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Monday, July 6, 2009

Blind man sees through tooth


Blind man sees wife for first time after having a tooth implanted into his eye


When Martin Jones met his wife four years ago, he never imagined that one day he would get to see what she looked like.
The 42-year-old builder was left blind after an accident at work more than a decade ago.
But a remarkable operation - which implants part of his tooth in his eye - has now pierced his world of darkness.
The procedure, performed fewer than 50 times before in Britain, uses the segment of tooth as a holder for a new lens grafted from his skin.
'The doctors took the bandages off and it was like looking through water and then I saw this figure and it was her,' he said today.
'She's wonderful and lovely. It was unbelievable to see her for the first time.'
He added: 'When I found out there was a chance I would get my sight back, the first person I wanted to see was her.'
Mr Jones, from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, married his wife Gill, 50, four years ago.
By that time he had already spent eight years without his sight after a tub of white hot aluminium exploded in his face at work in a scrapyard.
He suffered 37 per cent burns and had to wear a special body stocking for 23 hours a day. He also had his left eye removed.
But surgeons were able to save the right eye, even though he was unable to see through it.
At first specialists in Nottingham tried to save his sight using stem cells from a donor but the attempt failed.
It was only when a revolutionary new operation was pioneered at the Sussex Eye Clinic in Brighton that he was given a chance to have his sight back.


 Christopher Liu

Surgeon Christopher Liu used a living tooth to carry a new lens because Mr Jones' eye could reject a plastic implant
During the procedure, a minute section of a patient's tooth is removed, reshaped and chiselled through to grip the man-made lens which is then placed in its core.
It is implanted under an eyelid where it becomes covered in tissue.
The process requires a living tooth as an implant because doctors suggest there are chances the eye would reject a plastic equivalent.
So a canine - which is the best option due to its shape and size - was taken out of Mr Jones' mouth.
A patch of skin is then taken from the inside of the cheek and placed in the eye for two months, where it gradually acquires its own blood supply.
The tooth segment is finally transplanted into the eye socket. The flap of grafted skin is then partially lifted from the eye and placed over its new sturdy base.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Cannabis policy...

A Dutch policy, which allows the consumption of limited quantities of soft drugs, may change as a government commission has admitted the policy has gone too far, Radio Netherlands reported yesterday. Our relaxed policy on cannabis (and other soft drugs), should become much stricter to contain the negative effects such as drugs tourism and organized crime, a report by the commission said. (It was published on Thursday. )
The report said a strictly monitored supply of soft drugs to coffee shops, sold to local customers only, would help stem drugs tourism, where clients come from far to buy soft drugs.

Under the current policy, the sale of soft drugs is allowed, but growing and supplying them remains illegal. The report acknowledged that this was (still is) an almost impossible situation.

The commission recommended that supply should be allowed under strict rules. It foresaw possibilities for a regulated way of growing cannabis and other soft drugs in Holland. This would sideline organized crime, which currently plays a major role in the growing of illegal cannabis and making big money of course, imagine that 1 gram will make it to 10 Euro or even more, depends on the brand. These illegal growers don't mind to tap electricity before it reaches the meter, or add a lot of forbidden ingredients to the fertilizer. Pesticides are used without any control now and that's one of the reasons I'm growing my own lady's ...

Only regulated, Dutch grown soft drugs should be allowed to be on sale in coffee shops, the commission said.

It also called for an independent drugs authority to control the soft drugs market and to monitor any future changes in drug policies.

The report was commissioned by the Dutch government after city councils in the south of the Netherlands expressed their growing doubts over the current relaxed policy.

Cities like Maastricht, Breda, Eindhoven -- all close to the Belgian border -- have endured the negative effects of heavy drug tourism, attracting people from Belgium, France and Germany where the sale (and use) of soft drugs is prohibited. And not just weedlovers from neighboring countries are in to a visit on Dutch soil. What to think about are colleagues from the States, eg. George Cloony, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and the rest of "Oceans" cast. They can frequently be found around Amsterdam's coffee-shops. ( and the red-light district as well).

