VOCATIONAL schools or community colleges are created and subsidized by the local government in the area to produce qualified graduates who will work for the industries situated in the locality. Obviously, vocational schools in California offer varied three-year courses leading to associate degrees in such areas as cinematography, production design, costume design, makeup, visual effects and musical scoring. But what I’m focusing right now as my topic is how to become a movie reviewer.

There are two kinds of film reviewers, the academe-based whose works are dissected by professional film students and popular film reviewers such as Roger Ebert, Richard Roeper and Peter Travers. Academe-based film reviewers do make a lot of sense as far as technicalities concerning making movies are concerned but the people who make the bulk of moviegoers cannot relate with them. They make a separate world among themselves. That’s where popular film reviewers come in to interpret these works. And if you want to be as popular as Roger Ebert, there are courses such as that offered by vocational schools in California.

To review a movie of course means you must at least have a background of the production behind a certain movie. It’s not just spoon feeding. Movies up for best picture come February 15 are the following: Juno, Atonement, No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood and Michael Clayton. But are you sure they are the crème de la crème for this year? I have other choices actually. If I were to choose which movies I’ll give the honors to, it’s none of the above. My choices would be The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The Kite Runner and 4 Months 3 Weeks 2 Days – in that order. If you would like to be a great movie reviewer, you must not be influenced by such personalities as James Berardinelli. You must defend what you are blabbering because I can certainly defend for sure why my choices are those that I have mentioned.

For example, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is the true story of Elle editor Jean Dominique Bauby who suffered from Locked-In Syndrome which means only his eyes were not paralyzed. He successfully wrote a book called The Diving Bell and the Butterfly of course by dictating to his assistant through blinking his eyes. Did Mathieu Almaric receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Jean Dominique Bauby? Nope! But to my heart, he is my best actor.

The next movie that I perceive as the best for this year is The Kite Runner. It tells the story of two Afghan boys who were punished by the then ruling Taliban regime just for playing kites. And 4 Months 3 Weeks 2 Days is the story of one pregnant teen from Romania who keeps on struggling with her own demons not to give in to abortion. Now that what makes for a great movie reviewer. If I can do this stuff, then so can you. Have a good one enrolling in a California vocational school.

IF you are graduating from high school this year, there is no other better way to start 2008 off then going to a vocational school. There are lots of programs offered in the various vocational schools and community colleges nationwide and the advantage of this is that these vocational schools maintain a network with potential employers. In other words, potential employers such as Fortune 500 companies nationwide do tap these vocational schools so they can enlarge their workforce to meet necessary requirements. Because of their reputation, some vocational schools have admittedly high tuition although you can surely recoup from the tuition fees that you have been paying because the longest program offering in a vocational school lasts for three years only.

There are indeed various programs offered in a vocational school depending on what you want. There are slots for cooking, dressmaking and even reflexology and other forms of relaxation therapy. In the world of the health sector, there are dozens of vocational offerings and they vary. There are programs dedicated for medical transcription, lobotomy, geriatric care, pediatric care, and midwifery, medical laboratory technicians, nursing assistants, forensic assistants, acupuncture, athletic trainers, respiratory care, nutritionists, dietetics, phlebotomy, perfusionists and numerous others. This is indeed such an exciting field as the health sector in the United States today is well-fed. Thus, if you come from a vocational school in Spain or the Philippines taking up such courses as a three-year associate degree in physical therapy, then all you need to do is take up qualifying exams so you can get a job here in the United States. There are only two exams to take – the English aptitude test and the medical aptitude exam to meet United States standards. After you have landed in the United States, part of your additional free training will be to take a multicultural appreciation course with local impact so you will be familiar with the local environment there and it will be easy for you to be integrated to the community. Remember, you will not just be dealing with people whose native tongue is English but you will also be dealing with Hispanic clients and patients.

But it is not only in the United States though that the health industry is in dire need of workers. There’s Japan and France too. Japan and France are two countries in the world where most of the population are the elderly. Thus, they are really in need of health professionals even from abroad. Aside from the pay and the perks which include a two-week paid vacation to a destination of your choice, health professionals in these countries enjoy clinical tasks such as examining and experimenting with specimens, interviewing patients and digging into their medical records, preparing patients for medical examination as well as for perioperative surgery and numerous others. Because they deal with patients’ bodies, most of these health professionals are also trained on how to treat a patient with dignity. Now isn’t that lovely?