Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk

Ishikawa, Misa S.

Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve always been a fan of the horror/thriller genre. Anything that has to do with ghosts, murder and suspense. It will always be a vivid memory of me going through videotapes of these type of genres choosing which videotape to rent. From then on, I got used to watching these kinds of films. Especially anything from Thailand or Japan, in my opinion I think they make the scariest horror films. Like, Shutter.. Or Ju-On. My choice of films has greatly influenced the genre of the books that I read, of course. I am not much of a reader but when I do read, I will always choose that book where there’s murder. Anything dark and or mysterious. Something that will keep me guessing on what’s going to happen next. I most especially love it when they make the twist of the story a really unpredictable one. It really amazes me the fact that these authors think of THAT idea and how they come up with their story. Which leads me to choosing Lullaby, a book by Chuck Palahniuk. A well renowned author for this type of genres, mysterious and definitely out of the box. My genre.

Carl Streator, a journalist, gets assigned to write articles/stories on a series of “Crib Death” or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. It’s where babies, children or anyone die without any apparent cause. He notices a strange connection between an evidence, a book titled “Poems and Rhymes from Around the World”, a book he read to his wife and child who died a couple of decades ago. Streator learns that the Culling Song has the ability to kill people it it spoken to, but due to the stress of his life, it became unusually powerful, allowing him to kill people around him even just by thought. During his investigations for the articles he was assigned to work on, he finds that the exact same copy of the book with the same page at every crime scene, in the page that has the culling song. He unintentionally memorizes the deadly poem and the poem just whips through his head making him kill anyone, including his annoying neighbors, the guy who hit him while they cross paths while walking, inconsiderate co-workers, anyone who pissed him off or makes him mad.

He then meets Helen Hoover Boyle, a real estate agent who knows the Culling Song, its destructive power and who accidentally killed his son, Patrick, because of it. They have their own techniques of controlling their temper. Streator counts until whenever, just to ease himself a bit. While Helen kills strangers instead of killing the people she cares for. She kills strangers deliberately just so she does not accidentally kill the people she loves. While the both of them cannot stop themselves from using the Culling Song to their ability, they decide to join hands in keeping the Culling Song from the wrong hands. The two of them, together with Mona Sabbat, Helen’s secretary and Mona’s boyfriend, Oyster, decided to go on a roadtrip to find the remaining copies of the book and destroy the page that contains the Culling Song. They do everything it takes to keep it from falling into the wrong hands, well, most hands including Oyster’s, who may want to use it for sinister purposes. They discover the Grimoire, a spellbook where the Culling Song originates. While Streator and Helen wants to destroy the original Book of Spells, Mona and Oyster wants to learn the other spells it contains to use it to their advantage. Mona then discovers that the planner Helen has been carrying with her for more than a decade is the Grimoire, with spells written in invisible ink.

Streator and Helen discovers the flying spell, and while they were afloat they confess love for each other. Mona tries to convince Streator the following day, telling him that it was only a spell that Helen has casted on him, to dominate him. On the other hand, Helen also discovers the “Occupation Spell”, a spell which puts you into a body you wish to be in. Oyster takes advantage of this by pretending to be Helen, and by tricking Streator which led to Oyster throwing Patrick’s frozen body which has been kept in a hospital for preservation, to bits and pieces. Helen turns back into her original body, not knowing how she got there and what happened. She asks Streator for help. She wants to end her suffering and be with Patrick and her husband. Streator thinks of the Culling Song and realizes its real use, to end misery and pain. After all, it’s a lullaby. Helen’s now in peace. And he makes her a promise to track down Oyster and Mona. They now run away, with the Grimoire with them, with all the other spells, but with the Culling Song for Streator to keep.  

There is a huge selection of themes explored in this narrative. The influence of media, how it manipulates each and every single one of us, how it can mold us into a completely different person. Motherhood and everlasting love of Helen Hoover Boyle for his family, especially his son Patrick, and for Streator, who has undying love for his wife and daughter as well. The power words, the main theme of the narrative. The powerful song that can kill a mass of people, be it spoken or even just by thought. It is about character destruction, how the loss of a family can affect an individual, how it affected both Helen Hoover Boyle and Carl Streator and about facing reality, how we should cope up to things and how we should handle things if it would either make us or break us.

This book has definitely taught me things that I will be facing in the world of media, and also personally in life. It taught me that the trick to forgetting the picture is to look at everything close up. Personally, I feel like this quote was made especially for me. I’ve been through the hardest times like losing my dad. He’s out of the big picture now, but looking at everything close up right now, I’m still lucky with the family that I have right now. It has been tough the past two years but I’m definitely moving on to becoming a better person. As a mass communication student, it has taught me the importance of the littlest details in investigations and in reporting, an article can be rejected on the spot when it lacks even just one detail. Be it the color, the texture, the smell or the ingredients of a food that might have caused a food poison to someone. We must look into every detail, be very precise and definite. Most importantly, it has taught me that with mass media, we have so many means of transmission. This is 100% true since the generation we have now is high tech, we have all sorts of gadgets like laptops, tablets, smartphones, ipods, radios, etc. We have all these gadgets to make a difference, to send out a message, wherever our subject may be. We use the mass media to spread out messages, our thoughts. It can influence us to become better or worse. It is there for us to make a difference and our goal is to be a part of history.

The literary style of this narrative is definitely out of the box. The concept is one of a kind, i don’t think I would be this creative to actually have an idea of making a song, specifically a lullaby, a song that would put people to sleep or even worse, kill them. The sentence structure is not very hard to understand at all, the vocabulary used are mostly common words, the arrangement of the whole story really establishes different kinds of emotions. In fact, I have written out several quotations from the book just because it is so helpful for me as a Mass Communication student and as a person. The words chosen are no-brainers and very basic that there is no need to have a dictionary on hand when reading the book. It is very precise, very informative.

“It’s called a culling song. In some ancient cultures, they sang it to children during famines or droughts, anytime the tribe had outgrown its land. It was sung to warriors injured in accidents or the very old or anyone dying. It was used to end misery and pain. It’s a lullaby.”

“In journalism school, they teach you to start with your most important fact. The inverted pyramid, they call it. Put the who, what, where, when and why at the top of the article. Then list the lesser facts in descending order. That way, an editor can lop off any length of story without losing anything too important.”

