Congratulations to Ginoong Mangatarem 2024 - Christopher John Pascua Edwards.

By Jeremy Yu

In a tale that seems straight out of a sitcom, Christopher John Pascua Edwards, known in BSM as John Edwards, stumbled into the limelight of the Ginoong Mangatarem 2024 competition.

Starting on the 22nd of January, 2024, John Edwards arrived in Mangatarem, a municipality in the Philippines which has a yearly competition called “Ginoong Mangatarem”. It is a celebration of Filipino culture, heritage, and the promising potential of its young men. In this competition, the participants had to display their range of talents, share their aspirations, and describe the essence of being a Filipino man.

The competition had various segments, from showcasing your talent, swimwear parades, best dressed in a barong tagalog, and frame by frame picture analysis of their physique. John also attended multiple rehearsals about “positioning on stage, production dance move rehearsals, and walking and posing”.

The following is an interview between John and Winston Roars.

How did you get into Ginoong Mangaterm?

I got scouted out kind of? Essentially, my younger sister was doing a pageant and the organisers of the event happened to be running the Ginoong Mangatarem pageant due to circumstances I was asked to join to fill up the vacant slots

Can you describe the format of the competition? What were some of the activities that you participated in?

The format of the competition was basically split into two halves, I'd say? there's where all 10 compete into 4 categories, there's talent, swimwear, Barong Tagalog and picture analysis, for activities that we participated in, essentially there were a lot of rehearsals about positioning on stage, production dance move rehearsals, and walking and posing

How did you prepare for the competition? Were there any challenges that you faced during the preparation process?

I prepared by mainly practising the way I walk, then afterwards to prepare for the question and answer sequence and picture analysis. I had help from an instructor to know the places around the province of Mangatarem, how to structure my answer, and how to pose myself during my answer. On top of all that, I practised singing for my talent production which really put me out of my comfort zone since I am not very good at singing

What was your most memorable experience during the competition?

My most memorable part of the competition was winning cliche enough. I genuinely didn't think I would make it past the top 6 participants let alone in the top 3, so it was a really big surprise too. also seeing all my family supporting and cheering me, made me feel really grateful and happy

What qualities do you think are important for someone who wants to succeed in the competition?

Aside from the obvious, the two most important things I'd say are primarily confidence and clarity. confidence can be manifested through the whole posing routine, how you walk on the stage, how you answer questions, facial expressions, body language, etc etc. For clarity, it's most important in the picture analysis part and the question and answer part, where you have to be able to quickly understand what you have been asked or what you are looking at, and come up with an answer that either talks about the significance of the photo and what it is, or how to answer the question while also managing to incorporate yourself in to sell yourself to why you want to be the winning candidate.

How did you feel when you were announced as the winner of the competition?

I felt really happy, but at the same time I felt some guilt for the people who worked harder than me, and people who I thought should've won didn't win, but I guess that's the nature of any competition

What was the most challenging part of the competition for you?

The most challenging part of the competition for me was the posing in swimwear. I don't usually go around many people or places with anything less than my shirt and shorts on, but being on a stage, in front of hundred-something people completely shirtless and in swimming trunks really brought me way out of my comfort zone and it was challenging trying to upkeep a look of confidence while doing all of it

What was the most difficult question that you were asked during the competition?

The most difficult question that I was asked during the competition was "If you wanted men to be described in ONE word, what word would it be and why?", this is mainly because there's a plethora of words that could be attributed to men and what I want men to be recognised and described as, however, being able to build upon my reasoning and justification about why i chose that word, and on top of that trying to not stutter and stay concise and coherent throughout, I also had to try and sell myself as to why I should win and how my answer links to me.

What was the most interesting activity that you participated in during the competition?