All those tourists feel like God in France, the relaxed policy creates a relaxed smoker cos he is not chased by the cops, though rules get more strict every year and in many a city it's not allowed to blow your dooby in public. But you know, as long as you can do such in your own house or backyard without being brought to justice I don't care. It will never come back the way it was in the 60's and 70's, may be it was just a little too liberal at that time.

Fact is, that the quality of the 'Nederwiet' became first class and worldwide recognized as close to hard drugs due to the high level of THC. The organized crime and foreign governments are screwing up for us. Brussels rather saw us to close down all our shops, fuck them, that's why I voted against the European constitution some time ago. Holland is unique in its soft-drug policy, let's keep it that way, it's not bad to the economy either.


Let us smoke our joint in peace....

Friday, July 3, 2009

Born on the 4th of July (NL)


(for English scroll down)
De 4de juli kan ik niet zo maar voorbij laten gaan. Bijna iedereen weet dat op deze dag de onafhankelijkheid van de US wordt gevierd. Maar ik heb het uiteraard over de film die een andere kijk op de Vietnam-oorlog geeft. Er zat weer een grote jongen aan te komen, dat het een grote jongen werd wist ik toen natuurlijk nog niet... Pas later als zo'n productie allerlei awards binnensleept en een kaskraker wordt krijg je enig idee waaraan je hebt meegewerkt. Willem Dafoe met in zijn kielzog Tom Cruise die er net 'Topgun' op had zitten. Ik had op dat moment nog nooit van hem gehoord en de film ook niet gezien..
Willem

Tom

  En Tom Berringer, inmiddels ook een legende op het witte doek.. Als director verscheen ook een oude bekende, Oliver Stone, deze keer vergezeld door vrouw en kinderen die de kerstvakantie op de set kwamen doorbrengen..

j Als director verscheen ook een oude bekende, Oliver Stone, deze keer vergezeld door vrouw en kinderen die de kerstvakantie op de set kwamen doorbrengen. Ik kende hem al van Platoon. Deze keer gingen we voor 'Born on the 4th of July. De oorlogs-scenes voor deze film werden geschoten in hetb uiterste noorden van de Filippijnen, op het strand van Laoag, de hoofdstad van Ilocos-Norte, de thuisprovincie van president Marcos. Een onrustige provincie met regelmatig geweld, het militaire materieel dat we gebruikten was eigendom van de Philippine Army zo ook de tanks, APC's die werden ingezet. Echt spul dus. Het was eind december 1988, de geplande opnamen werden aangepast omdat de tanks die we nodig hadden de nacht ervoor waren ingezet tegen rebellen en nog niet terug op de set waren.. Toen ze uiteindelijk arriveerden waren de lopen bij wijze van spreken nog warm.... De 'Direct' wilde de dag afsluiten met een ondergaande zon tegen een decor van oprukkende troepen tussen zandopstuivende APC's Armoured Personnel Carrier.

Me with an M60.

  We rennen tussen de beschietingen door van duin naar duin en richten ons vuur op de vijand. Het strand staat in lichterlaaie, alle huisjes, gebouwd van riet, bamboe en palmbladeren geven een geel-oranje vuurgloed, dat alles nog aangewakkerd door extra brandstof en explosieven. De dorpelingen rennen en vliegen rond om nog iets van hun hebben en houden te kunnen redden. Een paar kippen, een geit en andere belangrijke zaken worden opgepakt en meegenomen
.Daar wordt je moe van

Al deze mensen zagen ook echt  hun boeltje in vlammen opgaan, het bleek goedkoper het hele dorp uit te kopen dan een set na te bouwen die er net zo realistisch en gedetailleerd uitzag. Het scheelde zeker veel tijd en behalve een royale schadevergoeding kregen de meesten ook de kans als figurant mee te spelen en nog wat extra's op te strijken.. Zo'n kerstcadeautje zal best van pas gekomen zijn. 

