MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Six years and 52 million YouTube hits later, Filipino inmates who danced to “Thriller” inside a prison courtyard are getting their stories told in a movie drama about redemption and corruption behind bars.”Dance of the Steel Bars” was shot in the Cebu provincial prison, the same place where up to 1,500 inmates dressed in orange uniforms danced to global fame in 2007. Their choreographed act still attracts thousands of tourists who troop to the prison to watch the performance, which recently included “Gangnam Style.” Some of the dancing inmates appear in the movie too.It stars Irish actor Patrick Bergin, who played Julia Roberts’ husband in “Sleeping With the Enemy,” and Filipino heartthrob Dingdong Dantes.The Dubai-based producer, Portfolio Films International, said the story follows Bergin’s character, Frank Parish, a retired U.S. firefighter and philanthropist wrongly jailed for murder in the Philippines.He befriends Mando, played by 32-year-old Dantes, a convicted murderer who denies his passion for dancing to prove his masculinity. Another character, Allona, played by Joey Paras, is a transsexual who teaches dance to his fellow inmates to contribute to prison reforms. They are caught up in a struggle between the positive changes being implemented by the new jail warden and a corrupt prison system.Continue Reading… … Read More
World’s Largest Captive Crocodile Dead: Lolong Mourned In Philippines
MANILA, Philippines — A remote southern Philippine town has gone into mourning over the death of the world’s largest saltwater crocodile in captivity, even though it was blamed for the deaths of several villagers.
Bunawan town plans to preserve the remains of the 1-ton crocodile, named Lolong, in a museum to keep tourists coming and stop the community from slipping back into obscurity, the mayor said Monday.
Shooting rampage stokes Philippines firearms debate
A man with domestic problems has shot dead eight people, including a pregnant woman and two children, after taking alcohol and drugs in a rampage near the Philippine capital Manila.
… Read More
Christmas fires kill 7 in Philippines, crowd lynches suspected culprit (PHOTOS)
Christmas fires kill 7 in Philippines, crowd lynches suspected culprit (PHOTOS)Get short URLLink copied to clipboardemail story to a friendprint versionPublished: 25 December, 2012, 14:18
TAGS:Crime,
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Residents look at destroyed houses as they smolder after a pre-dawn fire engulfed a slum area in Manila on December 25, 2012 (AFP Photo / Noel Celis) At least eight people were left dead and thousands homeless after two separate fires near the Philippines capital Manila on Christmas Day.Hours earlier suspected arsonists set off another fire in a sprawling shantytown in suburban San Juan city across Manila.A riot started as residents of the slums, estimated to number 8,000 people, lost their homes. A man they suspected of being behind the blaze was beaten to death by a lynch mob.Two firefighters sustained injuries, when the mop started grabbing hoses from them in an attempt to put out the fire on their own. The fire brigade had to flee out of concern for their safety.A resident douses embers with a bucket of water at his charred home after fire razed some 500 houses at a residential area in San Juan City, Metro Manila December 25, 2012 (Reuters / Cheryl Ravelo)Firefighters search for bodies after a pre-dawn fire engulfed a row of old apartments in Manila on December 25, 2012 (AFP Photo / Noel Celis) Residents return to their charred homes after fire razed some 500 houses at a residential area in San Juan City, Metro Manila December 25, 2012 (Reuters / Cheryl Ravelo)A woman walks amongst destroyed homes after a pre-dawn fire engulfed a slum area in Manila on December 25, 2012 (AFP Photo / Noel Celis) Residents return to their charred homes after fire razed some 500 houses at a residential area in San Juan City, Metro Manila December 25, 2012 (Reuters / Cheryl Ravelo)A resident (C) searches for salvageable materials amongst destroyed homes after a pre-dawn fire engulfed a slum area in Manila on December 25, 2012 (AFP Photo / Noel Celis) A resident holds on to his belongings as he sleeps on the floor of an evacuation centre after fire razed some 500 houses at a residential area in San Juan City, Metro Manila December 25, 2012 (Reuters / Cheryl Ravelo)Firefighters search for bodies after a pre-dawn fire engulfed a row of old apartments in Manila on December 25, 2012 (AFP Photo / Noel Celis) Residents whose homes were destroyed seek refuge at a basketball court converted into an evacuation center after a pre-dawn fire engulfed a slum area in Manila on December 25, 2012 (AFP Photo / Noel Celis) “);
