Book Review: Aftermath – Cara Dee

Posted on June 2, 2014 | Leave a comment
via goodreads

via goodreads

I absolutely adore this book! It was written beautifully and it tugs to your heart in so many levels. Austin Huntley is a family man who lives his life in order. He’s got a nice career and a nice family and is simply content with what he’s got. Cameron Nash on the other hand is an antisocial mechanic with very little patience when it comes to dealing with – err life. Bonded by their five months traumatic captivity together, the two men formed something that they realized is more than just their will to escape their captor but something that will change their lives forever.

I didn’t expect this book to be so good. I mean, I loved how the author seemingly tied everything together while going back and forth from the past to the present every other chapter. I love the “love” element in it though, I find the whole kidnapping thing a bit puzzling but it’s okay. It’s no biggie to be honest since it kinda helped the story development. It’s also nice to note that both characters have their own identity that was easily dissected throughout the book. Cam’s character for one is a very interesting character. I liked the fact that his Asperger Disorder was discussed here and it didn’t become an issue at all because seriously, it’s no biggie. Cam’s so adorbs here to be honest. It’s actually surprising that the book isn’t that dark at all. Their situation was traumatic ofcourse but it sure was nice to note that the author was able to turn it into light reading – in a good way.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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Review: School Ties (1992)

Posted on June 1, 2014 | 1 comment
via wikipedia
By impawards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10635473

With a future A-list cast packed into this 1992 drama, School Ties stands out as one of the better “school movies” of the pre-Harry Potter era. But no, it’s not some magical boarding school fantasy. This is a grounded, emotionally charged story that tackles anti-Semitism, class division, and social pressure in an elite academic setting.

Brendan Fraser plays David Green, a working-class Jewish teenager who earns a football scholarship to an exclusive prep school in Massachusetts. Once there, he’s plunged into a world of privilege and quiet prejudice. His new teammates—products of the upper crust—harbor casual (and not-so-casual) anti-Semitic attitudes, forcing David to hide his identity just to fit in.

Enter Matt Damon (in full early-career villain mode) as Charlie Dillon, the entitled golden boy whom David replaces on the football field. Bitter over being sidelined—and later, losing his girlfriend to David—Dillon’s resentment festers until it boils over. The final act revolves around a cheating scandal, where Dillon manipulates the school’s honor system to try and take David down.

The plot is well-crafted as a classic redemption arc. There are moments where you truly feel for David—moments when you just want to deck Dillon yourself. And yes, that’s Chris O’Donnell, Ben Affleck, and Anthony Rapp in supporting roles. This cast is a who’s-who of future Hollywood stars, though most are still finding their feet here.

Tonally, School Ties tries to straddle multiple genres: part Dead Poets Society, part Scent of a Woman, part With Honors, with a dash of sports drama thrown in. But the result feels a bit uneven. It’s a solid film with strong performances and a clear moral center, but doesn’t quite reach the emotional heights of the films it emulates.

Still, for what it is—and the conversations it dares to spark—School Ties earns its place. It’s a compelling reminder that courage isn’t just about winning games; it’s about standing up for who you are when it matters most.

Rating: 8.5/10
Director: Robert Mandel
Cast: Brendan Fraser, Matt Damon, Chris O’Donnell, Randall Batinkoff, Cole Hauser, Andrew Lowery, Ben Affleck, Anthony Rapp, Amy Locane, and more

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John Spainhour is Mister World Philippines 2014!

Posted on May 31, 2014 | 1 comment

pic_2Filipino-American John Spainhour, a model and a former US marine scout sniper was chosen to represent the Philippines in the upcoming Mister World 2014 that will be held in Torbay, United Kingdom. The announcement was made last May 29 at the Glorietta 5 Atrium by Ms. Cory Quirino who’s heading the so-far very successful campaigns of both Miss World and Mister World Philippines since 2011.

26 year old John was born in South Carolina, USA, growing up in Manila, Philippines. Describing himself as “Disciplined, hardworking and dedicated” John is a former Marine Corp Scout Sniper. Since finishing his service, he has worked as a fashion model, and is looking for new opportunities and adventures to pursue. In his spare time he likes to be in the outdoors, going camping, snowboarding and hiking. He is also a scuba diver and likes to play video games. via MrWorldTV

pic_1Now this is good news for pageant pundits and fans because we now have a very capable candidate to hopefully succeed the current Mister World Francisco Escobar of Colombia. If you still remember, Andrew Wolff almost bagged the crown from Escobar in 2012 placing as 1st runner-up. With John’s military training and modeling experience, it should be easy for him to do the physically tasking challenges required in the pageant and at the same time pull that charm that will hopefully win him the title. Good luck John!! Make the country proud!

