During our EEP Class, I was able to watch Phantom of the Opera. Actually, I tried watching Phantom of the Opera before, but since I watched the movie version, it was quite boring to me. It was not as amazing as the musical play.

So here's the plot summary written by phan007 on imdb:

Our story begins with Opera Populaire's manager, Lefevre, leaving. His successors, Andre and Firmin, take over the opera, and bring with them their new patron, le Victome Raoul de Changy. To celebrate their new managers, the opera throws a gala, at which the leading diva refuses to perform, due to the mysterious 'Opera Ghost' who seems determined to have the screeching diva leave. Without a diva, Andre and Firmin are strong-minded to find a new leading lady, so they invoke the talents of a young, chorus-singer named Christine Daae, who has been taking lessons from a mysterious tutor. Raoul, Christine's old childhood sweetheart, who recognizes her at her triumphant gala performance, wants to bring Christine back into his life. But, suddenly, Christine's mysterious tutor reveals himself to her... Now, will Christine ask everything of Raoul or listen to the Music of the Night?

I am really glad that our professor showed us the musical play because I have always been dreaming to be a Classical/Broadway singer... But, there's not much motivation around me since I am not exposed to anything Classical/Broadway related. Especially that in this generation, they are really into pop. 

Watching the play triggered something inside my heart. I want to continue pursuing to be a Classical/Broadway singer. Maybe, I am really not born to be a pop singer, but a Classical singer. ;)

Back to the musical play, I loved everything about it! The character choices, the original soundtracks, the story, everything!~ 

If you haven't seen it, I recommend that you should. Especially the 25 years celebration on Royal Albert Hall.

Once again, we didn't have class for the entire day and became an audience to the high school student who presented they speeches. We were forced to watched this. I didn't enjoy it at first, but lately one, I didn't realize that I am really enjoying the event.

I know that the kids were really nervous especially that they are in an environment they are not familiar with and with the audience have never crossed path with, but still, they all act professionals. I really admire them for sharing a piece of them to the audience especially the sensitive topics like family issues and personal heart breaking experiences. They were really brave. I will be part of the speech competition in December and I think I wouldn't be able to do as amazing as the kids did. They were really marvelous.

Each contestant really gave they all, I can feel their passion and their energy all the way from the back of the audience. I wish I could talk more about the individual contestants, but I have decided to talk about the winner alone. The winner is really tall and pretty, She has the legs and body, I've always dreaming to have. Hahaha enough with her physical look. When it comes to her skill in public speaking, I think she really does have a talent. Every word that comes out of her mouth has feelings behind them and her connects with the audience. When she speak, it does not seemed it she memorized it. She was definitely born for public speaking.

A day well spent. I learned so much from the kids and I enjoyed that day. I hope I'll be able to do great on the day of the competition cause I do not want to be a laughing stock infromt of the entire SOM.

I did not expect to enjoy the seminar. At first, I was really happy just because we wont have class for the day, but there something more than that. The seminar was really eye opening especially to those people who have their hearts open since the beginning. The only reason why I tried listening because our gramcom prof said that we will have a quiz regarding the topic. I am not into writing much, but I learned so much from them.

The first speaker talked about how to write stories effectively. She gave us tips and tricks that might help us in the future. We all know that The famous 5W and 1H  formula to get all the necessary information for a certain topic, but what everyone always forget is the question "So What?" Why should the reader care? Answering that question will definitely improve your writing skill. She also shared to us the Art of Interview . And here they are:

1. Embrace the silence
2. Do not be afraid to play dumb
3. Takes notes for more questions
4. Research is a process of gathering data, not a result
5. Start strong. Eng Stronger.

The second speaker spoke about the social issues which really caught my attention so much that I wasn't able to write any notes at all. I was so impressed with the things she discussed. She is not against entertainment but people has the power under our finger tips that we can help people around the globe. The media only feeds the people what they want, that's why more important topics were being put aside because we're too focus on the entertainment especially AlDub when we could have been saving people lives.

The last speaker discussed the role of the media and advocacy journalism. The media has three roles: to inform, to educate and to entertain. While advocacy journalism, should always look at all the sides of the issue to promote fairness. Corroboration is important as well as the two source rule. She talked more about raising awareness and presenting news.