  Het lopen, eigenlijk meer snelwandelen door het mulle zand met een M-60 machinegun op m'n schouder, valt de eerste keer best mee. De tanks knarsen tussen hun rupsbanden, het is stoffig en lawaaierig, en best wel link als je te dicht in de buurt loopt. Als die dingen zich wenden gat dat schoksgewijs en huppelt het gevaarte met een sprongetje de gestuurde kant op. Daar wilde je niet onderkomen... Maar hetis niet gauw goed. Heer Olivier wilde beter en riep geregeld 'cut, back to # one'.. wat inhield dat we terugmoesten naar ons beginpunt en de scene opnieuw gefilmd werd. Dan is zo'n stukje ganzenpas van een paar minuten ineens een flinke afstand geworden dat je moet terugkuieren..! En niet één keer, nee, wel vier keer opnieuw..Zo'n M-60 wordt dan looiig en moet tijdens het rennen van de ene schouder naar de andere gegooid worden. Daar deed Oliver het ook voor, de vermoeidheid straalde van ons af, de jongens bovenop de tanks waren beter af en zaten te grijnzen.. die soldatenkisten voelden steeds zwaarder aan en m'n schouders waren beurs, soms werd het rennen een beetje struikelen en strompelen en dat zal er best een stuk echter hebben uitgezien...

  De bekkentrekkende Willem Dafoe was populair op de set, dit in tegenstelling tot zijn collega Tom Cruise die zich eerder afzonderde en bij zijn eigen clubje bleef. Ik heb me kostelijk vermaakt tijdens de opnamen waarbij Dafoe obsceen zij draaiende tong liet filmen. De on-gein en hilariteit vóór de opnames waren eigenlijk leuker dan de scenen zelf. Op dezelfde locatie werd trouwens ook het revalidatiecentrum met de rolstoelen gefilmd.

  De grote internationale producties brengen meestal zelf hun eigen stuntmensen en dubbels mee, ik was dan ook aangenaam verrast toen de casting-director mij vroeg stand-in te zijn voor Willem Dafoe. Dat klinkt interessanter dan het is. Stand-ins worden gebruikt voor het 'blocken' voor de camera, de belichting en camera-instellingen worden zo ingesteld en er wordt een rehearsel gedraaid. Als alles dan klopt en er gefilmd kan worden komen de grote jongen zelf opdraven.. Een ander verhaal is het als je als body-double de plaats inneemt van de acteur wanneer er een stunt moet worden verricht of indien er een andere gevaarlijke situatie is. Zelfs Chuck Norris had dubbels rondlopen voor als het te gevaarlijk voor hem werd, en dan moet je niet denken aan een vechtscène maar bijvoorbeeld een risicovolle sprong vanuit een vliegtuig, de productie mag geen gevaar lopen en vaak dekt de verzekering het risico niet.. 

English:
http://bert-firebert.blogspot.nl/2009/10/born-on-4th-of-july-shooting-in-1989.html

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

A little more NBI and so. ..


