The End?

It is the end--

of only the first semester of the school year! A break sounds so appealing right now. Only 5 months are left before we're finally graduated. How time quickly passes by. So far school's been fine...

I have no words right now. I can't seem to remember what I did during the semester, did I space out the whole time? Hmmm, I don't know, I've always had that strange habit and my school life's never been too thrilling. Of course it can be fun at times. It was fun and kinda exciting to meet new classmates again. Our recollection was also fun, except the bus ride (because of my bladder and bus seatmate). Although I didn't do much during Intramurals, I had a bit of fun playing Kickball, and thank God there was a film-viewing or else I would kill myself of boredom by doing research work the whole time. Class is fine, doing projects as usual is a challenge, but it's good that I get to spend time and interact with my new classmates. We have nice, young, and energetic teachers, some who won't be able to teach us next semester-- which makes me wonder who would be teaching us with the strange and new subjects. I'm glad that we'll be having fewer subjects, though it feels suspicious. Who knows, they might be challenging, nevertheless, it's  on!

I'm sad to say that this could be the end of my blog. This blog was started as a requirement for our subject, Media and Information Literacy, and we have to update every week. I would like to apologize for the late posts and updates. The internet connection at home is very limited, but it's not an excuse because there are plenty of  ways (I'm typing on my phone right now by the way since I'm only using cellular data). I've had three diaries and I fail each time to write consistently. There were entries that had at most three-year gaps. When on my fifth entry, I was a Grade 6 student, on the next one I'm like already on Grade 9. If I were to compare, those gaps are like the missing years of Jesus's life in the Bible. And if I were a novelist, my publisher may already had given up waiting for my manuscript and had probably cut me off. I have more analogies in store for my shortcomings as a blogger, but I think these two are the best.

Anyway, I'm gonna miss talking about animated films. I rarely have anyone to talk to about them. It's not like there are people reading this blog anyway, but at least I could vent out my thoughts and feelings I got from the films. There are more great works that I would like to recommend:

• Grave of the Fireflies
• Caroline
• A Christmas Carol

I would love to talk about these films because they are just amazing. Please check them out.

Well, these are all that I've got to say. I bid you Adieu~!

The Spirit of Sports! Intramurals, Henry and Me

This month the Senior High School department of our school had their very own Intramurals for the first time with the theme: Altivolus 2017: Soaring high for a new beginning. As usual, the students were divided into teams based on color and places mentioned during the time of our school’s dear patron, St.Marcellin. My team was called “Red Le Rosey”. Le Rosey is somewhere in France where St.Marcellin was born. The color they chose was obviously red, I guess because you can hear the word rose and also because it gives out a nice ring to the name. 

I joined one sports event this year, since it’s the only game I’m sure of how to play. It’s just a typical and simple game they include for girls to play, usually for sports-related events like Intramurals. I know the rules very well, but I did not expect to suck so bad. Whenever I kick the ball, it just flies to a distance of a about 10 ft ahead of me. On the same ground. Every time. It was all Luck's work that some times the fielders couldn't catch the ball I kicked. On the other hand, when it was our turn to be on field, whenever the ball went my way I couldn't seem to catch it. Clearly I'm not good at sports, but it would never stop inspiring me and others. 

It's too bad I don't know may sports animated films. I guess that's a call for animators to make one under this genre. It would be something fresh and new to audiences. However, I found one with an interesting synopsis. It's titled Henry and Me. The films is about a boy who is battling a serious illness and at the same time loving the game baseball. He met an angel named Henry who takes him to a baseball-Yankees-adventure. It seemed like it's gonna be a sad film considering the main character's condition, but I'm sure it will show to us a lot of heart.

The Iron Giant

Meet the one-of-a-kind best friend to a nine-year-old boy named Hogarth. Based on Ted Hughes's 1968 story the "Iron Man", this animated film  has been considered a classic. It wasn't  very popular on its initial release in the cinemas  back in 1999 but soon gained lots of fans and praises from film critics a decade later.

Here's the trailer for it's remastered version:

Over the Hedge

Dreamworks brings to us another great 3D animated film (in my opinion). I just couldn't get over it even if years had passed since my last time watching it. The plot is still clear in my mind though.

RJ is a raccoon who owed a big bad bear all his junk food, blue cooler, and red wagon. In order to repay him  he has to steal the same stuff from humans. But he couldn't do it alone, especially with all those animal traps around the house of a paranoid, and obviously, furry-unfriendly woman, and an additional exterminator. So he sort of lied to a group of innocent and hungry woodland animals who lived over the hedge, in the middle of a suburban subdivision, to help him get them all the food they can eat. All RJ's life, he lived and scavenged for himself, and along the way while he was with these animals, he realized how good it felt to live and survive with a family. Vern (the turtle and leader of the hedge animals) too learned how to try taking a risk and getting out of his shell.

Er...not that "out of the shell".