“Being a journalist is about telling. It’s about bearing the bad news. Spreading the contagion. The biggest story in history.”

“As far as ethics, what I’ve learned about a journalist’s job isn’t to judge the facts. Your job isn’t to screen information. Your job is to collect the details. Just what’s there. Be an impartial witness.”

Wagas, Mary Weyden V.  

Tuesday 1:30 - 4:30                         

202C- Scream Group

“A Journey to the Center of the Earth”

1.)    Provide the context for how you came to choose the book you are reviewing.

Our professor ask us to find good books and the first three books that I showed him was rejected so my friend help me to find another books, We came to across by the three books again so I showed it to him and he told me that I will be the one who is going to choose because the three books has all the same genre's. The Peter Pan, Oliver Twist and the one that I have picked was A Journey to the Center of the Earth that was written by Jules Verne. I got Curious by the title it self, because we already knew the flow of Peter Pan and Oliver Twist based on their movies then, Our teacher told me that read first the book before watching the film, at first I did not know that it has a film.

2. Write an overview or summary of the book, identify key points raised, or highlights.

In the story there is this Professor named Liedenbrock who's profession was a great scientist. The book described him that he was like a mad at everything and to the world as well his attitude was very different to the movie, in the movie his character was he is a boxer, friendly and gentlemen. The professor has a nephew named Jonas in the movie but in the book his name was Axel, quite confusing because they changed and describe the characters in very different way both books and movie. So again I find the book cute because before you read the whole chapter there is a corresponding title which is very unusual to some scientific fiction. So they were solving for something passage that will lead them to the center of the earth. In the book they have a hard time on fixing those jumbled words but in the movie it was solve fast. The highlights of the story were they go and conduct an expedition to find the husband of Mr. Hastings which was lost Seven Years Ago.  Mr. and Mrs. Hastings want to explore before the center of the earth and find new things but one day Mr. Hastings left and began his journey all by his self, so when Mrs. Hastings went to the Professor he offered that he will pay just to find his husband, so while they were in their journey they go on train and boat it is their means of transportation. There is this cave that is a volcano like inside which is very hot in there they discover that his husband leave some key points or like marks on the said cave so that if ever they are going to see and find him they have clues on where to go. As they follow that they saw different kinds of scorpions and they also see different bird that belongs to the family of dinosaurs. Their journey is quite interesting because in the normal forest the color of their plants and trees are green but in their, it is color blue which I find it very magical and unique. As their journey began the professor and Mrs. Hastings develop their love for each other as well as his nephew Jonas to the tribe girl which lead them to find Mr. Hastings.

Mr. Hastings is a selfish man that it got to the point where he stole the powerful plant in the tribe which can cure all illness and that he thinks it is their key to become rich when they get back to their real place. While on their way back the plants fell on the ground and he go down to picked it up but unfortunately there were unknown species that killed him. Mrs. Hastings and Mr. Liedenbrock decided to continue their love story and get married. The nephew decided to leave her fiancée and go back o find the tribe girl to continue their love story as well.

3. What themes are explored in the narrative, if the book is a work of fiction?

 In my own point of view, I think the theme was Perseverance and Being One in Nature. Perseverance because even though they are not sure if the person they are finding is still alive or not but they still have the guts to find and they are positive thinkers as well, they believe that they could find Mr. Hastings. The second one was Being One in Nature because as they travel they did not grab the opportunity to destroy or to do something that is not good to the environment its like they come in peace and their job was to find the missing person on the said story.

4. What key insights did you gain?  How is it relevant to you personally or as a student of media.

While reading the book and watching its movie you can differentiate on how it was presented and well detailed in the book while in the movie the details that was shown their is thru the use of colors, things, and symbols. As a student of media we always want to capture unique stories, events, and things and show it to the other people thru the use of Proofs that our scoop is really true. It’s like your mother is asking you something and you need to answer the truth so that her trust to you won't be lessen or destroy.

5. What is your assessment/critique of the book in terms of its literary style, structure, argumentation and over-all content?  Justify your evaluation by citing specific passages or components of the book

               

The Author of the book that I am reading is Jules Verne and he is a French Author. The way he wrote his story thru the use of shaping and developing our minds to the modern science and that we should think as far as we could or imagine as we could in science. Jules Verne’s were popular throughout the world because of the books he wrote and most of them are a science fiction. In terms of the structure the book or his literary style he uses deep English words like the one I encountered cipher which is very new to me. I find the book good to read because the book is very more detailed at everything and with the use of the deep English words I learn new things. Science Fiction books are good because you can learn a lot of things about science and not only science but also in different aspects .

Bound by Love: Sweet Trap of Daughterhood

Bound by Love: Sweet Trap of Daughterhood by Lucy Gilbert and Paula Webster

Book Report Written by: Angela Denise J. Harder

                A month ago our Principles of Mass Communication professor instructed us to get three books of our choice as long as it were under the category of what interests us, a novel, non- fiction, media, and women studies.

                I ended up getting two books about media and one book regarding women studies. Unfortunately, the two books from media were academic textbooks so I was left with the women studies book entitled Bound by Love: Sweet Trap of Daughterhood. I was really eyeing on this book honestly for the reason that it is hand carry, but then I guess I just had my luck because while I was scanning through it, I  somehow had an idea on what the book is about.

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I decided to provide a review for each chapter so that it will be easy to understand the situations per segment. :)

Chapter 1: The dangers of Femininity

                This chapter started with an anecdote where in Sara, a nine year old girl, tried on her brother’s jockey shorts and white shirt into the bathroom and pulled her hair back. She was surprised when she was checking herself out that she saw a more masculine face looking back at her. She went into the kitchen to show her mother of her accomplishment, but then her mother was disappointed of what she saw, and so Sara had no idea why her mother felt upset. She felt humiliated when her mother explained to her that boys and girls must stay in their own place.