I had just finished my meeting with the NBI and was heading for Puerto Galera, several hours south of Manila. It was so peaceful and quiet after all the madness in Manila, this relaxing trip by boat had cleaned up the smelly exhaust fumes from my hair and clothes, and a thin salty layer covered my skin that started to tan by the sun that seemed to shine from all sides and reflected a million times from the breaking water surface. The sea breeze speeded up the tanning process and I started to look like a tourist.
I had a beautiful three days on the beach, swimming, diving and eating good meals as I was visiting all the entertaining pubs or restaurants on the spot. And I enjoyed all of it. It nearly made me forget I had some business to attend to in MM.
I really disliked packing my suitcase to return to reality.
The first training
Quite some people showed up the first time and they were diverse, a couple of fatass chair sitters and some younger guys but no women. I didn't expect Charlies angels but no police woman showed up at all. I started an intro-talk for about ten minutes and then told them to follow me in the warming up. Well I have to admit I started a routine , but it was my first time in the tropics and I didn't realize that those people weren't waiting to get warmer as they were already, I mean the temperature in the building at that moment must have been at least over a hundred or around a 38 C. I visualized them sitting with their feet on their desk and the fan switched at 4. Let's say they were not too amused, but I got them moving in a lower gear. I came up with some disarming-techniques but that didn't cheer them up, they thought it quite interesting but of no use, when they encounter armed resistance they just shoot to kill, no sweat...What the fuck was I doing there.!
It was really hot in there so I called it a wrap after some hour and a half. And I could be wrong but I believe there was a 'fragrant' smell of sweat over there, for the first time since long...I was soaking wet and gasped for a San Miguel. I told them: next week, and fled the intestine of a rotten institute. I went there for a couple of months and apologized to them. I had to leave and teach at some other places. They were relieved I tell you, and so was I. There was no fun in it whatsoever. I never regretted the quit.
There's one more thing I never forget about this building.
It's the hottest place ever I smoked a joint at......
There were hardly any showers but believe it or not, there was a sauna at the place. So one night when I just wrapped a movie set and was really feeling filthy, I decided to take a shower at the NBI's. My friend Federico the caretaker-and Judo instructor was there as well but about to leave. So he asked me to close down the place after I was done cos he was in a hurry. Now then I got this ingenious idea to sweat it out in the sauna while smoking a doobie. I asked the man to start up the sauna which he did. I carefully checked if no one was around and lighted up my pipe and had a magnificent high. Next to carrying a bag of weed from Sagada by bus, this was one of my most risky stunts ever..
I had become friends with José Almirol, the secretary of the Philippine Amateur Judo Association and he invited me do a gast-training in the Rizal Memorial in Vito Cruz..

This was really a nice guy, so were the Judoka that joined the class. OK. !!! These people came to practice their sport and were well trained and not lazy, such a difference. I loved to show up there and have fun with José. I did so for several years, even had a selected team to join the ASEAN-games, no one made it to the top but a 4th place. As the national championships came by I ended up 1st referee and organizer.
Everything I was taught by my old sensei Johan van der Bruggen came to hand now.
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It wasn't in vain that I sacrificed my weekends for so many years to attend to his lessons in de Zoutmanstraat in The Hague. It wasn't really a sport centre but some transformed living rooms, it was
small but on the other hand classes were small either, the place looked like an eastern ninja-set having a dusty ninja outfit in it's showroom and it smelled like long flown times. As to his qualities, I think sensei v.d. Bruggen deserved a better location to his performance.
When Dan-grade exams were due, the place was impregnated with an Asian mystic and he knew how to use that just by looking at you with this particular glance of his, add his hoarse voice and his almost physical authority and all ingredients were there to feel bloody nervous. On the other hand if classes were given in a sports complex, he would use every inch of the facilities and had us run dozens of laps to practice intermission training and to control our breathing techniques. By the time we were to start martial arts or theory lessons often more than 90 minutes were invested in 'warming-up'. The usual menu after that was an intensive Judo, Ju-jitsu and Kendo exercise. The Kata were trained to the limit to get it synchronized to a perfect element.
Broken and wet to the bones it always gave a satisfaction and it was all worth exertion.
In the meantime John Mullin had come to visit me in my apartments, I had no more jet-lag and we went sight seeing Manila. Emil Ong had returned from Samar and had experienced my healing hands as he suffered a painful back. After a couple of weeks I was invited by Emil to stay in his house in Quezon City. Well, that wasn't too bad, no more expenses in the Mabini region and a nice place to stay for the next couple of month. Emil had his office downtown Binondo, but he had more activities besides the hardware store. Politics came first to him. At that time he was an active assemblyman, did his thing at the National Food Authority and was running for some position in Northern Samar. I had the pleasure to join him on a trip to the Visayas and spent some time over there.. For the locals I was some kind of a 'worth seeing', little kids followed us calling: “Mica,Mica”, an abbreviation of “American”. I learned a lot during those trips and came to meet quite some interesting people. I became friends to mayors, met with lawyers, judges, governors and military high placed personnel.
Just to stay in a good condition I was eager to visit the Rizal Memorial at least once a week, the guys over there loved it when I showed up to teach them some new stuff. But by that time I decided to move away from the NCR and find myself a nice place in Laguna. I fell in love with this province,well that's not hard to do, it is so diverse and beautiful, the air was much cleaner than Manila's and it wasn't that crowded. I had been to Sta Cruz and Los Baños before and 'did' the world famous rapids of Pagsanjan, about two hours drive from Manila.

