Movie: American Wedding

	Distributor:	Universal Pictures
	Release:	August 1, 2003
	Genre:	Comedy and Romance
	MPAA Rating:	R for sexual content, language and crude humor

Watched this last night. Enjoyed it so much that my bro and I repeated the movie.

This installment is where the saga ends. The American Pie trilogy is really the love story of Jim and Michelle. In the first movie, we see that Jim's first time is with Michelle, he discovers he loves her in American Pie 2, and in this film, they affirm that love by getting married. The movies also chronicle Jim's misadventures with his "thingy". He sticks it into a warm apple pie in the first installment, accidentally super glues his hand to it in the 2nd movie, and in this movie, he shaves the hair for the sake of love - and ruining the wedding cake in the process.

The guys are back, minus Oz (Chris Klein). Only Michelle (Alysson Hannigan) of the original girls is present. However, Jim's parents, Stifler's mom, and the MILF boys are still here to provide us with gags - which become funnier if you know the history by having seen the previous two movies.

Book: My Story

	Author:	Dave Pelzer
	Genre:	Nonfiction, Biography
	Publisher:	Orion
	Year Published:	August 31, 2002

"My Story" is a thick book that puts together three of Pelzer's bestsellers - "A Child Called It", "The Lost Boy", and "A Man Called Dave". It's the true story of the child abuse the author endured under his mother and how he overcame this to eventually "break the chain" of violence that started with his grandmother.

When I saw the book "A Child Called It", the title caught my attention. Reading the summary got me interested in the story - what kind of parent would treat her child like rubbish and call him "It"? I didn't buy the book though, as much as I wanted to read it, I thought it was too expensive. Months later I would find other books by the same author, apparently continuing the story. Much later, I would come across, by chance, a paperback combining the three biographical books into one volume called "My Story". I bought it at once.

I would find out that Dave had four other brothers and that their mother is an alcoholic. The mother decided to pick on Dave for unexplained reasons and vented out all her frustrations on the child. The odd thing was - the other brothers weren't given the same treatment. Dave did manage to break away from his mother, began learning to adjust to a different life in foster homes, learned to accept the abuse as part of his past, and he is now a sought after speaker apart from a known author of self help books. What happened to his brothers? Little is told of them - although we gather that when Dave left the house, another brother took his place and endured the abuse Dave was subjected to.

It is a beautiful story, but not one I would read again anytime in the near future as it would leave me with heavy emotions. After a few years or so, then maybe I can read it again, when I have forgotten how painful the story is.

Movie: Kung Ako Na Lang Sana

	Distributor:	Star Cinema Prod. Inc.
	Release:	September 24, 2003
	Genre:	Romance, Comedy
	MTRCB Rating:	G

Sharon and Aga in a romantic movie, yet it is light compared to drama-heavy love stories Filipino production companies usually churn out. You would find a few chuckles here and there.

It is a good thing that Sharon and Aga aren't young adults anymore to engage in sugary lovey-dovey scenes onscreen. This movie reminds me of FRIENDS and St. Elmo's Fire. Why? It's the story of one gang that's been together since college - which is what St. Elmo's Fire is. It's also the story of how two close friends eventually realize they are a perfect couple - something I've seen in St. Elmo's Fire, where the womanizer ended up with the nerd. By the way, Aga here plays the guy who've always had the good-looking girl, while Sharon plays the woman who's spent most of her time making her business grow. It's the absence of angst (there are conflicts though) and the generous helping of "everybody happy" that stops this from being St. Elmo's and start looking like FRIENDS.

No over-acting here, and the supporting actors are good.

I liked it but this isn't something you'd go watch again on the big screen. It would be a good movie to watch at home when you've got nothing to do.