Book honors basketball’s Maestro
By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
THE COUNTRY’s rich basketball history has produced many personalities that have become icons of the sport, one of whom is coach Virgilio “Baby” Dalupan.
The hired assassin’s trade
Movie Review
Sicario
Directed by Denis Villeneuve
By Noel Vera
THE FILM begins with an FBI raid to rescue what are supposed to be drug hostages in an empty house in Chandler, Arizona; the raid ends with two officers dead, and the discovery of the mutilated corpses of men and women, wrapped in plastic, sealed up in the walls — a grim and silent reminder to Agent Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) that war is being waged with unprecedented violence but elsewhere. These are just detritus, the leftovers from past battles.
Macer expresses the desire to get those responsible (for the bodies, for her agents); she’s apparently never heard of the old warning about wishes because she’s quickly attached to a strike force of murky origins (one officer named Matt Graver [Josh Brolin] wears flip-flops to high-level meetings; another named Alejandro [Benicio del Toro] snoozes quietly through mission briefings) and even murkier objectives (a trip to El Paso, Texas suddenly turns into a wire-tense mission to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico).
How realistic is this scenario? Is the USA willing to move so aggressively through a foreign nation? Okay scrub that — are they able to move so through a foreign nation successfully and without any fallout? Director Denis Villeneuve dismisses all skepticism with the unrelenting tone of his action sequences — not so much the assaultive style of a Paul Greengrass, trying to equate documentary realism with the supposed verite of a handheld camera, but a magisterial glide, a kind of unblinking gaze (with understated but precise editing) that tells you what will happen onscreen is inevitable, there’s no avoiding it. Macer finds herself wound tighter and tighter as the mission (a fleet of black Chevrolet Impalas) is joined at the border by Mexican Ford pickups mounted with M429 machine guns; collects a hooded prisoner at a Mexican military base; encounters a traffic jam on the journey back to the Estados Unidos (along the way sleepy-eyed Alejandro casually points out two carloads of armed gunmen zeroing in on their fleet); ends up in a US military base where — more for our benefit than unwitting Macer’s — said prisoner is locked in an interrogation room and sleepy Alejandro, now smiling widely, drags a 25-gallon water jug to where the prisoner, not smiling, sits handcuffed and waiting helplessly.
Equally effective and perhaps imbued with a touch of soaring poetry are the many overhead shots, of Juarez, of El Paso, that look gorgeous yes but turn out to have a thematic point: El Paso’s neatly scrubbed streets shine in stark contrast with Juarez’s urban sprawl — you tingle with pleasure at the orderly grid patterns of a United States suburb, then bristle when Villeneuve switches over to the chaotic capillaries of a Mexican border town. In between are the smoothly curved hills and sparse shrubs of the border desert, uncaring of all the drama happening at its edges.
The film invites comparison with Zero Dark Thirty, maybe the last successfully concluded US foray into a foreign land to be translated so vividly to the big screen; unlike Zero, where both film and director consciously assumed a “no comment” stance on the subject of torture Sicario does, not just on torture but on the many sins the government committed while waging this (Fantastical? Plausible? Prophetic?) escalation on the War on Drugs: torture works, the film says, but those who inflict it are damned — and so are we by implication because we benefit, we let it happen. Not perhaps the message we want to hear but the filmmakers are at least upfront and unambiguous on the issue.
Less obviously the film works as a companion piece to Ridley Scott’s The Counselor, a considerably more literary work (and considerably funnier, no small thing) thanks to a script by novelist Cormac McCarthy, who doesn’t reveal the full extent of his sensibility as dole out as much of that sensibility as he thinks the screen deserves (there’s a difference). Hence nihilism and despair run rampant The Counselor, the same way they do in McCarthy’s earlier No Country for Old Men (but not in his superior The Road — the novel not the movie, which in my opinion is considerably softened; there horror is leavened, modulated, and strengthened by an equally powerful vision of love). Sicario is wrought in a similar spirit: only what wolves do matters, all else is the effort of impotent sheep. A powerful message, but ultimately limited.
Finally Sicario’s eponymous character with his days-old beard growth and centuries-old eyes reminds me of another far more haunting character, Joel Torre’s Detective Juan Mijares, in Lav Diaz’s no-budget epic Batang West Side (West Side Avenue, 2000). Both bear heavy sins, both are involved in the War on Drugs (cocaine for Alejandro, shabu [crystal meth] for Mijares), both atone for sins in their deliberately gravid way; in fact when I see Alejandro prowling the border tunnels in the former I can’t help but recall the casual grace of Mijares’ stride through the streets of Jersey City in the latter (wonder if Del Toro saw Torre’s performance beforehand). Sicario’s trajectory seems ultimately optimistic: we are damned, they are damned, but at least we’re all doing something about the War on Drugs, if only stabilizing a chaotic situation. Diaz’s vision is bleaker: that some mysteries are unsolvable, some crimes irredeemable, some sins unforgivable no matter how far we travel, or suffer, or struggle. We are damned, and all the dirty tactics and shiny hardware in the world aren’t ever going to pull us out into safety.