During the event, it was also announced that Fil-Persian model Sam Adjani will be the country’s representative for the 2015 edition of the pageant! Why! Such good choices from Miss Cory!!
pictures via mrworldtv

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Book Review: More Than Him – Jay McLean

Posted on May 31, 2014 | Leave a comment

More Than HimMore Than Him is the third book from the More series by Jay McLean. It’s the continuation of what transpired during the second book of the series (More than Her.) Basically, it’s still about Logan and Amanda. Personally, I was not at all excited to read this one because I thought the author could’ve concluded their story in the second book and moved on with the other characters. You see, their story has become repetitive. There’s too much going on in it- too much drama, too much sex, too many conflicts. It felt like the author tried to stretch the story which became utterly unbearable. I’m very disappointed with this after having high regards on the first book. This one didn’t live up to its promise at all and review ratings for that matter. It’s such a shame because it could’ve been great. At the end, it’s obvious that there’s an impending book again and it’d be about Cameron and Lucy – whilst I love these two, I think I’d skip a Jay McLean for now after reading the last two titles from her. It was just exhausting reading those. Gaaaahhhh! I’d love for it to work but it just didn’t (atleast for me)….it was just frustrating and all. The whole POV writing style also became a bit inconsistent – like there are moments that the characters will be talking directly to the reader and it will change again. This was just utterly disappointing for me. Maybe I’d give it time and perhaps I’d be able to read Luce’s story – she’s my favorite character to begin with.

Rating: 1 out of 5 stars

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Book Review: The Fault In Our Stars – John Green

Posted on May 31, 2014 | Leave a comment

via wikipedia

via wikipedia

I’ve read this one like a few months ago and I still enjoyed re-reading it every now and then. This was the first John Green book I’ve read as well. This book is narrated by Hazel Grace Lancaster, a sixteen year old cancer patient who is forced by her parents to attend a support group where she met the handsome Augustus (Gus) Waters whom she eventually fell in love with.

Hazel’s a rather quirky girl and does have a unique sense of humor. Gus on the other hand was more carefree on the surface but deep inside, he’s someone who take things a lot more seriously. For the record though, I’ve read this book prior to learning that there will be a movie adaptation set to be released this year – next week actually! (exciting huh?!)

It was so hard letting go of Hazel and Gus, I mean finishing the book – I was a bit depressed and was feeling so bad because of how it ended. You see, It’s actually a beautiful ending – bittersweet perhaps? It’s a connection from the characters that you fell in love with and if something bad happen to them – it feels like youre heart is breaking for them. I’m getting overly-sentimental here but it’s true. This book is an inspiring book, a spirit-lifter and a book that tells you that nothing’s really permanent in this world. And yes, I did cry reading this book. I know, I know but hey’ crying is good right?

‘tis one of my favorite quotes from the book:

“There will come a time when all of us are dead. All of us. There will come a time when there are no human beings remaining to remember that anyone ever existed or that our species ever did anything. There will be no one left to remember Aristotle or Cleopatra, let alone you. Everything that we did and built and wrote and thought and discovered will be forgotten and all of this will have been for naught. Maybe that time is coming soon and maybe it is millions of years away, but even if we survive the collapse of our sun, we will not survive forever. There was time before organisms experienced consciousness, and there will be time after. And if the inevitability of human oblivion worries you, I encourage you to ignore it. God knows that’s what everyone else does.”

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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Book Review: More Than Her – Jay McLean

Posted on May 30, 2014 | Leave a comment

via goodreads

via goodreads

The story of More Than Her centers on Logan Matthews (Jake’s best friend from More Than This.) He’s got a very interesting back-story. He was abused as a child and was adopted by the Doctor who checked on him when he was brought to the hospital by his biological mother. Unlike Jake, Logan here is the resident playboy amongst his group of friends. He’s fooling around like a normal teenage boy does and it was revealed here that he actually thought that he’s in-love with Mikayla (Jake’s gf) until he realized that it’s actually just a sisterly-love of some sort. Then enter Amanda, the girl whom he eventually dated for a night and things seemed to fall into places – only it did not. You see, Logan’s a very good character – actually, he’s much more interesting than Jake but his story / history became too much over the course of the series. It was alarming how slow the pacing was when the dates in the book are moving. I mean, the whole Amanda-Logan-Shit-WeLoveEachOther-But-WeCannotBeTogether was getting redundant by the time that you actually realized that you’re at the last chapter. I mean, seriously now? I can’t even begin to comprehend the stupidity of both parties. I’m just glad that every now and then, Lucy came along the picture and gets into a Drunk Lucy state. Man’ those are the best parts of the book. After easily giving More Than This a very good rating, I was hoping and expecting that the second book would surpassed it but unfortunately – it was a rather wasted effort to read the whole thing. I’m sad and disappointed with the outcome of this second book.

