By Marjorie Gorospe
INQUIRER.net

ADVOCATING children’s rights and mainstreaming classical music is not that easy.

Ellen Ongkeko-Marfil, however, has done just that through her film “Boses.”

Boses is a story of a battered child, Onyok. Abused by his own father, he later finds solace in a shelter. Onyok also learns the violin through his “wounded” mentor.

The film is a story of friendship between two wounded people: one physically after being beaten up by his father and the other wounded due to the passing of a loved one.

The film’s music – mostly coming from the violin — sets the tone of story.

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By Anna Valmero
Inquirer.net

PASIG CITY—‘We like to move it!’

This hypnotic tune complemented that booty shaking dance of the funny foursome—Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Gloria the Hippo and Melman the giraffe. Even local stars are mesmerized and can’t decide which character to pick as their favorite. Watch in the video below.

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By Anna Valmero and Marjorie Gorospe
INQUIRER.net

IT has been said, companionship is best appreciated in old age.

After experiencing all the highs and lows of life, those who are chronologically advanced seek to be with people. This was the least of their concern when they were young, when they seemed to have time for everything.

This is the recurring theme in a recent play, called “Hiblang Abo,” a production of Gantimpala Theater Foundation under director Tony Espejo.

We recently went to view the play at the Luneta open auditorium.

Hiblang Abo talks about the lives of four men in a home.

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Starring Kevin Costner, Madeline Caroll, Dennis Hopper, Kelsey Grammer
Directed by Joshua Stern
Distributed by Touchstone Pictures

By Clarence Yu

KEVIN Costner’s latest drama-comedy starrer, Swing Vote, is a timely film for a primer on the US electoral process. Released in North America in August this year, the movie focuses on a trailer-living, divorced, single father, all-around loser and drunk bum (Bud Johnson) played by Costner.

As it happens, during the US election that transpires in the movie between the two presidential candidates, played by Dennis Hopper and Kelsey Grammer respectively as the Democrat challenger and the incumbent Republican President, the whole fate of the race boils down to the vote of one man, Johnson, due to a voting machine performance error that did not able to record his vote.

The rest of the film focuses on the intricacies and dynamics of US politics. Both candidates try to pander to Johnson, and in a comedic turn of events, both candidates end up reversing their positions on traditional Republican and Democrat policies. Republicans suddenly become pro-choice on abortion, and Democrats, pro-life

It’s quite an entertaining movie, but Costner’s stardom, having faded exponentially since 1996’s Waterworld, perhaps contributed to the film’s lackluster success at the US box office.

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By Anna Valmero
INQUIRER.net

THE thrill formula used in the film “Eagle Eye” is nothing new with its car chases, crushed metals, explosive weaponry and advance technology. Even the theme about the possibility of artificial intelligence learning more about us and in the end, predicting our courses of action lacked originality and appeal.

The movie though serves as another reminder of how our society today has become big online content consumers as well as feeders of content to online networking sites.

It is nothing new that algorithms can map human behavior from these uploaded content as well as any form of online transactions ranging from clicks on websites to chat logs — thus the proliferation of more and more social networking services.

Aside from tracking the clicks that you for every online session, website trackers can make available to the site admin your IP address, location and possibly, identity. These tools have helped site managers predict online behaviors and make users click more. Hackers who can find their way to snoop around private online data are another thing.

The film fell short in showing patriotism, which it tries to depict. In any case, it just served as a reminder of the upcoming United States elections. In the film, an artificial intelligent machine that was built to secure the government tried putting a new order in place. It makes one wonder up to what extent can we manage this liberty on the Internet so we don’t end up harming ourselves.

One thing for sure, whatever you do online leaves a trail of footprints. Beware, you are being watched.