Speech: "Reality Shows are key to Success"

A pleasant morning to everyone, to my fellow classmates of Third Year St. Magdalene and to our beloved English teacher Mrs. Mabbayad. I’m here in front of you to defend for what I believe and to share experiences and opinions based from everyday life observations.

Transferring live mice, snakes, or other insects from a glass container using your bare mouth. A housewife keeps on singing, dancing, and acting as the jury tells her to stop and leave the stage. Walking through a grease-coated bamboo on a height above waters to find a piece of jigsaw puzzle telling where the torch would be found, on a noon-hot day. Familiar? Yes, they call this reality shows. I don't really understand the infatuation of watching people eat bugs for money or washed up celebrities fighting just for a chance back in the spotlight. After all the few times I get to watch television is to get away from the real world for a while, even if it's in 30 minute blocks.

The height of popularity made by this shows had reached the critical minds on why is there a need for these shows to exist. A reality show is a genre of television programming which presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations. It usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors. It also covers a wide range of programming formats, from game or quiz shows to surveillance or other productions. It should not be focused with a documentary, in which the contestants are asked to ignore the cameras and behave naturally. Like mostly reality shows, it is usually inexpensive to produce compared to other television programs yet it consistently reaches its target audience. Whether we watch a group of people live together in a house or watch them build the house reality television exposes that little peeping tom is all of us. Reality TV satisfies that instinct of peering into others lives, and the reality of reality television is that as humans we enjoy this. Reality TV is not much different from normal programs, like any program, reality television has the essentials, it has a mix of characters, it puts those characters in situation, and the result is usually a failure or success.

A normal person would go in front of the camera with the current status of life she/he has which is a simple living. Then, they’ll go out with the sparkling stars surrounding them. A reality show is just one way of reaching out our dreams. A way where all dreams can be possibly reached and come true. But before getting all this, it requires a hard work, a skillful mind and complete trust and confidence in ourselves. The person who joins follows their dreams. I'm sure it wasn't easy. To follow them they had to step outside their comfort zones and make themselves vulnerable in front of a crowd. Pursuing this allowed them to improve themselves physically and almost by accident improve their whole outlook on lives.

It is a one way to success. Whether reality shows ultimately fades into television history or continues to evolve with the medium as a unique genre, for over fifty years it has offered interesting, often controversial entertainment and success to every person who joins.

-January 12, 2010

Christmas In Our Hearts

The first harbingers of Christmas arrive in October when jarring sales and decorations follow fast on the heels of summer. But by December, Christmas's true heralds are out: twinkling lights lining streets, the smell of balsam and spice cookies wafting through the house and visits from friends and relatives. The season's spirit drives people to the mall, to the kitchen, to midnight mass and to festive gatherings.

Christmas has had a long and varied history. It was been celebrated for centuries by different people, at different times, in different places, and in many different ways. It is a product of hundreds of years of both secular and religious traditions from around the globe. A tour around the world would be terrific to see how people celebrate Christmas.

First Stop ---- France!

In France, Christmas is called Noel. This comes from the French phraseles bonnes nouvelles, which means "the good news" and refers to the gospel.

In southern France, some people burn a log in their homes from Christmas Eve until New Year's Day. This stems from an ancient tradition in which farmers would use part of the log to ensure good luck for the next year's harvest.

Hold on tight! England is here ---- ‘Merry Christmas’

“We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas … “

Caroling began in England. Wandering musicians would travel from town to town visiting castles and homes of the rich. In return for their performance, the musicians hoped to receive a hot meal or money. It’s already a widely known tradition in the whole world whenever Christmas is here.

In the United States and England, children hang stockings on their bedpost or near a fireplace on Christmas Eve, hoping that it will be filled with treats while they sleep.

Can’t get enough? Mexico comes rushing forward with their paper mache sculptures called piñatas. It’s filled with candy and coins and hung from the ceiling. Children then take turns hitting the piñata until it breaks, sending a shower of treats to the floor. Children race to gather as much of the loot as they can.

Last Stop ---- Philippines!

‘Maligayang Pasko!’

Traditionally, Christmas Day in the Philippines is ushered in by the nine-day dawn masses that start on December 16. Known as the Misa de Gallo (Rooster's Mass) in the traditional Spanish and in Filipino as Simbang Gabi, or "Night Mass", this novena of Masses is the most important Filipino Christmas tradition.

For Filipinos, Christmas Eve ("Bisperas ng Pasko") on December 24th is celebrated with the Midnight Mass, and immediately after, the much-anticipated Noche Buena – the traditional Christmas Eve feast. Family members dine together around 12 midnight on traditional Noche Buena fare, which includes: queso de bola (Spanish: "ball of cheese"), "Tsokolate" (a hot chocolate drink) and jamon (Christmas ham). Some would also open presents at this time.

Christmas is also a fascinating miscellany of traditions. Every family that celebrates Christmas has its own customs--some surprisingly universal, others entirely unique--but all comfortably familiar in their seeming antiquity. Where ever you go and how different you celebrate Christmas, it’s the spirit of the season that is important.

It might be You, It might be Me

It might be You, It might be Me
-Clara Quiambao-

Give me a list of great authors, and I bet you’ll have a hard time choosing and gathering all their names. Probably a local or international author with the stories they have written. There are thousands of them around the world but only some of them stand out to the eyes of the readers.

You may not know but one of them is Nicholas Charles Sparks an international American author and now all his books are widely known. He writes novels pertaining to love, Christianity, tragedy, and fate. Though his first and second novel were never recognized and published to the public, he still continued writing until he reached the peak of success.

Before the world knew who is Nicholas Sparks he lived a simple life together with his family. With his second novel that was not published, he worked a variety of jobs over the next three years, including real estate appraisal, waiting tables, selling dental products by phone, and started his own small manufacturing business which struggled from the beginning.

He collaborated on a book with Billy Mills, the Olympic Gold Medalist and it was published by Feather Publishing. It was the start of his ramp all the way to the top. He wrote The Notebook, Message in a Bottle, A Walk to Remember, The Rescue, Behind the Road, and a lot more.

Unlike most writers, Nicholas Sparks does not have a set writing style. His writing style varies depending on the theme of the novel. Even though the themes of the novels are dealing with love each novel takes a different perspective of love. Like, "The Notebook" is about unconditional and everlasting love and it is due to this theme that Nicholas Sparks' style of writing for this novel is very loving and when the characters are talking they express a lot of emotions even though they might not mention the emotional words.

Ideas flowing on his mind as he writes, and none of his novels follow the same writing style; each one is unique in its own way and it goes with flow of the story. It is one of Sparks’ qualities that made him stand out to other famous authors that until now, he still continues on writing and share wonderful stories and novels made by his own.

There are also other great authors like Meg Cabot a famous author of Princess Diaries series and Sophie Kinsella who wrote the Shopaholic Series, this two authors have the same way of writing in a way that the characters are too wacky and who are truly loving and full of ideas. J.K Rowling who is the writer of the most famous book-movie series Harry Potter who takes the readers to the wonderful world of wizardry.

Don’t judge the book by its cover or about the author who wrote it. But by it’s message and lessons for everyone. Everyone can be unique in writing in their own way with their own style or angle. You may know but all of us can write and express our own ideas through our writings and words. Nicholas Sparks is just one of those millions of people. We don’t know that we could be next one being on the top. It might be you, me, or anyone else.