The most interesting activity I participated in during the competition was 100% the talent portion, i have not seen any of the other candidates perform as it was all rehearsed at their own times, but the creativity and skill in each of the performances were definitely the most interesting and the creative, the variety of talents shown from dances, to song performances, to traditional performances was really exciting

Asteroid City: The Artistic Process and The Meaning of Life

By Rose Drage

Most cinephiles are able to recognise a Wes Anderson film from just one frame. From the simplistic, symmetrical sets with bold, pastel colours, to the deadpan delivery of his witty dialogue. There is something about his films that have a certain magic to them. This Wes Anderson charm is more present than ever in his latest film, Asteroid City. 

Set in the post WWII American west, the film follows a ragtag ensemble of characters as they process the changing political and socio economic climate in their own ways. From a war photographer, Augie Stienbeck, and his four children struggling with the emotional turmoil of their mother’s death, to a film star, an eccentric scientist, and an oddly adorable alien, this film doesn’t stray from Wes’ charmingly bizarre cast of characters. They are all so different but there’s something incredibly human about their sincerity. 

What makes Asteroid City so special, however, is the meta narrative. The story of the town, Asteroid City, is a fictional story which is being played out by actors in a play. The film is separated in two layers of meta; it opens in black and white as a man talks about the making of the play, but then as act I begins, the film bursts into an array of Wes’ signature pastel colour palette. The film switches between the monochromatic behind-the-scenes of the play, and the coloured portion- the story itself. 

This is what aroused a lot of critiques of the film- many people have complained that it’s too complex, that there’s too much going on and that it lacks substance. They say that Wes has prioritised the pretty cinematography and funny dialogue, instead of putting any real emotion into his film.

I would argue that the thing those very critiques are complaining about is the whole point of the film: uncertainty. This film was conceived in a time where almost the entire world had just been under total lockdown from a pandemic, where news media is becoming more and more distressing. What better way to express the uncertainty of the 2020s than in a film infused with chaos. The characters’ confusion and anxiety can easily be interpreted to represent our own. Through the disorder of their environment and their whole worldview, the characters are constantly asking the same question: what does it all mean? 

This existential panic comes to a climax at the end of scene three. After the alien returns the asteroid back to the crater it came from, all hell breaks loose. Children with weapons and flying on jetpacks, people yelling over each other; the air of instability has come to a burning climax. Augie Stienbeck, our main character, turns and walks to one side of the crater, where we see a door outlined in the orange dirt. He opens it, and walks into the black and white backstage area. You see a crane lifting up the boy you just saw flying on a jetpack, you see actors getting ready for their scene. Augie’s actor, Jones Hall, walks with determination to where the director, Schubert Green, who had been living in the set for a couple of months.

He asks “Am I doing him right?”. ‘Him’ being his character, Augie. He complains that he feels lost and that he feels like his own heart is being broken every night. Something that I’m sure many of us can relate to from time to time. Most of all, Jones says that he’s worried that he still doesn’t understand the play. To this his director replies “Doesn’t matter. Just keep telling the story. You’re doing him right.”

This is a message that hit me like a ton of bricks the first time I heard it. Movies put so much emotional weight on ‘finding your purpose’, and real life is not that simple. Coming of age stories like to tell us that finding yourself is a journey that you go through, where the destination is ‘yourself.’ What this film is trying to tell us is that the world is constantly changing in ways that can’t be condensed into a three part storyline with a beginning, middle, and end. Equally, we are as ever-changing and nuanced as the world around us. The characters are constantly trying to find a version of themselves that makes sense. This is clear in lines like “I never had children. Sometimes I wonder if I wish I should’ve...” where the emotion is so watered down by layers of self analysis that they become almost incomprehensible. Wes is telling us that we don’t have to try to constantly show the best possible version of ourselves. That, in these times where it’s difficult not to feel overwhelmed, all we have to do is keep going. As long as we do that, we are enough.

This theme can also be applied to the artistic process, and Wes Anderson’s stage in his creative career. The nuclear success of his recent films ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ and ‘The French Dispatch’ leave him at a pivotal point in his filmmaking. This is usually a crossroads for any artist reaching this stature; they either continue defining their style and excelling in their field, or they fall under the pressure and fail to meet the new expectations, losing their moment in the public interest. Wes decided to do something interesting at this moment, by creating a film about the storytelling process itself- a film all about uncertainty and how it affects the creative process. 