                This anecdote introduced us to what Chapter 1 is all about. Women and men are expected to act on what they are supposed to become and on what is truly meant for them because it is based on the proper gender relations. Women and men are totally different from each other with regards to their traits and boundaries set for them. In this chapter, a Real Man was presented to be the model of masculinity since a Real Man was the ideal type of what mothers want their sons to become. A Real Man is expected to act in a right way by standing up on his beliefs, and exercising his power to gain respect from others. Powerlessness is usually associated with femininity, because women are expected to be what men are not. This chapter presents that women have no choice, because even if she feels violated, she remains silent since it is under the culture’s belief that woman who dares is considered being out of gender.

Chapter 2: Mothers and Daughters

                In this chapter, girls are categorized in to three archetypes of femininity: The Princess, The Good Girl, and the Bad Girl. The Good Girl is held up as a role model for young girls who dream to be one because of her unending kindness to everyone. She deserves to be the princess, but never is. She is supposed to be selfless in relating to others, and must not be given too much credit for working hard because giving credit leads to authority and authority is associated to men.

                The Bad Girl is what girls are not allowed to be because her actions are alarming and unappealing. She also is everything that girls are warned about. The Princess is known to be the Daddy’s Girl and she deserves special attention from everyone.

                Mothers are expected to raise good girls, feminine and heterosexual daughters. In response, the daughters must be willing to learn from what their mothers know with regards to the limitations set by the cultural gender system. They are also expected to control their children by teaching them the do’s and don’ts.

Chapter 3: Daddy’s Girl

                In this Chapter the Father-Daughter relationship is examined. Despite the powerlessness usually associated with femininity, women must accept male authority. Through our relationship and interaction with our fathers, daughters get to understand gender relations. The father is supposed to let his daughter feel secured with his love and wants everything that is best for his daughter. He then wants and expects obedience, respect and love in return.  As the daughter matures, her father is worried because the daughter has now a bigger chance to lead her own life; in response the daughter gives assurance to her parents especially her father that she will take good care of herself.

Chapter 4: The Family Romance

                In this chapter, the daughter needs help from her parents in different ways. The daughter needs her mom because she is the person to whom the daughter runs to when she seeks for comfort and safety. The daughter needs her father as well, because it is through her father where she feels protected and loved.

Chapter 5: Love and Danger: The Incest Taboo

                The family where the daughter belongs may be a possible risk when the daughter’s dependence is violated. In this chapter, the daughter is expected to be obedient especially in submitting the demands that her parents want. This chapter also contain the experiences of daughters with their fathers seducing them. Incest occurs when the father makes himself available for his daughter’s sexual initiation.

Chapter 6: Rapes and the Rituals of Heterosexuality

                The daughter has now the opportunity to lead an independent life, but as she is exposed in the real world, she becomes a victim of rape. This chapter discusses the daughter hoping and waiting to be pursued and chosen by a man who will protect and love her. Nevertheless, when the man takes advantage of her goodness, power is used against her and violence may occur within their relationship.

Chapter 7: Love and Death: Battered Woman

                This chapter tackled about battering as an outcome of gender socialization where in women are victimized by men. Battering is usually experienced by women who are competent and women who function well in the public world. By these instances, the man feels deprived of the independency that the woman experiences and so by beating her, he feels that he is in control again.

Chapter 8: Emerging from Daughterhood

                In this chapter, women are supposed to confront the unpleasant experiences she had and leave daughterhood behind. The woman must feel that she has the power to control her life and have fun.

                This book helped me both as a media student and as an individual citizen because the book tackled issues about women, being maltreated and femininity being associated with powerlessness. It widened my knowledge regarding acts that women should avoid in order for them to live their lives happily. This book also helped me to encourage women who were victimized that they should fight for their rights as women. 