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

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Book Review: More Than This – Jay McLean

Posted on May 29, 2014 | Leave a comment

via goodreads

via goodreads

If you’ve read The Secret of Ella and Micha, you’d notice a striking resemblance on the writing style of Jessica Sorensen and the author of this book, Jay McLean. Not that it’s bad but it feels like reading a book from the former. But hey, this first book from the “More series” is actually truly much more than the “Secret series by Sorensen”. This I enjoyed reading tremendously. I appreciate the characters more and the story development is more enticing and fast-paced.

 You see, Mikayla and Jake met each other under some horrible circumstances. Mikayla caught her boyfriend cheating with her bestfriend, then her whole family was murdered and these things happened in just one night. A girl couldn’t handle that much right? That’s where the knight in shining armor, Jake Andrews shows up and helps Mikayla get through all of these. With all of these things, both developed feelings for each other but they are both scared to admit it believing that they’re not yet ready for it or the other may feel differently.

 I just love how progressive the characters here are. They are funny in a very strange way and they’re adorable all at the same time. Jake’s character so reminds me Micha that is why I mentioned the book by Sorensen but the reminder only begins at their “loyalty” with one girl and it stops there. I love the chemistry between him and Mikayla. I love that they have friends who are much involved. I love one of their friends Lucy who loves reading e-books and is a mean drunk! That girl’s way too funny! My one slightly unfavorable critique is the interchanging POV. It gets a bit confusing a couple of times but I guess that’s okay. I mean, the story’s beautifully written and the characters are well introduced. It was a strong book and a great start of a series!

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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Review: Maleficent (2014)

Posted on May 29, 2014 | 5 comments

via impawards

via impawards

She’s one of Disney’s most iconic villains and she’s the “evil” fairy that casted a spell on Princess Aurora – the princess we came to know as the beloved Sleeping Beauty. This film was told from the perspective of Maleficent (Angelina Jolie) – the once good fairy whose heart was shattered by the only man she loved which turned her into a lost and angry villain. Truly, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. The events on the film mainly focused on what transpired after she gifted a curse to the newly born princess Aurora (Elle Fanning) and from there we see another persona of Maleficent as the misunderstood, hurt, angry and someone who is also capable of love.

Angelina Jolie owned this character into perfection. Her portrayal was beyond graceful. I’d even think that this was Angelina at her best. She was graceful, composed and that evil smirk just gave me goosebumps! I thought the that narration went well into the film highlighting each event and the characters. I was particularly drawn to Diaval (Sam Riley) because he’s got it good with Maleficent. There were some fun moments in there. Fanning was an okay choice but was rather dull most of the time. Perhaps, that’s what her role was supposed to portray (Anyway, I find the character of Sleeping Beauty the most boring amongst the Disney Princesses – no pun intended) and if that’s the case – she did well then. Sharito Copley was barely there and I could easily replace Brenton Thwaites with any other actors who could play a good prince charming role better than him.

The whole vibe of the film was okay. ‘Love the scoring, the story development and the animation but it’s really Angelina who gave the film an absolute curiosity to be seen. It’s a movie about this villain Maleficent and she did her part to make it all about her. Angelina Jolie is one and only – singular. And I should think that she’s enough reason for you guys to watch this one.

Director: Robert Stromberg
Starring: Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, Sharito Copley, Sam Riley, Brenton Thwaites

Rating: 7/10

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The Philippine Fashion Week Holiday 2014 Schedule

Posted on May 28, 2014 | Leave a comment

For those of you guys who would like to check out the Philippine Fashion Week Holiday 2014 – here’s the schedule of the shows lined up. I actually missed to post this a little bit early but better late than never right 🙂 If you didn’t get any invites, you can still see some of the shows which will be held in MOA Atrium as stated below or check out the collections at the official website of the Philippine Fashion Week HERE.

via philippinefashionweeklive.com

via philippinefashionweeklive.com

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Jodilly Pendre & Katarina Rodriguez on the cover of Metro Magazine – June 2014 Edition!

Posted on May 28, 2014 | Leave a comment

via Metro Magazine

via Metro Magazine

Jodilly with her copy!! Yay!

Jodilly with her copy!! Yay!

Yesssiirr! I am totally loving the next month’s cover of Metro Magazine which features the second and third placer Pinay models in Asia’s Next Top Model Season 2  – Jodilly Pendre and Katarina Rodriguez. It’s just so refreshing to actually see working models making it in the cover of a fashion magazine esp. here in the Philippines!!! I’m so glad that Metro decided to to go with this and I’m very proud of these two ladies as well!!!

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