Outside the Classroom

Recognizing No Higher Authority

2009-05-05T07:16:00.000+08:00

"He who doesn't know how to pray isn't used to acknowledging Someone better and more powerful than himself."

Important Enough to Post Again

2009-03-06T07:50:00.002+08:00

And by that I mean that I've written about this before, but it bears repeating.

It also means this is significant enough to break an almost three-month lapse of posting here, especially since I know I have new readers...

Anyway, got it from the plurk of a former teacher here, the science lab coordinator I replaced, in fact. Don't let the handle avert you; I wish I could be that self deprecating.

Highlights:

"boasting about your IQ is a total turn off"

"if it's high, you is mayabang"

"boasting about having a high IQ is an indication that it isn't as high as one thinks"

"boasting about high IQ = insecure"

Sunrise at Annapolis

2008-12-17T10:24:00.001+08:00

Mag-Ingat na Di Masali Sa...

2008-12-15T17:07:00.001+08:00

KULTO NG MGA KALBO!!!

Model Student: Solving Anywhere?

2008-12-12T15:18:00.002+08:00

Look at that, for someone very studious, even a desk drawer can become a writing/computing surface just to be able to answer one's assignment!

Inspired by Manny vs. Oscar

2008-12-11T15:30:00.003+08:00

Blast From the Past

2008-12-09T10:16:00.001+08:00

Friday Oct. 12, 2007 (no classes) ATC

Urban Dead: Locked Out

2008-11-27T10:42:00.002+08:00

One of the things I hate when playing as a human is when I use a strongly barricaded building as a means to get out and hunt some zombies, and when I try to use that building to get back in, it's been barricaded to heavy.

I then either have to attack the barricades or look for other ways to get in, or, if I don't have enough action points, just wait until I'm killed and go to a revive point.

Go For What You Believe You Deserve

2008-11-22T14:32:00.002+08:00

This is a classic romantic film, where, in typical Hollywood fashion, there is only one male and one female lead, and the whole two hours is just waiting for them to realize they're meant for each other.

There's also the typical plot twist that she has a boyfriend since the start of the movie. How, in heaven's name, are the two main stars going to end up with each other?

This movie has a unique solution to the "third wheel" problem though, which is usually dispensed with in romantic comedies by some last act surprise where the boyfriend turns out to be an asshole and deserves to be left behind.

The writer made it worse by making the boyfriend (Bill Pullman) really likable, and even had asthma and had to be mothered - something shallow-minded moviegoers would think would make it easier for Meg Ryan to let go.

In the end it's Bill Pullman's decision, telling Meg Ryan he doesn't want to be someone that a woman would just "settle for".

And that's my message for today: do not just take with open arms the first person who shows an interest in you, especially if they happen to have a lot of bad habits. You owe it to yourself to expect more.

Urban Dead: That's One Way to Get Rid of an Infection

2008-11-18T14:58:00.002+08:00

All for One and One for All?

2008-11-14T08:50:00.001+08:00

If a chain is only as good as its weakest link, is a chain of stores (or schools for that matter) only as good as its worst branch (or campus)?

It's That Way with Penguins

2008-11-13T16:21:00.002+08:00

Above is the birthday gift I got from Joel & Ryan. Below is a box made up of renticular (false 3d) images that I bought in Taiwan - again of penguins!

And the other day I just watched Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa where the penguins were prominent again, as was in the first movie.

What is it with these guys?

Only Minimally Enchanting?

2008-11-11T10:39:00.002+08:00

This is a scale model of Enchanted Kingdom presented at the Laguna Investment and Business Expo in SM Sta. Rosa last week, where exhibitors and participants were treated to free entrance to the park in the afternoon of Nov. 8. Sir Chris & I didn't go.

I thought that it would include new rides being planned, but it doesn't. Oh well, I guess we'll just have to wait and visit again.

New Toy of the Week: Inexpensive Science

2008-11-10T16:27:00.002+08:00

Ten experiments at around 7 pesos each! Hope to use this in the next Open Lab or Science & Math Week.

One of the advantages of being a lab rat is that you still get to play with cool stuff - and call it work!

Now If Only I Could Get School Credit For This...

2008-11-08T16:08:00.000+08:00

An 80's Cartoon Quiz

Score: 100% (15 out of 15)

Revenge of the Scary Clueless Blonde Movie

2008-11-07T15:12:00.002+08:00

Anna Faris in The House Bunny doesn't stray much from the doe-eyed expression that shot her into fame in the Scary Movie series.

The plot about an unpopular sorority rising to greatness is borrowed from Revenge of the Nerds.

Glamorizing a female with no fashion sense is straight out of Clueless.

And the final monologue is in the same style as Reese Witherspoon had in the Legally Blonde films.

Overall does the merging of these concepts work? Except for the physical Cinderella transformations of the sorority members, which was also too quick (as was their change into vacuous vamps), it doesn't. The funny stuff was really too few and far between.

Effective IS Campaigns

2008-11-04T11:26:00.003+08:00

New Movie at Metropolis Alabang

2008-11-03T14:01:00.000+08:00

I wonder if the film in Cinema 4 is any good...

Halloween Day In School

2008-10-31T15:44:00.002+08:00

Lunch out with Ms. Karen and Mr. Roy

Someone embracing their inner second childhood, with a Grudge wanna be at the back.
Beware the Hooded Slasher! Including victim/sidekick.The real horror: Assembly Langauge exam!

Unnecessary Escalation

2008-10-29T10:41:00.002+08:00

This movie illustrates perfectly how an offense subjectively magnified in the eyes of the victim and seeking what is believed to be compensatory redress can lead to a chain of destructive "one-up-man-ship".

Paraphrasing William Hurt's character in the movie: "everything decent is held together by an unwritten covenant."

Unless we're willing to see the other person's side and work towards an agreeable conclusion, it will end up like those old time Ubusan ng Lahi (clan extermination) stories the previous generation of local moviegoers were barraged with.

Marketing Strategy

2008-10-28T11:33:00.002+08:00

Got tired of waiting for my travel companions to upload their pictures of the salesladies in Taiwan selling betel nuts.

Not surprisingly, there are others available on the web, just using the keywords "betel nut girl".

I don't think the Church would allow the same kind of tactic to be used here, again, yet another major difference between us and our neighbor across the South China Sea.

Two Yellow Guardians In My Clothes Rack

2008-10-27T14:14:00.001+08:00

What's curious is that they're both gifts.

Superstition Is Off The Ground

2008-10-23T17:37:00.001+08:00

There is no seat block 13 on the plane...

TV in Taiwan

2008-10-21T10:51:00.002+08:00

One of the perks of being in another country was that I didn't have to wait as long as home to be able to watch my favorite shows.

There was Heroes, Simpsons, Smallville, The Office, Entourage, 30 Rock, Private Practice, Amazing Race Asia and, shown above, Grey's Anatomy.

I particularly marvelled at the very good writing of the season premiere of the hospital drama, showing that the Writers Guild of America really is indispensable and that their demands after their dissatisfaction were justified.

I also like the acting of the guest stars, in particular Bernadette Peters and this guy who lived with a constant headache for seven years, and after the source of the pain was finally found, he breaks down and is able to mourn for his wife who died the year before.

Another Outdoor Science Plaything

2008-10-20T17:14:00.002+08:00

Besides the frisbees, boomerangs, kites and rubber band airplanes that I've been buying since April of this year, this is the latest toy we can use to take advantage of the campus' wide open areas to teach aerodynamics and propulsion.