lifestyle, entertainment, reviews

Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts

March 27, 2013

PERCY JACKSON: The Sea of Monsters first look photos

the sequel of the demigod's adventure, inspired by the ancient mythology in the modern world, is set forth to thrill theater goers on August 15 2013. PERCY JACKSON: The Sea of Monsters opens in Philippine theaters, distributed by 20th Century Fox (Philippines).

Percy Jackson (Logan Lerman) takes on the dangerous seas to recover the Golden Fleece along with Annabeth (Alexandra Daddario) and Tyson (Douglas Smith). the search for the Golden Fleece also aims to rescue their best friend Grover (Brandon T. Jackson), a half-man/half-goat who is in captive by a very mean Cyclops, Polyphemus.

take a look on the first-look photos released by 20th Century Fox:
the team of these demigods are challenged in the raging power towards the Golden Fleece. but their own powers would be able to counter as Percy can control the waters, Annabelle whose wit and warrior skills are inherited from her mother Athena, and Tyson could resist fire and possesses incredible strength.

watch out for more news, photos, trailers at @20thCenturyFoxPh YouTube channel and 20th Century Fox (Philippines) Facebook page.

Want to receive more stuff from me? Enter your email address and click the button:


Share:

December 19, 2012

Christmas collection from Bo Sanchez

thank you Bo Sanchez and the people from the Kerygma Conference Committee for sending me this package of books!

A Champion's Manual TAKE CHARGE, GIVE ALL
7 Steps to Determine Your Destiny and Create Incredible Success in Your Life.

Didache
Daily Bible Reflections for Catholics

Thank God, I'm Blessed!
Daily Record of Abundance

a complete set of COMPANION A Catholic Scripture Diary

merry Christmas and continue to bless everyone.

Want to receive more stuff from me? Enter your email address and click the button:

Share:

November 17, 2012

a testimonial to TADO

doing a favor for a friend, i was starstruck seeing Strangebrew's BrewRat, Arvin Jimenez, in person. fondly called TADO by everyone, the activist, politician, writer, life coach, funny man, radio announcer, TV personality, the person is much down to earth and very accommodating in entertaining his fans and guests.
TADO is a graduate of Psychology in Polytechniic University of the Philippines. the university where i came from. a father of 4, Arvin "TADO" Jimenez is also a businessman and seeing the other side of the person makes him more interesting. his store in Marikina shows the different side of him and it is portrays his deeper, more serious type.

while looking around the store LimiTADO, i can see the Bohemian blood in the person. his love for peace, freedom, diversity and art can be seen all throughout. i got these two items which my friend asked me to have Tado signed into.
each cost Php 150 and if you find Tado in the store, he will be very generous to sign them for you. much to my priority, i forgot to bring the other book he also wrote. but thank you, Tado. the moment is very much treasured.

Want to receive more stuff from me? Enter your email address and click the button:

Share:

October 6, 2010

I AM NUMBER FOUR - sypnosis, trailer, poster

a book by Pittacus Lore will be released in the cinemas as Walt Disney and Dreamworks produces the action thriller, I AM NUMBER FOUR. the trailer and images of the upcoming movie is now circulating in the internet.

the story is about a young man, John Smith (Alex Pettyfer), who always escapes from the people who wish to destroy him. he moves from town to town with his guardian Henri (Timothy Olyphant) making him unattached from his past. and when they get into Ohio, John discovers changes in his life - including his first love (Dianna Agron, Glee) and his powerful abilities.


I AM NUMBER FOUR is produced by Michael Bay, written by Alfred Gough & Miles Millar and Marti Noxon. the film also stars Teresa Palmer, Kevin Durand and Callan McAuliffe.

set to open in Philippine cinemas on March 2011, I AM NUMBER FOUR will be distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures through Columbia Picture.

Want to receive more stuff from me? Enter your email address and click the button:

Share:

September 23, 2010

RYAN KWANTEN joins the PURE ONES

Popularly known as the amorous Jason Stockhouse in the HBO original hit series True Blood, Ryan Kwanten now provides the voice of wayward owl, Kludd, in Warner Bros.’ fantasy adventure in 3D, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole.

