Newman passes away

Movie poster image of "Cool Hand Luke" from http://www.filmsite.org/posterpages

Last 26 September, “cool hand” Luke passed away at the age of 83. He died at his long-time home in Westport, Connecticut, of complications arising from cancer.

And just this morning, I was just watching the animated movie, “Car” at Fitness First. He was the voice behind “Doc Hudson.”

“Cool Hand Luke” was done in 1967 wherein Paul Newman plays the title role as Luke, a prisoner in a Florida prison camp. The movie was directed by Stuart Rosenberg. “Luke” was nominated for an Academy Award

Born Paul Leonard Newman, “Luke Jackson” or “Eddie Falco” is probably one of the few stars who had made his presence felt outside of the cinema in various fields. He was an entrepreneur and an auto racing enthusiast. On the race track, he won several national championships as a driver in Sports Car Club of America road racing and his race teams won several championships in open wheel IndyCar racing.


Photo of Newman behind a Ferrari 599 taken in July 2006 from
http://www.italiancar.net/site/news/06/0706/PaulNewman/PaulNewman.html

On the supermarket shelf, one can taste his pasta sauces, lemonade, popcorn, and salsa branded as “Newman's Own.” Note that he donated all profits and royalties to charity. Reports say that as of May 2007, these donations had exceeded US$220 million. This company was co-founded with A.E. Hotchner in 1982.

And on screen, he won an Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Cannes Film Festival Award, an Emmy award, and many honorary awards.

Other movies I remember I watched are “Towering Inferno,” “The Sting” and “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” One of his last movies was “The Road to Perdition” which I have to watch one of these days.

Habitat Presence

Finally, I was able to see, first hand, what Habitat for Humanity is all about. Last Thursday morning, together with Paul Garilao and Angel Tiong, we joined the NWA team for a house-building program at St. Hannibal Community in Pasay City.

Habitat was founded in 1976 by Milliard and Linda Fuller in Americus, Georgia. And in 1996, U.S. President Bill Clinton awarded the Fullers, the nation’s highest civilian honor, Fuller the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Clinton called Habitat the most successful continuous community service project in the history of the United States.

By 2005, Habitat had built its 200,000th house outside the United States.

In 2008 Habitat for Humanity celebrated the 25th annual building project with Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter and called it The Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project. Their hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

I remember a few years ago, even before our presence in Vietnam, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter had visited the Philippines to spread the word about Habitat. The former president had been involved with Habitat for many many years, after his presidency in the mid-70s. He had actually built houses.

Today, the St. Hannibal Community would benefit from the efforts of the volunteers.

Photos by Gil Velez

1081

Last 21 September 1972, the late President Ferdinand Marcos issued Presidential decree 1018 which placed the country under martial law. That was nearly 36 years ago. And I was still an elementary student at Immaculate Concepcion Parish School. Gosh, that was really a long time ago! Anybody who studied in that school along Lantana Street?

With 1081, press freedom and other civil liberties were curtailed. I remember the image of Kit Tatad on TV reading Proclamation 1018. Congress and other media establishments were closed.

Journalists, student and labor activists, were hauled off to military compounds run by the army and the Philippine Constabulary.


But during those nights in September 1972, many families were affected by 1081 as military agents went into many households and arrested men and women whose ideas, words and beliefs were contrary to the government.

Plus, there was curfew from midnight to 4pm. And that was probably one of the better results of 1081. Crime rates plunged and there was peace and quiet in the streets. And I guess many families were happy not see the presence of criminals and hoodlums in the streets.

And I remember the Department of Tourism’s “Balikbayan” Program which brought in dollars from Filipinos living and working abroad. And Masagana 99 program.

1081 stretched for the next nine years until Marcos issued Proclamation 2045, formally ending martial law on January 17, 1981. Still, many from the opposition saw the lifting of martial law as a precondition to the visit of Pope John Paul II. An election followed in June 1981 but little believed the credibility of that political exercise.


More recently, there was a scare of martial law that Filipinos in HK made their presence felt out in the streets. Photo from AFP/Getty Images, taken last year nn the eve of the 35th anniversary of 1081.

Pacino and De Niro

Actually, expected more from “Righteous Kill.” Imagine, De Niro and Pacino sharing the big screen. Yes, they were together in “The Godfather” but they really didn’t have scenes together. While in “Heat” I think the biggest scene was the street shoot-out.

Directed by Jon Avnet and written by Russell Gewirtz, the story is about two NYPD investigators hunting a vigilante killer.

Was it worth the trip to Edsa Shangrila to watch the movie? And my buttered popcorn and Chief's hotdog sandwich and the 300 pesos movie tickets? Maybe not? Could have been better as it was really just like a TV movie or a two-hour episode of NYPD Blues or the coming new season two-hour premiere of "24" entitled "Redemption." That, we have to watch at home with nachos.




I told Chief that I expected a shootout between De Niro and Pacino at the end of the movie or between Detective Perez played John Leguizamo and Detective Riley played Donnie Wahlberg. But I guess, both respected Academy Award winning actors are too old for any "run and gun" action scenes.

Still, their presence on the big screen is worth a 2-hour stay at the cinema.

Photos and movie poster from Righteous Kill Pictures.

Heroes from 9/11

Last September 3, 2007, Officer Frank Macri of NYPD died of lung cancer that spread throughout his body. His family argues that the cancer is a result of hours of exposure in ground zero.

Officer Macri joins 23 other officers from NYPD and 341 FDNY firefighters whose presence during that fateful day gave their lives for their country

Thousands more men, women and children who lost their lives in 2001 when four commercial planes attacked different locations in the United States. Today, those events are called 9/11.

Chief and I were in our 1st Greenhome at Tran Nhat Duat, District 1, Ho Chi MInh City when CNN broke the news that the World Trade Center had crumbled to the ground, the Pentagon had been attacked and a third plane crashed in the fields.

We had just returned from work and couldn’t believe what was happening across the United States. We quickly thought of our cousins who were based in New York City and stayed up all night glued to CNN.

Much have been written about the men and women who died that day, specially the members of FDNY and NYPD. Documentaries and even a movie had been made in their memory. Am sure more entries in thousands of blogs on-line have paid tribute to these heroes.

Yes, the passengers American Airlines Flight 11, United Airlines Flight 175, American Airlines Flight 77 and United Airlines Flight 93 are among these heroes, together with the other men and women on the ground and the buildings struck by these planes. Photo credits from U.S. Navy photo by Chief Photographer's Mate Eric J. Tilford.

They represented over 90 nationalities across the world. Even today, people, including rescue workers suffer from lung disease brought about by extended exposure to dust from the WTC rubble.