This was the place where parts of “The Apocalypse now” were shot, starring Marlon Brando 


Juramentado...
--
.It was a couple a days or maybe a week after the typhoon when I came to visit my old favorite corner at Sta Monica in Ermita. The weather was great and I just ordered a San Miguel when somebody touched my shoulder. As I turned around I saw this smiling bastard of a Paul Vance behind me, I felt relieved, cos I thought him dead by that time. We hugged and celebrated the reunion with another beer..
Only then I learned the latest news about what happened after..
Before the storm had reached its max he had collected our belongings from the cabins already and he had retreated to find exile in a nearby barrio at higher grounds. He was told I had left the scene with some friends, so he didn't worry. He had stayed there for a couple of days to gather and rescue some of the props scattered all over the place and decided to wait the chaos to diminish.
He had to do some 'loops' as he told me and asked me to come along. I had no idea what he was talking about and he had to explain to me that he was 'dubbing sounds and voices to film loops'.
I joined him to the studios and learned how they synchronized to dubbings on the loops. I enjoyed seeing him doing background noise and voices. I remember one scene where a tv-screen on the background needed some adding. He watched the loop once or twice, said “Yes” and made-up a dialog between a guy opening a fridge and an imaginair person off frame. It was óne take only and applause...But I noticed he needed a lot of Marlboro's to get to his inspirations.
jungle in Laguna
It's a nice trip by bus to Laguna. As soon as your outside the NCR traffics-madness gets a little easier and nature opens your eyes. Oh ya, this view is such a magnificence it gives a holiday's feelin'.
It's a spilth to miss the beauty of the mountains with its variety of fauna and flora living on this fertile volcanic soil.
A nice view on Laguna lake and Taal lake
Los Baños (the baths) is worldwide known for its hot water springs and bathing accommodations in pretty much all the hotels over there. I've been there quite some times with several movie-sets, The Firebird to begin with.
I think the area southwest of Laguna the Bay and in between Lake Taal is the summum. The most beautiful place I've ever seen is Hidden Valley. I came to this place in '85 during the shootings of “Hellcamp”.
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There are 20+ rivers debouching in this 900 km2 lake. It's Manila's source of fresh water. The growing population and intensifying industry around the lake using no water clearing or sewerage systems create a serious problem to this source. Now there's another problem when it rains, I mean Rain. The water in this Laguna-bathtub can flow to one outlet only: the river Pasig. This river meanders thru Metro Manila and divides it in two parts, flooding the lower districts during the monsoons.
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--It was a big house I rented, There was it's ground floor, having lots of stuff piled up belonging to the house owner.A caretaker had his room somewhere there. He had his own entrance. My floor was huge, having a wide living, an open kitchen and two large bedrooms and a luxurious bathroom, marble pavement all over.
It had a nice view but the garden needed some attention.
My Belgium friend was impressed saying: “not bad at all”. Better believe that, compared with his former lodgings in central Manila.
Paul seemed to be relaxed at the place and even smoked less without the movie-stress. He came up with a proposition to rent one of the rooms to share in the costs. I was glad too, cos my rent was a monthly 2,500 pesos !! So I passed him my spare key and told him: “You're living here now man.” I couldn't have dreamed of the sudden reward he came with. He asked me what I was up to the next month, and if I was interested to do a bit part or stunts in a local movie.
I had ears to that.
That's how my second movie “The Firebird Conspiracy” came to me.