Sasha C.

Out of the glades and into the scorch. Is everyone ready for phase two?

I recently finish reading the Scorch Trials by James Dashner. And compared to the movie, it is so different. I started reading the book before the movie came out, unfortunately I was so caught up in a lot of things that I finished it after I watched the movie. For those of you who hasn't read the book or seen the movie, this is a warning that there are tons of spoilers up ahead.

Before I saw the movie, I thought the sequel to the maze runner would be another WICKED test. Judging by its title "The Scorch Trials". I compared the movie to the book while I was reading it, and I was caught in a ton of confusion due to the drastic changes they made. I'm pretty sure that the book fans would've been disappointed as they watched the movie adaptation. But I couldn't say that the movie was bad because it kept me at the edge of my seat with thrill and suspense.

Let me begin with the events that didn't happen in the book:

The "Other Maze"

*In the movie: It was mentioned that there were other mazes and other gladers that were saved from WICKED. And everyday, a few of them would be selected to be relocated to "Greener pastures". Later, Thomas and Aris discovered that instead of relocating them, WICKED had deceived them and were doing experiments on them.

*In the book: there was no mention of other mazes, just another maze with girls in it; Aris' maze. Aris and the girls were rescued about a week earlier than the gladers. They later found out that WICKED has labled the gladers as Group A and Aris's group as Group B. However Group A and Group B never met in the building where they were staying in. They only met in the scorch.

Rescuing Teresa

*In the movie: Thomas wouldn't let the group escape the facility without taking Teresa back. So they fought their way to rescue her.

*In the book: They never saw Teresa ever since they were separated. Thomas and Teresa would talk to each other through telepathy until one day. He couldn't reach out to her anymore. When they escaped the boy's dormitory they went out in search for Teresa. They discovered her room only to find Aris in her place. This was the first time they ever saw Aris. And this was also the first time they heard about his group.

Invisible codes on the back of their necks

*In the book: Right after they took in Aris, they found out that mysterious tattoos appeared at the back of everyone's necks. Labeling them as a property of WICKED. Which group they belong to, subject number, and their role.They also found Teresa's label at the entrance of her room. As surprised as they were, they didn't know what these labels meant. As the story unravels in the book, they actually meant the role they were supposed to portray in the trials.

Aris: Group B, Subject B1. "The Partner."

Teresa: Group A, Subject A1. "The Betrayer"

Minho: Group A, Subject A7. "The Leader"

Newt: Group A, Subject A5. "The Glue"

Thomas: Group A, Subject A2. "To be killed by Group B."

*In the movie: They would have never discovered that they had labels until Brenda scanned the back of Thomas' neck. The labels were in fact in the form of symbols and invisible (well except for Teresa which she already knew about before they got into the scorch). The scanner showed Thomas' information, however if you only watched the movie his role wouldn't make sense. Because the movie didn't show his encounter with Group B and the attempt to kill him.

A talk with Ratman/ Janson

*In the movie: Janson sat and interviewed Thomas about his experience with WICKED. It was showed that Janson's crew rescued them, gave them a new clothes and food to eat. Until they found out that he was working for WICKED.

*In the book: Janson's character was labeled as "Ratman". He never deceived them about working for wicked nor did he and Thomas sat down for an interview. When Ratman appeared to the gladers, he explained to them that they had another trial to go through; Phase Two.

The Escape

*In the movie: They had to fight their way in order to escape from Janson and his men. They ran out into the scorch with Teresa with them. Aris told them about a Safe Haven where the Right Arm had been taking other kids as refuge.

*In the book: The gladers never escaped! Nor were they with Theresa. WICKED forced they into the scorch trials as Phase 2 of their experiment. They were instructed to go 100 miles due North across the Scorch and find the Safe Haven. They needed to to that in order to be cured, because all of them had the "Flare" in their bloodstream. And anyone who decided to stay in the facility would die a horrible death.

The Zombies

*In the movie: They had to deal with all sorts of zombies. During their escape through abandoned building, and the sewers. They had your typical zombies and even ones that were rotting so bad that their bodies were encased with the roots growing around them.

