Indeed, it is such a well-known fact that these kinds of people could only come from such background that it has become a habit to associate them to any kind of misbehavior. It is not unusual that we would hear some angry parent chastising her kids and saying, for example “Ugaling squatter kayo ah!”.

The movie proved to be an eye-opener: it portrayed the life of “squatters” in a different light. They were presented as beings like the rest of us, living to provide for their families and put food on the table. By the end of the movie, viewers will battle with the feeling that these most despised villains are actually victims–of their environment and society. Somehow the movie was able to depict the unknown side of “squatters”, eliciting the feeling that the crimes they commit are actually justified.

Deprived of education and proper help from the government, people suffering from extreme poverty have very few options to choose from: live an “honorable” life and watch your loved ones starve and die of some kind of illness (like Maximo’s mother), or turn into a life of crime and live a little comfortably. The film displays the reality that many of the faceless and nameless we often despise and look down upon also have families–loved ones they need to support. In a society such as ours, where the maleducated are punished even further by society’s judgemental views and where they rarely get any opportunity for a better life, leading a life of robbing, snatching and killing is not criminal to them, but survival.

Also, the film successfully showed that love and even the most unlikely friendship could exist in the midst of poverty–Maximos curious friendship with Victor (the policeman) and his happy existence with his family. It was an unusual story indeed, especially in the Philippines, where gays are often underestimated and discriminated. Maximo has two brothers and a father (who are all “bullies”) who not only accepts him, but actually treats him with love and respect.

Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros is not as hyped and commercialized as most movies are. Featuring relatively new actors, it added to the film’s overall appeal that the characters are not “bigger than life”–it helped the viewers identify themselves with the characters more.

There are gaps in the movie that, though forgivable, might make the movie more understandable if they had been filled. Like the story behind the death of Maximo’s mother (which is an important factor as to why their father chose to live a dangerous life instead of finding a respectable job) and the reason behind the chief of police’s revenge against Maximo’s father.

All in all the movie is teeming with substance and values, a movie where two hours and 91 pesos could not be considered a waste.

      The lights were bright and they were blinding me. The salty sweat which covered my face crawled rivulets down my forehead and trickled into my eyes, making my vision cloud and swirl out of focus. Struggling to remain conscious, a single thought presented itself in my mind, blooming in psychedelic colors of pink and orange and yellow, stood out—vivid and glaring—against all the murky grayish memories: Karl. Karl…

      When Karl and I met, I was just an innocent freshman in college, and he was a junior. Our love was built on tentative smiles, hot, urgent whispers and languid afternoons. I let the rush of my blood and the pounding of my heart, our sweet peals of laughter and the crystals of our tears convince me that we could conquer anything.  We were rash, young lovers, and we were carefree. Perhaps, too much so. Our romance spun like a spinning top—graceful and balanced for a while, then wobbled, and completely stopped.

      In one of our photographs, I am leaning into the crook of his arm, my cheek pressed against his. I looked blissful and cherished and sure. I often thought afterwards that my emotions seem to have dripped and leaked out, posed and froze in front of the camera, eager to be captured and preserved forever. Like a charm, I kept that photo with me always—talismanic in a way, something to make me smile and warm my sore heart, if only for a few seconds, on long, dreary days. How I want to see it now.

      “Push harder”, the voice said.

     I could feel consciousness slip in and out of me. Is this the way it feels when one is giving life, or when one is dying? I squeezed my eyes shut, and I fought to remember.

      Like most young lovers, we fell apart messily—with frayed and tattered edges, ragged and ripped. Karl, this man who promised me the world, fled and disappeared faster than I could say “Honey, I’m pregnant”. I haven’t heard from him since.

      My father, to whom I was once a favorite, turned me out into the streets with a slap, my mother cowering and crying in a corner. She is as helpless against my father’s red rage as I am.

      “Just a little more” the voice said again.

      Perhaps he would forgive me after he has seen his grandson, I thought. He would bounce him in his lap, like he did to me way back when we were the dearest friends in the world, way back before Karl.

