More Than a Test Score

About three things I am absolutely positive: First, I’d like to congratulate Stephanie Meyer for single-handedly creating the biggest literary catastrophe the world has ever seen. Second, there is a part of me – and believe me, I know how big that part is – that believes the movie Twilight beats out its novel counter part. And third, it was unconditionally and irrevocably superficial and boring.

I’m sure somewhere in between the movie premier, the scrawls of “I love Edward Cullen” in the girls bathrooms, the lipstick stains all over Robert Pattinson’s posterized face and the various DVD release parties raging across America, you’ve personally come into contact with the phenomenon called “Twilight”. But what’s with all the hype? The movie does not even qualify for two stars in my book.

First off, the development of the characters was shallow, each with the mentality of a second grader. For someone who was supposed to be “charming”, Robert Pattinson had the surprisingly incapability of holding a conversation for longer than two sentences. In fact, he seemed almost bored of the role throughout the entire film.

And while one-liners can be immortalized in Hollywood history, such as “Shaken, not stirred”, the entire film was littered with one-liners, as if it the filmmakers were trying to aim for the Guinness Book of World Record’s “Most Quotable Movie”. Instead of being romantic, it came off as a complete cliché, pretty much epitomizing the whole tone of the movie. How else can one deliver the line “This is the skin of a killer!” without sounding terribly cheesy? That’s like saying “This is the toenail of a vampire!” Still, it’s not fair to blame it solely on the screenwriters. They were just following orders from Meyer, who demanded that they quote the exact words from her diary – I mean book – for the sake of her beloved fans, in case they confuse the movie with another vampire fan fiction. After all, all she did was regurgitate every vampire fanfiction known to mankind since the dawn of civilization and a lá, it becomes a masterpiece, despite her poor vocabulary and complete inability to string together complex sentences.

For an adaption of a best seller novel, the movie was surprisingly low budget and it was evident in the editing. The sound effects were cheap and unentertaining, such as the twinkling of glass when Edward “glittered” aka profusely perspired, which I am pretty sure was copy and pasted right out of the sound effects section in Microsoft Word. Most of the time, the background music and noise overwhelmed the scene to the point that the viewer could not hear what the characters were actually saying. As for the scenes themselves, they were cut together in such a way that it was dizzying for the viewer to follow. In addition, they employed too many effects such as extreme close ups and slow motion. Once in a while would have been acceptable, but evidently the director thought that it would be appropriate to put slow motion during the best action sequences so that the characters could gaze into each others eyes, like we weren’t all ready aware of the fact that all of them were absolutely in love with each other. Plus the whole thing had an annoying greenish veneer, as if the directors could make up for their low budget by making it seem “artsy”. Sadly, the movie did have a lot of potential to be good since it spared the agonizing details of the book, but it was clear that it was slapped together quickly in order to make a pretty penny – not a difficult feat, considering how many Twilight fans there are. Hopefully Summit Entertainment will rake up the extra money and at least attempt to please fans in New Moon.

Leadership and community services are actions that should be rewarded, right? When you work hard authentically trying to help your community to be a better, safer place to live. Shouldn’t that get hooked up?

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus is offering a scholarship for members of the Hispanic community that have done just that. You don’t have to be interested in Political Science or running for Congress or even have a great G.P.A. You just have be a U.S. Citizen (or legal residence) and have demonstrated leadership skill within your community.

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus is dedicated to ensuring that the Hispanic community is heard in Washington D.C. They have ensured that Congress has plenty of Hispanic members to assist with this goal. The mission of the Caucus’ institute is to assist Hispanic students to gain education and leadership experiences by going to college to be able to keep up in the fast-changing business environment. They want to increase the number of Latino graduates from college and will pay $2,500 towards a 4-year school or $1,000 towards a community college. For more information about the scholarship (or to apply!) click here.

How have you helped? What have you done? Or are doing?

This scholarship is available to all Hispanic students who are attending (or will be attending) a 2- or 4-year institute. Financial need is considered, and preference will be shown for students who will continue to participate in civil services. The money will be distributed over the length of time left in the program or in school, for example $2,500 over four years is $625 a year, to encourage students to graduate. The deadline is April 16th, so get on it.