Let's Play! RPG Metanoia

Meet the Philippines' first ever full-length 3D animated film. 

The RPG Metanoia 3D movie story revolves around an avid online game named Nico who as an eleven year old boy lives a normal child's life. But when he is playing the MMORPG (Massively Multi-players Online Role Playing Game) called Metanoia, he is an unpredictable vagabond armed with a magic yoyo and with uncanny speed and agility in his skill set.

Nico got low self-esteem and is only getting his guts from playing Metanoia. That is why when he and his friends were faced with an adversity from local boys, he felt his world shatter. But they found a saving grace from a new friend which inspired them to continue their online endeavor. 

However, the Metanoia network was infected with a virus affecting the whole internet, most computers and the minds of gamers all over the world. It's up to Nico, his friends and the other remaining Metanoia players to stop the virus from taking control of the online and offline world. But to do that, Nico must muster his courage, and discover the true hero he really is.

Source: http://www.movienews.me/2010/07/rpg-metanoia-3d-movie-trailer-plot.html

I actually really liked it. I've no problems with online gaming but too much can be really bad for young children like Nico. So when his computer got broken, it was fun to watch him try playing games outside that children used to play a while back then when gadgets rarely existed. This film is not discouraging children to play online games and even games played in the streets at all. In fact, it encourages friendship, family, and to make the most out of childhood. I liked the Metanoia universe, the animation was good and the kids' powers in the game were fun and interesting. The story though, where an online universe is being attacked or hacked, is pretty common. It's quite a bit similar with the Digimon Movie and Sword Art Online anime series. But I still applaud the animation and am very proud for the Filipinos' talent to pull off this entire film.

Arrietty: The Small Borrower with a Big Heart

Based on Mary Norton's classic children's book titled The Borrowers, Studio Ghibli brings to us the story about little people that may possibly be living beneath the walls and floors of our homes. And no, I'm not talking about cute little mice and small sneaky spiders.

Ever wonder why some of our littlest things go missing? Things like laundry clips, buttons, needles, pieces of fabric, etc. The reason for this are the little people called borrowers. Arrietty is a borrower who lives with her mother and father under the floors of a home in the suburbs unbeknownst to its human inhabitants. On the very first day when she was finally allowed to go borrow things with her father, a sickly human boy named Shawn caught a glimpse of her. It is very crucial for a borrower to be seen by humans, so Arrietty's parents decided that they should flee the house. But while her family was still packing up to leave, Shawn became curious of the little borrower he saw, and no sooner than later, he and Arrietty became good friends. This film just shows to us that friendship knows no bounds, and one would go beyond his/her limits in order to protect it.

A lot of us are more used to 3D animation nowadays, that's why this one seemed to have lesser recognition. Despite that, I find the film visually beautiful. The backgrounds are impressive as always thanks to the guys working at Ghibli. My favorite scene that features their pride for detailed work on backgrounds was when Shawn's grandma introduced to them the exquisite doll house that his grandfather requested to be made, because he too used to have seen little people when he was younger. His grandma explained that every piece of furniture and thing, especially in the kitchen, is the miniature of the real thing. I also love Arrietty's room by the way. 

The characters are pretty too. Shawn just stole my heart. Well, he can have it since his is pretty weak and it's giving him a hard time. It's true, he's not allowed to exert too much because he couldn't breathe well. But for love and friendship, he is willing to risk that. Arrietty's very grateful. 

I owe you one.

It's Alive!: Monster House

Monster House is a 2006 computer animated and motion capture film. It was produced by Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis and written by Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab.

The movie focuses on DJ Walters, a boy who is convinced that there's something strange about the house across the street, and believes the house across the street from him is alive. When his parents go away for the weekend, he tries convincing his babysitter that there is something wrong about the house. She does not believe him, so DJ enlists the help of his best friend Chowder and Jenny, a girl selling Halloween candy (and who nearly gets eaten by the house). Together, the three of them try to destroy the monster house, along the way figuring out its secret.

source: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WesternAnimation/MonsterHouse

I was actually planning on posting this on Halloween, but I can't think of any other film right now that I've already watched. I've seen this film a bunch of times on TV, but I seldom hear people around me giving it a high regard, unlike Moana and again, Frozen (Come on, people! Disney's not the only one that produces great animated films. Though, yes, I agree that they are the most consistent). 

Kids at a certain age crave for thrill and excitement like horror movies. However, most horror films are too violent for the innocent young ones. 

This animated film has just the right amount of scariness that won't even inflict trauma on children. You'll love the twists and turns in this film, especially if you like a bit of mystery. The characters are very well-made, very human-like and relateable. Each of their personalities really stand out and the dialogue's great. It's actually pretty scary and can be quite of a suspense. The story actually reminds me of  R.L. Stine's Goosebumps.  Anyway, you'd want to watch this on Halloween with the younger members of the family as a safe horror film.

Boo!