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Most of the victims were caught in the fire block, which went ablaze at Tuesday dawn in Quezon City, a suburb north of the city. Members of a single household died as the flame spread across a row of old apartments.The fire was likely triggered by an electric malfunction caused by overload from the increased use during Christmas Eve parties, firefighting authorities said.A firefighter (R) extinguishes remaining flames after a pre-dawn fire engulfed a slum area in Manila on December 25, 2012 (AFP Photo / Noel Celis) Hours earlier suspected arsonists set off another fire in a sprawling shantytown in suburban San Juan city across Manila.A riot started as residents of the slums, estimated to number 8,000 people, lost their homes. A man they suspected of being behind the blaze was beaten to death by a lynch mob.Two firefighters sustained injuries, when the mop started grabbing hoses from them in an attempt to put out the fire on their own. The fire brigade had to flee out of concern for their safety.A resident douses embers with a bucket of water at his charred home after fire razed so
1000
me 500 houses at a residential area in San Juan City, Metro Manila December 25, 2012 (Reuters / Cheryl Ravelo)Firefighters search for bodies after a pre-dawn fire engulfed a row of old apartments in Manila on December 25, 2012 (AFP Photo / Noel Celis) Residents return to their charred homes after fire razed some 500 houses at a residential area in San Juan City, Metro Manila December 25, 2012 (Reuters / Cheryl Ravelo)A woman walks amongst destroyed homes after a pre-dawn fire engulfed a slum area in Manila on December 25, 2012 (AFP Photo / Noel Celis) Residents return to their charred homes after fire razed some 500 houses at a residential area in San Juan City, Metro Manila December 25, 2012 (Reuters / Cheryl Ravelo)A resident (C) searches for salvageable materials amongst destroyed homes after a pre-dawn fire engulfed a slum area in Manila on December 25, 2012 (AFP Photo / Noel Celis) A resident holds on to his belongings as he sleeps on the floor of an evacuation centre after fire razed some 500 houses at a residential area in San Juan City, Metro Manila December 25, 2012 (Reuters / Cheryl Ravelo)Firefighters search for bodies after a pre-dawn fire engulfed a row of old apartments in Manila on December 25, 2012 (AFP Photo / Noel Celis) Residents whose homes were destroyed seek refuge at a basketball court converted into an evacuation center after a pre-dawn fire engulfed a slum area in Manila on December 25, 2012 (AFP Photo / Noel Celis) … Read More
Typhoon Bopha: Death Toll Tops 100 In Philippines; Scores Missing In Worst-Hit Areas
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The death toll from Typhoon Bhopa climbed to more than 100 people Wednesday, while scores of others remain missing in the worst-hit areas of the southern Philippines.At least 43 people died when torrents of water rampaged down a mountain in New Bataan town in Compostela Valley province and engulfed a school and village hall where people were taking shelter from the storm. Nine soldiers and an unspecified number of villages were missing, army Maj. Gen. Ariel Bernardo told The Associated Press.Six villagers drowned in floods in Montevista town, Compostela Valley provincial spokeswoman Fe Maestre said.Read More…
More on Extreme Weather
Tourists Stranded In New York By Hurricane Sandy Take Hit In Costs, But Remain Upbeat
Living in Manila, Philippines, Martin Gaw is used to hurricanes. He has seen hurricanes and typhoons that lasted four days, during which water levels were waist-deep. But he didn’t expect to spend his fall vacation in New York City bunkered down at the JW Marriott on Central Park South, watching the incoming Hurricane Sandy through the lobby windows.Now, instead of going to a museum, a Broadway play or visiting the 9/11 memorial, Gaw is paying about $800 a night for his family to sit in their hotel and watch weather updates.”I’m disappointed in a way,” Gaw said. “But I’m thinking of the safety of my family.” Read More…
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Film critic Judith Crist: “We all have our stories”
In August, the most hated woman in Hollywood passed away. At least that’s what she was called in her obituary in the L.A. Times. When she died at age 90, Judith Crist rolled the credits on a career as one of the most influential film critics in the U.S., sending down often-crushing opinions regularly via the New York Herald Tribune, New York Magazine, TV Guide and the “Today Show.” Crist was not in anyone’s binder in the mid-1900s. In an era where prominent female journalists couldn’t even fill a manila envelope, she was the whole damn file cabinet.But I knew her as a powerful professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, and one of my favorite teachers, even though she once delivered me a zing I’ve never forgotten — not on my writing, but on being too precious about sexual harassment.This was the early ’90s, and in her seminar we read columnists like Russell Baker, William Safire, Calvin Trillin and Anna Quindlen. Each week there was an assignment on a given topic: current events, a controversial issue in the news, an opinion about a new piece of architecture or an exhibit or restaurant. Her inflexible edict: You cannot write in the first person until the final class.Continue Reading… … Read More