The film follows Soren (voice of Jim Sturgess), a young owl enthralled by his father’s epic stories of the Guardians of Ga’ Hoole, a mythic band of winged warriors who had fought a great battle to save all of owlkind from the evil Pure Ones. While Soren dreams of someday joining his heroes, his older brother, Kludd, scoffs at the notion, and yearns to hunt, fly and steal his father’s favor from his younger sibling. But Kludd’s jealousy has terrible consequences—causing both owlets to fall from their treetop home and right into the talons of the Pure Ones.

Emerging as a rival sibling, Kludd envies Soren’s natural talent for flight and finds his enthusiasm for their dad’s tales of the Guardians tiresome. “When Kludd is taken by the Pure Ones, he quickly becomes enamored by the idea that he can be a great soldier for them, that he can be the more important brother now,” producer Deborah Snyder says. “He embraces their ways because he likes the attention, which starts him on this dark path. But Soren still wants to believe in Kludd’s salvation, that he can bring Kludd back around.”

“Kludd is sort of a tortured individual,” Kwanten comments. “He’s the oldest sibling, but he doesn’t have the natural abilities of his younger brother; he feels like he’s not living up to expectations. When he’s approached by the Pure Ones’ queen, Nyra, who praises him just for being a tyto owl, he’s vulnerable and easily manipulated into joining their efforts.”

Ryan Kwanten can currently be seen starring in the acclaimed series True Blood, based on the books by Sookie Stackhouse, for which he received a Screen Actors Guild Award® nomination for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.

He spent his hiatus from the popular Golden Globe-nominated show working on feature films, playing a police officer in the modern-day revenge western Red Hill, which debuted at this year’s Berlin Film Festival to rave reviews, and crafting the title role of secret agent and part-time superhero Griff the Invisible. He is currently in production on the film The Knights of Badassdom, alongside Steve Zahn. His other film credits include Don’t Fade Away; the title role in American Brown, which received the Audience Award for Best Film at the Montreal Film Festival; Liquid Bridge, nominated for Best Picture at the Australian Film Festival; and James Wan’s Dead Silence.

Kwanten appeared in numerous films and television shows while earning his business degree at Sydney University , gaining international notoriety when he joined the cast of his native homeland’s long-running popular Australian series Home and Away. Among his other credits are the critically acclaimed series “Summerland” and the ESPN original movie The Junction Boys.

An accomplished athlete, Kwanten qualified for the world Biathlon in Sweden in 2006 and Italy in 2007 after winning the Los Angeles Biathlon series two years running.

Opening across the Philippines on Friday, Sept. 24 in IMAX 3D, Digital 3D and regular format, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

Want to receive more stuff from me? Enter your email address and click the button:

Share:

September 22, 2010

LEGEND OF THE GUARDIANS movie review

the story of The Legend of the Guardians talks about how Soren became a hero and one of the Guardians of the sacred tree in Ga'Hoole. based on Kathryn Lasky book, we follow the epic journey of Soren.

dreamer as he be, his brother Kludd resists this and gets into practicality and being realistic. one day as they were practicing to fly, they fell on the ground and ended up kidnapped by the Pure Ones. then they knew that the legends are true and the Pure Ones have something planned to destroy the Guardians.

Kludd, jealous of his brother who is a positive-dreamer, joined the Pure Ones and even kidnapped their own sister to be with the Pure Ones. kidnapped owlets gets "moonblinked" and before they knew it, they are following the orders of the evil owls to take over the whole owl kingdom. and that's what Soren's mission is - to save the innocent from the dark plans of the Pure Ones.

the road might not be easy for Soren to get to the sacred tree of Ga'Hoole. however, he found new friends that helped him to rescue his brother and the other owlets. this epic journey may not be too successful for Soren to save Kludd but he is able to stop the plans of the Pure Ones.

this story inspires all those who will watch it to bring an open-mind, believe in dreams and to have a strong will for sacrifice. this also opens the curios mind of why owls get moonblinked and the variety of owls in the cast.