      5, 6, 10 o’clock. I lost track of the time. They said it hurts like hell to give birth. They weren’t kidding. I wished for the nth time in the last nine months, that Karl was here holding my hand. No, no. Even just seeing the photo will do. It got me this far, after all. It was all I had when I was sick from vomiting. When I was all alone wandering in the streets. When I rubbed my round belly at night, wishing someone was with me, sharing the marvel of a kicking and rolling baby inside me. Yes, a glimpse would do.

      “I can see him, just one more big push,” said the voice.

      I let out a scream, and something warm and wet slipped between my thighs. For the first time in 9 months, my stomach felt wonderfully empty, though my spirits are completely full. I heard him cry, and I imagined the sunlight which shined on the rain, the dewdrops of the morning. A nurse plunked him in my arms—ten tiny fingers, ten tiny toes. I’ve never seen anything so perfect.

      Years from now, this slice of time is the one I’ll be looking at—me staring with joyful realization that he has his father’s eyes, him turning to my breasts for food, for life. It will replace the one I have in my wallet now. I’ll be looking at this minute when he goes to school for the first time, when he shows me his first crayon picture. He will grow up with his father’s face and gestures in him, and I will learn to love them—helplessly, without any way to explain it. I will look at this picture when he brings home his first girlfriend, whenever I stay late at work. I will look at this picture until the end, my end, a tangible reminder of everything that was handed to me that day.

      A breath of air, the sun of a new morn. A new lease on life.

Harry Potter’s magical world has touched millions of readers of all ages. The books’ monumental success marked a change in the history of books–its compelling plots and twists snagged back kids’ depleting interest for reading, and even their parents are hooked in to the Harry-mania. The books has been a subject of much controversy, and while many are captivated by the story of a young bespectacled boy who didn’t know he was a wizard, others labeled the books as heretically dangerous, especially for kids. Inspite of this, the series chronically retained a spot in best-seller list. Clearly, the Harry-mania has spread all over the world, and judging by the latest report of the books’ total sales, the mania is not going to end anytime soon.

Each Harry Potter book has been number 1 on the New York Times, USA Today and Wallstreet Journal bestseller list. In America alone, over 103 million books are in print.

Predictably, the books gave its author many awards, and easily made her one of the wealthiest women in United Kingdom. Also, she is the first person to become a US dollar billionaire through writing books. Joanne Rowling, or beeter known as J.K. Rowling is belived to be one of the wealthiest women in United Kingdom.

The Author

J.K. Rowling was born to a Londoner couple on July 31, 1965, in the General Hospital of Chipping Sodbury, in the outskirts of Bristol, West of England. When she was four, her parents took her and her younger sister, Diana, to Winterbourne. Her parents, who dreamed of living in the country, decided to move again to Tutshill, a village near Chepstow in Wales. She attended secondary school in Wyedan Comprehensive. It was during these times that she seriously dreamed about being a writer.

In 1983, she went to study at the University of Exeter, on the south coast of England. After studying in this university, she moved to London and worked with Amnesty International as a researcher and bilingual (she studied French in Exeter) secretary.

In 1990, she and her then boyfriend decided to move to Manchester together. After a weekend of flat-hunting, she travelled back to London by train. During this trip, the idea of Harry Potter fell into her mind, and began writing that very evening.

Her 45-year old mother died on December 30, 1990. This, according to Rowling, helped her write Harry’s feelings about his dead parents in a deeper way. To help her get over her mother’s death, she moved to Portugal, and got a job as an English teacher in a language institute. In Portugal, she met television journalist Jorge Arantes and they married on October 16, 1992.

After she had divorced with her husband, she moved near her sister in Edinburgh, with her unfinished manuscript and her daughter, Jessica. She completed Harry Potter and the Sorecerer’s Stone while single-handedly taking care of her daughter. She wrote away in the nearest coffee shop whenever her daughter fell asleep. She slaved on the manuscript nearly everynight.

The First Book

Rowling placed the first three chapters of her novel in a nice plastic folder and tried to get it published. The first agent she tried sent back her manuscript almost immediately. But the second agent Rowling tried became interested and asked to see the whole manuscript. “It was far and away the best letter I had ever received, and it was only two sentences long”, she said.