Eleven Minutes

Paulo Coelho is one of the most inspiring author I’ve ever encounter. He wanted to be a writer so much that his parents thought that he was retarded. His parents brought him into a mental institution when he decided to be a journalist. But this didn’t stop him in being the writer he could be. So I chose this book because I was very curious of the title “Eleven Minutes”. I enjoyed reading the novel not because of the malicious content but how Maria’s point of view is. Maria is a prostitute, period. From the beginning of the novel, Paulo Coelho pointed out that Maria is indeed a prostitute. So I’m going to start how she ended up a as prostitute. Maria was an innocent girl and a virgin and she dreamed her whole life waiting for her prince to come, not to mention, rich, handsome, intelligent and having a beautiful family of her own. All she could is dream for the arrival of her prince and sweep off her feet and take her away with him so they could live happily ever after. Maria’s father was a travelling salesman, her mother a seamstress. They lived in a little town in Brazil. Maria however didn’t have a happy life, she experienced her first heart break when she was eleven years old because she didn’t talk to her crush until her crush moved places away from their town and never saw the boy again. She was heartbroken. She learned that certain things are lost forever. She also learned that there’s a place called “somewhere far away”. She wanted to follow the boy’s footsteps and leave her little town someday. At the age of fifteen, Maria had her first boyfriend. She thought to herself she is already mature and ready to challenge herself with these kinds of experiences. She again was heartbroken with this guy because he cheated on her with her friend simply because Maria didn’t open her mouth when he kissed her. Maria didn’t know that. She was devasted again for the second time. The 15^th year of her life taught her not only the discovery that you were supposed to kiss with your mouth open, and that love is, above all, a cause of suffering. After all the relationships she been through, she came to the conclusion that men brought only pain, frustration, suffering and a sense of time dragging. She still wanted a happy life and a beautiful place to live in but she would never fall in love again because love spoiled everything.  After the adolescent years of Maria passed, she grew prettier and still had the promise to herself to never fall in love again. She lost her virginity to one of her boyfriend and she used that boy as a way of learning, trying in every way she could to understand what sex feels. But all she can understand is that it is painful. And she didn’t agree with all the sources she listened to like the television, her girlfriends, everything that the man was essential in making love. Maria’s aim was to understand love. Quoted from Maria’s diary: “I suffer to think of the people to whom I gave my heart, I see that those who touched my heart failed to arouse my body, and that those who aroused my body failed to touch my heart.” When she turned nineteen, she got a job in a draper’s shop. Her boss fell in love with her. Maria knew how to use a man, without being used by him. After two years of working, she saved enough money to go and spend a week’s holiday in the city if her dreams, Rio de Janeiro. Maria travelled for forty-eight hours by bus, checked into a cheap hotel in Copacabana. She quickly changed into her bikini and went in for the beach despite of the cloudy weather.  Maria met someone who can’t speak Portuguese but wanted her to be a star in Switzerland. She didn’t know where Switzerland was located she didn’t even know it was a country. She was offered some work in a night club and Maria thought she was going to be an actress. She was promised to earn three hundred dollars a night. It was a fortune! And so she signed the contract and let the Swiss man, take her first into Maria’s parents for approval and let them know that they’re daughter will be working as a star in another country. And after that she was now in the night club the Swiss man owned and she started to miss her country, Brazil. She enrolled in a French course, fell in love with her classmate, the Arab guy but only lasted for three weeks. Quoted from Maria’s diary: “I can choose either to be a victim of the world or adventurer in search of treasure. It’s all a question of how I view my life.” Maria then read lots of books in order to gain knowledge. Many nights passed, a rich Arab guy offered her one thousand francs for a night. She is now aware what her job is all about, a prostitute. She made visits to the library more often and still does her job every night. Soon she felt like it was her daily ritual to open her legs and give pleasures to the men out there. Six months passed and she learned all the things to be learned in her job.  She went to bed with many men. The funny thing is she gets paid a lot of money in just a blink of eleven minutes. That’s just how the sex spent time with her. Eleven minutes, the world revolved around something that only took eleven minutes. Quoted from Maria’s diary: “That is the true experience of freedom: having the most important thing in the world without owning it.” After months passed she met a painter in a café. He was said to be a very well known artist. The painter named Ralf Hart saw the light he needed to be inspired to do a painting. So the story revolved on how Ralf Hart sweep Maria off her feet. He showed her things she can’t explain before and can’t understand. They would talk about their plans, dreams and of course, sex. He showed her that you can feel the pleasure of making love with a person whom you really give your heart with. That was Maria’s struggle, for every man she went with, she didn’t felt the pleasure she needed. And she felt this only to one person, with Ralf Hart. She saw the passion she needed to complete her dreams. Quoted from Maria’s diary: “Passion, can be used to describe the beauty of an earth-shaking meeting between two people, but isn’t just that. It’s there in the excitement of the unexpected, in the desire to do something with real fervor, in the certainty that one is going to realize a dream. Passion sends us signals that guide us through our lives and it’s up to me to interpret those signs.” But when Maria had enough money to go back to Brazil, she and Ralf Hart made love for the first time before the day she will leave. It was magical because she felt what was missing in her whole life. When the next morning comes, Ralf Hart was still sleeping so Maria went on to her dream to go home and she secretly waiting for Ralf Hart to stop her but he didn’t. She went on the plane going to Paris then Brazil. After the plane landed in Paris, she saw Ralf Hart holding with a bouquet of roses. Cheesy as it sounds, she can’t believe her eyes. The world was so perfect, and the fact that it happened in the most romantic cities in the world. She did found love, in a very hopeless place. The theme I would find in this novel is that love revolves in all kinds of people, whether you are a prostitute or a respected, well known artist. I would also like to focus on how this novel is real and bold when it comes to making love. It’s not just about sex, but how you and your partner share the same passion you do in order to make the perfect love. Quoted from the book: “The strongest love is the love that can demonstrate its fragility.” I’ve gained a lot of insights from reading this book. One of it is I have the art of dreaming. I just need to pursue all the dreams I can despite of all obstacles in my way. Maria dreamed to have a happy ending in her life and she did, even though she felt like the world is on her shoulders. She felt that no one will love her truly because of her profession. Another insight is, no matter how different you can be, if you felt it, you felt it. You can deny it but you can’t hide it. And lastly, you are the author of your own book. Maria chose all the things that happened to her life and there’s this time she wanted to write about it. As a student, I need to focus myself in reading and learning new ideas and knowledge to get ready in the real world. By reading this novel, I set my mind to do some things passionately like studying and taking extra credit. I should set my goals straight and stay focus. I learned a lot of point of view of love from Maria. In one of her entry to her diary she wrote: “Love is not to be found in someone else, but in ourselves: we simply awaken it. But in order to do that we need the other person. The universe only makes sense when we have someone to share our feelings with.” I also learned many things about life. Quoted all from Maria’s diary: “Life moves very fast. It rushes us from heaven to hell in a matter of seconds.” “Each day I choose the truth by which I try to live. I try to be practical, efficient, and professional.” “Everything is important. If you live your life intensely, you experience pleasure all the time and don’t feel the need of sex.” And my favorite of all, “When I had nothing to lose, I had everything. When I stopped being who I am, I found myself. When I experienced humiliation and total submission, I was free. I don’t know if I’m ill, if it was all a dream, or if it only happens once. I know that I can perfectly well live without it, but I would like to do it again, to repeat the experience, to go still further.”

Chen Cobarrubias

202C

The Girl Who Played With Fire

Written by: Jeanne Pauline Odevilas

              Our professor asked us to go to the library and choose a book that we would like to make a book review with. As I was looking for the “right book,” I noticed this thick orange book under the new acquisitions in the library. I was so fascinated with its cover and later did I know that it was not the kind of book that I would want to write a book review with. But, I ended up reading it anyway. I had a hard time reading it at first because I am not a fan of crime fiction thrillers. The second reason was that my professor told me that I can’t write a review of this book not unless I have read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo- the first book in the trilogy. I knew that I have to read the first one so that I would not get confused with the characters as well as for me to have an idea to know the story better.

            Since I am doing a book review on its sequel, I would like to give a brief summary of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo first just so for you to have a knowledge of it.

“An international publishing sensation, The Girl with the

Dragon Tattoo combines murder mystery, family saga, love

story, and financial intrigue into one satisfyingly complex

and entertainingly atmospheric novel. Harriet Vanger, a scion

of one of Sweden ’s wealthiest families disappeared over forty

years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to

seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist

recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided

by the pierced and tattoed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander.

Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and

astonishing corruption.” (Summary from the book itself,

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)

  

 The Girl who Played with Fire started where we could find Lisbeth Salander travelling the world accompanied by Dimensions in Mathematics, written by Dr. L.C. Parnault. (Harvard University Press, 1999) It was the book she bought in a book store because of her interest in spherical astronomy. In Stockholm, Millennium was very busy working on a new book; they were to publish a very revealing expose on the sex trade and trafficking in Sweden that would involve police officers, judges, politicians, etc.