CGI is well-crafted and best to see in 3D for effects. kids and adults will love the cute owlets and will be able to tell the differences in the different species of owls. a good scientific and literary piece for the whole family.

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole takes flight in cinemas starting September 24. distributed by Warner Bros Pictures, a Warner Bros Entertainment company.

Want to receive more stuff from me? Enter your email address and click the button:

Share:

September 14, 2010

LEGEND OF THE GUARDIANS in 3D!

Young owlet Soren embarks on a quest to follow his dreams…only to discover they’re real, in Warner Bros.’ new fantasy, family adventure in 3D, Legends of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole. Stepping into the legend that he’s faithfully followed through his father’s nest-time stories, he becomes a crucial part of the next chapter in the epic tales.

Now on a true hero’s journey of self-discovery, young Soren and his friends join their mentors in an action-packed battle against the evil Pure Ones to protect not only their freedom, but the very existence of the Guardians of Ga’Hoole, who have sworn an oath to mend the broken, make strong the weak, and vanquish evil.

“Isn’t it every kid’s fantasy to become a character in his or her favorite story?” director Zack Snyder asks. “In our film, it’s a young owl who wants to find these legendary warrior owls that have been part of his personal mythology since he was born. And when the stories actually turn out to be true, it’s very powerful.”

In Legend of the Guardians, Snyder and the gifted creative team at Animal Logic sought to open a window into a world that hasn’t been seen before, with mythic environments and expansive terrains like nothing they’d ever imagined, and owls so wonderfully realized that you almost forget they’re not real.

“Zack brings a visual language to his movies that is distinctive, and so do we at Animal Logic, so the marriage between Zack’s vision and our vision was easy right from the get-go,” says the film’s producer, Animal Logic CEO Zareh Nalbandian.

Drawing from his experience on the Academy Award®-winning Happy Feet, Nalbandian assembled a crew of more than 500 digital professionals, including a team of computer animation specialists, to bring Legend of the Guardians from the page to the screen, with the added dimension of a 3D film.

“We don’t think about our movies as animated,” he continues, “we think of them as movies; Zack didn’t come on board to make an animated movie, he came to make a great action fantasy adventure, tracking a hero’s journey, which happened to be in an animated world. It was about creating a visual feast for audiences that would be unique.”

In addition to the challenge of taking on his first entirely computer-generated project, Snyder, whose previous work includes the epic action films 300 and Watchmen, found that his motivation for making this particular story hit close to home. “I know it sounds cliché,” the director admits, “but my kids are always saying to me, ‘Dad, when are you gonna make a movie we can see?’ And the chance to work with the animators at Animal Logic really appealed to me; there were moments in Happy Feet that I found artistically breathtaking. So when I saw their initial Guardians artwork, and then read the stories of Soren and his friends on this incredible quest, I looked at it as a perfect opportunity to bring my own sensibilities to a family film.”

“Both Zack and I loved the notion of this young boy—who just happens to be an owl in an owl world—learning to believe in himself and in something bigger than himself,” executive producer Deborah Snyder says. “He has to battle the odds, and in doing so, becomes the owl kingdom’s only hope for survival. We felt it was a story we would love to bring to the screen.”

“There’s real vigor in the story and a full spectrum of characters, from cute and cuddly to downright evil,” says star Geoffrey Rush. “Adding to that, the sophistication, the brilliance really, of the technique has truly been elevated in animated movies. I believed this could be a film that would be appreciated by both kids and their parents on many different levels.”

Stepping into the animation realm for the first time, Snyder enthuses, “Animation is filmmaking without limits. When I saw the potential of what the movie could be, and thought about the chance as a filmmaker to actually be able to create any shot I wanted…I couldn’t wait to see what we could do.”

