Hunger Games Book vs Movie? [No spoilers from either, I promise.]

If you didn't already know, I am a HUGE Hunger Games fan. I've read the entire series five times and I'm probably going to read it again some time soon. Yes, I'm that much of an addict... or that much of a bookworm. You decide. 
So anyway, I was able to score tickets for the premiere of Hunger Games on March 22nd, thanks to DLSU Outdoor Club and Hunger Games Philippines.

Then I watched it a second time the next night with my family.
I watched it twice in two days and I still want to watch it all over again. But here's the thing, it's not as faithful to the book as I wanted it to be.
Don't get me wrong, I loved the movie and I think it was awesome; it's just that there were characters that they didn't feature in the movie who I think were so important in the book. They didn't spend enough time showcasing the build up of certain relationships. And they did leave out a lot of mini-events from the book. It was an extremely compressed version of the book. 
I know, I know. There is no possible way to make the movie exactly like it's written in the books and how everyone envisioned it in their heads. Especially since the book was so detailed.
The only real disappointment for me was Katniss and Peeta's costumes while they were on their chariots. It was so extremely lacking in the "boom factor".
The up side is, though. As different as it was from the book, I wasn't disappointed. So here's a tip for all of you who are just about to watch the movie and have read the book: Don't hold on too tightly to the book version as you're watching the film. Just lay back and enjoy it as the games come to life.
Hope this helps and (what kind of fan would I be if I didn't say it?) MAY THE ODDS BE EVER ON YOUR FAVOR!

Happy Thursdays!

Happy Thursdays are making a comeback in DLSU! So here's another vlog. This time it's with my friend, Ken Vergara. We made it on his Samsung s2 with the Paper Camera app. Pretty cool. Made us look like we had rotten teeth though. Oh well, papel (paper in English). Camera people were Jen See, Nica Villanueva and Albert Uy. At some point Nica and Jen forget that they can be heard on the video, too even if they aren't seen. Sorry for that.
Drumroll please! Now presenting KEN "THE FACE VALUE" VERGARA'S DEBUT ON MY BLOG!

End of Installment

The last vlog installment for Zambales! It's pretty much just me talking to the camera, Apa making a few comments and Cz washing her clothes in the ocean.
Enjoy!

The Totem Pole

Here's part2 of the Zambales trip video installments. This one is of Gerard climbing this tree trunk thing that the Crystal Beach people really meant for the visitors to climb. Cz and Apa were talking about Gerard's intelligence/stupidity as he was coming down.

So there you go. 

The third and last installment, the one that makes the most sense, I think, will be up tomorrow.

175 Degrees!

Spent the weekend in Zambales! The waves were awesome for surfing, but we passed on it and just enjoyed swimming in the ocean. We got eaten by the waves... sounds better in Filipino: Kinain kami ng alon. But I'm too lazy to blog, so I decided to make a vlog on the beach... With Cz, Apa and Gerard. I've blogged about them before if you read the past OC posts. On the way home, we stopped in Pampanga and ate at the original Branch1 of Razon's! Their leche flan on top of the halo-halo were bricks compared to the paper thin slices they serve here in Manila. Don't have pictures of our Pampanga side trip though... Sorry.

My favorite shot from the trip. (c) Isbog
More pictures to come.

So here is one of the videos, I'm gonna post them throughout the week since they take forever to upload. Sorry for the crappy audio, the wind was blowing and all. And for the fact that we're all kinda weird in the video, we're always that way, but more so in this one since we were feeling the beach vibe. Plus, we were kinda high from all the chillin' we got to do.

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Before the Week Ends

I promised I would, and so I do. But I have to make this quick since I'm leaving for my surf trip in a while.
Super stressed the past few weeks. I dunno why. Bright side of the week, I was able to go through my friend, Raymond's iTunes Library. Eargasmic, I swear to God. It is one of the most complete collections I have seen. Sad thing was, I couldn't transfer the entire thing into my iPod since it exceeds the memory space I've got. Major bummer. I got a few though so it wasn't a total loss.
So yeah. I'm sorry this is such a sucky blog post but I'm in such a huge hurry and I just wanted to get a post up before the week ended, like I promised. Better ones will come.
Have a great weekend!

