Tag: June 30, 2007

TO THE untrained ear, music should either be too familiar or tremendously catchy to grab attention. For the UST Jazz Band, the latter proved true as they wowed the crowd during the 5th Manila Jazz Festival last June 15 at the Grand Sunset Pavilion of the Sofitel Philippine Plaza.

THOMASIAN bishop-elect Julius Sullan Tonel of Ipil prelature, where the Italian priest Fr Giancarlo Bossi was kidnapped last June and freed 39 days later, sees his appointment as a “blessing” and a “challenge.”

Last June 30, Pope Benedict XVI appointed the 50-year-old Tonel to head the prelature based in Ipil, the capital of Zamboanga Sibugay province.

A 2006 study by researchers from Cornell University in New York showed the probable link between early exposure of children to television (TV) viewing and autism.

According to the study, exposing toddlers to two or three-dimensional stimuli could be harmful to early brain development because over-absorption of colorful images during the first three years of life may cause an abnormality in the visual processing areas of the brain.

IN CHAPTER 59 of Noli Me Tangere, Jose Rizal mentioned a book authored by Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus titled On Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres. The mere mention of the book that caused a seachange in how mankind viewed their place in the universe indicated that colonial Filipinos had knowledge of the book which likewise indicated that the book made the vast intercontinental travel from Europe to the Pacific.

The book, which argues for the heliocentric theory (the sun as the center of the solar system), has fully engrossed professors John Crossley of Monash University, Australia and Regalado Trota Jose of the UST Graduate School.

Now it has been proven that the book was present in colonial Philippines. A copy of Copernicus’ important work has been found in the Heritage Library of the UST Central Library.

LIKE the rest of the organs of the human body, the brain gets exhausted too.

With information overload, students resort to so-called memory enhancers. These “brain boosters” stimulate cognition and allow the brain to function at its best.

Memory enhancers are food supplements that promote optimum memory use.

Commercial memory enhancers contain caffeine and other stimulants and make people stay alert, said Dr. Charissa Rañesses, a psychotherapist from the Psychotrauma Department of the Thomas Aquinas Research Center.

GONE are the days when people need to rely on hunches to differentiate objects we are dumbfounded with. Let the sensors do the guessing game for you.

IS A MOVIE better the third time around? Not for Spider-Man 3 and Shrek the Third.

But yes, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End works as a third sequel.

The Spider-Man series has generally been an excellent take on the character created by Stan Lee, transcending the stereotypical comic-book movie. The cast, led by Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker and Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson, have effectively pulled things off acting-wise. The first movie generated raves among the exacting comic-book fans and the second even fared better. The third, however, misses the mark.

What makes Spider-Man 3 disappointing is that it tries to squeeze in too many story lines, not to mention too many characters, all at once, which results in a very short time for character development.

SINCE the release of the first full-computer animated film, Disney and Pixar’s Toy Story in 1995, audiences have clamored fore more. A Bug’s Life, Antz, Finding Nemo, Shrek, and the upcoming Surf’s Up and Ratatouille have sought to satisfy that call.

“Compared to the hand-drawn, digital animation is more realistic and more attractive to moviegoers since it has better rendering and fluidity”, College of Fine Arts and Design professor Raymond Son told the Varsitarian. Son also did some freelance work for Fil cartoons, which is a subsidiary of Hanna-Barbera Cartoons and also produced, Meena, a Unicef animated series about gender inequality in South Asia.

Thomasian trademark

Thomasians are no strangers to the lucrative but challenging field of animation. Advertising graduates Virginia Cruz Santos and Joe Mateo belong to the few who made it big in the world of digital animation.

FRESH out of College of Fine Arts and Design (CFAD), four Thomasians held their first major group exhibit, Urban Kaleidoscope, at the Fashion Art Gallery in Kamuning, Quezon City, from May 25 to June 15.

“Every one of us comes across things that we may not get,” CFAD alumna Lesley Lim told the Varsitarian. “And that’s what our pieces wanted to point out—each of us must be prepared for things that may happen.”

Lim’s “Cuckoo Clock” speaks of the artist’s attitude about the significance of time. Each of the bird’s call is equal to a human heartbeat, the painting seems to say.

In the watercolor “Undersea,” Lim presents life’s unexpected encounters through the image of a woman amid the haze of the intricate objects beneath the water. “Life is a wonderful gift, we must always remember,” Lim said. “That’s why every minute, every hour, and every day should be important for us, too.”

EVERYTHING happens for a reason, and for talented baritone Jesus Emmanuel “Nonon” Baang, entering in the Conservatory of Music after botching his enrollment at the College of Commerce was, in hindsight, a wonderful accident.

Having graduated from the Conservatory after 10 years as a student, Baang could not help but feel fortunate.

“When I entered the Conservatory of Music, I learned how to love music more and though it’s difficult, I found it more exciting and took it as a challenge,” Nonon said.

Baang started singing at the age of six when he formed the parish choir in Pagadian City, Zamboanga Del Sur, which should have paved the way for a career in music. But he had other things in mind.

“I wanted to follow the footsteps of my father who is a certified public accountant,” Baang told the Varsitarian. “I also wanted to take up law because we also have judges and lawyers in the family.”