#short article

The New Society started in 1972 and focused on the development of the country. It tried to stop pornography and established a new office called the Ministry of Public Affairs. The government also reviving old plays such as the Cenaculo, Zarzuela and Embayoka of the Muslims. Singing both Filipino and English songs received fresh incentives and those sent abroad promoted many Filipino songs. Weekly publications like KISLAP and LIWAYWAY helped to develop literature in the Philippines during the New Society period. Filipino poets such as Ponciano Pineda, Aniceto Silvestre, Jose Garcia Revelo, Bienvenido Ramos, Vicente Dimasalang, Cir Lopez Francisco, and Pelagio Sulit Cruz wrote poems about patience, respect for native culture, customs, and nature. Composers such as Freddie Aguilar, Jose Marie Chan, and Tito, Vic and Joey also contributed to the period. ANAK of Freddie Aguilar became an instant success due to its spirit and emotions.The government led in reviving old plays and dramas, such as the Tagalog Zarzuela, Cenaculo and the Embayoka of the Muslims, which were presented in the rebuilt Metropolitan Theater, the Folk Arts Theater and the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Many schools and organizations also presented varied plays, such as the Sining Embayoka at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. In 1977, the Tales of Manuvu was added to these presentations, performed by Celeste Legaspi, Lea Navarro, Hadji Alejandro, Boy Camara, Anthony Castello, Rey Dizon and choreographed by Alic Reyes. The following organizations contributed to the development of plays during this period: PETA of Cecille Guidote and Lino Brocka, Repertory Philippines of Rebecca Godines and Zenaida Amador, UP Repertory of Behn Cervantes, and Teatro Filipino by Rolando Tinio. Radio and television continued to be patronized, with play series like SI MATAR, DAHLIA, ITO AND PALAD KO, and MR The New Society of the Philippines was characterized by a number of popular television plays, such as Gulong ng Palad, FLOR DE LUNA, and ANNA LIZA, as well as popular Filipino films such as Pista ng mga Pelikulng Pilipino (Yearly Filipino Film Festival).

Bilingual education was initiated by the Board of National Education in 1958 and continued up to the period of Martial Rule in 1972. The focus of education and culture was on problems of national identity, re-orientation, renewed vigor and a firm resolve to carry out plans and programs. The forms of literature that led during this period were essays, debates, and poetry. Short stories, novels, and plays were no different in style from those written before the onset of activism.

Dear 2K Games: Protest is the Point

Video games publisher 2K Games has had a fairly embarrassing week. Following the release of NBA 2K18 - a full-priced $60 AAA game so full of microtransactions that it might as well be called “Farmville: NBA Edition” - the publisher fielded its fair share of public outcry and poor review scores. Quoth Kotaku:

The latest game in the NBA 2K series is frustrating to play if you don’t want to spend any additional money on top of the $60 you have to shell out to get the game. Technically, you don’t ever need to buy anything in NBA 2K18. It’s just much, much easier if you do.

To many, it seems only right that such a money-grubbing move has earned the publisher a spanking. But on Thursday, September 22, somebody at 2K must’ve been watching “The Princess and the Frog”, because they jumped into that hole and dug a little deeper.

When The Sixth Axis published their NBA 2K18 review, they didn’t hold back: the slapped the stumbling, microtransaction-logged mess with a well-deserved 3/10. In a sane world, this would’ve been the end of the story. But 2K - perhaps emboldened by the increasingly fascist political climate in which we’ve found ourselves since last November - decided to contact the Editor in Chief of the small publication to challenge the review score. Why? They claimed the score was made as a “protest.”

On the one hand, they’re not wrong. According to the editor, the original conclusion read:

If you’re a series fan you may enjoy what you see, and the score below doesn’t indicate the quality of the core basketball game, but rather protests how utterly invasive the microtransactions have now become.

The editor has since removed the line, and says that it was published in error. “To categorise our review and its score as a protest vote against 2K was wrong on a number of levels,” they wrote, “and it was something I believed I had removed when editing.”

But...was it wrong?

Hear me out: 2K’s whole beef with this score was that it was made “in protest.” But why should that be a problem? The entire point of the reviews process is to grade the quality of a product. If a product is so bad that it makes you want to scream profanities and tear out all your hair - if it makes you want to picket 2K headquarters with signs in hand - your review score should reflect that. 

Protest is the point. It’s not a mistake. When a AAA publisher makes an error like this, you’re supposed to call them out on it. That is the nature of public discourse. 

Nowadays, reviewers hesitate to give any game a score lower than a 7/10 unless it causes snakes to manifest in their house physically. Distributing poor reviews, even to worthy offenders, can lead to community backlash on a large scale. It can get you blacklisted by review sites and publishers alike. That’s a huge problem. It indicates a system so broken that it’s no wonder neo-Nazis got away with basing an entire anti-women doxxing campaign on “ethics in games journalism.”

A 3/10 was the rating NBA 2K18 soundly deserved. It’s virtually unplayable without buying into the in-game economy. Even longtime fans have found the gameplay boring, the narrative lackluster, and the graphics barely passable for the current era. 2K prioritized making more money over cultivating a quality game experience. That choice is worthy of protest. And calling it “protest” shouldn’t demean it - it isn’t pointless, or pithy. It isn’t fueled by a vendetta. It is a measured outcry against a bad product.

Date: April 2nd 2017        Writer: Shania Marie      Picture source: Healthy Food House

Hot cocoa, also know as drinkable chocolate, (probably the best thing to ever happen?) actually has amazing health benefits. Which is not very surprising considering cocoa goes back to the Mayans. It is believed that the invention of cocoa could be as early as 900 AD!