Two Hundred Forty Six

It's been half a month since my last blog post so I'll catch you up slowly since I don't think I've got the energy to blog about everything right now.
Let's start with my Anawangin trip last Feb.11-12, 2012 brought to you by none other than DLSU Outdoor Club.
Kudos to Abi Dolon and Laura Cua on the first activity they were in charge of.
To say it was a success is an understatement. It being a beach trip pretty much meant that everyone would have fun without being too exhausted to enjoy the place. Not to say that I'm not able to appreciate the view when I go on climbs. It's just that I'm too exhausted to do anything about it.
We took a boat ride to the cove. Took about an hour? But I loved it. There was a cool breeze and you could see all the shorelines and the endless expanse of blue. Lord, I'm in love with the ocean.
The first few hours after setting up camp-sandy with pine trees, how awesome is that?- we spent swimming, playing volleyball and taking pictures on the beach. After a while we went up some mountain at the edge of the beach. Simple climb, pretty effortless hike, actually.

Chillin on the boat ride. (c)Rod Calzado

View from the boat (c)JR Altarejos

Boats on the shore (c)Ryuta Murakami

Beach in the late afternoon (c)Ryuta Murakami

View from the mini-climb (c)Ryuta Murakami

Campsite (c)Ryuta Murakami

Sari-sari store near the campsite. Where we bought additional "supplies" (c)Rod Calzado

The weekend was fun, spent with old friends and a few new ones, as per usual when you go on OC trips. At night, we had a campfire and a ton of food. It was fun. We played games and all. Even had s'mores... they did, anyway. I'm not exactly a fan of marshmallows.

Laura and Lester, first timer. Siblings heating up s'mores over the campfire. (c)Ryuta Murakami 

There was even a group of guys sexy dancing for each other a few sapces over, lights and music and all. Extremely funny. No pictures though, sorry to deprive you all.

First time anyone went missing on a trip. EhemRamManipolEhem and EhemRyutaMurakamiEhem. Just for a few hours though. Didn't tell anyone they were heading off to wherever. Made Abi cry. Shame on you.

Apparently the lovebirds consummated their love on a night trek up the mountain we hiked in the afternoon, but this time by moonlight... Kidding about the lovebirds and consummation of love, by the way. The idiots didn't even bring flashlights.

View of the campsite from the idiots' evening trek. (c)Ryuta Murakami

Their excuse: "The moonlight was bright enough to guide us anyway".

I wanna smack their heads together.

Deep breaths. Moving on.

Next day, got up, had breakfast, packed up the camp and headed back to the boats for our visit to Pundaquit.

Rise and shiiiine! (c)Ryuta Murakami

An island with a lighthouse. It was... fun? The stairs we had to climb were rickety and rusty and it was pretty nerve-wracking having to climb them. I'm afraid of heights, so I wasn't able to enjoy the view from the lighthouse much. But from my vantage point, it was serene.

The rickety staircase, Gerard and Apa. (c) Ryuta Murakami

Lilai, first timer, and the view from the light house. (c)Ram Manipol 

The group at the Lighthouse.

It was located past a huge deserted house which would have been perfect for fashion photo shoots, if you didn't mind transporting all your clothes and letting your makeup melt before the shoot began, but whatever.

The house (c)Ram Manipol

The hallway (c)Ram Manipol

View behind the house (c)JR Altarejos

So yeah, took the boat over to Zambales took showers, took the bus back to Manila and finished off the awesome weekend. And I'm finally done with the blog post. It's kinda long, but I wanted to make up for the long absence.

By the way, the waves were awesome that weekend, extreme bummer I wasn't able to surf. Oh well. Surfing weekend coming up soon! Awoo awoo awoo!

Another blog post will come within the week. Honest.