The seminar was really good. I had fun.

To be very honest, as a person who is not really into history, I really enjoyed watching Heneral Luna. For your information, Heneral Luna (English: "General Luna") is a 2015 Filipino historical biopic film depicting General Antonio Luna's leadership of Philippine Revolutionary Army during the Philippine-American War. Before, I don't even know much of the people who played a big role in the history of the Philippines besides Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio and Emilio Aguinaldo. And I am really ashamed to tell you that. Cause as a Filipino, I should know more about my own country's history to be able to love it deeper and to be more proud of it. I can honestly say that the reason why I am now more informed about the Philippine History because of my first term in college. We had to take that subject and honestly, I didn't like it because I don't like history, but my professor has so much passion in teaching history. It is just hard not to listen. The way he teaches is like he is telling a narrative story and he shows us videos of Xiao Chua, who is

a history professor as well and a historian. I wasn't really planning to learn that time. That is how much I am not into history. I just want to pass the subject, but as time passes by, my intention changed. I am really glad that I learned a lot.

I just learned about Antonio Luna just recently. And if you are wondering why I watched the movie when I am not into history, well that is because of my curiosity. The production (is that how you call it?) of Heneral Luna visited our school and they talked about the movie. After that, they showed us a trailer which is a cliffhanger that triggered my curiosity more. So to be able to satisfy my curiosity, I watched the movie with my friend. So, today I will talking about the things that make you love and hate Heneral Luna (2015) based on my experience.

Let us start with the positive things.

Things that make you love Heneral Luna:

1. It triggers something on every Filipinos' heart. It triggers a sense of realization and nationalism to the people. Filipinos, in general, tend to play the blame game all the time. They blame the growth of the economy on the government alone. They blame the government for they are poor because they expect the government to supply their every single need. They blame the current president for the problem he just inherit from the past presidents. They blame the current president that his ways are horrible and the past president, who they used to blame and bash, is better. They just keep on blaming. Another is that, sadly, Filipinos have a crab mentality. Even way before as we have seen the movie. Aguinaldo was afraid that Luna might steal his position which Luna is capable of, but he wouldn't for his intention is to give freedom to the Philippines.  Aguinaldo surely saw how great Luna was, that why he decided to kill Luna before he could even go higher that than what Aguinaldo expected. Another bad attitude of Filipinos is lack of nationalism. As shown at the movie, Filipino businessmen care about their businesses than the freedom of the country and the lives of many Filipinos sacrificed. They betray fellow Filipino in order to protect their business.
One of the powerful phrases I heard from the movie is "Hindi ang Amerikano ang ating mga kalaban, kundi ang ating mga sarili" (Our enemy is not the Americans, but our own selves). It is a single phrase that covers a lot of things. The movie is like telling me/us that it is not too late to change. We don't have live up the "traditional attitude" of the Filipinos that we know of. The battle that we are talking about here is not just the physical battle, but the battle of the mind; how we think produces how we act. By battling with our own individual minds, every individual can be the best they can be which can produce a better nation. It's not right to blame the entire nation to a single person because every single individual makes up the nation.

2. Sense of Humor. The jokes were really easy to reach, but not predictable. This makes the movie alive, amusing and most importantly, not boring.

3. Characters. The characters were amazing because each character represents the characteristics of the majority of the Filipinos. It's easier to relate or understand where they are coming from and it's easier to reflect on ourselves to change for the better. If you know that you have a crab mentality, which I know you wouldn't admit publicly, you will be able to see the result of a situation if you're working on pulling people down.

When it comes to the things I hate about it, there is only one.

Thing that make you hate Heneral Luna:

1. Not being too realistic. I think this most apply to the part where they slaughter Heneral Luna. He was shot and stab a million times, yet he can still stand up and utter sentences. I am not really against it, I mean if it is just for entertainment, why not, right? This is just my personal opinion about it.

If you have seen the movie, you can comment down below your thoughts and idea about the movie, I would love to read them. AND if you haven't seen the movie, you should. Really. You're really missing out a lot.