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Rant and Rave: Inside Out

The idea of the mundane turning into the amazing has been ingrained into the minds of audiences by Pixar for years. Toys coming to life when their owner isn’t there? Toy Story proved that viable. The urban legend of monsters living underneath a kid’s bed came to life in the form of Monsters Inc. A…

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Rant and Rave: Champions—The Lost Chronicles of Eden

“There’s a demon beside you right now,” opens the prologue to a gripping tale about the visible, invisible, and exceptionally human. Debut novelist Karren Renz Seña conjures up two worlds, one within the other in Champions: The Lost Chronicles of Eden. Earth and Cielos, the city closest to heaven, are the site of an ongoing…

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Rant and Rave: Magtanggol Liberacion

The timing of the three-day run of the Harlequin Theatre Guild’s latest production, Magtanggol Liberacion, could not have been any better. The state of Philippine politics has gone awfully awry these past few months, with the news of the Vice President himself filing a P200-million libel suit against multiple sectors being the latest one to…

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Rant and Rave: Voices in the Theater

A.S. Santos’ debut novel Voices in the Theater, the first book in her SPRG (Student Paranormal Research Group) trilogy, is a breath of fresh air from the hundreds of hugot-inducing, boy-meets-girl, online-fic-turned-publication books out there today. With a creatively thought out plot, a complex heroine, and for Lasallians, an oh-so-familiar setting, this book definitely has…

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Rant and Rave: Jurassic World

The Ankylosaurus, Stegosaurus, Triceratops, Barynoyx, Mosasaurus, and the hybrid abomination, Indominus rex. These are just a few of the new dinosaurs that were unveiled in Jurassic World, the fourth installment in the Jurassic Park film series. Netting the biggest movie opening of all time with $208.8 million in its first weekend, there is no doubt…

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Rant and Rave—’Mad Men: The end of an era’

On July 19, 2007, American network AMC launched its first original drama, a big gamble for a basic cable channel mostly known for airing old and obscure films. Reportedly costing over $3 million, the pilot episode of Mad Men was a huge risk. What was the pitch? A period drama set during the 1960s and…

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Rant and Rave: Avengers: Age of Ultron

“Avengers –,” Chris Evans’ Captain America begins his signature cry with conviction before being cut off prematurely to black. There is an aura of enchantment whenever people watch superhero films. For a couple of hours or so, one obligingly suspends disbelief in favor of a flashier, more colorful lifestyle that exists only within the confines…

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Rant and Rave: Glee

“They say you have to lose everything before you find yourself,” Leroy Berry tells his daughter Rachel Berry as she comes home with her proverbial tail between her legs. Rachel, the super-talented diva who claims that gold stars are her metaphors, the girl who didn’t stop believing, is coming home from a semi-successful run on…

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Broke with Expensive Taste

“I’ve been waiting for Azealia Banks,” states one Peter Rosenberg, an urban radio station DJ introducing Desperado, the third track in Ms. Banks’ debut album. It could be said that the Internet, or at least hip-hop fans, have felt the same way about the elusive ‘witch of hip-hop.’ With a surprise release last November 6,…

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Interstellar

Director Christopher Nolan has made a career out of masterfully tinkering with logic, and it is evident in his films. From the moment audiences were introduced to his seminal classic Memento to the recently concluded Dark Knight trilogy, Nolan continues to astound with every movie he has done. Unfortunately, his work hasn’t been without criticism;…