Here are just a few health benefits you might not have known about drinking hot cocoa:

1. Cocoa helps fight tooth decay – Really, I’m not kidding.

A university in Japan did a study and found that parts of the cocoa bean prevent mouth bacteria and tooth decay.  

Does this mean we can eat chocolate as a part of our dental care routine? As much as I wish we could, No. We cannot.  A lot of chocolates have added sugar, which we all know promote tooth decay.  

So, how can we get the oral benefits of cocoa?

Well, Takashi Ooshima, Osaka University stated “It may be possible to use CBH extract (Cocoa Bean Husk) in a mouthwash, or supplement it to a toothpaste.“

Where can you get CBH? Well, as of right now we can’t find a supplement made from CBH that we can take everyday.  So I guess for now, we should stick to drinking a cup of natural cocoa and practicing good oral hygiene.

2. Cocoa helps in lowering blood pressure

There is a research study that proves when people increase their hot cocoa intake it reduces the systolic and diastolic blood pressures.

This study compared the effect of cocoa and tea intake for blood pressure. The results concluded that cocoa consumption could possibly work in lowering blood pressure, while the tea had no effect.

Will cocoa be the new tea?

3. Cocoa can be used as a stress-reducer!

Cocoa actually contains a lot of good chemicals! It has caffeine, which we all know makes our days 100% easier. It also contains theobromine that stimulates our nervous system and phenylethylamine that helps in the production of dopamine (a chemical in our brain that makes us happy).

So, why not enjoy a cup of cocoa? You deserve it!

4. Cocoa has Antioxidants

A research study has made it clear that cocoa exhibits a high antioxidant activity. Antioxidants help your body fight free radicals as well as protect you from a number of diseases!

5. Cocoa can help with Obesity

A study indicated that consuming cocoa decreased visceral adipose tissue weight (fat that surrounds internal organs). The study concluded that consuming cocoa can prevent high-fat-diet-induced obesity.

It is unclear if cocoa can help with obesity caused by other reasons besides poor diet.

6. Cocoa can help relieve Constipation

A research study suggests that taking a supplement of cocoa bean husk (CBH – we talked about this preventing tooth decay!) can help relieve mild constipation. Although the study showed it worked best in pediatric constipated patients (children), there is no shame in sipping a nice hot cup of cocoa.

Cocoa also has caffeine. Which by its self, is a diuretic.  

7. Cocoa can prevent the growth of cancer cells

There is some evidence that proves cocoa can prevent the growth of cancer cells without effecting the growth of normal cells.

The evidence suggested that cocoa powder can effect the anti-proliferative effects (prevent the spread of cells) by using the polyamine metabolism (an organic compound) as a target.

Google Play Indie Games Festival Returns to SF this September

After a strong first showcase last year, Google Play’s Indie Games Festival is returning to San Francisco this September with the promise of new talent and exciting new prospects. Last year, the festival brought together indie developers from all over both the US and Canada, and highlighted some of the most noteworthy games being created by independent developers.

This year promises to be even better. Googly Play is once again on the search for innovative, creative passion projects and fun new games to include in their upcoming festival, scheduled for this September. Competitors will be invited to demo their game in front of a packed venue of games journalists, industry buffs, and fellow indies.

And if that opportunity weren’t tempting enough, the festival offers developers a shot at a prize far more valuable than money: free marketing. When I asked indie developers at last year’s showcase about their greatest obstacles, many agreed that marketing was a huge challenge. With no dedicated team or funds to advertise their products, many indies create incredible games only to struggle to ever get noticed.

So, it’s no accident that Google Play is offering its Top 10 finalists a major marketing bump: inclusion in a dedicated Indie Corner collection for one month; promotion of your game on other Google Play channels; and promotion of your game on Android and Google Play developer channels. And those who make it all the way to the Top 3 get extra goodies, like two all-access passes to GDC 2018, and $20,000 worth of Google Cloud credit.

4 Wonder Woman Games That Should Definitely Exist By Now

Wonder Woman has grossed over $100.3 million, domestically, in her opening weekend. In two days, the film has blasted through projections and busted records. It currently sits at a stellar 93% score on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s hard to see any way naysayers could’ve been proven wrong in a more spectacular fashion. Clearly, women-driven, women-directed superhero movies do sell. What’s more, the movie’s overwhelming popularity has ushered in a huge surge of interest in the character – “Diana Prince” is one of the top trending Google searches at the moment.

So, I’m forced to ask: where the hell is our Wonder Woman video game?

It took 75 years to make a Wonder Woman movie. Perhaps it should come as no surprise, then, that apart from Injustice – where she’s less Wonder Woman, and more “a shrieking harpy with a singular focus on gettin’ that Superdick” – Diana has been largely absent from the myriad of DC games produced since the height of the DC animated universe in the 1990’s.

But it’s time that changed. There’s not a person alive who walked out of the theater not wanting to live through the No Man’s Land scene, and we all should get that chance. So, without further ado, here’s four Wonder Woman games that should definitely exist by now.

Warning: the following contains some spoilers for the movie. If you haven’t seen it yet, I encourage you to stop reading, get up, and go see it immediately.

6 Games to Help You Survive the Wait for Star Trek: Discovery

If you’re anything like me, you’re probably losing your mind over the new Star Trek: Discovery trailer, released last Wednesday. It’s been almost sixteen years since Trekkies have had a new show to look forward to - alright, twelve if we count Enterprise, but come on, no one counts Enterprise - and the few months between now and Fall 2017 may feel like lightyears to those who are as excited as I am. The good news? With years in the geek zeitgeist, there are plenty of great Star Trek games - and Star Trek inspired games - to help you pass the time, and to help bring that “final frontier” a little closer to home.

Todays random article: Camil Ressu