Tourist Bus Hostage Crisis in Manila

Yesterday noon, I came to know that a tourist bus was hijacked in Manila by a former Filipino police officer. Initially the news reported South Korean tourists involved but it later turn out to be Hong Kong tourists. The hostage taker was mentioned to be one of the top 10 policeman back in the 80s but was dismissed last year due to some extortion charges. When I was home and switching channels on my TV, I realise Channel News Asia was reporting about it live from Manila. Only then did I realise that this has turned out to be a tragic event where innocent human lives are lost. As of today, I came to know 9 Hong Kong Tourists has been killed. The hostage killer was also shot dead, reportedly by a sniper. Given by what the media has reported about the hostage taker demands, I'm disappointed that the authorities didn't manage to work out a deal with him and prevent loss of life. Of course, we probably won't ever know the full details of the negotiation. Feel very sad for the victims and their families. Quoting from a friend saying, " a rational person could not find other avenues to air his grievances and was desperate enough to risk (and lose) his life and those of others just to be heard." I think Rolando Mendoza have a story to tell but it should not be at the expense of innocent lives.



Actually, Mendoza story of losing his job is not as bad as that of Sandro, the other bus hostage hijacker that I know. Sandro is a Brazilian who took hostage of a bus #174 in Rio De Janeiro way back in June 2000. The whole incident was captured live on TV and the footage was being used in a documentary movie called Bus 174. Sandro story was a very sad one and reflects on the Brazilian society that fails to deal with street children and juvenile delinquents in a humane manner & instead perpetuates more violence. Read these links about Sandro Rosa and Candelaria Church massacre for Sandro's story. Sandro's story is also play out using real footage in the Bus 174 documentary film.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandro_Rosa_do_Nascimento

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candelaria_church_massacre

Life is unpredictable and vulnerable. I once read a question: If you only have a day to live, who would you call? And why are you waiting?

English Football Season 2010-2011

"You won't catch me making any silly prediction. None of that Tottenham for the title or I'll score 20 goals stuff. These kind of things make a good headline but doesn't bring you anywhere." - Gary Lineker who just signed for Spurs in 1989, in a pre-season interview with Shoot magazine. Spurs was to finish 3rd in that season and Gary Lineker won the Golden Boot. BPL 2010/2011 season start tonight, all I wanna say is Come On You SPURS!!!

I remember when the 1990 England team return from Italia 90, everyone was looking forward to watching the Spurs duo of Gazza & Lineker in action. During those days, normally the season opener live telecast match would feature the present English Champions (Liverpool at that time) game. But the English crowd was overwhelmed by Gazza & Lineker heroics in the world cup, that eventually, it was the Spurs game that got the match of the day live telecast. And they didn't disappoint. Spurs won 3-1 on their opening day with Lineker grabbing two goals and Gazza scoring the other against Manchester City. This year, England football team return from South Africa in shambles, Spurs opening fixture is against Manchester City again. How will Tottenham fare?

One Night In Turin

Recently, I read from the web that a movie called "One Night in Turin" has been released this year. The movie is about my favourite England football team of Italia 90. I was excited and find time this morning to search for it on the internet. Managed to locate it on free online streaming site and enjoyed every minute of it.

This is an excellent, true account & unbiased movie about England football team in Italia 90. Been waiting for a film like this to be made about this great team for 20 years. It made me miss Gazza, Lineker, Waddle, Butcher, Shilton, Platt, Pearce, Bobby Robson, etc even more. Thumbs up.

I have very fond memories of Bobby Robson England team. Maybe because there are my favourite Spurs players in it and they played with lots of heart and passion. I just took out a copy of my old shoot magazine dated 14th July 1990. It was a post 1990 World Cup copy and on the last page, the headline is : " WE"RE PROUD OF YOU. ENGLAND YOU WERE MAGNIFICENT."

Here's the abstract from the July 14th 1990 Shoot magazine view on the Italia 90 England football team:

English football can hold its head high once more.

For not since that glorious day in July 1966 has our national team commanded such worldwide respect.

Derided, patronised and reviled for more than 20 years, it seemed that the days when we could seriously challenged soccer's super powers were a distant memory.

But as Graham Taylor prepares to take up the international challenge, the opportunity is suddenly there for England to build for a glorious football future.

Bobby Robson, disgracefully treated by his critics throughout his eight-year reign, will now be judged by history as an England manager to rank alongside Sir Alf Ramsey.

And even last Wednesday's Semi-final defeat in Turin cannot detract from the achievement of Robson's young lions these past five weeks.

It would be wrong to claim that England were the best of the 24 World Cup finalists. That honour belongs to West Germany. But as proved in the Stadio Delle Alpi, at least they are now in the same class.

No blame has been attached to Stuart Pearce or Chris Waddle for those penalty misses, just as no one player deserves special praise. For it was a team effort which served England so well and, in defeat as well as victory, the players stood side by side.

It is possible to run through the entire England side and single out virtually everyone of them as England's Italia 90 star.

Certainly every department of the team more than fulfilled all expectations.

In goal Peter Shilton proved with saves against Cameroon and West Germany that, even at 40, he's still the best goalkeeper in the world.

In defence the players adapted magnificently to the sudden introduction of the sweeper system. Mark Wright, Paul Parker and Des Walker have rightly been praised, but the contributions of Stuart Pearce and Terry Butcher must not go unnoticed.

In midfield Paul Gascoigne emerged as one of the stars of the tournament. David Platt proved a worthy replacement for the injured Bryan Robson and Trevor Steven's versatility came as an unexpected late bonus.

In attack Gary Lineker showed he is a match for any striker in the world. Van Basten, Degryse, Klinsmann and even Milla couldn't put him in the shade.

Now Graham Taylor will inherit a team confident in the system they are playing in and even more confident in the men around them.

The European Championship qualifying matches kick-off in the next couple of months and the new manager will soon be forced to decide whether to persevere with the likes of Robson, Shilton and Butcher.

It will be a sad day when those England stalwarts are forced into international retirement. But as least they will go with the knowledge that they have laid the foundations for an exciting new era for English football.

Inspirational Monday

Its the first Monday of August 2010 and I feel its like a new start. Yes, it is the start of the week. No, I didn't mean that. I mean I wanted to feel more purposeful in my daily life. Anyway, just some lingering thoughts which probably will go away if NATO comes to play. I went for my evening jog around the neighbourhood, had my dinner & shower and decided to tidy up my room. Its getting very messy and long overdue for some much needed attention. So my purposeful week begin with the task of spring cleaning my nest. Pretty much done for the night though still some touching up to be continue tomorrow.

Its the 2nd day after the 1st anniversary of Sir Bobby Robson day, I'm still watching his video clips. I found a clip which Sir Bobby Robson spoke about life. It was pretty simple words yet sound so inspirational from someone that I had lots of respect for. Yes, I do not know him personally and the English media may played a big part in my perception of him. But I do feel he is genuine.

Sir Bobby Robson say,

"In life, you know you can't succeed and be clever and be bright

and be correct and spot-on all the time.

Cause life is more complicated than that,

life is more difficult than that.

Its a tough world out there

And if you're not a tough guy, you won't survive.

Not to get to where you want to be in your sphere."

I'm not sure how others feel about this speech but I feel inspired. I think he is sharing that there's no perfect person or situation and you gotta take all things in your stride, be it good or bad things to cope with the challenges of life. Then you stand a better chance of attaining or getting where you wanna be. Thank you Sir Bobby. I enjoyed the video clip and will keep these useful pointers in mind especially if I'm going through a rough patch.