Opening soon across the Philippines, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole will be presented in IMAX 3D, Digital 3D and regular format and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

Want to receive more stuff from me? Enter your email address and click the button:

Share:

September 8, 2010

KATHRYN LASKY interview for Legend of the Guardians

The beloved Guardians of Ga’Hoole books by award-winning author Kathryn Lasky are brought to the screen by acclaimed filmmaker Zack Snyder (Watchmen, 300) in Warner Bros.’ fantasy family adventure in 3D, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole.

The film follows Soren (voice of Jim Sturgess), a young owl enthralled by his father’s epic stories of the Guardians of Ga’ Hoole, a mythic band of winged warriors who had fought a great battle to save all of owlkind from the evil Pure Ones. While Soren dreams of someday joining his heroes, his older brother, Kludd (voice of Ryan Kwanten), scoffs at the notion, and yearns to hunt, fly and steal his father’s favor from his younger sibling. But Kludd’s jealousy has terrible consequences—causing both owlets to fall from their treetop home and right into the talons of the Pure Ones.

Now it is up to Soren to make a daring escape with the help of other brave young owls. Together they soar across the sea and through the mist to find the Great Tree, home of the legendary Guardians—Soren’s only hope of defeating the Pure Ones and saving the owl kingdoms.

A New York Times best-selling author, Lasky has written over 120 children's and young adult fiction and nonfiction books and sold over 11 million copies. She talks about her Ga’Hoole series of books in the following interview:

Question: How long did it take to write the first Guardians of Ga'Hoole book?

Kathryn Lasky: The first book took the longest because I was trying to really set the main characters and the whole future course of the series. So that was about four months of writing and editing.

Q: Where did you get the inspiration for the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series?

Lasky: Well, my first idea was to do a non fiction book about owls. My husband Christopher Knight, a former National Geographic photographer, and I had done several non fiction books together illustrated with his photos. But Chris said that it would be awfully hard doing a non fiction book what with owls shy, rare to the point of endangered and that the best pictures would be at night. So lighting would be difficult. It was his idea that I try a fantasy book. In the beginning I thought I would just do one book. But when I sent the proposal into Scholastic, Jean Feiwel, the editor in chief, called me up and said "This is not just one book. It's six". I was kind of shocked. I thought how on earth do I stretch this out to six? But now I am just starting book 13. So I guess I sort of figured it out.

Q: Did you hope, on some level, that your use of owls would enlighten readers to respect nature more?

Lasky: Maybe on some level. But I rarely write with a moral objective in mind. To me the most important thing is to tell a good story. If I can do that I think that enlightenment, respect of nature, etc. follows.

Q: How did you research the books? Did you consult with owl experts?

Lasky: I early on discovered the Owl Pages and it was enormously helpful. But I did a lot of research in libraries. I talked to some people at the Audubon Society. I live in Cambridge , Massachusetts and there are wonderful libraries there. So I used the Harvard libraries as well as the public ones.

Q: What is your favorite Guardians of Ga'Hoole book?

Lasky: That's like asking what is your favorite child. But I have to a admit that I enjoyed especially writing the legends trilogy, books 9, 10 and 11 - The First Collier, The Coming of Hoole and To Be a King where I delved back into the ancient history of the owl kingdoms.

Q: If you were an owl, what kind would you be? Or What owl are you most like?

Lasky: I don't know which of the owl characters I am most like but I have a special fondness for Barn owls and Spotted owls.

Q: Which Guardians of Ga'Hoole character are you most like?

Lasky: As is said I don't know which one I am most like. I think they all have elements of my own personality, except for Twilight. Twilight is absolutely modelled on Muhammed Ali who has always been right up there as one of my all time favorite heroes.

Q: Which books will be included in the Legend of the Guardians movie?

Lasky: The first movie, or what we hope will be the first of many, will include books 1 through 3. The movie is going to be CGI and they used a lot of the owls from the Harry Potter movies. It is the same movie company Warner Brothers and the same producer.