*In the book: These zombies were actually called "Cranks" who were "past-the-gone". When the Solar Flares happened, a man-made virus had an outbreak which was called "The Flare". The Flare virus slowly eats away the brain, and eventually turns victims into blood-thirsty and insane humans who consider cannibalism to be an every day objective. As I mentioned before, everyone had caught it. And the locals would call themselves the Cranks. It had a few stages and most of the people they had encountered were at the early stage. However the "Far-gone Cranks" are those who looked like zombies. The difference between a crank and a zombies are that cranks are still alive and could talk.

The right arm

*In the movie: They made their way up into the mountains and found the right arm. (Hurrayyy!!!)

*In the book: There was no such thing as a right arm. Group A and B made their way into the mountains as instructed, in search for the safe haven.

WICKED's attack and Dr. Ava Paige

*In the movie: Teresa had betrayed them and told WICKED of their location.WICKED then attacked the right arm and captured all the gladers (girls and boys). Dr Ava Paige made an appearance trying to convince everyone, especially Thomas, that everything was alright. And that what they had to do was right.

*In the book: Dr. Ava Paige was never there. In fact, WICKED sent the "Berg" to take back the gladers as trial had ended.

...and remember,

WICKED IS GOOD

Has anyone watched the series "Vikings" on history? If you like Game of thrones, it's another series to look forward to. It has the same dark feel and killings to it. But the fight scenes are probably more brutal. There's a lot of things you can learn from the series. You can discover the way of life of the Vikings, how they rule, how they fight, how they raid, how they pay tribute to their gods.

Among the characters, the one who really caught my attention and won my heart was Lagertha. A farmer, a shield maiden, a mother, an earl, and so much more. She shows and proves that despite she is a woman, she doesn't need a man to rely on. Her character is an inspiration that even if your life is full of crap or downfalls, you can and you will rise up and be stronger than ever.

In this portrait, I wanted to make it as close to the reference image as possible. I learned to use other colors for the skin other than the normal peach and browns. The make up in vikings is really simple, mostly just eyeliner. But their hairstyle is very unique and interesting. So this was a big challenge for me. I don't normally take time to do the hair, but for this portrait I did. I ended up discovering colors that I didn't use before. I was really nice to venture into new territories, not just black or dark (fact is, I'm almost running out of those colors).

So here it is, my portrait of Lagertha from the Vikings Series.
I used Colleen Polycolour Pencils for the drawing, and Dong-A My Metal Gold Pen in O.7 for the calligraphy.

Let me know who's portrait I should do next in the comments below.

Last December 19, we had a little art show entitled "Muse Touch" at the Space Between Alternative Art

Gallery. This was group exhibit that featured some of the local artist. Each artist presented 5 to 10 new

works using any medium about things that inspire them to create art.

For this exhibit, I wanted to try something new. Another medium that I haven't tried before. So I decided

to try using watercolors and ink. This was actually my first time trying watercolor. And yes, I had a lot of

struggles at first. I bought an ordinary watercolor kit ( the circle palette that came in a box, not tubes)

and I switched out the free brush with the brushes I already had.

At first, i tried different types of paper. It was obvious that ordinary paper couldn't hold the water. I also

tried my sketchbook, unfortunately that didn't hold either. I searched for paper specialized for watercolors

in the local shops, but I couldn't find any. You see, most of my art materials was bought in Macau. I

checked the local art stores again and looked for a substitute paper that could hold the amount of water.
I found a special printing paper in A3 instead. It was a little too big for what I had in mind for my art

pieces, so I ended cutting it in half. It worked fine with the watercolor, and so I used it

through out my art pieces.

For this exhibit I did the 12 Greek gods; "the Olympians". I always had a thing for Greek mythology.

Instead of doing 5 to 10 pieces, I did 12. It really took a lot of time since I had to work in the day. I had

to manage my time in order to finish in time for the exhibit. It was worth it and a great experience in the

end.

My fellow artists did amazing works, unfortunately I wasn't able to get everything on camera.

Here are the artists who made the exhibit a success! (from left to right)

Marion Solis Lamaslig, Kristoffer Brasileño, Rea Catherine, Sasha Cabais (me), Kat Malazarte, Jana Renee Navarro, Ronnyl Bulahan, Jam Lebrilla, and Carlo Wendam.

But here is a preview of the work I did.

Aside from the paintings, I was also tasked to help out with the poster for the exhibit. The original plan

was to create a poster for each of the artist to feature their artwork.