There is one scene that, without any context or further analysis, feels completely absurd. It is set in a dimly lit actors studio, where an acting class is being attended by all of the different actors of the play. Suddenly, one of the actors stands up from her seat and speaks out the words “You can’t wake up if you don’t fall asleep”. All of the other actors murmur to each other, until more of them stand up and say the same line. Eventually, that one sentence is being repeated by all of the actors as the alien slowly walks towards the camera. It feels like a really strange dream- unsettling but inexplicably comforting. When you think about it in the context of an acting class, however, you can begin to assign some meaning to it. 

Lee Strasburg is a theatre director, teacher, and actor who is known for popularising method acting and teaching it to many well-known actors. One of the methods he would use in these classes is where he would put his actors to sleep in order to get rid of any tension inside their mind and their body, which would allow them to become the character even more. The teacher in this scene vaguely resembles Strassburg, and this puts the words “You can’t wake up if you don’t fall asleep” into a new context. In order to succeed, you have to let go of all the doubts and trust yourself enough to go on. 

When I’m acting, playing guitar, or even writing essays like this one, I am overwhelmed by this nagging doubt in my head about whether I’m doing it right, and what the point is of what I’m doing. The scariest thing about art, for me at least, is the fact that no-one can tell you if you’re doing the right thing. Only you know the message and the emotions that you’re trying to express. You’re alone with the seemingly impossible task of taking the multitude of emotions inside of you, and translating them into something meaningful. You can try to break it down into micro-movements and different techniques, but you can’t rely on those techniques alone. At some point, you have to trust yourself enough to simply do the thing that you know how to do. “You can’t wake up if you don’t fall asleep.” This means essentially the same thing as the one word that I have been told over and over again by my guitar teacher, my drama teacher, and so many other people at stressful times: “Breathe.”

You know that you can do this because you’ve done it so many times before. The only thing stopping you from doing it is your overactive consciousness. 

This is what I believe Wes Anderson is trying to tell himself with this storytelling; at this critical moment in his career, where he is especially known for his films perfection and innovation, he is telling himself not to crumble but to trust himself and let the Wes Anderson magic happen. Outside of the context of the creative process, this notion still entails a message that can relate to all of his audience, especially people of our age. 

You might not know what you’re doing it all for, but you have no choice but to keep going, so you may as well try to enjoy it and bask in the absurd chaos of it all. This can be applied to our student lives, as well. We’re told to work as hard as we possibly can in order to get the best grades, and for what? So that if we do this for long enough, we can be accepted into a good university? But then what? Have a good career? A family? The truth is, we have no idea what the future will hold for us. We can assign meaning to our results; “If I keep getting A*s in physics, I can be an engineer”, but we have no way of knowing what will happen once we leave the school system. A large portion of people don’t even pursue what they learn in university. We aren’t grown people yet. Our brains haven’t even finished developing. We are being asked by the universe what we want to become, but most of us aren’t yet sure what we want to do with our lives, so what do we do? The only thing we can do- “Just keep telling the story.” 

“You’re doing it right.”

We're Back!

Hey, Winston Roars fam! I know we've been a bit... iNaCtIvE

It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster lately, so here’s the lowdown on what’s been going on:

1. Goodbye, winstonroars.ph: Our beloved site was snatched away, and now it’s just a parking spot on GoDaddy. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

2. Milkshake Meltdown: We thought we’d found a new home on Milkshake.app, but let’s just say someone didn’t hit the sub
   scribe button, and now that’s gone too. Oops.😭😭😭

3. WordPress? Nah. We almost jumped to WordPress, but after some thought, we decided to keep things simple and stick with what works for now.

Through it all, we’re still here, ready to roar louder than ever!

Cheers,

Jeremy Aidan Yu
Winston Roars 2025 Managerial Editor

@ winstonroars.com

By Nadia Vaillancourt, Year 11

We have calcium in our bones, iron in our veins,

carbon in our souls, and nitrogen in our brains.