Hello world, I know I’m skinny. I know I’ll never have a girlfriend unless I gain 20 pounds. Thanks for the reminder, but from this point on let us never mention it again. Why does everyone feel the need to constantly critique the appearances of others? Most people already dwell on their physical insecurities at frequent depressing intervals during the day. So the best thing to do is not tell Jessica that she looks like a bulbous whale in her ugly purple shirt, because most likely she already knows.

No one is perfect. Angelina Jolie is not perfect, nor is Jennifer Aniston, nor is Brad Pitt. They may appear to be, but chances are they have a hideous mole or an unproportional asset hidden somewhere on their body. The devious tabloid photographers just haven’t exploited it yet. Do not worry too much about every tiny inconvenience on your body, for even if you fix these inconveniences you will find something else that you do not like about yourself.

The key to self confidence is to embrace yourself, not just to alter your image. Never convince yourself to do something just because a famous person is doing it. Looking good is part of a celebrity’s job. So wasting money on tanning beds and plastic surgery is not a grand idea for someone who will not appear in the next issue of People magazine. You can tan in the sun, and the shape of your nose or breasts is not meant to be altered.

Next time you break down into tears when looking in the mirror, remember this: your swagger might not be as official as Soulja Boy, but you can always pretend it is. You must own your insecurities, because even if 6,768,762,787 people have called you ugly, there will always be that one person left who loves you exactly the way you are.

I’ve always wanted to see the world. Pyramids simply look awesome in pictures, and so does Angel Falls, so I can’t even imagine what they’d look like up close. I’ve lived in America my entire life, with one brief foray into Mexico for a family vacation, so needless to say my international experience is lacking. But money, it’s a problem.

So for the past few years I‘ve been hitching a ride with Santa. It’s economical, it’s comfy, and there’s always lots of cookies. Not only that, but the locales are constantly changing, and it’s not the boring, touristy spots either. I get to see people’s homes, people’s lives, and I’m with Santa mind you, so I’m not being creepy. I’m just observing.

People love to be happy, I found that out quickly, and they have all sorts of ways and means geared towards achieving that end. Santa chips in big-time, and he knows all about custom and tradition. So I see the spectrum, from end to end.

Some families love toys, gadgets, and gizmos, but others love food and companionship. So why the difference? At first I attributed it towards lack of money, or lack of family. But eventually it dawned on me that maybe there was something more to all of it. I asked Santa, but he wouldn’t tell me. Said it’s better I just work it out on my own than use him to cheat. Cookies make him grumpy sometimes (It’s the gas…).

After awhile I began to see that I was missing something integral to the whole problem. I’m American, so forgive me for my oversight, but I found my problem buried in my definition of happiness.

Up until my first trip with Santa, I thought happiness meant material goods. I thought it meant having a Christmas tree that nobody could see because of presents stacked to the ceiling, ready to topple over. It then occurred to me that a great portion of the world had never seen a Game-boy or a Playstation. But were they unhappy?

Nope. They actually seemed happier than most of the people I know.

Their happiness came from not how much they had, but how much they knew they needed. Their joy came from friends and health, not from colors on a TV the size of a swimming pool.

And in the end, I believe that’s all we can really ask for. I mean, doesn’t life seem a little bit difficult without companionship and a working body?

Let’s see the big picture from the eyes of a child, who smiles because he has a school to go to and clean water to drink. And that’s always been Santa’s mission; helping old men and women find their verve again through ecstatic children. Lest we forget.

I’ll hopefully be spending winter break at North Pole this year. Santa says I’m one of the few who hasn’t stopped believing. He also told me to pass the invitation along, to anyone that was interested.

Any takers?

There are some opportunities that you absolutely have to consider. This is one of them: QuestBridge’s College Prep Scholarship. The scholarship is designed to equip high-achieving low-income students to compete for admission to to top-ranked colleges. Awards include:

- 15 full scholarships to college summer programs at Emory, Harvard, Notre Dame, Penn, Stanford, and Yale
- 40 awards of college admissions counseling provided by experienced QuestBridge staff
- 1,000 invitations to QuestBridge College Admissions Conferences at Stanford and Yale
- 100 all-expense-paid campus visits to top-ranked colleges

Find out more about this opportunity on the QuestBridge website at www.questbridge.org! The deadline is March 31, so get on this!

Good Luck!