Margo Roth Speigelman. You can say her name over and over and over again but can never get tired of it. The movie adaptation of Paper Towns by John Green has been out lately. And from the books he wrote, Paper Towns has by far been my favorite. So I was pretty much waiting for this movie to come out since the day they announced it. And since it's my favorite book, I had high expectations for it. Of course, as expected from a movie adaptation of a book, there are scenes and events that are cut off or changed to make the story fit in to 2 hours.

The story is not like your normal high school love story. It's about an extra ordinary girl who loves mystery and adventure. And a boy who would do anything to find her again. Margo Roth Speigelman is the very definition of a girl who can't plant her feet on the ground, she wanted to be free.

The actors in the movie really did bring life into the characters. Cara Delevingne was a perfect actress for Margo, they both are very extra ordinary people and it was how I pretty much pictured out how Margo would be like. The movie was really good, and didn't fail my expectations. Changes were indeed inevitable, but they brought out a little surprise in some scenes that would probably make you laugh out of your seat.

So for those who hasn't read the book yet, here's what you missed : (Spoilers up ahead, read at your own risk!)

The movie and the book started the same. Quentin and Margo lived next to each other. Then one day they found a dead man as they were biking. Margo really wanted to solve the murder, so she did some investigation. Margo and Q were really close when they were kids. However as time passed by, they grew apart.

The book is split into 3 parts: The Strings, The Grass, and The Vessel. "The Strings" is about the adventure Margo pulled Q into on her last night. "The Grass" is about how Q and his friends tried to solve the mystery on how to find Margo Roth Spiegleman. And lastly, "The Vessel" is about their road trip trying to get to Margo.

When Margo surprises Q by showing up by his window, she was actually wearing black face paint all over her face (including her eyelids). I really wanted to see this part in the movie. I was quiet curious about how people would react as they were buying supplies. But then if they did do it, we wouldn't be able to see Cara Delevingne's stunning beauty and her legendary eyebrows.

As it turns out, Margo had 11 things to do that night:
1. Club Jase's stirring wheel.

2. Call Becca's dad and tell him about the "Becca and Jase thing" going on in their basement. However in the book, it was Q who call the dad.

3. Take Jase's picture as he runs out of the house naked.

4. Get Jase's clothes from the basement in case he tries to come back for them.

5. Leave catfish #1 for Becca.

6. Leave Tulips for Karin. Karin wasn't mentioned in the movie. She was actually the one who told Margo about Jase and Becca. And to Margo's surprise she happened to say a bunch of horrible things to Karin as a reaction for finding out about the truth. She felt bad about that so she left Tulips and a letter for her.

7. Leave catfish #2 for Jase. This part wasn't mentioned in the movie either. Margo broke a window in Jase's house, threw the fish, sprayed on a blue "M", and left a note saying "MS's love For you: it Sleeps With the Fishes".
8. Leave catfish #3 for Lacey. This prank however is quite different compared to the movie. They didn't use cling wrap. Instead, they stuck a fish under the seat of Lacey's black car and sprayed the blue "M" on the roof of the car.

9. The SunTrust Building.

10. Q's victim. This time, Margo convinced Q to pick a victim of his choice. And they went with shaving off Chuck Parson's right eyebrow.

11. Break into Sea World. This part was cut out in the movie (as expected, because it would've made the movie longer if they didn't). In this scene Margo wanted to break into Sea World because according to her, it was the only theme park she haven't broken into. They had to cross the waist-high moat. A garter snake bit Margo on the ankle as they got out of the moat. And they got caught by security after they climbed over the 6 foot fence. They would have gone to jail but Margo bribed the guard. As they were walking out, a song started playing. And that moment, Q and Margo danced.

When Margo had been missing for days, things in their school when chaotic. Practically, Margo was their queen and no one could be the new Margo.The bullies that Margo had control over started to jerk around. Q finally had use for the picture he took of Jase. He emailed him and blacked mailed him to make thing right again.

Ever since Q went over to the abandoned souvenir shop. He was troubled and kept worrying about Margo. He was scared to one day find her lifeless body. He wanted to find her so badly. What's good about reading the book is that you get to really know what Q is thinking and how he really feels. You get that thrill of wanting to find Margo too. And to unravel the mystery behind her. His friends tells him to give on the paper towns, and that she might actually be there at their graduation. However Q didn't lose hope. Till he found out about the entry on the Omnictionary about Agloe.

