WANTED: EXPLANATIONS OF THE TWISTS

I've finished reading Wanted last night. It's the last in the series of eight books of Sara Shepard's Pretty Little Liars. I think it only took me less than two weeks to finish the series, because the books can actually be categorized as easy-reads. It was kinda chiclit-ish, with mystery as its central theme. I won't go around telling the plot again, because I've already said it when I reviewed the fourth book Unbelievable that can be found here.

So okay, since the first four books of the series tells about A, and the fourth book reveals who A was, the other half of the Pretty Little Liars series focus on solving the mystery on who killed Ali. Plus, a new A appeared. So, as usual, it was a page-turner.

There were many unexpected twists too. And when I say many, I really mean it. Haha. Halfway reading the series, I've read a review that unfortunately contains a spoiler. I felt like I'm going to die, because it won't be exciting anymore. But really, that twist was only one of the many. After reading all, I was mindfucked, because the initial twist was again twisted. Twist within twist. How cool is that?

The twists were really great. I didn't expect it. Even the littlest idea of some twist didn't occur to my mind. And that is again my problem with the series.

The twists were surprising, such that it seems impossible. Not that it can't happen in real life, but in a way that when you read the series, the facts relating to the twists were loosely given. Some facts just don't go along with others. Plus, there were a huge blackhole. I mean, I'm looking for more explanations. How did A do all that? Things like that.

Like what I've said in my previous entry, I still recommend you to read the series because the characters are interesting. Plus, it is really a huge page-turner because of the twists. :)

Unbelievable is... unbelievable

Because I've been a bum for four months already, I'm running out of things to do. Thanks to my Tumblr dashboard, I happen to be informed about a TV show that had just finished showing in US called Pretty Little Liars. I got interested, the title is catchy, right? My internet connection at home is so slow, such that to finish downloading 10 episodes of Pretty Little Liars (each ep is almost 350MB) takes years. HAHAHA, just kidding. So... I decided to read the books first.

At first, I thought I wasn't going to finish reading even the first book, I just finished re-reading the Harry Potter series that time and I'm still in a harrypotter-is-the-best-bookseries-intheworld mood. But Pretty Little Liars got me. I was hooked by the book. It's a mystery novel, and I love solving mysteries.

The author, Sara Shepard, trully made it to the point that the readers will buy the next book, because the mystery wasn't resolved in the first book. I quickly read the second book Flawless, and the third book Perfect, each page increasing urge to get the next book so I'll know the ending. Interesting as it was, I paused after the third book and watched the TV episodes. The TV episodes weren't a copy of what's in the book, but I enjoyed watching the series because it's equally mysterious.

The plot is simple, there are five friends, one dies. Then the remaining four receives threatening messages after four years. These messages contain their deepest secrets. The sender is only known as A. And yeah, the book slightly revolves on them questioning who A was and resolving the issues that A brought.

The first three books make me suspect certain people as A. I was dying to know who A was. But I didn't expected that A will be revealed on the fourth book Unbelievable, which I finished reading last night.

I really thought that A will be revealed on the last book, or if not, on later parts of the series. But nevertheless, I was happy that I knew at last who A was. The feeling lasts for only a second because my immediate questions were: What? That's A? Why?

I know, I suspect that character as A, but I really can't believe that she's A. It's as if the author hasn't decided who A was until writing the fourth book. It's as if, the author picked from the characters, see who matched and voila: You're A!

I mean, it was somehow obvious, the facts match, but it wasn't explained how A did all those things. I guessed how A knew the secrets. The reason was acceptable, but I think her character's not introduced much as that.

Okay, the character is capable of being A, the character is really there when things happen, but there were no hints!

I've read other novels with surprise endings or characters, but when the secret was revealed, I'll realize something that makes me think that: Wow, yeah. That's why he acted this and that or something!!! You know, hints that don't tell you what the secret it, but hints that are there somewhere. Hints that might say: Hey, I was there. But you ignored me.

Anyway, I'll still read the remaining books of the series because there are still unknown mysteries. Plus, the characters are really interesting. Each is unique from others.