93 percent stardust, with souls made of flames,

we are all just stars that have people names.

-Nikita Gill, ‘93 Percent Stardust’

Space. The final frontier. The overly romanticized vacuum that could probably kill you in more ways than anything on Earth.

The embodiment of humanity’s inability to sit still and be content with what we already have.

Every year, new and exciting advances are made in humankind's exploration of outer space, challenging us to see beyond the observable universe and, quite literally, reach for the stars. 2017 has been no different, so strap in, because we’re going on a trip in our favourite rocket ship down memory lane as we explore the most fascinating and awe-inspiring cosmic events this year has offered us so far.

I’m sure most of us (myself very much included) have wondered what it would be like to live on a planet other than our own. Earlier this year, NASA made a discovery that reinvigorated this hope for many. 7 Earth-sized exoplanets were found orbiting one star, TRAPPIST-1; more importantly, 3 of them are located in the ‘habitable zone’ near the star where life could potentially exist. All 7 of the rocky planets have a high potential for water on their surfaces, meaning the chance of finding alien life in the TRAPPIST-1 system is high. Unfortunately, reaching the TRAPPIST system is an achievement that is still years away - 40 light years, to be exact. For scale, space shuttles that orbit the Earth at nearly 30,000 km/h would take around 1,488,000 years to reach the TRAPPIST system. TRAPPIST-1, named for the Transiting Planets and Planetesimals Small Telescope in Chile, is still a dream somewhat beyond our reach. Nevertheless, what we already know about the TRAPPIST system is fascinating in its own right. Despite its similarities to our own cosmic neighborhood, the scale of the far-off system is completely different to our Solar System. All 7 exoplanets are closer to the TRAPPIST-1 star than the planet Mercury is to our Sun. That means if you were to stand on one exoplanet’s surface, and the others were relatively aligned, you’d be able to see other planets more easily than we can see the Moon from Earth! Although the TRAPPIST system is significantly smaller than our own, it could be nearly twice as old: researchers suggest that it is probably between 5.4 and 9.8 billion years old, compared to our system’s mere 4.5 billion years. (Side not: should we start celebrating our Solar System’s birthday? Discuss.) At the moment, TRAPPIST-1 and its 7 exoplanets are a perfect example of ‘so close yet so far’. Spotting it was the easy part. Nonetheless, for all the knowledge we might or might not be able to gain from home, I can’t wait for the day when Earthling tourists are running around the TRAPPIST planets, snapping selfies with whatever passes for a phone in the distant future. Of course, we’ll all be long dead by then, but we can dare to dream.

A ladybird is around 400 times smaller than a human. A human is around 400 times smaller than the Burj Khalifa. The Burj Khalifa is around 2000 times smaller than the Moon, which in turn is around 400 times smaller than the Sun. What makes this interesting is that the Moon also happens to be around 400 times closer to Earth than the Sun, meaning that when the two celestial bodies align in the sky, the Moon blocks out the light from the sun, causing an eclipse. The annular eclipse, often called the ‘ring of fire’ eclipse, shone down on the South Atlantic Ocean on February 26th of this year, visible from Patagonia, Argentina and Angola. However, this wasn’t the eclipse that was featured most prominently in headlines and on social media during 2017: that was the Total Solar Eclipse experienced by the USA on August 21st. Along a strip of 60 - 70 miles stretching across Oregon to South Carolina (called the path of totality), the Moon fully eclipsed the Sun, momentarily interrupting the day with up to 2 minutes of night-like darkness. The rest of North America saw a partial eclipse, where the semi-obscured Sun looks like a crescent in the sky. #Eclipse2017 was watched by 88% of America’s adults - meaning more people watched the eclipse than the the Super Bowl, the Game of Thrones season finale or the New Year’s Eve ball drop in Times Square - and was celebrated on Twitter by an onslaught of #EclipSelfies. The next eclipse that we’ll be able to see from the Philippines will be a partial solar eclipse on July 17th, 2019, so mark your calendars and get your wacky eclipse safety glasses ready!