     Meanwhile, Salander just got back from her long vacation. Using the huge amount of money that she stole from the corrupt financier Hans-Erik Wennerström (in Tattoo), she bought an expensive apartment with an overlooking beautiful view which she considered a dream come true. She also visited her friends- Dragan Armansky, Holger Palmren and Miriam Wu.  As Millennium were trying to get deeper in their story, two of Blomkvist colleagues were murdered- Dag Svensson and Mia Johansson. As well as Salander’s guardian, Nils Bjurman -who brutally raped her during her teens. Blomkvist was shocked when the police reported that Salander was the one who was responsible for all three murders, but he knew that she would never do such a thing. But he had this theory that they were murdered because of the book that they were trying to publish that would involve big time professionals in Sweden. Thus, he and his team conducted a private investigation as well as Salander’s good old friend, Dragan Armansky.

    The police, Armansky’s team and Blomkvist are now confused because of mixed up information they have gathered- whether Salander is guilty or not. And on the latter part, we found out that the blond giant was responsible for all three murders. As Blomkvist was trying to solve the puzzle, he learned about Zala, thanks to Holmer Palmgren. “Alexander Zalachenko is Lisbeth’s father, he was a former Soviet hit man from one of the intelligence services. He defected in 1976 and was granted asylum in Sweden and given a salary by Sapo. After the end of the Soviet Union, he became, like many others, a full time gangster. The mastermind of sex trafficking and smuggling and weapon and drugs.” (p.673)

     Salander was angered because of what she saw on television, “Miriam Wu badly wounded, Famous boxer Paolo Roberto saved her life.” She was so sorry for her friend because she is innocent. Salander had enough, so she tried her best to find where her father lived, in a farmhouse. Meanwhile in Stockholm, while Blomkvist was scanning in her apartment and he found out where she was headed, so he followed her via train only a little bit late. Salander was now beaten up by her half brother Niedermann and was shot three times by her father then buried her alive. Despite the pain, she managed to dig herself out and attempts to kill her father with an axe and her brother as well. But her brother ran away believing that he was facing a ghost. The book ends as Blomkvist finds Salander in the kitchen badly wounded, and then he called the emergency services.

    One of the themes that were explored in the narrative is justice. All her life Lisbeth Salander was misjudged by people, or their intention was to judge her in a cruel way. “I don’t wonder at Lisbeth’s absolute refusal to talk to psychiatrists or the authorities,” Blomkvist said. “Every time she did, it only made matters worse. She tried to explain what had happened and no-one listened. She, a child all by herself, tried to save her mother’s life and defend her against a psychopath. In the end she did the only thing she felt she could do. And instead of saying ‘well done’ and ‘good girl,’ they locked her up in asylum.” (p.637)

      It is fascinating that this book is somehow related to my course, and from this I have learned two things that would not just apply to me as a student of media, but for me to become a better person too. No matter how complicated a person might look like, we are not in the position to judge that person basing it from what we heard or saw. We have to be critical and careful on passing our judgments too, because it will affect our dignity and integrity. Secondly, if your life is in danger because you are about to expose something or to tell the truth that would mad people behind it, we must stand for what we think is right.

       The point of view of the story is omniscient. In the book, the author has used third person pronouns like he and she. “He could not recall that she had hinted by so much as a single word that any such thing had happened to her, She was the girl who at the age of twelve had gone to war with a hit man who had defected from the GRU, and she had crippled him for life.” (p.667) Overall the book was brilliant, yes it took me a long time to finish reading it but it was worth it. And to be honest, I am now starting to read the very last book of the trilogy which is “The Girl who kicked the Hornet’s Nest.”

What Do Women Want

What Do Women Want: Exploding the Myth of Dependency by Luise Eichenbaum & Susie Orbach

A book review by Gertie Bulaong

It was a regular day in my Principles of Mass Communication class until our professor, Sir Nate Rondina, announced that we will be choosing a book for our book review assignment. I, for one, was ecstatic at the thought of reviewing a book. Ever since I was a little girl, my mother would encourage me to read books. With that, I also had the support of my grandfather who would bring me to Powerbooks in Alabang Town Center every Sunday and buy me books of whatever I want (which I was too shy to do so). I had a small collection of books back then, those that I really owned. Most of the time, I borrowed books from relatives and friends.

My personal preference in books would be fiction and self-help. I could literally drown in books under these categories. For this certain review assignment, Sir Nate gave us a few book genres to choose from: art, environment and women’s issues. We also get to choose if we want it to be fiction or non-fiction. I obviously wanted to get a book with a fictitious story, but my favorite one, Eleven Minutes by Paolo Coelho was taken by my friend, Chen. No worries, though. I decided on a non-fictitious one instead. This book I chose, What Do Women Want, is more like a thesis or conclusion of two psychotherapists. Women’s issues or absolutely anything about women are very close to my heart for two reasons: one, I am a woman and two, I live in an all-female household and was raised up solely by my mother.

“What Do Women Want: Exploding the Myth of Dependency” was written by Luise Eichenbaum and Susie Orbach, two psychotherapists who aimed to understand and explain the reason behind the ‘clingy’ attitude of women.

The introduction of the book briefly explained why women seem dependent and clingy. The authors say it is because of the “Cinderella Complex” by Collete Dowling in 1981. Upon my own personal research, I found out that the Cinderella Complex is as basic as it sounds: women feel that they should be the Cinderella or the princess and that someone should always be taking care of them. To quote Ms. Dowling, she says that dependency is not “the refusal to accept responsibility”. Dependency is a basic human need, to have someone to rely on and someone that will be with us not only during times of despair but in whatever mood we are in. Another detail pointed out in this chapter is that we women are brought up with the fact that we are to be depended upon: by our husband, children and everybody else. This greatly affects the way we perceive how people think of us. At the same time, a little thought entered my mind about what men are fed about women. If women are brought up to depended upon by others, men on the other hand, are told that women will follow and do what you ask them to do. Another fact is the stereotypical world we are brought up in. Quoting the authors, “Girls are supposed to be sweet and demure, boys are supposed to be active and brave.” As I finished this chapter, I conclude that the demure attitude of women are sometimes perceived as a sign of weakness and therefore emphasizing the belief that women get married to gain their strength from their significant other, thus mistakenly thought of as being dependent.