Christopher, her new agent, looked for a publisher for a year. A lot of publishers were not interested and turned it down. Then, in August 1996, Christopher called Rowling and informed her that Bloomsbury “had made an offer”.

Before publishing the novel, Bloomsbury was concerned that their target market (young boys) might be reluctant to buy a book that is written by a female. They decided not to use Rowling’s first name and told her to use two initials. She had no middle name, so she adopted the name of her favorite gradmother (who passed away years before), Kathleen as the second initial of her penname. The pseudonym J.K. Rowling was born.

Harrymania

The novel unexpectedly became a tremendous success. In 1998, the Sorcerer’s Stone was published in America, and the popularity of the books began to snowball. Harry Potter gained recognition and people of all ages wants to read them.

The release of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was a major celebration, prompting bookstores to open until midnight. The fourth installment of the Harry Potter series sold three million copied in the first 48 hours of its release, and won the title “fastest selling book in history”. As proof of the ever-growing population of Harry Potter fans, this title was later claimed on July 21, 2003–by the fifth installment, Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix.

With the books’ rapidly growing popularity, movie adaptations were soon filmed, and the film version proved to be as popular as the novels themselves. All of the movies are top grossers, and the last Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire brought in about 39.5 million dollars on its opening day.

Inspirations

Rowling, like most writers, pick up tidbits from her life and relive them through her novels. Many similarities from Rowling’s life are embedded in the books.

King’s Cross train station, where Harry and other people from the magical world can access the platform 9 3/4 by going through a platform barrier, was where her parents first met. Both were on the way to navy. 

According to Rowling, she was able to give a deeper meaning to Harry’s feelings of loss regarding his dead parents after her own mother died. “Now, Harry’s feelings about his dead parents had become much deeper, much more real.” Rowling says. during the first weeks of moving to Portugal, she wrote her favorite chapter in her first book: The Mirror of Erised.

The flying Ford Anglia was once owned by a Sean Harris, to whom Rowling dedicated her second novel. Harris has been a childhood friend of Rowling who, according to her, was the first one who believed that she would be a succesful writer. “It meant much more to me than I ever told him at the time.” she says.

Harry’s surname, Potter, was from another childhood memory. A family (mother and two kids) from their street in Winterbourne owns it, and Rowling confessed that she favored their name rather than hers. The boy soon came up and claimed that he was Harry, and her mother said the he and Rowling used to dress up as witches when they were young. Rowling stated that neither of their claims were true.

Harry Potter and Rowling also share the same birthday: July 31.

After Harry

The internationally acclaimed series made Rowling a very successful and well-known writer, and brought her many awards.

Rowling plans to continue writing after finishing the Harry Potter series, probably under a pen name. According to her, she has written a childern’s book which she dubbed “political fairy story”. Also, she has already written a few short stories.In an interview with a BBC reporter, she said that her next books will target younger audiences.

Rowling currently lives with her new husband (Dr. Neil Murray) and three children (Jessica, David Gordon and Mackenzie Jean) in a luxurios mansion.

This year’s theme was “Tele-Tomasino: A Critical Appreciation of Television”. The 30,000-strong student body population of the University of Santo Tomas decided whom among this year’s nominees will emerge as winners. According to the USTv organizers, the criteria for judging are competence, quality of programming, and promotion of Thomasian Vision of truth with charity.

They should have tagged the USTv as “Thomasians’ Choice Awards” instead, for no one could deny that rumor mongering shows and brain numbing teleseryes do not, in any way, promote “Thomasian Vision of truth with charity”. So how did they win?

Consider the irony: as an example, “The Buzz”, a show where the primary aim of the hosts is to mind other people’s business and expose the private lives of actors, actresses, and politicians whether they wanted to or not won as the Best Entertainment News Show. How does this gossip talk show promote Christian values? “Maalaala Mo Kaya” may pass off as a good drama show, but everyone knows the show is extremely edited for blockbuster purposes–not exactly morality-inspired, I must say.