I Think I'm Not Smarter Than a Fifth-Grader

My cousin asked me what the 7 continents of Earth were. I said it was an easy homework and confidently recited these names: Asia, Europe, Africa, N. America, S. America, Antarctica & Arctica.

And he was like... "ARCTICA?! You sure? Isn't it just Arctic?"

I said, "Duh! I've read a trivia once that says all the continents have the same first and last letters... minus the South & North of America. So it has to be Arctica."

We checked it on the net and I was really dumbfounded.

There was no Arctica! It wasn't also Artic!

HOW IN GOD'S NAME I'VE FORGOTTEN ABOUT AUSTRALIA?! HAHAHAHA.

Primetime Politics

Although I am a student of the social sciences, people around me might have notice that I am not talking much about the coming 2010 elections. Why? First, I honestly think that much have been said about it, thereby losing my enthusiasm to talk about it. Second, I am lazy to talk about it because I feel like I have too much to say about it.

But here I am now. In a few minutes, you're about to read what my views about the coming elections are. Not views actually, but rants. Haha, just kidding. Okay, seriously now, not about my holistic view of it, but about the advertisements and campaigning strategies of the candidates for national positions. Let's start with the man with the billion-peso worth of ads.

I am sick of Manny Villar's "Nakaligo ka na ba sa dagat ng basura..." song. Though I admit that I am singing it sometimes, it is only because people around me are singing it also. LSS much. Even my little cousins know how to sing it. I think it is the most notable ad of Manny Villar. The message is catchy, the melodies are easy to sing with, and ofcourse the lyrics itself is being flash when the ad is being shown. Eventhough his "Akala Mo" ad is somehow catchy also, nothing beats the "Basura" ad. But, "sige na Villar, ikaw na ang mahirap." So what? Sure what he is trying to say is "you need to be one to know one". But in reality, it is not applicable all the time. And hello, how much is his net worth again?

So let's then talk about Manny Villar's runningmate, Loren Legarda. I don't actually remember her ads, so I am not gonna talk about it. Instead, I'm gonna talk about her recent guesting on Wowowee. (She also visited Bahay ni Kuya/Pinoy Big Brother Double Up, though I didn't catch it.) Anyway, Loren celebrated her birthday on Wowowee by giving money and computer to some audiences and their school. What pissed me off was one of the statement she mentioned at the start of the show. After greeting some people, the hosts Mariel Rodriguez and Valerie Concepcion asked her to also greet the TFC subscriber. Then Loren said something like, "Oh, worldwide pala tayo?" And I was like, "Duh, you don't know?"

I am still waiting of the campaigning strategies of Edu Manzano, a rival of Loren Legarda on the Vice-Presidential seat. After the announcement last year that he will be the runningmate of Gibo Teodoro, not much is heard about him. Except the alleged break-up between him and his girlfriend, Pinky Webb. Gibo Teodoro's latest ad is the one with the airplane. If the sub-ideas of that ad will be studied, it will not pass my standard. Well, if the next President is the pilot, then the citizens are the passengers, contributing nothing to the take-off of the plane. Which is not appealing to me, because I believe every citizen has to do his/her part for the country to become successful.

Though I haven't seen any solo TV ad of Bayani Fernando, Dick Gordon made my cousin LSS to Silent Night.

Noynoy Aquino for me has not yet found the perfect ad for him that will make people go gaga over. His latest has his nephew Baby James Yam on the last scene saying "Noynoy". His runningmate Mar Roxas, on the other hand, has not been innovative on his ads. His pre-Noynoy-affairs ads feature the famous "padyak" ads. His latest ads today is back on his Mr.Palengke kinda thing.

Finally, Erap Estrada-Jejomar Binay tandem has not yet appeared together on the ads also. Well, I am looking forward on how their tandem will carry on the campaigning. It's because I just don't guess where their personalities/visions intersect.

At the end of the day, the ads are not the only deciding factor of a person to vote for a certain candidate. However, the ads do affect how people view the candidates.