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“Hats Off” to the royal wedding
Master
of Ceremonies Richard Silverberg looks on as Pattaya City Expats Club member
David Garmaise introduces his presentation, called ‘Hats Off’, showcasing
the sometimes beautiful, sometimes bizarre hats worn to the royal wedding.
Was that hat really worth US$130,000? Pattaya City Expats
Club member David Garmaise said he watched some video of the recent royal
wedding in London and noticed the myriad of hats worn by many of the ladies
in attendance. This gave him the idea for creating a video production of his
own showing the various hats, including the one worn by Princess Beatrice
that was recently auctioned on EBay for US$130,000.
‘Hawaii
Bob’ Sutterfield (of ‘Frugal Freddy’ fame - a weekly visit to one or other
of Pattaya’s ‘good food and good value’ restaurants) announces this week’s
Frugal Freddy venue, the El Paso Steakhouse on Pattaya South Rd just before
Shell.
David is an avid producer of DVDs using video clips from
movies, concerts, and other sources. Adding in some music, he created his
“Hats Off” production for presentation at the Club’s Sunday, May 29, 2011,
meeting at the Amari’s Tavern by the Sea Restaurant. Many of these hats are
really beyond description and you would have needed to be there to
appreciate it. But if you didn’t watch the royal wedding and were not at the
meeting to appreciate the video, you can still view the hats by using your
Internet search engine; just type in “hats at the royal wedding.”
David’s hobby is to collect classic movies, shows, and
other events then excerpt interesting portions into his own DVD
presentation. David has entertained his fellow Club members and guests with
his productions including clips from famous movies, stage plays, and musical
concerts. So to everyone’s enjoyment he also included another video
presentation entitled “Ordinary Families.” But, as he warned the audience
prior to the start, these clips from movies were not necessarily ordinary
families.
Board
member Al Serrato advises members of the activities of the Spanish speaking
club; for more information, contact Al through our website,
www.pattayacityexpats .com
The video began with a couple of quotations about
families: “Family: A social unit where the father is concerned with parking
space, the children with outer space, and the mother with closet space,” by
Evan Esar and, “A family is a unit composed not only of children but of men,
women, an occasional animal, and the common cold,” by Ogden Nash. These
quotations were followed by over a dozen clips taken from such movies as
Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore starring Ellen Burstyn (1974);
Arsenic and Old Lace starring Cary Grant (1944); Kramer vs. Kramer
starring Dustin Hoffman (1979), Meet the Fockers starring Ben Stiller
(2004); and Ordinary People, an award winning movie starring Sandra
Bullock, Donald Sutherland, and Timothy Hutton (1980). He also included
clips from a couple of movies starring Katherine Hepburn, we can’t get too
much of Katherine - Lion in Winter (1968) and On Golden Pond
(1981). All the scenes showed some aspect of the relationship between family
members that were portrayed in the movie.
After presenting the videos, David gave some insight into
how he goes about preparing them. He said that putting the clips together
was not overly time consuming if you are using the right software. But,
finding the scenes to excerpt was a different matter as you had to spend
time in viewing the movies to find the scenes that fit into the theme of the
presentation.
After David answered several questions, Master of
Ceremonies Richard Silverberg brought everyone up to date on upcoming events
and called on “Hawaii” Bob Sutterfield to conduct the always interesting
Open Forum where questions are asked and answered about living in Thailand,
movies playing in Pattaya are critiqued, Pattaya restaurants are
recommended, and sometimes a joke or two are told to add a little humor.
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World Health Organization honours Dusit Thani Pattaya during World
No-Tobacco Day 2011
Chatchawal
Supachayanont (3rd right), general manager of Dusit Thani Pattaya holds up the
award from the WHO. He is joined by the Secretary of Action on Smoking and
Health Foundation, Prof. Dr. Prakit Vathesatogkit (2nd left) and his family. Two
of the awardees Koong Suthirach (right) and Poy Pornwara (2nd right), both from
the entertainment industry are also seen in the picture after the conclusion of
the World No-Tobacco Day 2011 celebration held in Bangkok.
Dusit Thani Pattaya has added another achievement to its long
list of laurels when the resort’s general manager, Chatchawal Supachayanont
accepted an award from the World Health Organization (WHO) during a ceremony to
mark World No-Tobacco Day 2011.
The event, held May 31 at the Lifestyle Hall of Siam Paragon
in Bangkok, was presided over by HRH Princess Soamsawalee. This year’s theme was
“The WHO Framework Convention of Tobacco Control”.
Dusit Thani Pattaya was among the more than 30 awardees from
all across Thailand whose efforts of continuously giving their staunch support
towards policies aimed at reducing tobacco consumption were recognized by the
WHO. The recipients came from different industries and agencies with the
Ministry of Public Health accepting the World No Tobacco Day 2011 award.
In his comments, Chatchawal stressed the importance of
recognizing the health risks associated with tobacco use thereby promoting
better health to its guests staying at the hotel. He emphasized that the resort
would continue its strict implementation of allocating more than 75% of its
total room inventory as smoke-free accommodation in accordance with its
commitment to the Green Leaf Foundation of Thailand to support control on
tobacco consumption. Global figures indicate that tobacco use is the second
cause of death (after hypertension) and is currently responsible for killing one
in 10 adults worldwide.
Last year, the Green Leaf Foundation presented the hotel the
Health Promotion Smoke-Free Hotel plaque for its anti-smoking initiatives aimed
at protecting public health. The management considers their most recent
internationally-acclaimed award as truly an honor since Dusit Thani Pattaya was
the only hotel in the entire Kingdom to have been bestowed the recognition.
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Redemptorist Vocational opens over-budget ramp, seeks more donations
Pratchaya Kerdthong
Out-of-service elevators no longer will leave students at
Redemptorist Vocational School grounded as the Pattaya facility officially
opened an expensive, new multi-floor ramp system.
Students and faculty gather for the official opening of the new multi-floor
ramp system.
Officials from the vocational school and its owner, the
Father Ray Foundation, along with construction and design executives cut the
ribbon on the ramp May 24.
The 3.6 million baht ramp has been under consideration
since 1996, but due to its cost, construction did not begin until late last
year. The project, however, is still 440,000 baht in the red and Father Ray
officials are soliciting donations to help repay builders for construction
expenses.
The ramp, which connects the five floors of the
vocational school’s second building of classrooms, offices and dormitories,
was deemed necessary because of breakdowns and expenses of using the
building’s main elevator. If the elevator was out of service, students in
wheelchairs had difficulty traversing the floors.
Principal Udomchok Churat also said the ramp should cut
maintenance and electricity costs for the lift. The ramps also connect to
the school’s primary building at the fifth floor, enhancing convenience for
students.
Construction, however, was not cheap. The ramp was
launched with a 2.9 million baht donation from a charity foundation in
Monaco. Suchai Rujivanitchkul of Sea Side International Consulting
Engineering, donated his design services.
Arc Construction Co. began work Nov. 22 last year but
environmental and utility problems pushed the project over budget. Arc,
however, carried on, despite not being paid.
Father Ray officials are now asking for help in covering the 440,000 baht
shortfall. Those interested can contact Udomchok at 086-834-2803.
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