In spite of the constant one-upping and word war between the two largest T.V. stations, ABS-CBN and GMA remains to be the two most popular stations that most Thomasians watch. We should just admit it: these T.V. stations have been serving us substandard shows and we are still eating it up. Perhaps because they are what we grew up with, or maybe it’s simply because we don’t have anything else to choose from.

What USTv Awards revealed to me is not the fact that we have lots of local shows worthy of watching, but that Thomasians need to improve their critical judgment and learn to choose shows that enrich their minds and morals. Perhaps the real aim of the USTv Awards is to motivate producers, hosts, and performers to change their programming to better emulate the standards of the Church?

If that’s the case, it’s most probably a lost battle. After all, Christian values does not sell as much as gossip does.

Clive Staples Lewis’ most popular work finds its way into the big screen with the cinematic adaptation of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Disguised as a fantasy story, his novel contains many Christian themes and symbolisms, hereby earning pledges of support from evangelical groups all around the world.

Heavily influenced by Christianity, C.S. Lewis’ wrote the series of The Chronicles of Narnia from 1950-1956. The book The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe were the first to be written among all of the eight installments. The story uses the basic elements that appeal to children’s fancies: talking animals, magic, children as heroes, etc. while embedding biblically-inspired symbolisms along the way.

Narrating the story of a fantasyland in eternal winter but never Christmas, a battle for good against evil ensues as Lucy, the youngest among the Pevensie brood, found her way into the land of Narnia through a wardrobe in the spare room of an eccentric professor’s house. Her brothers and sister later accidentally entered the land of Narnia with her while hiding from the sour-tempered housekeeper. Lucy, his brothers Peter and Edmund, and her sister Susan along with the creatures of Narnia and the lion Aslan, Narnia’s king, successfully defeated Queen Jadis, the White Witch who casted the spell of forever winter but never Christmas in Narnia.

Narnia, frozen in winter for 100 years, represents the race of man before the coming of Christ—doomed and cursed. With the coming of Aslan, Jadis’ grip on Narnia weakens—as Christ saved us from the punishment given to us after the sinning of Adam and Eve. Aslan sacrificed his life to save Edmund’s life after he betrayed his siblings because of his ill feelings of hatred and indifference towards them, and also because of his own selfish motives. Edmund could be interpreted as two Biblical figures—Judas, who betrayed Jesus for a bag of silver, and the prodigal son, who came back to his father after realizing his mistakes.

Aslan was ridiculed and mocked before he was finally killed, as the Roman soldiers mocked and ridiculed Christ before nailing him to the cross. Aslan was later resurrected, the same as Christ has risen from death. Feel-good themes were stamped all throughout the movie–repentance, forgiveness, bravery, and affection.

The movie’s adaptation of the book was much better than the book story-wise: it was much more exciting and did not leave out important facts and key events. The director changed the story just enough to add a few thrilling scenes to perhaps excite the audience, such as the scene at the waterfalls and the chase of the wolves after the Pevensie children and the beavers. But the technical aspect of the movie leaves much room for improvement, for some scenes were obviously shot at a studio—the backdrop gives it away. The animation of the creatures such as the faun, the centaurs, the wolves and the lion were fairly excellent on the other hand.

Since the Church believes in the powers of the cinema to influence the audience’s morals, The Chronicles of Narnia is a shoo-in for, as stated in section III of the Vigilanti Cura, the statement “inspired by the principles of Christian morality”. However, this claim is denied by its producer, most probably for box-office purposes, and says that the movie does not symbolize anything.

Furthermore, we must remember that the film is still open to other interpretations, depending on who’s viewing it. To some, it could be biblically inspired, since most of the themes could be related to the life of Jesus Christ. To others, however, it may be pagan because it used greek and roman mythology creatures such as centaurs, unicorns, etc. But let us put in mind that we may be putting too much faith in this–after all it is just a movie. In fact, to children, it may just be a fantasy story and nothing else. What matters is that, as in viewing any other movie, we must keep in mind what we believe and must not be swayed by cinema.