Commemorative message in honor of the golden jubilee of the assassination and death of John F. Kennedy

Commemorative message in honor of the golden jubilee of the assassination and death of John F. Kennedy

To all the people of the United States of America and the world:

Today, half a century has passed since America lost one of its most beloved presidents, John F. Kennedy. His sudden death caused by an assassin’s bullet in Dallas, Texas on this day in 1963 shocked not just the whole of the United States of America, but the whole world as well. His death changed a whole generation and an entire nation, and news of it turned our happiness into mourning.

Just 3 years into his term, and with all eyes ready for the 1964 presidential polls, where he was expected to be reelected, his trip to Dallas, Texas on that day 50 years ago was the one trip everyone did not expect to be the last of his presidency. He was shot while riding with his wife Jackie on the presidential limousine when it was driving in the city. He was rushed to hospital, only to die moments later, leaving a horrified and teary nation of more than millions of people mourning his death together with the whole world.

A veteran of the United States Navy and of the Second World War, and the first Roman Catholic President of the American nation, his short presidency was a momentous one for the United States and the free world.

Today, 50 years on after the tragic events that forever changed the world we live in, we honor the man, his short but meaningful life, and the legacy he left behind to all of us. We all still sad whenever we look back on this dark chapter in the history of the United States of America, but whenever we live his legacy, we know that he is watching over us in heaven, pleased that his memory lives on in everyone of us.

ETERNAL GLORY AND MEMORY TO THE FALLEN PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY!!

(Taps) (Salute)
0013H, November 22/23, 2013
John Emmanuel C. Ramos
Makati City, PH

Coming soon.....

My long awaited Gangster Squad preview and my view on the newest show that has become a part of me.


CHICAGO FIRE.

By the way... a happy 238th birthday to the United States Navy! Here's to more years of defending America and the free world!

Go Navy!!!

PACIFIC RIM

Long time no blog post here... just being busy on Tumblr.

Today's movie review is my second one.

It's all about, in my opinion one of the best movies of 2013.

As a Filipino I'm fearful that the events in this film may happen in real life, but am happy whenever a mention of Manila was made. It's a throwback tribute to the monster movies genre.... and robot themed movies and TV series that made a mark on past generations of viewers and fans alike.

And I'm happy to tell you that I've watched this a record 15 times.

It's Guillermo del Toro's PACIFIC RIM.

"To fight the monsters, we created monsters of our own". - Raleigh Becket

This "end times"- style and futuristic movie starts with a brief intro to the long conflict between the human race and the monsters coming from deep underneath the Pacific Ocean... the "Kaiju" as they call them (The name also refers to the Japanese "monster movie" genre that del Toro felt inspired during his younger days to pay homage on film) and the solution to the threat... the Jaegers of the Pan Pacific Defense Corps.... driven by two pilots with a secret mindmelding tactic: the Drift, which helps their coordination and motivates them to fight the monsters. These robots are the pride of the PPDC, and they are the focus of its campaign to end the terror once and for all.... for future generations, regardless of race, language, religion or nationality. The fate of the planet (and the nations of the Pacific, most especially) rests on their shoulders as well as on the people that are on these machines and their crews. (Ellen McLain voices their AI, by the way.)

(FYI: Jaeger is German for hunter or rifleman)

Among them: Raleigh Becket (played by Charlie Hunnam) who with his older brother Yancy (Diego Klattenhoff) pilots one of these.... Gipsy Danger. Both were veteran monster hunters with several victories over the giant enemies. Traumatized by Yancy's demise while on duty offshore in Alaska (I confess to having been shocked and having to fall to the floor whenever I watch this scene in the movie), he quits the service but after half a decade is convinced by his commander, no less than Marshal Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba) to wear his pilot suit once again.