Anonymous wrote:

"fyi, whoever Edits this - the Population of Agloe Will actually be One until may 29th at Noon"

he knew imediately that it was Margo due to the random capitalization - which was usually how Margo writes.

The day after he found out about Margo's entry on the Omnictionary was their graduation. However they skipped out on graduation because they needed to rush over to Agloe and get to Margo before she takes off. It took them 21 hours to get to Agloe.

This part, the ending, is quite different compared to the movie. When they got to Agloe, they actually find Margo in the abandoned building. Sitting and writing. Her hair is much shorter with choppy bangs above her eyebrows. When Margo saw them, she was actually shocked. And she happened to get into a fight with Becca and Q. She never expected them to come to her at all. She left the clues in order to tell them she was fine. After that fight, they left Q and Margo alone. Margo told Q why she wanted to leave. She wanted to find herself. She knew that Orlando wasn't the place that she could find what she was looking for. In the movie, when Q saw Margo, she was holding a black notebook. In this note book, Margo wrote all her plans, and a story she wrote when she was in the fourth grade about her, Q, Robert Joyner(the dead man from earlier), and their adventure. The story ended with them kissing after they burried Margo's black notebook.

Book Facts:

-Radar's real name is Marcus. Howerver Ben and Q calls him Radar because they happen to think that he looked like a guy named "Radar" on an old TV show called M*A*S*H.

-Chuck Parson actually shaved off his left eyebrow to make it look even.

-Quentin's parents are both therapists.

-Angela never actually went with them on the road trip. So no, she and Radar never did "it". They actually planed to wait after graduation.

-For graduation, Q, Ben, and Radar agreed on not wearing anything at all under their toga. But since Q picked them up for the road trip, Q actually was dressed and they weren't. So they had to pick up some clothes at the gas station.

Exciting movie add-ons:
"Valar Morghulis" It's actually exciting to hear some Game of Thrones reference in movies. This phrase was really unexpected but quite appropriate and funny when they used it.

"The Pokemon Song" This wasn't in the book, but it sure made us sing along.

"Prom and Graduation (The alternate ending)"

They actually changed the events to make Prom and Graduation happen for the kids. Which to me was really good. The ending wasn't a cliff hanger at all. You actually see everyone happy and ready for the next chapter in life. It was a good way to end the movie after all those searching. There was peace.

For this piece, I somehow wanted to connect the sea and galaxy. I was inspired by the last part of the movie "Lucy". I wanted put something that people don't normally see in the sea. So no fishes! I ended up putting jellyfishes instead. What is cool about them is their glow could be blend in with the galaxy which makes it perfect.

For the name, it's pretty much obvious. But I actually got the name from a title of a pierce the veil song. It is actually one of my favorites. There's a line in the lyrics that goes "...and I just want to fade into the sky under the sea". I've always been wondering what that would look like, so I painted the picture.

This piece is inspired by street art. I somehow wanted to capture graffiti art onto the canvas. I am specialized in vector art, so I thought it would be easy putting it into canvas. However I wasn't satisfied with my 1st attempt. It was cute but too simple and its as if anyone could just do it. So I just had to redo it. I saw an artwork with a lot of colors and patterns so I decided to use it as an inspiration for my painting. The bird is originally based on an eagle.

Due to the vibrant colors and patterns of my painting, I decided to call it "Psychedelia". The term is an effect you get when you take LSD drugs. You end up seeing vibrant colors and patterns.

This was my 1st attempt on this concept. I brushed over the whole painting and blended the whole thing. Giving the current painting that gradient background.

It's been almost a year since I last painted. And this time, I wanted to go for something different from what I used to do. I was browsing some artworks on the net and found a couple of portraits with plain white backgrounds. It really caught my attention and I decided to work on one. I first thought of a monochrome painting. Then I decided to add my favorite color to give it more life. The painting features a warrior girl. But somehow it kinda reminds me of Enchantress(Cara Delevingne) from Suicide Squad.

This piece in entitled "Alaska". And of all the names, why Alaska? Well, the girl in the painting seems to be consumed by the icy ocean. And it reminded me of a band called "Oceans ate Alaska". Although I don't listen to the band, I really wanted the name so I didn't let it go. For me, it really suits the piece because of the cold ambiance.