I read the next chapter, and it’s about the ‘forbidden feelings of women’. Generally, it’s the clingy attitude women have. This later on leads to the ‘forbidden feelings’ like wanting to move in together because of worry or jealousy. It’s funny how this book also has a section of it dedicated to men’s dependency, headlined with “The Great Taboo”. Through the course of me reading this chapter, only one question was in my head: “Why is it a great taboo?” At the end of the chapter, I felt as if this is the reason why some men develop the ‘air-head’ factor. Men (or humans, in general) need to have someone to depend on. No man is an island, as the saying goes. Therefore, we cannot survive to be alone.

I liked reading about the “Cha-Cha Phenomenon”. To better explain this, think of the cha-cha dance where it has to be danced by two people and move together to gain a smooth and clean flow of dancing. This also touched on the stereotypical wife and husband, where the former is to stay at home and the latter is to work for the family. This brings about the idea that women solely depend on the husband for money and for them to get by on a daily basis.

My favorites are the last two chapters of the book: Sex and Dependency & the Effect of Pregnancy on the Dependency Dynamic. They are my favorites among all topics discussed in the book because this is a pretty sensitive issue to talk about. Having sex strengthens the need of women for dependency even more, which is both a good and a bad. Good, because then a certain amount of clinginess is healthy for a couple. Bad, because sometimes things get out of hand and both individuals end up just wanting sex and not the relationship anymore. Having sex is also linked to getting pregnant because, as my mom put it, “When you have sex, there is always that hundred percent chance of getting pregnant.” So after getting pregnant, there is the best scenario and the worst scenario. The best thing that can happen is that you develop a stronger love for each other, like how the elders perceive having a child is a blessing. The worst scenario (which has a great chance of happening when a couple is not married) is that the man leaves the woman to raise a child on her own. Sad, but it happens.

After finishing and closing this book, I conclude that being raised stereotypically has a strong effect on the whole life of an individual. I felt that What Do Women Want touched directly on how women should and should not be which leads to mistaken perceptions about them.

As a Mass Communications student, this opened my eyes even more to pay attention to women and our place in the world. Should we let ourselves be the underdog to men at all times, or should we step up our game and prove that we are not as weak as the world makes us seem we are.

What Do Women Want was written in a way that people will easily understand the message they want to convey. In every chapter, they start with a different story and write it in a very descriptive way so that people’s imaginations will be put to work. In the first chapter, they started with: “Helen is twenty-seven, a bookkeeper and unmarried. She used to live with Bob but they broke up two years ago. Since then she has dated a lot of men. We see her now getting ready to go out on her first real date with Paul, a thirty-five year-old divorced social worker whom she met a week before on a blind date. It is a Saturday evening and Helen is lounging in her bath, steaming her face before the big event. The afternoon was spent at Macy’s buying new shoes, a belt and a scarf to complete tonight’s outfit. She’s been so excited by the date, she’s hardly eaten all day.” That’s the reason why I love books. They have this power that brings me into a new world, a world that is my imagination.

I recommend this book to the ladies who want to know more about themselves and to mothers because of all the eye-opening knowledge about the dependency or clinginess of women. I found out ways to justify why we are like this, and it reminds us that not because we are most of the time perceived weak, we have to stick to that. We can always stand on our own two feet, show independence and women power!

Cinemalaya 2013 and The Diplomat Hotel

What did we have to say about Cinemalaya and how we felt after watching The Diplomat Hotel? Read on.

Misa Ishikawa:

            As a requirement for PMC class, each group were assigned to watch a Cinemalaya film of our choice in any of the theaters it was shown and was asked to have a group review on it. Days before the actual day of watching itself, the group was deciding which film to watch. We ended up choosing The Diplomat Hotel since its schedule matches our schedules well and we also, did not have a choice. So there, The Diplomat Hotel it was.

            Basically, I did not really know anything about the film although I have watched the trailer. All I knew was that it was starring Gretchen Barretto and that it was somewhat like a suspense/thriller/paranormal type of film. And i’ve always been a fan of those kinds of films so I was kind of stoked to get a sight of it too. The Diplomat Hotel is in one of the films in the new breed category which was directed by Christopher Ad Castillo. He even gave a speech before the movie and the way he speaks, you just feel something different in it. It even got me more excited. But honestly, I was not expecting the movie to be THAT great. First, I’m not really a fan of Gretchen Barretto’s acting and second, not that I’m discriminating the New Breed films but hey, these directors are still “wandering” in their fields trying to find out different techniques to get us, audiences. But I was still open to finding out. The movie was not that long but it felt like I was watching it for literally, HOURS. I didn’t even get the plot of the story. All I understood was Gretchen is like a news anchor or something and she got “detained” at a mental institution due to severe trauma with this one incident in her field where together with her camera person slash friend, an old man shot his grandson on the head. She tried to convince the old man not to do it but nevertheless, failed. After being detained from this mental institute, she gets back to work, gets assigned to do like a case study in The Diplomat Hotel. She met different people and thats where all these “scary” things happen. Honestly, it didn’t scare me. It lacked something. Something that would grab or attract the attention of the audience. It was kind of boring and frustrating. There were scenes where I would get confused on why it was happening. Why this person was killing this person. Or was this person possessed. I had a lot of questions running on my mind while the film was ongoing. It was tad confusing. I don’t know how else to describe it. I didn’t feel the climax of the whole film. The way the director talked us prior the movie was different. He said that he wanted to try a different norm, not like the usual. Yeah, I guess he did. And I hope that he just sticked to the classic way of doing scary films and instead put a twist on it, making the twist itself extraordinary instead. Disappointing. 

Gertie Bulaong

As part of our Principles of Mass Communication class, we, the students, were asked to watch an extra film apart from those that we were required to watch for our Film Appreciation class under the same professor, Sir Nate. This was to be watched as a group.