This time through, he lands in Hong Kong only to meet a victim of the attacks: Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi), also a instructor for future pilots of the resurging program. He then meets two veteran experts: Newton "Newt" Geiszler (Charlie Day) who's a Kaiju researcher and mathematician Hermann Gottlieb (Burn Gorman), who are both later introduced to Hannibal Chau (Ron Pearlman), a local businessman with a passion for selling Kaiju remains in the black market. Newt and Hermann, despite their differences, are great assets for Stacker to fulfill his new mission. Upon entering the Shatterdome Raleigh then meets not just Gipsy but 3 more veteran Jaegers: China's Crimson Typhoon and its pilots the Wei Tang brothers (played by Charles Luu, Lance Luu and Mark Luu), Russia's veteran Jaeger, Cherno Alpha, and its pilots Aleksis and Sasha Kaidanovsky (Robert Maillet and Heather Doerksen) and Australia's Striker Eureka, with father-son tandem Hercules and Chuck Hansen (Max Martini and Robert Kazinsky) as its pilots, the fastest of them all plus Tendo Choi (Clifton Collins, Jr.) who serves as a technician in his Jaeger.   Turns out his recall was part of Stacker's efforts for one final mission to fight the monsters who are now threatening the whole planet... and Mako becoming his new co-pilot (despite her turbulent past) would be an asset in his duty. The question is whenever it's gonna end a failure.... or a great sucess.

This movie, even through badly beaten in the US, is a great international hit indeed.  Here in the Philippines it was no.1 for its first two weeks!

With music by Ramin Djawadi (also known for his Game of Thrones soundtrack) and a great film crew, one cannot miss watching what is surely one of the best movies of the year, and what I call a Hollywood tribute to a genre that shocked thousands since the 1950s not just in Japan but also internationally.

You better watch this "awesome" film now... one of the best for 2013.

And as for me... I'll try a double viewing today.....

10/10 for me!

JUNE 23

Today, 119 years ago, the International Olympic Committee was formally launched with a big bang with its founding congress in Paris, France. Led by Pierre de Coubertin, its founder, and Demetrius Vikelas, its first president, it led the way towards the formal return into the modern era of the Olympic Games, to be held in the first time in centuries in Athens, Greece (just kilometers from Ancient Olympia, the site of the ancient Games), in April of 1896.

On this day in 1919 Estonian and Latvian soldiers fought against the Germans in the Battle of Võnnu, and came out victorious.

79 years ago in 1934 the Estonian government set this day to honor those who fought for the nation’s independence.

And 65 years ago in 1948 this day was set apart to honor the founders of today’s Olympic Games and to commemorate where it all began.

HAPPY OLYMPIC DAY AND ESTONIAN VICTORY DAY!!

(Salute)
(Cue Olympic Hymn and Porilaisten March)

STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS

Today I've watched Star Trek Into Darkness..... for the 2nd time...

No words can describe how it its....

It's one of the best movies of 2013 for me, most especially as a Star Trek fan.

Hope you all watch it!!!

TOP GUN DAY '13

It may be election day in the Philippines, but as I vote today, I wish to dedicate it to all serving personnel of the Philippine Navy, in which my grandfather served as a petty officer in the 1950s, and to all naval veterans like him.

It's all because May 13, being the second Monday of May, is... TOP GUN DAY!!!

The day in which the world celebrates the legacy of the 1986 film Top Gun, and of United States Naval Aviation as a whole.

CALL THE BALL!!!!

And for me? "Its classified."

http://www.topgunday.com/

May 9

May 9, 1945 marks the original Victory in Europe Day celebrated by all the free world after the German surrender in Berlin (the moment was in midnight in the Soviet Union). Even through the celebrations are now in May 8, May 9 is celebrated in Serbia and in the countries of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. It is truly a day of commemoration and celebration of the great victory of the peoples and armed services of the Allied nations that won the victory against fascism at the cost of so many lives lost in the course of almost 5 and a half years of conflict in the European continent.

May 9 is also Europe Day in honor of the 1950 Schuman Declaration that paved the way for the formation of today's European Union.

And May 9 marks the anniversary of the formation of United States Naval Aviation in 1911. It was on that day when in 1911 when Captain Washington Chambers approved the Curtis firm's offer of training planes to be used in the San Diego training center that Glenn Curtis opened that spring to train the first US naval aviators.