MTRCB Rating: R-16
Scream and shout
By Nickky Faustine P. de Guzman
MOST local horror booths are funny rather than scary (or perhaps I am only trying hard to appear brave).
One tough bird: vulture’s genes help it thrive on rotting flesh
By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON — A diet of putrid rotting flesh may not be your cup of tea, but to the cinereous vulture, found across southern Europe and Asia, it is positively delightful. This tough bird, it turns out, is genetically wired to thrive on the stuff.
Researchers last week said they have sequenced the genome of this big scavenger, also called the Eurasian black vulture, identifying genetic traits that account for a stalwart stomach and powerful immune system that let it carry on eating carrion.
They pinpointed genetic features related to gastric acid secretion that help explain this vulture’s ability to digest carcasses and other features linked to its immune system defense against microbial and viral infections from decomposing flesh.
“It is known that they are all but immune to botulism and that they can happily eat the flesh of an animal coated in Bacillus anthracis that causes anthrax,” said geneticist Jong Bhak of South Korea’s Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology.
“They also are known to take infected food with rabies, hog cholera and numerous other diseases that would be lethal to most other scavengers.”
This vulture may have the strongest stomach in the world, Mr. Bhak said. “They have an extremely acidic stomach, enough to melt bones and perhaps metals,” Mr. Bhak added.
The cinereous vulture, whose scientific name is Aegypius monachus, can be found in plains, grasslands and mountainous regions from Spain to South Korea, although its numbers are dangerously low in parts of its fragmented range.
It is one of the world’s largest birds of prey, with a wingspan up to 10 feet (3 meters). It is clad in dark brown feathers with a pale head and bluish beak. Its diet consists mostly of the carcasses of medium and large mammals.
The researchers compared its genome to that of the American bald eagle, and learned that the two are more closely related than previously suspected. Mr. Bhak said they share a common ancestor that lived about 18 million years ago.
The cinereous vulture is a member of a group called Old World vultures found in Europe, Asia and Africa. These birds are distinct from the New World vultures like the turkey vulture found in the Americas that live similar lifestyles but are only distantly related. Mr. Bhak said the most recent common ancestor of Old World and New World vultures lived about 60 million years ago.
The research was published in the journal Genome Biology. — Reuters
The benefits of newborn screening
MEDICINE CABINET
REINER W. GLOOR
NEWBORN screening (NBS) is very important and as such Presidential Proclamation No. 540 designates the first week of October of every year as National Newborn Screening Week. The public health advocacy and campaign is led by the Department of Health (DoH) and the Institute of Human Genetics of the UP National Institutes of Health (IHG-NIH). The Newborn Screening Reference Center (NSRC) has been set up as part of the IHG-NIH.
The NSRC provides technical assistance to the DoH-NIH and their partners or network members to attain the objective of screening Filipino newborns.
Similarly, the NSRC assists in providing information and resources to help interested health professionals, public health community, consumers, and government officials in the field of newborn screening.
NBS is important as it establishes if an infant has a congenital metabolic disorder which may lead to mental retardation or even death, if left untreated. A baby may appear to look “normal” immediately after delivery.
However, he or she may, in reality, have metabolic disorders. Should the diagnosis indicate the infant has metabolic disorder then this would require immediate medical attention which can be given even before the clinical signs and symptoms of certain diseases present themselves.
The NBS is a simple procedure and should be done within 24 hours of the delivery of the infant. Just a few drops of blood from the baby’s heel taken by a doctor, nurse, medical technologist, or a trained midwife can yield results. The blood drops are blotted on a special absorbent filter card, and then forwarded to the Newborn Screening Center (NSC) for analysis. Results of newborn screening may be claimed from the health facility where the screening was done normally within seven to 14 working days, from the day the samples were received by the NSC. NBS is usually available in hospitals, lying-in facilities, rural health units, health centers, and several private clinics.
Note that a “negative screen” means that the NBS results are normal and positive NBS results mean that the newborn must be brought again to a health professional for further testing. The positive screen results are immediately forwarded to the parents or caregivers by health facility personnel and should be immediately referred to a specialist for confirmatory testing and further medical management. If and when there are no specialists in one locale, the NBS secretariat office will be able to assist an attending physician.
The NBS can test for disorders including congenital hypothyroidism;
congenital adrenal hyperplasia; galactosemia; phenylketonuria; Glucose-6-Phosphate-Dehydrogenase Deficiency; and Maple Syrup Urine Disease. These can all be treated with proper medical care and a health care professional would be in the best position to explain the diagnosed disorder and corresponding course of treatment.
Newborn Screening is now included in the PhilHealth Newborn Care Package and therefore there should be no more questions as to cost and who is going to pay for it.
One word of advice: please make sure that an accurate address and correct phone numbers are properly provided to the health facility.
In summary, the NBS find out developmental, genetic, and metabolic disorders in an infant. This screening allows measures to be taken before any symptoms develop. Most of these illnesses are very rare, but can be treated if caught early.
On top of the NBS, a health professional may recommend a hearing screen. It is advisable to have babies screened for hearing problems, too.
Log on to www.phap.org.ph and www.phapcares.org.ph. E-mail the author at reiner.gloor@gmail.com.