I am a self-professed fan of the supernatural. Anything under the horror category and related to ghosts are my thing. So after watching all three requirements for FilmApp, my group and I proceeded to watch The Diplomat Hotel. As I’ve earlier stated, anything scary catches my attention. So among all those that Sir Nate suggest that we watch, I chose (and asked everyone if they wanted to watch it too, of course) The Diplomat Hotel. Not wanting to be a spoiler, I’ll just say how I felt about the movie in a word: DISAPPOINTED. I love to think while watching movies, but I got confused with this one. It was presented in a disorderly manner, and I just got tired of thinking through the movie that I just decided to watch it for the sake of knowing what happens in the end.

The Diplomat Hotel is the last Cinemalaya film I’ve seen during the duration of the Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival. But since Cinemalaya entries are coming out to be shown in mainstream cinemas starting this month (August) and more are showing next month, I am definitely going out to see them all. I am glad that Cinemalaya is now going to be available for more people to see. These films are a great way of awakening the senses of many to the realities of what is happening in the country and even, the world. I hope that mainstream and established Filipino directors take their cue from these up-and-coming directors. Mainstream Filipino films are a bore to me. It is the reason why I choose watching international and Hollywood-produced films over local movies. Some, if not most, Filipino films are either rip-offs of international films, a mix of two Filipino films, or when the director and producer just get so uncreative that they just decide to do a sequel after a sequel after a sequel. Tiring, boring and unintelligent.

I hope mainstream television and films learn from independent cinema that they do not have to be locked in the stereotyped thinking of what Filipino TV and films should be. I love how independent films touch what are somewhat called “sensitive” topics and issues. Why can’t mainstream media produce films on gender issues or abuse in the homes? And why can Cinemalaya (or independent films in general) successfully do that? Mainstream media is much too scared of what their superiors will say. How about the audiences? How about touching people’s lives and awakening them to the truth and realities of life? Not everything is business. You could be earning income, but in turn, you saturate people’s minds. Sometimes, you just have to do something for others to learn and grow.

I haven’t watched Filipino television shows for a long time since I don’t feel it contributes anything to my growth. I do sit down and try to see if there is anything worth picking from these Filipino shows and movies, but I just end up standing up and leaving even before the show or movie reaches half of its airtime.

Angela Harder

                Cinemalaya 2013 was held from July 26 to August 4 in the Cultural Center of the Philippines and Selected Ayala Malls where in films where categorized into three: the New Breed, Director’s Showcase and Short Feature.

                We were required to watch three films for our Film Appreciation class and one film for our Principles of Mass Communication class, and so our group decided to watch the same film, The Diplomat Hotel by Christopher Ad Castillo in the New Breed Category. It was surprising to see familiar faces in the film because they were part of the mainstream media. I’d say that the film was satisfactory but I honestly did not get the story because the way it was presented was not that clear. But they were able to showcase the scary part of the film in a way. Maybe I just expected too much from the film because before Cinemalaya opened Sir Nate gave us the films where we can choose three films and The Diplomat Hotel was first on my list. But then I got disappointed with the whole film because when you hear something about The Diplomat Hotel it means there is a story to it of what really happened to that place in Baguio, but I guess that is the thrill of it because it is an independent film. And maybe most of the people thought of the same thing as have getting the story behind The Diplomat Hotel, but no because it was something more.

                The whole Cinemalaya experience was indeed a great one since most of us are first timers. We somehow got lucky with the schedule of the films that are beautiful to watch, and we were able to get tickets immediately. Through our Cinemalaya experience we were exposed to the different Filipino experiences and situations that we are facing. In the films that we watched we can say that it has a story behind it where you can see situations that are happening in real life where in you will learn from it.

                The word itself Cinemalaya speaks of its meaning “CINE-MALAYA”, “MALAYA” as in independent where in you get the deeper meaning of such stories from real life, experiencing the experiences of people from day to day. It is very different from what we usually have the mainstream films, television series because we already expect the next move or the next story. It is like a broken disc that keeps on playing the same story. The thrill, the action, the weight of the story is not there anymore. It is like a plain cake with no icing on it.

                Unlike independent films, there is a thrill and the feeling or question of “is that it?” at the end of the film and I guess that is what makes it more and interesting and viewers would demand to watch more of the films because they are being challenged to think outside the box.

                Independent films are something to be proud of by us Filipinos because Filipino film makers are able to showcase their talents since they have fresh ideas and the truth about Filipino experiences is to show the reality of life. Through their films they are able to express the things they want to show to the viewers.

                We consider that the money and time we spent in the celebration of Cinemalaya 2013 is truly worth it because we were able to gain so much learning and an unforgettable experience. 

Tiny Wagas

The Value of Cinemalaya in general that we can learn new things to them that it awakens us to reality that this is what happen base on the documentary films they show or not only in documentary films as well. Our independent films are also known in other parts of the world and it is also nominated and can win in international film festivals and because of that Filipino's are known that we are good in directing films and can compete with them. That our filipino directors has a world class talent also. Cinemalaya gives oppurtunity to produce a film to the fresh directors to express their selves and new stories they wanted to share in many people through the use of film and gives us many idea with their concepts. Cinemalaya let us know those unknown stories that we think it didn’t exist in real life or it really happens.

The things that the Mainstream can be learn from independent cinema is that, First independent cinema is more on realistic type when they show films while in mainstream it gives you a fairy tale like stories. Which is good also because everybody enjoys it but independent cinema is more good base on how actors and actress deliver their punchline with each other its like you want to take note of everything because it is good to hear at and it teaches also a lesson and realization as well. Some of the actors in mainstream are over acting not all though but most of the time they are like that and the stories are the same and can always be seen that there's always needed to sacrifice in the character at the ending part of it while in the independent cinema its always open ending that their mass audiences should think what would happen next that its not spoon feeding stories which is good at times that its shouldn't be detailed at the end part so that it will be exciting and at times it will torture your minds in thinking what happened. The Mise en Scene of the indpendent films are more beautiful than the mainstreams Mise en Scene not all but when you try to go back in their Mise en Scene and reflect it you will realize that it is more nice than mainsteam Mise en Scene. Therefore all the films I've watched I really enjoyed it and looking forward to watch again to the next cinemalaya film festival, All the films that I've watch gave me realizations and can also apply in the real life. It is helpful for me as a scholastican that we should be more open minded and that we should set aside ourselves for too much mainstream and try to be more realistic as much as possible we could be. We should always support our own independent film because of its creativity and its not that easy to make independent films that has low budgets but all in all it is good and i really enjoyed watching it.