Remember all who fought for the freedom and independence of the European continent and of the whole world!!

May we never forget the veterans and fallen of the Allies of the Second World War in the European Theater of Operations, including the men of Easy Company, 505th PIR, 101st Airborne Div. (the "Band of Brothers"), whose acts will forever be a part of history!

May we always remember the heroes, martyrs and veterans of naval aviation in the United States of America, 102 years on, leading us into a future that is worth defending, up there with the best of the best!!!!

And may we also remember in our own way the active servicemen of the Allied countries that won the war, especially the US armed services (including the personnel of US Naval Aviation that mark its birthday today) that continue to pursue and perform their duty for the defense of the free world!!!!

HAPPY VICTORY DAY, EUROPE DAY AND US NAVAL AVIATION BIRTHDAY!!!
CURRAHEE!!! FLY NAVY!!! HOOOOOYAH!!!!!

(Cue Requiem for a Soldier, Mikhail Glinka's Slavsya from A Life for the Tsar, Victory Day by Lev Leshenko and Top Gun Anthem)

May 8, V-E Day

Today, 68 years past, Germany formally surrendered to the Allies. And tomorrow, it’s gonna be celebrations all over the former Soviet Union and in Serbia, while today all Europe, the United States and Canada are united in commemoration, all in the eternal memory of all the fallen and veterans of the Second World War in the European Theater of Operations.

We shall never forget all who died to give us a world that is truly worth defending and those who lived through the 5 and a half years of war in Europe whose memories are truly worth fighting for.

And as a fan of HBO War, I’m proud to say that….
EASY COMPANY, 2/506/101ABN.. WILL BE FOREVER LINKED TO THE ALLIED VICTORY IN EUROPE AND WILL BE FOREVER REMEMBERED BY ALL GENERATIONS…

as the… “BAND OF BROTHERS”!!!!!

ETERNAL GLORY TO ALL WHO PERISHED IN BATTLE AND IN THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS AND ALL THE VICTIMS OF THE FIVE AND A HALF YEARS OF EUROPEAN WARFARE, ALL WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR THE FREEDOM AND INDEPENDENCE OF THE EUROPEAN CONTINENT AND OF THE WHOLE WORLD!

GLORY TO ALL SURVIVING AND DECEASED VETERANS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR IN EUROPE!!

HAPPY VICTORY IN EUROPE DAY!!  CURRAHEE!!!! HUZZAH!!!

(Cue Requiem for a Soldier and Mikhail Glinka’s Slavsya from A Life for the Tsar)

New post after almost a month....

Long time no post but having watched Band of Brothers before I'll be posting 10 leadership tips from the man himself, the late Major Richard "Dick" Winters (may he R.I.P.)....

LEADERSHIP AT THE POINT OF THE BAYONET :

10 POINTS FOR SUCESS

1. Strive to be a leader of character, competence, and courage.

2. Lead from the front. Say, “Follow me!” and then lead the way.

3. Stay in top physical shape--physical stamina is the root of mental toughness.

4. Develop your team. If you know your people, are fair in setting realistic goals and expectations, and lead by example, you will develop teamwork.

5. Delegate responsibility to your subordinates and let them do their job. You can’t do a good job if you don’t have a chance to use your imagination and creativity.

6. Anticipate problems and prepare to overcome obstacles. Don’t wait until you get to the top of the ridge and then make up your mind.

7. Remain humble. Don’t worry about who receives the credit. Never let power or authority go to your head.

8. Take a moment of self-reflection. Look at yourself in the mirror every night and ask yourself if you did your best.

9. True satisfaction comes from getting the job done. They key to a successful leader is to earn respect--not because of rank or position, but because you are a leader of character.

10. Hang Tough!--Never, ever, give up.

Major Dick Winters, USA
Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment
101st Airborne Division, United States Army
“The Band of Brothers"
From his 2006 book  Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters, co-published with Col. Cole C. Kingseed, USA (R)

Soon on this blog....

A new post on my new favorite movie of 2013...... Gangster Squad.

Watched it both time this month.... and read the book.... details to follow later.