Opening soon across the Philippines, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole will be presented in 3D and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

Want to receive more stuff from me? Enter your email address and click the button:

Share:

June 2, 2010

TOUCHBOOKS: The Tactile Textbook Project

A pioneering project that provides the marginalized sector of our school-children with an improved opportunity for basic educational instruction as enjoyed by regular students.

A core advocacy of the Rotary Club of San Juan del Monte, R.I. District 3800, headed by Special project Chairperson PP Annette Esparaz; is to provide participative opportunities for the blind and the visually impaired section of our society.

Realizing the critical role of Arts and Culture in molding well rounded citizens who are aware and proud of our rich Filipino heritage, we began our push for Art Education Opportunities for the blind. In partnership with Metropolitan Museum of Manila, we developed and launched TOUCH THE ARTIST VISION, a pioneering program in Philippine Arts that provided Tactile Drawings and Audio Guides of select artworks in the Museum like those of Fernando Amorsolo, Juan Luna, Hidalgo, Manansala etc. now for the first time in the Philippines, the blind enjoy a meaningful experience inside a Museum. The response to this was very positive that this project is ongoing to date, with other Museums joining the bandwagon.

Our numerous encounters during this endeavor bore another challenge we boldly undertook, with the goal of furthering our commitment to enhance the lives of our marginalized brothers.

Working closely with SPED teachers (with decades of experience in teaching the blind), we embarked on another FIRST in Philippine History: Touchbooks: The Tactile Textbook Project.

In the 100 years history of teaching the blind in the Philippines, this is the first visual standardized instructional material that SPED Teachers can use. The sad reality is that basic education opportunities for this sector are highly compromised due to lack of teaching tools that teachers for the blind could use. Finally, visually impaired children can now ‘visualize’ correct images of their lessons; instead of merely relying on the verbal description of their SPED Teachers.

With Touchbooks, we developed standardized, tactile illustrations of key images and concepts taught in basic education that will maximize learning during given school hours. Touchbooks come with audio narratives that allow simultaneous instruction of blind students.

Our first Touchbooks project is Makabayan: Sibika at Kultura • Hekasi, which provides select lessons covered from Grades 1 to Grade 4. These three volume books utilize a special Swell Paper Tactile material for the blind child to “see” picture images for the first time.

The three volume book with 72 Tactile images and audio narrative in the Filipino language cost P18,688.00 a set. The materials are imported from England, the printing and testing of each page is done manually.

The four authors: Annette L. Esparaz, M.A. Cultural Heritage Studies, May Lyn L. Cruz, Education Programs Manager of Metropolitan Museum of Manila, together with multi-awardees SPED trainor for High School Evelyn B. Caja, M.A. and Elementary SPED trainor Julia R. Capulong, M.A. gave their services for free.

There are currently a total of 409 SPED Centers including Public Schools catering to the blind and visually impaired children nationwide. Some centers may have 3 to 50 blind/visually impaired students who are mainstreamed (the visually impaired students studies with sighted students). To equip each school with just one “Makabayan” book set will cost a staggering Php 7,643,392.00.

A book launch and successful fund raising was conducted in Metropolitan Museum of Manila and radio announcements brought in generous donors for the book. When school opens on June 15, a hundred schools will be using this new technology. It is going to be exciting to hear from teachers and students how the book had helped them. Check us out in facebook “Touchbooks” and for inquiries you can email us: touchbooks@gmail.com.

Want to receive more stuff from me? Enter your email address and click the button:

Share:

September 3, 2009

The Lost Symbol release on Sept 15!

the author that brought us controversial novels like the Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons, Digital Fortress and Deception Point, Dan Brown is now counting down days to the release of his new novel, The Lost Symbol.


from what the cover shows us, this new novel now brings us to the setting of Washington DC where some symbol may be hidden that has dictated the course of history.

with the countdown rolling, you can now reserve your copies at your favorite bookstores before it is released on September 15 2009 or you can preorder it on www.DanBrown.com
Share:

Search This Blog

Intellifluence google page rank

Archives

Blog Archive