It’s not easy to say goodbye. The only thing worse than a goodbye is a goodbye that you know will never be followed by a ‘hello’. Quite honestly, I hadn’t known much about the Cassini spacecraft before I learned that it was going to die. I’d seen images from Cassini without realizing it - if you’ve ever seen a photo of Saturn or its rings, then there’s a good chance that you’ve seen Cassini’s pictures too. The spacecraft was launched in 1997 with a 20-year mission of exploring Saturn, and transmitting data back home as it wandered the moons and rings we ourselves can only dream of seeing up close. Other than being a literal space robot photographer (how cool is that?!), Cassini has discovered new moons, helped a space probe land on Saturn’s moon Titan, found oxygen on two of its moons (the first time oxygen has been found beyond Earth!), and even discovered water on the moon Enceladus. The question we’re left with, I suppose, is whether knowing all the incredible things Cassini achieved makes its Grand Finale a little bit more joyful or a little bit more heart-breaking. Cassini’s final action was a swan dive into Saturn’s atmosphere in order to destroy itself, which not only collected and transmitted new data until it had completely burned up, but also ensured that any microbes from Earth that might stayed with Cassini couldn’t contaminate any of Saturn’s potentially life-bearing moons. At 3:31am on September 15th of 2017, Cassini transmitted its final farewell, and 1.2 billion kilometers away on a little planet called Earth, I shed a tear for a friend I had never met. I hate goodbyes, but when I think about Cassini, I can’t help but smile. (And get a little misty-eyed, but that’s neither here nor there.) Cassini may have been metal and circuits, but through its discoveries something came alive, and though Cassini’s life well lived has come to a close, that something lives on in us. So, dear reader, I ask this of you: tonight, when you look up at the night sky, blow a kiss to the stars for Cassini.

For as many stars as there are in the sky, there is someone on our planet who wants to know more about them. (Don’t think about that math.) It would be impossible to recap everything NASA and other astronomical researchers have discovered this year, but here’s some other awesome space stuff that people a few hundred years ago would probably suspect was witchcraft:

• The Hubble telescope has spotted a galaxy that is nearly 10.7 billion years old. Believed at first to be a mistake, what surprised scientists the most was that this galaxy appears too perfect to be real. Compared to galaxies of a similar age, BX442 is an unusually ordered and symmetrical spiral galaxy.
• On October 26th, Pope Francis spoke with astronauts on the ISS. Tell me that is not a hilarious mental image.
• The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, is set to be launched this December to study the planets around the 200,000 stars closest to us.
• China’s Chang’e 5 lunar exploration mission is also set to launch this year. Although Chang’e is a sample mission, collecting lunar rocks and soil, it is only a cog in a bigger machine: China’s plans to land on the dark side of the moon by 2018.
• The next Supermoon, an occurrence where the Moon appears over 12% bigger than usual due it being at its closest point to Earth whilst also being a Full or New Moon, will happen on December 3rd. Get your telescopes and cameras ready (and don’t count on your smartphone cameras for this one folks; that is, unless you want a photo of a blurry blob).
• Star Wars: The Last Jedi premieres this December! Get hype!
• And you know what, as long as we’re talking sci-fi, you should go watch Star Trek: Discovery. Whether or not you’re a fan of the older Trek, there’s a lot to love in this reboot, from refreshing diversity to thrilling, gritty storylines.

Space is possibility and impossibility. Space is all around us, but space is also somewhere most of us will never go. Space is poetry and beauty, space is maths and logic. There’s a reason that both writers and astronomers have been enchanted by the stars since the earliest light of humankind. The need to touch, to feel, to experience what we hold so dear yet can never attain is what makes us human. Throughout history, outer space has driven us to learn and to imagine. To ask ‘what’ and ‘why’ and ‘how’, even when there is no answer. In the grand scheme of the universe, we’re all just cosmic dust, forgotten by a universe that doesn’t care for us or our questions. And yet. There is so much beauty in the world. Through the good days and bad days, the planet we live on and the solar system it inhabits and the universe we all exist in will be there, endless and endlessly beautiful. When the darkness in your life eclipses the light, remember to look up, look around you, and realize that the only things worth fixating on are the good ones. Remember that in this universe, anything can happen, and the possibilities before us all stretch to infinity (and beyond).