Chen Cobarrubias

The Diplomat Hotel was our chosen film to watch. At first I was so psyched and so ready to see the film. Before the film starts, the director of the film, Sir Christopher Ad Castillo gave a speech and was confident that we will like his film, one of his creations.  He had a nice speech like he told everyone how the diplomat story started, how the actors lose weight for this film, how they made this a success. He also pointed out that after watching the film we can see him and talk to him directly to give him our comments and he pointed us students how he loves students getting interested in Cinemalaya. After giving his speech, we were all excited to see the diplomat hotel. I must say, I was not that impressed. It was pretty predictable and the story line was kind of boring. But the editing was good though and the camera scenes. It was nice. I also like to point how Mon Confiado’s acting skills were entertaining. He was great in this film and well he is one of the independent film versatile actors. Also, Gretchen Baretto’s partner the man who had a child was also great. His acting skills are totally natural and he can bring all his co actors to the spotlight. He can lead the film yet he can also be in supporting role. And I don’t get it why they chose the trolley with dolls in it to be the piece in the museum because the dolls were like seconds to spotlight, it doesn’t show any meaning why the dolls were there, whose dolls was it, why was it left behind. Unlike the film Sana Dati, they chose to display in the museum the blue shoes that Lovi Poe wore in the film and it was meaningful. Also the cell phone that Alex Medina used in Babagwa was also meaningful and right to be displayed in the museum. But going back to the diplomat hotel, I still don’t get it why they chose the dolls to be displayed. It doesn’t make sense. Maybe the camera they used would be much better because the camera caught everything that happened. That should be placed in the museum. Then there’s Gretchen Baretto’s acting skills, I was surprised at first when I heard she’s doing the lead role because this was her first time in independent films. I was also looking forward how she will act on this. To my surprise I can say she was good. Not brilliant but good enough. She showed some emotions like the fact that she was so brave in the first scene then she showed she was getting kindda crazy, then brave again, then scared and lastly getting crazy again. It was good start for Gretchen Baretto. This was her first independent film and her acting skill was not so bad. But the movie itself was disappointing. It was a plain movie, no typical shocking climax and the actors were good, I guess.

Paula Odevilas 

            Cinemalaya feature films that are very true to reality in the lives of Filipinos. It is something that I have never seen before, its not those typical common stories that I have seen or heard in the mainstream. Independent films should be a wake up call for media practitioners to create something- produce stories or broadcast news that is germane and independent. To produce something that does not follow the traditions or styles of previous/senior broadcast journalist or directors.

As an ordinary person and a citizen of this country I have consistently been an avid aficionada of watching mainstream cinema, television, and news. I cannot help but to comment that I have been watching repetitive stories over and over again and this led me to appreciate less mainstream media. Maybe the reason why they do this is because they thought that this is the way to please Filipinos- to stick with the traditional and predictable stories. But I hope they had also in mind that not all of us want to watch repetitive stories and this may be the cause of more Filipinos appreciating and watching foreign films.

The value of cinemalaya to Philippine media and cinema is that it would help Filipinos to realize and know what the true reality of our present situations is. Media has a big role on influencing and giving information to its viewers, it communicates with the people, for they are part of the learning process that a person must go through.

I remember when I was little, I adored and loved this mexican telenovela titled Marimar. Trust me, I got addicted to it and from then on my actions were similar to Thalia’s and my mum would always tell me to dance like Marimar or Rosalinda in front of our guests and relatives. Anyway, what I mean is that before Korean dramas and love stories came here in the Philippines, Mexican telenovelas were a big hit. Growing up with the knowledge I have learned from my teachers, I realized that our country seldom makes their own original and creative stories, they depend on other country’s popular shows thinking that it would somehow be a hit in the Philippines- and yes, they have succeeded but what that does that make of us?

Independent films have brought us new themes and perspectives not being shown or tackled by mainstream television. And just like what I've said earlier, this can let us learn more about Filipino culture, places, and people. Mainstream television should stop airing typical repetitive love stories or dramas that are being adored by many especially the youth. For it really makes me sick to watch such monotonous shows. They should produce shows that have advocacies like women empowerment, stop child abuse, stop dirty politics, etc. in way that general audience can understand and relate to. As well as values that would make us- concerned and better citizens. It may not be as soon as I am hoping it to happen, but I do believe that media practitioners would take and learn this in no time.

In addition, we were asked to watch an extra film as part of our requirement in Principles of Mass Communication. Honestly, I am not a fan of horror movies. I was about to watch “Ekstra” then I found out that most of my classmates have already watched it the day before, and when I went to Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) the cashier told me that the film is already sold out. So, we chose “The Diplomat Hotel” instead because we want to watch a film that would be convenient for our schedule.

At the beginning of the film just like what my group mates have mentioned, the director gave an opening remark, well, he kind of gave us a hint of how the movie goes as well as telling us that we would surely love the film afterwards. So the movie began, and I must say that at the very beginning of it I think I was the only one shouting in the theater. I am so embarrassed because I am know getting stares, but just like what I’ve said earlier, I am not a fan of horror movies but I do watch them. The movie ended and I was just hugging my classmate and closing my eyes because I really got afraid. I know most critics did not like the film because it was not something new and fresh just like what the director have said, but I really got scared especially when the make-up artist got locked up in a room and she was taking photos of each corner then after she flashed the button, people who died in the hotel were in front of her. And I regretted the fact that I looked because until know, I couldn’t get it off my mind. But the it left me hanging with my mouth open. And my reaction was like, “That’s it?”

In the foyer of CCP, my classmates and I saw the director of the film and I suggested that we should say hi and congratulate him (for even though we so-so liked the film, we wanted to congratulate him still). While we were talking to him and his producer, I couldn’t stop staring at his eyes- it was very gray and was similar to a vampire’s only grey. Anyway, I am proud of myself because if I did not suggested to go and talk to him I could have not understood why the film was like that. Overall, I could say that it was a film not so beautiful but it gave its viewers a lesson: never let your emotions control you.