have the Adam Sandler charm, or even the Ben Stiller charm. (Or was that part of their acting?)

2) The characters Dean and John Solomon--(particularly John) are bit... dumb yet unlikable, arrogant and self-conscious. It was just right that the girl from Rm704 didn't date him, or else the story would be utterly unconvincing considering the many loopholes in the story.



3) The movie makes it appear that home-schooled boys from Antartica are naive and... whatever, which I know they can and will disagree on.






Dream Roster: Women's Volleyball

If I were a women's volleyball coach, my dream roster would be made up of:

Chi Saet - setter
Wendy Semana - setter/spike
Desiree Hernandez - middle hitter
Charo Soriano - middle hitter
Jacqueline Alarca - middle hitter
Aiza Maizo - middle hitter
Manilla Santos - open spiker
Angela Benting - open spiker
Carla Llaguno - open spiker
Gretchen Ho - utility spiker
Melissa Gohing - libero (Lislee Ann Gata, as alternate; also Taganas of FEU)




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*This is a cross-post from my Multiply page.



Two things I learned from sports today

(read: today = 11 Feb 2009)

1) Don't be greedy. For power, for fame. Let others shine. (The Aces lost the Game 7 of the 31st PBA season--kanina lang--because Willie Miller suddenly decided to take the team on his shoulders. Take the cudgels for winning, depsite the fact that he muffed both free throws that could've tied the game at 91. And, he refused to set up, or pass to the hot-handed Larry Fonacier who I think could've won the game--and the championship--for them. Too bad.

2) Like the very young Ateneo Lady Eagles-Women's Volleyball (
who lost to AdU in a nail-biter of a five-set match) "we all have to learn." The hard way.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Posterized

"Ano'ng karapatan ng iilan na kontrolin ang kayamanan ng daigdig?"

--Prof. Edberto M. Villegas, The Political Economy of the Current Global Financial Crisis forum (February 6, 2009)