Halloween parties
ALABANG
On Oct. 31, kids together with their families are in for a treat at “The Witch’s Brew Halloween Party” from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Acacia Manila’s Grand Acacia Ballroom.
The impact of budgets
Getting The Edge In Professional Selling — Terence A. Hockenhull
What can a salesperson do when a customer rejects a suggested product based on cost?
Kids Korea
Text and Photos by Cecille Santillan-Visto
WHEN TRAVELING with kids overseas, there are three main factors to consider — enough interesting sites to visit and stimulating activities to indulge in; the convenience of getting around; and safety. But as children live in the same fast-paced technological world as adults do, high-speed Internet connection may well be the fourth consideration.
Tomorrow, according to today’s youth
By Nickky Faustine P. de Guzman
A better tomorrow should start at home. In the Philippines, many young Filipino designers, students, and environmentalists are into recycling and upcycling (the process of turning trash into treasure) and consciously creating livable spaces for tomorrow.
Record producer’s music A-Z: Madagascan royalty to dead racehorses
LONDON — A is for “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” a jazz classic partly written by a Madagascan royal; G is for “Greenville,” a Lucinda Williams country putdown redolent of 20th-century Russian Acmeist poetry.
What to see this week
Crows Explode
THE THIRD FILM in a series based on Hiroshi Takahashi’s Crows manga series from the 1990s, Crows Explodes begins one month after the action of Crows Zero II ends. New fights begin to see who will climb to the top at Suzuran High School. Meanwhile, a battle against nearby Kurosaki Industrial High School begins. Directed by Toshiaki Toyoda (the first two films were directed by Takashi Miike), it stars Masahiro Higashide and Taichi Saotome. The Japan Times’ Mark Schilling writes: “like so many commercial films based on long-running manga, Crows Explode crams in as many characters from the original as possible… As well liked as they are by fans, the subplots involving them at times contribute more distracting static than narrative depth, while their back stories remain sketchy to non-fans.”
MTRCB Rating: R-13
Everyday I Love You
A STAR CINEMA film directed by Mae Czarina Cruz and starring Liza Soberano, Gerald Anderson, Enrique Gil, this film has a very While You Were Sleeping-esque plot — a young woman waiting for the love of her life to wake up from a coma, meets another man she ends up falling for.
MTRCB Rating: G
Revenge Of The Green Dragons
TWO BROTHERS who survive the New York of the 1980s by joining Chinatown gang The Green Dragons, quickly rise up the ranks. An ill-fated love affair pits brother against brother, and looking for revenge on the gang who made him who he is. Directed by Andrew Loo, the film stars Ray Liotta, Justin Chon, Shuya Chang, and Harry Shum, Jr. “This crime drama wants to be a Chinese-American Goodfellas, but it ends up just looking bad,” writes Jordan Hoffman of the New York Daily News.
MTRCB Rating: R-18
The Professional (a.k.a. Momentum)
A PROFESSIONAL thief on a routine heist quickly finds herself mixed up in a government conspiracy and entangled in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with a master assassin and his team of killers. Directed by Stephen Campanelli, it stars Olga Kurylenko, Morgan Freeman, and James Purefoy. “Momentum is a spectacularly generic action-thriller that, despite its sleekly shot and edited mayhem, lands with a giant thud,” writes Gary Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times.
MTRCB Rating: R-16
Crocs rest with one eye open for threats: Australian researchers
SYDNEY — Saltwater crocodiles can rest with one eye open to watch for threats, Australian scientists said last week, with further research likely to show half of the mammal’s brain could be conscious even while asleep.
The scientists found that crocodiles — like birds, their closest living relatives — engaged in “unilateral eye closure” during hostile situations.
“Birds like to sleep like humans, with both eyes closed, but when they feel threatened they’ll have one eye open and they’ll orientate that eye towards the threat,” lead author Michael Kelly of La Trobe University told AFP.
“And the crocodiles were behaving in this way as well.
So most of the time when they were resting, they’ll have both eyes closed, but then when we present them with a threat, they would open one eye and they’ll keep that eye orientated towards the threat.”
The study, which was published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, was conducted using three young saltwater crocodiles placed in separate tanks and observed individually over 12 months last year.
Mr. Kelly said further research was needed to monitor crocodiles’ brain waves to see if the creatures also sleep with half of their brain shut down — called “uni-hemispheric sleep.”
The study that could eventually reveal that the human behavior of sleeping with the brain totally unconscious is rare in the animal kingdom.
Birds and some marine mammals can control whether they have both halves of their brains or just one half shut down when they are sleeping, with the open eye connected to the grey matter that is awake.
“I think this could possibly change the way humans think about sleep… which is a complete shutdown of the brain, where we’re unaware of our surroundings,” Mr. Kelly said.
“So if we did find that the crocodiles and other reptiles that we know engage in unilateral eye closure are actually sleeping uni-hemispherically also, what that might suggest is that the way humans sleep is an evolutionary novelty rather than the other way around.”
Saltwater crocodiles, which can grow up to seven meters (23 feet) long and weigh more than a ton, are mostly found in northern Australia. They are also native to India, Southeast Asia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea and some other Pacific islands. — AFP