By Patrick Kho, Year 11

Last Sunday, Broadway superstar Anthony Rapp told Buzzfeed News that he had been sexually assaulted by Kevin Spacey in 1986. According to Rapp, Spacey had invited him to his apartment for a party, and at the end of the night, he picked up Rapp, placed him on his bed and climbed on top of him. This all happened when Spacey was 26, and Rapp was 14 - under the age of legal consent.

Kevin Spacey is especially known for his enthralling portrayal of South Carolina Congressman turned Vice President turned President: Frank Underwood in the layered, fictional political drama: House of Cards.

Last monday, Spacey responded on Twitter, saying that he “deeply apologizes for drunken behaviour” and owes “the sincerest apology” to Mr. Rapp, failing to take personal responsibility for what Rapp says happened.

However, drunkenness wasn’t the only excuse Spacey used to deflect Rapp’s sexual assault allegations: he also decided to come out as a gay man in the same statement.

“This story has encouraged me to address other things about my life,” Spacey wrote. “I have loved and had romantic encounters with men throughout my life, and I choose now to live as a gay man. I want to deal with this honestly and openly and that starts with examining my own behaviour.”

Coming out is a huge leap of faith. Everyone who self-identifies as LGBT may or may not choose to take it in their life. Doing so is generally considered an act of bravery, as LGBT people do not receive the same treatment as straight people in many countries, both legally and socially. Hence, coming out is normally met with compassion, kindness, and support by many, from straight and queer individuals alike. However, despite having enchanted the hearts of many through his fascinating work, Spacey’s coming out received a different reaction; it was deemed by many other as “the first bad way to come out”, an appropriation of the marginalisation the gay community faces today and among other things. But it wasn’t either of these - despite how shameful they may be - that should be most concerning. His untimely “coming out” adds fuel to the fire of something bigger. By coming out and apologising for allegations of pedophilia in the same statement, Spacey reinforces the myth that equates gay men and women with sexual deviancy.

Historically, disliked minority groups are often labeled by societies as dangerous to the most vulnerable members of a majority. As an example, Jews in the Middle Ages were accused of murdering Christian babies in ritual sacrifices. African American men in the United States were often falsely accused of raping white women and put to death for it. And in a very similar fashion, gay people have often been portrayed as threatening towards children - to the point where many have associated homosexuality with pedophilia.

Back in 1977, Anita Bryant, an American singer, formed a coalition called “Save Our Children, Inc.” as a response to a legislated county ordinance that banned discrimination in areas of housing, employment and public accommodation on the basis of sexual orientation. She warned that “a particularly deviant-minded teacher could sexually molest children.”

Likewise, the Boy Scouts of America only changed its historic policy that banned gay leaders and employees a few years ago.

Although the myth has died down in recent years, internet troll and former writer for the right-wing news source: Breitbart, Milo Yiannopoulos falsely suggested that such a connection between homosexuality and pedophelia is factual, in spite of the number of studies (and common sense really) that have proven this belief to be false.

This fear mongering tactic has been used for years on end to alienate the gay community from the rest of society. And despite its faulty logic, it has still persisted even though multiple investigations have found zero evidence to associate homosexuality with pedophelia.

It’s not clear whether or not Spacey knew about the historic demonisation of gay people. But one thing is definite: his untimely coming out will be taken advantage of by a number of individuals in the anti-gay movement. They will continue to preach their destructive narratives, relentlessly spreading the dogma that associates homosexuality with pedophelia. His tweet will prove to be devastating and detrimental to the LGBT community as a whole.